2020 TOP 100 Albums

Napalm Death have existed in some form or another since 1981, but the band as we know it solidified in 1987 with the release of “Scum”. An utter game-changer of an album, it brought Grind-core into the spotlight as an even more extreme version of death metal. Short, sharp and nasty as hell. Thirty-three years later, we have record number sixteen from Napalm Death.

For the uninitiated, Corey’s day job is chief screamer with the juggernaut that is Slipknot. This may well be his first solo record, but Corey is modern metal’s renaissance man. He writes, he does mainstream telly (Doctor Who and QI, no less) and he fronts a Nickelback tribute act (Stone Sour).

A collaboration between Mark Boals, vocalist with walking ego Yngwie Malmsteen and guitarist Ölaf Thorsen of cult Italian power metallers Labyrinth.

Yes that Throwing Muses. Yes, Kristin Hersh is still in charge. Yes, it is the same brand of fuzzy, quiet loud quiet, quirky alt rock they traded on in the late eighties and nineties.

Warm but bittersweet modern prog. Technically highly proficient, it also manages to have a very human and brittle heart.

The long overdue return of Sylosis. Josh Middleton’s absorption into Architects in 2016 may have resulted in a temporary hiatus of activities, but it was never meant to be full stop. Now juggling being in both acts, Josh has regrouped his old bandmates and taken Sylosis through another musical evolution.

Tuomas, Tuomas, Tuomas, what have you done? Nightwish usually make wonderous records. Over the last few albums, they have become bolder and brasher. They have reached for the stars with grand concepts and intricate instrumentation. Sadly, this time they have over-shot and it just doesn’t quite work. It still makes 94 out of 400+ because (aside from the fact that I utterly adore Nightwish) there are some damn fine songs in here, they just so happen to all be in the first section.

Regular followers of this list will be aware of my deep love of Italian Power Metal auteurs Rhapsody (of Fire). Regular readers will be also be aware that there is a bit of a Soap Opera about the band, with multiple versions of Rhapsody existing simultaneously. Fabio Lione, though not the original singer, was vocalist in the classic line-up. When the band split in two in 2011, he initially stayed with the ...of Fire version, but jumped ship in 2015 to join the other version (confusedly called Luca Turilli's Rhapsody).

I'll let you into a little secret, my favourite Anthrax album isn’t either of the much respected “Spreading the Disease” or “Amongst the Living”. It isn’t even either of the underrated follow ups “State of Euphoria” or “Persistence of Time”. It's the John Bush fronted “Sound of White Noise”. I adore his voice.

This is heady mix of Doom and Death metals with a distinctly punkish, in your face delivery. Veterans of the Dutch metal scene, they have in the past shared members with Bolthrower fanboys Asphxy. What is interesting about this record, and makes it stand out from the crowd, is the way that it drifts in and out of the contrasting styles.

There is so much in here. This album is a smorgasbord of different styles and textures. At its heart its black metalbut in an almostdeconstructed form. Gone are the down-tuned lo-fi guitars. Instead “Brand” is atmospheric, introspective and, at times, almost joyful.

A couple of weeks back, Fish appeared on Gardeners World, showing off his personally curated garden. In the write up he was described as the singer with rock band Marillion. I appreciate that Gardeners World is not at the heart of the zeitgeist but being 31 years behind the curve does take the biscuit. Fish has been a solo agent for four times the length of his stint in Marillion, yet Kayleigh et al will be a milestone he forever wears around his neck.

Well crafted and expertly delivered melodic death metal from the states. It manages to highly effectively mix harshness with smooth melody. The songs are well constructed and morph as you listen to them.

Sleazy glam rock from Sweden, from beginning to end this a sugar rush of catchy hooks and choruses. Whereas lot of bands rely on attitude to get them from A to Z, with “H.E.A.T. II” strong song-writing is the key.

A melting pot of styles and genres that whirl around in a tornado of noise. There is electronica here, there is plenty of death metal, but there is also slabs of my fav, nu-metal (irony alert, irony alert). There are so many seemingly incompatible components, that it should audibly curdle.

