Best Album of the Decade 2010 to 2019- AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!

[Stadler]

They get my very highest musical compliment:  I'll be in the car, or working in the garage, or whatever, and I'll burst out singing "He's my best friend!" or "when the king is half-undressed!" out of nowhere. 

[cramx3]

Wow, Hail to the King and Nightmare over The Stage?

Now that some time has passed, I think I'd put those two above The Stage as well.  I find myself hardly ever listening to that album.  Hail to the King gets a lot of flack for the drums, but songwise I find those songs super catchy and fun.  Nightmare is a bit closer to the Stage though.

[twosuitsluke]

I've got a week off work so I'm actually going to put aside some time to knock up a list. I've discovered more new music in recent years than ever before so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out 

[twosuitsluke]

Wow, Hail to the King and Nightmare over The Stage?

Now that some time has passed, I think I'd put those two above The Stage as well.  I find myself hardly ever listening to that album.  Hail to the King gets a lot of flack for the drums, but songwise I find those songs super catchy and fun.  Nightmare is a bit closer to the Stage though.

I mean I consider myself a fairly large Avenged Sevenfold fan but I've only listened to Hail to the King once! None of the recent ones are on par with their earlier albums (mainly Waking the Fallen and City of Evil) but I'd probably rank:

Nightmare
The Stage
Hail to the King

[cramx3]

I'm pretty sure I'm a big minority in loving Hail to the King so no surprise to find others don't share that.  I thought The Stage was awesome when it was released and maybe because of the surprise of it all, but the songs themselves really just haven't stuck with me.  Maybe it's because I never got to see those songs live since they cancelled the local show.  Sometimes seeing the songs live brings new life into them for me. 

[twosuitsluke]

I'm pretty sure I'm a big minority in loving Hail to the King so no surprise to find others don't share that.  I thought The Stage was awesome when it was released and maybe because of the surprise of it all, but the songs themselves really just haven't stuck with me.  Maybe it's because I never got to see those songs live since they cancelled the local show.  Sometimes seeing the songs live brings new life into them for me.

After seeing Ghost the other night I can do nothing but agree! 'He Is' has been on repeat a fair bit today.

[cramx3]

I'm pretty sure I'm a big minority in loving Hail to the King so no surprise to find others don't share that.  I thought The Stage was awesome when it was released and maybe because of the surprise of it all, but the songs themselves really just haven't stuck with me.  Maybe it's because I never got to see those songs live since they cancelled the local show.  Sometimes seeing the songs live brings new life into them for me.

After seeing Ghost the other night I can do nothing but agree! 'He Is' has been on repeat a fair bit today.

He Is is such an awesome song, I don't think I needed to see it live to love it, but for Avenged, Buried Alive was a really cool live song from the one time I did see them live wheras God Damn was not a song that made me like it more after seeing it live (to keep the A7X album comparison and opinions going). 

[twosuitsluke]

So here goes. I know the OP said limit to 2 albums but I'm sorry, I just can't in good conscience do it. It just wouldn't be my top 15 albums of the decade otherwise. I guess I've also kinda cheated as I put Coheed's Ascension/Descension as one album. So here we have it:

1. The Dear Hunter - Act IV : Rebirth in Reprise '15
2. Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones '11
3. The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional '16
4. The Skints - Live. Breathe. Build. Believe '10
5. Coheed and Cambria - Afterman Ascension/Descension '12/'13
6. The Flatliners - Cavalcade '10
7. The King Blues - Punk and Poetry '10
8. Nobuo Uematsu - Distant Worlds II: More Music From Final Fantasy '10
9. Coheed and Cambria - Year of the Black Rainbow '10
10. Leprous - Malina '17
11. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand '17
12. Haken - The Mountain '13
13. Ghost - Prequelle '18
14. The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum '11
15. Rammstein - Rammstein '19 

I'm pretty happy with that. I also added the year of release of each one 

Here are all the albums (in rough order) that didn't quite make the cut:

