Well, as some (including myself) predicted, this would be a really unique and diverse list. Sadly, not as many people participated as I'd hoped. Very few titles were listed more than once on anyone's list, so there isn't much data to analyze. I believe only 25 people participated (including myself) which resulted in 108 unique titles. Only 11 titles were mentioned more than once. I may try to do one again next year and see what happens. Here are the results.

Points system was fairly simple:
1= 5 points
2= 4 points
3= 3 points
4= 2 points
5= 1 point

1. Converge - The Dusk In Us (3-1-0-0-0) 19
2. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun (2-2-0-0-0) 18
3. Lorde - Melodrama (1-1-0-0-0) 9
4. Incendiary - Thousand Mile Stare (1-0-0-1-0) 7
5. EX EYE - EX EYE (1-0-0-0-2) 7
6. Rope Sect - Personae Ingratae (1-0-0-0-2) 7
7. Kublai Khan - Nomad (0-1-0-1-0) 6
8. Alice Cooper - Paranormal (0-1-0-1-0) 6
9. Eisbrecher - Sturmfahrt (0-0-2-0-0) 6
10. Hawkwind - Into The Woods (1-0-0-0-0) 5
11. St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION (1-0-0-0-0) 5
12. Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory (1-0-0-0-0) 5
13. Chon - Homey (1-0-0-0-0) 5
14. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger In The Alps (0-0-1-1-0) 5
15. King Krule - The Ooze (1-0-0-0-0) 5
16. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights (1-0-0-0-0) 5
17. The Midnight Ghost Train - Cypress Ave (1-0-0-0-0) 5
18. Deerhoof - Mountain Moves (1-0-0-0-0) 5
19. Traumhaus - Her Body In Ashes (1-0-0-0-0) 5
20. Brutus - Burst (1-0-0-0-0) 5
21. Tori Amos - Native Invader (1-0-0-0-0) 5
22. Motorpsycho - The Tower (1-0-0-0-0) 5
23. Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions (1-0-0-0-0) 5
24. Tagada Jones - La Peste et le Chloéra (1-0-0-0-0) 5
25. Widek - Hidden Dimensions (1-0-0-0-0) 5
26. Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains (1-0-0-0-0) 5
27. Omar Souleyman - To Syria With Love (1-0-0-0-0) 5
28. Black Magick SS - Kaleidoscope Dreams (0-0-1-1-0) 5
29. Mike Oldfield - Return To Ommadawn (0-1-0-0-0) 4
30. Steven Wilson - To The Bone (0-1-0-0-0) 4
31. Matthew Logan Vasques - Does What He Wants (0-1-0-0-0) 4
32. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up (0-1-0-0-0) 4
33. $uicideboy$ - Kill Yourself Part XX: The Infinity Saga (0-1-0-0-0) 4
34. Zola Jesus - Okovi (0-1-0-0-0) 4
35. Paramore - After Laughter (0-1-0-0-0) 4
36. K-Rino & DLP - Rapz-N-Beatz (0-1-0-0-0) 4
37. Brand New - Science Fiction (0-1-0-0-0) 4
38. Pharmakon - Contact (0-1-0-0-0) 4
39. The Black Angels - Death Song (0-1-0-0-0) 4
40. (Sandy) Alex G - Rocket (0-1-0-0-0) 4
41. Danish String Quartet - Last Leaf (0-1-0-0-0) 4
42. Junius - Eternal Rituals For The Accretion Of Light (0-1-0-0-0) 4
43. Zaius - Of Adoration (0-1-0-0-0) 4
44. Trapped Under Ice - Heatwave (0-1-0-0-0) 4
45. Jamiroquai - Automaton (0-1-0-0-0) 4
46. Songhoy Blues - Resistance (0-1-0-0-0) 4
47. Neil Young - Hitchhiker (0-0-1-0-0) 3
48. U2 - Songs Of Experience (0-0-1-0-0) 3
49. Craig Finn - We All Want The Same Things (0-0-1-0-0) 3
