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MS Awards 2020 - Staff Picks!!


Written by: ScreamingSteelUS
Published: 11.03.2021


2020 may have been a terrible year for musicians, the music industry, and music fans, but it was somehow a great year for music - this year's MSAs were overflowing with excellent albums, and we had probably half a dozen five-way ties going here for a while. Eventually, we managed to arrive at something resembling consensus, the results of which you see before you, but what a tough series of choices. As always, you are called upon to respect these as more accurate results than those of the MSAs themselves.





2020 Metal Storm Staff Picks






Alternative Metal
Crippled Black Phoenix - Ellengæst

Ambient / Drone / Noise
Neptunian Maximalism - Éons

Avant-Garde / Experimental Metal
Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

Black Metal
Panzerfaust - The Suns Of Perdition - Chapter II: Render Unto Eden

Death Metal
Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still

Djent / Math Metal
Serpent Column - Endless Detainment

Doom Metal
Fires In The Distance - Echoes From Deep November

Extreme Doom Metal
Kraken Duumvirate - The Stars Below, The Seas Above

Extreme Progressive Metal
Sweven - The Eternal Resonance

Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal
Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota

Gothic Metal
Dool - Summerland

Grindcore
Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

Hard Rock
Wytch Hazel - III: Pentecost

Hardcore / Metalcore / Deathcore
Leeched - To Dull The Blades Of Your Abuse

Heavy / Melodic Metal
Dark Forest - Oak, Ash & Thorn

Industrial / Cyber / Electronic Metal
Igorrr - Spirituality And Distortion

Melodeath / Extreme Power / Gothenburg Metal
Countless Skies - Glow

Melodic Black Metal
Wayfarer - A Romance With Violence

Metalgaze
Fluisteraars - Bloem

Post-Metal
Pull Down The Sun - Of Valleys And Mountains

Power Metal
Unleash The Archers - Abyss

Progressive Metal
Lucid Planet - Lucid Planet II

Sludge Metal
In The Company Of Serpents - Lux

Stoner Metal
Elder - Omens

Symphonic Metal
Lorna Shore - Immortal

Thrash Metal
Bütcher - 666 Goats Carry My Chariot

Debut
Sweven - The Eternal Resonance

Clandestine Cut
Autolith - Caustic Light





We hope you like our selections. We sure did. Rest assured that we're already thinking about what to nominate in the 2021 Awards - but you still have quite a bit of time left before you have to worry about that. For now, take a stroll through the list and check out anything you might have missed during the voting period.






Written on 11.03.2021 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct.


Comments

Comments: 13   Visited by: 254 users
11.03.2021 - 12:53
Deadsoulman

All these match my first or second picks in every category I voted in, except Dool (my dislike for most of those occult goth rock bands grows stronger every day), Pull Down The Sun which I didn't find anything special, and Lorna Shore whose bog-standard deathcore vocals totally turned me off the album.
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11.03.2021 - 14:06
nikarg

Written by Deadsoulman on 11.03.2021 at 12:53

except Dool (my dislike for most of those occult goth rock bands grows stronger every day), Pull Down The Sun which I didn't find anything special

Shame on you.


Written by Deadsoulman on 11.03.2021 at 12:53

and Lorna Shore whose bog-standard deathcore vocals totally turned me off the album.

Yep.
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11.03.2021 - 14:10
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
No Kaatayra, no respec.
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"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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11.03.2021 - 14:30
JoHn Doe

I don't understand the hype around Dark Forest.
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I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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11.03.2021 - 16:11
Deadsoulman

Written by nikarg on 11.03.2021 at 14:06

Written by Deadsoulman on 11.03.2021 at 12:53

except Dool (my dislike for most of those occult goth rock bands grows stronger every day), Pull Down The Sun which I didn't find anything special

Shame on you.



Haha, well, those two were even my least favourite albums in their respective categories, imagine that
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11.03.2021 - 16:32
Nejde
CommunityManager
Even though they're lacking some of those 666 goats, Bütcher's cover really shows you that you're in for a treat when you press Play. I like that and I like the album even though I voted for Havok in thrash. Out of the staff picks Lucid Planet II is by far the best album regardless of genre. Countless Skies released a great album as expected and Pull Down The Sun and Fires In The Distance were really nice discoveries.
I know I've said it before but Eden In Reverse was still AOTY imo.
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Bow to the King Hercules!
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11.03.2021 - 17:49
Druss

Nice to see Dark Forest get the Heavy pick. The release is so full of heart. Though the production doesn't do it justice at times I felt.
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11.03.2021 - 21:54
musclassia

Three of my top 10 of 2020 made it here (Elder, Wayfarer and Ulcerate) made it here, and agree with a lot of the other choices, although I'd have half a dozen I'd choose ahead of Serpent Column for djent/math
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14.03.2021 - 01:59
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
12 of the ones listed above are among the ones I voted for this year.
I must admit I'm a bit "eh" about doom and post metal though but oh well.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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14.03.2021 - 23:51
LordFezzington
Lost To Apathy
Of the 10 categories I voted in, only Ulcerate matches my choice. I think it's kind of cool there were obviously so few clear consensus choices - goes to show the number of really great albums that came out last year.
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"Pay no heed to anyone and do what seems right to yourself." - Franz Kafka, The Trial
2022 List: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=7001
2021 List: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6742
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15.03.2021 - 09:33
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Almost covered all of them. Will definitely checking out the few chips I missed.
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25.03.2021 - 09:45
TheBigRossowski

Whoooa, definitely missed In The Company of Serpents! Bummer, man. I'll have to check that one out..

For the rest, you guys got it, fuckin' awesome, man.
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That rug really tied the room together, did it not?
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22.04.2021 - 21:09
sgtrobo

Bütcher, Anaal Nathrakh, and Havukruunu were 3 of my picks that made the staff list
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