Leprous - The Congregation '15
Coheed and Cambria - Vaxis Act I '18
Haken - Visions '11
The Ocean - Pelagial '13
Star Fucking Hipsters - From the Dumpster to the Grave '11
Caligula's Horse - In Contact '17
Devin Townsend - Epicloud '12
Thank You, Scientist - Terraformer '19
Opeth - In Cauda Venenum '19
Steven Wilson - To the Bone '17
Dream Theater - Dream Theater '13
Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante '10
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit '18
Devin Townsend - Empath '19
Baroness - Yellow&Green '12
Between the Buried and Me - Parallax II: Future Sequence '12
Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies '13
RX Bandits - Gemini, Her Majesty '14
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love '18
Megadeth - Dystopia '16
Enslaved - E '17
Carcass - Surgical Steel '13
Blink-182 - Neighbourhoods '11

[NoseofNicko]

1. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
2. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3. FKA twigs - Magdalene
4. Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want
5. Leprous - Pitfalls
6. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
7. Beach House - Teen Dream
8. Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas - Mariner
9. Leprous - The Congregation
10. Haken - The Mountain
11. Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
13. Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy
14. LINGUA IGNOTA - Caligula
15. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

Not sure at all, but I tried.

Honorable mentions:

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Vektor - Terminal Redux
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Leprous - Coal
The National - I Am Easy to Find
NIN - Bad Witch
Soen - Lotus
Swans - The Seer - To Be Kind - The Glowing Man
Symphony X - Underworld
Devin Townsend - Empath
Thom Yorke - ANIMA
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Burzum - Belus
Tool - Fear Inoculum
David Bowie - Blackstar
Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Anna Von Hausswolff - Dead Magic
...

[IDontNotDoThings]

So here goes. I know the OP said limit to 2 albums but I'm sorry, I just can't in good conscience do it. It just wouldn't be my top 15 albums of the decade otherwise.

Fair enough I guess, but Year Of The Black Rainbow & The Colour Spectrum won't get any points from you because of the 2 albums rule - just fyi.

I guess I've also kinda cheated as I put Coheed's Ascension/Descension as one album.

That's within the rules; the 11 points for the 5th place rank would just be split equally between the two albums (5.5 each).

[senecadawg2]

Surprisingly easy to make this list, considering how many great albums I've had to leave out.


1. Anathema - Weather Systems
2. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

4. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
5. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
6. Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

7. Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were
8. Copeland - Blushing
9. Kayo Dot - Hubardo
10. Mumford & Sons - Babel

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I'm pretty sure I'm a big minority in loving Hail to the King so no surprise to find others don't share that.  I thought The Stage was awesome when it was released and maybe because of the surprise of it all, but the songs themselves really just haven't stuck with me.  Maybe it's because I never got to see those songs live since they cancelled the local show.  Sometimes seeing the songs live brings new life into them for me.

Yeah, Hail to the King was one of the most boring albums I have ever heard. It ranked super low for me for 2013. Nightmare was a much better album, but still only like a 6/10 or something like that. The Stage gets better every time I listen to it. I think it's about on par with City of Evil now, which is at least an 8/10 album.

[Sacul]

1. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
2. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3. FKA twigs - Magdalene
4. Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want
5. Leprous - Pitfalls
6. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
7. Beach House - Teen Dream
8. Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas - Mariner
9. Leprous - The Congregation
10. Haken - The Mountain
11. Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
13. Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy
14. LINGUA IGNOTA - Caligula
15. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

Not sure at all, but I tried.

Honorable mentions:

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Vektor - Terminal Redux
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Leprous - Coal
The National - I Am Easy to Find
NIN - Bad Witch
Soen - Lotus
Swans - The Seer - To Be Kind - The Glowing Man
Symphony X - Underworld
Devin Townsend - Empath
Thom Yorke - ANIMA
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Burzum - Belus
Tool - Fear Inoculum
David Bowie - Blackstar
Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Anna Von Hausswolff - Dead Magic
...

These are all great choices, particularly the bolded ones. Crap I forgot to include Carrie & Lowell on my list . Might do some honorary mentions.

[Heretic]

Holy shit, incredibly stressful to just pick 15. The music of the 2010s has been utterly fantastic.

