Pete Woods (Editor) – Top 20 

2021 the new normal? If its bastard predecessor was summed up by the word “despair” this one would have been “uncertainty” and we are far from back to what can be considered normal with Covid very much still around and hanging over us like an airborne assassin. Without going into the politics and divisions created and simply focussing on the music we can be thankful of the return of live shows even with the huge amount of precariousness going on with them. I am sure all our writers and readers, the bands, the venues, the roadcrews and everyone working behind the scenes will agree it was a cathartic release going back to gigs and festivals again this year. Some went all out, others chose carefully what we would attend but the time spent watching bands will be the most treasured moments of 2021 for many of us. As far as recorded output was concerned, things never slowed down for a second and it has been a great year of creativity with some fantastic albums delivered. I think our choices here, in all their diversity will reflect this and of course these are personal picks, there are no right or wrong answers. Cast your eyes down these lists, feel free to agree or disagree but hopefully you may discover something new and take that away from this yearly ritual. The future is very much unwritten but as we move into 2022, hopefully there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Wherever you are reading this, keep listening and stay safe.

1: Hanternoz – Au Fleuve De Loire (Antiq)
Hitherto a completely unknown entity to me. This French pagan, folkloric black metal act combined stirring and evocative music with a rich historical backdrop of rebellion. Perfectly melding traditionalism and bombastic forward-thinking fervour, this dip into the Loire was nothing short of a musical baptism.

2: Aorlhac – Pierres Brulees (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
This all-out assault of French fury made it a Gallic battle for the top spot this year. Unleashing volcanic wrath and all-consuming larva, Aorlhac’s intense and fiery evisceration scorched all it touched after eruption, leaving nothing but a pile of ash in its wake.

3: Helheim – WoduridaR (Dark Essence)
A remarkable album as anticipated. These Norse Vikings deliver an album of passionate, progressive music. Fusing extremity with absolutely mesmerising melodies along with stirring vocal croons and growls, WoduridaR is a wild ride of breath-taking Skaldic poeticism.

4: Voices – Breaking The Trauma Bond (Church Road Records)
A veritable melting-pot of ideas, London devils Voices continue to push the bounds of convention and musical genre classification. Equally terrifying and sublimely haunting this is like a walk through a decaying city of the mind, mutating every single step of the way.

5: Fluisteraars – Gegrepen Door De Geest Der Zielsontluiking (Eisenwald)
Completely catching off guard this Dutch act have long shown promise but here come of age with a short but mind-numbing head-trip of an album. Psychedelic blackness and a wild vocal performance bordering on the deranged make this unfold like a musical acid western leaving the listener equally stupefied and breathless by conclusion.

6: Jours Pâles – Eclosion (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
A multinational affair rising from the remnants of Asphodèle and including Aorlhac, Uada, and ex Shining members, Eclosion is a poetic debut bordering between post atmospheric black metal and post punk. Like the name of its innovator this one left me Spellbound.

7: Gary Numan – Intruder (BMG)
Still incredibly relevant with work spanning over 4 decades, Gary Numan remains a visionary, dystopian, futuristic pioneer of electronic music and that’s before we even get to his unique vocal stance. This was always going to be a welcome Intruder as far as my speakers are concerned.

8: Dread Sovereign – Alchemical Warfare (Metal Blade)
Not so much a twilight but a triumph of the gods here and sticking to my list since way back in January. Alan Averill and cohorts have forged molten steel and the galloping bravado of true epic metal here. Hail, worship, kill!

9: Altarage – Succumb (Season Of Mist)
An absolutely overwhelming slab of extremity from these mysterious Spaniards. Having seriously threatened over 3 previous albums Succumb is the ultimate plummet into the abyss and that’s before you even get to the 21-minute closing track. Hell on earth in musical form.

10: The Ruins Of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires (Van Records)
An epic and immersive voyage spanning over 70-minutes. Alexander von Meilenwald’s musical universe may not be the easiest to penetrate but its certainly one that’s going to have you tripping the light fantastic whilst navigating through its labyrinthine passageways.

11: Borgne – Temps Morts (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
12: Dordeduh – Har (Prophecy)
13: Ministry – Moral Hygiene (Nuclear Blast)
14: Aborym – Hostile (Dead Seed Productions)
15: Goatpsalm & Horthodox – Ash (Aesthetic Death)
16: Alkerdeel – Slonk (Consouling Sounds)
17: Code – Flyblown Prince (Dark Essence)
18: Hypocrisy – Worship (Nuclear Blast)
19: Mork – Katedralen (Peaceville)
20: Valdaudr – Drapsdalen (Soulseller Records)

Andy Barker – Top 20

1: Frozen Crown – Winterbane (Scarlet Records)
“Favourite Italian Power Metal Band” is a weighty title for me as there have been so many
great Italian Power Metal bands, but after following 2019’s fabulous Crowned In Frost with this new one, Frozen Crown have certainly earned that personal accolade.

2: Helloween – Helloween (Nuclear Blast)
I was very sceptical that welcoming Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen back into the Helloween fold would reinvigorate this iconic band, but I was totally wrong – This is probably the best Helloween album for 20 years and it gets even better with every listen.

3: Ad Infinitum – Chapter II: Legacy (Napalm)
This band’s 2020 debut immediately launched them towards the top of the Symphonic Metal
spectrum and they’ve wasted no time in launching this new opus to keep them there effortlessly.

4: Eternity’s End – Embers Of War (Prosthetic)
My biggest surprise of the year! Technical, energetic, intricate, powerful and memorable,
Blending old and new perfectly and balancing Prog with Speed effortlessly.

5: Beast In Black – Dark Connection (Nuclear Blast)
Further Cementing their status as a unique force, making any comparisons to the fading
fortunes of Battle Beast a distant memory.

6: Manimal – Armageddon (AFM)
Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Whatever Metal – genres are irrelevant when this is such a damn fine album.

7: The Vintage Caravan – Monuments (Napalm)
Still the cream of the Retro Metal class, this three piece always deliver.

8: Evergrey – Escape Of The Phoenix (AFM)
Experience and class exuding from every pore, Evergrey once again prove themselves worthy of their very own genre.

9: Primitai – Violence From The Skies (Rock Of Angels)
One of the best Heavy/Power/Melodic Metal bands around at the moment – and they’re
British!

10: Korpiklaani – Jylha (Nuclear Blast)
The Folk Metal veterans reel in the accordion a little, elevate the violin and deliver one of their best albums in years

11: The Quill – Earthrise (Metalville)
12: Draconicon – Dark Side of Magic (Beyond The Storm)
13: Phantom Elite – Titanium (Frontiers)
14: Esa Holopainen – Silver Lake (Nuclear Blast)
15: Blazon Stone – Damnation (Stormspell)
16: Brainstorm – Wall Of Skulls (AFM)
17: Band Of Spice – By The Corner Of Tomorrow (Scarlet)
18: White Void – Anti (Nuclear Blast)
19: The Dead Daisies – Holy Ground (Steamhammer)
20: Laurenne/Louhimo – The Reckoning (Frontiers)

Andrew Doherty – Top 20 

1: Fluisteraars – Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking (Eisenwald)
Imaginative, intense and psychologically disturbing black metal from the Netherlands, capped off by the spine-chillingly atmospheric 20 minute drama of “Verscheuring in de Schemering”. Mind-blowing.

