Updated version of the list previously published
here. You'll notice that the comments are a bit different for sure, as is the order:
1 to 3: best of the year (in preference order)
4 to 25: other great stuff (alphabetical order)
And then there were some average (sometimes bad, sometimes good) albums that didn't make it in this list, but they featured some of the most awesome songs of the year. Like
Voices Of The Fallen by Battlelore, Dylath-Leen's
Frozen Reflect On A Broken Mirror, and particularly Iced Earth's
Come What May...
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1.
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Textures - Silhouettes
Mindblowingly awesome. |
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2.
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Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
Mindblowingly awesome, part 2. |
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3.
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Burst - Lazarus Bird
Mindblowingly awesome, part 3. |
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4.
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ADX - Division Blindée
Comeback? Yeah. Not near their best works, but still better than good. |
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5.
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Cynic - Traced In Air
Delicate stuff as fragile and beautiful as a flower. |
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6.
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Darkspace - III
Who said the void between stars was silent? |
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7.
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Enslaved - Vertebrae
Some great songs, some less so, but an all-round excellent album - if difficult to get into |
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8.
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Ez3kiel - Battlefield
Electronica infused rock (or the other way around?). Nice chilling release. |
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9.
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Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
Good for sure, but it lacks the luminous and beaufiful feeling that permeated From Mars To Sirius. |
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10.
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Hail Of Bullets - ...Of Frost And War
Crushing you to the bone. Yeah, that's about it. |
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11.
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Hans Zimmer / James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight OST
Fantastic soundtrack for an even better movie. |
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12.
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Genghis Tron - Board Up The House
Electro / Synthpop / Grindcore. And a fucking nice swansong. |
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13.
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Hexen - State Of Insurgency
Retro-thrash rarely sounded so good. |
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14.
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Hollenthon - Opus Magnum
Now THAT is epic. |
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15.
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Meshuggah - ObZen
Some 'classical' Meshuggah. Bleed, er read, that 'awesome'. |
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16.
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Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul
Darkly beautiful (and soothing) ambiant music by Riverside's Mariusz Duda. |
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17.
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Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1
Psychedelic black metal, with dark mood, raw sound, an Hawkwind influence, and a saxophone. Yeah. |
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18.
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Oceans Of Sadness - The Arrogance Of Ignorance
A weird, unique, and very personal mix of sounds and influences for some great music. |
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19.
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Opeth - Watershed
Somehow one of the least-loved Opeth albums around, but the only one I got into for real. |
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20.
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Septicflesh - Communion
With this and Hollenthon, symphonic death metal at its best since... Therion's Theli, maybe. |
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21.
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SUP - Hegemony
Not as original as their previous efforts, still pretty mind-blowing nonetheless. |
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22.
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The Arkitecht - Hyperstructure
Truly great geeky prog stuff. Hey, anyone claiming Nobuo Uematsu as an influence can't be bad. |
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23.
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The Monolith Deathcult - Trivmvirate
A well-made mix between death metal and electronics? Count me in! |
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24.
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Tribe After Tribe - M.O.A.B. Stories From Deuteronomy
'World metal'? Yup. Happy, somber, reflective, meditative and uplifting. |
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25.
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Ultra Vomit - Objectif: Thunes
Catchy, stupid, fun, fun, fun!!! And ducks. Alive, of course. |
