We have now entered the final month of 2021, and that begins the final countdown to the end of the year. In the world of metal, this month we’ll also start seeing more and more lists of the year’s best releases.
Back in 2009, when this site was just a few days old, I wrote a post about year-end lists and why people bother with them. The best reason still seems to be this: Reading someone else’s list of the albums they thought were best is a good way to discover music you missed and might like.
We don’t do an “official” NCS year-end “best albums” list. However, we publish the picks of each of our regular staff writers as well as a group of invited guests, in addition to lists that we re-post from a few print zines and “big platform” online sites.
Every year we also invite our readers to share their lists and we’re doing that again right here, right now.
If you’ve been pondering what you’ve heard this year and have made your own list of the albums, EPs, or splits released in 2021 that you think are the best of what you’ve heard, we invite you to share it with everyone in the Comments section to this post. And if you haven’t made a list yet but want to, there’s still plenty of time (read below).
We don’t have any hard-and-fast rules about year-end lists. Your list doesn’t have to be a specific number — it doesn’t have to be a “Top 10″ or “Top 20″ list, it could be a Top 2 list or a Top 15, or any other number.
And it doesn’t have to be a cross-genre list, i.e., the best of all metal you’ve heard this year. It could be the best death metal, or the best black metal, or the best grind, or the best crust or doom or prog or thrash metal, and on and on — pretty much whatever you want to do and feel comfortable doing, as long as it fits your definition of metal.
Don’t be shy, and don’t worry about being judged — if you haven’t figured it out already, it ain’t our style nor is it usually the style of our commenters to ridicule what someone else thinks is great metal.
And if you don’t have a list ready yet, no sweat, because you can come back to this post whenever you like and add your list later — or comment on the lists others have posted. I’ll put a link to this post at the top right side of every page so people can find it quickly — look for the link to 2021 NCS READERS’ YEAR-END LISTS. That will make the comments to this post a collection point for “Best of” readers’ lists. And that link will stay on our page from now through this time in 2022.
Last year we had 114 comments on this invitation, and I think that says something about how interested people are in seeing each other’s lists and reacting to them. So start thinking and start commenting (please, and thank you).
~Islander
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Greetings to all who contribute to or follow this great site – here’s my personal favourites for this year (but it’s all subjective, of course);
1. QRIXKUOR ‘POISON PALINOSIA’
2. GHASTLY ‘MERCURIAL PASSAGES’
3. LVCIFYRE ‘THE BROKEN SEAL’
4. DRAWN & QUARTERED ‘CONGREGATION PESTILENCE’
5. DAKHMA ‘BLESSINGS OF AMURDAD’
6. EXIMPERITUS ‘ŠAHRARTU’
7. UNIVERSALLY ESTRANGED ‘REARED UP IN SPECTRAL PREDATION’
8. ANTEDILUVIAN ‘THE DIVINE PUNISHMENT’
An amazing year, under the current circumstances, thanks to all those artists for some fantastic music!
Sorry, missed..
WORM ‘FOREVERGLADE’
SPECTRAL WOUND ‘A DIABOLIC THIRST’
…that’s my 10 complete!
1.The Silver-Ward of Roses
2.Bizarrekult-Vi Overlevelde
3.1914-Where Fear and Weapons Meet
4.Worm-Foreverglade
5.Alustrium-A Monument to Silence
6.Bohemyst-Cern A Smrt
7,Stormruler-Under the Burning Eclipse
8.Krigsgrav-The Sundering
8.Kanonenfieber-Menschenmuhle
10.Misanthur-Ephemeris
Best of 2021
⬜ – Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
⬜ – Gojira – Fortitude
⬜ – Iotunn – Access All Worlds
⬜ – Dordeduh – Har
⬜ – The Lion’s Daughter – Skin Show
⬜ – Voices – Breaking The Trauma Bond
⬜ – Tribulation – Where The Gloom Becomes Sound
⬜ – Swallow The Sun – Moonflowers
⬜ – Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
⬜ – Whitechapel – Kin
⬜ – Fractal Universe – The Impassable Horizon
⬜ – Rivers of Nihil – The Work
⬜ – Interloper – Search Party
⬜ – Obscura – A Valediction
⬜ – Between The Buried And Me – Colors II
⬜ – Green Lung – Black Harvest
⬜ – Unto Others – Strength
⬜ – Mercury Circle – Killing Moons
⬜ – Carcass – Torn Arteries
⬜ – The Crown – Royal Destroyer
⬜ – Asphyx – Necroceros
⬜ – Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
⬜ – Impure Wilhelmina – Antidote
⬜ – Soen – Imperial
⬜ – Evergrey – Escape Of The Phoenix
⬜ – The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
⬜ – CROWN – The End of All Things
⬜ – Khemmis – Deceiver
⬜ – Boss Keloid – Family the Smiling Thrush
⬜ – Monolord – Your Time To Shine
⬜ – 1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet
⬜ – Memoriam – To The End
⬜ – At The Gates – The Nightmare Of Being
⬜ – Omnium Gatherum – Origin
⬜ – Vreid – Wild North West
⬜ – Baest – Necro Sapiens
⬜ – Dvne – Etemen Ænka
⬜ – Vokonis – Odyssey
⬜ – Eastern High – Halo
⬜ – Loch Vostok – Opus Ferox – The Great Escape
⬜ – Monster Magnet – A Better Dystopia
⬜ – Red Fang – Arrows
⬜ – Robots Of The Ancient World – Mystic Goddess
⬜ – Alastor – Onwards and Downwards
⬜ – Lake of Tears – Ominous
⬜ – Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
⬜ – MØL – Diorama
⬜ – Tombs – Under Sullen Skies
⬜ – Endseeker – Mount Carcass
⬜ – Abscession – Rot of Ages
⬜ – Grand Cadaver – Maw of Death
⬜ – Horndal – Lake Drinker
⬜ – Wolves in Haze – Chaos Reigns
⬜ – King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness
⬜ – Wheel – Resident Human
⬜ – Archspire – Bleed The Future
⬜ – Alluvial – Sarcoma
⬜ – LLNN – Unmaker
⬜ – The Amenta – Revelator
⬜ – Trivium – In the Court of the Dragon
⬜ – Andrew W.K. – God is Partying
⬜ – Four Stroke Baron – Classics
⬜ – Be’lakor – Coherence
⬜ – Burial in the Sky – Consumed Self
⬜ – Hippotraktor – Meridian
⬜ – Somnuri – Nefarious Wave
⬜ – Urne – Serpent & Spirit
⬜ – The Ugly Kings – Strange, Strange Times
⬜ – Doctor Smoke – Dreamers and the Dead
⬜ – Evile – Hell Unleashed
⬜ – Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm
⬜ – Bewitcher – Cursed Be Thy Kingdom
⬜ – The Limit – Caveman Logic
⬜ – White Void – Anti
⬜ – We Butter The Bread With Butter – Das Album
⬜ – Nightfall – At Night We Prey
⬜ – Moonspell – Hermitage
⬜ – Light of the Morning Star – Charnel Noir
⬜ – Ophis – Spew Forth Odium
⬜ – Marianas Rest – Fata Morgana
⬜ – Thulcandra – A Dying Wish
⬜ – Pestilence – Exitivm
⬜ – Frozen Soul – Crypt Of Ice
⬜ – Mordkaul – Dress Code: Blood
⬜ – Worm – Foreverglade
⬜ – Mortiferum – Preserved In Torment
⬜ – Eyehategod – A History of Nomadic Behavior
I have not listened yet for conclusions:
⬜ Hypocrisy – Worship
⬜ In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil
⬜ Lurking Fear – Death, Madness, Horror, Decay
⬜ Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eterna
⬜ Black Label Society – Doom Crew Inc.
⬜ Aquilus – Bellum I
⬜ Genocide Pact – Genocide Pact
⬜ Funeral – Praesentialis in Aeternum
⬜ Atlas – Ukko
⬜ Mire – A New Found Rain
⬜ Memory Garden – 1349
What a list! there’s a few there I’ve not come across yet. Have you heard the new Converge album with Chelsea Wolfe?
Yes! A quality release, but is not for me, left me cold.
My Top 20 Metal Releases for 2021
1. Worm – Foreverglade
2. 1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
3. Lake of Tears – Ominous
4. Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
5. Green Lung – Black Harvest
6. Asphyx – Necroceros
7. Khemmis – Deceiver
8. Gojira – Fortitude
9. Carcass – Torn Arteries
10. Enforced – Kill Grid
11. Rivers of Nihil – The Work
12. Tribulation – Where Gloom Becomes Sound
13. Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm
14. Unto Others – Strength
15. Wraith – Undo the Chains
16. Exodus – Persona Non Grata
17. Eyehategod – A History of Nomadic Behavior
18. Terminalist – The Great Acceleration
19. Spirit World – Pagan Rhythms
Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
20. Eyehategod – A History of Nomadic Behavior
Sorry that got messed up. Eyehategod was my #17. Ruins of Beverast was my #20.
My favorite albums of 2021 –
Archspire – Bleed The Future
Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia
1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet
Gatecreeper – an unexpected reality
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad : Bitter palsms to a sorid species
Thy Catafalque – Vadak
Portal – Avow
Boss Keloid – Family the smiling thrush
Pathology – the everlasting plague
& Khemmis – Deceiver
1) Voices- Braking The Trauma Bond
2) Werewolves- What A Time To Be Alive
3) NakhArA- The Procession
4) Moral Collapse- Moral Collapse
5) Lantlos- Wildhund
6) C R O W N- The End of All Things
7) Akhenaten- The Emerald Tablets
8) First Fragment- Glorie Eternelle
9) Norse- Ascetic
10)TRNA- Istok
11) Vrendensval- Fealty Of Diabolism
12) Khandra- All Occupied By Sole Death
13) Revulsion- Revulsion
14) Replicant- Malignant Reality
15) Wode- Burn In Many Mirrors
16) HIPPOTRAKTOR- Meridian
17) Frontierer- Oxidized
18) Shrines- Ghost Notes
19) Defod- The Lengthening Shadow
20) MOL- Diorama
Argh, it’s too soon. I’m not even close to done digesting this year’s offerings. There was a lot of good stuff. I’m not sure there were a lot of truly great releases though.
Great:
Stargazer
Cerebral Rot
Very good:
Sijjin
Iskandr
Fluisteraars
Unto Others
Possibly also very good, but I need to listen to them more:
Rothadas
Apparition
Worm
Nephilim Grinder
Mortiferum
Herzel
Conjureth
Sulphurous
Dypigus
Venefixion
Suffering Sights
Carcass
Cynic
Ruin
Qrixkuor
Ghastly
Aenigmatum
Ungfell
Grave Miasma
Morbific
Concrete Winds
Hyperdontia
Civerous
Oh, my yes. Fluisteraars. Top tier !
1. Dordeduh – Har
2. Kauan – Ice fleet
3. Empyrium – Über den Sternen
4. LLNN – Unmaker
5. Genghis tron – Dream weapon
6. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
7. Moanhand – Present serpent
8. Papangu – Holoceno
9. Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad
2021 I enjoyed the most
Amenra – De Doorn
Antediluvian – The devine punishment
Flight of Sleipnir – Eventide
Fluisteraars – Gegrepen Door De Geest Der Zielsontluiking
Morgul Blade – Fell Sorcery abounds
Suffering hour – The cyclic Reckoning
Unto Others – Strength
Saidan & Klanen – Split
Saidan – Jigoku- Spiraling Chasms Of The Blackest Hell
Silver Talon – Decadence and Decay
Threshing Spirit – Piercing The Menbrane
Vladimír Pavelka – Spomienky
Crucifixion Bell – Eternal Grip of the Nocturnal Empire & Splits
ColdCell – The Greater Evil
Ferriterium – Calvaire
Fyrnask – VII: Kenoma
Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
Pestilential Shadows – Revenant
Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive
Seth – La morsure du Christ
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Tardigrada – Vom Bruch bis zur Freiheit
Whoredom Rife – Winds Of Wrath
Woman Is the Earth – Dust of Forever
Yoth Iria – As the Flame Withers
This Natalie is a strong list. Fyrnask and Tardigrada ! Hell yeah.
Darkthrone – Eternal Hails……
Inhuman Condition – Rat°God
Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
Spectral Lore – Ετερόφωτος
Sněť – Mokvání V Okovech
Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss
Dungeon Serpent – World of Sorrows
Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled
Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle
Aborted – ManiaCult
Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
Autarkh – Form in Motion
Diskord – Degenerations
Cerebral Rot – Excretion of Mortality
Fulci – Exhumed Information
Marasmus – Necrotic Overlord
Polemicist – Return of the Sophist
Eye of Purgatory – The Lighthouse
Esoctrilihum – Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath
Borgne – Temps morts
Gravesend – Methods of Human Disposal
Midnight Odyssey – Biolume, Pt. 2: The Golden Orb
Les Chants du Hasard – Livre Troisième
Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice
Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
Ars Magna Umbrae – Throne Between Worlds
Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad
ZAÄAR – Magická Džungl’a
StarGazer – Psychic Secretions
Thecodontion & Vessel of Iniquity – The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event
Defacement – Defacement
Replicant – Malignant Reality
1. Revulsion – Revulsion
2. Iotunn – Access All Worlds
3. Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle
4. Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors
5. Vånda – Covenant of Death
6. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
7. Lunar Shadow – Wish to Leave
8. Oldskull – Nether Hollow of No Return
9. Vomit Ritual – Callous
10. Inhuman Condition – Rat°God
11. Typhonian – The Cosmic Pendulum of Time
12. Mepharis – Eternal Night
13. Lóstregos – Onde Calan Os Corazóns Ruxen As Pedras
14. Unendlich – Paradox of a Broken World
15. Angrrsth – Donikad
16. Fetid Zombie – Transmutations
17. Białywilk – Próżnia
18. Unto Others – Strength
19. Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
20. Worm – Foreverglade
21. 1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
22. Noltem – Illusions in the Wake
23. Decripsy – Emetic Communion
24. Windfaerer – Breaths of Elder Dawns
25. Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice
26. Mortiferum – Preserved in Torment
27. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
28. Obscura – A Valediction
29. Be’lekor – Coherence
30. Hyperdontia – Hideous Entity
31. Khemmis – Deceiver
Those are in order of me hearing them, not preference. Also, I feel like that list is not yet fully realized. But, so far that’s what I got. This has been an absolute banger year for Metal, and it’s hard to pick a number one… But here goes my top 5:
5. Inhuman Condition – Rat°God
4. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
3. Mortiferum – Preserved in Torment
2. Worm – Foreverglade
1. Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle
I think that’s it… Although I had a hard time keeping out the new Khemmis, and that Hyperdontia album. Once again, what a great year for us Heavy Metal fans.
Hope everyone is staying safe, and sane!
Nick
1) Maere – Harakiri For The Sky
2) The Work – Rivers of Nihil
3) Eve – Balmog
4) Christfucker – Portrayal of Guilt
5) Bloodmoon I – Converge/CW
6) …Enamel Queen – Black Sheep Wall
7) Etemen Ænka – DVNE
8) Vom Bruch… – Tardigrada
9) Imperative Imperceptible Impulse – Ad Nauseum
10) Deceiver – Khemmis
11) Psychic Secretions – Stargazer
12) De Doorn – Amenra
13) Interstice – Knoll
14) Kin – Whitechapel
15) Foreverglade – Worm
16) Primordial Arcana – WITTR
17) Antidote – Impure Wilhelmina
18) Tales of Othertime – Stormkeep
19) The Path of Wrath – Wolf King
20) Death Weight – Whitehorse
I’ve been listening to a lot of older stuff mostly and missed a ton too. These are the few new albums that I’ve purchased and enjoyed.
