After listening to so many albums last year, coming up with a Top 5 was pretty difficult. I got to listen to a lot of really great stuff, and it's been very difficult to determine what really was the best from this year. I had to cut some solid albums just to get this down to five.
I do want to give a few honorable mentions, namely Eternal Flame by NorthTale and Mojo Skyline by The Dust Coda. Both had a lot of great material, but didn't quite have the same level of quality that the following five did. However, it was certainly close, and I had to find some pretty small reasons to justify why the following albums were better. It just goes to show how good this past year was for rock and metal music!
Anyway, here's my Top 5 for 2021!
This almost didn't make the list, but I decided that it edged out the other albums out of sheer consistency. While other bands may have had better individual songs, Brainstorm provided a crunchy power metal album that rocks from start to finish.
It was tough deciding where this one should go, and how it measured up to the competition, not only from classic artists like Robin McAuley, but also from this band's guitarist Magnus Henriksson's main project Eclipse. Once again, I think it came down to simply having the complete package; an album of songs that really nailed that classic 80s sound while still feeling fresh and powerful.
The moment I heard their lead single "Hammerschlag," I know I was in for something special. Even if they wear their influences on their sleeve, this band evoked my love for classic HammerFall like nothing had before, and I loved every minute it. It's always a good sign if an album makes you smile the whole time you're listening to it.
2. Helloween - Helloween
I don't suppose you could really call this a comeback, as the band had been pretty busy in the last six years, but it's hard to not to feel like this album isn't a culmination of everything the band has been across its entire history. Between the classic sounding tracks and the great vocal harmonies between Deris, Kiske, and Hansen, this was a power metal fan's dream.
As the year went on, I had a sneaking suspicion that this might end up as my #1. It may be a bit of sacrilege to put this over Helloween, but I can't deny that what Antti has done is create an incredibly solid and consistent album of symphonic metal. For all of its bombast and epicness, it doesn't wear out its welcome, containing clever shifts and changes within the songs, as if representing the ebb and flow of massive battles. After enjoying Northern Steel for the past four years, I'm glad I was able to catch this one as well. Who knew a Finnish epic trailer music composer could provide such incredible metal?!
I've got one more videos article I'm putting together to wrap up 2021, so keep an eye out for that, as it should be out pretty soon.
Once that's finally finished, I can look ahead to 2022. Already, some interesting things are lining up. Not only do we get new HammerFall and Sabaton albums here pretty soon, but down the road, there's Megadeth, Alter Bridge, and maybe even a new Metallica. And who knows what new bands I'll discover in the upcoming year as well. Even if it's not the most popular music anymore, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of melodic rock and metal bands out there making great music!
Until then, let's get into 2022 and rock on!
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