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by Astral Noize

Astral Noize Writers’ Top Albums of 2021

Due to personal shit, burnout and the state of the world following another bleak year, we went a bit quiet at the tail-end of 2021. The less said about last year the better, but we couldn’t quite leave it behind without bookending those twelve months with an obligatory AOTY list. So to kick-off 2022, we’re publishing two lists. The first is this one, where our writers share their top albums of the year, with one to follow later of the albums that got us through the hellish year. Here’s to 2022. Fuck you, 2021.

–

George Parr, Editor

  1. Kowloon Walled City – Piecework
  2. Marissa Nadler – The Path Of Clouds
  3. Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
  4. Aerosol Jesus – Survive
  5. Daniel Hart – The Green Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
  6. Green Lung – Black Harvest
  7. Turnstile – Glow On
  8. Lil Nas X – Montero
  9. Backxwash – I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses
  10. Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
  11. Year Of No Light – Consolamentum
  12. Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth
  13. Victory Over The Sun – Nowherer
  14. Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
  15. MONO – Pilgrimage Of The Soul
  16. Big|Brave – Vital
  17. The Body – I’ve Seen All I Need To See
  18. Wardruna – Kvitravn
  19. Dvne – Etemen Ænka 
  20. Vexed – Culling Culture

Honourable EP mentions: Ethel Cain – Inbred, Izzy’s Daughter – Beyond The Veil, Ellis – Nothing Is Sacred Anymore

–

Luke Jackson, Editor

  1. BackxWash – I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses
  2. Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
  3. Portrayal Of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
  4. Baazlvaat – The Higher Power
  5. Half Mortal – Cut Off From The World
  6. The Body/Big|Brave – Leaving None But Small Birds
  7. Cryptae – Decrepit Collection
  8. King Woman – Celestial Blues
  9. The Silver – Ward Of Roses
  10. David Fenn – Death’s Door (Original Soundtrack)
  11. Big|Brave – Vital
  12. Succumb – XXI
  13. Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
  14. Bobby Krlic – Returnal (Original Soundtrack)
  15. Grandeur – Aurea Aetas
  16. Vexed – Culling Culture
  17. Elaine Elaine – Elaine Elaine
  18. Cadence Weapon – Parallel World
  19. Portal – Avow
  20. Lamp Of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery

–

Adam Pegg, Writer

  1. Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
  2. Daxma – Unmarked Boxes
  3. Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth
  4. Aerosol Jesus – Survive 
  5. LLNN – Unmaker
  6. Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry
  7. The Hyena Kill – A Disconnect
  8. Khemmis – Deceiver
  9. Delving – Hirschbrunnen
  10. Slow Crush – Hush
  11. Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
  12. Swamp Coffin – Noose Almighty
  13. Kowloon Walled City – Piecework
  14. Portrayal Of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
  15. BiglBrave – Vital
  16. Boss Keloid – Family The Smiling Thrush
  17. Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit   
  18. Still – { }
  19. Everson Poe – Grief
  20. Concrete Ships – In Observance

–

Stuart Wain, Writer

  1. Lamp of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery
  2. Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power
  3. Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne suffit
  4. BAAZLVAAT – The Higher Power
  5. Trhä – lhum jolhduc
  6. Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
  7. Plague of Insomnia – Luminous
  8. Tangerine Dream – Probe 6-8
  9. Sombre Arcane – Realmsong
  10. Game Genie Sokolov – Renaissance
  11. Amenra – De Doorn
  12. Vaelastrasz – The Age Of Defias
  13. Puddleglum – Even Here
  14. Jenn Taiga – Lunar Nocturnes And Esoteric Incantations
  15. Old Nick – A New Generation Of Vampiric Conspiracies
  16. Caïna – Take Me Away From All This Death
  17. Stormkeep – Tales Of Othertime
  18. Cara Neir – Phase Out
  19. World Eaters – Grinding Advance
  20. Gallows – 66 Black Wings

–

John Higham, Writer (unranked list)

