Best Albums of 2021

Whitecat

Public Service Broadcasting, Sam Fender, Low, War On Drugs, Jose Gonzalez, Nick Cave/Warren Ellis & William Fitzsimmons all put out excellent records that I've been listening to loads.

I was happy to get a Steely Dan live album too (plus a Fagen one) even though Becker is long departed this earth.

Had high hopes for Sufjan Stevens but was underwhelmed by his collaborative effort with his labelmate whose name eludes me.

Vintage-T

I've been enjoying:
Dirty Honey - self titled 
Bummer - Cleopatrick
Earth is a Black Hole - Teenage Wrist
Decade - They Fell From The Sky
Wilderado - self titled

But most of the year has been spent listening to older stuff really. QOTSA, Silverchair, AIC etc

Dopesick

So far…

Every Time I Die - Radical
Big Brave & The Body - Leaving None But Small Birds
LLNN - Unmaker
Erdve - Savigaila
Dead Heat - World At War
Green Lung - Black Harvest
The Armed - Ultrapop
Worm - Foreverglade
Cherubs - Slo Blo 4 Frnz & Sxy
Yautja - The Lurch
Bummer - Dead Horse

Surprised I didn’t include the latest Boss Keloid and Eyehategod albums, but in all honesty I haven’t really listened to them much since they came out which I find quite disappointing.

earwighoney

Dopesick said:

So far…

Every Time I Die - Radical
Big Brave & The Body - Leaving None But Small Birds
LLNN - Unmaker
Erdve - Savigaila
Dead Heat - World At War
Green Lung - Black Harvest
The Armed - Ultrapop
Worm - Foreverglade
Cherubs - Slo Blo 4 Frnz & Sxy
Yautja - The Lurch
Bummer - Dead Horse

Surprised I didn’t include the latest Boss Keloid and Eyehategod albums, but in all honesty I haven’t really listened to them much since they came out which I find quite disappointing.

I'll check some of the albums on the list, the Worm album is an absolute banger, not heard about any of the others aside from Green Lung, that one passed me by, should check it out.

Dopesick

@earwighoney yeah the Worm album is crushing. Love the artwork too.

The Big Brave / Body collaboration is made up of folk reinterpretations from old English/Irish/mountain songs. ‘The Blackest Crow’ is probably my favourite song of the year.

Never been a huge ETID fan but I have been appreciative of their work. This new album is stunning from start to finish.

LLNN is like a much heavier, angrier and cinematic Cult Of Luna. Erdve are crushing dense hardcore with some chilling interludes and Dead Heat are fun-as-fuck crossover thrash with some awesome hooks.

Philly_Q

I think Spotify played me a track from that Worm album the other day - it certainly played a track by a band called Worm, although I had trouble finding it afterwards.

earwighoney

Philly_Q said:

I think Spotify played me a track from that Worm album the other day - it certainly played a track by a band called Worm, although I had trouble finding it afterwards.

Here you go Phil

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/foreverglade

It's a good album, I'd recommend giving it a listen if you like filthy death metal, but if you're not into filthy death metal then it might not be to your liking!  It's a pretty specialist niche!

Dopesick said:

@earwighoney yeah the Worm album is crushing. Love the artwork too.

The Big Brave / Body collaboration is made up of folk reinterpretations from old English/Irish/mountain songs. ‘The Blackest Crow’ is probably my favourite song of the year.

Never been a huge ETID fan but I have been appreciative of their work. This new album is stunning from start to finish.

LLNN is like a much heavier, angrier and cinematic Cult Of Luna. Erdve are crushing dense hardcore with some chilling interludes and Dead Heat are fun-as-fuck crossover thrash with some awesome hooks.

I'd heard a few other The Body releases and couldn't quite get into them, but I will give that a listen to, cheers for the tip. Turns out I have listened to the Green Lung album!  It's a good one.

IMO, I think there's a new golden era for many types of metal music, it gets tricky to acknowledge with genres as there are so many, and I'm not an expert in any one genre, I like to skim across and pick a few things I like but there are really an insane amount of riches when it comes to new albums being released in the last few years.

If the resident metal expert @Reverend has some time, I'd be intrigued in what his thoughts are for new metal albums,

Philly_Q

earwighoney said:

Philly_Q said:

I think Spotify played me a track from that Worm album the other day - it certainly played a track by a band called Worm, although I had trouble finding it afterwards.

Here you go Phil

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/foreverglade

It's a good album, I'd recommend giving it a listen if you like filthy death metal, but if you're not into filthy death metal then it might not be to your liking!  It's a pretty specialist niche!

