1.Thy Catafalque - Vadak

2.Forhist - Forhist

3.Lake Of Tears - Ominous

4.Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee At State's End!

5.Unto Others - Strength

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These are the albums with the highest possible rates in my personal list. Sometimes it was an emotional decision made after one single spin, but mostly these actually are my favorite albums. Also, I was wondering what genre would be most represented.

PS. The image was selected intentionally to piss you off. Still, I do consider Diabolus In Musica to be an almost perfect album

1.1833 AD - My Dark Symphony

2.1914 - The Blind Leading The Blind

3.Akhlys - Melinoë

4.Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus

5.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

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The top 50 of the year that will be remembered as the gap year between the pandemic and the war

Album count: 138
Average rating: 7.24

1.Empyrium - Über Den Sternen

2.Swallow The Sun - Moonflowers

3.Wardruna - Kvitravn

4.Leprous - Aphelion

5.Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined

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This is a list of black metal (and blackened metal) albums based on their artwork (in reverse alphabetical order). It includes iconic cover art from classic albums as well as fascinating work from more recent releases.
There is a saying that "you should not judge a book by its cover", which is of course also true in the case of music albums. However, the artwork can complement the production and give a visual introduction to the musical theme and atmosphere. More than for any other kind of music, this may be true for metal.

(Updated 02.10.2023)

1.Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor

2.Yoth Iria - As The Flame Withers

3.Watain - Lawless Darkness

4.Vreid - Lifehunger

5.Venom - Black Metal

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1.Archspire - Bleed The Future

2.Gojira - Fortitude

3.Tribulation - Where The Gloom Becomes Sound

4.Aephanemer - A Dream Of Wilderness

5.Beast In Black - Dark Connection

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I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.So Hideous - None But A Pure Heart Can Sing

2.Metallica - Re-Load

3.Faetooth - Remnants Of The Vessel

4.Inferi - The End Of An Era

5.Midnight Odyssey - Biolume Part 1 - In Tartarean Chains

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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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I have been quiet lately (haven't been doing much album reviews) and that has to do with some new things going on, so to make it up I finally decided on my top 25 Albums of 2021 as well as the number 1 (my album of the year) this time deciding to post after the metal storm awards to discover more music. A lot of heavy hitting bands release a lot of albums, even one in particular that I normally don't listen to encouraged me to buy one of they're LP's and another band I discovered that had me liking almost all of they're discography upon discovering. It was definitely another great year of metal and certainly can't to hear more music this year.

1.Dream Unending - Tide Turns Eternal

2.Fallensun - The Wake Of The Fall

3.Apallic - Edge Of Desolation

4.Unto Others - Strength

5.Be'lakor - Coherence

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For those interested in suggestions of albums by genre

Removed:
- Trolls
- Limp bizkit outside of Alternative category
- albums already nominated. After the results, I will add the nominated albums that don't receive enough votes to be displayed in the results, as "staff write-ins".
- albums with a release date not in 2021

1.

2.Heleven - Into The Oceans

3.Imminence - Heaven In Hiding

4.Lantlôs - Wildhund

5.Leprous - Aphelion

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Metallic World War 2021

2017 champions Archspire want to defend their leadership (strategy: we raze you with more BPM), while Dvne (3rd place in 2017) and Rivers of Nihil (3rd place in 2018) enhance their sonic arsenal by forcefully declaring war on sovereigns; however, the battlefield is filled with loose mines that could explode and blow everything up, ultra-technical mines called Inferi, Deviant Process and First Fragment (brand: Dominic Forest Lapointe). From afar, cautious and silent, veterans named Carcass, Dream Theater and Mastodon lurk. Steffen Kummurer of Obscura (3rd place in 2009, 2nd place in 2011, 6th place in 2016, 7th place in 2018) warrior experienced and reliable, re-sheaths his most powerful weapons (Jeroen Paul Thesseling and Christian Muenzner, champion with the Alkaloid in 2018) and prepares for the final assault on the Throne of Metal. The 2012 champions, Between the Buried and Me, dethroned but never tamed, take the field recalling the glorious colors of the past to regain what is rightfully theirs.

1.Between The Buried And Me - Colors II

2.Dvne - Etemen Ænka

3.Archspire - Bleed The Future

4.Obscura - A Valediction

5.Mastodon - Hushed And Grim

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The most memorable albums from my first year on the Metal Storm crew. Loosely ranked in list order. If I forgot something, it's not worth mentioning and/or I'm being stupid. Likely "and". Or...?

1.Ophiuchi - Shibboleth

2.Pa Vesh En - Maniac Manifest

3.Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee At State's End!

