Meta is absolutely fantastic. Songs like "Secrets Within," "Constant Sleep," and "Sets," just to name a few, are the best the genre has to offer.


Great album! I need more listens but I really enjoy this.

I'm genuinely surprised it got as many votes as it did to be honest. It was a nice EP but you could be forgiven for forgetting it exists at all. I have this sneaking (read: cynical) suspicion that people voted for it because "It's a Gorguts release and everything they do is top ten!" which isn't an entirely misguided belief but leads to weird situations like this.

Actually I really didn't expect DsO to make the list at all since it's a pretty short release and mostly confirms they're not dead. Again it's nice, but ultimately treads ground they have passed comfortably through before.

I'm listening to the latest from Witchery as I write this and thinking how unfortunate it was for their album to be released so late in the year but with also very little heads up, as I think this could've shaken up at least a couple lists or at least mine. It's good stuff, folks. Anyway...

1. Helstar, "Vampiro"
2. Defeated Sanity, "Disposal of the Dead // Dharmata"
3. Revocation, "Great Is Our Sin"
4. Vektor, "Terminal Redux"
5. Aborted, "RetroGore"
6. Condition Critical, "Extermination Plan"
7. Ghoul, "Dungeon Bastards"
8. WarFather, "The Grey Eminence"
9. Skeletonwitch, "The Apothic Gloom" EP
10. Metal Church, "XI"

Best Debut: Rotting Obscene, "Depths of Decay"

In hindsight, I could've, and maybe should've, substituted Condition Critical with any of my four favorite Unspeakable Axe Records releases (pick one from Ripper, Nucleus, Sewercide, and Scorched, they're all gems,) or Hannes Grossmann's "The Crypts of Sleep," but it's still plenty enjoyable. The second WarFather is such an improvement over the debut it's ridiculous, and the latter half of it is particularly great. I'm just so goddamn happy to hear Mike Howe's voice again that there was no way I couldn't give Metal Church recognition.

My first thought for Best Debut was NilExistence for "Existence in Revelation," as I'm a fan of theirs going back to their previous name, Disfigured Dead. Them being labeled here on the site as deathcore is more than slightly dubious to me, but it is what it is.

I'm legitimately shocked that Helstar didn't garner at least a few more votes within people's top five on their lists, though.

Honorable mentions go to Crowbar, Master, and Testament. You know who they are, what they do, and that it's going to be quality if you're a fan.

No arguments here. Almost made my final cut, but was beaten out by Wormed barely.

I didnt get to submit a list but My favourite debut of the year was definitely Exanimatvm - Dispersae et Tormentvm from Chile. Some killer occult death metal and soo heavy. Been playing it alot

Man, I'm kicking myself for not making a place for this in my list.

Glad you are enjoying Handsome Prick, 1 song in I was completely blown away thinking it would be surefire AOTY but apparently not!

I see you're the other person who voted for the new Skeletonwitch. I don't know about you, but that was probably the biggest surprise of the year for me. Way, way better on just about all fronts than their previous stuff.

I really liked the first song on the new Witchery, but the rest failed to grab me. Maybe I should give it another go. The new Bewitcher on the other hand absolutely ripped.

Here's my messy list:

1. Octaviagrace - Outward Resonance
2. Inter Arma - Paradise Gallows
3. Ningen-Isu - 怪談 そして死とエロス (aka: Kaidan Soshite Shi to Erosu)
4. Obscura - Akróasis
5. Mary's Blood - Fate
6. Blood Ceremony - Lord of Misrule
7. Watchtower - Concepts of Math: Book One
8. Blood Incantation - Starspawn
9. SubRosa - For This We Fought the Battle of Ages
10. Tears of Tragedy - Statice

I don't know if I should be more surprised that my #1 pick wound up so high on the overall list or that my #2 pick turned out to be my sole rando selection. Shit I loved Paradise Gallows...oh well.

I really liked that album, but I forgot about it when I was tallying my list.

Should've probably fit the new Tombs in mine too.

That album is such a beast. I'm not a huge fan of that type of technical, brutal death metal, but damn that album is just so entertaining front to back.

