I did enjoy the new High On Fire, Rush, Witchcraft, Down EP, Neurosis, Corrosion of Conformity, and the new Soundarden as well. I know that some people hated the new Sword album, but I rather enjoyed it.

I haven't quite got into The Sword. I've always seen people bashing them. Couldn't quite get it why. I've heard a couple of tracks from their album Age of Winters and they were pretty good to be honest.

Incantation: well, it was Incantation being themselves. But did anyone expect anything else? The vocals are weaker than what I usually expect from them (I think they changed vocalists?) but it's solid all around. I'll probably give it a few more listens, but it's definitely not a favourite of the year.

http://enpedestalment.bandcamp.com/
Debut EP by the slam death band Enpedestalment. Nonstop slams with one of the better slam guitar tones I've heard.

Axehammer Marching on is great, Kleber's vocals are great in a more europower sense, and they're satisfactory of a replacement for Bill. The riffs are solid and the musicianship is top knotch, definitely buying it this next payperiod.

Ævangelist: De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis has anyone else heard this album yet? this is easily one of my favorite albums to have been vomited forth this year. Its a thick and smothering album of atmospheric blackened death metal that has been informed by the works of portal without being a rip off or clone, it has its own identity. This album really suprised me as it came from a band i had never heard of before and was not expecting it to be any good.

Ævangelist: De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis has anyone else heard this album yet? this is easily one of my favorite albums to have been vomited forth this year. Its a thick and smothering album of atmospheric blackened death metal that has been informed by the works of portal without being a rip off or clone, it has its own identity. This album really suprised me as it came from a band i had never heard of before and was not expecting it to be any good.

Mustan Auringon Riitti from Nattfog

No doubt the best new album from this year I've heard

We've done a Top 10 of the year thread before, where everyone submitted their top albums for the year to one user and he assigned point values to them. I believe it had a ranking of all the albums though, so there were many albums that only one user submitted.

It spawned some great discussion and was a good thread to find even more music I hadn't discovered yet. Unfortunately it produced a bit of nasty discourse as well. It also produced some ridiculous smugness from people who felt it a good sign that most/none of the albums they liked were in the top 10. If we could avoid the flaming and smugness, I'd definitely be interested in that format again.

If we don't go that route, I'd still like to see a separate Top 10 thread along with reasoning for each member's picks. I can't stand standard listing threads, as it doesn't really spawn much good discussion (and MA prohibits these). Either way, I'd personally enjoy a Top 10 thread again, as I believe that would encourage more people to participate and ultimately lead many of us to albums we haven't discovered yet.