Gothic Doom from Sweden with obvious middle eastern influences. Shaam herself provides the dark sultry tones andthe whole thing is atmospheric and rather mystical.

Raging Speedhorn are almost a national treasure. The British bruisers from Corby that nearly made it. It might be premature to call a band that were only formed in 1998, legendary and highly influential, but the entire current crop of bands from this country that fearlessly mix hardcore and metal owe a debt to Speedhorn.

Somewhere along the line, I’m not quite sure when or where, Bodycount evolved from being a novelty act into a bonafide Heavy Metal Band. They are no longer seen as an ego trip on Ice-T’s behalf and instead have gained credibility and kudos. There is now no question that they belong on festival bills and are an essential part of our world. Part of the reason is hard work.

A remarkably understated and slight album. Whilst impassioned and full of emotion, it never explodes. It is reserved and fragile. There is a delicate beauty to the tracks here. It feels as if the band are slowly and subtly revealing their anguish and pains, afraid to be too transparent or extrovert in their approach.

Loved the first Fleet Foxes album. It spoke to my heart. Exquisitely beautiful harmonious melodies that were full of hope and optimism. Second album was sadly rather dull and third was even duller still. This thankfully is a major return to form.

Introspective and immersive Black Metal from Venezuela. There will be a good chunk of Black Metal on this list (because I like Black Metal), however very little (if any) of it will be the stereotypical socially inept Norwegians in corpse paint screaming in goblin voices about Satan. Black Metal has evolved and continues to evolve.

A sprawling experimental album that seems intent on pushing every envelope that it can get its hands on. Whilst it flirts with Metal (amongst other styles) this is distinctly not Metal.

The return of Kvelertak’s man mountain of a former vocalist. For his solo debut he has gone heavy and Nordic. Viking Mythology is front and centre here and drives every track. Surprisingly this is far less accessible than the three albums he did with Kvelertak. The chugging rock n’ roll heart has been ripped out and replaced with something far darker and impenetrable.

This is an up-tempo, power-pop/grunge crossover. It is bouncy, accessible and has its tongue firmly in its cheek. There is a spirited and vibrant energy to these songs. There is heaviness on offer but is offset by a joyful abandonment that just makes you want to pogo with glee.

In my eyes, Conner Oberst is an underrated genius. As Bright Eyes, he re-invented American Folk for the twenty-first century. He took the coarseness of country and coupled it with the anthemic beauty of pop. Over twelve years and eight albums (I am not counting the Christmas one, neither should you as it’s shit) he cast a wonderful spell over modern music, creating soul searching and highlypersonal indie-folk. In 2011 he retired the Bright Eyes moniker and went off to do things under his real name.

I am a Manics completist. When they release tenth, twentieth and thirtieth anniversary editions of every album, I buy them religiously. When James and Nicky both released solo records in 2007 (Shaun just couldn't be arsed), I bought each one. They were shit. Utterly shit. Mercifully “Even in Exile”, James’ second solo stint, is much better. Much, much, much better.

This is proper Swedish Death Metal. It feels like it has fallen through a hole in space and time from the heady glory days of the mid-nineties. The guitar’s crunch, the riffs pierce and the vocals growl. It is gloriously malignant and majestically heavy.

(Apparently) the final solo album from the Prince of Darkness. Now Ozzy albums are a rather good barometer of where Metal is at the time of release. “Ultimate Sin” is slick commercial eighties Metal, “Ozzmosis” and “Down to Earth” are both a mix of Nu-metal and Industrial while the truly terrible “Black Rain” is a stab at alt-metal. Well, recent years have seen a resurgent in classic heavy rock and what do you know, Ozzy has made a bonafide traditional heavy metal album.

British Death Metal has always been about directness and simplicity. It has rejected the flashness of the American variety, where they seem intent on packing in as many notes as humanly possible, and it sticks its nose up at the Swedish brand, where bands are too attached to their old Iron Maiden records for their own good,. British Death Metal is as nuanced as a sledgehammer and looks to do the job with as minimum fuss as possible.

