Personally, I'd have to disagree: I prefer 'The Link' to 'The Way of All Flesh'; I often feel that the latter lacks the dynamism and sheer grunt of the former, although it is still a great record ("The Art of Dying" is one of my favourite Gojira songs). And, re CheesusCrust, let's keep in mind the bleeding obvious: not everyone shares the same musical taste.

Hands down to Xandria... Despite being a huge fan of Epica, I find this album "Neverworld's End" better than Epica's "Requiem for the Indifferent".
This is the closest you can get to early Nightwish materials, known as Tarja Turunen era

Just listened to Incurso for the first time and that one pisses all over Spawn Of Possessions' other albums. Easily. Of course it needs more listens but I'm very pleased with my first spin.

Listening to new Ketha now, and then new Hour Of Penance after.

2012 album night, I guess.

Like some others in this thread, I'm enjoying Before The Dawn's newest. The harmonies on this album are way better than before. Makes for instantly addictive, memorable songs.

This year has had quite a variety of excellent releases. All kinds of death metal from Asphyx, Horrendous, Spawn of Possession (Looking forward to the Ectovoid full-length), a great new Meshuggah album, the new Sigh album, and awesome stoner/doom records from High on Fire and Ancestors.

I've got to say listening to Monolithe's EP again it is a lot better than I initially gave it credit for. Not as riffless and ambient as I had first thought.

The Foreshadowing - Second World

Awesome gothic doom metal. Probably in my top 3 right now.

Their debut album Days of Nothing was awesome. Oionos didn't hit me the same way but I probably never gave it a serious listen. I should hear this new one.

The atmosphere on it is rad. Love the drumming as well; nice and busy.

Didn't like the new The Foreshadowing, though I suppose I'm not that big a fan of gothic/doom anyway. On a semi-related note, I did like the new Moonspell. It made for a good introduction to the band.

Also, Anhedonist's Netherwards is amazing. It has a strong Mournful Congregation vibe going on, alternated with some filthy Morbid Angel-esque sludgy sections. Going straight into my top 10 as of now; hopefully it'll remain there till the end of the year.

...Seems like I'm in a huge doom mood right now.

EDIT: I think I'm in love with Wodensthrone's Curse. Without going in too much of a fanboyish rambling, I'll just say that it's an improvement over Loss in almost every way. Each song is just as powerful as the previous one, yet they're all ever so distinctly different. Hands down, album of the year right now. Yes, even better than Sigh!

It's been a good year so far.

Pyscroptic - The Inherited Repression. Not quite what I was hoping for but astonishing nonetheless in its own way.
Eluveitie - Helvetios. No surprise there, another solid album.
Six Feet Under - Undead. Much better than most of the stuff they've done recently.
Cannibal Corpse - Torture. Finally they return to form after decades of crappy stuff.
Allegaeon - Formshifter. These guys are turning out to be a great technical melodic band.

A lot of new and newish bands are coming out with some great classic death metal, 2012 is turning out to be a revival year for the genre:

Day of Execution - Dead Burning to Ashes.
Dawn of Disease - Crypts of the Unrotten.
Dyscarnate - And So it Came to Pass.

Just heard Monolith of Inhumanity and I have to say its a contender for best death metal album I've heard so far, Incurso was a piece of shit no riffs to speak of and the same can be said for the newest Hour of Penance. I was terribly disappointed especially given the monster than Paradogma was, its safe to say that Hour of Penance is dead creatively for me at least.

I agree with this. The others... Not so much.

The new Allegaeon is a pretty kick ass death metal outing. Strikes a great balance of melody and technicality.

Check the new Serocs Ep out

http://serocs.bandcamp.com

Liked the new High on Fire a lot, especially the really sludgy, fuzzed-out doomy tracks like "Madness of an Architect."

Really digging Dodecahedron's s/t debut. It's been in rotation a lot. It's damn good Deathspell-inspired black metal, though in my opinion it's not quite on the same level as those French masters of dissonance and creepiness. I'm excited to see where they go from here, though. Looking forward to future material.

The voice is still very good and the production and mixing is fantastic. The doomy riffs are another treat, though something about the songwriting isn't very interesting. Sort of goes and goes without hitting stride, mainly with the long tracks. "Reverie Is A Tyrant" is the only track I remember because it was really cool.

Most recent: Crystal Viper - Crimen Excepta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSO2erLSUE

Daaaammn @ their vocalist. Will definitely be listening to this if it's anything like Running Wild.

Steel Assassin - WWII: Metal of Honor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve25SKJj9ns

Sounds like a pretty awesome follow-up to the criminally under-recognized War of the Eight Saints.

Yeah, I heard the first song off the Steel Assassin, pretty good stuff, not such a great chorus though.

New Crystal Viper song is as boring as they've been since their second album. Shame. You guys who are just hearing them for the first time, go back and listen to the debut, it's the only good one.

I've also listened to some of the new Dezperadoz tracks, good shit so far, better than their last one.

