Here's my AotY for each year from 1970, with a runner up (or two) following.
Pink Floyd and Yes aren't here, King Crimson is, so I'll include King Crimson

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

4.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

5.Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards

      View entire list ››

My glorious ranking of the year of our Lord 2017

Top 50 rated 8 and above

Album count: 132
Average rating: 7.1

1.Enslaved - E

2.Mors Principium Est - Embers Of A Dying World

3.Pallbearer - Heartless

4.Myrkur - Mareridt

5.Ulver - The Assassination Of Julius Caesar

      View entire list ››

This is a list of all the death metal albums I have listened to that I thought were at all worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is just a record of my own listening experience that I use for personal organization, not a definitive account of the best or all of the death metal out there; there will probably be albums or bands that are not death metal in the strictest sense. You'll find some OSDM, melodeath, tech death, death-doom, maybe a bit of deathcore, I don't know. Maybe some non-death metal albums by death metal bands that I put in here just because.

1.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

2.Death - Symbolic

3.At The Gates - With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness

4.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

      View entire list ››

Immolation is my favorite death metal band by a pretty comfortable margin, so I figured I'd throw my rankings out here.
Note - there are a few album placements here that are NOTABLY different from the average Immolation fan

1.Immolation - Close To A World Below

2.Immolation - Unholy Cult

3.Immolation - Acts Of God

4.Immolation - Atonement

5.Immolation - Majesty And Decay

      View entire list ››

1.Pain Of Salvation - In The Passing Light Of Day

2.Enslaved - E

3.Ne Obliviscaris - Urn

4.Kauan - Kaiho

5.Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

      View entire list ››

Last updated on 11 April 2024.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

      View entire list ››

Note: Tool intentionally ommitted because they don't consider themselves metal. Otherwise you'd see their first 4 albums in top 25.

Last updated: 27 March 2024.

1.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Opeth - Blackwater Park

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

      View entire list ››

My personal hard rock/heavy metal album of the year that I own.
Truthfully, for several years, I just gave up trying to figure out what was in 2nd place (and sometimes, even in 1st).
Some years have so many options....

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5.Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties

      View entire list ››

1.Adagio - Life

2.Anathema - The Optimist

3.Annihilator - For The Demented

4.Anubis Gate - Covered In Black

5.Accept - The Rise Of Chaos

      View entire list ››

1.Immolation - Atonement

2.Power Trip - Nightmare Logic

3.Necrot - Blood Offerings

4.Belphegor - Totenritual

5.Cytotoxin - Gammageddon

      View entire list ››

To commemorate the top 100 albums of 2010 - 2019 I thought I would follow suit and make a list of my own. This has been a very challenging task to say the least. As I reflected on the releases from the last 10 years, it became increasingly difficult to settle on album rankings. In the interest of getting my top 100 published I am potentially releasing the list a little prematurely. The top 30 or so are quite firm. I don't anticipate much change in those albums, however, there could be some mobility throughout the rest of the list.

1.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

2.Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

3.Un - Sentiment

4.Mournful Congregation - The Incubus Of Karma

5.Ulcerate - Shrines Of Paralysis

      View entire list ››

1.Shade Empire - Poetry Of The Ill-Minded

2.The Dark Element - The Dark Element

3.Threshold - Legends Of The Shires

4.Ulver - The Assassination Of Julius Caesar

5.Vintersorg - Till Fjälls Del II

      View entire list ››

1.Septicflesh - Codex Omega

2.Spectral Voice - Eroded Corridors Of Unbeing

3.Paradise Lost - Medusa

4.Samael - Hegemony

5.Egonaut - The Omega

      View entire list ››

Loose order. Not complete

"Extreme" metal albums only

Updated 5/28/22

1.Delusional Parasitosis / Ecchymosis / Dissevered / Bleeding - Scaphism 4-Way Split

2.Cenotaph (TUR) - Perverse Dehumanized Dysfunctions

3.Human Excoriation - Celestial Devourment

4.Devangelic - Phlegethon

5.Perverted Dexterity - Spiritual Awakening

      View entire list ››

1.Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis

2.Leprous - Malina

3.Decapitated - Anticult

4.Archspire - Relentless Mutation

5.Wolves In The Throne Room - Thrice Woven

      View entire list ››