JohanV

Promo 2021 by Deiquisitor 怪談 by IER Spomienky na Predkov (Full-lengt... by Tryzna Production REDIVIDER (Demo) by REDIVIDER Forgotten in Solitary by Forgotten in Solitary Ziggurat Beyond The Unseen Shroud by Thebes Ashes of the Traitor's Cross by Malum Mortuus Charley No Face - " Eleven Thous... by Forbidden Place Records Bestial Genocide by Misanthropic War Cessation of Life by Cerebral Rot Necroblasphemic Rites (Demo) by Necroblasphemy Basic Instructions Before Leavin... by Torn In Half Solis Occasum - Unholy ... by Symbol Of Domination Prod.

Sarcasm - Stellar Stream Obscured
 

Deathhammer - Electric Warfare
Apparently this new slab of blackened thrashy goodness dropped yesterday
 

Schizophrenia - Recollections of the Insane
Out now.
Death thrash!
 

Ultra Silvam - The Sanctity of Death (BM, Sweden)
They're last album kicked a ton of ass and this new one sounds equally as impressive.

Black Fucking Cancer - Procreate Inverse due out March 18th
Preview track - Serpentious Flames
 

Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer I Khem Sedjet
 

Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer I Khem Sedjet
 

Haven't checked the new Immo song yet. I kinda wanna wait until I can finally hear the full thing. I haven't been this excited for a new album in quite some time and the suspense is already bad enough haha.
NP: Taake - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid

Agree!! Now I am huge fan of Immolation already but what I heard I can't remember being so excited for a release to come as this one. 
I hope new Misery Index will do the same to me!
I am also very much excited for latest Hath.
Hath - All That Was Promised
 

Fucking hell, the new Immolation album is shaping up to be nasty. Second single released. Most may have heard it, but somehow I missed it 2 weeks ago when it was released.
The Age of No Light
 
For those who missed it, here's the first single
Apostle
 

Thanks for your extensive list @Hungarino! I see I have huge amount of catching up to do seeing the EP/ Demo post. For the full lengths I recognize quite a bit but as well quite some unknowns to me. 

