Best metal albums of 2021—Top 30

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Before I dig into my top picks for 2021, I reached out to a few familiar faces within the sphere of metal and got them to send me the albums they dug the most this year. I told them the rules for the list are pretty flippant. Here's what they sent me:



Horus aka James Brown III (Harassor, Moonknight, Vorpal Sword, Rising Beast Recordings)



* In no particular order 
10) Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime

09) Trhä - Endelhëtonëg

08) Tardigrada - Vom Bruch Bis Zur Freiheit

07) Circle of Ouroborus - Kiromantia

06) Sadness - April Sunset

05) Kuka'ilimoku - Pahu O ka Ua

04) Zhmach - Euphoria Never Leaves

03) Kêres - Flaming Ash

02) Mooschops - Adventures Above the 61st Parallel North

01) Fugitive Wizard - Obscuri Æternum



Artur de Carvalho (Forever Cursed—Best underground metal blog laid to rest (R.I.P.)


10) The Devouring Void - Hypnagogic Hallucinations


Holy shit I just realised these guys are from Portugal as well.. fuck me!

09) Sermon of Flames - I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive


Repulsive as fuck

08) Carcinoma - Labascation


Good shit from the UK

07) Gosudar - Morbid Despotic Ritual


Some good OSDM shit from Russia

06) Koldovstvo - "Ni Tsarya, Ni Boga"


Great entrancing BM

05) Fuoco Fatuo - Obsidian Katabasis


Feels like being swallowed by a black hole


04) Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia


A two track, total 48 minutes of filthy obscure DM? Yes please


03) Lykhaeon - Opprobrium


A more traditional approach to BM as we know it, still a banger though)

02) Labored Breath - Dyspnea


A fucking trip into the bowels of the most insane BM you’ll hear this year


01) Reverorum ib Malacht - Svag i Döden


I know these guys have released two albums this year, but I’m a huge fan of this approach

A.L.N. (Mizmor, Hell)

07) Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell

06) Hoverkraft - Schwebende Musik

05) Vouna - Atropos

04) Grouper - Shade

03) Walt McClements - A Hole in The Fence

02) Andrew Black - Welcome Home

01) Yautja - The Lurch



Mattias Alagna (Abstracter)



06) Filth Chasm - Demo 2021

05) Apostasy - Death Return

04) Grinning Death's Head - Cataclysm

03) Altarage - Succumb

02) Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment

01) Moonscape - Monolith

Big thanks for those that contributed!



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Another year down the hatch. And another year where I am certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have overlooked a few releases (I always do) but I'd say this year in particular I have a pretty firm grip on the records that impressed me the most—I can say that in order to whittle the list down to 30 I have made some hard omissions, but that's just the nature of the beast! Pretty heavy on the black/death metal releases, which either speaks to the quality of the release or where my palette is at. It really doesn't matter, here's what moved me in order:



30) Forsman - Dönsum í Logans Ljóma (Ván Records)



Another example as to why Icelandic black metal is legitimately one of the most consistent and innervating within the second wave of black metal.







29) Abstracter - Abominium (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)



A dizzying descent into a mix of well articulated doom blackened crust, doom, sludge and sonic overall sonic hostility. 

28) Tentation - Le Berceau des Dieux (Gates of Hell Records)



An absolute nod to the old days of heavy metal and a hell of a debut.



27) Divide and Dissolve - Gas Lit (Invada Records)



2-piece doom metal enveloped in a thick cloud of doom. Hits hard and feels significant.



26) Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime (Van Records)



Much like Havukruunu, Stormkeep have managed to capture all the elusive grandeur found in pagan black metal and dungeon synth without succumbing to the frivolity often found in it.



25) Concrete Winds - Nerve Butcherer (Sepulchral Voice Records)



Fast and dizzying death metal with very intentional glances towards grind and thrash. Pretty Spot on!



24) Wanton Attack - Wanton Attack (Black Writs Records)



A potent mix of early heavy metal rife with gritty duelling guitars and speed metal vitatlity!



23) Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning (Profound Lore Records)



Suffocatingly heavy death metal from a label that knows a good thing when it sees it. I don't think this record has any weak spots.



22) Vorpal Sword - Omens (Rising Beast Recordings)

The best account of blown out raw black metal I heard all year! A pastiche of noise punk, experimental ambient and shoegaze—It's perplexing how something so abrasive and corrosive in nature can be perceived as beautiful, but it does.

21) Sermon of Flames - I Have Seen The Light, and It Was Repulsive (I, Voidhanger Records)



A bubbling cauldron of cacophonous death metal infused with sludge, crust, doom and black metal with  incredibly devastating pace.

20) Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (Cash Only Records)



Nailed down New York Hardcore with a heavy grip on 80’s metal. Why even bother with Turnstile?

19) Labored Breath - Dyspnea (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

A spiralling churn of death metal infused black metal pushing through a feral wall of sound that straddles the line of the obscure and barbaric. 

18) Labor Intvs - Sunken Crucible (Unsigned/Independant)

This has got to be one of the most overlooked albums on this list. Some of the nastiest death/black metal releases this year heavily exploring elements of doom and the underground obscure.

17) Mork - Katedralen (Peaceville Records)


Mork have pretty consistently been the best example as to how we can still successfully draw from the nearly dried up well of 90's black metal, and this year on Katedralen they prove that point yet again with a bullet.


16) Phrenelith - Chimaera (Nuclear Winter Records)

Massively over-looked death metal in my opinion. Phrenelith aren't exactly incorporating anything new into their sound, but somehow they manage to sound like nothing else—A black hole of dynamic death metal with reverence to the underground. Some of the best drumming on a death meal album this year?

15) Succumb - XXI (The Flenser)

Incredible death metal with Cheri’s possessed vocal belch being the backbone of what makes them unique from their contemporaries. I'm so glad they didn't fuck this up.


