So, I've compiled a list of heavy metal artists I'm interested in, but I'd like recommendations of which albums in specific I should really look at, especially if they have a discography of, like, 20 albums...

If you can distill it down to their one best album ever, I should be able to take it from there, unless you REALLY want to recommend a number of albums.

Feel free to add any artists and albums I might be interested in, or feel free to tell me what artists or albums I ought to avoid...

I dig gimmicks like choruses, pipe organs, arias, classical instruments, and gothic medieval motifs en generale...

As for pacing, I can appreciate "Battle Anthems" as well more brooding, sensitive ballads.

Here's my list:

Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide is a decent album
Avantasia
Ayreon - kind of disappointed with them, even when I didn't even have any expectations...
Beyond Fear
Blind Guardian
Corrosion of Conformity
Disturbia
Death Angel
Dream Theater
Epica
Exodus
Gamma Ray
Hammerfall
Iced Earth - Already checked 'em out; they're OK I guess...
Iron Maiden
Isis - these guys kick some much ass, I picked up all their albums...
Judas Priest
Kamelot
Leaves' Eyes - Already checked 'em out; Vinland Saga is a good album!
Manowar
Metallica
Nightwish - Already checked 'em out; I dug Dark Passion Play, but don't really care for their earlier work aside from Oceanborn
Porcupine Tree
Redemption
Savatage
Sirenia
Sonata Arctica
Staind
Stratovarius
Symphony X - Already checked 'em out; they're OK I guess...
Testament
Theatre of Tragedy
Thought Chamber
Threshold
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Already checked 'em out; I dig Beethoven's Last Night, but that's about it...
Trivium
Visions of Atlantis

Here I go...

Don't like the new stuff, but am kind of sick of the older Metal Opera stuff even though I like it. If you like Avantasia, check out Tobias' main band Edguy.

Three words: Images and Words

Like quite a bit of GR, but they haven't put a "good" album since 2001's "No World Order." 2008's "Land of the Free II" was a complete bust and has nothing, nothing on the 1995 original.

Like everything up to the latest album, "No Sacrifice, No Glory" which didn't catch on with me.

This is how I put my relationship w/Maiden: I appreciate what they have accomplished but it's just not my thing.

Kamelot has gotten WAY to artsy for their own good. There isn't much to explore before Roy Khan joined the band in 1998 on Siege Perilous, which is where the magic begins, but things start get out of hand on 2003's Epica. There are some good songs peppered beyond that point, but the music from 1998 (Siege) 1999 (Fourth Legacy) and 2001 (Karma) is where it's at. As good as the music from Fourth Legacy is, do yourself a favor and skip it and by the 2000 live album "The Expedition" as the live set makes the production on the studio album pale horribly in comparison.

When it comes to Dark Passion Play, the acquisition of a new singer couldn't have been timed better. I like Tarja's voice, but I kind of fell out of favor with some of their older stuff from Century Child back. 2004's Once is still pretty solid though. It's sad that Tarja's slimeball husband/agent almost brought Nightwish to the brink.

My favorite band. This year's "The Days of Grays" has been lighting up my car stereo for weeks and before that 2007's "Unia" (Finnish for "Dreams") did the same thing. It's important to note the band changed their style/direction with these two albums and the stuff before this, while good in its own right, follows more of a Stratovarius style. I'm kind of losing interest in the older stuff however. If you haven't already, listen and read the lyrics to "Caleb" from Unia – an awesome and poignant song.

The first Euro flavored band I encountered, and the band time has taken the hammer to the most. I could go on and on about Stratovarius, but the band is worthless now that guitarist/songwritter Timo Tolkki left. Check out his new band's (Revolution Renaissance) album "New Era" which was originally planned to be the latest Stratovarius record.

Still, Stratovarius' best moments were IMO before they got big and hired singer Timo Koltipelto in 1995. 1994's Dreamspace is my album of choice, where Tolkki sings, writes, and plays both guitar and bass guitar.

I like a handful of their songs, far from one of my favorites as well. There a bit over-rated by their fan base - I don't see why I should worship them just because they can write a twenty-five minute song.

Testament was incredible until Alex skolnick left the band to play jazz guitar.. they had a perfect combination of aggression and finesse. after they got their new guitarist for LOW in '94 they became just another angry band

Skolnick also played on Savatage's 1994 Handful of Rain cd...

Exodus,, if you get only 1 album,, get FABULOUS DISASTER,,,

i dont see Helloween on your tentative list... they put powermetal on the map 20+ years ago.
is it just me or are there a billion powermetal bands now that sound almost exactly alike?

Yeah, "Toxic Waltz" is awesome. "You better get insurance no matter your endurance!"

Had all of Helloween's albums, burned out on them. If you like Gamma Ray, you should check out their first three albums since singer/guitarist of Kai Hansen had a hand in them before he left the band.

Yeah, but I think this is true of anykind of music. A lot of country music runs together IMO as well, but since it's more popular (it hurts to admit that) it isn't as scrutinized. Kind of annoys me how every country song has to have a reference to god in it even if seems out of place.

