Here's my top 10 of the year of albums I actually bought. Pretty much only Stormkeep is absent because I wasn't fast enough to get a copy and it's sold out now.
Tower - Shock to the System (Cruz Del Sur Music, CD)Fronted by who's possibly the best singer in heavy metal right now, Tower plays blistering and amazing trad metal with everything at its rightful spot. it's old school but it feels fresh. While the twin guitars and the rest of the instrumentation could be seen as an afterthought as opposed to Sarabeth Linden's immense vocals, I love the leads and solos a lot and it's not the case at all. They lead the way in that bludgeoning and burgeoning female fronted American heavy metal with bands such as Shadowland, Sanhedrin, Sölicitör, Midnight Dice or Savage Master. My album of the year.
Darkthrone - Eternal Hails..... (Peaceville, CD and vinyl)
I'm a big fan of "modern" or later days Darkthrone as shown by the fact I got it on vinyl and CD. I think Nocturno and Fenriz can do no wrong and they've been in my top 10s every time they released something since Circle the Wagons in 2010hey managed to please me once again with a completely different direction than Old Star or Arctic Thunder. It's epic long songs with a raw touch and a doomy spacey feel throughout. I loved the whole album but the ambient ending of the last track "Lost Arcane City of Uppåkra" was perhaps my favorite piece of music this year.
Amyl & The Sniffers - Comfort to Me (Rough Trade, ATO Records, CD)Insanely catchy and aggressive punk from Australia fronted by a small ball of blond energy. With well written, take no prisoners and feminist lyrics, Amy's natural and honest raw vocal delivery is a great combination with the ferocious riffs and the dynamic rhythm section. Memorable punk with a lovable energy
Steel Bearing Hand - Slay in Hell (Carbonized Records, Tape)
2021 was a good year for thrash, great albums were released by Nekromantheon or Mystic Storm but Steel Bearing Hand ruled supremely hard. Intense, epic, violent and hellish death/thrash with insane solos is what you're getting here. It doesn't mess around.
Full review on here and on Metal Archives
Morgul Blade - Fell Sorceries Abound (No Remorse Records)
Quite possibly my surprise of the year, Morgul Blade's debut album is a worthy mix of epic heavy metal, folk metal (reminds me of Mithotyn a bit) and dungeon synth. They combine both harsh vocals with clean ones and it works well, it feels like blackened epic fantasy heavy metal most of the time and that's my kind of stuff for damn sure. It's tightly condensed, well written and has definite highs such as the ballad "Oak in the Mist". Awesome album.
Eisenhand - Fires Within (Dying Victims Productions)
Austrian Eisenhand play one of my favorite kind of heavy metal, it's raw, riffy and intently lo-fi. Their band pic has a bike, an axe, a suede jacket and a rifle. They sound exactly like that. Underrated album worth your time if you're into Brocas Helm and the likes. Big balls energy. This gives me the same feel as Demon Bitch while they're pretty different, I have yet to find out why.
Idles - Crawler (Partisan Records, orange tape)
After a disappointing third album in Ultra Mono, the brits are back in full force with Crawler, a dark record that fits the mood I'm in right now. Super varied, the album explores electronic industrial dance music (Car Crash) to powerviolence (Wizz), Nick Cave-ish power ballads (The Beachland Ballroom) while mixing it with their usual abrasive post-punk direction. It still works and it's cohesive as hell in its madness.
Dread Sovereign - Alchemical Warfare (Metal Blade Records)
I'm a big fan of Primordial but I never could fully get behind Dread Sovereign, the doom metal project of their leader Alan Averill until this album. It's a bit more traditional in its composition and grooves a bit more than their overlong debut album. It's some sort of hybrid between trad doom, heavy metal with some hints of black (proto black?!) here and there and has one of my favorite cover art of the year.
Herzel - le dernier rempart (Gates of Hell Records)
I was a big fan of Herzel's debut demo and it took them a while to release a full length but it was worth the wait. The Bretons play long form epic heavy metal in French and it's remarkable. The use of folkloric instruments (the bombarde!!) adds an unique element to their sound but they already were unique before that. Influenced by Manowar, Virgin Steele or Warlord, they're able to craft timeless heavy metal worthy of the tales they tell.
Antichrist Siege Machine - Purifying Blade (Profound Lore Records)
One of the most punishing albums of the year alongside Concrete Winds, ASM plays some sort of super fast war metal and it's just a lovely 30 mins. It destroys like a sharpened blade, not much more to say, really.