A combination of stealth and hard work has meant that, without anyone really noticing, Haken have become a major force in modern Prog-Metal. This is their sixth album and probably their heaviest so far. Heaviest actually in both senses of the word. Having played with an eighties synth sound on 2016’s “Affinity”, “Virus” follow’s 2018’s “Vector” into a much more insular metallic feel.

There are a fair few albums on this list that have been buried by 2020. Albums that would have built momentum during the year, fuelled by triumphant festival appearances and months and months of solid touring. With the live arena mothballed, bands have had to stick their material out and hope for the best. “Cannibal” is one such album. By far and away the best thing Bury Tomorrow have ever created, its release should have triggered a tidal wave that would have whisked them to the top of the pile. This was their time, and this was the record that would finally allow them to realise their potential.

Self-titled fourth album from this unique Houston outfit. There are two distinct things that makes them stick out from the crowd. The first is Cammie Gilbert’s non-metal voice. Her vocal style is soulful, melodic and drenched in r’n’b (proper r’n’b mind); it feels a million miles away from Metal’s usual gruff growled delivery.

Yet more prog metal. This time from down under. Like most modern Prog, ‘Rise Radiant’ mixes complexity with slick accessibility.

Just to clarify this is Gargoyl without the ‘e’ at the end and is different from Gargoyle, the eighties Japanese thrash band and Gargoyle the eighties hair-metal band from Portland. This is the debut release from the hyper-modern Prog-Grunge (prunge doesn’t quite work) side project from Revocation’s David Davidson.

COVID and the resulting lockdowns has had a massive negative effect on the music industry. However, for some this forced shutdown has actually had positive outcomes. German retro rockers Kadavar had become part of a never-ending treadmill of album/tour/album. It was only when this was unceremoniously interrupted, did the two Christophs and Simon realise the effect that it was having on them and the people they love.

More retro rock but this time from Sweden. The previous two Blue Pills albums have been authentic slices of seventies Blues Rock. However, this time around they have gone back further. This is fantastic facsimilia of sixties power-pop. Think The Mamas & The Papas and Janis Joplin. It oozes Californian sass and sunshine. It is an upbeat and frequently joyous album

Dark Tranquillity, the Gothenburg melodic death pioneers that aren’t At the Gates or In Flames. Actually, that is really rather tough on Dark Tranquillity as there is far more to them than being the “Return of the Jedi” of Metal’s most important trilogy. While In Flames metamorphization from (melodic) Death Metal to alt-metal has been well documented, Dark Tranquillity shift over the years towards a much more Gothic/Doom tinged melodramatic sound has gone very much under the radar.

Gloriously over the top wide screen Black Metal! When it first emerged in Norway in the early nineties, Black Metal was a distinctly underground affair with a penchant for zero production and down-tuned guitars. Over the years it has evolved, and the type of Black Metal favoured by Necrophobic is well polished and full of slick hooks.

Bleed from Within’s goose seemed to have been well and truly cooked. The momentum and good will that they had in the early part of the decade seemed to have dissipated and 2018's “Era” slipped out seemingly without anyone noticing. However instead of resigning themselves to being a footnote in a ‘where are they now?’ article, they have rolled up their sleeves and got back into the fray. "Fracture" is a remarkable comeback.

There are two distinct sides to Amalie Bruun. There is the bewitching Black Metal queen, putting her nightmares to music via haunting distortion and there is the diligent custodian of Nordic folksong, painstakingly preserving the traditional sounds of a pre-Christian Norway. After two albums where she has let the former persona run rampant, “Folkesange” allows the other side of her personality to take centre stage.

Sorrowful Black Metal from Minnesota. The tracks unfold with so much fragility and introspection that I would almost be tempted to call it post-black. The heaviness and coarseness is scaled back. It's there, but shares space with mournful cello and spiralling atmospherics. I

As AC/DC once sang ‘It’s a long way to top if you wanna rock n’ roll’. Next year marks Black Dahlia Murder’s 20th anniversary as a band, yet it only now feels that they beginning to exert themselves as a force to be reckoned with. They have slogged, toured and released nine albums (counting this one), slowly but surely building both a fanbase and a name for themselves.

