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I intended to write this in January but got distracted from the holiday then demotivated with my website. Gemini has sparked my interest in writing again so I am finally writing my top album of 2020.
This is not going to be a de-facto album of the year breakdown. It's very much my opinion of the best album from the pool of artists I follow. But there are some extra criteria:
I found it in 2020
It isn't a Single
If it is an EP it has to be substantial
EPs can be just extended singles (single with 2 remixes is common in the electronic space) so I only included multisong releases.
So the albums! (Artist - Album)
Aiming for Enrike - Music for Working Out
Bell Witch, Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Volume I (Collaboration)
Cirith Ungol - Forever Black
Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
Elder - Omens
Emma Ruth Rundle, Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full (Collaboration)
Inter Arma - Garbers Days Revisited
Khemmis - Doomed Heavy Metal
Long Distance Calling - How Do We Want To Live?
Magic Sword - Endless
Moby - All Visible Objects
Starcadian, Ian Urbina - Shadowcatcher (Inspired by 'The Outlaw Ocean' a book by Ian Urbina) (EP, Collaboration, Mouthful)
The Aquabats! - Kooky Spooky... In Stereo!
Uada - Djinn
Various Artists - Magnatron III (Compilation - New Retro Wave records)
Violent Soho - Everything Is A-OK
I'd like to give a shoutout to all the bands on this list and if you're curious here is a link to the Spotify playlist of these + a few others:
Uada - Djinn
Various Artists - Magnatron III
Elder - Omens
Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
Bell Witch, Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Volume I
Uada is a Black Metal band from the Pacific Northwest. Djinn opens with a slightly less in-your-face riff compared to "The Purging Fire" the opening track of their previous release 2018's Cult of a Dying Sun. But then the 16th note double bass kicks (pun) in. Then our vocals and we're back in it.
The rest of the album is filled with that in-your-face Black Metal that Uada has shown us since their first release. I'm not well versed in the Black Metal genre so I'm sure it's not a great representation of the genre but it's a fun, intense head banger.
My favorite track is the title track: Djinn.
This was honestly very difficult as the album is very cohesive and each song offers its own flavor to the album. One of the longer tracks like No Place Here and Between Two Worlds were close but with how focused Djinn is I just had to pick it.
This band in general has INSANE album art. Check out their discography, some great metal artwork.
The label(?) New Retro Wave puts out compilations of their artists and Magnatron is a series of compilations. I was a huge fan of Magnatron (the first one) and it remains a mainstay in my rotation. I never got fully into Magnatron 2.0 but III came out and I kept it in rotation. Magnatron III is a collaboration from various names in the Retro/Synth Wave genre all putting out killer tracks. Each track has its own personality and while the record isn't a seamless story with an obvious progression, it flows.
What I like most about this album is you can get a track like Vivid Stars by Waveshaper which is bright, hopeful and groovy. Then you get Last Resolve by Kick Puncher which is aggressive and dark. (Check out the synth lead at 1:19 - a real buzzsaw just cutting at you)
The album is 18 artists/tracks and 1 hour and 15 minutes long and you want to dance the entire time.
This was a tight race between Vivid Stars - Waveshaper, Ghostwalker - Zombie Hyperdrive, and Last Resolve - Kick Puncher. Ultimately, as a track: Ghostwalker won out in a 3 track shootout.
Ghostwalker sums up the genre of Retro/Synth Wave so well. That shred guitar, the thumping drumline, and a bright lead. Perfection.
This album is 1:15 minutes long which is about 4 minutes per track. Meanwhile some of our other albums here are 1/3 the and minutes shy of taking this commedation away (Bell Witch at 1:04).
Elder is one of my favorite bands of recent years. I found them a few years ago when I started to get into Doom/Stoner Metal. I saw them live at Desert Fest in NYC back in 2019 and they were killer. I was hyped to see them in May 2020 but well... that obviously never happened.
Omens isn't quite a "departure" but a progression into a slightly different approach. They introduced some synths into their music and went deeper into their psychedelic and prog sound. But beyond that it actually is very familiar to their previous album. Just with more psychedelic grooves (a lot of jamming, panning guitars, flangers). But you still get those slow(er) muffed guitars crunching just forcing your head to bang.
