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

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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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This is the most unquestionably difficult ranking I could undertake. The # of albums I consider borderline flawless from each of these bands is ridiculous. Over a dozen albums from these 3 bands have legitimate…

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Judas Priest - Painkiller

3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4.Black Sabbath - Sabotage

5.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

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my ranking of the Big 4s Full-Length albums
Near the bottom , the rankings get a bit more 'interchangeable' because I can't be bothered to specifically discern the difference between turd…

1.Slayer - Reign In Blood

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

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1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Black Sabbath - Sabotage

3.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

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1.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

2.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

3.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

4.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

5.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

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3 caveats
1. Death metal album (not just debut from band that became death metal, like Carcass)
2. Released calendar year 1999 or earlier
3. By a band with more than 1 album (1-album wonder list is…

1.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

2.Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence

3.Nocturnus - The Key

4.Sinister - Cross The Styx

5.Demigod - Slumber Of Sullen Eyes

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1 album per band per subgenre
work in progress, updating as I go through the song-by-song ratings on RateYourMusic.com
I will typically update my black metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6924
and…

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.King Diamond - Abigail

3.Voivod - Dimension Hatröss

4.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

5.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

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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…

1.Immolation - Close To A World Below

2.Immolation - Unholy Cult

3.Immolation - Acts Of God

4.Immolation - Atonement

5.Immolation - Majesty And Decay

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almost done, about 10-15 more bands still to listen to…

1.Immolation - Acts Of God

2.Heaving Earth - Darkness Of God

3.Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain

4.Esoctrilihum - Consecration Of The Spiritüs Flesh

5.Blind Guardian - The God Machine

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* Updating this as I get around to doing song-by-song on RYM.
* 1 album per band
* limiting this to actual black metal releases, as opposed to releases by bands that were, at one time, black metal.
>>…

1.Weakling - Dead As Dreams

2.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

3.Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

4.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle

5.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

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Some of the best metal albums ever released have been by bands that only had one full length release.
List is (and probably always will be) a constant work-in-progress.
If you know of a "one-and-done"…

1.Weakling - Dead As Dreams

2.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle

3.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

4.Timeghoul - 1992-1994 Discography

5.Thorns - Thorns

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1.Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion

2.Veilburner - Lurkers In The Capsule Of Skull

3.First Fragment - Gloire Éternelle

4.Replicant - Malignant Reality

5.Dormant Ordeal - The Grand Scheme Of Things

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It's closing in on the end of 2021, so revisiting the year of the lockdown…

1.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

2.Akhlys - Melinoë

3.Black Curse - Endless Wound

4.Cryptic Shift - Visitations From Enceladus

5.Draconian - Under A Godless Veil

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jesus this is out of date, gotta take some time and update this....

1.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

2.Immolation - Close To A World Below

3.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

4.Cryptopsy - None So Vile

5.Suffocation - Pierced From Within

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