10 Best Metal Albums of 2021 by UnhinderedbyTalent

This is a very tactile listening experience for me. Seemingly designed for that one sitting listen through for you to fully appreciate the quality of the album. There are no real individual parts to call out as such as despite there often being clear breaks between tracks it all feels interconnected and cohesive to the point of being conceptual almost. Track lengths vary and at first glance the format looks busy and confusing (which is part of the charm for me of listening to complex release and trying desperately to unravel it) however this structure to the composition of the album track listing is devilishly clever. The build that gets created here is superb and it sets some tracks up to be real eruptions of powerful and cavernous death metal that simply vents at various parts of the album.

I hear a lot of influences in the sound here. From the lush tremolos of Fen and Drudkh to the warm and full melodies of the latter of the aforementioned bands. But there's also the earthy dankness of WITTR present in the shift, passage and flow of tracks. The sum of all parts shows a penchant for ethereal layers of atmosphere that build into entities reminiscent of Spectral Lore and Darkspace also. I even get a smattering of Xasthur on Terra Requiem as Jake's vocals drop into a ghastly whisper riding over a rolling tremolo riff. What you get here is a very textured and tactile album, you almost want that amazing artwork on the cover to be raised and ridged like the music itself so you can trace your fingers along the landscape as you listen to the music.

Never crashing and bashing, always calculated and poised in their delivery, the four-piece exude a maturity to their gritty and deep content that although rarely varies never gets boring. What Kowloon Walled City manage to do on Piecework is build instantly and then maintain a direction that becomes the absolute spine of the album. Most tracks do sound the same and the album tracks do all tend to blur into one. However, I cannot remember one other album in recent years where this linearity is so utterly perfectly placed (and paced). This fusion of the tracks (in my head at least) really works in making the album so successful in relaying its message. It is an album that is not adorned in any way, shape, or form with anything unnecessary or surplus. It turns up to the party with its own keg of home-brewed beer and sits, supping from its own mixture – offering pint pots of it to anyone who expresses interest, whilst acknowledging it is perhaps an acquired taste.

A truly consuming listening experience that provides a seamless connection to history and nature in equal amounts. A record that can take you far away from your surroundings and utilise the most minimalist approach to instrumentation to still build an exceptional sense of power.

A truly consuming listening experience that provides a seamless connection to history and nature in equal amounts. A record that can take you far away from your surroundings and utilise the most minimalist approach to instrumentation to still build an exceptional sense of power.

In the midst of the blackened death metal there are moments of death / doom also that remind me of Abyssal whilst in overall attitude and outright horror I draw comparison with the amazing Altarage. This clever use of pace is prevalent on opening track (proper) Shattered and later on Disenchanted has a superb atmospheric run to really emphasise the terror-filled aether that envelopes the record. There is also more obvious references to Incantation and Grave Miasma but Defacement manage to create a layer above the core sound of the album that I do not recall happening all that often on other records that incorporate these genres. Having two guitarists absolutely helps this layering effect. It sounds at times like one guitarist is doing one thing and the other is off on some other terrifying tangent yet somehow they still marry both parts together to maintain a real sense of cohesion.

In the midst of the blackened death metal there are moments of death / doom also that remind me of Abyssal whilst in overall attitude and outright horror I draw comparison with the amazing Altarage. This clever use of pace is prevalent on opening track (proper) Shattered and later on Disenchanted has a superb atmospheric run to really emphasise the terror-filled aether that envelopes the record. There is also more obvious references to Incantation and Grave Miasma but Defacement manage to create a layer above the core sound of the album that I do not recall happening all that often on other records that incorporate these genres. Having two guitarists absolutely helps this layering effect. It sounds at times like one guitarist is doing one thing and the other is off on some other terrifying tangent yet somehow they still marry both parts together to maintain a real sense of cohesion.

