29. Testament- Souls of Black- The fourth album by these Bay Area thrashers saw the band try different types of influence in their sound. I so remember seeing this amazing cover with these dark phantoms and being completely captivated by it! 
28. Morbid Angel- Domination- The fourth album by one of the greatest death metal acts in the world, saw them make their major label debut. The computer generated image of a desolate world with the huge pentagram that is the band's symbol, in the foreground really pops thanks to the vivid colors. 
26. Kreator- Pleasure to Kill- The second album by Germany's kings of thrash metal is a subgenre classic. And, the cover where their demon mascot battles skeletons is pretty badass and evokes a very metal version of a Sinbad/ Ray Harryhausen movie. 
25. Dimmu Borgir- Godless Savage Garden- This compilation album by black metal band Dimmu Borgir features a haunting beauty sitting on a throne in a garden that looks like Batman villianess Poison Ivy would be right at home at it. 
24. Mercyful Fate- Don't Break the Oath- The second album by Mercyful Fate has what might be their most iconic cover as Satan, himself, points to you from the very depths of hell! 
22. Cradle of Filth- Midian- The fourth album from this extreme metal band was inspired by the novel Cabal by Clive Barker and the his subsequent film, Nightbreed, based on said book. Midian is where the monsters live, both sources tell us. The excellent cover by JK Potter has monsters, including a beautiful goth chick with bat wings (what else would expect from CoF?) and the entrance to Midian. 
21. Vital Remains- Icons of Evil- The sixth album, and last to have Glenn Benton on vocals, of this brutal death band has a cover inspired by Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ (a sample of which is used in the opener of the album). One difference from the film, though is that the one doing the hammering on Christ has a ring with a pentagram on it.
50. Anthrax- We've Come for You All- The ninth studio album, and last one with John Bush, by one of thrash metal's Big Four has comic book artist Alex Ross art with the band surrounded by arms with the Anthrax pentagram behind them. 
49. Morbid Angel- Altars of Madness- The debut album by these Floridan death metal masters has a very cool cover of "a flat disk made of a fossil material, that has captured souls" by Dan Seagrave.
48. Bleeding Through- The Truth- The fourth album by this American metalcore band is probably their best and most popular. It also has their best cover art. It's a photographic cover of a ripped out jaw. Bloody and in black and white, this is a striking and awesome image!
47. Def Leppard- Pyromania- The third album by this British hard rock act is my personal favorite of theirs. It also has their best, and most controversial, cover: that of a bullseye on a building top set ablaze. It was enough to have some stores refuse to carry it, and music censorship loving Tipper Gore flash it during the PMRC trials. 
46. Danzig- III: How the Gods Kill- The third and highest charting album by Danzig has a magnificent cover taken from H.R. Giger's Meister und Margeritha (The Master and Margarita). Giger modified it, so that the erect penis in the painting became a dagger with the Danzig skull, which in turn was used on the cover to the single, "Dirty, Black Summer".
45. Cattle Decapitation- Monolith of Inhumanity- The sixth, and so far best album, from these American deathgrinders has a Simian humanoid ripping out the flesh from his face on the cover. He is surrounded by bones and garbage and in the background, a monolith and other simians. It's gory and cool and recalls a nightmarish take on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. 
44. Entombed- Clandestine- The second album by this Swedish death metal act features a beautifully unusual cover of some other worldly place. 
43. Motorhead- Rock 'n' Roll- The eighth album by these British metal masters, had a very different and intricate idea by it's artist Joe Petagano for it's cover. But, the band went with this cool take on Snaggletooth, instead. It looks awesome, so that's all that matters. right? 
42. Dio- Holy Diver- The classic debut album by Dio has one of metal's most iconic covers: in it, their mascot Murray has a broken chain and there is a priest chained up with his head sticking out of the water. Dio has said don't "judge a book by it's cover" on the meaning of this amazing piece of art.
41. Death- Leprosy- The second album by Death is an out right classic of the subgenre. As is its' awesome cover of a cloaked man suffering from leprosy.
120. Winds Of Plague - The Great Stone War- The second album by my favorite deathcore act has an ogre and a knight crossing swords. Epic, awesome, and fierce! 
115. Heavenly- Carpe Diem- Heavenly are a French power metal band. This is their fifth full length album. While, I can honestly say that I am not a fan of theirs, or care for their style of music, this is about the album covers, not the music. And, as such this is a beautiful and sexy drawing of an angelic chick and a naughty S&M/ metal chick, who are about to get into some lesbian kissing. Yay!
114. Motorhead- Orgasmatron- The original working title to this, the seventh album by the band, was Ridin with the Driver. It was too late for Joe Petagno to change his artwork, so the train remained. That's fine by me, cause the speeding Snaggletooth train fuckin' rocks!!!
113. Judas Priest- Defenders of the Faith- The ninth studio album has amazing artwork by Doug Johnson. The creature is called the Metallian. This tank-like robotic beast is described in the back of the album as: "Rising from darkness where Hell hath no mercy and the screams for
vengeance echo on forever. Only those who keep the faith shall escape
the wrath of the Metallian... Master of all metal." 