14) Fuoco Fatuo - Obsidian Katabasis (Profound Lore Records)



Crushing funeral doom with a lot of mid-tempo death metal influence that will drag you through an hour of some of the most potent and unyielding metal this year. A full listen through of this colossus will leave you bereft and beaten, just the way we like it.



13) Big Brave - Vital (Southern Lore Recordings)



Big Brave's suffocatingly plodding doom intertwined around a whirring mix of reverb-ladened guitars and vacuous space comes full-force on Vital. Beauty and brutality.


12) Koldovstvo - Ni Tsarya, Ni Boga (Unsigned/Independant)

Atmospheric black metal with heavy emphasis on the atmospheric, bordering on ambient or shoegaze. Incredibly raw, visceral and avant-garde with a lot of uncertainty surrounding any information around the band. It's hard to explain, but theres also this inexplicable feeling that comes over me when I listen to this album… Like I am slowly being consumed by madness. A mix of euphoria and malaise. 


11) Altarage - Succumb (Season of Mist Underground Activists)



This release can hang with any of the aforementioned in the department of ferocity and heaviness, clocking in at over an hour of downright unfettered black/death from Spain. 

10)  Defacement - Defacement (I, Voidhanger Records)


Back when I talked about this release earlier in September I said "This is one of those albums that drags you through the abyss—A serpentining downward spiral through cavernous death metal that is equal parts technical, murky and experimental." Yet another album of extremely high caliber that has been buried amidst an ocean of sub-par music with high pay-grades and a full marketing team throwing petals at their feet. Stick with this, you'll thank me later.


09) Fyrnask - VII - Kenoma (Ván Records)

Fyrnask have been quietly creating some of the best atmospheric black metal around for over a decade now and VII - Kenoma is at the helm of it all. Powerfully melodic and thought provoking—Something between Misþyrming, Ash Borer, Morne, and Bölzer. 


08) Voidsphere - To Overtake, To Overcome (Amor Fati Productions)



Spirit inducing black metal that takes shape through blistering riffs built upon a wall of sound. One of the best uses of atmospheric ambience, dense but not without melody or purpose. These Prava Kollektiv guys sure know how to write a record.

07) Warloghe - Three Angled Void (Northern Heritage Records)

Dizzying black metal from the nether, ugly, brutish and filled with cold riffs! I'd even go as far as saying some of the best riffing I heard in a black metal album all year, this is pure fucking armageddon.


06) Portal - Avow (Profound Lore Records)

Portal remain thee lords of hypnotically plodding and nauseating death metal. Lovecraftian obscurity in sonic form. This is up there with my favourite Portal has ever released—It sounds like a lobotomy. And It feels like a nauseating decent into the abyss. Encompassing. 


05) Sulpur - Embracing Hatred and Beckoning Darkness (Amor Fati Productions)

Blown-out black metal doing everything MGLA does but even colder. A barrage of eerie riffs against a galloping tempo with some of the best sounding cymbals in the genre.



04) Darkthrone - Eternail Hails…… (Peaceville Records)

Has everyone forgot about Darkthrone? Hardly any mentions of Darkthrone this year… Am I the only one who loves the direction they’re moving in? I still think they're one of the most important bands in all of music right now. Three decades later and they’re still moving a worn-out genre into new territory. 



03) Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia (Dark Descent Records)



One of the most crushing death metal albums released in 2021. Two songs of obscure death metal that drag you through a serpentining labyrinth of riffs that sound like a spiral into your own absolute insanity. Much like the Defacement release sitting at my number 10, this album is and was way under-appreciated for how good it is. I'm not sorry to sorry to say it, but it's more dynamic and crushing than 99% of the other releases that pass off as death metal. 

02) Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment (Nuclear War Now! Productions)

Few try (with little success) to be as primitive and feral sounding as Antediluvian, its not something that can (or should) be contrived. It needs to come from a festering open wound or a sincere disapproval with some inner or outward force. The Divine Punishment is a pantheon in where these negative forces can live—A barbaric pile of forward-thinking death metal built upon an altar of whirring guitars, abyssal vocals and drumming that sounds like none of its contemporaries. Plodding, perverse, esoteric and entirely new.



01) Lykhaeon - Opprobrium (Repose Records)


Bestial death metal married with black metal and doom is hardly a new concept within the walls of metal, but very few albums are able to traverse new and refreshing soundscapes the way Opprobrium successfully does—An overtone of of ritualistic rites and dirges permeate the many layers of this album as you're dragged through a swath of of musical landscapes, all  equally barbaric and mind altering. The best metal release of the year for me for sure, not a single flaw to be found.

Warloghe - Three Angled Void (2021)

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Warloghe's newest album Three Angled Void came out of the fucking abyssal ether, without mention or promotion. A spectre out of nowhere carrying a barrage of frozen riffs and a landscape built around pillars of jagged guitars and drums that don't feel any compliance to the constant blast-beat quota which might seem ubiquitous in the genre. Not to say you won't find any of that on here, you will, but it's not heavily leaned on—In fact, the drums are mixed in perfectly to my liking. Pure abominable class!

It's not unlike me to say this, but it's exceptionally rare for me to listen to an album and know right off the opening track that it will be a favourite of mine… There's always massive disappointments and pitfalls, but Warloghe is Warloghe, and every so often there are sure things. Three Angled Void is that. One of the best black metal albums released this year, in my opinion, and will be overplayed into oblivion for the rest of the year and well into the next. Cold chaotic energy.

As of right now, no streams or bandcamp downloads are available. But I will link a download to the album courtesy of the esteemed Finnish Black Metal blog.

Warloghe - Three Angled Void (DOWNLOAD)
Warloghe - Three Angled Void (YouTube)

Vorpal Sword - Omens (2021) [Demo]

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My comrade and crony for all things reverb soaked Dream pop/Shoegaze has released another gem of uncompromisingly raw black metal under the prolific umbrella of his label, Rising Beast—And not unlike everything else he puts out, it's right on the fucking money!

