Well ladies, gents and everyone in between, here it is. I know I am fairly late, and that is due to a great many life changes, as well as the couple back-to-back local music reviews that needed to be taken care of. That said, I would never leave 2021 without writing up my top albums, because oh boy was it a banger year. My top 5 have been mulled over again and again to find just the right order of albums. Dang near anything down to the bottom of this list had to be debated over and over, and I know I am going to feel horrible leaving a few albums off. Hopefully reading through doesn’t leave you wishing I would shave my beard and start listening to the Dave Matthews Band. Enjoy!
25) Humanity’s Last Breath – “Välde”
Released: February 12
This album has to be the most flat-out brutal of the year. Raw and unrelenting, this album is full of tension and explosion in the form of breakdowns that seem almost constant. Hailing from Sweden, and bringing a heavy that only Sweden can bring, Humanity’s Last Breath unleashes raw power upon the listener from the first moments of the album, opening with ominous tones before crushing your ears with chaotic guitars and gut punch drumming. The vocals are layered with effects in just the right places to make them sound otherworldly. Swells and drops fill the layers of doom as the album progresses into the mouth of hell. Just incredible, and such a brutal way to start this list off.
24) Khemmis – “Deceiver”
Released: November 19
Khemmis bring a little bit of old-school cool to the list. Not because they themselves are old, but the sound is built upon sounds of heavy metal past. Thick guitar and bass tones, very simple grooves and clean vocals. Billing themselves as Doomed Heavy Metal is about as apt a description you can get. They first got my attention with their release of “Hunted” in 2016, and I haven’t missed anything from them since. “Deceiver” is, in my opinion, their best release to date. They don’t stray from their sound, their tones, their style, and dammit it just works so damn good. The simplicity gives impact to every note played, even through the guitar solos. The vocals are beautiful, staying in a comfortable range that brings beautiful melody to the music. It is dark and moody and everything a Minnesotan could want in the fall/winter months.
23) Rivers of Nihil – “The Work”
Released: September 24
Following up the absolute masterpiece that is “Where Owls Know My Name” was always going to be an enormous task. Rivers have a long career of making incredible music however, and this most recent release is no different. Taking on a very different flavor from their last album, “The Work” feels a little like they are dipping their toes into a new sound once again. Moving to a more progressive sound, opening the album with a piano and smooth vocal introduction is something that builds on their last album. That isn’t to say they have left their heaviness behind however. The sort of atmospheric, all encompassing wall of aggression that we heard on “Owls” comes out again here. Double kicks rev like an engine screaming out of control, and guitars control infectiously groovy riffs. These tracks all have a similar vibe, and the song titles suggest a building concept is on the horizon for Rivers, and I certainly wouldn’t complain about that.
22) Thank You Scientist – “Plague Accomodations”
Released: November 19
Yeah, this one isn’t metal, I get it. Thank You Scientist is something more jazzy, funky and pop inspired than what usually ends up on this site. However, non-metal has been showcased here before, and it likely will again. The aptly-named album from TYS puts on an amazing show of the band’s wild talents. These guys put on a fantastic live show, backed largely by the fact that they are all absolutely incredible musicians. For a band with so many moving parts, the horns, violin, drums, bass, guitars, and vocals are all layered beautifully through the whole album. The vocals take some getting used to for some people, but I love them. Living in a higher register, but delivered expertly on every track. Interesting lyrics seem to back up the fanfare sound TYS has built. For my money, guitarist Tom Monda is the most underrated guitar player in all of rock and metal. The man deserves every award for his raw talent and songwriting ability. The music is all around good vibes and excellent listening, especially for anyone into the prog end of things.
21) Aeon – “God Ends Here”
Released: October 15
One spin of this album and you might agree that indeed God is dead. Aeon delivers a punishing onslaught of guitar, drums and snarling vocals that sound like a holy war in itself. Symphonic elements add a sense of foreboding for the coming aural wars that follow. The entire 16 track album bears down on you like a freight train of death metal. Steady and grinding, it is the type of album that you would expect to trigger absolute violence and the end of days.
