Trial and Error Collective Presents: Favorite Releases of 2021

Artwork from Nick León's FT060 LP. Banner by Chelsea Whitaker

As we find ourselves drawing closer to the end of another wild and unpredictable year, we at T&E find it more important than ever to celebrate the music that connected us all. So for our final collab blog of the year, our passionate community of music aficionados have compiled year end lists to cap off the year the right way. With over fifty genre-spanning albums, EPs, and singles, there's something to suit every music lover in our lists. Dive in!

Parisa's Picks

This year in music really hits different. It was the soundtrack to finally making new memories, leaving my house, hugging my friends, and feeling a sense of hope again - even if the present and future still seem shrounded in uncertainty. While it's hard to narrow down all the excellent releases that came out this year, here are just a few favorites in no particular order (except for the first selection below, which is my definitive favorite).

​And to continue on my yearly tradition, my year end picks are written in haiku.
​

Album:  This Is Tehran?
Artist: Various Artists
Favorite Song: "Pipe Dreams Metempsychosis" 
​
​The youth of Iran
Innovating ancient sound 
Seeking new freedoms

(Read my interview with the artists of this compilation here.)
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Album: Lurkers in the Capsule of Skulls
Artist: Veilburner
Favorite Song: “Cursed, Disfigured, Amen!”

Dark carnival ride
Nauseating dissonance
I want to get off

Album: إجمد
Artist: Jowan Safadi 
Favorite Song: “ريباوند”

Trip hop bedroom pop
​Somber reflections of love
Long live Palestine!
​

Album: Mood Valiant
Artist: Hiatus Kaiyote
Favorite Song: “Red Room” 

Rich and effortless
Unflinching against death’s hand
Enveloped in red

Album: Smiling With No Teeth    
Artist: Genesis Owusu
Favorite Song: “The Other Black Dog”

Personality
shines through a toothless smile
Pure, raw confidence

Album: Yeti Season
Artist: El Michels Affair
Favorite Song: “Murkit Gem” and “Fazed Out”

A fictious film
but a very real soundtrack
Cinematic soul

Album: Man Made
Artist: Greentea Peng
Favorite Song: “Earnest”

Burn sage, free your mind
Divine soul, mossy aura
Fuck all attitude

Album: New Long Leg
Artist: Dry Cleaning
Favorite Song: “Unsmart Lady”

​Post-punk excellence
Cool, calm and unaffected
Leave it out to dry

Album: Cavalcade
Artist: black midi
Favorite Song: “Chondromalacia Patella”

Free-jazz punks,
​pull out your calculators!
Get buried in sound

​Album: We Are an Island, but We’re Not Alone
Artist: Comorian
Favorite Song: “My Friends Went Abroad & Were Swallowed by the Waves”

​A remote island
Alone but not lonely
Solace in music

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Honorable Mentions

In the beginning of the year, I made myself a little journal zine so I could keep track of albums I listened to and enjoyed throughout the year. Rather than narrowing it down, I'll share photos of my journal. These are all albums that have found their way into my heart, hopefully you find some cool digs in here too:

And one special shout out to the Otagh Band video for "Ondor Bondor", which quickly became one of my favorite music videos of all time.

Noé's Picks
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​Album: Honest Labour
Artist: Space Afrika
Favorite Song: "Rings ft. guest"

Since the beginning of their musical career, Space Afrika have demonstrated their talent to create extremely detailed atmospheric compositions, taking listeners to other worlds. In “Honest Labour”, the duo expands on their ambient roots to create something to call their own: a mixture of intimate conversations, ambient textures, vocal arrangements, and foggy downtempo. It is a beautifully introspective sound collage that begs to be listened to in a dark, rainy day.
​

​Album: Reflection
Artist: Loraine James
Favorite Song: "Let’s Go"

Loraine James shows her talent as a producer once more in “Reflection”, an album where she finds a very gentle balance between pummeling electronics and a more personal and emotional side. Her tracks showcase complex IDM patterns and powerful Drill percussions, but also share the spotlight with multiple guest vocalists that show a side with an R&B sensibility. The end result is precise and layered while also being introspective and moving.
​

Album: Two Reflections In Parallel
Artist: Yyed
Favorite Song: "Ridges Protruding From A Surface"

I love ambient, but sometimes, it feels like someone used sandpaper to remove all ridges and then proceeded to oil up the final result to achieve perfect smoothness. This is great when I want a cozy sonic blanket, but often I crave that irregular texture that is lost. “Two Reflections in Parallel” fulfills this craving incredibly well. It is crunchy, uneven, and infinitely surprising. It brings back that childish wonder in me that compels me to climb rocks and crawl on the grass. It’s an album informed by the beauty of sounds around us that channels them into a therapeutic vibration journey.
​

​Album: Furto
Artist: Vasconcelos Sentimiento
Favorite Song: "Batebate"

Furto is like the scrapbook of a madman. Filled with songs that rarely exceed the two minute mark, Vasconcelos Sentimiento explores many different ideas that are groovy, funky, and just plain weird. The record isn’t self indulgent though, as it is driven by a sense of playfulness that sees experimentation as a joyful exercise of discovery. Sentimiento sometimes takes listeners out of their comfort zone, but ultimately rewards them with smooth compositions, showing his prowess as a walker of the jazz tightrope: always on the edge, but always in control.
​

