Top Albums of 2021

2021… What can we say about 2021?  To be honest, I never really figured out when 2020 ended and 2021 began. It’s all felt like a long fever dream, and one that many of us would be OK with forgetting. However, if there was a bright spot during this seemingly apocalyptic time, it would be the great music that was put forth by enthusiastic musicians. I think we saw a lot of artists tap into the despair that surrounded the world and that opened up creative and unexpected rooms for them to work in. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of single-person year-end lists, because this is me just telling you what I loved with my biases. However, I do hope you find an album, a song, or an artist that you may connect with and lead you into areas of music that you may not have explored. With that being said, in no particular order, here are some albums that I fell in love with in 2021…

Bewitcher – Cursed Be Thy Kingdom
Remember that “no particular order” line from above? Well, I kind of lied. If I had to pick my top album of the year, this would be the one. It’s rare, in fact this may be the first time ever, that Apple Music suggested a song for me and it sent me down a speed metal rabbit hole and led me to one of my new favorite bands. On one fine Friday, Apple Music recommended that I listen to “Satanic Magick Attack,” by these Portland blackened thrashers. From the opening guitar riff, to the cheesy lyrics, to the bang-your-head chorus, I was hooked! I went forth and bought all of Bewitcher’s catalog, which did not make my wallet happy, but got the dopamine flowing. This was the album I needed this year. While it isn’t as fast as their previous releases, the songwriting is the best work they’ve done and really makes this album a classic. There are no surprises on this record, you just get a massive slab of blackened speed metal that is sure to get your head moving and put an approving metal scowl on your face. This is a fun effort that lifted my spirits in a time that I so desperately needed that kick in the butt. Seek this out, give it a spin, and I dare you to not bang your head.
Favorite Track: Valley of the Ravens

Amigo the Devil – Born Against
This isn’t metal, but it’s one of the most metal releases of the year. Amigo the Devil’s 2nd full length is arguably his best work, and hits you in every feel that you have. It’s rare that a musician can make a record that is beautiful, angry, sad, funny, and menacing all at the same time. There’s not a drop of electricity to be found on a guitar on this record, yet it still attacks from all sides and leaves you feeling spent as only the best music can. Amigo the Devil doesn’t care about trends, he doesn’t care about what people want to hear, he just wants to exorcise his demons in audible form and figures that maybe some people will be able to exorcise their demons with him. That’s metal.
Favorite Track: Different Anymore

Archgoat – Worship the Eternal Darkness
To make a great record, you don’t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to throw a new tire on it and shine it up. That’s what Archgoat has done here. After releasing the fantastic album “The Apocalyptic Triumphator” in 2015, Archgoat released a bit of a let down in 2018 with “The Luciferian Crown,” so I wasn’t expecting too much from the newest release, but boy was I wrong! This album may be the best of their extensive catalog, as they find ways to blend their bestial style of black metal with memorable riffs and harmonies.
Favorite track(s): Empyrean Armageddon and Rat Pray God (HAIL RATMAA)

Panopticon - …And Again Into the Light
Panopticon are high on my list as one of my favorite modern metal bands. The man behind the curtain, Austin Lunn, never fails to disappoint, and believe me, the expectations surrounding Panopticon are always very high. I guess you could try and classify this record as post-black metal, or neo-folk black metal, but I like to just refer to it as outstanding black metal. If the idea of black metal turns you away, this is the kind of record that can definitely change your mind. This album has everything from banjo to violin, to spoken passages, and all these different threads are expertly woven together to create a sprawling, momentous album that never fails to catch your ear. I think Kentucky may still be my favorite Panopticon record, but this is nipping at its heels.
Favorite Track: Rope Burn Exit

Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Iron Maiden return with another long album, that sits much in the same vein as 2013’s Book of Souls. Where Book of Souls failed to really captivate me, Senjutsu has had many repeated listens and I still find myself humming songs off of it. What more can I say? It’s Iron Maiden. It’s fucking great. Go get it.
Favorite Track: The Parchment

