working on the final review

1.Cain's Offering - Gather The Faithful

2.Sonata Arctica - The Days Of Grays

3.Amorphis - Skyforger

4.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5.Shakra - Everest

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My favorite element about music is probably atmosphere. My mind is a lazy, albeit adventurous, asshole that likes to take vacations whenever it can. And what better than the surprise mental adventures that music takes you on? SHUT UP. SHUT UP. Nothing is better. Whether I'm whisked away on the wings of a dragon, sitting around a campfire with a group of vikings just before battle, wandering around a haunted castle, or floating around FUCKING SPACE, I love these adventures. Yes. Yes, I do. And here are my favorite albums that have incredible atmosphere for me to get lost in. (No particular order)

1.Bal-Sagoth - Battle Magic

2.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

3.Green Carnation - Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness

4.Rhapsody Of Fire - Dawn Of Victory

5.Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées

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1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

3.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

4.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

5.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

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My best of 2009

1.Epica - Design Your Universe

2.Trail Of Tears - Bloodstained Endurance

3.Wine From Tears - Through The Eyes Of A Mad

4.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5.Novembers Doom - Into Night's Requiem Infernal

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1.Kalisia - Cybion

2.Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió

3.Karnivool - Sound Awake

4.Finsterforst - ...Zum Tode Hin

5.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

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1.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

2.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

5.Mors Principium Est - The Unborn

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Here are my top 25 of 2009, going to try to get more years done as I get more free time.

1.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

2.Baroness - Blue Record

3.Amorphis - Skyforger

4.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

5.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

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I havnt been into metal all that long...so this is a good chuck of the metal albums i own...though ive heard many, many more....these are all albums ive spent a lot of time with (or soon will). I tried to stay away from multiple albums by an artist, but a few exceptions were made hehe.

1.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

2.3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom

3.Absu - Tara

4.ADX - Division Blindée

5.Agalloch - The Mantle

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1.Obscura - Cosmogenesis

2.Ensiferum - From Afar

3.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

4.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

5.Warbringer - Waking Into Nightmares

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- only studio albums
- only albums featured on MS

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

3.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

4.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

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Call me easily impressed or what, but 2009 has been an amazing year for metal releases for me. Being well into 2010, I had the chance to let everything sink in and the more memorable albums stand out more while certain release that had initially escaped attention could also be "auditioned". Having listened to over 230 releases, just narrowing down a list of top 30 has already been a challenge, but for an annual list to go over 20 kind of loses its purpose of recommendation, so I just tried even harder. At the same time, I allowed myself to cheat a little bit by using another list of overlooked albums and influential albums. Some that didn't quite make the cut: Bloodbound, Artillery, Delain, Fairyland, Dark Moor, Vomitory, Immortal, Paradise Lost, Amesoeurs, Skyfire, The 11th Hour, Process Of Guilt and Anaal Nathrakh

1.Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió

2.Amorphis - Skyforger

3.Samael - Above

4.Sun Of The Blind - Skullreader

5.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

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Mah favorite albums of 2009! (Some of them are missing, but this are the ones I can recall because I have listened them too many times). Enjoy, and stay Metal! >:[

1.Kathaarsys - Anonymous Ballad

2.Process Of Guilt - Erosion

3.Warbringer - Waking Into Nightmares

4.Pensées Nocturnes - Vacuum

5.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

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My top Metal picks for 2009. It was in interesting year and a good transition into what I feel will be a decade of progression as never seen before.

If you don't agree with my list, make your own. I obviously don't have time to listen to 5,000 albums every year. Magazines that do, such as Decibel or Terrorizer, usually have trouble conjuring up 40 quality albums to throw on their yearly lists, so cut me some slack...I am not working with a team of people, and I don't get paid. I'm sure there are plenty of great albums that I have yet to discover or that I have just not been able to listen to...but all of those that are listed have been personally approved by me. The numbers are not as important to me. I would greatly appreciate some "Thumbs ups", as I have put a lot of my personal time into this list, and also into reviewing these great albums.

1.Wodensthrone - Loss

2.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

3.Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow

4.Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

5.Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave

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1.Process Of Guilt - Erosion

2.Darzamat - Solfernus' Path

3.Madder Mortem - Eight Ways

4.Trail Of Tears - Bloodstained Endurance

5.Anubis Gate - The Detached

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1.Swallow The Sun - New Moon

2.Avantasia - The Wicked Symphony

3.Epica - Design Your Universe

4.Avantasia - Angel Of Babylon

5.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

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