Metal Hammer writers' top metal albums of 2019

(Image credit: Future)

Well, that's it. 2019 is almost over. There have been some phenomenal releases from the biggest metal bands in the past 12 months, including two Billboard chart topping metal records, Slipknot's We Are Not Your Kind (which kicked Ed Sheeran off the number one spot) and Tool's first offering in 15 years, Fear Innoculum.

Korn released The Nothing, Rammstein dropped their self-titled album, black metal pioneers Darkthrone returned with Old Star and death metal forefathers Possessed made a triumphant come back with Revelations Of Oblivion.

But that isn't even half of it. All in all, this year has been nothing short of incredible for fans of heavy music. And like every year, we asked Metal Hammer staff and scribes to list their very favourite metal albums of the year for the ultimate list (you can read it in the current issue of Metal Hammer magazine, out now). 

You already know Tool won out as the Metal Hammer number one album of 2019, but how many of us actually voted for them? 

Here are our writer's final top 20s...

Merlin Alderslade
Editor

1 Health Slaves Of Fear
2 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
3 Venom Prison Samsara
4 Killswitch Engage Atonement
5 Rotting Christ The Heretics
6 Asagraum Dawn Of Infinite Fire
7 Baroness Gold & Grey
8 Judiciary Surface Noise
9 Rammstein Rammstein
10 Twin Temple Bring Your Their Signature Sound…
11 Batushka Hospodi
12 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
13 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
14 Within Temptation Resist
15 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
16 Amon Amarth Berzerker
17 Lingua Ignota Caligula
18 Numenorean Adore
19 Sabaton The Great War
20 Fit For An Autopsy The Sea Of Tragic Beasts

Eleanor Goodman
Deputy Editor

1 Rammstein Rammstein
2 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
3 Tool Fear Inoculum
4 Leprous Pitfalls
5 Northlane Alien
6 Health Vol. 4 : Slaves Of Fear
7 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
8 Korn The Nothing
9 King 810 Suicide King
10 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
11 3teeth Metawar
12 Wheel Moving Backwards
13 Devin Townsend Empath
14 Bring Me The Horizon Amo
15 Gost Valediction
16 The Hu The Gereg
17 Whitechapel The Valley
18 Heilung Futha
19 Venom Prison Samsara
20 Lacuna Coil Black Anima 

Jonathan Selzer
Reviews Editor

1 Mgla Age Of Excuse
2 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
3 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
4 Lingua Ignota Caligula
5 Heilung Futha
6 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir - Ghosts Invited
7 Nibiru Salbrox
8 Rotting Christ The Heretics
9 Waste Of Space Orchestra Syntheosis
10 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
11 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
12 Inter Arma Sulphur English
13 Mayhem Daemon
14 Possessed Revelations Of Oblivion
15 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
16 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
17 Tool Fear Innoculum
18 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skies
19 Abbath Outstrider
20 Idle Hands Mana 

Louise Brock
Art Director

1 Rammstein Rammstein
2 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
3 Killswitch Engage Atonement
4 Papa Roach Who Do You Trust
5 Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound...
6 Alter Bridge Walk The Sky
7 Grand Magus Wolf God
8 Fever 333 Strength In Numb333rs
9 Danko Jones A Rock Supreme
10 Puppy The Goat
11 Perry Farrell Kind Heaven
12 Baroness Gold & Grey
13 Bring Me The Horizon Amo
14.Steel Panther Heavy Metal Rules
15 Life Of Agony The Sound Of Scars
16 3teeth Metawar
17 Airbourne Boneshaker
18 The Hu The Gereg
19 Amon Amarth Berserke
20 Babymetal Metal Galaxy

Vanessa Thorpe
Production Editor

1 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
2 Devin Townsend Empath
3 Rammstein Rammstein
4 Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound...
5 Heilung Futha
6 Louise Lemón A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart
7 The Hu The Gereg
8 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
9 The Wildhearts Rennaissance Men
10 Tompkins, Daniel Castles
11 Korn The Nothing
12 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
13 Killswitch Engage Atonement
14 Tool Fear Innoculum
15 Bokassa Crimson Riders
16 Rosalie Cunningham Rosalie Cunningham
17 Baroness Gold & Grey
18 Kadavar For The Dead Travel Fast
19 Crobot Motherbrain
20 Within Temptation Resist 

