I find this amusing, quaint, silly, and even clueless.
Level up with AMARANTHE: with their new single 'PvP', the band doesn't only deliver the perfect gaming soundtrack but also the official anthem for the Swedish e-sports team who won the 2021 international championships!
Yeah man nothing screams intense e-sports championship death match like a pinball machine.
I find this especially amusing because "Gamer Metal" has been what Swedish band Machinae Supremacy has been for like two decades now.
Including doing the soundtrack for some indie games like Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams.
So, yeah, this feels like old people trying to be cool to a young and hip audience, only it's weird because I'm 36 and the members of Amaranthe aren't going to be so much older than me that most of them don't play video games.
Then again, singers in Amaranthe are at least better than the singer of Machinae Supremacy. "You get used to it" and "acquired taste" apply.
Anybody have any favorites from 2021? There were a number of standouts for me, especially for black metal releases. I spent a lot more time in 2021 on Bandcamp instead of my usual Spotify, so I'll link to some of the ones that I enjoyed so much I put down some cash for the digital album, or even an actual CD!
Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
Easily one of the best black metal releases of the year. Probably my top album of 2021. I'm seeing this one on quite a few end-of-year lists too, so I guess others agree! Even the album cover is awesome.
Sun of Grey - Outerworld
Doom metal that never fails to be interesting, and absolutely heavy as hell. Lucifer Smiled is one of my favorite individual songs of the year.
Noctule - Wretched Abyss
A one-woman black metal project out of the UK, and all the songs are about Skyrim. I mean, how can you go wrong with that? The first song hits right away and it doesn't let up much all the way through.
Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia
This is my post-death avant-garde crazy release of the year. Two 24-minute songs that span just about everything in heavy metal. Bonus unpronounceable band name to boot.
Riitasointu - Kanervakankaala
Finnish folk mixed with melodic heavy metal and a lot of atmosphere. This one is a journey.
Craven Idol - Forked Tongues
Old school style heavy metal that kicks ass. One of the best album covers of the year.
Perilaxe Occlusion - Raytraces of Death
Modern death metal as it should be - unbelievably heavy and complex, and it just sounds amazing. And the songs are all about computer graphics and video, I mean what's not to love?
Ushangvagush - Mntu
A one-man black metal project from a member of the First Nations. Classic old-school sound and sensibilities. 90's Darkthrone would approve wholeheartedly.
In Aphelion - Luciferian Age
A supergroup outputting some of the best melodic death of the year. Fantastic album, I just wish it was longer!
I'll leave it at that for now. I'm not sure anyone else likes these kinds of bands, but if someone does, let me know and I can post more. To me it was another great year for heavy music. I've been learning to play the guitar too and I can say I'm much better at the end of 2021 than I was at the start! I still super suck, but these bands here are my inspiration to keep working at it and get better.
No end of 2021 metal list from me. I'm just too burned out and bleak myself to enjoy it. I've looked to "four chords and the truth," strong storytelling, and things that just plain groove more than ever before...a lot of Classic Rock, Folk, Americana/Outlaw/Alt-Country, Blues, Soul, Funk Jazz.
I look forward to hearing/re-hearing all the great metal that came out this year whenever I get out of the tunnel, however long that might take.
These last couple of years have been all about going back and listening to '90s releases that I've never heard. Filling in my back catalog of legendary releases that I skipped over when getting into the genre in the early 2000s.
Best release in 2021 for me was definitely Perilaxe Occlusion's second EP (which was the first thing I heard from them, thanks to this thread!).
I listened to it again today because of this convo and it still just destroys. I want as much of this as possible!
2021 was pretty sh*t for new releases until November when things went a bit crazy.
I honestly think it was an awful year for the types of music I've been looking for. So much retread.
Best release in 2021 for me was definitely Perilaxe Occlusion's second EP (which was the first thing I heard from them, thanks to this thread!).
I listened to it again today because of this convo and it still just destroys. I want as much of this as possible!
Hell yeah! It's so good. That was one of the cases where I picked up a physical copy to help support their music.
Legion, I did some of that last year myself. I hadn't ever heard any of the classic black metal releases from the early 90s, so I went through quite a few of them. It's great to hear where some of your favorite music started. I found Weakling's incredible release that way. I also discovered old school Cynic and Pestilence too. I wish I knew about them back when they were releasing those albums.
2021 wasn't really a great year for metal, maybe the oppressive malaise of the times isn't a good fit for the genre, but there were a few releases I loved:
Big|Brave (sludge/doom)
Converge and Chelsea Wolfe (broadly doom I guess, but basically uncategorisable)
Cult of Luna (post-metal)
Divide and Dissolve (sludge, but very experimental/ambient)
Frontierer (hardcore, in the frenzied style of Code Orange. Does this subgenre have a name yet?)
Wolvennest (psychedelic black metal)
I'm sure the pandemic slowed releases down. One of my faves, Revocation, is finally releasing a new album in 2022.
Good ones jontra! I can't believe I somehow missed the Frontierer release - I loved their last one, Unloved. Their music is insane. I have to be in the right mood for it, but when I am, it's perfect. Could it be called post-hardcore? We've got post- everything else at this point.
+1 to Wolvennest too.
Yeah, the genre of post hardcore already exists and it's probably not what you expect. The band labels themselves mathcore, and there's definitely a debt to Dillinger and maybe Botch there, but what those guys are doing is so much more extreme and hostile to the listener it's kind of hilarious.
edit: I guess the obvious reference point for their newer stuff is Car Bomb but Frontierer is somehow even heavier and more obnoxious than Car Bomb.
Yeah mathcore seems like a good fit, although I do think that Frontierer, Code Orange, Vein and other bands like them have formed a new genre that's a little distinct from Botch and Dillinger.
