We may have taken a different approach to our AOTY coverage this year, but we still wanted to share what everyone on staff thought were the best releases of 2021! Comment with your own list, albums you discovered/enjoyed on our lists, and records we should check out.
Jonathan Adams
- Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
- Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
- Amenra – De Doorn
- Aquilus – Bellum I
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
- Black Country, New Road – For the First Time
- Black Midi – Cavalcade
- Der Weg einer Freiheit – Noktvrn
- Diskord – Degenerations
- Ethereal Shroud – Trisagion
- First Fragment – Gloire Eternelle
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
- Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready
- Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
- Obscura – A Valediction
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Panopticon – …And Again Into the Light
- Plebeian Grandstand – Rein Ne Suffit
- So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
- Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
- Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
- Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind
- Thy Catafalque – Vadak
Joe Astill
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises
- BRUIT ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- Dreamwell – Modern Grotesque
- Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
- Meer – Playing House
- Black Country, New Road – For the first time
- The Sonder Bombs – Clothbound
- For Your Health – In Spite Of
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Cruelty – There Is No God Where I Am
- Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR
- Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic
- Møl – Diorama
- Hippotraktor – Meridian
- illuminati hotties – Let Me Do One More
- Rivers of Nihil – The Work
- Trophy Scars – Astral Pariah
- Dave – We’re All Alone In This Together
- Urne – Serpent & Spirit
- Vexed – Culling Culture
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry
- A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Invisible Cities
- Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth
Trent Bos
- Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
- The Armed – ULTRAPOP
- Atvm – Famine, Putrid and Fucking Endless
- Backxwash – I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES
- Black Country, New Road – For the first time
- black midi – Cavalcade
- BRUIT ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again
- Death Goals – The Horrible and The Miserable
- Dreamwell – Modern Grotesque
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- fallfiftyfeet – Twisted World Perspective
- for your health – in spite of
- Kaatayra – Inpariquipê
- Kaonashi – Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year
- Knoll – Interstice
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Moral Collapse – Moral Collapse
- Orphan Donor – Unraveled
- Pink Siifu – GUMBO’!
- portrayal of guilt – We Are Always Alone
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Sentinels – Collapse by Design
- The Silver – Ward of Roses
- The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls
- Trophy Scars – Astral Pariah
Josh Bulleid
- Between the Buried and Me – Colors II
- Every Time I Die – Radical
- Panopticon – …And Again into the Light
- Fucked Up – Year of the Horse
- Moon Unit – Differences in Language and Lifestyle
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- Employed to Serve – Conquering
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Don Broco – Amazing Things
- Backxwash – I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
- Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Urne – Serpent & Spirit
- Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
- Brand of Sacrifice – Lifeblood
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Cry – 壱 [One]
- Converge – Bloodmoon: I
- Vorvaň – Awakening
- Bad Wolves – Dear Monsters
- Crypts of Despair – All Light Swallowed
- Trillionaire – Romulus
- Gost – Rites of Love and Reverence
- Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm
- Lordi – Humanimals
Nick Cusworth
- Black Country, New Road – For the first time
- BRUIT ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again
- Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders – Promises
- Fucked Up – Year of the Horse
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Lantlôs – Wildhund
- Leprous – Aphelion
- Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
- Lizzard – Eroded
- Long Hallways – I Still Believe In Us
- Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World
- Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God
- Meer – Playing House
- Mogwai – As the Love Continues
- Mountainscape – Acceptance
- Portico Quartet – Monument
- SEIMS – Four
- Shy, Low – Snake Behind the Sun
- So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
- Sons of Kemet – Black to the Future
- soup – Visions
- Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
- The Physics House Band – Incident on 3rd
- VOLA – Witness
- Voronoi – The Last Three Seconds
Cody Dilullo
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- BROCKHAMPTON – ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE
- Dying Wish – Fragments of a Bitter Memory
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Abstract Void – Wishdream
- Born of Osiris – Angel or Alien
- cleopatrick – bummer
- Hacktivist – Hyperdialect
- Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Lil Nas X – Montero
- Trivium – In the Court of the Dragon
- Taylor Swift – Evermore
- Structures – None of the Above
- Left to Suffer – On Death
- Celestial Swarm – Gateways to the Necroverse
- Atræ Bilis – Apexapien