Omens musical landscape is one with sparse foliage or places of refuge amidst the expanding sprawl of heavily blown out black metal, that is in personality and ethos, equal parts raw and musing—But it's terrain isn't totally devoid of life, not at all, peppered throughout the hanging guitars and thick fog of noise are delicate ambient passages (created by the Korg Monotron?) which offer a brief respite from the proverbial sonic deluge. It's all very intentional and cohesive. Now without being pedantic, the love Horus has for dream/noise pop and shoegaze are on full display here, with absolute tact and grace. 

If you're unfamiliar with Vorpal Sword, check it out. And while you're at it, check out everything else under the banner of Rising Beast and toss in a few bucks into whatever strikes you down—Do your part in keeping the underground lit!

Vorpal Sword - Omens (bandcamp)

Mystras - Empires Vanquished And Dismantled (2021)

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Another I, Voidhanger Records offering laid out on the sacrificial altar for you to piss on and proclaim "This is mine. I mark my territory… look how important I am." In all seriousness though, black metal from Greece hardly ever disappoints and Mystras sure as shit doesn't abandon that rule—Spectral Lore's Ayloss manages to mix blistering raw black metal with small fragments of traditional folk soundscapes and themes without falling into the gaudy camp of the many that attempt and fail this same concoction. 

Mystras - Empires Vanquished And Dismantled (bandcamp)

Sermon of Flames - I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive (2021)

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Twisting mess of death metal with a heap of influences and styles pulling from the melange of distortion and competing tempos oft heard in sludge, and as per most things heralding the title of metal, there's what you would refer to as a black metal influence permeating throughout. I haven't spent too much time on this album yet, but it quickly left an impact through its sheer intensity alone. How could you go wrong with anything from I, Voidhanger? You (almost always) can't. 

Sermon of Flames - I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive (bandcamp)

Succumb - XXI (2021)

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SHOM has been keeping a finger on the pulse of San Fran's Succumb since their debut record in 2017 which (like this album) saw its release made possible from the consummate and enigmatic The Flenser—which in my books, is a breath of fresh air in a saturated world of music where sterility and originality are celebrated and touted.

I digress, XXI picks up right where it's 4-year old predecessor left off: Down a serpentining pit of crust, grind and death metal with a sound that encompasses a lurching energy which simultaneously feels unique and familiar—Not much parsing needs to be done to hear a broad musical soundscape that harkens back to Converge, Gorguts, Mitochondrion, Caustic Wound, with tinges of Disfear.

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This album is going to end the year in high ranking with me… I think for all intents and purposes, this record is flawless. You've got to be bent to not get the appeal, brutish ferocity and whirling doom packed into 30+ minutes of abyssal death metal.

Succumb - XXI (bandcamp)

Nocturnal Graves - An Outlaw's Stand (2022)

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Following up a Melbourne release with another Melbourne release albeit with significantly different soundscapes and ethos—but all the same, I maintain that Australia has one of the most banging music scenes going on at the moment.

Nocturnal Graves is just pure unfettered worship for all things thrash and black metal and all the muck and mire in-between this ilk. We've got a one track (very early) teaser to go off of for the upcoming album, An Outlaw's Stand, and it's what you'd probably expect out of these guys; bestial energy pulsating through a barrage of blackened thrash with emphasis on a greased-up tempo and ruining your day.

Nocturnal Graves - An Outlaw's Stand (bandcamp)

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (2021)

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Australia is an absolute uncontested hotbed in the realm of toothy rock and roll and Michael Beach is just yet another fish in the pond of energetic and woollen post-punk from Melbourne. Angular guitars pervade through a post-punk sentimentality that isn't at all afraid to traverse the sonic highways of a multitude of different genres and ideas, experimenting between tracks that harken to The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, Solid Space, Nick Cave and even a track in 'You Know Life Is Cheap' that sounds like something Timber Timbre would write with its wobbly bayou dirge. 

Michael Beach - Dream Violence (bandcamp)

Skourge - Hardcore Up Your Ass (2021) [EP]

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New Skourge EP is right up my alley! Nothing new being invented here, in fact it's more of a regurgitation of things already out there  (I mean this in a positive way), because it is a mish-mash of all that good stuff in the early 90's—Exxxtremely heavy and up your ass hardcore with half a foot in the early metal scene of thrash. A pivot from the production of 'Spiritual Disrepair', trading in murkiness for a bit more bottom-end and heft? Make sense? Doesn't matter. 'Spiritual Disrepair' is very worth your time, to say the least.

I can't find a damn thing anywhere on this album except the album uploaded on YouTube.

Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality (2021)

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It should come as no surprise at all that I like Cerebral Rot. Death metal of this ilk, putrefying and almost garish, can sometimes be executed with such incredulity that it's totally bereft and unconvincing, and though Cerebral Rot isn't pushing boundaries in the same way that Irkallian Oracle or Funereal Presence might be, they are maintaining an old guard in the way that death metal is meant to sound. A sonic sentinel in the way of repugnant hymns—Excretion of Mortality is extremely foul and heavy death metal and though I haven't gotten around to overplaying it I will most definitely be revisiting it often (even though I can't stop listening to the new Antediluvian record) and I'm sure you will too.

Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality (bandcamp)

Abstracter - Abominiom (2021)

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Abstracter are no joke. No whimsy to be found. "Abandon all hope" is the message written on the wall followed by a "Eat dick, shit face" scrawled heinously next to an inverted cross. Abstracter have been quietly making a lot of noise within the cavernous walls of underground death metal, churning out the type of bloated death metal that is uncompromisingly bestial and bleak in its bones but somewhere in its DNA it is much more intelligible than its fully neanderthal counterparts, Canada's Revenge for example are full troglodytic death metal—and all forms are accepted with zeal by me.

