Albums of the Year 2020

[Barrington Boots]

Despite almost everything else being awful 2020 has been a good year for music for me - one of the benefits of 8 months working at home is that I've had time to explore new releases and really get into a lot of new music whereas in previous years I've got a bit jaded and struggled to get into more than a couple of records.

I think my 2020 top ten in terms of pure enjoyment (in no order) would be:

Magic Sword - Endless
Temple of Void - The World That Was (topical title on this one!)
Wayfarer - A Romance with Violence
Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron
Just Before Dawn - An Army at Dawn
Black Royal - Firebride
Lord Vigo - Danse De Noir
Paradise Lost - Obsidian
Villagers of Ionna City - Age of Acquarius
The Wizar'd - Subterranean Exile

I've also enjoyed the new stuff by Ulver, Moscow Death Brigade, We are Magonia, Bergeton, Graceless, Ectoplague, Elay Arson..

With music being highly subjective and emotive I don't expect anyones choices to align with mine, but I'm interested to hear what fellow Squaxx's favourite records of 2020 were and I'll totally listen to them if I can.

[Greg M.]

Kull - Exile
Ulver - Flowers of Evil
Cirith Ungol - Forever Black

[Funt Solo]

I don't get drawn much to albums these days and instead tend to surf the Youtube algorithms of my cache. Sometimes I wonder if the visual interest is outweighing the aural. So, erm, this is my playlist of no year whatsoever. But it's my 2020.

 - Childish Gambino - This Is America
 - Twenty One Pilots - Ride
 - Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
 - Empire of the Sun - We Are The People
 - Public Enemy - State of the Union (STFU)
 - Lorde - Royals
 - Goyte - Somebody That I Used to Know
 - Charles Bradley covers Changes
 - Chris Rodriguez & the Spoon Lady: Angels in Heaven
 - Steve 'n' Seagulls cover Thunderstruck

Well, some of those are from 2020. Also, if you need to lead your clan to battle you could do worse than hire these fellas to keep the morale up: Clanadonia

[Barrington Boots]

Kull - Exile
Ulver - Flowers of Evil
Cirith Ungol - Forever Black

That Ulver album is sublime and builds on ..Julius Ceaser which is the first time for a while I can remember where they haven't totally changed sound. Would have been in my top 10 but for it being a very sad listen, menaing I haven't played it so much in this dark year.
I'm listening to the Cirith Ungol now. Lovely 80s style production on it.

[Lorenzo]

Despite almost everything else being awful 2020 has been a good year for music for me - one of the benefits of 8 months working at home is that I've had time to explore new releases and really get into a lot of new music whereas in previous years I've got a bit jaded and struggled to get into more than a couple of records.

I think my 2020 top ten in terms of pure enjoyment (in no order) would be:

Magic Sword - Endless
Temple of Void - The World That Was (topical title on this one!)
Wayfarer - A Romance with Violence
Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron
Just Before Dawn - An Army at Dawn
Black Royal - Firebride
Lord Vigo - Danse De Noir
Paradise Lost - Obsidian
Villagers of Ionna City - Age of Acquarius
The Wizar'd - Subterranean Exile

I've also enjoyed the new stuff by Ulver, Moscow Death Brigade, We are Magonia, Bergeton, Graceless, Ectoplague, Elay Arson..

With music being highly subjective and emotive I don't expect anyones choices to align with mine, but I'm interested to hear what fellow Squaxx's favourite records of 2020 were and I'll totally listen to them if I can.

God, this post makes me feel old - or you live in an alternate (death metal?) universe - I've never even heard of any of these groups, let alone listened to them 
I'm still very much one of those people that buys physical copies of music - you know, those shiny silver things - and I actually buy quite a lot.

Still, the best I can come up with for this year off the top of my head is:

Bombay Bicycle Club - Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
I Break Horses - Warnings
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
Bibio - Sleep on the Wing

I have a strong suspicion this isn't your kind of thing... !!

[Greg M.]

I'm listening to the Cirith Ungol now. Lovely 80s style production on it.

Yeah - The Frost Monstreme is a particularly excellent track. The Kull record is my album of the year though - Bal-Sagoth but with a different singer. I hadn't realised what a Jonny and Chris Maudling-shaped gap there was in my musical life till this came along and reminded me of the glory days of Starfire Burning.

[Barrington Boots]

God, this post makes me feel old - or you live in an alternate (death metal?) universe - I've never even heard of any of these groups, let alone listened to them 
I'm still very much one of those people that buys physical copies of music - you know, those shiny silver things - and I actually buy quite a lot.