50. Varials - Pain Again (0-0-1-0-0) 3
51. Protomartyr - Relatives In Descent (0-0-1-0-0) 3
52. Tyler, The Creation- Scum Fuck Flower Boy (0-0-1-0-0) 3
53. Prurient - Rainbow Mirror (0-0-1-0-0) 3
54. Ho99o9 - United States Of Horror (0-0-1-0-0) 3
55. The Devil And The Almight Blues - II (0-0-1-0-0) 3
56. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me (0-0-1-0-0) 3
57. Less Than Jake - Sound The Alarm (0-0-1-0-0) 3
58. The Aeon - Songs Of The Great Beast (0-0-1-0-0) 3
59. Kelela - Take Me Apart (0-0-1-0-0) 3
60. Vasen - Brewed (0-0-1-0-0) 3
61. Pile - Tailwind(s) (0-0-1-0-0) 3
62. For Giants - Big Sky (0-0-1-0-0) 3
63. Deathwish - Unleash Hell (0-0-1-0-0) 3
64. Soen - Lykaia (0-0-1-0-0) 3
65. Sunlights Bane - The Blackest Volume: Like All The Earth Was Buried (0-0-1-0-0) 3
66. The Mountain Goats - Goths (0-0-1-0-0) 3
67. The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding (0-0-0-1-0) 2
68. Steve Hackett - The Night Siren (0-0-0-1-0) 2
69. White Reaper - The World’s Beast American Band (0-0-0-1-0) 2
70. Hundredth - RARE (0-0-0-1-0) 2
71. The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time Pt. 3 (0-0-0-1-0) 2
72. Arca - Arca (0-0-0-1-0) 2
73. Turnover - Good Nature (0-0-0-1-0) 2
74. Full Of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy (0-0-0-1-0) 2
75. Ruby The Hatchet - Planetary Space Child (0-0-0-1-0) 2
76. The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Always Foreign (0-0-0-1-0) 2
77. Alison Krauss - Windy City (0-0-0-1-0) 2
78. Grave Pleasures - Motherblood (0-0-0-1-0) 2
79. The Courtneys - II (0-0-0-1-0) 2
80. Tetrafusion - Dreaming Of Sleep (0-0-0-1-0) 2
81. WJSN - Happy Moment (0-0-0-1-0) 2
82. Rise Against - Wolves (0-0-0-1-0) 2
83. Scale The Summit - In A World Of Fear (0-0-0-1-0) 2
84. Glassjaw - Material Control (0-0-0-1-0) 2
85. Mogwai - Every Country’s Sun (0-0-0-1-0) 2
86. Hallas - Excerpts From A Future Past (0-0-0-1-0) 2
87. Big Thief - Capacity (0-0-0-0-1) 1
88. The Barr Brothers - Queens Of The Breakers (0-0-0-0-1) 1
89. Deep Purple - Infinite (0-0-0-0-1) 1
90. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers (0-0-0-0-1) 1
91. Fit For An Autopsy - The Great Collapse (0-0-0-0-1) 1
92. Clams Casino - Instrumental Mixtape 4 (0-0-0-0-1) 1
93. Uniform - Wake In Fright (0-0-0-0-1) 1
94. Lights - Skin & Earth (0-0-0-0-1) 1
95. Injury Reserve - Drive It Like It’s Stolen (0-0-0-0-1)1
96. Ancient VVisdom - 33 (0-0-0-0-1) 1
97. Suicide Silence - Suicide Silence (0-0-0-0-1) 1
98. Freeways - Cold Front (0-0-0-0-1) 1
99. Fever Ray - Plunge (0-0-0-0-1) 1
100. Greta Van Fleet - From The Fires (0-0-0-0-1) 1
101. Wobbler - From Silence To Somewhere (0-0-0-0-1)1
102. Tricot - 3 (0-0-0-0-1) 1
103. Starset - Vessels(0-0-0-0-1) 1
104. Angel Vivaldi - Synapse (0-0-0-0-1) 1
105. The Contortionist - Clairvoyant (0-0-0-0-1) 1
106. Prophets Of Rage - Prophets Of Rage (0-0-0-0-1) 1
107. Code Orange - Forever (0-0-0-0-1) 1
108. Drab Majesty - The Demonstration (0-0-0-0-1) 1

At least there were enough votes to have some clear winners.