Huh, I don't know what to think of this final list. I'm definitely surprised there's such a huge gap between Terminal Redux (quite far from my top 10) and the runner-up. And I definitely wasn't expecting Blood Incantation to be a serious contender for no. 2 spot. That's just wrong Didn't like the album one bit though I can appreciate what they were aiming for. Too bad most of what makes DM great got meanwhile got lost in space.


Anyway, my two cents:

1. Morgue Supplier - Morgue Supplier
2. Zealotry - The Last Witness
3. Acerus - The Clock of Mortality
4. Vermin Womb - Decline
5. Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä
6. Zhrine - Unortheta
7. Latitudes - Old Sunlight
8. Ihsahn - Arktis.
9. Mithras - On Strange Loops
10. Altarage - NIHL

Top four is definitely cemented, but depending on mood and whether it rains or not I might push Latitudes as high as no. 5. It's a damn fine album. Although, I'm perfectly okay with that list all in all.

This past year was quite good in my book. There are lots of albums that were serious competitors for top 10.

Ah damn, only really come online in random spurts these days so missed the poll. Ah well.

My top 10 albums of 2016:

1. Agatus - The Eternalist - This album did nothing but grow on me from the moment I heard it. With the first listen I was a bit disappointed about the shift, but that changed completely. Knowing myself I "should" have been irreconcilably disappointed that this album didn't have more in common with the style of The Weaving Fates, but I honestly love both albums separately for what they are. That's pretty rare for me, and The Eternalist is one of the first instances where a band has taken a fairly large directional step (and proggier one at that) toward a new sound when I loved the old sound, yet was able to divorce myself from that and love both old and new equally but separately. The Eternalist is just really fucking brilliant.

2. Destroyer 666 - Wildfire - From what I read this got mixed feeling on this forum but I really loved this album. I think the sound shift worked really well, felt it was well-put together and definitely better written than Defiance, catchy, no filler, constant pumping adrenaline from start to finish.

3. Ravencult - Force of Profanation - Too bad this didn't get much love in the poll! Kickass, pummeling black/thrash done right. Don't need to reinvent the wheel to be an awesome album and one of the best of the year, but whatever you do, do it well. That's what these guys do. Even better than Morbid Blood. Fucking love this album and still can't get enough of it!

This is where the rankings start to get a bit random for me. So no rankings but in top 10 basically:

Candlemass - Death Thy Lover (EP) - Do EPs count? If not ignore this, but this was in pretty frequent rotation for me since it came out. From what I saw didn't seem like many gave it more than a second glance, but I quite liked it and its got me hoping for a new album soon. Often found myself working to the chorus of Death Thy Lover or Sleeping Giant stuck in my head this year, heheh.

Demon Bitch - Hellfriends - Weirdly enough this album is still one of my favourites of the year in spite of two things I don't particularly like. Great musicianship and songwriting, 100%. The only thing is that I kind of oscillate between strongly disliking the vocals and being indifferent to them. Logon Saton's vocal style just bugs me. On top of that I find the mix kind of wonky and I find the guitars sound muffled compared to the vocals and drums in particular (oddly enough to my ears that problem kind of dissipates as the album goes on though, I dunno if its my ears or the album itself at this point), which is a bit annoying. But in general still an album I really, really liked and find it only gets better/stronger as it goes on. In fact, I would say the first couple tracks are slightly "weaker" than the middle/end which are excellent.

Vader - The Empire - From the discussions I saw on the forum I feel like I'm the only one/one of the few that wasn't disappointed with this album and actually liked it. From the first listen I only enjoyed it more and more. It's no WttMR or Tibi et Igni but it was still solid, adrenaline-pumping Vader doing what Vader does best. I also think Piotr knew he wasn't gonna hit that level again this time around and made the good decision of making this album short and sweet. I can't think of any filler tracks on there, and the intensity and catchiness go from start to finish. Some might argue there were no standout tracks, but for me there definitely were in songs like Iron Reign or Send Me Back to Hell.

