THE 50 BEST ALBUMS OF 2020
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50 MYRKUR
Folkesange
RELAPSE
Amalie Bruun’s early black metal proved bitterly divisive among the genre’s elitist gatekeepers, but Folkesange instantly proved that her instinct for a gorgeous Nordic folk ditty is unwaveringly sharp. Be it jaunty campfire dances or hauntingly atmospheric mood pieces, Myrkur breathed new life into ancient folk standards whilst also beautifully nailing the art of writing songs that sounded 1,000 years older than they were.
49 HELLRIPPER
The Affair Of The Poisons
PEACEVILLE
This year, Hellripper’s sole Venom-ous Motörheadbanger, James McBain, joined Midnight and Rebel Wizard at the forefront of modern black-thrash. A rabid, raucous crossbreed of Kill ‘Em All, Overkill, Welcome To Hell, Bathory and Filth Hounds Of Hades, The Affair Of The Poisons, with the same force as a bucking kick from the gnarled hooves of Lucifer, knocked out every backpatched and bullet belt-sporting heathen who heard it.
48 LIK
Misanthropic Breed
METAL BLADE
With Misanthropic Breed, Lik offered up a potent display of proper Swedes playing proper Swedish death metal. The Stockholm band’s third album oozed HM-2-powered riffing, punk energy and the raging brutality of their forefathers (when they were teenagers, mind). Adding a fine-tuned finesse inspired by Maiden-esque melodies and harmonies, these new-school purveyors delivered a high watermark to the genre’s nation of origin.
47 TRIPTYKON
Requiem (Live At Roadburn 2019)
CENTURY MEDIA
Completing an orchestral project more than three decades in the making – begun by Thomas G Fischer’s legendary previous band, Celtic Frost, in 1987 – this document of Triptykon’s 2019 one-off Roadburn performance balanced its immense heft with moments of tremendous grace and beauty. More than a live album, Requiem demonstrated Fischer’s lifelong commitment to heavy experimentation.
46 ALL THEM WITCHES
Nothing As The Ideal
NEW WEST
Listening to the sixth album from Nashville’s All Them Witches felt like falling down a rabbit hole into a psychedelic backwoods America. Nothing As The Ideal was a poststoner fever dream populated by homicidal twins and plants with teeth, set to a backdrop of lava lamp riffs that billowed and ebbed rather than thumped and bludgeoned. A monumentally surreal year’s monumentally surreal soundtrack.
45 GREG PUCIATO
Child Soldier: Creator Of God
FEDERAL PRISONER
No one would have expected anything standard from the former Dillinger Escape Plan frontman’s first solo effort, but no one could have imagined the breadth of . It encapsulated everything from lo-fi singer/songwriting, to shimmering electro-pop, to some of the most scabrous metallic material Greg’s put his name to.