Didn't even think of putting Dusk in Us on my list, I always lump Converge and other heavy hardcore/metalcore acts into my metal lists.

This was the top 5 list I submitted to be in compliance with the rules of the poll:



However, as I said in the original poll thread, I feel the methodology of excluding certain bands based on the fact that they once played metal and are listed here was extremely flawed. So my poll compliant list was really my 1-4 and 6. Here is my actual top 10, with some commentary:



Here are my honorable mentions, alphabetical order:



My biggest disappointments, alphabetically:



As for EPs:



Thanks for the time and effort in putting this together.

What I find interesting about this list and the metal list is that no one knew how to handle the "borderline" bands.

Examples:

Ulver: 5 votes in the metal poll, really belongs here.
Anathema: 1 vote in the metal poll, really belongs here. Probably might have gotten a few more votes relative to the turnout had it not been specifically listed as a disqualifying example.
Full Of Hell: surprisingly only one vote here, I thought there would be quite a few "overcompensating" votes for this here, really belongs in the other list.
Deep Purple gets one vote on each list, really should not be here if the threshold is "if it's on the archives, it's metal".

Ah, what can you do. Such is the nature of genre tags and whatnot. I hope there is a bigger turnout next year.

Cool to see Incendiary get love. Barely was left out of my top 5 here.

Thanks!

My list:
1) (2017) Queens of the Stone Age - Villains.
2) (2017) Jamiroquai - Automaton.
3) (2017) Soen - Lykaia.
4) (2017) Mogwai - Every Country's Sun.
5) (2017) Prophets Of Rage - Prophets Of Rage.


Wow! Why?!?


+1.

This is 1000% my fault. I don't know how I had that lapse, especially for such an important band, but I totally forgot they were on here. Rookie mistake. Sorry!

If you're asking why I disliked the album, I simply did not care at all for the uber clean pop-ish production and sort-of danceable beats. Plus nothing stuck out to me past those elements on the first listen, and I was so wholly unimpressed that I have not gone back to it since. A very bland listen, and a complete lack of "rock", however defined (as I see it). To be fair, Era Vulgaris did not click with me until well after its release (maybe 2011-ish?) so there is a chance that this will grab me down the line, but on the flipside, Like Clockwork has still not clicked with me to this day. Them Crooked Vultures immediately resonated with me on the same level as Queens albums 2 through 4, so it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility he can put a record together that from the outset rocks with balls, but also treads new ground. But, to me, Villains is decidedly not that record.

If you're asking why I'm not a fan of Homme the individual, let's just say there are certain things that are out there that rub me the wrong way, personally (all easily Google-able). Not quite as an extreme revulsion as say your garden variety NSBM band, but yeah, an unsavory dude (I guess in some ways, all legit "rock" people have some degree of unsavoriness). But hey, far be it for me to suggest to anyone else but me be off put by these things though, just how I feel about it.



No need for apologies! Even with the low vote turnout, it's still a daunting amount of work, and errors happen-there were a few in the metal poll as well and BH is a seasoned vet in putting these together.

I'm just grateful someone has the drive to put the work in, so I can then sit back and spew my opinion!

As expected there was a ton of variety in the results, kind of cool to see just how varied people's tastes are. Here's my list:

1 Tagada Jones - La peste et le choléra
2 Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
3 Eisbrecher - Sturmfahrt
4 Rise Against - Wolves
5 Starset - Vessels

I was quite surprised with my own number one - I don't really listen to hardcore at all but a friend introduced me to Tagada Jones and for whatever reason it just clicked.