Cultes des Ghoules - Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love - What a fucking best of an album, fucking hell. I still haven't fully digested it, it requires so much time and attention I find. Anyway, hard for me to rank this cause I feel like I still haven't fully grasped it. From Scene III onward this album is really excellent and does what the band does best with that creepy occult feel, but its just the later half of Scene I and Scene II generally that don't quite click with me. I think Scene I is kind of needlessly long and should have quit while it was ahead because the first half is actually pretty damn good. Otherwise it would probably be ranked higher for me.

Demontage - Fire of Iniquity - Oh man, what more to say than what an awesome offering of blackened heavy metal this was with great musicianship. Another I wasn't sure where to "rank" but I found it actually one of the more intense and exciting albums of the year for me. When it comes to the albums that got me most pumped this year and that I'd consider the most "intense" and "exciting" (as arbitrary as that probably sounds) for me its probably the new Destroyer 666, Ravencult and Demontage.

Sumerlands - Sumerlands - The last two I'm listing are toward the bottom because I don't actually own them yet. But Sumerlands I really wanted to put on the list because listening to it online I really enjoyed it, actually probably enjoyed it better than Hellfriends but can't really say as I don't have the physical copy yet. I imagine though once I do and am able to give it a more thorough listen it'll be a favourite.

Skuggsja - Skuggsja - Not sure if it counts, but this album is in a similar boat as Sumerlands. I have only been able to listen to it online and so I haven't felt I've been able to hear it properly but plan to buy the album soon. But from my online listening I pretty well loved this album and imagine it will be a favourite once I'm able to listen to it more thoroughly.

Honourable Mentions:

- Chthe'ilist - Le dernier crépuscule - This album was gonna make the list originally when I thought I would only include albums I own on the list, but was too tempted to include Skuggsja and Sumerlands.
- Phobocosm - Bringer of Drought - Devastatingly heavy album in a similar boat as Chthe'ilist for me in that was originally gonna be in my top 10 if it were only albums owned, but then decided to include Sumerlands and Skuggsja.
- Barbarian - Cult of the Empty Grave - This was just an all-round fun album. And I thought I'd mention it as well because I think its actually got one of my favourite songs of the year even if the album isn't a top one. The Bone Knife could be considered one of my songs of 2016.
- Asphyx - Incoming Death - Feel like most were underwhelmed by this but I really got into it. Not a top ten or the usual tight Asphyx quality, but still solid Asphyx that deserves credit in my opinion.

There are also a lot of albums I still need to hear from 2016 as I didn't listen to that much new stuff. The new Attacker and Kawir are two I still really need to listen to for example.

Worst album I remember hearing this year: Iron Savior - Titancraft...yeah they didn't recover at all unfortunately. I really wish it wasn't the case as they're one of my favourite German power metal bands, but alas...

To be fair there was a lot of great albums this year. Wormed had to come first for me because it's just so delicious. Brutal yet discernible from riff to riff. Can't really beat that.


I wasn't as immediately blown away but I like their take on grind. Didn't make my top 10 but still pretty good.

1. Gatecreeper - Sonoran Depravation
2. Nails - You Wll Never Be One of Us
3. Blood Incantation - Starspawn
4. Sumerlands - Sumerlands
5. Despised Icon - Beast
6. Spirit Adrift - Psychic Chasms
7. Eternal Champion - Armor of Ire
8. Garroted - In the Court of Nyarlothep
9. Demon Bitch - Hellfriends
10. Oathbreaker - Rheia

Debut of the year: Gatecreeper - Sonoran Depravation (duh)

Great year for metal, death metal and trad especially. Demon Bitch - "The Microdome" is likely my pick for best metal song of the year. Bummed to see nobody else voted for the Spirit Adrift record, it was my favorite doom of 2016 (even though I accidentally called it "Psychic Chasms" because I got the first song confused with a Neon Indian album ). Cool to see Sumerlands and Eternal Champion dominate together as well. Thanks BH for making this happen!

