After clocking well over 700 albums in 2020, I'm hoping 2021 will be a bit busier IRL and thus slightly less comprehensively covered in these lists, but let's see - with all the new strains emerging, who TF knows when we might return to a semblance of normality. Until then, I'll be trying to make sure that nothing noteworthy passes my radar.

1.Vulgaris - Asundre

2.Dvne - Etemen Ænka

3.Heliocentric - Ishmael

4.Decline Of The I - Johannes

5.Dordeduh - Har

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Keeping track of 2021's albums

1.First Fragment - Gloire Éternelle

2.Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse

3.Thy Catafalque - Vadak

4.Between The Buried And Me - Colors II

5.Iotunn - Access All Worlds

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1.Lorna Shore - ...And I Return To Nothingness

2.Harakiri For The Sky - Mære

3.Monolord - Your Time To Shine

4.Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion

5.Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Noktvrn

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2 Anno Covidi

1.Khirki - Κτηνωδία

2.Band-Maid - Unseen World

3.Dread Sovereign - Alchemical Warfare

4.Need - Norchestrion: A Song For The End

5.Dvne - Etemen Ænka

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1.Turnstile - Glow On

2.The Armed - Ultrapop

3.Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready

4.Panopticon - . . . And Again Into The Light

5.Thirdface - Do It With A Smile

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This list is meant to be an extensive, but by no means exhaustive, collection of the greatest (modern) metal albums and eps. Running the gamut from avant-garde to trve norweigan black metal. *As someone who is young in age, my tastes tend to revolve around the period of the 80s to the present.* Although certain metal albums from before will certainly be featured, the period of the 60s-70s will be under-represented. I refer you to this excellent list to gain a better appreciation for some of the best metal from that period: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/freis/martin_popoffs_the_top_500_heavy_metal_albums_of_all_time/

1.Macabre - Murder Metal

2.Macabre Omen - Gods Of War - At War

3.Macbeth - Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo

4.Machinae Supremacy - Overworld

5.Machine Head - The Blackening

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1.Asphyx - Necroceros

2.Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined

3.Fulci - Exhumed Information

4.Baest - Necro Sapiens

5.Hooded Menace - The Tritonus Bell

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1.Beast In Black - Dark Connection

2.1914 - Where Fear And Weapons Meet

3.Duskmourn - Fallen Kings And Rusted Crowns

4.Grima - Rotten Garden

5.Gojira - Fortitude

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As is the case with my other lists, this is for my own organizational purposes and is designed purely to help me keep track of all the many black metal bands and albums that I enjoy, since I can't keep all of this information in my head. It has no other benefit whatsoever and will likely result in tantrums should anyone else see it. I'm aware that I haven't listened to every black metal album that I should have. I only went down to the 6s on this list, so it's possible that I have listened to your favorite black metal album that you desperately need to suggest and I thought it was terrible. There are a lot of heinously incompetent black metal bands out there.

On the off-chance that you've found this and actually care about what I think (you shouldn't), be advised that my favorites come first. Some are favorites in the general sense; some are favorites within black metal. The first few of those are in some order and not so much after that.

Because this is for my own purposes and not intended to be a definitive list of pure black metal, there are some black metal-adjacent bands, or albums by black metal bands that may not themselves be black metal. That's why you'll find so much Sigh clogging up the top of the list. I prefer to keep whole discographies together on one list. I used to include Primordial, Forefather, and other such bands, but a while back I created a list for folk and I decided that those artists would fit better there.

I update these lists very infrequently. This was last updated December 7, 2022.

1.Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape

2.Sigh - Graveward

3.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

4.Sigh - Heir To Despair

5.The Meads Of Asphodel - The Murder Of Jesus The Jew

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