A Year In Metal - 2021: Highlights Through The Eyes Of The MS Staff, Elites, And Official Contributors
Written by: | ScreamingSteelUS |
Published: | January 30, 2022 |
2021 was a year much like any other year, if that other year happened to be 2020. In a way, it seems like the only way to distinguish the two is by noting the new albums that were released in one year or the other, so that's how we have decided to celebrate the passage of 2021 into the oblivion of memory. As we finish out the first month of 2022, we reflect on the things that may have happened to be cool in 2021.
To be fair, last year was a bit more open and eventful than the year that preceded it, so we do have a few actual highlights to share in the midst of pandemic living. Scroll down and see what we in MS Towers liked and disliked about the last year of life amongst the microbes.
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Staff
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Staff
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Abattoir Favorite Album: Burial In The Sky - The Consumed Self Best Home-Country Album: Mossgiver - Led By The Glowing River Most Played Song: Countless Skies - "Glow" Most Promising Band: Ikarie Best Concert: I actually did manage to attend 9 events (2 festivals among others) in 2021 considering the situation, so there is something to choose from. This time, I’ll go with Triptykon. One of the heaviest live sounds I've had witnessed. Also, first time seeing them live. Honorable mentions: Destruction at Area 53 festival and Dead Lord in Budapest. It was also cool to see Kreator again after many years. Biggest Disappointment: Hard to be disappointed with anything or anyone these years. Metal Moment Of 2021: Well, teaching my kids (6 and 4) of the heavy metal fundamentals is for sure one of top ones. And 2022?: I don’t bother much with the numbers, but sometime during the upcoming summer I’ll hit 10,000 added news up here on MS, which is pretty cool achievement I guess. Of course, regardless of what will going on worldwide, I believe there will be enough new good music coming up this year to satisfy the never-ending needs of us all. As one of the regular "concert chasers", I really really hope for some more live action. |
Apothecary Favorite Album: Dakhma - Blessings Of Amurdad Best Home Country Album: Glassing - Twin Dream Most Played Song: Likely the title track from ^that album. The throbbing bass and whispered vocals just hypnotize me. Most Promising Band: Neptunian Maximalism. Versatile, prolific, and delightfully challenging to the conceptions of what is and isn't metal. Very excited for what they cook up next. Best Concert: America. Covid. Concerts. Lmao. Biggest Disappointment: The new Wolves In The Throne Room album. Considering this and the previous Thrice Woven I suppose this is where the Weavers are headed now, but I'm just not captivated like I used to be. Metal Moment Of 2021: Portal dropping a dark ambient album, which we knew was only a matter of time. Now we just gotta get Napalm Death to drop that downtempo industrial album you know they've had sitting in the locker forever. And 2022?: With luck, a return to live music at all my local metal/hxc pubs and dive bars. And hopefully a new album from The Meads Of Asphodel, as well as that elusive new Wormlust album. |
BitterCOld Favorite Album: Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion or Alkerdeel - Slonk Best Home-Country Album: Afghan Haze - Nihilistic Stoner Hymns (US) Most Played Song: No idea. Listen to new music mostly as just albums, but I suppose Dr. Colossus's "Sex Cauldron" might have come up more than most. Most Promising Band: Ethereal Shroud, if the hombre feels like reforming himself(?) after he gets the creative itch in another year or two... or Domkraft Best Concert: Iron Maiden cover band playing "Trooper Day" at Bodebrown Cervejaria. NWOBHM meets Current Wave of Brasilian Craft Beer. Biggest Disappointment: 2021 in general. Metal Moment Of 2021: 12 months without a haircut, 5 months goatee growing. Looked more metal than military for once. Or looked like Eugene Levy's character in A Mighty Wind And 2022?: You mean 2020, Too? Hopefully the end of the COVID trilogy. Who the fuck are we kidding, we'll be fucked forever. I'm just hoping to avoid the virus until the Lambda Lambda Lambda variant shows up. Nerdlaugh. |
corrupt Favorite Album: Tardigrada - Vom Bruch Bis Zur Freiheit Most Played Song: I don't really do "songs". My most played albums were Regarde Les Hommes Tomber's Ascension and Grimes' Miss Anthropocene. Most Promising Band: Kanonenfieber Best Concert: Everything I had planned to go to in 2021 was cancelled, so I'm going with Emperor's A Night Of Emperial Wrath 2021 live stream even though it was kinda short. Biggest Disappointment: So Hideous - None But A Pure Heart Can Sing Metal Moment Of 2021: Probably founding a non profit with the MS team, acquiring the site and taking over its maintenance (and some development). And 2022?: Definitely less MS maintenance and more development. And hopefully some concerts and festivals again. |
