When I look back at my notes 2021 appears definitely as a very "productive" year. The continuing absence of live concerts and the low profit that on-line streaming "generates" have left artists with few options when it comes to income, with physical and digital album releases being one of them (options). What is interesting though, is that the quality of this "overproduction" is relatively high and that is probably the result of that fact that currently bands are spending more time rehearsing and practising on studio rather than touring...
So here is my choice of the 50 best albums for 2021. Please note that the sequence does not represent any particular ranking :
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
black midi - Cavalcade
Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
Amenra - De Doorn
Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate
Turnstile - Glow On Quicksand - Distant Populations
Blackwater Holylight - Silence/Motion
Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Archspire - Bleed the Future
1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet
A.A. Williams - Arco
Green Lung - Black Harvest
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon : I
Autokrator - Persecution
Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon
Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
Nestor - Kids in a Ghost Town
Agusa - En Annan Värld
Eldovar - A Story of Darkness & Light
Need - Norchestrion: A Song for the End
Chez Kane - Chez Kane
Enforced - Kill Grid
Idles - Crawler
Whitechapel - Kin
Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
ABBA - Voyage
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
Architects - For Those That Wish To Exist
Me And That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit. Vol.2
Volbeat - Servant of the Mind
Gojira - Fortitude
Heavy Feather - Mountain of Sugar
Stheno - Wardance
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
Tamar Aphek - All Bets are Off
Agnes Vein - Deathcall
Paroxysmos - Paroxysmos
Katavasia - Invoking the Spirit of Doom
Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters
Hail Spirit Noir - Mannequins
Borgne - Temp Morts
Helloween - Helloween
Lorna Shore - ...And I Return to Nothingness
Wardrum - Mavericks
Karma Violens - Mount of the Congregation
Lock Up - The Dregs of Hades
and then some more...
Best Artist Compilation : Goat - Headsoup
Best Tribute Album : Marta Gabriel - Metal Queens
Best Live Album : Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation Live
Best Various Artists Compilation : Milim Kashot Volume 3
Best Reissue : Affinity Box Set (Esoteric Recordings)
* Kopf Hoch, literally translates from German as Heads Up or Cheer Up. I chose this picture as my message of optimism for next year!