Dan Hillier
From an ever evolving pandemic to constant turmoil, this year has just been a flurry of confusion, anxiety and stress. Thankfully, even amidst the constant chaos, music has been the saving grace. It goes without saying that this year has been phenomenal for the entirety of the alternative music spectrum, with the year hosting a seemingly endless plethora of brilliant releases from both established names and emerging talent. We’ve seen legacy acts reinvent themselves, new names come screaming out the shadow with jaw-dropping work and acts breaking new ground by subverting redundant genre norms. With that in mind, it’s made compiling this list excruciating – but regardless – it’s here; the Noizze top 50 records of 2021.
Now, before we delve into our top 50 records of the year, a little disclaimer is needed. The eagle eyed amongst you may notice a discrepancy between the ranking of this list and individual review scores. Throughout this list a number of records we gave perfect 10/10 scores will be placed lower than albums we gave scores of 9 and 8. The reason for this is that whilst reviews are the opinions of a single writer, this list was decided as a collective. As you can imagine it took a lot of discussion, arguing and maybe one or two death threats, but we got there in the end.
Now with that out the way we present the first part of our 50 best records of 2020, beginning with 50 down to 26.
With a soundscape perfectly balancing the scales between volatile vulnerability and the thundering race to the demolition of our eardrums; Caskets bravely ventured through the harrowing realities surrounding the seven emotional stages of trauma, which is detailed beautifully across their deeply profound debut album Lost Souls. – Bennie Osborne
Capturing the zeitgeist of the process of growing up in this fractured and ceaselessly chaotic modern culture, and everyone else smiled back is an irresistibly charming and wholesome body of work that’s wall to wall with pop hooks and creativity. Reminiscent of other acts that once specialised in narrating the woes of coming of age such as Modern Baseball and Los Campesinos!, with this gilded release Bears In Trees have seemingly become the voice of unbridled Gen Z creativity. – Dan Hillier
Outworld by Black Coast is full of riffs, riffs and more riffs, with elements of all the old favourites like KoRn and Linkin Park, they’ve crafted a record that not only dances around their more hardcore inspired roots but heavily involves itself with the old nu-metal recipe book; in their own words: “we didn’t invent the the wheel, we just rolled it back into the party”. – Elliot Grimmie
With the amount of excellent releases this year no one would blame you if the self-titled solo debut effort by Wade MacNeil (Alexisonfire/Gallows/Black Lungs) was missed. That said, Dooms Children is an album that is incredibly immersive and packed full of style and flare unlike anything he has previously released. The album takes the listener through the journey of MacNeil that led him to rehab and beyond delivered in the style of 60s psychedelia albeit in a well-produced manner and providing a modern take on the genre. An absolute hidden gem. – Jac Holloway
With such a beautiful blend of DIY style emo-indie-punk, Contender pulls at the heartstrings in all the right ways to invoke emotional reaction and relation. Lucky Coin, I’m Starting To Think You Don’t Even Want To Go To Space, The Absolute State Of Me, all of these songs hit right in the feels, and the record strikes such a tone that it’s relatable at any time of day, any part of year, through sunshine, rain, day and night the record just feels right at any given moment. You can listen to it on cosy days in, wrapped under blankets, yet equally so out and about on sunlit strolls around town, a true hidden gem in the realms of British indie artists. – Elliot Grimmie
Written and presented as a soundtrack to a movie of the listener’s own mental design, French post-rock collective Bruit ≤ manifested something truly awe-inspiring with The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again. An amalgamation of classic post-rock, modern neoclassical and ambient electronica, the record is a must listen for anyone with even the passing interest in the subversion of genre convention and stands tall as a testament to the group’s steadfast devotion to chasing ardent creativity without industry imposed restraints. – Dan Hillier
Released at the height of summer, Primary Colours is a vibrant as its namesake suggests. Yet whilst it’s sonically sun-kissed, blissfully warm and easy-going in nature, this is a record of brilliant contrast. The debut from Lovebreakers spins stories of British rain-soaked misadventure in the guise of swaggering American West Coast pop rock in a way that’s sleek, ensnaring but still ultimately uplifting. A perfect summer time record with brilliant hidden nuance. – Dan Hillier
Twenty-one minutes of sheer and utterly terrifying chaos. Whilst 2017’s ‘Trumpeting Ecstasy’ wore its hardcore influences on its sleeve, 2019’s ‘Weeping Choir’ introduced further experimentation of industrial and noise elements. Now, ‘Garden of Burning Apparitions’ sees the band refining these as well as expanding their experimentation and creating something truly restless, challenging and uncompromisingly vicious. – James Davenport
After an agonising seven year wait, NOLA legends Eyehategod returned with one of the noisiest, chest crushing sludge records of the year. A scathing and bleak album that spat venom in every word with visceral aggression, feeding on the relentless misery and gloomy environment in which it was conceived in. – Tom Fordham
Gender, Trauma & Friendship – on the surface – is more or less what says on the tin. However, this record is one of pure dynamism; an album that sees Slash Fiction waxing poetic on the joy of refusing outdated genre norms and the love that comes with embracing one’s true identity through a range of genres ranging from classic emo to twinkly post-rock. An unafraid, proud record of pure eclecticism, one that utilises an entire array of genres to detail its narrations on love, loss and resilience with inspiring finesse. – Dan Hillier
UK metal/deathcore outfit Vexed delivered a debut album stacked to the rafters with massive grooves. Megan Targett’s vocals are huge and instantly infectious, and her truth spitting rhythmic flow is on point. Meanwhile the band behind her go into overdrive, together crafting one of the catchiest debut albums of the year. – Kris Kielich
Wolves In The Throne Room always manage to supersede their previous output with each new release. The addition of another permanent member has given the band room to breathe and create even greater atmospheres. Primordial Arcana sees the band flirting with folk elements as they continue to explore the world of pagan ritual. – James Davenport
A heady blend of post-metal, progressive rock and even flourishes of psychedelia, Scotland’s Dvne are a scintillating prospect to begin with. Add in the sci-fi tale unfolding throughout, and the result of it is one of the year’s most engrossing listens, from the winding Enuma Elis to the Odyssean ‘Omega Severer’. – Will Marshall
During the first lockdown in 2020, Serena Cherry found herself returning to her black metal roots while playing plenty of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. The discovery that one was influencing the other led to the creation of Noctule and the sweeping epics that make up Wretched Abyss’ melodic black metal. – Will Marshall
Since their inception Khemmis have crafted their self-described signature sound, doomed heavy metal, by seamlessly merging the power and grandeur of traditional metal with the intensity and ferocity of more extreme metal subgenres. Their fourth studio album sees them raising the bar and hitting the mark better than ever before. – Matt Watts
Goth metal quartet Unto Others followed their 2019 album Mana with another statement record, Strength. With some of the best hook writing in years, every song on this record is a swooning, vampiric banger. They’re a band with huge potential to be absolutely massive, and Strength is proof enough why that’s the case. – Kris Kielich
Canada’s Spiritbox had all the hype behind them for their debut record, “Eternal Blue,” and delivered in every way. Vocalist Courtney LaPlante delivers the most hypnotic and emotional vocals of the year, as the rest of the band brings djenty metalcore into a brand new era of maturity and experimentation. – Kris Kielich
Rise Against are 20 years into their career and arguably one of the most consistent rock bands in terms of quality of the last two decades. Nowhere Generation provided some of the band’s most anthemic songs to date including the title track, “The Numbers” and “Broken Dreams Inc.”. If you thought a band 20 years into their career may have lost the fire that adorned them as flagbearers for political punk then you couldn’t be more wrong. Rise Against are very much still flying that flag and the spark for passion, anger and angst that makes up their lyrical content is as excellent as it has ever been. – Jac Holloway
How does one present the apocalypse and existential terror in a dramatic format that’s as tongue in cheek as it is utterly terrifying? Look no further than Existence Is Futile, Cradle of Filth’s thirteenth studio album that’s brimming with power and theatrics from start to finish. – James Davenport
One of the most surprising comebacks this year was undoubtedly Genghis Tron. Bolstered with the addition of Nick Yacyshyn & Tony Wolski, the quartet produced a hardcore space odyssey. Pounding drums, dream-like vocals alongside soaring electronics, especially in the title track, make this a beautiful beast of a record. – Adam Vallely
The word ‘epic’ gets thrown around all too often these days, usually describing something that may well be great but hardly awe-inspiring. This doesn’t apply to Amenra, a band that don’t just release albums, they release experiences. Each record a journey further into the darkness, where one can feel the pain expressed in the gargantuan soundscapes they’re capable of creating. Whilst ‘De Doorn’ breaks the usual pattern of ‘Mass…’ album titles, it shows them at their finest, closely resembling the intensity of their live performances and proves they’re still able to push the boundaries of heavy music even further yet again. – James Davenport
The Bronx’s sixth album helped provide the soundtrack to the summer, with the California rockers not deviating much from their classic winning formula – eleven solid punk songs, all drenched in attitude and dripping in energy. Full of infectious singalongs and pumped up bops, Bronx VI ticked all the boxes of a classic Bronx album. With easy to digest hooks and addictive melody lines that just feel so satisfying, one of the best things about this band is how much fun they are to listen to. Bronx IV’ is a fast paced ride of energetic no-nonsense power chord driven punk. Turn it up loud. – Becton Simpson
The spirits of the North were awoken from their slumber as the beating wings of the white raven flew over the mountains. Wardruna shattered expectations with Kvitravn, building on the Runaljod trilogy by incorporating elements of Norse culture and mythology and looking deep into the philosophical concepts of our relationship with nature. The album’s strong animistic values reach deep into your soul, connecting you with something much older than yourself. The album’s eerily ethereal quality and evocative storytelling also serves as a reminder of our tentative relationship with nature. Kvitravn, is a thought provoking and transformative listen. – Tom Fordham
Channelling Sabbathian doom, 70s prog and a love of macabre folklore, Green Lung create a stunning opus across Black Harvest’s run time. Synths and organs intertwine with soaring vocal melodies and crushing riffs, creating a finely balanced supernatural cocktail of psychedelic, folk-infused doom that’s incredibly compelling and more than a little otherworldly. – Will Marshall
Wigan’s Boss Keloid aren’t afraid to get weird, and within seconds of opening Family The Smiling Thrush, they make that clear. Prog collides with lumbering riffs and Alex Hurst’s colossal, majestic voice. Weaving tales of community and finding solace in the face of loss, it’s a moving and genuinely uplifting album that needs to be heard to be believed. – Will Marshall