To reference a more recent similarity though, Deconsecrate also reminds me of VoidCeremony’s debut full-length from last year. Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel was another bass driven affair that referenced enough DiGiorgio style of playing to make me be like all 90s an’ shit. Brian Rush does a similar job on Deconsecrate, often playing his own thing as he does runs and plays seemingly outside of the rest of the proceedings yet somehow seamlessly connected to the very core of what is going on. The bass coupled with the remarkable drumming of Pierce Williams are the two standout performances on what is still overall a very tight and well composed record. Watching videos of both Rush and Williams perform, it is clear they are the main driving talent of the band yet neither dominate the performance. The lead and melody work of Eli Lundgren and Kelly Mclaughlin is crisp and clear, and their busy riffing style applies an important gravity to the tracks.

To reference a more recent similarity though, Deconsecrate also reminds me of VoidCeremony’s debut full-length from last year. Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel was another bass driven affair that referenced enough DiGiorgio style of playing to make me be like all 90s an’ shit. Brian Rush does a similar job on Deconsecrate, often playing his own thing as he does runs and plays seemingly outside of the rest of the proceedings yet somehow seamlessly connected to the very core of what is going on. The bass coupled with the remarkable drumming of Pierce Williams are the two standout performances on what is still overall a very tight and well composed record. Watching videos of both Rush and Williams perform, it is clear they are the main driving talent of the band yet neither dominate the performance. The lead and melody work of Eli Lundgren and Kelly Mclaughlin is crisp and clear, and their busy riffing style applies an important gravity to the tracks.

In terms of musical content you get hateful black metal vocals (which are all the more enhanced by being done in German which just adds perfect edge to them), interwoven with harsh blackened death metal that is used really well to ramp up the pace and add further intensity to tracks. There's even an acoustic, folk number at the end sang in a clean yet benign and resigned tone that really underlines the futility of the war. The artist/s (there's no much info on who the band are or how many of them there are in the band) uses the sounds of the battlefield to good effect without giving the feel that this is some Marduk record and they use pace really well with most tracks having some genuine traditional/heavy metal moments

In terms of musical content you get hateful black metal vocals (which are all the more enhanced by being done in German which just adds perfect edge to them), interwoven with harsh blackened death metal that is used really well to ramp up the pace and add further intensity to tracks. There's even an acoustic, folk number at the end sang in a clean yet benign and resigned tone that really underlines the futility of the war. The artist/s (there's no much info on who the band are or how many of them there are in the band) uses the sounds of the battlefield to good effect without giving the feel that this is some Marduk record and they use pace really well with most tracks having some genuine traditional/heavy metal moments

For an album that celebrates the darkness of its existence so openly there is very little in the way of threat in Wolvennest’s sound. Instead, it is an album that plays as a performance, delivered in an intimate and sensual environment. I find it to be a very calming and richly rewarding listen that delivers a real sense of texture on each spin. The only comparison I can think to draw on is Wolvserpent but here the likeness is more around the atmosphere since the Belgians are much more accessible in their style, deploying a cleanliness in their crisp and melodic leads that are able to permeate the at times dense fog that cloaks the record.

For an album that celebrates the darkness of its existence so openly there is very little in the way of threat in Wolvennest’s sound. Instead, it is an album that plays as a performance, delivered in an intimate and sensual environment. I find it to be a very calming and richly rewarding listen that delivers a real sense of texture on each spin. The only comparison I can think to draw on is Wolvserpent but here the likeness is more around the atmosphere since the Belgians are much more accessible in their style, deploying a cleanliness in their crisp and melodic leads that are able to permeate the at times dense fog that cloaks the record.

Setting their stall out early on, Spectral Wound slash open the melody wound from the off with the domineering Imperial Saison Noire which is as solid an album opener as you could wish for. It marks the arrival of the album perfectly, sets the pace nicely and whets the appetite immediately for more. This is black metal played with such a high level of fervid and dogged determination that I cannot help but be captivated from the off. To a large extent, I don't care if the album fails to vary all that much; when the output is this good why fix what ain't broken?

Setting their stall out early on, Spectral Wound slash open the melody wound from the off with the domineering Imperial Saison Noire which is as solid an album opener as you could wish for. It marks the arrival of the album perfectly, sets the pace nicely and whets the appetite immediately for more. This is black metal played with such a high level of fervid and dogged determination that I cannot help but be captivated from the off. To a large extent, I don't care if the album fails to vary all that much; when the output is this good why fix what ain't broken?