2: Gary Numan – Intruder (BMG).
Dark, electronic and eastern-sounding vibes make this an irresistibly hypnotising and exotic mix from an old master.

3: Diablo Swing Orchestra – Swagger and Stroll Down the Rabbit Hole (Candlelight)
Riotous, pompous, theatrical, eccentric, silky, moody, joyous, accomplished and the work of 30 assorted musicians, Diablo Swing Orchestra dazzle with heavy orchestral jazz swing and other styles besides. Utterly original.

4: Loch Vostok – Opus Ferox – The Great Escape (ViciSolum)
Big sounds and dark metal do not exclude the possibility of melody and catchiness, as Loch Vostok prove once again on this dramatic monster of an album.

5: A Dying Planet – When The Skies Are Grey (Lifeforce)
Silky technical structures meet emotively power progressive passages and transport us through subtle mood transformations to higher planes. The system may be broken, to cite a theme of the album, but A Dying Planet’s ability to hypnotise listeners with their music certainly isn’t.

6: Thermohaline – Maelström (Onism Productions)
A black progressive metal album shaped with extreme imagination, “Maelström” is like walking through a storm at night and having everything including the kitchen sink thrown at you.

7: Hypocrisy – Worship (Nuclear Blast)
Using both their vintage and more modern styles across this album, Hypocrisy press home their cynical messages. As a long-standing follower of this band, I revelled in the familiar epic passages, and dystopian-sounding dark metal with lingering hooks.

8: Fyrnask – VII – Kenoma (Van Records)
Mix the black metal ambiance of Dark Fortress and Farsot, add large dosages of industrial fear, terror, mystical obscurity and post-metal gloom, and the result is a memorably atmospheric and spine-chilling creation from Fyrnask.

9: clayhands – Is This Yes? (Birds Robe Records)
Instrumental post-rock albums are invariably disappointing, I’ve found, but this one from Australia’s clayhands is not like that. Never self-indulgent or over-earnest, clayhands take us on a dreamy, dark and evocative journey which is a pleasure to listen to and imbibe.

10: Thy Catafalque – Vadak (Season of Mist)
Take a trip to outer space and back via Hungary. This latest opus by Tamás Katai takes us on another weird and wonderful dream like adventure. Enjoy the colours. Enjoy the ride.

11: Grey Aura – Zwart Vierkant (Onism Productions)
12: Jarun – Rok Spokojnego Słońca (Godz ov War)
13: Erdve – Savigaila (Season of Mist)
14: Utopia – Stalker (APF Records)
15: Voices – Breaking the Trauma Bond (Church Road Records)
16: Chaos over Cosmos – The Silver Lining Between the Stars (self-released)
17: Astrakhan – Slow Ride Towards Death (Black Lodge)
18: Papangu – Holoceno (Repose Records)
19: Enforced – Kill Grid (Century Media)
20: The Amenta – Revelator (Debemur Morti)

Chris Davison – Top 20

1: Carcass – Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast)
Oh. My. God. THIS is the Carcass album that I’d been waiting for. Necroticism is my favourite album of all time. I’ve been waiting for a record – any record – that could at least stand in its shadow. “Torn Arteries” is that piece of work. Melding the best from all of Carcass’ genre-defining eras, this is the sound of a band who have really got back into their stride. Sat in my mind as their second-best album of all time, this eclipsed all other releases in the same 12 months.

2: The Crown – Royal Destroyer (Metal Blade)
The Swedish Kings have produced their best album since their magnum opus, “Deathrace King”. It’s all there – the impressively frantic thrash-death, the none-more rock attitude and the drag-racing style. Are The Crown one of the most criminally under rated bands of all time? Damn straight. The Motorhead of death-thrash have just released their own Overkill. Why aren’t you all over this? In any other year, this would have won the quarter mile by ten seconds, but…

3: Count Raven – The Sixth Storm (Ihate Records)
Awwwwwwwwwwww yeah. Dim the lights, get the beers out of the fridge and get ready for another utterly peerless release of classic rock-inflected doom. Featuring the most Ozzy vocals in the world, (even out-Ozzying Ozzy these days), the long wait was worth it. Pristine platinum quality.

4: Memoriam – To The End (Reaper Productions)
The bastard children of Benediction and Bolt Thrower returned with this, a stripped down return to form. With a battering artillery of shell-shocking death metal, Memoriam managed to sound both timeless and classy while unleashing their angriest release to date.

5: King of Asgard – Svartidr (Troll Music)
Probably the best “Viking” band out there today. Melding the catchiness of their earlier material with the dark folk influences of their later works, Svartidr was one of the massive albums of the year.

6: Dread Sovereign – Alchemical Warfare (Metal Blade)
An all star line up performing what sounds like classic Venom, if classic Venom knew more than four chords. A magical soundscape of truly epic proportions.

7: Exodus – Persona Non Grata (Nuclear Blast)
After what feels like a lifetime, Zetro and co. come back with an album that’s their best since the monumental “Tempo of the Damned”. Showing would-be thrash kids what real thrash sounds like, Exodus have reclaimed their crown as the best damned thrash band around.

8: Daemonicus – Eschaton (Black Lion Records)
Addictive extreme metal. Habit forming and hookier than a lorry full of fishing hooks crashing into a Velcro factory.

9: Netherbird – Arete (Eisenwald)
Moody, atmospheric and darker than a prairie dog’s bunghole on a moonless night. Netherbird show that even with a tremendous line up, they are more than the sum of their parts.

10: Bloodphemy – Bloodsacrifice (Emanzipation Productions)
Dutch oldschoolers that produced one of the growers of the year. While I liked it at the time, I’ve listened to this one a lot – and it seems to give something fresh every time. Superb.

11: Necrofier – Prophecies of Eternal Darkness (Season of Mist)
12: Khemmis – Deceiver (Nuclear Blast)
13: Darkthrone – Eternal Hails (Peaceville)
14: Atrae Billis -Apexapien (20 Buck Spin)
15: Death Swarm – Forward into Oblivion (Petrichor)
16: Grief Collector – En Delirium (Petrichor)
17: Thronehammer – Incantation Rites (Supreme Chaos Records)
18: Heads for the Dead – Into the Red (Transcending Obscurity)
19: Hell-Born – Natas Liah (Odium Records)
20: Asphyx – Necroceros (Century Media)

Doogz – Top 20

1: Spiritbox – Eternal Blue (Pale Chord)
Streamlining the experimentation of their earlier EP and singles into more concise songs, Spiritbox have properly honed their craft, producing an astonishing progressive blend of djent, shoegaze and metalcore. Perfect.

