A lot of bands have great debut albums. Obviously this list is just a fraction of all the great debut albums out there, but it's a start. I'll keep expanding this list continuously, so all suggestions are welcome (granted they are featured on MS). All the albums here are ranked according to genre and then alphabetically. If a certain album belongs to the (in your opinion) wrong genre, then definitely let me know.

1.

2.Aarni - Bathos

3.Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia

4.Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Butcher's Ballroom

5.Sadness - Ames De Marbre

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***Currently working through suggestions and adding some spacey non-metal things when they cross my mind***
As a lover of all things sci-fi I find metal to be the most accommodating of genres when it comes to themes of space/aliens. This is a list of those albums which use this theme and/or evoke an overall 'spacey' atmosphere and which I find particularly intriguing and enjoyable. No order for now and a work in progress (recommendations most welcome) Last Updated: 9th April 2014

1.Atoma - Skylight

2.Ayreon - The Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream Sequencer

3.Dol Ammad - Star Tales

4.Star One - Space Metal

5.Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic : Calling

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My top 50 from 2013. Definitely a triumphant year for death metal. Enjoy, my heathens.

1.Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum

2.Wormlust - The Feral Wisdom

3.Station Dysthymia - Overhead, Without Any Fuss, The Stars Were Going Out

4.Gorguts - Colored Sands

5.Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

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This will the best place to jot down my favorite music for 2013...I'll follow IronAngel's rating system (3.5-5 and can change at anytime). Arrows indicate trending...

1.Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

2.Everything In Slow Motion - Phoenix

3.Steak Number Eight - The Hutch

4.Fen - Dustwalker

5.Enshine - Origin

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I know I probably speak for a lot of people when I say that, very often, the artwork that a band chooses for a particular album can be the icing on the cake, essential to giving a visual depiction that tops off the overall aesthetic of the music. There are plenty of albums that I simply couldn't imagine listening to without staring, zoned out, to the big ball of glorious that is their cover art. Here are some such albums. In alphabetical order by band. Links to full images of the covers have been provided, as well as credits to the artists.

1.Aarni - Bathos

2.Absu - The Sun Of Tiphareth

3.Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

4.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

5.Blue Öyster Cult - Fire Of Unknown Origin

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Music with a spacey touch...
Recommendations are welcome (only one album per band)

1.Aeons Confer - Symphonies Of Saturnus

2.Alrakis - Alpha Eri

3.Amestigon - Sun Of All Suns

4.Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies

5.Astral Silence - Astral Journey

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To explain the title, there is no year 0, regardless of what Ghost may tell you. Thus, the first decade was years 1-10, instead of 0-9. So then it would be 11-20, and so on. But I know that would imply that Paranoid is a 60s album, which we cannot have.

So now that all the cool kids are doing it, here is my top 100 albums of the "decade", most of it might be a bit too mainsteam, most of it you'll find on others' lists, and so on. Restricted to one album per artist/band (including collabs), ordered alphabetically.

1.Abyssal - Antikatastaseis

2.Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

3.Akhlys - The Dreaming I

4.Alcest - Écailles De Lune

5.Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

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These are the albums I've enjoyed so far this year to which I've given an approximate rating and organised in a rough order of preference. As the year progresses I'll add some descriptions to them as well. EP's are also included.

Recent additions: Armory, Russian Circles, Ulver, Tad Morose, SubRosa, Almah, Blood Bright Star, Autumnblaze, Ayreon, Chthonic, Darkestrah, God Is An Astronaut, Képzelt Város, Lodz, Månegarm, Obscure Sphinx, Caligula's Horse, Sky Architect, Keldian, Monster Magnet

1.Vulture Industries - The Tower

2.The Moth Gatherer - A Bright Celestial Light

3.Walrus - Walrus

4.Clutch - Earth Rocker

5.Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu

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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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Track of the year: Prayer for Ascetic Misery- Ævangelist
Runners-up: Dyodyo Asema- Gnaw Their Tongues & Alkerdeel / Hereditaria- Lords of Bukkake /In Silence - The Prophecy/ Overcome- Hacride/ Atlas Stone- Haken/ s1- Blindead
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Great Lists to check out: R'Vannith, MechanisT, musclassia, teaster, Alex Fenger, !J.O.O.E.!, Nefarious, coolingsrock, 3rdWorld, any list by mz, Moose, etc.

1.Ævangelist - Omen Ex Simulacra

2.Cult Of Occult - Hic Est Domus Diaboli

3.Lords of Bukkake - Desagravio

4.Eloa Vadaath - Dead End Proclama

5.Haken - The Mountain

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Self explanatory. Favorite metal albums from this current decade. It's probably going to be mostly black, doom, and drone related type albums, as that's mostly what I listen to, but not entirely. Full streams provided when available.

Hopefully this'll be something to return to nostalgically when I'm 40 and we can access the Internet neurologically while we sleep.

1.

2.Ihsahn - After

3.The Body - All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood

4.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

5.Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones

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I began this decade in my final year of high school, in the early phases of my metal journey (Mastodon, Machine Head, Dream Theater, Pantera and Avenged Sevenfold were still recent discoveries). One Masters degree and one PhD later, I'm now a tax-paying Londonian, and have ploughed through what must be comfortably over 2000 new releases during the previous ten years. To commemorate the end of a turbulent decade, I've put together a list of the albums that have stuck with me throughout this decade - I wouldn't consider this to be a 'best albums' list, as there have been some truly ingenious works released in more avant-garde territories, but ultimately these are the albums that have ended up dominating my listening habits, or otherwise making a sufficient impression to make this list.

1.Sylosis - Monolith

2.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

4.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

5.Cult Of Luna - Vertikal

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Metal albums of all things techy, futuristic, distorted, synthetic and artificial of the industrial nature.
Includes some single tracks and full albums from YouTube.
Recommendations/suggestions are welcome and one album per band.

1.2 Times Terror - Equals One Sudden Death

2....And Oceans - Allotropic/Metamorphic Genesis Of Dismorphism (A.M.G.O.D.)

3.Aborym - With No Human Intervention

4.Atrophia Red Sun - Twisted Logic

5.Black Comedy - Instigator

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As usual, interesting albums of the year to be ranked and reviewed.

This time I'll make it easier for myself, and group weaker releases by genre as soon as I rate them. Expect only 5-3,5/5 to be ranked in order of preference, and possibly a 3,25 category if it's needed.

1.Torres - Torres

2.SubRosa - More Constant Than The Gods

3.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

4.Procession - To Reap Heavens Apart

5.Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother

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Pretty self explanatory. Although I usually forget to keep these kinds of lists up all year so we'll see if I keep this one up all year or forget about this one too after a couple months...

*This list is not in order of preference, just the order in which I add the albums so as to make it easy to identify the most recently added albums.

1.Abyssal - Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius

2.Amiensus - Restoration

3.Lascaille's Shroud - Interval 01: Parallel Infinities - The Inner Universe

4.Katalepsy - Autopsychosis

5.Octopus - Into The Void Of Fear

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