Look, I know a lot of you Spotify or YouTube your music, and hey I’m guilty of that as well, but I still buy a ton of physical releases every year, and almost every one of these artists on this list I’ve bought something from (well the ones without a signature are my recommendations), because they are just that awesome. In the last 2 years with this whole pandemic, artists need your support more than ever, especially in the more obscure and underground corners of music, and you should definitely hit up Bandcamp or your friendly local record shop if you have one and give some of these bands and artists a try.
-Scott M., Editor, EuroCultAV
Carcass – Torn Arteries
Carcass came back BIG with Surgical Steel, but it took them quite a few years to follow that up. I don’t normally assume that such a big act will turn out my favorite album of the year (I know Iron Maiden for example didn’t even come close), but when I finished my first listen of Torn Arteries, I couldn’t help but play it again from the start and within 24 hours I played with death metal masterpiece 6x. Did Carcass create something distinct and new here? No, but they created distinctly CARCASS, and that’s all I needed.
Wode – Burn in Many Mirrors
I had just heard about Wode through the standard metal press outlets earlier in 2021 (Banger?), and popped them on my Spotify to check them out. Needless to say within a few listens I knew this would be at least a top 10 album of the year by the end, and here I am in December, and I am still singing its praises. This is awesome, atmospheric black metal without every going into cheesy territory, and the closing track with it’s light John Carpenter influence is probably still my favorite album closer of the year. This is so recommended if you haven’t heard it yet.
Hulder – Godslastering Hymns of a Forlorn Peasant
I’ve been keeping an ear on Hulder through her ep’s and demoes over the last few years, which have been all FANTASTIC. Needless to say when her debut album Godslastering Hymns of a Forlorn Peasant dropped in January, I ordered the vinyl straight away. This is a mix of old school vicious black metal with the opening track feeling like something that could come off of Pure Holocaust, and some nice old school atmospheric black metal elements throughout. It’s December 3rd as I write this review, and this one is still getting frequent spins. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Helslave – From the Sulphur Depths
I had not heard of Italy’s Helslave before From the Sulphur Depths, but this one hit me hard the second I heard it. This one hits me in that spot that still pulls out albums like Massive Killing Capacity, Into the Grave, and Left Hand Path without going into that overly melodic Gotherburg stuff that came later. This is straight-forward brutal, buzzsaw death metal that is catchy, fun, and super easy to recommend to old school Swedish DM fans.
Wormwitch – Wolf Hex
I’ve been pretty big into blackened thrash bands this year, and you will see a few more of those below, but probably my favorite of the lot if Canada’s Wormwitch who returned with Wolf Hex. An excellent album of black/thrash that runs less than half an hour. This album effectivel mixes catchiness with brutality, and melody, and THEY BRING THE RIFFS. The album closes with a cover of Metallica’s “Hit the Lights” that my wife, and I quote “sounds better than the original”. GET THIS!
Demiser – Through the Gates Eternal
More blackened thrashy goodness. This album was actually a grower, I heard it back in March or April and was like “yeah it’s OK”. Then over the summer I put it on again while sipping a whiskey in my backyard, and it hit HARD. Since the band describe themselves “Whiskey and speed fueled demon worshipping metal from hell”. I’m guessing the whiskey was the missing ingredient, and I’ve been listening to this blast of blackened thrash like crazy ever since, and you should be too.
Eyehategod – A History of Nomadic Behavior
I’ve been a huge fan of Eyehategod since I found them in high school. I’d actually count Mike IX Williams as probably one of my favorite vocalist EVER. Eyehategod doesn’t release albums as frequently as they used to, so when they do IT IS AN EVENT (they even got a billboard this time). Like the Carcass album above, what we got was more of what Eyehategod does well, and honestly that is all I need. Eyehategod’s brand of sludge metal goodness with Jimmy Bower’s guitar attack and William’s vocals for the running time will keep me going until the next one. This should definitely go under your Christmas tree.
Panopticon – …Again into the Light
…Again into the Light is the latest album from bluegrass meets black metal project Panopticon. What seems like it would be a one trick pony, keeps turning out greaat album after great album. I admit Scars of Man… didn’t get as many plays from me as expected, but ….Again Into the Light seems to be Austin Lunn, and Panopticon back in full form. A really fantastic album from a band that keeps producing fantastic albums. This is a great fall/winter album as well.
Wraith – Undo the Chains
Did I mention I am really feeling the blackened thrash right now? This is another that came out of that field this year, but it feels like it’s really influenced by the German thrashers and this one just feels like amazing listening. This band just ASSAULTS the listener with insane, savage riffery, and basically demands to be heard.
Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
Everything Mare Cognitum does is worth listening to, and this is no different. When my family asks me how I relax to metal this is a band I point to (they still don’t get it). Solar Paroxysm is a continuation of the epic atmospheric black metal this one man project has created across 4 albums and 3 splits including last years split album with Spectral Lore which is still getting an insane amount of spins around here Wanderers – Astrology of the Nine. Honestly, you need this album, and all of his albums. If there is master of modern cosmic atmospheric black metal it is Mare Cognitum.
Jane Weaver – Flock
Jane Weaver is probably my favorite artist working in any genre today. Her Fenella album from 2020 was probably my favorite album was last year, and this is probably one of my favorite albums overall from this year. This album channels that classic Weaver sound with a pop sounding record that still is a mix of influences from the avant garde to Krautrock and beyond.
