2021 goodness…

Beyond the comforting balm of sweetsweet music, books played a major role in the goodness equation for me in 2021—tangible books held in my hands and read for entertainment. To clarify, books have always played a significant role in my life, from the day I first received and read my own copy of Beverly Cleary’s Runaway Ralph as a wee tot, but life & times (and technology) continue to find unique ways to distract and force downtime to become even more fleeting. This year, though, I have (for the most part) stuck to a routine that’s finally found that trend reversing, and I absolutely feel all the better for it.

As has been the case since day one, I continue to use the medium as an escape, so it’s mostly science fiction (the Three Body Problem trilogy—wow) and fantasy, with the most significant commitment finally being thrown toward something that’s lurked on the perimeter for quite some time: Steven Erikson’s epic Malazan series. I’ve attempted to crack into this particular 10-volume sprawl in the past, but the endeavor stalled early for a number of reasons, much of which I recently brought up to a dear friend who’s made a quiet mission of keeping Erikson’s undertaking alive in the outskirts of our conversations. Paraphrased from one of our back-and-forths:

“I think an interesting thing about Malazan is that it represents the antithesis of what so many people are capable of taking on today: ‘Give it time and attention and it will pay off immensely, but you have to give it that time and attention.’

Time and attention is what people lack in the modern age, so the idea of committing to a 10-book series seems flat-out fucking outrageous. And I kind of get that, because I’m in that camp. It seems almost narcissistic to me that an author would expect people to devote 10 books of attention to a single storyline. Like, who the hell are you to demand that of readers? There’s an endless well of talented writers out there who are deserving of attention and sparse free-time.

Hell, some people find ways to balk at a trilogy in the modern age. 10 books, though? That’s a mountain that requires a unique individual, even if they’re curious about it. But despite the fact that I find it rather absurd to cut away the year+ I’m guessing it’ll take me to read all of Malazan, I feel like it’ll be worth it because Malazan really does seem like a world that’s inviting and has the potential to actually teach me something in a similar way the Star Trek universe has helped shape me for decades.”

I won’t use this space as an extensive opportunity to dive into the well of emotions and inspirations my Malazan commitment has delivered so far, as I’ve only made it through four books to date, but I will remark that I feel as if Erikson’s fantasy realm has already helped me—like, actually helped me in a way that puts a fresh shine on crucial elements such as compassion and friendship and relying on your own unique form of “warrens” when life really throws some heavy shit toward the fan. Yes, Malazan is obviously a made-up world, but, as I also mentioned to the same friend above in one of our follow-up conversations, “Is it really a fantasy world once it becomes a part of your everyday life? If it helps you when you’re in need of help? If it reminds you to be compassionate? To engage with and tap inscrutable positive energy? That is when our fantasy realms become reality.”

The bottom line is this: I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get through all 10 Malazan books, or even if Earth will allow me enough time to see its end, but it’s never really been about the endpoint. Similar to any artistic endeavor, the reward is in the process, not its completion. Part of me is living in Genabackis these days, and that is a comfort when the continent my corporeal form continues to endure the years in appears to insist on…well, largely sucking. So, yeah, I take back any unjust thoughts about Erikson being narcissistic—as if he’s plotting and wringing his hands at the thought of people surrendering their undivided attention. His brain simply housed an alien world, he found a way to bring that world to reality, and he’s offering anyone interested an opportunity to drift through, hole up, or even just dip one foot in before shuffling off elsewhere. If that manages to result in any form of goodness, then he’s done us a favor that’s worthy of recognition and appreciation.

How the hell does this relate to a year-end list involving heavy metal? Take your pick of any number of answers: Many of these albums found ways to coincide with my Malazan adventures by offering comparable escapes, by reminding me of characters or passages, or even simply by existing as a “to listen to” pile amidst my venturing. In that way, it’s possible these releases will always have a unique place in my life, just as Malazan has offered a terrifically memorable escape on its own. I like to think that. Thinking about that makes me feel good.

One important hitch that requires a spotlight before moving forward: As was the case last year, what you see below is not the full picture, as a significant portion of my 2021 listening time, particularly in the second half, was devoted to the world of power metal and its kin, and this has already been represented with the latest version of We Have the Power. I would be remiss if I didn’t make a point of mentioning that absolute gutters from the likes of Dragonbreath, Eternity’s End, Galneryus, Helloween, et al. were also favorites of mine, but this list gives me an opportunity to highlight things that land (further) outside of the power-related world.

Right, enough bauble. As Karsa Orlong once said,

“I am done speaking, witch. Witness.”

Marc Simonetti’s cover for Steven Erikson’s ‘House of Chains’, featuring KARSA ORLONG and TORVALD NOM

SOLDIERS OF THE MALAZAN EMPIRE:

20. Fucked Up – Year of the Horse

Year of the Horse was my first exposure to Toronto, Ontario’s Fucked Up, and while their brand of modern hardcore is admittedly something I’d assumed was outside my wheelhouse (I am more of a strict traditionalist when it comes to the genre), it managed to pull me in time and again due to its unwavering commitment to throwing endless knuckleballs. Like, seriously zigzagging knuckleballs. The record stretches just beyond the hour-and-a-half mark, which is largely verboten amidst an age when people consume in mighty small chunks, but it also confounds in its constantly shifting delivery that recalls everything from hardcore (duh) to sludge to straight-up metal to anthemic 70’s rock to a strange sort of nod to Spaghetti Westerns. Beyond defying any and all genre confines, however, Year of the Horse most importantly represents innovative musical storytelling at its best, and I remain in awe of bands who find compelling ways to do just that.

• Bandcamp

19. Mefitis – Offscourings

“…possibly the most refreshing aspect relates to how [Offscourings] manages to tap into a form of progressive death metal that feels born from space without rebuilding or redecorating the Timeghoul and / or Blood Incantation blueprint. That sort of approach is great and all, but we already have umpteen bands in the modern age offering up reinterpretations of that particular strain of death. All said and done, maybe it’s best to just wipe away thoughts of death metal entirely—wipe away death metal, black metal, technical thrash and any and all other descriptors we’ve become so reliant on in order to make our brains feel more orderly. Instead, let’s simply enjoy this for what it is: a wonderfully unique and adventurous slab of heavy metal.”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

18. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime

Hey, friend, have you seen all the hype surrounding Stormkeep and their debut full-length, Tales of Othertime? You enjoy heavy metal and have internet access, so of course you have witnessed said hype. Frankly, I’m really not sure what it is about our genre and our need to both embrace and repudiate hype with equal intensity, but I’m guessing it’s owed to the governing laws of physics, so let’s just keep it that straightforward and attempt to approach the record with a level head.

It’s admittedly absurd to allow any album this fresh off the press admittance to a year-end list, but Tales of Othertime does have an inviting sense of magic flitting about this 43-minute journey—one that should appeal to anyone who counts melodic Blue Album Cover Black Metal as staples in the diet. Whether the album manages to climb (seems likely) or descend over time remains to be seen, but the initial impression is certainly good enough to warrant hyped enthusiasm. For best results, crank while out in the cold.

• Bandcamp

17. Outre-Tombe – Abysse mortifère

“With album number three, we find Outre-Tombe expanding their vision just a touch, while still remaining happily tangled in the very same web our friend the colossus spider spun 30 years in the past. In other words, if you’re looking for innovation, you most certainly took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, Mr. Fudd—Abysse Mortifère is as antique as a packed cassette case stowed under a baja poncho in a 1989 Tercel. In fact, the production techniques actually seem to be deteriorating with each release, giving the new record an even more crumbly, woolly, unkempt pelt that whiffs of a loose putridity that’s as suited to this style of death metal as it is to a week-old roadkill. (Bring a shovel.)”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

16. Sigil – Nether

I don’t recall where I first came across this Calgary, Alberta crew’s sophomore effort, but I’d like to offer said individual the complicated secret handshake necessary to prove we’re members of the same exclusive cabal that periodically meets in the pitch of night to celebrate extremely underground releases that explore death metal, black metal, sludge and post-hardcore with equal intent and fury. That’s Nether in a nutshell, and the fact that it’s only available digitally or through a (very snazzy) cassette is probably further indication of precisely who their intended target audience is. One thing for certain, based on the overall quality and venturesomeness of Nether, the chances this band hits a much larger audience with their next release seems very likely. So, yeah, if you prefer to play the role of one of those “I liked ‘em back when” folks, now’s your chance to get in on the ground floor.

• Bandcamp

15. Wheel – Preserved in Time

“One of the most significant developments that’s strengthened Wheel since 2013’s Icarus is a sharper sense of focus. Whereas previous releases did a fine job of showcasing a notably diverse set of influences—from classic doom by way of Vitus and Reverend Bizarre to stoner rock to flashes of prog and even (gasp) death metal—Preserved in Time feels more honed and resolved to underscore the band’s true strength: classic doom with a notably epic glow. There’s still room enough for adventuring, particularly in the second half with the fairly peculiar “Aeon of Darkness” and the record’s most aggressive cut, “Hero of the Weak,” but Wheel circa 2021 seems mostly keen on refining the formula into a unique marriage between Solitude Aeturnus, Spiritus Mortis and Warning (UK).”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

14. Succumb – XXI

“Will a record like XXI appeal to both Blasphemy junkies and fresh-born metalers who wouldn’t know Blasphemy if they walked in on the band kicking back incredibly far on their living room couch? Who the hell knows. Getting down to brass tacks, there’s one final selling or sticking point touched on earlier: Despite the fact that XXI packs a massive amount of destructive force inside its comfortably brief 34 minutes, it still manages to feel…strangely positive in a brutal death metal kind of way, without being Brutal Death Metal. So yeah, Succumb is a positive energy in the universe, and that appears to be by design. Closing the record with a song called “8 Trigrams” and naming the record (at least in part) after the 21st Major Arcana tarot card demonstrates a recognition of closure, clean slates, harmony and moving forward, and the music feels like the final hidden advantage necessary to detonate whatever walls bar the way for starting anew.”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

13. Monolord – Your Time to Shine

Just what in the hell needs to occur in our fickle little scene in order for stoner doom such as Your Time to Shine to swing back into the broader conversation again? Remember about 20 years ago when sludge, stoner and desert rock were all the belles of the ball, and no one could keep their eyes and ears off said belles? Not so much the case in 2021. Thankfully, we still have crucial fronts such as JJ Koczan’s incredible The Obelisk (plus joints like The Sleeping Shaman) to keep us fully in the know, which I’m fairly certain is how I first caught wind of Sweden’s Monolord.

Your Time to Shine very much sounds like the same Monolord that produced the previous four records, and while that won’t win any awards for creativity, it ends up working out beautifully because this sort of bottom-heavy, fuzzy, pungent endo-doom arrives with a fresh shine when everything else on your pile sounds like…well anything but endo-weed doom. What’s always managed to keep Monolord in the circumference for me is their penchant for tacking pretty melody to the picture, and Your Time to Shine certainly continues that trajectory.

• Bandcamp

12. Mystic Storm – From the Ancient Chaos

“From the Ancient Chaos lands at what must be considered an ideal time; while there hasn’t exactly been a dearth of thrash the last decade-plus, 2021 is proving to be a true champion of this off-shoot in particular, offering up freshies from an endless swarm of young bands that wisely introduce all manner of delightful supplements to further twist the timeworn formula, be it strong infusions of death, black metal, prog, tech, and so forth in perpetuity. With regard to Mystic Storm, the band wraps an aggressive and aggressively melodic style of thrash reminiscent of the Teutonic scene in the late 80s—Vendetta, Grinder and the raw fury of Protector—with enough galloping Sword & Sorcery trad metal that one could make just as strong a case for tagging them #fuckingepicheavymetal as they might #conanthrash. In fact, throw From the Ancient Chaos in the ring mano a mano with Eternal Champion’s Ravening Iron and the former could very well end up winning the day through its sheer might and wealth of lightning burst leads. Plus, vocalist Anya conjures the ancient spirits of Debbie Gunn (Sentinel Beast), Tam Simpson (from the mighty Sacrilege) and especially Dawn Crosby (Detente—whose song “Vultures in the Sky” gets covered as a closer for the record), and that’s honestly something we could use a lot more of in thrash and thrash-infused metal in general.”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

11. Worm – Foreverglade

I will now open myself up for public castigation with the following statement: Worm’s previous endeavor from 2019, Gloomlord, did not do much for me. The record was a hit around these parts, though, and I am always happy to see such grim music find a unique path to pleasure, so I kept my mouth (mostly) shut. But yeah, didn’t hit me as I’d hoped it would. Foreverglade, on the other hand, has managed to nestle its way into a very peculiar and loathsome part of my heart that makes me wonder if perhaps I was the problem back in 2019. Is it me? Am I the drama? I don’t think I’m the drama. Maybe I am. Am I the villain? I don’t think I’m the villain. Well, regardless, what I do know is that something happened to make Worm’s weirdly melodic, funereal, blackened death / doom a picture-perfect picnic of misery for little ol’ me, and I’m all the more thankful for their grisly vision in 2021.

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

THE BRIDGEBURNERS:

10. Skepticism – Companion

“Companion takes the creativity in song structure to another level, where the lion-share of cuts offer a seemingly perpetual amount of switchbacks that include some of the most spirited (flippin’ speed metal compared to Stormcrowfleet) stretches Skepticism has done to date. Everything remains offset by the characteristic “Ent lumbering through Fangorn” deliberateness we know and love about the band, and it all still feels gradual and perhaps even gentle at times, with just one instrument—often the guitar—suddenly increasing the step or aggression with the rest of the players perhaps not heeding at first. This gives some of the transitions a unique sort of loose ’n’ free impression that almost makes one wonder if it’s actually being pulled off. It is, of course, and in a terrifically unique and shrewd sort of way, but the full experience of Companion sometimes gives the impression of seeing an enticing painting from a distance that becomes increasingly more Jean Metzinger / Le Goûter the closer you get; blocks and twists and sudden changes in shade are nevertheless fit together in a manner that comes about quite congruent when taken as a whole.”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

9. Tower – Shock to the System

“Crux of the matter: Shock to the System puts on a clinic for anyone interested in heavy metal that remembers how to rock and does so loud enough to crack a skull in half. The fact that Tower also just so happens to retain the services of one of the more powerful voices you’ll hear on a record in 2021 is gravy on the taters, baby. Buy it for yourself, buy it for your loved ones, buy it for anyone in need of a reminder that the guitar will always be there for us when things get (or need to get) heavy.”

Well, did you buy it yet? I have it on good authority that Santa plans to crank Shock to the System in the sleigh this year, so expect leather gauntlets, half-burned jays and pristine / puffy high-top sneakers under the tree this year. Hail Santa!

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

8. Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal

Similar to the Stormkeep release, Dream Unending whooshed in at year-end with a hyped record that some might consider too fresh for a Best of 2021 position. It’s a solid argument, that, if it weren’t for the fact that Tide Turns Eternal manages to deliver one of the most satisfyingly morose yet unexpectedly optimistic albums the metal sphere has experienced since, I dunno, The Call of the Wretched Sea? It’s that unmistakable brightness woven into the pattern here that really makes Tide Turns Eternal stand out, and it’s something that increases its value tenfold, as we all need those records that transition us from depression into a few levels sunnier without the sudden shock of, say, a Helloween or flippin’ They Might Be Giants record.

There is endless warmth in the melody here—the “big sweater” variety that’s not too far off from early Tears for Fears at times—and it’s balanced perfectly within a sort of wavering, mildly psychedelic brand of gloom / doom that conjures visions of Belgium’s Emptiness (circa Nothing but the Whole), but with a clear “Peaceville in the mid 90s would have killed for this” authority.

• Bandcamp

7. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu

At this point I’m guessing you’re fully aware that the Last Rites collective is a fairly easy mark for Iron Maiden. If you could get a peek into our super exclusive Discord home office whenever word of a new record lands, or whenever a crew member begins a binge out of the blue, you’d wonder just how many times a crew of chimps could possibly rank a discography before some empyrean-occupying almighty finally agreed to smite us out of sheer pity.

We are not without pragmatism when it comes to this band, though, I assure you. So while there are obviously stars in our eyes when we begin to assimilate a new record like Senjutsu, we recognize the flaws and understand why Maiden can seem impenetrable, particularly with respect to their approach in the modern age. But there’s something a little more innovative dancing in the corners of this record that goes beyond nostalgia that’s kept it in the rotation longer. And while it remains a comfortable 5th place out of 6 in the re-Bruce era for me personally, I still dig it because the things I loved about Iron Maiden 35 years ago continue to get folded into the formula in 2021, even if Senjutsu sounds like a very distant cousin to Powerslave.

• Last Rites review
• Band website

6. First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle

Gloire Éternelle is an authoritative exercise in extremes. Obviously it delivers extreme metal, but even within those confines it manages to find new and extraordinarily knotty pathways to novel extremes. Throw Gloire Éternelle on for the first time and you will be overwhelmed. Period. Rounds 2, 3 and 4 will likely elicit similar results. How, pray tell, can this many notes exist together in a (very close to not being) controlled environment and still create not only a semblance of sense, but a consequence that eventually becomes very enjoyable? The answer must be related to some Next Level approach to shred mastery—an obsessive compulsive approach to shred mastery. A level of shred that could cause Mike Varney circa 1987 to literally explode on the spot.

Beyond the sheer intricacy that’s going on here, what truly sells Gloire Éternelle is that once the smoke finally begins to settle—and it will settle—you’re left with something that ultimately renders the joy that was surely present when the members of the band first crammed these labyrinth tunes inside the First Fragment particle accelerator. Gloire Éternelle is an extreme album, for certain, but it’s also extremely fun.

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

5. Empyrium – Über den Sternen

Attempts to find a fresh way to attach new words to my love of Über den Sternen have resulted in a return to two points brought up in the review of the record from earlier this year. First, a moth-eaten quote from Søren Kierkegaard, likely penned whilst he was busy being depressed in a posh Copenhagen manor in the mid 1800s: “My melancholy is the most faithful mistress I have known; what wonder, then, that I love her in return.” And second, this less moth-eaten quote from me, likely penned whilst being melancholy in decidedly less posh home office in 2021: “Through the course of time, we have witnessed melancholy become renovated into a gentler, more elegant form of sadness used to characterize pensive recollections, longings, and every shade of wistful sentiment. This is clearly a decidedly different beast compared to depression or misery, and it’s one that finds a unique way of comforting a person’s spirit in an isolated sort of way that underscores the notion of “alone, but not lonely.” It is within this sphere that Germany’s Empyrium not only operate, but reign as overlords wielding a melancholic blade the size of a city bus.”

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

4. Memory Garden – 1349

“The core Memory Garden formula that has successfully charmed uber-underground doom freaks for the better part of the last 25 years remains fully intact with 1349, but the level of triumph this time around is noteworthy enough to conclude the following: 1349 is the sort of conquering record Memory Garden deserves to release in 2021. They’ve put in the years, all players are at the top of their game, the production is perfect, and they very smartly jump backwards in time in order to establish a wickedly relevant theme for literally everyone in the world right now. The result is not only the best album in the band’s discography, but a stealthy mutineer for anyone who allows those sneaky December releases to bulldoze a favorites-of-the-year list.”

• Last Rites review
• Band website

3. Fluisteraars – Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking

I am so far out of touch with the black metal underground that I have no clue how its shadowy membership feels about Fluisteraars in 2021. Despite its freshness, a record like Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking still feels decidedly raw and explosive, much the same way Written in Waters and Min tid skal komme did back in 1995. However, Fluisteraars has an instagram page, and I believe I’ve seen recent photos lurking about that indicate one of the members now has short hair and wears sweaters. Furthermore, despite a decision to underscore an even grimmer visage compared to 2020’s wonderful Bloem, Gegrepen continues to accentuate the band’s penchant for sophistication by way of post-rock and psychedelics, so… Yeah, maybe their albums are filed under “Alternative Rock” over at Neseblod Records. I really have no idea.

W… Wait a minute… Wow, I completely forgot to not give the tiniest of bonks about gatekeeping or fire-branded “true” titles in favor of underlining the ultimate truth concerning Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking: It’s an absolutely mesmerizing modern black metal record, and it’s one I’m guessing will be revered with increasing enthusiasm and awareness as the years press forward.

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

2. Herzel – Le Dernier Rempart

I very much appreciate heavy metal’s unbridled perseverance with respect to expansion and exploration, but oft-times (as a rule, if I’m honest) it’s the bands that flash proficiency with what first brought me into the genre back in the early / mid 80s that ultimately win the day, even all these decades later. This is something I assume is true across the board, whether you were first seduced by late ’80s death metal, early ’90s black metal, late ’90s nu metal, etc. ad infinitum—we will always be drawn to our heritage, as heritage has the distinct advantage of nostalgia that interweaves so perfectly and powerfully with feelings that elicit gladness. France’s Herzel deliver a style of metal that unquestionably conjures fond memories of the genre’s golden era, and they do so while likewise highlighting their native region through use of traditional instruments, Celtic roots, and via a trilogy (“Berceau de cendre,” “L’épée des dieux,” and “L’ultime combat”) that concerns a young hero charged with delivering the Sword of the Gods to Brittany—a unique perspective that gives Le Dernier Rempart a freshness that goes well beyond the typical ’80s metal rehash.

• Last Rites review
• Bandcamp

1. Seven Sisters – Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt. 1

I normally prefer to give credit where credit is due when it comes to discovering new records that manage to land without aid from our familiar promo outlets (labels, PR firms, the bands themselves, etc.), but I have no recollection as to precisely where I first came across Seven Sisters’ phenomenal third full-length, Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt.1. In light of this, I have since decided the album must have fallen into my lap very literally from the shadow of a fallen star, which only serves to add to its magnificence.

Soundwise, Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt. 1 comes across as a very logical progression from the NWOBHM. Of course we all realize this is far from a new approach, and Seven Sisters admittedly won’t win any awards for novelty with this release, but holy hell have they found a way to put an exceedingly enjoyable fresh coat of paint on the entire package. Shadow of a Fallen Star is equal measures trad metal, (US) power, (classic) prog and hard rock, without being any one of those things to the point where the listener starts to wonder if one tag outweighs the other. Balance is key, for a fact, and it’s something that’s reinforced by an ideal production (engineered by vocalist / guitarist Kyle McNeil and mastered by Miro Rodenberg of Avantasia) that gives ample spotlight to all players.

The riffing throughout the full 40 minutes here is largely warm in lieu of being overly aggressive, the lead work is nothing short of spectacular, and if any one thing could be recognized as the crowned selling point, it would have to be the hook. Yes, the vocal hook, as McNeil’s agreeable voice does a remarkable job of drawing the listener in with endless catchy refrains from one song to the next, but also by virtue of a comprehensive lyrical approach to the root song-crafting that weaves a wonderfully absorbing narrative from start to finish. That narrative quickly plants itself deep in the marrow and never really relents, and by Fallen Star’s end, you get the sense that you’ve just completed a tremendously gratifying adventure—one that’s equal shares heroic, sophisticated, and exceptionally moving.

In short, Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt.1 is a blowout winner that’s sure to deliver mega-replay action for years to come.

• Bandcamp

TOP 5 EPS & DEMOS

5. Witch Vomit – Abhorrent Rapture

I can guarantee you one thing, it ain’t good luck to have a witch vomit on you. I mean, maybe there’s some circles where such a thing might be considered fortuitous in some twisted way, but no one—and I mean no one—wants to spend any portion of their day cleaning what once roosted in a witch’s gullet off their lap. The music of Witch Vomit, however, is extremely appropriate for all laps, and I’m guessing Abhorrent Rapture would make a wonderful accompaniment for a lap dance from a witch, but I have yet to be lucky enough to experience that.

4. Cult of Luna – The Raging River

Hello, I’m the guy who waited until 2021 to dive into the works of Cult of Luna. I know I’m late to the party, but I brought a $23 bottle of wine to accompany this 40-minute long EP, so let’s get wild and end up lost in all the climbing and crashing and swirling and zigging and zagging and raging. Hello, I’m also the guy who’ll ask to crash on your couch tonight.

3. Solemn Lament – Solemn Lament

Phil Swanson (ex-Briton Rites, Seamount, Vestal Claret) has a voice that was born to be attached to doom, and pairing him with Justin DeTore (Dream Unending, Innumerable Forms, Stone Dagger, Sumerlands, Vestal Claret) for a project whose purpose it is to doom quite epically is a dream realized for anyone who’s spent any time fantasizing about how fun it might be to wear a full set of plate armor.