That new Frontierer album is amazing though. It somehow manages to be incredibly extreme and hostile but also somehow compulsively listenable at the same time.
That new Frontierer album is amazing though. It somehow manages to be incredibly extreme and hostile but also somehow compulsively listenable at the same time.
I really dig it too. Their older stuff is also killer, if you haven't checked it out.
I stand corrected! Looking at the list of bands on Wikipedia's page I'd say I'm wrong (and you're right Podunk, it wasn't what I would have expected). Mathcore doesn't seem right either, but it's definitely closer.
I'm not a huge Abbath fan, but he's the Ozzy of BM so the video is fun. Dude is a performer.
I just remembered Iron Maiden released an album last year. Did anyone snag it? Or give it a listen on Spotify?
I just remembered Iron Maiden released an album last year. Did anyone snag it? Or give it a listen on Spotify?
Speaking as a casual Maiden fan, I thought the lead single was quite good and the rest of the album was a bit of a slog. Their previous one was much better
Messa coming out with a faster song than I ever expected from them.
This from am AMG review. What I would describe as scifi horror stoner metal. It's stoner with a black metal vibe. A shinier Dopethrone.
Best release in 2021 for me was definitely Perilaxe Occlusion's second EP (which was the first thing I heard from them, thanks to this thread!).
I listened to it again today because of this convo and it still just destroys. I want as much of this as possible!
I just realized that I neglected to mention Fulci's Exhumed Information! 2021 was the year I discovered Fulci when this album dropped. Their devotion to B horror movies and incorporating keys into what Metallum labels brutal death metal is fantastic. Damn near snapped my neck headbanging on the way to lunch.
I really enjoyed both the Messa and especially King Bastard. I totally missed the Fulci album too. Thanks for the recs!
Today is a good day .. new Meshuggah single out today, The Abysmal Eye. Squeeee!
New album from Celeste released today, Assassine(s).
Their first one on a bigger label, Nuclear Blast.
Dope
So this is no doubt old news for other people and, even if it is new news, is unlikely to be what folks here are looking to listen to. But YouTube randomly recommended me "Pentakill", and after recognizing both Jorn Lande and Noora Louhimou I decided to see if they were a super group or Ayreon style project or something. Nope! Fictional-ish League of Legends band.
Took me a moment to come to terms with one of the better power metal bands I've discovered recently isn't a "real" band in the traditional sense. Then again, being made up of internal music team at Riot might be one of the reasons it works as well as it does.
So, sharing here.
Some great albums out last Friday:
Rolo Tomassi
Venom Prison
And if you're into that kind of thing, the new Korn is solid too,
Really enjoying the new album by Zeal & Ardor. My cat is not, however. The first time I played the opening track, she freaked out.
We need to wake this thread back up!
I've got a ticket to the upcoming Death tribute show Left to Die, which also features Skeletal Remains and Mortuous. Assuming I make it (and I'm getting over COVID right now so I probably can't catch it again in the next week and a half, fingers crossed), this will be my first post-pandemic show.
Yes, it's ironic to call it "post-pandemic" when I'm still quarantining with the actual disease, but you take my meaning. 
So I've been boning up on those three bands. I've enjoyed Skeletal Remains' straight ahead, Florida-style DM for a few years now, and caught them in a show a few years ago that also had TBDM, Power Trip, Ghoul, and Gost - what a bill. Mortuous was new to me, but they're right up my alley, fitting into the "weird" DM niche that I love, like Tomb Mold. Another band I've been listening to off and on in that vein is Phobophilic, who are about to drop their first full-length.
I'd include Perilaxe Occlusion in that category as well, who I learned about in this very thread. Still absolutely love them and hope they put out an album and start touring one of these days. Those guys have a really unique sound to me, but Phobophilic might be one that plays in some of the same spaces.
So this is no doubt old news for other people and, even if it is new news, is unlikely to be what folks here are looking to listen to. But YouTube randomly recommended me "Pentakill", and after recognizing both Jorn Lande and Noora Louhimou I decided to see if they were a super group or Ayreon style project or something. Nope! Fictional-ish League of Legends band.
Took me a moment to come to terms with one of the better power metal bands I've discovered recently isn't a "real" band in the traditional sense. Then again, being made up of internal music team at Riot might be one of the reasons it works as well as it does.
So, sharing here.
Fun fact: Last fall, my studio worked with Riot Games and The Mill to create a live performance of Pentakill's latest album, III: Lost Chapter! I wasn't personally involved as I was on another live project (which is now up for an MTV VMA!! :O ), but I was able to dig into a bunch of their files and learn a LOT about how major studios make their art! Also it was a super fun show!
Thanks for bringing the thread back Fedaykin! Also that's pretty cool WipEout you work for a place that does that kind of work. It's the kind of thing I wish I was doing.
I've been to one metal show this year so far and it was great. It had Frayle, Ruby the Hatchet, and headlined by the old-school band Candlemass. Frayle is a newer band, and they're actually the reason I went to this show, but really they were all fantastic. Ruby the Hatchet is pure heavy classic rock, and everyone probably knows Candlemass already. They still kick ass even after all these years. My favorite Frayle tune:
Fedaykin, I've recently come across Knowledge Through Suffering, which remind me strongly of some of Perilaxe Occlusion's stuff and I think you'll enjoy it:
Same goes for this Stillborn release. So good!
It's been a great year for metal so far. Just to name a few: White Ward's new one is fantastic (complete with saxophone). In black metal, there's Aara's release. Some great doom releases too, like the new one from Wo Fat and a Behold! The Monolith album that just came out a few weeks ago which I think will be on quite a few end of year lists.
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