Album: a softer focus
Artist: claire rousay
Favorite Song: "peak chroma"

The everyday can often be a blur of sights and sounds. However, if we decide to stop and look around, a lot of details reveal themselves: the chatter in the coffee shop merges with the movement of the wind on the leaves of the tree outside. In “a softer focus”, claire creates a beautiful tapestry of ambient music that doesn’t just leverage these kinds of sounds as decorations, but instead uses them as the backbone of her sonic experience. The result is a beautifully soft record that shows what happens when we really pay attention and take in the world around us.
​

Album: FT060
Artist: Nick León
Favorite Song: "Sewer System"

In this EP, Nick León, channels his skill for crafting reggaeton and other latin american percussive rhythms into an IDM format. The end result is a journey that begins in the jungle and progressively turns into a digitized acid trip. The drums hit hard and carry a powerful sense of momentum through their intricate patterns, while the melodies embody dreamlike landscapes. This is an incredible set of tracks with no weak moments, and belongs in the IDM pantheon together with Autechre, Boards of Canada, and Aphex Twin.
​

Album: im hole
Artist: aya
Favorite Song: "Emley lights us moor (feat Iceboy Violet)"

im hole is a whirlwind of emotions, often conflicting with each other. Anxiety, doubt, ecstasy, horniness, sadness, joy, and many others are juxtaposed in aya’s hypnotizing tracks. At one moment unsettling synths chill the spine while the next they spin out of control. All of this is accompanied by aya’s poetry, which evokes very complicated states of mind and emotion, but with a stark sense of humor and profound self awareness.
​

​Album: Realizing Requisites
Artist: Dalibor Cruz
Favorite Song: "Scarcities"

I have already been following Dalibor Cruz’s work since he released “Riddled with Absence”: a glitchy, despair ridden and drum fueled bad trip, in the best way possible. “Realizing Requisites” is a distillation of his essence into a much more focused format: techno. Even though songs here have more conventional structures, they oscillate around the stereo spectrum and entangle in perverse ways. The result feels like moving inside a massive cavern where thoughts echo back and forth. Cruz’s production is immaculate, and is successful at crafting a sound that simultaneously instills a sense of dread and compels one to dance frantically.
​

​Album: Inframundo
Artist: Nicolas
Favorite Song: "Confusión"

The first release from record label Mexican Rarities rescues Esteban Aldrete’s project Nicolas out of obscurity. Inframundo presents both known and unheard songs from the artist, all remastered into modern glory. Nicolas is a project of utter minimalism, using very few building blocks to create melancholic and beautiful compositions, enhanced by Aldrete’s understated singing and desolate lyrics. The end result is atmospheric and very emotional, taking us to a dark Mexico City filled with precariousness and heartbreak. This is an essential record that I am incredibly happy I discovered.
​

Album: The Gospel of the Devourer
Artist: madam data
Favorite Song: "It came to be called the War of Accretion; and its violence tore asunder the laws of Gravity itself"

The Gospel of the Devourer is an album that depicts a struggle of gargantuan proportions, spanning eons of skirmishes and multiple space times of death and suffering. madam data uses noise, drone and black metal to channel a sense of wrath coming from the immense suffering provoked by war and oppression. The song titles narrate a saga and are an essential part of the experience, as they evoke a sacrosanct tone that makes it seem like The Gospel of the Devourer is the sacred text/chant from a civilization from the distant future, who wishes we don’t repeat the same mistakes they did.
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Honorable Mentions

Rock - Pop - Hip Hop - Singer Songwriter

JPEGMAFIA - EP2! and LP!
L’Rain - Fatigue
Dean Blunt - BLACK METAL 2
Squid - Bright Green Field
Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime

Electronic and Ambient

Topdown Dialectic - Vol 3
Zvrra - Bizzaroland
DJ Fucci - Tetzahuitl
ZULI - All Caps
Joi Lau - 3 UR MIND
El Irreal Veintiuno - Lo Último
Andy Stott - Never the Right Time
Scotch Rolex - Tewari
Slikback - MELT
Jake Muir - Mana
Arca - Kick ii, iii, iiii, iiiii
Mong Tong 夢東 - 台灣謎景 Music from Taiwan Mystery
Jammin’ Sam Miller - Donkey Kong Country OST [Recreated]
Kelman Duran - Night in Tijuana
DJ Stingray 313 - Molecular Level Solutions
The Bug - Fire
Jlin - Embryo
Yu Su - Yellow River Blue
residual energy boss - NIRVANA
A LARGE SHEET OF MUSCLE - I PAINT THE FEET OF MY ENEMIES

Jazz

Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Nala Sinephro - Space 1.8
Irreversible Entanglements - Open the Gates
Jackson Conti - Sujinho (Record Store Day Re Release)
Vijay Iyer - Uneasy

Metal

Mntu - ​​Ushangvagush
Lamp of Murmur - Submission and Slavery
Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia
DSKNT - Vacuum γ-Noise Transition

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Andrej's Picks

Counting down from the #10 to #1 spot!
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Album: Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy
Artist: Mānbryne
Favorite Song: “Majestat upadku”

Opening my Albums of the Year list is the debut of Polish black metal outfit Mānbryne. Despite only forming in 2017 and releasing no music before “Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy”, the quartet have released a mature, well-written, and often hauntingly beautiful record, clocking in at that perfect ~40-minute mark. Given the bandmembers long past in the Polish scene, it shouldn’t be that surprising to see such a complete musical vision on a debut. However, where Mānbryne breaks from the ‘pretty damn good’ category into my AOTY list is in how they take both traditional and modern black metal elements and weave them into a consistent work that knows just the right times to pivot to a new musical wrinkle to keep you completely entranced.

