A Decade Of Albums Of The Year

This year was one that gave us more than enough time to evaluate things we have hung to as accepted wisdom. While the world was shutting down, and certain parts forgetting that protecting people is worth the effort, it also marked the official ending of the decade. Yes, I'm being pedantic about there not being a year zero, and we talked about the end of the decade last year like everyone else did, but I'm filling some time today, so humor me.

Over the last decade, I have my records of everything I've listened to, and while I'm not going to go back and sort through all of that for any purpose, I am interested in the one decision that gets made every December; what is the Album Of The Year?

So today I'm going to go through my picks over the last ten years, give some updates thoughts on the records, and decide if I made the right decision in that moment or not.

2011: Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

This record is polarizing for Dream Theater fans, since it marked the beginning of the post-Portnoy era, and yet for some reason it is my favorite album of theirs. In the years since its release, I have made two realizations; one being that there are a few filler pieces that dull the record's momentum, one being that I was a complete idiot for not realizing how good Graveyard's "Hisingen Blues" was at the time. Looking back, there's no doubt Graveyard's record is the better one. I was wrong here.

2012: Graveyard - Lights Out/Halestorm - The Strange Case Of

The only tie I have ever chosen, I realize now I should have made the choice, no matter how tough it felt at the time. I still love both of these records, and put them on my list of the best of the decade, but if I'm being completely honest, "Lights Out" should be the winner. That album stands out to me as one of the absolute best rock albums made in recent memory, it moves me, and Halestorm would also go on to make another record I can give the praise to. Things work out sometimes.

2013: Dilana - Beautiful Monster

I can't regret this choice. Few records have ever made me feel the way this one did, and still does. It is special not just for being a great album, but for showing me things I couldn't previously see. It is important as music, but its importance goes beyond that. There's a reason I put it so high on my all-time favorites list.

2014: Jorn & Trond Holter - Dracula: Swing Of Death

This ridiculous piece of campy, theatrical metal won me over by being absurd, even for power metal. It was a stage show put on record, a modern Meat Loaf minus the pianos. Today, it's still a record I can get a wry smile from, but it's also revealed itself to be a fantastic set of songs. If you can tune out the ludicrous bits, what you still have is bombastic metal with fantastic vocals and hooks. The disappointing follow-up only reinforced what a unique moment in time this album was.

2015: Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope

I am still incredibly fond of this record, but my own attitude has changed enough that I don't think I can call it the best of what was an incredible year. There is too much time spent on detours for my taste, and the epics are obviously separate songs stitched together, not fully realized compositions. Those flaws mean I can, and should, say that Edward O'Connell's "Vanishing Act" or Blues Pills' debut were better, or even the fourth Allen/Lande album. I wasn't wrong, per se, but I wouldn't make the same choice today.

2016: Zakk Wylde - Book Of Shadows II

This year came down to a choice between two albums, and even as I'm writing this, I have a hard time deciding between Zakk Wylde and Shiverburn's "Road To Somewhere". I love Zakk's laid-back attitude on this record, and songs like "Lay Me Down" are almost hymns to me. I also love Shiverburn's anthemic pop/rock approach, which never got a follow-up. I thought at the time of making it a tie, which right now is what still feels like the right decision. They're too different for me to choose, and I hate leaving eitehr album off.

2017: Soen - Lykaia

I was immediately bowled over by the power of this record, and over the last few years, I am still stunned every time I listen at how Soen was able to blend progressive rhythms with lovely melodies. Few bands have ever done it this well, and while I would trim a couple of the instrumental tags, the biggest sin is making "God's Acre" and "Vitriol" bonus tracks. They had too much great material for one album, so whatever choice they made would leave something great off. Yes, it's still one of the best metal albums of the decade, so I have no regrets.

2018: Halestorm - Vicious

This was another year where I was facing a tough choice, but ultimately I hit on the right one. Light The Torch's debut album is still utterly splendid, and a true highlight, but it's "Vicious" I find myself returning to time and time again. Lzzy Hale is the greatest voice of her (our) generation, and while I'm not sure of "Vicious" is their best record, it's where she laid more of herself on the line for us. If we're going to look at the world as pre-2020 and post-2020, she summed up everything Halestorm had been to that point perfectly.

2019: Soen - Lotus

If I was bowled over by "Lykaia", I was more impressed by "Lotus" for not only being able to match its quality, but expand in new directions. "Lotus" is the optimistic half of the duality, taking Soen's sound and giving it hope as the melodies continue to get bigger and stronger. The heavy moments are powerful, the softer moments are gorgeous, and the result is an album that never had any competition.

2020: Yours Truly - Self Care

This choice has just been made, so it's too early for reflection, but in what I am declaring a weak year, I can't see any of the other records having an enduring legacy. "Self Care", by virtue of being just that, will.

Singles Roundup: Soen, Smith/Kotzen, Pale Waves, & Senna Sage

It seems there has been a glut of interesting songs coming out lately. There have been more than I can even get to in one column, if I'm being honest. I'm hoping that speaks well to what 2021 is going to have in store for us, since I am very much looking forward to a better year that 2020 was. Maybe these songs will be a harbinger of that better future.

Soen - Monarch

The second single from the upcoming "Imperial" is even better than the first one. Soen has found their identity, and is mining that combination of rhythms and haunting melodies for all its worth. Soen's guitar riffs aren't that different than djent, but they make more sense to my ears with a few more open notes. Joel's vocals continue to get better, and even though the chorus does sound a bit too much like an earlier song, the package gels into a song I've been listening to repeatedly. Soen's current sound is exactly what I would want modern metal to be, and it's glorious.

Smith/Kotzen - Changing My Ways

Pairing Richie Kotzen with Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden doesn't sound like it would work, but this song proves it certainly does. Adrian brings a heaviness to the guitars Richie doesn't usually have on his own, and Kotzen's melody in the chorus is catchier than anything Adrian gets either in Maiden or on his own. This is a case of two players bringing exactly to the table what the other needs, and the result is a fantastic song.

Pale Waves - Change

Heather Baron-Gracie mentioned Avril Lavigne as an influence on the band's upcoming record, and this song makes that abundantly clear. Aside from the extra guitar, Heather's voice sounds more engaged than on the first album. And yes, her vocal tone does have echoes of Avril in it. Combine that with a strong hook, and we get a song that would absolutely feel right at home in that time. And since I remember it fondly, I'm rather intrigued by what else the record can contain.

Senna Sage - The Beauty Of Breaking

I'm getting to this one late, so forgive me. One of my favorite recent records is the one-off from Shiverburn. Senna is the singer from that band, and she is finally back to making music. Hearing this song for the first time was like no time had passed. Her voice and ear for a sticky melody is the same as ever, and it brings a smile to my face. The music isn't as heavy, to give more room and attention to her voice, but it sounds just as wonderful. Senna's sound is a warm, more organic version of pop music. It fits like a glove, and I'm so happy to hear her again. Finding this song closes out 2020 on a good note.

A Short Story: In The Groove

 For Christmas, I thought I would do something different and post a short story I had written earlier in the year. Adapted from a script I was working on, the musical theme fits what we do here, and in all honesty, I was too lazy to come up with something more festive to post today. Enjoy. 

****

The doorknob spun in his hand faster than his mind could think, if he ever bothered to do so. The hinge almost dripped oil as the door swung open in a gliding arc, silently cutting a semicircle in the sunlight warming the floor. He moved to take a step inside, but froze in place when his eyes focused as he turned the corner. That delay had always felt like a curse to him, a mistake in his wiring that slowed him down when the world was speeding up with every revolution.

The figures came into shape, two lovers engaged in the act. She was leaning forward, her elbows dug into the mattress, her face blankly reflecting the blue light from a computer screen. Behind her, her younger man's skin glistened, the work obvious on his form.

He snapped his eyes closed as quickly as he could, but not before the image was burned into his memory, a postcard to be sent again and again from Misery. He threw his hands up, blocking residual torture from borrowing through his eyelids. As his throat fought not to spasm, she noticed his presence. She did not move.

"Are you just going to stand there?" she asked.

"What are you doing, mom?"

"I'm trying to learn how to fold a fitted sheet," she responded flatly.

He opened his eyes just enough to check if he was the only one whose skin had turned bright red. To his amazement, he had not interrupted.

"Do you think your friend can stop while I'm standing right here?"

"You walked in without knocking. I'm the one who should feel uncomfortable," she said.

The man behind her slowed down, but did not pause his motion. His eyes moved from one to the other.

"Should I stop?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"No, dear. This talk can wait until we're done," she argued.

The man stopped, and disengaged from her. He looked to salvage his dignity, and picked up a t-shirt from the floor behind him. He placed it over himself, letting it hang in the air like a slightly soiled ghost, not hiding the outline. He sidled past and moved toward the door.

"I'm going to finish in the other room," he says.

"You don't have to do that," she replies.

"Yes he does."

She looked at her son, having not moved. She didn't show it, but she enjoyed his embarrassment.

"Seriously? You can't find anyone to sleep with who isn't one of my friends?"

"They're the easiest ones to meet," she says.

"You know that's not the point."

"Unless you were planning to sleep with them, what does it matter if I do?" she asks.

"Don't throw logic into this. We're talking about feelings. Disgust, mostly."

"Is it disgusting for me to screw him, or for him to screw me?" she asks.

"That question is a trap."

"You're going to have to accept that you're not the only one in this family with needs. It's not my fault your friends are delicious," she says.

"Please tell me that's a metaphor."

"Sure, it can be one of those too," she says.

"I can't handle this."

"That's what he said," she replies.

"Oh God."