Darkthrone- Eternal Hails
Mastodon- Hushed and Grim
Knocked Loose- A Tear In The Fabric Of Life
Gojira – Fortitude
Go Ahead And Die -s/t
Panopticon- And Again Into The Light
Bridge City Sinners – Unholy Hymns
Top 5’s!
EPs
Xanathar – The Towers
Empty Throne – Glossolalia
Paraphilia – Primordium of Sinister Butchery
Porta Magna – Swallowed by the Ocean
Black Hole Deity – Lair of Xenolich
Death
Veilburner – Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull
Anarkhon – Phantasmogorical Personification of the Death Temple
Craven Idol – Forked Tongues
Ex Deo – 13 Years of Nero
Abscession – Rot of Ages
Black
Kanonenfieber – Menschenmuhle
Mystras – Empires Vanquished and Dismantled
Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Sxuperion – Auscaltating Astral Monuments
Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
Zao – The Crimson Corridor
Carcass – Torn Arteries
Every Time I Die – Radical
Gojira – Fortitude
Rody Walker – Sharks Fly, Homemade
Thrice – Horizons / East
Andrew W.K. – God is Partying
1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Worm – Foreverglade
I really wanted Trivium to be on this list bc I thought last year’s What the Dead Men Say was great.
I’ve listened through Court of the Dragon 3-4 times now and nothing sticks. I just find myself thinking about the proper pronunciation of Damocles.
And so continues my on/off relationship with Trivium.
In no particular order:
* Archspire – Bleed the Future
* Sentinels – Collapse by Design
* First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
* Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
* Rivers of Nihil – The Work
* Aenigmatum – Deconsecrate
* Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
* Vildhjarta – Måsstaden under vatten
* Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
* Atrae Bilis – Apexapien
* Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
* Replicant – Malignant Reality
* Autharkh – Form in Motion
* Blindfolded and led to the woods – Nightmare Withdrawals
* Throne – Pestilent Dawn
* Frontierer – Oxidized
* Veilburner – Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull
Worm – Foreverglade
Cadaveric Fumes – Echoing Chambers of Soul CD/LP/TAPE
Dvne – Etemen Ænka
Gateway – Flesh Reborn
Wheel – Preserved in Time
Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
Noltem – Illusions in the Wake
STORMKEEP – Tales of Othertime
Crescent – Carving The Fires of Akhet
Witch Vomit – Abhorrent Rapture
Cerebral Rot – Excretion Of Mortality
Skepticism – Companion
Mortiferum – Preserved in Torment
King Woman – Celestial Blues
Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Sermon Of Flames – I Have Seen The Light, And It Was Repulsive
Rothadás – Kopár hant… az alvilág felé
Necrofier – Prophecies of Eternal Darkness
Sulphurous – The Black Mouth of Sepulchre
QRIXKUOR – Poison Palinopsia
My top 5 2021 AOTY
1. Non Serviam – Le Coeur Bat
2. Gaahls WYRD – The Humming Mountains
3. FLUISTERAARS – Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking
4. Non Serviam – Il Pleut Partout Derrière
5. Paysage d’Hiver – Geister
A great year for metal of all kinds
– Carcass – Torn Arteries
– Archspire – Bleed the Future
– Non Serviam – Le Coeur Bat
– Portrayal of Guilt – Christfucker
– Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled
– Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman
– Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined
– Zao – The Crimson Corridor
– LLNN – Unmaker
– Lamp Of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery
My Top Death metal for 2021:
Worm Foreverglade
Hyperdontia Hideous Entity
Blood Red Throne Imperial Congregation
Hooded Menance The Tritonus Bell
Phrenelith Chimaera
1914 Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Mortiferum Preserved in Torment
Sulphurous The Black Mouth of Sepulchre
Galvanizer Prying Sight of Imperception
Drawn and Quartered Congregation Pestilence
Ghastly Mercurial Passages
Rothadas Kopár hant… az alvilág felé
Be’Lakor Coherence
Suffering Hour The Cyclic Rekoning
Frozen Soul Crypts of Ice
Revulsion Revulsion
Apparition Feel
Decrepisy Emetic Communion
Famishgod Rotting Ceremony
Organic Where Graves Abound
Cerebral Rot Excretion of Mortality
Morbific Ominous Seep of Putridity
Sarcoughagus Delusions of the Sick
Bizzare Invocation Codex
Intonate Severed Within
Livløs – And Then There Were None
Between the Buried and Me – Colors II
Idles – Crawler
DVNE – Etemen Ænka
Gojira – Fortitude
Hippotraktor – Meridian
Frontierer – Oxidized
Humantity’s Last Breath – Välde
Iotunn – Access All Worlds
Stortregn – Impermanence
Every Time I Die – Radical
Need to spend more time with: Khemmis, Atvm, Mastodon, Der Weg einer Freiheit, Trivium
Here are my top 20 of the year:
1. Thron – Pilgrim
2. Majestic Downfall – Aorta
3. Cult Of Luna – The Raging River
4. Sepulcros – Vazio
5. Aetheria Conscientia – Corrupted Pillars Of Vanity
6. Genune – Inert And Unerring
7. Blood Red Throne – Imperial Congregation
8. Aara – Triade I: Eos
9. Grima – Rotting Garden
10. Mastodon – Hushed And Grim
11. Amenra – De Doorn
12. Paranorm – Empyrean
13. Hellish Form – Remains
14. Helloween – Helloween
15. Asylum – Sharpen
16. Tribulation – Where The Gloom Becomes Sound
17. Abstracter – Abominion
18. Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death
19. The Ruins Of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
20. Trna – Istok
And it’s always a possibility there might be new entries once I catch up with those on end of year lists I haven’t heard yet.
All in all I’d go so far to say it’s been a rather good year.
Twenty 2021 Albums I Love, by Dudeguy Jones
Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Mefitis – Offscourings
Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
The Silver – Ward of Roses
Paranorm – Empyrean
Veilburner – Lurkers In the Capsule of Skull
Archspire – Bleed The Future
Worm – Foreverglade
Aenigmatum – Deconsecrate
Noltem – Illusions In The Wake
Norse – Ascetic
Koldovsto – Ни царя, ни бога
Yautja – The Lurch
Old Nick – A New Generation of Vampire Chronicles
Dark Throne – Eternal Hails
Demoniac – So It Goes
Polemicist – Return of the Sophist
Dream Unending – Tides Turn Eternal
Creature – Eloge De l’Ombre
Theres four albums I am highly anticipating before the years end.
Phrenelith
Cadaveric Fumes
Klabautamann
Dolven
If any of those are good, and they’ll likely be amazing, then they’ll shake up the list.
Another great year.
This is my personal favorites, many of them new aquaintances, thanks in part to NCS and other generous people around.
1:
Panopticon: … And Again Into The Light
2:
Veilburner: Lurkers In The Capsule Of Skull
3:
Violet Cold: Empire Of Love
4:
Fugitive Wizard: Obscuri Æternum
5:
Worm: Foreverglade
6:
Suffering Hour: The Cyclic Reckoning
7:
Vola: Mirrors
8:
Sallow Moth: Stasis Cocoon
9:
Grey Aura: Zwarte Vierkant
10:
Dvne: Etemen Ænka
11:
Sol Kia: Zos Ethos
12:
Archspire: Bleed The Future
13:
Kaatayra: Inpariquipê
14:
So Hideous: None But A Pure Heart Can Sing
15:
King Woman: Celestial Blues
16:
The Silver: Ward Of Roses
17:
Atræ Bilis: Apexapien
18:
LLNN: Unmaker
19:
Kreationist: Dans L’interminable
20:
Violblast: Lazarus Abandoned
21:
Khemmis: Deceiver
22:
Yautja: The Lurch
23:
Moral Collapse: Moral Collapse
24:
Ophis: Spew Forth Odium
25:
Atvm: Famine, Putrid And Fucking Endless
Cheers!
Oh Lord. Seems I left out Year Of No Light: Consolamentum … terrific album! Ans as I’m listening to the new Dormant Ordeal it’s straight up scandalous not to include them as well. Wonderful work.
