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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If you're like me and can't sit still with just one or two genres, perhaps you'll find some ideas in this list. I kept the variety with genres, but also by including all worthy bands from unknown newcomers all the way up to big names. Basically, everything I liked this year.

Since there are so many genres here, don't get too worked up about specific rating and placement. They're generally in order, but more importantly they're all amazing.

1.Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy - Návaz

2.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

3.Autumn - Cold Comfort

4.Shadowside - Inner Monster Out

5.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

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1.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

2.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

3.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

4.Mercenary - Metamorphosis

5.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

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I picked one album by each of my favorite bands for this list. Keep in mind that after the first few albums I put on the list, it became increasingly difficult to figure out where to place artists in my list. Also, this is kind of how my favorite bands lie now, as far as how often I listen to them - whereas some of these bands used to be much more frequently played, years ago. But this is, more or less, a list of my favorite albums by my favorite bands.

1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Seventh Wonder - The Great Escape

3.Symphony X - The Odyssey

4.Circus Maximus - Nine

5.Haken - Visions

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1.Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

2.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

3.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

4.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

5.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

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Without following any specific order. Some albums are more power/symphonic/thrash than prog but for some reasons i thought they deserved a place in this list.

1.Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

2.Guilt Machine - On This Perfect Day

3.Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter

4.Opeth - Blackwater Park

5.Sun Caged - The Lotus Effect

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2008 might've been my first proper taste of metal, with the acquisition of albums from the likes of Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath and that most grandiose of gateway bands, DragonForce. 2009 might've seen me expanding my palette, with Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, and more entering my world, and Guns N' Roses triumphantly re-entering it. But 2010 was when I delved into more 'intense' stuff with Machine Head, In Flames, and most notably of all, Sylosis, and saw my relationship with metal shift from ever-increasing interest into full-blown love affair. To commemorate this 5-year anniversary, and because I love making lists, I decided to do a retrospective of the best albums and songs that have been released during this time period, and give brief tributes to them. Yay music!

1.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

2.Sylosis - Monolith

3.Protest The Hero - Volition

4.Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR

5.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

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In each year we can expect that some albums are the best,so i created this list to let the cat out of the bag and inform it before the time
i just guessed about them but i wanna test my mantic (?) sense and of course it's NOT by rating from top. sometimes i use multiple album in a special genre cause i don't know the exact one. (sorry for my bad English)

1.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

2.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

3.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

4.Opeth - Heritage

5.Megadeth - Th1rt3en

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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.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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The label metal includes heavy, power, black...

1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

3.Rush - 2112

4.Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite

5.Opeth - Still Life

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It remains to add bands that haven't released album and add personal comments.

1.Symphony X - Iconoclast

2.Iced Earth - Dystopia

3.Vektor - Outer Isolation

4.Megadeth - Th1rt3en

5.Warbringer - Worlds Torn Asunder

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Pending listen: Vektor, Blut Aus Nord, Iron Savior, Aenaon

By the end of the year, this will be my top 50.

1.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

2.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

3.Woods Of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason

4.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

5.Draconian - A Rose For The Apocalypse

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My best to worst of 2011 so far. I'll keep this updated as the year progresses and as I listen to more.

1.Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

2.Vektor - Outer Isolation

3.Haken - Visions

4.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

5.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

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1.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

2.Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

3.Judas Priest - Firepower

4.Pallbearer - Heartless

5.Vektor - Terminal Redux

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