| 2021 |
| 25 |  | Yautja
The Lurch
Absolute fucking clinic percussively. Gnarliest drum performance of the year. |
| 24 |  | Black Sheep Wall
Songs for the Enamel Queen
More fully realized than any of their previous but still raw and brutally emotive. Seething and hateful. |
| 23 |  | Boss Keloid
Family the Smiling Thrush
Boss Keloid has a sound unto themselves, which in 2021 is among the sickest things you can say about a metal band. They pull off the masterful wanky prog riff stuff while also keeping it catchy and tight. The vocal melodies are over the top in the best way. |
| 22 |  | Quicksand
Distant Populations
Reinvigorated with fresh energy. Brings a wider musical palette to the table. Easy listening bangers up and down this thing. Welcome back! Big hugs. |
| 21 |  | Converge
Bloodmoon: I
Brodsky's artistic proclivities seem like the dominant driver here as this plays out like my favorite Cave In album that was never released. It brings all sorts of talent to the forefront without any one collaborator hogging the spotlight. The opening track is among my favorite tracks of the year. |
| 20 |  | Heiress
Distant Fires
Sometimes you just feel it. This is Isis and Rosetta energy without the urge to pretty things up. Textured rage. |
| 19 |  | Weedpecker
IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts
Sticky icky psychedelia. Weedpecker finds ways to grow more ambitious without sacrificing their origins. |
| 18 |  | Hail the Sun
New Age Filth
Almost dismissed this as pure Circa Survive worship, but it's catchy-as-fuck song writing eventually came to the forefront. Blast beats are employed that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard in this context. Memorable vocal performance. |
| 17 |  | Portal
Avow
It excited me and that makes me feel like a serial killer to admit. The limit of listenability while still conjuring something tangibly horrific. |
| 16 |  | Ad Nauseam
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
A brutal freak fest that never goes where you think it will. Dissonant weirdo riffs and unbelievable production. The low end wobbly bass is slimy as fuck. Not always in the mood but when it hits it hits powerfully. Worthy substitute for the lack of new Gorguts. |
| 15 |  | Moral Collapse
Moral Collapse
Imaginative and diverse progressive death metal. Saxophone and violin deployed tastefully. Despite it's ambitious experimental nature it manages to pack enough groove to make this far more bingeable than others of it's ilk. Very exciting debut that has me curious as to where they could go from here. |
| 14 |  | Kadavar and Elder
Eldovar - A Story of Darkness & Light
This was without a doubt the most profound grower of the year for me. I initially dismissed this as a pure Pink Floyd tribute, but over time I found moments trapped in my head to the point where I had to keep listening to dispel them. The dynamic between the two vocalists is in the Waters/Gilmour mold, where they compliment each other to fill this little musical universe with a multitude of characters. It is a charming progressive rock journey that clearly celebrates the two bands shared influences. It's lush and addictive. The opening track is pure fire. |
| 13 |  | Somnuri
Nefarious Wave
When Mastodon vacated their heavier sludge roots, a hole was left in the scene...for a few years. Somnuri explodes out from the sleeping giant's shadow on Nefarious wave with one of the more successful entries into the burgeoning Masto-core pantheon. It harkens back to the spiritual stampede of Remission without ever crossing the line into outright plagiarism. Nearly every track summons that infallible desire to bang your head. The slow chugging pace and vocal harmony on the title track are a highlight for me but there are no downers across it's slim run time. It may not be the most original sounding album in 2021 but god damn it's fucking fun. Sometimes that's all that matters. |
| 12 |  | Erdve
Savigaila
2021 has delivered a few of the heaviest albums I've ever heard. This one right here ranks among it's most savage. If these guys ever find a way to weave their atmospheric sections more seamlessly into the rest they may be capable of creating an aoty contender. That's not to say that the balance they achieve isn't impactful. It's ambient interludes imbue the heavier bits with weight and that stylistic contrast keeps the front to back experience dynamic and fresh. As it stands this rager is permanent gym fuel for ripping tendons and one of my favorite post metal hybrids of the year. |
| 11 |  | Stone Healer
Conquistador
Stumbled into this on a random blog post and suffered a devastating haymaker to the chin as a result. An eclectic array of things I dig greatly. Prog without overindulgence and grunge without seeming derivative. The riffs and beats are inventive and engaging. Darkly rooted in alt rock with some stoner and doom metal tendencies. After a bit of an adaptation period with the vocals it all comes together magnificently. This band has my attention. |
| 10 |  | Blindfolded and Led to the Woods
Nightmare Withdrawals
The melodic bits are sprinkled in at just the right frequency. The whole thing is nuanced and fresh while still holding true to genre foundations. It's a massive release that warrants more love. |
| 9 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Illusory Walls
The two tracks closing this record combine for an emotional hijacking of historic proportions. The band weaves post rock and prog into their emo-ish indie slurry to create something truly unique. Feel like if this had hit me in my Modest Mouse/Deathcab/Elliott Smith days it would've been transformational. Overflowing feels. A real 2021 vibe. |
| 8 |  | Monolord
Your Time to Shine
I'll be damned if these mother fuckers aren't getting better with each and every release. I really hope Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have bumped into a Monolord tune or two over the years; if only to confirm the soul deep truth that their genesis was a sonic quake that still reverberates outward to this day. This is quintessential modern stoner doom. Not overthinking this. Just yes. |
| 7 |  | Every Time I Die
Radical
Right here at number seven starts the run of albums I've debated placing in my top spot all year. I remember head banging alone in my room as a sweaty heap of 19 years old to "Off Broadway" on repeat. I have a history with ETID but wasn't fully indoctrinated into their brand of anthemic metalcore until Low Teens in 2016. Now here we fuckin go with Radical, which one-ups everything I knew about this band in every conceivable aspect. This is power distilled. It's an album that temporarily shakes loose that 19 year old kid I've unwittingly silenced to become a contributing adult member of society. I cannot understand how ETID made interesting palpitation-inducing breakdowns in 2021. It makes me want to throw a fuckin brick. "All This and War" is probably my favorite track but you cannot make a wrong choice here. Even the ballads drip with raw emotion.
