Going backwards in time still, here's the 2015 list. Let me know what I missed!

1.Abhorrent - Intransigence

2.Abyssal - Antikatastaseis

3.Acrania - Fearless

4.Æpoch - Æpochalypse

5.Ahab - The Boats Of The Glen Carrig

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2000-2004 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5844
2005-2009 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5838
2010-2014 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5828

I sure do love this site and it's rating system, it makes finding great music so easy and, even more importantly, when an album is overlooked for a while but starts getting a buzz a few months later, boom, there it appears in the top 20.

All that being said, I still wish there was some way to get a weighted ranking that not only takes the rating of the album into account, but also the number of votes that were cast. For example, an album with a rating of 8.8 and 1000 votes would rank higher than an album with a rating of 8.9 and 20 votes. So, I scraped all the albums on the site with at least 1 vote into a database. Then, taking a leaf out of IMDb's book, I used Bayesian estimation (like the IMDb's Top 250) to calculate a weighted rating for each album based on its Metal Storm rating and the number of votes it had received.

The formula for calculating the Top 100 Albums gives a true Bayesian estimate:
Bayes rating (BR) = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) where:
C = average expected rating given...
m = minimum number of votes
R = average rating for the album = (Metal Storm rating)
N = number of votes for the album = (votes)

The way the Bayesian estimator works is that all albums in the database are given and additional m fake votes with an average rating of C, irrespective of how many true votes it already has. Then a new weighted rating is calculated...
If the album has no true votes ( N = 0 ), then BR = ( C × m + R × 0 ) ÷ ( m + 0) = C × m ÷ m = C (the average expected rating).
If the album has a number of true votes equal to the minimum ( N = m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × m ) ÷ ( m + m ) = ( C + R ) × m ÷ 2m = ( C + R ) ÷ 2 (halfway between the two ratings).
If the album has a very large number of true votes ( N >> m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) ≈ R × N ÷ N = R (the Metal Storm rating).
This means that the Bayes rating will never equal the Metal Storm rating but will approach it as the true votes grows arbitrarily large.

Now that the maths bit is out of the way, here was my methodology:
Only Studio and EP album types, from the years 2015 to 2019, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2015-2019.
The minimum number of votes (m) was determined by calculating the 75th percentile of the votes, rounded to the nearest 10.
I also decided that if an album's Bayes rating was within 0.005 of #100, it would be included too; hence the +2.

C for 2015-2019 = 7.422
m = 20

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2015 - 31
2016 - 24
2017 - 18
2018 - 12
2019 - 17

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Mgła - Exercises In Futility

2.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

4.Vektor - Terminal Redux

5.Trees Of Eternity - Hour Of The Nightingale

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1.Epica - The Quantum Enigma

2.Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

3.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle

4.Leah - Kings & Queens

5.Eluveitie - Helvetios

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1.Symphony X - Underworld

2.Pressure Points - False Lights

3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

4.Phantasma (NED) - The Deviant Hearts

5.Draconian - Sovran

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overall it was a great yer , i heard so many good albums this year so here i put the list of my favorites

1.Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss

2.Dave Gahan & Soulsavers - Angels And Ghosts

3.Puscifer - Money Shot

4.Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

5.Paul Minesweeper - Northreach

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Order is sorted by album repeat.

1.Leprous - The Congregation

2.Enslaved - In Times

3.Rivers Of Nihil - Monarchy

4.Melechesh - Enki

5.Northlane - Node

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1.Tribulation - The Children Of The Night

2.Slayer - Repentless

3.Leprous - The Congregation

4.Unleashed - Dawn Of The Nine

5.Kauan - Sorni Nai

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My favourite albums of the past year, the list + some words about the albums can also be found on my blog
https://forsakenatthegates.blogspot.com

1.Fear Factory - Genexus

2.Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

3.Cain's Offering - Stormcrow

4.Vanden Plas - Chronicles Of The Immortals: Netherworld II

5.Gloryhammer - Space 1992: Rise Of The Chaos Wizards

      View entire list ››

This decade just keeps on delivering awesome albums. So glad that so many old favourites of mine delivered great stuff. Tribulation is by far the winner this year with one of the best albums I've ever heard.

1.Tribulation - The Children Of The Night

2.Arcturus - Arcturian

3.Cain's Offering - Stormcrow

4.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

5.Grift - Syner

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This is my top albums for 2015 So far ..

1.Enshine - Singularity

2.Draconian - Sovran

3.Moonspell - Extinct

4.Exgenesis - Aphotic Veil

5.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

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2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

1.Finsterforst - Mach Dich Frei

2.A Secret Revealed - The Bleakness

3.Wolfheart - Shadow World

4.My Sleeping Karma - Moksha

5.Ereb Altor - Nattramn

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Been a bit slow checking releases around the halfway point of the year, but should get back into it soon and hopefully flesh out this list.

1.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

2.Horrendous - Anareta

3.Slugdge - Dim & Slimeridden Kingdoms

4.Teramaze - Her Halo

5.Regarde Les Hommes Tomber - Exile

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Again... I do not aim to be the most extreme or have the quirkiest taste. It's not a massive dump-it-all-here list as I've obviously filtered out those that I doubt I'd revisit later. These albums are what I find aurally pleasing, and for those passing by, I hope you will find something here. Shall be updated periodically. Perhaps I'll have more time to listen to music this year.

1.Chapel Of Disease - The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Art

2.Naïve - Altra

3.Kontinuum - Kyrr

4.Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr

5.Enslaved - In Times

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You know the drill.

1.A Swarm Of The Sun - The Rifts

2.Actors&Actresses - Pyre

3.An Autumn For Crippled Children - The Long Goodbye

4.Anderwelt - Schattenlichter

5.Anomalie - Refugium

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Here's another list based on the albums i've enjoyed listening to most in 2015. Consider it a best to worst based on all the albums i've checked out. This list does not reflect the views of others on MS, but some of the albums here are really awesome and you should check out some of them, you might find you liked it as much as I did.

1.Galneryus - Under The Force Of Courage

2.Wilderun - Sleep At The Edge Of The Earth

3.Orden Ogan - Ravenhead

4.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

5.Sunless Rise - Unrevealed

      View entire list ››