My top albums for the year:
Honorable mentions:
13. Dead Exaltation- Despondent
12. Monte Penumbra- As Blades In The Firmament
11. Avtotheism – The Sleeper Awakens
The best:
10. Sallow Moth – Stasis Cocoon
9. Malgoth – Glory Through Savagery
8. Groza – The Redemptive End
7. Knowledge Through Suffering – Concealment
6. Issolei- Cilicium
5. Crypts of Despair – All Light Swallowed
4. Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia
3. Misotheist- For The Glory Of Your Redeemer
2. Suffering Hour- The Cyclic Reckoning
1. Ferriterium- Calvaire
1. Gravenchalice – Samael
This album is absolutely crushingly brilliant. It’s just in a league of its own.
2. Leitha – Sisyphus
3. Knowledge Through Suffering – Concealment
4. Goath – III Shaped by the Unlight
5. Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
6. Vrykolakas – And Vrkolakas Brings Chaos and Destruction
7. Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
8. Seth – La morsure du Christ
9. Valdaudr – Drapsdalen
10. Hate – Rugia
11. Gorgon – Traditio Satanae
12. The Slow Death – Siege
13. Crypts of Despair – All Light Swallowed
14. Decrepisy – Emmetic Communion
15. Hypocrisy – Worship
16. Fossilization – He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten
17. Stikkersven – Demo
18. Deconsecration/Reburied Split
19. Hellish Form – Remains
20. Clandestine Blaze – Secrets of Laceration
Totally missed adding Temple of Gorgon’s Throats of Lie and Serpentrance’s Akra Tapeinosis
Let’s see…
In no particular order :
Concrete Winds “Nerve Butcherer”
Iotunn “Access All Worlds”
Archspire “Bleed The Future”
Lamp of Murmuur “Submission and Slavery”
Funeral Chant “Dawn of Annihilation”
Veilburner “Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull”
Diskord “Degenerations”
Ringarë “Thrall of Winter’s Majesty”
Worm “Foreverglade”
Headshrinker “Callous Indifference”
Stone Healer “Conquistador”
Sanguisugabogg “Tortured Whole”
This was a good to great year (especially enjoyed Lamp of Murmuur, Archspire and Iotunn). Can’t list Deviant Process “Nurture”, which I waited for very long, but was too irregular in the end.
And I wish we got a new Tomb Mold record…
Glad to see someone else list Headshrinker and Stone Healer. Both of those were amazing
This list would be different obviously at the end of December, January or next year. But so far this is it. More or less in order:
1 Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
2 Sunless – Ylem
3 Mefitis – Offscourings
4 Civic – Future Forecast
5 Vomit Spell – Vomit Spell
6 Diskord – Degenerations
7 Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
8 Devoid of Thought – Outer World Graves
9 Ekulu – Unscrew My Head
10 Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss
11 Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors
12 Stone Healer – Conquistador
13 Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy
14 Jeff Rosenstock -SKA DREAM
15 Rapture – Malevolent Demise Incarnation
16 Hyperdontia – Hideous Entity
17 Concrete Winds – Nerve Butcherer
18 Bicep – Isles
19 Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
20 Slant – 1집
21 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Butterfly 3000
22 Heavy Sentence – Bang to Righ
fuck yes to slant. that album is fucking great.
My top albums of 2021:
10. In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil.
9. Demoniac – So It Goes
8. Thyrfing – Vanagandr
7. Harakiri for the Sky – Maere
6. Helloween – Helloween
5. Malignament – Hypocrisis Absolution
4. Cân Bardd – Devoured by the Oak
3. Fear Factory – Agression Continuum
2. Los Males del Mundo – Descent Towards Death
AND THE BEST OF THE BEST:
1. Mānbryne – Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy
1. Nature Morte – Messe Basse
2. Amenra – De Doorn
3. Crystal Coffin – The Eternal Stairway
4. Der Weg Einer Freihet – Noctvrn
5. Los Males del Mundo – Descent Towards Death
6. Dödsrit – Mortal Coil
8. Dola – Czasy
9. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
10. Wolves in the Throneroom – Primordial Arcana
Song of the year: Trna/Gaerea – Shining
Best teaser for 2022: Wiegedood – Now Will Always Be
No specific order:
Paranorm – Empyrean
Møl – Diorama
Portrayal of Guilt – We are always alone
Demoniac – So it goes
Amenra – De Doorn
Spectral Wound – A diabolic thirst
Backxwash – I lie here buried with my rings and dresses
Aara – Triade I : Eos
Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm
1914- Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Archspire- Bleed the Future
Cerebral Rot- Execretion of Mortality
Craven Idol- Forked Tongues
Heavy Sentence- Bang to Rights
Hooded Menace- The Tritonus Bell
Hulder- Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry
Kanonenfieber- Menschenmuhle
Mare Cognitum- Solar Paroxysm
Outre tombe- Abysse Mortifere
Spectral Wound- A Diabolic Thirst
Stormkeep- Tales of Othertime
Suffering Hour- The Cyclic Reckoning
Withered- Verloren
Yoth Iria- As The Flame Withers
Amenra /De Doorn
Mare Cognitum /Solar Paroxysm
Lamp of Murmuur /Submission and Slavery
Panopticon /And Again Into The Light
Non Serviam /Le Couer Bat
Thank you for your invitation, here’s my list of the albums who left a mark in my mind…for years to come:
1914: Where fear and weapons Meet
DARKTHRONE: Eternal Hails
GRAVE MIASMA: Abyss of wrathful Deities
MANBRYNE:Heilsweg: O Udręce Ciała I Tułaczce Duszy
UNANIMATED: Victory in Blood
HYPERDONTIA: Hideous Entity
MORTIFERUM: Preserved in Torment
LVCIFYRE: The broken Seal
AT THE GATES: The nightmare of Being
DIABOLIZER: Khalkedonian Death
SUFFER YOURSELF: Rip Tide
FULCI: Exhumed Information
CEREBRAL ROT: Excretion of Mortality
PORTAL: Avow
OSSAERT: Pelgrimsoord
ALTARAGE: Succumb
AARA: Triade I: Eos
TRIBULATION: Where the gloom becomes Sound
HYPOCRISY: Worship
LOS MALES DEL MUNDO: Descent towards Death
WARDRUNA: Kvitravn
GAAHLS WYRD: The humming Mountain
In no specific order:
Khemmis – Deceiver
Burial in the Sky – The Consumed Self
Rivers of Nihil – The Work
Asphyx – Necroceros
Ophidian I – Desolate
Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
Swallow the Sun – Moonflowers
Amenra – De Doorm
Wolves in the Throneroom – Primordial Arcana
Omination – NGR (surprised album)
I am still working on my own list, but here are the numbers regarding the Reader’s List :
So far, 366 different albums have been mention. Of that number, 119 have gotten at least two votes.
Worm appears on eleven list.
1914 is second with nine mentions.
Archspire is third with eight.
Amenra, Mare Cognitum and Suffering Hour got seven mentions each.
Six readers have Cerebral Rot, Khemmis, Mortiferum, Spectral Wound and Stormkeep on their list.
That’s it for now but I will probably give an update somewhere in the month.
THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!
No problem !
Aephanemer – A Dream of Wilderness
Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
Anna Pest – Dark Arms Reach Skyward…
Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Between the Buried and Me – Colors II
Carcass – Torn Arteries
Chorosia – A Call to Love
Maitreya – Hyper Reels
Osiah – Loss
Rivers of Nihil – The Work
Worm – Foreverglade
Zao – The Crimson Corridor
Top 12 in alphabetical order because fvck trying to keep it to just 10 or rank them this year was STACKED!