Full-Lengths
HM:
CRUCIFIED MORTALS - 20 Years Damned (compilation) (Death thrash – USA)
Tier 3:
Гробъ - Смирение (Humility) (black death – Bulgaria)
Hell-Born - Natas Liah (Blackened DM - Poland)
Excruciation by Silence - Metal Madness (Thrash – Russia)
Obsolete - Animate//Isolate (Tech Thrash Death – USA)
OLDSKULL - NETHER HOLLOW OF NO RETURN (DM – Thailand)
Morbid Breath - In the Hand of the Reaper (Thrash – Sweden)
CAMBION - Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium (blackened Death Thrash – USA/Germany)
FRIGHTFUL - Spectral Creator (death thrash – Poland)
Evil Damn – Necronomicon (DM – Peru)
Goat Torment – Forked Tongues (Black – Belgium)
Malison - Death's Embrace (Shred porn – USA)
Estertor - Tales From The Ancient Grave (Thrash – Spain)
Tardus Mortem – Armageddon (Avant black death – Denmark)
Funeral Chant - Dawn of Annihilation (black death – USA)  Makes it on vibe as much as the tunes. Great effort, needs more craftmanship imo.
ILLUM ADORA - Ophidian Kult (black – Germany)
VRAJ - Sojourn of the Soul (USBM – USA)  Promising debut.
Tier 2:
Nekromantheon  - Visions of Trismegistos (Death/Thrash – Norway)  Every release from these guys meets the highest standards of ripping death thrash and this is no exception. May not reinvent anything but slays your face from start to finish. An unholy banger that is a hazard to your neck vertebrae.
Gravesend - Methods of Human Disposal (Grind – USA) A lot of love for this one and well deserved. This one goes for the jugular no bs.
Cadaveric Fumes – Echoing Chambers of the Soul (DM – France) There were times when I thought this was going to be the best album of the year, but it has slipped just a little. Superlative and thoughtful DM. Bummer they split up!
MORTIFERUM - Preserved In Torment (Death Doom – USA) Uber heavy, grim and crushing. Nuance is there if you can stomach the downward spiral.
Disembody - Reigniting Hellfire (Black/Thrash – Finland)  One of my most frequent plays. Too much goodness here.
Gravecarver - Spectral Carnage (DM – USA) Meat n’ Potatoes DM is still a thing because sometimes that’s all you really want or need. This one hits the mark for me.
DRAWN AND QUARTERED - Congregation Pestilence (DM – USA) I was a sceptic of D+Q at first but they won me over. This is just too good to be denied a spot. A band on the rise.
GNOSIS - Omens from the Dead Realm (DM – USA) Spooky, dark and evil but does not neglect the riffs, which are epic.
Morbid Cruelty – Holodomor (Death Thrash – Chile) Thrashing black mayhem with no let up.
HAALBUAER - Mortal Ones Scream in Horror (OSDM – Norway) Just love this disgusting vibe and groove. Sounds new again.
Pandemic Outbreak – Skulls Beneath the Cross (Death thrash – Poland) Killer death thrash and that’s all I need most days.
Mortal Vision - Mind Manipulation (thrash – Ukraine) Nothing new or ground breaking, just riffs played fast and hard.
SAVAGE DEITY - DECADE OF SAVAGERY (OSDM – Thailand) Love the guitar tone, tempo and the gnarly vocals.
Dungeon Serpent – World of Sorrows (DM – Canada) This Canadian has a grim but promising future!
AUTOKRATOR – Persecution (Death black Industrial – France) Punishment for your nasty soul!
Destructo - Demonic Possession (black thrash – Netherlands) Lots of black thrash talent making an infernal racket.
Steel Bearing Hand – Slay in Hell (Death thrash – USA) Another pleasant surprise from a band I had not really paid much attention to.
TANATOR – Disapotheosis (Black thrash – Russia) Excellent but just a smidge below Desaster and Nekromantheon and Rapture.
Archgoat - Worship The Eternal Darkness (goat metal – Finland) Aptly named. The first name in Goat Metal.
Taekaury – S/T (raw black – S. Korea) This is excellent raw black metal and it is amazing that this exists.
Wound – Serpent Crown (Melodic DM – Germany) Bring the riffs in all shapes and sizes.
Eternal Evil - The Warriors Awakening Brings the Unholy Slaughter (black thrash – Sweden)
Tier 1:
Apostasy – Death Return (Blackened Thrash – Chile) ***** These guys have been a revelation. What a remarkably unheralded band going back to 1988. What you have in this album is masterful slightly-blackened thrash crafted by skilled veterans. This is not revival thrash, this is the genuine article played by long time vets, take heed and hail!
SPECTRAL WOUND - A Diabolic Thirst (Black – Canada) When it comes to black metal I am not going to over think this one. It is the total package of kvlt raw savagery with musicianship and song craft. Frigid and spellbound indeed.
Rapture - Malevolent Demise Incarnation (Death Thrash – Greece) ***** More death thrash that is like drinking from a blender of razor blades and malt liquor and incites metal thrashing madness.
QRIXKUOR - Poison Palinopsia (Avant/DM – UK) ***** I just want Thatguy to think I am worthy with this one because it might just be weird enough for him. This is immersive, challenging, dark, heavy af and brilliant. I am so glad this exists and it is truly superlative avant garde black death abyss worship.
Desaster - Churches Without Saints (black thrash – Germany) I thought these guys had fallen off. I was wrong. This is a monster of an album that combines the mania of balls out black thrash with skilled production and well thought-out song craft.
Venefixion - A Sigh From Below (DM – France)  Another killer blackened thrash release that manages to carve out a unique sound and add lots of evil satanic menace along with the non-stop riffage. This is pretty much my sweet spot, in case anyone didn’t notice.
Black Mass - Feast at the Forbidden Tree (blackened speed thrash – USA) If someone said hey play some heavy metal and you put this on I think it would satisfy 90% of metal fans and the other 10% need to lighten up and have some fun.
CRYPTS OF DESPAIR - All Light Swallowed (DM - Lithuania) An early favorite. Heavy dark suffocating and evil. A crusher for sure.
Abkehr - In Blut (Black – Germany) If you enjoy having your soul ripped out through your nostrils this is kind of like that maybe. Bleak and savage but achingly beautiful black metal.
Eternity's End - Embers of War (power/shred porn – Germany) I don’t care what you usually head bang to but if you can’t rock out to this you might be doing metal wrong.
Pakkt - To Brocken Heights Where Witches Dance (black – Germany) Debut from an unknown band that absolutely kills. Mixes punk, groove and doom and death into a filthy black metal cauldron.

