I don't think these are necessarily the best 30 albums of this year, but they're the ones that have I guess endured in my psyche and inspiried revisits more than most others. I was tempted to do a top 50, but after around #26 or so, I found myself confronted with about 50 albums that could've conceivably made it in, most of which I hadn't relistened to enough to rank above the others with confidence.

1.Psychonaut - Unfold The God Man

2.Elder - Omens

3.Enslaved - Utgard

4.Regarde Les Hommes Tomber - Ascension

5.Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea

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1.Enslaved - Utgard

2.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

3.Panychida - Gabreta Aeterna

4.Kvelertak - Splid

5.Counting Hours - The Will

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updated, but still more bands to consider

1.Spectral Lore - Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine [Collaboration]

2.Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

3.Abigor - Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook)

4.Enslaved - Utgard

5.Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo

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1.Haken - Virus

2.Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant

3.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

4.Dark Tranquillity - Moment

5.Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

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1.Abysmal Dawn - Phylogenesis

2.AC/DC - Power Up

3.August Burns Red - Guardians

4.Ayreon - Transitus

5.Beneath The Massacre - Fearmonger

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In rough order of enjoyment, the albums I've listened to from 2020

1.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

2.Draconian - Under A Godless Veil

3.Plini - Impulse Voices

4.Igorrr - Spirituality And Distortion

5.Atramentus - Stygian

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My favourite albums of 2020.

I've taken a new approach this year - switching to ratings out of 5, rounded to the nearest 0.5. Trying to rate everything to the nearest 0.1 was becoming a chore. Anything rated lower than 2/5 has been excluded.

Also, while my previous lists have been 99% metal, 2020 has seen me exploring music across a much broader range of genres.

1.Loathe - I Let It In And It Took Everything

2.Hum - Inlet

3.Satyr - Locus

4.Deftones - Ohms

5.Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

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Keeping track of what I heard and liked in 2020

1.Protest The Hero - Palimpsest

2.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

3.Orbit Culture - Nija

4.Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron

5.Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned

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Just about finished the first half of the year without losing too much to the character limit; I have learnt to make these list descriptions increasingly pithy

1.Enslaved - Utgard

2.Wills Dissolve - Echoes

3.Wayfarer - A Romance With Violence

4.Aversio Humanitatis - Behold The Silent Dwellers

5.Lucid Planet - Lucid Planet II

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Horrible times. Thank the metal gods for music.

1.A Light In The Dark - Insomnia

2.Ages - Uncrown

3.Ainsoph - Ω - V

4.An Autumn For Crippled Children - All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet

5.An Evening With Knives - Sense Of Gravity

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Manuel Castillo (Amusia) is a Mexican youtuber/reviewer specialized in heavy metal, who makes reviews without pression from the labels or distros. His passion and knowledge are the best tools he has and is followed by almost 70,000 people from the Spanish-speaking community. His partner, Carlos, also make reviews but of underground bands.

1.Haunt - Mind Freeze

2.Annihilator - Ballistic, Sadistic

3.Mystic Prophecy - Metal Division

4.Lorna Shore - Immortal

5.God Dethroned - Illuminati

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1.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

2.Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still

3.Haken - Virus

4.Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant

5.Protest The Hero - Palimpsest

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1.Green Carnation - Leaves Of Yesteryear

2.Ihsahn - Pharos

3.Haken - Virus

4.Obsidian Kingdom - Meat Machine

5.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

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2020 is the year of positivity!!!! Or so I thought, when the year started. "This year I'm gonna stay positive and get shit done!" - and then personal crisis after personal crisis, with horrible election cycles, catastrophies and now a literal pandemic killing hundreds of thousands and dooming us all to stay inside. Weightlifting had another massive outing with rigged competitions on top of the already well known doping, and the US police force kills more than ever.

1.Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

2.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

3.M.S.W. - Obliviosus

4.Drown - Subaqueous

5.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

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These are my favourite albums from the year 2020, ranked in order from my most favourite at number 1 to my least favourite.

1.Psychonaut - Unfold The God Man

2.Enslaved - Utgard

3.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

4.Elder - Omens

5.Garganjua - Toward The Sun

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