your top albums of 2021

[sal paradise]

I haven't listened to much from 2021 yet. Have some catching up to do.

I agree on the already mentioned Bloodmoon 1 by Converge and Chelsea Wolfe. Fantastic album.
I also really enjoyed Asoma (Rises) by Clan Caimán (bandcamp link). Great instrumental album. Also, Petunia by Tonstartssbandht is great (bandcamp link)
I didn't care for the Low album at all, though I loved the one before it. This one just sounded uninspired... predictable, rehashing the same old. I dunno, maybe it's because I listened to that Converge & Chelsea Wolfe record right before, which sound so much more inspired. Not fair of course.

The Chelsea Wolfe album is great, but it is 60% Converge doing what they do & 20% generic goth metal. Not entirely original. The combination & Wolfe’s magic is the difference for me.

[Sauerkraut]

The Chelsea Wolfe album is great, but it is 60% Converge doing what they do & 20% generic goth metal. Not entirely original. The combination & Wolfe’s magic is the difference for me.

That's very much the same for me, yeah. Without Chelsea Wolfe's involvement I probably wouldn't care for more than a few songs on there. As it is, I zone out whenever there's screaming or grunting or whatever that's called. I've given up on trying to get that; it just sounds like Cookie Monster to me. But they're a very skilled and fun band musically, and together with Chelsea Wolfe they have wider pallet to draw from, which makes the gothy stuff a lot more enjoyable for me. I think it's far from a perfect album, and it's definitely not trying to be original (an often overrated endeavour anyway, imo), but it's a lot of fun.

[sal paradise]

Good point. Unoriginal doesn’t have to mean predictable