Top 10 albums are listed in order. Rest of the list in no particular order.

1.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

2.Benighted - Asylum Cave

3.Glorior Belli - The Great Southern Darkness

4.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

5.Isole - Born From Shadows

      View entire list ››

2011 promises to be a sensational year for metal!

1.Anathema - Falling Deeper

2.Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

3.Cynic - TBA

4.The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

5.Devin Townsend - Deconstruction

      View entire list ››

These are my picks of "must haves" of 2011 for those who enjoy progressive, technical, djent, and/or experimental metal and hybrids thereof. Derived from over 50 2011 metal releases I purchased and many more that I heard but did not buy. Maybe you missed a masterpiece that I've identified here -- I know I've found a few from others' lists!

1.Leprous - Bilateral

2.TesseracT - One

3.Unexpect - Fables Of The Sleepless Empire

4.Cynthesis - DeEvolution

5.Blotted Science - The Animation Of Entomology

      View entire list ››

1.Obscura - Omnivium

2.Pagan's Mind - Heavenly Ecstasy

3.Born Of Osiris - The Discovery

4.Magic Pie - The Suffering Joy

5.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

      View entire list ››

Ordered best to worst. This is entirely my opinion.

1.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

2.Graveyard - Hisingen Blues

3.Havok - Time Is Up

4.Toxic Holocaust - Conjure And Command

5.Deafheaven - Roads To Judah

      View entire list ››

Favorite albums from 2011. No order.

1.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

2.Havok - Time Is Up

3.Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

4.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5.Abysmal Dawn - Leveling The Plane Of Existence

      View entire list ››

1.TesseracT - One

2.Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It's Personal

3.Meshuggah - ObZen

4.Meshuggah - Chaosphere

5.Meshuggah - Koloss

      View entire list ››

1.Alice In Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

2.Audrey Horne - Audrey Horne

3.Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

4.Baroness - Yellow & Green

5.Bring Me The Horizon - Amo

      View entire list ››

This was probably the second-best decade in music for me (with the first being 2000s). There were albums that changed my perspective on how to perceive the world and helped me dive deeper into this neverending journey of discovering music. It always felt like there is a unique world hidden in every album and that makes me want to discover as much as possible to broaden my horizons.

1.TesseracT - Altered State

2.Behemoth - The Satanist

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

5.Myrath - Legacy

      View entire list ››

1.Meshuggah - ObZen

2.Persefone - Spiritual Migration

3.Eye Of The Enemy - Eye Of The Enemy

4.Circus Maximus - Isolate

5.James LaBrie - Static Impulse

      View entire list ››

Albums from 2011 That I managed to listen and know very well. Best to worst

1.Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

2.Ouroboros - Glorification Of A Myth

3.Revocation - Chaos Of Forms

4.The Human Abstract - Digital Veil

5.Leprous - Bilateral

      View entire list ››

1.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

2.Mastodon - The Hunter

3.Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

4.Revocation - Chaos Of Forms

5.Vader - Welcome To The Morbid Reich

      View entire list ››

1.The Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual

2.Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

3.Abysmal Dawn - Leveling The Plane Of Existence

4.Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

5.Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever

      View entire list ››