Listmania 2021

[SurgicalBrute]

Admittedly, I recognize a good chunk of those, and liked the vast majority of them. There's a couple in there that didn't do too much for me, but I'm also happy to say there are a few names I don't recognize, which means I've got some bands to check out!

[ratpfink]

Thanks for the homework! I have and enjoy a  few of those and another couple already on the bandcamp wishlist to check out. But I just added 23 more so that should keep me busy for a bit. Randomly threw on Doedsvangr and it's a keeper.

[markm]

Wow GG. Your dedication to the black arts as per usual is remarkable. 

[Hungarino]

Worth the wait. I want to say about 50% of these crossed my path for at least a listen. The rest will go into the que. 

I have been working port/starboard night watch for the past 9 days and am too smoked for metal because my brain is pretty fried already. But some down time back home with the HPs awaits.

As always it is awesome to have an expertly compiled list focused entirely on the gnarliest black goat metal to be found.

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

19 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Alright you mangy mongrels, here it is as promised, 2am February 3rd, better late than never.

 

THE STATE OF THE BLACK METAL ADDRESS 2021

 

1. Aarkanne - Mysterii, Chilean war metal...finally with just 48 hours left to go in 2021 some mysterious Chilean goats have emerged from the arcane depths of hell to wreak total havoc on my list and have unseated the mighty Spectral Wound album without even breaking a fucking sweat!! Fudido!! Not sure how many war metal fans we actually have around these parts but this is some sick shit! This came out back in June but I only just discovered it at Christmas. Just another example of why I can't make my list til the year has ended. No doubt in my mind this will be on my top 10 albums of the entire decade list in 8 more years, mark my words.

 

2. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst, Montreal Quebec, not my #1 King of the 2021 black metal hill anymore but still fucking awesome. No mini review necessary, I'm sure pretty much everyone who cares has heard this one and bought it by now. Even if they didn't get their candles straight and perfectly erect for the cover shoot.

 

3. Pakkt - To Brocken Heights Where Witches Dance, Germany, holy hell, this gnarly filth bomb just dropped out of the firmament into my lap last week like a wicked little Christmas prezzie or maybe more like a brick through the window and it's been kicking my motherfucking ass non-stop ever since. I can't stop playing it! Might've even been tempted to place it at #2 just a week after its release but I just couldn't bring myself to do that to my old Canadian friends Spectral Wound. These guys weren't even listed on M-A yet the week when their album first went up on YT.

 

 

4. Black Spirit - El Sueño De La Razón Produce Monstruos, España, I really thought this would end up either #2 to big dogs Spectral Wound leading the pack or even possibly vying for #1 until just this past week with some amazing new arrivals. Love this album to pieces though, it's a cut above my usual goat filth, you'ze should check it out. 

 

 

5. Gråinheim - Hexndeifl  Germany, this dude has dropped what I consider to be top 5 caliber albums two years in a row now. Feral, ferocious, fierce, powerful, savage, unhinged, pretty much everything I could possibly ask from a 30 minute black metal demo. Thought the 'harpsichord' outro was a nice touch too.

 

 

6. Erz - Erz, monumental slab of unrelenting German black metal fury from Düsseldorf, with just a touch of death metal thrown in for flavor, and the cover art is pretty cool too. Can't seem to figure out where to put this one, I've had it as high as 3 and as low as the teens. 

 

7. Odious Devotion - Ilmestys, Finland, shit tons of great Finnish black metal this year, 12 on my list comprising fully 30% of my top 40. Two in my top 10, seven in my top 25, yet no Finns have risen to be in my top 5 this year. I can't even remember the last time that happened. This duo's debut from 3 years ago is just as good or even better. I can't say enough good things about this band, the melodies, Jesus fucking christ. Reminds me of what Dawn migth sound like if they were from Finland.

 

8. Malignament - Hypocrisis Absolution, Finland, great debut album for sure but it came up against some pretty tough competition this year so here it sits inauspiciously at #8. But don't let that fool you, this is fucking killer. 

 

9. Í Myrkri - Bag Skyggernes Slør, Denmark/USA best icy cold atmo-black of the year, their third full length in as many years, these Danes have yet to disappoint.

 

10. Ceress - Silence at the Cursed Fortress, Brazil, riffy and well crafted one-man black metal album from some Brazilian dude named Franco Wolf. He obviously put a lot of love, time & effort into this release, very polished and put together for some dude down in the jungle. The vocals remind me just a bit of Megiddo's Chorazaim at times, which is deffo a good thing. Runs a little long at 56 minutes but that's not a problem because it's so good it feels much shorter. 

 

11. Craven Idol - Forked Tongues, black/thrash out of London UK, for my money this is the best black/thrash album in recent memory, just really delivers the fucking goods to quote a certain Mr. R. Halford.

 

12. Ifrinn - Caledonian Black Magick, Scotland, I've played this one a ton this year, but with just 3 tracks stretched out to fill 24 minutes my only real criticism is I kinda wish he had given us more like five tracks at 5 minutes each instead of three 8 minute tracks so we could have had some more riff variation. I suppose there's something to be said for just getting in a groove and staying there but I prefer a little more variation. Still I do love this album and I look forward to what he comes up with next time.

 

13. Arde - Ancestral Cult, German atmo-black, majestic and proud, with a strong underlying rip tide of sadness, and some clean female vocals thrown in just as a little accent. I find this to be an incredibly beautiful album. And our esteeemed Doctor (now retired apparently) likes this one too (not enough to make his list though) which makes me feel much smarter and more refined than I actually am. Might have even ranked it slightly higher but you know I love me filf.

 

14. Diaboli - Awakening of Nordic Storm, Finland, I've been in love with Pete's work for years, this year he once again graces us with yet another savage album of Finnish badassery. I hear a lot of death metal creeping into his last couple of albums but it's been blackened to a crisp. I probably sound like a broken record at this point but I do wish I could have ranked this a bit higher. His last one Wiking Division was in my top 3 of 2015. 

 

15. Hautakammio - Pimeydem Kosketus, Finland, killer band, as much as I love their last album Pimeyden Valtakunta from 2014, I think this might just be their best record so far. Crazy to think I have it ranked so low, does this mean I have to rethink my whole entire list from the ground up now? I fucking hope not. Think of my rankings as loose and fluid, just to give a little context, or a rough idea of where things stack up, they're not meant to be set in stone.

 

16. Liktjern - I Ruiner,  Norway, this one's a bit of a sleeper, or maybe a grower I should say, I didn't realize just how good this one was for the first month or two after I got it. Then with a few more listens I saw the light. This one brings a truckload of riffs with it and has those sweet as buggery Nocturno Culto-esque vocals. Highest ranked of the 5 Norwegian bands on my list, this was a damn good find. Formed in 1996 this is their first full length after releasing only one other EP way back in 2009. If they stick to their every 12 or 13 year release schedule I might see another album from them in 2033 or 2034 if I'm lucky enough to live that long. 

 

17. Anti - Anti Germany, mid-paced depressive black metal but it's not typically depressive there are also plenty of faster sections and these songs are so god damned catchy, I fucking love this record. Played it over and over when I got it whenever that was, November I guess. Still play it weekly.

 

18. Marras - Endtime Sermon, Finland, Let's face it, Finnblack rules. I loved their first album 2 years ago and I love this one too.  Funny, it's become so common to have all these one and two man black metal projects it's starting to feel like the exception to the rule for a band to have 6 members like this.

 

19. Gorgon - Traditio Satanae, France, earlier in the year I had thought this one would probably wind up being in my top 10 come the end of the year, but a lot of killer black metal has come my way since June. The 2nd half of 2021 definitely yielded more quality bm albums than the first half. This one rips and is catchy as fuck, have it blasting into my earholes as I type this and I think I might need to move it up a few spots. 

 

20. Archgoat - Worship the Eternal Darkness, Finland, unlike some people on the interwebs who I've seen badmouthing this, I personally really like the new Archgoat record quite a lot. Even though they've ramped up the slower paced black/groove parts this time around and cut down on the fast parts, and it's the juxtaposition of the two that makes this band so special, this album was actually more immediate for me than their last two. Seems almost unthinkable that I could rank this so low as to just barely make my top 20 by the skin of their dicks, but it's been that kind of a year.

 

21. Øksehovud - Makt, Høyhet, Herredømme RBM Norway, this is raw as fuck black metal so deffo not for everyone, I know it'll probably sound like just noise to some of you, but this shit is sweet sweet music to my ears. Not all raw black metal is this awesome, a lot of it blows quite frankly but this one was truly a glorious find thanks to the Greg Biehl YouTube channel which if anyone cares has just recently rebranded itself as "No Gleaming Light"

 

22. Valac - Burning Dawn of Vengeance, USA, the other raw black metal album on my list, (kept them together to keep each other company) I had a few more but I figured most of you aren't really interested. I was really high on this one earlier in the year, had it in the upper half of my top 10 for quite awhile but with repeated listens and more and more strong contenders to the throne as the year went on I had to drop it down a little lower. But I still love the shit out of it.

 

23. Doedsvangr - Serpents ov Old, Norway/Finland/France, this is one of Shautrag of Horna/Sargeist fame's projects, and it's a damn good one. 45 minutes but it doesn't drag for a second.

 

24. Albionic Hermeticism - Psalms to the Father atmo-black UK/France
Albionic Hermeticism - Brittonic Ways. I'm finding it hard to separate these two albums in my mind because they're fairly similar, and I have no idea which one I think is "better" because they're both fucking stellar. So I'm just gonna leave them joined together at the hip like Siamese twins as one entry on my list. Think of it as a double album. I had never heard of this band until a couple of months ago but if you're a fan of atmospheric black metal then you should get both of these right away.

 

25. Åskog - Varþnaþer, Sweden, a somewhat slower paced black metal album than many of these others but it's still great with lots of cool riffs and I love the 'cheesy' throwback melodic guitar solos. This album had no business slipping down this low on my list.

 

26. Mork - Katedralen, Norway, really good album, I've seen this posted on the board by several different people last year and it was even featured on my boy Navy's list. But I just couldnt justify a higher position for it on mine given the extreme high quality of the competition this year.

 

27. Narbeleth - Svmma Cvm Nox Arcana, Cuba, that's right Cuba. Badass 2nd wave Nordic style black metal from Cuba where they don't even know what winter means. They clearly put a lot of work into the writing and making of this album. Imagine what it would feel like to be a run of the mill Norwegian black metal band with several albums under your belt and learn that these flip-flop wearing Cubans from an island in the Carribean just made a better Nordic black metal album than you could. 

 

28. Vulture Lord - Desecration Rite, Norway, straddles the line between black metal and black/thrash, but whichever side of the fence you want to put this on it's badass.

 

29. Bilwis - Sagenwelt, Germany, I'm done separating EP's from full lengths, especially now with the renewed prevalence of the 30 minute album. I used to impose a mental cut-off point at 25 minutes, but does it really make a big difference if a record is 20 or 25 or 30 minutes? A good release is a good release. This one at just a few seconds shy of 22 minutes is good enough to stand alongside the full lengths imo.

 

30. Deceiver Legion - Varjoissa, Finland, more killer shit from Finland. There is no higher form of black metal than Finnish black metal imo, and I always have lots of Finn bands on my list. First full length after 2 demos last year and it's a banger, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on these guys.

 

31. Forhist - Forhist, France, this is Vindsval from BaN fame. Saw someone on the board say this was completely different from BaN but I've gotta say it sounds almost exactly like BaN to me so I've basically just been thinking of this as the new BaN release. Not nearly as good as Hallucinogen I'm afraid, but still this is one of the best atmo-black records of the year.

 

 

32. Commander Agares - Legions of Descending Twilight, more raw black metal from Finland, fuzzy guitar tone to die for. Not quite as balls out vicious as the two RBM albums I listed 10 places higher, this one's a little slower and riffier but it deserves its spot on the list, this is excellent.

 

33. Ossuaire - Triumvirat, Quebec, one of the  better young crop of Quebecois bands, this is their 2nd full length and it smokes.

 

34. Lucifuge - Infernal Power, killer German black/thrash, fast-paced razor-sharp, the best kind of thrash if you ask me. These dudes do it way better than most. I don't know how I listened to so much thrash metal back in the 80's & 90's before they figured out that blackening it makes it at least 1,000 times better. That's my opinion anyway, but regardless this is killer shit.

 

35. Vexev - Et Demitte Cruorem In Caprum Emissarium, Vicious raw fuzzy black metal demo dall'Italia.

 

36. Ancient Obscurity - Nimettömät Maat, Finland, I just love Finnish black metal what can I say? This one's fairly melodic but some of these melodies can stay in your head all day.

 

 

37. Schrat - Seelenfresser, Germany, love this band. Someone said they thought this was a January 2022 release but M-A has it listed as Dec 16th and it was streaming on Youtube before the end of last year so I'm counting it as 2021. Ranked it down here in the 30's only because it was a late entry and I'm tired of moving everythig all around every time I add something new I just found. But rest assured this is a very worthy addition to their already solid catalogue.

 

 

38. Vortex of End - Abhorrent Fervor, France, rip roaring black/death. Came out 4 months ago but I just discovered it over New Year's weekend. This is sounding pretty fucking awesome, just as good their last album if maybe not quite as savage. They bring high speed riffage alternating with slower parts and just riffs on top of riffs. Should really have this one ranked much higher but I don't feel like having to renumber everything.

 

39. Coraxul - Vihavirsiä Aamunkoin, Finland, for my money even slightly above average Finnblack beats the piss out of most other countries' best black metal. Riffy, melodic, catchy and headbangable, why couldn't they have had Finnblack when I was a youngster? Would I have been ready to accept it? Will I ever grow tired of it? Will they keep on making it until every last Finnish citizen has their own black metal band?

 

40. Funeral Chant - Dawn of Annihilation, Oakland California, intense black/death with a little crust thrown into the mix, another one of the slew of really good albums I was hit with the last two weeks of the year. Just looked it up and it seems this one actually came out November 1st but I missed it. Mandatory for all goat fuckers. 

 

41. Wolves of Perdition - Ferocious Blasphemic Warfare, black/death Finland, I put most of the black/death albums in with the death metal this year except for this one which really felt more like it belonged with the black metal horde. The album title sums this one up quite nicely.

 

42. Azzaya - Thy Satanick Ascension, Greece/Turkey/Portugal, I'd never heard of this brand new international 3-piece band til a couple of months ago when this first popped up on Youtube. But this is right up my alley, punishingly aggressive and beligerent, razor sharp black metal. Pretty impressive that they just formed the band in 2021 and managed to get this killer debut album out the same year.

 

43. Wolfskrone - The Hunt, Estonia, another end of year discovery, one YT commenter said this was like a walk through a haunted forest. This atmo-black album has been a real grower, I've been enjoying it a bunch late at night. And Estonia is just a 2 hour ferry ride away from Finland so it's no wonder I like it.

Excellent list WhiteNoise....I'm glad you had OSSUAIRE, GORGON, LUCIFUGE and VALAC in your list....

.....moderately surprised that you only had around 40 records on your list.....

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

On 2/3/2022 at 2:05 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Alright you mangy mongrels, here it is as promised, 2am February 3rd, better late than never.

 

THE STATE OF THE BLACK METAL ADDRESS 2021

 

1. Aarkanne - Mysterii, Chilean war metal...finally with just 48 hours left to go in 2021 some mysterious Chilean goats have emerged from the arcane depths of hell to wreak total havoc on my list and have unseated the mighty Spectral Wound album without even breaking a fucking sweat!! Fudido!! Not sure how many war metal fans we actually have around these parts but this is some sick shit! This came out back in June but I only just discovered it at Christmas. Just another example of why I can't make my list til the year has ended. No doubt in my mind this will be on my top 10 albums of the entire decade list in 8 more years, mark my words.

 

2. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst, Montreal Quebec, not my #1 King of the 2021 black metal hill anymore but still fucking awesome. No mini review necessary, I'm sure pretty much everyone who cares has heard this one and bought it by now. Even if they didn't get their candles straight and perfectly erect for the cover shoot.

 

3. Pakkt - To Brocken Heights Where Witches Dance, Germany, holy hell, this gnarly filth bomb just dropped out of the firmament into my lap last week like a wicked little Christmas prezzie or maybe more like a brick through the window and it's been kicking my motherfucking ass non-stop ever since. I can't stop playing it! Might've even been tempted to place it at #2 just a week after its release but I just couldn't bring myself to do that to my old Canadian friends Spectral Wound. These guys weren't even listed on M-A yet the week when their album first went up on YT.

 

 

4. Black Spirit - El Sueño De La Razón Produce Monstruos, España, I really thought this would end up either #2 to big dogs Spectral Wound leading the pack or even possibly vying for #1 until just this past week with some amazing new arrivals. Love this album to pieces though, it's a cut above my usual goat filth, you'ze should check it out. 

 

 

5. Gråinheim - Hexndeifl  Germany, this dude has dropped what I consider to be top 5 caliber albums two years in a row now. Feral, ferocious, fierce, powerful, savage, unhinged, pretty much everything I could possibly ask from a 30 minute black metal demo. Thought the 'harpsichord' outro was a nice touch too.

 

 

6. Erz - Erz, monumental slab of unrelenting German black metal fury from Düsseldorf, with just a touch of death metal thrown in for flavor, and the cover art is pretty cool too. Can't seem to figure out where to put this one, I've had it as high as 3 and as low as the teens. 

 

7. Odious Devotion - Ilmestys, Finland, shit tons of great Finnish black metal this year, 12 on my list comprising fully 30% of my top 40. Two in my top 10, seven in my top 25, yet no Finns have risen to be in my top 5 this year. I can't even remember the last time that happened. This duo's debut from 3 years ago is just as good or even better. I can't say enough good things about this band, the melodies, Jesus fucking christ. Reminds me of what Dawn migth sound like if they were from Finland.

 

8. Malignament - Hypocrisis Absolution, Finland, great debut album for sure but it came up against some pretty tough competition this year so here it sits inauspiciously at #8. But don't let that fool you, this is fucking killer. 

 

9. Í Myrkri - Bag Skyggernes Slør, Denmark/USA best icy cold atmo-black of the year, their third full length in as many years, these Danes have yet to disappoint.

 

10. Ceress - Silence at the Cursed Fortress, Brazil, riffy and well crafted one-man black metal album from some Brazilian dude named Franco Wolf. He obviously put a lot of love, time & effort into this release, very polished and put together for some dude down in the jungle. The vocals remind me just a bit of Megiddo's Chorazaim at times, which is deffo a good thing. Runs a little long at 56 minutes but that's not a problem because it's so good it feels much shorter. 

 

11. Craven Idol - Forked Tongues, black/thrash out of London UK, for my money this is the best black/thrash album in recent memory, just really delivers the fucking goods to quote a certain Mr. R. Halford.

 

12. Ifrinn - Caledonian Black Magick, Scotland, I've played this one a ton this year, but with just 3 tracks stretched out to fill 24 minutes my only real criticism is I kinda wish he had given us more like five tracks at 5 minutes each instead of three 8 minute tracks so we could have had some more riff variation. I suppose there's something to be said for just getting in a groove and staying there but I prefer a little more variation. Still I do love this album and I look forward to what he comes up with next time.

 

13. Arde - Ancestral Cult, German atmo-black, majestic and proud, with a strong underlying rip tide of sadness, and some clean female vocals thrown in just as a little accent. I find this to be an incredibly beautiful album. And our esteeemed Doctor (now retired apparently) likes this one too (not enough to make his list though) which makes me feel much smarter and more refined than I actually am. Might have even ranked it slightly higher but you know I love me filf.

 

14. Diaboli - Awakening of Nordic Storm, Finland, I've been in love with Pete's work for years, this year he once again graces us with yet another savage album of Finnish badassery. I hear a lot of death metal creeping into his last couple of albums but it's been blackened to a crisp. I probably sound like a broken record at this point but I do wish I could have ranked this a bit higher. His last one Wiking Division was in my top 3 of 2015. 

 

15. Hautakammio - Pimeydem Kosketus, Finland, killer band, as much as I love their last album Pimeyden Valtakunta from 2014, I think this might just be their best record so far. Crazy to think I have it ranked so low, does this mean I have to rethink my whole entire list from the ground up now? I fucking hope not. Think of my rankings as loose and fluid, just to give a little context, or a rough idea of where things stack up, they're not meant to be set in stone.

 

16. Liktjern - I Ruiner,  Norway, this one's a bit of a sleeper, or maybe a grower I should say, I didn't realize just how good this one was for the first month or two after I got it. Then with a few more listens I saw the light. This one brings a truckload of riffs with it and has those sweet as buggery Nocturno Culto-esque vocals. Highest ranked of the 5 Norwegian bands on my list, this was a damn good find. Formed in 1996 this is their first full length after releasing only one other EP way back in 2009. If they stick to their every 12 or 13 year release schedule I might see another album from them in 2033 or 2034 if I'm lucky enough to live that long. 

 

17. Anti - Anti Germany, mid-paced depressive black metal but it's not typically depressive there are also plenty of faster sections and these songs are so god damned catchy, I fucking love this record. Played it over and over when I got it whenever that was, November I guess. Still play it weekly.

 

18. Marras - Endtime Sermon, Finland, Let's face it, Finnblack rules. I loved their first album 2 years ago and I love this one too.  Funny, it's become so common to have all these one and two man black metal projects it's starting to feel like the exception to the rule for a band to have 6 members like this.

 

19. Gorgon - Traditio Satanae, France, earlier in the year I had thought this one would probably wind up being in my top 10 come the end of the year, but a lot of killer black metal has come my way since June. The 2nd half of 2021 definitely yielded more quality bm albums than the first half. This one rips and is catchy as fuck, have it blasting into my earholes as I type this and I think I might need to move it up a few spots. 

 

20. Archgoat - Worship the Eternal Darkness, Finland, unlike some people on the interwebs who I've seen badmouthing this, I personally really like the new Archgoat record quite a lot. Even though they've ramped up the slower paced black/groove parts this time around and cut down on the fast parts, and it's the juxtaposition of the two that makes this band so special, this album was actually more immediate for me than their last two. Seems almost unthinkable that I could rank this so low as to just barely make my top 20 by the skin of their dicks, but it's been that kind of a year.

 

21. Øksehovud - Makt, Høyhet, Herredømme RBM Norway, this is raw as fuck black metal so deffo not for everyone, I know it'll probably sound like just noise to some of you, but this shit is sweet sweet music to my ears. Not all raw black metal is this awesome, a lot of it blows quite frankly but this one was truly a glorious find thanks to the Greg Biehl YouTube channel which if anyone cares has just recently rebranded itself as "No Gleaming Light"

 

22. Valac - Burning Dawn of Vengeance, USA, the other raw black metal album on my list, (kept them together to keep each other company) I had a few more but I figured most of you aren't really interested. I was really high on this one earlier in the year, had it in the upper half of my top 10 for quite awhile but with repeated listens and more and more strong contenders to the throne as the year went on I had to drop it down a little lower. But I still love the shit out of it.

 

23. Doedsvangr - Serpents ov Old, Norway/Finland/France, this is one of Shautrag of Horna/Sargeist fame's projects, and it's a damn good one. 45 minutes but it doesn't drag for a second.

 

24. Albionic Hermeticism - Psalms to the Father atmo-black UK/France
Albionic Hermeticism - Brittonic Ways. I'm finding it hard to separate these two albums in my mind because they're fairly similar, and I have no idea which one I think is "better" because they're both fucking stellar. So I'm just gonna leave them joined together at the hip like Siamese twins as one entry on my list. Think of it as a double album. I had never heard of this band until a couple of months ago but if you're a fan of atmospheric black metal then you should get both of these right away.

 

25. Åskog - Varþnaþer, Sweden, a somewhat slower paced black metal album than many of these others but it's still great with lots of cool riffs and I love the 'cheesy' throwback melodic guitar solos. This album had no business slipping down this low on my list.

 

26. Mork - Katedralen, Norway, really good album, I've seen this posted on the board by several different people last year and it was even featured on my boy Navy's list. But I just couldnt justify a higher position for it on mine given the extreme high quality of the competition this year.

 

27. Narbeleth - Svmma Cvm Nox Arcana, Cuba, that's right Cuba. Badass 2nd wave Nordic style black metal from Cuba where they don't even know what winter means. They clearly put a lot of work into the writing and making of this album. Imagine what it would feel like to be a run of the mill Norwegian black metal band with several albums under your belt and learn that these flip-flop wearing Cubans from an island in the Carribean just made a better Nordic black metal album than you could. 

 

28. Vulture Lord - Desecration Rite, Norway, straddles the line between black metal and black/thrash, but whichever side of the fence you want to put this on it's badass.

 

29. Bilwis - Sagenwelt, Germany, I'm done separating EP's from full lengths, especially now with the renewed prevalence of the 30 minute album. I used to impose a mental cut-off point at 25 minutes, but does it really make a big difference if a record is 20 or 25 or 30 minutes? A good release is a good release. This one at just a few seconds shy of 22 minutes is good enough to stand alongside the full lengths imo.

 

30. Deceiver Legion - Varjoissa, Finland, more killer shit from Finland. There is no higher form of black metal than Finnish black metal imo, and I always have lots of Finn bands on my list. First full length after 2 demos last year and it's a banger, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on these guys.

 

31. Forhist - Forhist, France, this is Vindsval from BaN fame. Saw someone on the board say this was completely different from BaN but I've gotta say it sounds almost exactly like BaN to me so I've basically just been thinking of this as the new BaN release. Not nearly as good as Hallucinogen I'm afraid, but still this is one of the best atmo-black records of the year.

 

 

32. Commander Agares - Legions of Descending Twilight, more raw black metal from Finland, fuzzy guitar tone to die for. Not quite as balls out vicious as the two RBM albums I listed 10 places higher, this one's a little slower and riffier but it deserves its spot on the list, this is excellent.

 

33. Ossuaire - Triumvirat, Quebec, one of the  better young crop of Quebecois bands, this is their 2nd full length and it smokes.

 

34. Lucifuge - Infernal Power, killer German black/thrash, fast-paced razor-sharp, the best kind of thrash if you ask me. These dudes do it way better than most. I don't know how I listened to so much thrash metal back in the 80's & 90's before they figured out that blackening it makes it at least 1,000 times better. That's my opinion anyway, but regardless this is killer shit.

 

35. Vexev - Et Demitte Cruorem In Caprum Emissarium, Vicious raw fuzzy black metal demo dall'Italia.

 

36. Ancient Obscurity - Nimettömät Maat, Finland, I just love Finnish black metal what can I say? This one's fairly melodic but some of these melodies can stay in your head all day.

 

 

37. Schrat - Seelenfresser, Germany, love this band. Someone said they thought this was a January 2022 release but M-A has it listed as Dec 16th and it was streaming on Youtube before the end of last year so I'm counting it as 2021. Ranked it down here in the 30's only because it was a late entry and I'm tired of moving everythig all around every time I add something new I just found. But rest assured this is a very worthy addition to their already solid catalogue.

 

 

38. Vortex of End - Abhorrent Fervor, France, rip roaring black/death. Came out 4 months ago but I just discovered it over New Year's weekend. This is sounding pretty fucking awesome, just as good their last album if maybe not quite as savage. They bring high speed riffage alternating with slower parts and just riffs on top of riffs. Should really have this one ranked much higher but I don't feel like having to renumber everything.

 

39. Coraxul - Vihavirsiä Aamunkoin, Finland, for my money even slightly above average Finnblack beats the piss out of most other countries' best black metal. Riffy, melodic, catchy and headbangable, why couldn't they have had Finnblack when I was a youngster? Would I have been ready to accept it? Will I ever grow tired of it? Will they keep on making it until every last Finnish citizen has their own black metal band?

 

40. Funeral Chant - Dawn of Annihilation, Oakland California, intense black/death with a little crust thrown into the mix, another one of the slew of really good albums I was hit with the last two weeks of the year. Just looked it up and it seems this one actually came out November 1st but I missed it. Mandatory for all goat fuckers. 

 

41. Wolves of Perdition - Ferocious Blasphemic Warfare, black/death Finland, I put most of the black/death albums in with the death metal this year except for this one which really felt more like it belonged with the black metal horde. The album title sums this one up quite nicely.

 

42. Azzaya - Thy Satanick Ascension, Greece/Turkey/Portugal, I'd never heard of this brand new international 3-piece band til a couple of months ago when this first popped up on Youtube. But this is right up my alley, punishingly aggressive and beligerent, razor sharp black metal. Pretty impressive that they just formed the band in 2021 and managed to get this killer debut album out the same year.

 

43. Wolfskrone - The Hunt, Estonia, another end of year discovery, one YT commenter said this was like a walk through a haunted forest. This atmo-black album has been a real grower, I've been enjoying it a bunch late at night. And Estonia is just a 2 hour ferry ride away from Finland so it's no wonder I like it.

 

….here is a list of records I liked most in 2021….

 

CONVERGE AND CHELSEA WOLFE – Blood Moon

CARCASS – Torn Arteries

MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY – Biolume Pt. 2

CRUEL MASTER – Repeat Offender

MIST OF DOOM – Night

ILLVIJIA – Morkret

PARALLAX SMILE – Bruised Fruit

IGNORED – Ignored

MINUTES OF DECAY – Xanax

FINAL KILL – Total Collapse

SAVURA – Nekropunk Attack

RANA – Armament

HUNGRY WOLF – Forgotten Frozen Lands

WORLD IN RUINS – In Misery

BLACK KNIFE – Murder Season

BOMBER – Black Ultra Anarchy

DEVILSPIT – Ethylic Dark Crusade

TERMINAL FILTH – The Plague Sessions

GRAVERIPPER – Radiated Remains

ROAD PIG – Road Pig

THE GRAIL – Black Craft

VIOLENT HEX – Black Mass In The Attic

BASTARD DESTROYER – Suffering

NIHILISTISCHER WAHN – Sinistre Zotenlieder

MUNICION – Fukk Off In Hell

LUCIFUGE – Internal Power

BLURR THROWER – Les Voutes

MONOCHROMATIC RESIDUA – Eternal Mountain

BRIDGEBURNER – Disempath

OUTLAW – Death Miasma

MORBIFIC – Ominous Seep Of Putridity

CRYPT CRAWLER – Future Usurper

GOAT RIDER – Tsundere

VORVAN – Awakened

PLASMODIUM – Towers Of Silence

PHANE – Phane

MISOTHEIST – For The Glory of Your Redeemer

S.H.I. – 4 Death

STEEL BEARING HAND – Slay In Hell

GOD’S HATE – God’s Hate

MIASMATA – Unlight: Songs Of Earth And Atrophy

ORDER – The Gospel

VALAC – Burning Dawn Of Vengeance

FERITERIUM – Calvaire

GORGON – Traditio Satanae

OSSUAIRE – Triumvirat

WHITEHORSE – Death Weight

ALKDERDEL – Slonk

GRALAGHORR – The Divine Spectacle Of Birth

THOU AND EMMA RUTH RUNDLE – The Helm Of Sorrow

SKIN TENSION – Machinic Impulses Of The Hyperreal

PLEBIAN GRANDSTAND – Rien Ne Suffit

SERMON OF FLAMES – I Have Seen The Light And It Was Repulsive

BONECARVER – Evil

SUFFERING HOUR – The Cyclic Reckoning

YAUTJA – The Lurch

ANTI RITUAL – Expel The Leeches

EVIL PREVAILS – Dirt And Decay

MANY EYED SERAPHIM – Many Eyed Seraphim

DODSRIT – Mortal Coil

 

....sorry, WhiteNoise and markm, that it took so long....been a little busy lately...and I hate typing.....

....there was a shit ton of other good stuff that came out this year and they were all as good as any of these, but I had to type something.....

[SurgicalBrute]

Nice seeing Bomber make it onto someones list. That thing flew way under the radar last year

[Sheol]

After much debating and lots of procrastination, I've finally settled on my top 30 albums of 2021. As usual, last year was ridiculously strong, so strong that I'm honestly surprised some albums didn't make the cut. Anyway, here goes:

30. CULT OF LUNA - The Raging River
Red Crk.
CoL was kind enough to grace us with a palatte cleanser before unleashing a full-length in... 2 weeks. While slightly uneven, opener Three Bridges more than makes up for the price of admission.

29. HÄXKAPELL – Eldhymner
Nordvis.
A stunning debut album by Häxkapell. Pulling from the rich soil of Scandinavian black metal and imbuing it with arcane practices of Vinnland, Eldhymner is a must-buy.

28. GOLDEN BLOOD - Serpent Chariot
Self-released.
This is not the last time you'll find Austrian tour de Force Erech Leleth on this list, this time it's with heavy/black/punk metal hybrid Golden Blood. A ridiculously entertaining and catchy album!

27. PAN-AMERIKAN NATIVE FRONT - Little Turtle's War
Death Kvlt Production.
The rightous fury and passion on this, and indeed all PANF releases, are magnificent and really what gives this band the edge over many US bm-bands.

26. VINTERKRIG - Härskare över stjärnorna och mina drömmar
Graveless Souls Records.
An obscured and forgotten gem of 90s melodic black metal from Sweden, lovingly unearthed by GSR. The missing link between Gates of Ishtar, Dawn and perhaps Dissection, with some dashes of early Limbonic Art. If you haven't LISTEN TO THIS! I would love for this to get the vinyl treatment in the future... *Wink wink*

25. SPECTRAL LORE – Ετερόφωτος
I, Voidhanger
Ayloss continues to bend and shape the confines of what loosely is called atmospheric black metal into all manner of twisted forms, and I'm all here for it.

24. ANCIENT MASTERY - The Chosen One
Death Kvlt Production
See, I told you Erech Leleth would return. This is probably his most popular band, and for good reason. AM mixes pummeling black metal, atmoshperic passages and triumphantly tooting brass-sections, all wrapped up in straight-up nerd shit!

23. THE NIGHT ETERNAL - Moonlit Cross
Ván.
A previously unknown band for me, The Night Eternal plays heavy metal with a wide stance and tight pants, without forgetting to add the dark streak.

22. NOVAE MILITAE - Topheth
Sentient Ruin
Speaking of dark streak, Novae Militae is all dark, no streak, no light, only death. Music to get lost in.

21. LLNN - Unmaker
Pelagic
These Danes have managed to make one of the heaviest albums without actually being metal. Their blend of Godflesh, Author & Punisher and pissed off post-hardcore is mesmerizing. Like staring into that famous head-shaped hole Trent Reznor talked about.

20. HIPPOTRAKTOR - Meridian
Pelagic
Pelagic again, that label knows how to find interesting bands. Hippotraktor is alternating between beautiful postrock passages to brick-heavy riffs that are probably the closest I'll come to listen to djent.

22. BLODTÅR - Blodtår
Nordvis
The best Scandinavian folk-infused black metal since Thyrfing? Absolutely. Carl MUST record a full-length. Now. Just listen to Svartsejd, you won't regret it!

18. THE SUNS JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT - Demo II
Self released
Building upon his latest full-length Demo II sees No One further fine-tune his craft. Fantastic black metal alternating between raw buzzings, cosmic atmoshperics and inner turmoil.

17. ESCUMERGAMËNT - ...ni degu fazentz escumergament e mesorga...
Avantgarde
Escumergamënt gives me the same feeling of mystery as when I first heard Bathory and was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. No other similarities though. Way too many have slept on this album.

16. SAIDAN - Jigoku: Spiraling Chasms Of The Blackest Hell
Obscurant Visions
Much hated, but I still can't get over how engaging and catchy Jigoku is.

15. ANCIENT MASTERY - Across the mountains of Drämmerskoll
Death Kvlt Production
Oh look, it's Erech Leleth again, here to steal all your girlfriends!

14. MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY - Biolume Part 2 - The Golden Orb
I, Voidhanger
Dis Pater is just as much a musical chameleon as Ayloss and that's probably why I always tend to get them and Jacob Buczarski mixed up together. Biolume pt 2 is a sharp change from pt 1, much more insistent on the clean vocals and a very strong melodic heavy metal vibe, only filtered through black metal sensibilities. This is the kind of album you can return to and find new details for years.

13. NESTOR - Kids In a Ghost Town
Nestor Music Group
Straight out of nowhere, Nestor dropped like a bomb in my lap and they haven't left my car stereo ever since. Truly fun and catchy 80's heavy metal with a top-notch singer and tasteful keys and guitar-licks. Amazing!

12. FERRITERIUM – Calvaire
Epicureal
Still fucking bummed that I forgot to order this fantastic riff-machine of an album. If anyone want's to sell their copy, hit me up!

11. WHOREDOM RIFE - Winds of Wrath
Terratur Possessions
WR continues to dominate the Norwegian black metal scene together with Djevel, this being perhaps their most curated and well-balanced album.

10. 1914 - Where Fear And Weapons Meet.
Napalm Records.
The Blind Leading the Blind socked me in the jaw and sneaked up as my #1 album of 2018, so this follow-up had A LOT to prove! And as you can see by the placement, 1914 didn't quite live up to the pressure, but that is in part due to the VERY stiff competition this year. All in all, this album is really, really good, make no mistake.

9. MARE COGNITUM - Solar Paroxysm.
I, Voidhanger.
I've waxed poetically about this album numerous times before but in short it's a fantastic and mesmerizing journey across the five tracks (clocking in at a total of 56 min). Rooted in atmospheric black metal, Jacob Buczarski travels from the rich soil of Earthy black metal riffs, out into spacious synthscapes and the scorching, blast-beat filled surface of our sun. Just listen to Luminous Accretion and feel your soul expand.