Pye Corner Audio -Entangled Routes
Well this just came out last week, and I haven’t gotten a lot of time with it, but this combined two of my favorite things. A new album by Pye Corner Audio, and a new release on Ghost Box Records, a label whose output is basically an audio addiction. Entangled Routes is another evocative and atmospheric piece from Martin Jenkins. There is a CD version out now with a vinyl forthcoming. I’m sure this will get plenty of spins over the coming months.
Limited Express (Has Gone?) – The Sound of Silence
One of my favorite bands to ever come out of Japan is Limited Express (Has Gone?). Since 1998, they have been churning out consistently great stuff. In December of 2020, they quietly put out their new mini-album called The Sound of Silence. Okay, it wasn’t done quietly at all. They released a brilliant 25-minute live concert event where they played the entire EP in a tricked-out art gallery while a cameraman ran around trying to keep up with the action. You can tell the band put A LOT of work into rehearsing for this performance and I find it impossible not to get swept up in the show. But wait, what the heck does this band even sound like? Well, I suppose the music they play is punk rock but the songs are just so spastic and odd that I don’t quite know how to describe it. There’s lot of screaming, a blaring saxophone, brilliant guitar playing, and a pummeling rhythm section that rarely lets up. Limited Express (Has Gone?) are just the right amount of relentless energy and quirky originality that I crave.
-Richard Glenn Schmidt
Terror Vision Records in 2021
Terror Vision has quickly become one of my favorite boutique record labels, producing stellar packaging of vintage horror classics with a lot of love and care put into the end result. Plus they include a pixie stick in every shipment. Score! So to close out the year and suggest some stuff to check out, I thought I’d give a little salute to Terror Vision and recommend pretty much everything they’ve released this year.
Carl Zittner – Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things
Starting things off early in the year, TV brought us a pretty interesting, novel release. The official soundtrack to the no-budget Bob Clark (Black Christmas, A Christmas Story) ghoulish flick Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. According to the liner notes, the original soundtrack contained a lot of dialogue embedded in the score and the original elements had deteriorated over time. So reconnecting with the original composer, they have reconstructed/reimagined a kind of enhanced Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things which includes original elements along with newly recorded overdubs in the spirit of the original as well as some of that aforementioned dialogue. The result is a very cool, spooky synthesizer-driven mix that makes for great Halloween listening and more than does justice to the original score.
-Ben Tucker
Michael Hoenig & J. Peter Robinson – The Gate
Up next is hands down the best packaged release of the year for Terror Vision. They really outdid themselves for fans of the film. At first glance, the outer sleeve is styled to look exactly like the album of the band Sacrifyx found in the film, and when removed the reverse includes a full sized original theatrical poster. That alone is cool but when you open the gatefold packaging, we’re treated to a totally sweet pop-up of the demon from the end of the movie. Plus after getting through all that cool packaging, the soundtrack itself is classic ‘80s synth horror and the kind of thing I can just listen to on repeat.
-Ben Tucker
Don Peake – The People Under the Stairs
Coming in the dead of summer was this delicious slab of vinyl, a dissonant, offbeat score to a dissonant, offbeat movie. From the pulsing panic of tracks like “Dog Attack” and “Hunting Roach” to the shrill shrieking of chaotic strings in “Fool’s in the House” and “Go to Hell” to the weird ambient doom of “Gutting Leroy” and “Cellar Friends”, this soundtrack is a great, chaotic listen for when you want something more unique than the boilerplate horror soundtrack.
-Ben Tucker
Richard Band – House on Sorority Row
Coming in time for Halloween is the first ever vinyl release of the score to the legendary slasher House on Sorority Row composed by horror soundtrack maestro Richard Band, and man does it spark! Band’s insistence on using an actual live orchestra really breathes life into this expansive dark and almost fairy tale-like soundtrack. Some have even argued that the score is one of the best things about the film which I can’t say I disagree with (and I don’t hate the movie or anything…it really is just that great of a score).
-Ben Tucker
Freddy’s Nightmares Original Broadcast Soundtrack
Arriving just in time for this gift guide to be inclusion is the biggest release in Terror Vision history, the soundtrack to the Freddy’s Nightmares TV series. With a main theme from horror vet composer Nicholas Pike and contributions from a variety of other composers, Terror Vision has really done this release up real nice. Similar to the way they handled the Unsolved Mysteries soundtrack from a couple years ago, they’ve released Freddy’s Nightmares in two flavors, a single disc release with highlighted favorites and a much more comprehensive 3XLP set released in more limited numbers. They even included a neat little booklet with info about the series, some cool foil stickers and a nice poster. And the music itself is CHOICE pure ‘80s magic with pulsing synth, wailing guitars and reverb heavy electronic drum kits.
-Ben Tucker
By the way, all this gushing may sound like some kind of sales pitch but I have to say that this is all me. I don’t know the Terror Vision guys, they aren’t paying me under the table in some skeazy Waffle House off the interstate and they aren’t sending me free stuff for the good vibes. I just really like what they do and am actually a two-time subscriber so I’ve got the ultra limited variants. Because that’s just how I roll, folks.
-Ben Tucker