10 Greatest Metal Albums Of The '00s

So before any of the seasoned metalheads chew me out, I'll meet you all halfway here. Out of all of the albums on this list, Linkin Park's Meteora is far from the heaviest album ever made. Given how many twists and turns that it makes over the course of its runtime, it's arguable whether it even counts as a metal album from skin to core. What sets it apart from the other albums on this list though is the aesthetic that it gives off.

From the opening riffs of Don't Stay, this is kind of raw aggression that the '00s generation of metalheads thrived on, with Chester Bennington screaming in defiance to everyone who refuses to listen to him. As the rest of the album unfolds, you start to realize just how eclectic the band can get, going from the pure anger in a song like Faint to eventually trying to find some sort of peace with themselves on Breaking the Habit.

Are there albums out there that may have heavier riffs? Yes. Is this the heaviest thing that you could have been listening to in 2003, even? Probably not. What this album is though is the gateway drug for millions of fans around the world to get in on the metal hype train. Meteora has certainly done its job as a mainstream rock album, but its legacy is that it made so many listeners love metal music.