My top 10 list with the best Of 2008:
1. Misery Index - Traitors
2. Testament - Formation of Damnation
3. Opeth - Watershed
4. Meshuggah - Obzen
5. Textures - Silhouettes
6. Guillotine - Blood Money
7. Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted
8. Destruction - D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.ON
9. Artas - The Healing
10. Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
Comments: Well these are my top my favorite releases for this year, there were a few more albums I liked that I wanted to place here...but I guess they didn't make the cut. I have however put Fathomless Mastery right at the bottom of my list because I was sorta disappointed with the album when I first listened to it. It only started growing on me later. I felt that it didn't live up to the older Bloodbath material. Nightmares made flesh is easily one of the best death metal albums I have ever heard, and Unblessing the purity released early this year also made quite an impression on me, not to mention Resurrection through carnage which is also an awesome release by Bloodbath. I felt that Fathomless mastery didn't quite live up to the standards of these previous releases...its not like its a bad album, definitely a great offering of pure old school death metal...but it sounded different from Bloodbath. Fathomless mastery was more Morbid Angel than Bloodbath that is my only complaint.
2 albums didn't get into the list but almost:
Carnophage - Deformed Future//Genetic Nightmare
Decrepit Birth - Diminishing Between Worlds
Cynic - Traced In Air
Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
Comments: Well that's 4 albums although Gojira was a bit of a disappointment .
Best EP, DEMO or MCD of the year:
Bloodbath - Unblessing the Purity EP
Agalloch - The White
Behemoth - Ezkaton
Comments: Bloodbath's EP was the best EP hands down in my opinion, great stuff. Agalloch was enjoyable and so was Behemoth
Major disappointment of the year:
Metallica - Death Magnetic (expected)
Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God (Many will crucify me for calling this album a disappointment I am aware of that)
Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe