Thursday, October 8, 2009

Autothrall's Best Metal Albums of 2002

The Top 20 Metal Albums of 2002

01. Dark Tranquillity (Sweden) - Damage Done
02. Soilwork (Sweden) - Natural Born Chaos
03. Taake (Norway) - Over Bjoergvin graater himmerik
04. Arcturus (Norway) - The Sham Mirrors
05. Dream Theater (USA) - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
06. Immortal (Norway) - Sons of Northern Darkness
07. Blind Guardian (Germany) - A Night at the Opera
08. Forgotten Tomb (Italy) - Songs to Leave
09. Rage (Germany) - Unity
10. Primal Fear (Germany) - Black Sun
11. King Diamond (Denmark): Abigail II: The Revenge
12. Stormwarrior (Germany) - Stormwarrior
13. Ironsword (Portugal) - Ironsword
14. Wolf (Sweden) - Black Wings
15. Cannibal Corpse (USA) - Gore Obsessed
16. Insomnium (Finland) - In the Halls of Awaiting
17. Paradise Lost (UK) - Symbol of Life
18. Deströyer 666 (Australia) - Cold Steel...for an Iron Age
19. Craft (Sweden) - Terror Propaganda
20. Kalmah (Finland) - They Will Return

Another year which probably wasn't one of the best in metal, but still had plenty of options. It was a strong time for power and heavy metal, with Blind Guardian, Rage, Primal Fear, Wolf and newcomers Stormwarrior all kicking ass, but I'll have to hand it all to what are likely my two favorite Swedish melodic death metal records: Damage Done and Natural Born Chaos. Both the pinnacles of their respective bands, they showed momentum, evolution and superb songwriting skills with a progressive undercurrent that, at least to me, neither has matched since. Also my favorite Dream Theater album happened.

This is also clearly the year of "autothrall, get off your ass and review some of these". Seriously, I'm only four for twenty?! Unbelievable.

UPDATED FOR 2020

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