- Waking the Cadaver – Authority Through Intimidation
- Planetkiller – Fraudulent
- Evanescence – The Bitter Truth
- Limp Bizkit – Still Sucks
- City Girl – C-Girl
- Vomit the Soul – Cold
- God’s Hate – God’s Hate
- Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
Karlo Doroc
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
- Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
- Rivers of Nihil – The Work
- Trivium – In the Court of the Dragon
- Don Broco – Amazing Things
- Bullet For My Valentine – Bullet For My Valentine
- Hacktivist – Hyperdialect
- Crown – The End of All Things
- Normandie – Dark & Beautiful Secrets
- Nubiyan Twist – Freedom Fables
- I Built the Sky and Jake Howsam Lowe – Coalesce
- Leprous – Aphelion
- Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
- Wristmeetrazor – Replica of a Strange Love
- While She Sleeps – Sleeps Society
- Khirki – Κτηνωδία
- Architects – For Those That Wish To Exist
- Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth
- Be’lakor – Coherence
- Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
- White Moth Black Butterfly – The Cost of Dreaming
- Moon Unit – Differences in Language and Lifestyle
Calder Dougherty
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak – An Evening With Silk Sonic
- black midi – Cavalcade
- Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
- Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
- Fawn Limbs – Darwin Falls
- Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals
- Dreamwell – Modern Grotesque
- Civerous – Decrepit Flesh Relic
- Limp Bizkit – STILL SUCKS
- Sleep Token – This Place Will Become Your Tomb
- Whitechapel – Kin
- Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
- Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Knoll – Interstice
- Dessiderium – Aria
- Luo – Convoluted Mess Machine
- Throne – Pestilent Dawn
- BADBADNOTGOOD – Talk Memory
- Born of Osiris – Angel or Alien
- Moral Collapse – Moral Collapse
- Wanderer – Liberation From A Brutalist Existence
- Portico Quartet – Monument
Simon Handmaker
- Brii – Sem Proposito
- Daisuke Ishiwatari – Guilty Gear – Strive- Original Soundtrack Vol. 1
- Halluxvalgus – Reflections of Distant Dreams
- Injury Reserve – By the Time I Get to Phoenix
- Kaatayra – Inpariquipe
- Grateful Dead – Fox Theatre, St. Louis, Mo 12-10-71
- Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
- Replicant – Malignant Reality
- Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
- Yautja – The Lurch
- Steel Bearing Hand – Slay in Hell
- Sunless – Ylem
- delving – Hirschbrunnen
- Spectral Lore – Ετερόφωτος
- Malignant Altar – Realms of Exquisite Morbidity
- Trha – lhum johlhduc
- Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
- Worm – Foreverglade
- Mortiferum – Preserved in Torment
- Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
- Cerebral Rot – Excretion of Mortality
- Devoid of Thought – Outer World Graves
- Lunar Shadow – Wish to Leave
- Seputus – Phantom Indigo
- Darkthrone – Eternal Hails….
Ahmed Hasan
- Aborted – ManiaCult
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals
- Cynic – Ascension Codes
- Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg
- First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
- Julian Lage – Squint
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Lee Pardini – Homebodies
- Leprous – Aphelion
- Lil Nas X – MONTERO
- Mastodon – Hushed and Grim
- Nick Johnston – Young Language
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Rivers of Nihil – The Work
- Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
- Stortregn – Impermanence
- Sunless – Ylem
- Thank You Scientist – Plague Accommodations
- VOLA – Witness
- Voronoi – The Last Three Seconds
- vildhjarta – måsstaden under vatten
Bridget Hughes
- Facelift Deformation – Path to Retribution
- Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infiniti
- Fatuous Rump – Perceptions of the Dark Ornaments
- Djinn-Ghül – The Mechalith
- Brand of Sacrifice – Lifeblood
- Sugar Candy Mountain – Impression
- First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
- Diphenylchloroarsine – Subterranean Existential Warfare
- Succumb – XXI
- Diskord – Degenerations
- Atræ Bilis – Apexapien
- Abominable Putridity – Parasitic Metamorphosis Manifestation
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
- Blood Cultures – LUNO
- Rob Zombie – The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
- Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind
- Sunless – YLEM
- Replicant – Malignant Reality
- Pathology – The Everlasting Plague
- Monument of Misanthropy – Unterweger
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- 200 Stab Wounds – Slave to the Scalpel
- Sanguisugabogg – Pornographic Seizures
- Cutterred Flesh – Sharing is Caring
- The Reds, Pinks and Purples – Uncommon Weather
Jordan Jerabek
- The Armed – ULTRAPOP
- Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon
- Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
- Steel Bearing Hand – Slay In Hell
- Bríi – Sem Propósito
- ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL – ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL
- Every Time I Die – Radical
- Succumb – XXI
- Unto Others – Strength
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Quicksand – Distand Populations
- Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
- The Grasshopper Lies Heavy – A Cult That Worships A God Of Death
- Trophy Scars – Astral Pariah
- BRUIT ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again
- Lantlôs – Wildhund
- Body Void – Bury Me Beneath this Rotting Earth
- Wanderer – Liberation from a Brutalist Existence
- CHVRCHES – Screen Violence
- Dust Moth – Rising//Sailing
- Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – The Magnetic Ridge
- FACS – Present Tense
