Machine Music Presents: The Best Metal of 2021

Well, well, well. Here we are, again. This year began with me feeling a bit underwhelmed, I have to say. A lot of great releases came and went, but I was beginning to get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, this whole process had left me jaded. That, despite my valiant attempt to create a list that both "lists" and "unlists" at the same time with my 2019 and 2020 lists, I still managed to let it damage my love for "the game," as it were (RIP Michael K. Williams). But, alas, not only was I disproven I turned out to grow to appreciate 2021 for all the wonderful music it provided. I can and may get fed up with the process of thinking about music, but music is still pretty great.

For the uninitiated and for those who didn't get the hint and click those previous lists, the process of my AOTY feature is pretty straightforward: 1. Ridiculous categories in which my favorite albums are clumped and from which I choose my favorite-favorite albums 2. The List. As has become customary, there is also an AOTY interview.

Other than that it was a pretty great year for my various interview projects, featuring Discordance Axis, Autopsy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Winter, Coalesce, and Craw in the Pillars of the 90s series, and a whole slew of bands in The War Inside My Head series including Cloud Rat, Succumb, Esoctrilihum, The Ruins of Beverast, Fawn Limbs, and others, along with a few new Albums of the Decade interviews with Liturgy, Nadja, and Kowloon Walled City. It was also the year that saw the release of our newest in the MILIM KASHOT line of charity compilations, including tracks from some of my favorite artists working today such as Inter Arma, Nero di Marte,  夢遊病者, atameo, Bygones, and many, many more. Still can't believe that actually happened. 

So, yeah, it was busy. Hopefully more cool shit to come in 2022.

As always, feel free to follow us wherever we may roam (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and now also a tape-per-day series on TIK TOK!), and listen to our shitty podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You can support our unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. ON TO THE LIST!

Dedicated in loving memory to Drew Hays

PART I: THE CATEGORIES

THE BEST ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE PHONOGRAPH BLACK METAL PLAYING IN A LOG CABIN

Lionoka – Tides of Triumph (Old Mill Productions) – TOP PICK

Primeval Well – Talkin' in Tongues with Mountain Spirits (Moonlight Cypress Archetypes) – TOP PICK

Wraithlord – Tal der Phantome (Independent) 

Vile Haint – Ol' Hatchie Haint (Moonlight Cypress Archetypes)

Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman (Livor Mortis)

Sentiero Dei Principi – Lustmord (Xenoglossy Productions)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE THEY ARE TOO PLAYING ON A PHONOGRAPH, BUT IT'S OWNED BY BEELZEBUB  

Koldovstvo – Ни царя, ни бога (Fólkvangr Records / Babylon Doom Cult Records / Extraconscious Records)

Pagan Moon – Torchlight (Independent)

Lamp of Murmuur – Submission and Slavery (Death Prayer Records)

Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst (Profound Lore Records) – TOP PICK

Moon – Pandimentional Gnosis (Moribund Records) – TOP PICK

Serpent of the Abyss – Wrapped in Darkness (His Wounds / Black Death Productions)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE A COFFIN BEING STEAMROLLED BY A MOTHERFUCKING STEAMROLLER (SLOWLY)

Fuoco Fatuo – Obsidian Katabasis (Profound Lore Records)

Vouna – Atropos (Profound Lore Records) – TOP PICK

Worm – Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin) – TOP PICK

Burial – Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos (Everlasting Spew Records)

Drune – Drune (Independent)

Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal (20 Buck Spin) – TOP PICK

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SO, YOU’VE BEEN STEAMROLLED AND NOW YOU’RE DEAD AND THAT DAMN STEAMROLLER COMES TO THE FUNERAL AND PROCEEDS TO CRUSH YOUR FAMILY TOO

Mesa – Collapse (Independent)

Hellish Form – Remains (Translation Loss Records)

Ghorot – Loss of Light (Transylvanian Recordings) 

Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth (Prosthetic Records) – TOP PICK

