If I’m honest, 2021 has been a somewhat weak year. This isn’t too much of a surprise, COVID made it really difficult for bands to get together and produce new material, so I expect that the back half of the year will get slightly better even if we’re still dealing with the Delta variant and whatnot (go get vaccinated by the way, it’s easy). Even with a weaker slate on the whole, we still got a bunch of compelling material to explore.
After listening to just over 1000 albums, we’ve selected 25 of the best albums of the year from January 1st to June 31st. Be sure to let us know if anything you love is missing, even in a slower year there’s too much to keep up with.
According to Substack this post is too long for email so click this button to see it on the web.
25. Balmorhea - The Wind
In a world of constant motion, Balmorhea’s latest record, The Wind, beckons us to sit still. Comprised of violin, piano, guitar, vibraphone, cello, bass, drums and scarce vocals, the album takes a cool, slow approach to their songwriting. Each instrument is given ample space to operate, making a marked distinction between Balmorhea and other groups that fit within the post-rock spectrum. It’s a brilliant experience that is, in every moment, tantalizingly cinematic.
24. Hail the Sun - New Age Filth
Having grown up in the era of Fall of Troy, Saosin and other pop-punk styled post-hardcore, Hail the Sun feels perfectly assembled to my liking. On New Age Filth, Hail the Sun takes that formula and brilliantly updates it for 2021. Brisk, clean guitar passages and unbelievable drumming hold the album together, and the rest is wrapped in manic vocal melodies that often devolve into strained wails. It scratches an itch that isn’t often attended to in this current era of music, and it scratches it perfectly.
23. Amenra - De Doorn
This album is huge. The sounds, the impact, the lyrics, it’s all predicated on the idea of being so gargantuan that it overwhelms the listener. Every moment that you feel like you’ve caught your breath there’s a new riff, a new scream, a drop in tempo. There’s not a single moment where you feel safe and secure. As someone who has been listening to metal for most of their life, that feeling of not knowing what’s coming is what keeps me coming back to the genre. It’s certainly part of what will keep me coming back to the massive sounds of De Doorn.
22. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
Sons of Kemet does not make accessible music. It pushes the boundaries of what most people will find to be comfortable. Whether that violation of comfort comes in the form of the powerful, raw lyrics on “Field Negus” or the manic jazz instrumentals of “Black” it will push your limits. But pushing your limits is necessary for growth, and Sons of Kemet is a band that you should grow to appreciate, to love, and to recognize as essential.
21. Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark
As Days Get Dark is a desperate, panicked album that knows it is doomed. By addressing the banal topics of modern life, sex, city living and aging in the most vile and disgusting ways possible, it lends the themes a new level of penetration. This is all reinforced by a sparse, often disturbing instrumentation that feels like it’s three layers away from a club beat, but the layers never come, nor does the relief. The moment you relax is the moment it reaches out to break your neck.
20. Body Void - Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
The earth is in peril, and it is our fault. That’s one half of the message that Body Void wants you to take home after surviving Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth. The other half of the message is that she will not die but you will. To be fair, the title of the album pretty clearly communicates these themes, but the music does it even better. By touching on topics like wildfires and global warming, Body Void not only lends urgency to the force of their music, they encapsulate the power of the rock on which we live. The forceful riffs, which often break away into feedback, are representative of the massive force that the Earth will use to destroy us when our incursion can no longer be tolerated. But this album is more than urgent themes, it is a brutal, crushing, unrelenting experience that pushes doom metal further than any band not named Primitive Man.
19. Porter Robinson - Nurture
EDM and its many subgenres are often derided by close-minded music critics who have a narrow view of what’s allowed to be good. The style’s focus on dance and social gatherings doesn’t sit well with those of us who judge albums by how they play in headphones. Luckily, Porter Robinson is here to bridge the gap between delirious festival denizens and pale, white twenty-somethings bumping an album on ATH-M50x’s in a dark room. A multi-layered emotional experience, Nurture touches on melancholy, joy, ecstasy and perseverance in nuanced and compelling fashion across its 58-minute runtime. Perhaps the element that separates Robinson’s work from other, less critically acclaimed EDM is its acknowledgement of negative feelings. But even when touching upon life’s inherent darkness, it never lingers there. The sentiment is best expressed by Robinson himself on “Look at the Sky” as he sings “Look at the sky / I’m still here / I’ll be alive next year / I can make something good, oh / something good.” In a world that often drowns in an ocean of its own making, it’s nice to know that something so beautiful can still exist.