Alice Pattillo
Online Editor

1 Darkthrone Old Star
2 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
3 Mortem Ravensvart
4 Mork Det Svarte Juv
5 Devil Master Satan Spits On Children Of Light
6 Asagraum Dawn Of Infinite Fire
7 Rotting Christ The Heretics
8 1349 The Infernal Pathway
9 Saor Forgotten Paths
10 Heilung Futha
11 Kadavar For The Dead Travel Fast
12 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
13 Advent Sorrow Kali Yuga Crown
14 Vltimas Something Wicked Marches In
15 Candlemass The Door To Doom
16 The Deathtrip Demon Solar Totem
17 The Great Old Ones Cosmicism
18 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir - Ghosts Invited
19 Helheim Rignir
20 Sabbath Assembly A Letter Of Red

Dom Lawson
Writer

1 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
2 Possessed Revelations Of Oblivion
3 Devin Townsend Empath
4 Paladin Ascension
5 Atlantean Kodex The Course Of Time
6 Disentomb The Decaying Light
7 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
8 Lingua Ignota Caligula
9 Bad Breeding Exiled One
10 The Wildhearts Renaissance Men
11 Candlemass The Door To Doom
12 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skies
13 Danko Jones A Rock Supreme
14 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
15 Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard Yn Ol I Annwn
16 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
17 Necroticgorebeast Necroticgorebeast
18 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
19 Xentrix Bury The Pain
20 Amon Amarth Berserker 

Olivier Badin
Writer

1 Blood Incantation Hidden History Of The Human Race
2 Vitriol To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice
3 Tool Fear Inoculum
4 Jean-claude Vannier & Mike Patton Bloodflowers
5 Cerebral Rot Odious Descent Into Decay
6 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
7 Nocturnus Ad Paradox
8 Paganizer The Tower Of The Morbid
9 Crypt Sermon The Ruins Of Fading Lights
10 Zonal Wrecked
11 Cavurn Rehearsal
12 Baest Venenum
13 Saint Vitus Saint Vitus
14 Atlantean Kodex The Curse Of Empire
15 Exhumed Horror
16 The Lord Weird Slough Feg New Organon
17 Runemagick Into Desolate Realms
18 Visceral Disgorge Slithering Evisceration
19 Krypts Cadaver Circulation
20 Chevalier Destiny Calls 

Dean Brown
Writer

1 Mayhem Daemon
2 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
3 Inter Arma Sulphur English
4 Blood Incantation Hidden History Of The Human Race
5 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
6 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
7 Crypt Sermon The Ruins Of Fading Light
8 Waste Of Space Orchestra Syntheosis
9 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
10 Tool Fear Inoculum
11 Drastus Le Croix De Sang
12 Spirit Adrift Divided By Darkness
13 Dead To A Dying World Elegy
14 Mgla Age Of Excuse
15 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
16 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
17 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
18 Deathspell Omega The Furnaces Of Palingenesia
19 Lingua Ignota Caligula
20 Baroness Gold & Grey 

Cheryl Carter
Writer

1 Mizmor Cairn
2 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
3 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
4 Borknagar True North
5 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
6 Spirit Adrift Divided By Darkness
7 Starless Domain Alma
8 Andavald Undir Skyggðarhaldi
9 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
10 Sinmara Hvísl Stjarnanna
11 Idle Hands Mana
12 Kvelgeyst Alkahest
13 Blood Incantation Hidden History Of The Human Race
14 Impavida Antipode
15 Uniform & The Body Everything That Dies Somehow Comes Back
16 Health Vol 4 :: Slaves Of Fear
17 Mephorash Shem Ha Mephorash
18 Haunter Sacramental Death Qualia I,
19 Shrine Of Insanabilis Vast Vortex Litanies
20 Darkthrone Old Star

Chris Chantler
Writer

1 The Lord Weird Slough Feg New Organon
2 Angel Witch Angel Of Light
3 Esoteric A Pyrrhic Existence
4 Sacred Reich Awakening
5 Helvetets Port From Life To Death
6 Saint Vitus Saint Vitus
7 Idle Hands Mana
8 Grand Magus Wolf God
9 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
10 Overkill The Wings Of War
11 Possessed Revelations Of Oblivion
12 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
13 Dragonforce Extreme Power Metal
14 Hexvessel All Tree
15 Death Angel Humanicide
16 Destruction Born To Perish
17 Blackwater Holylight Veils Of Winter
18 Hammerfall Dominion
19 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skie
20 Sabaton The Great War

Alec Chillingworth
Writer

1 Devin Townsend Empath
2 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
3 Frostveil Ephemeral Visions
4 Rammstein Rammstein
5 Deafkids Metaprogramação
6 Asagraum Dawn Of Infinite Fire
7 Venom Prison Samsara
8 Devil Master Satan Spits On Children Of Light
9 Swans Leaving Meaning
10 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir - Ghosts Invited
11 Hath Of Rot And Ruin
12 Avslut Tyranni
13 Caïna Gentle Illness
14 The Wildhearts Renaissance Men
15 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
16 Tool Fear Inoculum
17 Darkthrone Old Star
18 Fleshgod Apocalypse Veleno
19 Pulchra Morte Divina Autem Et Aniles
20 Totaled Lament

Ali Cooper
Writer

1 The Damned Things High Crimes
2 Thy Art Is Murder Human Target
3 Crystal Lake Helix
4 While She Sleeps So What?
5 Sleep Token Sundowning
6 Wage War Pressure
7 Overkill The Wings Of War
8 Children Of Bodom Hexed
9 Steel Panther Heavy Metal Rules
10 Killswitch Engage Atonement
11 Bokassa Crimson Riders
12 New Years Day Unbreakable
13 Alter Bridge Walk The Sky
14 Lacuna Coil Black Anima
15 Korn The Nothing
16 Hollywood Vampires Rise
17 Rammstein Rammstein
18 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
19 Bring Me The Horizon Amo
20 Wednesday 13 Necrophaze

Joe Daly
Writer

1 Insomnium Heart Like A Grave
2 Rammstein Rammstein
3 Netherbird Into The Vast Uncharted
4 Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark
5 Asagraum Dawn Of Infinite Fire
6 Imperium Dekadenz When We Are Forgotten
7 Creeping Death Wretched Illusions
8 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
9 Mark Morton Anaesthetic
10 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
11 Venom Prison Samsara
12 Borknagar True North
13 Batushka Hospodi
14 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
15 Killswitch Engage Atonement
16 1349 The Infernal Pathway
17 Death Angel Humanicide
18 Carnifex World War X
19 Falls Of Rauros Patterns In Mythology
20 Rotting Christ The Heretics

Remfry Dedman
Writer

1 Tool Fear Inoculum
2 St. Pierre Snake Invasion, The Caprice Enchanté
3 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
4 Baroness Gold & Grey
5 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
6 Brutus Nest Hassle
7 Car Bomb Mordial
8 Lingua Ignota Caligula
9 Devin Townsend Empath
10 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
11 We Lost The Sea Triumph & Disaster
12 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
13 Dangerface Get Loud!
14 Pijn & Conjurer Curse These Metal Hands
15 Black Futures Never Not Nothing
16 Waste Of Space Orchestra Syntheosis
17 Fever 333 Strength In Numbers
18 Refused War Music
19 Jambinai Onda
20 Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound... 

Alex Deller
Writer

1 Cloud Rat Pollinator
2 Orchestra Of Constant Distress Cognitive Dissonance
3 Atlantean Kodex The Course Of Empire
4 Bewitcher Under The Witching Cross
5 Chalice Of Suffering Lost Eternally
6 Spotlights Love & Decay
7 Kaleidoscope After The Futures…
8 Concrete Winds Primitive Force
9 Ossuarium Living Tomb
10 Krypts Cadaver Circulation 
11 Deafkids Metaprogramação
12 Funereal Presence Achatius
13 Big | Brave A Gaze Among Them
14 Moros Weapon Hidden Deity
15 Superstition The Anatomy Of Unholy Transformation
16 No Negative The Last Offices
17 Pinkish Black Concept Unification
18 Grey Hairs Health & Social Care
19 Blood Incantation Secret History Of The Human Race
20 Cherubs Immaculada High 