8. CRADLE OF FILTH - Existance is Futile.
Nuclear Blast.
In a way it's a thing of beauty, as well as poetic justice, that Cradle of Filth releases one of their best albums 30 years into their career. For all the scorn and ridicule Dani Filth and gang have endured (including past me), it's nice to see that sticking to your guns and trusting your vision pays off if you know what the fuck you're doing. Existance is Futile is a fantastic testamet to this credo, melodic, riff-driven, and with tasteful vocals and lyrics. If you, like me, lost touch with the Filth years ago, here's your chance to make it right.

7. ANCIENT WISDOM - A celebration in honor of Death.
Avantgarde.
Words can't express how happy I am to finally hear a new Ancient Wisdom album (the one-man Swedish doom/black band, accept no American substitutes!!). Vargher may work slowly, but by Satan it's worth it when he conjures up songs like Breaking the Circle of Life and Those Who Do Not Exist.

6. STORMKEEP - Tales of Othertime.
Ván Records.
I was not too impressed by Stormkeep's first EP Galdrum, so imagine my surprise when The Serpents Stone dropped and it was 100% everything I needed in my life at that time. Super-symphonic black metal that is thiiiiis close to being camp, but manages to balance on that razor's edge.

5. SPECTRAL WOUND - A Diabolic Thirst.
Profound Lore.
As soon as I heard "Frigid and Spellbound" I knew this was gonna be a heavy contender for AOTY. What I didn't know was just how ridiculously fierce the competition would be. Any other year and Spectral Wound would've taken the crown.

4. NINKHARSAG - Dreadmarch of Solemn Gods.
Vendetta.
I had my eye on these brits since the "Discipline Through Black Sorcery" single and Dreadmarch of Solemn Gods did not disappoint. Melodic black metal that is as surgically precise as it is wildly headbangable.

3. ZORNHEYM - The Zornheim Sleep Experiment.
Noble Demon.
For some godforsaken reason it took me almost into October before I bothered listening to the sophomore album from Zornheym. I don't know why, since "Where Hatred Dwells and Darkness Reigns" was a sleeper favourite of 2017. Well, I fixed that with prejudice. If Spotify Wrapped was actually correct it would've shown "Slumber Comes in Time" and "Keep The Devil Away" to be my most listened songs of 2021. No contest. This is the finest symphonic death metal since... well, the last album. Insanely catchy, with a ton of details in the riffs and orchestra arrangements, not to mention a truly impressive vocal performance from Bendler.

2. MALAKHIM - Theion.
Iron Bonehead.
This album came out in January so you'd think it would run the risk of being forgotten over the course of the year. Well, not if you are Malakhim and you know how to harness the fire of black metal and forge it into a barbwire cudgel to bash your fucking head in. That'll leave an impression. Like Whoredom Rife and Stormkeep this is an album where every aspect from packaging, cover art, calligraphy to individual drawings weaves into a perfect whole.

1. ARCHSPIRE - Bleed the Future.
Seasons of Mist.
The undisputed king of 2021. For every single Archspire released I grew more and more impressed until it all culminated with the release of Bleed the Future. What's amazing is not the incredibly technical skills of each individual musician or that they found a verbose freak in Oli Peters that could match them with his vocals, but that Archspire writes songs that do not compromise on brutality, technicality OR catchiness and tasteful composition.
 

[SurgicalBrute]

Cool, found a couple of new ones to try...

..but where did you see people hating on Saidan?...he's a bit Lamp of Murmuur-ish, but I've liked his stuff so far. I was surprised to see that in your comment

[Thatguy]

5 hours ago, Sheol said:

The undisputed king of 2021

I wouldn't go that far myself but I am glad someone else here will admit to enjoying Archspire.

As for the rest, there is a lot I haven't heard...

[Sheol]

7 hours ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Cool, found a couple of new ones to try...

..but where did you see people hating on Saidan?...he's a bit Lamp of Murmuur-ish, but I've liked his stuff so far. I was surprised to see that in your comment

Well there's a huge group with pitchforks on Instagram that hate him. It's not 100% clear but it seems like it is a combination of him being a trendhopping poseur, cosplaying as Japanese (which for the record I have not seen), that he virtue signals as being anti-fasc while his drummer's sideproject has done splits with sus bands, etc. It's all very preschool and Gossip Girl-y tbh. I couldn't care less, so far he hasn't done anything I would disagree with.🤷‍♂️

[Hungarino]

On 1/2/2022 at 11:29 PM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Obscurial - Funeral, Burial and Rites

Oh yeah. I love this.

[markm]

On 2/15/2022 at 5:22 PM, Sheol said:

After much debating and lots of procrastination, I've finally settled on my top 30 albums of 2021. As usual, last year was ridiculously strong, so strong that I'm honestly surprised some albums didn't make the cut. Anyway, here goes:
 

Great work Sheol. I still need to rank and put down my thoughts on the 2021 albums I ended up with and are in heavy rotation, currently. A couple we'll share and many others from your list I need to check out!

[GoatmasterGeneral]

On 2/15/2022 at 5:22 PM, Sheol said:

Top 30 albums of 2021

What happened to us Johan? Remember the days when we used to have so much black metal overlap? Now all we have left is Spectral Wound and Pan-Amerikan Native Front. 😢

I still love you though Johan, and thanks for posting your list a few weeks after mine, this lets me feel like much less of a lazy good for nothing slacker. 🥴

[Sheol]

6 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

What happened to us Johan? Remember the days when we used to have so much black metal overlap? Now all we have left is Spectral Wound and Pan-Amerikan Native Front. 😢

I still love you though Johan, and thanks for posting your list a few weeks after mine, this lets me feel like much less of a lazy good for nothing slacker. 🥴

I think it comes and goes, we both tend to fall down different rabbit holes different years, this year I got stuck in a lot of atmo black. But mostly I think it is that I can't keep up with your listening pace. We're in different places in life and you have ALOT more alone time than me I think. Plus you have very distinct criteria when looking for black metal, I'm more all over the place.😘

[GoatmasterGeneral]

59 minutes ago, Sheol said:

I think it comes and goes, we both tend to fall down different rabbit holes different years, this year I got stuck in a lot of atmo black. But mostly I think it is that I can't keep up with your listening pace. We're in different places in life and you have A LOT more alone time than me I think. Plus you have very distinct criteria when looking for black metal, I'm more all over the place.😘

True, but I still don't have enough alone time! There could never be enough for me really because there are only 24 hours in a day and that's not enough. I'm in sort of a weird place in life that's been hard for me to get used to. I don't get up in the dark take a quick shower and run out the door to drive to work anymore like how I always had for 30-something years. Now other people get up and go to work which brings them here to me. So now I wake up at 7:45, get the kid ready for the bus that comes at 8:30, and then once he's gone I'm basically waiting to see who shows up and when. They typically get here around 9:30-ish because they have kids they need to get on the bus at 8:45 as well and they have a 30+ minute drive here. And then they sometimes have to leave by 3pm because they'll have to go meet the afternoon bus at 3:30 as well. And even though once they get here we are "working" it doesn't really feel like working to me because I'm at home. And we're only actually working 5 or 6 hours, 7 at most (I'd been used to working 10 - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week) and it's not even every day, some days they don't come for lots of different reasons, or some days we'll just go out and pick up materials which also doesn't feel like working, it feels like shopping. But yeah working only 5 or 6 hours a day leaves me with a lot more free time to listen to music than in the old days when I was out of the house from 4:30am until dinnertime and then had to hang out with the family for a few hours in the evenings before I could slip away to listen to my music. So I'm making the most of it.

[markm]

So, I’ve had some time the last few days with a nasty head cold and took two days off from work. I can only sleep so much with Theraflu infusions, so I decided to finish writing my thoughts on the 2021 purchases I made, largely at the end of the year. I'll present them as little min reviews.

Clearly, I'm way past list season, so I’d like to think of this as a post 2021 wrap-group discussion-how does the year stack up 3 months later as we are about to begin the second quarter of 2022.

Now, as I look at 60+ albums both metal and non-metal over 500 tracks of new music.  I’ve got a nice rotation. 

I got sidetracked last year with classical music in a big way as I looked to finish a multi year project of researching the great composers, slowly purchasing music for a classical music library and working my way to the 20th century. 

But on to 2021 Metal

It’s been over three  months or so since I picked up the majority of these albums and finally, I can take a more critical look. Every year, I seem to wax on about how dismal metal is and then eat my words. I’m pretty enthusiastic at this point about 2021.

 I tend to overthink and overanalyze everything, often at odds with compatriots like Dead and GG who have told me many times, I don’t care about lyrics, I just want riffs. Yup, I get it, but, I’ve often found lyrical concepts unlock the Pandora box of many of  today’s esoteric metal concepts. 

 The beauty in modern metal since I’ve paid attention over the last roughly 20 years is the range of styles that wasn’t available when the bulk of my listening consisted of AC/DC, Aerosmith, Van Halen and Judas Priest.

Honorable Mentions- Some of these are eccentric one-offs to add a little odd spice, others are nostalgic or round off a discography. I tend to distinguish good albums with good playlist albums that are enjoyable in sporadic random play but may not sustain my interest for an entire album.

In alphabetical order:

 Asphyx/Necroceros -Good album, maybe not quite as hard hitting, surprised it didn’t make the top 25. One of many albums I've enjoyed but just played things a bit to safe and familiar.  Asphyx was a gateway band with Death the Brutal Way. Solid DM album but there's a been there done that sort of thing.

Converge & Chelsea Wolfe/Blood Moon-Initially it seemed like a safe, dullening of Converge, whom I love with the folksy sound of Wolfe, but it’s grown on me. Not a great album, but one that I’ll keep in rotation and is easy on the ears. Pretty solid collaboration, really.
Deafheaven/Infinite Granite- (non-metal-just sayin') just a post rock band now, never really got all the pushback. I don’t think they called themselves a black metal band after their first album. This album divided fans. I think it's pretty good.

Dinosaur Jr. /Sweep it Into Space-(non-metal)-Dino had a new album. It’s quite good if you like their melding of Neil Young and alternative rock. This one strays into power pop which isn't to my liking as his grungier material, but he's one of the best guitarists/singer songwriters of my time, and I like most of his output. 

Grimma/Rotten Garden (atmospheric BM)-Bought this early in the year, every time I come back to this album I’m impressed with its mix of grim nordic BM  with woodsy atmoblack.

Hooded Menace/ Tritonus Bell-The best album that Khemmis did not produce this year. Seriously when I hear the first track before the vox kicks in, I think it’s Khemmis, but better and with death vox.

King Woman/Celestial Blues (doom, post metal, grunge)-A trendy listy pick up for me, but undeniably, an evocative, seductive metal adjacent album with a compelling backstory-shorthand: religion fucks people up. Something about it lacks sticking to a top 25 list landing.
Kuaun/Ice Fleet-post rock, ambient, and neo folk with marginal black influences; an AMG darling; honestly it’s a beautiful listen about a frozen fleet of ships discovered in Northern Russia  in the 1930's, with its crew still frozen. When does atmoblack become New Age? This is truly is music you could to listen to while you are sleeping, and I find it a lovely listen, a word that probably shouldn't be used for metal, yet illustrates the range in metal adjacent music.

The  Lamp of Murmor/Submission And Slavery -probably should be in my 25, but time will tell if it gets many repeat listens.
Mystras/Empires Vanquished And Dismantled-It may have been Surge’s 2020 list that hipped me to Castles Conquered and Reclaimed. They upped the ante with Byzantine middle eastern sounds. The whole thing is formulaic alternating between ethnic interludes and black metal but the overall middle ages thing is charming and rather festive. 

Pupil Slicer/Mirrors-Guilty indulgence-Another trendy listy pick up-math metal/metallic hardcore, somewhat reminiscent of Dillinger Escape Plan who I used to enjoy to add some sizzle to my listening. Combine DEP with a bit of grind, Convergesque metallic hardcore and some groove. Fronted by female vocalist/guitarist/songwriter, Katie Davis. Given its DR score of 4, it’s stupid loud. 

Sadness/ April Sunset (post black) A unique mix of ambient, electronic, joyful mixed choral singing with some bouts of BM vocals. This is an extremely active band with an exclusively online presence of more than 30 releases. The formula seems to use black metal as a starting point and journeys into ambient textures.

Spelljammer/Abyssal Trip -sorry to kick this little stoner-doom nugget out of my top 25. Early Electric Wizard is the primary influence with gargantuan  riffs sometimes approaching Sunn0))) levels of furniture shaking bass.  The album nails the low end fuzzy rumble. For all that, this album is a bit of nostalgia for a genre I enjoy but isn’t nearly as good as the original EW and Sleep albums I love. But for people like me who just love old school stabs at stoner doom, this is a very cool album. The Swedes have really impressed me in the last few years in this field.

Subterranean Masquerade/Mountain Fever (prog)-I can go prog for sure. This one gives me a similar vibe as symphonic progressive power metal, but it’s not very symphonic. Navy noted the similarities to Orphaned Land and they do share personnel. What can I say, I own The Never Ending Way of ORwarrioR and clearly have no shame. I mostly despise power metal but will occasionally fall for goofy happy metal when I think it’s entertaining. This checks those boxes. 

Vouna/Apropos (Cascadian with  WITR contributors)-Otherworldly doom with atmoblack influences and beautiful female vox in the same field as ethereal artists like Mykur and Slyvaine, but I prefer the doom focus here.

Viagra Boys/Welfare Jazz (non meta/post punk blues)-I’ve been enamored with this album since early in 2021. There’s a fun, loose, bluesy-post punk fun feel here. The frontman has a charismatic trailer park ne'er do well sort of persona whose vocals are LOL funny.  

Wolves in the Throne Room/Primordial Arcana-you know what you get here, and as was widely covered on metal platforms provided a more concise direct approach. I’ll always have a soft spot for ethereal, tribal and transcendent metal, but after hanging out with the goats, the softer nature of this album feels a little atmoblacklite which admittedly, suits me just fine on some occasions. Time will tell how this one holds up.

Next up-my top 25....

 

 

[FatherAlabaster]

13 minutes ago, markm said:

Deafheaven/Infinite Granite- (non-metal-just sayin') just a post rock band now, never really got all the pushback. I don’t think they called themselves a black metal band after their first album. This album divided fans. I think it’s pretty good. But more of a playlist album. which isn’t to my liking, but J Mascis is one of the definitive rock guitarist singer songwriters of our time and I like most of his stuff. 

Dinosaur Jr. /Sweep it Into Space-(non-metal)-Dino had a new album. It’s quite good if you like their melding of Neil Young and alternative rock. This one strays into power pop which isn't to my liking as his grungier material, but he's one of the best guitarists/singer songwriters of my time, and I like most of his output. 

It looks like you've put the end of your Dino Jr review onto the Deafheaven bit here. 

[markm]

58 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

It looks like you've put the end of your Dino Jr review onto the Deafheaven bit here. 

Thanks, just caught that and edited! Darn cut and paste.