1. The National - High Violet
2. Haken - The Mountain
3. Anathema - Weather Systems
4. mewithoutYou - [untitled]
5. Deafheaven - New Bermuda
6. Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
7. Fair to Midland - Arrows & Anchors
8. Seventh Wonder - The Great Escape
9. Cloudkicker - Beacons
10. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
11. August Burns Red - Found in Far Away Places
12. Typhoon - White Lighter
13. Thrice - Major / Minor
14. Leprous - Bilateral
15. Job For a Cowboy - Sun Eater

Honorable mentions:

Locktender - Rodin
Hyperion - Seraphical Euphony
Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman
Vinland - Hanter Savet
Hath - Of Rot and Ruin
Inferi - Revenant
Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
Firelink - The Inveterate Fire
The Great Old Ones  - EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy
Saor - Aura
Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
Vektor - Terminal Redux
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Periphery - Juggernaut: Omega
Silent Planet - The Night God Slept
Stortregn - Evocation of Light
Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
Amia Venera Landscape - The Long Procession
Kvelertak - Kvelertak
Alter Bridge - Fortress

[twosuitsluke]

So here goes. I know the OP said limit to 2 albums but I'm sorry, I just can't in good conscience do it. It just wouldn't be my top 15 albums of the decade otherwise.

Fair enough I guess, but Year Of The Black Rainbow & The Colour Spectrum won't get any points from you because of the 2 albums rule - just fyi.

I guess I've also kinda cheated as I put Coheed's Ascension/Descension as one album.

That's within the rules; the 11 points for the 5th place rank would just be split equally between the two albums (5.5 each).

I'm fine with The Color Spectrum not getting points but technically The Afterman is a double album so it could count as one release? Heretic just put it as one entry on his honourable mentions. I can't be the only one who has it on their list. If that does count as a double album then can I still have Year of the Black Rainbow?

[IDontNotDoThings]

So here goes. I know the OP said limit to 2 albums but I'm sorry, I just can't in good conscience do it. It just wouldn't be my top 15 albums of the decade otherwise.

Fair enough I guess, but Year Of The Black Rainbow & The Colour Spectrum won't get any points from you because of the 2 albums rule - just fyi.

I guess I've also kinda cheated as I put Coheed's Ascension/Descension as one album.

That's within the rules; the 11 points for the 5th place rank would just be split equally between the two albums (5.5 each).

I'm fine with The Color Spectrum not getting points but technically The Afterman is a double album so it could count as one release? Heretic just put it as one entry on his honourable mentions. I can't be the only one who has it on their list. If that does count as a double album then can I still have Year of the Black Rainbow?

They were not only released separately, but also with a four month gap in between them, so I think they should count as 2 albums & not 1 double album. Unless lonestar is willing to make an exception for albums that have the same title (which I doubt, since he didn't say anything when I pointed out Juggernaut Alpha/Omega being two albums), that's a no from me.

Also believe it or not, yes you are the only one so far who's had Afterman (or any C&C album for that matter) on their list.

[Crow]

they've released some good stuff this decade but none of it comes close to any of my favorites yeah

[twosuitsluke]

That's all fair enough to me  I agree that their best albums were released in the previous decade but I'm surprised no one has a Coheed album on their list anywhere 

[bosk1]

Okay, finally have mine together.  Doing 15 was a really stark reminder that there was a TON of music released during this period, but there is a pretty wide gulf between truly exceptional music, and music that is just "good" or "okay." 

Anyhow, here's my 15:

1.  A Dramatic Turn of Events (Dream Theater)
2.  Dream Theater (Dream Theater)
3.  The Great Adventure (Neal Morse Band)
4.  Long Night's Journey Into Day (Redemption)
5.  Underworld (Symphony X)
6.  Theories of Flight (Fates Warning)
7.  Condition Human (Queensryche)
8.  The Final Frontier (Iron Maiden)
9.  This Moral Coil (Redemption)
10.  The Similitude of a Dream (Neal Morse Band)
11.  The Holographic Principle (Epica)
12.  Unforgiving (Within Temptation)
13.  In Waves (Trivium)
14.  King of Everything (Jinjer)
15.  Static Impulse (James LaBrie)


The Mystery of Time (Avantasia) and Sympathetic Resonance just missed the cut.  It probably belongs in at 14 or 15.  But not today.  Maybe if it were a bit longer.  Limiting myself to 2 per artist, there aren't many that stand the test of time that I would bother putting on a "best album of the decade list."  I could probably do a top 20.  But not much beyond that.  I would be lying if I said 25 albums rightly belonged in a "best of" list.