“Heilsweg…”, fully translated: “Salvation Path: On the Anguish of the Body and the Wandering of the Soul”, is a meditation on faith and ultimately, death, wrapped in a melancholic tone that permeates the entire record. Taking cues from the best of the modern Polish black metal scene, the production is clean and full, letting the instrumentation steer us into emotive spaces of darkness and longing, of hope and majesty, or just outright futility. The juxtaposition between the icy and sharp guitars and the warm, distinct bass noodles, perfectly exemplified in the last refrain of “Ostatni splot” (“The Last Weave”), gives the songs a richness and character that makes it stand out from the myriad other black metal albums exploring the same thematic territory. S.’s mid-range wretches further elevate these passages – tormenting, powerful, or just plain bitter – they round out the sound with the same care we see in all aspects of the songwriting.

Finally, special love should be shown to the drums. While not anywhere as intricate as fellow countrymate Darkside from Mgła, Priest’s fills, blasts, grooves, and transitions are the final piece of the musical puzzle. Take for example my favorite track, the epic “Majestat upadku” (“The Majesty of the Fall”). He opens with a kit-dancing, never monotonous blasting section, before transitioning into an airy, ride-heavy groove, only to pivot to an energetic D-beat driving pattern all in the first third of the song. It’s not overly flashy, but it’s certainly not meat-and-potatoes, and like every other aspect of the record, it adds that little bit of extra flourish that elevates “Heilsweg…” to a sum greater than its parts.

Ultimately, Mānbryne aren’t reinventing the wheel, and you can certainly say there are more innovative black metal albums in recent years. But where “Heilsweg…” excels is in its use of firmly ‘modern’ black metal intentions and imbues them with some familiar, traditional black metal ideas to give us a fresh take on a now well-established genre. Black metal is no longer the new kid on the block, but its present-day, highly dynamic variant is as potent as ever, and we should be happy it’s here to stay.
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Album: Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
Artist: Ad Nauseam
Favorite Song: “Sub Specie Aeternitatis”

Coming to us from the small Venetian town of Schio, Ad Nauseam’s second full-length, “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse”, makes quite the statement. Living up to the ‘imperceptible’ branding, the record consists of dense, dissonant avant-garde death metal that is equal parts crushing death metal and experimental, horrifying noise. In fact, what may turn off fans of the growing dissonant tech death micro-genre is how much time is spent exploring the bleak, atonal, panic-inducing atmosphere. It’s still firmly a death metal record, but whatever out-there musical idea comes to the forefront, its primary job is to continue the consistently oppressive, nightmarish, and almost alien tone that is the hallmark of this release, rather than ever as much as hint at a sense of catchiness.

As with all records in this particular style, we see heavy influences from progenitors Gorguts, much more so “Obscura” than “From Wisdom to Hate”. However, what Ad Nauseam nail that others often overlook is the main thrust of “Obscura”. The whole idea of that record wasn’t to throw dissonant riffs and technical drumming into a blender and call it a day. What Gorguts was really doing was attempting to escape traditional thinking behind death metal compositions; they were trying to re-think everything, from the way you layer the instrumentation, to how a death metal riff is composed, to even the riffing techniques themselves. This is the point from which “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse” never wavers. It’s a chaotic, difficult listen, but the complex movements, every-instrument-counterpointing-the-other arrangements, and pristine production really feel like a demented composer’s idea of terror instead of a bog-standard ‘hey we’re tech death, but with dissonance’ album we’re all becoming too familiar with. Ad Nauseam certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but metal fans will likely find something interesting underneath its uncompromising, imposing façade.

Album: From the Sulphur Depths
Artist: Helslave
Favorite Song: “Rotting Pile of Flesh”

As I’m getting older, I realize more by the day that I’m a simple man. Give me well written, filthy death metal with deep, disgusting guttural vocals that induces involuntary headbanging and you’ll end up on my AOTY list. Another group of Italians, though this time from the capital, Helslave don’t play any of that dissonant, technical, or avant-garde nonsense seen in the last entry of this list. It’s as traditional as apple pie – heavy, sometimes ripping, sometimes melodic, never boring – and I’m here for every second of it.

“From the Sulphur Depths” is refreshingly straightforward. A plethora of guitar riffs drive each song forward, be they fast tremolo picked runs like in “Unholy Graves” or slower, crushing grooves like in “Last Nail in the Coffin”. Drums and bass follow along, certainly vanilla compared to other releases this year, but in this context, their simplicity aid in accentuating the riffs that are at the core of each cut of the record. The band’s past as a melodic death metal outfit is used to good effect throughout as that deliciously rotten guitar tone is finely balanced by a thick vein of melodicism that really ties everything together. Let’s be clear, this isn’t a “Time Does Not Heal” riff-salad or anything; it’s really just riff-based ‘rock ‘n roll’ but being played by hellspawn such that it ends up being equal parts catchy and equal parts demented filth.

