I realise the year isn't over yet, but up to this point what does everyone think their album of the year is. For me it's Tsar Bomba, with Rein Xeed coming in a close second (although that's only based on the samples I've heard as I won't be buying it until Christmas time).

Fundy

I'm not going to attempt a list until after I hear the new "Hell Blade" by Saint that releases in December.

Right now I would say Skillet (Awake) but I must admit the new Creed is putting up a fight. But in the end I think it will be Skillet. That album is just so perfect and well done.

The new Skillet will be in my top 5--that I can guarantee.

My top 5 will have to be: Thousand Foot Krutch, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Creed, Narnia, and Project 86 (Not necessarily in that order, although I think Thousand Foot Krutch caught my number 1 spot).

Oh! I also forgot about Red. That'll definitely have to put that up there somewhere. And if I were listing solely Christian albums, I'd put Burden of a Day up there. It's one of the cleanest and most well produced screamo/metal albums of the decade.

The Red album won't make my list. Oh, it's got some decent songs, but it is highly forgetable. I played it a couple of weeks ago and couldn't recall much of it. I was largely bored by it.

Pillar and Decyfer Down are in my top 5.
Before I will make a list with my favorite albums of the year I will wait till I've heard samples from "Hell Blade" from Saint.

I didn't get nearly enough albums this year to make a real educated guess.....but of what I did get I gotta go with Stryper. And I was never even a huge Stryper fanboy, but Murder by Pride is just a fantastic album.

For me the top 5 would have to include Stryper, "Murder by Pride", Thieves & Liars, "American Rock & Roll", and Mainline Riders, "Worldshaker". Those have all three been huge players whereas most everything gets a very occasional listen.

Believer, John Elefante, and Stryper were solid releases for '09.

Staybrite you can make a top .. of the CDs you bought this year.

Album Of The Year 2009

2009 Album Of The Year goes to BRIDE'S TSAR BOMBA
Bride release their last ever album, and although it's not their heaviest it still packs a punch and proves that Dale can sing with all the power of a true metal vocalist. Lots of tracks, lots of styles. It almost lost out to ReinXeed's brilliant 'Higher' album, but Bride's surefootedness in the world of christian rock makes them stand out from the crowd.

Having not heard "Hell Blade" yet, I can safely say my "Best Album fo 2009" award would have to go to Orphan Project's "Spooning Out the Sea". As goofy as I originally thought that album title was, I spun that thing CONSTANTLY for weeks. Couldn't get enough!

Honorable mentions:
Floodline - Beneath the Waves
Kinetic Element - Powered By Light
Step Cousin - The Evolution Religion

I've only listened to Orphan Project once, but I am not expecting it to be a favorite. It's good, but it's missing the "fun factor" that really gets me.