I took a new job this year, so I wasn’t able to write for the site as often as I had hoped. At first blush, I didn’t think 2021 was that great a year for metal, but as I listened back through, there was quite a bit of quality. I’m sure I missed a lot, but these were the records that tickled my fancy this year.
I’m a sucker for a good tech death record, and to my ear, few do it better than Obscura. Steffen Kummerer welcomed back old friends guitarist Christian Münzner and fretless bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling, and the results are magical. I wasn’t able to give this as many listens as I would’ve liked, so I fear that it probably should be higher up. Nevertheless, fans of highly technical death metal with a classical flair will enjoy.
From my mid-year review: “Witherfall have been quietly releasing excellent progressive metal since 2017, and this may be their finest hour. The epic final track ‘...And They All Blew Away’ is fantastic, and don’t miss the special edition that includes their cover of Boston’s ‘Long Time’.”
This collaboration between Converge and Chelsea Wolfe is a lot to take in: it’s brutal, it’s beautiful, and it’s intense. It sounds like Converge and Chelsea Wolfe, and yet it’s something very much unlike either of them individually. Bloodmoon: I is definitely a record that requires the proper frame of mind, but give it the multiple listens it will take to digest and you will be rewarded.
Khemmis burst onto the doom metal scene a few years back and have taken it by storm. Their latest is another in a line of excellent releases that solidifies their place as one of the standard-bearers for modern doom. I’m a doom metal fan from way back, and these guys are the real deal.
I said this in my mid-year review and I stand by it. “Amidst all of the drama with Rockenfieldsryche and Toddsryche, not to mention the ever-present spectre of Geoff Tate, you’d be forgiven for missing that Todd La Torre released a solo record in 2021. But you dismiss it at your own peril, as it’s a trove of muscular metal that will have you pumping your fist in time. Whatever happens with Queensryche, Rejoice in the Suffering is ample evidence that Todd La Torre is a metal force in his own right.”
I’ve been a passing fan of Quicksand over the years, so I gave Distant Populations merely a courtesy listen without expecting much. I’m glad I gave it a chance, as it turned out to be one of the real delights of the year. Filled with hooks, this one will have your head bobbing along like it’s the 90’s. Glad to know that Schreifels still has it in him.
Seven years after the brilliant Blood In, Blood Out and the re-introduction of vocalist Steve “Zetro” Sousa, Gary Holt finally found the time to crank out some more classic riffs and show the thrash kids how it’s done. Persona Non Grata doesn’t stray far from the template the band’s used since the Dukesodus days, so there are a few tracks that could use a trim. But, there’s more than enough here to make even the most jaded metalhead (that’s Eric, of course) want to grab the old jean jacket and do the toxic waltz in the living room.
I came to this one late after perusing through some year-end lists, but this one immediately stuck its hooks in me. Very much in the vein of Insomnium, Be’lakor specialize in melodic death metal, but with a progressive flair and extended track lengths. This sort of thing can be hard to pull off, but Coherence mostly succeeds. It will require a little patience, but the effort pays off for genre fans.
This late arrival from the Finnish doom legends shot onto my list straight-away. Moonflowers isn’t too far afield from the band’s last couple of records, but it’s done with such quality that I had it on frequent repeat. Few others can compete with Swallow the Sun’s ability to pair crushing despair with such beauty. Guitarist Juha Raivio painted the cover with his own blood during the first lockdown, so that will give you some sense of the music contained within. Moonflowers is the perfect album for your Omicron-induced winter darkness.
As I said in my full review of Fortitude: “This isn’t my favorite Gojira record - that’s probably L’Enfant Sauvage or From Mars to Sirius - but there’s no shame in that from a band who’s never really made a bad one. It’s weakened by some experiments that don’t totally work and some questionable lyrical choices, but better to try and fail than to stagnate.” No hesitation putting it here.
Speaking of experiments, At the Gates could have easily rested on the laurels of their own perfect, genre-defining album Slaughter of the Soul and cranked out another solid melodic death metal set. Instead, they added some progressive elements and different instrumentation (melodeath saxophone, anyone?) that work far more often than not. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but The Nightmare of Being ended up in my queue frequently throughout the year. I’ll put this track up with the best of anything else they’ve ever done.
It’s not a perfect record: everyone knows that’s Crack the Skye. The band took some risks, and I appreciate that from an artist that I love, but that has sounded a bit samey for the past couple of records. I’d trim a few tracks out of the middle, but there are far more high points than there are missteps, and I found myself returning to this one quite often.
Nearly 10 years after their sublime comeback Surgical Steel, Carcass returned with an excellent slab of meaty hooks and riffs for our ear-splitting pleasure. It’s not quite to the level of Surgical Steel - there are a few down moments in the middle that start to feel a bit samey. But, for two guys that have been making metal for 35 years, Bill Steer and Jeff Walker still deliver.
When I heard that Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen had returned to the fold for a successful tour and decided to make a record, I thought it would be the standard tepid nostalgia trip we so often see. So consider me pleasantly shocked to find that the resulting record KICKS ASS. It’s a perfect blend of more muscular, riff-based heavy metal and the progressive power metal they helped pioneer in the 80’s. The harmonies and traded vocals with Kiske, Hansen, and longtime vocalist Andi Deris are sublime, and the riffs are massive. The lyrics are cheesy and it’s bombastic as hell, but the album is a joy to hear: multiple spins later, I can’t keep myself from smiling every time I turn it on. If you’re expecting Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. XVII, you’re likely to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you can listen to “Mass Pollution” and not start screaming for vengeance with your fist raised in the air, then you hate metal and fun.
I loved 2018’s Down Below, so I was surprised to find at first that I didn’t love Where the Gloom Becomes Sound. I shelved it for several weeks and came back later to find that it made more sense. It’s a dark record with more doom influences, and the hooks are a little harder to find. But when I gave it time and patience, I found it settled in as the record I played most this year (and Spotify agrees). It's the perfect combination of old-school occult heavy metal and more modern death metal. Sadly, it’s guitarist Jonathan Hultén’s last with the band, so we will see where the muse leads them next. In any case, it’s a fitting end to this chapter and my favorite record of 2021.