I would be remiss to not devote some time to the vocals. And as much as I’ve talked up the riffs and guitar tone, Diego Laino’s absolutely monstrous growls may be my favorite aspect of “From the Sulphur Depths”. Like the rest of the instrumentation, less is more, and he rarely deviates from the lower register. This is a strength though, as much like a prime Åkerfeldt, Laino’s gutturals are simultaneously inhumanely deep, full-throated, and intelligible. He’s comfortable operating here and it shows, whether he’s drawing them out or rapidly hitting you with damp, putrid vocal attacks; see album highlight “Rotting Pile of Flesh” for fantastic examples of both. Helslave’s latest is a no-nonsense slab of good ol’ fashioned death metal that is sure to satisfy any metal fans’ itch for headbanging goodness.
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Album: Siderean
Artist: Lost on Void’s Horizon  
Favorite Song: “Sidereal Evolution”

Hailing from Slovenia, my fellow Balkans Siderean jumped straight onto my AOTY list with their atmospheric, ambitious debut “Lost on Void’s Horizon”. Taking cues from the many greats of spaced-themed metal before them, Siderean take us on a cosmic odyssey both musically and lyrically within the album’s tight 40-minute runtime. Eschewing the overtly theatrical spoken word passages of Timeghoul, Siderean adhere to Blood Incantation’s approach of long, guitar driven, but very spacey-sounding instrumental breaks to maintain their thematic backdrop. Like Cryptic Shift’s excellent debut, the guitars on “Lost on Void’s Horizon” spend quite a bit of time in the upper register, freeing up the low end for a very busy and often noodly bass to fill out the sound. Still, despite a lot of nods to bands fans of this style will know, Siderean lean heavily into the progressive elements of progressive death metal, charting a course wholly their own.

The interplay between guitars, bass, and drums is extremely tight, and the comparatively slow tempo compared to some of their contemporaries really allows the band to explore, allowing themes and motifs between the instruments to develop, grow, and resolve. The riffs on “Lost on Void’s Horizon” are somewhat odd. At times they can get quite busy, but much of the album consists of ringing, swirling, and drawn-out arpeggios and dissonant chords, which simultaneously are a perfect fit thematically and yet make me feel constantly uneasy. Without even reading the lyrics, you would clearly get the sense this is an album about space, but the general tone is an ominous one. Less like an exciting or intense mission to a distant moon and more like you’re the only surviving astronaut on a doomed voyage stranded several galaxies away from the nearest semblance of home.
Like the other debuts on this year’s list, “Lost on Void’s Horizon” is a refined, unified work that manages to nail their set vision from the outset. Overall, the sound is massive, and between the consistency in tone, theme, and songwriting, it coalesces into a very epic and ultimately engaging whole. Despite the progressive nature of the material and sheer number of things going on throughout the course of a given song, you never get sense that Siderean is straining themselves. This is a band that is clearly comfortable in this territory and is much more interested in fine-tuning all the intricacies of their dark and twisted otherworldly tales. “Lost on Void’s Horizon” is a worthy addition to the cadre of space-themed metal bands that any fan of the style should pick up.
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Album: Forked Tongues
Artist: Craven Idol
Favorite Song: “The Gods Have Left Us for Dead”
 
Coming to us from the capital of jolly old England, Craven Idol takes a somewhat traditional approach with their take on black/thrash metal – their third full-length, “Forked Tongues”, spinning tales of Greek mythology, war, and destruction. Within this epic thematic setting, we’re quickly reminded of the devastating effect all those epic battles wreak on the land of mortals, with the album’s emphasis on razor sharp, unrelenting riffing, pummeling, dare I say brutal, drumming, and merciless shrieks. Still within all the chaos lies a bevy of memorable riffs, often pivoting from straight ahead aggression into melodic territory, and towards the tail end of the album, eschewing many of the thrash metal elements altogether for longer, epic black metal tales of devastation.
 
Sonically, Deströyer 666 is the strongest influence throughout the runtime of “Forked Tongues”, but Craven Idol ends up exploring the black metal repertoire more than their Australian counterparts, especially on “Deify the Stormgod” and epic closer “The Gods Have Left Us for Dead”. Still, the bulk of the album consists of headbanging, violent bangers that are as manically thrashing as they are viciously evil. “Iron Age of Devastation” is beyond ruthless at times, pairing tendon-shredding riffs, blood-curling screams, and Olympus-destroying drums with inhuman velocities that surely only the gods could survive. But Craven Idol wear their influences and their genre’s influences on their sleeves, happily dipping their toes into crust punk territory or leaning into some blackened doom passages as the need arises.

