So last week, we learned metal is a genre of crossovers. So, dear followers, you ask "What are the most influential albums in metal?"

Ask and ye shall receive.

Now, Satan (Shreddit, which is as close as we are gonna get) hath spoken on the subject, and given us this, the semi-definitive list of must-have albums. I'll break it down by genre as to what albums are well and truly essential.

1. Doom/Stoner Metal

There are two defining characteristics of doom metal, sometimes referred to as stoner metal due to the obscene amounts of drugs these guys usually took. 1) Deep, bass-driven instrumentation, usually with downtuned guitars and prominent bass playing. 2) The most goddamn depressing lyrics you have ever heard. Not the "oh I'm sad because my girlfriend left me" sad that infests false metal, but "your life is meaningless and futile, the world is doomed to chaos and terror, and when you die you'll rot inside the prison of your corpse for ever and ever" existential sadness. This goes waaaaaaay back to Black Sabbath themselves, but has stayed more or less underground over the years. The "it" band of doom metal is Candlemass, who more or less coined the term epic doom metal with the phenomenal "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" (no points for figuring out why). The five albums you need are

1. Aforementioned Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
2. Holy Mountain - Sleep
3. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (The Warning is where you can really see Sabbath blues and jazz influences)
4. Black Masses - Electric Wizard
5. Relentless - Pentagram

For more, refer here.

2. Thrash Metal

The genre that everyone knows. The genre is typically a combination hardcore punk's speed and "fuck you" attitude and doom metal's lyrics and general doom and gloom. So rather than "Your life is worthless" its "your life is worthless, and fuck you, do something about it". Typically when someone talks about it, they either refer to "The Big Four" (Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica, and Megadeth) or the "Big Three" (Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction, also known as the "Big Three of Teutonic Thrash). Thrash is particularly popular in Germany, along with power and speed metal. The essentials are:

1. Master of Puppets - Metallica
2. Rust In Peace - Megadeth
3. Reign In Blood - Slayer
4. The Legacy - Testament
5. Terrible Certainty - Kreator

Most stick Anthrax's Among The Living in here, but I'm not a huge fan. Likewise, I skipped over most of Teutonic thrash. See here for more.

3. Trad Metal

Traditional Metal, or as close to Black Sabbath as you can get without actually being Black Sabbath. This is where your Motorhead, your Saxon, your Judas Priest, your Iron Maiden go (thought the last two can be classified as New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM). This is the more or less nebulous "other" category, where the old guard and the ones that emulate the old guard reside. The essentials, beyond the really obvious like Iron Maiden's Powerslave and Number Of The Beast or any of Black Sabbath's albums between Paranoid and Sabotage, include:

1. Screaming For Vengeance - Judas Priest
2. Ace Of Spades - Motörhead (No Sleep 'til Hammersmith gets a notable mention)
3. Crystal Logic - Manilla Road
4. Hall Of The Mountain King - Savatage (Really prog-metal, or power metal)
5. Lightning To The Nations - Diamond Head

4. My Personal Favorites (That I haven't mentioned yet), because I can save the other genres for when I have writer's block

1. Painkiller - Judas Priest - Speed Metal
2. Into The Lair Of The Sun God - Dawnbringer - Modern Trad (Best album of 2012 IMO)
3. Speed Metal Symphony - Cacophony - Neoclassical
4. Blind - Corrosion Of Conformity - Sludge/Crossover Thrash
5. Black Science - GZR - Industrial (featuring Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath)

Leave your comments, opinions, and accusations of falseness and lacking of metal faith below.