I am also pretty old but I do live in a bit of a death metal bubble.
Physical consumption of music is 100% the way to go! 2020 has been good for me for having time to listen to records on Youtube / Bandcamp a few times to let them sink in, but then I much prefer buying an actual CD (or vinyl, if feeling flush) so enjoy properly with a sleeve and everything.

I have a strong suspicion this isn't your kind of thing... !!

Doesn't matter, hopefully everyone who comments will have some very different stuff! Outside of what you might hear on the radio, music needs to click with the listener on a personal level somehow so I wouldn't expect anyone to agree with me really.
I suspect it might be the case that these aren't my thing too, but I like hearing new music and I haven't heard of any of these records, so I'll check them out.

[Barrington Boots]

the glory days of Starfire Burning.

"The bloodying is at hand!"
We used to listen to that a lot in my university days. I haven't heard any Bal-Sagoth in years.

Digging the Cirith Ungol. I skipped it on release because I thought it might suck, I was wrong.

[sintec]

I've been trying to cut back on CDs this year. Now I'm not commuting by car I find I tend to just listen to everything by streaming it off my server. Oh and I've also been warned that once I've filled my cabinet (about 100 more CDs) it's one in one out so I'm being picky.  Still buying vinyl for anything which has great cover art but otherwise it's digital from bandcamp mostly.

Anyway this years picks for me would be:

• Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi
• Theologian & Lament Cityscape - Soft tissue (primarily for the cracking cover of PILs The Order of Death on the digital re-release)
• Killdren - Dismembers Of Parliment
• Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
• JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland ‎– Oscillospira
• 3Phaz - Three Phase
• Human Impact - Human Impact
• Somatic Responses ‎– Interlinked EP (ordered the limited print of the art for this as well as the 12" as it's gorgeous)
• Monolog - Everything At Zero
• Metalogue - Anomaly

The art from that Somatics EP:

[BPP]

Idles
Space Dimension Controller
Shed
Ellen Allien
Metz

[Barrington Boots]

• Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi
• Theologian & Lament Cityscape - Soft tissue (primarily for the cracking cover of PILs The Order of Death on the digital re-release)
• Killdren - Dismembers Of Parliment
• Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
• JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland ‎– Oscillospira
• 3Phaz - Three Phase
• Human Impact - Human Impact
• Somatic Responses ‎– Interlinked EP (ordered the limited print of the art for this as well as the 12" as it's gorgeous)
• Monolog - Everything At Zero
• Metalogue - Anomaly

Been listening and some really interesting stuff on this list!
That Somantic art is great. I think great art is something that suffers on digital releases and is one of the reasons I keep buying CDs and vinyl.

[Barrington Boots]

I Break Horses - Warnings

I'm enjoying this!

[sintec]

Loved that Wayfarer album.  Hadn't heard of them before will definitely be giving that another listen and may grab a copy at some point.

The Eternal Chamion isn't my kind of thing, a bit too Man-O-War for my tastes. Commenting mostly to say that album cover has some of the most ludicrous boobs I've seen in a while (and I rewatched Heavy Metal at the weekend so that's saying something).

Liking the Just Before Dawn so far.  Reminding me of classic Bolt Thrower.

[Barrington Boots]

Loved that Wayfarer album.  Hadn't heard of them before will definitely be giving that another listen and may grab a copy at some point.

I think this is probably the 'best' album on my list. It's a really immersive listen.
There's been a lot of use of folk instruments and sounds in BM over the years but this is the first band I've heard doing it with American folk ("cowboy music")
Their previous album is well worth checking out too if you liked this.

The Eternal Chamion isn't my kind of thing, a bit too Man-O-War for my tastes. Commenting mostly to say that album cover has some of the most ludicrous boobs I've seen in a while (and I rewatched Heavy Metal at the weekend so that's saying something).

Yes and yes... I don't really like Manowar but I do like this, it's got an earthier feel to it, less bombastic. It's very much of that ilk though.
The cover is awful. Yet on some levels, amazing.

Liking the Just Before Dawn so far.  Reminding me of classic Bolt Thrower.

Totally! If you're going to listen to band heavily influenced by Boly Thrower this is the best one! Different vocalist on each track.

Really chuffed you checked these out and liked a couple!

[Magnetica]

I hadn’t heard of Wayfarer before, but off the back of the comments on this thread I had a listen. The music seems really good, but I just can’t get on with that vocal style, so it’s a pass for me.