Founding member (and stalwart of Classic Doom acts My Dying Bride and Solstice) Hamish Glencross describes “Reflections” as a 'love letter to doom in its entirety; its history and its present state’. He couldn't be more right (unsurprisingly as he wrote and recorded the darn thing) as this is the entire forty odd year history of Doom Metal distilled into 54 mins and 33 seconds.

I was saving a space in the top ten for this record. If anyone could make sense of 2020 then it's the Boss. He is the greatest American singer songwriter of all time (and if anyone is screaming Dylan at this point, well you are wrong) and no one else weaves stories like he does. With the dependable E-Street band by his side, the stage was set for Bruce to produce the definitive soundtrack to this most bizarre and unprecedented of years.

Intricate heavy Prog from Sweden. This is a dense and highly technical record. Vulkan are obviously accomplished musicians and they manage to build layer upon layer of sumptuous and complex sound. One of things that adds additional interest to the record is that, in the main, they sing in their native language.

Yes, you are reading this right. Not only is there are a Marylin Manson album on this list, but it is higher than my beloved Springsteen. I have been very honest in the past that I have never got Brian Warner and his ego driven goth-industrial horror show. He emerged at a time when I was busy being an Indie-Kid and on my return to Metal in the early noughties, he seemed to me little more than a Poundland Alice Cooper with authority issues. Over the year’s various lacklustre encounters at various festivals did nothing to redeem his reputation in my eyes. Until now.

I’m about halfway through this and I am pretty certain I have overused my life allocation of the word melodic. There is a lot of melody in the list, a surprising amount for something that is, in the main, grounded in Heavy Metal. However (and you knew that there was a however coming) there is nothing melodic about “Sulfuric Disintegration”.

Portuguese Black Metal that further pushes the boundaries of the genre. There is no denying that “Limbo” is an intense and, at times, impenetrable album. Having said that, there is an expansive and almost anthemically joyous sound to be found across the six tracks.

German Black metallers that have gone all goth with their seventh record. They started the metamorphization a couple of albums back, however “Black House” marks the culmination of their transformation as there is absolutely no Black Metal in this record.

Every year the process of compiling this list throws up albums by veteran acts that are a lot better than they deserve to be. This year’s winner of the “bloody hell are they still around” award is none other than Blue Oyster Cult. It is hard to believe, but they were already seen as a spent force back when I was first getting into Metal in the mid to late eighties. However here we are forty-four years on from the seminal “Agents of Fortune” with them not only still ploughing their unique furrow but also managing to produce a warm, engaging and highly enjoyable record.

Continuing with the legends theme, here comes one of the most influential, but also one of the most unsung, British metal bands of the last thirty years. Their grubby fingerprints are all over our music’s evolution during the last three decades, yet they are still very much a cult concern.My Dying Bride marry goth and doom in totally unique way.

The name Valkyrie gives the impression that this is a bunch of Viking obsessed Scandinavians singing songs of Norse warriors sailing out into adventure. That however couldn’t be further from the truth. Valkyrie are a stoner rock outfit from Virginia and Fear is all about primal bluesy riffs, there are no fake plastic swords or helmets here.

If my relationship with The Deftones was a Facebook status it would say "it’s complicated". I adored “White Pony” and 2003’s self-titled masterpiece. To my ears they sound other-worldly; they had Metal’s power and aggression, but they managed to traverse genre boundaries. Sadly, subsequent releases left me cold until 2016's “Gore” once again pulled me back in. It seduced me with its alternating layers of noise and fragile melody.

Another band I have a checkered past with. I have just never got them. Back in the day, I rather liked “Arise” and “Chaos AD”, but heretically I found “Roots” to be a lot of fuss about nothing. It felt, to me, to be a lot of testosterone fuelled male posturing and, in my eyes, Sepultura came to represent the toxic masculinity side of Metal that I personally find so repulsive.

“Volume III” lets its tracks unfold like rambling poems. It is in no hurry to get to the harsh bits. In fact, the journey feels more important than the end destination. It takes you by the hand and pulls you down a rabbit hole of swirling atmospherics. The five tracks become separate bubble universes. They trap you inside and rob you of all sense of time.

Blisteringly heavy and brutally fast, this is dubbed Extreme Hardcore, but it shares a lot of DNA with the more excessive end of Death Metal and, of course, my beloved Grind-core. The tracks here slam at you, dripping with conviction and consternation. This is an angry album; it certainly not going to take any more, using walls of snarling guitars and precising vocals to push that point home.

I have visited in on his collaborations (Soulsavers and the Gutter Twins to name two), his curiosities (the three wonderful albums with Isobel Campbell), his cameo’s (Queens of the Stone Age) and his never-ending conveyor belt of solo albums of which this is the 13th.

This album is very reminiscent of Opeth back when they were a Death Metal band. It easily could be the album that they should have made after “Watershed”. All of this is completely understandable as White Stones is the Death Metal side project of Opeth's long standing bassist Martín Méndez.

Named after the Uriah Heep album, Demons and Wizards is a match made in Power Metal heaven. It see’s Iced Earth’s six string maestro Jon Schaffer join forces with Blind Guardian’s golden tonsiled vocalist Hansi Kürsch. Actually, Demons and Wizards has been a going concern for 22 years, but day jobs and competing priorities have meant that this is only their third record together.

Absolutely bonkers album from the French multi-instrumentalist Gautier Serre. It is impossible to describe just how out there and utterly ludicrous this album actually is. Just imagine if you played every other album on here simultaneously and you are still nowhere near the utter lunacy of “Spirituality and Distortion”.

This album is a tectonic collusion of styles. It combines the creeping and corrupted sludge of Thou with the Emma’s majestically restrained gothic vocal delivery. The effect is intoxicating and extraordinary in equal measures.

celandic musicians excel in ethereal and otherworldly. Whether it be Sólstafir, Björk, Sigur Rós or the honorary Icelander John Grant. This is widescreen windswept Black Metal. Yes, it is still as menacing as a lorry load of mutant clowns, but there is an eerie and wraith-like quality.

Another album buried by 2020. This was meant to catapult the Mancunian battlers further up Death Metal’s food chain. They were ready for this, they were hungry for this, however they have ended up (like many of us) twiddling their thumbs and watching crap on Netflix.

February seems a very long time ago. Back in those heady days of live entertainment and drinking long after ten o’clock, Delain had the World in their hands. “Apocalypse and Chill” had been unleashed to universal acclaim and they were in the midst of their most ambitious tour yet, eliciting rave reviews from all and sundry (including me). Then, well we know what happened next.... the rug got pulled well and truly from under their feet.

A remarkable album, both in how it pivots between styles and in its level of humanity. This is the sound of a soul laid bare. It explores with brutal honesty the contradictions of being seen as a role model to thousands, when you view your own life to be a disaster-zone. The level of self-awareness and self-deprecation here is breath-taking.

By far, the biggest release of the year. This is comparable with the second coming. Four years ago, AC/DC looked dead and buried. Brian Johnson had to unceremoniously and suddenly bow out of live duties due to chronic hearing loss (and was bizarrely but rather brilliantly replaced by Axl Rose), Cliff Williams had retired, Phil Rudd was battling personnel problems (including an ‘intention to kill’ charge) and Malcolm Young was dead. The biggest bar band in the world was no more.

It was last year that rumours of life after death started to circulate. We all tried not to get too over excited, but leaked photos of the Phil, Brian and Cliff huddled together outside a recording studio seemed to confirm that the old dog (eat dog) was stirring. Confirmation came in October this year and “Power Up” finally dropped last month.

One of those albums that does its best to defy description. I don’t know were to start, aside from saying that I loved it. It is extreme Metal as there are traits of Black and Death Metal, but it’s also not extreme Metal as it consists of numerous highly melodic and even introspectively ambient sections.