20) Trivium – “In the Court of the Dragon”
Released: October 8
This album was released to quite a bit of acclaim, and I’ll be honest it took me a couple listens to really “get it”. Once you allow yourself to swim in the sweet thrashy waters though, this entire album is one big epic. Trivium has become a band that draws from mythology and story to write songs that sound absolutely huge, and this album isn’t any different. It focuses a bit less on being heavy and more on substance, and sounds less ballad-y than their last release. They sound like they returned to their “Ember to Inferno” roots, but this time with more maturity and raw talent. Seeing them back in form like this makes a younger me so very happy.
19) Ophidian I – “Desolate”
Released: July 16
This is one album that on most other years might have cracked the top 10. Maybe it should have here, what the fuck do I know. Hailing from Reykjavik, Iceland Ophidian I came out of nowhere for me. Claiming a goal of “reaching the apex of technical metal in terms of proficiency, arrangements and sound” and writing music that reflects the chaos of Iceland itself, Ophidian waited 11 years of their existence to gift this masterpiece to our ears. If you are a fan of tech death, this album is a must listen. The arrangements are top notch, the guitars play some of the cleanest harmonies I have ever heard, the band as a whole sweeps seamlessly from thrashing away and showing their proficiency to allowing melodic passages under thickly layered vocals carry you into death metal bliss. This is one of the albums I might listen to most for the rest of…. well forever.
18) Coevality – “Multiple Personalities”
Released: April 9
Apparently I am on a non-metal kick this year. This album does however cross the bridges to prog, metal, rock and jazz, often within the same song. Coevality is all instrumental and all talent. Every instrument is allowed to shine clearly, the production is top-notch and the music is just so damn fun. The bass player here is everything I ever want in any fretless player ever, giving the music so much character and feel. Tracks can be relaxing or chaotic and the band is comfortable playing both. It sounds like these guys are having a blast playing all this, and who can blame them? If you are this talented why not go off for a 53 minute album?
17) Stortregn – “Impermanence”
Released: March 12
Stortregn, which I read means “downpour” in Swedish, marched into 2021 with this absolute progressive death masterpiece. The album is incredibly dynamic in its arrangements, melodic and beautiful all the way through. Active as far back as 2005, Stortregn have been delivering powerful melancholy metal for a lot longer than most bands manage to stay alive. Their experience shows all over this album. They have a deep understanding of where to put melody, where to pull elements out to give some calm, and where to deliver absolute punishment. Another must listen for any metalhead.
16) Summoning the Lich – “United in Chaos”
Released: February 26
One of the more powerful debut albums I have ever heard. This is music made for resurrecting the dead or, as the name might suggest, summoning a lich. The vocals are dynamic, swinging from screeches to deep gutterals and back. Riding waves of riffs that sound tense and ominous, the album is 12 tracks that keep you on your toes and insist that you put on a cloak and creep around your own house late at night. The music is raw aural horror in a most elegant form.
15) Bloodletter – “Funeral Hymns”
Released: September 25
Hailing from Chicago and delivering metal in a way I think only Chicago could. I get flavors of hardcore, doom and thrash all over this aptly named album. The music is an almost unrefined style of metal, full of energy charging forward almost out of control. It isn’t overly technical, but it doesn’t have to be. Bloodletter do great relying on thrash levels of speed and vocals that are equal parts shriek and yell. They are plenty talented to write sections of ominous melody that evoke images of violent deaths. It is music plenty capable of making you want to throw down in a pit, Chicago style.
14) For Giants – “There, There”
Released: January 8
This was one of the very first new releases I listened to this year, and I was immediately in love. An instrumental band that writes and records long distance between Chicago and Brooklyn, each member has tremendous talent. Living in a similar space as bands like Intervals the music is a departure from the most of this list as it is just all good vibes. This album and band is going to be a staple in my playlists for years to come. The music has so much groove and feel, the solos are even emotional instead of big wank-fests. Every note here is intentional and designed to elevate each surrounding note. This is all masterclass level talent with zero narcissism. If they ever end up touring in Minneapolis I will be going, no doubt about that.
13) Between the Buried and Me – “Colors 2”
Released: August 20
This album was one of my most highly anticipated of the year. Being a fan of prog metal basically means you are a fan of BTBAM, I don’t make the rules. As usual, they didn’t disappoint. They are 100% on their bullshit, beautifully transitioning between gentle piano, to rock, to metal, to jazz, to whatever they want it seems. BTBAM have complete control over music. Many of the tracks are the average 3-ish minutes long, but of course they couldn’t write an album without a few 10+ minute bangers. Closing with a 15 minute track is a fantastic way to round out what I consider to be one of the most impressive exhibits of prog metal I have heard in a long, long time. It is, I daresay, prog as prog itself intended.
