Again, for the second year in a row, I apologize for the lack of bandwidth to write excerpts behind my choices, however, I am happy that this was made in the nick of time, before more than a year-of-time passes from the last best-of entry! Additionally, my choice of twenty instead of ten albums hopefully sweetens the deal a little. But, boy, what a year! Here are my top 20 metal album releases during the era of COVID (click on the images for YouTube links; here is my 2020 Metal playlist on Spotify):

20. Intronaut - Fluid Existential Inversions

19. Foot - The Balance of Nature Shifted

18. Hazzerd - Delirium

17. Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkment

16. Houkago Grnid Time - Bakyunsified

15. Armored Saint - Punching The Sky

14. Kvelertak - Splid

13. Puteraeon - The Cthulhian Pulse: Call from the Dead City

12. Hellripper - The Affair of the Poisons

11. Cryptic Shift - Visitations from Enceladus

10. Pale Divine - Consequence of Time

9. Sweven - The Eternal Resonance

8. Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

7. Ulthar - Providence

6. Havok - V

5. Elephant Tree - Habits

4. Demonic Death Judge - The Trail

3. Ulcerate - Stare Into Death and Be Still

2. Ilsa - Preyer

1. Grin - Translucent Blades

The bizarre year of 2020 is nearing its midpoint and here we are, in the midst of a global pandemic with absolutely no end in sight, and protests against police brutality all over the US. The failure of leadership across the board has been a sad thing to witness. I'd never thought I'd be nostalgic for 2019 so soon, but here we are. On the metal front, 2019 was a so-so year overall, according to me. However, it did have it's fair share of amazing albums. I don't have it in me to type up much about each album (as is customary), and I hope normal programming will resume next year. Nevertheless, I wanted to put my list down:

Honorable Mentions: Rogga Johansson - Entrance to the Otherwhere, Firebreather - Under a Blood Moon, Yawning Man - Macedonian Lines, White Ward - Love Exchange Failure, A Pregnant Light - Broken Play, Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance, Abbath - Outstrider, Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis.