Hey metalheads, The Real Mister Terrific here. Check out my 20 favorite heavy music releases from 2020 (in no particular order) and then comment below with your own favorites. What are your Top albums of the year?
Keep an eye on our ever-expanding Ultimate Heavy Music YouTube playlist! Click this link to check it out. I highly recommend putting the playlist on “shuffle.”
Band: Psychonaut
Album: Unfold the God Man
2 Favorite Tracks: The Fall of Consciousness / Halls of Amenti
Great riffs, wonderful heavy-psychedelic passages, excellent production. Songs that stick in your mind for hours while the album itself contains its own entire unique identity. One of my favorite albums in a long time, and my Album of the Year for 2020.
Release Date: March 6, 2020
Website: psychonautband.bandcamp.com
Band: Insidious Disease
Album: After Death
2 Favorite Tracks: Soul Excavation / Invisible War
The group is comprised of members from Dimmu Borgir, Old Man's Child, Nile & Napalm Death. Old school death metal, modern production; what's not to like?! It's been 10 years since their first release and quality like this is worth waiting for.
Release Date: October 30, 2020
Website: Facebook.com/InsidiousDisease
Band: Killer Be Killed
Album: Reluctant Hero
2 Favorite Tracks: Inner Calm from Outer Storms / From a Crowded Wound
Awesome mix of crushingly heavy, melodic and thrash elements. Vocal performances from Max, Greg and Troy bring a lot of depth to the songs. Supergroup with members from Mastodon, Soulfly, Dillinger Escape Plan & Converge.
Release Date: November 20, 2020
Website: KillerBeKilled.com
Band: Dark Tranquillity
Album: Moment
2 Favorite Tracks: Phantom Days / The Dark Unbroken
Plenty of "traditional" Dark Tranquillity sound and style with more songwriting variety than their last 2 albums. Another move forward from one of the greats of the melodic death metal scene. Nice addition of Chris Amott - formerly of Arch Enemy - on guitar, I've been a fan of his for a long time.
Release Date: November 20, 2020
Website: DarkTranquillity.com
Band: Green Carnation
Album: Leaves of Yesteryear
2 Favorite Tracks: Sentinels / Leaves of Yesteryear
After a 14 year hiatus, the Norwegian metallers returned with a full album PLUS a digital single later in the year. Containing not only some of the best songwriting of their career, but also the best sounding recordings they've released yet.
Release Date: May 8, 2020
Website: GreenCarnationMusic.com
Band: Paradise Lost
Album: Obsidian
2 Favorite Tracks: Darker Thoughts / Ending Days
All the grit, growl and gloom of their last 3 albums with a nice helping of the atmosphere and songcraft from the late 2000's releases. Catchy as hell, doomy production that sounds beautifully heavy.
Release Date: May 15, 2020
Website: ParadiseLost.co.uk
Band: Katatonia
Album: City Burials
2 Favorite Tracks: The Winter of our Passing / City Glaciers
Less "prog" influence and more focused songwriting than their last few albums. The usual moody atmosphere with a bit more of their gothic side. Followed later in the year with a phenomenal live release from their "quarantine sessions" boasting a killer setlist.
Release Date: April 24, 2020
Website: Katatonia.com
Band: Sylosis
Album: Cycle of Suffering
2 Favorite Tracks: I Sever / Abandon
Catchy modern thrash with tons of energy and hooks to pull you in, so many headbanging moments! Musicianship is on top form and the production captures all of the band's depth.
Release Date: February 7, 2020
Website: Sylosis-Band.com
Band: Lamb of God
Album: Lamb of God
2 Favorite Tracks: Checkmate / Routes
Neckbreaking, raw, and full of rage; exactly what you'd expect from LoG. The usual aggression, insane riffs and thunderous drums are in fine form with more focus than their last 2 albums. Released in May, still on my playlist regularly at the end of the year.
Release Date: May 8, 2020
Website: Lamb-of-God.com
Band: Loathe
Album: I Let it in and it Took Everything
2 Favorite Tracks: Aggressive Evolution / Heavy is the Head that Falls with the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts
Crushing heaviness with plenty of hardcore angst and some awesome rock-outs / thrash-outs. Thumping rhythms and melodic guitar work transition into total sonic chaos and back again with atmosphere to spare.
Release Date: February 7, 2020
Website: LoatheAsOne.co.uk
Band: GAEREA
Album: Limbo
2 Favorite Tracks: To Ain / Mare
Atmospheric black metal with throat-shredding energetic vocals. Limbo is a desolate and haunting album, brilliantly produced.
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Website: https://gaerea.bandcamp.com/album/limbo
Band: DELUGE
Album: Ægo Templo
2 Favorite Tracks: Soufre / Baïne
Addictive and compelling blackened post metal. Less aggressive than their previous album Æther, with more experimentation and development of their sound.
Release Date: November 6, 2020
Website: https://wearedeluge.bandcamp.com/
Band: ULCERATE
Album: Stare Into Death and Be Still
2 Favorite Tracks: Stare Into Death and Be Still / Drawn into the Next Void
Crushing dissonant death metal full of distressing atmosphere and chaotic songwriting. Ulcerate continue to move their style in new directions without sacrificing any brutality.
Release Date: April 24, 2020
Website: https://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/
Band: POLARIS
Album: The Death of Me
2 Favorite Tracks: Hypermania / Landmine
Modern metalcore full of piss and vinegar. The last minute and a half of Landmine is worth the price of admission alone. \m/
Release Date: February 21, 2020
Website: https://polarisaus.bandcamp.com/
Band: INVENT ANIMATE
Album: Greyview
2 Favorite Tracks: Shapeshifter (feat. Garrett Russell) / Monarch
Addictive melodies and hooks with more ambient influences create some of the best songs of the band's career so far.
Release Date: March 13, 2020
Website: https://inventanimate.bandcamp.com/
Band: MAKE THEM SUFFER
Album: How to Survive a Funeral
2 Favorite Tracks: Erase Me / Soul Decay
Excellent songwriting by one of the best modern metalcore bands of the last decade.
Release Date: June 19, 2020
Website: https://makethemsuffer.bandcamp.com/
Band: SVALBARD
Album: When I Die, Will I Get Better?
2 Favorite Tracks: Open Wound / The Currency of Beauty
“Physical beauty isn't currency I am not more valuable if I am pretty.”
Release Date: September 25, 2020
Website: https://svalbard.bandcamp.com/
Band: OMEGA DIATRIBE
Album: Metanoia
2 Favorite Tracks: Metanoia / Mirror Neuron
Criminally underrated groove metal band from Budapest, Hungary brings their best effort so far. Technicality with groove.
Release Date: September 4, 2020
Website: https://omegadiatribe.bandcamp.com/
Band: TESTAMENT
Album: Titans of Creation
2 Favorite Tracks: Children of the Next Level / Code of Hammurabi
Long-running thrash legends continue to crank out some of the best songs of their esteemed career. Album # 13 is full of highlights.
Release Date: April 3, 2020
Website: https://www.testamentlegions.com/site/
Band: XENOBIOTIC
Album: Mordrake
2 Favorite Tracks: Light that Burns the Sky / Grieving the Loss of Self
Australian progressive death metal band Xenobiotic step up their game on full-length album # 2. Infectious groove with extreme technicality.
Release Date: February 21, 2020
Website: https://linktr.ee/xenobiotic.australia
Thanks for keeping it heavy!