This list is, for the most part, what I expected.

Gotta say, though - there are people out there who think Black Seeds is better than In Their Darkened Shrines?

Also, no way is Isa better than Ruun or Vertebrae. Maybe if they had done something with the recording - shit sounds like it was laid down on v-drums. That said, none of those three albums hold a candle to their back catalog for me.

Top three made it in...

1. Therion - Gothic Kabbalah (2007) (49)
2. The Chasm - Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm (2009) (31)
3. Destroyer 666 - Cold Steel... For an Iron Age (2002) (89)
4. Summoning - Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame (2001) (DNP)
5. Beherit - Engram (2009) (DNP)
6. S.V.E.S.T. - Urfaust (2003) (DNP)
7. Funebrarum – Beneath the Columns of Abandoned Gods (2001) (DNP)
8. Antaeus - Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan (2000) (DNP)
9. Razor of Occam – Homage to Martyrs (2009) (DNP)
10. Asphyx – Death... The Brutal Way (2009) (DNP)
11. Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera (2002) (35)
12. Negative Plane – Et In Saecula Saeculorum (2006) (DNP)
13. Sauron – Satanic Assassins (2008) (DNP)
14. Nazxul - Iconoclast (2009) (DNP)
15. Weakling – Dead As Dreams (2000) (DNP)
16. Primordial – The Gathering Wilderness (2005) (27)
17. Ares Kingdom – Return To Dust (2006) (DNP)
18. Profanatica – Profanatitas De Domonatia (2007) (DNP)
19. Dead Congregation – Graves of the Archangels (2008) (DNP)
20. Krieg – Destruction Ritual (2002) (DNP)
21. Vektor – Black Future (2009) (DNP)
22. Averse Sefira – Tetragrammatical Astygmata (2005) (DNP)
23. Veneficium – De Occulta Philosophia – A Missae Tenebrae (2008) (DNP)
24. Witchtrap – Sorceress Bitch (2002) (DNP)
25. Legion of Doom – The Horned Made Flesh (2008) (DNP)
26. Nile – Annihilation of the Wicked (2005) (22)
27. Immolation – Close to a World Below (2000) (68)
28. Vintersorg – Cosmic Genesis (2000) (DNP)
29. Nunslaughter - Hell's Unholy Fire (2000) (DNP)
30. Stargazer – The Scream that Tore the Sky (2005) (DNP)

I take contention with the following:

Black Seeds of Vengeance is FAR superior to In Their Darkened Shrines. In every conceivable way. It is, perhaps, the death metal album of the 2000s. Flawless in every way.

But I agree with you that Isa has some digitalized drums. Definitely. But musically speaking, Isa has some of Enslaved's best songs. It pretty much started the "new era" for Enslaved. The era where they started to rely on their King Crimson influence more than their black metal influences (ala early Darkthone and Bathory).

Despite the many faults, I still think Isa is a masterpiece from front to back.

Your arguments are flawed. FLAWED I says.

Dude, thanks for putting in the time and effort for doing this!

The first 3 picks were very predictable.

Gonna look at the rest of the list and comment later.

or that of the 4 Enslaved albums on there,none of them are Mardraum.

Not a very good list. I only agree with about 17 of the choices.

Bumpage

Honestly, this list is pretty solid. You have to expect that the stuff that everybody hears is going to rate high in this type of a list. Still, for some reason it burns my ass that that Opeth album won. To my ears, it is not as good as any of the albums that came before it. A solid album by a good band, and I will never understand why people are so in love with it.

Its clearly just because less people heard this masterpiece

I never really understood the whole Black Seeds thing. It's obviously good, and "Masturbating the War God" fucking rules, but I think ITDS is better for a few reasons:

- The songs are more memorable and are super distinct from each other, which is rare in DM ("Sarcophagus", "Churning the Maelstrom")
- The whole four-part epic closing quarter or the album is a powerhouse.
- "Unas, Slayer of Gods" is 10/10, probably my favorite track they've ever done.
- The production, while not perfect, is an improvement. Neil is the first person to really capture them effectively, I think.
- The Egyptian elements are blended much more seamlessly and tastefully than on any of their other releases.

Isa is a solid record, but I find it lacks the solid structural arc of the two following it, and the recording bugs the fuck out of me. That said, it's still at least an eight. "Violent Dawning" is my shit.

All this talk of Black Seeds makes me want to break it out tonight for the first time in four or five years. I think I will do that.

popular band is popular

And I don't know if I'll ever understand why many people on this board actually think Still Life is a better album. It's great, don't get me wrong, but BWP is basically the same approach but refined, better produced, and a hell of a lot more cohesive as a whole. I do agree that Morningrise and MAYH are better, though.

All the same, let's not open this can of worms again.

Well we learned this - The BB really likes Opeth, Nile, and Enslaved.

1 Emperor - Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire & Demise (2001) ( 13 )
2 Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness (2005) ( 27 )
3 Absu - Tara (2001) ( 29 )
4 Agalloch - The Mantle (2002) ( 7 )
5 Sigh - Hangman's Hymn (2007) ( n/a )
6 Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance (2000) ( 5 )
7 Symbyosis - On the Wings of the Phoenix (2005) ( n/a )
8 Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - All You Need is Love (2000) ( n/a )
9 The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Traveller (2003) ( n/a )
10 The Lamp of Thoth - Portents, Omens & Dooms (2008) ( n/a )
11 Negură Bunget - OM (2006) ( n/a )
12 Secrets of the Moon - Carved in Stigmata Wounds (2004) ( n/a )
13 Pagan Altar - Lords of Hypocrisy (2004) ( n/a )
14 Virus - The Black Flux (2008) ( n/a )
15 Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor (2005) ( 2 )
16 Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja (2003) ( 45 )
17 Satyricon - Volcano (2002) ( n/a )
18 Akercocke - Words that Go Unspoken Deeds that Go Undone (2005) ( n/a )
19 Woods of Ypres - Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth (2004) ( 47 )
20 Sculptured - Embodiment (2008) ( n/a )
21 Hammers of Misfortune - The August Engine (2003) ( 92 )
22 Rudra - Brahmavidya: Primordial I (2005) ( n/a )
23 Enslaved - Mardraum - Beyond the Within (2000) ( n/a )
24 Nifelheim - Servants of Darkness (2001) ( n/a )
25 Hour of 13 - Hour of 13 (2007) ( n/a )
26 Deranged - Deranged (2001) ( n/a )
27 Mastodon - Remission (2002) ( 67 )
28 Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001) ( 8 )
29 Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (2006) ( n/a )
30 Orne - The Conjuration by the Fire (2006) ( n/a )

You know, this album NOT making the list pisses me off far more than all the crappy albums that DID.

Don't be such a negative ninny BCTW.

At least notice #31, #69, #85 and #89.

And then SMILE. ---> <---

Wait, how come Death Magnetic isn't on the list? This place is absolutely coo-coo for that boring album.

cause none of us write for the magazine/website.

But it was still the 5th most popular album here in 2008.

have you HEARD Traveller?

Well, if we did a top 50 of the decade then it might have made it.

yeah,maybe ask LOAF where it ended up on the master list.for all we know it was number 101

made it to the top 112.

We... did.

And then some.