Lots of awesome stuff that I liked but wasn't able to listen enough to justify ranking it so high:
Howls of Ebb
Spellcaster
Sellsword
High Spirits
Defeated Sanity
Demontage
Zealotry
Mithras
Wormed
Helstar
Khemmis
Forteresse
Voidswpawn

However, the all time greatest album of 2016 is still ISSUES - HEADSPACE.

I didn't submit a list as I've heard maybe a dozen or so new releases this year. I feel I'd need to hear at least 50-60 albums to make any kind of respectable list (and that would include all the big releases, all the hyped up ones as well as more underground and obscure stuff). But from the albums I did hear I have to go with the new Cultes Des Ghoules as my favorite. Everything that band has released is quality.

Oh, right. I meant to submit a ballot for this, which is all the more ridiculous because I had one ready to go for a different forum. Anyway, for what it's worth:

Furia - Księżyc milczy luty
Hail Spirit Noir - Mayhem in Blue
Panphage - Drengskapr
Agatus - The Eternalist
Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones
Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust
Howls of Ebb - Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows
Hostium - The Bloodwine of Satan
Vindland - Hanter Savet
Void Meditation Cult - Utter the Tongue of the Dead


Some honorable mentions:

Wakedead Gathering, the - Fuscus: Strings of the Black Lyre
Occult Burial - Hideous Obscure
Mortem - Deinos Nekromantis
Armory - World Peace ... Cosmic War
Anicon - Exegeses
Gjendod - s/t demo
Teleport - Ascendance
Vircolac - The Cursed Travails of the Demeter

Despite my love of Vektor and CdG, the sheer size of those albums kept me away from any extensive, attentive listening; in fact, that so many EPs and EP-length albums are beginning to infiltrate my EOY lists tells me my attention span may be narrowing. Still, though, an incredible metal year. (Judging by the chatter I've seen, I picked a bad year to sort of veer away from trad metal; maybe in the future I'll catch up.)

Good to see some more love for this beauty.

Just got the Sorcier Des Glaces/Ende split.
Really good, especially the SDG half.

Here is the top ten list I sent Mike:
1. Blood Incantation - Starspawn (also debut of year)
2. Cobalt - Slow Forever
3. Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyreal Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
4. Mithras - On Strange Loops
5. Gevurah - Hallelujah!
6. Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis
7. Mizmor - Yodh
8. Deathspell Omega - Synarchy of Molten Bones
9. Zealotry - The Last Witness
10. Forteresse - Themes pour la Rebellion

I should have waited until the actual end of the year. I would have liked to include Herder as number 3, but didn't really get into it until after I already sent the list. My actual top ten of the year has non-metal occupying the top three spots: Sturgill Simpson, Swans and Nick Cave.

Lots of good shit on the MA top ten, a bit obvious, but that's to be expected with so many people voting. Thought Vektor for number one was kind of lame, but they definitely have the widest appeal. It's not a bad album at all, but would hardly rank it album of the year - it's not even Vektor's best album.

I'm kind of surprised and not surprised that Vektor was number 1. I know a lot of people mentioned it. It had its moments but I didn't think it was anything special.

Overall this was slow year for me with a lot of disappointments.

The top 10 got me to check out the new Avantasia. I like Edguy but nothing I've heard from Avantasia ever did anything for me. I saw the music video for "Mystery of a Blood Red Rose" earlier this year and didn't care for it. But after listening to a coulpe of the other tracks on youtube I decided to order the CD. Makes me wonder if they just pick crappy tracks to advertize the albums?

My final top 10 that I post to my blog will probably change as I'm still waiting for the new Gotsu Totsu Kotsu(ordered it back in December) album to arrive. Plus now Avantasia could possibly end up on it as well. But this was the top 10 I submitted to the poll:

1. "For None And All" Spell
2. "The Fire Within" Eternity's End
3. "Forevermourn" The Temple
4. "Sumerlands" Sumerlands
5. "Le dernier crépuscule" Chthe'ilist
6. "Prelude" Wytch Hazel
7. "The Lizard Rider" Booze Control
8. "Beheading Tyrants" Quicksand Dream
9. "The Armor of Ire" Eternal Champion
10. "The Cycle Never Ends" Ravensire

Debut album of the year: "The Fire Within" Eternity's End


Also noticed I had 2 albums in RANDO CORNER

"For None And All" Spell, Really!? more people need to listen to this one!
*BastardHead you got the title wrong on the list its "None" not "One".