2. Scald – Their Flies Our Wail!

Hopefully you love epic doom as much as I do, and hopefully (to the second power) you count the band Scald as near and dear to your heart. If you’re unfamiliar, just know that they were—and now thankfully are again—Russia’s answer to the earliest interpretation of Candlemass. The very unfortunate news: Everything fell to pieces with the loss of vocalist Maxim “Agyl” Andrianov’s to a tragic accident all the way back in 1997. The very fortunate news: The remaining members have finally decided to start things up again, and Felipe Kutzbach (Procession, Capilla Ardiente, Nifelheim) is the man behind the mic.

1. Cirith Ungol – Half Past Human

Cirith Ungol returns with 20 minutes of new music that’s not actually “new” (Half Past Human is stacked with re-imagined versions of songs written by the band fifty years ago), and if you’re wondering how essential the material is, just focus on the following snapshot from the review I wrote earlier this year:

“There is nothing at all rudimentary, half-assed or unduly moth-ridden about these 22-minutes (beyond Cirith Ungol continuing to show how 80’s metal should sound in 2021). The songs have been rethought, refined, and redeployed with the band’s newfound spirit and a modern production (courtesy, once again, of Night Demon’s Armand John Anthony), and even the song released for the Decibel Flexi Series last year, “Brutish Manchild,” gets a remix and some additional melody painted into the corners. In other words, expect the same attention to detail and commitment to traditional epic metal as was delivered with Forever Black, and be prepared to allow your reestablished Ungol fanaticism to find the next level of appreciation.”

25 WONDERFUL ALBUMS OUTSIDE OF METAL THAT WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN HELPING ME PLOW THROUGH 2021

Something that further strengthens the bonds of the crew behind Last Rites is our collective devotion to music nerdery that goes well beyond any one, two or ten genres. We are, by and large, students of music across the board, and some might be surprised just how much time is spent behind the scenes shining spotlights on music that’s several hundreds blocks away from heavy—or at least the version of heavy the site focuses on upfront. The stack of releases below represents 25 albums outside of metal in 2021 that became near-and-dear to my heart, and they are offered in an alphabetical order because attempting to put so many distinct genres into some sort of cruel ranking makes my brain want to leap into the nearest microwave.

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Adam Bałdych – Poetry

Poetry is the latest offering in a long line of releases from Polish violinist Adam Bałdych, an artist who’s been celebrated for years due to his virtuosic ability honed from the age of 9. Here, Bałdych scales back the dexterity in favor of underscoring emotion, which results in an hour’s-worth of warm, often sentimental / ever engaging jazz whose ultimate purpose it is to celebrate those vital personal connections that become all the more critical when circumstances force us into separation.

• Genre: Jazz / violin crossover
• Bandcamp

Anneke van Giersbergen – The Darkest Skies are the Brightest

Hopefully you’re no stranger to the name Anneke van Giersbergen—her impressive resume includes everything from the seminal The Gathering to The Gentle Storm to Vuur, and her guest list stretches across Amorphis to Napalm Death to Timo Tolkki’s Avalon. “Versatility” is a handy word that comes to mind when thinking of her vocal talent, but she really shines like a diamond when things are stripped down to the roots of rock and folk, which is precisely what we get with the wonderful The Darkest Skies are the Brightest. Get ready to cry your damned eyes out during “Losing You.”

• Genre: Folk / rock that will comfort and destroy you
• Sample

Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince

You may not come across a more emotionally draining and rewarding record in 2021 than Vulture Prince. Consider its background: Written amidst a swirling vortex of political unrest and a global pandemic, the record was furthermore influenced by the sudden loss of Arooj Aftab’s youngest brother, Maher. All extremely heavy matters that Aftab renders into seven songs that pour sorrow and salvation with equally heavy hands. The dreamy quality of the previous record still colors the corners, but Vulture Prince employs a more stripped-down approach that matches Aftab’s incredible voice to violin, harp, acoustic guitar and occasional percussion, while exploring everything from jazz to folk to reggae. The journey here may pulverize the heart, but the elegance behind Aftab’s delivery and her songcrafting always manages to keep things grounded in a graceful allure.

• Genre: Neo-classical jazz folk that will make your heart leap from your chest and go cry in the shower
• Bandcamp

Athletic Progression – cloud high in dreams, but heavy in the air

If the idea of a very soulful blend of jazz and trip hop sounds like something your brain would very much enjoy wrapping itself in, you will find no better interpretation of said blueprint this year than cloud high in dreams, but heavy in the air. The soulful bits employed by Athletic Progression have a distinct 70’s vibe that’s as warm as a summer sunset, and the electronic and groove-based jazz elements that weave and dip around every corner keep things rooted in a modern spirit that’s as fresh as it is nostalgic.

• Genre: Electronic jazz trip hop with a smoooooth soul
• Bandcamp

Bicep – Isles

Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson likely prefer to make and play music that inspires packed clubs and festivals to dance, celebrate and get really flippin’ sweaty. With their sophomore effort Isles, however, they offer a more dialed-back affair that’s awash with a seductive darkness that often feels more “goth club at 4am” than it does something that’s intended to get the party started. It’s still a danceable affair, to be clear, but it’s more intimate and slightly ghostly, and therefore tailor-made for anyone whose idea of isolating amidst a pandemic includes combating hardship with shadowy, utterly infectious beats.

• Genre: Cerebral techno for people who don’t care much for glow-sticks
• Bandcamp

Bruit ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again

One of the deepest dives I made in 2021 was into the sprawling realm of post-rock—everything from the roots (Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis) to the enduring stalwarts (Mogwai and Mono), and all inspired by a promo that landed early in 2021 for France’s Bruit ≤ and their full-length debut, The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again (a post-rock title if I’ve ever seen one). I listened to the record obsessively when it first dropped, and it continues to deliver fresh windfalls now 8 months later, but what I firmly believe will give it legs very far into the future is the way the band manages to incorporate a dark, billowing classical element that gives The Machine is burning a true uniqueness of form. Yes, it’s still clearly cut from a similar cloth that birthed umpteen post-rock bands over the course of decades, but it’s just so damned gripping and gratifying.

• Genre: Neo-classical post-rock
• Bandcamp

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – Tone Poem

Back around 20 years ago I had my world turned on its head by Brian Blade and his sophomore release as a leader, Perceptual. I found it in a specialty record store in Berkeley, CA during a frequent dip into jazz, and my attention was caught by the inclusion of pedal steel as one of the record’s principal components. I love the pedal steel, and at the time I had a hard time imagining how it might become incorporated into something as seemingly incongruous as jazz. Holy hell was I ever wrong about that horseappled presumption, and I’ve spent the many years since getting a little extra excited about jazz that integrates “Americana” elements, which is precisely where Charles Lloyd & the Marvels butters its incredibly scrumptious bread. First of all, Charles Lloyd is true maverick of jazz—his name alone should be well enough reason to buy any record lucky enough to have him attached—but tie in guitarist Bill Frisell and a host of other players (yes, including pedal steel, courtesy of Greg Leisz) that balance the warmth and sprawl of Americana to loose & plucky jazz and you’ve got one heck of a home run on your hands.

• Genre: Jazz to listen to while tending your succulent garden in New Mexico
• Sample

The Cookers – Look Out!

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: The best active music column in existence today is Ugly Beauty, the ongoing monthly celebration of jazz releases penned by Phil Freeman for Stereogum. I would be absolutely lost without this essential cornerstone, as the world of jazz produces an epic amount of work that could easily bury a fan without someone trustworthy to help keep your head above water. Freeman is as trustworthy a source for what’s happening in jazz today as you can get, and according to his October 2021 edition, hard boppers The Cookers rank amongst his very favorite groups of all time. Boom, that’s well enough for me to snap to attention. I’m a little ashamed to admit this is my first run with these veterans (comprised of members who’ve been at it for the better part of the last 60 years), but it’s never too late to take a dive, and Look Out! provides precisely the sort of horn-heavy, largely hard-driving OOMPH necessary to help a listener power through the doldrums of living / working / entertaining mostly from home amidst a pandemic age.

• Genre: Bebop that even bees will love to bop to
• Sample

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – I Told You So

One look at the cover for I Told You So will give you a pretty good indication of what to expect from the record: punchy, scrappy, big and fun, and packaged with a clear nod to the suavity of yesteryear. Funk plays the primary role here—the kind of funk that powered Jimmy Smith, Booker T. Jones and The Meters through the 60s, and the sort of groove that’s born to roar from a trio comprised of nothing but an organist, guitarist and drummer who are extraordinarily adept at carrying this style into the modern age and beyond. It is absolutely impossibly to listen to a record like I Told You So with a frown on your face, and you will not find an album in 2021 more suited for celebrating your coolness and willingness to triumph in the face of pandemic adversity.

• Genre: Shit, goddamn, get off your ass and jam Jazz
• Bandcamp

George Riley – interest rates, a tape

George Riley is in possession of a unique key that unlocks a door to a wonderfully captivating world that finds R&B (both classic and modern) colliding with modern electronic and jazz to a point where it almost sounds as if she’s stumbled onto an entirely new world altogether. Furthermore, Riley navigates these streets as if she made the jump long enough ago that all the avenues, dark alleys and most pleasant pockets have already been fully committed to her memory. Riley’s voice is beacon, one that stirs comfort, excitement and leisure with equal intent, and the diverse music that surrounds her paints a full spectrum of moods without ever losing full sight of a seductive form of shadowiness that dominates the whole of interest rates, a tape.

• Genre: Dark and swirling R&B that will make you feel powerful
• Sample

Giant Sky – Giant Sky

Giant Sky is the latest musical outlet from Erlend Viken, the vocalist / keyboardist / mastermind behind Trondheim, Norway’s purveyors of curious prog / psych / post-rock, Soup. If you’re unfamiliar with that particular outfit—which a number of people seem to be, particularly Stateside—please do yourself a favor by taking their 2017 masterstroke Remedies for a spin as soon as possible, as hearing that alongside Viken’s latest project will give you a good idea of what sort of palette this fellow prefers to paint from. Or, you know, just take a moment or ten to appreciate the album cover artwork for Giant Sky, which does a remarkable job of capturing just about everything you can expect to feel when listening to this wonderful album: a strong sense of otherworldliness, hugeness, and transcendence, as well as an unmistakable “greenness” that corresponds to the lushness that colors all the edges. Giant Sky feels like a gentle record, but it still holds immense power in the way the songs manage to wrap around the spirit and lift the listener far away from everyday grumblings to a point in the welkin that offers a stark reminder of just how small we actually are against the greater macrocosm.

• Genre: Trippy progressive rock that will make you believe there are whales in space
• Bandcamp

Godspeed You! You Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!

How fortuitous for me that Canada’s longstanding Godspeed You! Black Emperor decided to release their seventh studio album amidst a year where I opted to take an extensive dive into all things post-rock. I assume everyone here realizes just how influential GY!BE has been to this particular genre over their 25+ years of existence, but in case you don’t, understand they represent one of the most authentic depictions of all the elegance, force, fury, crescendo and culmination that makes post-rock, well, so very post-rock, and G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! finds the band revitalized to the point of detonation from beginning to end. For whatever reason I’d expected the years to somehow soften the GY!BE punch, but there’s a ferocity present that’s as raw and gritty as a punk venue bathroom, and it’s filtered through that unmistakable sense of drifting desolation that makes STATE’S END! feel like the most ideal soundtrack to 2021 once could ever hope to net from a band.

• Genre: Post-rock custom-built to level castle walls
• Bandcamp

Loscil – Clara

Life gets loud. Life gets loud outside and inside your head. Very often you can’t control the former, but with significant effort and perseverance you can get a handle on the latter. If you’re like me, though, the idea of sitting in absolute quiet is weirdly terrifying, which is where ambient music whooshes in to save the day. Ambient music does wonders for centering yourself and sweeping out the noise that often muddles the brain. Fittingly, I have reached for Scott Morgan’s Loscil project time and again over the last decade+ when leaning on the healing powers of ambient, and I state with great confidence that Clara has done wonders for me amidst a 2021 that did its very best to make a mess of my brain. Something to love about Loscil’s approach here is that the music is as drifty and lifting and centering as is necessary, but Morgan still knows how sneak a hook under the calming covers. Bonus points for naming the prettiest and most moving song of the bunch after one of my favorite dogs who has long-since passed on to the aether: “Stella.”

• Genre: Ambient to fix up your brain realreal good
• Bandcamp

Low – HEY WHAT

I’ve been a fan of Low from the very day I first heard the incredible Things We Lost in the Fire (2001), but I will freely admit that my love of the band found a new level once they began incorporating electronic elements with 2015’s Ones and Sixes. 2018’s dark, pulsing Double Negative took that to new heights, and now with HEY WHAT Low has steered the ship to yet another completely new planet that offsets Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk’s delightful harmony vocals with glitchy, (sometimes surprisingly) noisy / distorted stretches. Album opener “White Horses” is almost jarring once it hits its closing stretch, doing work to convince the listener that the record might actually bounce beauty from the bar as if it just booted in the bathroom sink, but that repetitive clank eventually morphs into a strangely hypnotic pulse that guides the ensuing “I Can Wait.” This is precisely the sort of thing we can expect from Low circa 2021: Expect the unexpected, because the unexpected is where this amazing band continues to discover fresh and thrilling frontiers.

• Genre: Low
• Bandcamp

Mathias Eick – When We Leave

There’s something about the landscape of Norway that’s so absolutely powerful it manages to eke its way into nearly all the art its denizens produce. For his part, trumpeter Mathias Eick delivers a dreamy brand of solace that’s typical of a label like ECM in that it straddles lines that separate jazz, modern classical and even folk, and it does so while painting the sort of wide-open, glacial (but not necessarily cold) terrain in character with Norway. A bracing form of elegance governs the full journey, as Eick’s crisp tone mingles with wintry violin, occasional lap steel, measured piano and meticulous drumming, and once When We Leave closes out, you’re off searching through Eick’s back catalog in an effort to keep the mood rolling. Great news: the Eick albums prior to this are just as good! Quite possibly my most listened-to album of 2021.

• Genre: Forelsketjazz
• Sample

Menagerie – Many Worlds

Melbourne-based spiritual jazz ensemble Menagerie are in the business of getting the listener up, out and into the sort of groove that makes it clear you plan to conquer the day. And with nine players on the docket, expect this objective to be accomplished with a similar sort of adventurousness as delivered by, say, Kamasi Washington or Sons of Kemet. A very soulful groove dominates the comprehensive atmosphere, and frequent soloing from horns, guitar, keys / organ and plenty of break-out percussion drive an ironclad sense of suaveness to the point where nearly any workaday obstacle becomes the tiniest blip on your way to victory.

• Genre: Spiritual jazz that will inspire you to skip work in favor of going to the park to eat ice cream
• Bandcamp

Motorpsycho – Kingdom of Oblivion

I have spent years witnessing the name Motorpsycho pop up during conversations regarding “one of the most underrated bands,” but I’ve never taken the dive for two principal reasons: 1) Their material is very hard to come by in these United States, and 2) Based on the name alone, I’d always sorta assumed they were some form of hotrod-rock that doesn’t really fall into my wheelhouse. Well, armed with a fresh Apple Music account that covers the full span of the band’s deep discography, I quickly discovered I couldn’t have been more wrong about how my brain decided to pigeonhole things. In fact, attempting to categorize Motorpsycho at all is an exercise in futility. I will, however, state that there is no better time or album to jump in than with Kingdom of Oblivion, as the latest album once again showcases the sheer intrepidness of these Norwegians and their penchant for blending elements of prog rock, stoner rock, psychedelic rock and hard rock into a long-jamming amalgamation that never fails to keep your attention front and center.

• Genre: Prog / psych / stoner rock that jams, and not that crappy jam you get in Goober Grape
• Sample

Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8

Given my predilection toward palliative (read: narcotic) jazz and ambient, it’s no wonder the debut from Caribbean-Belgian musician and London, UK-dweller Nala Sinphro hit such a satisfying chord for me. Space 1.8 delivers 45 minutes of pensive, dreamlike wayfaring that’s custom-built for those who enjoy plaintively watching the world go by from the vantage of a perfectly positioned bench amidst a park inside a bustling urban city. True, Sinephro’s overall approach underscores a tranquil temperament, but that doesn’t mean Space 1.8 spends its full stretch in nothing more than a wooly haze—lively jump-ins from sax and synth sporadically bring the corners to life, but it’s all done in a way that never loses sight of making sure the listener feels extremely comfortable and at home in the world Sinephro has created.

• Genre: Classical / choral music
• Bandcamp

Nuovo Testamento – New Earth

As my granny always used to say, “Do not step to me with the word ‘disco’ unless it also has ‘Italo’ attached to it.”

What can I say, granny was a goth, and I am very much her grim grandson. Bologna, Italy’s Nuovo Testamento delivers the sort of intensely danceable Italo disco / new wave / synth-pop goodness the world desperately needs today (and tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future), and New Earth surrenders it with a Pet Shop Boys-level of hit-making that all but guarantees an infinite shelf-life befitting of the scores of undead goth-ghouls who will be dancing to this thing for the next 300 years or so, Earth willing.

• Genre: Italo disco synth-pop—the kind granny used to dance to
• Bandcamp

Toumani Diabaté & London Symphony Orchestra – Kôrôlén

I have very little experience with the 21-string kora, but I do know that Malian kora sorcerer Toumani Diabaté is widely considered the authority, counting seventy generations of history with the instrument through his ancestry. Kôrôlén is Diabaté’s latest endeavor following a successful 2020 release alongside Béla Fleck, who sought him out amidst his explorations of “the roots of the banjo.” That particular tidbit of information is important to consider if you haven’t a clue what to expect when someone says, “Hey, that’s some fine kora playin’, my friend.” It’s not that the kora necessarily sounds like the banjo, mind you, but you can definitely hear the similarities, particularly when plucked and driven with the sort of speed and dexterity as evidenced by Diabaté. And tacking the London Symphony Orchestra to the formula ensures that the end result will float and dip and swell like the soundtrack to one of the most pleasant afternoons in the sun one could hope to experience. Huge bonus points for the nod to The Good the Bad and the Ugly inside “Cantelowes Dream.”

• Genre: Classical / choral music
• Sample

Tristan Arp – Sculpturegardening

“Colorful” is a word that pops up in the descriptor for Mexico City-based electronic musician Tristan Arp’s sophomore effort, Sculpturegardening, and there really might not be a better single tag for what goes down during these 30 minutes. The title itself invokes splashes of natural color, as it purposely draws attention to the disciplined beauty of a carefully fostered garden. The album’s biggest selling point, however, is Arp’s approach to the modular synthesizer that adds a wholly tempting wildness to the formula, as if nature herself threw one of her perfectly imperfect wrenches in the works. It’s a randomness, really—or at least the illusion of randomness—and it gives the keys this sort of “I’ll get it started and we’ll just see what happens next” feel as they pulse and flit and spring from the speakers to create something terrifically vibrant and graphic and extremely enjoyable to digest.

• Genre: Classical / choral music
• Bandcamp

UV-TV – Always Something

I love love love all the synth-pop / darkwave / new wave revival bands flooding the underground in recent years, but I will always have plenty room in my life for the bands that remember guitar-driven post-punk that inspires you to jump up, jump out, and jump through whatever obstacles life decides to throw your way. Queens, NY trio UV-TV play a notably spirited form of post-punk that’s sure to inspire listeners to wax nostalgic for an endless array of early 90s indie bands, but its biggest selling point for me personally is how much it recalls the quirky fun at the heart of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, possibly the most underrated show of all time, and one that just so happened to occasionally feature one of post-punk’s true progenitors, Iggy Pop. Dance, Petunia, dance!

• Genre: Lively Pete & Pete post-punk
• Bandcamp

Victor Gould – In Our Time

Given an unlikely event that finds me hard-pressed to pick my favorite lead instrument for jazz, I’d have to go with piano. Give credit to the greats such as Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock and my all-time favorite jazz musician Thelonious Monk as much as you would the piano’s versatility as, well, the most instrumental instrument in the world. Appropriately, In Our Time, the fourth release from Berklee College Herbie Hancock Presidential Scholarship winner and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz alum Victor Gould, is a jazz piano enthusiast’s dream: 53 minutes of (largely) trio-focused jazz where Gould’s spirited play is braced by cushiony bass (Tamir Shmerling) and splashy drumming (Anwar Marshall), and where the full spectrum of emotions gets equal spotlight as these songs twist and turn from animated runners to pensive heart-renderers. The record closes out with “In Memorium,” a stunning tribute to those we’ve lost during the pandemic, and the only song on the album that incorporates a string quartet, which does wonders for finding that unique sweet-spot where communal grief begins its journey toward healing.

• Genre: Piano-lead jazz trio beauty that’s fit for every emotion
• Sample

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy

Jazz is the most comparable genre to Adobe Photoshop. That’s the tweet. Well, it would be the tweet if I actually tweeted, so further explanation would probably be beneficial.

Any person can sign up for Photoshop, watch a couple youtube vids, and quickly be on their way to removing red-eye from photos and creating their own hilaaaarious memes. But Photoshop also curtains a near endless well of trickery that likely requires an advanced degree to unlock, and those individuals literally do magic with their expertise. Jazz is wonderfully similar: You can hear it play at a local coffee shop and enjoy how it suits the mood for collective snuggling, or you can very literally attain an advanced degree to fully unlock its near endless veiled secrets and ultimately reach a sorcerous understanding of how music relates to the universe. Uneasy is precisely the sort of record I reach for when thinking about this sort of thing. This isn’t the time or place to fully unfold the incredible pedigree attributed to each of the three musicians who make up this “shared spotlight” trio, but understand they all have that “guru on a mountaintop” level of awareness when it comes to the prodigious complexities of jazz improvisation, and they have crafted a record that can be enjoyed on a very surface level that plays in the backdrop just as easily at it can offer an endless dive into a much more complex web of intricacies that accompany the album’s equally challenging themes. Layers, baby. Endless layers and masks and filters and images that ultimately lend themselves to an experience that will reap rewards for years to come.

• Genre: Three improvisational jazz gurus together under one giant roof
• Sample

Xeno & Oaklander – Vi/deo

Minimal synth duo Xeno & Oaklander understand precisely how to strike an ideal balance between the old and new—a record like Vi/deo will absolutely conjure memories of the shadowy sort of synth-pop that bustled through basement clubs in the 80s, but there’s also an undeniable freshness attached to the comprehensive blip-blooping here that makes it clear the duo remains very forward-facing. “Sweet but still creepy” would be an apt description for this 30+ minute journey, and if your life has been missing the sort of dance record that could very well require a cape, you just found your latest obsession.

• Genre: Sweet ‘n’ creepy ‘n’ caped minimal synth
• Bandcamp

Rest in peace, little buddy. I miss you.

/2021

The post Best Of 2021 – Captain: I Am My Vow Incarnate appeared first on Last Rites.

As has become tradition, we kick things off with brand-spankin’-new edition of We Have the Power, our annual roundup of all things power and power-related: Euro and US strains, symphonic, neoclassical, prog / power, heavy / power, and even some dashes of power / thrash and speed / power to keep things extra wild. It’s an extremely diverse menagerie of performers, for sure, but it’s all material that should fall into the wheelhouse of most who enjoy metal’s most triumphant and bombastic sibling, power metal.

Hey, remember 2020? Yeah, it sucked the big one. But it did somehow manage to deliver an impressive 173 contenders for the We Have the Power top 25. That was pretty great news, as I’m sure we can all agree that 2020 very much needed an impressive level of music’s healing power.

Well, PFFT! PFFT, I say! Because 2021 has continued to suck a perhaps even bigger one! (Get your mind out of the gutter, Francis.) In fact, if 2021 were a film, it would be Fifty Shades of the Last Airbender, starring Adam Sandler and his segway-riding sidekick, Kevin James. Accordingly, we require an even greater level of therapeutic strength from metal’s most optimistic defender this year.

Well, friends, There are 310 contenders for We Have the Power 2021, which includes 15 EPs.

Wait, what? I listened to 310 albums for this list? Am I insane? 310 champions thrown into the pit? What is this madness.

Staring down volume such as this is akin to agreeing to participate in a completely mental eating competition: Obviously it’s something you enjoy consuming, otherwise why would you even be there, but do you like it enough to eventually projectile-hurl into any and all nearby receptacles because you very literally cannot take even one more teensy tiny bite? Well, (perhaps) thankfully, I appear to be the right combination of weirdo and nerd to take on a vast burden such as this, for I am THE SHIELD ANVIL.

