[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t contributed your picks yet, please do so here.]

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Maybe 2021 was your breakout, or your hunker-down. Your recovery from trauma or more of the same. Maybe you got six shots, maybe you didn’t get any. Maybe you got sick or lost somebody. I don’t know. Whatever else this year was, though, and whatever else it continues to be, it was busy.

In terms of the heavy underground, the ‘aftermath’ of the covid-19 pandemic resulted in a creative movement that will continue to pan out for years to come. Bands, locked down in 2020, found new directions, new sounds, sometimes new projects or collaborators. Some dug deep into their root influences, others explored new ground entirely.

One way or the other, the result across this year was a lot of really, really good music, and in uncertain times, the comfort it provided and provides shouldn’t be understated. The Obelisk Questionnaire asks what is the primary function of art. I think we learned in 2021 that art is home when you need it.

I say this every year, but please, if you leave a comment on this post — if there’s something you want to suggest I left out (as I’m sure there is; always) or you’re responding to someone else’s comment — please, please be respectful. Please be kind. To me, because I’ve worked hard on this and I don’t mind saying that, and to anyone else offering their picks or suggestions or just words of response. Let’s not fight, or do that “unthinking internet meanness” thing. I’m a human being and so are you. That’s reason enough to make an effort toward kindness. Thank you for that effort and for reading, as always.

Here we go:

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The Top 60 Albums of 2021? Really? 60?

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Yeah, really 60. I was gonna do 30 and then 50 and I was having trouble narrowing it down and it was my sister who very concisely said, “Who cares? Do what you want,” and it turned out that was precisely what I needed to hear. So if there are complaints about doing a top 60, to them I might just point out that more music is not a hardship. Maybe instead look at the swath of amazing music being made and be glad to have been born? And I’m doing what feels right, if also a little over-the-top. Maybe next year it’ll be 100, or 1,000. To quote my sister, “Who cares?”

The more the merrier.

Alors:

#31-60

31. 3rd Ear Experience, Danny Frankel’s 3rd Ear Experience
32. Slowshine, Living Light
33. LLNN, Unmaker
34. Low Orbit, Crater Creator
35. Somnuri, Nefarious Wave
36. Delving, Hirschbrunnen
37. Kal-El, Dark Majesty
38. Hippie Death Cult, Circle of Days
39. Plaindrifter, Echo Therapy
40. Motorpsycho, Kingdom of Oblivion
41. IAH, Omines
42. Here Lies Man, Ritual Divination
43. The Kings of Frog Island, VII
44. Old Man Wizard, Kill Your Servants Quietly
45. Weedpecker, IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts
46. High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon
47. Kadabra, Ultra
48. Sleep Moscow, Of the Sun
49. Terry Gross, Soft Opening
50. Cavern Deep, Cavern Deep
51. 10,000 Years, II
52. Rebreather, The Line, its Width and the War Drone
53. Spiral Grave, Legacy of the Anointed
54. LáGoon, Skullactic Visions
55. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows, The Magnetic Ridge
56. Boss Keloid, Family the Smiling Thrush
57. Shun, Shun
58. Black Willows, Shemurah
59. Expo Seventy, Evolution
60. Year of Taurus, Topsoils

Notes:

The best advice I can give you is DON’T IGNORE THIS LIST. From 3rd Ear Experience’s righteous jams to Kadabra’s and Slowshine’s debuts and 10,000 Years’ hard riffing and Old Man Wizard’s melo-prog swansong and Jack Harlon’s otherworldly West, and Cavern Deep’s conceptual darkness, and Black Willows’ consuming tones and Sleep Moscow’s emotive downerism and Weedpecker progging out and Here Lies Man still being in an league entirely their own, and that Plaindrifter record and Shun and Spiral Grave and Rebreather and The Kings of Frog Island. That Terry Gross’ sheer West Coastness and Somnuri’s Northeastern intensity. Kal-El’s pulp riffage bigger than ever. Motorpsycho being Motorpsycho. IAH collaborating with Spaceslug. Boss Keloid’s prog-metal shenanigans. Hippie Death Cult’s mellow heavy. LLNN utterly killing everything. Damn this is good.

If this was a year-end top 30 in itself, I’d be like, yeah that’s a solid list, and I don’t mean that as a platitude. So please don’t ignore it. If there’s something here you haven’t heard, I can only advise you chase it down. Any one of these could be higher or lower in your own consideration, but I dug all of them, and yeah, by the time you get up to 40 or so the numbering gets pretty arbitrary, but whatever. It’s a list of stuff I think you should check out. Releases that made the year better, all of them one way or the other.

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30. Monster Magnet, A Better Dystopia

Released by Napalm Records. Reviewed May 31.

New Jersey stalwarts Monster Magnet taking on obscure and semi-obscure covers out of the heavy ’70s is pretty high on the list of ‘ultimate no-brainers.’ One might’ve preferred an album of originals, but even in a stopgap, Dave Wyndorf and company found ways to be creative with the material, and this belongs here for their take on Dust‘s “Learning to Die” (video here) alone.

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29. Domkraft, Seeds

Released by Magnetic Eye Records. Featured April 2.

Domkraft‘s third album arrived in so-you-think-you-know-what-we’re-about fashion, building out the heavy noise rock of 2018’s Flood (review here) and 2016’s The End of Electricity (review here), leaning into more textured material executed with a burgeoning patience of approach, while still keeping impact central. They’ve come into their own and one expects they’ll continue to reshape what that means over time.

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28. Sunnata, Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth

Self-released. Reviewed March 16.

Consuming and shamanic. A record that really took the time to construct its own world for the listener to inhabit in its songs. Sunnata‘s fourth full-length, Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth brought together six tracks that resonated with purposeful depth and a cold-psych ambience that allowed space for minimalism and movements of blistering heavy in kind. Not for everyone, maybe, but each piece truly added to the flowing progression of the whole, showing the conceptual, ritualized strengths of the band.

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27. Conclave, Dawn of Days

Released by Argonauta Records. Reviewed April 22.

Five years after their debut, Sins of the Elders (review here), Massachusetts sludge-of-death metallers Conclave — now with a second guitarist — brought forth epic punishment and bleakness befitting our age. A willful, harsh slog, Dawn of Days had few comforts to offer in “Death Blows Cold” or “Haggard,” and the mourning finale “Suicide Funeral,” while allowed to be flourish in its way, found a means to express its grief while staying honest to underpinnings of extreme metal. Not an easy listen, not supposed to be.

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26. Crystal Spiders, Morieris

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed Sept. 8.

Some records you just can’t fight. And why would you? Quick turnaround for North Carolina’s Crystal Spiders after their Sept. 2020 debut, Molt (review here), but the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Brenna Leath (also Lightning Born and The Hell-No), drummer/vocalist Tradd Yancey (also Doomsday Profit) and guitarist/producer Mike Dean (also of C.O.C.) demonstrated a range the first record only hinted at, touching on earthy psych, dirty punk, classic heavy and more with evident ease and a marked sense of craft.

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25. River Flows Reverse, When River Flows Reverse

Released by Psychedelic Source Records. Reviewed Sept. 30.

Hungarian collective River Flows Reverse brought lysergic healing as part of the Psychedelic Source Records milieu, with a particularly folkish and exploratory vibe branching out across pieces like the serene “At the Gates of the Perennial” or the acoustic-led “Rain it Rages,” creating gorgeous atmospheres from existential dread and a sheer need for outlet. Spontaneous in its spirit but with a thoughtful undercurrent, it’s by no means the highest-profile release on this list, but it also offered something nothing else did in quite the same way. Pastoralia for another world.

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24. Borracho, Pound of Flesh

Released by Kozmik Artifactz. Reviewed Aug. 2.

