1. Iron Maiden - Brave New World. Still my favorite of the reunion records and Bruce sounds so strong and amazing. Every song is killer.
2. Iced Earth - Dystopia. Furious album following two dull concept albums about the Something Wicked story. Matt Barlow's departure is softened by introducing Stu Block wailing away and singing his ass off.
3. Savatage - Poets and Madmen. I love Zak, but get bored with DWD and Wake of Magellan's plodding rock operas. Poets features Jon Oliva returning to the main vocalist slot and some heavy, rocking songs.
4. Anthrax - We've Come For You All. Monster album after the clunker that is Volume 8.
5. Testament - The Gathering. Low is a great record, Demonic starts strong but fades quickly. The Gathering is full-on awesome from start to finish. Amazing songs, amazing lineup with Digiorgio and Lombardo, and unrelenting heaviness.
I'd argue Formation is more of a comeback record and a brilliant one at that. Chuck beat cancer, Alex back with the band. That being said The Gathering is the most underrated Metal record ever. It should be in top 10 all time metal lists. I'll go to my grave arguing for that album. F me the production. Chuck sounding so brutal. Lombardo on the kit.
I can definitely agree with Formation as well and that definitely fits the definition of comeback record better. But for me, it's The Gathering, especially being a metalhead during the late 90's. Metallica and Megadeth went Load/Risk, nu-metal was huge, Slayer was experimenting with groove, we were waiting for another Pantera record. The summer of 1999 was ruled by The Gathering, especially after they were coming off of Demonic.