Other good lists with some melodic metal in them:
strade's - R'Vannith's - Unhealer's - Lkoturnindrin's

Will only add 7.5+ releases, so this won't be a gargantuan list... last year saw maybe forty or so releases I thought of as 7.5+'s, a lot of them rated only at the end of the year, and some not rated at all due to the extensiveness of pre-MSA listening sessions... if you want to stalk my "bad" ratings, they're all in my album votes.

1.Enochian Theory - Life... And All It Entails

2.Dissona - Dissona

3.Big Big Train - English Electric 1

4.Headspace - I Am Anonymous

5.Beyond The Bridge - The Old Man And The Spirit

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1.Galneryus - Angel Of Salvation

2.Galderia - Universality

3.Pathfinder - Fifth Element

4.Balflare - Downpour

5.Luca Turilli's Rhapsody - Ascending To Infinity

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Compilation of many Hard Rock or Metal Ballads I've heard. Bands and Albums are ordered by name alphabetically.

1.Accept - Balls To The Wall

2.Accept - Blood Of The Nations

3.Accept - Eat The Heat

4.Adagio - Underworld

5.Aerosmith - Aerosmith

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1.Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion

2.Dead Can Dance - Anastasis

3.The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet

4.Anathema - Weather Systems

5.Ihsahn - Eremita

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Due to the overwhelming "popularity" of my last list, I have decided to do the same thing in 2012

1.Hail Spirit Noir - Pneuma

2.Baroness - Yellow & Green

3.Devin Townsend - Epicloud

4.Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Lost In The New Real

5.Royal Thunder - CVI

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1.Accept - Blind Rage

2.Wolf - Devil Seed

3.Enforcer - From Beyond

4.Metal Church - XI

5.Rage - The Devil Strikes Again

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1.Axel Rudi Pell - Magic

2.Axel Rudi Pell - Kings And Queens

3.Axel Rudi Pell - Tales Of The Crown

4.Axel Rudi Pell - Oceans Of Time

5.Axel Rudi Pell - Circle Of The Oath

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Ah finally, it took some time to get through them all. As you can see I consider most of ARP albums to be quite equal in quality, usually it's as little as 1 songs that makes the difference. I was quite suprised actually how much I enjoyed his discography overall, I was pretty familiar with all the albums up to Mystica but after that I lost my interest, as it seems most of the albums released after is just as much fun as the other ones.

If you are unfamiliar with ARP my recommendation is that you start with a live album by them, those are always good fun and if you like it then check out the studio albums.

1.Axel Rudi Pell - Oceans Of Time

2.Axel Rudi Pell - The Masquerade Ball

3.Axel Rudi Pell - Between The Walls

4.Axel Rudi Pell - Nasty Reputation

5.Steeler (GER) - Steeler

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1.White Skull - Under This Flag

2.Bloodbound - In The Name Of Metal

3.Tank - War Nation

4.Mezarkabul - MMXII

5.A Sound Of Thunder - Out Of The Darkness

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1.Mors Principium Est - ...And Death Said Live

2.Destruction - Spiritual Genocide

3.Kamelot - Silverthorn

4.Hunter - Królestwo

5.Bloodbound - In The Name Of Metal

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