Abstracter – Abominion (Sentient Ruin Laboratories) – TOP PICK

Lunar Ark – Recurring Nightmare (Lunar Seas Records)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT WISHED THEY WERE ACTUALLY NOVELS BY STARVING RUSSIAN MODERNIST AUTHORS WITH SCOLIOSIS AND A BAD TEMPER

Dola – Czasy (Widno) – TOP PICK

Grey Aura – Zwart vierkant (Onism Productions) – TOP PICK

Baazlvaat –  The Higher Power (Independent)

<Code> – Flyblown Prince (Karisma and Dark Essence Records) – TOP PICK

The Silver – The Ward of Roses (Gilead Media)

Benothing – Temporal Bliss Surrealisms (Everlasting Spew Records) – TOP PICK

Ushangvagush – Mntu (Vigor Deconstruct)

Circle of Ouroborus – Kiromantia (His Wounds) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE LIKE THOSE RESTAURANTS THAT SERVE PIZZA, SUSHI, BURGERS, AND CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP IN A CARIBBEAN ATMOSPHERE

Thy Catafalque – Vadak (Season of Mist) – TOP PICK

Rivers of Nihil – The Work (Metal Blade Records)

Stone Healer – Conquistador (Independent) – TOP PICK

Papangu – Holoceno (Repose Records) – TOP PICK

First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle (Unique Leader Records)

Kayo Dot – Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike (Prophecy Records) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE IN FACT EXPLORATIONS OF THE VERY ESSENCE OF WHAT AN “ALBUM” IS ALL WHILE ASSAULTING YOU WITH A SPIKED BASEBALL BAT AND TEARS

Ekdikēsis – Canvas of a New Dawn (Independent)

The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Gremoires (Ván Records) – TOP PICK

Ad Nauseum – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (Total Dissonant Worship / Avantgarde Music) – TOP PICK

Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning (Profound Lore Records) – TOP PICK

Stargazer – Psychic Secretions (Nuclear War Now! Productions)

Reveal! – Doppelherz (Sepulchral Voice Records) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE BEING LOCKED IN A DESERTED REFRIGERATOR AT NIGHT WHEN NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM AS YOU SLOWLY SUFFOCATE AND IT SMELLS LIKE ROTTING PARSLEY

Carcinoma – Labascation (Rat King Records) – TOP PICK

Altarage – Succumb (Season of Mist Underground Activities) – TOP PICK 

Portal – Avow (Profound Lore Records) – TOP PICK 

Intonate – Severed Within (Willowtip)

Seputus – Phantom Indigo (Willowtip)

Sunless – Ylem (Willowtip)

Our Place of Worship is Silence – Disavowed, and left Hopeless (Translation Loss Records)

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ANGUISH. BLEAK, CRUSHING ANGUISH.

Gråt Strigoi – Communion of the Nameless (1513302 DK Records) 

Argwaan – In a Surge of Anguish (Independent) – TOP PICK

Ghost Bath – Self Loather (Nuclear Blast)

Brudywr – Under The Stars (Independent)

The Sun’s Journey Through The Night – Demo II (Independent) – TOP PICK

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BEST ALBUMS FOR HARDCORE KIDS THAT KIND OF WORSHIP SATAN. SATAN ON A HALFPIPE WOULD BE THE TITLE OF THE CRAPPY PINK-AND-GREEN VHS TAPE 

Portrayal of Guilt – Chrisfucker (Run for Cover Records) – TOP PICK

Eyelet – The Devil Shining Out Your Eyes (Zegema Beach Records / i.corrupt Records / The Ghost Is Clear Records) – TOP PICK

Slow Fire Pistol – Rabbit Torn Blues (Triple B Records)

Intercourse – Rule 36 (Illuminate My Heart Records) – TOP PICK

Cara Neir – Phase Out (Tomb Tree Tapes) 

Bygones – If An Engine Turns (Independent)

Sigil – Nether (Total Dissonance Worship)

