Monthly Metal Mixtape: 2021 Favorites

The hardest part about putting together a list of favorite records in a year isn’t exactly deciding on who makes the cut. It’s realizing how many great records you’re probably missing and wanting to go back and listen to them. Next thing you know, you’re like a month behind schedule, and you just gotta make the cut and go with your initial list, or this is never gonna stop. And that’s what is so great about getting lists from a handful of folks. I might have slept on it, but someone else caught it, and lifted it up, and now you get to read about it here. So huge thanks to Mike, Kevin, James, and Danny for contributing some of their favorites to our collective list.

A note about methodology – we all made lists and anything that repeated itself ends up higher. Our first six records all got multiple shout-outs, and the higher they were on our individual lists, the higher they ended up on our collective one. After that point I simply just spun the wheel of names to get a random list based on where we had them ranked. What we have below contains all those that got their name tossed into the ring at least twice, plus all of our individual top fives. And then the remainder are honorable mentions below. Enjoy!

1. Carcass - Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast) - Has everything I love about Carcass. Feels closer to Heartwork and Necroticism than Surgical Steel. – Cry Baby Hank / / Multi-decade melodic death metal veterans reemerge with another inexplicably, impossibly catchy and tightly written album of bangers, but this time with the mid-paced endlessly groovy death n' roll part cranked up. – Mike Tri / / Just straight up solid, slightly melodic death metal, from beginning to end; no dips whatsoever. After swearing that Carcass’ earlier, more grind stuff was better, I think I’ve pretty much changed my mind to their late era melo-death. – SteveO
2. Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone (Closed Casket Activities) – For every release that came out after this in January, I kept asking myself “Is this as good as the new Portrayal of Guilt?” This album absolutely slaughters EVERYTHING. They decided to put out another sick album called Christfucker in November just to make sure they were bookending 2021 with the sickest shit of the year. – James Bauman / / Unsettlingly evil, infectiously catchy, with inventive riffs. Blackened screamo, a black metal and screamo blend with a touch of hardcore, perfected if it ever could be. – Mike Tri / / In a year where there was a new Full of Hell record, the fact that Portrayal of Guilt managed to make an uglier, noisier, more abrasive and intense record (and managed to do so twice!) that drew influence from across the board was quite a way to ring in the year. – SteveO
3. Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions (Relapse) – Full of Hell somehow manages to get heavier and nosier with slick production on this album. Still has a punk edge to it, but it’s firmly rooted in metal. – Danny Collins / / As if Full of Hell wasn’t intense enough already, they up the extremity across the board. More death, more grind, more noise, more powerviolence, more mathcore? More everything. – SteveO
4. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I (Epitaph) – A perfect fusion of both artists sounds into an atmospheric, incredibly melodic sludge and hardcore album that is far greater and surprisingly far more novel than the sum of its parts. – Mike Tri / / A perfect blend of the intensity of Converge and the darkness of Chelsea Wolfe. Impressive up front, but each listen brings out more nuance that this cast of seven built and only make the esteem of this record grow. It’s gonna be a benchmark that we compare collaborations to going forward. – SteveO
5. Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound (Century Media) – Gothic metal done right – these heavy hitters deserve their place in the mega popular metal pantheon with songwriting, riffs, and leads that hit just right. – Mike Tri / / Incredible gothic metal, some borrowed intensity and vibes from their death metal days. Whether rollicking or going more slow and doomed out with mid-pace tunes, these songs are all up in your face, forcing you to take notice, particularly the first half. – SteveO
