For all of the personal, political, and global calamity of the hellacious year that was 2020, there was a lot of great music that came out. Like…a LOT.
It makes sense: with tours, festivals, and live shows canceled, most bands turned to the studio instead. The result is perhaps the most challenging year to quantify into a nice, neat list.
But that hasn’t stopped me from trying.
And while I often cop out and just make a list of all the music I’ve purchased, this year is difficult because I’ve purchased all of this music this year, on one format or another.
HUM – Inlet
Twenty-five years after releasing an album that inspired a plethora of heavy, melodic guitar music, HUM asserts their position as kings of the mountain. Inlet is as heavy and catchy as they’ve ever been, stripping away all of the fat from their slacker rock roots and delivering a gut punch of enormous, earth shattering, atmospheric rock songs.
Deftones – Ohms
Deftones has spent the last two decades divorcing themselves from the edgy nu-metal they came up playing. And ever since White Pony, they’ve proved themselves to be one of the most consistent and rewarding heavy acts around.
Ohms isn’t just a satisfying Deftones album—it might be their best. Combining their ever-present shoegaze and dreampop influence with a new hardcore edge courtesy of Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega, Ohms finds Deftones at the top of their game—which is no easy feat.
Caspian – On Circles
Post rock is a genre that is easy to do and incredibly hard to do well. If a band isn’t careful, they can hit diminishing returns pretty quickly.
If Caspian’s magic is running out, it’s not on On Circles. On their fifth album, they expand the conventional classic post rock palette with saxophones, synthesizers, and even more heavy metal denseness for what may be their best album yet.
Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces Everyone
Back when I was in high school, few bands captured the subtlety of teenaged angst as well as The Ataris. Spanish Love Songs hits the ennui of being a thirty-something in America in exactly the same way, put to hooks that you just can’t help but sing along with. Easily the best pop punk record in a decade.
Nothing – The Great Dismal
Nothing has been fighting for dominance among the shoegaze revival for most of the decade. But on their fourth full length, they finally blow past the competition with the dark blend of shoegaze, post punk, and heavy metal. This is likely thanks to the addition of Cloakroom guitarist Doyle Martin, who brings his own blend of doom heft and breezy melodicism.
Jonsi – Shiver
Sigur Ros hasn’t released a proper studio album since 2013’s Keviekur. Since then, they’ve released a number of experimental albums, remixes for dance projects, and Jonsi’s involvement in Jonsi & Alex, the achingly gorgeous project with his longtime partner Alex Somers.
Shiver, Jonsi’s first solo project in a decade, encapsulates all of his instincts for atmosphere, dance hooks, and avant-garde weirdness in their purest forms. The resulting album is as rewarding as it is unexpected.
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
The collaboration album no one knew we needed. May Our Chambers Be Full combines the dark gothic folk and spacious atmospheres of Emma Ruth Rundle with the crushing, meandering sludge of Thou, leading to one of the best metal albums in a long time.
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
As desperate as it is life affirming, the third album from Bristol’s Svalbard combines hardcore, post rock, and screamo in a way that follows the legacies of bands like Alcest, Envy, and Brutus.
Mountaineer – Bloodletting
2020 was a heavy year, and Mountaineer’s third album provided a heavy sound to match. Harkening to the glacial sludge of bands like ISIS and Cult of Luna, the Bay Area natives’ third album was thick and sludgy while retaining a bleeding melodic heart.
Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
Sufjan Stevens has spent over ten years trying to get us all to forget about the Fifty States project. While the acoustic, Oregon-centric Carrie & Lowell had enough of his particular brand of Americana to satisfy old school fans, The Ascension might be the final nail in the coffin. This album reappropriates the digital landscape of The Age of Adz and dials back the chaos, creating an album that is both experimental and affecting.
Entropy – Liminal
It’s always a tough balance to create an album that leans on nostalgia without sounding dated, but German post-hardcore project Entropy does just that. Liminal stands on the shoulders of old school bands like HUM, Unwound, and Giant’s Chair, but sounds more fresh than derivative.
The Casket Lottery – Short Songs for End Times
Speaking of nostalgia…the emo heroes return with their second album since 2002, and it hits all the right buttons. Packing ten tracks into 38 minutes, Short Songs… has all the riffs and hooks you’d expect from these legends.
Elder – Omens
The East coast metalheads have been slowly cutting their stoner/doom offerings with increasing levels of prog, so it should come as no surprise that their fifth album sounds much closer to Rush than Russian Circles. Not that that’s a bad thing—they have the chops to back it up and the compositional skills to make you satisfied with the change, even when they have more electric piano solos than guitar licks.
