Best Songs/Albums of 2016

Lots of polls and other lists out there this time of year, but what do you think:

What do you think were the best music songs/albums of 2016? Who were the best music performers or groups?

Which musical groups did you see in person in 2016?

Let's see...saw live...Steven Wilson (2nd time), Sonata Arctica (4th time), Russian Circles (twice), TesseracT (first time), Gojira (3rd time), Opeth (2nd time). Might be forgetting something somewhere along the lines.

Best albums? Oh dear. So much good stuff this year I honestly can't choose. Gojira's Magma is pretty fantastic and still gets regularly listened to. Delain surprised me with the overall quality of Moonbathers, it's at least on par with their previous album The Human Contradiction. Russian Circles' Guidance was good as expected. After a few years of being disappointing at least to me, Opeth came back with a bang with Sorceress. Sabaton and Sonata Arctica both had fairly solid releases, but neither one was really too outstanding to me, but they are still quality albums. When I want something way off the wall, Meshuggah's Violent Sleep of Reason is just about perfect. Cult of Luna's Mariner also fits that bill pretty nicely. Amon Amarth, Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum all gave me my melodeath fix, with Insomnium probably coming out on top on that. AA's Jomsviking was good, I'd say about on par with their previous Deceiver of the Gods. OG's Grey Heavens is pretty good, but their previous album Beyond is still their biggest winner, at least for me. Insomnium's Winter's Gate, like OG's release, is pretty great, but their previous Shadows of the Dying Sun is still better, at least to me. Lastly, Katatonia's The Fall of Hearts continued their pretty awesome trend that started in 2012 with Dead End Kings. I also still have some music from this year untouched, such as Devin Townsend's Transcendence, Assemblage 23's Endure and several others.

All told I can't choose. There was so much good stuff none of it comes out clearly on top for me. It depends on my mood at the time.

Also we have tickets to the Saturday of the New England Metalfest in April, which will feature Sabaton, Katatonia, Delain, Leaves' Eyes, Battle Beast, Caspian, Swallow the Sun, Amorphis (who I've been wanting to see for YEARS), and more may be announced. My brother is hoping for Cult of Luna. I'd be ok with that.