Musically, this album perfectly melds the aggression and catchiness of thrash and heavy metal with the epic, atmospheric, and emotive side of black metal, narrowing in on a ‘just-right’ balance between the two, be they blasting your face off, or stretching their songwriting chops. Lyrically, “Forked Tongues” takes a deep dive into the mythos of the monstrous serpentine giant Typhon, who Hesiod described as “terrible, outrageous, and lawless”. Craven Idol aren’t fighting Zeus for the supremacy of the cosmos like Typhon, but they certainly are outrageous, lawless, and terribly good throughout this record.
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Album: Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
Artist: Atvm 
Favorite Song: “Picture of Decay”
 
Another group from London, and completely off my radar until this release, Atvm, in their debut “Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless”, explodes from my speakers with a youthful energy that is simply infectious. From the bass, counterpointing and slapping as it pleases, right down to the worst-DMT-trip-ever artwork, everything about this album is unpredictable. Ostensibly, Atvm play an old-school style of progressive death metal, but repeated listens expose a willingness to explore thrash, black, melodic death, and even post- metal as they see fit, throwing a million ideas together and flexing their technical chops to create an incredibly unique experience.
 
Production is handled by Colin Marston at Menegroth, The Thousand Caves, which provides a warm and organic backdrop for the instruments to explore the various subsets and micro-genres of extreme metal that suites their fancy. In contrast to something like Helslave, the guitars here take a backseat to the rhythm section, which is the real star of the show. Like the world’s most talented, yet least well-behaved toddler, the bass does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, popping, rumbling, slapping, and running across the fretboard with reckless abandon. The drums, seeing the bass having so much fun, often join in, abruptly transitioning from pummeling and intensely blasting sections to unexpected tom runs and rhythmic arrangements that seem to turn everything on its head. Not to be outdone, the guitars contribute poignant riffs and counters to the bass while never straying too far from tastefully done atmospheric sections and breaks. Despite the bass’ insistence on the spotlight, it’s the interplay between bass and guitars that elevate both so highly. The vocals, at times deep and guttural, and at times a more mid-range growl reminiscent of the late 80s, serve to hold this raw and intricate, borderline mess of ideas firmly together.
 
Despite the oddball musical ideas, and even the lyrics to a certain extent, the bands’ eagerness to dive into the repertoire of influences that have come before them gives the album a very specific type of throwback feeling. More than just perfectly capturing that 90s sense of progressive metal experimentation, Atvm capture the fun, almost DIY nature, of records of the past. There’s an undeniable activity, and uncontainable enthusiasm behind this record, regardless of which flavor of extreme metal they’re using at any given time, that’s consistently driving the music forward. You might come for the technical wizardy, you’ll like stay because of the off-kilter songwriting, but you’ll certainly be hooked by the unique final package that is “Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless”.
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Album: Visions of Trismegistos
Artist: Nekromantheon
Favorite Song: “Dead Temples”
 
Returning from an incredibly long 9-year absence, Norwegian black/thrash metallers Nekromantheon are here once again to punch, kick, bite, and just generally assault anything and anyone that’s standing in their way. However, as evidenced by the opening title track, “Visions of Trismegistos” serves to remind everyone that this still young band are not just ready to once again be torchbearers of this incredibly promising scene, but to evolve it even further. Turning things up from 2012’s “Rise, Vulcan Rise”, it’s clear from the outset that Nekromantheon’s third record is a more ambitious one. The raw aggression remains consistent, but structurally and riff-wise things are a bit more complex this time. Yet, and perhaps because they’ve had so long to refine this third album, much of that complexity becomes almost hidden in surface-level simplicity that puts well-written, ferocious headbangability at the forefront.
 
Nekromantheon have always been more thrash than black metal, and “Visions of Trismegistos” sees the band really embrace the creative spaces thrash metal affords. Riffs sprinkled throughout the record like on the aforementioned title track or “Scorched Death” take a more interesting approach to the generally combative and hostile tone common to the Norwegian scene. Don’t get me wrong, there’s rarely a moment on this album that doesn’t scream in your face and kick you squarely in the balls, but something about the fretwork gymnastics seems so fresh this time around you can’t help but come back for seconds. There’s a new musical wrinkle hidden beneath that raw, pissed-off patina just begging for repeated listens.
 
Throughout the album Nekromantheon seemingly effortlessly meld their adherence to the throne vacated by Aura Noir with their newfound aspirations. Taken individually, everything the band tries is just excellent, and if I don’t want to listen to every minute detail, I can just headbang and jump into the pit as usual. But ultimately, I think it might be this combination of staunch consistency and small, subtle evolution that is my favorite aspect of the album. Longer, mid-tempo number like “Neptune Descent” are perfectly at home next to deranged, frenzied tracks like “Dead Temples” and more melodic, extended solos are so tastefully synergistic with utterly barbaric whammy-bar abuse. Somehow during their extended break Nekromantheon have managed to take their sound to the next level, while still never wavering from the ‘trve’ metal sound that’s expected from these new purveyors of black thrash attacks.
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Album: Etemen Ænka
Artist: Dvne 
Favorite Song: “Satuya”
 
Following up “Asheran”, one of my favorite albums in recent years, Scottish progressive sludge/doom metallers Dvne return with the interestingly titled, but exceedingly impressive follow-up, “Etemen Ænka”. Confirming their progressive intentions, “Etemen Ænka” sees the band continue down the path laid out by “Asheran”, revisiting their foundation of crushing sludge rhythms and meandering, exploratory song structures, with new musical ideas and instrumentation. The tone is familiar, but more melodic, at times more delicate, and generally more confident in deviating from the metal elements to lighter, brighter forays. There’s a greater emphasis on texture and atmosphere this time around, with extended instrumental sections and interludes filling up much of the runtime, and taken together, it feels like a significant step forward for the band, yet strangely comforting.
 