Malcolm Dome
Writer

1 Avantasia Moonglow
2 Phil Campbell Old Lions Still Roar
3 Crobot Motherbrain
4 Black Star Riders Another State Of Grace
5 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skies
6 Korn The Nothing
7 Volbeat Rewind, Replay, Rebound
8 Overkill The Wings Of War
9 Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Living The Dream Tour
10 Duff Mckagan Tenderness
11 Killswitch Engage Atonement
12 Alter Bridge Walk The Sky
13 Death Angel Humanicide
14 Diamond Head The Coffin Train
15 Dream Theater Distance Over Time
16 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Infest The Rats' Nest
17 Baroness Gold & Grey
18 Lacuna Coil Black Anima
19 Amon Amarth Berserker
20 Acid Reign The Age Of Entitlement

Dave Everley
Writer

1 The Wildhearts Renaissance Me
2 Sabaton The Great War
3 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
4 Baroness Silver & Gold
5 Bring Me The Horizon Amo
6 Volbeat Rewind, Replay, Rebound
7 Venom Prison Samsara
8 Devin Townsend Empath
9 Heilung Futha
10 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
11 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Infest The Rats’ Nest
12 Duff Mckagan Tenderness
13 A Pale Horse Named Death When The World Becomes Undone
14 Rotting Christ The Heretics
15 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
16 Damned Things, The High Crimes
17 Torche Admission
18 Amon Amarth Berseker
19 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
20 Overkill The Wings Of War

Connie Gordon
Writer

1 Sofy Major Total Dump
2 Sacred Reich Awakening
3 Friendship Undercurrent
4 Asthma Castle Mount Crushmore
5 Martyrdöd Hexhammaren
6 Wardehns Now Cometh The Foul
7 Victims The Horse And Sparrow Theory
8 Lightning Bolt Sonic Citadel
9 Lord Dying Mysterium Tremendum
10 Inter Arma Sulphur English
11 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
12 Rotting Christ The Heretics
13 Pulchra Morte Divina Autem Et Aniles
14 Totaled Lament
15 Young Gods, The Data Mirage Tangram
16 Tanith In Another Time
17 Implore Alienated Despair
18 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
19 Moon Tooth Crux
20 Hour Of Penance Misotheism

Stephen Hill
Writer

1 Lingua Ignota Caligula
2 Car Bomb Mordial
3 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
4 Tool Fear Inoculum
5 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
6 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
7 Devin Townsend Empath
8 Baroness Gold & Grey
9 The Wildhearts Rennaissance Men
10 Seeyouspacecowboy The Correlation Between Entrance And Exit Wound
11 Korn The Nothing
12 Jambinai Onda
13 Mike Patton & Jean Claude-vennier Corpse Flower
14 Gif From God Approximation_of_a_human
15 St. Pierre Snake Invasion, The Caprice Enchante
16 Herod Sombre Dessain
17 Brutus Nest
18 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
19 Norma Jean All Hail
20 Venom Prison Samsara

Rich Hobson
Writer

1 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
2 Venom Prison Samsara
3 Lingua Ignota Caligula
4 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
5 Dinosaur Pile-up Celebrity Mansions
6 Puppy The Goat
7 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
8 The Hu The Gereg
9 Baroness Gold & Grey
10 Death Tribe Beyond Pleasure And Pain: A Desert Experiment
11 The Wildhearts Renaissance Men
12 Nailed To Obscurity Black Frost
13 Black Futures Never Not Nothing
14 Devin Townsend Empath
15 Jinjer Macro
16 Lord Dying Mysterium Tremendum
17 Amon Amarth Berzerker
18 Silvertomb Edge Of Existence
19 Damned Things, The High Crimes
20 Spirit Adrift Divided By Darkness 

Craig Huntley
Writer

1 Black Futures Never Not Nothing
2 Phil Campbell Old Lions Still Roar
3 Children Of Bodom Hexed
4 Mark Morton Anaesthetic
5 Puppy The Goat
6 Rammstein Rammstein
7 Cellar Darling The Spell
8 Blood Youth Starve
9 Delain Hunters Moon
10 The Raven Age Conspiracy
11 Spirit Adrift Divided By Darkness
12 Bring Me The Horizon Amo
13 Korn The Nothing
14 Killswitch Engage Atonement
15 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
16 Bokassa Crimson Riders
17 While She Sleeps So What?
18 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
19 Tool Fear Inoculum
20 Fever 333 Strength In Numb333rs 