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BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE INTROSPECTIVE JOURNEYS INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE HUMAN SOUL AND WHAT YOU FIND THERE AIN’T PRETTY UNLESS YOU’RE GENGHIS TRON, IN WHICH CASE IT IS

Ulver – Hexahedron (House of Mythology) 

Emma Ruth Rundle – Engines of Hell (Sargent House) – TOP PICK

Big|Brave – Vital (Southern Lord Records)

Torment and Glory – We Left a Note with An Apology (Sargent House)

King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse Records) – TOP PICK

Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready (Sargent House)

Cruel Wonders – Clay Vessels (999 Cuts)

Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon (Relapse Records) – TOP PICK

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THE HONORARY "DID DARKTHRONE RELEASE AN ALBUM THIS YEAR?" CATEGORY. AND: YES, THEY DID

Darkthrone – Eternal Hails​.​.​.​.​.​. (Peaceville Records) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS AT STACKING A WHOLE LOT OF GEAR AND AMPS AND CABS IN ONE ROOM AS A LAST-DITCH ATTEMPT TO JUST TO GET AWAY FROM ALL THOSE GOD- DAMNED FEELINGS

Profond Barathre – Tinnitus (Hummus Records)

Year of No Light – Consolamentum (Pelagic Records)

Cult of Luna – The Raging River (Red Creek Records / Metal Blade Records) – TOP PICK

Heiress – Distant Fires (Satanik Royalty Records)

Amenra – De Doorn (Relapse Records) – TOP PICK

Huntress of Stars – Endless Landscape of Grim Carnage (Independent)

Kowloon Walled City – Piecework (Gilead Media / Neurot Recordings)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT MAKE YOU LOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BANDCAMP PAGE FOR THE TAGS BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT REALLY THAT SURE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON

Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen the Light, and It was Repulsive (I, Voidhanger Records)

Succumb – XXI (The Flenser) – TOP PICK

Defacement – Defacement (I, Voidhanger Records / Total Dissonance Worship)

Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia (Dark Descent Records)

Antichrist Siege Machine – Purifying Blade (Profound Lore Records) – TOP PICK

Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss (I, Voidhanger Records) – TOP PICK

The Temple – The Temple (Profound Lore Records)

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ALBUMS THAT ARE THE BEST AT DECONSTRUCTING THE SOUL INTO ITS CONSTITUENT PARTS AND PLATING THOSE PARTS WITH GOLD

夢遊病者 – Noč Na Krayu Sveta (Sentient Ruin Laboratories) – TOP PICK

black midi – Cavalcade (Rough Trade Records)

Kaatayra – Inpariquipê (Independent)– TOP PICK

Cloak of Altering – Sheathed Swords Drip with Poisonous Honey (Brucia Records)

ZAÄAR – Magická Džungl’a (I, Voidhanger Records) 

Sunn O))) – Metta, Benevolence (Southern Lord Recrods)

Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne Suffit (Debemur Morti Productions) – TOP PICK

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ALBUMS THAT THE CANNON OF THE VOID SHOOTING LASERS AT YOUR FACE AND THAT ALSO KIND OF SMELL OF B.O.

Universally Estranged – Readed Up in Spectral Predation (Blood Harvest Records) – TOP PICK

Teeth – Finite (Translation Loss Records)

Dakhma – Blessings of Amurdad (Eisenwald)

Moral Collapse – Moral Collapse (Subcontinental Records)

Devoid Of Thought – Outer World Graves (Everlasting Spew Records)

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SOLVING MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS ON THE BLACKBOARD OF SOME FANCY UNIVERSITY BUT THE CHALK YOU'RE HOLDING IS A GUITAR AND THE EQUATIONS ARE RIFFS

Ghastly – Mercurial Passages (20 Buck Spin)

Sallow Moth – Status Caccoon (Tridroid Records)

Siderean – Sidereal Evolution (Edged Circle Productions) – TOP PICK

Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate (20 Buck Spin) – TOP PICK