Deadsoulman Favorite Album: Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa – Corrupted Pillars Of Vanity Best Home-Country Album: Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa topped a string of great releases by Year Of No Light, Funeralium, Mourning Dawn, Sol Draconi Septem, Esoctrilihum, Decline Of The I, and more. Most Played Song: My most played song being from 2001 (namely Forest Of Shadows – Eternal Autumn) should tell you I am not a song person. Most played album was Wolvennest – Temple. Most Promising Band: Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa, Ikarie, Neptunian Maximalism Best Concert: Dodging Covid restrictions, I managed to attend two shows this year, one metal (Lofofora), the other not (Ibrahim Maalouf), the latter being the best. Biggest Disappointment: All the shows being postponed/cancelled; 2021 and mankind in general. Metal Moment Of 2021: Nothing really noteworthy. Possibly blasting Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus songs while opening birthday presents in front of my aghast non-metal friends, and taking my sweet time doing it. Life has its little bonuses. And 2022?: 1: Hopefully my first Hellfest since 2011; 2: hopefully completing a ton of personal projects that have been put on hold for two years now; both depending upon 3: the world getting its shit together. Hopes aren’t high. The new Cult Of Luna album should be more reliable and has me giddy with anticipation. |
Dream Taster Favorite Albums: Thulcandra - A Dying Wish, Dordeduh - Har and Soen - Imperial Best Home-Country Albums: Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst (Canada), Hegemon - Sidereus Nuncius (France) [I hold both Canadian and French nationalities] Most Played Songs: Dordeduh - "Timpul Întâilor", Architects - "Dead Butterflies", Hannes Grossmann - "The Great Designer", Tribulation - "Funeral Pyre" Most Promising Bands: Atvm, Paranorm, and Yoth Iria Best Concert: Anything on DVD that was on hand. Biggest Disappointment: The latest Steven Wilson Metal Moment Of 2021: Growing my hair long for the first time in over 40 years. I do finally look like a metalhead! And 2022?: New albums from Dark Funeral and Dark Fortress, and a lot of joyous darkness to dissect, enjoy and write about. Also, the new Riverside and Saturnus albums. |
Ivor Favorite Album: I think I'll go with Aphelion by Leprous. I did not expect to like it but there's a feeling of a turning point to this album. The band redefines themselves and will hopefully make a masterpiece statement in a couple of albums. Aphelion is not quite there yet but there are moments of brilliance shining through. In other notable mentions I'll go with Mission Jupiter's Talk to Me, Garbage's No Gods No Masters (another one I didn't expect to like as much as I did), The Pretty Reckless' Death by Rock and Roll and Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster's The World Inside, and Jess And The Ancient Ones' Vertigo. Best Home-Country Album: I'm not sure I listened to any. Most Played Song: I'll go with a couple of memorable ones: "And So it Went" by The Pretty Reckless and "All Flights Cancelled" by Hedvig Mollestad Trio. Most Promising Band: Australian Acolyte with their sophomore album Entropy Best Concert: There only was one: Amenra acoustic set in Prague. And what an intimate show that was. Would be a worthy contender even in a year otherwise packed with shows. Biggest Disappointment: This year's been a kind of a downer outside of music. Metal Moment Of 2021: Finally retiring the old Metal Storm server on the 1st October of 2021. Who'd have thought in today's world that the same hardware could function without failures for 14 (!) years. Think about this. You'd go through 5 phones and 3 laptops in that time. It ran longer than a whole lot of you have been registered at this site. And 2022?: Fingers crossed for a graduation. And maybe some gigs happening. Not having high hopes for the world getting to be a better place this year pandemically nor politically. Don't have much faith in people getting better either. |
Nefarious Favorite Album: Hippotraktor - Meridian Best Home-Country Album: Nothing this year unfortunately. Most Played Song: Rivers Of Nihil - "Focus" Most Promising Band: Hippotraktor Best Concert: Concert? What is that? Biggest Disappointment: I'm hardly alone in saying this, but 2021 in general. Let's just write the year off & move on! Metal Moment Of 2021: Not too much really, after such an uneventful year. On a personal level I guess surpassing my weight loss target & dropping 33kg. And 2022?: Hopefully an end to this pandemic, a return to live concerts, getting to travel abroad again & being more active on MS. |
