i'm way behind on this thread bcuz i've been busy working on a feature-length youtube video
2010:
#1: Blindead - Affliction XXIX II MXMVI
#2: Haken - Aquarius
#3: Shining - Blackjazz
#4: Oceansize - Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up
#5: Alcest - Ecailles de Lune
#6: East of the Wall - Ressentiment
#7: Eluvium - Static Nocturne
#8: Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here
absolutely not a banner year considering how strong pretty much every other year of the decade is going to be for me on these lists. none of these would make even my top 5 in 2011 or 2013
which, speaking of:
2011:
#1: East of the Wall - The Apologist (surprise)
#2: Midnight Odyssey - Funerals From the Astral Sphere
#3: Leprous - Bilateral
#4: Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
#5: Alrakis - Alpha Eri
#6: Unexpect - Fables of the Sleepless Empire
#7: Protest the Hero - Scurrilous
#8: Amplifier - The Octopus
#9: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
#10: Caligula's Horse - Moments From Ephemeral City
christ what a year, i'm being picky keeping it to only 10 but that's a lotta great music for one year
2012:
#1: The Hirsch Effekt - Holon : Anamnesis
#2: Thank You Scientist - Maps of Non-Existent Places
#3: Enslaved - RIITIIR
#4: Dordeduh - Dar de duh
#5: A Forest of Stars - A Shadowplay for Yesterdays
#6: Xanthochroid - Blessed He With Boils
#7: Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
#8: Obsidian Kingdom - Mantiis
#9: Headspace - I Am Anonymous
#10: The Faceless - Autotheism
still lots of good stuff and even two 5-star albums but the dropoff is a lot sharper and faster here
2013:
#1: El Drugstore - Plague Ship
#2: Persefone - Spiritual Migration
#3: Exist - Sunlight
#4: Haken - The Mountain
#5: The Ocean - Pelagial
#6: Caligula's Horse - The Tide, the Thief & River's End
#7: Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)
#8: Amendfoil - Skyline Escape
#9: David Maxim Micic - Bilo 3.0
#10: Progenie Terrestre Pura - U.M.A.
#11: Leprous - Coal
#12: TesseracT - Altered State
#13: Lorde - Pure Heroine
#14: Oceans of Slumber - Aetherial
#15: Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
#16: Capital Cities - In a Tidal Wave of Mystery
#17: Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
y'know what i'll be honest i did not realize until now just how stacked 2013 was. maybe it's because a whole lot of these were retrospective finds but even then a lot of them weren't, either, so. yeah wow