I listened to more new stuff in 2021 than I generally do, mostly due to all the energy and constant new music being shared by the Metal Fi crew. Still not a lot compared to some of y'all, maybe two dozen albums. I did my best this year to just listen when I was in the mood and not force it. Wasn't always successful. It seems like, as soon as I start listening for the purpose of "keeping up with new releases", a little switch flips in my head and I get hypercritical and start detesting everything. That's no way to live. More power to those of you who can find joy in dozens or hundreds of albums a year, I'm impressed.
Three in particular really captured me:
Ad Nauseam: Imperative Imperceptible Impulse - have we reached Peak Disso? This is brilliant, inspired, cerebral, painstakingly assembled. So many intricate rhythmic variations, so much creative interplay between the guitars. The amount of energy and attention to detail makes it compelling for me every time I put it on. Constant companion for walks in the woods earlier this year.
Kayo Dot: Moss Grew On The Swords And Plowshares Alike - another inspired album with great musicianship. Heavy but uplifting, full of gorgeous free-flowing melodies in a constantly shifting landscape. The songs meander but they always find a home. The pacing lends itself to a lot of things I do throughout the day, so it's been easy for this one to work its way into my life. 
Voices: Breaking The Trauma Bond - somehow I already feel like I've been listening to this album for years. I always liked their sound; I feel like this is the most developed and coherent thing they've done so far. Loads of great little hooks throughout the hour-plus runtime keep me looking forward to what's coming next. Love the vocals. I kind of tuned out the lyrics at first, felt like they were overdramatic and cheesy, and was totally unprepared when a few of them hit me right between the eyes after three or four listens; there's some real emotional content here. Maybe it just came at the right time in this weird, difficult year.
 
Other albums I really enjoyed and wound up going back to pretty frequently:
Worm: Foreverglade
Circle Of Ouroborus: Kiromantia
Plebeian Grandstand: Rien Ne Suffit
Nur Run: Among Those Waves
At The Gates: The Nightmare Of Being
Henbane Chariot: Allpine Séance
Forhist: s/t
 
Some others I thought were pretty cool, even though I haven't wound up listening to them as much as I would have expected:
Grave Miasma: Abyss Of Wrathful Deities
Hooded Menace: The Tritonus Bell
Dormant Ordeal: The Grand Scheme Of Things
The Temple: s/t
Suffering Hour: The Cyclic Reckoning
Intonate: Severed Within
 
And finally, late entries from Ustalost (Before The Glinting Spell Unvests) and Creature (Eloge De l'Ombre) are getting some good airtime lately.
 
 

That Sijjin is pretty good. I got onto it a bit late otherwise is could have cracked my top 20.
I haven't really spent a lot of time with this one, but I like what I hear.
And @GoatmasterGeneral, strong work as usual. Homework has been assigned. I own a few of those (9, 13, 15, & 19), but haven't even heard of most. I forgot about that Huoripukki. Quite enjoyed that album. 

100% seconded. Very much appreciate the good music, good discussion, and lack of BS the Metal-Fi crew has brought over. Haven't felt like anyone needed a sandbox in a while now.
I think I get less out of lists than most people. I'm much more likely to find something new to enjoy throughout the year in the course of normal conversation than I am by hunting through someone else's favorites. I don't bother reading most commercial work products and I take a pretty dim view of lists that purport to be objective. But I do like reading personal lists anyway, even if it's just for kicks. I'd like to say they give me a sense of where someone is coming from, but looking at my own lists that's not necessarily true either... They're just a snapshot of stuff I happened to stumble across and enjoy during some particular, basically arbitrary window of time. Like I said earlier, kudos to those of you who can listen more and maybe be more disciplined about it without burning out.
 

I think I have said it elsewhere but I am super-happy with you Metal-Fi lot.  It has been too long that we have relied on a core group of perhaps four or five regular posters to maintain some sense of life and inevitably we end up with one fucking smart-arse who ends up dominating threads and whole sub-sections just for the attention.  We have had none of that with you guys and you have essentially turned around what was fast becoming a tiring task for me and (not speaking out of turn I hope @FatherAlabaster?) FatherA to try and come up with ways to create interest in the site to the point where I actually quit in 20/21 - can't remember when exactly.  Content to put my feet up for a while yet and let you all get on with it.  Nobody's been a dick and the only loss wasn't one of your flock (Nocturnal Boredom -and his conspiracy bullshit) so more of the same is all I ask.
I think your "style" of year end lists should reflect what you enjoy and how you enjoy rating / explaining it and if that runs into 40+ items then so fucking be it.  Personally I did have a list of 30 but the site I held them on somehow fucked up the list and I lost most of it - hence I dropped down to 10.  I can't be arsed doing by genre though, just don't have the time to listen to that many different genres and rate all as well.
 

Yes! Zornheym are so ridiculously entertaining and catchy. Great stuff. Graveless Souls recently put out a pre-order for cassette. The vinyl is delayed I think.
Frummyrkrið might be the case that they got snatched up by a label that don't want the album online until it's released again? That happened with Zeal & Ardor's first EP "Devil is fine".
 
I can't believe you're the first one I see mentioning Stormkeep! The rest of you are obviously fucking missing out!
 
You my friend should check out the YT channel Melanie Loves Death Metal. She's an awesome, passionate metal fan who really helps me stay attuned to what's happening in the DM world.
MelanieLovesDeathMetal - Top 20 death metal albums of 2021
 

Nice set of death releases @GoatmasterGeneral- agree there have been lots of great death releases. There are actually only a few of your list that I dont own. I will check them out. Then there are still releaes that I enjoyed like Benothing, Cadaveric Fumes, Veilburner, Monument of Misanthropy, Qrixkuor ah and name it. Just too little time to listen all. Newest Sijjin is receiving a ton of praise around too, stil waiting to arrive the cd after listening 1 song.
You commented that just a few may be interested in your black metal list, as you may remember I have joined the black metal bandwagon relatively late and just wanted to tell you that I have picked up more than several albums and bands from your recommendations in the past. Even though you may not see a lot reflected in my list. So please continue to do and make me wise in the land of dark and icy forests! It's appreciated.