Itkovian, Shield Anvil – by Toraneko

You know, art very much deserves more time than we have to give it. In answer to the question of whether or not I actually listened to all of these albums, the answer is a resounding YES. But did I give each and every one of them the time necessary for full assimilation? The sort of attention any album deserves, given the amount of effort required to even get the music to our ears? Not even possible, given other responsibilities and commitments to umpteen other genres to boot. However, I’ve been in the game since…well, day one, as it pertains to power metal, and I’ve been involved in culling metal lists at Last Rites (and Metal Review before that) since 2005, so this is far from my first rodeo. Know this: Trimming the master list from 310 down to 100 was a challenge; pruning that down to 50 was even more difficult; and the final chop down to 30 was the furthest thing from easy. And yes, the decision to expand the top of the tops from 25 to 30 this year was as much to put my mind at ease as it was a calculated plot to represent 10% of the full picture.  Please know this as well: If you walk away from We Have the Power 2021 with one insight, understand that each of the records landing in the top 30 are extraordinarily worthy of your full attention, and putting them into some tyrannical order was the hardest feat of the entire process. 

You remember I’m a cheater, right? Not at all in a dastardly way, of course, but certainly in the way We Have the Power commits to testing power metal’s boundaries. “True” power metal is still very much present, but it can be a prickly and stubborn dog, so it’s nice to widen the net a bit to keep things a little more lively. Again, nothing found below is so far outside the lines as to warrant pitchforks and torches, but I will continue to highlight the following caveat:  The process of determining which albums lean too far this way or that to warrant inclusion is far from an exact science. It’s mostly a gut reaction, and that gut reaction is based on a healthy blend of experience and a desire to draw attention to as many worthy challengers as possible without straying too far from camp. 

Let’s quickly highlight a couple trends for 2021:

• Frontiers Records continues the course of throwing literally everyone from their insane roster against a wall to see what sticks, and a lot of the results are completely listenable and enjoyable, but only a few manage to truly shake the rafters.
• Symphonic / orchestral metal numbers continue to skyrocket.

Here are six “WHERE THE HELL IS [BAND X OR Y]” with a brief explanation:

1. Beast In Black – Dark Connection: People are loving it, and I get it. But buddy, I cannot handle all that Eurovision pop.
2. Brainstorm – Wall of Skulls: Very solid record, but a number of the traditional Euro-power bands really need to ease back on beating the choruses into your head ad infinitum and spread the wings a bit.
3. Orden Ogan – Final Days: See the Brainstorm commentary above.
4. Epica – Omega: Ahhh, the ongoing debate of whether or not Epica deserves consideration in the power metal world. They clearly appeal to power crowd, but I continue to consider them enough of an outlier to exclude them from this list. That said, I will remark that Omega is an absolutely terrific album—their best since 2005’s The Score – An Epic Journey.
5. Cauldron Born – Legacy of Atlantean Kings: Great album, but it’s a rerecording of 2002’s …And Rome Shall Fall.
6. Seven Sisters – Shadow of a Fallen Star Part 1: I worked very hard to find enough evidence to include this album, but it’s just a little too far outside the lines. I will, however, find another way to honor its excellence.

No releases from December were allowed as contenders. This includes:

• 
Iron Fate – Crimson Messiah [December 17]
• Manimal – Armageddon [December 3]
• Mega Colossus – Riptime [December 17]

And finally, the biggest WTF Is Going On Here award for the year is a tie between Foxlord and Kosmic Dragon. I don’t know what the hell these two outfits were smoking in 2021, but I’m guessing they found it under a rotting log in an extremely mystical forest.

Right! Enough messing about. Glory awaits!

THE TOP 3 EPS OF 2021

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3. Manimal – Chains of Fury

[Cover artwork: Stan W Decker]

I’m guessing you’re well aware of Sweden’s Manimal at this point—a band that’s consistently set a pretty high bar for those who love Euro power that’s infused with plenty of gauntleted traditional heavy metal to give it that little extra bit offorce. The Chains of Fury EP continues this trend, and it sets up the band’s very soon to be released (um, today) fourth full-length Armageddon perfectly—a record that’s only missing from this year’s top 30 because it didn’t get released in time to be considered.

Style: Heavy / Power
Country: Sweden
Sample: “Chains of Fury”
Label: AFM Records
Release date: October 22
Band website: Manimal

2. Fierce Deity – Power Wisdom Courage

[Cover artwork: Ryan Hancock]

Hobart, Tasmania’s Jonathan Barwick was once a main force behind the excellent band Taberah, and Fierce Deity is his new entity following that band’s unfortunate demise in 2019. His new project is a pretty different beast, though, exploring several faces of power that mix in everything from Grand Magus-styled doom (“Power”) to an extraordinarily bouncy nod to Nocturnal Rites (“Wisdom”) to something more epic and along the lines of While Heaven Wept (“Courage”). Power Wisdom Courage is one of two EPs released by Fierce Deity this year, and it is considered an EP despite delivering 32-minutes through three songs—we’ll just go ahead and let that go, because this is too fun to pass up.

Style: Power that’s not afraid to mix it up
Country: Australia
Sample: “Power”
Label: Independent
Release date: September 3
Bandcamp: Fierce Deity

1. Dialith – Atrophy

[Cover artwork: Marta Sokołowska]

From a review earlier this year: “’Ignite the Sky’ is infectious and feels fun and frisky, and it’s certainly the sort of thing power bands such as Dialith love flexing on bridge-gapping EPs that serve to remind people that they’re alive, kicking, and fully prepared to have fun while inspiring spirits to soar. However, outside of one notably bard-ish keyboard interlude, the remainder of Atrophy’s 10-plus minutes is spent underscoring the sorts of heavier elements that caused us to fall in love with Extinction Six. Both “Sweet as Wine” [4:54] and the closing “Undertow” [5:09] feature engaging proggy twists and bright bursts of melody, but they also flex an explosive energy that finds the next level of aggression, particularly with regard to the drumming—the prior does so in the most warlike manner of the EP, and the closer in a way that nimbly works in the most infectious chorus.”

Style: Symphonic Power
Country: USA
Sample: “Undertow”
Label: Independent
Release date: July 9
Bandcamp: Dialith

THE TOP 30 FULL-LENGTHS OF 2021

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30. Vandor – On a Moonlit Night

[Cover artwork: Nele Diel]

Full-length number two from this Swedish outfit is proof enough of 2021’s overall excess of great power metal: On a Moonlit Night is a wonderfully warm, inviting record that improves on the band’s debut in most every way—it’s fantastical and adventurous, there’s a very nice bass presence throughout, it features judicious and engaging keyboard breakouts, and there are tons of very smart leads that lift the story in a very amiable and comforting way. (The epic “The Sword to End All Wars” is particularly heroic.) “Memorable” would be a great descriptor. And perhaps “sneaky good,” as it really does make a person mull over the terrific idea of bumping it up several notches whenever the record gets played front-to-back. Those who are allergic to ballads might want to skip “Future to Behold,” but I quite enjoy it.

Style: Euro power
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Enter Twilight”
Label: Scarlet Records
Release date: July 16
Bandcamp: Vandor

29. Project: Roenwolfe – Edge of Saturn

[Cover artwork: Samuel Nelson]

A very discerning hero of the people had this to say concerning Project: Roenwolfe’s sophomore full-length Edge of Saturn earlier this year: “There are songs here dealing with cults, beast hunters, Frankenstein’s monster, lost friends, and sci-fi concepts exclusive to the band itself, and there are myriad shades of heaviness and varied gaits to suit each face: aggressive burners (“Mastermind Manipulators”), slower-paced wallopers (“Starbound Butcher of My Dreams”), emotional odes that represent “ballads” without actually being ballads (the album’s true closer, “Aeturnum Vale”), and outright face-melters like “Of Mice and Straw Men” dedicated to fighting racism, fascism and any other form of injustice we confront on a daily basis.” So, yeah, let that be your guide to…well, getting Project: Roenwolfe and Edge of Saturn into your flippin’ life.

Style: Speedy Power
Location: USA
Sample: “Something More”
Label: Divebomb Records
Release date: May 14th
Bandcamp: Project: Roenwolfe

28. Seven Spires – Gods of Debauchery

[Cover artwork: Tuomas Välimaa]

The Seven Spires sophomore effort Emerald Seas landed at an exceedingly respectable #3 on the 2020 version of We Have the Power, beaten only by the absurdly forceful Goldenhall debut and the sweeping epic from Sacred Outcry, Damned for All Time. In short, Emerald Seas was a big enough deal to lift the excitement level for album number three through the roof. What makes them stand out? Vocalist / composer Adrienne Cowan has one of finest voices in the metal today, and her songwriting partner, guitarist Jack Kosto, paints some of the most heartening leads you’ll experience in symphonic metal in the modern age. But they really threw me when they dropped “Lightbringer (feat. Casey Lee Williams)” as an early single for the record—not amongst my favorite songs of 2021, let’s just leave it at that.

In a nutshell, Gods of Debauchery is a more adventurous / experimental record compared to its predecessor, and its extremes are even more extreme, both in terms of the heavier and lighter faces of the band. To be clear, the highs are still very high, but there’s enough snarling and rasping packed into this 1hr and 20min journey to question whether the record even belongs on a list such as this. And hey, it’s quite possible that particular objective was intentional. Still, there’s well enough good-to-greatness happening throughout the record to call it wildly intriguing, and anyone who finds themselves pleased by the idea of an extreme form of symphonic power colliding with Dimmu Borgir will find plenty to love with Gods of Debauchery.

Style: Symphonic / Extreme / Power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Gods of Debauchery”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: September 10
Band website: Seven Spires

27. Labÿrinth – Welcome to the Absurd Circus

[Cover artwork: Federico Mondelli]

Let me begin by underscoring the importance of this record’s inclusion based purely on my lifelong distaste for anything and everything circus and/or clown related. I can assure you I want nothing to do with any sort of absurd circus, and one look at this record’s cover artwork makes me want to stick my head into a wildly active sausage grinder. Please accept the a sincere “no offense” to offset this admittedly unhinged bias.

Here’s the thing, though: Welcome to the Absurd Circus is good enough to overlook any deep-seated issues with the big top and creepy clowns, and nothing at all about the record’s lyrical content appears to have anything to do with actual circuses. WHEW.

We know Labÿrinth, yes? We, the power collective, know the band is capable of greatness because they’ve done so a number of times over their 25+ years as a celebrated (but probably under-appreciated) progressive power band. Album number nine stays the course of catchy, intricate prog / power in the vein of Symphony X and the like, and it hits this year’s list by doing so with the benefit of a bevy of snappy (and at times surprisingly aggressive) riffs and the sort of stellar lead guitar work we expect from one of the genre’s foremost players.

Style: Progressive Power
Location: Italy
Sample: “Welcome to the Absurd Circus”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: January 22
Band website: Labÿrinth

26. Powerwolf – Call of the Wild

[Cover artwork: Zsofia Dankova]

Way up there in the intro to this piece I mentioned an issue with longstanding Euro power bands “beating choruses into your head ad infinitum.” In and of itself, that’s not always a nail in the coffin for an album, but when you have so many bands exercising the very same extraordinarily direct approach, there’s bound to be a supersaturation point that leaves the listener hunting for something a little more adventurous. Germany’s ever enduring Powerwolf is one of these bands that very much relies on a stock formula that includes insistent choruses, and Call of the Wild does absolutely nothing to diversify their ten-album portfolio. Where they have a one-up on, say, the latest Brainstorm and Orden Ogan records, however, is that added “church gone haywire” element that adds just the right amount of secondary symphonic flavoring that makes the full journey a touch more interesting.

Style: Euro Power
Location: Germany
Sample: “Dancing with the Dead”
Label: Napalm Records
Release date: July 16
Bandcamp: Powerwolf

25. Rhapsody of Fire – Glory for Salvation

[Cover artwork: Alexandre Charleux]

If you’re a power metal fan but don’t quite consider yourself a Rhapsody of Fire extremist, you probably agree that the band’s career has reached some incredible high points and some unfortunate lows. For me, the three pinnacle albums remain Power of the Dragonflame (2002), Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret (2004), and The Frozen Tears of Angels (2010), and the 11 years that have passed since Frozen Tears have been filled with a stack of releases that have either very simply satisfied the appetite or made me wonder if the fire was finally doused. 2019’s The Eighth Mountain seemed fairly well received by ardent fans, but to me it was flat (particularly the production) and lacked the soaring punch I crave from this long-standing crew of Italian symphonic power sorcerers, which resulted in an extremely cautious approach to album number thirteen (not counting 2017’s Legendary Years). Well, great news: Rhapsody of Fire seem to have righted the ship again with Glory for Salvation. Not quite to the level they achieved a decade ago, admittedly, but certainly well enough to make a chap like me sit up and take notice again. The production here has pop, Giacomo Voli sounds terrific (of course), and the leads provided by guitarist Roberto De Micheli and keyboardist / composer Alex Staropoli are once again magnificent. In short, Glory for Salvation sounds like a return to the true goodness they delivered half a decade ago with Into the Legend.

Style: Symphonic Power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Glory for Salvation”
Label: AFM Records
Release date: November 26
Band website: Rhapsody of Fire

24. Antti Martikainen – Carmina Gloria

[Cover artwork: Kerem Beyit]

Never before in the hallowed halls of We Have the Power have we featured not one but two instrumental albums, which almost feels like a special form of cheating in and of itself. Vocals are such an integral part of this puzzle—can power metal exist in its most faithful form without a voice? YEP. Look no further than Carmina Gloria, an epically triumphant record that will likely conjure any number of great voices in your head as it shuffles from one song to the next, but it’s precisely that instrumental element that gives it a little extra uniqueness to push it over the edge. And make no mistake, Antti Martikainen understands how to do bombastic—he’s been making “orchestral battle music” for the better part of the last seven years, all of which is as grandiose as dragons banging midair. But he’s only gone full-on POWAH a few times, most notably with 2017’s wonderful Northern Steel, last year’s Sonic Savior (which I totally missed), and now with Carmina Gloria. Bottom line, this is an epic win for anyone who occasionally finds themselves making up heroic lyrics to sing along to extravagant Euro power whilst exfoliating in the shower. And seriously, who’s gonna skip an album with a song called “Claymore in the Face.”

Style: Euro power
Location: Finland
Sample: “The March of the Templars”
Label: Independent
Release date: July 16
Bandcamp: Antti Martikainen

23. Wardrum – Mavericks

[Cover artwork: Piotr Szafraniec]

No band that once featured the voice of Yannis Papadopoulos ever looks forward to breaking the news that Yannis Papadopoulos has left the band. That’s, like, written into the bylaws of the Power Metal Book of Golden Rules or something. Point being: Yannis Papadopoulos has one of the biggest voices in power metal today, and Beast in Black is lucky to have him / Wardrum were unfortunate to lose him back in 2017. But life goes on, and one of the best ways to turn the page after an event such as this is to unveil a replacement singer who… Well, is basically completely unknown. Giorgos “Wastin’ Away Again In” Margaritopoulos is now the vocalist of Wardrum, and most of us have never heard of him. Well, fret not: He packs one Hell of a punch, and the rest of the players are of course still here, which stacks Mavericks to the rafters with the sort of melody-driven, hook-heavy Euro power we’ve come to expect from Wardrum. Bonus points for delivering a song (“Sands of Time”) that offers a suitable soundtrack for a rough Saturday morning when you wake up next to someone you probably wouldn’t have woken up beside if you hadn’t finished off Friday night drinking Jägermeister in a parking lot: “Any action is better / Than no action at all!”

Style: Euro Power
Location: Greece
Sample: “Mavericks”
Label: Street Gallery Records
Release date: May 28
Band website: Wardrum

22. SkyEye – Soldiers of Light

[Cover artwork: Aleksandar Živanov]

Without question, my favorite part about compiling We Have the Power every year relates to the way the work always seems to uncover a small stack of absolutely stellar bands I would never have discovered if I didn’t commit to the full dive that scours literally every corner of the globe. In light of this, welcome to Slovenia’s SkyEye, a relatively new band (with one previous release under their belt: 2018’s Digital God) that just so happens to feature one heck of a powerhouse vocalist in Jan Leščanec, a fellow who appears to have no further experience beyond his time spent with this outfit. Leščanec has one of those belting Bruce Dickinson-styled voices that’s full power 100% of the time, and he is a massive part of the overall success of Soldiers of Light. The rest of the band delivers, too, with 57 full minutes (including a *gasp* 15-minute closer, “Chernobyl”) of hammer-swung trad metal melded with the sort of darker power that conjures the early days when bands such as Jag Panzer, Omen and Vicious Rumors ruled the underground.

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Slovenia
Sample: “Detonate”
Label: Reaper Entertainment
Release date: June 25
Band website: SkyEye

21. Insania – V (Praeparatus Supervivet)

[Cover artwork: Uncredited]

I have been what I would consider to be a casual fan of Sweden’s Insania over the course of their career, but nothing has really managed to stick quite like V (Praeparatus Supervivet). Hey, sometimes all a band needs to do is take a 14-year hiatus, amirite? No clue how the members of Insania spent the long stretch between records, but I assume it involved risking a perilous journey up some craggy and incredibly impressive mountaintop to visit a power metal guru (likely Fangface from Walls of Jericho) for advice on how best to march forward. Well, it worked, as Insania’s fifth full-length manages to up the ante in most every way, resulting in a full hour of energetic, absurdly melodic Euro power that delivers huge rewards for anyone who prefers the style steeped in tradition, but not ever feeling overworked or tedious.

Style: Euro Power
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Solur”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: November 12
Band website: Insania

20. Claymorean – Eulogy for the Gods

[Cover artwork: Igor “Jimmy” Stanić]

Oh, how we love quarreling over genre boundaries. For every individual who might concur that a record like Eulogy for the Gods qualifies for a list such as this, there are likely two others fired up to throw a yellow flag on the play. So what makes a band like Claymorean that’s clearly very trad metal-inspired to their core more power-adjacent compared to, say, Seven Sisters or Herzel? Well, friend, the blessed spirit of Joey DeMaio’s fuzzy boots from 1983 visited me in the middle of the night and bade it so. Also, it’s a gut feeling. Also, the band a power tag to their bandcamp page. Also, they cover Virgin Steele (“The Burning of Rome (Cry for Pompeii”) on this record. All these things, plus the fact that these songs mirror that early USPM blueprint that emphasizes, well, power…with a little additional oomph. What truly makes Eulogy for the Gods qualify for this list, though, is the fact that the album is great, and it offers up a really absorbing culmination of trad, power and doom (especially “Lords of Light”), and it does so whilst also thrusting a very impressive vocal fireball, Dejana Garčević, into the spotlight. If you love stuff like Crescent Shield, Seven Witches et al., you’ll be all over Eulogy for the Gods.

Style: Heavy / power
Location: Serbia
Sample: “Hunter of the Damned”
Label: Stormspell Records
Release date: September 1
Bandcamp: Claymorean

19. BlackSword – Alive Again

[Cover artwork: Kiriakos Balanos]

Alive Again is the sort of power metal record that’s tailor-made for those who prefer the moderately more aggressive form of the off-shoot that recalls early Helstar, Sanctuary and Nevermore. And while it’s easy to spotlight vocalist Mike Livas due to his commanding and often scorching execution throughout the record, each player hits the ground running in top condition, with a notable tip of the hat given to the melodic leads that jump around nearly every corner.

Note: Alive Again might’ve landed a little higher if they’d cut “Cave of the Witch,” a song that nearly derails the fun very early on by scaring the listener into believing the album will deliver some jump-the-fuck-up riffing (tied to a strange cowbell strut), Thankfully, it’s the only off song on the record.

Second note: If you can’t get enough of Livas’ pipes, he also helms Silent Winter, a Greek power outfit that also released a power metal record in 2021.

Style: Heavy / US Power with a touch of Progressive
Location: Russia
Sample: “Iron Will”
Label: No Remorse Records
Release date: July 30
Bandcamp: BlackSword

18. Crystal Viper – The Cult

[Cover artwork: Mario López]

Poland’s Crystal Viper is no stranger to year-end lists in the power metal realm, but it’s been a minute since they’ve released something as strong front-to-back as The Cult—perhaps as far back as 2012’s Crimen Excepta. It’s not that record number eight manages to do anything that’s all that different (apart from a rather savory nod to Pentagram trad doom in “Whispers from Beyond”), it just does it with a deeper hook and a particularly gratifying energy. Maybe it was the addition of Cederick “Ced” Forsberg behind the kit, who’s since exited the band as quickly as he landed. Fresh blood has a tendency to reinvigorate, for sure, but it’s more likely due to the truth that Crystal Viper just so happens to be extremely adept at producing grade-A power metal that’s catapulted to further heights at the behest of vocalist Marta Gabriel. Also, don’t forget to freak out over the band’s wonderful cover of King Diamond’s “Welcome Home.”

Side note: Marta is now the bassist for Ced’s Blazon Stone project, whose 2021 release was as solid as expected, but fell just short of the top 30.

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Poland
Sample: “Asenath Waite”
Label: Listenable Records
Release date: July 29
Bandcamp: Crystal Viper

17. Signum Draconis – The Divine Comedy – Inferno

[Cover artwork: Uncredited]

The two biggest factors standing in the way of Signum Draconis being the talk of the town: 1) The entire project is shrouded in enough mystery that Metal-Archives doesn’t even have it listed yet, and the band’s principal architect—guitarist / composer Oscar Grace—doesn’t appear to have much (if any) history with metal bands in the past; and 2) Coming out of the gate as an unknown band with a double CD debut that features over an hour and a half’s worth of material might be a tad over-ambitious. However… This is really something.

Clearly based on the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (with Pt. 2 & 3 in the works), Signum Draconis’ The Divine Comedy – Inferno throws down a thoroughly epic interpretation with what Oscar Grace self-styles as a “Heavy Metal Opera.” The guitarist / composer’s full vision is tremendous—an exceedingly dark symphonic vortex of stern and grotesque drama that spotlights plenty of fiery lead guitar work, striking vocals, and loads of orchestration (provided by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of David Hernando Rico.)

While I would agree a little more editing would benefit the record, a significant part of me is totally on board with the idea of jumping from the gate with a statement piece that’s thoroughly overwhelming. The Divine Comedy – Inferno is certainly that.

Style: Symphonic Power
Location: Italy
Sample: “Gate of Hell” (Featuring Mark Boals and Ben Jackson (Crimson Glory))
Label: Rockshots Records
Release date: November 12
Band website: Signum Draconis

16. Dragony – Viribus Unitis

[Cover artwork: Dušan Marković]

Look, everyone has their limit concerning just how much exaggerated melodrama and absurdity they’re willing to take on when it comes to power metal’s more theatrical and joyous face. I would say I have a pretty high tolerance, especially compared to most of the Last Rites crew, having built my foundation at least partly on songs such as “Rise and Fall” and “Dr. Stein.” Throw a band called Dragony in my face, though, comprised of players who look a bit like an off-off-Broadway production of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and who offer up song titles such as “Made of Metal (Cyberpunk Joseph)” and a cover of Rainhard Fendrich’s “Haben Sie Wien schon bei Nacht gesehn?” That right there is beginning to tread dangerously close for many folks’ limits, me buckos.

Well, call off the hounds and holy Hell, because Viribus Unitis is a remarkably charming and grossly satisfying romp, start-to-finish. What we have here is a symphonic / orchestral power metal tribute to the escapades of Austria’s Franz Joseph I, and with that of course comes an overabundance of mellifluousness, pageantry and spectacle, without ever actually going so far overboard as to feel at all…insincere or nutty. It’s a perfect balance, really, and a prime example of power metal’s knack for loud theatrics that never forgets to keep it highly melodic and full of irresistible hooks.

Style: Symphonic Power
Location: Austria
Sample: “Legends Never Die”
Label: Napalm Records
Release date: January 15
Bandcamp: Dragony

15. Thorium – Empires in the Sun

[Cover artwork: Velio Josto]

Three Belgians brought together under the banner of a renewed Ostrogoth (who now feature only one original member: drummer Mario Pauwel) find so much chemistry together that they end up piecing together two albums-worth of new material for a brand new outlet called Thorium. The result: classic Euro power with roots in everything from the NWOBHM to early (Fates Warning-inspired) progressive metal to touches of speed, all of which is realized to great degree here with Thorium’s sophomore effort, Empires in the Sun.

Dario Frodo (guitar), Stripe (bass), and Tom Tas (guitar) no longer count Ostrogoth on their active resumes, but hopefully that means they have more time to focus on continuing this project, because it’s packed to the rafters with the sort of positive energy basically every human being needs in 2021. Rounding out the venture is drummer Louis Van der Linden and Black Knight vocalist David Marcelis, and together they deliver the sort of top-shelf vigor that feels as if they’ve all been playing together for decades.

