year got off to a slow start imo but it's finally hitting its stride. The Assassination of Julius Caesar by Ulver (while not technically a metal album itself, I still consider Ulver a part of the metal scene), Infrared Horizon by Artificial Brain, Not for Music by Emptiness, Gnosis Kardias (Of Transcension and Involution) by Inferno, A Place Where There's No More Pain by Life of Agony, and Godless Prophets and the Migrant Flora by Darkest Hour are my favorite metal albums of the year so far and there's a lot I still haven't checked out. new Mastodon and Novembers Doom are solid, too.