A decade on from their debut and five years after their last album, Washington D.C. roll-prone trio Borracho came back not only with terrifying cover art, but also an unabashed look at the world around them, socially conscious lyrics topping their hallmark heavy riffage in a way that their prior work had yet to engage. Pound of Flesh was an organic step forward for the band in sound and songwriting, and their perspective of wondering what the hell happened to pretty much everything was relatable, to say the least, but the nuances of arrangement and vibe went a long way too in changing things up around their classic-style sound.

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23. Erik Larson, Favorite Iron

Self-released. Reviewed Sept. 23.

Larson‘s gonna Larson. As to what that might mean on a given release, that’s harder to say. Drawing from a decades-long background in punk and hardcore, heavy Southern and acoustic songwriting, as well as a pedigree long enough to take up the rest of this post, Favorite Iron was one of three outings issued on the same day in September in a creative splurge and found him playing all instruments himself (horns on opener “Backpage” notwithstanding) and imbuing each piece with its own purpose in feeding the richness of the entire work. And somehow, was humble in it, putting it out on Bandcamp, no PR, no fanfare. Just wasn’t there, then was. Very Larson.

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22. Spaceslug, Memorial

Self-released. Review pending.

Issued just on Dec. 10, Memorial arrives from Poland’s Spaceslug in suitably mournful fashion and with it, the trio seem to dive into more personal, human issues than ever before. Loss, uncertainty. It’s certainly a record for the time in which it’s made, but neither do the band neglect their own growth as they continue to incorporate blackened screams along with their more grunge-derived clean vocals, a blend of mellow heavy psych and harsher presence coinciding. After a productive few years with the 2020 Leftovers EP (review here) and 2019’s Reign of the Orion (review here), Spaceslug have managed to push even deeper into their sound. They do so with an increasing sense of mastery.

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21. Genghis Tron, Dream Weapon

Released by Relapse Records. Reviewed April 5.

Unexpected and appreciated in kind. I wouldn’t have bet that Poughkeepsie, New York, glitch-grind innovators Genghis Tron would return with a new record after 13 years, and I wouldn’t have guessed either that Dream Weapon would bring both the revamped lineup and the refined focus on melody that it did. Live drums gave new heart to the songs, and thoughtfully layered washes of keys and guitar brought a sense of worldbuilding that, while in contrast to the freneticism of the band’s past work, was refreshing in its honesty and refusal to be anything other than what they wanted it to be. Caught a bunch of hype early and then disappeared, but the songs will hold up long after this year is over. If you get it, you get it.

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20. Vokonis, Odyssey

Released by The Sign Records. Reviewed May 5.

The story of Sweden’s Vokonis isn’t too dissimilar from that of Spaceslug above in that the band set its foundation in a certain kind of heavy worship and have moved outward from there over time. For the Borås trio, their latest outing expanded on their progressive ideology, taking the heavy riffs of their earliest work and setting them to a winding course while also incorporating a rawer vocal along with the cleaner shouting. In addition to being topped off by the best album cover I saw all year, Odyssey proved to be a journey of mind for those ready to take it, and showed that Vokonis‘ maturity, their finding themselves, is likely to be an ongoing process. And if they want to keep bringing Per Wiberg in on keys, that’ll be fine too.

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19. Lammping, Flashjacks

Released by Echodelick Records. Reviewed Aug. 19.

What a blast this record is. Warm tones, classic vibes, ’90s alt weirdness given a little extra push into heavy. I didn’t even care that half of the thing had been released as an EP prior, putting on Lammping‘s Flashjacks was and very much still is a joy. No pretense, no bullshit, just songs, songs, songs. Give me “Intercessor” and “Jaws of Life” and “Lammping” any day of the week as the Toronto outfit hold down both attitude and humor while inviting you in on their good time. 10 tracks/33 minutes — they weren’t even trying to take up too much of your day. Just a short and sweet set on an LP and then they roll out until the next one. May it arrive sooner rather than later. I’m not a party guy, but this is my kind of party.

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18. Snail, Fractal Altar

Released by Argonauta Records. Reviewed April 26.

The opening duo “Mission From God” and “Nothing Left for You” gave Fractal Altar an initial thrust that the heavy grunge of “Not Two” complemented with darker edge before the swinging “Hold On” tipped back toward forward momentum. “The False Lack,” a highlight, found some middle ground en route to a back half of the LP that culminated with the sub-nine-minute title-track, psychedelic ritualization coming to a head with spaced-out vocals over a black hole of low end. The weirder Snail get, the better they get in my mind, and more than half a decade after Feral (review here), they were ready to get plenty weird here. Wouldn’t trade that for the world.

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17. The Age of Truth, Resolute

Released by Contessa Music. Reviewed July 21.

Aggro-edged Philly heavy rock and roll, pulling influence not only from its own backdrop but from heavy modern and old, perhaps the best thing one can say about Resolute was that it lived up to the lofty declaration in the title The Age of Truth gave it. Whether they were playing to more atmospheric ideas on “Palace of Rain” and “Return to Ships” or digging into classic heavy blues on “Salome” or finding new levels of intensity on “Horsewhip,” it was clear The Age of Truth consciously set a high standard for themselves and put the effort in to meet it every step of the way. Clear and sharp in its production, it’s still a record you can put on and be blown away by each individual performance, as well as how they come together. Dudes only put the bar higher.

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16. Jointhugger, Surrounded by Vultures

Released by Majestic Mountain Records. Reviewed Oct. 29.

It was not an easy task for Norway’s Jointhugger to follow either their 2021 single-song EP Reaper Season (review here) or 2020’s debut, I Am No One (review here), but even amid a still-solidifying lineup, the band conjured listenability and weight in post-Monolordian fashion without either aping that band’s methodology or ignoring their own nascent sonic identity. There’s more growing to do, and one hopes that as they go they’ll hold at least somewhat to the pace of releases thus far established, but there was no getting past the accomplishments of Surrounded by Vultures, not the least because of the 700-foot ice wall of tone the band built along the path. Potential and achievement stomping hand-in-hand into an unknown heavy future.

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15. Temple Fang, Fang Temple

Released by Right on Mountain & Electric Spark. Reviewed Nov. 23.

I’ll be honest, I was a little bummed when Fang Temple got released and I didn’t even know it was coming. I got over the ego bruise quick with the help of the record itself, however, the Amsterdam-based psychedelic spiritualists taking the live-album method from 2020’s Live at Merleyn (review here) and using an on-stage performance as the basic tracks around which the rest of Fang Temple was constructed. The result was a resonant joy in heavy psych; a record as satisfying to lose yourself in as to consciously follow along its charted but spontaneous-feeling path. They’ve had some lineup shifts too, but gosh I hope there’s more to come, whether I get an early heads up or not.

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14. Yawning Sons, Sky Island

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed April 12.

Would you have bet there’d be a second Yawning Sons album, more than 10 years after 2009’s Ceremony to the Sunset (review here; reissue review here)? I might not have, but the collaboration between UK instrumentalists Sons of Alpha Centauri and Yawning Man guitarist and desert rock figurehead Gary Arce brought a slew of memorable moments, including guest spots from Fatso Jetson/Yawning Man‘s Mario Lalli and Hermano‘s Dandy Brown, and return appearances from Scott Reeder and Wendy Rae Fowler. It’s still impossible to know if Yawning Sons will be a band or a once-every-decade happening, but Sky Island proved they were more than a cult one-off. A third outing would only be welcome.

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13. Comet Control, Inside the Sun

Released by Tee Pee Records. Reviewed Aug. 23.

Careening back and forth between its space rock and more drifting psychedelic impulses, Comet Control‘s Inside the Sun brought varied pleasures of craft and melody, saving its more contemplative stretches for the peaceful immersion of “The Afterlife” or “Heavy Moments” and “The Deserter” later on after the duly cosmic launch of “Keep on Spinnin'” and the buzzing “Secret Life” established the pattern of movement under the drift. Whichever way a given track went — and it was by no means limited to one or the other with “Good Day to Say Goodbye” and “Inside the Sun” in the album’s midsection — the Toronto-based outfit worked mostly as a two-piece in putting it together, but the lushness of the ensuing work took what the band had accomplished on 2016’s Center of the Maze (review here) and added even more dimension.

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12. Maha Sohona, Endless Searcher

Released by Made of Stone Recordings. Reviewed July 13.

They should’ve called it “endless repeat.” The mellow heft of Swedish unit Maha Sohona‘s sophomore full-length is one that I just kept going back to, time and time again, and the appeal of doing so only grew with more listening. Melodically capable but not overblown, songs like “Luftslott” and “Orbit X” brought to mind Sungrazer and earlier Spaceslug with a bittersweet nostalgia (in the case of the former, certainly) even as Maha Sohona used them to chart their own stylistic course. It was seven years between their first and second records, so I’m not going to predict when/if a follow-up will come, but Endless Searcher made my 2021 better to the point that I just put on “Leaves” and can feel the serotonin being released. It feels only right to honor that by having them here.

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11. Samsara Blues Experiment, End of Forever

Released by Electric Magic Records. Reviewed Nov. 16, 2020.

With a permanent-seeming dissolution as context for its arrival, End of Forever wrapped a run for Samsara Blues Experiment that could only really be called successful in terms of what they accomplished during their time, but moreover, it underscored what made them such a special group to start with, its progressive psychedelia still developing in persona as the band was coming to a close. Guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters, having spent the prior few years in various solo explorations, brought increased use of keys and synth, and in combination with the organic fluidity of the rhythm section of bassist/backing vocalist Hans Eiselt and drummer Thomas Vedder, that let Samsara Blues Experiment say something new even as they were also saying goodbye. If they’re truly done for good, they’ll be missed.

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10. Heavy Temple, Lupi Amoris

Released by Magnetic Eye Records. Reviewed May 28.

An awaited debut from this Philadelphia trio, Lupi Amoris confronted high expectations and surpassed them with a complexity of atmosphere that was surprising even after seeing them live multiple times, taking the oft-psychedelic fuzz of Heavy Temple‘s previous output and setting it to a more rigid focus and a daring sense of intent. This was a record that came about after years of lineup changes and tumult, but made cohesion from chaos, and there was not one second of its stretch that didn’t serve the album as a whole. Even more than 2016’s Chassit EP (review here), which I’d previously counted as their first long-player, Lupi Amoris showed toward what Heavy Temple‘s potential had been driving all along, and its realization was stunning. Whatever they do next, whenever they do it, will also be confronting high expectations.

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9. Apostle of Solitude, Until the Darkness Goes

Released by Cruz Del Sur Music. Reviewed Nov. 9.

At this point, I feel ready to posit Indianapolis four-piece Apostle of Solitude as the best doom band in America. I know that’s a loaded statement because there are as many kinds of doom as there are of heavy metal itself, but if you look at a group bringing new ideas to the established traditions and tenets of the style Apostle of Solitude have put themselves in the uppermost of the upper echelon. At just 36 minutes, Until the Darkness Goes feels likewise concise and engaging, its songs holding the emotive thread that has always typified the band’s work, but engaging more vocal harmonies between guitarists Chuck Brown and Steve Janiak (now both also in The Gates of Slumber) atop the densely weighted impact from bassist Mike Naish (also Shroud of Vulture) and drummer Corey Webb. Don’t think they’re the best US doom band right now? Find me someone better.

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8. Greenleaf, Echoes From a Mass

Released by Napalm Records. Reviewed March 25.

With a wholesale invite to either take the heat or remove your ass from the kitchen, Greenleaf tossed out Echoes From a Mass as their eighth LP some 20 years after their first, 2001’s Revolution Rock (discussed here), and reminded their listenership of the songwriting chemistry that’s emerged over the better part of the last decade between founding guitarist Tommi Holappa — and yes, I’ve heard rumors he’s got new Dozer in progress as well; we’ll see in 2022 — and vocalist Arvid Hällagård, whose work here outshone even 2018’s Hear the Rivers (review here), establishing the conversation between instruments and voice as the crucial element in Greenleaf circa 2021. A heavy blues shuffle from bassist Hans Frölich and drummer Sebastian Olsson and production by Karl Daniel Lidén only up the asset count working in the band’s favor, and on any given day I might still be walking around with “Bury Me My Son” on repeat in my brain. No complaints.

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7. Blackwater Holylight, Silence/Motion

Released by RidingEasy Records. Reviewed Oct. 18.

At a pivotal moment, Blackwater Holylight pivoted. The Portland-based outfit’s third full-length found them pressing outward from their heavy psychedelic and dream-pop foundations into bleaker atmospheres, using Silence/Motion as a means for processing trauma and perhaps to revamp their audience’s expectations of the kind of band they want to be. 2019’s Veils of Winter (review here) and 2018’s self-titled debut (review here) brought marked progress from one to the next, but bassist/vocalist/guitarist Allison “Sunny” Faris, guitarist/bassist Mikayla Mayhew, synthesist Sarah McKenna, and drummer Eliese Dorsay (Erika Osterhout now plays guitar but isn’t on the record) brought on board producer A.L.N. of Mizmor, and the record’s guest vocals from Thou‘s Bryan Funck and Mike Paparo of Inter Arma brought flourish of more extreme metals than anything the band had done before. As a result, their next outing could go pretty much anywhere, so mission likely accomplished for this one.

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6. Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar – A Story in Darkness and Light

Released by Robotor Records. Reviewed Dec. 1.

Answering the call of being unable to tour and presumably tired of sitting on their hands as a result, Berlin-based outfits Kadavar and Elder (minus the latter’s bassist Jack Donovan, who lives in the US and was under travel restriction) hit the studio together earlier this year to piece together jams and, reportedly, take a “see what happens” approach. What happened was a sound that belonged solely to neither band and drew enough from both to legitimately earn the title Eldovar. Rife with melody brought to bear amid a threat of the breakout that arrived in “Blood Moon Night” — which, while the most uptempo, was not necessarily the highlight of the record — it was an album perhaps carved from experiments, but one that seemed to brim with a sense of underlying direction, even after the fact. Its shimmer felt like a light being cast through a dark year, defiant and peaceful. That two of the current generation’s leaders in heavy rock could come together in such brazen fashion was a noteworthy novelty, but it was the way that Eldovar stood on its own that made it so special.

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5. Stöner, Stoners Rule

Released by Heavy Psych Sounds. Reviewed July 1.

Gonna get this off my chest while I can. After this one came out, I saw on the vast sphere of social media some disappointed response, like what was up with Stöner being so stripped down and just rocking riffs and all that? Okay. The hell did you expect? That’s the point of the band! It’s Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri — and Ryan Güt, also of Bjork‘s solo band — purposefully digging back to their roots, playing the simplest form possible of the low desert punk they helped create together in Kyuss. It wasn’t about “let’s innovate,” it was about “I dig the Ramones and Fatso Jetson so let’s have a good time.” You got the ultra-grooves of “Own Yer Blues” and “Tribe/Fly Girl,” the Oliveri-fronted punk of “Evel Never Dies,” and the bluesman’s telling-it-like-it-is of “The Older Kids” and “Rad Stays Rad,” “Nothin'” and “Stand Down.” They were in, done, and out. I chalked some of the “meh” up to the studio album arriving so soon after their Live in the Mojave Desert stream (review here) and live album (review here), but even so, damn, be thankful these songs got made in the first place. With yer spoiled ass.

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4. King Buffalo, Acheron

Released by the band and Stickman Records. Reviewed Nov. 11.

Word to anyone who’s managed to read this far: I hear King Buffalo might have an Xmas surprise in store as relates to this album, so heads up. Acheron — filmed as well as audio-recorded — was the second in an intended series of three yet to be completed of albums Rochester, NY, trio King Buffalo composed during the pandemic lockdown. Like so many, their inability to tour resulted in a need for another outlet. Following The Burden of Restlessness (review here) would be a challenge, but the band shifted focus in sound toward four extended pieces of heavy psychedelia — not completely escapist from the reality surrounding them, but attempting for sure to shift the mindset through which they (and the listener) were experiencing it. Traveling to record in the remote location of Howe Caverns, guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson found a way to immediately differentiate their second album of 2021 from the first while offering a shift in sound that leaned less into darkness — ironic, maybe considering it was tracked underground — than its predecessor while retaining the band’s ever-forward progression of sound.

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3. Green Lung, Black Harvest

Released by Svart Records. Reviewed July 28.

One would be hard-pressed to find a more suitable Halloween release. London-based heavy rockers Green Lung brought together a collection of songs that, yes, were duly autumnal in their spirit, but also refreshing in their sound, unashamed in their readiness to engage their audience, and in cuts like “Old Gods,” “Reaper’s Scythe,” “You Bear the Mark” and “Graveyard Sun” tapped into a cross-genre appeal that was brought together with impeccable quality of craft and production. Classic and new at the same time. Thoughtful in arrangement, Black Harvest nonetheless skirted pretense and kept to a basic verse/chorus appeal that felt easy to get into, and the complexity held in the material only revealed itself more with time. It is an album in which something new will be heard for years, and it not only answered the call to step up after 2019’s Woodland Rites (review here), but put Green Lung in a different echelon of bands entirely. They are an act whose influence will be felt, and not that the world needs another reason to hope for a “return” for live music, but Black Harvest is one for sure. Its songs deserve to be heard by however many ears they can reach.

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2. Monolord, Your Time to Shine

Released by Relapse Records. Reviewed Oct. 21.

Monolord are the most essential band in heavy music. Whatever qualifier you want to put on that in terms of style, go ahead, it’s still true. The Gothenburg trio’s fifth album doubled as an anticipated follow-up to No Comfort (review here), which was 2019’s album of the year, and brought no dip in the quality of their craft, the breadth of their style or the force of their execution. In addition to having already ignited a generation’s worth of riffers in their wake, Monolord have steadily progressed in their own approach, and Your Time to Shine skillfully mirrored the structure of No Comfort before it while pushing ahead of where the band were two years ago. Someone needs to build a statue in honor of Mika Häkki‘s bass tone, let alone the riffs of guitarist/vocalist Thomas V. Jäger and the stomp/production of drummer Esben Willems, but with cuts like “The Weary,” “Your Time to Shine,” “I’ll Be Damned,” “To Each Their Own” and “The Sirens of Yersinia” — oh wait, that’s all of them — it was the entire band shining, a plural “your” that was realized in the work. The superficial bleakness of the cover art spoke to the death perhaps of an entire world, but also the new growth and life to inevitably emerge therefrom. The songs did no less.

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2021 Album of the Year

1. King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness

Released by the band and Stickman Records. Reviewed May 11.

A record for the times. The record for the times. There are a few reasons King Buffalo‘s third full-length and first in the pandemic-born series, The Burden of Restlessness, deserves to be the album of the year. There’s no reasonably denying the level of songwriting or the move into hard-edged progressive rock and metal of its songs, or the boldness of the manner in which the Rochester trio — again, Sean McVay, Dan Reynolds and Scott Donaldson — made that move, or the resonance of the finished product. It’s a very, very, very good album. Fine. What stands out to me though in thinking of The Burden of Restlessness in context of the addled period between 2020 and 2021 is the fact that it is completely unflinching. From the striking depiction of decay in the front visuals by Zdzisław Beksiński to the personal-seeming nature of songs like “The Knocks,” “Burning” — the opening lyric, “I turn my head from the stars” a direct contrast to “Orion can you hear me?” from the band’s 2016 debut, Orion (review here) — “Silverfish” and “Hebetation” and the speaking to the outside world of “Locusts,” “Grifter” and the maybe-daring-t0-hope-for-something-better conclusion in “Loam,” The Burden of Restlessness gave comfort to its listenership through shared experience rather than platitude. It didn’t tell you it was going to get better. It shared the space you were in, and acknowledged all the unknown corners of that space. This spirit, coupled with the outright sonic achievement on the part of the band, made the album a statement poised to ring out as a document of its weighted era and a standard for the expressive depth of its creativity.

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The Top 60 Albums of 2021: Honorable Mention

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Sit tight, we’ve got a ways to go here.

Acid Magus, Wyrd Syster
Acid Mammoth, Caravan
Age Total, Age Total
Alastor, Onwards and Downwards
Amenra, De Doorn
The Angelus, Why We Never Die
The Answer Lies in the Black Void, Forlorn
Apollo80, Beautiful, Beautiful Desolation
Arlekin, The Secret Garden
Bog Wizard, Miasmic Purple Smoke
Book of Wyrms, Occult New Age
Bongzilla, Weedsconsin
Canyyn, Canyyn
Craneium, Unknown Heights
Delco Detention, It Came From the Basement
Demon Head, Viscera
Doctor Smoke, Dreamers and the Dead
Dread Sovereign, Alchemical Warfare
Dream Unending, Tide Turns Eternal
Duel, In Carne Persona
Dunbarrow, III
DVNE, Etemen Ænka
Eyehategod, A History of Nomadic Behavior
Bill Fisher, Hallucinations of a Higher Truth
Funeral, Praesentalis in Aeternum
Fuzzy Lights, Burials
Holy Death Trio, Introducing…
Iceburn, Asclepius
Jakethehawk, Hinterlands
Kanaan, Earthbound
Khemmis, Deceiver
King Woman, Celestial Blues
Kvasir, 4
Lingua Ignota, Sinner Get Ready
Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel, Polaris
Low Flying Hawks, Fuyu
Low Orbit, Crater Creator
Malady, Ainavahantaa
Mastiff, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth
Mythic Sunship, Wildfire
Zack Oakley, Badlands
Octopus Ride, II
Øresund Space Collective, Universal Travels
Red Beard Wall, 3
Robots of the Ancient World, Mystic Goddess
Emma Ruth Rundle, Engine of Hell
Saturnia, Stranded in the Green
Savanah, Olympus Mons
Sergio Ch., La Danza de los Toxicos
Shiva the Destructor, Find the Others
Smote, Bodkin
Snake Mountain Revival, Everything in Sight
Snowy Dunes, Sastrugi
Sonic Demon, Vendetta
The Spacelords, False Dawn
Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip
Spidergawd, VI
Swallow the Sun, Moonflowers
Thunderchief, Synanthrope
Thunder Horse, Chosen One
Ultra Void, Ultra Void
Vouna, Atropos
WEEED, Do You Fall?
When the Deadbolt Breaks, As Hope Valley Burns
Witchcryer, When Their Gods Come for You
Witchrot, Hollow
Wolftooth, Blood & Iron
Wowod, Yarost’ I Proshchenie

Notes:

I feel immediately defensive here, and that kind of sucks, to be honest. Here’s the basic truth: I know people like different things. I know people think different things are important, that everybody works hard making records, that lists are bullshit and that people go back to listen to different things more over time.

What I’d ask is that after 60 records in the list proper and another 60-plus here, you please give me a break. I’ve reviewed well over 250 releases this year, so neither is this everything, nor is it nothing. I’ve done my best. And if one of these records is your album of the year? Awesome! I’m so, so glad for that. I can’t and won’t argue. I’m sure this list is incomplete and I’m sure I’ll add more to it over the next couple days — always do — but if you didn’t hear anything this year and you take this list and you take the other 60 records, listen to one per week, you’ll have enough new music to carry you into 2023, and I feel pretty good about that.

