Rolling Stone Readers Pick Their Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums

Last Friday, Rolling Stone asked their on-line readers to select what they thought were the greatest heavy metal albums of all-time.

Metallica Master of Puppets

Of course, actually defining what is heavy metal and what isn’t is a bit of a problem.

Obviously, Metallica, who has four of the top ten, and Black Sabbath, who score two, are the epitome of heavy metal. Iron Maiden and Slayer could also fall into that category, but Guns N’ Roses? Are they really metal or just an all-out hard rock band?

And then there is the case of Led Zeppelin. They’re blues-rock, hard rock, rock-and-roll, but can they really be considered heavy metal?

So, here are the ten albums that the readers considered heavy metal and considered great, but maybe they aren’t all great heavy metal.

1. Master of Puppets – Metallica
2. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
3. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
4. The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
5. …And Justice For All – Metallica
6. Reign in Blood – Slayer
7. Appetite For Destruction – Guns N’ Roses
8. Metallica (Black Album) – Metallica
9. Led Zeppelin II – Led Zeppelin
10. Ride the Lightning – Metallica

Tagged as: Black Sabbath, Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Rolling Stone, Slayer