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Belgium
Sample: “Empires in the Sun”
Label: Freya Records
Release date: March 5
Bandcamp: Thorium

14. Black Soul Horde – Horrors from the Void

[Cover artwork: Giannis Nakos / Remedy Art Design]

Something’s definitely in the water over in Greece, as they’re amassing quite a collection of power-related bands that demand the public’s attention, Black Soul Horde obviously included. There’s something about the way this band paints in the corners that ends up coming across like an ideal collision between Eternal Champion and a Mercyful Fate-loving band like Portrait or Attic. As such, expect 40-plus minutes of dark, twisting heavy / power that’s never short on bright leads and wailing vocals that should absolutely appeal to anyone who counts bands like Cirith Ungol and Jag Panzer as staples in their diet.

Side note: Two of three members here also play in the equally impressive heavy / doom band Night Resident, and a bit of that bass-heavy strut manages to trickle into Black Soul Horde’s corners, which adds to Horrors from the Void’s uniqueness.

Style: Heavy / US Power
Location: Greece
Sample: “Beware the Deep”
Label: Independent
Release date: November 10
Bandcamp: Black Soul Horde

13. Silver Talon – Decadence and Decay

[Cover artwork: Gerald Brom]

Yeah, you know you have plenty room in your life for a band that fully comprehends all the ins and outs of the style of progressive power our dearly departed Warrel Dane first got us to fall in love with those many, many moons ago. Portland, Oregon’s Silver Talon checks all the right boxes for anyone interested in an ideal collision between Dane’s chief mainstays—the raw energy of early Sanctuary woven into the (ofttimes) elegant design of Nevermore—and they give it all just enough of a modern twist to feel as if the next step has been realized. Decadence and Decay is wonderfully dark, menacing and knotty, and vocalist Wyatt Howell’s extremely Dane-ish (but not at all Danish) vocals stack beautifully alongside a three-pronged guitar attack that shreds your face around virtually every bend.

Style: Heavy / Progressive Power
Location: USA
Sample: “As the World Burns”
Label: M-Theory Audio
Release date: May 28
Bandcamp: Silver Talon

12. Paladine – Entering the Abyss

[Cover artwork: Jimmy “Dreadjim” Ling]

One might think power metal has the realms of Dragonlance pretty well covered by now, no? Well, not really, amazingly enough. But when ol’ Fizban the Fabulous and friends do get some time in the spotlight, it’s at least good to know they’re in capable hands. Greek hands. The collective hands behind Paladine.

From a review written by an extremely handsome chap earlier this year: “Stylistically, Paladine falls squarely in the power metal camp that draws heavily from the darker, more aggressive subset that bubbled up in the US throughout the 80s: Manowar, Virgin Steele, Savatage and the like. But there’s a clear Euro neoclassical power element afoot as well, particularly with regard to the heaps and slews of leads heard throughout—a key element in the Paladine quiver that never quite ends up feeling as if the express purpose is to eclipse the remaining components. Indeed, balance is an element Paladine seem notably adept at controlling, as most every song paints heaviness, atmosphere, darkness, light, intricacy and a straightforward hook with equal brushstrokes.”

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Greece
Sample: “Sacrifice of a Hero”
Label: No Remorse Records
Release date: March 26
Bandcamp: Paladine

11. Nahtram – Forest of Eternal Dawn

[Cover artwork: Caelan Stokkermans]

**BIG FAT CHEATER ALERT** Okay, we’ve finally reached the first entry that feels like a bonafide cheat. Not just because this is the second instrumental record to hit this year’s list, but mostly thanks to the fact that nothing related to Nahtram and Forest of Eternal Dawn finds a connection to power metal beyond being very epic and symphonic. One look at the logo and the album artwork screams black metal, and nowhere inside any of the band’s various social media pages is there even a hint of #power tagged. Therefore, it stands to reason that Forest of Eternal Dawn absolutely should not find its way onto a list such as this. In fact, it’s reasonable to expect the sole member responsible for the project, Lukas Grässlin, to be completely baffled to witness his inclusion alongside a significant portion of the remaining records hitting this year’s list.

Hey, but guess what… Despite the fact that Grässlin very likely pictures someone akin to Jari Mäenpää of Wintersun behind the mic for his vision, yours truly can’t help but envision Daniel Heiman, which, when combined with these twisting retreats into a far-off magical realm, results in something as epic as Dimhav’s wonderful The Boreal Flame. Okay, sure, it’s clearly not power metal, but you’d have to fight like a wounded bear backed into a corner to find a more majestically powerful 22 minutes in 2021 than the closing “Northern Winds” and “Forest of Eternal Dawn.”

Side note: This also wins my “The Most Listened to Album While Reading Steven Erikson’s Memories of Ice” award, so explosive hails for that.

Style: Syphonic Metal that most would not consider close enough to Power
Location: Germany
Sample: “Forest of Eternal Dawn”
Label: Independent
Release date: August 27
Bandcamp: Nahtram

10. NorthTale – Eternal Flame

[Cover artwork: Gustavo Sazes]

A number of people thought NorthTale would be a permanent Happy Zone for all parties interested in a world where the voice of Christian Eriksson (ex-Twilight Force) would get free rein to run rampant; he was, after all, one of three founding members of NorthTale, alongside Bill Hudson and Patrick Johansson. Well, whoopsie doodle—the dreaded “musical differences” quickly reared its ugly head following the release of 2019’s Welcome to Paradise, resulting in Eriksson being ousted by his second band in less than five years.

Let me make the following point very clear: If Eriksson was upset about the material on tap for album number two, NorthTale is better off without him, because Eternal Flame pretty much blows the band’s debut out of the water. This record is much more adventurous, more dynamic and at times surprisingly heavy (“Future Calls,” feat. Kai AND Tim Hansen, and “Midnight Bells!”), and new vocalist Guilherme Hirose is an exceedingly competent replacement for the wailing style of Eriksson.

Eternal Flame offers up classic Euro power, neoclassical trad metal, hard rock, some surprisingly progressive twists (particularly the 11min “Nature’s Revenge”), and one hell of an unexpected cover of Iron Maiden’s “Judas Be My Guide,” and it paints an ideal picture of a power metal band now poised to become one of the genre’s greats.

Style: Euro Power
Location: International
Sample: “Future Calls”
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release date: November 12
Band website: NorthTale

9. Dragonbreath – The Awakening

[Cover artwork: Rafael Kallistratou]

Similar to Claymorean’s latest, the debut from Cyprus’s Dragonbreath straddles the line between traditional / epic heavy metal and a class of power beholden to Manowar circa 1983. That unmistakable OOMPH is even more pronounced here, though, thanks in a large part to fact that Dragonbreath vocalist Chris Karmi sounds very much like an ideal combination of Mark Shelton and Dark Quarterer’s wonderful Gianni Nepi. That Manilla Road / Dark Quarterer authority bleeds into the music throughout The Awakening, too, surrendering 40-minutes of exhilarating heavy / power that’s not afraid to get a little proggy, and it’s always prepared to light the listener up with limitless magnificent leads. Worth noting that I wasn’t instantly sold on The Awakening when it first dropped, for reasons I can’t really put a pin on, but it casts an alluring sort of spell that quickly caused a level of addiction that resulted with me not even blinking an eye over the freight costs associated with getting a CD version on my doorstep all they way from Cyprus. One of the more CRANKABLE releases of 2021, and something I have a sneaky suspicion will morph into one of my favorite underground records in recent years, given a little more time.

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Cyprus
Sample: “1974”
Label: Rafchild Records
Release date: September 3
Bandcamp: Dragonbreath

8. Pharaoh – The Powers that Be

[Cover artwork: Chris Cooper]

I’m guessing the Last Rites collective was far from alone with our worries concerning the extended idleness from USPM’s best kept secret, Pharaoh. Luckily, the band finally shook the cobwebs loose and landed their fifth full-length, The Powers that Be, and this is what one particular Pharaoh nut had to say about the album earlier this year: “Most any longtime Pharaoh fan will gladly inform you that 9 years is far too long to wait for new material from this crew, but we’re also the sort to quickly admit just how lucky we are to already have four full-lengths and an EP’s worth of greatness from them—an exceptional feat in and of itself, considering how often the quality from bands has a tendency to fluctuate. And when the end product is so consistently gratifying and restorative / curative as is Pharaoh’s music, it’s only natural to worry about the day when that wellspring will eventually run dry. Luckily, we’re not there yet, and word on the street indicates that Matt Johnsen is already working on material for the next record, so hopefully it won’t take another decade for us to hear even more grade-A epic, progressive US Pharaoh Power.”

Style: US Power
Location: USA
Sample: “Lost in the Waves”
Label: Cruz del Sur Records
Release date: June 18
Bandcamp: Pharaoh

7. Warrior Path – The Mad King

 [Cover artwork: Dimitar Nikolov]

Full disclosure: Seeing the name Daniel Heiman attached to any project will immediately inspire me to come sprinting into the room with all the energy and elegance of a faithful Labrador Retriever once it hears the hallowed sounds of food pelting a doggie dish. The good news: Daniel Heiman is now a member of Warrior Path. The even better news: I’m housebroken.

A true champion of the arena had this to say about The Mad King earlier this year: “The beauty of Warrior Path circa 2021 is the truth that their brand of power is varied enough that it should net all sorts of foot traffic, whether ye be trad-minded, epic-obsessed, or crazy for all things USPM. The bottom line is that it’s just great metal that makes you feel powerful. What more could one hope for while enduring an age where negativity swirls like a demonic tornado around seemingly every bend?”

Having now sat with the record for a full nine months, I remain extremely pleased with the results, but I’ll admit that it might have benefited from a little less production polish. It’s not a significant hinderance, but it’s enough to bump it just outside the top 5.

Style: Heavy / Power
Location: Greece
Sample: “His Wrath Will Fall”
Label: Symmetric Records
Release date: March 5
Bandcamp: Warrior Path

6. Edu Falaschi – Vera Cruz

[Cover Artwork: Carlos Barbosa]

For the love of all that’s holy, skip the 2-minute intro to Vera Cruz. No, it’s not quite as bad as the opening to Onslaught’s In Search of Sanity, but unless you like the idea of a power metal record kicking off with a confusing narrative that involves light swordplay and the birth of a baby, for the love of all that’s holy, skip the 2-minute intro to Vera Cruz. Following that, BOOM: you’re right into some serious shred and the sort of (largely) speedy Euro power custom-made for pounding the steering wheel when we’re forced to drive 35mph for some bullshit reason. Falaschi sounds great behind the mic, and the cast of characters he’s collected from his years spent with Angra and Almah stack this deck to the point where the results manage to challenge and even surpass much of what the related bands have done in recent years. In short, Vera Cruz is a terrific album that’s loaded to capacity with smart riffing, exquisite lead work, and the sort of adventurous songcrafting that bodes well for a very long shelf-life.

Style: Power / Progressive
Location: Brazil
Sample: “Land Ahoy”
Label: Nexus
Release date: May 12
Band website: Edu Falaschi

5. Eternity’s End – Embers of War

[Cover artwork: Dimitar Nikolov]

As expected, there is quite a bit to unpack with the arrival of the third full-length from Eternity’s End. Embers of War is of course speedy, stacked to the blue yonder with swollen energy, rifftastic to the tenth power, and notably adventurous with regard to both songcrafting and narrative (everything from Cthulhu Mythos to the Battle of Jutland to Elric of Melnibone gets exposure here). In short, the album delivers the sort of otherworldly, speedy power metal most fans of the genre just love to eat up.

But we know why we’re really here…

We’re here to find out just how far each member of the band continues to go with their indecent levels of technical shred. We’re here because we love tickling the pleasure center with full-frontal shred, which Embers of War does indeed divulge in spades: Infinite blinding leads, killer break-out riffs (particularly in “Bane of the Black Sword”), one explosive bass jailbreak (“Arcturus Prime”), plus an excessive level of assault and battery. But there’s also enough new in the corners to give listeners a little extra to chew on, like the extra 80’s teaze in “Shaded Heart,” or the notably dark and damn-near blackened charge at the outset of the closing title track. So, yeah, it’s the shred-fest we were hoping for, but it doesn’t forget to add a little something new to the formula.

Style: Speedy Power
Location: International
Sample: “Hounds of Tindalos”
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release date: November 26
Bandcamp: Eternity’s End

4. Helloween – Helloween

[Cover artwork: Eliran Kantor]

I should probably be flogged in public for 40 days and 40 nights for not giving Helloween’s 18th full-length the top spot this year simply due to its existence as a conglomerate of most every major player the band has employed over the years (minus Roland Grapow, Uli Kusch and of course Ingo Schwichtenberg). That’s more testament to the unbridled strength of the releases that landed higher, though, and not an indication that this record is anything short of remarkable. Helloween is too long, yes, but could we ever have guessed a record featuring the return of co-founder Kai Hansen (for the first time since 1988’s Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II) and Michael Kiske (for the first time since 1993’s Chameleon) would sound this balanced and energetic?

Here’s what a notably dashing pumpkin-head had to say about Helloween when it first dropped back in June: “There’s no denying that the proposal to unite forces from across Helloween’s full career was risky; on its own, stacking three guitarists together with a collective century of power metal experience had the potential for overload the likes of which we’ve never seen. And adding three voices to the scheme, two of which come standard with larger than life theatricality? Let’s just say the chance of heartbreak from either side of the spectrum was definitely lurking, whether it be at the behest of too many years in the rearview, resulting in a too-dim a version of the early energy, or the other end of the scale where some level of “Spider-Man the Musical” disaster hits our eyes and ears. The Pumpkins United tour did the job of mitigating those fears, though. And now with Helloween, it’s clear that not only can this collective pull things off with nary a hitch from the stage, they’re equally capable of grappling in the studio sans injury, resulting in new material that’s triumphant enough to stand toe-to-toe with any other top-tier Helloween release.”

Style: Euro Power
Location: Germany
Sample: “Skyfall”
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release date: June 18
Band website: Helloween

3. Marius Danielsen’s Legend of Valley Doom – Part 3

[Cover artwork: Dušan Marković]

42 guests comprised of 16 guitarists, 22 vocalists, 1 keyboardist (Derek Sherinian), 1 drummer (Ludvig Petersen), 1 bassist (Bjørn Helge Lervåg), and 1 narrator (John Rhys-Davies, also known as Gimli)—it’s safe to say if the brothers Danielsen (Marius: vocals & guitar, Peter: keyboards & orchestration) call your name, you come ready to play. And considering the guest list here—comprised of a stack of greats that very literally boggles the mind, including folks such as Ralf Scheepers, Daniel Heiman, Alessandro Conti, Tommy Johansson, Mathias Blad, Tim Hansen, Christian Münzer (who delivers the album’s best riff on “Mines of Eloroth”), Jimmy Hedlund, Dushan Petrossi and oh-so-many others—the fact that LoVD Part 3 can still come across this organized and polished is nothing short of astonishing. You were probably already aware of this, though, seeing as how Part 1 and 2 followed similar suit, with a number of the same guests. However, Part 3 really feels a little more special, likely thanks to the amount of experience everyone has with the process at this point, and also because the songs themselves happen to have a deeper comfort level that’s honestly a bit difficult to define. And honestly, this is exactly how any storyteller hopes to conclude a trilogy: with a huge and immensely satisfying victory. It’s certainly something that sets up Marius Danielsen’s next project, a solo record that continues the Valley Doom concept that’s due…well, hopefully sometime in 2022?

Style: Euro Power
Location: Norway
Sample: “Tomb of the Fallen Kings”
Label: Crime Records
Release date: May 7
Bandcamp: Marius Danielsen’s Legend of Valley Doom – Part 3

2. Ravenous – Hubris

[Cover artwork: Moch Luthfi]

The following quote from members of Canada’s Ravenous with regard to their approach to the genre is a perfect way to introduce them to those who remain unaware of the band’s existence: “We make power metal for people who both love and hate power metal.” Vocalist R.A. Voltaire takes it one step further with a follow-up: “Made by people who love power metal.”

Of course, this is hardly an approach that’s unfamiliar to the genre, as every year we’re guaranteed a handful of power metal records that crossover enough to become go-to grabs for anyone hoping to prove haters wrong about power being single-minded and inaccessible to those who never cared about, say, Helloween or Blind Guardian (poor bastards). However, those records are not always as strong as Hubris.

Make no mistake, the power element is still the chief ingredient here, and it’s quite clear the band’s love of the genre focuses on the more bombastic, speedier variety flexed by the Blind Guardians and Falconers of our day. Hubris is absolutely teeming with chest-swelling energy and, well, hubris, which matches the comprehensive theme of arrogance leading to collapse explored by songs that emphasize everything from Street Fighter (Akuma / “Die 1,000 Deaths”), Goethe’s Der Erlkonig (“The Alder Queen”), and Steven Erikson’s remarkable Malazan series (“Bridgeburners”).

R.A. Voltaire’s voice is deep and roaring—along the lines of someone like Jake Rogers of Visigoth—and he knows how to deliver a vocal hook. Surrounding him are the three remaining members who equal that power by kicking out an explosive energy via notably brisk riffing, aggressive drumming, and just enough ripping melody to prettify the corners. In short, Hubris absolutely is a power metal album custom-built for fans and bystanders alike. But even more so, it should be a case study for just how far a band can get when their vision and aptitude is heroic enough to overcome all the obstacles that typically damn those less committed into obscurity.

Related aside: Two of the four members come from the similarly underrated band Viathin, who equally blended genres, and whose Cynosure was one of the most rudely undervalued releases of 2014.

Style: Symphonic / Speed / Heavy / Power
Location: Canada
Sample: “Claw is the Law”
Label: Feast Beast Records
Release date: October 22
Bandcamp: Ravenous

1. Galneryus – Union Gives Strength

[Cover artwork: Uncredited]

Read the following words out loud to underscore their authenticity: Japan’s Galneryus is the most consistently excellent power metal band in action today. Outside of one somewhat average album (for Galneryus), 2008’s Reincarnation, the remainder of the band’s 15 (!!!) total full-lengths all hit around the 8.5 or higher range, with a particular leap in quality occurring with the last four records.

Again, read the following words out loud to underscore their authenticity: Union Gives Strength could very well be the best record the band has released to date. That might seem outrageous, considering the band’s stellar track record, and I believe a little more time might be necessary to see if it eventually eclipses 2017’s incredible Ultimate Sacrifice, but holy crap is it ever fun revisiting this thing time and time again to experience its upswing. Everyone sounds as incredible as ever, with reverent nods of course owed to vocalist Masatoshi Ono for his intensely passionate delivery and to guitarist Shusuke “Syu” Ueda for giving these songs a bladed intensity that could cut through a concrete wall. But there’s also a new drummer (Lea from Zygote) afoot, and new blood always has a way of bringing an extra level of energy to everyone’s play, and that certainly rings true with Union Gives Strength.

The album clocks in at a loaded one hour, but the final 12 minutes are re-recorded songs from previous records—“Deep Affection” (2005’s Advance to the Fall) and “Everlasting” (2007’s One for All – All for One)—and as good as they are, the maximum strength of this adventure occurs within the 46 minutes that makes up the six new cuts, three of which clock in at around 9 minutes. The longer songs are where the more progressive and splendidly knotty face of Galneryus really shines, but even the relatively shorter songs manage to hit the mark dead center. Not even the, um, ballad “Hold On” manages to throw a wrench in the works.

The whole affair is a bit darker and heavier compared to previous records, and at no point does Galneryus give indication that they’re in any sort of decline after being in action for 20 years and delivering 15 full-lengths and 10 EPs. Just an extraordinary band that continues to find ways to push power metal to the next level.

Style: Neoclassical Power
Location: Japan
Sample: “Whatever it Takes (Raise Our Hands!)”
Label: Warner Music Japan
Release date: June 16
Band website: Galneryus

———

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2021’s Full List of 310 Competitors (Bandcamp links provided where applicable):

