2009 Top Music Countdown and Review, Part 3

As promised, I give you now the third and final installment of my review of the year in hard rock and heavy metal. When I said at the end of Part 2 that I would deliver the most complete countdown of the year, I meant it. If you are able to read through this entire list, then you are a better person than me, because after making this list, I don't want to read it. It's long, it's comprehensive, and it's the epitome of what most reviewers would call "overdoing it."

DISCLAIMER: You are free, of course, to debate and complain about the ranking/inclusion/exclusion of any particular album on my countdown, as your First Amendment rights afford you. However, I beg you all to PLEASE keep the flame wars to a minimum. Let's face it, we're all going to have differing opinions on what's good and what's bad. Rather than whine and complain about what someone else's opinion is, how about we just state our own and leave it at that? Thank you in advance.

And now, without further ado, I give you the Top 200 Albums in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, as chosen by me, your resident Mad Scientist guy.

1. Daylight by West Gate
2. The Isolation Game and The Restless Memoirs by Disarmonia Mundi
3. Vigilance by Threat Signal
4. Lullabies for the Dormant Mind by The Agonist
5. Hordes of Chaos by Kreator
6. Earthsblood by God Forbid
7. The Great Misdirect by Between the Buried and Me
8. Slaves of the World by Old Man's Child
9. Sound Awake by Karnivool
10. Children of the Dark Waters by Eternal Tears of Sorrow
11. The Infection by Chimaira
12. War is the Answer by Five Finger Death Punch
13. Sot by The Few Against Many
14. Son of the Morning by Oh, Sleeper
15. Design Your Universe by Epica
16. The Mirroring Shadow by Miseration
17. Evangelion by Behemoth
18. When Legends Become Dust by Conducting from the Grave
19. Say Hello to Tragedy by Caliban
20. Across the Dark by Insomnium
21. World Painted Blood by Slayer
22. Daylight Deception by The Bereaved
23. Pray for Villains by DevilDriver
24. Night is the New Day by Katatonia
25. Urban Being by Destrage
26. Endgame by Megadeth
27. Retribution by Shadows Fall
28. Wrath by Lamb of God
29. Dark Matter Dimensions by Scar Symmetry
30. Force Fed Lies by Dirge Within
31. Black Gives Way to Blue by Alice in Chains
32. As Shadows Burn by Echoes of Eternity
33. Skyforger by Amorphis
34. Bringer of Plagues by Divine Heresy
35. Those Whom the Gods Detest by Nile
36. Esoteric by Skyfire
37. Crack the Skye by Mastodon
38. The Slaughter by Incite
39. A Taste of Extreme Divinity by Hypocrisy
40. From Afar by Ensiferum
41. Time Waits for No Slave by Napalm Death
42. Necropolis by Vader
43. Black Clouds & Silver Linings by Dream Theater
44. Hatebreed by Hatebreed
45. Omnicide - Creation Unleashed by Neaera
46. By the Light of the Northern Star by Týr
47. The Incident by Porcupine Tree
48. Ruination by Job for a Cowboy
49. Deathless by Throwdown
50. A Dialogue by Gwen Stacy
51. Deflorate by The Black Dahlia Murder
52. Waking Into Nightmares by Warbringer
53. Old Crows/Young Cardinals by Alexisonfire
54. Passiondale by God Dethroned
55. In Ancient of Days by Thy Will Be Done
56. A-Lex by Sepultura
57. Blue Record by Baroness
58. Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt by Gorgoroth
59. Kingdom of Might by Woe of Tyrants
60. All Shall Fall by Immortal
61. Double Brutal by Austrian Death Machine
62. Fragmentary Evidence by Augury
63. Evisceration Plague by Cannibal Corpse
64. Fed Through the Teeth Machine by The Red Chord
65. Cosmogenesis by Obscura
66. The Eternal Return by Darkest Hour
67. The Days of Grays by Sonata Arctica
68. Order by Maroon
69. Agorapocalypse by Agoraphobic Nosebleed
70. The 13th Floor by Sirenia
71. Romulus by Ex Deo
72. Wormwood by Marduk
73. The Grand Partition and the Abrogation of Idolatry by Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky
74. Wearing a Martyr's Crown by Nightrage
75. Planetary Duality by The Faceless
76. Blood Oath by Suffocation
77. It's All Happening by Iwrestledabearonce
78. Constellations by August Burns Red
79. The Onslaught by Lazarus A.D.
80. Halestorm by Halestorm
81. Infected Nations by Evile
82. The Lustrate Process by The Project Hate MCMXCIX
83. A Higher Place by Born of Osiris
84. Breathing the Fire by Skeletonwitch
85. The Reckoning by Arise
86. Njord by Leaves’ Eyes
87. The Great Stone War by Winds of Plague
88. Acedia by Dark Age
89. New Moon by Swallow the Sun