Diskord – Degeneration (Transcending Obscurity Records)

Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless (Independent)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT LAUGH IN THE FACE OF DEATH, PLUNGE INTO THE DEPTH OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, AND ARE USUALLY LATE TO MEETINGS BY ABOUT 20 MINUTES

Spectral Lore – Ετερόφωτος (I, Voidhanger Records)

Decoherence – System I (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

SVRM – Розпад (Independent)

Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm (I, Voidhanger Records)

Inferno – PARADEIGMA (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity) (Debemur Morti Productions) – TOP PICK

Givre – Le Pressoir mystique (Winter Sky Records)

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ALBUMS THAT ARE THE SURFACE TENSION OF WATER TURNED TO MUSIC + SMELL OF DAMP PINES

Sadness – April Sunset (Independent)

Empyrium – Über den Sternen (Prophecy Productions) – TOP PICK

Dolven – The Tyranny of Time (Independent)

Brii – Sem Propósito (Lovers & Lollypops) – TOP PICK

Dordenreich – Du wilde Liebe sei (Prophecy Productions)

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ALBUMS THAT ARE THE BEST AT CAN’T FIND FUNNY TITLE FOR THIS CATEGORY BECAUSE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS KEEP PUNCHING ME IN THE FACE

Knoll – Interstice (Sludgelord Records)

Yautja – The Lurch (Relapse Records) – TOP PICK

Frontierer – Oxidized (Independent)

Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions (Relapse Records)

Diploid – I Am Yours. I Am Here Again (Heavy Machinery Records)

Gravesend – Methods of Human Disposal (20 Buck Spin) – TOP PICK

Fawn Limbs – Darwin Falls (Wolves and Vibrancy / Roman Numeral) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE DAMP OBJECTS WITHIN VIEW OF A LARGE MOUNTAIN. YES, IT’S A BIG CATEGORY, BUT IT’S MY LIST AND YOU’RE NOT MY DADDY. OR MOMMY. OR ANY COMBINATION THEREOF ENTAILING THE ILLUSION OF PARENTAL-STYLE AUTHORITY

Рожь – Вечное (Reflection Nebula)

Aylwin – The Arch Holder (Pacific Threnodies) – TOP PICK

Panopticon – …And Again into the Light (Bindrune Records) – TOP PICK

Vauruvã – Manso Queimor Dacordado (Independent) – TOP PICK

Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana (Relapse Records)

Alda – A Distant Fire (Eisenwald)

Iskandr – Vergezicht (Eisenwald) – TOP PICK

Tvaer – Tvaer (Bindrune Recordings)

Noltem – Illusions in the Wake (Transcending Obscurity Records)

KŁY – Chen (Pagan Records)

Aquilus – Bellum I (Blood Music)

Fluisteraars – Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking (Eisenwald)

Déhà – A Fleur de Peau – IV – No More Dawn (Musical Excrements)

Feral Season – Rotting Body in the Range of Light (Profound Lore Records)

Ossaert – Pelgrimsoord (Argento Records) – TOP PICK

Dawnwalker  – Ages (Independent) – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS ARE ARE SO PISSED AND CREATIVE THEY MUST BE FROM SOUTH AMERICA AND IF THEY’RE NOT FROM SOUTH AMERICA I GUESS THEY’RE LYING 

Archgoat – Worship the Eternal Darkness (Debemur Morti Productions)

Demiser – Through the Gate Eternal (Boris Records)

Cambion – Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium (Lavadome Productions)

Obsolete – Animate​/​/​Isolate (Unspeakable Axe Records)

Demoniac – So it Goes (Edged Circle Productions) – TOP PICK

Solipnosis – Clarividencia, Introspección, Retrospección (Shrine of the Silent Serpent) – TOP PICK

Svpremacist – Meaningless Death (Repose Records)

