NEWS: Metallica is 1, 5 and 9 on IGN's most influential metal albums

STORY IGN announced their pics for the most influential metal albums of all time. The list is as follows:

1. Metallica - Master of Puppets
2. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
3. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
4. Megadeth- Rust In Peace
5. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
6. Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
7. Slayer - Reign In Blood
8. Dio - Holy Diver
9. Metallica - ...And Justice For All
10. Motorhead - Ace of Spades

The editors explained their choice (of Master of Puppets as number 1) by saying that the band's third effort "built upon and perfected everything they had experimented with prior. It's the album where all the pieces come together in glorious cohesion and it's the album that finally woke the general public up to the power and the glory that Metallica was born to spread."

I am most pleased with this list. The one thing I would have changed is to switch out numbers 1 and 5. While it is true that all of the awesome of Metallica came through strongest in Master of Puppets, their best album was by far Ride the Lightning. If Puppets was the album in which Metallica's power and glory came together, surely the album to be praised is the one where the glory first manifests itself. Arguably, this album was Lightning. Kill 'em All was their thrash album, and is one of the best first albums ever had by a band. With Ride the Lightning, we were shown clearly the true power of Metallica. Puppets, in my eyes, never lived up to Lightning. Because Lightning was the album they built upon, the album that influenced Puppets, Lightning should have taken the top spot.

Apart from that, I agree wholeheartedly with Paranoid as number 2. Yes, yes, yes. Most assuredly. Paranoid set the stage for the glorious metal we all know and love. Sadly, however, I am ignorant of all the other (non-Metallica) albums (except for Ace of Spades), a fact which I will quickly remedy. However, Motorhead only made it up there because of the song Ace of Spades. They were indeed a one-hit wonder.

Keep it awesome,

-Haru