Justin "Witty City" Wittenmeier's Top 30 Albums of 2021.
December 29, 2021
With no end to the pandemic in sight, bands stayed home in 2021 and put their creative energies to use. It is terrible that so many tours were canceled but at least we got some damn fine music out of it.
As a reviewer I, of course, check out other websites' AOTY lists. What I'm seeing is so many big bands getting recognition. I want to do something different this year and try to avoid putting "bigger" and "mainstream" albums on my list because the smaller bands need all the glory they can get. All the EPICAS, EVERGREYS, IRON MAIDENS and SWALLOW THE SUNS of the scene already get plenty of well deserved recognition. I own and enjoyed all those band's albums, among many other popular artists. But this year let's celebrate the underground because, without it, the whole scene would collapse.
There were many, many more albums I wanted to add. But with time constraints, I narrowed it down to fifty but trust me...there were dozens upon dozens of other great releases that are just as deserving.
With the exception of the number one album, these are not in any order.
Band: Solemn Echoes
Album: Into The Depths Of Sorrow
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2020
Record Label: Endless Winter
Band: Esoctrilihum
Album: Dyth Requiem For The Serpent Telapath
Genre: Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2017
Record Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Band: Ophis
Album: Spew Forth Odium
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2001
Record Label: F.D.A. Records
Band: Marianas Rest
Album: Fata Morgana
Genre: Melodic Death/Doom
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2013
Record Label: Napalm Records
Band: Drift Into Black
Album: Patterns Of Light
Genre: Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2017
Record Label: Black Doomba
Band: Ischemic
Album: Ischemic
Genre: Black/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2012
Record Label: Independent
Band: Body Void
Album: Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
Genre: Sludge/Drone/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2016
Record Label: Prosthetic Records
Band: Ghastly
Album: Mercurial Passages
Genre: Death Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2011
Record Label: 20 Buck Spin
Band: Ghostheart Nebula
Album: Ascension
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2017
Record Label: Black Lion Records
Band: Wode
Album: Burn In Many Mirrors
Genre: Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2011
Record Label: 20 Buck Spin
Band: Seide
Album: Auakistla
Genre: Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2007
Record Label: Throats Productions
Band: Spectral Lore
Album: ΕτεÏόφωτος
Genre: Atmospheric/Ambient Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2005
Record Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Band: Mare Cognitum
Album: Solar Paroxysm
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2011
Record Label: Extraconscious Record
Band: Harakiri For The Sky
Album: Maere
Genre: Post Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2011
Record Label: AOP Records
Band: Omination
Album: NGR
Genre: Funeral Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2016
Record Label: Hypnotic Dirge
Band: Towards Atlantis Light
Album: When The Ashes Devoured The Sun
Genre: Funeral Doom/Death Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2017
Record Label: Melancholic Realm Productions
Band: The Slow Death
Album: Siege
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2007
Record Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Band: Huronian
Album: As Cold As A Stranger Sunset
Genre: Melodic death/black metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2020
Record Label: Dolorem Records
Band: Soothsayer
Album: Echoes Of The Earth
Genre: Atmospheric Doom/Sludge Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2013
Record Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Band: Burial
Album: Enter Gateways To the Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2012
Record Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Band: Fossilization
Album: He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2020
Record Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Band: Devoid Of Thought
Album: Outer Worlds
Genre: Death Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2016
Record Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Band: Occulsed
Album: Crepitation Of Phlegethon
Genre: Death Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2019
Record Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Band: Rise To The Sky
Album: Per Aspera Ad Astra
Genre: Atmospheric Death/Doom
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2019
Record Label: GS Productions
Band: Actus Septem
Album: The Catechism Of Death
Genre: Black/Doom
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2016
Record Label: GS Productions
Band: Ascete
Album: Calamites & Les Calamites
Genre: Black Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2015
Record Label: Antiq Records
Band: Worm
Album: Foreverglade
Genre: Doom/Sludge/Metal/Groove/Thrash
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2012
Record Label: 20 Buck Spin
Band: The Vicious Head Society
Album: Extinction Level Event
Genre: Progressive Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2010
Record Label: Independent
Band: Aphonic Threnody
Album: The All Consuming Void
Genre: Funeral Death/Doom
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2012
Record Label: Independent
No. 1 (Album of the Year 2021):
Band: Eremit
Album: Bearer Of Many Names
Genre: Doom/Sludge Metal
General Information:
Year of Formation: 2015
Record Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Source:
More results...
