It’s December, which means that everyone’s starting to look back at the year that was, even though we’re not quite through it yet. Over the next several weeks, Metal Insider will be bringing you our picks for the best albums of the year, as well as those from some of the artists that made some of it. Instead of making a straight-ahead list of the top ten releases of the year, contributor Brett Reistroffer made a list of the top ten debut full lengths of the year. Want to hear what he’s writing about? Again, there’s a Spotify playlist at the end of the chart, and you should consider following us on there as well..

10) Abbath, Abbath (Season of Mist)

Okay, so only technically a debut since this is Abbath’s first record under the banner of his personal moniker and much of the music on it was originally written as the next Immortal album, but it’s fuckin’ killer, so it makes the list. Plus, Abbath.

Track Pick: “Winter Bane”

9) Frostbite, Etching Obscurity (Tmina Records)

Usually it takes a band with as much going on as these guys an album or two in order to really find their groove. Not so with this debut of perfectly crafted melodic and progressive black metal, these guys are coming out of the gate strong.

Track Pick: “Sigil Seal”

8) King Goat, Conduit (Indie)

It took these guys some time to find their legs after their first two EPs, but once they got their sound down they had this monstrously good progressive doom metal debut full-length to unleash.

Track Pick: “Conduit”