"He said that too," she says.

"I'm done."

"We didn't get that far," she says.

He took a deep breath, occupying his mouth so words he will later regret don't come flying out. He shook his head, and turned to leave the room. Before his senses caught up to him, he was outside, walking down the street. His autopilot knew where to take him, and he enjoyed the silence until the rhythm of his shoes clicking on the asphalt began to remind him of music, and a song crept into his mind from somewhere in the shadows. It was an inevitability.

He arrived at the record shop, entering as the broken bell made the small clatter of a closed hi-hat, not doing anything but making the new arrival question if their presence has even registered. He considered it a fitting metaphor.

"Best song for finding one of your best friends balls deep in your mother? Go," he shouts.

The owner of the store was sitting behind the counter, tracing the groove of a vinyl record with his finger, as if he could play the music directly into his blood. He stopped his circle when the words registered.

"That's the weirdest one we've ever thrown out there," he says.

"Every situation needs a soundtrack."

"Is there something you want to talk about?" he asks.

"Not really. I just need something to flush my head out."

The other girl in the store drew closer, her energy a black cloud that for the first time didn't feel like an omen.

"How about The Darkness' "Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman"?" the owner suggests.

"Good try, but she's not mine. That would be even creeper than what I saw."

"So you saw something?" he asks.

"Can we not talk about it?"

"Sure. If you want to clear your mind, how about Fastball's "Outta My Head?" he says.

"You're getting closer.

Her voice came from behind him, as if the devil on his shoulder was speaking.

"Tom Petty. "Into The Great Wide Open"," she says.

"I don't get it."

"I figure since you wrecked her life, you probably wrecked her body too."

The owner of the store put his hand over his mouth, trying to not visibly laugh. Family trauma should not be a comedy, at least not when the one being tortured is present. The mocking should be done behind one's back, as is proper.

"I really don't want to talk about my mom's..... you know."

"We can talk about whether your friend is hung enough for her instead," she says.

"That's not helping."

The owner disappeared below the counter, leaving him alone with the inappropriate voice putting bad thoughts in his head.

"Don't you want your mother to be happy?" she asks.

"That's not the point."

"And isn't it better she not get involved with some skeezy guy who could be a serial killer or something?" she asks.

"Yeah, but..."

"So your mom banging your friend might be keeping her alive," she assures him.

A few chords rang out over the speaker. They were familiar, but he couldn't quite place them. It took him a moment before he realized the joke. "She Bangs" continued to play.

"Oh, screw off."

He gave the other two the finger as they lost control of their laughter. As Ricky Martin pounded home the chorus, he couldn't help but crack a smile as well. A good joke is a good joke, even when it hurts.

"Why don't you get yourself laid so you can forget about it?" the owner asks.

"The only place I know to meet people is here, and that's a disaster. It's hard to be with someone with bad taste in music."

"What does someone's taste in music have to do with sexing them up?" the girl asks.

"My mother has a whole theory about it. She says if she meets a guy buying a record from a pop star, he's probably more interested in eating a bag of Cheetos."

"Orange is tastier than pink. Got it," she says.

"I'm ignoring that. If he's got tattoos and is in the rock section, he probably slaps it around without knowing how to use it at all. And if they're into emo or synthwave, they're probably good at oral."

"Because they're too sad to get it up," she surmises.

"Exactly."

"What about if they're into something like The Smiths?" the owner asks. "I'm asking for a friend."

"You probably need to draw them a picture of how it's supposed to work."

"Sounds about right," she says.

"The last date I went on, we started talking about music, and she tells me he doesn't like music. Like, she doesn't listen to any music at all, just podcasts."

"The monster," she says.

"I didn't know what to say. I'm thinking to myself about how desperate for human connection you have to be to listen to people you don't know talk about stuff you don't care about. And if you never listen to music, you can't have any rhythm, so how do you figure out how to get it on?"

"This isn't very scientific, you know?" the owner interjects.

"Psychology is more important than science. Science can't explain why nearly every stupid thing humans have ever done was in the pursuit of getting in someone's pants."

"Every good thing, too," the owner adds.

"They do say that most business gets done under the table," she points out.

"That's not what that expression means."

"You don't know that," she responds.

"Why do I ever come to you people looking for some advice?"

"Because no one else likes you," she says.

"Are we that bad at it?" the owner asks.

"Let's see. You are the one who brought a boom box into the delivery room so you could play Danzig's "Mother" while your wife was giving birth."

"I was going to play "Stacy's Mom" if we were going to have a girl," he adds.

"It's no wonder you're divorced," she replies.

The owner took a sarcastic bow.

"Your sadness does make me feel better about myself."

"So do you want the new Morrissey album or not?" the owner asks.

"You know what? I don't think I'm sad enough for that anymore."

"Good. Listening to Morrissey is worse than walking in on your mom's o-face," she says.

"Great. There goes my mood again..."

"I'll put on a record for you," the owner says.

Fergie's "M.I.L.F. $" began to play.

"I hate you guys."

"We hate you too," they reply.

The Worst/Most Disappointing Albums Of 2020

It seems gratuitous to point out the worst aspects of music in what has been a dumpster fire of a year, but traditions are traditions, and perhaps talking about these albums will be a cleansing experience, letting us start 2021 with some optimism that we are on our way towards a better future. That might be a bit excessive, but I need to come up with some explanation for why I chose to spend the time writing negatively about these albums. Metaphorically, this is me putting the last nail in the coffins, removing any reason for me to ever think of these again once the dirt has been packed atop them.

Let's see what 2020 gave us.

The Bad:

1. Poppy - I Disagree

The worst record of the year was this effort from Poppy that earned a fair amount of critical acclaim. Many people thought it was a daring mix of bubblegum pop and crushing metal, whereas I saw it as a Frankenstein's monster made of half rotted pieces. There was no logic behind why the pop and metal were fused together, or how the swing from one to the other was carried out. It was the height of pretentious art snobbery, wherein the people responsible think being subversive is art in and of itself. It isn't, as the result still needs to succeed as art for the message to come through. This record was unlistenable, so unless the point was laughing at the gullible fans, it was an utter failure.

2. Witchcraft - Black Metal

This was billed as Witchcraft's "acoustic album", which deeply angered me. I mostly play acoustic guitar, and I found it insulting that the band and label wrote this off as an acoustic effort, as if that was the explanation for why it sounded as it did. Acoustic guitars do not create boring, tuneless, utterly inept songs. Acoustic guitars do not mean you have to write lifeless music that shows no skill, talent, or ability to know when your own material is awful. To blame this on the instruments is pathetic, but the actual music here is even worse than that. This album proves a good song is a good song, and too many rock bands get away with distortion and nothing else. There isn't a good song to be found here.

3. Six Feet Under - Nightmares Of The Decomposed

I listened to this just to get a laugh, and I was disappointed. Six Feet Under have gone from laughably bad to truly sad. It's sad to listen to fifty year-olds think they're cool and dangerous. It's sad to listen to Chris Barnes' voice deteriorate with every record. It's sad to know many people still went out and bought this record, when almost anything else released this year would have been a better use of that money. Six Feet Under is as bad as death metal gets, and now they can't even amuse us. The only nightmare was thinking I might have to give this record another listen.

4. Green Day - Father Of All...

Speaking of insults, we have this 'record' from Green Day, which is reportedly a half-assed attempt intended simply to get them out of their recording contract. I believe that, since it sounds like an album with no effort put into it. Everything about this record, from the songs, to the title, to the artwork, is lazy. After the trilogy of albums, this now makes four of their last five records that have gone through no quality control, and have been the worst of their long career. When a band is in a creative black hole, and they aren't even giving the appearance of trying, I'm not sure why any of us are supposed to respect them.

5. UDO - We Are One

This makes the list not so much because of the quality of the music, which is still below average, but because of a particular decision; to put Udo's croaking voice in front of a military band. Udo is a horrible singer, and has always been, but at least a metal band gave him some cover. With this more traditional sound, the absurdity of his voice is put on full display, and we get one of those experiences where you could accurately describe it as a Muppet singing for a band. It's a staggeringly weird, and painful, album.

The Disappointing:

1. Neal Morse - Sola Gratia

I came to realize even before this record came out that Neal and I have grown apart. I haven't found any of his recent albums as interesting as his best period, so I was trying to hold back my expectations for this one. That being said, I still wasn't ready for just how painfully boring I found this record. All of Neal's trademark pop songwriting is gone, his prog tropes sound more recycled than ever, and then there's the real problem. Like "Sola Scriptura" before it, this prequel comes far too close to sounding anti-Catholic for a devout Christian to have written. It was off-putting from the start, and never won me over.

2. Sons Of Apollo - MMXX

With album number two, Sons Of Apollo got more generic than before, leaning into the prog side of their identity that doesn't bring strong songwriting with it. The best song here sounds like their first album, which was good, but also featured two songs with almost identical melodies. All of that sounds like what Sons Of Apollo are; a band of immensely talented players who aren't great songwriters. Since a big part of being in a band is writing songs to play, that's just a little bit of a problem, wouldn't you say?

3. Elvis Costello - Hey Clockface

Since I discovered Elvis Costello's music sometime around 2000, he's only made one traditionally Elvis Costello record. His experimentation is frustrating, as he puts to record all sorts of things that just don't work. Count this among them, as Elvis takes full control of his sound to make a record in the spirit of "When I Was Cruel", but with an extra twenty years of being behind the times. It's lo-fi, messy, and absent of all that once made Elvis great. This record sounds like a man trying to recapture his youth, and that's one of the saddest sounds of all.