—

Debut Album of the Year 2021

Heavy Temple, Lupi Amoris

Other notable debuts (alphabetically):

Acid’s Trip, Strings of Soul
Age Total, Age Total
Bala, Maleza
Bog Wizard, Miasmic Purple Smoke
Bottomless, Bottomless
Cancervo, 1
Cave of Swimmers, Aurora
Cavern Deep, Cavern Deep
Chamán, Maleza
Cosmic Reaper, Cosmic Reaper
DayGlo Mourning, Dead Star
Delving, Hirschbrunnen
Den Der Hale, Harsyra
Dome Runner, Conflict State Design
Draken, Draken
Gangrened, Deadly Algorithm
Gristmill, Heavy Everything
High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon
Holy Death Trio, Introducing…
The Judas Knife, Death is the Thing With Feathers
Kadabra, Ultra
Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar – A Story of Darkness and Light
Kvasir, 4
Plaindrifter, Echo Therapy
Shiva the Destructor, Find the Others
Slowshine, Living Light
Smote, Bodkin
Snake Mountain Revival, Everything in Sight
Sonic Demon, Vendetta
Sow Discord, Quiet Earth
Stöner, Stoners Rule
Suncraft, Flat Earth Rider
Terry Gross, Soft Opening
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, TTBS
Vestamaran, Bungalow Rex
White Void, Anti
Witchrot, Hollow
Wooden Fields, Wooden Fields
Wytch, Exordium
Year of Taurus, Topsoils

Notes:

Yes, technically the Stöner record was higher than Heavy Temple on the top 60. I took into account the fact that Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri have worked together on and off for 30-plus years in my final assessment and decided Lupi Amoris, as a debut album, deserved the top spot. I actually had a numbered list going — Stöner were two, Delving was three — but decided to just let the Heavy Temple stand on its own instead, which it certainly earned.

One could see the pandemic shuffle of creativity peaking out though. Kadavar & Elder’s collaboration was a debut as well, but it was just one of the new projects or collaborations to surface this year. Note Slowshine is Earthship by another name (and purpose) and so are Dome Runner. There was a wash of diggable debuts, loaded with potential, and again, I don’t think this list is exhaustive so much as it’s a primer for some of the best stuff out there as I see/hear it. I’ll spare you wax poetry about the forward movement of genre overall, but suffice to say that in acts like Plaindrifter, Shiva the Destructor, Witchrot, Age Total and High Desert Queen, among others here, such things were readily apparent.

Your time would not be wasted with any of these, I just thought that Heavy Temple, as a first album, was a special achievement and deserved its place as debut of the year.

Short Release of the Year 2021

Jointhugger, Reaper Season

Other notable EPs, Splits, Demos, etc.:

Aiwass & ASTRAL CONstruct, Solis in Stellis
All Are to Return, II
Birth, Birth
Blackwolfgoat, (In) Control / Tired of Dying
Bog Wizard/Dust Lord, Split
Boozewa, First Contact
Carlton Melton, Night Pillers
Cerbère, Cerbère
Cortége, Chasing Daylight
The Crooked Whispers, Dead Moon Night
Doomsday Profit, In Idle Orbit
Dopelord, Reality Dagger
EMBR, 1021
Enslaved, Caravans to the Outer Worlds
Fuzz Sagrado, Fuzz Sagrado
Guhts, Blood Feather
Howling Giant, Alteration
Ikitan, Darvaza y Brinicle
Insect Ark, Future Fossils
Erik Larson, Measwe
Lurcher, Coma
Merlock, You Cannot Be Saved
Moonstone, 1904
Morningstar Delirium, Morningstar Delirium
Mos Generator, The Lantern
Nineteen Thirteen, MCMXIII
Old Horn Tooth, True Death
Planet of the 8s, Lagrange Point Vol. 1
Psychonaut/SÂVER, Emerald
Solemn Lament, Solemn Lament
Sorcia, Death by Design
Spaceslug, The Event Horizon
Spawn, Live at Moonah Arts Collective
Stonus, Séance
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Rosalee
Ultra Void, Ultra Void
Ungraven/Slomatics, Split
Wall, II
Weedevil, The Death is Coming
The Whims of the Great Magnet, Share the Sun
Per Wiberg, All is Well in the Land of the Living But for the Rest of Us… Lights Out

Notes:

Again, look at the amazing swath of new creativity happening. Guhts, Boozewa, Aiwass & ASTRAL CONstruct — even Wall with their second EP — Morningstar Delirium, Fuzz Sagrado, Doomsday Profit, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships: these are new bands and projects coming together, some from established artists and some not, but the shuffling of sound and priorities is a hallmark of the last year-plus’ output, and it can be seen here for sure. Yeah, bands like Enslaved and Dopelord put out killer EPs, but it’s acts like Moonstone — with just one prior release behind them — or Howling Giant working instrumentally for the first time, that struck me even harder.

As regards Jointhugger in the top pick, I took into account the “oh shit this band isn’t fucking around” factor. Coming off their first record and headed into their second in quick succession, the single-song “Reaper Season” served due notice that the debut was no fluke and that the Norwegian outfit had no interest in resting on riffy laurels. This section is always tough since it encompasses different kinds of releases — singles, EPs, whatnot — but in terms of serving the band’s overarching progression, Jointhugger made a difficult choice markedly easier for me.

I won’t take away from the accomplishments of anyone on the list above — or the inevitable ones I forgot, either. Enslaved’s ever-outbound growth is worth a significant mention, and arrivals like Lurcher and Old Horn Tooth kept were undeniable. I’ll nod here too to Psychonaut/SÂVER and Ungraven/Slomatics’ split releases and that The Whims of the Great Magnet. And, and, and…

—

Late Releases

Partially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic — like everybody’s everything — vinyl pressing delays meant that many albums have come out in the last month or two that were intended to be earlier. I tried to account for these in the lists above, but thinking about November and December specifically, records by Low Orbit, Spidergawd, Weedpecker, King Buffalo, Spaceslug, Bog Wizard, Raibard, Funeral, Temple Fang, Kadavar & Elder, and Wolftooth can’t be left out as part of the larger narrative of 2021 in music.

I can’t say I’ve listened to, as an example, Spidergawd, as much as to Greenleaf or any number of things that were released in the beginning of the year, but neither do I feel like the lack relative passage of time since something came out should be held against it, especially given the circumstances. As much as the ‘music industry’ shuts down at the end of any given year, 2021 seems to have plowed straight through to the finish.

—

Live in the Mojave Desert

While we’re marking the highlights of 2021, it’s impossible not to note the continued proliferation of livestreaming as a (woefully inadequate but take what you can get) substitute experience for show-going and touring. In the case of director Ryan Jones’ Live in the Mojave Desert series, it was an opportunity to turn lemons into concert films of true measure, as well as live albums for Earthless, Stöner, Nebula, Spirit Mother and Mountain Tamer that held their own merit.

There have been a few noteworthy streams over the last year-plus issued in pay-per-view fashion, but in terms of the scale of the presentation, few have held a candle to what Live in the Mojave Desert accomplished — only Enslaved’s ‘Cinematic Tour’ comes close in my mind, and that’s a different animal entirely, ditto Roadburn Redux — or have managed to capture an atmosphere in the same way that not only gives a setting for the music, but adds to the experience of the viewer. It’s not just a show that otherwise would happen in a venue; it’s a show that would happen once in a lifetime.

Whatever context brings that about, it is something to celebrate.

—

Looking Ahead to 2022

—

I love looking forward to new music. I love it. In a spirit of anticipation and friendship and righteous tunes to come, here’s a list of bands who’ve either confirmed new stuff in the works or are recording or have preorders up or are subject to rampant speculation. In no order whatsoever:

Elder, Toad Venom, Torche, King Buffalo, High on Fire, El Perro, Yatra, Bevar Sea, Birth, Pia Isa, Colour Haze, JIRM, Samavayo, Tortuga, El Supremo, Ruby the Hatchet, MNRVA, Buss, White Ward, Dreadnought, Merlock, Gozu, Westing, Eric Wagner, Stöner, Blue Heron, All Souls, Arekin, 40 Watt Sun, Caustic Casanova, Deathwhite, Freedom Hawk, Hazemaze, Stoned Jesus, Mothership, Desert Storm, Poseidótica, Sasquatch, Conan, Seremonia, Långfinger, Wo Fat, Earthless, Dozer, Red Sun Atacama, REZN, No Man’s Valley, Ufomammut, Geezer, Messa, Clutch, Abronia, Somali Yacht Club, Sun Voyager, Atavismo, Some Pills for Ayala, Eight Bells, Stinking Lizaveta, Borracho, The Crooked Whispers, Naxatras, Rotor, Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, Righteous Fool, High Priest, High Priestess, Loop, Elliott’s Keep, Fostermother, Valley of the Sun, Boris, Deathbell, Siena Root, My Sleeping Karma, Firebreather, Matt Pike, Mythosphere, Crowbar, JIRM, Mount Saturn, Supersonic Blues, Wizzerd, 10,000 Years…

If any names are repeated there, consider it a sign that I’m looking forward to that record twice. And if you’ve got a name to add to that list, I’m all for it. As I said, I love looking forward to new music.

—

Thank You

—

Well, I guess that’s it. I’m not anymore done with 2021 than it’s done with itself — some of the releases featured above have yet to be reviewed; looking at you, Spaceslug — and there’s always catching up to do. No coincidence January will feature the second part of the Quarterly Review that began this month.

But while I’ve got you, if I still do, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you as always for your continued support of The Obelisk, this site, in the various ways it is shown, whether that’s liking a post, sharing a link, leaving a (hopefully kind) comment or buying some sweatpants. More than a decade after the fact, I cannot hope to tell you how much it means to me sitting here in front of my laptop to have that support and encouragement, day in and year out. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart and with ever fiber of my wretched being. Thank you.

But thank The Patient Mrs. even more.

More to come, so stay tuned.

—

Last episode was looking ahead to 2022. The one before that was looking back at 2020. That really just leaves 2021, huh? Well, here we are.

This I think is the third year I’ve done a ‘Some of the Best of the Year’ spacial on Gimme Metal, and at least the second year it’s been a two-parter. What can I say? I like a lot of music. And I think if you take the time to check out any of this stuff on the playlist, whether that’s by actually listening to the show (I hope) or just glancing through the playlist (I hope less), you might like it too.

This is only half, yes, but it’s still two hours of some of the best heavy stuff that came out this year. Should be plenty for one sitting, and the next episode — already turned in because of the impending holiday — should round this one out nicely. More to come. Then a whole new year.

Thanks for listening if you do.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 12.10.21

Green Lung	Leaders of the Blind	Black Harvest
Monolord	I’ll Be Damned	Your Time to Shine
Greenleaf	Bury Me My Son	Echoes From a Mass
VT
Heavy Temple	The Maiden	Lupi Amoris
Maha Sohona	Leaves	Endless Searcher
Domkraft	Into Orbit	Seeds
Spelljammer	Among the Holy	Abyssal Trip
Samsara Blues Experiment	Massive Passive	End of Forever
IAH	Arce	Omines
Genghis Tron	Alone in the Heart of the Light	Dream Weapon
Spidergawd	Black Moon Rising	VI: At Rainbows End
Thunderchief	King of the Pleistocene	Synanthrope
Spaceslug	Follow This Land	Memorial
King Buffalo	Acheron	Acheron
Weedpecker	Fire Far Away	IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts
VT
Temple Fang	Let it Go/When We Pray	Fang Temple

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 24 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

If you’re going to put out two of the year’s best releases — talking this month’s Acheron (review here) and June’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) specifically — with the promise of more to come, I guess the thing to do is hit the road on a bigger tour then you’ve ever done before. Cheers and best wishes to King Buffalo as they announce they’ll head out next March in the esteemed company of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. No word on whether Uncle Acid will also have a new record out by the time they go, but if you believe in due, they’re due as well.

Tickets go on sale Friday and I’ve marked my calendar for the first show of the run, which is at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll be out for a month, hitting both coasts and into Canada on a final loop back east. Even as King Buffalo toured with Clutch earlier this Fall on an abbreviated stint, the scope here is the largest I’ve seen the band do in a supporting role. Pretty badass.

Dates follow as per the social media:

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT… Dates w/ Uncle Acid and the deadbeats! Tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY at kingbuffalo.com.

3/2 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
3/3 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
3/4 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Roxian
3/5 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
3/7 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
3/8 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
3/9 Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
3/11 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
3/12 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
3/13 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
3/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
3/16 San Diego, CA @ Observatory Northpark
3/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
3/18 Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater
3/21 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
3/22 Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore
3/23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Market
3/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
3/26 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
3/27 Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
3/29 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
3/30 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
4/1 Toronto, ON @ The Danforth
4/2 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
4/3 Boston, MA @ Big Nite Live

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

I had two ideas in my head for this episode. The first was to do a stuff-to-look-forward-to-next-year playlist, which I did, and the second was to do a me-spending-your-money-on-Black-Friday-Bandcamp-recommendations edition, which I did not do.

Was it the right choice? I don’t know, but it kind of feels like a victory for the good guys every time I get to play All Souls, or King Buffalo, or Sasquatch — or Gozu, or Conan, Stöner, Colour Haze, etc. — and there’s some small chance anybody will hear it, so I won’t exactly say I regret going the way I did. There will be other Bandcamp Fridays, I think.

And to be perfectly honest, I like thinking about this stuff, about new records coming out. I like to wonder what bands will come up with, song-wise, sound-wise, how things will have changed since their last record, how the identity of a group can shift over time. Think of High on Fire. Think of Dozer! A new Dozer album after 14 years. Who the hell knows what that’s going to sound like?

So yeah, that’s what I went with. And since preorder is up for some of this stuff — 40 Watt Sun, the PostWax series of which Dozer are a part, Naxatras, Messa, Earthless — I guess maybe you could spend some money anyway here. Plus there’s always older records to buy. It’s a big planet. There are a lot of albums on it.

Thanks for listening if you do and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.26.21

Dozer	The Flood	Beyond Colossal (2008)
Some Pills for Ayala	Space Octopus	Space Octopus (2021)
Gozu	They Probably Know Karate	Equilibrium (2018)
Wo Fat	There’s Something Sinister in the Wind	Midnight Cometh (2016)
VT
Sasquatch	Destroyer	Maneuvers (2017)
Earthless	Electric Flame	Black Heaven (2018)
Stöner	The Older Kids	Stoners Rule (2021)
Långfinger	Silver Blaze	Crossyears (2016)
King Buffalo	The Knocks	The Burden of Restlessness (2021)
Torche	Times Missing	Admission (2019)
All Souls	Winds	Songs for the End of the World (2020)
Conan	Volt Thrower	Existential Void Guardian (2018)
High on Fire	Freebooter	Electric Messiah (2018)
Messa	Leah	Feast for Water (2018)
40 Watt Sun	The Spaces in Between	Perfect Light (2022)
VT
Colour Haze	Life	We Are (2020)
Naxatras	Land of Infinite Time	III (2018)

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 10 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Say hello — and Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it — to the first full-song audio and video to be unveiled from King Buffalo‘s upcoming LP and album-film, Acheron (review here), which is out Dec. 3. There was the teaser before, but with “Shadows,” you get far more of a sense both of what the four-song record has on offer and what the vibe was like when they started playing songs in that cave, deep beneath the surface of the earth. Granted, there hasn’t been a ton to compare it to on my end in terms of going-places-and-doing-stuff, but hitting up Howes Cavern to watch King Buffalo record was the coolest thing I’ve been to this year so far. And I only add the “so far” because I’ve got another, not-KB-related studio visit planned for December and you never know what might happen on a given day or two. But the standard is high, even considering the context of 2021.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m writing this while listening to “Shadows,” and the song just hit its circa-midpoint swell. Acheron has a couple linear builds, as did The Burden of Restlessness (review here) in June, and I guess if you’re only counting the first seven minutes or so, “Shadows” is one of them, but the song runs 11 minutes total, and I think the quiet exploration in the back end is pretty essential for more than just the return-kick to which it leads. Enough so that the band put it out as the first whole track unveiled — I would’ve expected the opening title-track, but it’s nice to be surprised — and would seem to have done so with the clear intent to convey just how different Acheron is from the preceding album in their plague-era trilogy, the third part of which will be released in 2022.

