Amidst the celebration of bowel-disturbing heaviness that is Metal Week on MusicRadar, it seemed fitting to let you decide for once and for all which piece of plastic or vinyl deserves the ultimate accolade; what is The Greatest Heavy Metal Album Of All Time?

You voted in your thousands. You voted, and voted, and voted again. And we counted your votes, always mindful that this was a question likely to provoke a more passionate debate than any in the history of Ask MusicRadar. The Top 50 Guitar Riffs Of All Time? A mere scuffle in a pub car park compared to the all-out war for which this poll was the catalyst.

So, without further ado, in reverse order of greatness, here are the 50 best and most brutal long players ever committed to tape. If you're after a compulsory listening playlist for students of metal and its myriad sub-genres, look no further. We kick things off with the 1997 breakthrough LP by Sacramento, California's loudest sons: Deftones.

Always destined to outgrow the baggy shorts and frat boy audience that characterised nu-metal, Around The Fur saw Deftones burst out of the underground with pulverising intensity. Nothing says 'metal' more than screaming into a shark's face.

Your votes:

“Deftones - Around the Fur. Cemented their emerging status as one of the fathers of the nu-metal movement.” (Thanks, vorax)