Best of... 2004: metal albums I was really digging a decade ago

I've been putting together metal year-end lists for many years. For almost as long – ten years perhaps? – I've also been using the turning over of the year as an excuse to look back to the previous decade, revisiting the albums that most captured my attention at the time and tracking down a few I had missed out on. Now that we've put 2014 to rest, it's time to revisit 2004 and recall what I was listening to then and maybe what I should have been...