The end of every year goes together with media publishing lists of their albums of the year and whatnot. We don’t escape this, and as such we gathered the opinions of our team to compile what we want to put forward as some of the best releases of the year. It gives us a list with a nice diversity in genres and bands (from “big ones” to “underground”) and hopefully covers most of the releases that are worth spending some time on listening to. While this year was rather fucked up, the quality of music was up there really. So without further-ado… here is GRIMM’s list of albums of the year 2020!
6. Carnation – Where Death Lies / Deftones – Ohms
At the start of 2019, these guys from Belgium already turned quite some heads in the international waters while on the 70 000 tons of metal cruise. The death metal outfit Carnation has yet to let us down. ‘Where Death Lies’ is an unrelenting banger of a record that contains one classic song after the other. If this weren’t an entirely new album, it may just as well have been made back when old school death metal was just called “death metal”. And even back then it would have been progressively heavy-sounding. These guys are steadily growing into the role of being one of the top players in the international (death) metal scene.
Read the full album review here.
It’s been 4 long years since the rather special and influential Deftones have released a new album. With ‘Ohms’ we were blessed in 2020 with their latest feat and for many (music) fans around the world it was pure bliss. The soothing and repetitive music easily grabs you and drags you into a trance and meditative state. Throw on top of that Chino‘s absolutely unique and recognizable voice and you’re in for yet another musical trip of some truly great artists. This band stood at the birth of many modern bands with a progressive and post-metal sound, but still proves to hold up among them strongly.
5. Wolfheart – Wolves of Karelia
Tuomas Saukkonen is a name that stands firmly at the top of some of Finland’s best songwriters. With his main project Wolfheart he’s a regular sight in our AOTY lists and always a welcome presence. Somehow when you think that he and his band mates can’t step it up even more, they surprise us with another stellar release with unexpected elements. This time around, Wolfheart introduces with ‘Wolves of Karelia’ their stab at a concept album, telling the story of the Finnish Winter War with all its destruction, death and desperate battles against a greater force. The songwriting is concise and straightforward, with not a track that seems out of place. Going from the approaching enemy through desperate fights to the eventual end where the dead are carried back home, is carried perfectly by their signature “Winter metal” sound.
Read the full album review here.
4. Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still
New Zealand’s death metal masters Ulcerate have been on a constant evolution. Since their prosperous formation and through years of effort and persistence, they have set a firm foundation. Their gradual expansion from technicality to a form of complex death metal is reflected on each studio album. On their latest craft ‘Stare Into Death And Be Still‘ Ulcerate manifests new methodical ways of blending atmospherics and harmony into its musical architecture. If you dismantle the musical fragments, you will notice the relentless brutality and melodies are assembled by a formidable array of riffs. It’s built on raw compounds, but this time Ulcerate has instilled beautiful harmonization between the melodies and dynamics. An impressive show of force!
Read the full album review here.
To listen to our choices of 2020’s best, hit up our Spotify playlist here:
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] with an incredible flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] with an incredible flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] with an incredible flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] with an incredible flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t enjoy […]
[…] an incredible flow of quality releases. Just look at our reviews, editor’s top lists, and GRIMM’s top albums of 2020, which are all chock-full of amazing music. We therefor see no reason why 2021 shouldn’t […]
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