1.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

2.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

3.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

4.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

5.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

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Orthodoxy is for morons who cannot compose or create themselves and need to copy the blueprint of someone else. Daring to be different might make your music stand apart. Daring to be different and standing apart might draw more people to your music. Daring to be different might make you more popular - and thus more hipster. So grow some facial hair, put on an ironic shirt, grab a PBR, and listen up.

1.Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit

2.Alcest - Écailles De Lune

3.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Sect(s)

4.Darkspace - III

5.Darkthrone - Circle The Wagons

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Creating good music might not be an easy task, but most bands in existence consist of multiple members who contribute to the music. One-man bands however are simply musicians who create the music all by themselves, which, in my opinion, is very impressive. Because of the fact that there are quite a few of these talented musicians, I created this list. Of course there are many more one-man band albums than I have listed here and that's why I'm open to suggestions. So be sure to give me recommendations and also let me know if I listed the "wrong" album by a band (in your opinion). Lastly, the list is ranked according to genre and then alphabetically. I only add 1 (full-length) album per band (and only albums that are featured on MS).

1.

2.Aarni - Bathos

3.Brown Jenkins - Death Obsession

4.Cloak Of Altering - Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids

5.De Magia Veterum - The Divine Antithesis

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I list the black metal artworks which are the most different and appealing, at least for my eyes, and give a brief excuse for a somewhat explanation of why I think it.
Edit: As suggested, I gave a link to the inages of the albums not feat. here non MS. For all the other ones... Well, one can always click on the album name.

1.A Forest Of Stars - A Shadowplay For Yesterdays

2.A Forest Of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring

3.Abigail Williams - Becoming

4.Ad Hominem - Dictator

5.Alcest - Le Secret

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My favorites from 2011
I still need to check out (Smohalla - Fell Voices - Sleestak - Arizmenda - Owl - Cloak Of Altering)

1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields

3.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

4.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

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Each year countless of albums come out. This is obviously by no means a definitive guide because as of 14/12/2011, I've only heard 364 releases from 2011, but do check these albums out if you haven't already! Feel free to throw stuff at my direction. In a rough order right now and rankings get rearranged every now and again. Will be trimmed around again in January / February. Note that I still have plenty to check out though.

1.Terra Tenebrosa - The Tunnels

2.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

3.Born Of Osiris - The Discovery

4.The Psychic Paramount - II

5.Flourishing - The Sum Of All Fossils

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A list of my favorite recent albums in 2011. I'll update this list regularly. In no particular order. I added the rating next to them for the curious ones, but you should check them all.

1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Mitochondrion - Parasignosis

3.Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields

4.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

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This is a list of my favorite releases of 2011. The top 50 is in order of preference, the rest are in random order. I have ranked 150 albums in order of preference on RateYourMusic, but I cannot be bothered to do twice the work. Check my profile there for more rankings and reviews.

My reviews
Top 150 and more.

1.PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2.SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

3.Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro

4.Eleanoora Rosenholm - Hyväile minua pimeä tähti

5.Giles Corey - Giles Corey

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Quite a polarizing year, this one. On one hand, some releases redefined crap itself. On the other hand, we've got quite a few great and awesome albums. All in all, it was a bit disappointing for me, but I won't complain much indeed (unless I compare it with 2007 of course)...

1 to 5: Cream of the crop, by preference order.

1.Lazuli - (4603 Battements)

2.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

3.Devin Townsend - Deconstruction

4.Terra Tenebrosa - The Tunnels

5.Unexpect - Fables Of The Sleepless Empire

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This year was quite interesting as far as releases go. All-in-all, it was a GREAT year for good albums, but not a GOOD year for great albums. Usually, there are about 40 albums fighting vigorously for a spot in my lists. This year, there were ten clear cut favorites and a bunch of better-than-average arm arm wrestling for the rest of the final spots. Although my duties at metalreview.com prevent me from spending too much time around these parts, I was still a vicious lurker and enjoy being a part of this community (albeit somewhat silent). To anyone with similar tastes that may have had a good album or two fall through the cracks, I hope this list or any of my others will be of good use to you.

1.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

2.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

3.Sorgeldom - ...From Outer Intelligences

4.Lifelover - Sjukdom

5.Mournful Congregation - The Book Of Kings

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Pretty simple. The best to worst of BaN.
I really don't like their melodic side and prefer their industrial/ dissonant sound, so I guess this list is very predictable.

1.Blut Aus Nord - MoRT

2.Blut Aus Nord - Thematic Emanation Of Archetypal Multiplicity

3.Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God

4.Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses

5.Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber II

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So like albums that have a clear tie between them, were recorded around about the same time and were clearly intended together, as opposed to a sequel coming years after. Some of these have actually been released together, as can be seen here.

That's about all I can think of right now. So feel free to think of some more for me.

1.Opeth - Deliverance

2.Opeth - Damnation

3.Metallica - Load

4.Metallica - Re-Load

5.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

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20 Essential Hipster Black Metal Albums. (One Album Per Band)

1.Liturgy (US-NY) - Aesthethica

2.Krallice - Diotima

3.Deathspell Omega - Paracletus

4.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Sect(s)

5.Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1

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What I listened to last year.

1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Alda - : Tahoma :

3.Alrakis - Alpha Eri

4.Anaal Nathrakh - Passion

5.Ash Borer - Ash Borer

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1.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

2.Shining - VII - Född Förlorare

3.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

4.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

5.Beyond Creation - The Aura

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