403 Forbiddena – Heroes Part 2
Acamarachi – Rise of the Broken
Ad Infinitum – Chapter II: Legacy
Aeonblack – The Time Will Come
Aetherea – Through Infinite Dimensions
Alefla – Unbreakable
Alvablot – Harmonic Dystopia
An Ancient Legend, Long Forgotten – Kingdom
Ancient Myth – ArcheoNyx
Angels’ Temptation – Anthem of the Angels
Angelwings – Primordium
Anguish Force – Metal Disco Satellite EP
Antonio Giorgio – Between Light & Darkness EP
Antti Martikainen – Carmina Gloria
Apostolica – Haeretica Ecclesia
Arcane Tales – Tales from Sharanworld
Arion – Vultures Die Alone
ArkenFire – Trials through Time
Athlantis – Last But Not Least
Attika – Metal Lands
Avaland – Theater of Sorcery
Beast in Black – Dark Connection
Between Worlds – Between Worlds
Binary Creed – Inferno Part One EP
Black & Damned – Heavenly Creatures
Black Soul Horde – Horrors from the Void
BlackSword – Alive Again
Blaze Bayley – War Within Me
Blazon Stone – Damnation
Blessdivine – Between Sin & Sacrifice
BloodBound – Creatures of the Dark Realm
Book of Numbers – Magick
Brainstorm – Wall of Skulls
Brother Against Brother – Brother Against Brother
Burning Point – Arsonist of the Soul
Burning Witches – The Witch of the North
Carmeria – Advenae
Castellica – Moment of Glory
Celtic Hills – Mystai Keltoy
Chalice of Sin – Chalice of Sin
Claymorean – Eulogy for the Gods
Craft Sword – The Furious the Savage the Wild EP
Crimson Fire – Another Dimension
Cross Vein – Life of Veins
Crowne – Kings in the North
Crystal Throne – Crystal Throne
Crystal Viper – The Cult
Crystallion – Heads or Tails
Custard – Imperium Rapax
Dan Baune’s Lost Sanctuary – Lost Sanctuary
Dark Arena – Worlds of Horror
Dialith – Atrophy EP
Distant Past – The Final Stage
Doomsday – Leyendas
Drac Attack! – Drac Attack!
Draconicon – Dark Side of Magic
Dragonbreath – The Awakening
DragonCum – The 4,000-Year-Old Virgin
Dragony – Viribus Unitis
Drakkar – Chaos Lord
Dream Tröll – Realm of the Tormentor
Dreamcatcher – The Road So Far
Dreams In Fragments – When Echoes Fade
Durbin – The Beast Awakens
Dyryth – Watchers
Edu Falaschi – Vera Cruz
Eld Varg – One Man Army
Eldritch – EOS
Electric Crown – Prophecy of Doom
Elfsong – Encyclopedia Nova Creatura
Embrace of Souls – The Number of Destiny
Emerald Rage – High King
Energema – Promised Land
Eons Enthroned – Into the Arcane
Epilog – Providence Asylum
Eternal Flight – SurVive
Eternity’s End – Embers of War
Everdawn – Cleopatra
Evergrey – Escape of the Phoenix
Evermore – Court of the Tyrant King
Everture – Emerge
Evil Hunter – Lockdown
Evil King – The Dark Age
Existance – Wolf Attack
Fate Gear – The Sky Prison
Feanor – Power of the Chosen One
Fierce Deity – The Trials UnMasked EP
Fierce Deity – Power Wisdom Courage EP
FireForce – Rage of War
FireWing – Resurrection
FireWölfe – Conquer All Fear
Forsakken – Shadowcaster
Fortunato – Insurgency
Foxlord – Foxlord
Frozen Crown – Winterbane
Fugatta – The Darkest Planet
Galaxy – On the Shore of Life
Galneryus – Union Gives Strength
Garden of Darkness – Shokai
Generation Steel – The Eagle Will Rise
George Tsalikis – Return to Power
Giotopia – Trinity of Evil
Gospel – The Spell
Graywitch – Rise of the Witch
Great Master – Thy Harbour Inn
Hammer King – Hammer King
Haunter – Silent Earth
Havenlights – Songs of Autumn
Headon – Génesis
Heart Healer – The Metal Opera by Magnus Karlsson
Hell and Back – A Thousand Years
Helloween – Helloween
Heretic – Feast
Herética – El hereje
Herman Frank – Two for a Lie
Hevilan – Symphony of Good and Evil
Hizaki – Rusalka EP
Hollow – Tower
Holy Mother – Face this Burn
Hopes of Freedom – Light, Fire & Iron
Hyloxalus – Aposematic EP
Ibuki – Storm of Emotion
Icon of Sin – Icon of Sin
Illusion Force – Illusion Paradise
Illusory – Crimson Wreath
Imaginature – Imaginature
Imago Imperii – A Tale of Darkness and Hope
Immortal Guardian – Psychosomatic
Immortal Synn – Force of Habit
Imperia – The Last Horizon
Infamia – Crisálida
Inner Call – Leviathan
Inner Core – Dark Chronicles
InnerSiege – Fury of Ages
Insania – V (Praeparatus Supervivet)
Iron Attack! – No Loser, No Winner
Iron Attack! – Maze of Gradation
Johan Kihlberg Impera – Spirit of Alchemy
Kaelis – Far Galaxy EP
Kambrium – Synthetic ERA
Katana Cartel – The Sacred Oath
Kiko Shred’s Rebellion – Rebellion
Knight’s Oath – Knight’s Oath EP
Knightsune – Knightsune
Kosmic Dragon – The Galactic Hammer
Krilloan – Stories of Time Forgotten EP
Labÿrinth – Welcome to the Absurd Circus
Last Days of Eden – Butterflies
Legions of the Night – Sorrow is the Cure
Leverage – Above the Beyond
Long Shadow’s Dawn – Isle of Wrath
Lords of Black – Alchemy of Souls Part II
Lost in Grey – Under the Surface
Loudstorm – Metal Battleroyal
Lovebites – Glory, Glory to the World EP
Lycanthro – Mark of the Wolf
Mägo de Oz – Bandera Negra
Malacoda – Crawling Chaos EP
Malacoda – The Strain EP
Malison – Death’s Embrace
Manimal – Chains of Fury EP
Manora – Brave the Storm
Marble – S.A.V.E.
Marcel Verand – Memorias de un despertar: Ira & sacrificio
Marco Garau’s Magic Opera – The Golden Pentacle
Marius Danielsen’s Legend of Valley Doom – Part 3
Mary’s Blood – Mary’s Blood
Master Spy – The Train
Mentalist – A Journey into the Unknown
Metalite – A Virtual World
Metalsteel – Forsaken By the Gods
Metalwings – A Whole New Land
Minstrelix – 11 Trajectories
Morning Dwell – The Power Will Go On
My Refuge – The Anger is Never Over
Mysterizer – The Holy War 1095
Nahtram – Forest of Eternal Dawn
Nanowar of Steel – Italian Folk Metal
Naoto Project ~ Crystal Peach ~ – Crystal Carriage
Neonfly – The Future, Tonight
Nergard – Eternal White
Nexus Opera – La Guera Granda
Nightshadow – Strike Them Dead
No One Spoke – Nine Mirrors
NorthTale – Eternal Flame
Nothing Sacred – No Gods
Nova Era – The Curse
Númenor – Draconian Age
Ominous Glory – The Elven Dream
Orden Ogan – Final Days
Ossian – A Teljesség
Oversense – Egomania
Ovvercross – Stuttgart, 1943
Painters of Ether – Painters of Ether
Paladine – Entering the Abyss
Paradox – Heresy II – End of a Legend
Percival – Riders of the Sun
Perpetual Etude – Now is the Time
Phantom Divine – The Cosmic Vision
Phantom Elite – Titanium
Pharaoh – The Powers that Be
Phoenix Rising – Acta Est Fabula
Poverty’s No Crime – A Secret to Hide
Power Reset – Dungeon Master
Powerwolf – Call of the Wild
Prelude to Ruin – Ronin Ex Mortis EP
Primal Fear – I Will Be Gone EP
Primitai – Violence of the Skies
Project Resurrect – False Reality
Project: Roenwolfe – Edge of Saturn
Rage – Resurrection Day
Rage in My Eyes – Spiral EP
Rakshasa – 百花創生
Rascal – Headed Towards Destruction EP
Ravenlight – Intermission EP
Ravenous E.H. – Hubris
Ravian – Kinsmen from Afar
Reaper’s Revenge – Versus
Rebellion – We Are the People
Redd Barron – Sands of Time
Reinforcer – Prince of the Tribes
Resurrection Kings – Skygazer
Rhapsody of Fire – Glory for Salvation
Robledo – Wanted Man
Rubicon – Demonstar
Running Wild – Blood On Blood
Saber Tiger – Paragraph V
Sacred Oath – Return of the Dragon
Sacrifer – Valhalla is for Me
Saratoga – XXX
Scarlet Valse – Apocalypsis
Sceptor – Rise to the Light
ScreaMachine – ScreaMachine
Screaming Shadows – Legacy of Stone
Season of Dreams – Heroes
Secret Chord – Aurora
Secret Rule – Mea Culpa
Secret Sphere – Lifeblood
Seven Spires – Gods of Debauchery
Seventh Dimension – Black Sky
ShadowStrike – Fables and Folklore EP
Signum Draconis – The Divine Comedy – Inferno
Silent Winter – Empire of Sins
Silver Talon – Decadence and Decay
Sinner Guard – War is the Father of All
Sirenia – Riddles, Ruins & Revelations
SkeleToon – The 1.21 Gigawatts Club
Skyblazer – Time for Deliverance EP
SkyEye – Soldiers of Light
Skyhammer – The Skyhammer EP
Skyliner – Dark Rivers, White Thunder
Skywings – How Beautiful
Sonic Haven – Vagabond
Sorrowful Knight – Lost City EP
Sorrowful Knight – Once upon a Time EP
Souls of Diotima – Janas
Spirit of Lao Dan – Secret Life
Steel Sword – The Steel Sword
Steelbourne – A Tale as Old as Time
Steelforce – The Oracle EP
Stranger Vision – Poetica
Subfire – Define the Sinner
Sunrise – Equilibria
SunStorm – Afterlife
Sweet Oblivion – Relentless
Tales and Legends – Struggle of the Gods
Tales of the Old – Book of Chaos
Temperance – Diamanti
The 5th Dragon – The Battle Field EP
The Dark Horde – The Calling
The Fabled Fallen – Nightmares
The Fabled Fallen – Dreams
The Giant Void – Thought Insertion
The Grandmaster – Skywards
The Sheglapes – Seiren
The Three Tremors – Guardians of the Void
The Veith Ricardo Project – Storm Warning
Thola – Somewhere
Thomsen – III
Thor – Alliance
Thorium – Empires in the Sun
Thunder and Lightning – F.E.A.R.
Timeless Haunt – Dark for Life
Timo Tolkki’s Avalon – The Enigma Birth
Tragedian – Seven Dimensions
Trend Kill Ghosts – Until the Sunrise Again
Trytan – Blood of Kings
Unlucky Morpheus – Loud Playing Workshop EP
Van Canto – To the Power of Eight
Vandor – On a Moonlit Night
Vell’z Fire – The Last Stand
Velvet Viper – Cosmic Healer
Vexillum – When Good Men Go to War
Viral – Viral
Volker – Banners
Wardrum – Mavericks
Warkings – Revolution
Warrior Path – The Mad King
Whyzdom – Of Wonders and Wars
Wings of Destiny – Memento Mori
Winterage – The Inheritance of Beauty
Witchbound – End of Paradise
Witherfall – The Curse of Autumn
Wizard – Metal in My Head
Wolfchant – Omega : Bestia
Wonders – The Fragments of Wonder
Xiphea – Witchcraft
Yngwie Malmsteen – Parabellum
Гран-Куражъ – Эпохи, герои и судьбы
矢島舞依 – Heretical Soul EP

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The post We Have The Power – The Top 30 Power Metal (And Power-Related) Albums Of 2021 appeared first on Last Rites.

While it’s never a bad idea to push optimistic thinking, it’s also patently absurd to expect some magical switch to get thrown at midnight December 31st that will somehow allow us to awaken to a fresh, shining Shangri-la come January 1st, 2021. We all know this, and we also understand the unfortunate reality that this planet is probably far from done wallowing around at the bottom of the barrel. Bitter truth: Before we can expect to make global strides that eventually shift things back in a positive direction, every individual needs to make a habit of taking a great many small positive steps.

This relates to what we’re doing here in a fairly clear way: Power metal is our genre’s most optimistic off-shoot, and oddly enough, this remains one of the principal reasons why many metal fans don’t really care for the style today. Metal was forged in the fires of negativity precisely fifty years ago, and one of its most powerful properties relates to how it helps us either vent or shepherd negativity through nihilism / brutality / coldness / speed / etcetera. For many, metal is a familiar, somber friend when circumstances refuse to let negativity release its iron grip. We’ve become so accustomed to the this that our brains quickly reject anything inside our sphere that dares to dip into snappier / happier / more theatrical realms. Or, from another angle, we farm more cheerful music from a different forest entirely.

Every year around August I start thinking about We Have the Power and whether or not it makes sense to continue it. I do my best to stay on top of what gets released from one year to the next, but even for me—an old-hand, proud power metal enthusiast who was there when we didn’t even call it power metal—the sheer amount of contenders and the prospect of committing endless hours away from the comforts of more savage listening looms like the smiliest thunderhead ever imagined. But an interesting upshot inevitably occurs: I commit to the dive and spend the better part of 12+ weeks cramming massive amounts of Euro, US, progressive, epic and symphonic power into my ears from literally every corner of the globe, and the magic of all that seemingly infeasible brightness eventually settles in and I become…happier. Or, at a minimum, more open to becoming happier, and better equipped to deal, because those terrifically ostentatious choruses and all that bright melody has a wonderful way of popping up at the most opportune times. Positive steps, baby.

Lesson 1: Honestly devote time to something positive, even if it’s happening in the background, and it will find a way to facilitate positivity.

Lesson 2: Power metal and its relatives are a balm for the severe burn that is survival in the modern age.

So, what’s new in power metal circa 2020? Trends? Shifts? Earth-shaking developments? Nothing terrifically drastic, as one might expect. By and large, power metal gonna power. The AOR trend continues to infiltrate a fair amount of material (and particularly relating to a number of long-time players), and sugary pop certainly finds its way into the formula for those hoping to net a wider audience that includes people who’ve previously never considered metal as an option. Additionally, both the US version of power that predates its European cousin and the proggier end of the power spectrum maintain their upward (and very gratifying) swing, and a number of big scores come through at the hands of symphonic bands that sound as if they waltzed right into your headphones / speakers from some form of theater performance.

Two more quick matters to mention before diving in: 1) Anubis Gate’s Covered in Colours was nixed because it’s solely comprised of cover songs. It’s a very good album of cover songs, but keeping things pointed toward original material seems like a good boundary to set.

2) With 173 contenders pared down to a relatively slim 25, I am comfortable stating that every one of the albums that managed to land a position were thoroughly enjoyed and stand worthy of attention, regardless of where they happened to land amidst the 25. These records were the soundtrack to my sanity in 2020, and I am extremely thankful for their continued company.

Oh, and welcome to Last Rites’ List Season.

THE TOP 3 EP’S

3. Anubis – Anubis

Los Angeles, CA’s Anubis hasn’t been in action very long (this is their second EP in two years of existence), but they’re making the early years count by delivering a tasty and polished form of aggressive power / thrash that should appeal to those into bands such as Iced Earth, Iron Savior and of course the Painkiller variation of Judas Priest. They don’t exactly bring anything new to the table, but with a member of Hatchet and a scattering of melodic death metal personnel in the ranks, these 11 minutes will go a long way if you love precise power that packs a significant punch.

2. Fellowship – Fellowship

A band like Fellowship begets a form of playful, medieval power metal that apparently inspires dopes like me to use the word “beget,” but it also calls to mind something you might expect to hear created by a squad that got together after bonding over Freedom Call in High School Drama Club. That’s an advantage, in case you decide to walk away from this thinking I have some sort of problem with Freedom Call or HS Drama Clubs. Is the Fellowship EP a little squirrelly? Yeah, maybe a bit. But it’s okay to be squirrelly in power metal if your songcrafting skill eclipses the squirrelly element, and that is precisely the case with Fellowship.

1. Lör – Edge of Eternity

If Lör had decided to call Edge of Eternity a full-length (fairly reasonable, considering its 30-minute run time), it would have made an extremely difficult choice for the top 5 full-lengths of 2020 even trickier. In that regard, I am relieved it’s considered an EP. Here’s what I had to say in a review back in May:

“What has three years and surviving amidst a pandemic done for the explorers behind Lör? Edge of Eternity is a very logical progression from In Forgotten Sleep, with a sharper focus that compresses the song lengths (relatively speaking—these aren’t exactly “short” jingles) without sacrificing an ounce of the band’s sense of adventure. So, while the 10-minute (plus) runs from the previous full-length are now gone, this EP still manages to feel just as epic. A little less of the proggy face in favor of the folk and power elements, perhaps, but it’s still very clearly the product of the very same band.”

THE TOP 25 FULL-LENGTHS OF 2020

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25. Primal Fear – Metal Commando

[Cover artwork: Stephan Lohrmann]

Primal Fear has been playing the same game long enough that the images conjured upon learning of a new release will likely have a match rate that hovers around 100% once the veil finally lifts. The cover artwork and album / song titles are essentially stock at this point, and we know each release will represent a very bright, straight-forward form of catchy power metal torn from the Painkiller playbook + lyrics that will likely make some squinch here and there. This sort of “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” approach has worked for endless bands over the years, but it rarely bodes well when it comes time for Best Of The Year talk. Right on schedule, Metal Commando does each and everything we expect from Primal Fear at this point, but it’s simply more effective amidst a year where even handshakes were taken off the table. Plus, the record really nails that stretched epic (“Infinity” [13:12]) for a triumphant closer.

Style: Euro power
Location: Germany
Sample: “The Lost & The Forgotten”
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: July 24th
Band website: Primal Fear

24. Ilium – Carcinogeist

[Cover artwork: Uncredited]

Ilium’s 2005 release, Permian Dusk, was the second review I hacked out when I first started writing about the heavy metals 15 years ago under the Metal Review banner. The review itself was a bit too shite to drag over to Last Rites, but I recall being rather taken by the band’s brand of galloping, melodic power that avoided the more sugary elements prevalent in much of the Euro scene. I completely lost track of Ilium in the subsequent years, but seeing the name Lord Tim tacked to a release once again in the vocal department piqued my interest enough to jump aboard. Carcinogeist sounds exactly as I’d hoped: dazzling, speedy power that goes hard for hook and melody without ever spooning too much sugar over the top. Lord Tim (the voice that never ages) sounds terrific, and the prettiness of the melody is suitably offset by plenty of punch.

Style: Melodic power
Location: Australia
Sample: “Imbecylum”
Label: Independent
Release date: February 28th
Bandcamp: Ilium

23. Judicator – Let there Be Nothing

[Cover artwork: Mitchell Nolte]

More than a few of us Last Riters found ourselves converted to the ways of Judicator with 2015’s excellent At the Expense of Humanity and the subsequent The Last Emperor in 2018, so seeing full-length number five not crack the top ten might be a bit of a jolt to some. Firstly, you ain’t making it to the top 25 out of 173 without delivering the goods—and make no mistake, Let there Be Nothing is quite good—but it’s also a more difficult nut to crack compared to previous efforts. Those won over by the band’s enthusiasm for bright, aggressive melody are greeted by a surprisingly meaty production that favors the bottom end in lieu of crisp radiance, and heft probably ain’t the proper objective here. With a better mix, Let there Be Nothing might jump up the ranks, and it’s still delivered by one of the shining beacons of the US power scene, so it’s clearly worthy of attention and support.

Style: Speedy power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Let There Be Light”
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release date: July 24th
Bandcamp: Judicator

22. Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame

[Cover artwork: Uncredited]

Greyhawk: “Here, have a Star Frontiers adventure that features a more modern version of Thundarr the Barbarian galavanting about with Firestar that sounds as if Manowar, Riot and Vinnie Vincent Invasion had a threesome right on the table at a Magic the Gathering tournament. And let’s throw one song into the mix that sounds like Sisters of Mercy decided to slip out of their leather pantaloons and into the debauchery just to keep everyone guessing.”

The world: “Sign me up.”

Seattle City’s Greyhawk understands that while it’s clearly important that life allow ample time for crushing your enemies and seeing them driven before you, sometimes what’s truly best is to hear the lamentation of the 99-pack of Pabst you and your crew are about to destroy while listening to a record like Keepers of the Flame on repeat.

Style: Heavy / US power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Frozen Star”
Label: Fighter Records
Release date: June 16th
Bandcamp: Greyhawk

21. Dakesis – Fractures

[Cover artwork: Seventh Sky Media]

One of the things I love the most about metal in the modern age is that relatively obscure bands can swoop in from out of the blue and drop an album that sounds as big and gloriously showy as what gets produced by veterans with major label backing and multiple decades under their belts. Birmingham, England’s Dakesis isn’t exactly new—Fractures is their third full-length in 12 years—but chances are pretty good that they ain’t exactly a household name if you’re not obsessive about the underground. It’s probably about time the attention starts shifting their direction, though, as Fractures offers up some really tasty (moderately) symphonic progressive power metal that blurs the lines between ren faire and science fiction. Vocalist / keyboardist Gemma Lawler has a terrific voice, the bass play and walloping drumming bring serious weight, and guitarist Matt Jones puts on a clinic for aggressive riffing (paggressive metal?) and stellar lead play.

Style: Power / progressive with symphonic elements
Location: United Kingdom
Sample: “Surrender Your Fears”
Label: Capsaarx Records
Release date: March 28th
Bandcamp: Dakesis

20. Paralydium – Worlds Beyond

[Cover artwork: Gustavo Sazes]

Oh, hey, Dynazty released a brand new album in 2020. We Have the Power likes Dynazty, and The Dark Delight is a solid album that sees the band mixing in a perhaps surprising bit of gloominess into their otherwise bright power / hard rock formula. That record isn’t as good as this, though, which features two current members of Dynazty (bassist Jonathan Olsson and drummer George Egg) and an ex-Dynazty member (John Berg) on guitar. Where Paralydium differs is… Well, basically everywhere—Worlds Beyond offers up 45 minutes of very good, straightforward (but not at all plain) progressive power that should appeal to anyone into bands such as Threshold (UK) and Symphony X. Expect plenty of twists and turns, a generally sunny inclination, and loads of lead guitar and keyboard battles.

Style: Progressive / power
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Finding the Paragon”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: June 12th
Band website: Paralydium

19. Legendire – Sunchasers

[Cover artwork: Andrea Tentori Montalto]

I was beginning to wonder if Russia might boycott the 2020 We Have the Power Games, but in swoops the largely unsung heroes of Legendire with this year’s SECOND Orthodox power offering, Sunchasers. (The title looks more like Skychasers, no?) This album is sneaky terrific, which may come across as a bit of a backhanded compliment, but it’s mostly intended to hint at the truth that what seems fairly straightforward at first blush is actually a rather diverse, immersive experience once you’ve stuck around for repeated listens. Yes, it follows a fairly conventional form of energetic Euro power that occasionally bends a little too far into schmaltzy, but the leads are wonderful, the riffs are adventurous and at times surprisingly heavy (“Inner Fire”), the drumming is punchy and sophisticated, and the keyboards—while a bit plinky and retro sounding at times—add a nice epic element to the corners. The vocalist is the star of the show, though. I’ve always had a penchant for unconventional vocalists, and this fellow has a gritty, fairly sharp delivery that comes across like a collision between Kai Hansen and Georgy Peichev (Runelord, ex-Blazon Stone). He even manages to save the midpoint ballad “Meteor Rain” by eventually yowling like a forsaken power metal hawk. (He does not, however, save the late ballad, “The Last Song.” Hey, every band is allowed one tumble.)

Style: Euro power
Location: Russia
Sample: “Ravenheart”
Label: Independent
Release date: November 13th
Band website: Legendire

18. Lovebites – Electric Pentagram

[Cover artwork: David López Gómez / Carlos Vicente León]

I’ve never had the pleasure of going to Tokyo, but I like to imagine that the first thing one experiences upon arriving is an extremely colorful sign that reads, “Welcome! Don’t be afraid of talking hamburgers.” If you want a sugar cereal burrito, you go to Tokyo. If you want to buy your next tour van from a vending machine, you go to Tokyo. If you buy a hamburger in Tokyo, it might smile at you and say the following before you take your first bite: “HI, NEW BEST FRIEND! I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN EATING ME!” And if you take a wrong turn in Tokyo and suddenly find yourself confronted in an alley by five women dressed in stylish monochrome outfits and impressive 5-inch heels, they are either there to kill you or they are a power metal band. Thankfully, Lovebites is the latter. WHEW! Although, with as many (impressively heavy) riffs and lightning leads as Electric Pentagram delivers, you very well might be dead by the end of this (honestly, a bit too long) one hour and eleven minute roller coaster ride of power metal glory.

Style: Heavy / speedy power
Location: Japan
Sample: “When Destinies Align”
Label: Victor
Release date: January 29th
Band website: Lovebites

17. Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall – We Are the Night

[Cover artwork: Stan-W Decker]

It is impossible to be in a bad mood while listening to We Are the Night. This isn’t because the record is packed to the rafters with endless reinterpretations of “Dr. Stein,” it’s thanks to the fact that Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, The Ferrymen, Allen / Olzon, etc. etc. etc.) understands how to properly balance power and AOR to a point where you always sort of feel like Sylvester Stallone in a giant pair of mirrored sunglasses when the record is playing. Some songs feel like you’re just sitting on the hood of your ’69 Camaro with an unlit match quietly resting between your lips, while others have the fire necessary to finally light that match and throw it on the villain you just doused in gasoline. No matter which of the myriad of Stallone moods We Are the Night happens to strike, there are an endless amount of excellent leads AND tons of interesting guest vocal appearances (including Tony “The Cat” Martin) to keep things interesting.

Style: Euro power with hard rock / AOR elements
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Hold Your Fire”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: June 12th
Band website: Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall

16. Brothers of Metal – Emblas Saga

[Cover artwork: Péter Sallai]

Full disclosure: When I see a power metal band counts eight members in the ranks, I get a little nervous. Eight members in a power metal act quadruples the likelihood of overdoing everything, and power metal with a more sane amount of members already has the potential to overdo everything. Big surprise: Sweden’s Brothers of Metal overdoes everything. They overdo their name, they overdo their garb, they overdo the pageantry, they overdo the stock Viking framing, and they overdo the entire kitsch element to a point where I almost fell down the stairs in shock upon discovering they list their actual names instead of randomly assigning everyone lesser-known Nordic god monikers. Emblas Saga sounds like the power metal equivalent of Amon Amarth put to a Super Bowl halftime show, and by Njörðr’s wind, these rascals find a way to make it really work. The songs here stick to your brain like fresh Kanelbullar buns, and despite the (fairly unfortunate) band name, the woman they’re extremely lucky to count in the ranks (vocalist Ylva Eriksson) towers as Brothers of Metal’s most potent weapon.

Style: Heavy / absurdly bombastic Euro power with some growly growlage
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Hel”
Label: AFM Records
Release date: January 10th
Band website: Brothers of Metal

15. Firewind – Firewind

[Cover artwork: Gustavo Sazes]

If you’re here, you’re probably already well aware of Firewind. If you’ve somehow managed to remain comfortable in the miserable dark, however, just know Firewind is named after the song “Firewind” on Uli Jon Roth’s Fire Wind album, which is reason enough to jump aboard. Sealing the deal is the fact that Firewind showcases the fretboard wizardry of one Konstantinos “Gus G” Karamitroudis, who brings a level of “riffs fightin’ lightnin’” shred you’d expect from a label such as Shrapnel Records and a band like, say, Chastain. The Firewind formula has bent further and further toward the power end of the spectrum over the years (and perhaps even more into hard rock, to be honest), but each record of course never forgets to showcase Gus G’s uncanny ability to riff and solo as if his very life depended on it. Oddly enough, even that can manage to become expected over time, so it’s always smart to introduce occasional surprises to keep everyone on their toes. Firewind’s treat in 2020? The introduction of new (to Firewind) vocalist, Herbie Langhans. This guy is an absolute rocker who spits just enough gravel into those infectious choruses to keep things perfectly dirty. (He also lends his talents to The Lightbringer of Sweden, but he sounds even better here.) Anywho, Gus G is of course great, but Langhans is an awesome addition and the principal reason Firewind lands on this year’s list. Even the ballad jams.