90. Gather the Faithful by Cain's Offering
91. Descend Into Depravity by Dying Fetus
92. Above by Samael
93. The World Outside by Eyes Set to Kill
94. Endless Echo by Construcdead
95. Spectrum by Starring Janet Leigh
96. Silent Echoes by D Creation
97. The Root of All Evil by Arch Enemy
98. Sleepwalking by Memphis May Fire
99. Attitude by Susperia
100. Mirror of Retribution by Chthonic
101. April Rain by Delain
102. Carver City by CKY
103. Portals by Arsonists Get All the Girls
104. Angelus Exuro Pro Eternus by Dark Funeral
105. Executioner by Mantic Ritual
106. Sci-Fi Crimes by Chevelle
107. Diabolical Figures by Graveworm
108. Mothra by Slowmotion Apocalypse
109. Darkest Day by Obituary
110. Disciples of Doom by Misery Speaks
111. The Dethalbum II by Dethklok
112. Homesick by A Day to Remember
113. My Fatal Kiss by Krypteria
114. Death Domination by Impious
115. Depravity by A Plea for Purging
116. Polaris by Stratovarius
117. Years in the Darkness by Arkaea
118. The Serpent Servant by Impending Doom
119. Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us by Paradise Lost
120. Until We Surrender by Heartsounds
121. Almost Home by Evergreen Terrace
122. Human Museum by Icon in Me
123. To Die As Kings by The Ascendicate
124. Skeletons in the Closet by Children of Bodom
125. Profugus Mortis by Blackguard
126. Massive Aggressive by Municipal Waste
127. Meet Your Maker by As We Fight
128. With Roots Above and Branches Below by The Devil Wears Prada
129. Crógacht by Suidakra
130. The Tropic Rot by Poison the Well
131. Memories of the Afterlife by Human Error
132. Stone's Reach by Be'lakor
133. Spirit Black by Jorn
134. Carving Out the Eyes of God by Goatwhore
135. Fear No Evil by Doro
136. In the Constellation of the Black Widow by Anaal Nathrakh
137. The Absence by Luna Mortis
138. Awake? by Zao
139. As Silence Breaks by As Silence Breaks
140. Cult of Static by Static-X
141. Relentless by For the Fallen Dreams
142. The Darker Shades of White by Corpus Christi
143. Vae Victis by Enraged by Beauty
144. No Time to Bleed by Suicide Silence
145. Naked and Cold by Advent
146. The Final End Principle by Bloodwork
147. To the Nines by Hatesphere
148. Total World Domination by Sworn Enemy
149. New Junk Aesthetic by Every Time I Die
150. Enemies by Marionette
151. Walpurgis Rites - Hexenwahn by Belphegor
152. Out of Ashes by Dead by Sunrise
153. Static Tensions by Kylesa
154. Phoenix by Agathodaimon
155. Origin of the Storm by The Sorrow
156. Resurrection Through Fire by Burning Human
157. Bury Me Alive by Inhale Exhale
158. The Quietude Plains by Ablaze in Hatred
159. Call of Schizophrenia by Fear of Domination
160. Day of Mourning by Despised Icon
161. Night Storms Hailfire by Arise and Ruin
162. Shallow Life by Lacuna Coil
163. 16.6 (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) by Primal Fear
164. Ares by Salt the Wound
165. Wars and Rumors of Wars by The Chariot
166. Portraits by For Today
167. Grounded: Chapter Eight by Metalium
168. Dead Harvest by This Ending
169. And Every Knee Shall Bow by The Great Commission
170. Battle Sluts by Destroy Destroy Destroy
171. Ego Anthem by Tracedawn
172. The Echo Verses by The Arusha Accord
173. The Resting Sonata by Rose Funeral
174. Tales from the Grave in Space by Gama Bomb
175. Bones as Armour by Enemy Logic
176. Lividity by It Dies Today
177. Into the Labyrinth by Saxon
178. Hollow Crown by Architects
179. No Sacrifice, No Victory by Hammerfall
180. Messiah by Soulgate’s Dawn
181. Confess by Too Pure to Die
182. Killswitch Engage II by Killswitch Engage
183. Out of Body Experience by Degradead
184. III by Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
185. The Campaign by Into the Moat
186. The End of Tomorrow by Ravage
187. The Great Depression by Trigger the Bloodshed
188. The Everhaunting Past, Chapter IV: A Splendid Retrospection by Fragments of Unbecoming
189. Sons of Thunder by Sleeping Giant
190. Survivalist by ABACABB
191. A Clear Perception by The Eyes of a Traitor
192. Harmony of Discord by The Destro
193. Reflection by As You Drown
194. Depths by Oceano
195. Out of Darkness by In the Midst of Lions
196. Avatar by Avatar
197. Felony by Emmure
198. Karkelo by Korpiklaani
199. Autumnal by Dark Moor
200. Mordium by Mordium

And thus ends my review of the year 2009 in hard rock and heavy metal. If any of you happen to find a list longer than mine, please let me know so I can see what other people are looking at. Long live music!