Elliot Leaver
Writer

1 Fever 333 Strength In Numb333rs
2 Venom Prison Samsara
3 Idle Hands Mana
4 Lingua Ignota Caligula
5 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
6 Brutus Nest
7 Tool Fear Inoculum
8 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
9 Rammstein Rammstein
10 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
11 Heilung Futha
12 Puppy The Goat
13 Ithaca The Languague Of Injury
14 Allegaeon Apoptosis
15 Devin Townsend Empath
16 Sunn O))) Life Metal/pyroclasts
17 Astronoid Astronoid
18 Volbeat Rewind, Replay, Rebound
19 Candlemass The Door To Doom
20 Amon Amarth Berserker

Dannii Leivers
Writer

1 Northlane Alien Unfd
2 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion Spinefarm
3 Sleep Token Sundowning Spinefarm
4 Rotting Christ The Heretics Season Of Mist
5 Knocked Loose A Different Shade Of Blue Pure Noise
6 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence Sargent House
7 Holding Absence Holding Absence Nuclear Blast
8 Heart Of A Coward The Disconnect Arising Empire
9 Car Bomb Mordial Holy Roar 
10 Rammstein Rammstein Universal
11 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind Roadrunner 
12 Idle Hands Mana Eisenwald
13 Pijn & Conjurer Curse These Metal Hands Holy Roar 
14 Brutus Nest Hassle 
15 Bring Me The Horizon Amo Sony 
16 Korn The Nothing Roadrunner/333 Wreckords Crew
17 Blackwater Holylight Veils Of Winter Ridingeasy
18 3teeth Metawar Century Media 
19 Lacuna Coil Black Anima Century Media 
20 Whitechapel The Valley Metal Blade 

Dave Ling
Writer

1 Dream Theater Distance Over Time
2 The Wildhearts Renaissance men
3 Opeth Incauda Venerum
4 Diamond Head The Coffin Train
5 Black Star Riders Another State Of Grace
6 Avantasia Moonglow
7 Alter Bridge Walk the Sky
8 Queensryche The Verdict
9 Airbourne Boneshaker
10 Exhorder Mourn the Southern Skies
11 Battle Beast No More Hollywood Endings
12 Evergrey The Atlantic
13 Rosalie Cunningham Rosalie Cunningham
14 Beast In Black From Hell With Love
15 Dragonforce Extremepower Metal
16 Majestica Abovethe Sky
17 Voyager Colours in The Sun
18 Volbeat Rewind Replay Rebound
19 Crobot Motherbrain
20 Domination Inc Memoir414 

Sophie Maughan
Writer

1 Thy Art Is Murder Human Target
2 Lacuna Coil Black Anima
3 Carnifex World War X
4 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
5 Disentomb The Decaying Light
6 Fit For An Autopsy The Sea Of Tragic Beasts
7 Whitechapel The Valley
8 Venom Prison Samsara
9 Brand Of Sacrifice Godhand
10 Fallujah Undying Light
11 Humanity’s Last Breath Abyssal
12 Abigail Williams Walk Beyond The Dark
13 Knocked Loose A Different Shade Of Blue
14 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
15 While She Sleeps So What?
16 Northlane Alien
17 Vulvodynia Mob Justice
18 Nile Vile Necrotic Rites
19 3teeth Metawar
20 Fleshgod Apocalypse Veleno 

Edwin Mcfee
Writer

1 Nebula Holy Shit
2 This Gift Is A Curse A Throne Of Ash
3 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
4 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Infest The Rat's Nest
5 Dead Witches The Final Exorcism
6 Beastwars IV
7 Grand Magus Wolf God
8 Bad Breeding Exhiled One
9 Tool Fear Innoculum
10 Amon Amarth Berserker
11 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
12 Slomatics Canyons
13 Torche Admission
14 Baest Venenum
15 Black Star Riders Another State Of Grace
16 John Garcia John Garcia And The Band Of Gold
17 Sabbath Assembly A Letter Of Red Svart
18 Russian Circles Blood Year
19 Car Bomb Mordial
20 The Raven Age Conspiracy Corvid

Matt Mills
Writer

1 We Never Learned To Live The Sleepwalk Transmissions
2 Батюшка (Krzysztof Drabikowski) Панихида
3 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
4 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
5 Venom Prison Samsara
6 Gatecreeper Deserted
7 Russian Circles Blood Year
8 Ithaca The Language Of Injury
9 Essence Of Datum Spellcrying Machine
10 Nightfell A Sanity Deranged
11 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir – Ghosts Invited
12 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
13 We Lost The Sea Triumph & Disaster
14 Fleshgod Apocalypse Veleno
15 Pijn & Conjurer Curse These Metal Hands
16 Baroness Gold & Grey
17 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
18 Fvneral Fvkk Carnal Confessions
19 Pelican Nighttime Stories
20 Abbath Outstrider 

