There is discord amongst the CoC staff. No semblance of consensus was even approached when the scribes were asked to submit their choices for the finest ear candy (or harshest ear shredder) they had happened upon in 2012.

Everyone chose a different album of the year. Furthermore, only two albums were picked among the top three by more than one writer. As it turns out, those two albums will end up having to share this year's CoC Album of the Year award: _All We Love We Leave Behind_ by Converge and Dodecahedron's self-titled effort. Not bad for bands making their debut in these lists -- or indeed their full-debut in Dodecahedron's case.

So which one is most deserving of the award, you ask? Well, that depends. The old, straightforward scoring system would have given the award to Converge. That may be the closest we'll have a tie breaker. Is there a point to breaking the tie though? It's not like we'll need to pay for a second golden statuette or anything.

If a tie for first place wasn't enough, this year we also have a tie for third place between two very respectable bands: Neurosis and Borknagar. The similarly revered Enslaved, My Dying Bride and Meshuggah follow, thus suggesting that either CoC writers tend to keep up with their old sweethearts quite a lot, or certain bands are just able to age like a properly maintained bottle of (vintage) Port wine.

The list is wrapped up by other relatively household names for the extreme metal fan: Pig Destroyer, Between the Buried and Me, and In Mourning. One other band worth a mention is Blut Aus Nord: their album _777: The Cosmography_ was among the most consensual of the lot, but they still missed out on the top ten.

CoC Writers' Best Albums of 2012

1. Converge - _All We Love We Leave Behind_
=. Dodecahedron - _Dodecahedron_
3. Borknagar - _Urd_
=. Neurosis - _Honor Found in Decay_
5. Enslaved - _RIITIIR_
6. My Dying Bride - _A Map of All Our Failures_
=. Meshuggah - _Koloss_
8. Pig Destroyer - _Book Burner_
9. Between the Buried and Me - _The Parallax II: Future Sequence_
=. In Mourning - _The Weight of Oceans_

Pedro Azevedo's Top 10

1. Enslaved - _RIITIIR_
2. Converge - _All We Love We Leave Behind_
3. Ne Obliviscaris - _Portal of I_
4. Evoken - _Atra Mors_
5. My Dying Bride - _A Map of All Our Failures_
6. Soen - _Cognitive_
7. Daylight Dies - _A Frail Becoming_
8. Anaal Nathrakh - _Vanitas_
9. Barren Earth - _The Devil's Resolve_
10. Paradise Lost - _Tragic Idol_

Aaron McKay's Top 10

1. Pig Destroyer - _Book Burner_
2. Cryptopsy - _Cryptopsy_
3. Neurosis - _Honor Found in Decay_
4. Overkill - _The Electric Age_
5. Vision of Disorder - _The Cursed Remain Cursed_
6. Cattle Decapitation - _Monolith of Inhumanity_
7. Marduk - _Serpent Sermon_
8. My Dying Bride - _A Map of All Our Failures_
9. Enslaved - _RIITIIR_
10. Pallbearer - _Sorrow and Extinction_

Chaim Drishner's Top 10

1. Worship - _Terranean Wake_
2. Haiku Funeral - _Nightmare Painting_
3. Zgard - _Reclusion_
4. Arcana - _As Bright as a Thousand Suns_
5. Iblis - _Menthell_
6. Vowels - _Hooves, Leaves and the Death_ / _As December Nightingales_
7. Embrional - _Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors_
8. Synodik - _Sequences for a New Matrix_
9. Hypomanie - _Calm Down, You Weren't Set on Fire_
10. Pandemonium - _Misanthropy_ / The Great Old Ones - _Al Azif_

Aly Hassab El Naby's Top 10

1. Between the Buried and Me - _The Parallax II: Future Sequence_
=. In Mourning - _The Weight of Oceans_
3. Neurosis - _Honor Found in Decay_
4. Meshuggah - _Koloss_
5. Be'lakor - _Of Breath and Bone_
6. Borknagar - _Urd_
7. Kreator - _Phantom Antichrist_
8. Converge - _All We Love We Leave Behind_
9. Mors Principium Est - _...And Death Said Live_
10. Savage Messiah - _Plague of Conscience_

Mark Dolson's Top 10

1. Borknagar - _Urd_
2. The 11th Hour - _Lacrima Mortis_
3. Heidevolk - _Batavi_
4. My Dying Bride - _A Map of All Our Failures_
5. Kreator - _Phantom Antichrist_
6. Hooded Menace - _Effigies of Evil_
7. King of Asgard - _...To North_
8. Barren Earth - _The Devil's Resolve_
9. Saturnus - _Saturn in Ascension_
10. Blut Aus Nord - _777: The Cosmosophy_

Jonathan A. Carbon's Top 10

1. Dodecahedron - _Dodecahedron_
2. Ufomammut - _Opus Primum / Opus Alter_
3. Pallbearer - _Sorrow and Extinction_
4. Wilds Forlorn - _We, the Dammed_
5. Ihsahn - _Eremita_
6. Ahab - _The Giant_
7. OM - _Advatic Songs_
8. Blut Aus Nord - _777: The Cosmography_
9. Abigail Williams - _The Becoming_
10. Ash Borer - _Cold of Ages_

Daniel Lake's Top 10

1. Devin Townsend - _Epicloud_
2. Converge - _All We Love We Leave Behind_
3. Dodecahedron - _Dodecahedron_
4. Meshuggah - _Koloss_
5. Blut Aus Nord - _777: The Cosmosophy_
6. Liberteer - _Better to Die on Your Feet Than Live on Your Knees_
7. Acephalix - _Deathless Master_
8. Gojira - _L'Enfant Sauvage_
9. King Giant - _Dismal Hollow_
10. Blood of the Black Owl - _Light the Fires!_