Top Albums 2021
Overall, I would say I liked this year’s crop of music better than last year’s, but not to the degree of 2019 (which was really just an amazing year). New bands I came across and really liked this year were Nahtram (instrumental folk-black metal) and Stortregn (melodic tech death)
Top Album
In Mourning - The Bleeding Veil
It took me a few spins to really get into this album. The last In Mourning album that took a while for me to “get” was The Weight of Oceans and that has become my favorite In Mourning album - so there is a lot of hope that The Bleeding Veil continues to get better (and I already really like it). This album sees In Mourning play with the more progressive elements of their sound, but still really bring the hammer when its time.
Death
It was a pretty good year for death (and related extreme) metal. I had to cut a lot of good albums to get to this list of five. Like last year, these are in alphabetical order.
- Alluvial - Sarcoma
- Be’Lakor - Coherence
- Harakiri for the Sky - Maere
- Omnium Gatherum - Origin
- Stortregn - Impermanence
- Valtari - Titans Call
No Death
In the realm of “everything else” there was a great crop this year. I really liked a lot of instrumental rock and shred. And post rock. Really, just a lot of great music.
- For Giants - There, There
- Gemini Syndrome - 3rd Degree, the Raising
- God is an Astronaut - Ghost Tapes #10
- Nahtram - Forest of Eternal Dawn
- Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon
- Paul Wardingham - Cybergenesis
EPs
Not as many EPs this year, but these three are great.