Don’t let me keep you. It’s a holiday, and while I could probably go on about the record, suffice it to say that King Buffalo have two of 2021’s best albums to their credit. With the next impending, they’re a bright spot in a perpetually weird reality.

Dive in:

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

From the new album and film, ‘Acheron’ available everywhere on 12/3/21.

For more info or to support the band directly visit: https://kingbuffalo.com/links

Directed by Adam Antalek.

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

I’ve been trying to do a best-of-2020-a-year-later episode since like June, but maybe it’s all the more appropriate since we’re coming up on that most wretched of years is actually nearly a full year buried. As much as it’s buried at all — don’t you kind of feel like 2020 lives on in our hearts, minds and residual traumas? I kind of do.

As I say in the voice breaks for this episode, I have very little conception of when 2020 ended and 2021 began as regards albums. I would’ve told you that the Grayceon record, the Enslaved record and Slift were 2021 releases. Yeah, I know Lowrider and Elephant Tree were last year, and Colour Haze and All Them Witches, but Polymoon? That could’ve been 2019.

So in addition to being a collection of what I think are killer tunes — always the goal, right? — this playlist is also a way for me to recall when things were ahead of digging into the best of 2021 over the course of the next month-plus. I’ve got a Black Friday episode, then two December episodes left this year. The December ones will both be best-of-the-year stuff. Let this be my precursor to that.

Thanks for listening if you do and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.12.21

Grayceon	Diablo Wind	MOTHERS WEAVERS VULTURES
Deathwhite	A Servant	Grave Image
My Dying Bride	To Outlive the Gods	The Ghost of Orion
VT
Lowrider	Red River	Refractions
Elephant Tree	Exit the Soul	Habits
Forming the Void	Ancient Satellite	Reverie
Colour Haze	Material Drive	We Are
Enslaved	Flight of Thought and Memory	Utgard
VT
Kind	Helms	Mental Nudge
All Them Witches	41	Nothing as the Ideal
Sons of Otis	Hopeless	Isolation
Cinder Well	No Summer	No Summer
Slift	Thousand Helmets of Gold	Ummon
Polymoon	Lazaward	Caterpillars of Creation
VT
Elder	Halcyon	Omens
King Buffalo	Dead Star Pt. 1 & 2	Dead Star

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Nov. 26 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

With Acheron, Rochester, New York’s King Buffalo continue their emergence among the most essential acts of current American heavy psychedelic rock. The first thing you hear is running water. It is the sound of the place the four-song/40-minute full-length was recorded; Howe Caverns in Schoharie County, NY. An underground stream runs alongside a path both natural and cut into the rock 150 feet under the ground, and it’s where the band — guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson — tracked the album, playing the songs live with audio and video recordings running simultaneously. The trio’s original ambition to release three albums in 2021 of material composed during the tour-less lockdown of 2020 may have met with vinyl-pressing-delay circumstances beyond their control — the third in this trilogy will be out in 2022 instead — but their will to create in different locales as a part of that project has thus far been maintained.

June 2021’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) — which shared the face-forward artwork theme with Acheron, albeit in a grimmer manifestation — was self-recorded. Acheron arrives produced by Grant Husselman, who had previously worked on their early 2020 EP, Dead Star (review here), and the prior sophomore LP, 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain (review here), and who here was tasked with nothing less than building a mobile studio unit in a day and capturing the band’s energy in a remote setting, deep beneath the surface of the earth. As McVay‘s guitar enters over that initial water flow — which will return as an aural theme throughout the songs — his lines seem to give some shape to the movement of water over stone, Acheron is not quite 30 seconds into its opening title-track before its first victory is declared.

What unfolds gracefully from that point across “Acheron” (10:21), “Zephyr” (9:26), “Shadows” (10:35) and “Cerberus” (9:47) is an acknowledgement of who King Buffalo are as a unit that brings some of the sharper-edged progressive aspects of The Burden of Restlessness — these songs were written at the same time, after all — together with the duly fluid heavy psychedelia the band offered on Longing to Be the Mountain, their Jan. 2018 lead-into EP, Repeater (review here), or 2016’s debut album, Orion (review here).

The album feels brilliantly curated to this purpose and to its setting. The angry melancholy of “The Knocks” or “Locusts” from the prior record — looking inward and out — isn’t absent from Acheron, but the context has shifted, and even the angular chug toward the apex of “Cerberus” that feels like it’s speaking directly back to the last outing arrives with a different energy, complemented by a layered, harmonized crescendo of guitar solos over grand crashing drums and Reynolds‘ ever-steady presence in the low end.

No doubt earlier vibes like the drifting synth and guitar of “Zephyr” or the echoing breadth of “Shadows” play into that impression as well — Acheron is best taken as a whole work — but the tension that King Buffalo crafted into their material on The Burden of Restlessness can still be heard, whether it’s Donaldson‘s drumming pushing through beneath the final cascades of guitar and melodic float in “Zephyr” or the foreboding jabs of guitar from McVay as “Cerberus” makes ready to do its final battle with that mythological creature, who perhaps is acting as a stand-in for some of the same feelings The Burden of Restlessness took on. “Acheron” itself seems to build outward from that foundation — the title referring to the River of Woe in Greek folklore — and its own repetitions and builds of chugging guitar, particularly as filled out by an overarching keyboard line in the second half of the song, become crucial for understanding what Acheron, the album, is looking to accomplish.

It is not just about doing something different from the last record, or about answering the last record, or about recording in a cave. The truth of Acheron is that it is its own work. I’m not sure if “Shadows” is about Erebus or not, but “Zephyr” is the Greek God of the West Wind, and the song’s atmosphere, even solidified in the midsection and freaked-out-shred later as it is, is duly gorgeous. As much as Acheron is the second of an intended three-part collection, it’s also a fourth King Buffalo full-length, and it works no less to demonstrate the band’s live energy, yes, as well as their broadening instrumental and melodic reach, their patience in executing ambient as well as more intense stretches, and more over, their skill at creating a sonic narrative by setting the two against or alongside each other.

After its surge shortly before the four-minute mark, “Cerberus” pulls away from its final lyrics and from 4:20 on dedicates itself to an entirely instrumental movement, turning back and forth from its tense chug — which at one point stands alone in willful make-you-grind-your-teeth fashion — to lead guitar in setting up the payoff solo(s) and final epilogue riffing, which itself cuts short and echoes out at the end of the record. The motion from one part to the next is neither stark nor overly molten. Instead, it is precisely what King Buffalo want it to be. A given push from one part to the next can be a dramatic return, or it can be a setting off into unknown spaces, or it can be as simple as a shift from a verse to a chorus.

The band’s songwriting accounts for all of these, just as that first guitar line of the title-track seems to carry the rhythm of the running water, so too does the rest of Acheron play out in a series of carefully shaped moments. They may have shown up to Howe Caverns to record in a day, but that didn’t happen without having their parts refined beforehand, and the work King Buffalo put into sculpting Acheron as it is pays dividends in a front-to-back immersive listen. It is your own freight elevator down to that river, the stalactites and stalagmites and the cool moisture surrounding.

I do not know what the third installment of King Buffalo‘s plague-era trilogy might hold in terms either of atmosphere or the circumstances of its being put to tape, but as much as Acheron feels tied to The Burden of Restlessness in some ways, it no less breaks away from that album to find its own place as one of 2021’s best releases. Expectations and anticipation for their next work should be high, but Acheron underscores just how justified their audience is in trusting King Buffalo to meet and surpass their own standards, setting new ones along the way. They certainly do that here.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

I’ve been sitting in this for months. I set off north on I-87 on April 26 to Howe Caverns in New York to be there when Rochester three-piece King Buffalo — guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds, drummer Scott Donaldson — recorded their fourth album and second in a series of three written during pandemic lockdown. In a cave. They were recording in a cave. And I got there, and I took an elevator down, and yes, it was a cave. Load-in took a while, as one might expect.

