Heavy Blog Staff’s Top 25 Albums of 2020

We may have taken a different direction with our overall AOTY list this year, but we still wanted to share what everyone on staff thought were the best releases of the year! Comment with your own top 25, albums you discovered/enjoyed on our lists, and releases we should check out.

Jordan Jerabek

Envy – The Crimson Fallen
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Boris – NO
Kvelertak – Splid
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened In Eternity
Aesthesys – Alignments
Hum – Inlet
Crystal Coffin – The Transformation Room
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
All Them Witches – Nothing as the Ideal
Loud Night – Mindnumbing Pleasure
Uniform – Shame
Couch Slut – TACORnR
Ulthar – Providence
Caspian – On Circles
Bartees Strange – Live Forever
Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1&2
END – Splinters From an Ever-Changing Face
MSW – Obliviosus
Sumac – May You Be Held
Dawnwalker – Ages
Turtle Skull – Monoliths

Nate Johnson

Svalbard: When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Stand Atlantic: Pink Elephant
Code Orange: Underneath
Dragged Under: The World Is in Your Way
Drain: California Cursed
Covet: Technicolor
END: Splinters From an Ever Changing-Face
Xibalba: Anos En Infierno
Palm Reader: Sleepless
Trivium: What the Dead Men Say
Misery Signals: Ultraviolet
Pschonaut: Unfold the God Man
Deftones: Ohms
Greg Puciato: Child Soldier: Creator of God
Couch Slut: Take a Chance on Rock n’ Roll
Bambara: Stray
Nothing: The Great Dismal
Intronaut: Fluid Existential Inversions
Black Wing: No Moon
Unleash the Archers: Abyss
Year of the Knife: Internal Incaceration
Phoxjaw: Royal Swan
Creeper: Sex, Death & The Infinite Void
Elephant Tree: Habits
Eternal Champion: Ravening Iron

Pete Williams

Elder – Omens
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Deftones – Ohms
Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA
Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle – May Our Chambers Be Full
Taylor Swift – folklore
Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin – Stygian Bough, Vol. 1
Necrot – Mortal
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Nothing – The Great Dismal
Vile Creature – Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
Run the Jewels – RTJ 4
Pallbearer – Forgotten Days
Napalm Death – THroes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall II
Crystal Coffin – The Transformation Room
Drouth – Excerpts from a Dread Liturgy
Wytch Hazel – III:Pentecost
Code Orange – Underneath
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
High Priestess – Casting the Circle
Wayfarer – A Romance with Violence
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog

Jon Adams

Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Katatonia – City Burials
Atramentus – Stygian
Honey Harper – Starmaker
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
The Microphones – The Microphones in 2020
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
Havukruunu – Uinuos Syomein Sota
Haken – Virus
Protest the Hero – Palimpsest
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall II
Skaphe – Skaphe3
Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Atrae Bilis – Divinihility
Elder – Omens
Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today
Wytch Hazel – III: Pentecost
Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence

Eden Kupermintz

1 Countless Skies – Glow
2 Elder – Omens
3 Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
4 wthAura – Grocery
5 Dawnwalker – Ages
6 Lespecial – Ancient Homies
7 Dzo-nga – Thunder in the Mountains
8 Feminazgul – No Dawn For Men
9 sleepmakeswaves – these are not your dreams
10 King Witch – Body of Light
11 Caligula’s Horse – Rise Radiant
12 Wang Wen 惘闻 – 100,000 Whys
13 clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
14 Cirith Ungol – Forever Black
15 Amiensus – Abreaction
16 Polaris – The Death of Me
17 Helfro – Helfro
18 Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
19 Mountain Caller – Chronicle I: The Truthseeker
20 Satyr – Locus
21 Question – Reflections of the Void
22 Dessiderium – Shadow Burn
23 Dead Quiet – Truth and Ruin
24 Alpha Male Tea Party – Infinity Stare
25 Alustrium – Insurmountable

Scott Murphy

1. Fleet Foxes – Shore
2. Run The Jewels – RTJ4
3. Video Age – Pleasure Line
4. Sa-Roc – The Sharecropper’s Daughter
5. Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
6. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
7. Protest The Hero – Palimpsest
8. Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
9. Taylor Ashton – The Romantic
10. Natalia Lafourcade – Un canto por México Vol. 1
11. The Mountain Goats – Getting Into Knives
12. Nihiloxica – Kaloli
13. Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
14. Good Tiger – Raised in a Doomsday Cult
15. Dawnwalker – Ages
16. Xythlia – Immortality Through Quantum Suicide
17. Black Taffy – Opal Wound
18. Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
19. Party Dozen – Pray for Party Dozen
20. tētēma – necroscape
21. Countless Skies – Glow
22. Honey Harper – Starmaker
23. Mamaleek – Come and See
24. Hum – Inlet
25. Aseitas – False Peace

Trent Bos

1 Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
2 Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
3 Esoctrilihum – Eternity Of Shaog
4 Respire – Black Line
5 Envy – The Fallen Crimson
6 Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi
7 End – Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face
8 Countless Skies – Glow
9 Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces Everyone
10 Serpent Column – Kathodos
11 Aesthesys – Alignments
12 Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
13 Lord Buffalo – Tohu Wa Bohu
14 Viva Belgrado – Bellavista
15 Nord – The Only Way To Reach The Surface
16 Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
17 lespecial – Ancient Homies
18 clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
19 Wake – Devouring Ruin
20 Show Me A Dinosaur – Plantgazer
21 Sevdaliza – Shabrang
22 Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
23 The God Awful Truth – Memory Palace
24 Fawn Limbs – Sleeper Vessels
25 Fall Of Messiah – Senicarne