In 2018 Abstracter released 'Cinerous Incarnate' and it snuck up on me as one of the better releases that year, its ferocity was unmatched by most riding under the banner of bestial death metal and it became more cohesive over time, when the froth of grime and swirling guitars gave way I understood the only goal is not obliteration, but obliteration through formulation. There's really only one song to preview so far on that albums follow-up, 'Abominiom', but I am optimistic it will be equally as potent.

Abstracter - Abominiom (bandcamp)

Sesso Violento - Mondo Perverso (2021) [EP]

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Incredibly janky and blown out punk with a black metal backbone that manages to find a good foothold in sounding catchy and bleak at the same time, despite being so stripped down and crude. Emphasis on primitive energy instead of aesthetic and pretension. Sonically it mashes these influences in a way that is less like Ash Borer and a lot more like early Raspberry Bulbs, highly recommended for fans of this ilk!

Sesso Violento - Mondo Perverso (bandcamp)

DEFACEMENT - Defacement (2021)

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This is one of those albums that drags you through the abyss—A serpentining downward spiral through cavernous death metal that is equal parts technical, murky and experimental. 'Defacement' touches upon black metal in more ways than one, notably drawing from the well of the second wave of black metal as its reach has almost become ubiquitous in the sphere of forward-thinking underground metal.

As is always the case with anything I, Voidhanger Records, their is an inherent energy to be found on 'Defacement', something completely ambitious and janky, with a structure that is far more freeform and gelatinous than it is formulaic. Atmospherically it is bestial and primitive with emphasis on dissonant churning guitars, cavernous vocals that don't pierce through the mix in a typically garish way and a drum sound that is mixed in just right and played with the velocity of a meteor shower. The inclusion of ambient passages isn't always an accepted accent in my palette, but on 'Defacement' its presence gives the album space and a sense of purpose beyond barbarity.  

Something between a cross of Mitochondrion, Chaos Moon, Yellow Eyes, Portal, Altarage, etc. 

DEFACEMENT - Defacement (bandcamp)

SCALP - Domestic Extremity (2020)

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Beatdown hardcore with it's hands dipping into the pots of influence in the way of metal, thrash, punk, death metal, power violence and the whole gamut of auditory assault. It's neanderthal in its DNA and over-indulgent from my perspective but it's executed well and does what it sets out to do very well. Imagine a mash between Mind Eraser, Foundation, Hoax, Primitive Blast and Harms Way. Preservation of sonic barbarity.

SCALP - Domestic Extremity (bandcamp)

Crypto Order - Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living (2021)

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An album that at first glance would be way out of left field for Severed Heads Open Minds but upon further inspection into Crypto Order's sonic aggression in the arena of off-kilter industrial electronic and hallucinatory rave songs you could deduce a host of similarities to boundary acts like Gnaw Their Tongues, Daughters, Mamaleek, Jute Gyte, etc.

Much like Death Grips in the sense that there are perceived as well as sighted influences from a cornucopia of bands that revolve around feral energy like Revenge, The Doors, The Microphones, Lightning Bolt, The Jesus Lizard and things that feed off the dark and dismal. You will find much of the same energy on Crypto Order's Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living.

Listen around on Italy's Democide Products page and those without a "strictly blast beats" mentality will find an arsenal of songs and albums worth your time.

Crypto Order - Destructive Strategies for Sustainable Living (bandcamp)

Septage - Septisk Eradikasyon (2021)

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One close look at the cover of this album and you would be outta your skull to think this will be anything less than a putrid and rotting slab of death metal with a predilection for blood, fascia, tendon and offal… Only a muppet wouldn't admit the garishness an album like this imposes on the listener but sometimes in the creases of our being we are more fossil hominid than we are homo sapiens. My taste for death metal is mostly in another direction, but it's been a while since I have gone down the rabbit-hole of gore inspired Death Metal, moreover it's an appropriate follow-up to the Taphos post a few days ago as 1/3 of Septage shares a member with Taphos. 

Septage - Septisk Eradikasyon (bandcamp)

Taphos - Blood Plethora (2021) [EP]

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I've posted about Denmark's Taphos before, particularly when their debut album was high up in my Top Albums of 2018 list… and I have kept both ears on them ever since, eager for the next thing. I guess I'll have to settle for this 2-track 7" they released a bit ago featuring some admirably terrible cover art? It looks like something conjured up out of 1994 Microsoft Paint. The quality of death metal more than makes up for the dismal album art though, Taphos are somehow still flying under the radar which is equally about others' desire to seek things out as it is bad taste. Take a listen, and pay attention!

Taphos - Blood Plethora (bandcamp)

Ancient Tome - Final Tomb (2021) [EP]

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I'm really digging the way this album is coming across like a mixture between the murky sludge and drone saturated doom of Meth Drinker and Cult of Occult with major emphasis on hanging glacially paced riffs. The drums are burly as hell and the cymbal work is noteworthy for me, plodding along like a dirge without ever feeling stale nor exhaustingly repetitious. Haven't heard anything prior from these guys, but this EP is pointing in a promising direction for the sonic landscape of Ancient Tome.

Ancient Tome - Final Tomb (bandcamp)

Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia (2021)

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Qrixkuor have had what some might call a tumultuous upbringing, with a forced hiatus in activity  spurred on by multiple changes in cast and location, a debut album has been long on the horizon of the abyssal plane… but that debut album, Poison Palinopsia, is finally upon the altar. For us to play judge and juror. Appreciator and benefactor.

In lieu of being too verbose, Qrixkuor's changes have seemed to irrefutably benefit the overarching sound and direction of the band, and with the addition of New Zealand's revered V. Kusabs (of Vassafor, Irkallian Oracle, Temple Nightshade, etc.) at the helm of song-writing you would sure as shit have to bet on the sonic scope of Poison Palinopsia to be a downward spiralling mix of cavernous death metal and black metal with tinges of doom and other various forms of entropy.