Happy New Year to all and once again nice job on the lists: Fink, Zack, Macca, Johnny-5, Marky Mark, Navy, Doc, Kuke, and of course Our Father who art in Boston. If I've missed anyone I apologize. Thanks for taking the time y'all.
And thanks to the powers that be for being so cool about accepting us M-Fi'ers here en masses and allowing us to assimilate into your little group. It came as quite the shock last spring when word came down from Alex one day that our time left to post on the M-Fi forum was running out. At the time I thought there was a good chance I'd probably end up losing touch with most of my metal forum friends of 5 years which would have fucking sucked, and I'm quite glad that was not the case. I think the transition to shift our party over here has gone much better and smoother than I ever would have expected. We managed to get almost all of the regulars to come over and after 8 months I feel like our little community might've gotten even better now that we've joined forces with y'all. And the best part is you guys actually get some new members joining up from time to time, some of whom will even post and stick around. Thanks for having us guys, and I hope the feelings are mutual. 
Reading all these lists has caused me to rethink my strategy. As some of you are no doubt already aware I have a real problem with editing myself. I love lists, I will gladly take any excuse to make a list. Whenever I sit down to make one I look over what I have to choose from and then I'll set a goal for myself of a reasonable number that I want to stick to. I start listing albums until I'm well over the limit and then proceed to agonize endlessly over the three or five or seven or more albums that will inevitably need to be omitted. Doesn't matter what number I pick, if I tell myself 10 I'll end up with 15 or 20. If I choose 20 I'll end up with 30. 25 I'll do 40. If I tell myself absolutely no more than 40 I'll wind up with at least 50. Not sure why I do this, but I always have. Guess I just really hate to leave off anything that I think is worthy and I enjoy a lot.
So this year I think I'm still gonna make my longer more comprehensive separate sub-genre lists to save for my own personal future reference like I always do, but maybe this year I can finally force myself to work up a shorter more concise and readable list to share with 'the public' that won't be so long that it makes people's eyes glaze over and make them just want to skip to the next post.
Because as I read over all of these lists I'm seeing that with the exception of Marko, Navy, Zack, and possibly Hungarino, the majority of the knuckle-dragging meat & potatoes low-brow filth and caustic hateful norsecore that will be populating my list will be of little interest to anyone else here that might be reading it anyway. And that's OK.
So that'll be my job for tonight, or probably for the next several nights, to take my black metal top 40+, and my death metal top 30+ and extract shorter shareable lists that are fit for mass consumption. Maybe I'll do like top 20 black / top 20 death and I'll keep the rest on my private master list just for myself. 

Cool to see the lists coming. Here's one I prepared and I know I am missing quite a few releases that I believe should be on it. Worm, Mortiferum, Funeral Mist, Obscura, Phrenelith, Imperialist, Abscession to name a few are potential list material but haven't found the time to listen. My new job that I took back in June is awesome but tremendously busy. Making super much hours in the week so I cant spend to much time online/ listening music. Taking the time to elaborate on my picks I haven't found either. So for people interested below here's my list unfiltered and not ranked. I see it does lean towards the technical death metal side though. And maybe Archspire should be higher.
Top 20 best of 2021:
Ophidian I - Desolate
Malformity - Monumental Ruin
Diskord - Degenerations
Stortregn - Impermanence
Eximperitus - Šahrartu
Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
Crypts of Despair - All Light Swallowed
Acausal Intrusion - Nulitas
Unflesh - Inhumation
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods - Nightmare Withdrawals
Leiþa - Sisyphus
Cognizance - Upheaval
Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate
Craven Idol - Forked Tongues
Diabolizer - Khalkedonian Death
Schavot - Galgenbrok
Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle
1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet
First Fragment - Gloire éternelle
Wesenwille - II A Material God
EP:
Obvurt - The Beginning
Unfathomable Ruination - Decennium Ruinae
Nordjevel - Fenriir
Exhumed - Worming
Witch Vomit - Abhorrent Rapture
Honourable mention:
Mefitis - Offscourings
Kjeld - Ôfstân
Gosudar - Morbid Despotic Ritual
Intonate - Severed Within
Alustrium - A Monument to Silence
Archspire - Bleed the Future
Inferi - Vile Genesis
Infidel Reich - N.W.O. - New World Outrage
Anakim - The Elysian Void
Sunless - Ylem
Svneatr - Chinook
Ferriterium - Calvaire
Atvm - Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Replicant - Malignant Reality