Thanks!  I'm not into death metal, filthy or otherwise, which is why I was doubtful it was the same band - pretty sure the track I heard was more in the stoner/psychedelic/space metal vein.

I'll check it out though - I noticed it was on 20 Buck Spin records and they have Khemmis and Magic Circle, two bands I really like.

earwighoney

Philly_Q said:

Thanks!  I'm not into death metal, filthy or otherwise, which is why I was doubtful it was the same band - pretty sure the track I heard was more in the stoner/psychedelic/space metal vein.

I'll check it out though - I noticed it was on 20 Buck Spin records and they have Khemmis and Magic Circle, two bands I really like.

We are both right!

It's stoner space metal but with elements of filthy death metal, it's got the stoner riffs at times but with a bit of death metal gurgling thrown in.

MagicPigDetective

Apart from Mastodon, the only metal album that has really stood out for me is Tritonus Bell by Hooded Menace, it's doomy death with classic metal dual guitar elements, with an early Paradise Lost feel, it really is a monster of an album. Some metal bands/albums just seem to click with me far more than others, and this is one of those. I'll give some of the above metal suggestions a listen. 

Dopesick

earwighoney said:

I'd heard a few other The Body releases and couldn't quite get into them, but I will give that a listen to, cheers for the tip.

Yeah The Body are known for their sheer noise but this is a rapid departure for them (and Big Brave tbh). It does have some small drone elements in there but the highlight is Robin Wattie’s voice throughout, she has a fantastic singing voice that she doesn’t really get to showcase in Big Brave.

Grumpyrocker

I've really enjoyed new albums from Iron Maiden, Cradle of Filth, Lucifer, Esa Holopainen, Omnium Gatherum, Seven Spires, Evergrey, and Frozen Crown (probably my second favourite of the year). And likely others I can't remember. 

But my favourite album of the year is Hanging Garden's Skeleton Lake. A beautiful melancholy post-doom record. 

The addition of Riikka Hatakka into the band over the last couple of albums has been a real boost for the group. Her vocals are gorgeous - and her style is much softer and delicate than you normally get in metal. Her voice reminds me a lot of Julianne Regan. Imagine a cross between All About Eve and Paradise Lost.

BloodEagle

I like everything about The Body except that guys godawful vocals -  when he’s starts doing his high pitched yelping thing it becomes unlistenable to me 

Dopesick

BloodEagle said:

I like everything about The Body except that guys godawful vocals -  when he’s starts doing his high pitched yelping thing it becomes unlistenable to me 

Luckily he does no vocals on this new one. In fact without prior knowledge you wouldn’t have guessed The Body were involved in this release at all.

TINMAN82

Eric Claptons the lady in the balcony is a late year winner. Really stunning arrangements of some well known tunes.

RocknRollDave

Iron Maiden - Senjutsu. Not my favourite of the post-post-Bruce era, but they haven't made a bad one in that time, and this is no exception.

Gov't Mule - Heavy Load Blues. A very good album, if not quite the out-and-out Blues album it has been talked up to be (which is by no means an insult anyway). Has to be the deluxe version, though. The live version of Need Your Love So Bad could be Warren's best vocal performance to date. Corking.

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim. Digging the sound of this album, especially the guitars and drums.
   

Grangousier

Apart from the St Vincent, my favouritest album of the year is Squint by Julian Lage, followed by Bumps Per Minute by Anna Meredith (which is bonkers like 90s game music) and Promises by Floating Points with Pharoah Sanders (which is all a bit ethereal). There's a new They Might Be Giants album, too. If you like that sort of thing, it's as good as all the others. If that sort of thing annoys you, it'll annoy you as much as their previous albums. 

Whitecat

Late entry from Brothertiger with his brand new record “New Life” - retrowave meets chillwave with super catchy tunes/great 80s hooks. Technically an EP but still excellent. 

Philly_Q

earwighoney said:

Philly_Q said:

Thanks!  I'm not into death metal, filthy or otherwise, which is why I was doubtful it was the same band - pretty sure the track I heard was more in the stoner/psychedelic/space metal vein.

I'll check it out though - I noticed it was on 20 Buck Spin records and they have Khemmis and Magic Circle, two bands I really like.

We are both right!

It's stoner space metal but with elements of filthy death metal, it's got the stoner riffs at times but with a bit of death metal gurgling thrown in.

Aha!  It was the track "Subaqueous Funeral".  I'll give the whole album a go.

stickyfiddle

I've really enjoyed the latest Killers, War on Drugs and Sam Fender ones. 

Wasn't grabbed by the St Vincent or Lorde records compared their previous two each/

I'm not even sure what else I've listened to from 2021.