18. Neptunian Maximalism - Solar Drone Ceremony
After the chaos that was last year’s Éons, this was not exactly what I was expecting. Neptunian Maximalism once again brings an unorthodox array of instruments, including the saxophone, to punish and confound listeners, but this album (or track, if you prefer) is far more reserved than anything from their previous record. Now sure, a 52 minute track isn’t exactly what I would call reserved, but it is certainly more palatable than Éons was. The passages are distinct and memorable, the sound choices are consistently interesting and the progression of the track works well. Someone on Bandcamp described it as an elevator ride to hell, I’m inclined to agree.
17. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
When Godspeed You! Black Emperor announced that they would be making a new record, I more or less cleared out a space for them on this list. Unshockingly, it was wise for me to hold that place. G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! is easily one of the most impressive pieces of work released by this legendary band. It tells an incredible story despite a general lack of vocals, and reveals their already open politics even more clearly than before. To borrow my own line from a previous review “G_d’s Pee AT STATES END! seems steeped in the worldwide chaos of fascism and do-nothing liberalism. It is a molotov hurled at a cop car, an atom bomb strapped to a speeding vehicle. It is violent and joyous and fearful in every breath, and it refuses to let you rest until you have joined them in rebirthing the world from ash.”
16. The Armed - Ultrapop
No matter how many times I listen to ULTRAPOP I can’t figure out how The Armed pulled this off. The record is heavy, at times bordering on mosh-call worthy breakdowns, but it is so bright, so uplifting and so joyful that it feels impossible. It completely bucks the idea that only brutal, grinding industrial synths can work when paired with metal or hardcore. Instead, it pulls flashy pop production and bright, brilliant EDM elements all into a perfect package. The juxtaposition and combination of these two elements makes the brightness all the brighter and the heaviness all the more bracing. I don’t know how long it will take, but this feels like the birth of something new.
15. Origami Angel - Gami Gang
This is such a little goofball of a record. Clearly influenced by groups like Relient K and just about every band that ever attended Warped Tour, Origami Angel has put together one of the most entertaining records of the year. I feel just like I’m back in middle school or early high school listening to this (well, I feel the good bits and not the looking like dork bits). And despite fitting clearly in the box of a genre known for being one-note, the album is anything but. Each song brings something new and distinct to the table while remaining just similar enough to one another that they feel cohesive. My only complaint is that it doesn’t come with a car and a friend, because this record is just begging to be road tripped.
14. Panopticon - ... And Again into the Light
… And Again into the Light announces Panopticon as an essential act in the American Black Metal canon. And with that announcement we are actually seeing the genre come into its own from both an instrumental and thematic perspective. This isn’t the black metal that comes out of Scandinavia. That is a cold, dead form of metal that presses your face into ice and then leaves you there to freeze. It is interested in a very specific set of things, and it does those things very well. Panopticon is interested in the struggle of life and death, and the cycles that are perpetuated within those struggles. You don’t even need to understand the lyrics, you can hear it in the instruments. It constantly spins between manic black metal, strings and chugging doom. But it forgoes (mostly) the peaks and valleys that other American black metal bands have grown to love. Instead, it accepts all life as struggle, and all rebirth as struggle. But in the boundaries of this understanding, we are always confronted with the truth of how beautiful that struggle can be, even if it is loud.
13. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
Jubilee is an almost impossibly compelling piece of music. Blending both the new and old modes of independent rock, Michelle Zauner crafts a musically enjoyable experience that is custom built to break your heart. The record explores a diverse range of topics, such as capitalism, fame and loss, and does all this behind the shield of upbeat horns and instruments. This combination routinely breaks down your defenses, allowing the true meaning of the lyrics to punch right into your chest and trickle down your cheek. But behind all of this sadness, there really is joy. And that’s just how Japanese Breakfast works. They want to capture the entirety of the human experience all at once. They haven’t failed yet.
12. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
In the time since releasing Flower Boy in 2017 Tyler, the Creator has become one of the most reliable acts in hip hop. Like IGOR and Flower Boy before it, Call Me If You Get Lost, mixes moments of emotional honesty and extreme hype in a way that feels completely effortless. In my opinion this exceeds IGOR in almost every fashion. The touching songs are more effective and detailed while the hype songs are more powerful and impacting. In a time when hip hop is increasingly being turned into banal pop equivalents, Call Me If You Get Lost feels like the genre we all fell in love with.
11. Chris Corsano / Bill Orcutt - Made out of Sound
Made out of Sound manages to be one of the most relaxing albums while also being one of the most stressful albums I’ve ever listened to, and that’s what makes it so brilliant. Composed solely of a guitar and a drum (which you can see on the album cover) Made out of Sound will soothe you to sleep if you let it wash over you and will confound you for days if you zoom in on it. The masterful balance of the two elements is nothing short of a miracle. The jazz-like improvisations are almost impossibly complex, and yet they never fall out of sync for even a moment. It’s not the most conventional record on this list, nor is it the most approachable, but it has the potential to be the most rewarding.
10. Black Dresses - Forever in Your Heart
Heavy music matters. It seems like a silly thing to assert in a (mostly) metal newsletter, but there’s more to heavy music than just playing loud. The emotional catharsis that can only be experienced when listening to or playing harsh music is important. Black Dresses, a group composed of two trans women, uses the playground of metal, noise and industrial to explore the highs and lows of the trans experience and their own life stories. By expanding their range to encompass the highest highs and lowest lows, they are able to more effectively convey these messages in a way that is immediately impactful to those listening. It also doesn't hurt that the duo has an impossibly firm grasp on the principles of effective noise and industrial. This comprehension is wielded like a weapon, turning abrasive industrial into a poppy hook and vice versa. It’s a truly refreshing experience, provided you can handle it.
9. Fucked Up - Year of the Horse (I-IV)
On the surface, this album doesn’t make any sense. It contains over 70 tracks and a runtime exceeding that of a feature length film. Neither of those facts typically lead to a good album, and it is even more rare for a punk album to be good while containing both factors. And yet, this is certainly the best project the band has produced since David Comes to Life. In the hands of a lesser outfit, such a gargantuan project would crumble under the weight of its own ambition, but the diverse skill set of Fucked Up’s members enable the band to rise to the occasion and create something truly memorable.
8. For Those I Love - For Those I Love
There are countless ways to measure the value and efficacy of music. Personally, I’m drawn towards music that focuses on emotional impact over craft and technicality. As someone who evaluates music in that fashion, For Those I Love is a dream come true. The lyrics on this record, which form much of the basis for its positive reception, are confessional to the point of discomfort. No matter how many times I listen to it still feels like something that I should not be allowed to hear. It is music meant for someone, someone who isn’t me. This intense honesty, when coupled with clubby, propulsive beats, makes the album one of the most compelling and necessary listening experiences to occur within the modern age. And unlike several other albums for which that description would fit, it does all this in the name of positivity and friendship, making it a truly rare piece of art.
7. Esoctrilihum - Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath
Yes, Esoctrilihum’s 2020 album Eternity of Shaog was excellent and highly regarded, but Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath exceeds it in every conceivable way. The riffs are so tight, the drums so forceful, the vocals are clearer and better produced, it’s everything you could want out of a metal album. In many ways, it’s straight across the plate death metal, but it throws in just enough technicality and control that it elevates all the elements that you’ve come to know and love. Further improving the great instrumentals is a potent, deliberate use of synth and piano. It gives the record just enough intrigue and variance to stay fresh and sharp, something that a lot of death metal bands could learn to do. I can’t say that Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath is necessarily going to change the minds of anyone who doesn’t like death metal, but it will capture the heart of anyone who already loves the genre.
6. Anna B Savage - A Common Turn
Some albums are elevated by a single element, in the case of A Common Turn, it is the voice of Anna B Savage. That may be a tad unfair to the other elements of the record, all of which are excellent, but anyone who listens to this record will walk away thinking about that voice and those lyrics. The closest comparison that I can draw is ANOHNI. If you’re familiar with that name you’ll immediately understand why this album is so essential. But if you’re thinking that this immaculate voice is the only thing bouying this record above mediocrity or just “okay” then you’re mistaken. The production and lyrics are all perfectly suited to that exceptional voice, and the combination of all those elements results in an album that is far beyond the sum of its parts.
5. Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
From the moment I heard “Suglasses” I knew that Black Country, New Road (BCNR) was going to define the next decade of rock music for the rateyourmusic crowd. Having finally gotten the chance to listen to their full length record, I stand by that assumption. It matches, and at times exceed, the hype that “Sunglasses” and “Athens, France” conferred upon the young rockers. Though it only runs for 41 minutes, the lengthy songs and their complex emotional journeys, poetic language and revolutionary structures make for an experience that will not soon be forgotten, and will not soon be replicated.
4. 파란노을 (Parannoul) - To See the Next Part of the Dream
Just about every year produces a breakout star. Every so often, the breakout star story is actually compelling and interesting, and in even rarer instances, it is something straight out of a movie. The story of 파란노을 (English: Parannoul) is the movie end of the spectrum. It is an entirely solo produced album that a Korean student put together. The lyrics (look up a translation) almost entirely center around the realities of how this student feels about their state of life. Almost half the words on this record are insults hurled back at it’s own creator, even the bandcamp description page says that “ Through these works, I want to leave a little trace of my own, no matter how stupid and anachronistic dream it may be.” He insults himself at every turn and despite his own lack of belief in himself, he created what can only be termed as a masterpiece. These lyrics are buoyed by a blown out, shoegaze influenced sound that immediately hooks the listener through its own amateurishness. It’s the kind of thing you can’t believe was made by one inexperienced student, but it’s also the exact thing that could only be made by one inexperienced student.
3. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
When I first heard this album it immediately jumped out to me as the best project that Lucy Dacus has ever produced. It has all the hallmarks of what makes a great Lucy Dacus project. Confessional, relatable lyrics abound, excellent riffs populate every corner and the song structures are compelling in their simplicity. All of these elements are made ever more impressive by Dacus’ soft, emotive voice. As someone who often ignores lyrics in favor of the musical elements of a song, this is one of the rare albums where the lyrics stick with you for months. Tracks like “Triple Dog Dare,” “VBS” and “Thumbs” all put you in such a unique, immediately perceptible headspace that you can’t help but picture the film she’s playing. Perhaps that’s what makes Home Video such an apt album title, the reel is unceasing, and all encompassing.
2. Black Sheep Wall - Songs for the Enamel Queen
It only takes ten seconds to fully grasp the scope of Songs for the Enamel Queen. The opening riff announces the record like an atomic bomb, the vocals are a nuclear fallout, and then it shifts tempo. What was a nuclear bomb becomes a cataclysm, Krakatoa erupts and encircles the Earth again and again and again. This is only the beginning. In truth, it’s difficult to think of a metal album that so perfectly meets its ambitions. Songs for the Enamel Queen desires to be, and succeeds at being, hideously ugly. The songs are written from the perspective of a self-hating protagonist who is only beginning to understand the narcissism from which their self-hate originates. As such, we are treated to a barrage of lyrics that are at turns misogynistic, apologetic, vitriolic and defeated. This is all soundtracked by some of the heaviest sludge metal to ever be put on wax. The riffs and tempos are ever shifting, the drums circle like a hungry vulture or a mob of starving sharks. It gets experimental on tracks like “Ren” where the whole center of the song is glued together by a saxophone. But for all the ambition, it never crawls into the realm of difficult experimentation. This is an album you can scream along to, mosh to, cry to, or get pumped up to. It’s the kind of album you want to see played live. Because for all its ambition, all its introspection and all its complexities, it’s still just damn good metal.
1. black midi - Cavalcade
Having had the good fortune of seeing black midi play a live show, Cavalcade finally bridges the gap between their great studio work and their immaculate live performances. This record is an utter cacophony in so many places, but it never feels out of control. Each element is so carefully selected that you can hardly imagine the record in any other state than the one in which it was presented. But what makes it truly impressive is the breadth of its ambition. Where their previous record was more or less a reinterpretation of Hella’s Hold Your Horse Is, this is something entirely new. It grabs recognizable elements — bits of Hella and Primus are practically stamped into the record grooves — but blends them in completely unexpected and fascinating ways. The loud parts hit harder and are more controlled, and the introduction of quieter moments provide listeners with respite between the cataclysms. There is little else to say, it’s damn near perfect.