If you make a quick comparison between 2014 and the previous years Top 20 Album lists, you would notice that the top album of 2014, have the lowest rating average compared to 2013,2012, 2011 and 2010. No single album so far, have an average above 8.5. This sucks. Here is a list that has some albums that I think are the best of this crappy year (so far).

1.Swans - To Be Kind

2.Lunatic Soul - Walking On A Flashlight Beam

3.Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole

4.Behemoth - The Satanist

5.

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1.Crowbar - Symmetry In Black

2.The Acacia Strain - Coma Witch

3.Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend

4.Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun

5.Behemoth - The Satanist

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...in no particular order

1.Revocation - Deathless

2.Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out

3.Behemoth - The Satanist

4.Insomnium - Shadows Of The Dying Sun

5.Sólstafir - Ótta

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1.Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

2.Behemoth - The Satanist

3.Sabaton - Heroes

4.Winterfylleth - The Divination Of Antiquity

5.Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen

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From best to worst of all the albums I listened along the 2014

1.Pallbearer - Foundations Of Burden

2.Neurotech - Infra Versus Ultra

3.Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

4.Ghost Brigade - IV - One With The Storm

5.Earth - Primitive And Deadly

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1.Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain

2.Hail Spirit Noir - Oi Magoi

3.Stream Of Passion - A War Of Our Own

4.Evergrey - Hymns For The Broken

5.Soreption - Engineering The Void

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Cos, y'know, same shiz different year. Ran out of space again so will post final album opinions in comments.

1.Infestus - The Reflecting Void

2.Dirge - Hyperion

3.Nero Di Marte - Derivae

4.Steve Rothery - The Ghosts Of Pripyat

5.Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

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Metal albums (and yes, I consider metalcore to be metal) that rocked my world, with maximum 2 albums per band sorted by bands in alphabetic order. Live, EP and compilation albums allowed, also including hard rock and stoner rock albums.

It will be updated as I discover new bands so check it sometime

1.Alabama Thunderpussy - Open Fire

2.Alice In Chains - Dirt

3.All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals

4.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

5.Annihilator - Alice In Hell

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For Posterity. In No Particular Order. I'm certain I missed some quality releases, so I might update the list some time. Cheers.

1.Darkspace - Dark Space III I

2.Botanist - VI: Flora

3.Nachtmystium - The World We Left Behind

4.Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus

5.Pallbearer - Foundations Of Burden

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1.Septicflesh - Titan

2.Tengger Cavalry - Ancient Call

3.Avatar - Hail The Apocalypse

4.Allegaeon - Elements Of The Infinite

5.Devin Townsend - Z²

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Every year, hundreds of albums are written and released for people to buy and hopefully not steal. I spend most of my free time searching far and wide for new music, most of which only very few people know about. This list will contain all the albums released this year that I listened to, and what I thought of it. The rating system is as follows:
Based = Awesome, Perfect
Chill = Solid, Substantial
Dope = Good-not-great, Something I'll only listen to if I'm bored
Retarded = Mediocre, Unremarkable
Mindfucked = Complete waste of time
Also, there will be albums that aren't metal that will appear here, just cause.

1.1349 - Massive Cauldron Of Chaos

2.Abigor - Leytmotif Luzifer - The 7 Temptations Of Man

3.Aborted - The Necrotic Manifesto

4.Aenaon - Extance

5.Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

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Barnesy's picks for best albums of 2014

1.Behemoth - The Satanist

2.Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole

3.Ancient Ascendant - Echoes And Cinder

4.Altar Of Betelgeuze - Darkness Sustains The Silence

5.Benighted - Carnivore Sublime

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100% subjective.
I also listened to albums far from metal or metal world (Hanggai, Lisa Gerrard, ...) but I decided not to list them there.

Updated constantly - feel free to recommend something to check out.

1.Darkspace - Dark Space III I

2.Blues Pills - Blues Pills

3.Earth - Primitive And Deadly

4.Aenaon - Extance

5.Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

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Here is a small list of the albums that I've found the most remarkable this year. I don't mean to say that they are the best released this year, but definitely the ones that gave me the most pleasant listening time.
Also, the list is subject to change so feel free to check out the changes from time to time.

1.Septicflesh - Titan

2.Devin Townsend - Casualties Of Cool

3.Arkona - Явь

4.Joe Satriani - Joe Satriani: The Complete Studio Recordings

5.Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

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Only metal (and appeared on MetalStorm) here, for my "all-genres" top album, it's right here : https://rateyourmusic.com/list/mKekchoz/2014___music/

1.Darkspace - Dark Space III I

2.Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails

3.Pallbearer - Foundations Of Burden

4.The Great Old Ones - Tekeli-Li

5.Monuments - The Amanuensis

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