Style: Heavy / power
Location: Greece
Sample: “Rising Fire”
Label: AFM Records
Release date: May 15th
Band website: Firewind

14. Fairyland – Osyrhianta

[Cover artwork: Gonzalo Ordóñez]

I escape the horrors of the real world by surrounding myself in science fiction and fantasy realms each and every day. This is a perfectly healthy activity that millions of humans do to varying degrees, but I fully understand why some with a pre-existing bias against fae folk might draw the line at bombastic symphonic power metal fantasy packaged under the name Fairyland. However, if you’ve journeyed the fertile lands created by composer / keyboardist / Fairyland mastermind Philippe Giordana before and found your interest piqued when he announced the return of co-founder / bassist Willdric Lieven and the arrival of vocalist Francesco Cavalieri of Wind Rose fame (Fairyland’s fourth vocalist in, um, four albums) for the first new album in eleven years, you no doubt grabbed a copy of Osyrhianta way back in May when it was first released. Are you ready to call it the best Fairyland album to date yet? I certainly am.

Style: Symphonic power
Location: France
Sample: “The Hidden Kingdom of Eloran”
Label: Massacre Records
Release date: May 22nd
Band website: Fairyland

13. Hrom – Legends of Powerheart: Part II

[Cover artwork: Allison Kay]

A little voice inside my head periodically attempted to convince me to push Hrom’s Legends of the Powerheart: Part II into the top five of this year’s list. Why then choose the coward’s path? While ever edging closer with each subsequent release, the band just isn’t quite there yet. Similar to Vulture’s Vengeance in 2019, the production on this record is rather strange and archaic and smacks of The Warning, and vocalist Jan Loncik sounds like an ideal collision between classic John Cyriis (on meds) and the late, extremely great Michael Grant (Crescent Shield, Onward). For these reasons, Hrom fully wins my heart. But there are also moments here that feel a little under-baked and in need of further editing, which, interestingly enough, might actually add to the overall charm. Recruiting a couple thrashers from W.M.D. for bass and drums this time around serves the band well, and the Traveler connection continues beyond a shared guitarist (Matt Ries) to include a guest vocal spot by Jean-Pierre Abboud on “Spectral Horizon” and “Triforce Command.” I anticipate the next record will achieve full ascension.

Style: US power / speed
Location: Canada
Sample: “Stargunner”
Label: Hoove Child Records
Release date: September 25th
Bandcamp: Hrom

12. Adamantis – Far Flung Realm

[Cover artwork: Piotr ‘Kaenshin’ Bednarczuk]

A record like Far Flung Realm is making sizable waves in the heavy / power metal underground this year for a number of reasons, the most important of which quite simply boils down to this: It’s clear that a tremendous amount of heart went into its production. Sure, one could (and probably should) argue that a huge amount of heart is necessary for most every release to make the grueling journey to the public’s ears, but crafting such a swirling, epic fantasy that pulls out all the stops (including those pertaining to production and artwork) without the aid of a label proves that Adamantis exists for one principal reason: the members absolutely love heavy metal and have heard the calling. The fact that their diligence resulted in something this polished as a debut is in an impressive feat, though. Yes, there’s room for development, but if the idea of a US brand of power similar to Twisted Tower Dire colliding with the speed and Swedishness of Falconer sounds like something that should ping your radar, Far Flung Realm is ready to take you on a splendid excursion.

Style: US power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Misbegotten Dream”
Label: Independent (they JUST signed with Cruz del Sur Records)
Release date: October 23rd
Bandcamp: Adamantis

11. Lord of Light – Morningstar

[Cover artwork: Alex Lin]

The most significant thing Sweden’s Lord of Light has going for them is uniqueness. I mean, what the hell…even is this? It’s clear that a record like Morningstar falls further on the progressive end of the prog / power spectrum, but it’s far enough away from the typical Symphony X / Dream Theater blueprint that I’d almost feel more comfortable comparing it to… Saga? Does anyone under 40 remember Saga and excellent records such as Worlds Apart and Heads or Tales? Similar to Saga, the importance of synth in the Lord of Light formula is indisputable, and those keys add a wonderful sort of “space opera” feel to much of the record. But principal architect ( / guitarist / keyboardist) Nicklas Kirkevall has a spectacular voice that’s custom-made for power hooks, and the record doesn’t forget to bring the weight, even if it’s all delivered with a crispness, purity and brilliance that would make freshly fallen snow feel dirty in its presence.

Style: Progressive / power
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Ballad of the Righteous”
Label: No Remorse Records
Release date: March 13th
Bandcamp: Lord of Light

10. Falconer – From a Dying Ember

[Cover artwork: Jan Meininghaus]

Here’s a snippet from my review of From a Dying Ember earlier this year: “In the end, it’s pretty clear who this record is geared toward: the diehards who’ve been in Falconer’s corner for the better part of the last twenty years. Sure, there’s always room for new fans, and it’s not like any of the previous records are in any sort of danger of suddenly morphing into vapor. But everything about the way From a Dying Ember is presented feels wholly devoted to those who’ve been a part of the family for years and years. Fragments from all the different faces of Falconer across all eight full-lengths are pushed under the spotlight, and as indicated by Stefan Weinerhall, these elements are all maximized by design. This sort of approach is quite effective for a swansong because it almost acts as a scrapbook, but it could also impede the release from vaulting to the top of a list for someone whose biggest hope is that it would out-wallop a banger like Black Moon Rising. That’s really not the intention here, though. At least I don’t think. From a Dying Ember is meant to bid a fond farewell to the full existence of Falconer, and in that regard it succeeds in abundance.”

Style: Folk / speed / power
Location: Sweden
Sample: “Kings and Queens”
Label: Metal Blade
Release date: June 26th
Bandcamp: Falconer

9. DGM – Tragic Separation

[Cover artwork: Simone Bertozzi]

My LORD does Tragic Separation ever make you feel like you’re flying. I reckon that has everything to do with the way DGM manages to blend a large amount of explosive energy with approximately five thousand thrilling leads and a powerhouse vocalist who sounds equally fit to elevate any prog / power outfit OR an arena rock band like Journey. “Exhilarating” would likely stand as the single best descriptor for what goes down throughout Tragic Separation, and if you’re the sort who likes to sit back and pick through complex riff patterns and endless broiling leads, get ready to: 1) have a blast, or 2) toss that Jackson Pro Series Dinky into the closet for a few days out of frustration. Just how talented are these guys? Guitarist Simone Mularoni and keyboardist Emanuele Casali helped Geoff Tate release the best record he’s had his name attached to since Empire—Sweet Oblivion’s eponymous 2019 debut. Yeah, they’re that good, and they’ve jumped into 2020 armed to the teeth.

Style: Progressive power with hard rock / AOR elements
Location: Italy
Sample: “Surrender”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: October 9th
Band website: DGM

8. Dark Forest – Oak, Ash & Thorn

[Cover artwork: Duncan Storr]

A snippet from the review I wrote for Oak, Ash & Thorn back in April: “Ultimately, the indispensableness of a record such as this depends on a couple key factors. First, if you can’t get enough of the sort of stouthearted, exhilarating trad (/ power) metal forged with medieval folk and Celtic melodies that’s similarly delivered by the likes of Skyclad and The Lord Weird Slough Feg, this record should be pinging your radar. And second, if you often rely on music for yet another escape from the gloom and hazards of living in an increasingly industrialized modern age, Oak, Ash & Thorn is very prepared to lift the veil and reveal a notably tempting escape to a familiar and mythical wilderness. And really, what better time than the present to take flight into the trees for a vigorous taste of reacquaintance and rebalance.”

Style: Traditional / epic power
Location: United Kingdom
Sample: “The Midnight Folk”
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Release date: April 24th
Bandcamp: Dark Forest

7. Memories of Old – The Zeramin Game

[Cover artwork: Felipe Machado Franco]

If you’ve floated around all the various power metal circles for a number of years, you’re probably familiar with the name Tommy “ReinXeed” Johansson. He’s a feller who cut his teeth with umpteen Christian power metal bands a decade ago, and he now counts the notably rewarding Majestica and Sabaton as current work environments. Johansson is an excellent guitarist and vocalist, and he lends the latter (only) to this new project put together by one-time Grimgotts drummer Billy Jeffs. The Zeramin Game delivers the sort of bombastic symphonic power that’s tailor-made for those looking for a high seas adventure that’s a little more serious compared to, say, Alestorm, but still joyous enough to feel like it could possibly / eventually get converted into one Hell of a theatrical SeaWorld show in the distant future. All the stock elements you typically hope for are here, but anyone who can’t get enough of epic keyboards (and keytars—YES!) should probably move to the head of the line. More infectious than…well, let’s not go there.

Style: Symphonic Euro power
Location: United Kingdom
Sample: “Some Day Soon”
Label: Limb Music
Release date: September 18th
Bandcamp: Memories of Old

6. Iron Savior – Skycrest

[Cover artwork: Felipe Machado Franco]

With bands like Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Iron Savior, Primal Fear, Running Wild and Avantasia in the rank and file, one would have to concede that Germany still wears the power metal crown on this strange little planet. Just seeing those names conjures a very specific style of power that emphasizes brightness, bounce and a fairly rigorous structure that allows little(-to-no) elbow room for wild experimentation (Avantasia aside, I suppose). As mentioned earlier in relation to Primal Fear, such an approach doesn’t always bode well when it comes time to talk about what truly blows you away at the end of the year, but sometimes life gets prickly enough that comfort and strict tradition—when done really well—ends up hitting the nail on the head in an ideal way. Is Skycrest all that different compared to the twelve Iron Savior albums that landed before it? Not really. But the record is undeniably infectious, spirited and more melodic than Michael Weikath and André Olbrich stuck in a Gibson Flying V warehouse. The songs here stick to the ribs, and you will by God feel great whenever Skycrest spins.

Style: Speed / Euro power
Location: Germany
Sample: “Souleater”
Label: AFM Records
Release date: December 4th
Band website: Iron Savior

5. Operus – Score of Nightmares

[Cover artwork: Drake Mefestta Designs]

Operus is one of two bands in the top ten this year who bring a level of theatricality to the table that’s deserving of an entirely new offshoot called… Well, probably theatrical metal. That doesn’t quite break it down enough, though, so… Extreme symphonic theatrical power metal? Sure, why not. Score of Nightmares delivers a thrill ride of dramatic showmanship that paints its narrative in a similar way that classic King Diamond does, but this is a tad darker and angrier and has bits of Savatage and Crimson Glory painting the corners. Really, there’s enough going on from song to song here that any number of influences will likely spring to mind for each listener, which essentially imparts a level of eccentricity that helps make Operus stand out. Everyone involved comes loaded for bear, but vocalist David Michael Moote (who has literal theatrical experience) and guitarist Oscar Rangel (responsible for the bulk of the songwriting) get the special nod because blurbs can only be so long and I am an absolute monster.

Style: Symphonic / theatrical power
Location: Canada
Sample: “Ruin”
Label: Pride & Joy Music
Release date: June 19th
Band website: Operus

4. Unleash the Archers – Abyss

[Cover artwork: Adam Burke]

Hello, I am an idiot. Perhaps you’re already aware of this, but in case you need further proof related to power metal, consider the fact that I have Unleash the Archer’s Abyss in my number four spot after saying this approximately three months ago:

I have been music obsessive for the better part of the last three decades plus, so one might hope that I’d have that whole “avoid snap judgement” thing down by now. Alas, here I sit, guilty as charged. In my defense, Abyss does take some getting used to (or a good bit of getting used to, in my case), and the pop element throughout the record is extremely persistent, which can be a little off-putting for someone who periodically views pop as a mortal enemy. I finally dipped back in after spending the better part of a few weeks binging everything involved in this year’s list, and then BOOM: Everything finally clicked. Yes, songs like “Through Stars,” “Legacy” and “Carry the Flame” all sound radio rock-ready, if radio rock actually still existed in 2020, but the catchiness of Abyss as a whole is herculean. The only complaint I have left today actually relates to roughly 3/4s of all of the power metal that rumbled down the chute this year: It could use a little more editing. In the end, it’s a good thing Unleash the Archers avoided Apex 2.0, and yep, I will do my very best to lose the snap judgement in 2021.

Style: Power that’s not afraid of pop
Location: Canada
Sample: “Abyss”
Label: Napalm Records
Release date: August 21st
Bandcamp: Unleash the Archers

3. Seven Spires – Emerald Seas

[Cover artwork: Junki Sakuraba]

The second band on this year’s list to bring a substantial level of theatricality to the table is Boston’s Seven Spires. Similar to Operus, this young quartet pushes a narrative that comes across like an off-Broadway extreme musical that merges epic symphonic metal with an extraordinarily dynamic vocalist. What distinguishes Seven Spires is their further commitment to magnifying the extremes—there are times throughout Emerald Seas where the music achieves classic Dimmu Borgir levels of grimness, and that harshness is offset with long stretches where the melody is as sweet and serene as a Sunday evening spent sipping hot toddies and watching snow fall. Vocalist Adrienne Cowan is an absolute powerhouse whose range is absurd enough to tame a poisonous rasp just as easily as she does angelic elegance, and guitarist Jack Kosto’s guitar work is virtuoso without clobbering you over the head with superfluous noodlery. Of all the bands on this year’s list, Seven Spires feels like the most likely candidate for “break through” in the not-too-distant future.

Style: Symphonic / theatrical (and sometimes growly) power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: Difficult to pick between “Succumb” and “Bury You”
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: February 14th
Band website: Seven Spires

2. Goldenhall – Collide

[Cover artwork: Claudio Bergamín]

The fact that a year as dreadful as 2020 decided to provide two remarkable power metal albums equally deserving of the top spot seems every bit as fortuitous as it is unjust. THERE ARE NO TIES IN HEAVY METAL, THOUGH. Both records are considerably different, too, which is testament to the off-shoot’s breadth and depth. For their part, Rhode Island’s criminally unsung heroes Goldenhall deliver what must be considered the year’s most downright powerful epic with the amazing Collide. How a group of unknowns are able to achieve something this veteran and robust as an independently released debut escapes me, but I assume it has something to do with the fact that some forgotten wilderness near their home revealed a fabled sword in an overlooked wetland that bestowed incredible strength to each of the members.

Collide roars with the power of a god lion. Endless muscular riffs, thunder drumming and frequent BLASTS of perfectly timed brass provide a titanium-plated armor from start to finish, and that symphonic element is HEAVY—like, truly heavy enough to be considered an essential factor in the album’s overall barbarian strength. Plus, vocalist Jason Shealy has one of those heroic styles reminiscent of a more operatic version of Visigoth’s Jake Rogers, and the songs here layer his delivery perfectly to provide maximum altitude and valor. A song like “Into the Infinite” is almost impossibly grand and lionhearted, so if you need to, you know, remove a tree from your yard or scooch your house over to the left a few feet for some reason, feel free to throw this song on and get the deed done with your bare hands in about five minutes. And following that tune with a cut as moving as “Soul Division?” Wow, dudes. Wow.

While it’s easiest to highlight the bombastic element of Goldenhall, there is also no shortage of melody throughout Collide, even if it feels a little understated when stacked next to the boundless OOMPH. Additionally, there are long stretches of furious blast-beating that expand the overall toughness, and not even the slower moments lack punch, thanks to the stout bass play. Pure and simple, Collide is a spectacle of glorious heroism, and where the band goes next after something this big is just… Well, who the hell knows. The sky might be the limit?

Style: Hugely epic US power
Location: U.S.A.
Sample: “Into the Infinite”
Label: Independent
Release date: September 4th
Bandcamp: Goldenhall

1. Sacred Outcry – Damned for All Time

[Cover artwork: George Apalodimas]

Without question, there are an infinite amount of cases similar to what Greece’s Sacred Outcry endured regarding their debut full-length, but very few are lucky enough to have a comparable positive outcome resulting in a triumph as significant as Damned for All Time.

The story in a nutshell: A group of likeminded individuals—in this case, George Apalodimas on bass, Dimitris Perros on guitar, Vagelis Spanakis on vocals and acoustic guitar, and Stelios Darakis on drums—assemble with a distinct shared vision, and with great perseverance, that vision eventually becomes real enough to step into a studio for the first time in order to attach a tangible, marketable aspect to the dream. Then, all hell breaks loose during the recording process. Pieces and parts don’t quite fit together, the drums get re-recorded, the guitars and bass get re-recorded to fit the newly recorded drums, the studio engineer screws up the re-recorded drums and they have to be recorded AGAIN, friction emerges, one member moves away, and the band goes on indefinite hiatus.

…And they lived happily and unsated ever after.

For a large portion of similar situations, those old recordings end up collecting dust over a great many years until wonderful labels such as Shadow Kingdom or No Remorse stumble on the master tapes and decide to push the release back into the spotlight—maybe splash up the cover artwork with something fresh and daring to really stoke the flames. For Sacred Outcry, however, the collective never fully gave up the dream, so three original members (Apalodimas / bass, Perros / guitars, Darakis / drums) gathered to record again between 2015 and 2019, with Spanakis’ original acoustic guitar passages preserved in an effort to fully merge the past and present. Orchestral flourishes were eventually mingled in, and the vision became fully realized when a fortuitous break between Beast In Black tours allowed the incredible voice of Yannis Papadopoulos to step in and bring the words behind the story to explosive life. After nearly two decades, Damned for All Time at long last became a genuine reality.

And oh what an extraordinary reality this record is. The unwavering power of early Manowar, the dark intensity of records such as Warlord’s And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun… and Queensrÿche’s The Warning, and just a touch of the misty midnight doom of Headless Cross all paint the corners here without Damned for All Time ever sounding precisely like any one of those at any given moment. The record is as epic as 2020 has been long, and even though a prevailing sense of darkness shadows any semblance of “joy” (in a Euro Power sense), there are countless moments throughout these 55 minutes where dark clouds split at the behest of conquering thunder. To put it succinctly, Damned for All Time is a tremendous triumph of towering traditional (US by way of Greece) power metal that’s 100% worthy of this year’s shining crown. Long may Sacred Outcry rule, and please don’t make us wait another two decades for the next dramatic adventure. 11/10.

Style: Epic / traditional / U.S. power with symphonic touches
Location: Greece
Sample: “Legion of the Fallen”
Label: No Remorse Records
Release date: September 25th
Band website: Sacred Outcry

———

«»

Just missed the Top 25:
• Helion Prime – Question Everything
• Vhäldemar – Straight to Hell
• Manticora – To Live to Kill to Live
• Drakarium – Acte II
• The Waymaker – The Waymaker

Considered but Ultimately Nixed for Falling Too Far Outside the Lines:
• Dexter Ward – III
• Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
• Glacier – The Passing of Time
• Grave Digger – Fields of Blood
• Vicious Rumors – Celebration Decay

Not Enough Time to Fully Assimilate:
• Cristiano Filippini’s Flames of Heaven – The Force Within
• Eternal Idol – Renaissance
• Iron Mask – Master of Masters
• Persuader – Necromancy
• Vanden Plas – The Ghost Xperiment – Illumination

2020’s Full List of 173 Competitors

(NOTE: power metal is finally discovering bandcamp (82/173), so any of the contenders with bandcamp pages will be linked below under the album title as a further service to you for further exploration):

Adamantis – Far Flung Realm
Airborn – Lizard Secrets – Part Two – Age of Wonder
Alestorm – Curse of the Crystal Coconut
Allen / Olzon – Worlds Apart
Almanac – Rush of Death
AlogiA – Semendria
Amberian Dawn – Looking for You
Angel Vengeance – Angel of Vengeance
Angelwarrior Ace – Diviner
Ani Lo. Projekt – A Time Called Forever
Anthea – Illusion
Anthenora – Mirrors and Screens
Aquaria – Alethea
Archon Angel – Fallen
Arida Vortex – Riders of Steel
Arrayan Path – The Marble Gates to Apeiron
AshBürn – You Can Not Kill What Can Never Die
Assignment – Reflections
Athlantis – 02.02.2020
Attick Demons – Daytime Stories… Nightmare Tales
Axel Rudi Pell – Sign of the Times
Bakken – This Means War
Black Fate – Ithaca
Black Knight – Road to Victory
Black Soul Horde – Land of Demise
Brothers Of Metal – Emblas Saga
Carnal Agony – Back from the Grave
Chaos Over Cosmos – The Ultimate Multiverse
Cloven Hoof – Age of Steel
Conception – State of Deception
CrimsonWind – Beyond the Gates
Cristiano Filippini’s Flames of Heaven – The Force Within
Crown of Glory – Ad Infinitum
Crystal Skull – Ancient Tales
Dakesis – Fractures
Damnation Angels – Fiber of Our Being
Domination Black – Judgement IV
Dangerous Project – Cosmic Vision
Dark Forest – Oak, Ash & Thorn
Dark Sarah – Grim
DarkTribe – Voici L’Homme
Death Dealer – Conquered Lands
Demons & Wizards – III
DGM – Tragic Separation
Dimitry Pavlosky’s Powersquad – Mysterizer
Divine Weep – The Omega Man
Dragonrider – Scepter of Domination
Drakarium – Acte II
Dynazty – The Dark Delight
Dyscordia – Delete / Rewrite
Eternal Idol – Renaissance
Everlore – Everlore
Exlibris – Shadowrise
Fairyland – Osyrhianta
Falconer – From a Dying Ember
Fervent – Rebirth
Firewind – Firewind
Fortress Under Siege – Atlantis
Fraise – The Fifth Sun
Fraser Edwards – The Architect
Freaks and Clowns – Justice Elite
From the Depth – Moments
Ghost Avenue – Even Angels Fail
Glory Force – The Restoration of Erathia
Goblins Blade – Of Angels and Snakes
Goldenhall – Collide
Gomorra – Divine Judgement
Grand Finale – Quantum Moment
Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame
Helion Prime – Question Everything
Hittman – Destroy All Humans
Hrom – Legends of Powerheart: Part II
Hulkoff – Pansarfolk
Ignition – Call of the Sirens
Ignitor – The Golden Age of Black Magick
Ilium – Carcinogeist
Imperivm – Holy War
In Spades – Vivid Horizon
Invictus – Eden
Ironflame – Blood Red Victory
Iron Angel – Emerald Eyes
Iron Mask – Master of Masters
Iron Savior – Skycrest
Iternia – Between Good and Evil
Jaded Heart – Stand Your Ground
Judicator – Let there Be Nothing
Kenziner – Phoenix
Leaves Eyes – The Last Viking
Legendire – Sunchasers
The Lightbringer of Sweden – Rise of the Beast
Lonewolf – Division Hades
Lord of Light – Morningstar
Lords of Black – Alchemy of Souls, Pt. 1
Lost Legacy – In the Name of Freedom
Lovebites – Electric Pentagram
Lucid Dreaming – The Chronicles Pt. III
Lunatic Power – The Great Light
Mad Hatter – Pieces of Reality
Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall – We Are the Night
Manticora – To Live to Kill to Live
March In Arms – Pulse of the Daring
Mean Streak – Eye of the Storm
Medjay – Sandstorm
Melodius Deite – Elysium
Memories of Old – The Zeramin Game
Mentalist – Freedom of Speech
Mike Lepond’s Silent Assassins – Whore of Babylon
Moonlight Haze – Lunaris
Moravius – Wind from Silesian Land
Mystic Prophecy – Metal Division
Navighator – Navighator
Nightfear – Apocalypse
Nightmare – Aeternam
Nightwish – Human. :II: Nature.
Nils Patrick Johansson – The Great Conspiracy
Niviane – The Ruthless Divine
Oblivion Myth – In Your Arms
Operus – Score of Nightmares
Oracle – Sign of the Hourglass
Paralydium – Worlds Beyond
Parsifal – Mountain King
Perpetual Rage – Flames from Below
Persuader – Necromancy
Poltergeist – Feather of Truth
Primal Fear – Metal Commando
Pyramaze – Epitaph
Rage – Wings of Rage
Ross the Boss – Born of Fire
Sacred Outcry – Damned for All Time
Season of Dreams – My Shelter
Selenseas – The Outer Limits
Seraphic – Chrysalis
Serenity – The Last Knight
Serious Black – Suite 226
Seven Spires – Emerald Seas
Seventh Sign from Heaven – The Woman and the Dragon
Shadowkiller – Dark Awakening
Shadowquest – Gallows of Eden
Shadow Tribe – Reality Unveiled
Shining Black – Shining Black
Sinner’s Blood – The Mirror Star
Skeletoon – Nemesis
Solitary Sabred – By Fire and Brimstone
Sorcerer – Dire Prophecy
Sorceress of Sin – Mirrored Revenge
Spellmaster – Unearthed Arcana
The Spectre Beneath – The New Identity of Sidney Stone
Starblind – Black Bubbling Ooze
StarBynary – Divina Commedia: Paradiso
Stargazery – Constellation
Stormzone – Ignite the Machine
Tears of Tragedy – Trinity
Temperance – Of Jupiter and Moons
Terra Atlantica – Age of Steam
Tidal Dreams – Access Denied
Timescale – Axiom
Trick Or Treat – The Legend of the XII Saints
Tungsten – Tundra
Ultimatium – Virtuality
The Unity – Pride
Unleash the Archers – Abyss
Vanden Plas – The Ghost Experiment – Illumination
Vanishing Point – Dead Elysium
Veonity – Sorrows
Veritas – Threads of Fatality
Vhaldemar – Straight to Hell
Victorious – Rise from the Flames
Victorius – Space Ninjas from Hell
Vision of Choice – Mistress of the Gods
Warkings – Revenge
Waterland – Freedom
The Waymaker – The Waymaker
Winter Tales – The Ghost of Sirol
Winter’s Verge – The Ballad of James Tig

The post We Have The Power – The Top 25 Power Metal (And Power-Related) Albums Of 2020 appeared first on Last Rites.

