The 35 Best Metal Albums of 1991

Here are the 35 best metal albums that were released in 1991.

With each new decade, it's guaranteed to come with some sort of shift or evolution, building upon influences from the past decade to create something new or further contribute to existing styles. Trends come and go and bands do their best to weather the storm.

While Metallica, Pantera and Ozzy Osbourne kept metal's spirit from being completely extinguished from the public eye in the 1990s, metal was becoming twisted and mangled into intense new forms — death metal, black metal, grindcore, sludge, doom etc. Another leap in advanced musicianship arrived, bringing jazz-fusion into the extreme metal mix. Meanwhile, black metal was lurking with lo-fi qualities and oftentimes simplistic but nightmarish guitar work with that genre's landmark release year coming in 1992.

Alternative metal avenues were also being explored right in step with the genre-smashing alt-rock that rose to prominence during this decade.

READ MORE: The Best Death Metal Album of Each Year Since 1985

Around the world, pockets of extreme metal were developing, each yielding their own timeless sound and style. Viking metal, prog metal, folk metal... 1991 was a year where heavy metal's evolution became even less linear and a multitude of offshoots all had new and different ideas as to how metal can and should sound.

See all of the best metal albums of 1991 directly below!

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