Mayhem – Atavistic Black Disorder/Kommando
If you would have told me in 2019 that Mayhem was going to release and album of unreleased songs from “Daemon,” and a bunch of punk covers, and that I was going to adore it, I would have looked at you like Bub staring at Logan. Well, we live in weird times folks. Usually unreleased tracks are the ones that weren’t good enough to make the full-length, but I honestly like them better than anything off of “Daemon.” That’s not a knock on “Daemon,” it’s high praise for the 3 songs released here. The second half of this record is four cover tracks from punk bands (Discharge, Rudimentary Peni, The Ramones, and Dead Kennedys) that were influential to Mayhem, and it came out amazing. I’m not much of a punk fan, but Mayhem puts their own black metal fueled spin on these songs while still respecting the original works. If you want an excuse to dip your toe into the pool of Norwegian black metal, give the second half of this a shot. 
Favorite Track: Black Glass Communion

Haalbuaer – Mortal Ones Scream in Horror
Three youngsters from Molde, Norway, dropped the death metal record of the year, and one that sounds like it was recorded in 1990 on a Casio cassette recorder. This album is a true throwback to early pioneers of the death metal genre, while never quite shoehorning itself into any subgenre of those early days. Is it influenced by early Florida Death Metal? Yes. Is it influenced my old school Swedish Death? Yes. This young band wears these influences on their blood stained sleeves, but they use it to carve out their own place in the genre. I won’t say that this is the most technical or most well played metal album, but it gets my head moving and gives me flashbacks to my favorite era of death metal. Maybe it’s just nostalgia getting me, but I can’t wait to see what these kids do next. Now, where did I leave that Walkman?                                                                                                                                                                        Favorite Track: Acts of Morbid Perversion

Cradle of Judah – S/T
A cradle of Judah is a medieval torture device in which a person is placed upon a sharpened point and their own body weight slowly rips them apart. This is a good analogy for this record, as it will get inside of you and slowly eat away. This is a one-man acoustic project that is both bleak and beautiful at the same time, but never compromising. It reminds me a lot of Ancient VVisdom’s first album, albeit more stripped down and straightforward. This isn’t a background album, it’s one that deserves your time and attention, but at a crisp 33 minutes never overstays its welcome. It’s just enough to be satisfying, yet leaving you lingering for just one more turn on the Cradle.
Favorite Track: Afterglow

Funeral Mist – Deiform
If there’s one thing you have to respect about Funeral Mist, it’s that they just randomly drop a new record with no press, no release date, no social media hype, nothing. You just wake up on a Friday, and BAM, there it is. New Funeral Mist. They did the same thing for their previous record,”Hekatomb,” leaving metal journalists scrambling to fit it into their year-end lists. So yeah, their last record was a record of the year contender, and this one falls right in line. “Deiform” is a much different record that its predecessor, in that it feels like a fully conceptualized album as opposed to just a group of really killer songs. Arioch shows why he isn’t just one of the best vocalists in black metal, but that he’s also one of the top creative forces. This album deserves a full listen, as much like a Pink Floyd record, you just can’t get the whole picture by listening to one song.
Favorite Track : Deiform

Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins
Hail Spirit Noir have become less metal with each release, which is pretty metal when you think about it. They’ve always been a band that keeps pushing the envelope and just pretty much doing whatever the hell they want. Well, Mannequins is perhaps their most ambitious album, as they’ve crafted a synthwave horror soundtrack masterpiece. Every track on here is stellar, and I love that they reimagined some of their early songs as synthwave pieces. Highly recommended for anyone that likes great synth, or great horror scores.
Favorite Track: Visitors of Horror

Honorable Mentions:
Hy-Fy – The Curse of Hy-Fy/Awakening (Fantastic Synthwave from the Northeast)
The Night Flight Orchestra – Aeromantic II (A bunch of metalheads making catchy as hell Euro pop)
Bloodmoon I: Converge & Chelsea Wolfe (Two stalwarts of brooding music come together for a heavy collaboration)
Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell (One of the best voices in music with a haunting new record)
…and probably a bunch of others that I’ll remember tomorrow.