1.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

2.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

3.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

4.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

5.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

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Some albums are really good. Many of these are good all the way around. And, in many cases, there is a single song that stands out, sometimes it's the last song on the album. This is a list of those songs.

For a more in depth look at this, I've codified each into a given category:
Type 1 - 'The long song at the end.' Often the title track. These have a tendency to be most well written and dynamic pieces on the album.

1.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

2.Abigail Williams - Becoming

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

5.Anekdoten - Vemod

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My tops of this year. If you wanna know anything about those albums or got suggestions PM me!

1.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

2.Leprous - Bilateral

3.Devin Townsend - Deconstruction

4.Minushuman - Bloodthrone

5.Textures - Dualism

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If you're like me and can't sit still with just one or two genres, perhaps you'll find some ideas in this list. I kept the variety with genres, but also by including all worthy bands from unknown newcomers all the way up to big names. Basically, everything I liked this year.

Since there are so many genres here, don't get too worked up about specific rating and placement. They're generally in order, but more importantly they're all amazing.

1.Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy - Návaz

2.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

3.Autumn - Cold Comfort

4.Shadowside - Inner Monster Out

5.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

      View entire list ››

My top albums of the year, roughly in order.

1.Ouroboros - Glorification Of A Myth

2.Vektor - Outer Isolation

3.Xerath - II

4.Vildhjarta - Måsstaden

5.Havok - Time Is Up

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This is a list of my favorite releases of 2011. The top 50 is in order of preference, the rest are in random order. I have ranked 150 albums in order of preference on RateYourMusic, but I cannot be bothered to do twice the work. Check my profile there for more rankings and reviews.

My reviews
Top 150 and more.

1.PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2.SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

3.Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro

4.Eleanoora Rosenholm - Hyväile minua pimeä tähti

5.Giles Corey - Giles Corey

      View entire list ››

1.Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

2.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

3.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

4.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

5.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

      View entire list ››

Right... Let's get this out of the way from the get-go. Alternative metal is hard to define. I guess that comes from it always wanting to experiment, explore and fuse heavy metal with non-metal music genres. It also makes it an ever changing and growing genre.

Also, before you guys flood me, yes my list contains a lot of Industrial & Nu Metal bands, as well as other genre.. As far as I'm concerned, my picks all fit quite well in the scope of an alternative metal list. Don't you agree? Wait... You disagree? Well, let's agree to disagree and move on.

As for the list itself, I'm going to try and list through time what I (me, myself & moi) consider as essential alternative albums. I will also limit myself to a maximum of 4 releases each year to prevent a messy list, which often makes it a difficult decision, especially in the early 2000's. So yes, it is possible your personal favourite won't be featured. You can tell me all about it in the comments below and we can discuss it, even argue it.

Now, have fun, enjoy my list and let me know what you think or would personally put in your favourite alt-metal list!

-Guib-

EDIT: I will now add my pick for best album of each year using the (best of xxxx) in the chosen album's description.

- - - - -

Guib's Best Alternative Metal Album Picks

Best Of 2022
Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die

Best Of 2023
Mutoid Man - Mutants

Best of 2024 So Far
...tbd

- - - - - - - - - -

Last Updated: March 27th, 2024

1.Living Colour - Vivid

2.Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

3.Faith No More - The Real Thing

4.Godflesh - Streetcleaner

5.L7 - Smell The Magic

      View entire list ››

In my opinion, the best albuns of 2011

1.Symphony X - Iconoclast

2.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

3.Krisiun - The Great Execution

4.Shadowside - Inner Monster Out

5.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

      View entire list ››

This list will expand later and the positions here will probably change a bit as well. An interesting feature is an album in top 10 from a band that's not featured on Metal Storm yet.

1.Amorphis - The Beginning Of Times

2.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

3.MyGrain - MyGrain

4.Constantine - Divine Design

5.Chaos Divine - The Human Connection

      View entire list ››

(still under Construction...!)

1.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

2.Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

3.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

4.Anathema - Falling Deeper

5.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

      View entire list ››

1.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

2.Wolverine - Communication Lost

3.Thence - These Stones Cry From The Earth

4.TesseracT - One

5.Autumn - Cold Comfort

      View entire list ››

In each year we can expect that some albums are the best,so i created this list to let the cat out of the bag and inform it before the time
i just guessed about them but i wanna test my mantic (?) sense and of course it's NOT by rating from top. sometimes i use multiple album in a special genre cause i don't know the exact one. (sorry for my bad English)

1.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

2.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

3.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

4.Opeth - Heritage

5.Megadeth - Th1rt3en

      View entire list ››

Here it is! Yet another unimaginative list of albums released in 2011!

1.MurkRat - Drudging The Mire

2.Woods Of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason

3.Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

4.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

5.SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

      View entire list ››

1.Powerwolf - Blood Of The Saints

2.Týr - The Lay Of Thrym

3.Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg

4.Euphoreon - Euphoreon

5.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

      View entire list ››