4.Decoherence - System I

5.Thy Catafalque - Vadak

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1.Wolves In The Throne Room - Primordial Arcana

2.Unleashed - No Sign Of Life

3.Whitechapel - Kin

4.Thy Catafalque - Vadak

5.Thulcandra - A Dying Wish

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Another year, another traditional list of my top ten, or more like top thirty albums of the year. That list probably doesn't interest anyone, or most people anyway, but I like keeping up with the tradition and refuse to give up trying to influence people to give in and start listening to some obscure bands that I manage to dig up from the depths of Spotify. Well, obscure is a thing of perspective, and I am actually quite sure I have at least five people among my friends and acquaintances that are familiar with most of these bands. If you are not.. well, you should be.
I'm not going to do an album-by-album review, just a quick rundown. Two albums in the Hungarian language in the top ten, maybe I should start learning that shit after all... NOT!!! As the years go on, it seems that I delve deeper and deeper into the obscure post-metal, post-black, atmospheric black, doom whatever.. maybe I'm just finally going insane, it was about time. Anyway, surprise out of nowhere, an album that blew me away, Iotunn - Access All Worlds. Is it progressive? Is it melodic death metal? Is it whatever? Who gives a fuck. It was a very schizophrenic year for me, just like this 'review', at least when it comes to music, a lot of albums that I liked, but very few that had that catchy vibe, that I can't really describe but that I sometimes have. My point here is that I could probably take this list and honourable mentions, and write a program that randomizes the places of albums in the list every time you hit refresh, and whatever result it would yield I would say 'Yeah, that seems about right'. Down the list, I have to mention how happy I am with Thy Catafalque finally deciding to go live and do live shows, now I only pray that this pandemic doesn't fuck up another concert plan. Ephemerald is in a way, as generic Finnish melodic death metal as you can get, obvious influence by Insomnium and the likes, but I really dig it. They are not original or inventive, there is no 'one-hit wonder' catchy song that stands out.. and yet it is a fucking awesome album. Yoth Iria is a project of former Rotting Christ members, and it sounds exactly like that, so if you are into Rotting Christ, you know what to do. Beast in Black, it's the same album again, but it's an awesome album again, so... I think I don't need to comment on Swallow the Sun, yeah, the previous album was better, but this one is still awesome. Epica, well I'm a huge fanboy of Epica, make of that what you will, but if you ask me they don't have a bad or even average album. The same can be said of Be'lakor. Dalriada was kinda unexpected, I really like listening to folk metal in languages I don't really understand. I know about this Hungarian band for .. fifteen years I think, I almost went to Senta to watch them live more than a decade ago, yet this is their best album up to date. Well at least according to your ultimate metal encyclopedia, me. Duskmourn is another of that melodic death, folk, atmospheric black, whatever bands that spawn left and right. Narrowly missing out are Therion, Evergrey, and Soen, really, really good albums. I could put any or all of them in the top ten, but I guess I like going with the obscure underdogs or whatever. Stormkeep is another black metal masterpiece that came out of nowhere. Remember how I mentioned that there is a bunch of atmospheric black / folk metal bands spawning left and right. Yes, Cân Bardd is another one. For more honourable mentions, I would like to point out Romanian Sur Austru, as well as Dordeduh... duh. (OK I'll see myself out.) and another Hungarian band, Vvilderness, but this time at least you can understand what they are singing since lyrics are in the English language. I could, and probably should add at least another dozen of bands to this list, like Darkwoods My Bethrothed, Mare Cognitum, Hypocrisy, Leprous but this is too much even as it is, so feel free to give me recommendations, but just bear in mind that the fact that I did not put it into my picks doesn't mean I dislike the album.
P.S. In case anyone knows how to format album names with those strange characters so they link up properly, do let me know.

1.Iotunn - Access All Worlds

2.Thy Catafalque - Vadak

3.Ephemerald - Between The Glimpses Of Hope

4.Yoth Iria - As The Flame Withers

5.Beast In Black - Dark Connection

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1.Khirki - Κτηνωδία

2.Fange - Pantocrator

3.Stormkeep - Tales Of Othertime

4.Mastodon - Hushed And Grim

5.Turnstile - Glow On

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My best and most played stuff from 2021. The order of preference is as accurate as it can be.

Best EP: Melancholia - Static Church.
Best demo: Mace ‘N’ Chain - Upon The Anvil Formed.
Best video: Iron Maiden - “The Writing On The Wall”.
Best album artwork: Neptunian Maximalism - Solar Drone Ceremony.

1.Soen - Imperial

2.Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion

3.Unto Others - Strength

4.Lake Of Tears - Ominous

5.Lucifer's Fall - III - From The Deep

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