Massive amount of good shit this year, this was a struggle to put together. There's about another super solid 12 albums or so that I exempted for the sake of trying to be concise (as concise as a top 40 can be lol). Also, did it through the Topster's collage website:



My earlier post in the poll's thread with some words about my top 5:



Here's a little bit more commentary up until #20 but gonna cut it off there as I'm sure it'll just end up turning into word vomit beyond that:



Exempt from this list is hardcore band Botfly's self titled LP. I had it placed between Blanck Mass and Beach Fossils, however, the album isn't available in the Topster's database (SUPER good sludgy hardcore by the way, very much in the vein of bands like Cursed, Cult Leader, Baptists, etc.)

Some disappointments of note include:



Anyway, overall this was a very strong year. Can't wait to see what 2018 brings on!

My list

1. Converge - The Dusk In Us
Converge is a metal band. Its silly they dont have a page on MA, but it is what it is. Arguably the best album of 2017. What amazes me about Converge is that they keep pulling it off. Every album. Every time.

2. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Its funny, because while Chelsea Wolfe is not a metal artist, this is a Metal album. Its doom metal, straight up. And the first Wolfe album Ive really liked.

3. The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
More War on Drugs. Tom Petty meets depressive black metal. Seriously, tell me there isnt a black metal influence in the song structures.

4. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
I almost didnt include this one. Part of me just thinks its sadness porn. But if you have a wife and a young child... this album is... FUCKING DEVASTATING. It left me in tatters. This is the heaviest album, emotionally, I have heard maybe ever. At least for people like me with a wife and kid. A hard, hard listen

5. Rope Sect - Personae Ingratae
I love me some post punk. This is good post punk.

Holy shit-I completely forgot about this album, that's how utterly fucking terrible and inconsequential it is. Great assessment.

As I expected, my list was all instrumental stuff. The top 3 in particular are phenomenal and the other two could have easily been bumped out of the top 5 in favor of Outrun the Sunlight, Intervals, or David Maxim Micic, because it was very close between all of them.

1. Widek - Hidden Dimensions
2. Zaius - Of Adoration
3. For Giants - Big Sky
4. Scale the Summit - In a World of Fear
5. Angel Vivaldi - Synapse

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

set and setting - Reflectionless
David Maxim Micic - Who Bit the Moon
The Gleam of Last Light - Into the Ever Nothingness (EP)
Nova Collective - The Further Side
Outrun the Sunlight - Red Bird (EP)
Intervals - The Way Forward
Falling with the Rain - Vibes
Vasudeva - No Clearance

I also forgot All Will Know wasn't on the Archives, so I would also include Infinitas as an honorable mention. I heard Greta Van Fleet for the first time today actually, so with more listens I may have added them. I also barely listened to any hip hop this year, so my non-metal listening was almost exclusively instrumental music.

For full disclosure; here is my top 5 list, as well as how I would have ranked a #20:

01. Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory
02. Matthew Logan Vasquez- Does What He Wants
03. Craig Finn- We All Want The Same Things
04. Phoebe Bridgers- Stranger In The Alps
05. The Barr Brothers- Queens Of The Breakers
----
06. Bardspec- Hydrogen
07. Leif Vollebekk- Twin Solitude
08. Jay-Z- 4.44
09. The National- Sleep Well Beast
10. Wolf Parade- Cry Cry Cry
11. Conor Oberst- Salutations
12. Julie Byrne- Not Even Happiness
13. Future Islands- The Far Field
14. Japandroids- Near To the Wild Heart Of Life
15. Robert Plant- Carry Fire
16. Perfume Genius- No Shape
17. The Mountain Goats- Goths
18. The War On Drugs- A Deeper Understanding
19. Algiers- The Underside Of Power
20. Action Bronson- Blue Chips 7000

bwahahaha yesss Kublai Khan and Incendiary both garnered enough to get in the top 10! I love small sample sizes

my top 5 (which was pretty borderline "not metal", but whatever):

1) Chon- Homey
2) Kublai Khan- Nomad
3) Varials- Pain Again
4) Incendiary- Thousand Mile Stare
5) Fit For An Autopsy- The Great Collapse


Highly recommend the new Chon album. Never really dug the band until this release.

good to not see much love for Brand New, fuck that band

I mean, if you "separate the art from the artist" (a common mantra selectively applied around these parts mainly to justify supporting nazi/far right/white supremacist bands/artists), this album is truly excellent.