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This is some seriously heavy shit. A 50-minute, two track plunge into a hallucinatory ether of mangling guitar chords, bestial drums that punish every inch of cymbal and skin with a sadistic, schizophrenic like fervour, and a vocal delivery by S that has its own personality crisis, matching the same intensity and barbarity as Teitanblood or Swallowed. Since there are only two monolithic tracks, each song has ample room to explore atmospherics and space, in way of tempo shifts or fugacious ambient passages (none of which are sampled but individually conjured and recorded) that explore sepulchral like tones.

The production isn't as overall murky as others of this ilk, but suffice it to say it completely evades that plastic like shit with no dynamic range and maintains an overall sound that is both utterly bestial, yet coherent. It's a welcomed and perfectly delivered execution. With no shortage of letdowns, missteps, nice tries and copycats, Poison Palinopsia delivers a breath of fresh air in a genre that has seen a recent resurgence! Fans of Mitochondrion, Teitanblood, Bestia Arcana, Grave Upheaval, Spirit Possession, etc. will find much to appreciate on here, so get towards the bands bandcamp page and do your thing.

Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia (bandcamp)

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (2015)

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A while back I posted 'Apathy' which is only 1 out of the 5 records the absolutely ambiguous Failure Ritual put out in 2015, this is just another one of the 5 records released suddenly by Failure Ritual on the 19th of October. 

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A harrowing downward spiral of experimental black metal that places heavy emphasis on repetition and the exploration of aural space—weaving dense fogs of crude riffing and drumming overtop mesmerizing ambient passages that tread into weird territory, inducing a hallucinatory trance like state. I don't think I could put this side by side up against anything else and claim similarities, there's nothing that sounds like this. This comes highly recommended!

Failure Ritual - Total Weakness (bandcamp)

Amulets - Blooming (2021)

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You know when you go out for sushi and you eat a fresh piece of ginger in-between your meal as the sort of palate cleanser to maximize the impact of flavours between bites? Blooming is the sonic equivalent to that practice. At least when it comes to the curation of this blog and what it is I choose to post in-between what. It can't just be a consistent deluge of black/death metal posts… you should take the palate cleanser.

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What Blooming is is a floating audio piece comprised of mixing ambient drone, shoegaze, experimental electronic, tape loops—Utilizing the imperfections of analog tape to traverse a soundscape that leaves the listener quite open to its own interpretation. Whenever something is presented minimally, we will often use the empty space to fill in whatever emotion or thought we experience in that thing. The same could be said of Blooming—It's an open black room, and you're free to move around in it in anyway you see fit. Enjoy.

Amulets - Blooming (bandcamp)

LLNN - Unmaker (2021)

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Danish post-hardcore and sludge outfit, LLNN, are trying to get back to what they accomplished on one of the better releases in 2018 (among good company) with their new full-length, Unmaker. LLNN draw from a wide well of musical influences, pulling from their ambient soundscapes that serve to maintain an atmosphere, almost lulling and mollifying the listener before an inevitable wave of crushing metallic hardcore (with a prominently post-hardcore angle) and sludge berate the ear canals. It's forward thinking, but not wholly unique, but it's a welcomed breath of fresh air in a overcrowded palette of other bands trying to do the same thing and falling short. We only have two songs to go by now, until it releases in September, but I remain optimistic. 

LLNN - Unmaker (bandcamp)

Rorcal & Earthflesh - Witch Coven (2021)

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Collaborations don't always pay off, and more often than not I find myself indifferent to the attempt, which maybe has more to do with how I am a fatalist contrarian with no cause and no guiding star rather than the material itself. In this case, I'm for it. Much like when Merzbow teamed up with Full of Hell a few years back, the absolutely raw and grating ambient soundscapes of Earthflesh lend an even thicker layer of density to Rorcal's already crushing mixture of Doom, sludge and post-hardcore. The output is a two-track release running 30 minutes in length and it's worth your time if you're looking for something to assault your auditory senses with great heft. 

Rorcal & Earthflesh - Witch Coven (bandcamp)

Death Fortress - Reign of the Unending (2018)

Here's your yearly reminder that this album is still out there in the ether somewhere, even if it's only on YouTube. We'll take what we can get. If you're following this blog and you can't get into this, then I don't know if I can help you. Forward thinking black/death metal in a genre pool of people trying hard and mostly failing. Dig in! 

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Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (2021)

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Completely blown out and sonically malignant is Cult of Thaumiel's newest offering, it sounds rightfully evil and barely straddles that line of what most would consider to be "unlistenable", but we here at SHOM know ripe fruit when we see it. The pacing is at best frenetic and the structure is at worst crumbling, and I do mean these things to be taken as assets to the sound on Palaces of Iniquity, the entire backbone of the genre relied on the rebellion against a cleaned up and polished sound. Raw and absolutely abrasive, check it out and keep your ears to the ground on its full release on October 01, 2021. Hail motherfuckers!

Cult of Thaumiel - Palaces of Iniquity (bandcamp)

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (2021)

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New York hardcore has a hype to it, there's no escaping that, and sometimes that hype is overhyped. In the case of NYHC's Ekulu there isn't a single fleck of flack that could be rightfully flung. It would all be flat air because Ekulu play with an obstinate sense of style and energy, and if that is somehow lost on you when you listen to Unscrew My Head, then I don't know what to tell you. BUST IT!

When Ekulu released their debut EP back in 2018 you knew these guys were poised to churn out a handful of great sounding hardcore releases barring the fickle pitfalls of limited run hardcore bands. Building off the foundations laid out in the 80's, Ekulu dip into the metallic brunt of hardcore like Merauder and Madball leaning into elements of thrash and going even as far as embracing subtleties from Show No Mercy era Slayer and early Accept. Much of the youth crew hardcore omitted these blatant influences and instead dug further into the punk raw power apparent in Youth of Today or Judge… Ekulu has taken some of that into their mix too and in totality the result is a ripper of an album. 

Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (bandcamp)

Odious Devotion - Ilmestys (2021)

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Here's a recent release from Finland. The album cover might confirm a few deductions right off the bat for you if you're the type of person who likes to read into things—Ilmestys is a well articulated barrage of cold, atmospheric black metal with a penchant for the raw, albeit not crude, soundscapes typical to its ilk. 