  • Every Time I Die – Radical
  • Glassing – Twin Dream
  • Urne – Serpent & Saint
  • Violet Cold – Empire Of Love
  • Frontierer – Oxidized
  • Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry
  • Aesop Rock & Blockhead – Garbology
  • Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
  • Turnstile – Glow On
  • Dvne – Etemen Ænka 
  • Scowl – How Flowers Grow
  • Aerosol Jesus – Survive
  • Year of no Light – Consolamentum
  • Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
  • Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
  • Knocked Loose – A Tear In The Fabric Of Life
  • 200 Stab Wounds – Slave To The Scalpel
  • The Armed – Ultrapop
  • Dying Wish – Fragments Of A Bitter Reality
  • The Bug – Fire

–

Nina Saeidi, Writer

  1. Frontierer – Oxidised
  2. Green Lung – Black Harvest
  3. Turnstile – Glow On
  4. Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
  5. Carcass – Torn Arteries
  6. Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled
  7. Malignant Altar – Realms Of Exquisite Morbidity
  8. 1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet
  9. Danny Elfman – Big Mess
  10. Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready
  11. Lil Nas X – Montero
  12. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
  13. Amenra – De Doorn
  14. Vokonis – Odyssey
  15. Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
  16. Memoriam – To The End
  17. Black Sheep Wall – Songs For The Enamel Queen
  18. Froglord – Save The Frogs
  19. Archspire – Bleed The Future
  20. LLNN – Unmaker

–

Simon Young, Writer (unranked list)

  • Devoid Of Thought – Outer World Graves
  • Cara Neir – Phase Out
  • Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms To A Sordid Species
  • Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon  
  • Victory Over The Sun – Nowherer
  • Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth 
  • Jute Gyte – Mitrealität
  • Celestial Sanctuary – Soul Diminished
  • Leprous – Aphelion
  • Atvm – Famine, Putrid And Fucking Endless
  • Wowod – Yarost’ I Proshchenie
  • So Hideous – None But A Pure Heart Can Sing
  • Gonemage – Mystical Extraction
  • Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
  • Yautja – The Lurch
  • Everson Poe – Grief
  • Wallowing/Thin/Slabdragger/Vixen Maw – split
  • Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
  • Knoll – Interstice
  • Fawn Limbs – Darwin Falls

Honourable EP mentions: Lowen – Unceasing Lamentations, Mountain Caller – Chronicle: Prologue

–

Daniel Cadwallader, Writer (unranked list)

  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END 
  • Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry 
  • Wardruna – Kvitravn
  • Billy Bragg – The Million Things That Never Happened
  • Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana 
  • Green Lung – Black Harvest
  • Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders – Promises 
  • Mogwai – As The Love Continues 
  • Turnstile – Glow On
  • For Those I Love – For Those I Love 
  • Various – Fire Draw Near (An Anthology of Irish Traditional Song and Music)  
  • Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit 
  • Khemmis – Deceiver 
  • Quicksand – Distant Populations
  • Stick in the Wheel – Tone Beds For Poetry 
  • Scowl – How Flowers Grow
  • Carcass – Torn Arteries 
  • Hannah Peel – Fir Wave
  • Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert 
  • Converge & Chelsea Wolf – Bloodmoon: I

–

John Morrow, Writer

  1. Cradle Of Filth – Existence Is Futile
  2. Obscura – A Valediction
  3. Dream Theater – A View From The Top Of The World
  4. Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
  5. Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
  6. At The Gates – The Nightmare Of Being
  7. Darkthrone – Eternal Hails…
  8. Tribulation – Where The Gloom Becomes Sound
  9. Sanguisugabogg – Tortured Whole
  10. Gojira – Fortitude
  11. Jess And The Ancient Ones – Vertigo
  12. John Carpenter – Lost Themes III: Alive After Death
  13. Lucifer – Lucifer IV
  14. Archspire – Bleed The Future
  15. Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3
  16. Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
  17. Mastodon – Hushed And Grim
  18. Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins
  19. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
  20. Hannes Grossmann – To Where The Light Retreats
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