nikarg Favorite Album: Soen - Imperial. Full list of favourites over here. Best Home-Country Album: Need - Norchestrion: A Song For The End. Also, I very much enjoyed the albums from Yoth Iria, Necromantia, Thyrathen, Nightfall, Dissenting Minds, and Black Soul Horde. Most Played Song: Soen - “Antagonist”, Beastlor - “Become The Planet”, Helloween - “Skyfall”, and Necronomicon - “World On Fire”. Most Promising Band: Silver Talon and Atvm. Best Concert: A local band called Full Throttle. The singer/bassist is the female version of Lemmy, have a look. Biggest Disappointment: Furia - W Śnialni. Metal Moment Of 2021: Taking over Metal Storm with the rest of the clan, for sure. And finishing the Getting Into: Rotting Christ article after two years of writing (because Radu convinced me). And 2022?: From upcoming releases that have been confirmed, I expect the new Messa, Et Moriemur, and Kreator albums with much anticipation. And I cannot wait to see Soen live in May. |
RaduP Favorite Album: Hard to really pick between Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World and Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra - Promises. Best Home-Country Album: In a year that had Negură Bunget, Dordeduh, Sur Austru, Clouds, Kultika, Ordinul Negru, and Methadone Skies, it's still those two E-an-na EPs, one tango and one turbofolk. Most Played Song: On complete opposite ends are Altın Gün's "Yüce Dağ Başında" and Midwife's "2020". Most Promising Band: For metal it's Papangu, but in general I can't wait to see what Magdalena Bay, Squid, and Genesis Owusu do next. Best Concert: Barely any this year, obviously, but seeing both Aurora and Molchat Doma at the same festival was pretty cool. Biggest Disappointment: Sculptured. Metal Moment Of 2021: Finally getting to write a retrospective on Negură Bunget and fulfilling something that felt like a sacred duty, site changes allowing me to add big pictures to our features, interviewing an exiled Iranian musician, convincing nik to write a Getting Into, and last but not least, hitting 500 reviews. And 2022?: Hopefully Roadburn again. More articles. Hitting 666 reviews would be cool. |
ScreamingSteelUS Favorite Album: Beast In Black - Dark Connection Best Home-Country Album: Stormkeep - Tales Of Othertime Most Played Song: Dalriada - "Ezer Élet, Ezer Csillag"; E-an-na - "Malere"; Beast In Black - "One Night In Tokyo"; The SLoT - "Москва"; Bodom After Midnight - "Paint The Sky With Blood"; Archspire - "Drone Corpse Aviator" Most Promising Band: Stormkeep Best Concert: Once again, I went to a single show last year, so it goes to Unleash The Archers and friends by default. Biggest Disappointment: My first-ever Judas Priest show being delayed for a second time due to Richie Faulkner's sudden near-death experience, and then rescheduled to a date when I can't attend. Also the lack of a theatrical release for the final Evangelion movie. Metal Moment Of 2021: Completing an epically proportioned "Getting Into: Power Metal" series, which took me most of the year to research and write, and publishing my first movie review on Metal Storm, thus moving one step closer to becoming a professional film critic whose opinion you have to listen to. It was also very nice to see Metal Storm change hands, change servers, and change direction. And 2022?: In last year's article, all I wanted was the Violet Evergarden movie and Dragon Maid S. I got those things, so... I don't know. What else is there in life? New Blind Guardian and Sabaton, maybe. |
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Elites
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Elites
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musclassia Favorite Album: Dead heat between Between The Buried And Me - Colors II and Dvne - Etemen Ænka. Best Home-Country Album: Well, BTBAM are from North Carolina and Dvne are from Scotland (which is still part of the UK, for now), so Etemen Ænka. Most Played Songs: Of songs released this year, likely Stortregn - "Ghosts Of The Past", Teramaze - "Sorella Minore" or Urne - "Serpent & Spirit". Of just generally songs in this past year, possibly Lorna Shore - "Immortal", or something from my Periphery running playlist. Most Promising Band: Hippotraktor had probably the pick of the bunch as far as debut albums in 2021 are concerned. Of bands yet to release albums, Kurokuma put on two amazing shows last year, so I am greatly anticipating their upcoming debut in February. Best Concert: Aside from Kurokuma, the sets from Conjurer and Regarde Les Hommes Tomber at Damnation Festival were immense. Biggest Disappointment: The postponement of ArcTanGent Festival again - hopefully it won't be 3 years in a row, because the re-assembled line-up once again looks incredible. Metal Moment Of 2021: Probably Vulgaris-related events, whether the release of our debut record Asundre, playing to 50-odd strangers in a packed pub in Camden or the video for our single "Goat Bong". And 2022?: ArcTanGent 2022 happening is number 1 priority. Outside of that, the fact that Kurokuma, Rolo Tomassi, Amorphis, Cult Of Luna and Persefone are all releasing new albums in February is effectively confirmation that my 2022 Album Of The Year will be released in February - cannot wait to get stuck into all of that. |