I am glad the Fins still know how to take a promo shot, too. 

The bulk of this album is constructed off the traditionally black metal sound typical to the Finnish exploration of the genre but splintered throughout this album are some excellent explorations that either bolster its heft and contribution to the black metal sound in a multitude of ways and I'm fully on board. Get on board and let me know what you think on your way out!

Odious Devotion - Ilmestys (bandcamp)

Skáphe & Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur (2019)

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An apt follow up to the Mannveira post is this collaboration album Skáphe and Wormlust put out back in 2019 through Mystískaos and its a cosmic heavy hitter by two enigmatic giants in the genre of forward-thinking metal. If you were to look at the roster that is backing up every sonic decision on this album you would quickly glean that this union might be among the undergrounds most prolific and accomplished assemblage of members—Being comprised by a venerable cast including Misþyrming, Chaos Moon, Naðra, Triumvir Foul, Martoð, Ljáin, Dagger Lust, Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Guðveiki, Momentum (Ask any musician in Iceland and they will remember this band), this is only naming a few…

I'm still amazed this album exists, I can only imagine the writing process was something strange considering members don't all live in the same country let alone city. This is a monolithic two-track album of downward spiralling black/death metal heavy on ambient soundscapes of cosmic psychedelia and the esoteric. A musical equivalent to a family vacation on the abyssal plains. 

"Name your price" on Bandcamp, you can't really go wrong here.

Skáphe & Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur (bandcamp)

Mannveira - Vítahringur (2021)

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Iceland has earned an automatic grace with me—If I see an album under the canopy of black/death metal being put out from the windswept nation I will always direct some time and energy into listening to that thing, and you should too… They've earned it. The list of quality albums coming from that tiny island has got to be the highest per capita out of anywhere else?

I digress, musically Vítahringur is a melting pot of all those Icelandic sounds but with more poise. I see Mannveira slapped with a black metal tag everywhere, but not only is that lazy, it's not accurate. Without dipping into the overly formulaic and trite discussion of genres (and their sub-genres) its worth it (especially in this case) to acknowledge the myriad of nuance. 

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Its foundations are built mostly upon the Icelandic black metal sound of whirring and hypnotic guitar chords much like Naðra, Sinmara, Svartidauði and Misþyrming (etc.) albeit with a little more focus on the space around the chords and creating atmosphere through something more of a doom tinged approach of canyon like mid-tempo, which often features lofty guitars akin to post-metal more so than black metal. A standout difference to me is in the vocal mix, which favours a much bulkier sound than its counterparts, barely if ever dipping into anything of a shrill like scream that's become omnipotent in Icelandic black metal. Before I get to verbose I'll just say that Mannveira have achieved something dense and great here, as always, worth your time and energy!

Mannveira - Vítahringur (bandcamp)

Cirith Ungol - Half Past Human (2021) [EP]

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Cirith Ungol are very much part of the old guard of metal, having been around for over four decades albeit with a few minor pauses and lapses in activity they returned in 2020 with Forever Black, planting their flag in the ground with some exemplary old-school doom laden heavy metal with tinges plucked from the crossover scenes of back then.

Just recently they released another crop of tunes under the same umbrella of doom/heavy metal and though I winced at the thought of it biting the big one but it never let me down at all, much like Forever Black… Sounds like the good old halcyon days of the genre. Half Past Human is just a fun listen through, and if you don't think so then you're probably taking things too seriously, maaaan.

Cirith Ungol - Half Past Human (bandcamp)

Midwife - Luminol (2021)

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The Flenser has been an incredibly reliable merchant in the world of sonic satisfaction for a long time now and I don't think any of that is going to change moving forward—Music begrimed in reverb and a penchant to delve into strange territory will always have a home here.

And with that Midwife, both begrimed in reverb and strange in its own right. Madeline Johnston commits her dissonance through a musical cloth which has been woven through threads of magnificently bleak guitar tones that often give way into something beautiful and dark with the help of a thick atmosphere of reverb, feedback and warm ambiance. Often serene and calm but with an omniscient feeling of dread and malaise. I don't think its through way of self-deprecation or a fatalistic outlook that Madeline chooses her austere landscape but through way of her own self-critique and disenchanted mindset when it comes to life's many riddles and follies. For fans of Sister Grotto, Planning for Burial, Lightning Bug, Drowse and Whirr.

Midwife - Luminol (bandcamp)

Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment (2021)

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If you have been following this blog for a while now you'll know that I am fully in favour for all the qualities that Antediluvian are bringing to the death/black metal sound (which has seen itself run into the ground in the last 10 years)—Those aforementioned sound traits are the primitive whirlwind of tones and energy that gets baked into its crumbling atmosphere which bears the feeling that it is suffocating within itself. Feral and crude.

The way the drums are mixed in (and played) is what really sets its sound apart from its ilk—with the floor toms being tuned quite deep and played at a slowed down plod they evoke that same ritualistic or hypnotic quality that bands like Irkallian Oracle or Mitochondrion tap into. Not to say that Antediluvian's soundscape has the consistency of molasses, it very often moves towards the driving chaotic and bestial sound indicative to the style but even then it still retains that prevalent esoteric soundscape. The vocals are some of the best in the genre in my opinion, mixed perfectly and offering an onerous range that should send chills down your fucking spine, especially when those vicious guitars churn through the way they do in their dirge.

The Divine Punishment isn't out until September and as of posting this there is only the one track to sink your teeth into, but hell if you're anything like me, you'll have enough to whet your thirst. Nuclear War Now! Productions rarely gets anything wrong.