Palus Somni – Monarch of Dark Matter
Aristarchos – s/t
Malgöth – Glory Through Savagery
Suffering Hour – Cycling Reckoning
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
Gespenst – Den Sinste Faerd
EPs
Feral Light – Ceremonial Tower
Mur – Truth
Serpent Column – Katartisis
Bonus
Fyrnask – Kenoma
Bonus
Fyrnask – Kenoma
Best metal albums of 2021:
1) Archspire – Bleed The Future
2) Monument Of Misanthropy – Unterweger
3) Pathology – the everlasting plague
4) Rivers of Nihil – The Work
5) Portal – Avow
No particular order
StarGazer – Psychic Secretions
Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
Drawn and Quartered – Congregation Pestilence
Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death
Hyperdontia – Hideous Entity
Sulphurous – The Black Mouth of Sepulchre
Sijjin – Eastern Promises
Concrete Winds – Nerve Butcherer
Cambion – Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium
Witches Hammer – Devourer of the Dead
Galvanizer – Prying Site of Imperception
Archgoat – Worship the Eternal Darkness
Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal
Witch Vomit – Abhorrent Rapture
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
ASM – Purifying Blade
Mooncitadel – Onyx Castles and Silver Keys
Martial Barrage – Agents of the Wolf Age
Zofos – Erevothen
Chamber of Unlight – Realm of the Night
Mefitis – Offscourings
Craven Idol – Forked Tongues
Unanimated – Victory in Blood
Proscriptor McGovern’s Apsû
Best of 2021
1. Havukruunu – Kuu Erkylän Yllä
2. Anti – Anti
3. Altered Dead – Returned to Life
4. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
5. Vortex of End – Abhorrent Fervor
6. Fulci – Exhumed Informatiion
7. Signs Of The Dying Summer -Oto Jest Pustka
8. Qwälen – Unohdan Sinut
9. Fiat Nox – The Archive of Nightmares
10. Malignament – Hypocrisis Absolution
Alkerdeel – Slonk
Inferno – Paradeigma (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity)
Pan-Amerikan Native Front – Little Turtle’s War
1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Civerous – Decrepit Flesh Relic
Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
NecroticGoreBeast – Human Deviance Galore
Taser – Filthcrawl
Age Of Woe – Envenom
Necrochaos – Mortal Angels Descent
Typhonian – The Cosmic Pendulum of Time
CRYPTS OF DESPAIR
Kanahn -Fall Prey
Vulture Lord – Desecration Rite
Arde – Ancestral Cult
SERVANT – Blessed by the Light of a Thousand Stars
Colotyphus – My Nostalgia
Luctus – Užribis
Olio Tähtien Takana – Spectral Katharsis
Cruel Master – Repeat Offender
Doedsvangr – Serpents Ov Old
Rothadás – Kopár Hant… az Alvilág Felé
Maze of Terror – Offer to the Fucking Beasts
Der Weg einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
Grand Cadaver – Into The Maw Of Death
Amenra – De Doorn
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil
Dola – Czasy
Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
Glassing – Twin Dream
Ossaert – Pelgrimsoord
Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
Worm – Foreverglade
top 2:
Cerebral Effusion – Ominous Flesh Doctrine
Antediluvian – The Divine Punishment
20 – Vouna “Atropos”
19 – Koldovstvo “Ni Tsarya, Ni Boga”
18 – Winter Lantern “Festering Vampirism”
17 – Rivers of Nihil “The Work
16- Full of Hell “Garden of Burning Apparitions”
15 – Gojira “Fortitude”
14 – Violet Cold “Empire of Love”
13 – Krallice “Demonic Wealth”
12 – Kekht Arakh “Pale Swordsman”
11 – Khemmis “Deceiver”
10 – Waldgefluster “Dahoam”
9- Tribulation “Where the Gloom Becomes Sound”
8 – Carcass “Torn Arteries”
7 – Spectral Wound “A Diabolic Thirst”
6 – Alda “A Distant Fire”
5 – Mare Cognitum “Solar Paroxysm”
4 – Stormkeep “Tales From Other Time”
3 – Tvaer “Uvaer”
2 – Wolves in the Throne Room “Primordial Arcana”
1 – Panopticon “…And Again Into the Light”
Great year, though I feel like I haven’t spent half the time I wanted to on the albums I liked – so the exact order between 30-50 is a bit muddy in my mind.
1. Rivers of Nihil – The Work
2. Groza – Elegance of Irony
3. Kauan – Ice Fleet
4. The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
5. Whitechapel – Kin
6. Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
7. Cradle of Filth – Existence is Futile
8. Agrypnie – Metamorphosis
9. Archspire – Bleed the Future
10. In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil
11. Swallow the Sun – Moonflowers
12. Erdve – Savigaila
13. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
14. Hanging Garden – Skeleton Lake
15. Rise to the Sky – Let Me Drown With You
16. Gràb – Zeitlang
17. Trna – Istok
18. Ghost Nebula – Ascension
19. All Life Dies – Ghost Dust
20. Panopticon – …And Again Into The Light
21. Profeci – Aporia
22. Dawn Fades – Ode
23. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
24. Cult of Luna – The Raging River
25. Rise to the Sky – Per Aspera Ad Astra
26. Insomnium – Argent Moon
27. Be’lakor – Coherence
28. Clouds – Desparite
29. Malist – Karst Relict
30. Sterbefall – Verlorene Zeit
31. Amiensus – Abreaction
32. Omnium Gatherum – Origin
33. Duskmourn – Fallen Kings and Rusted Crowns
34. Zao – The Crimson Corridor
35. Wolven in the Throne Room – Pirmordial Arcana
36. Netherbird – Arete
37. Akhlys – Melinoë
38. Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors
39. Frigoris – …in Stille
40. 1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
41. Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
42. Grand Cadaver – Into the Maw of Death
43. Earthsine – My Bones Shall Rest Upon The Mountain
44. Noltem – Illusions in the Wake
45. Moonspell – Hermitage
46. Harakiri for the Sky – Maere
47. Miasmata – Unlight: Songs of Earth and Atrophy
48. Nightland – The Great Nothing
49. Lethian Dreams – Last Echoes of Silence
50. Hypocrisy – Worship
Some albums on this list are from 2020 not 2021.
My bad. Any chance you want to point me to these? 🙂
Amiensus and Akhlys ; Melinoë was my AOTY last year 😉
Cool, thanks 🙂
I add new interesting albums to a ‘2021’ Spotify list as I find them, so when they’re in there, I assume they’re from 2021 – apparently this isn’t fool proof, since I discover new albums from past years that I can misplace.
Melinoë is a brilliant one indeed, so I’m happy to have discovered it this year 🙂
Anyway, hopefully Islander will notice your posts and omit these two from the aggregate list that’s being made in the end.
Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
ColdCell – The Greater Evil
Destruction Ritual – Destruction Ritual
Ferriterium – Calvaire
Gloosh – Sylvan Coven
GROZA – The Redemptive End
Kõdu – Unusta kõik
Monte Penumbra – As Blades in the Firmament
Mānbryne – Heilsweg O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy
Pestilential Shadows – Revenant
Reverorum ib Malacht – Svag i Döden
Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive
Serpent Column – Katartisis
Sorguinazia – Negation of Delirium
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
svrm – Занепад & Розпад
The Silver – Ward of Roses
Valdaudr – Drapsdalen
I’m just sticking my nose in here quickly to thank everyone who has contributed to this resource so far. I hope more lists will come. This is kind of amazing.
I have to saymy favorites this year is:
1.proscriptor Macgoverns Apsu
2.Issolei-Cilicium (and the two ep’s)
3.Reverorum Ib Malacht-Svag I Döden
4.Abigor-Totschläger
5.Furze-Black Psyche Tormentor
6.Reverorum Ib Malacht-Not Here
7.Ofermod-Mysterion Iniquitatis
8.Laetitia In Holocaust-Heritage
Hold your horses……….
Funeral Mist-Deiform 17 December!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 10 favorites
Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa – Corrupted Pillars of Vanity
Cave of Swimmers – Aurora
Cult of Luna – The Raging River (EP)
Dusk in Silence – Beneath the Great Sky of Solitude
Ellende – Triebe (EP)
Felled – The Intimate Earth
Steel Bearing Hand – Slay in Hell
Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
Thy Catafalque – Vadak
White Ward – Debemur Morti (EP)
My biggest disappointment this year is Obscura. How can you go from being the leader of a gendre to become a ”random melo-death band #178”???? Sorry, I had to say it
Now I can’t wait to hear some new stuff by Anciients and Ne Obliviscaris.
