The time has come to reveal the top five in our Album of the Century poll, as voted for by you!

The list has already caused some great debate on our official Facebook page – and we want to know what you think of the top five – a group of albums spanning ten of the eleven years that have passed since the millennium. Do you agree or disagree with your fellow fans’ votes? Should someone else have won? Tell us today…

In case you missed it, check out the rest of the countdown here – 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-6

5 – Alter Bridge ‘ABIII’ (2010)

The fans say… “It isn’t just the music, the meaning in the songs is outstanding. The lyrics are so deep and beautiful, one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.” Peter Sheeran

The fans say… “Awesome album, great songs, great band.” Samantha Clement

As any Alter Bridge fan will tell you, this is a band that doesn’t put out bad records – but with their first Roadrunner full-length Myles Kennedy’s boys really excelled themselves with ‘ABIII’ – an absolute belter from start to finish. Of course, where the guys were found lacking in the imaginative album title stakes, they were found to have made a whopping great withdrawal from the Bank of Enormous Rock Anthems – ‘Isolation’, ‘I Know It Hurts’, opener ‘Slip To The Void’ – this is an album that uses Mark Tremonti’s seemingly limitless supply of breezeblock riffs as a backbone for a career-best record, allowing Myles Kennedy to soar over the top with his unmistakeable vocals.

Buy ‘ABIII’ at Play.com | iTunes

4 – Slipknot ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’ (2004)

The fans say… “Not just because they got platinum for the record, not because to me it was the classic album along with ‘Iowa’ & ‘Slipknot’, but because whenever I listen to any song from this album it will get me all hyped and crazy.” Joshua Richards

The fans say… “Purely because it kept everything we love about Slipknot – the vicious anger and aggressive music – but in this album there was no swearing and more melody just to prove to the critics that Slipknot are the best!” Hash Tlil Anjum

If someone had suggested the use of an acoustic guitar on a Slipknot album when the band unleashed their venomous debut in 1999, they’d quite likely have found their face being used as a percussion instrument in the Iowan’s incendiary live show. But time, experience, and partying like there’s no tomorrow will change a band – and all evidence points to just that course of events. As the band toured themselves into the ground to promote ‘Iowa’, speculation was rife that the band wouldn’t make it into the studio to make another album – but adversity is to Slipknot what breakfast is to a lion. The band knuckled down and produced ‘Vol. 3…’, containing some of their most enduring anthems and most experimental moments – from the direct approach of ‘Duality’ and ‘Before I Forget’ to the ethereal arrangement of ‘Vermilion’ and ‘Vermilion Pt 2’, this was an album that silenced the doubters and pushed Slipknot forward even further.

Buy ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’ at Play.com | iTunes

3 – Opeth ‘Ghost Reveries’ (2005)

The fans say… “It was a landmark album and their first for Roadrunner, and it has every element of Opeth – heaviness, softness, light and dark, weird time signatures and amazing lyrics.” Nick Green

The fans say… “The album with the best mix between heavy force, and soothing mellowness.” Devin Pavlovszky

While they’ve headed off on tangents all over the prog universe – including their most recent 70s-tinged effort ‘Heritage’, Opeth’s first album for Roadrunner Records is still regarded by many as a snapshot of a band at the very peak of their powers. ‘Ghost Reveries’ edged further towards a gothic sound and took it’s sweet time exploring it – racking up a whopping 67 minutes for its running time – but critics and fans were more than prepared to spend some quality time with the album. Almost without exception the album was lauded by the music press, happy to ignore the fact the album’s concept was broken up by the inclusion of ‘Isolation Years’ – a track which had nothing to do with the over-arching story of a man who’d committed a terrible act and was dealing with the consequences. As with so many bands revered in their field, there is an album by which all subsequent releases are measured. In Opeth’s case, that benchmark is ‘Ghost Reveries’, as so many of you have stated with your votes.

Buy ‘Ghost Reveries’ at Play.com | iTunes

2 – Slipknot ‘Iowa’ (2001)

The fans say… “If I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life, it would be this one.” Carmen Hammond

The fans say… “It’s still the most destructive, angry, pissed off, dark and desperate piece of plastic that I’ve ever heard.” Francesco Bellezza

Slipknot’s ‘Iowa’ hit stores a mere two weeks before the horrific World Trade Center attack in New York, and while it would be a lazy perception to state the far-reaching effects of these two events, it would be unfair to let it pass without comment. Slipknot’s debut album two years previous had already written a mission statement for the band and their fans, ‘Iowa’ scrawled a dirty great line under the whole damn thing, not so much turning everything up to 11 but refining the package into something even more devastating. ‘The Heretic Anthem’, ‘My Plague’, ‘Left Behind’… It’s hard to believe you’re not looking at a greatest hits album – and ten years on, as the world remains a changed place following 9/11, so too the landscape in metal is forever imprinted with the Iowan nontet’s unique contribution.

Buy ‘Iowa – 10th Anniversary Edition’ at Play.com | iTunes

1 – Machine Head ‘The Blackening’ (2007)

The fans say… “When I think about metal, I think about ‘The Blackening’.” Matej Mess Boh