Antediluvian - The Divine Punishment (bandcamp)

Big Brave - Vital (2021)

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This monolithic slab of drone came out a mini aeon ago and for some reason I have been sleeping on its dedicated post. It was never not going to be posted here. I have listened to this record a lot… It's a hefty listen, permeated throughout is Big Brave's signature lofty guitar chords buzzing around in a trance like state as reverb and feedback collide into each other creating waves of mollifying noise modus operandi. If you're at all familiar with Big Brave, which you should be, then you know what to expect in Robin's inspired vocal croon—Incantation like, ritualistic and poignant with a whole heap of heft and energy behind it. Still on Southern Lord after all these years too, I like it.

Big Brave - Vital (2021)

Bootlicker - Bootlicker (2021)

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Bootlicker are Vancouver's contribution to the incredibly blown out and raucous federation. A frantic, albeit jangly, hodgepodge of d-beat, crust punk and hardcore thrown into the pot with a tinge of Oi! a la the Hard as Nails working class era of Close Shave. The guitar tones enter into some real nice territory on this one, down-stroked to hell and mired in a thick curtain of grease. Strong Boston Strangler presence on here with the choppiness of Arms Race and Violent Reaction.

Bootlicker - Bootlicker (bandcamp)

Lykhaeon - Opprobrium (2021)

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Opprobrium has come as a pleasant surprise to me, this being my first listen through of Switzerland's Lykhaeon, despite being familiar with the duo's other gigs (namely Arkhaaik and Ungfell) I wasn't privy to this release until very recently when I noticed the unmistakable album art of Elijah Tamu stamped on here as a promising omen.

The total sum of this album is a cascading force of equal parts bestial death metal and black metal, with much serpentining throughout between shifting tempos and bubbling atmospheres which traverse an array of barbaric soundscapes that sometimes land directly on the festering underbelly of some hellish pit. With aplomb Lykhaeon are able to circumnavigate their way through these monolithic tracks without succumbing to the "heard that before" like boredom that comes from a lesser mix. Fans of Bestia Arcana, Vassafor, Temple Nightside and Mitochondrion will enjoy everything on Opprobrium with great zeal.

Lykhaeon - Opprobrium (bandcamp)

HIDE - Interior Terror (2021)

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HIDE are a noise based duo from Chicago that are carving their way into the fray with a reeking blend of hypnotic electronic wrapped in a thick wall of pulsating noise which serves to unearth sounds that make the listener feel supremely uncomfortable. Much like how The Body use driving bass and drums to evoke discomfort, HIDE take it in a multitude of different directions that range from the fetid industrial dirge of early Pansonic to the post-punk noise of the perfectly executed Daughters record from 2018. This won't be for everyone, this won't even be for most, but a small amount of you masochistic sycophants will somehow for some reason derive a sick pleasure in the sounds from Interior Terror. I'll listen to anything coming out of the Dais Records library, I guess.

HIDE - Interior Terror (bandcamp)

Fyrnask - VII: Kenoma (2021)

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Fyrnask is a band that was turned on to me back in 2013 following their smouldering release 'Eldir Nótt', which much like this new offering, was uncompromisingly good. Fyrnask are something of an anomaly these days in the sense that they are able to blend the floating lurch found within ambient soundscapes with the cavernous heft found within doom metal and then transmute that sound into a break neck gallop found in second wave black metal and then further pair that with other nuances and flourishes found within the ranks of the genre wheel… All without succumbing to that infectious defect of gussying up the sound to be more palatable to the masses. Fuck all of that.

You won't find any such placating here on VII: Kenoma, instead Fyrnask use their raw energy as a means to build upon layers of atmosphere, which takes on many shapes throughout the dips and swells of each sizeable track ranging from cacophonous and feral to thought-provoking and poignant. Imagine mixing equal parts early Ash Borer with Misþyrming and Altar of Plagues, and then interspersing flecks of Morne and Bölzer.

This comes highly recommended!

Fyrnask - VII:Kenoma (bandcamp)

Portal - Eye [Single] (2021)

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I rarely, if never post singles, because I find them tiresome and pointless without an entire album to back the song up. I guess here and now, for whatever reason, I break that trend and post a single. To wet thy lips and satiate thy hunger for Portal's newest release, out later this month. Suffocating abyssal death metal from a unit that helped define a soundscape.

Portal - Avow (bandcamp)

Spellforger - Upholders of Evil (2021)

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I can't imagine Indonesia being a festering hotbed of oldschool thrash/speed metal worship, but Spellforger's newest output in Upholders of Evil holds up against the scrupulous rhetoric of those of us that are defiantly trying to keep the underground lit. Production is spot on, harkening back to the days of Razor, Sacrifice, Exciter, Sodom and those that just wanted to go fast and hard with a firm grip on the black metal influences of yore a la Hellhammer, Tormentor and Possessed. Nailed it. Germany's Vulture has done a good job at bringing those antediluvian sounds back to us, albeit with a lot more kitschiness driving their overall sound, Spellforger chooses a more primitive and straight for the jugular assault with its production. Show these guys some love and support on their Bandcamp page.

Spellforger - Upholders of Evil (bandcamp)

Fuoco Fatuo - Obsidian Katabasis (2021)

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Another Profound Lore release committed to the Severed Heads Open Minds altar. Obsidian Katabasis is a gargantuan 6 songs of glacially paced Funeral Doom with a Death Metal backbone and it's a monolithic traverse through densely layered soundscapes that move through mollifying guitar sections with a lot of space flowing between to forward creeping death metal sections that utilize more haste and intricacy.

A trade of heft vs ferocity. All the while it's incredibly heavy and suffocating through its build but the woven atmospheres of guitar delay, reverb, feedback and ambient noise add a great deal of breadth to the plodding nature and I'd say without this it would be all weight with no nuance. This thing rips!