2: Voices – Breaking The Trauma Bond (Church Road Records)
Some of the most outlandish avantgarde black and death metal influences are successfully mixed with HUGE catchy hooks here, all wrapped up in a package that is massively cinematic in scope.

3: Noctule – Wretched Abyss (Church Road Records)
Skyrim themed post-black metal solo project from Svalbard leader Serena Cherry. Resplendent with rich, layered melody guitar tones juxtaposed against urgent reverb-drenched vocals. Great stuff, can’t wait to see it performed live in 2022!

4: First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle (Unique Leader)
In the bloated world of showboating neoclassical tech-death bands, First Fragment can stand tall as they’ve reigned in much of the muso excess and composed ACTUAL songs, which are all rather good!

5: Dordeduh – Har (Prophecy)
Taking their post Negura Bunget endeavours further, Hupogrammos and Sol Faur hit peak-prog on their long awaited atmospheric sophomore album.

6: Stortregn – Impermanence (Artisan Era)
Blackened tech-death with a delightful wealth of solid heavy riffage, from this seasoned Swiss quintet.

7: Forhist – Forhist (Debemur Morti)
A cold and raw addition to Vindsvals oeuvre, similar in atmospherics to Blut Aus Nords “Memoria Vetusta” trilogy, and thankfully devoid of the cod-avantgarde posturing that has become de-rigueur in some corners of modern black metal.

8: Rivers Of Nihil – The Work (Metal Blade)
Wider in scope and texture than any of its predecessors, with more clean vocals and less dependence on chunky riffage. A little self-indulgent in places, “The Work” nonetheless firmly cements Rivers Of Nihil position as a leader in progressive death metal.

9: Necronautical – Slain In The Spirit (Candlelight)
Fantastic exploration of orchestral sounds against tremelo picked riffage, which simultaneously moves black metal forward whilst paying homage to classic soundscapes.

10: Ison – Aurora (Avantgarde)
A strangely uplifting though doom laden 70 minutes, saturated with spacey atmospherics. An abstract lesson in modern, understated gothic splendour.

11: Negura Bunget – Zău (Prophecy)
12: Maybeshewill – No Feeling Is Final (Robot Needs Home)
13: Unto Others – Strength (Roadrunner)
14: Khemmis – Deceiver (Nuclear Blast)
15: Pupil Slicer – Mirrors (Prosthetic)
16: Dvne – Etemen Ænka (Metal Blade)
17: Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Relapse)
18: Light The Torch – You Will Be the Death of Me (Nuclear Blast)
19: Spire – Temple Of Khronos (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
20: Carcass – Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast)

Fraggle – Top 20

1: Lock Up – The Dregs Of Hades (Listenable)
True grindcore power. Lock Up, unleash a barrage of sonic artillery strikes which smash home with devastating effects. The dual vocal approach with a phenomenal instrumental section locking it all together caps 2021 in style, showing that the brief flicker of hope we had was merely an illusion and we are still stuck in the murky depths of the underworld.

2: Boss Keloid – Family The Smiling Thrush (Ripple Music)
Sludge? Doom? Prog? Avant-Garde? Why not all! Boss Keloid continues to evolve their sound, going from strength to strength with their mind melting compositions, phenomenal sounds and often inspiring yet nonsensical lyrics. Encompassing sounds from across their back catalogue, ‘Family The Smiling Thrush’ is the definitive Boss Keloid experience.

3: Todd La Torre – Rejoice In The Suffering (Rat Pak)
Queensryche frontman Todd La Torre displays just why he is one of the best in the business with this blistering release. Mixing elements of pure heavy metal and various rock and prog edges musically, capped by a stunning vocal display, this is one hell of a debut solo effort which demonstrates the commanding power and presence Todd has.

4: Teramaze – And The Beauty They Perceive (Wells Music)
Aussie Prog metal four-piece Teramaze continue to amaze with their second full length release of 2021 and third since 2020. The work rate is only matched by the display of musicianship on display as technical playing and intricate compositions work hand in hand with melody and accessibility as Teramaze prove you don’t have to write lengthy tracks with an armada of polyrhythmic shifts and exotic scales to deliver progressive metal.

5: Night Flight Orchestra – Aeromantic II (Nuclear Blast)
Love them or hate them, there is something about Night Flight Orchestra which catches your attention. The 80s AOR vibes are an excellent party soundtrack, loaded with great dancing grooves, catchy vocal hooks and plenty of tasty synth licks which all have the express purpose of making you enjoy yourself.

6: Angelus Apatrida – Angelus Apatrida (Century Media)
Spanish thrash juggernaut Angelus Apatrida delivers a no-nonsense slab of aggressive riffs with their self-titled release. Surging gallops, powerful and thundering chugs, ferocious vocal snarls and a scathing take on the state of society all create the best thrash release of 2021.

7: Pestilence – Exitivm (Agonia)
A twisted cacophony of uncompromising force and intensity is only the beginning of where you would start when describing this release. The legendary Pestilence are in a league of their own, shunning most of the modern takes on the death metal genre and sticking with their approach, one which has served them well over the past few decades. “Exitivm” is a fine example of technically minded death metal in its rawest form.

8: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unleashed (Metal Blade)
The definition of consistency in Death Metal. Cannibal Corpse always deliver the goods when asked and Violence Unleashed is a continuation of high-quality death metal. Pummelling blasts, Corpsegrinder’s mighty roars and the buzzing guitar and bass do not let up and by the end of this album, you feel like you’ve gone 12 rounds with an angry eldritch abomination with a thing for pugilism.

9: Bonded – Into Blackness (Century Media)
Teutonic thrash is always a joy and Bonded have helped spread this joy with their hard hitting second album “Into Blackness”. The five piece are a formidable force and from the opening of “The Arsonist” into “Watch (While The World Burns)” to the closing “The Eyes Of Madness”, we get a full on thrash attack.

10: Crypta – Echoes Of The Soul (Napalm)
With Fernanda and Luana’s exit from Nervosa, this Trans-Atlantic (Brazil and Netherlands) four piece quickly got to work and the result; a stunning debut release. Loaded with killer hooks, stunning lead work and a powerful rhythm section, all spearheaded by Fernanda’s intense vocals, Crypta are a band to watch out for in the coming years!

11: A Pale Horse Named Death – Infernum In Terra (Long Branch Records)
12: Crystal Viper – The Cult (Listenable)
13: Evile – Hell Unleashed (Napalm)
14: Aborted – ManiaCult (Century Media)
15: At The Gates – The Nightmare Of Being (Century Media)
16: Act Of Denial – Negative (Crusader)
17: Nervosa – Perpetual Chaos (Napalm)
18: Iron Maiden – Senjutsu (Parlophone)
19: Ministry – Moral Hygiene (Nuclear Blast)
20: Dream Theater – A View From The Top Of The World (InsideOut)

Gizmo – Top 20

1: Skepticism – Companion (Svart)
This is their Empire, their land. So deep and rich and dark that the air pulses as they step slowly through its folds. Ominous but only because I am in the presence of majesty.

