I didn’t get enough ‘new’ records for a conventional Top Ten this year, so I’ve broken my favourite records of 2021 into three sections. With WitTR’s newest commune-with-mother-nature ambient black metal opus really scratching an itch in the top spot. UN and Bongzilla channelled some big, miserable 2021 doom energy, while Darkthrone’s Eternal Hails was comfortably horrible and a return to form after their kind-of-forgettable last effort. On the synth-y end of things Chvrches continue to be one of my favourite bands and John Carpenter’s third volume of Lost Themes was no disappointment.
On the reissue front, Plazma X’s post-Chicken Bowels metal was spinning constantly for a good while, My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything lodged in my cranium for months and would not budge and the United Mutation lp on Radio Raheem was a thing of extreme beauty. Singaporean black metallers Xasthur proved to be a pleasantly evil surprise and they get bonus points for featuring their dog in their spooky forest pictures in the insert.
Due to either the pandemic, or the fact I live in my own little world, I was two years late to the party on a bunch of killer records. Blood Incantation and Tomb Mold really knocked my socks off with their cosmic death metal and illegibly green band logos. Could not stop playing either for ages and they helped me through the dull times.
Some honourable mentions must go to a couple of records that I really like, but do not yet own, so can’t really qualify for my list at the moment. Spectral Wound’s A Diabolical Thirst is a nasty, feral slice of raw black metal and I need the lp quite badly (thanks for the tip Flo!) the new Gauze release is a CD only and I don’t have it but it sounds great, if a little more methodical than we’ve come to expect. I’ve yet to pick up the new Rata Negra lp and I really dig Colombian punks Unidad Idealogica, both on La Vida Es Un Mus.
Top new records released in 2021
1. Wolves In The Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
2. Bongzilla - Weedsconsin
3. UN / Coltsblood split 12”
4. Chvrches - Screen Violence
5. Darkthrone - Eternal Hails
6. John Carpenter - Lost Themes III
7. Rudimentary Peni - Great War
8. Night Marchers - Live At Bar Pink
Top reissues / old stuff
1. UN - The Tomb Of All Things
2. Plazma X - White Shadow 1986-1989
3. MNK Project
4. Xasthur - Hidden Lore demo
5. My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything
6. My Bloody Valentine - m b v
7. Lost Years - Black Waves
8. United Mutation - Dark Self Image
Great records from 2019 that I somehow only heard this year
1. Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
2. Blood Incantation - Hidden History Of The Human Race
3. Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations
4. Best Coast - Always Tomorrow
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