The first long cut of the album, “Towers”, opens with a massive sludge groove infused with a keyboard driven almost industrial quality, before moving into an interplay between up-tempo guitar leads, throat shredding higher register vocals, and spacey synths. Within the first half of the song, we’re treated to two different harsh vocals styles, soaring cleans, about four different rhythmic styles, several different keyboard tones, and a handful of tempo changes. All these trademarks were present on their last record, but here Dvne revisit these ideas in new, more labyrinthian forms, effortlessly and seamlessly flowing between them.
 
As we get further into the record, we start to see a greater emphasis on new ideas. Interludes like “Weighing of the Heart” allow the keyboards, already a greater force this time around, to take center stage, briefly pivoting the very organic sound signature to a synth-laden electronic one. Tracks like “Omega Severer” and “Mleccha” stake a greater claim in progressive rock territory than they do sludge altogether, and excursions into the heavier side act more to counterpoint the strong melodic line running through them than to provide a bedrock from which to deviate. This willingness to stay in more non-metal territory is significantly pronounced on “Etemen Ænka”, from the inclusion of soaring female vocals to the graceful, airy interludes and extended proggy jaunts. There’s still plenty of heaviness to be found, but before you know it you’ve been transported to a floating cloud city in some fantasy RPG that is as bright as it is beautiful.

On their second album, Dvne take a seriously bold step forward, embracing the progressive, and leveraging their heavy sludge roots as just another tool in a quickly increasing skillset. As epic and inventive as ever, “Etemen Ænka” explores new artistic horizons, solidifies the band’s best strengths, and breaths new life into the dark/light, heavy/soft dynamic that is a hallmark of the genre. Like Elder, Dvne is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands that makes the journey just as much fun as the destination.

Album: Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium
Artist: Cambion 
Favorite Song: “Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium”
 
Stop whatever you’re doing and do not operate heavy machinery if you plan to listen to Cambion’s debut “Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium”. Instead, sit down and put on your seatbelt, as there is no way you’re ready for the absolutely visceral, vicious speed that you’re about to unleash onto your poor, unsuspecting ears. Cambion play a turbo-charged modern style of Angelcorpse worship, a blackened death metal sound hellbent on accelerating you at ludicrous speeds until your flesh liquifies and your bones explode. There have been plenty of Angelcorpse clones in the past, but no one thought to first travel to the future to get their hands on 22nd century super meth then attempt to write songs in this style. That is, until now.
 
Despite the inhuman speeds we’re dealing with and the international roster of Cambion, the trio are all operating on the same wavelength, locked in inhuman step. Texas based R.O. provides higher register black metal rasps spit with a hateful repugnance I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and the rumbling, relatively low-key bass lines. Bavarian based T.R. drives the music forward with ungodly riffs, played with a velocity and aggression that surely only prosthetic fingers can bare. What’s more, there’s roughly 5 slayer-esque, glass-shattering, ear destroying, screeching solos per song, which given the 3–4 minute average runtime is just pure sensory overload. Rounding things out is drummer extraordinaire Chason Westmoreland of Burning the Masses and Hate Eternal fame. In my experience, Westmoreland only delivers 10/10 performances, but here he is simply sensational. His ability to maintain his intensity, creativity, and fluidity across his kit at the speeds we’re talking about is remarkable, and we’re genuinely blessed to be alive in this time to experience it.
 
Now, while speed is the name of the game on “Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium”, it’s not balls-to-wall 100% tempo the entire time, because that would be dumb and kill all dynamics of the songs. Amongst the chaos there are slower sections like the breakdowns in “Vae Victus” and “Eiton Euclarion”, not to mention the glacial-by-comparison 9-minute instrumental closer, “Obscuratio”, that really changes things up for the finale. Still, there’s a consistent thread of innate forward momentum and intensity, be it from the impossibly tight tom runs and snare rolls that fill the spaces left by the slightly slower guitar moments, or just the residual feeling of your facial muscles finally relaxing after the previously impossibly fast section.
 
It’s amazing that in today’s hyperspeed tech death world, with the likes of Archspire and their contemporaries, that a band like Cambion can come along, playing a style that is coming up on 30 years old, and blow those guys away with such sheer force, ferocity, and barbarity. That’s not to say that the new school tech death bands are bad – in fact, I really liked Archspire’s album this year – it’s that their approach to speed seems to kind of dull the sensation. They’re impressively technical and undoubtedly fast, but it’s almost so robotic, you lose touch with the organic nature of the music. On the contrary, “Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium” is as raw as it is extreme. You’re not watching some machine zip around a track, you’re strapped into a car as it barrels forward at life-threatening speeds and your driver simply insists on banging line after line off the steering wheel, lest you feel he has any sense of control over this thing. If you want to experience the aural equivalent of being flung around the Large Hadron Collider, give the Cambion debut a try.
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Album: Kill Grid
Artist: Enforced  
Favorite Song: “The Doctrine”
 
Another year, and the year’s best thrash record tops my AOTY list. Maybe I’m set in my ways or maybe I’m just a basic bitch in denial about my basicness. Either way, Enforced’s “Kill Grid” is the best album this year to my ears, and simply put, it rips. Combining a brutal approach to Slayer’s best moments with a hefty dose of crossover, Enforced is here to fill the Power Trip sized hole in my heart (RIP Riley Gale and once again, sincerely, fuck you 2020). “Kill Grid” is a debut of sorts, as their actual debut “At the Walls” is little more than a compilation of old demo recordings and a few new tracks. If nothing else, “Kill Grid” is the band’s bigtime debut, backed by a big-name label and catapulting them into the spotlight of the still incredibly popular thrash revival scene.
 