2: Heathen Deity – True English Black Metal (Cult Never Dies)
If you are fan of UKBM it’s essential. Does exactly what it says in the tin, and more. Imposing, righteously commanding, atmospheric and truly memorable.

3: Portal – Avow (Profound Lore)
Insane. Mind breaking. If Ion was an unrecognisable screeching tantrum, this is this is the blind idiot god itself.

4: Lamp Of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery (S/R)
They progress, they confound, they savagebyou and make you think. Black metal art in its highest form.

5: Hallowed Butchery – Deathsongs (Hymnals From The Church Of The Final Pilgrimage) (Aesthetic Death).
‘Not everything lives. However, everything that does live will surely die’. There are no excuses not to live.

6: Ninkharsag – The Dread March Of Solemn Gods (Vendetta)
Fans of early Emperor and Dissection should adore this, but so should so many others. This is the sound of a band spreading great black wings and pursuing their own currents amidst the storm that created them. Magnificent.

7: Kanonfieber – Menschenmuhl (Noisebringer)
War is hell, and Kanonenfieber paint this picture with remarkable dexterity and intelligence, but most of all with heart and guts.

8: Mork – Katedralen (Peaceville)
There is that wonderful balance of exploring new paths whilst keeping firmly to the sound and the roots of the core presence of Mork. So successful is this journey that I can’t help feeling this is their best album yet.

9: Dream Troll – Realm Of The Tormentor (S/R)
Not a duff track, not a song without a huge hook. This is music to make you smile and want to have a drink and a dance with your mates. There’s surely room for that in all our lives.

10: Herzel – Le Dernier Rampart (Gates Of Hell)
Blazing, melodic epic heavy metal from France with great hooks and fantastic passion. Pure metal.

11: Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Century Media)
12: And Now The Owls Are Smiling – Dirges (Clobber)
13: Bonehunter – Dark Blood Reincarnation System (Hell’s Headbangers)
14: Wynter Myst – Frore (Dominance Of Darkness)
15: QRIXKUOR – Poison Palinopsia (Dark Descent)
16: Contemplation – Contemplation (S/R)
17: Obsequial Joy – Show My Mercy (Talheim)
18: Midnight Odyssey – Biolume Pt2: The Golden Orb (I, Voidhanger)
19: Cerebral Rot – Excretion Of Mortality (20 Buck spin)
20: Iron Lizards – Hungry For Action (The Sign)

Martin Harris – Top 20 

1: Anomalie – Tranceformation (AOP Records)
Unbelievable fourth album by this Austrian act, their sweeping, atmospheric black metal sonic landscapes took my breath away.

2: Desaster – Churches Without Saints (Metal Blade Records)
You know what you’re getting with Desaster, don’t you… well generally yes but their latest masterpiece has something ingeniously different about it too, saturated with causticity but possessing a bit of experimentation too.

3: Abstract Void – Wishdream (Flowing Downward)
I chanced across this Italian band on my Bandcamp trawls and was blown away with its genuinely unique approach of hybridising blackgaze and synthwave.

4: Archspire – Bleed The Future (Season Of Mist Records)
This release hit my top ten at the last minute, and as expected the Canadian blurring nihilists have done it again, their technical whirlwind wizardry is fused to insane vocals and utter obliterating power.

5: Waldgeflüster – Dahoam (AOP Records)
Their name may translate as forest whisperings but there is nothing whispering about this German act’s music, aside of their subtleties. This seventh album is awash with blackened rage yet possesses spellbinding atmosphere and musicality.

6: 1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet (Napalm Records)
War may be the theme from Ukrainian band 1914 but their immersive epic constructions are masterful, emotive and drenched in power.

7: Abolishment Of Flesh – In The Presence Of Darkness (Unholy Anarchy Records)
Third album from this US act who hadn’t crossed my path until this album, their inherent infectious brutality is crammed with vicious melody.

8: Necroticgorebeast – Human Deviance Galore (Comatose Music)
A release coming from Comatose means only one thing as this pulverising outfit subjects you to punishing rhythms, devastating slams and a monstrosity that is unparalleled.

9: Perturbator – Lustful Sacraments (Blood Music)
This album has been a long time coming since as the shift to a darker industrial toning has been perfectly married to the synthwave we all love about this band.

10: Volniir – All Hope Abandon (Church Of Eradication)
UK black metal of the highest order, an album saturated in maliciousness yet coveting catchiness in equal measure for a hostile yet melodic release.

11: Beast In Black – Dark Connection (Nuclear Blast Records)
12: Nekromantheon – The Visions Of Trismegistos (Indie Recordings)
13: Korpse – Insufferable Violence (Unique Leader Records)
14: Tomb – Rites Of Forlorn Interment (Pathologically Explicit Recordings)
15: Thyrfing – Vanagandr (Despotz Records)
16: Orden Ogan – Final Days (AFM Records)
17: Evile – Hell Unleashed (Napalm Records)
18: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade Records)
19: Exodus – Persona Non Grata (Nuclear Blast Records)
20: Carcass – Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast Records)

Matt Mason – Top 20 

1: Hulder – Godlustering: Hymns Of A Forlorn Peasantry (Iron Bonehead)
For an album to come out in January and still be on my top spot of 2021 shows how good this record really is. A one woman Black Metal powerhouse- a dark and multi textured journey into modern black metal, a glorious mix of brutality and melody. This album is a backwards glance of all the classic Blackness that precedes it whilst also striding triumphantly into a new moss-covered future clutching a fuck off big sword and a tonne of attitude.

2: Turnstile – Glow On (Roadrunner)
I had no clue about Turnstile before I chanced upon this album. I have since checked out their past releases and have enjoyed them. It is Glow On with its mix of Shelter/Better Than A Thousand hardcore stylings with fantastic pop melodies and warm hip hop production that has kept this in my ears and on my miming lips for the last few months. Absolute banger as the kids say.

3: Worm – Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin)
This album takes all the best bits from first wave black metal (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate et al) modern post black metal, death metal, Funeral Doom and sludge, gets em in an alligator death roll, leaves em under the floating roots of a Cypress tree until their rotting corpses meld together into a stinking , putrid gumbo. That deliciously rancid stew is called Worm. We all need a taste.

4: Amyl and the Sniffers –Comfort to Me (B2B records)
Amyl and the Sniffers are the sound of a great night out at the Espie in Melbourne. They are a pub punk band with riffs to jig about to and a message that makes a lot of sense to anyone that listens. Punk can be fun and have a great message in 2021. “If they don’t like you as you are just ignore the cunt!”