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ON THE MENU TODAY: BOULDERS WITH MUSTACHES THAT ROLL DOWN HILLS AND RECORD THEMSELVES USING A ZOOM FIELD RECORDING MICROPHONE AND TOILET PAPER

Sněť – Mokvání v okovech (Blood Harvest Records)

Mortiferum – Preserved in Torment (Profound Lore Records)

Phrenelith – Chimaera (Nuclear Winter Records) – TOP PICK

Sulphurous – The Black Mouth of Sepulchre (Dark Descent Records)

Grave Miasma – Abyss of Wrathful Deities (Dark Descent Records / Sepulchral Voice Records)

Concrete Winds – Nerve Butcherer (Sepulchral Voice Records) – TOP PICK

Malignant Altar – Realms of Exquisite Morbidity (Dark Descent Records)

Cerebral Rot – Excretion of Mortality (20 Buck Spin)

Hyperdontia – Hideous Entity (Dark Descent Records)

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BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE OLD-SCHOOL DISNEY WIZARDS COMING UP IN A THUNDERSTORM, KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR, AND THEIR EYES, THEIR EYES SHINE IN THE NIGHT LIKE BEACONS OF MALICE

Dold Vorde Ens Navn – Mørkere (Prophecy Productions) – TOP PICK

Ungfell – Es grauet (Eisenwald)

Ustalost – Before the Glinting Spell Unvests (Gilead Media) – TOP PICK

Isgherurd Morth – Hellrduk (Repose Records)

Antediluvian – The Divine  Punishment (Nuclear War Now! Productions)

Fynask – VII Kenoma (Ván Records)

Djevel – Tanker Som Rir Natten (Aftermath Music) – TOP PICK

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BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE OLD-SCHOOL DISNEY WIZARDS COMING UP IN A THUNDERSTORM AGAIN BUT THIS TIME THEY'RE CARRYING A SYNTH AND A MOCKUP OF SOME WEIRD SWORD FROM A HORRIBLE MOVIE NO ONE CARES ABOUT

Ringarë – Thrall of Winter's Majesty (Amor Fati Production)

Esoctrillihum – Dy'th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath (I, Voidhanger Records)

Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled (I, Voidhanger Records) – TOP PICK

Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime (Ván Records) – TOP PICK

Grand Celestial Nightmare – Forbidden Knowledge and Ancient Wisdom (New Era Productions)

Phreneticum – Der Stille Zerfall (Onism Production / Satanah Records)

Lycifyre – God Awaits Us All (Norma Evangelium Diaboli)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE THE PAST, ARE THE FUTURE, ALL CRUMPLED INTO AN UNEASY CLUMP OF MUD AND LIGHT

Nothing is Real – Symphony Mysterium (Independent) – TOP PICK

Krallice – Demonic Wealth (P2)

Victory Over the Sun – Nowherer (Independent)

Skin Tension – Machinic Impulses Of The Hyperreal (Independent)

Sordide – Les idées blanches (Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions / WV Sorcerer Productions)

Beastlor – Galaxies of Death (Independent) – TOP PICK

Serpent Column – Katartisis (Dissociative Visions)  – TOP PICK

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE JUST TOO SHORT (EPs)

Kluvim – Om Mani Padme Hum (Independent)

Karkait – Yevul (Wolves and Vibrancy Records)

Sea Mosquito – Fire, Magic, & Venom (Onism Productions) – TOP PICK 

Dreams of the Drowned – Missed Springs (Independent)

Trauma Bond – The Violence of Spring (Digital Destruction)

Kvadrat – Ψυχικη Αποσυνθεση (Total Dissonance Worship)

瘧鬼 – 死膚断 (Independent)

NŪR – Negative Transfer (Suicide Records)

Kaldeket – Vitiate (Night Rhymes / Big Bovine Industrial Wastes) – TOP PICK 

Unfathomable Ruination – Decennium Ruinae (Willowtip)

Perilaxe Occlusion – Raytraces of Death (Debemur Morti Productions)

