Your "Album of the Year" for the Past Five Years or So

2008 - Meshuggah - ObZen / Opeth - Watershed (so far)
2007 - Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
2006 - Amon Amarth - With Oden on our Side
2005 - Kreator - Enemy of God
2004 - Mastodon - Leviathan
 
Only since mid '05 have I actually made an effort to actively check out new releases pertaining to the particular year at hand. The rest are listed, as best as I can recall from my collection.

2008: ...undecided so far.
2007: ...a few to pick from, but I never got around to doing it.
2006: Bishop of Hexen, "The Nightmarish Compositions"
2005: Face Down, "The Will to Power"

2004: Rammstein, "Reise, Reise"
2003:
2002:
2001: Theatres des Vampires, "Bloody Lunatic Asylum"
2000:
1999: Theatres des Vampires, "The Vampire Chronicles"
1998: Marilyn Manson, "Mechanical Animals"
1997:
1996: London After Midnight, "Psycho Magnet"
1995:
1994: Cradle of Filth, "The Principle of Evil Made Flesh"
1993:
1992: London After Midnight, "Selected Scenes From the End of the World"
 
2008 Opeth - Watershed
2007 Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
2006 Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain/ Keep of Kalessin - Armada (tie)
2005 Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
 
I can't just list one for each year regardless wanting to.

2008- Bloodbath ~unblessing the purity,Opeth~ Watershed. I'd probably list Draconian `turning seasons within if hearing the entire album
2007- Paradise Lost ~in reqiuem, Type O Negative ~dead again,Tristania ~illumination,Within Temptation ~the heart of everything,Amorphis ~silent waters.
2006- Katatonia ~the great cold distance,Lacuna Coil ~karmacode,Scar Symmetry ~pitch black progress,Amorphis ~eclipse
2005- Opeth ~ghost reveries,Paradise Lost ~s/t,
2004- Bloodbath ~nightmares made flesh.
 
alriiiight, time to post in my own thread!

Obviously this is just drawn from what I've heard.

2008, so far- DSO: the Manifestations collections and Opeth: Watershed are strong contenders, with Arckanum, Nachtmystium, and Enslaved close behind. Need some time to listen to all of 'em more.

2007- My solemn vow of DT fanboyhood obligates me to say Systematic Chaos. If not for that, Fear Of A Blank Planet/Nil Recurring, Phantom Limb, Fas, or Two Hunters might have a shot

2006- Skinless: TTWHTD, closely followed by Oath Bound, Blood In Our Wells, Identisick, Watching From A Distance and Instinct: Decay... 2006 and 2007 both ruled.

2005- Octavarium...? Nah, Crush The Insects! Or Annihilation of The Wicked. Hmmm.

2004- SMRC , of course.

2003- Train of Thought.

2002- Porcupine Tree: In Absentia. (Six Degrees was meh.)

2001- Opeth: Blackwater Park
 
Just from glancing at my collection:

2000 - Graveland - Creed of Iron
2001 - Morrigan - Plague Waste and Death
2002 - The Chasm - Conjuration of the Spectral Empire
2003 - Nocternity - Onyx / Hail - Inheritance of Evilness
2004 - Dark Tribe - In jeraspunta - Die Rückkehr der tollwütigen Bestie
2005 - Darkness Eternal - Misanthropic Annihilation
2006 - Zemial - In Monumentum
2007 - Necros Christos - Triune Impurity Rites
2008 - Dead Congregation - Graves of the Archangels / Nyktalgia - Peisithanatos

Not particularly difficult... The 90s would be far more fun and challenging. I might do that later.
 
2008: None yet...
2007: Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters
2006: Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells/Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
2005: Deathspell Omega - Kenose
2004: Xasthur/Leviathan
2003: Drudkh - Forgotten Legends
2002: Isis - Oceanic
2001: Opeth - Blackwater Park

2003 and 2004 seemed way more stacked than any other years this decade. The last two have seemed weak, but it's likely I'll come across more releases from them over time.
 
Nyktalgia - Peisithanatos

I actually got that in the mail today. I noticed the final song on the leaked version is missing almost 2 minutes of the song at the end.



2007: Lunar Aurora - Andacht
2006: Peste Noire - La Sanie des siècles - Panégyrique de la dégénérescence
2005 - ???

I give up since I can't pick anything else.
 
Two words for you: Carnal. Malefactor.
See, I don't think that song would appeal to someone who preferred Kenose. Carnal Malefactor is slower and more repetitive than just about all of the songs on SMRC, and Kenose is built on fast moving songs with a lot of riffs. Sola Fide I and II and Blessed Are The Dead Whiche Dye In The Lorde are the most accessible songs on the album
 
The 90s would be far more fun and challenging. I might do that later.

1990 - Merciless - The Awakening / Bathory - Hammerheart
1991 - Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
1992 - Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes
1993 - Demilich - Nespithe / Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract
1994 - Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger / Gorgoroth - Pentagram
1995 - Graveland - Thousand Swords
1996 - Sacramentum - Far Away From the Sun
1997 - Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
1998 - Aeternus - ...And So the Night Became
1999 - Kyprian's Circle - Noitatulen Vartija
 
2008: Death Angel - Killing Season
2007: Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
2006: Nocturnal Depression - Nostalgia - Fragments Of A Broken Past
2005: Judas Iscariot - Thy Dying Light, Code - Nouveau Gloaming, Infernal War - Terrorfront
2004: Ragnarok - Blackdoor Miracle, Nyktalgia - Nyktalgia
2003: Zyklon - Aeon, Lord Belial - Scythe of Death
2002: Destroyer 666 - Cold Steel... For An Iron Age, Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness
2001: Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, Zyklon - World ov Worms
2000: Sentenced - Crimson
1999: Judas Iscariot - Heaven In Flames, Limbonic Art - Ad Noctum: Dynasty Of Death
1998: Lord Belial - Enter Moonlight Gate, Diabolical Masquerade - Nightwork
1997: Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
1996: Limbonic Art - Moon In The Scorpio

This is enough for now.