[Mebert78]

1) The Neal Morse Band - Similitude of a Dream (2016)
2) Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken (2014)
3) Tesseract - Altered State (2013)
4) Haken - The Mountain (2013)
5) Anathema - Weather Systems (2012)
6) Riverside - Wasteland (2018)
7) Dream Theater - Dream Theater (2013)
8) Fates Warning - Theories of Flight (2016)
9) Pain of Salvation - The Passing Light of Day (2017)
10) IQ - The Road of Bones (2014)
11) Darkwater - Human (2019)
12) Valis Ablaze - Boundless (2018)
13) The Contortionist - Clairvoyant (2017)
14) Caligula's Horse - In Contact (2017)
15) Leprous - Bilateral (2011)
16) Teramaze - Her Halo (2015)
17) Voyager - The Meaning of I (2011)
18) Lunatic Soul - Walking on a Flashlight Beam (2014)
19) Voices From the Fuselage - Odyssey: The Founder of Dreams (2018)
20) Opeth - Pale Communion (2014)
21) Lost in Thought - Opus Arise (2011)
22) Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015)
23) Redemption - This Mortal Coil (2011)
24) DGM - The Passage (2016)
25) Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019)

[Evermind]

I tend to have a brainfart whenever I need to spin something new on my commute, not knowing what to pick. I'll use this list to check out three albums I'm not familiar with here, which are Voices from the Fuselage, The Contortionist and Voyager.

[Crow]

All three of those are basically djent tbh 

[Evermind]

Well shit, I'll still try them I guess, the rest of the list is fairly close to my tastes so who knows.

[lonestar]

Well shit, I'll still try them I guess, the rest of the list is fairly close to my tastes so who knows.

Wait.. How the he have you not spun Voices yet? I could've sworn you rejected them from me in a roulette. Maybe it was someone else, but I guarantee you'll love them, hit up their first album, Odyssey:Destroyer of Worlda. Meteorites would be in my top ten song of the decade for sure.

[Evermind]

Well shit, I'll still try them I guess, the rest of the list is fairly close to my tastes so who knows.

Wait.. How the he have you not spun Voices yet? I could've sworn you rejected them from me in a roulette. Maybe it was someone else, but I guarantee you'll love them, hit up their first album, Odyssey:Destroyer of Worlda. Meteorites would be in my top ten song of the decade for sure.

I know the first one, but I didn't check out the new one yet.

[lonestar]

Ah, ok that makes sense. I thought I was tripping for a second there. The second album is very solid, but I still favor the first.

[Train of Naught]

All three of those are basically djent tbh 

Okay no. that Contortionist album is in no way djent, like at all

[cramx3]

Contortionist is opening for Devin and Haken this winter, I should check them out too (also, Mebert's list is solid from what I know and the ones I dont I should maybe check out too since it seems up my alley)

[Train of Naught]

While they’re not the most engaging band, out of the last 100+ gigs I’ve been to, both of the Contortionist shows were some of the most creative. They’re one of those bands that make very interesting changes to their live sets. Cool unique interludes (not on the albums) and added layers to the original songs, a really rewarding show especially if you’re already familiar with the songs!

[cramx3]

While they’re not the most engaging band, out of the last 100+ gigs I’ve been to, both of the Contortionist shows were some of the most creative. They’re one of those bands that make very interesting changes to their live sets. Cool unique interludes (not on the albums) and added layers to the original songs, a really rewarding show especially if you’re already familiar with the songs!

That's really cool and I like that a lot in live music 

[Evermind]

Voices of the Fuselage was really nice, I'd say on par with the first album actually. I'll spin The Contortionist tomorrow!

[Stadler]

Not for nothing, if I was ever to make a porno, my alias would be "Nick Fuselage".   That is not my voice they are talking about, I don't think. 

[Evermind]

I actually work in the fuselage department, and just to clarify, I'm not a porn star.

[WilliamMunny]

Surprisingly easy to make this list, considering how many great albums I've had to leave out.


1. Anathema - Weather Systems
2. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

4. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
5. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
6. Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

7. Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were
8. Copeland - Blushing
9. Kayo Dot - Hubardo
10. Mumford & Sons - Babel

I'm pleasantly surprised to see this album mentioned here. This would be at the top of my list...maybe even number one.

[SoundscapeMN]

12. Typhoon - White Lighter