As the perpetual boredom of lockdown continues, I figured I'd make a huge list of what I think are the best albums that came out this year. I'd say aside from the final top 10, these are no particular order. I'm also doing a list of 50 records because it's only October and doing 50 will account for whatever comes out in the next 3 months that I may have to add to the list. Anyways, let's get to it:
Pittsburg, PA hardcore powerhouse Heavy Discipline are not fucking around with their first full length offering. There's something truely timeless about passionately played straight up hardcore, and this 12 song rager is the perfect example of that. Absolutely essential for listeners looking for the more punk and less metal leaning side of the genre.
IDLES-ULTRA MONO
Idles remain a polarizing band in heavy music circles, though I'd say the praise they receive far outweighs the negative. Ultra Mono was a slight disappointment as a follow up to the incredible "Joy As An Act Of Resistance" in my opinion, but it's certainly not without it's share of great songs. Certainly Idles still stand as one of the more fresh and exciting bands around right now in the overall scope of aggressive music.
CONWAY THE MACHINE AND ALCHEMIST-LULU
This certainly will not be the only Conway The Machine or Alchemist release in my top albums of this year, as Griselda has unleashed a stranglehold on rap music that I doubt will loosen anytime soon and this EP was just the start of an incredible year of releases for the crew of Conway, Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn. Midpoint EP standout "Shoot Sideways" with Schoolboy Q is undoubtfully one of the hardest rap songs of the year, but this entire record undoubtfully goes in.
BLACKLISTERS-FANTASTIC MAN
With the absence of a new Pissed Jeans record in 2020, United Kingdom rippers Blacklisters fill the void of damaged harsh noise rock with their new record Fantastic Man. With two great full lengths under their belt already, Fantastic Man finds the band pushing even further into their sprawling noise rock that makes you feel like your head is being shoved into a blender in the best way possible. Props also must be given to the band for naming the last song on the record "Mambo No. 5" despite it not being a cover of the infamous song, at least as far as I can tell. Noise rock as a genre had a fantastic string of releases this year and this is certainly near the top of the heap.
UMBRA VITAE-SHADOW OF LIFE
Despite 2020 being an absolutely terrible year for most things, we are musically blessed with not one but TWO side projects involving Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon at the helm, Blood From The Soul who's LP drops in November and Umbra Vitae who's crushing full length Shadow Of Life is already out in circulation. Featuring members of metalcore greats The Red Chord as well, this sounds what I'd imagine an album from them with Bannon on vocals would, which is to say relentlessly heavy in all the best ways.
EYE FLYS-TUB OF LARD
Featuring members of outstanding bands such as Backslider, Full Of Hell, and Khann, Eye Flys take their name from the Melvins song and appropriately hammer out absolutely crushing noise rock in the vein of that band's heaviest material. After releasing the also great EP Context last year, the band quickly returned with their first full length, with a step up in both production and overall sound knocking noise rock freaks on their ass. Another great release for the genre in a year full of heavy hitters.
It's a testament to Lil Baby's skillset as a rapper that his lengthy initially 20 song album doesn't really ever drag at any point, with incredibly catchy banger after banger. A great example of an extremely popular/commerical artist that still has a great amount of depth to be found in their work, Lil Baby is obscenely catchy and versatile, rapping over any beat thrown at him with ease. Even the deluxe version that is now topped off with 7 extra songs contains no skippable moments. As far as radio centric rap music goes, Lil Baby demolishes all competition and has proven his staying power and then some.
After a string of excellent EP releases, hardcore band Bib unleashed their first full length this year and it's nothing less than 19 minutes of acid soaked hardcore, drenched in distortion and reverb and pushed out with expert precision. EP's can generally be the preferred format for raw and intense hardcore bands of Bib's nature, but they made the jump to a full length record with ease.
The hip hop duo of Elucid and Billy Woods shine on their new record Shrines, which manages to be their most introspective yet accessible record to date. Conscious and forward thinking while still maintaining the element of grime and storytelling ability that belies their native New York, Shrines is yet another modern hip hop classic in the band's canon, and each listen digs it a little deeper into your mind. Those that would argue that hip hop as an artform has been watered down in current times might have a hard time making that argument when records like this are dropping.
TERMINAL NATION-HOLOCENE EXTINCTION
Texas has long been a champion of hardcore, punk and metal, and this year has seen several releases that solidify it's reign as one of the best scenes in the country. One of those is most certainly Terminal Nation's first LP for 20 Buck Spin, an absolutely crushing collection of metallic hardcore songs that are both insanely ignorant in sonic nature while lyrically tackling serious social subject matter with the appropriate urgency it requires. As the US continues down the most divided time in many decades of our history, Terminal Nation have declared war on those who choose fascism over humanity.