5: Carcass – Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast)
I have always been a bit lukewarm when it came to Carcass. Loved a few tracks from all the albums but never really got too excited (heresy I hear you say). It was to my utter surprise that Torn Arteries landed with such a thunk in my back. Killer riffs and razor-sharp wit with plenty of groove and even some hand claps! What’s not to love?

6: Green Lung – Black Harvest (Svart Records)
Like stepping back in time with Herne the Hunter except this time he has an Orange amp dialled to ten. Retro grooves sit amongst earthy witchy vibes. This is what they have hinted at for a few years. Wonderful album.

7: Send More Paramedics – The Final Feast (S/R)
Send More Paramedics returned for a swansong. An album and a handful of dates and then they returned to the grave. The ferocity and riffs are still there – if anything they sound more hooky than in the old days. Each track is a Molotov cocktail to any moshpit. I know I was there in Leeds for one of the shows.

8: Tower – Shock To The System (Cruz Del Sur Music)
The fact that I only heard this for the first time on Friday 4th December and it has rocketed into my top 10 of the year says it all. Dio meets Warlock whilst a bar room brawl occurs somewhere in Brooklyn. Sarabeth Linden’s vocals are pure Heavy Rock n Roll! It’s 1985 and I feel alive!

9: Boss Keloid – Family The Smiling Thrush (Ripple Music)
Mixing Prog with psych, stoner with heavy rock this album grabs you and holds you in a velvet glove with a spiked wristband. Just sooooooo groovy!

10: Wildhearts – 21st Century Love songs (Graphite)
I never really got people’s obsession with the Wildhearts. Saw them a couple of times and enjoyed them. Then I saw them at Bloodstock and summat clicked. The new album came out the following week and I fell in love with its driving anthems and ballsy attitude. It looks like this may be their last and if so, they went out on a high.

11: Elimination – Echoes of the Abyss (S/R)
12: Hooded Menace – The Tritonous Bell (Season Of Mist)
13: Sarke – Allsighr (Soulseller Records)
14: Ghost Bath – Self Loather (Nuclear Blast)
15: Bongzilla – Weedsconsin (Heavy Psych Sounds)
16: Pupil Slicer – Mirrors (Prosthetic Records)
17: Converge / Chelsea Wolfe – Blood Moon (Epitaph)
18: Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-entry (Surviving Sounds)
19: Pando – Rites (Aesthetic Death)
20: Gravesend – Methods of Human Disposal (20 Buck Spin)

Paul Maddison – Top 20 

1: Tentation – Le Berceau Des Dieux (Gates of Hell)
French Heavy Metal, everything you could want from the genre. Riffs, solos, metal brotherhood. Some may be put off with native language vocals, but it’s a near perfect album with a stunning album cover.

2: Lucifer’s Hammer – The Trip (High Roller)
South American Heavy Metal, with numerous releases behind them, they definitely know their craft well. I knew this would be good before I heard it!

3: Wheel – The Passage of Time (Cruz Del Sur)
Epic German Doom, if you like Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and Sorcerer, then you are in good company. Each track is silky smooth and immerses the listener.

4: Fortress – Don’t Spare the Wicked (High Roller)
US heavy metal, not to be confused with the many bands of the same name. Awesome metal in the vein of Dio and other respected metal gods.

5: Inhuman Condition – Rat God (Listenable Insanity)
Florida death metal featuring ex-members of Death and Massacre. The two aforementioned bands are the perfect comparable for this awesome classic death metal romp.

6: Seven Sisters – Shadow of a Fallen Start Pt 1. (Dissonance)
London heavy metal band come into their own and smash heavy metal melody out of the park. A game changer for their career thus far which has travelled well.

7: Hitten – Triumph & Tragedy (High Roller)
Spain’s masters of melodic heavy metal return showcasing their vast ability to keep you entertained, happy and in full tune.

8: Ninkharsag – The Dread March of Solem Gods (Nightwrath Music/Vendetta)
UK black metal, in the vein of Dissection and some Emperor, you know the drill. Epic…as is the artwork. Top class all the way.

9: Herzel – Le Dernier Rempart (Gates of Hell)
My second French speaking heavy metal band. Traditional, but more underground than the other band I mentioned. These have already gained a cult underground following and continue to follow the craft of the likes of Manilla Road, Dark Forest and Omen.

10: Dvne – Etemen Ænka (Metal Blade)
An immersive mixed bag of delights here. Progressive, dark, sludge, post-metal are all contributing tags you could lay down to this release. It is an inclusive listen, requiring full isolation to really appreciate the sonic audio mastery that it bestows.

11: Küenring – Neon Nights (Underground Power)
12: Wraith – Undo The Chains (Redefining Darkness)
13: Pink Cigs – Pink Cigs (Heavy Psych Sounds)
14: Wanton Attack – Wanton Attack (No Remorse)
15: Sweet Crisis – Tricks On My Mind (Headline Records)
16: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade)
17: Reaper – The Atonality of Flesh (Iron Bonehead)
18: The Crown – Royal Destroyer (Metal Blade)
19: Heathen Deity – True English Black Metal (Cult Never Dies)
20: Urne – Serpent & Spirit (Candlelight)

Phil Pountney – Top 20

1: Archgoat – Worship The Eternal Darkness (Debemur Morti)
Another outstanding release from the Finnish black metal overlords and one not to be missed if you have even a passing interest in raw and violent black metal. One word of warning though, strap yourself in, it’s a fight of colossal and gladiatorial proportions.

2: Whitechapel – Kin (Metal Blade)
If you aren’t usually sitting in the death/metal core camp, put your boots on and bring your tent, you are going to need it. If you are already a fan of the genre then sit back, turn it up to eleven and enjoy. This is one not to be missed, a true beauty and the beast.

3: Blood Red Throne – Imperial Congregation (Nuclear Blast)
Yet again, Blood Red Throne have delivered an absolute masterclass in aggression and power in amongst complex and rhythmic melodies. This is now album number ten in their mighty twenty-three-year existence, and I truly am excited to see what the next twenty-three years have to offer from these Norwegians

4: Batushka – Carju Niebiesnyj (Witching Hour Productions)
This is impressive and batters its way from start to finish. There are the expected blast beats scattered throughout the tracks and also guttural roars and haunting shrieks a plenty, all overladen by strategically placed chanting in order to gain as much atmospheric tension as possible. This is more of a thinking album than previously seen from Batushka, but that doesn’t deplete from the aggression and depth on show here

5: Baest – Necro Sapiens (Century Media)
If the previous offering from Baest, ‘Veneum’, was a high speed waltzer at the local fairground, then ‘Necro Sapiens’ is the guy who has just come up behind your waltzer car and has given you another massive, no holds barred, hold onto your lunch, spin into next week

6: Wolves Of Perdition – Ferocious Blasphemic Warfare (Folter Records)
This is raw, unapologetic, satanic black metal at its finest. It delivers uncompromising and fierce black arts which will penetrate your very soul and leave you hungry for more. Light the candles, set the incense going and enjoy!

