Best of 2021

 1) Mefitis - Offscourings

It should be clear that up until this moment all of the albums chosen fit squarely into place within a genre. Whether or not genre defining is in fashion, I tend to rely on the rigorous classifications. It helps me see the big picture. If all the bands I listen to fit neatly into a movement I can see the flow of that movement with time. I can see which bands are producing derivative work, which are combining influences in an attempt to create the new.

Mefitis has me mostly stumped. They self-identify as "dark metal" which doesn't convey anything other than a brazen attempt to eschew genre classification. They broadly take influence from death and black metal, but they are certainly something of an enigma when you start looking closer at the song construction. Listening to these tracks reminds me mostly of the indefinable quality some of the originators of death metal were playing with. The best comparison I can make is to Edge of Sanity. EoS had a song-writing approach that focused on the narrative expression of their music. Not only would the lyrics tell a story, but the song itself, the guitar leads, rhythms, and key changes would be guide along the journey of the listening experience.

This appears to be the approach Mefitis is taking on Offscourings. The music here is following a narrative, and by doing so it doesn't align with genre expectations. When the genre dictates this part should go here, that one there, play a solo here, don't forget a hook, Mefitis says "No thanks, we're busy telling a story." Not only is this album impressive on its own merit, but this is the band I'm most excited to follow from my list this year. These young gents have a clear vision and make no compromises in that vision. As they mature and ask more questions about who they are and what their voice sounds like, I have no doubt the music will do that same.

Best of 2021

 2) Dream Unending - Tide Turns Eternal

Tide Turns Eternal is the kind of record I want to write someday. That isn't to say I have the ability to, but when listening to albums sometimes they just click and you think, "These guys are doing what I want to do." The smart thing to do at that point is to dig in and study it, try to figure out all the influences, try to get familiar with the music theory underneath, and most importantly pick up the damn guitar and practice for a couple hours.

Trying to break apart why this hits so personally, I'm left thinking about the contrasts. This, on the surface, sounds very much like a sorrowful doom record, but reading through interviews I see this from one of the songwriters, "It’s a hopeful record, there’s a real life-affirming thread that runs through the whole thing. We wanted to lean more into that. There’s enough downer stuff out there, that’s just not what we wanna do."

There's also a tendency to lean on dissonance a lot in the chord progressions, but then toss a really melodic lead on top of everything, making the dissonance seem to melt into something bigger, something beautiful. This is an incredibly interesting skill, to be able to take something ugly and say, "See this ugly thing? It's not actually ugly, you just didn't look at it closely enough." This is an album full of beauty, mystery, and skillful deception and it's their debut, so hopefully this isn't just a little project and I can look forward to more from these two guys.

Best of 2021

 3) Worm - Foreverglade

Hey, remember when Evoken's Antithesis of Light came out? And the year after Dolorian released Voidwards, remember that? I sure do because I'm old... As I get older I'm at risk of talking about bands so far out of the commonly known catalog these god damn reviews don't make any sense. There's no context I can rely on because music like this hasn't been produced in over a decade. I'm not saying it was common back then, but I could bet on some band to once in a while write esoteric, atmospheric, funeral doom with death metal tendencies. They just couldn't keep it up.

That being said, Foreverglade is a welcome return to form for this dusty, decayed sub-sub-genre started so long ago by the brilliant Transcendence into the Peripheral by Disembowelment. This stuff is murky and greasy, sludgy and viscous. I love the cheap over-distorted guitar tones, I love all the unnecessary reverb and delay. It sounds like this band is playing on the banks of some subterranean scum covered lake. That's not to say atmosphere is all that's on display here. This is legitimately well written music with plenty of hooks, tension building and release, melodic chord progressions and accompanying leads. Spend enough time with it and you'll undoubtedly have favorite moments that'll grab hold, dragging you down into the muck.