4. Demons & Wizards - III

The first Demons & Wizards album is a classic of power metal. Even someone who doesn't care for Blind Guardian, such as myself, can appreciate that record (and the awesome cover of Cream's "White Room" they did). The second was lesser, but interesting. This record is neither. For whatever reason, they decide to slow things down, muddy the production, and try to be AC/DC at times. Not only is it a dull record, but it doesn't even sound like Demons & Wizards. It sounds more like Jon and Hansi's classic rock wish list, and that's not anything I want to hear.

5. Serious Black - Suite 226

It's official; "Mirrorworld" was a fluke. With their fourth album, Serious Black gives us their third effort of more generic power metal, as compared to the aforementioned harder rocking effort. Despite the decades of experience in the band, they play things safe, and without the big hooks the music needs. Even when you don't expect much, it's disappointing to hear such boredom coming from people who have made music you love before.

The Top Ten Songs Of 2020

 Every year, I take this opportunity to highlight the best songs I heard over the last twelve months, because when we break things down to the basics, songs are what music is all about. We lose sight of that sometimes, as we talk about albums the vast majority of the time. Many of the best songs are on the best albums, but we can't be tricked into thinking that is always the case. Great songs come from great albums, bad albums, and sometimes they stand all alone as singles. Whatever the case, songs and songwriters are the core of the experience, and today we give them their due.

10. The Birthday Massacre - The Sky Will Turn

Synths in rock music are tricky, but here is an example of using them properly. On this song, the shimmering synths blend with the deeper guitars to create an atmosphere that is both beautiful and foreboding. Combined with the delicate vocals and the subtle melody, this track is the sound of the shimmering moonlight reflecting off a pool of blood. The darkness sounds so lovely and intoxicating.

9. Illumishade - Rise

The word that comes to mind when listening to this song is 'rousing'. A lot of symphonic metal is powerful, even beautiful, but not a lot of it stirs feelings in me. This song is one of those that does, and that makes it special. There's a sense of drama you can't get by trying hard, that has to come naturally. Illumishade absolutely nails that here, and the result is a song that has endured through the year.

8. We Sell The Dead - Carved In Stone

It's been a long time since I heard Apollo Papanathasio singing a great song, and this single from the band's second record is absolutely that. His voice still has a remarkable tone full of an effortless, breathy rasp, and finally he has a song worthy of that instrument. This song is a classy rock song that fuses hints of old Rainbow with more modern touches, and an irresistable melody for that voice. It's a perfect song.

7. Helion Prime - The Forbidden Zone

I would not have thought myself capable of being won over by a song about the movie, "Planet Of The Apes", yet here we are. Despite the subject matter, Helion Prime give us their best song ever, with some tricky chugging guitar riffs, and a sweeping and epic melody delivered with just the right amount of grit by Mary Zimmer. She isn't your typical power metal singer, and that means this doesn't sound like your typical power metal song, even if it might be. It's better.

6. One Way North - Myself Again

Making a modern rock song stand out isn't always easy, but that's what this song does. This takes the formula of bands like Tremonti, but wraps it in an even more mainstream melody. There's a drive that pushes the song forward, and like a car pushing you back into your seat as it accelerates, you're stuck in the way of its power.

5. Creeper - Thorns Of Love

Jim Steinman was my first musical hero, so anything that reminds me of him is sure to be a favorite. Creeper did that with this song, as the soul and doo-wop guitars of the verse give way into a huge Steinman-esque chorus, and the guitar solo even nicks the tone and licks of "Bat Out Of Hell". It's a throwback, but the best kind. There are times I am easy to please, and this is one of them.

4. Yours Truly - Together

I found myself returning to Yours Truly often in the time since the record came out, and this song in particular. When I needed a song to lift my spirits, to remind me there was still happiness to be pulled from every day, this song is what did it. Yours Truly gave us a song with bright production, crunchy guitars, and one of those big pop hooks that digs into the side of your face and pulls it into a smile.

3. Serenity - Souls And Sins

There's something about a great Serenity song that get stuck in your head. On their best album, this song stands out from the other great songs by being the very best of Serenity; dramatic, powerful, and unforgettable. There's almost a defiance to how the protagonist sings about the devil chasing him down, and that makes this an anthem of victory over the forces of evil. Man, it sounds to hokey when I put it that way...

2. Allen/Olzon - What If I Live

Sometimes an explanation is simple. Why do I love this song? Because it's magical. Yes, it is a traditional melodic metal song, but it's magical because of how Russell Allen and Anette Olzon's voices blend together, making that chorus truly epic. Because of them, the song is powerful beyond expectations, beautiful beyond what metal should be, and one of the most uplifting experiences of the year.

1. The Spider Accomplice - Crawl

I've written enough about this song already, but let me try to muster a few more. Power ballads work because they tap into something primal in our brains, as if they are the sound of hope and sadness mixed into a metallic grey. It's hard to explain, but you know the feeling when it hits. This song managed to do that better than any other this year, with VK's powerful expression of self-discovery and self-worth resonating with me for reasons I won't go into here. There were no stadiums rocking, but this song would be able to achieve the feat if circumstances allowed. In a year that was challenging on so many levels, music was our escape, and "Crawl" gave us the strength to dig our nails into the dirt and pull ourselves forward. I won't forget that.

 

The Top Ten Albums Of 2020

This has certainly been a weird year. When it started, we couldn't have known we were in store for a pandemic, months of isolation, and a sea change in how the music industry would release music and survive. This could very well turn out to be a watershed year, an occasion where everything was upended and reordered, when the music industry was forced into a new paradigm. Of course, this could also turn out to be a temporary bend in the through-line of history, as our psychology could be obstinate enough to push us into reverting back to 'normal', as if to prove a point.

What I can say with certainty is that this year's releases were put in an uncomfortable position. No one knew whether or not to release new music into the world's upheaval. Some forged on with their albums as they were scheduled, others delayed releasing new music until they thought we would be out of the shadow of doom, while others were busy making music during this time. We got a bit of all of that, and while the effects of this year's delays will still be felt next year, there was still enough music being released this year to fill our time.

Personally, I am thankful to those bands and artists that saw fit to provide us with diversions from the news, who realize their albums do not need to be on planes and in trucks on their way to us in order to sell concert tickets whenever that will again be possible. We may or may not ever be 'normal' again, but we still have music, and sometimes that is all we need.

And so, with that being said, here are my picks for the best music of 2020, as I heard it.

10. Xtasy - Eye Of The Storm

It's funny how I tend to like the records Erik Martensson from Eclipse makes outside of his own band the most. He contributed to the writing of this one, and it shows in many of the melodies. This is sparkling melodic rock, full of bright energy and strong hooks. It can take some adjusting to the accented vocals, but there are some real gems to be found here. This record went under the radar almost everywhere I saw, and that's a shame, since it's a strong set of songs. It's one of those albums that didn't sound like much at first, and then continued to grow on me.

9. One Way North - To Light

Modern rock can be a slog to sit through, with countless bands playing the exact same, dour misery. That is why One Way North was so refreshing, as they made a modern sounding rock record that is definitely ready for the mainstream, but doesn't suck out your will to live. Using the blueprint of Mark Tremonti's solo band, One Way North writes even better songs. There are big guitars, big hooks, and a quality about the whole record that rises well above their stature.

8. Serenity - The Last Knight

Power metal has not had much to cheer about in recent years, and that has included the very hit-or-miss Serenity. With this album, they have finally put together an entire album that lives up to their potential. They have always had a couple of songs on every record that are inescapable in your memory, but this is the first time it extends from beginning to end. This is easily their best album, and the best power metal album of the year. As was the case earlier in the list, the only issue is that these are songs about knights and battle, which don't give me anything to relate to, so the record is enjoyable without being relevant.

7. Creeper - Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void

After a great emo-punk debut, Creeper through open their wings and decided to see how far they could stretch. The result is a record that dabbles in many areas of their previous identity, as well as glam, soul, and 70s rock. There's everything from a church revival sing-along to a Motown meets Meat Loaf mini-epic. Despite the diversity, everything still has Creeper's DNA running through it. Evolving is a difficult challenge for a band, and Creeper have done it in spectacular fashion. Their potential is nearly limitless.

6. Lykantropi - Tales To Be Told

I keep wanting to love the retro/vintage rock bands, because I prefer the organic sound and production that comes along with it, but so few of those bands write great songs. Lykantropi blossom on this album, giving us an album that sounds timeless in both senses of the word. The music is a lovely brand of vintage, where the guitars have just the right amount of gain. But the key is the atmosphere. This record is charming, inviting, with a sense of sitting around a campfire at night, listening to beautiful harmonies. This record is a bit of a warm hug on a cold night.

5. Harem Scarem - Change The World

Few bands release their best album decades into their career, but Harem Scarem did that with "United", and they've come back with a record every bit as good. Right now, they are at the apex of melodic rock. Song after song, they churn out effortless sounding tracks with massive choruses that would have been sung back to them by thousands at a time back in the 80s. This also happens to be an album with a bright, optimistic sound that was much needed in this year's darker moments. It's a feel-good record that hits the spot.

4. Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone

This album has been critically acclaimed, and yes, it is for good reason. This album is dynamic, powerful, and such a massive leap forward for the band it's truly shocking. Song for song, it's one of the strongest collections of huge hooks and ardent vocals of the year. If we are looking for a soundtrack to 2020, we might not be able to find better than this record, which sums up the desperation and hopelessness so many feel. Personally, I can't relate to most of the lyrical themes of abuse, addiction, and struggle, but the whole package is more than the sum of the parts. Even if you only take it as a "fuck you" to 2020, it's a hell of a ride.