6. Saidan – Jigoku: Spiraling Black Chasms of The Blackest Hell (Obscurant Visions) – Goosebump-inducing, absolutely soaring melodic black metal meets catchy J-rock melodies for a soundtrack to the non-existent black metal J-horror anime we all wish existed. – Mike Tri / / Underground US black metal has been on a triumphant wave in the past little while and there have been few acts that have impressed me to the degree Saidan did when I first heard them. Try not to be hooked upon hearing the incredible “She’s Buried Under the Cherry Blossoms” and then pick your jaw up off the floor. – SteveO
7. King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse) – A catchy, memorable, and incredible sludge doom fable of the story of Lucifer written from the heart and soul of lead vocalist and songwriter Kris Esfandiari. – Mike Tri
8. Panopticon – ...And Again into the Light (Bindrune) – A stellar follow-up to the split metal/folk found on The Scars of Man…. It's all fused together here into one seamless seventy-minute journey, from the mournful “Dead Loons” to the triumphant closure of “Know Hope.” – SteveO
9. Vredensdal – Silence is Eternal (Screaming Skull) – Probably my favorite metal album that came out this year. Raw black metal; feels like a throwback but in a good way. – Cry Baby Hank
10. Sleigh Bells – Texis (Mom + Pop) – This album is perfection. What’s not to love about this band? – James Bauman
11. Bala – Maleza (Century Media) – I can’t say enough about this unbelievable female duo from Spain and this album. It’s so heavy and sounds so badass. You HAVE TO check this out. – James Bauman
12. Last Days of Humanity – Horrific Compositions of Decomposition (Rotten Roll Rex) – Little known German goregrind gods first album in 15 years creates a short, incredibly listenable record swirling with deranged deathgrind riffs, garbage disposal vocals, B-movie horror samples and a surprising amount of artistic meaning. – Mike Tri
13. Monolord – Your Time to Shine (Relapse) – Love this a lot more than No Comfort. Doom can feel repetitive at times but I don't get that feeling on this album. Feels like their sound is evolving. More Sabbath on this record and less Electric Wizard. – Cry Baby Hank
14. Every Time I Die – Radical (Epitaph) – Yes, I’m very surprised that I like this too. If you’ve ever been on the fence about this band, seeing as how their other albums are fairly mediocre IMO, listen to this one and you’ll see why it’s on my list. – James Bauman
15. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu (Parlophone) – Late era Maiden almost falls into a predictable pattern. Long songs, that aren’t quite proggy, but where they still throw tons of ideas in, that trademarked gallop, Bruce Dickinson’s recognizable vocals. Simply put, it’s just fun and there’s never been anything wrong with that. – SteveO
16. Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Relapse) – For a band that always delivers, there's something about Primordial Arcana that feels fresh. There's more of an ambient/trance-like vibes in parts, and the synths are especially strong, which only helps to accentuate their trademark atmo-black sound. – SteveO
17. 1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet (Napalm) – Not quite as good as The Blind Leading The Blind, but pretty close. I need a few more listens to get a better perspective. Regardless, solid Blackened Death/Doom. Way better representation of the genre than the new Asphyx album. – Cry Baby Hank
18. Obscura – A Valediction (Nuclear Blast) – Absurdly fun technical death metal record with tight songwriting, blazing fast yet headbangable riffs, and a superb amount of variety. – Mike Tri
19. Mystic Storm – From the Ancient Chaos (Self-Released) – The little known thrash metal album of the year hailing all the way from Russia sporting endless riffs and a fun as hell traditional heavy metal edge. – Mike Tri
20. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime (Ván) – An ode to the black metal days of Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, and their ilk, when adding symphonic elements felt like a new and impressive idea. Stormkeep do it wondrously, making this truly majestic, with some added dungeon synth elements for atmosphere. – SteveO
21. Green Lung – Black Harvest (Svart) – Total 70s throwback but in the best possible way. Never gets overly proggy. Feels like a band that would've opened up for Deep Purple back in the day; but never really got their big break. Give a listen next time you're smoking ditchweed with your absentee dad. I can feel my sideburns growing as we speak. – Cry Baby Hank
22. Idles – Crawler (Partisan) – I was apprehensive that this album wasn’t going to deliver what I had hoped for. I was pleasantly surprised and relieved that it was actually everything I hoped for and more. A very solid release. – James Bauman

Our honorable mentions, in alphabetical order:

• The Armed – Ultrapop (Sargent House) – Punk, anti-punk, hardcore, black metal, synthpop. This record is important. REFRACT. – James Bauman
• Cannibal Corpse – Violence Unimagined (Metal Blade) – There should be no surprises what you’re getting with a Cannibal Corpse record, especially on LP number fifteen. But the addition of Erik Rutan and his guitar/songwriting influence really makes this one stand out. – SteveO
• Darkthrone – Eternal Hails…… (Peaceville) – Darkthrone is firmly in the ‘we’ll do whatever the hell we want’ era of their long career now, so what’s basically Darkthrone’s take on doom shouldn’t be too terribly surprising. And they do a decent job too. As wrong as it feels to say, this feels like one where a bit spiffier production could make this shine a bit brighter. – SteveO
• Disperser – A Bastion of Et Cetera (Auris Apothecary) – Chaotic grindcore? Pummeling speed metal? Mathy noise punk? I don’t know what to call it, you figure it out. Whatever it is, I absolutely love it and you should too. – James Bauman
• Dornenreich – Du wilde Liebe sei (Prophecy) – Whispercore is a thing I just made up and it's exactly what this multi decade-long running trio do with their haunting, gorgeous, and atmospheric Germanic forest folk tunes lightly doused with some crispy black metal riffs. – Mike Tri
• Fetid Zombie – Transmutations (Morbid Visions) – The latest entry in Mark Riddick's old-school melodic, lightly progressive death metal project oozes variety with an ear for great riffs and leads that only someone who has listened and loved this music for decades could produce. – Mike Tri
• Gonemage – Sudden Deluge (Xenoglossy) – Gonemage show that you can basically splice any type of music into black metal and it'll sound great if you've got the songwriting chops which are on display in this fusion of black metal, noise rock, post-hardcore, and most significantly 8-bit video game chiptune sounds. – Mike Tri
• Graveripper – Radiated Remains (Wise Blood Records) – Indy thrashers doing it extremely well. It slices and dices and, of course, it rips. Pick it up. – James Bauman
• Harakiri for the Sky – Mære (AOP) – Yeah, it's looong, but otherwise it's a fantastic mix of black metal intensity and post-metal/shoegaze atmospherics. “I, Pallbearer” and “Sing for the Damage Done” are both haunting and gorgeous. This is what we (or at least I) wanted Deafheaven to be in 2021. – SteveO
• Heavy Sentence – Bang to Rights (Dying Victims) – Extremely fun big beefy heavy metal throwback that'll have you bellowing massive choruses and headbanging all night. – Mike Tri
• Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman (Livor Mortis) – Untrve sad boi bedroom black metal brings you the calming, romantic sounds of Norwegian second wave with just a splash of lofi indie. – Mike Tri
• Khemmis – Deceiver (Nuclear Blast) – Consistently delivering their take on doom metal, Khemmis have their sound down, the duo vocals work great, and they’re comfortable making tweaks, but this is simply a great entry into their ever-growing canon of modern sounding doom. – SteveO
• Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm (I, Voidhanger) – Astral-inspired black metal had (is having?) its moment, but for my money nobody captures the grandiosity and immensity and darkness of space quite like Mare Cognitum mastermind Jacob Buczarski. – SteveO
• Melissa – Melissa (Flesh Prison) – Raw, stripped down...feels like the Deathcrush EP. – Cry Baby Hank
• MØL – Diorama (Nuclear Blast) – Deafheaven's beautiful, angsty screamo and post-hardocre influenced hyper-melodic yet chunky black metal, New Bermuda sound perfectly captured and put in an easily consumable package by this bunch of Danes. – Mike Tri
• Moral Collapse – Suspension of Disbelief (Subcontinental) – Swirling brutal death metal Nile worship with the same Middle-Eastern influence cranked up with brief forays into strange Mediterranean avant-folk implementations for a truly strange and novel work of head bobbing, pummeling chaos. – Mike Tri
• Morgul Blade – Fell Sorcery Abounds (No Remorse) – Unabashed Tolkien worship, so of course it's high on my radar. Definitely on firm ground with that trad metal feel, but with some black metal influence and impressively balanced vocals in a genre where they tend toward histrionic. – SteveO
• Noctule – Wretched Abyss (Translation Loss) – Atmospheric black metal, and more or less exactly what you'd expect from that term, but with its own epic and haunting twists and thematic spin. There are lots of layers to unpack beneath Svalbard's Serena Cherry's tortured shrieks and surprising melodies. Oh, and the fact it's all based on Skyrim is a sweet add in my book. – SteveO
• Psychic Graveyard – Veins Feel Strange (Deathbomb Arc) – Oops, they did it again. Couldn’t love this more. – James Bauman
• Pupil Slicer – Mirrors (Prosthetic) – Easy choice for mathcore album of the year– this debut from the UK will absolutely melt your face with its balls to the wall fun and fresh take on the sounds of Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, with the atmosphere and brutality of a band like Cloud Rat. – Mike Tri
• Sanguisugabogg – Tortured Whole (Century Media) – The funniest death metal album of the year has a spit-take inducing snare sound, incredibly stupid synth interludes, extremely groovy and catchy riffs, and an undeniably braindead dumb fusion of slam and nu-metal groove – I love it. – Mike Tri
• Soul Glo – DisNigga, Vol. 1 / DisNigga, Vol. 2 (Epitaph) – Holy fuck this rules. It seriously rules. I can’t even…. – James Bauman
• Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst (Profound Lore) – Epic black metal served and sounding just the way I like it. – James Bauman
• Summoning the Lich – United in Chaos (Prosthetic) – Yes, it’s Black Dahlia Murder worship, and the fact that we’re at that point surprises me too, but their D&D spin, technical chops, and impressive vocal performances have me sticking around. – SteveO
• Till – Oyer and Terminer (Self-Released) – Lofi Norwegian black metal throwback from Oklahoma with lovely and bleak anti-colonialism themes that scratch that 90s black metal itch just right. – Mike Tri
• Unto Others – Strength (Roadrunner) – FKA Idle Hands's second record somehow manages to improve their supremely catchy soaring goth rock and heavy metal sound now with 100% more eagle noises and a banging Pat Benatar cover. – Mike Tri
• Vreid – Wild North West (Season of Mist) – Atmospheric has all kinds of (Cascadian) connotations, so let's call Vreid's latest dark and moody. Inspired by their home region of Norway, it's a mid-paced slab of melodic black metal with some degree of experimentation, though for such a place-based record, having the lyrics all be in English is kinda uninspiring. – SteveO
• Zao – The Crimson Corridor (Observer/Observed) – Wow, did not see this coming. A dynamic metalcore masterpiece, with hints of sludge and post- mixing things up. Venomous vocals and varying paces, it's truly impressive that twelve records in Zao still sounds this fresh. My surprise record of the year; wish I still had that shirt from high school. – SteveO