The following is a list of Top 10 Releases of 2016 lists by staff members and contributors; as always, feel free to share yours in the comments.

P.S: All entries are linked to an official Youtube video or to a Spotify album. Click on the links to stream the music!

1- Swans – The Glowing Man
2- Russian Circles – Guidance
3- Hannes Grossmann – The Crypts of Sleep
4- Periphery – Periphery III: Select Difficulty
5- Blaakyum – Line of Fear
6- Thank You Scientist – Stranger Heads Prevail
7- Animals as Leaders – The Madness of Many
8- Colonel Petrov’s Good Judgment – Moral Machine
9- Ihsahn – Arktis
10- Obscura – Akróasis

— Honorable mentions —

MetallicA – Hardwired… to Self-Destruct

Opeth – Sorceress


1- Ihsahn – Arktis
2- Wolverine – Machina Viva
3- Witherscape – The Northern Sanctuary
4- Borknagar – Winter Thrice
5- Myrath – Legacy
6-

7- Ulver – ATGCLVLSSCAP
8- Haken – Affinity
9- Opeth – Sorceress
10- Fates Warning – Theories of Flight

— Honorable Mention (Jazz) —

Dhafer Youssef – Diwan of Beauty and Odd

  • Joe Francis’s Top 10 Releases of 2016

1- Gojira – Magma
2- MetallicA – Hardwired… to Self-Destruct
3- Fleshgod Apocalypse – King
4- Rotting Christ – Rituals
5- Ihsahn – Arktis
6- Opeth – Sorceress
7- Amon Amarth – Jomsviking
8- Dark Tranquillity – Atoma
9- Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake
10- Devin Townsend Project – Transcendence

— Honorable mentions —

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation

Deftones – Gore

Korn – The Serenity of Suffering

Sodom – Decision Day

  • Joe Choufany’s Top 10 Releases of 2016

1- Haken – Affinity
2- Opeth – Sorceress
3- Blackfield – Blackfield V
4- The Pineapple Thief – Your Wilderness
5- Plini – Handmade Cities
6- Airbag – Disconnected
7- Katatonia – The Fall of Hearts
8- Steven Wilson – 4½
9- Dream Theater – The Astonishing
10- Ihsahn – Arktis