Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top 30 Metal & Hard Rock Albums list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here.
After a rough 2020 that saw a global pandemic take over our lives and the concert industry shut down, 2021 was hopefully primed to be the year of the comeback. While live music has returned to a certain degree, it’s been a bumpy ride thus far, as bands deal with COVID outbreaks amidst their camps and fans enter venues with extra caution. One thing we can all still count on is new albums to get us through difficult times, and while 2021 may not have been super prolific as far as new releases, it still proved to be another strong year for the heaviest genres.
The legendary Iron Maiden were perhaps the biggest metal band to release a new album in 2021, and they did not disappoint, unleashing the epic Senjutsu, which holds its own among the band’s iconic LPs. Modern-day metal torchbearers Gojira and Mastodon both delivered strong efforts, as well, while veteran prog masters Dream Theater once again displayed their stunning musicality.
Hardcore had a year to remember, with bands like Turnstile, Regional Justice Center, Every Time I Die, and Thirdface all unleashing thought-provoking and dynamic new efforts. And extreme metal was also alive and well in 2021, with Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Rivers of Nihil, and others giving us new music to melt our faces.
Finally, a few newcomers came out of the gates swinging, with Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth WVH and Spiritbox among the acts offering up very strong debut albums.
As we head into 2022 hoping for things to open up a bit more, we look back at the Top 30 Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2021, as picked by the Heavy Consequence staff.
— Spencer Kaufman
Managing Editor, Heavy Consequence
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