Skeleton – Ordainment of Divinity (20 Buck Spin)

Misotheist – For the Glory of Your Redeemer (Terratur Possessions)

Spider God – Skugglösa ljuset / Shadowless Light (Phantom Lure)

Witch Vomit – Abhorrent Rapture (20 Buck Spin)

Somme – Prussian Blood (Death Prayer Records)

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THE BEST ALBUMS THAT ARE ENTITIES TORN ASUNDER BY THE TITANS ONLY TO FIND ONE ANOTHER AGAIN IN THE SWEET EMBRACE OF EROTIC PASSION 

Dai-Ichi and Lamp of Murmuur – Virgin Womb of Eternal Black Terror (Fólkvangr Records) – TOP PICK

Ockultist and Betelzeus – Split from the Isolation (Independent)

Awenden and Feminazgul – Awenden​/​Feminazgul (Tridroid Records) – TOP PICK

Pharmacist and Eggore – Surgical Intervention (Independent)

Thin, Wallowing, Slabdragger, and Vixen Maw – 4 Way Split (Sludgelord Records) 

Spider God, Revenant Marquis, The Oracle, and The Sun's Journey Through The Night – Four Winds of Revelation (Wulfhere Productions)

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PART II – THE LIST

AMAZING FUCKING ALBUMS

65. Awenden and Feminazgul – Awenden​/​Feminazgul (Tridroid Records)

64. Empyrium – Über den Sternen (Prophecy Productions)

(-) Darkthrone – Eternal Hails​.​.​.​.​.​. (Peaceville Records)

63. Wraithlord – Tal der Phantome (Independent)

62. Primeval Well – Talkin' in Tongues with Mountain Spirits (Moonlight Cypress Archetypes)

61. Abstracter – Abominion (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

(-) Cambion – Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium (Lavadome Productions)

60. Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth (Prosthetic Records)

59. Intercourse – Rule 36 (Illuminate My Heart Records)

58. Djevel – Tanker Som Rir Natten (Aftermath Music) 

57. Cult of Luna – The Raging River (Red Creek Records / Metal Blade Records) 

56. Amenra – De Doorn (Relapse Records)

HOLY SHIT, INCREDIBLE ALBUMS, JUST UNREAL

55. Yautja – The Lurch (Relapse Records)

54. Brii – Sem Propósito (Lovers & Lollypops)

53. Thy Catafalque – Vadak (Season of Mist) 

52. Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled (I, Voidhanger Records) 

(-) Lionoka – Tides of Triumph (Old Mill Productions)

51. Vouna – Atropos (Profound Lore Records)

(-) Benothing – Temporal Bliss Surrealisms (Everlasting Spew Records)

50. Dai-Ichi and Lamp of Murmuur – Virgin Womb of Eternal Black Terror (Fólkvangr Records)

49. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime (Ván Records)

48. Moon – Pandimentional Gnosis (Moribund Records)

47. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst (Profound Lore Records) 

(-) The Sun’s Journey Through The Night – Demo II (Independent)

46. Phrenelith – Chimaera (Nuclear Winter Records)

45. Serpent Column – Katartisis (Dissociative Visions)

44. Fawn Limbs – Darwin Falls (Wolves and Vibrancy / Roman Numeral)

43. Papangu – Holoceno (Repose Records)

42. Dawnwalker  – Ages (Independent)

41. Circle of Ouroborus – Kiromantia (His Wounds)

40. Vauruvã – Manso Queimor Dacordado (Independent)

39. Kayo Dot – Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike (Prophecy Records)

38. Portrayal of Guilt – Chrisfucker (Run for Cover Records)

37. Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate (20 Buck Spin)

36. Kaldeket – Vitiate (Night Rhymes / Big Bovine Industrial Wastes)

35. 夢遊病者 – Noč Na Krayu Sveta (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