Cool to see the lists coming. Here's one I prepared and I know I am missing quite a few releases that I believe should be on it. Worm, Mortiferum, Funeral Mist, Obscura, Phrenelith, Imperialist, Abscession to name a few are potential list material but haven't found the time to listen. My new job that I took back in June is awesome but tremendously busy. Making super much hours in the week so I cant spend to much time online/ listening music. Taking the time to elaborate on my picks I haven't found either. So for people interested below here's my list unfiltered and not ranked. I see it does lean towards the technical death metal side though. And maybe Archspire should be higher.
Top 20 best of 2021:
Ophidian I - Desolate
Malformity - Monumental Ruin
Diskord - Degenerations
Stortregn - Impermanence
Eximperitus - Šahrartu
Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
Crypts of Despair - All Light Swallowed
Acausal Intrusion - Nulitas
Unflesh - Inhumation
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods - Nightmare Withdrawals
Leiþa - Sisyphus
Cognizance - Upheaval
Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate
Craven Idol - Forked Tongues
Diabolizer - Khalkedonian Death
Schavot - Galgenbrok
Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle
1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet
First Fragment - Gloire éternelle
Wesenwille - II A Material God
EP:
Obvurt - The Beginning
Unfathomable Ruination - Decennium Ruinae
Nordjevel - Fenriir
Exhumed - Worming
Witch Vomit - Abhorrent Rapture
Honourable mention:
Mefitis - Offscourings
Kjeld - Ôfstân
Gosudar - Morbid Despotic Ritual
Intonate - Severed Within
Alustrium - A Monument to Silence
Archspire - Bleed the Future
Inferi - Vile Genesis
Infidel Reich - N.W.O. - New World Outrage
Anakim - The Elysian Void
Sunless - Ylem
Svneatr - Chinook
Ferriterium - Calvaire
Atvm - Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Replicant - Malignant Reality