"The Cycle Never Ends" Ravensire, This one makes sense.

Gah! Once I put it wrong on the spreadsheet there was no chance of me fixing it because I wasn't about to crosscheck 400+ albums for spelling errors, haha. My bad! I'm gonna give it a listen because I've been cherry picking random albums from this list that I hadn't heard before and found some great stuff (I have no idea why I never listened to Forteresse before!). That album cover had me expecting black metal but yowza that's not even close to what I'm hearing now.

I also agree that Vektor was pretty much destined to win because it has the widest appeal, but it wasn't on my top list either. I did put it in the background list of overall competitors for me to choose from but it wound up in the late teens or high twenties. Nearly every individual second of the album is phenomenal but it's just way too much of a chore to sit through as a full album. Frustrating because that's the exact problem Black Future had (though overall BF is a better album that's easier to listen to), it's like they completely forgot everything they learned on Outer Isolation.

Here is where I ended up with my submission:

1 Hyperion - Seriphical Euphony (This is a debut so would also be my vote for debut of the year)
2 Sojourner - Empires of Ash
3 Forteresse - Themes pour la Rebellion
4 Draugnim - Vulturine
5 Moonsorrow -Jumalten Aika
6 Thrawsunblat - Metachthonia
7 Wedrujacy Wiatr - O Tunriach, Jeziorach I Nocnych Szlakach
8 Mesarthim - Pillars
9 Earth and Pillars - Pillars I
10 Uada - Devoid of Light

I realize that I found at least half of my list from STORMM's recs, either here or on his fb page. Thanks for ruining my bank account buddy!

One album I'd highlight here is Draugnim. This album seriously slays. Someone called it a mix of Insomnium and Moonsorrow which feels right to me. It is heavy, epic, dark and super catchy, really worth checking out.

Thanks for the effort BH!

There was a strong feeling ahead of time that I'd enjoy it musically considering its followed my favorite full-length of theirs to date, but I was taken aback by how ambitious and dynamic it is compared to everything previous. Chatting with Dustin, he said the band are genuinely proud of "Red Death, White Light" in particular, which may be a sign to come for the new album they're working on. To hear them stretch their legs beyond the usual 2-3 minute stabs really paid off.

In random order:

These are pretty all albums I listened a lot too and really enjoyed.

Spellcaster - Night Hides the World
Striker - Stand In The Fire
Urfaust - Empty Space Meditation (what a travesty that this album has 1 23% review. If my writing skills were any better, i'd correct that)
Vektor - Terminal Redux
Voivod - Post Society
Vanhelgd - Temple of Phobos
Destroyer 666 - Wildfire
Aluk Todolo - Voix
Blood Incantation - Starspawn
Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones
Hexvessel - When We Are Death
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Uada - Devoid of Light

I am really upset at myself for not getting my ballot in on time. I had the deadline for something else in mind when I was working on my top 10 list and I missed the cut. However, this was a busy year for me and I did not listen to nearly as much new music as I typically do. Not just for metal, but across the board. As a result, most of the new albums I checked out were the ones that got a lot of hype, or I had heard good things about here on the forum. There's a few cliches on my top 10. Anyways, looks like my ballot would not have changed much in the end. Here's my final list:

1 - Cobalt - "Slow Forever"
2 - Inquisition - "Bloodshed Across...."
3 - Deathspell Omega - "Synarchy..."
4 - Vektor - "Terminal Redux"
5 - Moonsorrow - "Jumalten Aika"
6 - Forteresse - "Thèmes pour la rébellion"
7 - Gotsu Totsu Kotsu - "兵ドモガ夢ノ跡"
8 - Saor - "Guardians"
9 - Wormed - "Krigshu"
10- Barishi - "Blood from the Lion's Mouth"

Debut of the Year:
Chthe'ilist - "Le Dernier Crepuscul"
A really impressive album, musically and compositionally. Had loved the project since the first demo and was not disappointed. I still give it frequent listens, and can't wait to hear more from the band.

