Looking back over the EPs and albums that I enjoyed the most throughout 2020 it feels like the early part of the year was a very long time ago (did Konvent’s Puritan Masochism really only come out in January?!). With my end of year round-up, I’m going to mainly focus on some smaller releases – these are usually the albums and bands that I would want to focus on through my semi-regular reviews and articles but working-from-home-fatigue set in pretty hard and early on in this year so I never got round to covering anywhere near as much I would have wanted. There are some major releases in here, but most of the albums and EPs I enjoyed and wanted to feature in this article are from those groups that this year may have impacted the most.
Favourite albums of 2020:
- Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
- The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
I highly anticipated both of these albums and they both easily lived up to my expectations. The collaboration between Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle, who got together in part thanks to Roadburn Festival, produced a beautiful and engrossing album in May Our Chambers Be Full. Emma Ruth Rundle’s soft vocal tones blend perfectly with (the slightly more accessible than usual) doom and sludge of Thou to successfully create a haunting, heavy, and melodic 36 minutes. There’ll be at least another EP’s worth of this wonderful collaboration to come and the ever-busy Thou and ERR will hopefully have a lot more to give.
For The Ocean, rounding off their ambitious conceptual journey through the various eras of the Earth was always going to be a challenge but Phanerozoic II shows that the collective was more than capable of the task, covering from the age of dinosaurs up to the present. The post-metallers have always made formidable use of dynamics and delving from light, proggy sections to intense, oppressively heavy moments, and with the introduction of more symphonic elements, both the melodic and aggressive parts are elevated further. As an album on its own right, as a direct sequel to Phanerozoic I, and as the conclusion to this phase of The Ocean’s output, Phanerozoic II is a resounding triumph.
For me, four albums, in particular, captured the overall feel of 2020, as well as focussing on significant and current social and political issues:
- Utilitarian – Fight War, Not Wars. Destroy Power, Not People
- Terminal Nation – Holocene Extinction
- Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better
- Run The Jewels – RTJ4
Both Utilitarian and Terminal Nation took a very much ‘everything’s fucked’, angry approach, and although no less enraged, the albums from Svalbard and Run The Jewels each had a more uplifting angle to them. Even knowing Terminal Nation’s previous EPs well, nothing could have prepared me for just how unrelentingly heavy and impactful Holocene Extinction is as a whole, tearing apart problematic systems and putting the US to rights through death metal riffs, hardcore beatdowns and harsh vocals. However, the hard-hitting “Walking in the Snow” on RTJ4 may well be the song that best encapsulates where the US was for much of 2020 (which is damn near prophetic seeing as it was written in 2019). Utilitarian absolutely smashed it on their Napalm Death-inspired debut of embattled thrash-punk, and with When I Die, Will I Get Better, Svalbard continued their metamorphosis from crusty hardcore punk to dreamy, blackened post-rock. I get the feeling that Svalbard are going to ‘make it’ and hope that the problems they’ve encountered in 2020 haven’t held them back too much (maybe not at all, judging from the critical acclaim When I Die… has received).
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Other favourites:
Many of my other favourites this year were debuts, such as Hidden Mothers’ fantastic self-titled EP – an interesting and highly effective blend of screamo and black metal that is, without doubt, my favourite EP of 2020 – and Ba’al’s first full-length, the emotive Ellipsism. This all goes to show that 2020 didn’t stop excellent up-and-coming bands from putting out some of the most interesting and finest material of the year.
- Hidden Mothers – Hidden Mothers EP
- Konvent – Puritan Masochism
- Wretched Empires – Bloom
- Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
- Ba’al – Ellipsism
- Beggar – Compelled To Repeat
- Black Curse – Endless Wound
Honourable mentions:
- Vile Creature – Glory! Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
- King Witch – Body Of Light
- Igorrr – Spirituality and Distortion
- OHHMS – Close
- Barrens – Penumbra
- Enslaved – Utgard
- Zeal & Ardor – Wake of a Nation
- Necrot – Mortal
- Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
- Boris – NO
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Looking to 2021:
Genghis Tron – It’s been nearly 13 years since Board Up The House but Genghis Tron have recently teased the release of its follow up. I expect this is going to be synthy, energetic and unconventional, and the involvement of Tony Wolksi (The Armed) and Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists, Sumac) only goes to reinforce that this should be highly anticipated.
Ithaca – With the band having spent some time in the studio in 2020, I have high hopes for the new Ithaca album, a follow up to 2019’s amazing debut The Language of Injury.
Frontierer – The LP rerelease of Orange Mathematics was a good thing to come out of 2020 and word has it that new material is all but complete so I think I’m about ready to hear what discordant treat these mathy noiseniks have in store next.
Cult of Luna – New EP The Raging River will be released in February, and if the preview of the track “Three Bridges” is anything to go by, this will be more epic post-metal from the Swedish masters.
Pupil Slicer – If you like grindcore and math-metal then be sure to check out the debut album by this trio when it’s released in spring.
There are also releases scheduled or recordings in the works from the likes of The Body, EyeHateGod, Amenra, and Wolves In The Throne Room to look forward to.
Hopefully, there will be local gigs, big tours, and festivals to attend, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself…
