Good news: this year we actually have a winner! Not so good: the staff was unable to agree what everyone wanted to eat, so we're all being served a slice of rare liver and fried onions. Rare? I meant raw. Straight out of the Carcass.

The return of the mighty Carcass grabs the 2013 CoC Album of the Year award, even though it wasn't actually anyone's favourite album -- thus fulfilling a trend that was hinted at in last year's edition. Despite not having topped any individual lists, _Surgical Steel_ remained the most consensual choice among the staff and duly takes the (ahem) prize.

With everybody picking a different record as his favourite, The Ocean emerged in second place, their _Pelagial_ the only album to really push Carcass all the way. While Carcass are first time participants due to their lengthy hiatus, The Ocean had failed to make the cut a few times before despite positive reviews.

A similar observation can be made regarding the two bands that share third place: the returning Gorguts with their _Colored Sands_, and Cult of Luna, who finally made the list with their _Vertikal_. Altar of Plagues wrap up the front runners with _Teethed Glory & Injury_, once more the first time they have made it to the overall top 10.

From that point on, the list is mostly made up of individual choices: Broken Hope, Omnium Gatherum, Secrets of the Sky, Antigama and Deafheaven. The Dillinger Escape Plan close the list thanks to the combined result of two nominations. The likes of Abstract Spirit, Agrimonia, Satan and SubRosa narrowly missed the final list.

Elsewhere on the web, most of the praise seems to have been directed at Deafheaven (tied for ninth place in our list), Carcass (CoC Album of the Year) and Gorguts (tied for third).

CoC Writers' Best Albums of 2013

1. Carcass - _Surgical Steel_
2. The Ocean - _Pelagial_
3. Cult of Luna - _Vertikal_
=. Gorguts - _Colored Sands_
5. Altar of Plagues - _Teethed Glory & Injury_
6. Broken Hope - _Omen of Disease_
=. Omnium Gatherum - _Beyond_
8. Secrets of the Sky - _To Sail Black Waters_
9. Antigama - _Meteor_
=. Deafheaven - _Sunbather_
=. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _One of Us Is the Killer_

Pedro Azevedo's Top 10

1. The Ocean - _Pelagial_
2. Deafheaven - _Sunbather_
3. SubRosa - _More Constant Than the Gods_
4. Mourning Beloveth - _Formless_
5. Altar of Plagues - _Teethed Glory & Injury_
6. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _One of Us Is the Killer_
7. Summoning - _Old Mornings Dawn_
8. October Tide - _Tunnel of No Light_
9. Finnr's Cane - _A Portrait Painted by the Sun_
10. Agrimonia - _Rites of Separation_

Aaron McKay's Top 10

1. Broken Hope - _Omen of Disease_
2. Gorguts - _Colored Sands_
3. Locrian - _Return to Annihilation_
4. Carcass - _Surgical Steel_
5. Summoning - _Old Mornings Dawn_
6. Voices - _From the Human Forest Create a Fugue of Imaginary Rain_
7. Living Sacrifice - _Ghost Thief_
8. Pestilence - _ Obsideo_
9. Sepultura - _The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart__
10. Immolation - _Kingdom of Conspiracy_

Chaim Drishner's Top 10

1. Abstract Spirit - _Theomorphic Defectiveness_
2. Ataraxie - _L'Être et la Nausée_
3. Smohalla / Omega Centauri - _Tellur / Epitome_
4. Lychgate - _Lychgate_
5. Pensées Nocturnes - _Nom d'une Pipe!_
6. Abysmal Grief - _Feretri_
7. Khaos Aeon - _Koenigreich_
8. Station Dysthymia - _Overhead, Without Any Fuss, the Stars Were Going Out_
9. Mental Torment - _On the Verge..._
10. Surtr - _Pulvis et Umbra_

Aly Hassab El Naby's Top 10

1. Cult of Luna - _Vertikal_
2. The Ocean - _Pelagial_
3. Intronaut - _Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)_
4. Fleshgod Apocalypse - _Labyrinth_
5. Gorguts - _Colored Sands_
6. Russian Circles - _Memorial_
7. Carcass - _Surgical Steel_
8. Steven Wilson - _The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories)_
9. Immolation - _Kingdom of Conspiracy_
10. Byzantine - _Byzantine_

Mark Dolson's Top 10

1. Omnium Gatherum - _Beyond_
2. Carcass - _Surgical Steel_
3. Dark Tranquillity - _Construct_
4. Ulver - _Messe I.X-VI.X_
5. My Dying Bride - _The Manuscript_
6. Entrails - _Raging Death_
7. Misanthrope -_Ænigma Mystica_
8. Hail of Bullets - _III: The Rommel Chronicles_
9. Witherscape - _The Inheritance_
10. Twilight of the Gods - _Fire on the Mountain_

Jonathan A. Carbon's Top 10

1. Satan - _Life Sentence_
2. Caladan Brood - _Echoes of Battle_
3. Oranssi Pazuzu - _Valonielu_
4. Tribulation - _The Formulas of Death_
5. Altar of Plagues - _Teethed Glory & Injury_
6. The Ruins of Beverast - _Blood Vaults_
7. Atleantean Kodex - _White Goddess_
8. Cultes des Ghoules - _Henbane_
9. Grave Miasma - _Odori Sepulcrorum_
10. Inquisition - _Obscure Verses for the Multiverse_

Daniel Lake's Top 10

1. Secrets of the Sky - _To Sail Black Waters_
2. Antigama - _Meteor_
3. Agrimonia - _Rites of Separation_
4. Cult of Luna - _Vertikal_
5. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _One of Us Is the Killer_
6. Carcass - _Surgical Steel_
7. Altar of Plagues - _Teethed Glory & Injury_
8. Rotting Christ - _Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy_
9. Gorguts - _Colored Sands_
10. The Ruins of Beverast - _Blood Vaults_