3. Taylor Swift - Folklore

Color me shocked. I did not think Taylor Swift making a somber indie-rock record was a good idea, and yet here I am heaping praise on it. As it turns out, stripping away the pretext of being a pop star striving for hits is exactly what Taylor needed. She is a great songwriter, and a record that puts the spotlight on her songcraft has redeemed the last few years of disappointment. Taylor's vocal range perfectly fits the more intimate production, and her melodies stand out even more against the sparse arrangements. Not only is it a shock to hear her dropping multiple f-bombs, but it's a shock to hear once again how Taylor Swift is able to subvert expectations and deliver a record that I can't seem to forget.

2. Allen/Olzon - Worlds Apart

Carrying on the legacy of the Allen/Lande albums, Russell Allen is paired on this record with Anette Olzon, who gives him an even better partner to sing with. Magnus Karlsson delivers his best album of songs in nearly a decade, and the blend of their voices is magical. This is a rare duet album where the two vocalists work perfectly together, but also bring radically different qualities to the table. Melodic metal doesn't get any better than this. The only thing that could have made it better was more interaction between Allen and Olzon. Their magic is used sparingly, and I kept wanting even more.

1. Yours Truly - Self Care

Last year, Dream State came in at #2 on my list with an album that was the catharsis when we reach the light at the end of the tunnel. "Self Care" is that kind of album, and it was desperately needed this year. Yours Truly gave us an album that is the sound of working through your problems, learning to understand yourself, and realizing we can still have hope for better days ahead. Self-improvement isn't an easy thing to capture in music, and it's even harder to make it also sound appealing, but that's what Yours Truly has accomplished. "Self Care" is a candy-coated emo/pop-punk/alternative record full of bright guitars and infectious hooks, but the sugar is masking the bitter pill of truth we are trying not to swallow. This record makes it easier to admit to the truth, it reminds us there's nothing wrong with not being who or where you want to be, because there is no end point. Every day is a journey toward something better, and "Self Care" is the soundtrack for the ride. I think that is vitally important, and that's why Yours Truly has made the best album of 2020.

The Best Albums of the Year - D.M's List

 

Alright, we’re not going to waste a lot of time here – you all know what this is, so let’s get to a refresher on the rules and not waste any time –

Here’s how this works: to qualify, every album must be an original studio composition released for the first time in the calendar year of 2020.  No live albums, no compendiums, no re-releases.  Simple enough.  Only one other rule – it goes to 11.

Also, a brief disclaimer - some of these videos are Not Safe For Work.  You've been warned.

I dare say this is my most diverse top albums list ever.  Without further ado, let’s get a move on:

Honorable Mention) Eyes – Underperformer

It’s hard to find such open dichotomy on a single album.  There’s a lot here that doesn’t work on paper, and doesn’t even necessarily work in the execution, but the album contains a lot of cool moments and is persistently, violently ambitious.  That’s a strange combination of adjectives to be sure, but there it is.  The vocal performance is uneven and jarring, and the music can often descend into madness.  Yet, here it sits, earning recognition in a column extolling the virtues of the year’s best albums.  There’s something about this record that just clicks.  Try it out.

11) Dynazty – The Dark Delight

I dare not put this album higher than this, because it is irrepressibly over the top and cheesy as hell.  But there’s something about it that I can’t shake.  It’s unreasonably fun to listen to, and perfectly tuned to an adventuresome time or a robust night of D&D.  I can’t explain why I like it.  I just do.

10) Mollo Rilla – Viva El Camino

Let’s be clear at the top – not everything on this album works, and there’s no certainly that it’s even meant to.  But no album has reminded so closely of the single effort we got from Them Crooked Vultures as this expansive and varied record.  For an album that falls well within the confines of rock, there’s a sinister edge that lurks not too far beneath the surface.  The album crashes back and forth between sounds, all the while writing melodies and verses that go all the way to the margins and often beyond.  This is an explosive record, filled with roof-raising moments, hypnotic interludes and unhinged catharsis, all tied together with clean riffs and easy to recognize tenets of the genre.  The connective tissue is what makes this album work.  It won’t be for everyone, but those who give it a shot will likely find something that stokes their fire.

9) Psychosomatic – The Invisible Prison

Thrash isn’t dead!  Nevermind that Jeff Salgado sounds a little like young James Hetfield, that’s beside the point.  What Psychosomatic has crafted here is an old-school thrash banger, complete with buzzsaws for guitars and big, wide-open riffs that are elegant in their simplicity.  “The Invisible Prison” doesn’t seek to be anything but what it is – there’s no play at progression or artistic diversity or needless preening here.  The album is a full-speed-ahead battering ram sent to remind us all that thrash, in moments, is just as vital now as it has ever been, and will continue to be.

8) Ghostemane – Anti-Icon

As many of you read in the year-end conversation between Chris and myself (you did all read it, didn’t you?) I am deeply fascinated with whatever the apropos label for this burgeoning genre is.  Until I hear something that feels more comfortable, I am going with ‘industrial rap.’  In the final analysis, they seem so natural a pairing – a genre built to resemble the ceaseless pounding of machinery and a genre that thrives on memorable beats – that it’s surprising it took this long to see the marriage happen.  There is a note of caution; there’s not a huge amount of separation between this album and Ghostemane’s “N/O/I/S/E” from two years ago, which as a single album in 2020 doesn’t mean all that much, but does make one question the genre’s lifespan as a whole if no further innovation is possible.  That’s a problem for the future, though.  In the present, “Anti-Icon” is a killer ride, vacillating between punk and metal and electronic and rap and combining all those in a way that’s totally unique.  To write this off as ‘rap metal’ is to sell very short on its creativity and potential.

7) Turmion Kätilöt – Global Warning

For the second album in a row, I’m going to question the degree of separation between an album and a predecessor, but in this case, the comparison is with another band.  I’m not so sure there’s a great degree of different between this record and Fear of Domination’s “Metanoia,” from 2018, but that’s not a bad thing, because that’s a great record, too.  There’s something about this style of record that’s instantly and deeply infectious, either as a reflection of the catchy, overdriven beats or because of the inherent, almost pop-like insistence of them.  Most people would listen to the album and think that analysis mentally insane, but metal fans know that there’s a certain sensibility to this particular brand of metal that is highly digestible and devilishly melodic.

6) Blackguard – Storm

There are approximately ten thousand words I could write here about this album and how long it took to get to this point, but you’re all tired of hearing it from me over and over again.  We finally got here is what’s important.  “Storm” is everything Blackguard fans wanted it to be – it is the sublime combination of the spirit and energy of “Profugus Mortis” and the power and grit of “Firefight.”  This particular brand of symphonic death metal never really got a chance to shine, and indeed, Blackguard may be the last practitioners of it.  There is a fear here both that the musical world has forgotten about the band in the long wait between albums, and that this may be the band’s swan song effort.  If it is, it’s a fine way to go out, and astute listeners will be sure to drink in the skill it took to brew it.

5) Within the Ruins – Black Heart

I’m not sure ‘progressive deathcore’ is actually a thing.  It sounds kinda made up.  What isn’t made up is how powerful this album is.  There tends to be one album every year that cracks my top albums list because of the sheer force of its will, and this year “Black Heart” is it.  Within the Ruins’ new album takes the best part of The Browning and combines them with a variety and creativity throughout the record’s soundscape that the latter band has only been able to generate in moments.  The uninitiated will hear this album as an unholy pile of smashing and banging, but if you’re willing to listen to what’s actually happening, there’s an underlying sense of rhythmic timing that belies the cacophony laying it on top of it.  The guitars are in their turn both biting and delicate, creating an album that is many things rolled into a single, sonic assault.

4) Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats – Unlocked

I kept going back to this album over and over.  I wanted to absorb it, process and digest the production, track the cadences and rhymes in a way that I hadn’t felt about a rap album in literal years.  Kenny Beats does an excellent job winding his way through seemingly unrelated samples to create a jagged, surreal landscape, but make no mistake – that landscape exists for Curry to stand on and be a star.  He slings words like the great MCs of old, channeling the spirit of Rakim, but makes those words matter by emphasizing them with the bite of DMX.  In a mumble rap world gone mad, Curry represents a breath of positively pure oxygen.  Most shocking of all is that there are four or five distinctly different, memorable experiences on this record, and the whole takes less than eighteen minutes.

3) Master Boot Record – Floppy Disk Overdrive

A year ago, I don’t think I would have been ready for this record.  And I am fully cognizant of the fact that ten years from now, I may look back at this top albums list and say “what was I thinking?”  But there’s something here that’s undeniable.  Sure, long stretches of it may sound like ‘Battle at the Big Bridge’ from Final Fantasy V, but hey, that’s a great tune!  Kidding aside, this is too easily dismissed as ‘video game music.’  The fluctuations in tempo and the depth and range of the pieces, nevermind the endless twisting and weaving and aural combinations, are symbolic of the effort and craft that went into creating this record.  I have talked many, many times on these pages about wanting to hear something different, have a music encounter with something heretofore unheard and wild.  In 2020, this was it. 

2) Blues Pills – Holy Moly!

I’m going to invoke the great poet R. Kelly for a moment, and make reference to “Real Talk” (if you’ve never heard the song and need a good laugh today, I’ll wait while you go find it…….)

…..are you back?  Feel better?  Okay, let’s continue.

Real talk: the song “Dust” is reason enough to have this album at #2.  Especially for where it comes from, smack in the middle of the album, a wicked 12-6 curveball that collapses your knees because the five songs preceding had you looking fastball all the way.  I’m pretty comfortable calling it the best single of the year (though I admit, I probably introduced Alestorm’s “Shit Boat (No Fans)” to more people, but for totally different reasons,) and if the album had done nothing else right, that one transcendent moment would have been enough to deserve a standing ovation.  And yet, Blues Pills gave us a record of great experiences, and one small blemish that is, to my mind, not a musical problem but one of order (“Song From a Mourning Dove” should close the album, rather than “Longest Lasting Friend.)  Blues Pills has been a band on the rise since their ambitious, eponymous full-length debut six years ago, and in 2020, you can’t have a better forty minutes listening to music than “Holy Moly!”  That is, unless you’re listening to…..

1) The Heavy Eyes – Love Like Machines

Instant masterpiece.  Every time, and I mean every time, I was ambiently in my house, cooking or cleaning or doing laundry or whatever, and I wanted an album to put on, this one came to mind first.  Never once did I put it on and say ‘you know, I’m not feeling it, I’m gonna go somewhere else for my fix.’  This is a punchy record that delivers efficient feeling and power in a genre where the temptation to wander is often too great to resist.  The Heavy Eyes only break the four-minute barrier once, and this is the only band I can recall that can make a two and a half minute cut feel like four minutes – and have that be a compliment.  “Love Like Machines” demonstrates effortless mastery of the blues and its interaction with rock and metal, then clothes the whole thing in fuzzy, fat guitar tones and impossibly simple but devilishly catchy riffs.  This album is a must.  Tell your friends.  There’s something here for everyone.

The Conversation: 2020 In Review

CHRIS C: Time is inevitable, but it's also a human construct. We cannot stop the inevitable march forward, but the way we divide it is entirely of our own creation. There is nothing special about one revolution around the sun that sets it apart from the others, but we use those markers to organize our memories, to note whether progress has drawn closer or pulled further away. Some of these chapters are more memorable than others, some are times in our lives we will never forget, no matter how much we may try to do so.

This year is one of those times. I don't need to recite chapter and verse as to why, but I think we can all agree 2020 will be one of the years we find ourselves talking about when we are older. Much as 2001 was a definitive year in our experience, so too will 2020 haunt our memories for the rest of time.

But will we remember the music of 2020? That's the question we sit down to answer now, or to at least ramble on for a while as we try to figure out our own thoughts. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds right off the bat, but I'll say this about 2020 in the music world; it was far more normal than I expected. When the world got sent into chaos, there was no telling what would happen, but the end result was entirely normal, at least in terms of albums. We'll get to talking about the concert business at some point, I'm sure.

In terms of albums, we did get many delayed as bands tried to wait out the pandemic before releasing new music (and some of those are still delayed at this moment). We addressed the wisdom of those decisions at the midpoint of the year, but we can revisit that as we see the unchanging situation now ready to stretch on far longer. That happened, but we also did get a steady stream of albums coming out, both to give us something to get us through these tough times, but also because music was being created in the meantime. The 'quarantine album' is a very real thing, for better and worse.

So what I find interesting about 2020 is if I look only at the roster of albums I listened to and/or reviewed this year, and the lists of the best and worst, it looks like any other year. Inside the music bubble, this year wasn't so different after all. That's a comforting thought.

D.M: I admit, I am torn here.  It's cliché to say it now, but that doesn't make it less true - 2020 has been one of the most upside-down, generally crappy years that anyone can remember.  I won't pile on, but there it is.  And you are absolutely correct in your assessment, that this is a year people will write books about.  How ironic that, to paraphrase the old joke, hindsight will be 2020.  I have tried to look on it with a certain degree of detached objectivity, but that becomes increasingly difficult as there are few other outlets for me.

That objectivity however, means I am personally a little torn.  The individual generally does not outweigh the many (I learned that from Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,) but for me personally, it's been a pretty good year.  I've been afforded some professional opportunities that I never would have otherwise, and I've been granted the chance to reflect and reset the priority order of my obligations.  Of course, all of those opportunities have come at the expense of someone else's opportunity, and that feeling is difficult to rationalize.  And of course, my wife is an ICU nurse, and I don't wish the hell she went through (and may go through again,) on anyone.  Compared to her, my life has been positively a bowl of cherries.

I mentioned the limited number of outlets - one of the ones that's remained my constant companion, and in fact the reason we're here for this discussion, has been music.  I'm gonna go out on a limb, but I dare say 2020 has been a surprisingly outstanding musical year.  I won't give away any of the surprises here, but as I look at my prospective top albums of the year, several thoughts come to mind.  First of all, we're still in November as I write this, and I already have a pretty solid picture of what my final list will look like, where the last two or three years have taken me to the eleventh hour to scrape together enough albums to make a list.  Of the eleven records I currently have on paper (because it always goes to eleven,) by degrees there are three that I am enraptured by, three that I would be happy to go out with on my shield, three that I could easily and vociferously defend in an educated debate, and then two more that I feel strongly about.  And this is before I've done my final sweep of the last promos we've got in, and before I've had a chance to digest the new Killer Be Killed or the new Soilwork, neither of which is guaranteed to be great, but both of which come with some expectations.

I had to go back and take a journey through the part of my music catalogue that spans my entire career in music journalism (if I dare aspire to either of those appellations,) and 2020 is the best year I've had since 2014, which was headlined by Red Eleven, Destrage, Anti-Mortem (who's back now?) Red Dragon Cartel and Nim Vind.  (For the record, 2011 is still the gold standard for me, but I won't bore with the details.)

I will give one spoiler away - after seven or eight years of complaining about its absence, rap has made a return to my top albums!  And I have additional thoughts about that, too, but I'll save it until we get deeper into the reeds.  Let me also tease that I have some other thoughts which temper my enthusiasm for my list just the smallest bit.  But I am not letting them get in the way of my joy.

But it was more than that.  Each year, I keep a rudimentary flowchart of the albums that have made the first cut and that I can officially label "of interest."  Sidebar - I kinda hate it that I've become like the stereotype of a record executive, where I can gauge my interest in an album/band within about thirty seconds.  Anyway, as I go back through and render final judgements on each entrant, it can range from a straight "nope" to something more.  This year, more than any year in recent memory, a greater percentage of those notes say things like "really cool, but has one serious flaw," or "innovate, but doesn't click" or "went for it, next album will be better."  That in and of itself is an encouraging sign for the future.  Hell, even bands I've never liked such as Black Dahlia Murder and Seether (real opposites, there,) put out albums that made me tip my cap in respect.  

And of course, all this overflow of musical genius came in a year when I (and I think everyone,) spent the great bulk of it stressed out, overwhelmed and slowly losing my mind.  So this music must be really good.

What did you like?


CHRIS C: I'm not sure if I would go so far as to say this has been a great year for music, not so much because of the number of good albums, but because of something I was planning to get to a bit later. First, let me just say again that I am absolutely terrible with dates, so when such questions pop up, I cannot quickly recall entire lists and tell you which years were great and which were not. Other than my top album each year, and maybe one more than that, I rarely remember which year certain things came out. In fact, I was just starting to think if there are any albums celebrating anniversaries next year I will need to talk about, and I drew an almost complete blank. I guess that's my way of saying this year has been good, but maybe not entirely great. So, at least musically, it was very much like most years.

I do not have any rap on my list, but I do have a surprise of my own. As uncool as it might make me to say, I really found myself enjoying Taylor Swift's quarantine album. It strips away the veneer of modern pop, and lets the songs stand out. As a songwriter myself, it really showcases she is talented, when you put aside the image and tabloid stories.

Like you, I can also criticize the albums on my list. In fact, I did just that when I posted my mid-year favorites. I get a lot of flak (a lot of it) from a certain community I participate in, because I say such things. I don't see the problem with seeing and acknowledging faults. Just because I don't fawn over things, and heap rapturous praise on every detail, so what? You can love something that is flawed, and constructive criticism is how we learn and improve. It doesn't help anyone, myself included, to pretend shortcomings don't exist. We seem to be at a point in time where everything has become hyper-sensitive, and people who are fans of something consider any negative talk to be heresy. I don't get it. Then again, I've never understood complete veneration.

What you're describing, which I feel applies to me most of the time as well, says two things about us; 1)We know what we like, and 2)We're experienced enough to be good judges. I take it as a badge of honor that I don't need to spend huge amounts of time with a record to know if it's terrible, or if it has some promise. Sheryl Crow once wrote, "good is good and bad is bad". We overcomplicate things sometimes, all because we want to think there's something more to this whole endeavor than that.

To get to the point I mentioned earlier, what I found interesting about music this year was my own reaction to it. Whether it was entirely my own mind, or the circumstances of the year pushing me in that direction, I was drawn to music that made me feel better. I wanted music that lifted my spirits, or gave me words of inspiration. There's an album from the band Spanish Love Songs that received a host of critical acclaim, and for good reason. It's a great record.... but the lyrics are all about crushing despair, the hopelessness of American life, and things such as watching your father shoot up heroin. I'm sorry, but I can't relate in any way to the themes and messages of the record. I know a lot of people do, and that's great if it helps them, but it keeps me at arm's length. The same thing happens with, for instance, power metal. I've gotten to the point where all the songs about knights and battle feel so hollow. They don't relate to my life in any way, so I feel like a bit of a putz singing along in my head.

We've talked about this phenomenon before, but hearing someone else's misery in music doesn't make my own feelings any better. Two wrongs don't make a right, so to speak. So I think the music on my list is both boosted and hobbled by all of this. The albums that made me feel better are the ones that found their way onto the list, but many of them are also hampered by choices and details that make them harder to love.