- Part Chimp – Drool
- Sallow Moth – Stasis Cocoon
- Sunless – Ylem
Eden Kupermintz
- Aenigmatum – Deconsecrate
- ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL – ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL
- Azure – Of Brine and Angel’s Beaks
- Bent Knee – Frosting
- Boss Keloid – Family The Smiling Thrush
- Christian Cosentino – Lawn
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- Fierce Deity – Power, Wisdom, Courage
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises
- Fugitive Wizard – Obscuri Aeternum
- HAAST – Made of Light
- Kaschalot – Zenith
- Long Hallways – I Still Believe In Us
- Meer – Playing House
- Mystras – Empires Vanquished and Dismantled
- Obsolete – Animate//Isolate
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Outrun the Sunlight – A Vast Field of Silence
- She Said Destroy – Succession
- So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
- Stone Healer – Conquistador
- Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
- Stortregn – Impermanence
- Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
- The Flight of Sleipnir – Eventide
Scott Murphy
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Bent Knee – Frosting
- Black Country, New Road – For the first time
- black midi – Cavalcade
- Brand of Sacrifice – LIfeblood
- Dormant Ordeal – The Grand Scheme of Things
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Full of Hell – Garden of Burning ApparitionS
- Glassing – Twin Dream
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
- Lantlôs – Wildhund
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Monobody – Comma
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Papangu – Holoceno
- Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne suffit
- Portico Quartet – Monument
- SEIMS – Four
- Sleep Token – This Place Will Become Your Tomb
- Succumb – XXI
- Syncatto – A Place to Breathe
- Victory Over the Sun – Nowherer
- Voronoi – The Last Three Seconds
- Wax People – Wax People
Noyan
- Trivium – In The Court of the Dragon
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Machine Head – Arrows In Words From The Sky
- Interloper – Search Party
- Stortregn – Impermanence
- Ophidian I – Desolate
- Hacktivist – Hyperdialect
- Christian Cosentino – Lawn
- Silent Planet – Iridescent
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Valde
- Abstract Void – Wishdream
- Between The Buried and Me – Colors II
- As Everything Unfolds – Within Each Lies The Other
- First Fragment – Gloire Eternelle
- Limp Bizkit – STILL SUCKS
- Fractal Universe – The Impassable Horizon
- Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
- Leprous – Aphelion
- Immortal Guardian – Psychosomatic
- Lil Nas X- Montero
- Sunless – Ylem
- Brand of Sacrifice – Lifeblood
- Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
- Panopticon – …And Again Into The Light
- VOLA – Witness
Jimmy Rowe
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- The Armed – ULTRAPOP
- Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
- Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon
- Bo Burnham – Inside (The Songs)
- Limp Bizkit – STILL SUCKS
- Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
- Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Nightmare Withdrawals
- Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
- Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
- Stortregn – Impermenance
- Chevelle – NIRATIAS
- Deafheaven – Infinite Granite
- Defacement – Defacement
- Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic
- Abominable Putridity – Parasitic Metamorphosis Manifestation
- Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne suffit
- Yautja – The Lurch
- Glassing – Twin Dream
- First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle
- Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
- Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
- Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde
- Worm – Foreverglade
Pete Williams
- Panopticon – …And Again Into the Light
- Fierce Deity – Power Wisdom Courage
- Crystal Coffin – The Starway Eternal
- Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal
- Khemmis – Deceiver
- Five the Hierophant – Through Aureate Void
- Archspire – Bleed the Future
- Oryx – Lamenting a Dying World
- Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions
- Woman is the Earth – Dust of Forever
- Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
- Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
- MØL – Diorama
- Vouna – Atropos
- Steel Bearing Hand – Slay in Hell
- Doctor Smoke – Dreamers and the Dead
- Abstract Void – Wishdream
- Noltem – Illusions in the Wake
- Rivers of Nihil – The Work
- Fear Factory – Aggression Continuum
- Vokonis – Odyssey
- Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind
- Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Gatecreeper – An Unexpected Reality
David Zeidler
- Pinegrove – Amperland, NY
- Panopticon – …And Again Into The Light
- The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls
- Dreamwell – Modern Grotesque
- Every Time I Die – Radical
- So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
- sonhos tomam conta – hypnagogia
- PUPIL SLICER – Mirrors
- One Step Closer – This Place You Know
- SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance Of Affliction
- BRUIT ≤ – The Machine is burning and now everyone knows it could happen again
- Mogwai – As The Love Continues
- Glassing – Twin Dream
- Dust Moth – Rising // Sailing
- BLAK – El Tall d’Escil·la
- Trna – Istok
- CIVILIA – Past Lives
- Shy, Low – Snake Behind The Sun
- Ranges – Cardinal Winds
- Death Stare – Haze
- soup – Visions
- Vientre – Estado de Imago
- Blankenberge – Everything
- Raccoon City – For Nobody, Nowhere
- Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God