Tom O'boyle
Writer

1 Idle Hands Mana
2 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
3 Tool Fear Inoculum
4 Numenorean Adore
5 Astronoid Astronoid
6 Imperium Dekadenz When We Are Forgotten
7 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
8 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
9 Mizmor Cairn
10 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
11 Darkthrone Old Star
12 Yellow Eyes Rare Field Ceiling
13 Misþyrming Algleymi
14 Mgla Age Of Excuse
15 Insomnium Heart Like A Grave
16 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
17 Gatecreeper Deserted
18 Martyrdöd Hexhammaren
19 Nile Vile Nilotic Rites
20 Asagraum Dawn Of Infinite Fire 

Adam Rees
Writer

1 Tool Fear Inoculum
2 Baroness Gold & Grey
3 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
4 Rotting Christ The Heretics
5 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
6 Periphery Iv: Hail Stan
7 After The Burial Evergreen
8 Whitechapel The Valley
9 Abnormality Sociopathic Constructs
10 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
11 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
12 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
13 Батюшка (Krzysztof Drabikowski) Panihida
14 Cattle Decapitation Death Atlas
15 Nile Vile Niolitic Rites
16 Vitriol To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice
17 Venom Prison Samsara
18 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
19 Evergrey The Atlantic
20 Killswitch Engage Atonement 

Alastair Riddell
Writer

1 Mgla Age Of Excuse
2 Darkthrone Old Star
3 Smoulder Times Of Obscene Evil And Wild Daring
4 Starborn Savage Peace
5 Saint Vitus Saint Vitus
6 Atlantean Kodex The Course Of Empire
7 Magic Circle Departed Souls
8 Overkill The Wings Of War
9 The Lord Weird Slough Feg New Organon
10 Candlemass The Door To Doom
11 Lingua Ignota Caligula
12 None Damp Chill Of Life
13 Enforcer Zenith
14 Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound...
15 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
16 Heilung Futha
17 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skies
18 Grand Magus Wolf God
19 Bölzer Lese Majesty
20 Amulet The Inevitable War

Natasha Sharf
Writer

1 Tool Fear Innoculum
2 Leprous Pitfalls
3 Rammstein Rammstein
4 Russian Circles Blood Year
5 Devin Townsend Empath
6 Alcest Spiritual Instinct
7 Lacuna Coil Black Anima
8 The Hu The Gereg
9 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
10 Korn The Nothing
11 Sabbath Assembly A Letter Of Red
12 Swallow The Sun When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
13 Cellar Darling The Spell
14 Within Temptation Resist
15 Tarja In The Raw
16 Thenighttimeproject Pale Season
17 Voyager Colours In The Sun
18 Tompkins, Daniel Castles
19 Brutus Nest
20 Wednesday 13 Necrophaze 

Joseph Stannard
Writer

1 Devin Townsend Empath
2 Exhorder Mourn The Southern Skies
3 Copperhead Gazing In The Dark
4 Goregäng Neon Graves
5 Moor Mother Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes
6 Wormed Metaportal
7 Pound Silent
8 Apprentice Destroyer Permanent Climbing Monolith
9 Zonal Wrecked
10 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
11 Boobs Of Doom Universal Monsters
12 Cave In Final Transmission
13 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
14 Misery Index Rituals Of Power
15 Keiji Haino & Sumac Even For Just The Briefest Moment
16 Exhumed Horror
17 Big Scenic Nowhere Dying On The Mountain
18 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
19 Inter Arma Sulphur English
20 Street Gurgler Primal Business 

James Weaver
Writer

1 Mgla Age Of Excuse
2 Idle Hands Mana
3 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
4 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
5 Gatecreeper Deserted
6 Astronoid Astronoid
7 Vitriol To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice
8 Venom Prison Samsara
9 Misþyrming Algleymi
10 Blood Incantation Hidden History Of The Human Race
11 Insomnium Heart Like A Grave
12 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
13 Ithaca The Language Of Injury
14 Rotting Christ The Heretics
15 Dawn Ray'd Behold Sedition Plainsong
16 Allegaeon Apoptosis
17 Mayhem Daemon
18 High Command Beyond The Wall Of Desolation
19 Crystal Lake Helix
20 Whitechapel The Valley 

