Favorite Metal Albums | AllMusic 2021 in Review

Architects

For Those That Wish to Exist

The ninth album from the U.K. metalcore crew and their first set without the band's founding guitarist, the late Tom Searle.

At the Gates

The Nightmare of Being

The Swedish legends' seventh full-length effort sees them continuing to tweak their Gothenburg-style death metal with wild abandon.

Beartooth

Below

Injecting melody and old-school metal inspiration into the mix, the Ohio band deliver one of their best offerings to date.

Born of Osiris

Angel or Alien

The Chicago quartet return with their first two guitar attack since 2011's The Discovery, and straddle the line between vintage roots and the future.

Circle / Richard Dawson

Henki

Wild, protean hard rock songs rooted in psychedelic folk and delivered with Green Man-worthy gusto.

Converge / Chelsea Wolfe

Bloodmoon: I

A potent collaboration that pairs bracing hardcore with expansive symphonic and post-metal.

Cradle of Filth

Existence Is Futile

Bleak, brutal, and grand, the symphonic metallers' 13th studio effort is awash in existential dread.

Dream Theater

A View From the Top of the World

The band's 15th studio album showcases their trademark blend of 21st century prog and riff-laden melodic heavy metal.

Emma Ruth Rundle / Thou

The Helm of Sorrow

Four-song EP that continues the collaborative streak of the shadowy goth-folk vocalist/guitarist and Louisiana doom metal band.

Evanescence

The Bitter Truth

The Amy Lee-fronted alt-metal outfit stages a comeback on a powerful fifth set that focuses on hope and healing.

Every Time I Die

Radical

Sixteen Southern-tinged slabs of apoplectic, groove-laden hardcore that can populate a pit at the drop of the needle.

Gojira

Fortitude

Five long years after Magma, the French metallers up their creative ante with power, innovation, and excellent songwriting.

Helloween

Helloween [2021]

The German power metal legends' triumphant 16th album evokes their early-'80s heyday.

Iron Maiden

Senjutsu

An epic late-career triumph, albeit one that requires multiple spins to set up camp in your Homeric metal-craving cranium.

Limp Bizkit

Still Sucks

This comeback set from the vetaran nu-metal crew adds fun and self-awareness to their trademark rap-rock assault.

Mastodon

Hushed and Grim

The Atlanta power quartet chart the stages of grief, and the journey of a soul on their most musically varied -- and focused -- set to date.

The AllMusic 2021

Year In Review

There was no shortage of angst and cathartic rage this year and these metal acts exorcised their demons in a multitude of ways, from more time-honored sounds of Helloween, Maiden and Cradle of Filth, to a nü breed of performances from Evanescence, Every Time I Die, and Mastodon (pictured).