Back in April, we polled 57 musicians, managers, label reps, publicists, and writers from within the world of metal (including the staff of MetalSucks) for the 21 Best Albums of the 21st Century... So Far. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009 (Yes, we're aware that technically the century didn't start 'til 2001. But we decided not to be dicks about it.). Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album pick being awarded 21 points, their #2 album being awarded 20 points, their #3 album being awarded 19 points, and so on and so forth. Then, once all the ballots were in, we tallied 'em all up and compiled the final list based entirely on which albums had scored the most amount of points.

Starting today, we'll be counting down the list one album a day, starting at #21 until we reach the #1 album in July. In addition to the MetalSucks staff, we've recruited some cool guest writers - including contributors to Decibel, Revolver, Metal Injection, NoiseCreep, and many others - to blog about each album.