Ratings go from:

WORSHIP ❤️❤️❤️: Absolute greatness, a mindblowing album.
LOVE ❤️❤️🖤: Amazing release with very few flaws.
LIKE ❤️🖤🖤: Enjoyable but far from perfect.
DISLIKE 💔: Not very good or maybe not fitting my tastes.

I've decided to stop rating albums with a numerical value as I tend to feel uncomfortable with that. This list has a minimalistic, subjective and visceral approach, based purely on sensations and personal tastes. Mainly for personal use and doesn't pretend to be a serious ranking, but emerges from the need to remember which bands and albums I enjoyed and the ones I disliked. I constantly revisit new releases so first impressions may change over time. It usually takes 8-10 spins for me to get completely sure of a rating.

1.Æther Realm - Tarot

2.Abhoria - Abhoria

3.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4.Agrypnie - Metamorphosis

5.Allegaeon - Fragments Of Form And Function

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1.Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

2.Pain Of Salvation - The Perfect Element, Part I

3.Pain Of Salvation - "BE"

4.Pain Of Salvation - One Hour By The Concrete Lake

5.Pain Of Salvation - Scarsick

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1.Protest The Hero - Palimpsest

2.Dark Tranquillity - Moment

3.Primal Fear - Metal Commando

4.Pyramaze - Epitaph

5.Amaranthe - Manifest

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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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Using MSA's to organize my listening from 2020.

1.Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

2.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

3.Envy - The Fallen Crimson

4.Igorrr - Spirituality And Distortion

5.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

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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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Another end to a year, another list to make.

Like always I've added the specific genre/subgenre so you can easily pick out the albums that might be of interest to you.

I know some of you like statistics, so I put in a bit of extra effort to add some numbers:

- 317 albums
- Total points given: 2366,1
- Average Score: 7,46/10

- Albums with a score of 7 or above: 79,11%
- Albums with a score of 8 or above: 36,39%
- Albums with a score of 9 or above: 1,27%

- Albums with a score below 5: 2,53%

- Nationalities: 35

- USA: 73 - (23,10%)
- Germany: 31 - (9,81%)
- Sweden: 28 - (8,86%)
- UK: 25 - (7,91%)
- Finland: 18 - (5,70%)
- Greece: 18 - (5,70%)
- Brazil: 10 - (3,16%)
- France: 10 - (3,16%)
- Poland: 10 - (3,16%)
- Italy: 9 - (2,85%)
- Spain: 9 - (2,85%)
- Canada: 8 - (2,53%)
- Belgium: 6 - (1,90%)
- Norway: 6 - (1,90%)
- Russia: 6 - (1,90%)
- The Netherlands: 6 - (1,90%)
- Australia: 5 - (1,58%)
- Denmark: 5 - (1,58%)
- Czech Republic: 4 - (1,27%)
- Mexico: 4 - (1,27%)
- Colombia: 3 - (0,95%)
- Switzerland: 3 - (0,95%)
- Argentina: 2 - (0,63%)
- Austria: 2 - (0,63%)
- Chile: 2 - (0,63%)
- Japan: 2 - (0,63%)
- Portugal: 2 - (0,63%)
- Puerto Rico: 2 - (0,63%)
- Slovakia: 2 - (0,63%)
- Costa Rica: 1 - (0,32%)
- Egypt: 1 - (0,32%)
- Estonia: 1 - (0,32%)
- Ethiopia: 1 - (0,32%)
- Israel: 1 - (0,32%)
- Peru: 1 - (0,32%)

1.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

2.IAH - III

3.Asian Death Crustacean - Baikal

4.Dawnwalker - Ages

5.Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned

      View entire list ››

I don't think these are necessarily the best 30 albums of this year, but they're the ones that have I guess endured in my psyche and inspiried revisits more than most others. I was tempted to do a top 50, but after around #26 or so, I found myself confronted with about 50 albums that could've conceivably made it in, most of which I hadn't relistened to enough to rank above the others with confidence.

1.Psychonaut - Unfold The God Man

2.Elder - Omens

3.Enslaved - Utgard

4.Regarde Les Hommes Tomber - Ascension

5.Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea

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1.Konvent - Puritan Masochism

2.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

3.Incantation - Sect Of Vile Divinities

4.Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

5.Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

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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.Haken - Virus

2.Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant

3.The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

4.Dark Tranquillity - Moment

5.Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods

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1.Abysmal Dawn - Phylogenesis

2.AC/DC - Power Up

3.August Burns Red - Guardians

4.Ayreon - Transitus

5.Beneath The Massacre - Fearmonger

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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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I have fallen behind on my 2020 albums listening but I might as well start a list now. This is a work in progress obviously, I'll probably be adding albums this time next year. (LOL)

1.Conception - State Of Deception

2.Zopp - Zopp

3.Rikard Sjöblom's Gungfly - Alone Together

4.Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant

5.Anubis Gate - Covered In Colours

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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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