Best of 2021

 4) Mānbryne - Heilsweg: O udręce ciała i tułaczce duszy (Of Carnal Torment and Wandering of the Soul)

I'm a ridiculously harsh judge of black metal, likely why the style is only sparingly mentioned on these year end lists. It has to be both heart-breakingly honest and intimidatingly raw. I've always viewed black metal as the punk rock of metal genres. The musicians shouldn't be virtuosic, the records shouldn't be overproduced with studio magic. Theatrics are ok, but if that begins to be the main motivation, I'm out. Black metal needs to sound like a tortured human being, bleeding, screaming, waging war and succumbing. It needs to rage against the status quo favoring scorched earth over drawn out negotiation. I think the current underground Polish black metal scene is the best example of what I expect black metal to be and Heilsweg, featuring the drummer from Odraza, is the best record from that particular scene to come out this year. I listen to it and experience the heat of raging fire, the smell of rot, visions of death. This is honest black metal and if you do have a chance to listen, do translate the lyrics, it's worth it.

Best of 2021

 5) Archspire - Bleed the Future

Archspire is the bleeding edge of technical death metal, more modern, more complex, more challenging than anyone else currently working in the genre. They achieve this by stretching for something that's constantly out of reach and hoping for the best. Watching the little documentary they produced as a companion to the album release, it became obvious that writing this album was a gamble with enormous risk. Everyone pushed harder than they've pushed themselves in the past writing music they're barely even capable of playing. There was legitimate apprehension expressed when they reflected upon playing this live for an audience. Of course that apprehension was immediately answered with the acceptance that more work lies ahead. The work ethic, the professionalism, the lofty aspirations, all things to be admired and on full display on this record. I also highly recommend guitarist Dean Lamb's youtube channel. He's passionate about teaching and learning and is obviously just a really good dude.

Best of 2021

 6) Obscura - A Valediction

Upon the release of the first single I was reasonably excited for this record. Then another single dropped and that excitement increased. I was thinking this is going to be the Obscura album that finally makes the list. Then the full album dropped and I didn't know what to make of it at first. The problem is there was a lot of stellar technical death metal released this year and this one sounded a little dated, a little safe. I took some time, re-listened to everything, came back to this album and it started to grow on me. The record started to feel familiar, nostalgic. At first I couldn't put my finger on it and then seeing who they got for the clean vocals on the track When Stars Collide it suddenly occurred to me.

This album sounds like a mature and polished release from the Swedish melodic death metal scene of the late 90's. Once I started looking at this album through that lens the position on my list was secured. In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquility, Arch Enemy, these are the bands that kept me alive during the harder times of my youth. Even though these bands are still producing records they all changed, modernized, sold out. I don't blame them for it, we all gotta make a living and stagnation is boring. The era of great melodic death metal is largely over, so any album that can bring me back to that time, that can remind me why I got into this music to begin with, is welcome here.

Best of 2021

 7) Dread Sovereign - Alchemical Warfare

The first two albums from Dread Sovereign were awful. Maybe one or two tracks were tolerable, but that's being charitable. Anyone listening would've had to make the judgment that Nemtheanga should go back to his day job in Primordial. I forgive anyone who completely dismissed this album without a listen because it was obvious Dread Sovereign was just a little passion project on the side and nothing more.

Those people missed out on something special this year. Nemtheanga found his voice, savage and charismatic, and managed to write a collection of songs that can easily stand up to the best from Venom or Saint Vitus, his primary influences for this project. I no longer look at Primordial as Nemtheanga's primary band and am solidly a Dread Sovereign fan as long as they keep this up. As an additional note, the final track, You Don't Move Me (I Don't Give a Fuck), sounds like a zombified Lemmy back from the grave. It's fucking killer.

Best of 2021

 8) Pupil Slicer - Mirrors

Grinding in at number 8 is Pupil Slicer with Mirrors. One of the aspects of a perfect world is one where women are given a shot and succeed at being just as angry and scary as their sword wielding counterparts. Pupil Slicer and Succumb are two bands from a world trying to be perfect. Both of their albums are impactfully frightening and watching music videos you get the sense that this is the future of equality. If you believe whole-heartedly that women can be dangerous, the world suddenly gets a lot safer for everyone. The only reason Pupil Slicer is here instead of Succumb is the complexity showcased on this record. There are moments that swing between articulate polyrhythms to Pig Destroyer-esque breakdows that make for a really engaging listen. Succumb is a little more direct in their approach, however I'll be watching them closely over the next few years to see if they begin adding some seasoning and spice to their formula of oppressive auditory violence.