48. Katatonia - "Sky Void Of Stars"

There are a lot of hauntingly minimal albums on this list and the Swedish kings of maudlin misery are here to add to the sorrowful refrains. Katatonia exist at the peripheries of Metal. They sculpt highly intelligent and articulate doom that long hence dispensed with the heaviness. 

“Sky Void of Stars” is a slight and restrained album that rejects anything as banal as histrionics. It is reserved and measured in the way that it unfolds, staying away from grandstand moments and musical pyrotechnics. All of this results in an album that builds on each listen. There are plenty of magnificent moments, but they are not instantaneous. Instead, it is a record that bides its time, slowly blooming as opposed to revealing all on the first listen. Bear with it but it is so worth it.