I'm still catching up on 2011 while putting together my 2012 list. Here's what I've heard from 2011. This is bound to change a bit as I re-listen to these albums with a more critical ear and discover albums I missed entirely.

1. Deafheaven - Roads To Judah

2. Cormorant - Dwellings

3. Sleestak - The Fall of Altrusia

4. Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields

5. Falls of Rauros - The Light That Dwells In Rotten Wood

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Not a very good year. Not a single 9, the first six releases coming close though. Finally 20 worthy albums to called the "TOP."

The three EPs were included because they are all over 30 minutes.

1. Magnus - Magnus

2. Beyond Creation - The Aura

3. Obscura - Omnivium

4. Fluxious - Why So Serious?

5. Gorod - Transcendence

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Bests of 2011

1. Septicflesh - The Great Mass

2. Nightwish - Imaginaerum

3. Sons Of Seasons - Magnisphyricon

4. Riot - Immortal Soul

5. Symphony X - Iconoclast

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1. SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

2. Absu - Abzu

3. Mastodon - The Hunter

4. Enslaved - The Sleeping Gods

5. Disma - Towards The Megalith

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I am making a list for 2011. Like every one else. Originality is overrated anyway.
This is the very top of the year and still a work in progress.

1. Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

2. Beyond Creation - The Aura

3. Benighted - Asylum Cave

4. Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony

5. Obscura - Omnivium

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Purely subjective list based on personal preferences for the year, unrelated to mass opinion of an album or a band's abilities (e.g. Trivium, Oranssi Pazuzu) - many albums lined up to listen to so will increase in size. Also, not entirely in order, middle order mainly just an approximation.

1. Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

2. Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

3. Infestus - E x I s t

4. Amorphis - The Beginning Of Times

5. Ouroboros - Glorification Of A Myth

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1. Animals As Leaders - Weightless

2. Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

3. Born Of Osiris - The Discovery

4. Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

5. Cynic - Carbon-Based Anatomy

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1. Opeth - Heritage

2. Mastodon - The Hunter

3. Septicflesh - The Great Mass

4. Pain Of Salvation - Road Salt Two

5. Machine Head - Unto The Locust

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1. Devin Townsend - Deconstruction

2. Symphony X - Iconoclast

3. Dream Theater - A dramatic turn of events

4. Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

5. Machine Head - Unto The Locust

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