Post-Mortem (1/22/22): A legend has passed on. ETID '98-'22 |
| 6 |  | Motorpsycho
Kingdom of Oblivion
I now severely regret using up my Sabbath bit on Monolord because it's equally applicable to Motorpsycho's Kingdom of Oblivion. Maybe that's 2021's stupid revelation for me...I really like Black Sabbath and bands that sound like Black Sabbath. Gold star commentary. Perhaps it's the multi-dimensional wormhole tear of genre invention that occurred from '70-'75 that I should harp on here. Monolord spoons the doomy chug soup of Master of Reality whereas Motorpsycho treads the jagged proggy terrain of Vol 4. and Sabotage. This band seemingly expels genius-tier sprawling progressive rock albums like it's a bodily function. They've been one of the most rewarding pandemic era musical dives. |
| 5 |  | King Buffalo
The Burden of Restlessness
King Buffalo harvest all of the frustration and sadness of the pandemic to craft it's unnerving soundtrack. The guitarist has leveled up on this one, perhaps drawing a bit of influence from Adam Jones of Tool. The riffs are inventive and catchy. Not a moment is wasted on this album and it's probably their most cohesive release yet. "Hebetation", "Loam", and "Silverfish" are certifiable set list staples for as long as this band lives. I can't confidently say this is my favorite release of theirs, as I've greatly enjoyed everything King Buffalo has ever put out, but this feels like some kind of high water mark. Bonus points for boasting the album cover of the year. |
| 4 |  | Papangu
Holoceno
One of the wildest debut albums I can remember. A King Crimson-esque hellscape of psychedelic sludge. Phenomenal musicianship paired with ambitious song craft. The unintelligible (to me) Portugese vocals bring Magma's linguistically unique zeuhl antics to mind. Feels as though some eldritch horror has awoken and I've mistakenly stumbled into it's lair. The great summoning of 2021. |
| 3 |  | Mastodon
Hushed and Grim
A staggering accomplishment for a band that has done no wrong in 20 years. I can't overstate this enough: Mastodon is THE Rosetta Stone band for me. They are my primary lens through which all wavelengths of light are passed through, coming out the other end warped and jaded for biased observation. Hushed and Grim brings the band into more serious territory without sacrificing one iota of their staple proggish rumble. Every era of their evolution rears up and flexes throughout it's 15 tracks. It's big and bold and sad and trippy as fuck. Brann's vocal ascension is at it's apex here. The three track run to close this album is among the greatest triple c-c-c-comboooo breaker they've strung together since Crack the Skye, their much acclaimed and widely accepted masterpiece. "Teardrinker" was unapologetically hot glue gunned into my cortex. "Sickle and Peace" is the summit of Mastodon's radio-friendly psych-centric gems. The creativity and hunger still lives. |
| 2 |  | LLNN
Unmaker
Bludgeon my skull into dust and let the universe reclaim my atoms. |
| 1 |  | Between the Buried and Me
Colors II
We live in a time where sequels and callbacks are done to death. Take your artistic medium of choice and witness the litany of hackneyed cash-grabs attempting to tug on your nostalgic heartstrings. On the boldly stated Colors II Between the Buried and Me buck the trend and deliver on the promise of following up an all-time classic. As a standalone this album is a gigantic progressive gymnastics routine packed to the absolute gills with instrumental mastery and compositional/genre fuckery, the likes of which we've rarely seen. Taken as another rainbow block of molded clay to be affixed onto their 2007 construction, what we have is a balls-to-the-white-walls two part epic that reframes their entire sprawling discography. No matter where you lie along the prog metal appreciation spectrum - this deserves your ears, if only as a reference point for what's possible. |
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