“But the EP is the shorter format!” you say? And historically, that would be correct. However, many bands utilize the EP to express a different vision from that of their main albums, even if it runs far longer than the format traditionally allows. Last year, Spectral Lore’s beautiful Gnosis made our list, despite topping 40 minutes. This year, a full 40 percent of our top 10 list tops the 30 minute mark (making each of them longer than Reign in Blood), to say nothing of the hour-plus “EPs” from Moonsorrow and Reverend Bizarre from years past.

Does this destroy any notions of what makes an EP and what makes an album? In the digital age, when releases can be as long or short as the artist desires, is it stupid to even make the distinction between the two? Do bands only make said distinction so that they can enter releases on Metal Archives? Do we here at Last Rites only make a separate “Top EPs” list so that we can conveniently highlight even more great music during our totally indulgent list season?

The answers to those questions are: maybe, probably, possibly, and absolutely. Many bands obviously still see worth in making the distinction for any number of the aforementioned reasons, and the continued quality of such releases made 2016 possibly even stronger for the format than was 2015. It is no longer The Year of the EP, but maybe The Era of the EP. Silly distinction or not, the Extended Play still brings heaps of musical metal joy to our ears, whether it be some glorious, different vision or simply a quick splatter of violence.

Here are our favorites from 2016. Add yours in the comments, and as always, fire away with arguments.

“Three Devils Dance is a dense, difficult listen, but the British four-piece uses a judicious amount of early Slayer squealing guitarisms and helpfully legible drum fills and accents to ensure that the listener is never quite lost in the midst of the maelstrom. After all, what good is a Boschian hellscape if you can’t get a clear picture of the torments that await you?” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Invictus Productions, April 30th
Bandcamp

“On debut EP Demon, Sweden’s Maligner call back to the golden era of death/thrash, delivering a sound that is equal parts Scream Bloody Gore, No More Color, and Darkness Descends. Sometimes the riffs get ever-so techy in their hooks, and sometimes the band drives forward with maximum brutality (the aptly-named ‘Juggernaut’), but through all things, Maligner sees little point in spending even one second on introspection or progressive flourishes. A bit more Bushwacker mosh here, an extra dose of blinding speed there, and always with an intent as malicious as those gruff, beefy vocals. Irresistible thrashing madness.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Unspeakable Axe, December 1st
Bandcamp

“I’m not sure if the metal world as a whole was clamoring for more early Death worship, but I was. Scream Bloody Gore is my favorite Death album, because it is, without a doubt, the most fun of the bunch. It’s brutal, gore-spattered fun, but fun nonetheless… …And where Savage Land had a few hints of the more technical material of Death’s later work, Dimensions of Horror has almost none. This EP leans more on thrashy ferocity to get the job done, as evidenced by the burning opener ‘Forces of Death’ and, well, pretty much everything else that follows.” [JEREMY MORSE]

Released: Relapse, May 20th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

“Running Out of Skin marks Pyrrhon’s third EP since they started their twisted death voyage in 2009, coming in at a very dense 16 minutes and consisting of one “standard” Pyrrhon track, two improvised songs, and a cover of Death’s ‘Crystal Mountain.’

As they continue to push the boundaries of their maternal death metal sound, Pyrrhon isn’t afraid to let their jams take them wherever they will. The studio improvisations on this EP show this quality more than any other Pyrrhon release, and how much their music functions in an avant-garde jazz frame of mind. Chaotic, progressive content, with heavy riffs, mind-mending schizoid (bass) guitar and vocals that at moments resemble Anaal Nathrakh’s Dave Hunt at his best, but within a free jazz, improvisational framework.

Furthermore, if you isolate the guitar or bass guitar on ‘Motivational Speaker II,’ you could easily include it Miles Davis’ Agartha or some of the more “out there” John Zorn releases. (That is a compliment if I’ve ever written one.) And the cover of ‘Crystal Mountain’ gives so much freshness to a beloved song that it isn’t until you’ve heard it that you realize how much you needed Pyrrhon to cover it. Thumbs up fellas. Keep it the fuck up.” [MIRE TRAVAR]

Released: PRC, March 20th
Bandcamp

“…what Grave Miasma does so well: balance. While at times it’s the band powering ahead as on all cylinders, their default mode is a balanced approach where one instrumental section takes the lead while the others play a supportive role. Thus, Grave Miasma come across as a polished, skilled band rather than a group attempting to produce chaotic, evil sounds.” [MANNY-O-WAR]

Released: Sepulchral Voice, May 6th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

“As Dawnbringer continues playing spiritual counterpoint to High Spirits’ celebration of Life, XX is pointedly ‘Dedicated to Death.’ The 5 track, 20 minute EP’s opener is a natural extension of Night of the Hammer’s final track. Both are brief, slow, poignant responses to Death, first as it comes down, then as an emotional response to it, and set the stage for Dawnbringer’s most concertedly epic offering yet. Dark, intense and deep, XX maintains the project’s ties to Metal’s glory days with classic riffs, evocative soloing and durable melodies, most notably in the haunting chorus of ‘Into the Maze’ and the chanted refrains of ‘North by North,’ a song that reflects both sadness and indisputable strength. Fitting then, as the ripping closer, ‘The End of the Beginning,’ reminds us that sometimes even Death can’t keep a good man down.” [LONE WATIE]

Released: Self-released, February 23rd
Bandcamp

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” Barring those awkward moments where you just know the guy forgot the keys to the Camaro back in the cabin, what we can take away from a statement such as this is that if you’re patient, well-informed and determined, confidently walking the walk is a snap. England’s Solstice are, without question, the crowned kings of taking their time to get to a long ago entrenched destination. They haven’t exactly been dormant since their last epic doom showpiece, 1998’s New Dark Age, but they’ve been taking it…….slow. Some would have you believe that this is due, at least in part, to the challenges of working with headmaster R.M. Walker (guitars/songwriting since day one), which very well might be the case if you’re willing to investigate the noticeable clue that is “twenty-three ex-members” attached to the band’s long history. But this ain’t no gat-danged TMZ report, and I don’t give two plops from a goose about gossip as long as the goods are great.

Thankfully, the goods are great. Actually, things are greater now than they’ve ever been, credit due vocalist Paul Kearns, who joined the ranks around 2011. The music of Solstice has never faltered, not even a single step, thanks to Walker’s slow-walking, but Kearns finally adds the perfectly epic voice to match the noble gallop. The band will (they by-god WILL) release a new full-length next year under the equally noble flag of Dark Descent, and if this year’s To Sol a Thane EP is any indication of what’s to come, it’s going to be an absolute skull-crusher for anyone interested in arrogant HEAVY METAL worthy of trampling foes under hoof. To put it simply, To Sol a Thane does more with three songs and 24-minutes than most bands do with a double-disc. [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: White Horse, May 29th
Bandcamp

“Always a promising band, these German purveyors of traditional doom have never ascended the pinnacle of their worth. Often falling a tad short due to poor production, Miles To Take gives Cross Vault the chance to up its epic game and reach towards such hallowed acts as Primordial with two tracks of pristinely produced, vocally dominant, and compositionally sound doom metal that is sure to compete for spots atop year end EP lists.” [MANNY-O-WAR]

Released: Iron Bonehead, November 18th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

“There’s obviously no shortage of 80s metal bands still attempting to kick up dust out there, but few of them manage to crank up the intensity as the years progress with results truly worthy of soiling your britches over. Voivod is one of those bands. Post Society is noisy, proggy, thrashy and as Voivital as ever, proving without a shadow of a doubt that there’s still tons and tonnes of tread left on this tank.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Earache, May 6th
Last Rites review
Soundcloud

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this is a greater achievement than the entireties of either Obscura or Colored Sands, because I don’t need too. All are such monumental, unique works of music that they stand strongly on their own. Pleiades’ Dust is simultaneously Lemay’s ‘Crimson’ and his ‘Echoes,’ and yet it is neither of those things, coming from a source that is as singularly inspired as any artist can realistically be. As a result, it is a staggering accomplishment for Lemay, for Gorguts, and for music.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Season of Mist, May 13th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

Stay tuned, we’re just getting started with the 2016 list-o-rama.

The post Last Rites’ Top EPs Of 2016 – The Best Briefly Bashing Bonanzas appeared first on Last Rites.

Kicking things off with the theme to “Welcome Back Kotter” might seem strange, but there’s a warmth and familiarity in the tune that’s fitting as an opener to this most hallowed season. No, not the Christmas season, little Timmy from across the street, LIST season. So yeah, welcome back. Welcome back to list season. Maybe not “the same old place that you laughed about,” but quite possibly the same old time of year that you’ve already seen a handful of no-gooders complaining about. You know who they are – the list haters who use social media outlets in December to denounce this sacred tradition. Who are these fiends? WHO? And more importantly, WHY do they hate? It’s likely the same problem that plagues essentially everything in the 21st century: there’s just too much of it. Too many lists from too many places trying to convince you that they’re more right about too many great albums. And we all want to be just a little different from the next joint. Better, somehow righter and unique. Who knows, maybe the future will eventually feature a site that picks their champion based on which record a particularly cute kitty chooses to sniff and playfully roll around. So hails in advance, Sargeant Sniffles, the kitty with the most brutally wise whiskers this side of Mt. Blashyrkh.

Thankfully (and regretfully, in some cases), Last Rites remains steadfastly oldschool. Some of us even manage to take it to the next level by actually being old, so don’t expect a lot of new tricks up our sleeves. We’re still in the business of being impressed by riffs, and we still believe in the power of the LIST. Can we get a hallelujah, brothers and sisters.

Similar to last year, we’re starting things off with a salute to the artists who provide boundless reward to those of us who aren’t ashamed to admit that we love judging books by their cover. To quote our dear old friend Pabs Picasso, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. I mean, have you seen the cover for Altars of Madness?”

Here are a handful of our favorite album covers from this year, and why we think they’re so great. We’d love to know what some of your favorites are in the comments below. Or, you know, just follow protocol and hurl insults at us for the ones we picked.

Artist: Not sure. Probably the band.

If there were a lifetime achievement award for conceptual album artwork, it would have to be named after Graf Orlock. In the past, this Los Angeles-based grindcore/hardcore collective has released a science-fiction themed album wrapped in an Alien facehugger, a split with Greyskull that came packaged in an actual backpack, and the Doombox, an LP / CD combo that folds out from a normal 12” sleeve into a cardboard boombox. Each of Graf Orlock’s previous albums has been based around films, but Crime Traveler takes that concept one step further – it’s based around an original film, the tale of a time-traveling Canadian who returns to the past to assassinate certain politicians, and it’s packaged in a 12-page newspaper with articles written to reflect the album’s storyline. Now, I must concede that I don’t actually own the physical product, so I can’t vouch for its overall quality, but in concept alone, it transcends average packaging in that patented Graf Orlock manner. (I do have the Doombox, and it’s pretty amazing, especially the snarky “user manual,” which is really the liner notes.) Now if only the band’s pretty-standard grindcore exhibited the same ridiculous creativity…

Artist: Dan Seagrave – http://www.danseagrave.com/

If you’ve been a fan of death metal for at least ten minutes, you probably know this man’s art. He’s done over 100 album covers over the course of the last 25+ years, and we still get excited at the opportunity to scope the absurdity of his creativity whenever something new pops onto the radar. That’s rather uncommon in a realm where most are all too familiar with the perception of artist over-saturation. The man has always had a true gift of lavishly painting the music’s picture, for certain. And if you’re an enterprising young band with something to say, and you have a true eagerness to crack the absolutely ENDLESS ocean of competitors, you get Dan Seagrave to invest in your discovery. Case in point, Chicago’s world exploring, new life and new civilization seeking, boldly going where a number of bands have gone before death metal travelers Nucleus and their debut full-length, Sentient.

Seagrave’s interpretation of the painting: “[It] encapsulates the concept of life and death on a cosmic level. Otherworldly elemental beings give birth to twin-packaged Sarcophagi – each carrying a couple deceased to their astronautical destiny. Atomically driven into particles of the unknown.”

10-4, Dan. That’s precisely what I was thinking when I first saw it.

Anyway, it’s an amazing slab of art that prompted me to pick up the shirt/CD bundle from Unspeakable Axe Records (green shirt alert!!), and that hasn’t happened in quite some time. Oh, and the album just so happens to smoke as well.

Artist: Max Winter – http://www.teratogen.at/

I briefly spoke about my love for this cover in my review of In The Woods… 2016 release Pure. For starters, that logo font (also designed by Max) is badass. It’s super organic and just creepy enough to let you know that the band doesn’t fuck around. And, the soup! It’s the cosmos. In a fucking bowl. And that sweet old man, age spots and all, is about to gobble that shit up. We all know that old people love soup, but what we didn’t know is that old people love to eat galaxies. So put galaxies in soup form and old people line the fuck up. I don’t know a lot about flowers, but what I assume is a Tulip is a nice touch. You gotta respect an old man that sits down to a meal with fresh flowers and a skull. I assume the skull belongs to his dead wife. She probably made him great soup. The attention to detail is also admirable. The floor appears to be straight out of Tron, while it’s backed by a very dense forest full of exceptionally thin trees. In a final touch, the artist chose to put spinning planets and science lines around the old man’s head. A brilliant touch. We will never know if the planets really do revolve around this God-like figure, or if that’s merely a cartoon-like expression of the inside of his mind. Regardless, In The Woods… provided an endlessly thought-provoking cover that forced questioning and introspection as well as a terrific accompaniment to their exceptional album Pure.

Artist: Alexander von Wieding – http://www.zeichentier.com/

Chris Black of High Spirits has a special knack for getting in touch with both the greatest of rock and roll escapism and the purest of human experiences: love, need, loss, friendship, adventure. Motivator, like all High Spirits releases, hits all of those notes in a package loaded with riffs, solos, and simple, infectious melodies tailor made for the live singalong. More than anything, High Spirits captures a moment and holds onto it.

In translating these themes for the cover art of Motivator, German artist Alexander von Wieding absolutely nailed it; colors, scene, and logo are all absolutely perfect. Even the runway lighting plays a part beyond its its simple perspective compositional job, as it appears to be pulsating along to the music within. The plane is taking off in a colorful urban dusk, either at the end of some very real life experience or at the the beginning of some new adventure. Is it loss and longing or the promise of an unknown future? Likely all of these things and far more. As with High Spirits’ music, the cover art represents these very tactile, relatable realities and a sense of fantasy, as the city in the background is like none in the modern world. And somewhere within that believably futurist city are surely the neon-lit highways and speeding convertibles with which I will always relate this irresistible band.

Artist: Zbigniew Bielak – https://www.behance.net/zbigniewbielak

2016 was a fantastic year for artwork, with many an inspiring design vying for top spot. The decision to write about Gorguts was primarily one part bias (I’m Canadian), and one part taste (I’m a sucker for pen and ink technical drawing). The artwork for the Pleiades’ Dust was done by Polish artist Zbigniew Bielak, who has composed equally compelling illustrations for the likes of Ghost, Watain, and Mayhem. The design is impressive for a few reasons. Firstly, the level of detail is insane. This piece of artwork could quickly fall apart due to the limitations of pen and ink, but the intent of the image jumps off the cover with ease. The illustration succeeds in conveying, in exquisite detail, the 13th-century sacking of the House of Wisdom by the Mongols. From the technical drawings and formulae inscribed on the shredded parchments near the base to the mounted Mongol archers along the margins, to the hands of the astronomical clock that forms the focal point, Bielak’s illustration embodies the record’s determined criticism of anti-intellectualism and is truly a sight to behold.

Artist: Zdzislaw Beksinski – http://culture.pl/en/article/the-cursed-paintings-of-zdzislaw-beksinski

What is this building I am seeing? Is this yet another dark, cliché black metal art that some band threw together for their album? No, wait, it just seems sort of familiar, like I’ve seen it before, but there’s something haunting about it, there’s mastery in it.

These were the thoughts I was thinking when I first saw Wode’s cover for their self-titled debut, and upon investigation, my feeling of familiarity came from the cover being a painting by one of my favorite artists, Zdzislaw Beksinski. If you also find it familiar, but are not acquainted with the artist’s work, you may have seen his art on another black metal cover, that of Leviathan’s Verräter. Needless to say, Beksinski has been recognized by metal musicians as an artist suitable for expressing their music visually, as Beksinski is renowned for his dystopian, surreal paintings. In this particular work, we see the artist’s often-used impressionistic style in a dark, apocalyptic context. The grandiose house that stands as the centerpiece of the work calls upon the “Fall of the Usher House”; it’s a cathedral on the other side, decaying, waiting decrepitly for you to enter. Everything about it refers to a dream you’ve had, to that collective primordial image engraved in your brain with no known origin or source. It’s just there, familiarly standing on the other side of your consciousness. Does the painting accurately represent Wode’s music? Perhaps, but the choice of Beksinski shows the band’s fine artistic sensibility as well as ambition to craft complex, intelligent metal.

Artist: Thorny Thoughts Artwork/Cynthia Meier-Dusol – http://thornythoughts.com/

Three items that make up something like a mirror-universe syllogism:

1. Empty Space Meditation is the perfect name for the new Urfaust album.
2. The cover art for Empty Space Meditation seems to have very little to do with the title.
3. The cover art is nevertheless perfect for the album.

The striking artwork for Empty Space Meditation – from relative newcomer Thorny Thoughts Artwork (nee Cynthia Meier-Dusol), who also did the art for Urfaust’s 2015 EP Apparitions – gives an immediate impression of aquatic themes, particularly in how the circular framing and above-/below-water ratios call to mind Paul Romano’s cover for Mastodon’s Leviathan. But stare at it a little more deeply, particularly while listening to the beautifully hypnotic album it supports, and things aren’t quite so easy. The deep purple and teal of the waves pull the image’s weight downwards, but the vapors that swirl and rise – off the water, off the waves, off the gaunt Neptunian figure – draw the eye upward into the undefined cosmic vortex. The journey of Empty Space Meditation does the same, in its way, with the sparse ambient opening and synth-backed black metal of its first two songs painting a ribbon of distant stars, while the pounding, repetitive, gorgeously atmospheric doom rock of the album’s midsection pull the listener back down to earth, and below. The ambiguity of the cover, like the ambiguity of the music, suggests that all space – inner, under, outer, beyond – is empty, and a meditation that churns in one dimension has its own wisdom to teach about all other dimensions.

UP NEXT:
Our favorite EPs of 2016 gets published Wednesday. See you then.

The post Last Rites’ Favorite Album Artwork Of 2016 – Welcome To List Season… appeared first on Last Rites.

Loads of dark times in 2015, which led me to seek out more levity through music. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for some), that meant spending more time than ever straying from the mostly gruesome embrace of Mother Metal and into the arms of other genres. But let’s not kid around, less metal for me still managed to deliver approximately 40 potential records to battle out for the top 20 spots, and three of those contain some of the most bleak & shadowy notes I’ve heard in quite some time. But those truly dark records were used more sparingly, and I made sure to always flank them by speed/power metal, old standbys and a billion episodes of various Star Trek shows.

One thing for certain, I couldn’t take much black metal in 2015. I trust my colleagues, friends and readers that there was enough good stuff to choose from, but I simply didn’t have the fortitude to withstand much of the ski-masked “no lives matter” metal this year because there was enough real world hopelessness cropping up around every corner, and that’s pretty much that.

Before jumping in, I’d like to take a quick moment and thank all those who continue to read my words and give me feedback – positive and negative. Here’s to a 2016 that allows a little more happiness into everyone’s lives. If you want it and are willing to work for it, you most assuredly deserve it. And if it’s pure negativity that gets your rocks off, I guess here’s to hoping you fall down an escalator with a bag of grenades in your arms.

Into the reactor…

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

19. Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
• Old dogs don’t really need new tricks if they’re the best at the tricks they do.
• Band website

18. Obsequiae – Aria of Vernal Tombs
• Like a medieval version of Blood Ritual-era Samael, plus a stack of ridiculously engaging interludes that forced me to realize I was born a thousand years too late.
• Bandcamp

17. Sarpanitum – Blessed Be My Brothers
• I normally run when I hear triggered drums. This, however, does not make me run. Quite the contrary, actually. Must be the 34,509,834,950 lovely leads.
• Bandcamp

16. Death Karma – The History of Death and Burial Rituals Pt. 1
• Sure, murky death metal has been done a thousand times over, but Death Karma’s method of murk as an ode to actual death and burial rituals from various cultures is original and intriguing.
• Bandcamp

15. Cruciamentum – Charnel Passages
• Brutal death metal minus the bullshit.
• Bandcamp

14. Chaos Echoes – Transient
• I couldn’t get through this record during my initial run-throughs. Oftentimes, patience is not only a virtue, it’s the key to maximum gratification. Curious, mesmeric and morbidly glorious.
• Bandcamp

13. He Whose Ox Is Gored – The Camel, The Lion, The Child
• Another one of those records I thought was destined to land too far outside my typical wheelhouse. Life tip: Wheelhouses are for chumps.
• Bandcamp

12. Terminus – The Reaper’s Spiral
• An extremely promising debut of traditional, walloping heavy metal with an emphasis on walloping. I fully expect album #2 to land inside a future Top 10.
• Bandcamp

11. Symphony X – The Underworld
• Am I insane for loving this record? Why hasn’t anyone else talked about it? The Underworld is worth it for the brilliant hooks and Michael Romeo’s lead guitar work alone. I know it’s a bit corny to admit how much I love a song like “Without You,” but I can’t help myself.
• Band website

TOP TEN OF 2015:

10. Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls

I really don’t care if picking a new Iron Maiden record as a top tenner earmarks me as an old man. Firstly, I probably am older than you, and secondly, I happen to be on the side of the fence that believes this band is still releasing relevant music in the modern age of heavy metal, and this record is certainly no exception.

Whether or not The Book of Souls maintains momentum well into the future obviously remains to be seen. I can tell you that a number of Iron Maiden’s post 2000 records continue to persevere, and even if only half of this admittedly stretched 92-minutes ends up having serious legs, that’s still a full record. Plus, it doesn’t take an ear scientist to hear that a lot of this material is once again geared to please from the stage, and I intend on taking advantage of that fact in the first part of 2016. I’m certain the visual spectacle will match the musical theatricality throughout The Book of Souls, and I could not be more excited to watch it all unfold with friends.

Released: Parlophone Records, September 4th
Band website

9. Bell Witch – Four Phantoms

What I initially thought was missing from 2015 was a sloooow, bruising, agonizingly heartbroken funeral doom record that could make a guy like me feel as if I’d just watched ten Old Yellers meet their maker behind a horrifying woodshed, then I remembered that Bell Witch dropped something new way back in April that I hadn’t fully committed to yet. As a result of that misguided error, I spent the better part of two weeks obsessing over this thing and nearly landed myself a one-way ticket to Sadsacksville on a permanent basis. Four Phantoms is a fairly difficult record to digest because of the length of the songs and due to the effectiveness and affectiveness of its overall misery, but it’s very rewarding once the listener begins to resonate on that weirdly zen level of despair the fellers must have attained (to the tenth power) while crafting it. Exquisite agony.

Released: Profound Lore Records, April 28th
Bandcamp

8. Kowloon Walled City – Grievances

Being broadsided by an album is obviously fun as hell, but being broadsided by an album from a band you previously had zero experience with is particularly gratifying. Such was the case for yours truly and Kowloon Walled City’s third full-length, Grievances. I’m willing to admit that I made an early snap judgement to let their material pass unnoticed based on the fact that folks mostly parked them under a hardcore/sludge umbrella. Despite not having any particular issue with such a hybrid, it’s not something I find myself pursuing very often. Then I magically found myself falling into a nostalgia that involved re-living days when many of my friends were pushing the whole Revelation/AmRep/Alternative Tentacles scene and this record found its way into my ears as a logical, modern extension. Before long, I was completely hooked. While Grievances certainly parades a number of those hardcore/noise rock elements (the band brilliantly refers to their genre as “short hair”), it also flashes an innate doominess that I find totally lovable.