7: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade Records)
Fifteen albums in and the death metal lords are back with a truly rampant and thundering offering, one which only solidifies and cements their crowns firmly to the skulls as kings of the death metal universe. This is as fresh and relevant as the day they burst onto the scene with eaten back to life, and this may even put some the more flagship Cannibal Corpse releases into the shadows

8: Mork – Katedralen (Peaceville Records)
Eriksen is a one-man black metal curator who conjures up albums with technical ability and ferocity and ‘Katedralen’ is no different. The intricacy and passion overflows from the perimeters of this release and the intensity which is generated is one to make you sit up and take note. If Mork are not on your black metal radar, then you need to sack your sonar operator

9: Exodus – Persona Non Grata (Nuclear Blast)
Thrash kings, Exodus, are back in town and they have come to deliver with latest opus ‘Persona Non Grata’. Exodus never stray too far from their 80’s American thrash roots and although there is a sprinkling of modernity to the album, ‘Persona Non Grata’ summons up a perfect display of all out fierce, battering and violent thrash from Holt et al. a true experience that everyone should be a part of

10: Epica – Omega (Nuclear Blast)
This is symphonic epic metal on a different level. The experience and journey are grandiose and decadent with the twists and turns that the tracks open you up to being flawless and majestic. Epica seem to get better and better with each album they deliver, this is one to light the candles to darken the room and immerse yourself in the world of Epica. This will envelop you and then leave you begging for more

11: Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Relapse Records)
12: Ruins Of Beverast – The Thule Grimoires (Van Records)
13: Hypocrisy – Worship (Nuclear Blast)
14: Powerwolf – Call Of The Wild (Napalm Records)
15: Memoriam – To The End (Reaper Entertainment)
16: Sirenia – Riddles, Ruins And Revelations (Napalm Records)
17: Asphyx – Necroceros (Century Media)
18: Moonspell – Hermitage (Napalm Records)
19: Necronautical – Slain In The Spirit (Candlelight/Spinefarm Records)
20: Heathen Deity – True English Black Metal (Cult Never Dies)

George Caley – Top 20 

1: Green Lung – Black Harvest (Svart Records)
I would honestly say that Green Lung are now one of my favourite bands and Black Harvest serves only to build upon an already bursting up and coming energy. If you like Hammer Horror, Metal and the Occult then you will not want to miss Green Lung, if you haven’t already joined the cult then we will welcome you, join us, join us!

2: Archspire – Bleed The Future (Season Of Mist)
Bleed The Future retains the mental ethos of Archspire whilst also packaging the music in a digestible format, yet still one that is full of bombastic delivery. It also builds upon the band’s 2017 album Relentless Mutation and overall the whole package is Tech bliss, and furthermore Tech which I feel can be appreciated by even the most trve of Death Metal fans.

3: Iron Maiden – Senjutsu (Parlophone)
Senjutsu proves to be more of the same modern Maiden, Prog influence Metal madness. There is a twist however, the album really feels a lot less structured and it really feels like a collection of songs rather than some overarching concept like The Book Of Souls of Seventh Son. It’s different and has its own charm to it. If you like modern Maiden then it’s certainly going to be a winner and Maiden still rule forevermore.

4: KK’s Priest – Sermons Of The Sinner (EX1 Records)
When I first heard Sermons Of The Sinner I went in with a sort of cringy approach that this wasn’t going to be very good, however clearly I shouldn’t have been so hasty to dismiss. Sermons is honestly a full Metal tour de force full of catchy anthems and crushing Priest styled thunder, awesome all round and not one to be left aside. This is what those Ripper era albums should have been.

5: SnailMageddon – Swansong For A Snail (Self-Released)
A Symphonic Black Metal gem. Full of Woodland themes and conceptual loveliness akin to Comfy Synth SnailMageddon have certainly left an impression. This is a blinding display of one man Black Metal talent for fans of general fun and silliness, and I mean that in the nicest way. Not since Bal-Sagoth has a Symphonic act hit me quite like this. Catchy, ruthless and brilliantly majestic Metal.

6: Tardus Mortem – Armageddon (Emanzipation Productions)
From the fanciful and fun side of Metal to the downright brutal and disgusting. When the song Gust Of Armageddon (Suicidal Winds) dropped on this release it was like hell itself had opened in front of me, lengthy punishing Death Metal full of sickness, perversion and total damnation, they tick all the boxes for me.

7: Caveman Cult – Blood And Extinction (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
This crushing little release is jam packed with Punk energy and fresh War Metal devastation. It isn’t afraid to be sloppy, juvenile or extreme for the sake of it. It’s obnoxious, in your face and the kind of music that ‘normal’ people hate, we need more of that in this world, Metal is outsider music for the weird.

8: Cynic – Ascension Codes (Season Of Mist)
Ascension Codes transported me into another realm and really took me on a journey and out of all the albums on this list I don’t think any other has given me that. It is an experience in itself, the type of album that deserves a ‘played in full’ tour with a wild stage show, quite simply put its magical and whilst it’s not for everyone my inner hippy yearns for this kind of oddity.

9: Impaled Nazarene – Eight Headed Serpent (Osmose Productions)
I’ve found these filthy Finns to always be innovative and full of unsuspecting Extreme Metal energy. Eight Headed Serpent is no exception and serves only to build upon their legacy with yet more punchy, and most importantly catchy Metal bangers. Impaled Nazarene aren’t afraid of doing this and are also full on in your face Black/ Death/ Thrash carnage. The kind of band that should be so rightly linked with a crazy drunken night out.

10: Fulci – Exhumed Information (Time To Kill Records)
Fulci who take their influence and name from Italian gore fiend Lucio Fulci, blend Horror and Metal in the same manner as The Misfits blend Horror and Punk. Stooped in gore ridden lore and writhing with 80s synth portions Fulci serve us another sickening slab of niche nastiness.

11: Fluids – Not Dark Yet (Hells Headbangers Records)
12: Korpse – Insufferable Violence (Unique Leader Records)
13: Stortregn – Impermanence (The Artisan Era)
14: Concrete Winds – Nerve Butcherer (Sepulchral Voice Records)
15: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade Records)
16: Nekkrofukk – Mysterious Rituals In The Abyss Of Sabbath & Eternal Celebration Of The Blakk Goat (Putrid Cult)
17: Traumatomy – Extirpation Paradigms (Gore House Productions)
18: StarGazer – Psychic Secretions (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
19: Osiah – Loss (Unique Leader Records)
20: Anthropophagus Depravity – Apocalypto (Comatose Music)

Slavica Sikora – Top 20 

1: King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse Records)
Crushing atmospheric doom paired with whispered, musing vocals. You will hear raw anger alongside genuine vulnerability in lush, velvety soundscapes exploring Lucifer’s fall from grace. And a violent, feminine energy pervades everything. For me, the best album of the year by far.