American Arson – A Line in the Sand
It might not seem like hardcore punk could mesh well with radio-ready hooks, but American Arson is ready to prove you wrong. And what’s more—they do it with only two people. Their debut full length captures the fury and passion of their live show with conviction and a heart-rending hope.
EOB – Earth
In most cases, no one is begging for a solo album from the most overlooked member of a band. But most bands aren’t Radiohead.
Earth finds Radiohead’s third guitarist finally free of the shadows of the rest of his lauded bandmates and proves his standing among the quintet. Earth is a sprawling masterwork that travels through dance pop, avant-garde electronica, Britpop, and good old fashioned rock—much like his main project.
Sand Co. – Forever Laying Down
Cultural barriers are often large and imposing, leading to massive disconnects. There are often embarrassing gaps between how a nation feels about themselves and how others perceive them. However, I wish I lived in the America portrayed by German Americana band Sand Co. Their debut album paints a portrait of American music that blends Bright Eyes’ folk rock with moments of Eliot’s emo and Interpol’s indie rock that is as breathtaking as it is heartbreaking.
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
“Ingenue” is a word that’s thrown around a lot around young female talents—often insultingly. But for this twenty-six year old, it might be apt. While Punisher is only the second solo album since her 2017 debut, she’s kept herself busy with a seemingly endless stream of guest features and collaborations, including boygenius, Better Oblivion Community Center, and others.
Punisher capitalizes on the promise of her immense body of work in a staggering way. Her American musical center is augmented by electronic studio trickery, punk raggedness, and massive string arrangements that are almost Disney ready.
Shiner – Schadenfreude
Shiner hasn’t released an album since 2001’s The Egg. However, frontman Allen Epley has been plenty busy with his newer project, The Life & Times. Schadenfreude is interesting in that it further blurs the lines between Epley’s two projects. But with huge space rock riffs like this, it’s not like anyone is complaining.
OBROTHER – You & I
OBROTHER has always played an engaging blend of post rock, post hardcore, and sludge. But on You & I, they reorient their idea of heaviness. This record is plenty dense, but it relies far less on heavy guitars and more on intricate studio arrangements. It’s a definite change of pace, but that’s not a bad thing.
CATERPILLARS – Where Shadows Go to Speak
Few records have hit me the same way as Gates’ Parallel Lives or Eliot’s Song in the Air, but this record from Texas natives CATERPILLARS hits pretty dang close. Heartfelt songs are aided by atmospheric production and a hard hitting rhythm section for an album that is bound to be an emo classic.
Pinegrove – Marigold
It’s been a long time since I’ve cared about an alt-country album. My Ryan Adams phase is long behind me. But Pinegrove’s latest album just wouldn’t let me go. Mixing alt-country and emo in a similar way of the old Bright Eyes albums I love, Marigold is a masterclass in songwriting and no-frills production that aims for the heart.
Dens – Taming Tongues
Many an artist has aimed for the unique blend of emotive post rock and massive post hardcore as As Cities Burn’s Come Now Sleep, but they usually misreading the source material.
Taming Tongues lands closer than almost anything I’ve heard in the last fifteen years by hitting the ethos of that record rather than just aiming for sonic similarity. Taming Tongues is heavy, atmospheric, and melodic with a vein of blues running through its core.
Jesu – Terminus
Ever since Salvation, I’ve been waiting for Jesu to release something as crushing as that disk. Terminus might just make it there. Thick walls of guitar coat tender songwriting and glistening synths, set to a pensive tempo that only Jesu can do.
Tigerwine – Nothing Is For You
I bought this record during Tooth & Nail’s Black Friday sale because I remembered the name from staying with one of the members’ in-laws when my band played Flood City Festival last year. I took a gamble and was delighted.
Nothing is For You blends post hardcore with elements of dream pop, psychedelic, and pop without every losing its heaviness. While it definitely sounds of the moment, it isn’t beholden to trends.
Boneflower – A(r)mour
Madrid isn’t typically thought of as a hub for screamo, but Boneflower might just put it on the map. A(r)mour takes all the frenetic fury of the genre and wraps it in emotional ambiance and compositional delicacy. Truth be told, I don’t totally care for screamo most of the time, but every second of this record is absolutely captivating.
Honorable Mentions
Holy Fawn – The Black Moon
Spotlights – We Are Atomic
Paul Yoon – About Time
Ray Gun Solace- Reagan Zealous
Every Day – Tasogare
Palehorse/Palerider & Lord Buffalo – Legends of the Desert, Vol 1
Dan Smith/Dirt Money – Splitsville
NAAL – Phases
Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was
Envy – The Fallen Crimson
Touche Amore – Lament
SPACESHIPS – Pillars (you didn’t think I’d leave off my own album, did you?)