Best of Progressive Metal 2021


The “progressive metal” category casts such a wide net that I had to subdivide it into several subcategories. So, instead of making a top 5 for every one of them, let’s see only the best concept album, the best experimental album, the best instrumental album, the best vocal album, the best prog-power album, and the best prog-thrash album from 2021!


Best Prog-Power: Æphanemer – A Dream of Wilderness


It’s got the cheese, it’s got the shredder, it’s got the pasta.


Best Prog-Thrash: Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm



Throughout the many really cool thrash metal albums the year gave us, Cryptosis’s stood … Read more

Best of Metalcore 2021


Let’s hear it for the most crushing metalcore albums of 2021!


Number Five: Warring Monk – 僧兵


That Warring Monk album is a last-minute entry, but I had to include it here! Despite its lower production standard, it’s filled with incredible riffs, an amazing guitar distortion sound, and it’ll be a great discovery for most of you!


Number Four: Vildhjarta – Måsstaden under vatten



I don’t feel like Vildhjarta recaptured the lightning in a bottle that the original Måsstaden ended up being, but the under vatten follow-up is still really freaking good!


Number Three: Employed to Serve – Conquering


Employed … Read more

Everything Is Terrible – Intensely Distressed and on the Verge of Mental Collapse

The debut from Copenhagen progressive metalcore outfit Everything Is Terrible is terribly good. The aptly-titled Intensely Distressed and on the Verge of Mental Collapse showcases a slow, heavy kind of metalcore, almost to the point of deathcore, well-infused with djent sonorities. The guitars sound thick and powerful, thanks to a precise mix and a present bass guitar. On this intense full-length, the band goes from straight-out djent, to the mellower atmodjent style somewhat reminiscent of Tesseract or Uneven Structure, and that’s a recurring theme here – atmosphere –, for as hard or tranquil as they decide to go, all … Read more