The following albums have been given our All-Time Classic award. This includes perennial favourites that have withstood the test of time, career highlights, historically important, influential, distinguished, or otherwise noteworthy albums in the evolution of Black Metal, along with the occasional hidden gem and a few modern classics.
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1986
- Country:United Kingdom
“The second album by Onslaught is much more technical compared to the primitive first album, but it still has a bit of old school Satanic Thrash Metal feeling left in itself. After this album, the ...”
(Top 100 & Awards page).
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1986
- Country:Germany
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1986
- Country:Germany
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1986
- Country:Brazil
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Sweden
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Brazil
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Germany
- Type:Demo
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Hungary
- Type:Demo
- Style:Black / Thrash Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Sweden
- Type:Demo
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Germany
“Poison was one of the unsung heroes of the 80s Death/Thrash/First Wave Black Metal Underground. They released a bunch of lo-fi demos in the early days, which are incredibly raw and badly recorded. ...”
(Top 100 & Awards page).
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Black / Thrash Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Italy
- Type:Demo
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Colombia
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Experimental Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Switzerland
- Type:EP
- Style:Black Metal
- Year:1987
- Country:Norway
“This EP is truly special. It was a step towards the new sound with dirty, lo-fi production and shrieky, light vocals. Mayhem marketed the album long before it was even produced, and when it released, ...”
+ Legacy score
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Pagan Black Metal
- Year:1988
- Country:Sweden
“Bathory is a band that no one needs to explain anything about! (Quorthon didn't find the need to explain it, so why should we?). It's magic. Black Metal wouldn't have been like it is if it wasn't for ...”
+ Legacy score
- Type:Demo
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1988
- Country:Hungary
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1989
- Country:United Kingdom
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Black / Thrash Metal
- Year:1989
- Country:Italy
- Type:Compilation
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1990
- Country:Switzerland
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Black / Death Metal
- Year:1990
- Country:Canada
“There's not much I can say about this album that hasn't already been said many times before. But it deserves a review on this site for so many reasons most notably being a seminal black ...”
+ Legacy score
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1990
- Country:Czech Republic
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Experimental Black Metal
- Year:1991
- Country:Czech Republic
- Style:Black / Death Metal
- Year:1991
- Country:Australia
“When people talk about War/Bestial Metal, they automatically think of the legendary Finnish band Beherit, or Blasphemy from Canada (give or take a few other projects), but rarely do people talk about ...”
(Top 100 & Awards page).
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Black Metal
- Year:1991
- Country:Switzerland
- Type:Full-length
- Style:Old School Black Metal
- Year:1991
- Country:Brazil