12) Cognitive – “Malevolent Thoughts Of A Hastened Execution”
Released: July 16
This one might win the title of “Best Album Title”. Cognitive released a raw onslaught of sound that could very well be the soundtrack to a beheading. Or a series of beheadings. While they are billed as being deathcore they certainly don’t keep to the standard of that sound. Yes, it is heavy, there are breakdowns a plenty, but it isn’t in any way corny like most deathcore is now. The vocals stay violent, the music has a tone of spinning sawblades rending away at your arteries. This is brutality as the gods intended it to sound. There is no need for the music to talk itself up to being brutal, it just is, plain and simple. It shows you, doesn’t tell you.
11) Hannes Grossman – “To Where The Light Retreats”
Released: June 1
If you are a fan of tech death and don’t know the name Hannes Grossman, then I honestly don’t know what you have been doing with your life. Formerly of Necrophagist and Obscura, currently of Alkaloid and Blotted Science, this dude has been a part of too much tech death legend to even begin to summarize effectively. What lies in here is a style familiar to fans of Obscura. A beautiful and technically masterful showing of technical death metal. He has a particular style that is easy to pick out from other tech death bands, and that isn’t a bad thing. Hannes has lived in and around tech death music for a long time, he knows what he likes, and he is damn good at it.
10) Gojira – “Fortitude”
Released: April 30
Gojira is a band that should need no introduction to you, especially if you read this site regularly. Gojira have a special place in both my heart and Darrrko’s and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Their most recent release builds their ethos with their unique style. The drumming is there, the unique vocal technique is there, and those wild pick slides are there too. This album draws once again on the concept of the environment, how it is dying and needs our help to save it. Excellent heavy music with a noble cause is something I can always get behind. The most interesting song here for me is “Amazonia”, opening with a jaw harp and some other instrumentation to sound very tribal or primitive. For my money it should have opened the album, it gives the rest of the tracks a very cohesive vibe. Gojira have their special sound, but never fail to experiment just a little bit with their music, and that is apparent here. “Fortitude” sounds unique even among their extensive collection of albums.
9) Cannibal Corpse – “Violence Unimagined”
Released: April 16
These guys just keep getting better and better. The production gets better, the musicianship gets better, and dammit is Corpsegrinder just so damn good. These legends of death metal music did it again in 2021 with this one. They don’t stray from the ethos they have built over so many years making music, delivering a blistering fast soundtrack providing the backdrop to lyrics evoking imagery of the most brutal violence the human mind can imagine. The first single off this album, “Inhumane Harvest”, sounds like it could have easily lived on one of their earliest albums. I honestly don’t know what to say, if you don’t know who Cannibal Corpse is I can’t help you, and if you are a fan of theirs you know exactly what you are in for on this one. This one keeps death metal alive.
8) Soen – “Imperial”
Released: January 29
Soen is one banger of a supergroup, mastering melodic metal at every turn. Another early in the year love of mine, “Imperial” further cements them as one of Scandinavia’s great metal bands. The smooth vocals over beautiful driving melodies and powerful passages are emotional and beautiful. I did a full review shortly after it’s release, check that out here: https://beardsblastbeats.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/album-review-soen-imperial/
7) Sithu Aye – “Senpai III”
Released: January 8
A one-man guitar show, Sithu Aye brings yet another not quite metal album to the list. Rolling in the same vein as the previously mentioned For Giants or Intervals, Sithu Aye delivers some guitar virtuoso music that I can really enjoy. Guitar virtuoso style instrumentals aren’t usually my thing, but Sithu Aye delivers some serious bangers here. It has plenty of groove and feel for me to really get into it when I am in a mood for instrumental music.