Christina Wenig
Writer

1 Lingua Ignota Caligula
2 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
3 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
4 Heilung Futha
5 Uniform & The Body Everything That Dies...
6 Mayhem Daemon
7 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
8 Big | Brave A Gaze Among Them
9 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir - Ghosts Invited
10 Gost Valediction
11 Gold Why Aren't You Laughing?
12 Sunn O))) Life Metal/pyroclasts
13 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
14 Schammasch Hearts Of No Light
15 E-l-r Mænad
16 Misþyrming Algleymi
17 Dawn Ray'd Behold Sedition
18 Downfall Of Gaia Ethic Of Radical Finitude
19 Cave In Final Transmission
20 Baroness Gold & Grey

Holly Wright
Writer

1 Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind
2 Devin Townsend Empath
3 Dream Theater Distance Over Time
4 Baroness Gold & Grey
5 Sabaton The Great War
6 Tool Fear Innoculum
7 Allegaeon Apoptosis
8 Whitechapel The Valley
9 Fit For An Autopsy The Sea Of Tragic Beasts
10 Rotting Christ The Heretics
11 Astronoid Astronoid
12 Within Temptation Resist
13 Abbath Outstrider
14 Inter Arma Sulphur English
15 Killswitch Engage Atonement
16 Periphery Periphery Iv: Hail Stan
17 Rammstein Rammstein
18 Babymetal Metal Galaxy
19 While She Sleeps So What?
20 Spirit Adrift Divided By Darkness 

Liam Yates
Writer

1 Atlantean Kodex The Course Of Empire
2 Mystifier Protogoni Mavri Magiki Dynasteia
3 Hexvessel All Tree
4 Chelsea Wolfe Birth Of Violence
5 Tomb Mold Planetery Clairvoyance
6 The Lord Weird Slough Feg New Organon
7 Candlemass The Door To Doom
8 Usurper Lords Of The Permafrost
9 Black Mountain Destroyer
10 Nebula Holy Shit
11 Gaahls Wyrd Gastir - Ghosts Invited
12 Helvetets Port From Life To Death
13 Grand Magus Wolf God
14 Kadavar For The Dead Travel Fast
15 Mgla Age Of Excuse
16 Possessed Revelations Of Oblivion
17 Ram The Throne Within
18 Opeth In Cauda Venenum
19 Tool Fear Innoculum
20 Abbath Outstrider 

Kez Whelan
Writer

1 Dawn Ray'd Behold Sedition Plainsong
2 Blood Incantation Hidden History Of The Human Race
3 Inter Arma Sulphur English
4 Wallowing Planet Loss
5 Torpor Rhetoric Of The Image
6 Nocturnus Ad Paradox
7 Full Of Hell Weeping Choir
8 Saint Vitus Saint Vitus
9 Tomb Mold Planetary Clairvoyance
10 Cult Of Luna A Dawn To Fear
11 Blut Aus Nord Hallucinogen
12 Cloud Rat Pollinator
13 Mizmor Cairn
14 Ithaca The Language Of Injury
15 Ghold Input>chaos
16 Lingua Ignota Caligula
17 Blind Monarch What Is Imposed Must Be Endured
18 Gets Worse Snubbed
19 Pissgrave Posthumous Humiliation
20 Mastiff Plague

Nik Young
Writer

1 Fever 333 Strength In Numb333rs
2 Tool Fear Innoculum
3 Knocked Loose A Different Shade Of Blue
4 Of Mice & Men Earthandsky
5 Ithaca The Language Of Injury
6 Wage War Pressure
7 Employed To Serve Eternal Forward Motion
8 While She Sleeps So What?
9 All Out War Crawl Among The Filth
10 Bad Omens Finding God Before God Finds Me
11 Killswitch Engage Atonement
12 Agnostic Front Get Loud!
13 Lacuna Coil Black Anima
14 Crystal Lake Helix
15 Whitechapel The Valley
16 Bokassa Crimson Riders
17 Amon Amarth Berserker
18 Korn The Nothing
19 Born Of Osiris The Simulation
20 Periphery Periphery Iv: Hail Stan

The rev metal hammer cover

(Image credit: Metal Hammer)

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