Unfortunately, the recent allegations against Lacey tainted my enjoyment of this album, as well as Deja Entendu, which is an all time favorite of mine. I can't view these albums the same way anymore.

+1

It's a p decent album, I'd put it about on the same level as Daisy and it's got some top-tier BN tracks like "Lit Me Up", "Waste" and "No Control". However, it was definitely a record that lost steam for me as the year went on (it was actually in my top 10 at one point), and the bullshit with Jesse definitely didn't help. Deja and The Devil and God... are in all honesty not the same either despite them being a pair of all time favourites I grew up with. I'm one of those people that's all for "separating the art from the artists" (and I mean, it's not like the rest of the band are pieces of human trash like Jesse), but it's hard to come back to super lyrically driven albums like these after the recent events.

Way to go rope sect.

(2007) Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris is a hard one for me too. Anyway, did you both like (2013) Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork?

@FirebathDan

I loved that White Reaper album, great pick! Some good summertime anthems on there.

This album has not clicked with me as of yet, but the single "My God Is The Sun" sticks out as a jam. I know this is better than Villains though.



This album is fun, energetic, has hooks galore, and the "Judy French" music video has Alexandra Daddario in it-all things going for it.

To tie it together somewhat, the White Reaper record is everything the QOTSA album should've been, not so much in style, but certainly in rocking energy.

you screwed up my list, i put ex eye as 4th

my full list:
1. Omar Souleyman - from syria with love
2. Songhoy blues - resistance
3. Sunlights Bane - The Blackest Volume: Like All the Earth Was Buried
4. ex eye - ex eye
5. code orange - forever


this poll turned a bit into rando corner the poll though

I really enjoy it, probably my 2nd favourite of their's after Songs for the Deaf to be quite honest. Loved the much needed shift in direction and the songwriting, composition and production are all top-tier. The brooding "I Appear Missing" and bangers "My God is the Sun" and "I Sat By the Ocean" probably being my biggest favourites from it. Having said that, it's a big reason why Villains was such a letdown. I appreciate that they're continuing to evolve their sound, especially at this stage in their career, but it's just not doing anything for me.

The Night Siren is my album of the year, we don't deserve it lol. Especially after an album as good as Wolflight.

Also Sprach Zarathustra by Laibach is in a close second and I'm surprise nobody voted for it here at all. Overwhelmingly epic, immersive and dark.

Good pick for #1, Tomcat.

I had problems with both albums at first. But they're good.

Not a single vote for Slow Dive? Wow.

I got the same enjoyment out of the White Reaper album as the one I got from the Rolling Blackouts release from 2016. Just fun, poppy and catchy rock and roll. White Reaper is a lot more overblown and in your face though.

the most hard going disco destroyer artist returns with another slab of brutal dance music.

Damn somehow I missed this poll, but this would have been mine and I can't believe no one voted for Dis Pater's darkwave project

1. Death Comes Crawling - S/t

2. Drab Majesty - The Demonstration

3. Slowdive - S/t

4. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun

5. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me

Just want to mention, as I just litened to it this week but: broken social scene's Hug of Thunder is absolutely excellent.

I had EX EYE as first, so that accounts for their 7 points I think.

This is correct. I went back to my spreadsheet, and Tomcat_ha's list was calculated correctly, it was just a typo in my post. It only received 2 (#1 and #4) total votes (both you folks), not 3 (#1 and two #5's). Apologies!