Favorite metal album that's not included on MA
Zao - "The Well Intentioned Virus"
It's their darkest album yet, with some pretty brutal moments with that vintage Zao aggression. But like all of their past albums it was contemplative and introspective. A true return to form from the band. (Maybe this is even the album that's metal enough to get them on the archives......)

Favorite album I've discovered from the final results:
Mithras - "On Strange Loops"
Never listened to them before, but had I heard this album earlier in the year it would have definitely made my top 10. I was engrossed on my first listen. Very surreal and spacey stuff.

Favorite non-metal album of the year:
Touche Amore - "Stage Four"

Biggest disappointments:
Metallica, Bolzer, Darkthrone, Ash Borer among many other mediocre followups

Surprised for the Metal Church position. The Darkthrone album was very disappointing indeed, but Deathspell Omega and Vektor (what a band!) they kicked ass.

why? it's barely a metal release.

Whatever you want to call it, I really like this oddball album. I like the eclectic mix of black metal, doom, post-black, etc.. I understand it's not for everyone but I quite like it.

I forgot to vote for this in the end, but no one voted for Khonsu, eh?

edit: or Skuggsjá or Urfaust? Huh. Nice to see Thrawsunblat get some love, that album is (to use an ever-overused word these days) "epic!" For those who enjoyed the cello, Saskatchewan's Altars of Grief are working with Raphael on their sophomore album. And if I recall correctly Thrawsunblat are writing another album as well.

NICE!!!

Personally I haven't listened much to new music this year, focusing mainly on writing and recording my own, but I loved BLAZE BAYLEYs Infinite Entaglement. Super basic heavy metal but great choruses and a really passionate delivery by Blaze himself.
So that is my favorite of the year.

The song "What Will Come" is unique and awesome, and I'm gonna record a real metal cover of that particular song soon

The Blaze album has awesome choruses but man the production is sterile, flat and weak as piss.

I didn't vote but I'm familiar with a few of these releases.

In my opinion Anaal should be much higher.

Yeah, I was especially surprised not to see Skuggsja on the list or even just in the "randos" list, but maybe people no longer find that style interesting in 2016 (although I think there were some other albums of a similar style on the list). I'm not sure. I would assume lots of people heard it given who the musicians are, but who knows. I was too late to vote in the poll, but that album was definitely on my top 10 list. Really loved it.

That title track easily has one of the best choruses of 2016, and I especially love how it goes super low during the title drop. Plenty of great riffs and memorable hooks serve well to elevate it over its peers. Keep up the good work! :3

I voted:
1 First Fragment - Dasein
2 Obscura - Akroasis
3 Black Crown Initiate - Selves We Cannot Forgive
4 Allegaeon - Proponent For Sentience
5 Be'Lakor - Vessels
6 Fallujah - Dreamless
7 Wormed - Krigshu
8 Insomnium - Winter's Gate
9 Gruesome - Dimensions of Horror
10 Ihashn - Arktis
Maybe The Zenith Passage would've appeared in the list somewhere if I got it earlier.
Only some bigger bands I guess but most of my buys in 2016 (~175) were of cd's before 2016 and some I haven't listened yet.

Good to see Hyperion's Seraphical Euphony up there. One hell of an album, and one of many quality recs from STORMM.

not a lot of press nor was it really findable online. Being able to "find" it is important for any band to score high on list.
Only heard it once but seems a step up from RTA.

I ordered it directly from Transcending Obscurity. $3.99 worldwide shipping flat rate. Was not hard to find at all.

it did not really show up on webstops, distros or anything. Also was not findable online through less reputable ways.

You mean through illegal downloading websites?
That's odd. Rudra is a fairly well established band. I would expect them to be easily accessible on such sites.
When my album dropped in April of last year, the very next day it was up on illegal downloading sites (and we were a new and very obscure group).
But yes not being stocked in numerous distros etc. is a problem.