Metalheads love lists. It’s as much as fact of life as the sun being hot, grass being green and the Earth being round (sorry, flat Earth weirdos!). Whether it’s reeling off our favourite albums of the year, comparing top five Metallica album openers or getting stuck into whatever controversial listicle has hit the internet this week, curating, comparing and bickering over lists has basically become a foundational part of metal culture at this point.
So, we thought we’d hit up some of our favourite artists from the metal scene and ask them to pick four classic metal albums. That’s it. That’s the brief: just four metal albums that mean something to them, for whatever reason that may be.
Some of our interviewees agonised over it (“Only four?!” bemoaned Lamb Of God‘s Mark Morton), while others relished the chance to shout about their favourite records.
We’re not entirely sure everyone got the memo (we’ll let Lzzy off for including an Alice Cooper record, but Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos seemed to go rogue and just pick his favourite albums from alternative music in general, the scamp).
Regardless, if you’re looking to top up your listening with some timeless classics, overlooked underground bangers or a revisit of that one In Flames album you forgot about, check out what albums everyone picked below.