After a brief foray into bleak folk, Manchester Black Metal heavyweights return to what they do best. From the off this is like stepping into a hurricane. The power they unleash is quite staggering. Most Black Metal has a brittle and jagged feel to it, this however is clean and majestic.

When is a Death Metal album, not a Death Metal album? Well, when it is drenched in as much jazz, Latin influences and classical inspirations as “Mara” is. It is like they looked up a definition of Death Metal on Wikipedia and then decided to complete ignore what it says.

Completely mindboggling album. It is essentially Black Metal goblin-esque vocals over a sonic kaleidoscope. The six tracks blur into one elongated piece of music and feel like continuous tempestuous journey through an increasingly twisting and turning tunnel of pure undiluted sound.

Highly emotive, mournful Doom from Israel. This is a sorrowful and solemn album full of pain and regret. It feels like a cathartic bloodletting for solo band member Yishai Sweartz, as he uses the eight tracks to retell the anguish, disappointments and hardships of is life so far.

Well, this certainly has been the year of the dense complex swirling cacophony of an album hasn’t it? I’m sure I have already written a dozen paragraphs describing dense layered sonic soundscapes. Well here is another, but before I hit you with descriptive similia, can I just say that this album is gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous.

It feels like ages since we have had a proper bog-standard Metal album. We have had bands messing around with structures and splicing genres left, right and centre, but very little straight down the line Heavy Metal. Well here come Avatar to right that wrong.

The second part of a colossal musical endeavour celebrating the Phanerozoic geological period (and you thought that Metal was dumb and obsessed with beer and breasts). This is high concept Prog Metal.

et more Black Metal and yet another band intent in stretching its boundaries and borders as far as they can push them. I can hear the Nordic purists in the mum’s spare rooms rattling their bullet belts as I write, crying “Not kvlt”. The simple fact is that it has very little to do and in common with the music that the Norwegian founding fathers created in the early nineties.

We have come across Finnish virtuoso Tuomas Saukkonen before and his Viking obsessed Death Metal outfit Wolfheart, in fact they made number 81 in this very list back in 2018. I think I made comments about sameness and being a poor person’s Amon Amarth.

This originally was nestling way down in the late hundreds. Listened to it once but could not quite see what the fuss was about. It was only the fact that people whose musical tastes I trust implicitly were pouring plaudits on it (hello to Steve and Sabrina) that made me come back around. I am so glad that I did as this is now my hidden gem of the year.

First album in 13 years for the cult British Dòom act that share members with Winterfylleth. They have produced a dark, foreboding monolith of a record that captures perfectly the mood of the 2020.

More doom, but of a softer more emotive variety. Pallbearer make music that feels equally confessional and therapeutic. It is like they have laid the contents of their hearts and inner thoughts in front of you for your delectation. It is fragile and emotionally wrought, pained and crestfallen.

Mr. Bungle will forever be known as Mike Patton’s other band. It was from there that he was plucked in 1988 to front the mighty Faith No More and it was Mr. Bungle that he used to channel his frustrations of the commercialism of his day job. The more successful and mainstream that Faith No More became, the more experimental and avant-garde went Mr. Bungle.

Slowly but surely over twenty-one years and eleven records Anaal Nathrakh have become a very British institution, I would go as far as say a national treasure (well at least for those who like their Metal on the extreme side). They have become dependable, in a thoroughly good way. You know they will be explosive live, each and every time, and you know they will make albums that sound like nobody else.

This is a love-letter to old skool extreme Metal. It pays reverential homage to the Speed Metal pioneers (such as Exciter and Iron Angel) and also the initial first wave of Black Metal (Bathory, Merciful Fate, Hellhammer and of course Venom). This could have dissolved into a pointless fanboy love-in.

The perception is that Heavy Metal is a blunt instrument. An unrepentant wall of unsophisticated noise. “Reflections on Darkness” is one of those albums that proves beyond doubt that Metal can be subtle, refined and multi-layered.

By far and away the most unadulterated fun you will have with any album on this list. It has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek and is chock full of self-deprecating northern humour.