Here, Enforced’s most clear influence is Slayer, and like a prime King-Hanneman, the duo of Will Wagstaff and Zach Monahan dish out riffs that wouldn’t be out of place on “Hell Awaits”, “Reign in Blood”, or “South of Heaven”. At the same time, the riffs have a heavier, more brutal quality ala Demolition Hammer that gives them a chunkier character and will likely make the listener that much more violent upon hearing them. The deeper, harsher vocals dovetail nicely with the guitar tone and crossover leanings, and total package works equally well with Slayer-style screeching whammy attacks as it does with extended, sweeping back-and-forth note-dense solos. These no-frills throwbacks are most evident in the shorter tracks and executed perfectly in the opener “The Doctrine”, which may be the single greatest amalgamation of Slayer stylings in the modern thrash repertoire.
 
Despite the consistency in their approach, Enforced aren’t afraid to explore, spending seven minutes slowly beating you to death on the titular “Kill Grid”, and for the keen-eared listener, taking a few pages from the wider Bay Area scene with mid-tempo numbers like “Trespasser”. Still, the primary aim of this album is to quickly and ferociously put you in a coma, and regardless of the tempo, Enforced succeed in their goal. Along the way, we’re treated to a dazzling array of well-written leads and solos, monstrously low bass rumbles, pummeling drums, and face-pulverizing vocals by a band that focuses on writing their best version of the now deified thrash genre instead of trying to ape someone else’s sound. “Kill Grid” does exactly what you’d expected: it delivers glorious riffs, superb songwriting, and a ‘fuck you, fight me’ attitude that’s sure to start your day right.
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Honorable Mentions

11. Dordeduh – Har
12. Ferriterium - Calvaire
13. Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia
14. Los Males del Mundo – Descent Towards Death
15. DSKNT – Vacuum γ​-​Noise Transition

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Alex's Picks

Album: Bloodmoon I
Artist: Converge and Chelsea Wolfe  
Favorite Song: “Crimson Stone”

I remember when Converge and Chelsea Wolfe first announced that they were releasing a collaboration album. Without even so much as listening to the album’s first promotional single, I immediately and instinctively preordered the Newbury Comics exclusive vinyl. I just knew it was going to be my album of the year. And I was right. Gothic folk singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe has proven she can pull off heavy metal, and Converge can take a break from their controlled chaos to pull off quieter, introspective songs, so it’s no surprise that the two could pull off such a seamless collaboration where they complement each other’s styles (Wolfe’s bandmate Ben Chisolm and Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky deserve plenty of credit for their contributions too). Converge frontman Jacob Bannon particularly shines on this album, with his vocals reaching impressive new levels of versatility that he hasn’t shown on previous releases. I can only assume that the album title means that a Part 2 is planned for the future - I’m looking forward to it, but Part 1 is more than enough to hold me over in the meantime. 
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Album: I Don’t Live Here Anymore
Artist: The War On Drugs  
Favorite Song: “I Don’t Wanna Wait”

The War On Drugs are back with another beautifully-crafted album that makes the nostalgic sounds of the 70s and 80s sound fresh. I’m still a massive fan of their 2017 album, A Deeper Understanding - an album that I still get lost in no matter how many times I listen to it. I remember getting so excited when I heard they were coming out with new music this year, but this album was a little bit different from what I was expecting. I Don’t Live Here Anymore isn’t as densely layered as A Deeper Understanding in terms of production, but I think that helps the songwriting stand out more. It’s an introspective album with heavy Bruce Springsteen vibes that have some of frontman Adam Granduciel’s best lyrics to date. The War on Drugs really are one of the best rock bands today, and I Don’t Live Here Anymore is another classic in their already impressive discography.
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Album: Surrender
Artist: Rüfüs du Sol  
Favorite Song: “On My Knees”
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2021 was the year that I really started delving into electronic music, and one of the artists that really stuck with me was Rüfüs du Sol. It was easy to get drawn into their song “Like An Animal.” From there, I went back and did a deep dive on their discography, and in October, they treated us with a brand new album. Surrender has its darker moments compared to their previous work, but it altogether doesn’t deviate too much from Rüfüs’s other albums. It’s a great sound, though, so I’m happy they stick to it. With vocalist Tyrone Lindqvist’s ethereal, impassioned vocals permeating through their massive arena-filling tunes and dance floor anthems, it’s almost like Rüfüs du Sol are becoming the modern day Depeche Mode. And my favorite thing about saying that is they don’t really sound anything like Depeche Mode.

