Top 50 ranking of 2020 from my collection. Only 8 & above

Opinion my own, so bow to it

Album count: 161
Average rating: 7.13

1.Myrkur - Folkesange

2.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

3.Dark Buddha Rising - Mathreyata

4.Ihsahn - Telemark

5.Ulver - Flowers Of Evil

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My very subjective ranking of all heard metal and metal-adjacent albums 2020.

1.Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

2.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

3.Mamaleek - Come & See

4.Sweven - The Eternal Resonance

5.Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

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1.Gravewürm - Funeral Rites

2.Todesstrafe - Under the Sign of the Storm

3.Horned Almighty - To Fathom The Master's Grand Design

4.Jordablod - The Cabinet Of Numinous Song

5.Kvaen - The Funeral Pyre

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All write-in votes from Metal Storm Awards 2020

1.

2.

3.Amaranthe - Manifest

4.Avatar - Hunter Gatherer

5.El Lobo En Tu Puerta - Santana Bendita

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It's that magical time of the year again, when it's almost impossible to choose your top albums for the previous year, but here we are. Some of these bands delivered a much needed soundtrack for one of the toughest years so far, and I must say I'm satisfied. The list in itself is in order about halfway in, the rest I couldn't decide about, so the second half is not ranged in any particular order.  I won't go too much into details, but here are some main impressions.

1.Dark Tranquillity - Moment

2.Draconian - Under A Godless Veil

3.Secrets Of The Moon - Black House

4.Pain Of Salvation - Panther

5.Katatonia - City Burials

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It could be changed in the future. ;-)

1.Cryptic Shift - Visitations From Enceladus

2.Ulver - Flowers Of Evil

3.Katalepsy - Terra Mortuus Est

4.Arsebreed - Butoh

5.Pharaoh Overlord - #6

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It is interesting to see how the passing of time affects taste, preferences, and lists of this type. I'm writing these lists as a means to share the music I like, and by now it has become a tradition, albeit one which very few people read on a regular basis, if at all, but one which I have no intention of giving up. I published my first yearly list back in 2007. At first, I would publish them on last.FM and myspace (yes, I am that old), then I moved to Facebook, migrated to Tumblr, think I even tried Instagram, but I was never satisfied with any of those as a platform to share my annual and other lists and scribblings with others. Some years ago I started sharing my lists on the metal storm, thanks to their quite useful tool called lists, which is made for exactly that reason. When I added my lists to the metal storm, I reworked them and expanded a bit, adding some sort of a template, from my old lists that I still had saved up at various places. Besides a top ten and honorable mentions, there are few other sub-categories, which are basically just my way of telling people that I really loved that album, and that they should really fuckin'listen to it. The fact that I think that anyone besides myself is actually that much interested in my annual top lists or best (mostly) metal albums speaks more about me, I guess.

1.Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota

2.Myrkur - Folkesange

3.Ensiferum - Thalassic

4.Thy Catafalque - Naiv

5.Sojourner - Premonitions

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updated, but still more bands to consider

1.Spectral Lore - Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine [Collaboration]

2.Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

3.Abigor - Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook)

4.Enslaved - Utgard

5.Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo

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1.Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned

2.Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota

3.Finntroll - Vredesvävd

4.Wayfarer - A Romance With Violence

5.Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

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Adding albums for my recollection.

1.Pain Of Salvation - Panther

2.Godthrymm - Reflections

3.Crippled Black Phoenix - Ellengæst

4.Countless Skies - Glow

5.Takatak - Acrophase

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My favourite albums of 2020.

I've taken a new approach this year - switching to ratings out of 5, rounded to the nearest 0.5. Trying to rate everything to the nearest 0.1 was becoming a chore. Anything rated lower than 2/5 has been excluded.

Also, while my previous lists have been 99% metal, 2020 has seen me exploring music across a much broader range of genres.

1.Loathe - I Let It In And It Took Everything

2.Hum - Inlet

3.Satyr - Locus

4.Deftones - Ohms

5.Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

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Reviving the old tradition of yearly lists. I was uncertain, because my lists have barely any metal and certainly none that MSers don't already know about, but there's nowhere else to publish this shit, either!

1.Ichiko Aoba - "Gift" at Sogetsu Hall

2.Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

3.Ichiko Aoba - Adan no kaze

4.tricot - 真っ黒 (Makkuro)

5.tricot - 10

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Just about finished the first half of the year without losing too much to the character limit; I have learnt to make these list descriptions increasingly pithy

1.Enslaved - Utgard

2.Wills Dissolve - Echoes

3.Wayfarer - A Romance With Violence

4.Aversio Humanitatis - Behold The Silent Dwellers

5.Lucid Planet - Lucid Planet II

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Manuel Castillo (Amusia) is a Mexican youtuber/reviewer specialized in heavy metal, who makes reviews without pression from the labels or distros. His passion and knowledge are the best tools he has and is followed by almost 70,000 people from the Spanish-speaking community. His partner, Carlos, also make reviews but of underground bands.

1.Haunt - Mind Freeze

2.Annihilator - Ballistic, Sadistic

3.Mystic Prophecy - Metal Division

4.Lorna Shore - Immortal

5.God Dethroned - Illuminati

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Haven't made one of these in awhile. Damn life. But I love to share music and have quality discussions on it
List is IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
Suggestions more than Welcome. Let's listen.

1.Dyssidia - Costly Signals

2.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

3.Testament - Titans Of Creation

4.Katatonia - City Burials

5.Heaven Shall Burn - Of Truth & Sacrifice

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