So maybe this year isn't one where you find the silver linings in the clouds, but rather one where you remember the silver lining is only there because it's cloudy. What say you?


D.M:  First off, oh no, you don't - I will not allow us to get sidetracked onto a Taylor Swift conversation like we do every year.  How does this keep happening to us?  I don't think I can personally name more than three of her songs, and somehow I pen an essay about her in this conversation each December.  NonononoNO!

Since you mentioned the anniversaries next year, I'm putting this out there in a public forum - 2021 will be the thirtieth anniversary of both the greatest music what-if? in my lifetime (what if Soundgarden had released "Badmotorfinger" before Nirvana released "Nevermind"?) AND the debut of perhaps the most successful and simultaneously most divisive album in metal history - Metallica's Black Album.  I've written somewhat extensively about the former, but I think you and I should deep dive on the latter at some point next year.  That album is a big deal (which is a criminal understatement.)

I've never gotten the complete veneration, either.  Life is rarely an all-or-nothing proposition, and anyone who speaks solely in ultimatums either isn't very bright or is totally missing the point.  To drill down into it, I think what I truly understand is the automatic veneration.  Like, in my darkened corner of the musical world, you're hard pressed to find a metal journalist who is willing to cede that Behemoth has ever written a song that is less than perfect.  It's almost like a joke on a late-night show: "who's your favorite metal band, and why is it Behemoth?"  Full disclosure; I'm not a fan of Behemoth and never have been, but I find it objectively difficult to believe that the band has been batting a thousand for 3 plus decades.  No artist has thrown a perfect game for their entire career.  Not the Beatles or the Stones of any of the other cliche' old names that get dragged around.  Even AC/DC and Motorhead, forever the paragons of consistency, have songs that suck (blasphemy, I know, but outside of the title track, AC/DC's entire "For Those About to Rock" album isn't in any way compelling, never mind just about everything that happened between "Who Made Who" and "Razor's Edge.")  But to go onto a metal forum of any kind and try to speak ill of Behemoth is to invite a mob to draw and quarter you in the town square.  And no disrespect to Behemoth from me, I'm merely positing them as the most prevalent example.  I mean, to throw another one out there, Mike Patton practically has his own cult, and have you heard the "Lovage" album he did?  it's awful.

It seems like, psychologically, there's a point of inversion where if you are devoted to an idea for a long enough time, it's not that you support the idea, but rather that the idea sustains you.  I'll use a personal analogy, although I admit that the allegory applies on a much deeper level than the superficial story I'm going to tell.  There was a period of probably fifteen years or so when I only bought Nike sneakers.  It started in my late teen years when, for the first time in my life, I could afford them.  And they make a great shoe!  So the next time I needed sneakers, I bought Nike again, because I knew they made a product I enjoyed.  Pretty soon, I was only buying Nikes, and never even looked at other shoe companies.  I was tied to the brand.  Same concept with music and art and politics and whatever else - there's a tunnel vision that develops with fandom.

The concept you mentioned of consciously looking for a silver lining is an interesting one.  The idea that in the recesses of our agonizing brains, we want there to be something to like this year, a touchstone to remind us of the things we haven't been able to do.  I certainly don't need more reasons to feel bad, and you and I have always been on the same page about that - knowing other people feel bad doesn't make me feel better.  I think, in that case, you're supposed to internalize the music and make it about you, but I've never been able to put myself in the center of music and hear my own voice like that.  I invariably hear someone singing to me, rather than the music being a projection of myself.  

We've both talked about having a knock on our favorite albums this year - you go first while I collect my thoughts


CHRIS C: Sorry, I didn't mean to distract us from the serious topics with T-Swizzle. I'll let it be, although I do find the story of what's happening with her career's work to be rather interesting. I would switch gears to our annual Springsteen joke, but that's going to come up naturally in a paragraph or two.

I am certainly up for a discussion of "The Black Album" at some point. It truly might be the most important metal album of all time (in the mainstream sense), so there's plenty to talk about, I'm sure. My favorite wrinkle about that album is how it actually produced two hit singles out of the same song. "Enter Sandman" is an all-timer, but let's not forget "King Nothing" off of "Load" is the same damn song re-written, and it was also a huge hit on the rock charts. As for your 'what if', I don't think much would have been different. From my perspective, it wasn't grunge that was popular, thereby making all those bands huge. It was Nirvana being so massive it made grunge popular. So far removed from the moment, I'm not sure we correctly remember just how insanely big "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was, especially since no rock song could ever hope to do that today. Grunge was never going to get as big as it did without Nirvana leading the way. That's not a slight on Soundgarden, by the way. They just weren't the ones with THE song.

You're absolutely right that many outlets are reflexive in their praise of certain bands. Once they do something great, it's treated as an insult to say anything that comes after isn't as good. I'm sorry, but it usually isn't. I don't read Rolling Stone's reviews, but I see bits here and there, and I know they've practically given every Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen album for the last twenty years almost perfect scores. That is unfathomable, even without hearing a note. Now, I have heard a few of them, and there's no chance in hell they all deserve that kind of praise. Both of them put out albums this year, and I heard at least one song from each. They were both mediocre at best, and yet I still hear many people saying they're geniuses still at the top of their game. But it's weird how it only works for a select few. Elton John is also a legend, but his late-career work doesn't receive a fraction of that reaction. I would say that "Peachtree Road" and "The Captain & The Kid" are better than many of his 'classic' records, but try to find anyone in print say that.

I've always wondered if studying philosophy has something to do with my critical eye. Since that entailed dissecting arguments and finding the flaws in the logic, I can't help but look at everything critically. I can rattle off criticisms of my favorite artists without giving it a second thought. Meat Loaf? His voice was shot in the 80s, he embarrassed himself by singing a lyric about his dick being too big to fit in his pants, and his last album was so terribly sung it never should have been let out of the studio. Elvis Costello? Even by his own admission, some of his records are pure tripe. And he's not as good at experimenting with different genres as he thinks he is. You get the point. It doesn't diminish the good to point out the less than. All it really does is expose who is and isn't honest. We don't get paid enough, or at all, to lie about this stuff.

Yes, the concept of brand loyalty. It can be rather strange at times, and it works both ways. I'll use golf as my example. There are a lot of people who are tied to one brand of golf ball. I see a lot of guys who can't hit it to save their lives who are still spending $50 on a dozen Titleist Pro-V1s every other round, because they have convinced themselves the ball will make a difference. Maybe I'm the weird one, but while I have certain models i prefer more than others, I really don't care which stamp is on the side of it. Loyalty is the sort of thing that should go both ways. Companies never give us loyalty, and really, how many bands do either?

Maybe the thing about the silver lining comes down to the relationship we have with music, in terms of how we outwardly express it, not just how we internalize it. Since I am a songwriter, and someone who has to sing in order to bring those songs to life, I likely process a song and push it back out through my own voice more than you do. That might explain some of the gap between our experiences. We have a different relationship with a song when we learn it, when we give it our own voice. It's another example of how we don't always realize the ways in which we all hear the same thing differently.

As for this year, most of the albums on my favorites list have issues I would have corrected had I been in the producer's chair. Again, this doesn't stop me from thinking they're still great, but I don't see how ignoring the flaws does anyone any good. They range from a mix that's too hot for the dynamics to shine through at all, to being a carbon-copy of a previous album, to a lyrical focus so narrow it will exclude the life experience of most listeners (myself included). But the one that bothers me the most is how the album Russell Allen and Anette Olzon made is credited to the both of them, but they only sing together on half the songs. Not only does it make the record a bit disjointed to swing from one, to both, to the other, but it misses out on so many opportunities to do vocal blending that I found almost magical. I would guess it's because they got paid per song, and that saved money, but damn if I don't wish it had been done differently. That's my biggest one.

D.M:  Okay, I've successfully bullet-pointed all my thoughts for my ensuing diatribe about the state of music in 2020.

A brief aside - remember when I said I had my end of year list locked?  I am a filthy liar.  In my final sweeps to go over things I never had time to sit down with, and my reaching back for albums I may have missed, I now have nineteen contenders for four spots.  Uh-oh.  I clearly have a lot of listening to do over the holiday weekend.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, by the way.  I hope you and your family are safe and enjoy some quiet time.

I want to open up to a larger question based on something you said in passing.  We've brushed on this before, but I don't know that we've ever really gotten two feet in on it.  You mentioned that companies and musical groups have never shown us any particular loyalty.  In the latter case - do bands owe us that?  While it's disappointing that they sometimes thumb their nose at their own fans in order to escape record contracts or whatever, I'm not sure that an artist should be terribly concerned with staying on message, or whatever the cliche is.  Particularly when looked at through the veins of other art mediums.  There can be no doubt that there were devoted fans of Picasso's Blue Period, but was he thinking of their possible reaction when he switched to Rose, and then ultimately to Cubism?  And what would the art world have missed out on if he had?  From the artist perspective, I find it more appropriate to think "this is the journey my talent is taking me on, you can come with me or don't."  Now, whether or not that's a good decision is a separate issue, but I wouldn't think it's our place as fans to dictate that path.  If Bruce Springsteen decided to suddenly do, well.....anything else at all, besides the same boilerplate rock over and over, it would be up to his fans to follow or not (count it!)

Alright, I promised I would have all my thoughts lined up, and here I go (in no order):

Let me take a couple hundred words to talk about rap.  I've lamented for years that rap hasn't found any new artists who speak to me, and while I appreciate the great artists I grew up with, this is a genre that thrives on youthful exuberance, so I haven't really been in a mindset to have forty year-olds rap at me (even as I rapidly hurtle inexorably toward being forty myself.)  So it was with great joy that I stumbled across a cadre of youthful rappers, not all of whom struck my particular taste, but all of whom presented an enticing image of an underground movement in rap.  It's well past time that rap gave the impression it was a genre of substance again, and here we....well, may be, at the very least.  Too soon to tell.  I won't give away the rap album that will appear in my top eleven but I will announce that there now might be two as I put the finishing locks on my list.

