It is my privilege and honor to receive and review hundreds of albums per year. Some don’t jive with me; and others are great, but don’t stick long term. Still others, however, are practically life-changing in emotional, musical, and conceptual ways. Some albums start out as 9s and drop to 8s. Other albums start at 8s and jump to 9.5s. My tastes can be rather tricky and shifty at times. Honestly, I found that several 8.5s made it into my favorites list, but some 9s got pushed out, unfortunately. Go figure.

Here are my top 30 albums of 2017.

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30. The Interbeing – “Among the Amorphous”

Read my review here.

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29. Retrospective – “Re:Search”

Read my review here.

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28. Caligula’s Horse – “In Contact”

Read my review here.

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27. When Mary – “Tainted”

Read my review here.

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26. Big Big Train – “Grimspound”

Read my review here.

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25. Carptree – “Emerger”

Read my review here.

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24. Bjørn Riis – “Forever Comes to an End”

Read Stephen’s review here.

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23. YSMA – “Memoirs in Monochrome”

Read my review here.

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22. Hologram Earth – “Black Cell Program”

Read my review here.

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21. The Vicious Head Society – “Abject Tomorrow”

Read my review here.

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20. Anubis Gate – “Covered in Black”

Read my review here.

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19. Anathema – “The Optimist”

Read my review here.

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18. Steve Hackett – “The Night Siren”

Read my review here.

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17. Lonely Robot – “The Big Dream”

Read my review here.

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16. Daniel Cavanagh – “Monochrome”

Read my review here.

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15. Susanne Sundfør – “Music for People in Trouble”

Read my review here.

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14. Beatrix Players – “Magnified”

Read my review here.

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13. Leprous – “Malina”

Read my review here.

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12. Life in 24 Frames – “CTRL+Z”

Read my review here.

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11. Lifesigns – “Cardington”

Read my review here.

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10. Transport Aerian – “Therianthrope”

Read my review here.

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9. Wintersun – “The Forest Seasons”

Read my review here.

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8. Amarok – “Hunt”

Read my review here.

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7. Major Parkinson – “Blackbox”

Read my review here.

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6. Nad Sylvan – “The Bride Said No”

Read my review here.

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5. Pain of Salvation – “In the Passing Light of Day”

Read my review here.

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4. Persefone – “Aathma”

Read my review here.

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3. Nordic Giants – “Amplify Human Vibration”

Read my review here.

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2. Soup – “Remedies”

Read my review here.

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1. Lunatic Soul – “Fractured”

Read my review here.

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Honorable Mentions

Steven Wilson – “To the Bone”

Wave – “Me and Reality”

Only Echoes Remain – “The Exigent”

Tangerine Dream – “Quantum Gate”

Roger Waters – “Is This the Life We Really Want?”

Single Celled Organism – “Splinter in the Eye”

Odd Logic – “Effigy”

Damanek – “On Track”

Bader Nana – “Devolver”

Smalltape – “The Ocean”

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