As I will, I took notes and pictures while I was there. And as you read — and if you do, thanks — and see that I was not there the whole day front to back and indeed missed three out of the four songs on Acheron (due out Dec. 3) being tracked, you need to understand the monumental task that was before the band, before producer Grant Husselman and before videographer Adam Antalek and their respective crew. King Buffalo brought all their own gear, oversaw the assembly not only of that, but a mobile recording studio, as well as a professional video shoot. In a day. Really, in a morning and afternoon. Regardless of anything they actually recorded, it was a massive achievement in logistics, even with some snags along the way.

Keep that in mind. Their original plan was to be done by 4PM and that was my gotta-go time, but of course it ran late. How could it not? They finished as I understand it around 9PM and then loaded out thereafter, lugging everything back up the long path set out through Howe Caverns, which, indeed, seemed like a fun place to take your family if you happen to be nearby. One of the people running it — Bill, I think — let me have a magnet that now adorns my fridge and brings pleasant memories of the day.

And I’ve heard the album. I’ll review it in the next week or two, but suffice it to say, it’s cave-tastic.

Here are the notes:

10:45AM – It’s moist living in the cave.

Howe Caverns probably isn’t much different from a lot of roadside-style attractions. Or maybe it is. I don’t really know. Lots of highway signage leading to a thing that’s probably been owned by the same family for however many generations. You wonder about the insurance, but I’m sure there’s a policy for caves. The stalactite plan.

King Buffalo are recording the second of their three upcoming albums today, mostly live, in this cave, 150 feet underground. Drums are in open air, such as it is with a rock ceiling, guitars, bass, synth mostly DI to the computer. They’re filming as well — pro-shop, same crew that did their Quarantine Sessions last year — because if you’re going to do a thing, do it right. And I’m here, presumably just to make it awkward.

The first of the band’s three intended LPs isn’t out until June, but they’ve had this plan for a while and Howe Caverns opens to the public next month, so I guess now was when it worked all around. I know nothing about the songs other than Sean, Dan and Scott pared down a lockdown’s stockpile of jams into a third, fourth and fifth record’s worth of material. Fair enough.

I got suitably turned around coming in — it’s not like the gift shop was open — but Scott managed to retrieve me from my meanderings on the (above-) grounds. Load in was a load in, but down in the dank on a brick path with running water alongside. Lots of little bridges but only one tighter spot. I imagine when it comes to what’s captured on the mics today, the cave will be a presence in the recording.

11:11AM – First plugged in guitar sounds. Drums soon after. Voice warm-ups. Everything still being set up with a ways to go, I’d think. Though I expect someone will say “alright” at some point and they’ll just hit it.

12:37PM – More guitar noodling. Sabbath, Pearl Jam maybe, Hendrix, Metallica, some KB stuff. Scott was playing drums a while ago. Mostly lighting and mic setup it seems. I’m just trying to stay out of the way to the degree I can. It’s always weird going to a recording. You want to do something, everyone around you is doing stuff, all the more here with a video crew and a full A/V thing happening, but the best place for me to be is out of the way. I still haven’t heard bass and I’m not sure I will but cameras are coming out and various lights are strewn about the cave, so I feel like we’re getting closer.

Cameras are shooting B-roll of the water and such. The owners of the cave are in and out. I can’t tell if it’s gotten colder or what, but I’ve got my hood up, so yeah. Facemasks doubling as face-warmers. Somewhere in the back of my head this morning was my mother’s voice saying to me, “You’re going to a cave, dress warm.” I’m thankful for that. I also brought a book to read. Not my first time at the dance, even if it’s the first time said dance happened in a cave.

More checking mics, drum sounds, etc. The recording gear is a good ways down the corridor or whatever you’d call it here from where the band is. The cave lights are on. Red, green, set up to show detail on different formations and whatnot. There’s communication back and forth between band and console. The waiting. It is like this all the time in recording with bands. Especially a mobile setup since you basically have to build a studio, on the fly, adjusted to the specifications and acoustics where you are. Remote recording done right is serious shit and not a production task I envy. But progress is being made. It’s well after 1PM now.

1:36PM – The issue is with the in-ear monitors Sean and I think Dan are using. Too far from the console setup or some such. I have always been a skeptic of in-ear monitors. One more thing to break. But I assume that if you actually want or need to hear yourself they could make that happen. When functional.

To put this situation in Treknobabble, which I’m honestly more comfortable with, the natural radiation of the cave formations are causing isometric interference that’s scrambled comm circuits. An engineering team has been dispatched but I’ve yet to hear a time estimate on compensating.

Film crew shooting more of the cave to stay busy, I think. Things are being moved from here to there.

2:13PM – Passed Scott on the path on my way back from the topside restroom. He was going to order pizza. He says he hopes noise by three, then move for different filming spot, then two more songs in second location, then done. Better be some quick pizza I guess. Apparently Bill, who owns Howe Caverns, is a major dude and is being generous with the time. That kind of thing is good to know. My own time schedule is somewhat less forgiving — hard 4PM out — but so it goes. Even if I don’t actually see or hear any of the recording, at least I was here. The running water is peaceful.

2:53PM – Two keyboards. One for Sean, one for Dan. The entire recording console ended up moving for the monitor issue, then drum mics weren’t doing what they should’ve been.

For anyone who’s never been in a recording situation and imagines it’s mountains of cocaine and everybody’s stoned and getting laid and whatever other bullshit, nope. More often than not, this is what it is. You want to make something happen and the universe and all manner of physics known and unknown do their best to crap on your plans. This time it’s happened in a cave. But that’s what you do, you sort it all out in the hope of chasing some creative dragon, same way a band might spend 23 hours of the day waiting to play for an hour on tour. Don’t get me wrong, it beats working, but way, way, way more often than not, it also includes working. You gotta really love this shit to do it for more than five minutes without saying “screw it I’m going home.”

3PM now. I guess there’s pizza somewhere.

3:13PM – One song played and recorded — “Acheron,” it’s called — I think just to test what’s working and what isn’t. Only drums and guitar audible to naked ear, but Sean’s guitar tone sounds good and I can hear some bass now on the playback. Not a lot of vocals, and it’s a different vibe than the Burden of Restlessness stuff, though it’s got a clear build. Synth is more forward, which is cool. They’re breaking for lunch, which I think means my time here will be done by when they get going again. I guess maybe it’s time to split.

3:50PM – So much for the hard out.

I went up and pizza seemed to rejuvenate the entire populace as only pizza, or, for some people, Jesus, can. Back down now and getting ready to film the two songs, “Acheron” and one I haven’t heard even part of yet, and then I’m Jersey bound.

This time I have headphones. They’re getting the video ready to roll out, I’m in back with Grant Husselman at the board, Adam Antalek doing video. It’s four so there goes me, but yeah, you drive up what’re you gonna do.

“Acheron” starts at 4PM on the dot. Cave snare dominates all, but so it goes. Vocals are soft but there, guitar dreamy and riding that groove. I’m glad to hear Dan this time, especially as the heavier riff kicks in. This song is 10 minutes long, reportedly. So is the next one. You’ll not find me complaining about that. The synth comes in late, second half accoutrement, but it sounds good.

4:12PM – They’re going to do another take and get more video. Time for me to roll. Bill was kind enough to let me have a fridge magnet from the gift shop when I asked if I could buy one, and with that as my memento I’ll head back to NJ glad I got to hear what I did, sorry I couldn’t hear more, and most likely distracted by the gorgeous scenery of the Catskills. I’ve never been here that I didn’t want to build a house and never leave it again. Doing so, at the very least, would shorten the drive. Ha.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook