When I was asked if I wanted to contribute a Top Ten of 2021 list, I jumped on that, assuming it would be a quick & easy slam-dunk.
But just like the year 2021 itself, things soon got complicated: albums that I thought came out this year were actually from a year or two prior, re-visitations of some 2021 albums that I thought wowed me this year turned out to be perhaps less than “wow’able” upon further review…, and releases from the big-time mainstream groups (yes, that’s right: I used the “M”-word, gasp!) fell somewhat empty once the hype was tamped down a bit: an Iron Maiden double album that is far too long…, Sodom and Destruction E.P.’s that were “phoned-in”…, and so on.
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Ten Things I Really Liked This Year
But enough of how some Metal in 2021 sorta dropped the ball. Here’s what actually did wow me – listed in no particular order:
Unto Others – “Strength”
aka Idle Hands (note: Google the fuck out of your Next New Band Name before putting out anything lol), the renamed Unto Others took everything that was magical and dare I say fun from Goth Metal of yesteryears and melded it to a modern metal aesthetic. This follow-up to the awesome 2019 “Mana” is more mature, more angry, and is just plain “more” of what this band does…, and does very very well.
Archspire – “Bleed the Future”
aka “Our tech-death instruments have so many strings that we can keep an entire manufacturer in business during in even the worst of pandemics!” I got into the wizardry of Archspire with their killer 2017 “Relentless Mutation”. With a bigger budget, tighter production, and one of the most disturbing videos to ever stick in my head in a very long time, these guys from Victoria BC band put out a truly amazing album this year. Pick this up and their back catalog, pronto!
Helloween – “Helloween”
I was front row center for tickets to the parade to slag on what was (on paper) a cash-grab gimmicky stunt to breath new life into an old (really old) band. “If a Helloween with one vocalist is great, then a Helloween with three vocalists has to be three times greater!”, the records execs proclaimed. But you know what? This album actually fucking works. The songs are well written for the respective vocalist(s) on each song. This being German Power Metal (hell, these guys basically gave birth to the genre), there’s going to be some cheese, of course. But it all gels into a warm and tasty platter of Germanic metal goodness, start to finish. [Bonus points for the great artwork not featuring dumb Pumpkinhead mascot dumbassery.]
Kenn Nardi – “Trauma”
A bit of a dark horse entry here, that I do not expect to see on many (any?) other Top 10’s. As some of y’all probably know, Kenn Nardi was the heart&soul of the awesome and criminally overlooked Anacrusis of the 80s and early 90s. Like so many bands, Anacrusis was hitting their stride right when Grunge was sucking the life (and contracts) from the US music scene, and the band folded. But that didn’t stop Kenn from writing. After putting out a few metal-adjacent solo albums (for only hardcore completists to be honest), this is his first solo that truly has Anacrusis DNA all up in it. There’s a ton of material here that would fit right in as a double CD bonus disk in an Anacrusis boxed set thing – but yet this also very approachable for folks new to what he’s been about since the 80s. There’s not a single clunker in his impressively mature and diverse release. Check this out and you might be surprised. [And seriously, if you don’t know Anacrusis, get on that shit, stat!]
Flotsam and Jetsam – “Blood in the Water”
A band that has always had the albatross of “Who? Oh yeah, The Band that Jason Newsted ditched when he joined That Other Metal Band”. A totally unfair characterization, since that is quite literally ancient history in the life of this AZ act. Since Newsted’s high-viz departure, Flots&Jets has never really put out anything bad per se, but at the same they have never really put the pedal to metal and written a truly crushing album. That so-so streak is most definitively broken by this album. Instantly agreeable and very head-bang’able at the very first listen, and one that rewards folks diving into to the thick of things with repeat listens. #Jasonwho?
Exodus – “Persona Non Grata”
It’s no secret that I’m a dual-hatted fanboy here: both Exodus and Zetro will always get my loyalty. They could have slap-dashed some of the same ol’ “Stale White Bread Bay Area Thrash Metal” thing that Death Angel and Testament have been putting out the past 5-6 years to pay for their A.A.R.P memberships…, but that’s just not how Gary Holt’s boys do things. Exodus is just as relevant and vicious now as they were back when pleasures of the flesh and murders in the front row were the norm. This album rips!
Panopticon – “…And Again Into The Light”
This dude is a machine. He routinely cranks out amazingly diverse material with each and every release – and yet each album has it’s own thumbprint. Considering how often I’ve re-played this album while driving in the foggy misty environs of the PacNW this Fall, it would be totally remiss of me to not show this album some serious love.
1914 – “Where Fear And Weapons Meet”
I may have already babbled incoherently about this album in the past. 😉
The Crown – “Royal Destroyer”
For whatever reason, for a time I always had The Haunted and The Crown mixed up in my head. While the former is sorta/kinda/okay-most-definitively shitty, I’m late to the game in picking up on how awesome The Crown is! Okay, this is another album that won’t get much attention from All Of The Other Metal Top Ten’ers posting on the interwebz this season – I expect this band signed to Metal Blade Records is just not “underground” enough to be that kewl. But I dig this album quite a lot! Don’t be an “only underground metal is trve!” elitist and check this out 🙂
Witches Hammer – “Devourer of the Dead”
And lastly, this is a case where I’m including these guys in my Top Ten purely to throw them some much-needed exposure. These Canadians started out way the fuck back in 1985, and put out some decent demos before life got in the way and they folded the band. But like so many other acts now, these now decidedly older empty-nester dudes started jamming, and the next thing you know they’re putting out some truly legit Thrashy Speed Metal that more than rivals what the kids half their age are doing these days. Last year’s “Damnation Is My Salvation” was a big win for me, and this year their new one picks up right were they left off. Clever and vicious Thrash/Speed Thrash Metal that has a great “flashback to 1986” vibe, complete with the warm & fuzzy production values. Check this out, for sure!
Six Notable Mentions Of Stuff That I Also Liked
For any number of reasons – some logical, some not one bit – here’s what impressed me a lot, but I did not have a chance to really dig into them deep enough to get included in my Top Ten. That’s a failing on my part: have no fear, everything listed here is well worth investigating too!
Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum – “Šahrartu”
Ruadh – “Eternal”
Oxygen Destroyer – “Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind”
Aephanemer – “A Dream of Wilderness”
Stormkeep – “Tales Of Othertime”
Stortregn – “Impermanence“
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So there you go! Go forth and check out all of the good shit that came out in an otherwise shitty year, and share/post your faves! Cheers and beers!