I. Ruin of Romantics: Velvet Dawn
II. Ropes of Night: Impossible Space
III. Ikarie: Cuerpos en Sombra
IV. Forhist: Forhist
V. Lament Cityscape: Wet Pneumatic
VI. Infidel Reich: N.W.O. New World Outrage
The Ruins of Beverast »The Thule Grimoires«
1914 »Where Fear and Weapons Meet«
Nightmarer »Monolith of Corrosion«
11 for 21 (in no particular order):
Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal
Blood Red Throne – Imperial Congregation
Worm – Foreverglade
Grave Miasma – Abyss Of Wrathful Deities
Ghastly – Mercurial Passages
Cerebral Rot – Excretion of Mortality
Memoriam – To The End
Ungfell – Es grauet
Pestilence – Exitivm
Tardigrade – Vom Bruch Zur Freiheit
Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
The Ruins of Beverast “The Thule Grimoires”
Gojira “Fortitude”
The Night Flight Orchestra “Aeromantic II”
Mastodon “Hushed & Grim”
Bongzilla “Weedsconsin”
Greenleaf “Echoes From A Mass”
Tribulation “Where The Gloom Becomes Sound”
Enslaved “Chronicles Of The Northbound”
Red Fang “Arrows”
Dvne “Etemen Aenka”
Iron Maiden “Senjutsu”
Alastor “Onwards and Downwards”
Dark Throne “Eternal Hails”
Panopticon “…And Again Into The Light”
Frozen Soul “Crypt Of Ice”
MOL “Diorama”
Khemmis “Deceiver”
Carcass “Torn Arteries”
Fluisteraars “Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking”
Cannibal Corpse “Violence Unimagined”
Cult Of Luna “The Raging River”
Wolves In The Throne Room “Primordial Arcana”
Monolord “Your Time To Shine”
Ministry “Moral Hygiene”
My 10 favorites.
Archspire – Bleed the Future
Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death
Enforced – Kill Grid
Dormant Ordeal – The Grand Scheme of Things
Outre-Tombe – Abysse Mortifere
1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Amenra – De Doorn
Worm – Foreverglade
Steel Bearing Hand – Slay in Hell
Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
My favourites this year, in no particular order:
Mānbryne – Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy
Issolei – Cilicium & Devouring Currents (Parts 1 & 2)
Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Ding Dong. You’re Dead
Monte Penumbra – As Blades in the Firmament
Beyond Man – Beyond Man
Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia
Rothadas – Kopár hant... az alvilág felé
Cantique Lépreux – Sectes (EP)
Malignant Altar – Realms Of Exquisite Morbidity
Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Whoredom Rife – Winds of Wrath
Hexorcist – Evil Reaping Death
Malakhim – Theion
The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
Woman Is The Earth – Dust of Forever
Portrait – At One With None
Exodus – Persona Non Grata
Cheers!
Thanks for all the odious lists! Mine is late, but then as someone mentioned: Funeral Mist is still to come! (quite a few of these included I think dropped late in the year too)
Top 13, no order, except for Order:
Esoctrilihum – Dy’th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath
Stonehealer – Conquistador
Kanonenfieber – Menschenmühle
Dormant ordeal – The grand scheme of things
Forhist – Forhist
Vredensdal – Silence is eternal
Thy catafalque – Vadak
Order – The Gospel
Kehkt arahk – Pale horseman
Stormkeep – Tales of othertime
Goldspire – Goldspire
Midnight odyssey –Biolume Part 2 – The Golden Orb
Zmarlym – Druga Fala
10 Honorable mentions+2 non metal:
Ofermod – Mysterium Iniquitatis
1914 – Where fear and weapons meet
YOTH IRIA – As The Flame Withers
ÆNIGMATUM – Deconsecrate
Mesarthim – CLG J02182–05102
Inferno – Paradeigma: Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity
Ninkharsag – The Dread March of Solemn Gods
Civerous – Decrepit Flesh Relic
Diablation – Allégeance
Redemptor – Agonia
Deafheaven – Infinite granite
Papangu – Holoceno
Forgot about Moanhand and I saw numerous people mentioning Atvm…listening to it now and just, wow.
Top 3
Fluisteraars – Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking (Netherlands)
Blurr Thrower – Les Voûtes (France)
Ewige Eiche – Wohl Dem Der Heimat Weiss (Germany)
Other great albums
Ewige Eiche – Wohl Dem Der Heimat Weiss (Germany)
Nexus Imperium – Nexus Imperium (Greece)
Downcross – To the last sunset at the gates of Collapse (Belarus)
Dordeduh – ? (Romania)
Spectral Wound – A diabolic thirst (Canada)
Helheim – WoduridaR (Norway)
Svrm – Poanas (Ukraine)
Inanes – Acedia (Poland)
Mānbryne – Heilsweg O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy (Poland)
Yoth Iria – As the flame withers (Greece)
Friisk – ...Un Torügg Bleev Blot Sand (Germany)
From December last year that should have been in 2020 list
Deha – Contrasts II (Belgium)
Probably will be on the list but only heard the title track
In Nomine Belialis – Banishment (Brazil)
Some clean some not, but solid tunes for any metal head…
1914-Where fear and Weapons Meet
ARDE-Ancestral Cult
Death By Unga Bunga- Heavy Male Insecurity
Johnny Mafia-Sentimental
Maestitium-Tale of the Endless
Malist-Karst Relict
Mare Cognitum-Solar paroxysm
Noctule-Wretched Abyss
Nofx-Single Album
Take Over and Destory-Fade Out
My top 25 albums (no ep’s)
1. Hænesy – Garabontzia
2. Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
3. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
4. Dödsrit – Mortal Coil
5. Shores of Ladon – Witterung
6. Crescent – Carving the Fires of Akhet
7. Sentiero dei Principi – Lustmord
8. Warmoon Lord – Battlespells
9. Ringarë – Thrall of Winter’s Majesty
10. Aara – Triade I: Eos
11. Nazxul – Irkalla
12. Grima – Rotten Garden
14. Forhist – Forhist
15. Délétère/Sarkrista – Opus Blaspematus
16. Ungfell -Es Grauet
17. Dai-ichi / Lamp of Murmuur – Virgin Womb of Eternal Black Terror
18. Seth – La Morsure du Christ
19. Mefitis – Offscourings
20. Shores ofLadon – Heimkehr
21. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxism
22. Autarcie – Apogée.Ivresse.Agonie
23. Wesenwille – II A Material God
24. Doodswens – Lichtvrees
25. Serpent of the abyss – wrapped in darkness
Quick update about the Reader’s Lists
We are now at 58 lists totaling 509 albums of which 182 were mentioned at least twice.
So far, the top 3 goes to 1914, Spectral Wound and Worm, as they each appear on 15 lists.
With 11 votes, honorable mention goes to Archspire, Mare Cognitum and Wolves in the Throne Room, while Suffering Hour got 10.
I will do another update sometime in january.
Continuing thanks to you for doing this!