Yuck

This is actually really cool. Not something I would have ever gone out and found on my own with the genre name/supposedly sounds like Arsis thing, but I like it a lot. This will hold me over on my technical-death-metal-used-for-catchy-melody needs while Anata stays stranded in development hell.

just had a listen to Temple - structures in chaos. some quite good death metal. nothing revolutionary by any means but a solid death metal album for sure

The new In Mourning is pretty amazing, far better than the decent, but questionable monolith. The only song I don't like is the soft Celestial Tear. It just doesn't fit into the album as a whole.

Wodensthrone was pretty good, around the same level as Loss. They need to bring some more Saxonism into their music though, to distinguish themselves from other european regional black metal.

Well my Ignivomous CD has shown up, and I'm tentatively calling it my number one. I admit I was little overzealous with Acephalix, who do lack the sheer riffing to back up the fun energy and drum work, but Ignivomous seem to be safe in that department. Easily the riffiest thing I've heard all year, this thing has a disgusting amount of awesome riffs on it, every 15 seconds there is a new one just as good and as evil as the last. But Undergang might still be able to beat on repeated listens simply due to the lack of approachable songwriting, production and drumming on it. Like last time, it's Incantation's riffing style perfectly replicated, at double speed, with far less and far shorter slower bits. While the absurdly high and sustained tempo sets it apart from all the bands trying to be atmospheric and moody these days, it is pretty overwhelming and could do with a little more breathing space with a tad more doom or lead work, since they rule at it, and because the drummer is "fast music needs blasts and blasts only" for all the top speed stuff. Also, while the production is better than last time, it's still pretty unforgiving on shittier sound systems, so my car is pretty overwhelmed by a noisy hiss, sounds very good through good speakers though. People who feel new death metal is missing out on riffs should look here, there are like 25 amazing, twisted and utterly evil riffs that are more than just a deep tone and some slow riffing on pretty much every song.

The new Carach Angren was a mild disappointment. It's just the same as their other albums; slightly above average with a few kickass standout tracks, but not enough to really call it great.

Yeah, I was disappointed, too, but for other reasons... the sound was fine on the previous two albums, but here it does not highlight the intensity of some parts adequately enough. The topic would suggest a darker and more disturbing atmosphere, but except for some vocal passages this is simply not accomplished.

I wasn't satisfied with "Death Came Through A Phantom Ship" at the beginning, either, but I'm more than skeptical that my opinion will change in this case.

I also listened to new Diablo Swing Orchestra and while I welcome their heavier sound, I'm still not convinced by their songwriting skills, even their choruses used to be better before.

I almost forgot to listen to it, thanks for reminding me. The one track I heard (Lingering in an imprint haunting) is pretty good. The guitars could be a little thicker and louder though.

For the most part, all my favorite releases are from bigger names. Not sure what order I would put them in but my number one would be from either Napalm Death, Aborted, Cannibal Corpse, or Cattle Decapitation.

Aborted - Global Flatline
Allegaeon - Formshifter
Asphyx - Deathhammer
Cannibal Corpse - Torture
Cattle Decapitation - Monolith Of Inhumanity
Hour Of Penance - Sedition
Meshuggah - Koloss
Napalm Death - Utilitarian
Overkill - The Electric Age
Spawn Of Possession - Incurso

I thought the guitar sound was slightly heavier than before, but yeah, it just isn't sinister enough, even if they really try to be. I think the debut remains my favourite album of theirs.

Eh, the new DSO was alright I guess. They've got a solid gimmick and decent songwriting to back it up, but pretty much nothing else.

Currently listening to Trioscapes' album. It's got the bassist of BTBAM doing some rad shit.

I'll be checking that one out, thanks.

Agreed, definitely one of my favourites of the year so far, Monolith was really hard to get into but it has its moments.

Ne Obliviscaris was... ugh. If I had to use just one word to describe the album, it would have to be "overloaded". It's got so many ideas but none of them are gripping.

Any love for Faal - The Clouds Are Burning? Pretty awesome funeral doom.

Just listened to the new Wodensthrone tonight. Seemed like your typical, solid atmospheric BM. Definitely an enjoyable release, albeit doesn't quite match the likes of Falls of Rauros or Skagos in my opinion. Next up on my list is the new Ne Obliviscaris that I've been hearing quite a bit of mixed opinions about. I enjoyed their demo enough I hope to hear more of the same, if not better with the full-length.

I totally agree one Wodensthrone, I listened last night myself, it was a very standard by the books release. Pleasant enough, doesn't do anything wrong, doesn't do anything particularly impressive either.

I agree with the two above; they really need to try something new or start making their music more memorable.

Definitely loving this new Pallbearer

Both Overkill and Accepts new albums are very good.
Shadowmaker is a huge dissapointment, tho I can actually say I like Me & Boys due to it's unbelievably stupid non-Running Wild factor
Steelwing - Zone Of Alienation wasn't as good as the debut, but still good and has been played a lot
I have still to listen to both Lonewolf and Crystal Vipers new ones