In the world of heavy metal, the genre that allows fans to blow off steam to deafening, bone-crunching music, honors for the greatest album of all time have gone to Guns N' Roses.

The short-lived U.S. rock band's 1987 debut release, "Appetite For Destruction," took pole position in Spin magazine's top 40 list, ahead of works by pioneering bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Led Zeppelin's untitled 1971 release, commonly known as "Led Zeppelin IV" or "Zoso" was second, followed by Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (1971), Metallica's "Master of Puppets" (1986) and AC/DC's "Back in Black" (1980), Spin's editors decreed in the magazine's upcoming September issue.

"Appetite for Destruction," which includes such hits as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine," has sold more than 15 million copies in the United States. Spin said it "sounds like Hollywood at 2 a.m., only genuine and dangerous and absolutely necessary."

The Led Zeppelin album was "the defining endeavor for the band and the genre it accidentally created," Spin said. The U.K. quartet's "Led Zeppelin II" (1969) took the No. 7 spot.

Fellow Brits Black Sabbath also appeared twice, with 1972's "Vol. 4" at No. 14. Additionally, frontman Ozzy Osbourne's 1980 solo album "Blizzard Of Ozz," recorded after he was fired from the band, came in at No. 26