Album: Tree City Sessions 2
Artist: Dance Gavin Dance  
Favorite Song: “Strawberry’s Wake”

I fucked up. Not only did I massively sleep on Dance Gavin Dance’s AMAZING 2020 album, “Afterburner,” I slept on this band’s entire career and only discovered them this year. I still don’t know how this happened. I was a regular at Warped Tour back in the day. I listen to Coheed and Cambria, Underoath, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and a bunch of other bands that sound adjacent to them. I live in their hometown of Sacramento. How did this band slip entirely under my radar all these years?? Oh well, better late than never I suppose. Last Christmas (you know, after the 2020 year end list was published), Dance Gavin Dance released the recording of a career-spanning live stream that they had filmed just a few days earlier smack-dab in the center of Sacramento’s iconic Tower Bridge. The hometown makes for a beautiful backdrop, and the fan-voted setlist includes most of my now-favorite DGD songs. If you’ve been missing out, too, this album is a good introduction to the technical, yet poppy controlled chaos of their eclectic brand of post-hardcore.
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Single: “Everything We Need”
Artist: A Day To Remember  
Album: You’re Welcome

“Everything We Need” is a mature departure from the pop-mosh style that A Day To Remember have pioneered in their career, to the point where it borders on pop-country at times. I first heard it earlier this year, around the time that a couple of bad things were happening in my life, and I’m glad that I kept going back to it in several of my playlists. This year put a lot of things about my life into perspective - especially my life as it’s been in the last five years, and as it’s been just this past year. Has it always been easy? Have I never had anything bad happen to me? Has everything gone 100% my way? No, no, and no. Over the past few years, it’s been pretty easy for me to get caught up worrying about what I don’t have or comparing where I am in life to where other people are in theirs and feeling like I’m falling behind. But I’m finishing the year taking a step back and realizing how much I’ve grown, how much I’m still growing, and how much I’ve accomplished over the years. It’s helped me stop obsessing over all the things I think I should have, and to focus more on what I do have. And the truth is, I have a lot of good things going on and I’m surrounded by a lot of good people. I have a pretty great life, and this song helps me remember that. Wherever you are, I hope you feel the same way about your life. And if you don’t, I hope that one day you can relate to this song as much as I do, too. 

Honorable Mentions

Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
MØL - Diorama
Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Every Time I Die - Radical
Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Knocked Loose - A Tear In The Fabric of Life

A. Iwasa's Picks

​Though I did catch some live music this year, I still didn’t attend many shows relative to most years since I was 14, and in turn didn’t get many new releases for the second year running.  Every band on my list I’ve been listening to at least since before the pandemic, and it was good to have these standby acts to continue to try to function in the midst of everything.
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Album:  Now Where Were We?
Artist:  The Exbats
Favorite Song:  “Ghost in the Record Store”

Harmony driven rock ‘n’ roll, definitely the musical highlight of the year for me that this band so quickly came out with another LP, after topping my list of releases last year also.
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Album:  How should I know?
Artist:  Stripes
Favorite Song:  “Control-Z”

Going from the more straight forward rock of their 2020 tape to shoegaze, it’s been cool to see a band of young people progressing so rapidly with their musicianship. 
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Single:  “How You Did That”/”Morning Moon”
Artist:  Dogbreth
Favorite Song:  “Morning Moon”

It sounds like 1990s alternative, but that doesn’t take away from its soulful sounds and feelings.
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​EP:  The Reckoning
Artist:  Curse of Denial
Favorite Song:  whole damn thing start to finish!

Like CoD predecessor bands Descend, Decrepit, From the Depths and Pawns in Chess, and previous CoD recordings, this is the sort of release I don’t want to put on unless I can listen to the whole thing.  Brutal blackened death from the dismal greater Cleveland area.
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Album:  Death Before Fascism Obliterates Society
Artist:  D.B.F.O.S.
Favorite Song:  “Never Again”

Pulling a Million of Dead Cops and making  a new D.B.F.O.S. acronym, this comes as a relief rather than a watering down, as their music has similarly developed from straight forward hardcore punk with Tucson weirdness to a more musically talented Tucson hardcore (THC), but still unique becuase THC tends to be at least a little strange in one or more ways.
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Album:  Blu Joy Tapes
Artist:  Blu Joy
Favorite Song:  “Missing You”

Feel good rock music but with enough of a sense of humor or self awareness to follow a track like “Missing You” with “Sick Of Me”.
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Single:  “Gold To Blue”/”Little Grey Men” b/w “Bold Marauder”
Artist:  The Resonars
Favorite Song:  “Gold To Blue”

I hate to sound (or read?) like a broken record, but I can’t seem to get enough rock revival material.  Another amazing band from Tucson, though this one has been at it for quite a bit longer than many who are out today.
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Album:  Path of Wellness
Artist:  Sleater-Kinney
Favorite Song:  “Worry With You”

Usually I have an arc with long time bands or musicians where once they hit a certain level of talent, they sort of lose me.  I had long assumed this was the case with Sleater-Kinney whose material I liked more and more as they progressed, but peaked with Dig Me Out.  Every album since then had its strong points, but there was nothing I liked as much as their 1997 album until now.

I feel a bit silly making a single my favorite track, but I think it’s a good example of the total artistry that can be involved with making a great video, which they have done again and again over the years. 

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thanks for reading our year end list and for supporting another year of T&E!
much love from our family to yours  
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