Atræ Bilis – Apexapien
Carcinoma – Labascation
Cathexis – Untethered Abyss
Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad
Defacement – Defacement
Dessiderium – Aria
The Devouring Void – Hypnagogic Hallucinations
First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
FŌR – The Life Feeding Flame
Fractal Generator – Macrocosmos
Interloper – Search Party
Neurotech – Solace
Obnubilo – Nascentes Morimur
Oceana – The Pattern
Our Place of Worship Is Silence – Disavowed, and Left Hopeless
Sigil – Nether
Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge In Cerulean Bliss
Top EPs:
All Life Dies – Ghost Dust
Apogean – Into Madness
Bacchus – Bacchus
Mors Verum – The Living
Sequelae – Systemic Epilepsis
Turris Eburnea – Turris Eburnea
Here’s my top 50
1.) Kekht Arakh- Pale Swordsman
2.) Thy Catafalque- Vadak
3.) Mol- Diorama
4.) Earthshine- My Bones Shall Rest Upon the Mountain
5.) Panopticon- …And again Into the Light
6.) Yith- Passage
7.) Tvaer- Uvaer
8.) Gråt Strigoi- Communion of The Nameless
9.) Spectal Wound- A Diabolic Thirst
10.) Amenra- De Doorn
11.) Misotheist- For the Glory of Your Redeemer
12.) Dream Theater- A View from the Top of the World
13.) Coffin Lurker- Foul and Defiled
14.) Darkthrone- Eternal Hails
15.) Dödsrit- Mortal Coil
16.) Grima- Rotten Garden
17.) Noctule- Wretched Abyss
18.) Suffering Hour- The Cyclic Reckoning
19.) Unreqvited- Beautiful Ghosts
20.) Violet Cold- Empire of Love
21.) Transilvania- Of Sleep and Death
22.) Sur Austru- Obarsie
23.) Rorcal & Earthflesh- Witch Coven
24.) Sepulcros – Vazio
25.) Portal- Avow
26.) God is an Astronaut- Ghost Tapes
27.) Cultum Draculesti- Cultum Draculesti
28.) Between The Buried and Me- Colours II
29.) Beautiful Death- Hymns of Winter
30.) Antediluvian- The Divine Punishment
31.) Fluisteraars- Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking
32.) And Now The Owls Are Smiling- Dirges
33.) AA williams- Songs From Isolation
34.) Stormkeep- Tales of Othertime
35.) Portrayal of Guilt- Christfucker
36.) Genune- Inert & Unerring
37.) Ethereal Shroud- Trisagion
38.) Ehnare, N- Jacob
39.) Dordeduh- Har
40.) Cult of Luna- The Raging River
41.) Dakhma- Blessings of Amurdad
42.) Alda- A Distant Fire
43.) Aristarchos- Self Titled
44.) Beleriand- February
45.) Flame, Dear Flame- Aegis
46.) Elderwind- Fires
47.) Can Bardd- Devoured by the Oak
48.) Crimson Dimension- Crimson Dimension
49.) Tribulation- Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
50.) Ulvik- Cascades
1. Burial in the Sky – The Consumed Self
2. Xenosis – Paralleled Existence
3. Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors
4. Stortregn – Impermanence
5. Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
6. Worm – Foreverglade
7. Vaelmyst – Secrypts of the Egochasm
8. Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
9. Mānbryne – Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy
10. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
Honourable Mentions:
In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil
Havukruunu – Kuu Erkylän Yllä
Be’lakor – Coherence
Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol
My 30 favourite metal albums from 2021:
1. Portrayal of Guilt: We Are Always Alone
2. Funeral Mist: Deiform
3. Ustalost: Before the Glinting Spell Unvests
4. Misotheist: For the Glory of Your Redeemer
5. Spectral Wound: A Diabolic Thirst
6. Teeth: Finite
7. Amenra: De Doorn
8. Asphyx: Necroceros
9. Fluisteraars: Gegrepen door de geest der zielsontluiking
10. Udånde: Life as a Purist
11. Panopticon: …And Again Into the Light
12. Forhist: s/t
13. Hellish Form: Remains
14. Djevel: Tanker Som Rir Natten
15. Whoredom Rife: Winds of Wrath
16. King Woman: Celestial Blues
17. Białywilk: Próżnia
18. Iskandr: Vergezicht
19. Groza: The Redemptive End
20. Paysage d’Hiver: Geister
21. Burial: Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos
22. Phrenelith: Chimaera
23. Kold: s/t
24. Enevelde: Gravgang
25. Abstracter: Abominion
26. Lock Up: The Dregs of Hades
27. Hope Drone: Husk
28. Doedsvangr: Serpents ov Old
29. Yautja: The Lurch
30. Kalmankantaja: Waeltaja
My favorite albums of 2021
in no particular order
Brii – Sem Propósito
Altarage – Succumb
Hadit – With Ardour and Joy Through the Incommensurable Path
夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) – Noc Na Krayu Sveta / Валаам
Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad
Sunk Heaven – Y Serpentine (and everything else they do)
Suspiral – Delve Into the Mysteries of Transcendence
Kayo Dot – Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike
Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne suffit
Scanner – Earthbound Transmissions
Final Cop/Cop Funeral – Split
Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
hyacinth. – insomniac beats.
Here Lies Man – Ritual Divination
Ethereal Shroud – Trisagion
Cremation Lily – Cremation Lily Smells the Flowers
Aquilus – Bellum I
The Dura Hotel – Room Service
Somnolent – The Infernal Expanse
Porridge Fist – California Resort
Pa Vesh En – Maniac Manifest
Fyrnask – VII: Kenoma
Moin – Mute!
L’Rain – Fatigue
DSKNT – Vacuum y-Noise Transition
dinky mirage – 005 + 007 + 016
Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
Iskandr – Vergezicht
Lorna Shore – …And I Return To Nothingness
Pan-Amerikan Native Front – Little Turtle’s War
babelfishh – Coma Worthy
Ars Magna Umbrae – Throne Between Worlds
Moor Mother – Black Encyclopedia of the Air
Abkehr – In Blut
Panopticon – …And Again Into The Light
Human Failure – Crown On the Head of a King of Mud
Succumb – XXI
IDLES – Crawler
massaith – 4 · my inner demons speaks · chapter one
Sorcier Des Glaces – Ghastly Memories EP
Donald Miller – Transgression!!!
Spire – Temple of Khronos
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – I Told You So
Bisk – Vacation Package
Portal – Avow + Hagbulbia
Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
Funeral Mist – Deiform
Monte Penumbra – As Blades in the Firmament
Useless – Downfall
Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins
cop funeral – meditations in discomfort
Black Country, New Road – For the first time
Chaos Echoes – Ecstasy with the Nonexistents
Fashion Pimps And The Glamazons – Jazz 4 Johnny
Somalgia – Inverted World
Anthony Joseph – The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives
Arabrot – Norwegian Gothic
Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone + Garden of Despair
Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon
Disimperium – Malefic Obliteration
Alkerdeel – Slonk
Thumbscrew – Never Is Enough
Valac – Burning Dawn Of Vengeance
Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia
Ûkcheânsâlâwit – Alaskan Escape
Decoherence – System I
LLNN – Unmaker
Asthma Choir – Spent My Life in Sugar Town
Drawn and Quartered – Congregation Pestilence
Five The Hierophant – Through Aureate Void
Worm – Foreverglade
Thy Catafalque – Vadak
Hiraki – Stumbling Through The Walls
newmath – kudzu
Reverorum ib Malacht – Not Here/Svag i Doden
Mzylkypop – Kiedy Wilki Zawyja?
8-Hour Animal – Resigner
Vessel of Iniquity – The Doorway
Chestcrush – Vdelygmia
Concilium – Desecration
Carcass – Torn Arteries
Sunburned Hand of the Man – Pick a Day to Die
Spectral Lore – Etepoqwtoc
Senyawa – Alkisah
Why Bother? – Why Bother?
The Black Lodge 2021 Top 30 List (in alphabetic order):
1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
Amenra – De Doorn
Antediluvian – The Divine Punishment
ColdCell – The Greater Evil
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
Culted – Nous
Der Weg einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
Dormant Ordeal – The Grand Scheme of Things
Emptiness – Vide
Flood Peak – Fixed Ritual
Fossilization – He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten
Frontierer – Oxidized
Funeral Mist – Deiform
Fyrnask – VII: Kenoma
Gravenchalice – Samael
Inanes – Acedia
LLNN – Unmaker
Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal
Misotheist – For the Glory of Your Redeemer
Mourning Dawn – Dead End Euphoria
Norse – Ascetic
Omination – NGR
Redemptor – Agonia
The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive
Succumb – XXI
Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
The Devouring Void – Hypnagogic Hallucinations
Veilburner – Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull
Yoth Iria – As the Flame Withers
Special mentions:
– Total Dissonance Worship killer EPs (Maere, Nightmarer, Mors Verum, but also such great LPs by Sigil, Michel Anoia, Klexos, etc.)