6) Obscura – “A Valediction”
Released: November 19
Obscura gonna Obscura. Or are they? The return of Jereon Paul Thesseling to the lineup excited me, his talent on the early Obscura albums was absolutely pivotal in my becoming such a huge fan of theirs. The return of Christian Münzer was also welcome, as his guitar chops are absolutely incredible, and hopefully this also means his neurological condition in his hand that kept him from the band all these years is in remission. Obscura got a little experimental here, and featured a track that sounds way outside their normal range. When Stars Collide features clean vocals and an almost sing-along chorus. Wild for a band normally full of technical proficiency and screams. This album was everything I dreamt of with old members returning.
5) Cognizance – “Upheaval”
Released: September 24
Straight modern death metal from the UK awaits on this album. There are really no tricks here, just solid guitar solos, pounding drums, and gutteral vocals straight from the mouth of hell itself. Haunting layers of guitars set the tone for an audio beat down that could very well send you to your demise. The starts, stops and quick changes between riffs give the music some groove and feel, like someone is using your head to do speedbag work. The drums keep the tempo up through it all, providing a solid backbone to the thrashing delivered by the strings. All around a fantastic album from another band I previously had no idea existed.
4) Be’lakor – “Coherence”
Released: October 29
I have long been a fan of Be’lakor and their delivery of melodic death metal music. This album delivers 8 songs in exactly one hour. Long, epic melodeath songs you say? Sign me right the hell up. Be’lakor continues their construction of beautiful metal music right in line with their past releases. Guitar harmonies sweep you away and give you a sense of calm amidst the growling vocals. The style Be’lakor delivers always feels like life itself, finding calm in the storm. Both beautiful and chaotic, peaceful and violent. “Coherence” is a tremendous piece of melodic death metal music, and a must hear for anyone who dips their feet in this particular metal genre.
3) Inferi – “Vile Genesis”
Released: September 10
This album is, to put it lightly, fucked up. The technical proficiency and onslaught of notes and waves of sound wash over me and leave me bug eyed every time I listen. I just have to shake my head at this one. The guitars converge in harmony and diverge into complimentary riffs so effortlessly, the drums just never seem to stop, and the bass delivers thunderous punishment right along underneath the rhythm. The vocals are dynamic and sound as a call and response from the human world into a nether realm where humankind dare not tread. All in all, this is a masterpiece album and one that should and likely will live rent free in your nightmares after you give it a spin.
2) First Fragment – “Gloire Éternelle”
Released: October 29
This list contains a lot of tech death. Like, a lot. I have raved about the technical proficiency of bands this entire list. This though, this might very well take the cake as the most well written album of all of these. Transcending metal, this music crosses into many genres, each with equal talent by the members of First Fragment. No stone is left unturned, no technique thrown away at the risk of sounding “not metal”. Guitar and bass solos fill your ears as each member showcases talent only found by years and years of intense practice and love for creating incredible music. The album is mixed fantastically, with each instrument shining through and the vocals still delivering punishment on top of everything. This is metal music by musicians for people who truly love the metal genre.
1) Archspire – “Bleed the Future”
Released: October 29
To top off this year Archspire had to do it to ’em. The kings of tech death came back with what is in my opinion their heaviest album to date. The first two singles off the album, “Drone Corpse Aviator” and “Golden Mouth of Ruin” got play after play from me. On my way home from work, in the gym, on the way to the gym, sitting at home. It fit almost anywhere. Archspire manages to play both at blistering speed and with incredible groove and feel. The breakdowns, if you can call them that, also come at breakneck speed but carry the same destructive force as any normal slow chuggy breakdown. The songs are all arranged and written to produce maximum punishment at maximum speed. There is not much in the way of tempo change here, because there doesn’t need to be. Archspire can deliver the same groove and power at 300 bpm as anyone else could at half that speed. Despite listening to Archspire for many years, I still find myself in awe of their ability. It is one thing to just play fast, but to play fast with feel is something else altogether. And vocally? Well that is unique too. Someone with a solid growl tone delivering complex lyrics at the speed of a rapper like Tech N9ne isn’t something you see…. well ever. This whole album is just fucking nasty, and that is why it lands at #1 with a bullet for 2021.
That’s all everyone, I truly hope you take time to listen through these, because 2021 was a banger year for music. There are plenty more that I had to keep out of the top 25 that any other year would have landed here easily. This list alone I could debate with myself up and down for hours. Enjoy the tunes, keep it metal, and don’t you dare shave that beard.
Here is a link to a playlist with all these banger albums on it for easy access.
Beards & Blastbeats 