Ok! Controversy time! This time last year, disturbing claims emerged about the sexual and emotional abuse that Lorna Shore’s fairly new vocalist CJ McCreery had perpetrated on several former partners. The band acted swiftly and removed him; however, they were left with a quandary.

Try as they might, Enslaved find it impossible to make bad albums. Or to turn that around, Enslaved can’t help making consistently excellent albums. This particularly rich run of form stretches all the way back to 2006’s terrific “Ruun”.

Like My Dying Bride earlier, Paradise Lost have managed to be incredibly influential without ever truly breaking into the mainstream psyche. Over thirty-two years their sound has morphed and evolved. The melancholic doom of their initial few records soon blended into the stadium goth of the incredible “Draconian Times”, which then shifted into an electro synthpop phase (loved on the continent, hated over here).

Katatonia started life as self-confessed Paradise Lost fanboys. Over the years their sound has crystallised into the fragile, atmospheric doom that it is today. “City Burials” is their first album in four years, though sonically they haven’t moved on that far from 2016's stunning “The Fall of Hearts”.

As I have stated earlier, the Americans take on Black Metal tends to be very different to their European counterparts. They have kept the power and sense of foreboding, but have got rid of the satanism and most of the imagery. If you glance at photos of Wayfarer, they look like extras from a spaghetti western, as opposed to leather and stud clad Black Metal warriors. This is because this is Black Metal reimagined as an epic John Houston western.

Are you after some glorious escapism? Do you want rich, sumptuous melodies and massive golden choruses? Do you want an album that drips cheese but does so in an elegant manner? Well then “Aeromantic” is the record for you.

Highest charting Black Metal album on this list. However, if you are expecting something mired in complex ethereal textures then actually you would be wrong. “Absentia” is what a Black Metal album by Iron Maiden would sound like. It is a straight splice between Traditional and Black Metal and cleverly manages to keep the best bits from both.

Yes, Metal is my business and business is good. But nestled alongside Carcass, Emperor and At the Gates in the list of my five favourite bands of all time is Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Even during their brush with fifteen minutes of fame back in the nineties (they rugby tackled Phillip Schofield at a Smash Hits poll winners party) Carter were never fashionable or hip.

Placing Sólstafir albums in order is like watching a stop motion documentary of the evolution of their career. Each record is sonically connected to the last, but also each record sees them take stylistic leaps into the unknown. “Endless Twilight of Codependent Love” is their most insular and self-contained record.

This album had a tumultuous birth. Not only has it emerged in 2020, probably the worst year ever to release landmark records, but a week before the album's much anticipated release date the band inexplicably severed all ties with their long-term label Holy Roar.

This is a first. An indie album making it high in the hallowed top ten that is not by my beloved Suede. This is also the first time in absolutely frickin ages where I have listened to a Mercury nominee and gone “Blimey that’s good”. Actually, it’s not just good, it’s wonderful.

I am a hard man to please. It is very rare for a record to inexplicably blow me away. I usually know when I am going to love something and when I am going to loath something. “Glow” turned my head and swept me off my feet. It is utterly incredible.

Replacing a larger than life frontman is fraught with danger. There is the fear of constant comparison, the jeopardy of fan acceptance and the expectation of that most delicate of beasts, the first post-split record. Kvelertak have faced this head on, put their collective feet on the accelerate and gone for broke.

This album has soundtracked my year. This is a minimalist and stripped back take on Metal’s attitude as opposed to its sound. This is undoubtedly a Metal album, even though it sounds very little like our traditional understanding of Metal.

This is what a Jim Steinman produced Scott Walker album would have sounded like. “Sex, Death & the Infinite Void” is quite simply rock opera repurposed for the 21st century. Creeper have created the greatest teen lust melodrama ever made, offering a John Walters inspired narrative and the varied evocative soundtrack to go with it.

Crippled Black Phoenix are virtuosi multi-instrumentalist Justin Greaves and an ever-revolving cast of contributors. Justin specialises in what he calls "endtime” ballads”, a poignant mix of the melodic and the macabre. Everything that Crippled Black Phoenix have done over the last sixteen years seems to lead up to this record.