1.Blind Guardian - Beyond The Red Mirror

2.Motörhead - Bad Magic

3.Saxon - Battering Ram

4.Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

5.Helloween - My God-Given Right

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Folk metal is becoming one of my favorite subgenres within metal. It can fit whether you are dancing around a fire with a fine alcoholic beverage or just cleaning up around your house. I am making this list to provide some of my current favorite pieces of hammer-wielding/booze-chugging/kilt-sporting anthems.

1.Moonsorrow - Voimasta Ja Kunniasta

2.Finntroll - Nattfödd

3.Windir - 1184

4.Ensiferum - Iron

5.Forefather - Steadfast

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1.Ghost Brigade - IV - One With The Storm

2.Empyrium - The Turn Of The Tides

3.Insomnium - Shadows Of The Dying Sun

4.Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

5.In Flames - Siren Charms

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1.Soilwork - The Ride Majestic

2.Symphony X - Underworld

3.Lamb Of God - VII: Sturm Und Drang

4.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

5.Sylosis - Dormant Heart

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Well, here I put my personal top with which to me have been the best albums of 2014. They are not all they are, but if they all are.

1.Allegaeon - Elements Of The Infinite

2.Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails

3.Black Crown Initiate - The Wreckage Of Stars

4.Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater

5.Nero Di Marte - Derivae

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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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1.In Solitude - Sister

2.Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

3.Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork

4.Anciients - Heart Of Oak

5.Kataklysm - Waiting For The End To Come

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Listen to these today. I limited later Enslaved releases, as they become less and less "black metal" as time goes on. That is not to say you should not check them out.

1.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

2.Enslaved - Mardraum - Beyond The Within

3.Enslaved - Isa

4.Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam

5.Absu - Tara

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1.Helevorn - Compassion Forlorn

2.Septicflesh - Titan

3.Arch Enemy - War Eternal

4.Mors Principium Est - Dawn Of The 5th Era

5.Ghost Brigade - IV - One With The Storm

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Suggestions For The Eclectic Metalhead - 2014 Edition. I spent over half of 2014 NOT absorbing new metal, and thus spent the rest of the year catching up. I'm pretty certain I missed many great albums, as well as missing a few entire genres, so know that this isn't an exhaustive list (and why it is only 30 instead of 50). These albums all easily rate an 8 or higher and are my favorite and most recommended albums. If your tastes are equally varied, please recommend me your favorites in return!

1.Evenoire - Herons

2.Evergrey - Hymns For The Broken

3.Wayfarer - Children Of The Iron Age

4.November-7 - Awaraxid 7mg

5.Sivyj Yar - From The Dead Villages' Darkness

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1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Metallica - Metallica

3.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

4.Scorpions - Face The Heat

5.Stratovarius - Dreamspace

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1.Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen

2.Sólstafir - Ótta

3.Dread Sovereign - All Hell's Martyrs

4.Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

5.Darkest Era - Severance

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1.Fear Factory - Genexus

2.TesseracT - Polaris

3.Riverside - Love, Fear And The Time Machine

4.Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

5.Periphery - Juggernaut: Alpha & Omega

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1.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

2.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

3.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

4.Arch Enemy - Burning Bridges

5.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

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These are my favourite albums of 2014. You can find this list, together with some sentences about the albums, in my blog

http://forsakenatthegates.blogspot.se/

1.Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun

2.Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism

3.Anubis Gate - Horizons

4.Delain - The Human Contradiction

5.Vanden Plas - Chronicles Of The Immortals: Netherworld (Path 1)

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