Can't believe it's NYE, and I haven't seen a proper Listmania thread yet. Guess I'll do the dirty deed and kick the party off. I wasn't as engaged for all of 2021. Lots of shit going on between COVID, job promotion, and deaths in the family, but I still managed to listen to a good deal of new stuff. My list won't be nearly as exhaustive as the General's 964 entry listapalooza, but hopefully you can find a thing or 2 on here that you may have missed that hits your sweet spot. Without further adieu...
All the goods I considered for the final cut:
Black Metal
Marras – Endtime Sermon
Circle of Ouroboros - Kiromantia
Starer – 18” Below the Horizon
Archgoat – Worship the Eternal Darkness
Warloghe – Three Angled Void
Lamp of Murmur – Submission and Slavery
Clandestine Blaze – Secrets of Laceration
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
Cryptospital – Scythe of the Black Death
Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman
Escotrilihum – Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath
Antichrist Siege Machine – Purifying Blade
Albionic Hermeticism – Psalms to the Father
Cult of Eibon – Black Flame Dominion
Krolok – Funeral Winds & Crimson Sky
Death Metal
Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice
Outre-Tombe – Abysse Mortifere
Worm – Foreverglade
Cerebral Rot – Execretion of Mortality
Malignant Altar – Realms of Exquisite Morbidity
Vomit Spell – Vomit Spell
Nekromantheon – Visions of Trismegistos
Genocide Pact – Genocide Pact
In Between
Sarke – Allsighr
Mork - Katedralen
Apsu – Apsu
Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Ophiuchi – Shibboleth
Darkthrone – Eternal Hails
Craven Idol – Forked Tongues
Apostasy – Death Return
Poison Ruiin – Poison Ruiin
Mastodon – Hushed & Grim
EPs
Escotrilihum - Urionhsol (Seven Demons)
Ancient Mastery – The Chosen One
Kaldeket – Vitiae
Ancestral Shadows – Eldritch Illuminations
Enslaved – Caravans to the Outer Worlds
Lamp of Murmur – Punishment and Devotion
dai-ichi/Lamp of Murmur – Virgin Womb of Eternal Black Terror
Rope Sect – Proskynesis
Witch Vomit – Abhorrent Rapture
20-11
20 – Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
19 – Phrenelith – Chimera
18 – Frozen Soul – Crypt of Ice
17 – Cryptospital – Scythe of the Black Death
16 – Warloghe – Three Angled Void
15 – Antichrist Siege Machine – Purifying Blade
14 – Albionic Hermeticism – Psalms to the Father
13 – Sarke – Allsighr
12 – Rope Sect – Proskynesis
11 – Starer – 18” Below the Horizon - late year discovery that could have easily been in the top 10.
10-1
10 – Clandestine Blaze – Secrets of Laceration - if you don't know what you're getting from Mikko at this point, I'm not sure what to tell you. Probably the best thing he's ever put out, and that says a lot. Just a wee bit better than the new Warloghe in my opinion, but if you like legit old school Finnblack from the masters, don't sleep on either.
9 – Escotrilihum – Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath - freaky, weird, progressive black metal from France (pronounced Fraunse). This dude has been fairly prolific over the past 3 years. Not quite as good as Eternity of Shaog, but not far off.
8 – Darkthrone – Eternal Hails - it's fucking Darkthrone. They could release a Madonna cover album and I'd buy it. I dig the direction they've been going with the past 2 albums.
7 – Ophiuchi – Shibboleth - a little more coherent of an album than Bifurcaria Bifurcata (a deeply unsettling album - would make a great horror movie soundtrack). This one is a bit doomier. Some of the riffs are a bit "congested" or overlapped which gives them a unique sound. One of my most listened too albums for 2021.
6 – Worm – Foreverglade - old school Florida death metal worship with a twist. The best straight DM album of 2021.
5 – Archgoat – Worship the Eternal Darkness - c'mon. Anyone that has been around me on forums over the years had to know the ultimate goat(s) would show up on my top 10. Not as strong as The Luciferian Crown (my #1 of 2019), but filled with mid-tempo satan worshipping goodness.
4 – Lamp of Murmur – Submission and Slavery - narrowly edged out for the 3 spot. The mix of styles here really sets this album apart from his earlier work. M appears on my list 3 times this year and each entry is worth your listening time. This one, however, is far and away the best. Reminiscent of some of the genre mixing from Wagner Ödegård's Om Kosmos Och De Tolv Järtekn (an excellent album from 2020 in case you missed it).
3 – Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst - ferocious face-melting black metal from the frozen wasteland of Quebec. Easily the best thing released on this continent in 2021. I've yet to hear anything from these boys that didn't make me want to carve a pentagram into my forearm and worship the dark lord to.
2 – Mork - Katedralen - riffs on riffs on riffs. When I put this album on, I feel like I'm 16 cruising in my car listening to classic Van Halen. The volume knob can't go high enough. If the boys from Finland hadn't released one this year, this would be at number 1. Just an all-around banger.
1 – Circle of Ouroboros – Kiromantia - a return to a previous more black metal sound. Still elements of psychedelia and post-punk from the previous decade or so of releases. You never get the same album twice from these boys, and I haven't heard one I didn't like.
So there you have it, the Circle of Ouroboros boys reign supreme for 2021 followed very closely by a banging Mork album. Lots to look forward to in the new year like a new Immolation, maybe possibly that new DAWN that was teased as being mixed over the summer, a new one from my fave USBM act Demoncy, a rumored new Negative Plane, I'm sure there will be more. Let's just hope the COVID holds off long enough we can get a few more festivals in before we all die.

How to celebrate the lifting of most of the corona measures!

Bought tickets today!!
Ridiculous line up! https://www.stonehengefestival.nl/

^^ I remember Anal Cunt, didn't know they were still around
Just pre-ordered Outre-Tombe's new one, I have high hopes for another stellar old skool DM rip, but we'll see.