2: Årabrot – Norwegian Gothic (Pelagic Records)
Noise rock, loud, kicking and explicitly, but with a focus on melody and hooks, very appealing in its weirdness and eccentricity. Definitely the catchiest and maybe also the best Årabrot album so far, featuring lyrics on sex, death and everything in between.

3: Amigo the Devil – Born Against (Liars Club Records)
Dark folk songs, played out on banjo, acoustic guitar and accordion, providing authentic insight into life in the American South. A mixture of anger, horror and pathos. Outstanding, ingenious lyrics, often featuring biting irony and a bit of black humour. An example? Here you go: “Everyone says money can’t buy happiness and so far in my life I’ll agree, but it seems a lot more comfortable to cry in a Lamborghini.”

4: Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready (Sargent House)
A concept album about rural Pennsylvania displaying a research-based, academic approach to music. Though different in sound and less extreme than its colossal predecessors, the album is frightfully accurate, impressive and efficient in achieving what it set out to do, namely to portray a whole region with its defining characteristics like landscape, living conditions, major personae and mindset.

5: Ropes of Night – Impossible Space (Golden Antenna Records)
Early eighties European and American post punk and darkwave, with an added pinch of goth rock. Fans of Joy Division and The Mission will undoubtedly find the sound to their liking, but so will fans of younger bands like Soft Kill or Rope Sect. A well-written, well-produced piece of music of a melancholic, dark shade, not forsaking melody or beauty, and thus preserving a glimmer of hope, a light.

6: Lustmord and Karin Park – Alter (Pelagic Records)
Deep, electronical humming and buzzing combine with the sound of bells and horns, organs, whale song, sonar sounds, distant thunder rumbling, breathing and swooshing to create marine and celestial soundscapes. Into this are placed Karin Park’s goose-bumps-inducing vocals. A mind-blowing, other-worldly piece of music telling stories, stories that can be globally, universally understood, because they do not rely on words.

7: Crooked Mouth & Headstone Brigade – Crooked Headstone (I, Voidhanger)
Delightfully eccentric, obscure, morbid and melancholic. Vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion and accordion, sometimes accompanied by a cello or a violin, create carnivalesque, melodramatic, emotion-laden soundscapes that appear to have a patina and stem from times gone by, from dark, remote places.

8: Noeta – Elm (Prophecy Productions)
An album inviting introspection by mimicking the flow of nature, of air and water. In the music of Elm you can hear quiet early mornings, velvety late evenings, moss and dew. If you are looking for something to meditate and ponder to, you don’t need to look any further. Despite its dark undertones the music is incredibly relaxing and calming. A gift for the listener.

9: Treha Sektori – Rejet (NoEvDia)
Dark, ritualistic ambient soundscapes. A trip to a prehistoric/dystopian world with places and beings so far unknown. In this dark and foggy realm, you will encounter all sorts of creatures and listen to them doing their thing. You will witness strange rituals performed in an unknown language, you will hear bits of muffled speech, desperate screams and the buzzing of a million flies. And strangely enough, this world has its own, terrifying beauty.

10: CMPT – Krv i Pepeo (Osmose Productions)
Masterfully executed, second-wave black metal from the blood-drenched soil of the Balkans, drawing inspiration from the region’s rich folklore. Sweeping, swirling, layered soundscapes packed with blasts. A fiery performance speaking of a gleeful, devilish passion as source of the fury.

11: Gary Numan – Intruder (BMG)
12: Fotocrime – Heart of Crime (Profound Lore)
13: Wolvennest – Temple (Van Records)
14: Dust Mountain – Hymns for Wilderness (Svart Records)
15: Tomahawk – Tonic Imobility (Ipecac)
16: Ippio Payo + Genelabo – Nobody Answers Questions (Geenger Records)
17: Iskandr – Vergezicht (Eisenwald)
18: Isgherurd Morth – Hellarduk (Repose Records)
19: Misotheist – For the Glory of Your Redeemer (Terratur Posessions)
20: Almach – Dream Elegy (S/T)

Angela Davey – Top 20

1: Lingua Ignota – SINNER GET READY (Sargent House)
Kristin Hayter has one of the most interesting voices to listen to in alternative music right now. Her incredible vocal range, coupled with her sinister and emotively charged musical compositions will never be boring to listen to. She has the type of voice that could recite terms and conditions and make them sound absolutely captivating. Lingua Ignota has mastered the art of channeling pain into beauty, and SINNER GET READY is her most poignant record to date.  It’s genuinely exciting to anticipate what she’ll create next.

2: Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell (Sargent House)
If heartbreak had a soundtrack then Engine of Hell would be it. Wrought with emotion, this collection of songs are totally stunning.

3: Amenra – De Doorn (Relapse)
A massive departure from the Mass albums, but still sounds absolutely enormous. No one does it better than Amenra.

4: Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions (Relapse)
Full of Hell push the envelope with every album they release and this is no different. Every evolution of their sound is better than ever and this opus in particular is a genuinely interesting listen.

5: Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth (Prosthetic)
Impossibly heavy. Body Void are doing great things for modern doom metal. This record absolutely crushes.

6: Eyehategod – A History of Nomadic Behaviour (Century Media)
It was a long seven year wait between albums, but what a return. Mike Williams and co. sound nastier than ever on this record.

7: Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors (20 Buck Spin)
One of the most interesting bands in black metal at the moment. In an age where the genre is wrought with controversy and tired old throwbacks, Wode are a breath of fresh air.

8: The Body – I’ve Seen All I Need to See (Thrill Jockey)
Another unsettling slab of harrowing misery from noise’s most miserable duo. I’m not sure I remember an AOTY list of mine that doesn’t have a record by The Body on it.

9: Slow Crush – Hush (Church Road)
One of the prettiest sounding records to be released this year. The band held a microphone up to the glass ceiling of the recording studio in order to capture the sound of rainfall as they played, which adds to its charm.

10: MØL – Diorama (Nuclear Blast)
Like listening to Alcest on steroids. What makes this album even better is that vocalist, Kim, took the inspiration from Ari Aster’s Hereditary.

11: Converge – Bloodmoon: I (Epitaph)
12: LLNN – Unmaker (Pelagic)
13: Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Century Media)
14: King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse)
15: Grave Miasma – Abyss of Wrathful Deities (Dark Descent)
16: Cruelty – There is No God Where I Am (Church Road)
17: Big | Brave – Vital (Southern Lord)
18: Pupil Slicer – Mirrors (Prosthetic)
19: Blind Monarch – What Is Imposed Must Be Endured (Dry Cough)
20: That Handsome Devil – Your Parents are Sellouts (Self Released)

Johnny Zed – Top 10

1: Urne – Serpent & Spirit (Candlelight)
The debut long player from ex-Hang The Bastard members take their heavy pedigree and heavy it up some more with a progressive slant. Passionate, huge and compelling, this band feels like the future of heavy metal.