What the heck Bernie, I'll bite on a few of these:

Apocalyptica - better with a drummer in my opinion. That means 2003 and onward - Reflections, self-titled and Worlds Collide.

Ayreon - cool dude, and the collaborations sound awesome in theory. The end results are painfully cheesy though. I haven't heard anything I'd recommend.

Dream Theater - gonna go with Octavarium as the high watermark here. Awake and Six Degrees are other favorites, and in case you don't know better, skip Falling into Infinity. The past couple of albums have been a little weak too, although I love Constant Motion.

Maiden - the first three Bruce albums are tops - The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind and Powerslave. Favorite Maiden tune is Hallowed Be Thy Name, from The Number of the Beast.

Metallica - really? Having grown up on this stuff, it's hard to imagine someone not having internalized their early discography. Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All are all essential.

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play is OK, but I prefer hearing Tarja and Marco sing together. Century Child is my favorite, and Oceanborn and Once are both pretty awesome.

Savatage - my hometown heroes but I was never really a big fan. It's rather heretical to hardcore fans, but I liked them better after Jon Oliva quit singing. Edge of Thorns is a pretty awesome tune, but an inconsistent album.

Sonata Arctica - these guys are awesome, but Tony does write the occasional sappy ballad. He was guiltier of this on the older albums - Reckoning Night is the most consistently badass of their more recent output. I really really like In Black and White from Unia though - sometimes I put that track on repeat at work for an hour or two.

Stratovarius - the definitive Nordic power metal band. You can pick up anything from Fourth Dimension (1995) to Infinite (2000) - they're all solid but basically the same. If I really had to pick one, I guess Black Diamond helps Visions edge ahead of the rest.

And I'm gonna add:

Megadeth - shame on you for mentioning Metallica and Testament but glossing over Dave! It's not very representative of the rest of the band's output, but you've at least gotta have Rust in Peace.

Rammstein - not really sure what to say about them if you're not familiar with them, but give Mutter a spin.

Pantera - gotta have Vulgar Display of Power.

If we're gonna add a few suggestions, let me add...

Static-X
A lot of people seem to have it out for Wayne Static and his "Evil Disco," and it may be true they don't break their conventual norms too often (and when they do it doesn't work out too well) but the music works when I want something angry to lip-synch with and relieve stress. 2003’s Shadow Zone is a greatly misunderstood album even though nothing beats their debut Wisconsin Death Trip.

Nevermore
Thrash metal outfit from Seattle. Nevermore kind of deserves some special notice here; while the sound is undeniably American, hints of power metal can be found here and there which is probably why they attracted my attention.

Siam Shade = awesomest progressive J-metal band ever,, too bad they broke up in 2002 to pursue solo careers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ_yRA9yj0g

As Smeg pointed out, Megadeth and Pantera are worth checking out. Also look for Black Sabbath. I've only heard Black Sabbath's first album, Paranoid, and it's considered to be the first (or one of the first) albums that can be called "metal". You have to be careful with Pantera, because they released some cheesy stuff before Cowboys From Hell. Some people consider Far Beyond Driven to be Pantera's best, but I detest it (too much screaming). Both Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display of Power are Pantera's best, in my opinion. If you've played DOOM, then there is a surprise on Vulgar.

Paranoid is Sabbath's second album. Your Pantera recommendations are spot-on though.

DUDE.  The album hasn't left my car for weeks as well.  Nice to see that switching labels (they're now under Nuclear Blast) hasn't stilfled their creativity.  "Deathaura" f---ing KILLS.

I played a couple of songs for my wife ("The Last Amazing Grays" and "No Dream Can Heal a Broken Heart") and she digs 'em too!  Finally something we can listen to together.

"Deathaura" took me awhile to get into with so many pitch changes but I'm totally onbaord with it now. I'd say "No Dream Can Heal a Broken Heart" is my favorite along with "The Dead Skin."

"The Last Amazing Grays" is good too, but I still think "The Vice" from Unia is my favorite "wolf themed" song.

Nightwish:

I'm pretty gung-ho on Nightwish music.

I too liked Dark Passion Play. It was interesting

Although too be perfectly honest, my favorite album of Nightwish is Wishmaster. Crownless, Cover Me, and almost everything besides "Two for Tragedy" was excellent. [Not that "Two for Tragedy" was bad, just not as excellent IMHO as the rest of the album]

I'm not crazy about "Two for Tragedy" either, or "Dead Boy's Poem."

Animals As Leaders is pretty much where "heavy metal" starts and stops for me. I have spent entire days listening to this CD and still pick up on things to appreciate. Tosin Abasi is goddamn retarded. Seriously. Just watch this shit. Or watch the beginning of this shit.

How is that even possible? Yeah, that makes sense. Goddamn. Retarded.

I don't know, Dead Boy's Poem had one of those "reflection of self" kind of things going. Although I guess the soft-core rhythm (if you want to call it that) isn't for everyone.