ALMOST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

34. Emma Ruth Rundle – Engines of Hell (Sargent House)

33. Iskandr – Vergezicht (Eisenwald)

32. Solipnosis – Clarividencia, Introspección, Retrospección (Shrine of the Silent Serpent) 

31. Nothing is Real – Symphony Mysterium (Independent) 

30 Gravesend – Methods of Human Disposal (20 Buck Spin) 

29. Worm – Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin) 

28. Argwaan – In a Surge of Anguish (Independent)

27. Eyelet – The Devil Shining Out Your Eyes (Zegema Beach Records / i.corrupt Records / The Ghost Is Clear Records) 

26. Dold Vorde Ens Navn – Mørkere (Prophecy Productions)

(-) Stone Healer – Conquistador (Independent)

25. Siderean – Sidereal Evolution (Edged Circle Productions)

24. Ossaert – Pelgrimsoord (Argento Records) 

23. King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse Records)

22. Concrete Winds – Nerve Butcherer (Sepulchral Voice Records)  

21. Universally Estranged – Readed Up in Spectral Predation (Blood Harvest Records)

20. Vertebra Atlantis – Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss (I, Voidhanger Records)

19. Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon (Relapse Records)

SO, SO CLOSE TO BEING ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

18. Carcinoma – Labascation (Rat King Records)

17. Portal – Avow (Profound Lore Records)

16. Sea Mosquito – Fire, Magic, & Venom (Onism Productions)

15. Aylwin – The Arch Holder (Pacific Threnodies)

14. Reveal! – Doppelherz (Sepulchral Voice Records)

13. Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne Suffit (Debemur Morti Productions)

(-) The Ruins of Beverast – The Thule Gremoires (Ván Records)

12. Panopticon – …And Again into the Light (Bindrune Records)

11. Ad Nauseum – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (Total Dissonant Worship / Avantgarde Music)

10. Beastlor – Galaxies of Death (Independent)

9. <Code> – Flyblown Prince (Karisma and Dark Essence Records

8. Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal (20 Buck Spin)

7. Demoniac – So it Goes (Edged Circle Productions) 

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

6. Inferno – PARADEIGMA (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity) (Debemur Morti Productions)

This one came straight out of left field for me. I wasn't emotionally prepared to love a black metal album as much as I did this, nor was I even considering the possibility that an album revolving around what are rudimentary black metal concepts would grab such a firm hold on my soul. But I did, and it did. Everything about this album is done just about perfect: songwriting, atmosphere, performances, production, everything. It's even at an-almost perfect length, though I would literally kill for another five minutes or so. Addictive, grand, unsettling, and just gorgeous music.

5. Dola – Czasy (Widno)

Czasy was just one of those albums. An aimless perusal of all that is "best-selling" and "newly arriving" on Bandcamp hits an interesting-looking album art, the kind that makes you hope against all hope that the music will somehow reflect or even just stand up to the initial ping of curiosity. That's really all I had coming in, hope. And what I was rewarded with was one of the most creative, heartfelt, "organic" examples of forward-thinking extreme music I've heard in a very long time. As is the case every time I put this dumb list together, quite a few albums toward the top of the line were, at some point, my favorite album. Czasy was that for quite a chunk, due to its unrelenting instrumentation, its human fragility, and just the sheer beauty it projects into and onto its listener. A real work of real art.

4. Antichrist Siege Machine – Purifying Blade (Profound Lore Records)

Sometimes certain things make you feel good and then you set them aside, not really thinking too much about what it was that made them do that, or analyze too much. You just feel good, and then go about your day. What often happens, however, at least in my experience, is that those experiences don't get counted when you look back and try and reach toward something memorable or worthwhile. Our brain is funny like that, it remembers certain things and then just lets other drop to the floor. Antichrist Siege Machine was kind of like that for me for a while there. Good band. made me feel like a thorned demigod clad with spiked leather, and then off to the side. This album, however, is all the things that made them good, only more. Do I still play this album to get that spiky feeling and set it aside? I do. But I also think about it all thorough that day. It's a very hard thing, making a masterpiece out of feelings as primal as this, but this is one.