[markm]

All right, now that I got some of the eccentricities of my 21 get out of the way, I'm on to proper list making. 

Let's get to some meat and potatoes....

25.  Gatecreeper/An Unexpected Reality - Hardcore vocals, or at least the influence of punk and hardcore go back to the beginning of Swedish death metal. I like this style-in the tweens they used to call it Entobmedcore referring to crusty bands Kurt Ballou produces-Trap Them, Nails, Black Breath, All Pigs Must Die, all of which is to say-put me in the thumbs up category on this style.  In general, crusty vocals go well with death in my book. Local Baltimore crusty doom death’s crew, Ilsa’s Preyer was one of my favorite albums of 2020. Plus it's short and sweet-EP length. But, I want more.

24. Spectral Wound/A Diabolical Thirst-Fan favorite, heavily hyped here and elsewhere…I enjoy this album quite a bit and will defo stay in rotation but the second wave classic sound is pretty crowded. I do enjoy the frigid vampire feeding frenzy it incites in me. 

23. Diabolizer/Khalkedonian Death-As one review wrote-technical without being techdeth, brutal without being brutal death metal. This is just a straight up ground and pound death metal album that fills a void from bands like Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal and Nile. It’s brickwalled with a DR of 4, otherwise, this might have ranked higher for me.

22. Ethereal Shroud/Trisagion-This one splits the difference between tribal, droning bands like The Ruins of Beverast and atmospheric black metal and keeps calling me back with it’s compelling mixture of actual black metal, doom and its wide cinematic lens. Trisagion is one of those albums that is greater than the sum of its parts.The repeating melodies are infectious. It’s overly long and could use some editing which keeps it out of my top 10. But, I  love the vastness -like a wizard summoning supernatural powers amidst thundering echoes of primal sorrow echoed from ancient times howling over snow covered mountain tops. OK, I got a little carried away there. Back on ground, DR: 12. Production matters.

21.  Mortiferum/Preserved in Torrent-I cast my net into the murky sea of this doom death nugget early in the year. Here is a dirty album with just enough muddy production without losing the plot as I find many caverncore albums do production wise----for many many have too much atmosphere at the expense of hearing details. This one really works. Everybody needs some dirgey doom/death and this was one of 2021’s best in class. DR: 12 which gives the album space to fill the room with thick metal and sounds great on speakers. One of my tests for extreme metal is simple-it shouldn’t turn into a hot mess when cranked on a decent stereo system. 
 

[navybsn]

56 minutes ago, markm said:

Mortiferum/Preserved in Torrent-I cast my net into the murky sea of this doom death nugget early in the year. Here is a dirty album with just enough muddy production without losing the plot as I find many caverncore albums do production wise----for many many have too much atmosphere at the expense of hearing details. This one really works. Everybody needs some dirgey doom/death and this was one of 2021’s best in class. DR: 12 which gives the album space to fill the room with thick metal and sounds great on speakers. One of my tests for extreme metal is simple-it shouldn’t turn into a hot mess when cranked on a decent stereo system. 

I'm a late comer to this party, but after seeing them live a few weeks ago,  I'm all aboard the train. Probably would have made my list had I discovered it earlier. 

[markm]

19-11

 

19. Mastodon/Hushed and Grim-Rave reviews and endless AOTY lists nudged me to give this mainstream version of Mastodon a shot, and I’m glad I did. It plays things a little too safe, but it’s a great distillation of their radio friendly  sound and it simply works as a progressive hard rock album.  

The band explained the album was inspired by grief for the death of their manager which explains the more mellow ballads that are found here. And the ballads work. Personally, I find the album soothing after the loss we have all felt during the pandemic. Yet, it's fair to say this album is a bit staid in its presentation.  But that doesn't mean this isn't a strong progressive hard rock mainstream album. It just doesn't quite reach the heights of  true classics like The Darkside of the Moon, Fragile and Moving Pictures.

18. Dream/Unending/Tide Turns Eternal-The Tomb Mold pedigree filtered through classic Peaceville 3 albums caught my attention. What I was unprepared for was the delicate, intricate, playing and how little actual death metal is presented. But when doom/death finally seeps through the lush guitar work- the extreme vox adds needed weight to what is essentially a gorgeous dreamscape of an album.  This album has refinement and class in spades and just feels like a future classic and something I’ll come back to years from now-and if that’s not the definition of a keeper-I don’t know what is?

17.  Bummer/Dead Horse-Hardcore, sludge, noise and fuck you punk fun. I’m in. 

16. Dorderuh/Har-Death and black may be the bedrock of modern metal, but how sad would it be for my listening if I limited myself to those two genres? I love the genre shape-shifting of much of today’s metal. I also like the  “world music” aspect of metal connecting me to landscapes and sounds far and wide. Har is truly an Epic, cinematic experience- Romarian prog with spatterings of black metal throughout.  This I know to be true because when I played it in my car with my wife and daughter thinking the minimal black metal would be acceptable, I got that “really Mark” look. 

15.  Paysage d'Hiver/Geister-So, I guess this one divided fans, but it’s been one of my major jams for the past couple of months. Sure it’s more direct that Im Wald, but it retains enough of the ambient touches while hitting a sweet spot for viscous misanthropic black metal. The tracks are very similar. It’s almost like what classical composers do with variations of a theme, each track having its own identity, similar yet different telling the story of an  icy wildebeest battling unknown forces in the midst of a hail storm of epic proportion. Uh, well that's what I'm going with, anyway....

14. Succumb/XXI-I’m sure we all saw this one on a lot of AOTY lists. I think it’s pretty great. A whole hodgepodge of death styles. I'm a sucker for interesting occult inspired lyrics and I like the fact that it’s a female fronted band without being “girly” . The guitar work is a quagmire of styles and influences verging into experimental territory. I think this one sticks the landing in a big way.  

13. Ophiuchi/Shibboleth-Anyone heard this one man band other than me and Navy? Unique and compelling are words I overuse, as those are qualities I seek. This is a difficult album to describe but Ophiuchi extend tentacles into blackened sludge/doom and post metal. The dude has a compelling sound that can’t be put into words. Yet another example of why I look beyond the conservative death/black tropes to find creative talent putting out music that continues to inspire and amaze me year after year.
 
12. DVNE/Etemen Tænke-I did not see this one coming. It has a lot of things working against it, primarily the vocals. Screamo metalcorish with annoying thin cleans. But the album kept calling me. I recall when their first album came out and thinking, this is not for me. Stoner and prog tend to lose me when they stray too far from heavy riffs. Elder lost the plot for me after Lore and they turned to long excursions of psychedelia jam without muscle.

For some reason I lumped Dvne into stoner metal due to the doom influence. Their mixture of clean production, layered prog and heavy sludge mixed with melodic ear candy eventually won me over in a big way. This is an album that gets better with multiple listens. It’s accessible in the same way that Revocation and Skelotonwitch are. Sometimes it’s nice to have that guilty pleasure that’s simply easy to listen to.

11. Mare Cognitum/Solar Paroxysm-Between the split with Spectral Lore and and Solar Paroxysm, Jacob Buczarski has had quite the impact on my listening. Solar Paroxysm is a distinctive, memorable album in an overcrowded sub genre. I get a little lost in the cosmic ether sometimes, but there’s no doubt this guy is onto some kind of voodoo atmo magic and I like it. 
 

[Hungarino]

You are LATE!

But, you are awesome! Love the Dino Jr. shout out, takes me down memory lane.

[markm]

Yes Hungo, I am very tardy. Thanks for the shout out my dude.

[Thatguy]

35 minutes ago, markm said:

Yes Hungo, I am very tardy

Just a bit, but very interesting lists. Get well soon.