In addition, for the metal fans out there, there's a wave of rap that appeals on multiple levels.  I don't know entirely what to call it - industrial rap seems as good a label as any, though I dare not go farther for the risk of creating a pseudo-genre that doesn't really exist.  (Side note to this point: there's an album in my top ten that is being sold as "progressive deathcore."  For the record, that's not a thing.)  Industrial rap, or whatever we decide to call it, is the niche where he find young artists like Ghostemane.  And he gets it.  Scarlxrd gets it, too, but he's not there yet.  Jasiah is trying, but I'm not sure he's matured into the artist he wants to be yet.  The point is this - these guys are making music that is new and different and never before heard.  I don't know what the lifespan of this splinter is, or even where it goes from here.  I already have concerns that we may be seeing the finished product and there's no evolution to come.  But in this moment, this is, to my mind, on the bleeding edge of musical innovation.

Last part of my rap diatribe.  The genre seems to be moving to shorter songs, which might normally feel like a cop out, but I think is to the genre's benefit.  Rap for so long has lived in a space of moments - individual verses or even single rhyme couplets that demonstrate an attitude or particular wordplay.  To move to shorter songs may prevent some longer-form storytelling in the vein of Wu-Tang, but I don't know that there's anyone really doing that right now anyway.  Cutting out the fat is a good step that keeps the music crisp and concise and impactful.

Okay, back to the main subject at hand, which is the knocks on my favorite records of the year.  It really comes down to this: with one exception, which is (spoiler) Master Boot Record's "Floppy Disk Overdrive," the great majority of albums I love this year all sound like an album I loved at some point in the past.  Now, that's not a bad thing in and of itself, it's not even really a criticism, but as the years go by on this musical journey of existence, I am perpetually drawn to things that I can point to and say "I've never heard that before."  Turisas and Destrage and The Sword and Shawn James & The Shapeshifters were all bands that captured a particular sliver of attention because they were doing something new.  2020 hasn't had that same kind of innovation (the aforementioned rap not included.)  We talked about this offline when we were comparing notes on Blues Pills "Holy Moly!"  An incredible achievement and remarkable album to be certain, but kind of sounds like Blues Pills looked at Graveyard and said "we could do that."  I listened to the new Midnight album all the way back in January (a lifetime ago, it feels like,) and thought it was cool, but still just a dude who wanted to make a Venom record.

Most curious among these is the EP "Operation Take Over" from teen-girl metal group Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.  On the one hand, it was fun and easy to listen to, and struck some of same chords as Falling in Reverse, but without the moral ambiguity and gut punch of at least passively endorsing Ronnie Radke.  On the other hand, it still leaves a slightly dirty taste in the mouth, because something about the presentation seems over-produced.  It's the same feeling I got the first time I really dug into Greta Van Fleet (they're back, right?  Did I see a single from them or something?) where my media-trained brained immediately wanted to know who was really pulling the strings here.

Anyway, that's a lot to digest.  I'll give you a chance to respond.  In the meantime, let's move on to stuff we did like - go!


CHRIS C: Do bands owe us loyalty? I'm going to say no, but I want to expand on that. By no means do I think bands owe it to us to make the music we want from them, nor do they owe it to us to release music on our schedule, nor to play 'the hits' in concerts. When it comes to the creative process, no, bands don't owe us anything. However, there have always been two things I do believe bands owe the fans; honesty and effort. Whatever creative route the band wants to take is fine, but they need to be giving it their all, and they need to be up front with the audience. Few things in music tick me off more than when a band obscures what they're actually doing/thinking. Tool didn't release an album for over a decade, but they did tell people they had a legal issue holding things up, and then they just flat-out work slow. That's honest, and I can respect that. I suppose I also respect when Michael Sweet tells us he only spends a week writing each Stryper and solo album.

But that gets to my second bit. Bands owe us their best effort. Does Michael Sweet give that to us when he spends so little time on a record? Judging the results, I would say no, but he also might not be capable of doing better anyway. This year, we got that illustrated by Green Day. You mentioned contracts, and all indications are that their record was to finish out theirs, but "Father Of All..." is a half-assed effort if I've ever heard one. And yes, even though I am not a big Green Day fan (I'm a weirdo whose favorite album is "Warning"), it pissed me off. I know streaming is the thing of the day, but they have fans who spent money buying copies of that record, and for it to not be a good faith effort I think is an insult from a band to their audience. Why would any fan ever be loyal to a band that treats them like that? I know I wouldn't.

Ok, I'm not loyal to any artists, other than the ones I have personally come to know as friends. I don't quite get how loyalty comes from hearing music, but I know my wiring is a bit abnormal. You know that thing about rooting for laundry, in sports? Yeah, I do that. I do find myself being drawn more to teams that look great, and I definitely pulled back on being a Buccaneers fan when they went to those god-awful alarm clock uniforms. Stupid, I know.

I find myself in the same boat as you, but not by any means intentionally. Many of the albums I have loved the most in recent years tread some ground I haven't always been a fan of, and yet those are the ones that stand out among the myriad albums that sound like everything else. It isn't something I'm trying to seek out, but I find it inevitable that we grow tired of hearing the same old thing again and again. I can only hear so many melodic rock and metal albums before they all blend into one another, and I want to listen to the ones that got to me before my brain turned into a jukebox mush. I don't penalize bands for sounding too much like what I've already heard, but it does up the requirements when it comes to songwriting. It might be unfair, but there is balance between quality and originality that grades on a curve.

Before I get to what I did like this year, let me start off with one thing I really didn't like; Witchcraft released an 'acoustic' album. It's terrible, but that's not the point I want to talk about. What really annoyed me is the way the entire nature of their music changed with the different instrumentation. There are a lot of rock people who don't seem to understand what the acoustic guitar is actually all about. It strikes me they used the instrument as an excuse for why the music was so dour and tuneless. You well know I play acoustic primarily, and there is absolutely no reason why acoustic music can't be everything rock already is, but simply with a more resonant and organic sound. It's a remarkably expressive instrument, if you bother learning how to use it. Witchcraft didn't, and I felt insulted they positioned the record to blame the guitar.

A further point; it also baffles me how often I've heard commentators of the rock and metal community who don't know the difference between an acoustic guitar and a clean electric guitar. They are very different, whether your average rock fan knows it or not. Going back just a bit, Opeth released an album called "Damnation", which is their purely soft record. I have heard it described as their 'acoustic' album before, even though there is barely one on the entire record. But I bring that up to reiterate my point about Witchcraft. Opeth changed up the sound of their instrumentation, and tread the same ground Witchcraft was going for, but their record was still engaging and tuneful. It can be done, if you want to do it right.

So what did I like this year? I liked that this year was an odd one. I not only found myself liking some things outside of my usual wheelhouse, such as Creeper's art/glam "Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void" and Spanish Love Songs' "Brave Faces Everyone", but also that the old stand-by genres delivered more than usual. I got some great power metal from Allen/Olzon and the best Serenity album (for me, not you it seems) yet. Let me take a minute here to also say there were some albums that won't wind up on my list, that nonetheless shifted my thinking a bit. I'm thinking of albums from The Birthday Massacre (far more synth-heavy than I usually like my music) and The Bombpops (when did I ever like Cali-punk?). I might have been lacking a bit on the top end of the spectrum, but the depth of the year was quite good. There are a lot of those second-tier albums that filled up the year with solid listening time.

What did you like and dislike most?


D.M: There are two off-the-wall, not-publicly acceptable places where you and I have always been on the same page.  First, and this came up recently in your review, we prefer the John Bush years of Anthrax to the Joey Belladonna years.  Second, we both think "Warning" is Green Day's best album.

Tangential to your acoustic point - I've never really cared one way or the other if a band does an acoustic record, even if it's outside their idiom.  But it bothers me when no thought it put into its execution.  Like, you can't just take the same stack of songs that made you famous and assume they work if you simply unplug.  A few years back, the Sick Puppies pooped out an acoustic EP, and it was just awful, because it was the same presentation, but with no fangs.  Nevermind that "So What I Lied" only half-works as an acoustic song, it's made worse by the fact that the profanity was removed, so now the lyrical cadence has these awful gaps in it. (That song in particular was the Wal-Mart exclusive bonus song, so maybe that was the problem right there, as that companies involuntary edits are well-known.)  When Nirvana and Alice in Chains recorded their now-classic MTV Unplugged records, they didn't do "Breed" or "Them Bones," because it wouldn't have made any sense.

Before I dive too deep into the reeds of my likes and dislikes, I want to take a moment and stress one point you made in relation to Opeth and Witchcraft.  You and I talk on these pages, seemingly all the time, about creativity.  And I don't want to confuse that with originality.  Too often, I think, the two are considered interchangeable, and I just don't know that that's the case.  It is, as you pointed out, entirely possible and indeed laudable to be creative without being original.  Originality is a very nice bonus, but isn't necessary to making great and compelling music, and I grant that there's a lot of overlap in that Venn diagram, but there is space on the margins to re-package the familiar in a new way.  Furthermore, the inclination by many would be to call that measure of creativity a lesser skill, but I view them more as equal abilities.  Hell, in some ways, throwing your own paint at the wall and running with it is easier than building off a template and making it your own.