Released: Neurot Recordings, October 9th
Bandcamp

7. Vastum – Hole Below

“Death metal’s most successful interpretation has always boiled down to one fundamental ingredient: Brutality.”

I said that. I said that for a completely different review for a different death metal band, but it still rings truer than true for Vastum’s amazing Hole Below. Slap this ghastly pig on the ol’ turntable and inch the volume up to 10 and you’ll quickly experience those speakers hurling cinderblocks directly into your chest. Hole Below is as heavy as an elephant tea-bagging a kitten, and at times, it seems just as gross. But not in an all-too-obvious porno-grind kind of way. Poetic gross. Esoteric gross. Like some grim death metal version of Georges Bataille, but not as French. Who the hell knows. Putrid bards with 100-ton guitars hellbent on pulverizing you into lint.

Released: 20 Buck Spin, November 6th
Bandcamp

6. Tau Cross – Tau Cross

Without question, the key element behind my love of Tau Cross’s debut stems from the fact that my history with vocalist Rob Miller has been lasting and valuable; I find his intensity and expression positively invigorating. His gravelly snarl was as crucial to the abiding aggression of Amebix as it is with this latest endeavor, and it really hasn’t lost an ounce of its abrasiveness, despite howling like this on and off again for the better part of the last 30 years. The music that backs him isn’t terribly complex, nor does it need to be; it serves the dutiful purpose of awakening the deep-rooted crust punk/thrash from Rob’s past, but with added bits of post/folk/rock that works beautifully within the overall design.

Released: Relapse Records, May 15th
Bandcamp

5. Blazon Stone – No Sign of Glory

Stormspell Records had a pretty great 2015, thanks in a large part to the exceptional (and prolific) talents of Sweden’s Cederick Forsberg. If that name isn’t familiar to you, then you probably don’t have a thumb on the pulse of the current throw-back heavy/power/speed metal scene. Forsberg’s flair is interwoven within Blazon Stone, Breitenhold, Cloven Altar, Lector, Mortyr and Rocka Rollas (likely his most familiar outlet), and four of those bands released new material on Stormspell in 2015. What made No Sign of Glory stand out, however, is its perfect amalgam of rawness, melody and insanely infectious songcrafting that’s strengthened even further by the strangely addictive, gritty rasp of Georgy Peichev. Everything about this band and album screams early Running Wild (including their name), and the joy that obviously went into making this record radiates from every note on No Sign of Glory.

Released: Stormspell Records, September 15th
Bandcamp

4. VHOL – Deeper Than Sky

I loved VHOL’s debut enough that it landed as my #6 album of 2013. Deeper Than Sky is better than that record in every regard, which is precisely the optimal result one would hope to hear after a new band is granted more time to further coalesce. The wealth of influence from each members’ proven track record and their assorted listening proclivities are on full display here, and their collective decision to release an album that bucks metal’s current “Bleaker Than Thou” slant in favor of something invigorating and UPLIFTING not only helps Deeper Than Sky stand out, it makes it indispensable during an age in which horror looms around seemingly every corner.

Released: Profound Lore Records, October 23rd
Bandcamp

3. Malokarpatan – Stridžie dni

“Folklore, Witchcraft, Drunkenness, National Pride” – No, that’s not an okcupid “I Am Really Good At” list from some Russian black metaller, it’s the lyrical themes explored by Slovakia’s wonderfully batty Malokarpatan. And before you get your drawers in a wicked twist, it ain’t that kind of national pride – this record’s lyrics read like a Slovakian festival pamphlet written by a bombed goblin.

The three inebriates that make up Malokarpatan have concocted a spicy brew that mixes equal parts Venom, Master’s Hammer and Negative Plane, and they weave the formula through nine tales that highlight many of the delightfully gruesome myths and lore from their native land. If you can’t get down with songs that translate into “What the Deuce Did that Old Hideous Hag Pour Into My Cup” and “About the One Who Obscured His Mind with Drinking and Ended Up Having to Spend the Night Inside the Pigsty,” then you and I should amicably part ways right now. Plus, there’s just enough elegance and melody fused to the overall brawl to add a perfect pinch of wistfulness to the trip.

Released: Independent, September 13th
Bandcamp

2. Crypt Sermon – Out of the Garden

A long time ago, unbeknownst to me, I gave a fairly embarrassing show to a handful of people after falling into my one billionth trance while cranking and singing along to Candlemass’s “Under the Oak” in my car in what I thought was a mostly abandoned part of Oakland, California. That tiny audience applauded my attempt to belt out those epic, emotive lyrics out of the goodness of their hearts, but I knew better. Oh, I knew better. I am fairly certain the wonderful debut full-length from Philadelphia’s Crypt Sermon will eventually find me in a very similar position in the not-too-distant future, because Out of the Garden achieves that classic “epic doom at its most epic” feel in the same way the masters did 25+ years ago. If you don’t find yourself eventually singing along to a tune like “Into the Holy of Holies” at the top of your lungs, you just might be a deplorable human being in need of a rude flogging. Totally essential epic, galloping HEAVY doom.

Released: Dark Descent Records, February 24th
Bandcamp

1. Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud

I was pretty overpowered by how hard Under the Red Cloud hit me. Not because I’d lost faith in Amorphis – they’re a band I’ve loved and followed since the day I was first blown away by Tales from the Thousand Lakes. It’s just that I’d gotten strangely used to simply enjoying their modern output, not loving it. As I mentioned in my review, “one person’s consistency is another person’s predictability,” and predictability is a dangerous thing when a band shows an over-reliance on the same steadfast elements from one record to the next to the next to the next. Under the Red Cloud continues to flash the fundamental details that made much of Amorphis’s modern output good, but a renewed vigor also entered the picture, perhaps from playing Tales in its entirety at MDF, or maybe because the band collectively switched to a more comfortable boxer-brief. Who the hell knows. Who the hell cares, as long as it happened. This record is the most natural follow-up to the widely and wildly hailed Elegy, and it is absolutely the metal release I listened to the most in 2015. I suppose it just made me feel really, really good while listening to it, and that’s a great and lucky thing to have in your life.

Released: Nuclear Blast Records, September 4th
Band website

TOP EP OF 2015:

Blood Incantation – Interdimensional Extinction
Released: Dark Descent Records August 29th
• First of all, a tip of my hat to Dark Descent for continuing to highlight and release some of the most promising bands in extreme metal. Every year there’s a pretty damn ferocious battle between high-quality underground labels, but the edge goes to DD for the most consistent collection of head pulverizers in 2015. Adversarial, Tyranny, Grave Ritual and Crypt Sermon all killed me, but Blood Incantation is the band that fills me with the most impish glee. Interdimensional Extinction is technical death metal without sounding like it was stamped out of a soulless Borg factory, and I wish more bands would follow that path. Remember Timeghoul? Yeah, Blood Incantation does. Can’t wait for the full-length.

TOP 10 NON-METAL ALBUMS OF 2015:

10. John Luther Adams – The Wind in High Places
• Composer JLA lands two releases in 2015, one that sounds like the preamble to a Klingon war (also recommended), and this stretch of floating euphoria.
• Artist website

9. Galley Beggar – Silence & Tears
• One of the finest trips into moody folk rock I’ve heard in years.
• Band website

8. K-X-P – III Part 1
• Finnish ambient/electronic space krautrock with a techno edge. Whut?
• Bandcamp

7. Chris Potter – Imaginary Cities
• This record sounds like a soundtrack to an 80s movie set in New York, and ECM Records is my favorite jazz label right now.
• Artist website

6. Terrible Feelings – Tremors
• Post pop? Goth punk? I don’t know. If the opener “Cold Eyes” doesn’t hook you, you’re awful.
• Bandcamp

5. Leila Abdul-Rauf – Insomnia
• Yes, this is the same woman who is in Vastum and Hammers of Misfortune. Insomnia is a chill, foggy, comforting paradise.
• Bandcamp

4. C H R I S T – T O W E R
• A perfect soundtrack to a freezing, Norwegian murder mystery.
• Bandcamp

3. Christian Scott – Stretch Music
• Some have described trumpeter Christian Scott’s style as “jazz meets indie-rock,” which I suppose makes sense. Genre-bending modern jazz that rules.
• Artist website

2. John Carpenter – Lost Themes
• A perfect soundtrack to being a bad-ass in slow motion.
• Artist website

1. New Order – Music Complete
• I suppose there are fans of New Order who aren’t wild about their modern output, but I sure as hell ain’t one of them.
• Band website

The post Captain’s Best of 2015: Out Of The Dark… Into The Light appeared first on Last Rites.

Similar to previous campaigns, we locked ourselves in a room for a month with nothing but stacks and stacks and STACKS of promos, gallons of mead and ale, CapriSuns (with silly straws), and approximately 400 boxes of Samoas from our local chapter of The Girl Scouts. The following list of champions is what managed to survive the tournament. Again, if your favorite(s) is/are missing, it’s probably because we sabotaged their melee with nerf lances and balsa polearms. Blame the unscrupulous intern we brought in from The Vale of Cheatinborough.

As always, we would love to see how our readers’ lists stack up against ours, and we encourage you to throw glorifications and insults alike in the comments below. Individual staff lists will begin on Monday, December 14th.

We would also like to extend a very earnest thank you to everyone who reads our work, participates through comments, runs with our Facebook pack, or chases us on the Twitter. We sincerely hope 2015 was as good to you as humanly possible, and we look forward to marching into 2016 at your side.

– The Last Rites Crew

Awake the iron!

“If I had to sell you on this album with one song, however, “Horus the Avenger” would be the choice, as it represents everything great and glorious about heavy metal. The riffs gallop and chug; the bass drums rumble in your chest; the melodies writhe like cobras; the chorus soars like all those other choruses you read about; and if all that wasn’t enough, the band throws in an interlude that’s fast as a god-damned shark, if you catch my drift.” [JEREMY MORSE]

Released: Cruz del Sur Music, October 2nd

“The Insolent is a true AAA in a year that so far has seen a dearth of quality. It has, essentially, something to please almost every metal fan in some way, though it’s careful not to pander to any single one. Antigama definitely has another bona fide classic on their hands. And barring nine other albums coming out that are even half this good (spoiler: that won’t happen), this one’s an automatic top-tenner. ” [CHRIS REDAR]

Released: Selfmade God Records, May 7th

“In the end, Luminiferous is a fine record, even a return to form of sorts, and most fans will find exactly what they are looking for on it. However, there is no denying that there is not much on this record that High On Fire has not done before, and in many cases, done better. Whether or not that matters is for you to decide. Few bands are able to keep it fresh for fifteen years, and of those that do, keeping it fresh too often means losing most of what you liked them for in the first place. High on Fire might be bringing more or less the same thunder they’ve always brought, but they’re still bringing it like they mean it.” [JEREMY MORSE]

Released: Entertainment One June 23rd

“High flying, solo- and lead-ridden, reverb- and delay-drenched, keyboard-enhanced, click-drummed gold. By the time “By Virtuous Reclamation” reaches the first of what feels like about 250 insanely memorable lead motifs, it’s damn near impossible to resist the album’s infectiously melodic nature. But when the rhythm guitars do their best Trey Azagthoth impression, sliding up and down the fret board both loosely and bluntly, it becomes hard to resist the album’s neck wrecking and brutal side. In short, it’s just plain hard to resist.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Willowtip Records February 17th

If you are familiar with the work of Austin Lunn, aka Panopticon, there should be no surprise that this year’s album found its way onto our year-end list. Characterized as one of the more prolific acts in the realm of American black metal, Panopticon’s music is so much more than just one label or genre, it is first and foremost a privileged insight into one man’s introspections and his reflections regarding his reality and surroundings.

We can, of course, come up with labeling words for the sake of a potential listener who hasn’t had a chance to listen to Lunn’s work – atmospheric, melodic, folk, North, nature, philosophy, spirituality – but the sum of all the parts does not always equal the whole. In order to fully understand Autumn Eternal, one must realize that this is a single piece in a longer journey and that “the whole” also lies in previous works and albums yet to come.

Autumn Eternal is an integral part of a continuing musical mural, and lucky for us, each new piece shines new light into Lunn’s creative narration that’s wrapped in the framework of some of the best (black) metal of the last couple of years. [MIRE TRAVAR]

Released: Bindrune Recordings October 16th

“Heavy metal is chock full of heroically persistent artists that have earned more spotlight than they’ll probably ever get. Thy Catafalque is among the most deserving, having laid out a spotless discography of peerless avant-garde metal over more than a decade. With Sgùrr, Tamás Kátai translates another chapter of his life and its attendant questions into amazing music. He’ll share his highs and lows and faith and doubt and we’ll find consistency there with our own. It’s just heavy metal, in the end, but once again, Thy Catafalque makes it feel like Life distilled into a 52 minute epic adventure.” [LONE WATIE]

Released: Season of Mist October 16th

“But that’s really the key with Enslaved. You need some time to unlock it. To appreciate the syncopations, the chord progressions, the harmonies. To groove to Grutle’s bass, headbang to Cato’s beats, and space out to Arve’s solos. In Times is an album that is absolutely going to reward the time you spend with it.” [KEITH ROSS]

Released: Nuclear Blast Records March 6th

“Unlike too many of its Very Serious peers, Abyssal backs up its tar-black aesthetic with tremendous riffs, unexpected ambient and atmospheric passages, and a canny sense of naturalistic songwriting. Where a band like Ulcerate has recently tended to be too transparent in pulling the listener again and again to one side solely for the trick of dropping that seasick twist and yanking her back to the other side, Abyssal’s songs breathe more openly. They still know their way around tension and release, however, as the glorious melodic climax of “The Cornucopian” proves. Though all the instrumentation clatters and bleats and hammers as one would expect from this sort of blackened, lurching death metal, the drumming is inventive and thoughtful throughout, as on the jazz-leaning, gently tripping accents in the first few minutes of “Chrysalis”.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Profound Lore Records June 23rd

“The Children of the Night digs deep into the alt-rock subgenres, it’s true, but there’s still a bared claws, gnashing teeth attitude about the music, and not just because Johannes Andersson’s vocals are throat-rendingly aggressive. This isn’t a laid-back jam album, and it’s not a navel-gazing contemplation piece either. The whole band digs into the music with vengeance; listen to “The Motherhood of God” and think about how much less impact it would have if, say, Fields of the Nephilim played it.” [KEITH ROSS]

Released: Century Media Records April 20th

“So here I am, 750 words later and still not feeling like I’ve done this album justice. Such is the ups-and-downs of music journalism. They can’t all be zingers, I guess. Sometimes, an album just turns you into a total fanboy incapable of rational thought. Yeah. I’m gonna go with that. You are hereby strongly recommended and highly encouraged to turn off your critical thinking mechanisms, let Blind Guardian take you Beyond the Red Mirror, and simply bask in its musical glory.” [DAVE PIRTLE]

Released: Nuclear Blast Records January 30th

“STAY HEAVY

Seems like that old adage should be a given for any band interested in playing this style, but too often these days the riff seems to exist simply as an obligation, not as a centerpiece. Luckily, everything about album number three from these pulverizers reaffirms and sanctifies heaviness by crushing the listener into mucilage right from the gate. The title track here alone could crack a mountain; its opening rumbles and bolt-throws as well as the masters of war themselves. And “In Sickness and in Death” might be the heaviest thing to hit this planet since that asteroid strike some 65 million years ago. Sayonara, Headbanglasaurus.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: 20 Buck Spin November 6th

“The album, if you have not noticed, is called Feel the Misery. Take a minute and let that sink in: Feel. The. Misery. If you were trying to write a parody album of maudlin doom/death, you could plumb the most sopping wet depths of Robert Smith’s and Morrissey’s psyches and never come up with a title better than Feel the Misery. Call it masterful trolling or call it canny self-critique, but what matters is that Feel the Misery is a tremendous righting of the ship after the career low point that was A Map of All Our Failures.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Peaceville Records September 18th

“I’ve got a question for you: Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? Have you howled your burning freedom loud enough to split the sky? Have you tasted the blood-red marrow of creation? Do you remember the first time heavy metal sank its teeth in you? The feeling that you had tapped into something bigger than yourself and bigger than the musicians who had channeled it? Bigger than Jesus, heavier than God, and brighter than a thousand suns?

I can’t guarantee Enki will bring you back to that place, but by hell and damnation, it does for me.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Nuclear Blast Records February 27th

“Epic doom will likely never be the apple of heavy metal’s eye. It’s too slow, too stubbornly rooted to the past, too… cleanly sung. And it’s fickle, too. Bands like Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and Solstice have never been all that stable, so fans often exercise a dizzying amount of perseverance when it comes to waiting for their next bender. That’s precisely the sort of thing that makes a release like Out of the Garden so timely. It’s been two years since Procession’s To Reap Heavens Apart. Two years since Solstice’s Death’s Crown is Victory. Two years since Atlantean Kodex’s The White Goddess. We have been very patient in our lingering and hoping to feel yet another epic doom haymaker to the jaw, and with Crypt Sermon’s towering debut, that lull has finally come to an end.

Get fucking epic.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Dark Descent Records February 24th

“Many bands reunite to cash in on a long-building legacy, and far be it from me to blame them. Satan, however, still had heaps of things to sing, say, and play, and if they were concerned with adding to their legacy or getting some stamps of approval, it would come through negatively in the music. Even so, it’s hard to not be a tad amazed by their resurrection, especially as it continues. It’s one thing to strike gold with one post-reunion album; those might have been long-developing song ideas inside any of the five band members’ heads. But another album that sees the band still advancing and growing? That just isn’t supposed to happen, friends. Thankfully, it did.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Listenable Records October 2nd

“I could dissect every song on Apex Predator in ten different ways, riff by riff, line by line, in terms of production or performance. But the fact remains this: Napalm Death may very well be the greatest extreme metal band of our time, perhaps of all time. Apex Predator may quite seriously be their best record, and if it isn’t, by some microscopic margin, then it’s still on equal footing with anything they’ve done in the past two decades. This is the sound of extremity; this is the sound of everything in metal done right.” [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

Released: Century Media Records January 27th

“As predictable as it may seem, Mgla’s style of songwriting will have ninety nine percent of modern black metal bands eating its dust as they’re left standing on the side of the Autobahn attempting to reinvent the wheel. Isn’t it ironic that one of the most unique sounding bands of this decade has achieved greatness by simply not attempting too many unique things at all and merely sticking with what works? That may not be entirely true, as there are plenty of “aesthetically” orthodox albums recently that could put even the most caffeinated of us to sleep (stop pretending that bands like Marduk and Watain excite you). But perhaps Mgla’s ability to captivate comes simply from the fact that their hearts really are in it. That’s right… members M. and Darkside hold their brand of nihilism sincerely in the innermost center of their precious aortas. How’s that for a paradox?” [KONRAD KANTOR]

Released: Northern Heritage Records September 4th

“From the get go with album opener “The Nihilist”, Horrendous has upped its game. The production is an improvement over that of Ecdysis, retaining the oomph while intensifying the clarity of each instrument, a prerequisite in putting a band at the top of this genre. The songwriting, what I’m looking for the most, is excellent with a seamless blend of NWOBHM, progressive metal, and with moments of mildly brutal Swedish death metal that pepper the album.” [DAVE SCHALEK]

Released: Dark Descent Records October 27th

“Fortunately, The Book of Souls, once again, throws down the goods. A flood of goods. The sort of goods that sustain the faith and unquestionably deliver that comforting blanket we’ve grown so used to wrapping ourselves in when we need an escape. Sure, the band’s methods and how it’s delivered are brazenly familiar, but we really wouldn’t have it any other way.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Parlophone September 4th

“Those riffs, though. No offense, but if the 4:40 mark of “The Desolate Damned” and 7:45 into the title cut don’t make you feel like you just took five across the lip from a 30ft Fred G. Sanford, you might want to consider turning in your “I Am a Decent Human Being” card and just jump into a raging tire fire already.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Profound Lore Records October 23rd

“…Obsequiae’s melodies are now greatly enhanced by the incorporation of the medieval harp, courtesy of Spanish musician Vicente La Camera Mariño. His presence is immediately felt as a dynamic, natural progression of Obsequiae’s sound; Mariño’s harp takes the place of Anderson’s acoustic guitar playing in short passages that pepper Aria Of Vernal Tombs, solidifying what was already a wonderful approach to the atmosphere.” [DAVE SCHALEK]

Released: 20 Buck Spin May 26th

“I ain’t about to step away from this review with a bold statement akin to “ANY fan of Amorphis will be able to walk away from Under the Red Cloud completely satisfied” (there’s an asshole on every block, right?), but I will say if you appreciate what the band’s been doing for the last decade or so, you’ll find plenty to sink your teeth into with this record. Dynamic, dramatic, contagious, moody, melodic, elegant, roaring: These are all very suitable descriptors for Under the Red Cloud, but this is still the sort of work that’s best suited for those who understand that Amorphis remain more of a rock ‘n’ roll band who’ve become particularly skilled at blending in elements of death and progressive metal. If you happen to be one of those people, do not miss this wonderful record.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Nuclear Blast Records September 4th

“With such a powerful set of records behind them, you couldn’t really hold it against Nile if they chose to call an end to their ithyphallic musical crusade. But we should be glad they haven’t. Nothing else sounds quite like Nile, and What Should Not Be Unearthed shows that they have plenty of absolutely monstrous music still to come.” [KEITH ROSS]

Released: Nuclear Blast Records August 28th

“There is no band that does melancholic metal better than Paradise Lost – their ability to inject energy into sadness and vice versa is simply unrivalled. Lesser gothic or death/doom bands succumb to the Morrissey-ish maudlin, or they fail to temper their downtrodden misery with appropriate melody or propulsion and the whole becomes an exercise in plodding mediocrity. A few others have come close, sure, but no one has yet beaten the masters at their own game. By combining Paradise Lost’s strengths into one conglomerate of darkness, The Plague Within resets the bar that this band set for itself decades ago. Better than Draconian, better than Gothic, Plague is the best album that Paradise Lost has released in a twenty-five year career thusfar. It’s their finest hour, undoubtedly one of 2015’s best, and as both, it’s hands-down a contender for album of the year.” [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

Released: Century Media Records May 29th

“In the end, the degree of necessity for a record plugged as hard as Tau Cross depends on a number of considerations. Some may expect to love it based on principle alone; how could an album involving members of Amebix, Voivod, Misery and War//Plague be anything short of great? Others may trudge into the foray with an itchy trigger finger simply because that’s their gut reaction to nearly anything that receives extensive hype. The bottom line is this: Fusing varying levels of crust with death, black or whatever-the-hell metal is very fashionable these days, and the good has quickly become outnumbered by a near endless sea of d-beating d-bags who are about as interesting as last week’s yard clippings. Given this grim truth, it’s great to uncover an album that does a wonderful job of showcasing such a wide depth of influence, experience and talent. Tau Cross’s debut delivers a fresh take on a deep-rooted design that’s honestly more relevant today than it’s ever been, and that’s great news for mongrels both old and new alike.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Relapse Records May 15th

The post Last Rites’ Best Of 2015 – Combined Staff List appeared first on Last Rites.

In the interest of furthering such nonsensical aggrandizement, Last Rites is here to call 2015 The Year of the EP. This year has been absolutely loaded with the so-called extended play, filling all of the various roles that such releases can fill. Some are mere bursts of a band’s usual sound, others a great venue in which to express some other side of the typical art. The point is that there have been many worth your time and money during this calendar year, and plenty more than we have listed below, as our post-voting arguments revealed. (No Blood Incantation? No Yautja? No Aosoth?!)

Praise the EP. Praise brevity and succinctness (or at least relative brevity in the case of our #4). Praise the stop-gap release as musical palate cleanser for the bands. Praise that extra bit of experimentation or odd expression. But mostly, praise the tunes, which the list below has in heaps.

But before the list, some (widely varying) honorable mentions, all of which received very enthusiastic votes:

Fulgora – Stratagem
Owl – Aeon Cult
Selvans – Clangores Plenilunio
Urfaust – Apparitions
Denner/Shermann – Satan’s Tomb

The post Last Rites’ Top EPs Of 2015 – Brilliance Through Brevity appeared first on Last Rites.