... from the abysmal depths of eternal damnation! ... and here it is! 2021 Top 50 Extreme Metal albums! No individual (genre/subgenre/style) tags to any of the titles: I thought it will make this more fun, by perhaps discovering something new and unexpected. 2021 was a seriously fucked-up year, but this is not the place to get into the current state of affairs. I have to thank music for helping maintain my sanity for the past 364 days. And what music!! Bands, projects, solo a

Traditional metal: Heavy Metal, Power Metal & Doom Metal! Splitting the top metal albums list into two distinct lists was absolutely necessary. This Trad Metal list is dedicated to albums that maintain heavy metal as their core element. Aside from the traditional heavy metal, its close, direct relatives, US and Euro Power Metal and classic Doom Metal are also represented on this top 50. From the most melodic to thrashy shred, the following fifty titles will satisfy even the m

Hard Rock, Glam Metal, Sleaze, Southern & AOR ... everything goes! And they say rock is dead ... 50 BLACKØWL Fly Away Spain Released on April 3, 2021 Debut album Bandcamp Spotify 49 TOXIC ROSE In For The Kill Sweden Released on September 24, 2021 Sophomore album Spotify 48 ESTRIVER Outcry Italy Released on December 10, 2021 Album #3 Spotify 47 THE MIGHTY ONE Torch Of Rock And Roll Canada Released on March 26, 2021 Album #3 Bandcamp Spotify 46 BLACK DIAMONDS No-tell Hotel Swit

Rock & Metal albums with progressive music as the core element! Judging by the overwhelming number of quality debut and comeback releases, 2021 hints to be a vintage year in the making in the realm of progressive rock & metal. Among the fifty titles that are rounding up this year's list, the listener is to discover a large palette of prog rock & metal: from by-the-book traditional to mesmerizing avant-garde, covering such a wide soundscape, while maintaining a strong progress

Genre-fluid non-traditional metal: pop to melodeath ... all at once! 2021 was an incredible year for rock and metal music with its incredible number of quality albums being released. As I was gathering details about the releases that were going to round up my end-of-the-year lists, I've run into a slight dilemma: a quite large number of albums contained music that spanned over genres and incorporated stylistic elements that were not necessarily associated with rock/metal. Fur

Digital Age Rock 'N Roll Heavily Rooted In The Past! Nothing dated here. Simple greatness that happens to sound as if was written and recorded over 40+ years ago. The palette here is quite impressive, ranging from soft folk-rock to full blast heavy psychedelic madness, these twenty titles are the real deal! The formative, hugely important chapter in rock music history is as farther from being written, as it ever was! So dive in and let your freak flag fly high! You dig? 20 AC

Rocking Electric Blues & Blues/Rock "The blues is a mighty long road. Or it could be a river, one that twists and turns and flows into a sea of limitless musical potential." Billy Gibbons 20 SAMANTHA FISH Faster Released on September 10, 2021 Boundaries pushing, album #11 by the pop/rock blues artist. Spotify link 19 WHITEY SOMERS The Call Of The Blues Released on September 17, 2021 An eclectic mix of original blues and rock on this 5th album by the Canadian artist. Spotify l

The only possible positive side to this miserable covid affair, for the past eighteen months or so, was the ample time musicians had to amp up their game and focus on their newer studio creations. The result: a slew of great rock & metal music is being unleashed upon mankind! My lust for melodic music has always carried over into the most extreme of the realm. I'm a strong believer that complex melodies will once again help promulgate rock/metal into the music's mainstream. O

Is real rock maintaining potential? I'm not talking about the horseshit promoted as "rock" by the mainstream. No. Hell no! Seven out of the ten titles rounding up my 2nd quarter Top 10 Rock Albums are debut releases! I keep hearing daft statements: this or that is bringing rock back ... Breakingnews: rock music was always around, in the present! Unfortunately, for the last 3 decades, the people responsible for promoting music managed to dilute the term "rock" to cover music t

Prog has continued to rise to the occasion during the 2nd quarter of 2021. Whereas Q1 was inclined more towards the prog-roots, Q2 was rather more varied stylistically, with distinct experimental focus and more somber vibes. The quality of the music output was equally divided between veterans and debutants alike, which is in itself a measure of growth (within the genre) and expansion. Without further ado, these are my ten favorite progressive rock/metal releases of Q2 2021. O

Prog rock is riding high this year! Its longevity surpassing any other contemporary rock or metal genres, prog, luring not only new fans (while maintaining a healthy fanbase) but also keeps adding new talent to its ever-growing roster! ... and since I'm feeling a bit mischievous today, I've decided to add an additional album to the initial 10. Not an anomaly ;) It is said that number 11 is known as the number of balance, equality, duality, and kindness. We're talking prog aft

Rock is also being well represented so far this year. Still not quite at the same volume of releases as its more aggressive counterparts, but quite varied stylistically. Europe continues to fly the hard rock flag high. The obvious 1980s influences still have an immense impact on the genre, and not only on the veterans, but encouragingly so on the new talent! Please support the acts you love! They need us during these trying times. I know I'm not alone looking ahead at a not t

... music in the time of pandemic. With each passing week of 2021 we are witnessing tidal wave after tidal wave of new releases in the ever expanding universe of rock & metal! Musicians all over the world, unfortunately unable to tour due to the known circumstances, sat at home writing and recording brilliant music! Intoxicating, thought-provoking creations bloomed and got inscribed for posterity. Progressive rock and metal had sky-rocketed! Thanks to Bandcamp, myriads of hom