What did I like?  I don't want to spoil too much of my upcoming year-end list, so let me talk about somethings I enjoyed that were outside of the best-of-the-best scope.  Can we talk about Carcass for a minute?  I don't think either of us would ever identify as fans of Carcass, but their talent as musicians is evident.  I remember we had this conversation about their "Surgical Steel" album seven years ago.  This is a situation where as a journalist, I am forced to say "I am not a fan of this band personally, but I recognize their artistic merit and value."  In extreme metal in particular, it's difficult to really stand out as apex musicians, and Carcass have found that appropriate balane again this year with their "Despicable" EP (which of course foreshadows their upcoming "Torn Arteries" album.)

For the first time, I truly enjoyed an Alestorm record, and not just for its absurdity and humor (though that comes with the caveat that "Shit Boat (No Fans)" is probably the song I sent to the most people this year.)  I feel like Alestorm matured just a little - not enough to dramatically change their presentation or affect, but enough to make their music smoother and more well-rounded.  I liked the album early in the year from the one-man band Midnight - this was a guy who clearly wanted to make an old Venom record, and accomplished just that.  Not an earth-shattering revelation of an album, but a fun listen and a good ride through a crusty style that gets overlooked a lot now.

Two different approaches - I appreciate that Powerman 5000 just went for it and made a borderline electronic record.  Spider has been trending that way for a decade now, I'm glad to see him just give in and make the record he wanted to make.  PM5K is forever a band trapped by their previous success, so who knows if "The Noble Rot," is a smart career move or not, but he's being true to his instincts.  (Side note counter to that - why did they record a new version of "When Worlds Collide?"  And if that was the plan, why record it in the same basic sound?  Why not do an electro-pop version or something?  That was a misstep.)  On the flip side, I enjoyed Annihilator still doing Annihilator things.  The Canadian veterans get overlooked in the grand scheme of thrash history, but Jeff Waters has managed to keep his band sounding sharp without ever really falling off the rails, and not one of the Big 4 can lay claim to the same.  The only other band in that era who can throw their hat in the ring is Overkill, and they don't really hit their stride until '89 (Testament, for the record, is standing just outside the ring.)

I also like that this musical year was good enough that for a few months, that Annihilator album was in Top Eleven consideration, but ultimately enough great stuff came along that I had to reluctantly cut it out.  This is a good problem to have.

I ultimately didn't care for, but respected the crap out of the attempt by Bleakheart, to try and combine the worlds of lounge singing (with a female vocalist, no less,) and doom metal.  To the point above, this was both original and creative, it just didn't quite come together.  Their next effort could well be a show-stopper.  That was, for me, one of the recurring themes of the year - new or newer bands who are finding their way and haven't discovered the right alchemical formula just yet, but keep your eyes out because they just might.  It's an encouraging place to be.

As we talked about at the mid-year, I appreciated that so many artists just went for it.  The quarantine album, as you said, was a real thing, and whether that meant back-to-basics or a chance to try something totally off the wall, it gave artists an outlet to be themselves and follow their passions without all the static and noise that too often muddies the signal.  Take Nergal, who I passively threw shade on earlier - his album with Me And That Man this year was a cool demonstration of versatility and clearly a passion project.  It was a well done and to his credit, especially for being totally outside his norm.  Oh, and as a kicker, I realized that while I don't care for Freddie Gibbs as a solo artist, in collaboration he's not bad!

And, it goes without saying, we finally got the Blackguard album "Storm."  Predictable spoiler - I'll be talking about this record more later.

One thing I didn't like - I only wrote like, six reviews this year.  Not acceptable.  I gotta up my game.

The big thing I didn't like, honestly, was one thing over and over again - high profile bands, or at least bands that had piqued my interest with previous success, that fell some degree of flat.  Just a short who's who - Killer Be Killed, Fight the Fight, Nachtblut, Brave the Cold (too bad for Dirk Verbeuren,) Finntroll, Ascension of the Watchers, Elm and Warbringer.

And to close my dislikes - Nuclear Power Trio.  These guys are supremely talented and composing jazz fusion of any stripe is so far above my musical pay grade as to be laughable.  But it just felt like it was in poor taste.

Anyway, back on the bright side - what are you looking forward to?


CHRIS C: I will always stand up for "Warning". There's something about it no other Green Day album has, and maybe that's the secret, or maybe it's just that I hadn't been listening to "Dookie" when I first saw "Minority" come out on MTV. Being the first real exposure might explain all of this. However, Green Day is not the only band where I like a complete outlier record, even among punk bands. I am also incredibly fond of Bad Religion's "The Dissent Of Man", which falls into the same category of records that are far less punk, and have more pop and classic rock influences than their usual outings. That is probably a controversial take as well, but it comes up far less often. Still, I'm sticking with it.

Absolutely, the execution of the music is of the utmost importance. Not every musical idea translates across every instrument with the same effectiveness, and it's the artist's responsibility to test these things out before they make asses of themselves. Case in point; Wes Scantlin of Puddle Of Mudd sang an acoustic Nirvana cover this year that went viral for how truly wretched it was. What was clear within a few seconds was that Wes' voice couldn't handle the song in the key he was playing, and that aggressive almost screaming vocal was a terrible fit for an acoustic performance. One would think someone like that would rehearse these things before putting them out into the world, just like one would think anyone with ears would have heard that and known it needed to be burned before anyone knew it existed. There was a way to do it... better, but no one took the time and effort to get it right. That could lead me back into my gripe about symphonic metal, but I don't feel like going through that yet again.

What you're talking about is another pet peeve of mine. I can't count how often I've grown frustrated hearing commenters praising this, that, or the other for doing something new. New is fine, but new can also be terrible. 'New Coke' was different and daring, but it also was terrible. I get that sense from a lot of music, where these days people are throwing stuff at the wall just to see what will stick. Poppy did that with her 'critically acclaimed' record, which was rather unique, but also god-awful. Quality is the only thing that should truly matter, but yet it doesn't. Much of the community would treat it as a stroke of genius if someone created the world's best feces cooker, without stopping to consider the idea itself never should have been thought up. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry did a bit years ago where they essentially threw random words together, stating it was a sentence no human had ever uttered before. They were right, and the irony is that these days I wonder if people would realize the comedy of the whole thing.

I don't listen to Carcass very much, even though I do think "Heartwork" is one of the best death metal albums ever made. The problem for me is that I saw a video of them playing the title track at Wacken, and Bill Steer's guitar was so out of tune, I have never been able to get the sound out of my head. It ruined that song for me.

One thing I didn't like: I felt like I wrote too much. There have been some times where, even as I have worked in more news and singles coverage, I still can't find anything interesting to say about a lot of albums. I'm getting burned out on mediocre music, and I'm not sure what steps I'll be taking next year about that.

I've found that pretty much every band is going to fall flat and disappoint me at some juncture. I was thinking about this recently, and there are almost no bands or artists out there who haven't had at least one of those moments. So I've learned to roll with it, and not get too disappointed in the inevitable. We can have this discussion sometime, but you can name almost every single band or artist I've ever listened to, and I can tell you where they disappointed me. But since I post a list of the most disappointing albums every year, I won't go into that right now.

I didn't listen to Nuclear Power Trio, specifically because it did look like it was in poor taste, and I knew I wouldn't have anything good to say about it. I almost had a similar moment early in the year, when The Bombpops put out the song "Notre Dame", where they compared a failing relationship to the tragic fire there. Was it in poor taste? Yes, it clearly was, but it wasn't crass, and it did feel punk, so I made peace with it. Not something I would have ever put into a song, but that's ok.

As for next year, there are a couple things I already know about I'm excited for. I already mentioned Soen will be putting out a new record, which isn't just something I'm looking forward to because I loved the last couple, but because it will be fascinating to me whether they can win three Album Of The Year awards in a row. Finding the point where familiarity breeds contempt is interesting. I'm also very much looking forward to the new Pale Waves record coming in February. Their debut was a perfect 'Daria rock' album, as I dubbed it, but they're talking about taking on more early 00s alternative/rock influences. A more rock version of the band sounds like it could be right up my alley. And even though I have my reservations about how Transatlantic is releasing their new album, they always create great things when they get together. There's always the rumor of new Iron Maiden possibly being on the horizon, and I know Emerson Hart is working on a new solo album (even though I'm growing less interested with each album further from Tonic he gets). The fun part is finding the stuff we didn't know was coming. Expectations only serve to get in the way.

What are you excited for in 2021, other than concerts possibly returning at some point?


D.M:  I am going through significant withdrawal because of the lack of live music.  I have not attended a live music recital since February.  My concert count for this year will be 1, which is a travesty.  But it's not the return of live music for live music's sake that I yearn for, it's the return to normalcy that that represents.  It's the hope that small, independent venues can hold out just a little longer until perhaps some cash can flow into their coffers again.  I have nothing against Bowery Presents venues or anything like that, some of them are favorites of mine, but the variety offered by St. Vitus and other small clubs is essential to the lifeblood of the scene at large.

Other than that, I think I might cop out a little here - I just want to see where 2021 takes us.  I want to see where some of these intriguing musical trends developed in the heart of quarantine end up going.  I want to see what some of these albums that got delayed end up sounding like.  In a curious way, the fact that 2020 was such a good musical year (for me,) begs the question of if I would have been exposed to all these records under normal circumstances?  To use the television term, how many of these albums were mid-season replacements?

That's what I'm looking forward to.  

As a closing thought from me - my wife is an ICU nurse.  She's essentially going through the pandemic for a second time, now.  Please, wear a mask.  It may be inconvenient, but it's important.