– Cult of Occult – Ruin (what a 20’+ song…)
– Arabrot – Norwegian Gothic (don’t think this is metal, but it’s a hell of an album)
– Psychonaut – Emerald split (their song, The Great Realisation is amazing)
Didn’t buy or listen to very much metal this year…been studying theory and listening to lots of Chamber Rock/Contemporary Jazz Guitar stuff
Here is my list and practically 87% of my purchases
I grab old favorites and some new Bandcamp finds. I don’t even have much loved Hooded Menace, Thy Catafalque, Hail Spirit Noir, Cannibal Corpse, Wode, Mare Cognitum…!?!
Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
Spire – Temple of Khronos
Papangu – Holoceno
Archspire – Bleed The Future
Replicant – Malignant Reality
Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
Grey Aura — Zwarte Vierkant
Dvne — Etemen Ænka
HIPPOTRAKTOR — Meridian
Gojira – Fortitude
Dordeduh – Har
Fractal Universe – The Impassable
Rivers of Nihil – The Work
Boss Keloid – Family the Smiling Thrush
Dvne – Etemen Ænka
King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness
CREATURE –Eloge De l’Ombre
Cynic — Ascension Codes
Dormant Ordeal — The Grand Scheme of Things
Dungeon Serpent — World of Sorrows
Gojira — Fortitude
Lantlôs –Wildhund
Malignant Altar — Realms of Exquisite Morbidity
Siderean — Lost on Void’s Horizon
Silver Talon — Decadence and Decay
Non-metal goodies
Soda Blonde – Small Talk
Ghost Rhythms – Spectral Music
Danny Elfman – Big Mess
Bizirik – Ceremonia II
Far Corner – Risk
Kacy Hill – Simple, Sweet, and Smiling
Laufey – Typical of Me
McStine & Minnemann – Any Kind Of Light
Electro Compulsive Therapy – Electro Compulsive Therapy
Quicksand – Distant Populations
Rebecca Vasmant – With Love, from Glasgow
Tom Bukovac – Plexi Soul
Trip the Witch – Trip the Witch
Cardinal Black – Cardinal Black
Fake Fruit – Fake Fruit
Super delayed in posting the releases that I got off to the most, but life got in the way many times and I refused to cease composing my personal list of the year’s favorites without reaching the bottom of my list of albums to examine. Thus, without further adue:
1. First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
2. Waking The Cadaver – Authority Through Intimidation
3. Fractal Universe – The Impassable Horizon
4. Ophidian I – Desolate
5. Archspire – Bleed the Future
6. Obscura – A Valediction
7. Cognitive – Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction
8. Replicant – Malignant Reality
9. Rapture – Malevolent Demise Incarnation
10. Khemmis – Deceiver
11. Abiotic – Ikigai
12. Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined
13. Aeon – God Ends Here
14. Inferi – Vile Genesis
15. Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infiniti
16. Ominous Ruin – Amidst Voices that Echo in Stone
17. Archemoron – Flagellum I
18. Windfaerer – Breaths of Elder Dawns
19. Harakiri for the sky – Mære
20. Mire – A New Found Rain
21. Between The Buried and Me – Colors II
22. Asylum – Sharpen
23. Virial – Transhumanism
24. The Silver – Ward of Roses
25. Burial In the Sky – The Consumed Self
26. Signs of The Swarm – Absolvere
27. Stortregn – Impermanence
28. Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
29. Les Chants De Nihil – Le Tyran Et L’esthète
30. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
31. Varmia – Bal Lada
32. Mol – Diorama
33. Hands of Despair – The Crimson Boughs (And Other Short Tales)
34. Worm – Foreverglade
35. Ghost Bath – Self Loather
36. Eternal Valley – Kingdom Of Misery
37. The Beast Of Nod – Multiversal
38. Our Place of Worship is Silence – Disavowed, and Left Hopeless
39. Hate – Rugia
40. Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
41. Glassing – Twin Dream
42. The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires
43. Wormwood – Arkivet
44. In Mourning – The Bleeding Veil
45. Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
46. Creeping Fear – Hategod Triumph
47. Interminable Corruptions – Abysmal Revelation
48. Yautja – The Lurch
49. Dream Theater – A View From the Top of the World
50. Soen – Imperial
51. Pestilence – Exitivm
52. Vallendusk – Heralds of Strife
53. Thulcandra – A Dying Wish
54. Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals
55. Malignant Altar – Realms of Exquisite Morbidity
56. Gojira – Fortitude
57. Xenosis – Paralleled Existence
58. Swallow The Sun – Moonflowers
59. Whitechapel – Kin
60. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
61. Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
62. Noctambulist – The Barren Form
63. Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
64. Alluvial – Sarcoma
65. Perennial Isolation – Portraits
66. Woman is The Earth – Dust Of Forever
67. SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance of Affliction
68. So Hideous – None But A Pure Heart Can Sing
69. Ablaze My Sorrow – Among Ashes and Monoliths
70. Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
71. Brand of Sacrifice – Lifeblood
72. Screaming Banshee – Pierceive
73. Jarhead Fertilizer – Product of My Environment
74. Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death
75. Drawn and Quartered – Congregation Pestilence
76. Burn Down Eden – Burn Down Eden
77. Deformatory – Inversion of the Unseen Horizon
78. Unflesh – Inhumation
79. Slaughter to Prevail – Kostolom
80. The Day of The Beast – Indisputably Carnivorous
81. Arcaeon – Cascadence
82. The Plot In You – Swan Song
83. Her Last Sight – Mirrors
84. Besatt – Supreme and True at Night
85. Mental Cruelty – A Hill to Die Upon
86. Zao – The Crimson Corridor
87. Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind
88. Baest – Necro Sapiens
89. Depths of Hatred – Inheritance
90. One With the Riverbed – Absence
91. Der Weg einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
92. Lvcifyre – The Broken Seal
93. Seth – La morsure du Christ
94. Dessiderium – Aria
95. Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
96. Yoth Iria – As the Flame Withers
97. Noctule – Wretched Abyss
98. Wolf King – The Path of Wrath
99. Solstice – Casting The Die
100. Abolishment of Flesh – In the Presence of Darkness
EP’s:
EP’s:
1. Hideous Divinity – LV-426
2. Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
3. Teeth – Finite
4. Cult of Luna – The Raging River
5. Unfathomable Ruination – Decennium Ruinae
6. Ether Coven – Language Is The Instrument Of The Empire
7. Sojourner – Perennial
8. Demon King – The Final Tyranny
9. Era ov Dolor – From t he Land of Sorrow
10. Ereb Altor – Eldens Boning
Also want to give honorable shout-outs to: Acausal Intrusion, Asphyx, Deviant Process, Employed To Serve, Existence Void, Eyehategod, Handsome Prick, LLNN, Noise Trail Immersion, Purgatory, Rivers of Nihil, Stargazer, Sunless, The Absence, The Stone, and Traumatomy.
1. Meshuggah – “Immutable”
1. Duir – “T.S.N.R.I. – Impermanenza
3. Shadow of Intent – “Elegy”
4. Mourning by Morning – “A Step Away From Light A Step Into Abyss”
5. BlackBraid – “Blackbraid I “
6. Fit for an Autopsy – “Oh What a Future Holds”
7. Voidfire – “W Cienie”
8. Nordicwinter – “Beneth the Fleeting Light”
9. Nocturnal Graves – “An Outlows Stand”
10. Aethereus – “Leiden”
11. The Design Abstract – “Metemtechnosis”
12. Αχεροντας (Acherontas) – Malocchio: The Seven Tongues of Δαημων
13. Panzerfaust – “The Suns of Perdition – Chapter III The Astral Drain”
14. Insomnium – “Lilian”
15. Sarg – “Demon” only on YT
16. Pure Wrath – “Presages from a Restless Soul”
17. Mist of Misery – “Severance”
18. ORM – “Intet”
19. Suffer in Silence – “Obscurity”
20. Evergrey – “Escape of the Fenix”