2: FIMIR – Tomb Of God (Argonauta)
Classic sounding doom on this debut. Epic riffs leaning on the past masters but with an element of drama that hits you over and over. Massive.

3: Iron Maiden – Senjutsu (Parlophone)
How do heavy metal gods follow up a huge double album? With an even more huge double album. There’s still life in the Samurai clad beast. Epic tracks with the classic Maiden sound but with neat proggy twists that show a band never resting on their laurels.

4: Extreme Cold Winter – World Exit (Hammerheart)
A heady, sinister slab of deathly doom metal as icy as their name suggests.

5: Sunnata – Burning In Heaven, Melting On Earth (S/R)
This album is full of shamanic, ritualistic sounds. Totally immersive, it’s a pulsating listen and is so much more than straight ahead doom metal.

6: Video Nasty – Video Nasty (Petrichor)
Really nasty thrash that crosses over into hardcore territory. With plenty of rage and fingers to point, this band grab you by the throat and don’t let go.

7: Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm (Century Media)
Futuristic thrash driven along by some seriously pummelling drums. A short, sharp frenetic blast in the classic Slayer style.

8: Space Chaser – Give Us Life (Metal Blade)
Teutonic thrash is in rude health with this album. Meaty riffs with a bit of melody ensure a neck snapping ride.

9: Heathen Rites – Heritage (Svart
Inspired by Nordic folklore, this dark and doomy album is rich in texture and atmosphere. One that transports you to another place and time.

10: Conviction – S/T (Argonauta)
A funereal paced slab of doom from France. Very much like Cathedral, there’s some big riffs and an ethereal quality to the whole album.

Nick Griffiths – Top 10

1: Kowloon Walled City – Piecework (Neurot Recordings)
Dense and ethereal, powerful yet delicate, KWL have simply conjured a masterpiece of restraint, of quiet monstrous beauty that crushes bone into dust whilst caressing your cheek.

2: Bossk – Migration (Deathwish Inc.)
Thankfully, awoken from their hiatus, Bossk’s latest album is a shifting sand dune of delicate guitars that morph into planet killers pasted onto a bed of beautifully contrived soundscapes of samples and bombastic beats.

3: Quicksand – Distant Populations (Epitaph)
Another band on the comeback trail and despite the law of diminishing returns, have created an album that stands up (and in some instances prevails) to their legendary back catalogue. Angular post hardcore riffs, accompany delicate, personal vignettes that are as joyous as they are memorable.

4: Pupil Slicer – Mirrors (Prosthetic Records)
For a debut album to be quite so stunningly fierce and confrontational is a rare thing indeed, a heady mix of technical death metal with crust and grind influences also to the fore. This album is a brutal kick to the head and is as memorable as it is ferocious.

5: Between the Buried and Me – Colors II (Sumerian Records)
Never a band to rest on their laurels, these prog metal stalwarts take everything their do well and have smashed it together to create a collection of songs that impress on every level. Technically amazing, beautifully written and genre defying this is smart, beautiful metal.

6: Swamp Coffin – Noose Almighty (APF Records)
Following up a debut EP of grief, depression and anger, there is more the same on this their debut album, but despite finding the fury and hate unabated, it has been refined into a collection of brutal sludgy metal that improves on each listen. One of the best things I have heard in 2021.

7: Devil Sold His Soul – Loss (Nuclear Blast)
DSHS have been around forever and despite a few dips from a musical quality perspective of late, their latest album takes all that is great and good about them, extrapolating on their tar thick riffs sewn together with ethereal vocals and pounding drums, this is a welcome return to form.

8: Mastodon – Hushed and Grim (Reprise Records)
Despite having veered waaay off the path designated metal in recent years, Mastodon returned with an album that managed to coalesce their more experimental and mainstream tendencies and wrapped them into their all but forgotten metallic roots, which ultimately contributes to the best thing they have released in years.

9: Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon (Relapse Records)
Returning after a lengthy hibernation, electro dance influenced metallers GK abandon some their more metal influences and veer into beautiful sonic soundscapes that recall Russian Circles jamming with Sikth. It’s a hard musical pivot, but it’s a HUGE improvement to a band that you can now take seriously.

10: Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade)
What’s left to say about death metal perennials CC on this their 15th album. It’s slow and crunchy, it pivots to dazzling solos and bowel shaking vocals, this may be the best album CC have released in years embracing their slower side to great effect.

Spenny Bullen – Top 10

1: Eldovar – A Story of Darkness & Light (Robotor Records)
This album arrived with only days to go for the deadline, and damn me if the combination of Elder and Kadavar isn’t a winner. Channelling Syd Barrett era Floyd, these Germanic geniuses have made musical gold from the base metal of lock down.

2: Lucifer – Lucifer IV (Century Media)
One of my proudest achievements of 2021 was to have a chat with the counter staff of my local HMV that was belting out the fog horn vocals of Adele via the in store PA and persuade them that if they wanted to hear a singer with ability they should put on Lucifer, and they did.

3: Green Lung – Black Harvest (Svart Records)
Green Lung is the only band I’ve seen live twice in 2021, once when they packed the SOPHIE tent at Bloodstock, and once a few weeks later when they sold out the tiny Opium in Edinburgh. With the quality of their music, the likelihood of them playing small club shows is going to be in their past.

4: Nephila – Nephila (The Sign Records)
In a world of ugly disposable music cynically foisted upon the zombie masses of the consumer, Nephila is a rare creature, bestowing beauty and emotion is a realm normally filled with empty disposable three minute sound bites. Treat yourself and buy it.

5: Duel – In Carne Persona (Heavy Pysch Sounds)
To paraphrase the late lamented Lemmy “They are Duel, and they play rock and roll!” No pretence, not bending to trends, just rock, and why the fuck not?

6: Alice Cooper – Detroit Stories (earMUSIC)
I’m an old git, but Vincent Furnier has been a touring musician since before I was born. The fact that after well over half a century on the road he produces an album of such hard rock quality and energy is one of the marvels of the modern age.

7: Hawkwind – Somnia (Cherry Red Records)
Despite working in isolation Captain Brock’s space ship continues to fly, navigating a darker beyond inspired by the dark times it was written and recorded in.

8: Spider Kitten – Major Label Debut (Self Release)
The massively prolific Spider Kitten have moved away from ever longer concept works with this gut punching dose of musical sneering. I only wish the sods would tell me the name of the hidden track on the CD, which until they relent, I’ve simply named “Track 42”.

9: Stöner – Stoners Rule (Heavy Pysch Sounds)
Heralding the return of Kyuss alumini Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, as well as the superflous heavy metal umlaut, this laid back album reeks of both class and THC.

10: Yes – The Quest (InsideOut Music)
No it’s not classic Yes, and yes, the band has no original members left, but frankly, even if not one of their classic albums, the musicianship on show still beats 99% of other acts, hence the inclusion in my top 10 of the year.