Nick Cusworth

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
sleepmakeswaves – these are not your dreams
Elder – Omens
Bound – Haunts
Arcing Wires – Prime
Caligula’s Horse – Rise Radiant
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter
Barrens – Penumbra
Whale Fall – It Will Become Itself
pg.lost – Oscillate
Elden – Nostromo
VASA – Heroics
TROMB – I/O
Alpha Male Tea Party – Infinity Stare
Nubya Garcia – Source
albinobeach – The Ladder
Dawnwalker – Ages
wthAura – Grocery
Respire – Black Line
Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
A.A. Williams – Forever Blue
Gazelle(s) – True Meridian
clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Coastlands – Death
Mountain Caller – Chronicle I: The Truthseeker

Calder Dougherty

1. The Acacia Strain – Slow Decay
2. The 1975 – Notes On a Conditional Form
3. Unleash The Archers – Abyss
4. Terminal Nation – Holocene Extinction
5. END – Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face
6. WVRM – Colony Collapse
7. Covet – technicolor
8. Protest The Hero – Palimpsest
9. Misery Signals – Ultraviolet
10. Clown Core – Van
11. Emmure – Hindsight
12. Beneath The Massacre – Fearmonger
13. Orchards – Lovecore
14. Wombripper – Macabre Melodies
15. Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
16. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
17. ELFENSJoN – STYX
18. Cross Bringer – The Signs of Spiritual Delusion
19. Focusrights – Ew, Music!
20. Nubya Garcia – Source
21. Benighted – Obscene Repressed
22. Satyr – Locus
23. STRAY KIDS – IN LIFE
24. Fawn Limbs – Sleeper Vessels
25. BLACKPINK – The Album

Karlo Doroc

Code Orange – Underneath
Trivium – What The Dead Men Say
Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
Psychonaut – Unfold the God Man
Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?
Katatonia – City Burials
O’Brother – You and I
Rina Sawayama – Sawayama
Dragunov – Arkhipov
Caligula’s Horse – Rise Radiant
HOWES3 – Moving Forward
Haken – Virus
Dragged Under – The World Is In Your Way
Protest the Hero – Palimpest
Chaos Divine – Legacies
clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Lespecial – Ancient Homies
Thematic – Skyrunner
Polaris – The Death of Me
Grey Daze – Amends
Currents – The Way it Ends
Dark Fortress – Spectres From the Old World
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Aronious – Perspicacity
Deftones – Ohms

Josh Bulleid

1. Code Orange – Underneath
2. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
3. Rina Sawayama – Sawayma
4. Deftones – Ohms
5. Sepultura – Quadra
6. Dragged Under – The World is in Your Way
7. Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
8. Release the Blackness – Tragedy
9. Gold Key – Panic Machine
10. Testament – Titans of Creation
11. In Malice’s Wake – The Blindness of Faith
12. Dessiderium – Shadow Burn
13. Sylosis – Cycle of Suffering
14. Killer Be Killed – Reluctant Hero
15. Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment
16. Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
17. Carnosus – Dogma of teh Deceased
18. The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
19. Palm Reader – Sleepless
20. Dark Fortress – Spectres from the Old World
21. Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
22. Lady Gaga – Chromatica
23. End – Hesitation Wounds
24. Dyssidia – Costly Signals
25. Havok – V

Dave Zeidler

Svalbard – When I Die, Will It Get Better?
Dogleg – Melee
Caspian – On Circles
Hum – Inlet
Bartees Strange – Live Forever
Grayceon – MOTHERS WEAVERS VULTURES
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Envy – The Fallen Crimson
Respire – Black Line
Greg Puciato – Child Soldier: Creator of God
Boneflower – Armour
Elder – Omens
Pallbearer – Forgotten Days
Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces, Everyone
Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
Coastlands – Death
Killer Be Killed – Reluctant Hero
Stay Inside – Viewing
Sharptooth – Transitional Forms
sleepmakeswaves – these are not your dreams
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
Be Well – The Weight and the Cost
Mountaineer – Bloodletting
Show Me A Dinosaur – Plantgazer
Mare Cognitum | Spectral Lore – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine

Joe Astill

1. Loathe – I Let It In and It Took Everything
2. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
3. Déluge – Ægo Templo
4. Caligula’s Horse – Rise Radiant
5. Kyros – Celexa Dreams
6. A.A. Williams – Forever Blue
7. Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
8. Uniform – Shame
9. Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA
10. Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
11. clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
12. Haken – Virus
13. VASA – Heroics
14. Respire – Black Line
15. Code Orange – Underneath
16. Dragged Into Sunlight – Terminal Aggressor II
17. Caspian – On Circles
18. Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
19. Kairon; IRSE! – Polysomn
20. Eleanora – Mere
21. Against All Logic – 2017-2019
22. END – Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face
23. Run The Jewels – RTJ4
24. Jockstrap – Wicked City
25. Loma – Don’t Shy Away

Jimmy Rowe

Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
Protest the Hero – Palimpsest
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Countless Skies – Glow
Katatonia – City Burials
Clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
The 1975 – Notes On A Conditional Form
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Thundercat – It Is What It Is
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Expander – Neuropunk Boostergang
Caustic Wound – Death Posture
Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
VoidCeremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
Bedsore – Hypnagogic Hallucinations
Loathe – I Let It In And It Took Everything
Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog