Honorable Mentions (in roughly ascending order of goodness):

• Kampfar, Kvass
• Dysrhythmia, Barriers and Passages
• Cellador, Enter Deception
• Moonspell, Memorial
• Sodom, Sodom
• Eventide, Diaries from the Gallows
• Profundi, The Omega Rising
• Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Before the Bleeding Sun
• Andromeda, Chimera
• Rage, Speak of the Dead
• Borknagar, Origin
• Edenbridge, The Grand Design
• Delain, Lucidity
• Aghora, Formless
• Dragonforce, Inhuman Rampage
• Noumena, Anatomy of Life
• Blind Guardian, A Twist in the Myth
• Mastodon, Blood Mountain
• Leaves' Eyes, Legend Land
• Eluveitie, Spirit
• Isis, In the Absence of Truth

Disappointments:

• Angra, Aurora Consurgens
• Queensryche, Operation: Mindcrime II
• Adagio, Dominate
• Rhapsody of Fire, Triumph or Agony

Top 20:

• 20. Daylight Dies, Dismantling Devotion
• 19. Ihsahn, The Adversary
• 18. Insomnium, Above the Weeping World
• 17. Vanden Plas, ChristO
• 16. Mercenary, The Hours That Remain
• 15. Enslaved, Ruun
• 14. Iron Maiden, A Matter of Life and Death
• 13. Scar Symmetry, Pitch Black Progress
• 12. Kalmah, The Black Waltz
• 11. Amorphis, Eclipse
• 10. Unexpect, In a Flesh Aquarium
• 9. Green Carnation, The Acoustic Verses
• 8. Novembre, Materia
• 7. Korpiklaani, Tales Along This Road
• 6. Into Eternity, The Scattering of Ashes
• 5. Tyr, Ragnarok
• 4. Drudkh, Blood in Our Wells
• 3. Agalloch, Ashes Against the Grain
• 2. Behold the Arctopus, Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning
• 1. Hammers of Misfortune, The Locust Years