Fuoco Fatuo - Obsidian Katabasis (bandcamp)

Imperial Cult - Spasm of Light (2019)

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Been listening to the new Mork album a decent amount, on top of a handful of other releases that will soon get their brief moment in the spotlight over here at SHOM soon enough, until then, satiate your need for raw and unrelenting black metal via Holland's Imperial Cult—Spasm of Light is a highlight of 2019 to be sure—Something about the current looming dread has caused me to have returned to it quite a bit as of late, and just assumed you might want to as well… and if not, that's just bent, man. One 35-minute track of downward spiralling black metal heavily entrenched in a wall of sound and atmospheric armageddon served on a brass platter next to the goats heads soup. No inner peace.

Imperial Cult - Spasm of Light (bandcamp)

Deiquisitor - Humanoid EP (2021)

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Denmark's Deiquisitor dropped a 25 minute EP on us this year and it's a steep descent into the meat grinder abyss of pummelling death metal. Focused on the chunkier side of death metal, there's always a purveying, simplistic brutality to their sound—nothing particularly cacophonous, but meaty with a lot of weight behind its hooks and any semblance of space is squeezed out with Deiquisitor's deliberate assault.

Deiquisitor - Humanoid (bandcamp)

Barbarian - Barbarian (2012)

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Here's an album I just wanted to remind everyone of! I have been heavily dipping into this gem of an EP quite a lot recently—I guess black thrash/speed is high on my radar right now and this Italian beast nailed everything on this 25-minute EP, spot on production and the best release from the band in my opinion. Dig in!

Barbarian - Barbarian (bandcamp)

Sulpur - Embracing Hatred and Beckoning Darkness (2021)

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Here's another Amor Fati Productions release that is cold as hell and well worth your attention! Embracing Hatred and Beckoning Darkness is the debut album from Sulpur, which (as of now) has no known information about the band, further bolstering its obscurity. Second wave black metal that hearkens back to the early 90's in a lot of ways but feels much less influenced by the early sounds of thrash and speed metal that the earlier progenitors latched onto—Instead Sulpur drinks from the same well as MGLA, Algor, Lluvia, and many of the Icelandic black metal bands (to name a region) wholly dedicated to this style built on a blistering tempo and a dense, frigid soundscape.

The songwriting here is essentially without any flaws—the riffs come in fast and cold as a witch tit, the drums are mixed perfectly down to the splash cymbal and even the pickup on the bell is right where it's supposed to be. The same can be said about the vocal work, which makes use of some nice versatility. No single track dips below the 7-minute mark and there isn't a single moment on this album that I could reasonably consider filler, nothing stale here, just blistering black metal that has done everything right. One of the best I've heard this year so far.

Sulpur - Embracing Hatred and Beckoning Darkness (bandcamp)

Skeleton - Ordainment of Divinity EP (2021)

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There are really only two things I am certain of in this world:
1) Nothing really matters.
2) Skeleton are keeping the underground lit.

A follow-up EP to their staunch debut LP has recently been released by Austin, Texas' Skeleton and it's a forward lunge into the sonic soundscape of the incredibly raw and already unfiltered sound of the band—which had no qualms trading proficiency for energy and cohesion for a crackling atmosphere. They doubled down on Ordainment of Divinity when it comes to the production, going even further into a blown out production, especially within the drum sound, denting the fidelity as much as possible to a point where the sound is as ghastly as it is garish.

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I think a lot of people will be disappointed with the decision to mess with the production to the extent in which they did but I think fans of the eponymous debut album will be even more slighted that most of the festering grooves on the debut have mostly been traded out for a barbaric ferocity with much more black metal than thrash/hardcore influence this time around. Me, I still like it. I think an EP is exactly the right time to start threshing around sounds and I think they really nailed a lot of it… The intro track sounds like a medieval funeral dirge and the way it bleeds into the first song is right up my alley! No apologies.


Skeleton - Ordainment of Divinity EP (bandcamp)

Spectral Wound - Frigid and Spellbound [Single] (2021)

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Spectral Wound has never really been big on my radar, but from Profound Lore's reputation and track record alone I'll listen… Also Quebecois black metal has its own staunch reputation worth paying attention to. I'm not going to make any claims off this single alone, that would be a hackneyed response… But the pre-order album on bandcamp has evidently been doing alright for itself.

Spectral Wound - A Diabolical Thirst (bandcamp)

Diocletian - Darkness Swallows All EP (2021)

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Diocletian have been pummelling peoples ears into submission for the last decade and with their newly realized 'Darkness Swallows All' EP the band is looking to turn a corner after 'Amongst The Flames of a Bvrning God'. New Zealand has proven to be a gestation ground for bestial sounding death metal with bands like Vassafor, Heresiarch, Witchrist, Vesicant and Diocletian at the helm of all the chaos. Vassafor's 'To The Death' release last year was among one of my favourites, just ugly!

But this new EP from Diocletian seems to be cut from a cloth of death metal that is at its core even more raw and even more crude than that of their opus "Gesundrian'…which a lot of the time, is a welcomed force in terms of my taste… This time, I'm not too sure. One thing is certain, It's an absolute far cry from the sheer ferocity a band like KNEEL were able to impose on their 3-song EP last year.

I'm posting this one up for the vultures to feast on, as for me, I am unsure of the direction these brutish Kiwis are taking. All is fair in love and war.

Diocletian - Darkness Swallows All (bandcamp)

Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning (2021)

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Here we go again, Profound Lore doing what Profound Lore does better than almost any other record label out there, consistently putting out releases within the umbrella of metal that is forward-thinking, hard hitting and unequivocally true to its cause. In the case of Suffering Hour, the trio out of Forest Lake, Minnesota, are emerging into the new year with their sophomore album, The Cyclic Reckoning, and they are punching way above their weight.

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This new album is a monolithic tower of black/death metal, trading between genres with purpose and force, and the concocted energy as well as atmosphere are forces that emit an untapped barbarity through serpentining black metal chords, pummelling drums and a combined vocal output that sounds sheer… At times summoning the same ferocity as Death Fortress, which if you know me, is a volatility I appreciate in something flying under the banner of death metal. Only two songs have been released so far… but I'm sure as hell paying attention.

Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning (bandcamp)