š¶ļø To The Teeth's calculated Metal List of Lists: ARCHSPIRE made the album of 2021!
THE LIST OF LISTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR: ARCHSPIRE
ARCHSPIRE's Bleed The Future is the best album of 2021, according to *everyone*. They topped the list that came out of the analysis of almost 100 international end of the year lists with 119 points. Archspire follow up Oranssi Pazuzu (2020), Blood Incantation (2019), Yob (2018), Converge (2017) and Vektor (2016).
Let it to metalheads to find a way to sonically escape reality. Last year we indulged in Finnish psychedelics to dampen the outside world of lockdowns and restrictions, but this year we needed something stronger. A full bottle of ear knotting Canadian technical death metal was there for us when we needed it most and they proudly top the list of 656 albums.
'Bleed The Future is a dense and compact body of superlative technical death metal' (Metalwani); 'Every one of Bleed the Futureās eight songs abounds with such technical feats, and Archspireās care in their arrangement ensures that you remember every note' (AngryMetalGuy); 'The bandās commitment to outdoing each previous release has showed no sign of letting up steam, law of averages be damned' (HeavyBlogisHeavy); 'Bleed The Future hits new levels of dizzying technicality mixed with the bandās ability to make the most complicated riffs sound catchy' (MetalInjection); 'Bleed the Future isn't short, it's just really, really fast' (Exclaim).
Big names
The top is full of big names; moreso than the previous years I made this list. But in a year where many bands decided to no longer hold in their already delayed albums because who knows when this crisis will end, I'm not surprised. It has never been this close before though. Number #2 Mastodon (117 points) had been on top for a long time, even right before finishing up this list, only to concede to the Canadians with the final few entries. At the same time #4 Gojira (105 points) - also a top contender for a while - fell of third place in favor of #3 Iron Maiden (110 points), with just a few points in difference. All four could've won, and even runners-up #5 Converge & Chelsea Wolfe (94 points) and #6 Worm (93 points) both have been on first place at one point. A close call, very unlike past years, where it was clear who would win pretty early on. An exciting year, one could call it.
Also very unique: everybody liked Archspire, but noone liked it most: they were on exactly zero #1 spots. They've got two silver medals and two bronzes, but they never made it on any of the calculated lists' top spot and won without ever getting the full 10 points - that's a first! Mastodon were on three numbers 1, but not on as many lists. Archspire was on the most lists though (named 26 times), Every Time I Die was on the least amount of lists of the top 25, with just eight list mentions. No less than 14 bands were on more lists, but had less points.
Surprise
The surprise of the year is Worm. The band from Florida, signed by 20 Buck Spin, made funeral death/doom cool again. They had been on top of this list for a while, but I can't imagine they'd be upset with their #6 place, only one point behind Converge & Chelsea Wolfe. Worm were on just as many lists as Gojira, and that's not bad for a band with under 15.000 monthly listeners on Spotify (7k on Last.fm)! Lamp Of Murmuur, who fell just outside the top 25, aren't even on Spotify.
Worm is not the 'smallest' band in the top 25 when you count it like that. Black metal one-man band Mare Cognitum, #16, has just over 10.000 Spotify listeners (although: 20k on Last.fm), and the brand new Dream Unending made it up to place 22 with just a little over 3.400 listeners on Spotify (and almost 3k on Last.fm). Notable is that they're the second 20 Buck Spin album in this list. Someone has a good ear over there.
Bigger bands have it easier. But some of them still fell behind. Darkthrone (28 points) came near the top 50, but were never a top contender - very unlike their legacy. Also bands like Trivium (23 points), At The Gates (19), Exodus (14), Amenra (17), Fear Factory (15) and Hypocrisy (11) lagged behind. Dutch powerhouse Epica were (like their symphonic colleagues Nightwish last year) on just one list and ended this year with a meagre 5 points from it.
Anyway, the list. Onwards!
The list of lists
Archspire - Bleed the Future (119 points)
Mastodon - Hushed & Grim (117)
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu (110)
Gojira - Fortitude (105)
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon I (94)
Worm - Foreverglade (93)
Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined (83)
Khemmis - Deceiver (83)
Carcass - Torn Arteries (80)
King Woman - Celestial Blues (79)
Thy Catafalque - Vadak (76)
Panopticon - ...And Again Into The Light (74)
Spiritbox - Eternal Blue (70)
First Fragment - Gloire Ćternelle (68)
Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime (66)
Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm (63)
Rivers of Nihil - The Work (62)
Iotunn - Access All Worlds (62)
Unto Others - Strength (61)
Between the Buried and Me - Colors II (56)
Tribulation - Where the Gloom Becomes Sound (50)
Dream Unending - Tide Turns Eternal (49)
Every Time I Die - Radical (49)
Hooded Menace - The Tritonus Bell (47)
Vola - Witness (47)
Lamp of Murmuur - Submission and Slavery (46)
Fluisteraars - Gegrepen door de geest der zielsontluiking (45)
Green Lung - Black Harvest (45)
Plebeian Grandstand - Rien Ne Suffit (43)
The Ruins of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires (42)
Herzel - Le Dernier Rempart (42)
Empyrium - Ćber den Sternen (41)
Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst (41)
Dormant Ordeal - The Grand Scheme of Things (41)
Dordeduh - Har (40)
Steel Bearing Hand - Slay In Hell (39)
Succumb - XXI (39)
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Swagger & Stroll Down the Rabbit Hole (39)
Turnstile - Glow On (39)
Helloween - Helloween (38)
Boss Keloid - Family The Smiling Thrush (38)
Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (38)
Zao - The Crimson Corridor (38)
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana (37)
The Silver - Ward of Roses (36)
Dvne - Etemen Ćnka (36)
Skepticism - Companion (35)
1914 - Where Fear and Weapons Meet (35)
Glassing - Twin Dream (35, ea)
Kauan - Ice Fleet (35)
The fine print
The fine print: I've calculated 97 lists with a total of 656 albums. 284 of those were on two lists or more. The lists came from Angry Metal Guy, Bandcamp, Banger TV, Consequence of Sound, Cursed, Cvlt Nation, Decibel, Forbes, Heavy Music HQ, Invisible Oranges, Kerrang, Last Rites, Loudwire, Metal Hammer UK, Metal Hammer DE, Metal Insider, MetalInjection, Metalsucks, Nine Circles, No Clean Singing, Popmatters, Revolver, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, The Quietus, To The Teeth (that's me), Toilet Ov Hell, Treble and We Are the Pit. I gave every number one position 10 points. Numbers two got 8 points, numbers three got 6 and the rest of the top-10 positions got 5 points. A top-25 was 3 points, and everything below 1. When two records had equal points, the amount of list mentions prevailed. When those were equal as well, the amount of number 1ās (or, subsequently number 2ās) counted.
New records
Yes there's still new stuff, too, like Wilderun and a new Dark Funeral track. Check out the vacuum cleaned playlist!