The goats. The near perfect albums that never get old. Some are full of catchy bangers I'm always humming, and some are so full to the brim of details that I still haven't even uncovered them all.

A brief outline of my ratings:
8.5-9.0 = An excellent album with a few mild drawbacks (Weak song, slightly irritating vocals, odd flow)
9.0-9.5 = Perfect albums that haven't quite warranted the time-earnt 9.5+.
9.5-9.9 = Perfect albums that have stood the test of time, ranked by preference.
10 = I don't expect to hear another album like these, ever.

(I use 'perfect' lightly as it makes no sense for a man-made creation to be flawless. 'Perfect' is simply a term to outline how high a level of enjoyment is, specifically the level of enjoyment when minor faults become insignificant.)

(I evaluate albums outside of metal vastly differently to the ones here, which explains the lack of representation of my other favourite genres. Blue Sky Mining is an exception due to being structured very similarly to my optimal metal album. I may add some picks from other genres down the line.)


STATS:
I know y'all don't look at my lists, so these are purely for my own interest.

-Decades
'10s: 36
'20s: 22
'00s: 7
'90s: 2

-Genres (By best fit or most prominent)
Prog: 35
Death: 11
Power: 9
Symphonic: 4
Black: 3
Contemporary: 2
Folk: 1
Doom: 1
Rock: 1

1.Devin Townsend - Empath

2.Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Persefone - Aathma

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1.Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I

2.Antimatter - Fear Of A Unique Identity

3.Sigh - In Somniphobia

4.Enslaved - RIITIIR

5.Katatonia - Dead End Kings

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My personal favorite studio albums of 2012

1.Wintersun - Time I

2.Kreator - Phantom Antichrist

3.Katatonia - Dead End Kings

4.Khors - Wisdom Of Centuries

5.If These Trees Could Talk - Red Forest

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1.

2.Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

3.Slauter Xstoyes - Winter Kill

4.Watch Tower - Energetic Disassembly

5.Trilogy - Life On Earth

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1.Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata

2.Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It's Personal

3.Woods Of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

4.Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I

5.Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

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This is my personal favourite top 50 albums of all time, this list can change because i can enter new things and my tastes may differ over time.

IS NOT UPDATED!

1.Cult Of Luna - Somewhere Along The Highway

2.Ulver - Perdition City

3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

5.Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal

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in no particular order

1.At The Gates - At War With Reality

2.Eluveitie - Origins

3.Opeth - Pale Communion

4.Alestorm - Sunset On The Golden Age

5.Equilibrium - Erdentempel

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1.Enslaved - RIITIIR

2.Meshuggah - Koloss

3.Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage

4.In Mourning - The Weight Of Oceans

5.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

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This is my personal list of the best albums in 2012. Only full-length albums, no EPs or live albums.

1.Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

2.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

3.Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth

4.Rush - Clockwork Angels

5.Overkill - The Electric Age

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1.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

2.3 Inches Of Blood - Long Live Heavy Metal

3.Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth

4.Threshold - March Of Progress

5.Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve

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1.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

2.Opera Diabolicus - 1614

3.Kamelot - Silverthorn

4.Halestorm - The Strange Case Of...

5.Devin Townsend - By A Thread - Live In London 2011

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I haven't been able to listen to all of this years top albums (As voted on by MS Users ) but, I tried dammit. This year was a bit disappointing as other years have had many more 9's and so on. Still a lot of great to really good releases either way.

1.Seven Kingdoms - The Fire Is Mine

2.Overkill - The Electric Age

3.Agua De Annique - Everything Is Changing

4.Sabaton - Carolus Rex

5.Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Lost In The New Real

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1.Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata

2.Anathema - Weather Systems

3.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

4.Atoma - Skylight

5.Torche - Harmonicraft

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1.Saturnus - Saturn In Ascension

2.Daylight Dies - A Frail Becoming

3.Atoma - Skylight

4.In Mourning - The Weight Of Oceans

5.Katatonia - Dead End Kings

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Because I reached the word limit on the previous list, and don't want to lose my quite excellent in-depth descriptions. Those without descriptions are from my other list.

1.Sylosis - Monolith

2.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

3.In The Silence - A Fair Dream Gone Mad

4.Abigail Williams - Becoming

5.Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Area 52

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