Music 2020 Part 1: My Favorite Heavy Albums

 

Obviously, 2020 was a pretty terrible year. We do not need to rehash that here. One thing that was not terrible in 2020 was music- music is still great!  I still have a lot of music to listen to this month (I spend December each year listening only to music released that year), but I feel comfortable that these albums are my favorites of the year. Let's start with the heavy stuff:

I am pretty sure that my favorite album of 2020 is Code Orange's Underneath.  This is not a popular choice among music nerds, and as an aspiring music nerd this does worry me a bit. But, I am 45 years old and comfortable with my own taste and I think this band and this album absolutely rule.  The riffs are super sick and heavy as hell, the electronic and industrial elements are interesting with A+ production and I actually think the "radio-friendly" rock songs are pretty great.  Reba's vocals really stand out for me as well.  Yes, I have friends telling me this sounds like nu-metal or Slipknot.  I'll be honest- I don't really know what Slipknot sounds like so I can't answer this accusation.  Maybe Slipknot rules too, I don't know.  Underneath takes everything Code Orange accomplished on 2017's Forever and makes it better, and it is my favorite album of 2020.

Favorite songs: In Fear, Autumn and Carbine.  

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou- May Our Chambers Be Full

This album, on the other hand, is universally beloved by music nerds and it will surprise absolutely nobody that it was one of my favorites of 2020.  ERR has made some of my favorites albums of the past five years (especially 2016' s Marked for Death), and my preferred Thou release is the grungy Rhea Sylvia EP from 2018, and in many ways this album is a melding of those two styles.  While definitely more of an Emma album than a Thou album in my mind- the darkness and beauty of her music is at the forefront- I think Thou brings just enough of their heaviness that this will appeal to a wide audience. 

Favorite songs: Monolith (absolutely love KC's vocals on this one), The Valley (probably my song of the year?)

Oranssi Pazuzu- Mestarin kynsi

Besides ERR/Thou, this is probably the metal album getting the most hype this year, and I would argue all the hype is justified.  Finland's Oranssi Pazuzu continue down the path of making wild, trippy, black metal inspired psychedelic heavy music here, and it is nice that not only is this just a great album on its own but it is also quite a bit different from their previous albums.  This is not rehashing previous space- this is brand new weirdness.  This is fantastic stuff, and not a style of music many bands are making. 

Favorite songs: Uusi teknokratia, Kuulen aania maan alta (you can dance to this one!!!)

So those are just my three very favorite heavy albums of the year.  I will do some further short posts later about my favorite non-metal stuff, all the other metal albums I enjoyed this year, and some posts about my December discoveries.