Starvynth Favorite Album: Jours Pâles - Éclosion Best Home-Country Album: The nail-biting neck-and-neck race between Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle and Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Noktvrn has yet to be decided. Most Played Songs: Sol Draconi Septem - "The River Léthé's Taste Is Bitter", Phlebotomized - "Beheaded Identity", Isor - "Glaube", Massen - "Cold Clouds", Rye - "Последний" Most Promising Bands: Moriya and Ikarie Best Concert: Accidentally running into the guitarist of Chapel Of Disease at a mall was the closest I got to the experience of a gig. Biggest Disappointment: Unanimated and Hypocrisy, each dropping a total snoozefest of an album. Metal Moment Of 2021: The server move. Finally, the annoying "unable to connect to database" is no more. Yay! And 2022?: Really looking forward to new stuff from Saturnus. And I'm excited to see what the future holds for some of our Clandestine Cuts discoveries. |
X-Ray Rod Favorite Album: Metal: Funeral Mist - Deiform. Non-metal I'd say Emptiness - Vide. Best Home-Country Album: For Sweden it's easy. Funeral Mist - Deiform. For Chile it's a tie between The Ancient Doom - In Hoc Signo Vinces and Sol Sistere - Sol Sistere. Most Played Song: I tend to listen to full albums. I'd say Emptiness - Vide. I can't stress nough how brilliant that album is as a soundtrack to a night out. Specially on the way home and drunk. Most Promising Band: Stormkeep. The debut full length is brilliant and I really want more from them. Best Concert: I had some small windows of opportunities inbetween all the covid chaos. I think the best metal one was with Misþyrming and Naðra. But as a whole the best concert was easily Anna Von Hausswolff performing her album All Thoughts Fly in organ on my town's church. Simply incredible. Biggest Disappointment: I'm a frontliner worker at a hospital. What do you think? People and their stupidity in general has been the biggest dissappointment. Roadburn getting postponed again sucked too. Metal Moment Of 2021: Moved out to a bigger place which allowed me to finally set up my soundsystem and play my vinyl! This year I wrote 18 reviews. This is a huge personal record and I hope to be able to break it this year or at least come up with a similar amount. And 2022?: Praying for Roadburn to become a reality. I also hope to have the discipline to return to my bass playing. |
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Official Contributors
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Official Contributors
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Netzach Favorite Album: Ophiuchi - Shibboleth Best Home-Country Album: Fornhem - Stämman Från Berget Most Played Song: Korpiklaani - "Leväluhta" Most Promising Band: Alkuharmonian Kantaja Best Concert: I wish. Biggest Disappointment: Cult Of Luna - The Raging River Metal Moment Of 2021: Joining the Metal Storm staff. And 2022?: Amorphis, Cult Of Luna, Turmion Kätilöt, more reviews, more interviews, and especially more gigs. |
omne metallum Favorite Album: Green Lung- Black Harvest and Carcass- Torn Arteries I can’t choose between them. Best Home-Country Album: Green Lung and Carcass again. Most Played Song: Volbeat: Wait A Minute My Girl Most Promising Band: Kurokuma/Urne/King Witch 3 of the best discoveries of the year for me, can’t wait to hear anything new from them in the future. Best Concert: Not a whole lot competition but Bloodstock Festival wins hands down. First live show back since the pandemic and it was like being thrown in at the deep end; new discoveries and old favourites made for one hell of a festival. Biggest Disappointment: Times Of Grace- Songs Of Loss And Separation. After ten years of waiting for a follow up to their seminal debut album, this was one hell of a decline in quality. Metal Moment Of 2021: Attending my first gig since the pandemic started, it was a moment to savour for sure And 2022?: Hopefully the recovery of the music industry after two years of pandemic. New albums from Megadeth, Anthrax, Kurokuma and Devin Townsend are highly anticipated UK Deathfest, Incineration Festival and Aerosmith happening after being postponed twice now, long awaited for sure |
tominator Favorite Album: Raphael Weinroth-Browne - Worlds Within Live Best Home-Country Album: The Fur - "Sonntag" Most Played Song: Iron Maiden - "The Parchment" and "The Time Machine", Icon Of Sin - "Nightbreed", Subterranean Masquerade - "Diaspora, My Love", Crashtime - "Instrumetal Four Seasons of Heavy Metal", Crescent - "Drowned In Theban Blood", Seven Sisters - "Shadow Of A Fallen Star", Hard Disk Drive - "Storms Of Venus", Decimals - "Echo" Most Promising Band: Decimals Best Concert: What's a concert? Seriously though, I haven't been able to go to a single concert this year due to obvious reasons. Biggest Disappointment: It's probably seeing the founder of one of my favourite bands do something incredibly stupid. Metal Moment Of 2021: Participating on a Getting Into article, which was made even better by it being about my favourite band. And 2022?: Hopefully not as terrible as 2021 was for me personally. Looking forward to some cool new releases both from established bands and some newcomers in the genre. Oh, and maybe being able to go to a concert again, that would be nice. |
| Written on 30.01.2022 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct. |
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