Each album was listened to thoroughly enough to put it in its right place here. So, for now, hail Immortal, the mighty kings of northern darkness!!

1.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

2.Immortal - Battles In The North

3.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

4.Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism

5.Immortal - Pure Holocaust

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1.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

2.Marillion - Brave

3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

5.Insomnium - Across The Dark

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1.Rotting Christ - Non Serviam

2.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

3.Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times

4.Burzum - Filosofem

5.Rotting Christ - Khronos

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My best of 2009

1.Epica - Design Your Universe

2.Trail Of Tears - Bloodstained Endurance

3.Wine From Tears - Through The Eyes Of A Mad

4.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5.Novembers Doom - Into Night's Requiem Infernal

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A list of my favorite album covers

1.Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

2.Mercyful Fate - Melissa

3.Slayer - Reign In Blood

4.Motörhead - Motörhead

5.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

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A list of albums I listen to and rated with a small commentary. This list is not meant to have an order, or a best-to-worst classification.

Links to connected lists:

Album & Artist Impressions (Part 2)

Rating:

10 - Timeless classic
9 - Masterpiece
8 - Excellent
7 - Solid
6 - Uneven
5 - Tainted by tone-deafness

1.Igorrr - Hallelujah

2.Strapping Young Lad - Strapping Young Lad

3.Cro-Mags - Revenge

4.Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

5.Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

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For many, some of the more extreme types of metal can be challenging to penetrate. I'll admit that my first time listening to Burzum was nearly the equivalent of listening to a buzz-saw. But over time, I found my ears became acclimated, so to speak. All of the beauty and subtlety within became more and more apparent. Now I find listening to Darkthrone to be little different from listening to Vivaldi. Okay, maybe that is an overstatement, but you get the idea. The point of this list to help those looking for a more gradual path from unkvlt to kvlt, if you will. IHopefully it provides some assistance. The top represents some of the more mainstream, well-produced (but still solid) releases, while working your way down results in a stripping away of sound quality, melody, and radio-friendly content. The list ends with a mixture of gritty second wave and mentally challenging avant guarde stuff. This is far from comprehensive, so feel free to hit the forums for some deeper cuts. I also welcome thoughts on reordering as this was no easy task for one set of ears.

1.Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon

2.Melechesh - Enki

3.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

4.Immortal - All Shall Fall

5.Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

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Here are my top 25 of 2009, going to try to get more years done as I get more free time.

1.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

2.Baroness - Blue Record

3.Amorphis - Skyforger

4.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

5.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

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I liked a lot of non-metal albums this year but sadly I cannot include them here. Nevertheless, it was a great year for metal and here are my choice albums for 2009. None of them are in order but if I had to choose my number one pick would be for Fen or Blut Aus Nord.

1.Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars

2.Devin Townsend - Addicted

3.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

4.Ulcerate - Everything Is Fire

5.Fen - The Malediction Fields

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My top Metal picks for 2009. It was in interesting year and a good transition into what I feel will be a decade of progression as never seen before.

If you don't agree with my list, make your own. I obviously don't have time to listen to 5,000 albums every year. Magazines that do, such as Decibel or Terrorizer, usually have trouble conjuring up 40 quality albums to throw on their yearly lists, so cut me some slack...I am not working with a team of people, and I don't get paid. I'm sure there are plenty of great albums that I have yet to discover or that I have just not been able to listen to...but all of those that are listed have been personally approved by me. The numbers are not as important to me. I would greatly appreciate some "Thumbs ups", as I have put a lot of my personal time into this list, and also into reviewing these great albums.

1.Wodensthrone - Loss

2.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

3.Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow

4.Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

5.Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave

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Just did a month-long binge and song-by-song rating on Immortal's discography. Remarkably consistent band, great workout music. Even their 'weak' albums are good.

1.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

2.Immortal - Pure Holocaust

3.Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods

4.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

5.Immortal - Damned In Black

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I never hear it brought up but I wanna throw 2009 into the Best Metal Year conversation, comparing this to the year before it's insane. I didn't even give my favourite band an honourable mention as there was already too many.

D666, Ruins, Nazxul, Razor of Occam, Pestilential Shadows... Nice year for Aussie Black Metal.

1.Behemoth - Evangelion

2.Deströyer 666 - Defiance

3.Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

4.Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know

5.Artillery - When Death Comes

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1.Afgrund - Vid Helvetets Grindar

2.After Forever - After Forever

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

5.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

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1.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

2.Immortal - Battles In The North

3.Immortal - Pure Holocaust

4.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

5.Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism

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With Immortal finished for the foreseeable future, it seems relevant to look back on their stellar catalog and reflect on one of the best black thrash acts to ever grace the genre.

1.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

2.Immortal - Pure Holocaust

3.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

4.Immortal - Battles In The North

5.Immortal - Damned In Black

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