I'm actuallly the opposite. Ghost Revs is one of the only albums I can stand by the band (of four albums), and Watershed I find to be their worst.

fixed

I beg to differ, I think the album was brilliant. The King almost never fails to deliver, only Abigail II was a bit of a disappointment. It didn't live up to the name of the original and came between two other great albums.

To be on the safe side, I'll say Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk followed by IX Equilibrium. A masterful album regarded as their best by some, followed by one with a lot of experimentation and conflicting ideas, considered a low point in their discography.

It seems like there's never a middle-man with Prometheus. To some it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and to others it epitomizes everything wrong with humanity.

I like the new one most, actually

This, pretty much. I do like Opeth in general but I do agree that Ghost Reveries might be their best effort and Watershed is definitely their worst.

Eh, I thought it was fine. Definitely better than Abigail II, but doesn't live up to the classics.

Firstly, I'd like to say I endorse Atheist's Elements and Death's Sound of Perseverance as my favourite albums by the respective artists, without QUESTION(able presence). Both keep my attention the whole time and Elements is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the only real jazz-metal album to not also be some other thing as well; Cynic's Focus was as much a general prog album as jazz metal, don't even bother bringing up Dream Theater for the same reason, and bands like Aghora get off too much on having a female vocalist and being vaguely alternative metally.

But in response to the main point... I agree that Celtic Frost's Monotheist is infinitely better than whatever the shit that piece of crap released before it was. Monotheist is one of my all-time favs. Another great example is Onslaught's Killing Peace after In Search of Sanity - and these I can confidently say are definitely they're best and worst, respectively.

As for the reverse... a band that cut out in their prime and then made a comeback album that sucked dong would probably fit the mold... maybe Dissection? I'm not a big fan, but if they're last release before disappearing was well-regarded, that'd probably qualify. There's also Pantera's Reinventing the Steel; I LIKE it but it's the worst of the era they didn't ignore material from and pretend never happened - Cowboys through Trendkill is amazing and my favs are Far Beyond Driven and Trendkill; and Live 101 Proof is what got me into Pantera.

Nothing's wrong with BBW, I just find it doesn't hold my interest that much compared to other HOF albums. It's also the album where I least like Matt Pike's vocals.

As for their debut, I personally like it a lot. It's doomier than the later albums, but manages to add some thrash to it while keeping the trance-inducing doom vibe. And if you get the re-release, you're treated with a great cover of Celtic Frost's "The Usurper".

Death is this Communion I find perfects what they were trying to do with BBW, manages to throw in some kickass acoustic stuff (Khanrad's Wall), and also is just their most passionate work in my opinion.

Summoning - Stronghold (worst)
Summoning - Let mortal heroes sing your fame (best , or maybe dol guldur ^^)


The flower kings - The rainmaker (worst)
The flower kings - Unfold the future (best)

Evoken - Quietus (worst)
Evoken - Antithesis of light (best)

While I don't give a damn about the next two bands, I still think they count for this topic:

Testament - Demonic (worst)
Testament - The gathering (best)

Nargaroth - black metal ist krieg (worst)
Nargaroth - Geliebte des regens (best)

Both albums are really great. Quietus is definitely better than their first two albums.

I love "Quietus", actually, and like "Embrace the EMptiness" a hell of a lot..but I never got into "Antithesis" at all. Somehow it didn't sound like them.

I'll throw in Gojira. The Link is probably their best. Great mix of groove and riffs. Then they come out with From Mars To Sirius, which was too long and, while it's good, just didn't live up to the standard that The Link set.

Regarding Breeding the Spawn, I never thought that was a terrible album. The production ruined it, sure, the tinny guitar tone above all, and the logo on the cover is horribly pixely (go 'head, pull out your copy and have a look at it), but the music is top-notch.

The first band that comes to mind with this is Dismember. I never thought it was a bad album myself, but Massive Killing Capacity from '95 has historically gotten shit on, or at least recognized as a weak spot: even the band themselves seem to agree (cf. Choosing Death). Two years later, however, they released Death Metal, which is still probably my favorite from them, and at the very least a savage monument to the best of everything that Swedish death metal produced in the early-mid '90s.

[edit]I have to agree about IX Equilibrium following Anthems.... I bought the former the day it came out, having obsessed over the latter for nearly a year, and I was so, so disappointed. Anthems is easily my personal number one, and to follow it up with IX E felt like a slap in the face at the time. Then again, I was 13 and susceptible to feeling betrayed by my favorite bands, but IX still to this day feels sterile and uninspired. From any other band it may have been considered a masterpiece, and I still respect Emperor for trying to move sideways (not forward) and try different things, but given the circumstances, around which I think ultimately all truly great art largely depends, IX E just doesn't cut it.

I don't see it. Looks fine to me.

That's my fault; I had meant the title. If you look around the edges of the words, I'm sure you'll see it.

Ah. Well, I can see it a little bit, but not enough for it to be a distraction.

I'm probably the minority here, but I like IX Equilibrium a lot. It wasn't as great as the two before it, and it may have some pretty out-there moments, but I still listen to it quite a bit.

"EYE-CAROUUUUUUSSSSSSSS! I DAAAAAAAAAAAAAERE YOOOOUUUUUUUUUUE!!!!!!!!"

Agreed. Although Emperor is a band I hardly listen to nowadays, I still find alot of enjoyment in their two later outputs. IX Equilibrium kind of suffers from a weak end, and Prometheus, well it's a pretty rediculous album, but I still find it to be fairly enjoyable.

I love Antithesis, it's my favorite of theirs. Every minute of it is intense and full of darkness, as the name implies.

I'm probably going to get a load of hate mail from this but here goes.
When As I Lay Dying released thier third record Shadows Are Security in 2005 it fell far short of expecations. Having only really three good songs on the whole album it was certinally a big dissapoinment for a lot of fans.
However, when they released in 2007 An Ocean Between Us fans lapped up the album, with it getting very high reviews and even a number 8 place on the Billboard 200!
This is certinally their best album and personally my favortie album of all time.

Morbid Angel, maybe? Some would consider Covenant to be their best, followed by the groove-laiden/not up to par Domination. Followed by Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, which was a monstrous return to form. And as someone mentioned earlier, Gateways to Annihilation followed by Heretic.

Kalmah's For the Revolution is their worst imo. Not that it's bad but I don't enjoy it as much as I enjoy The Black Waltz.