(-) Ustalost – Before the Glinting Spell Unvests (Gilead Media)

It has been my habit (also in this very list) to kind of say to myself: "I'm going to publish my AOTY thing in early December, and whatever comes later will either get discreetly updated later or relegated to the following year." And, really, as excited as I was about a new album from Will Skarstad's solo project, that's exactly what I intended to do this time around. But then I listened to it, and my brain was awash with so many things that I love about Will's writing, about Ustalost's artistic sibling of Yellow Eyes, but really everything that I love about challenging, painful, and beautiful music. Before the Glinting Spell Unvests has all the hallmarks of Will's playing and composition, whether via Ustalost, Yellow Eyes, or elsewhere. The high-register dissonance and clashing above a field of churning bass lines and drums, as if too much is happening at the same time but within the confines of a loosely-defined ecosystem. In my interview with Will and Sam I think I called it warring birds, but that's the general feeling. But here, more than any Will-related album since the maddeningly underrated Hammer of Night, it all feels burnt. A beautiful landscape filled with dissonant creatures, charred and shocked. And, needly to say, beautiful. I won't be moving any of the albums positioned higher since I just won't, but this is awe-inspiring, human black metal and some of Will's best work ever.

3. Kaatayra – Inpariquipê (Independent)

I have so much on my mind when it comes to discussing this relative late comer that there's a chance this short paragraph here will fail. Fail, interestingly, much in the same way Inpariquipê seems to fail. It fails at being the album you want it to be, it fails at ceding over control, it fails at staying put. It is a mind on a journey, and I'm not entirely sure that it's even a musical journey. Whatever it is, its myriad sounds and layers envelop you, your mind, you're walking into that forest, into that green desert plain, you're just walking, not sure why and certainly never sure of what you're going to meet. You might meet some black metal, or some 70s prog, or some Japanese modern prog that's really just a bent version of 70s prog, and you might meet anguish, and beauty, and darkness, and light. Who knows. What I do know is that the mind that's doing all of that just so happens to be one of the most important musical voices working today (making its third straight appearance in my annual top 10), and that the journey is a simultaneous trip into the past, the present, and the future. Singular, unique, unmatched.

2. Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning (Profound Lore Records)

It might be fair to say that, really, I've written all there is to say – all I have to say – about the aberration of a thing back when I first "reviewed" it here. Well, most of it is there, anyhow, most of the essence, at least. But I've lived with it these past months since its release, and there might be something more. And it goes something like this: In Passing Ascension saw Suffering Hour hit their heads against the ceiling of what people with instruments can do in this world with music. It was, and remains, the epitome of what heavy, extreme music can do to the mind. The Cyclic Reckoning is Suffering Hour not dropping from that level, nor ascending from it (you can't, there's a literal ceiling there). What it is is the beautiful, tragic, grand depiction of their brains splattering against concrete, an abstract, emotional counterpart to their already mind-boggling catalogue. Just make more music, is what I'm saying. Splatter more. splatter hard.

1. Grey Aura – Zwart vierkant (Onism Productions)

Other than the fact that Zwart Vierkant was easily the album to which I listened the most this year, and other than the fact that it is one of the most daring, exciting, challenging albums to orbit the black metal solar system in recent memory, Zwart Vierkant, not unlike my 2020 AOTY, feels like an event. An event not just in how well it is written, crafted, recorded, and presented, but an actually, literal event, the kind you dress up for, the kind of get a babysitter for, the kind that restores your sense of being a human in the outside world. To me, in this cursed year of indoor-dwelling and humanity-losing, Zwart Vierkant wasn't just a grand album in a grand musical year, but the very essence of feeling outside despite being locked in. A life giver in a time of death, both figurative and real. And so as with the tradition that I had started with 2020's list, I had the great fortune of conducting a special, in-depth AOTY interview with the band.