If you're at all into Psychedelic Rock and Metal give this a listen it's an interesting blend. Pop the album on, grab a drink, turn off the lights and just soak into it. \m/
Halcyon being a perfect summation of all of what this album as to offer. I put the track on looking for inspiration to write why, and I just got sucked into the track forgetting to take down notes... I think that speaks for itself.
It's a shame too, I have 12" vinyls of all of their previous records and you could put each up on your wall (well maybe not their self titled album).
Dopelord is a Stoner Doom Metal (surprised?) band from Poland. They released their fourth full length in 2020 and it may be my favorite of theirs.
The best first track of all the albums I've listed. The Witching Hour Bell SLAYS. It's Stoner Doom through and through. I put the albums on for each of these reviews, and this was the only album where I actually couldn't write the intro because I was head banging the entire time. \m/ Literally, that opening bass riff locked this in the top 5 back when I first heard the track.
Despite my glowing review of the first track, it just keeps its (albeit slow) pace throughout the rest of the album ending on a psychedelic jam in "World Beneath Us". And then taking a hard fucking left with "Headless Decapitator" a hardcore punk song at twice the BPM. It feels almost like a prank. But its a good punk song so no marks off.
If Stoner Doom isn't your jam you probably won't like this album, but if you're new the genre or appreciate some Doom check it out.
Witching Hour Bell is a fantastic track and one of the best album openers. If you read my previous music spotlights you'll know how much I value a good album opener.
This album is 36 minutes long. The rest are all over 1 hour in length. Which isn't so surprising for Magnatrion III at 18 tracks, but the rest are all 5-6 track albums, just like this.
Following up their 2017 Mirror Reaper, Bell Witch released a 5 track album in collaboration with Aerial Ruin. Bell Witch is a Funeral Doom band from Seattle, Washington and became on my favorite bands of all time. Aerial Ruin is not a band I was familiar with; the appear to be a single person: Erik Moggridge and are credited as Dark Folk on the albums Bandcamp page. And looking at his entry in metal-archives it seems he's collaborated with Bell Witch before on their previous records.
This album is haunting (who would have guessed) and emotional. It's honestly hard to put into words how this album, and really all of Bell Witch, makes you feel. Please if you've made it this far and not listened to any of the entrants give this one a shot. Funeral Doom Metal is a niche genre inside a niche genre. They border on ambient creating soundscapes with just bass guitar, drums, and vocals (and occasionally organ and keys). This album, collabing with Aerial Ruin introduces actual guitar which makes it less heavy but that folky element opens up the sonic space invoking a more personal feeling. This especially heard in the opening of Heaven Torn Low I.
Picking a track off of a Bell Witch album is always hard as their albums are generally very connected. But Heaven Torn Low I/II as a single "track" would be my favorite.
The Unbodied Air, the final track on the album is 19 minutes and 20 seconds long. But isn't their longest track ever. That belongs to Mirror Reaper off of Mirror Reaper which is 1:23:15... and is the entire album!
You think after spending so much time writing this I would have an easier time choosing. Each of the records here were anticipated releases except for Dopelord, which was a surprise being a band I don't follow too closely. Elder's Omens was actually a let down at first. It was different and not as Doomy but throughout the year listening to the playlist I came to appreciate it a lot more.
What put this album over the edge for me is I can't say one bad thing about it. Nothing is dull, or a little iffy (I feel Elder's vocals were mixed a bit different this time and took some getting use to, for example). This entire album is solid the entire way through. Plus, if you asked me "what was the coolest album you listened to in 2020" I would pick this hands down, as it is so interesting.
If you've read this far thank you! What was your favorite album to come out in 2020! I am keeping a list of the new albums in 2021, so look forward to that. I'll link it below. One thing I appreciated throughout this process was it tried to keep me from just putting back on old favorites.
Still, according to my Spotify Wrapped - none of the tracks from these cracked by most played. But that is because I actually found older albums this year and I'll probaly write up another spotlight on my favorite album in found in 2020.
Thanks for reading \m/
An album I found in 2021, that came out in 2020 so didn't make the cut.
The gemlog that delves into my appreciation of opening tracks on albums.
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