Further dispatches from The Heavy Metal Yearbook, wherein Eric, of the Heavy Metal 101 podcast (https://anchor.fm/heavymetal101podcast), explores every nook and cranny of each year of heavy metal history, so that you can just sit back and enjoy the highlights:
So, was 2021 just more or less 2020 part 2? I mean, the world was still pretty damn weird, even if things had gotten noticeably less spooky. Certainly, from a musical standpoint the shockwaves of 2020 manifested as a glut of albums released in 2021. Also like 2020, a lot of these albums were absolutely fantastic, providing a much needed aesthetic respite from the uncertainty of a world gone very weird.
In heavy metal, some of the best albums of the year were impressively provided by some of the genre’s oldest school masters: The legendary Iron Maiden returned with the long-awaited (and perhaps just a touch overlong) Senjutsu, an extraordinary album from a band that has been at this for well over 40 years. Everyone’s favorite former goregrind masters, Carcass, also returned to the fray in 2021 with a wonderful new album of their own, Torn Arteries. Perhaps most surprising of all, at least to me, was that my old nemesis, Cannibal Corpse (never a favorite band of mine), released one of the finest albums of their storied career, the shockingly vital Violence Unimagined. And, one of my very favorite releases of 2021 came from a band that has been around forever (since 1991!?), but with whom I wasn’t previously familiar, Finnish funeral doom pioneers Skepticism. Companion, their first release in 6 years, is as good as it gets. Amazing stuff, and a back catalog I need to dig into!
Other killer releases from established bad asses in 2021 included yet another Panopticon masterpiece of Appalachian folk tinged black metal, …And Again into the Light, the preposterously, delectably dark, fetid oppression of Portal’s AVOW, the mind blowing tech death virtuosity of Archspire’s Bleed the Future, and by far my favorite Trivium album to date, the wonderfully catchy traditional-metal-meets-metalcore-meets-thrash-meets-just-plain-fun of In the Court of the Dragon.
As always (hallelujah!) there were also exciting new artists to discover in 2021. I’d already heard and enjoyed a bit of Khemmis in the past, but was absolutely thrilled by Deceiver, which sounds sort of like if Iron Maiden had really cool children who decided to grow up and play doom metal. I also discovered a few great artists who were completely new to me: The experimental, sparkly pop/hardcore chaos of The Armed (Ultrapop) and the brooding gothic doom of King Woman (Celestial Blues).
I do need to also take a moment to say how very much I love the current crop of post black metal artists. This is definitely a strong contender for my favorite 21st century subgenre. Three very different 2021 releases utterly blew me away: Wolves in the Throne Room’s Primordial Arcana, Voices’ Breaking the Trauma Bond, and what was VERY nearly my favorite album of the year, Møl’s incredibly gorgeous sophomore release, Diorama. None of these albums sound remotely similar to each other, but all take black metal as a starting point, only to steer things into wildly exciting, unexpected places.
And yet, there can only be one “best” album in a given year. All of the above are great(!), but the album that most blew me away was by a band that somehow manages to JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER with each release, the mighty Gojira. To my mind, Fortitude is their best album to date, bridging the divide between increasing accessibility and increasing sonic experimentation, while still managing to stay incredibly visceral and heavy. This is an awesome fricking album.
For more fun-filled heavy metal chat, please do check out the Heavy Metal 101 podcast, available everywhere you like to listen! https://anchor.fm/heavymetal101podcast
#ironmaiden #carcass #cannibalcorpse #skepticism #panopticon #portal #archspire #trivium #khemmis #thearmed #kingwoman #wolvesinthethroneroom #voiceslondon #molband #gojiraband