Best Albums of 2020

[Tyr66]

Successful come back from Roy Kahn with his original band. Inspired Progressive Metal. (Norway)



the dark side-project of Tuomas Saukkonen , mastermind of Before The Dawn. First class Gothic melodic doom. (Finland)


Another sensation from mighty North frozen lands - Norway !! - A unique mixed Heavy melodic doomy Metal with a fabulous singer.

[Tyr66]

I never thought I'd become a fan of Kansas, so unexpected !


the country side-project of Nergal (Behemoth).  A breath of fresh air ! Pure pleasure. (Poland)


Melodic and Atmospheric Black Metal created by an unbelievable one-man-band. (Indonesia)

[Tyr66]

A unique prestation.
A tribute to Martin Eric Ain (Celtic Frost) and Hans Ruedi Giger, creator of the Alien creature ,among others. Tom G. Warrior was his assistant and continues to manage the Giger Museum in Gruyeres (Switzerland).

[Tyr66]

Traditional Doom Metal from Sweden. Solid album.



The challenge of succeeding the last album Sovran was difficult, very difficult. They succeeded . This album is grandiose. A Gothic Doom Metal with more pronounced funeral touches than the previous album. Very touching. some harsh vocals against balanced by the ghostly and suave voice of the fantastic and sublime Heike Langhans. (Sweden)

[Tyr66]

Special Mention to :

Great Hope : AC/DC - PWR UP . The two new tracks are just awesome.

Great deception : Deep Purple - Whoosh !  I've too much respect for them so i won't overwhelm my heroes..
                          Nightwish - Human II Nature . Maybe I expected too much from this album. The message was very strong but Tuomas misses the point. The beginning of the end ?
                       

[Zzzptm]

Great deception : Deep Purple - Whoosh !  I've too much respect for them so i won't overwhelm my heroes..
                       

I guess you're sitting with Jack on Whoosh!, as opposed to me and Charger. It seems that the album was a love it or hate it kind of thing.

[Charger]

Wow Tyr that's a bunch of bands I've never even heard off!!

I think I might have to check that Sorcerer out I remember hearing a song or two and liked it.



As far as Whoosh goes it seems to be something of Deep Purple's Nostradamus. People indeed either love it or hate it...there's very little middle ground there. In fact I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "Yeah Whoosh is okay"...nope it's either BRILLIANT or rubbish....And I think that right there is enough of a testament to say the band has created something special in their old days. They sure as heck haven't fallen into the "meh" category.

[Zzzptm]

Just picked this up, it was a gem simply from the Amazon preview of each song.

[Zzzptm]

So here's my list of 2020 albums so far, in no particular order and regardless of genre:

Punching the Sky - Armored Saint
Faithless Rituals - Sky Valley Mistress
Whoosh! - Deep Purple
Contra - Vuelveteloca
The Wax Monster Lives Behind the First Row of Trees - Moon Goose
La Guerra del Fin de Mundo - La Iglesia Atomica
Flux Capacitor - Here the Captain Is Speaking
Animal Oxygen - Cobra Thief
Refractions - Lowrider
How the West Was Lost - The Marlboro Men
Youth of Dissent - 1000Mods
Endless Nights - The Hypnagogics
Hyperacusis - Chris Joss
2020 Back to Earth - Kayleth
20/20 - Strange Majik
Ya Wanna Know What It's Like - Various artists, tribute to Hollywood Brats and The Boys

So that's 16 albums for me so far to rank and consider. I'm playing through them now, and I can say for sure that the Sky Valley Mistress one is going to be in my top three, if not number one. Both Armored Saint and Deep Purple gave me something to really enjoy, but I'm going to need to check them out against the other competitors.

Who am I wanting a new album from that hasn't already shown up in 2020? I last heard that Wo Fat was in the studio in November 2019, so I'm still holding out they can get an album before year's end. Don't know if Mos Generator will be making another album this year, as Tony Reed has been busy with releasing their back catalog, outtakes, and his own acoustic album. No sign of Honeymoon Disease. Deaf Radio had their latest album last year and did acoustic numbers this year. Similar story for The Schizophonics. Those are five bands that I'll pick up and pre-order without having to hear the pre-release track. There could be some other band that I discover and pick up on in the next 6 weeks, but it's not likely.

[Charger]

I'm still going to wait a bit to do my list, as I'm not sure I can even make a top 10 list for this year...not a whole lot of great albums.

Sky Valley Mistress might make it on it though...actually I'm pretty sure it will as will Whoosh ofcourse (might even be a top contender for #1)...Metal Church..Sons Of Apollo, Nightmare, Lucifer III was a bit of a letdown but igt might get on it though...same goes for Melanie C's new album...left me bit cold that one sadly...only one really great song on it...

[Zzzptm]

Now, if I included *all* the albums I bought this year, I'd have quite a few more oldies to mix up in there. The Metal Church one is more of a retrospective unreleased tracks thing, so my personal rules would hold off considering it as a release from *this* year.

Looking at my purchases, I had 14 albums total from Amazon, all but two being collections of oldies for my radio show. By contrast, I picked up 34 from Bandcamp, with their "name your price" deals a big contributor to that pattern.

[Charger]

Now, if I included *all* the albums I bought this year, I'd have quite a few more oldies to mix up in there. The Metal Church one is more of a retrospective unreleased tracks thing, so my personal rules would hold off considering it as a release from *this* year.

Yeah that's the thing with that...but it did have 4 new tracks and 4 unreleased tracks so 8 new tracks total is almost an album's worth of stuff...

Another thing are live albums....I've usually not included them on lists like this but like I said this year has been so weak I might have to...

[Zzzptm]

OH SNAP THE NEW BLUE OYSTER CULT ALBUM

BRB, gotta run to Amazon!

OK, that's *15* albums I bought from Amazon.

[Zzzptm]

Coming out Dec. 4...

https://bantharider.bandcamp.com/album/binary-sunset-massacre



Stoner metal jams with Star Wars titles. DUDE! Their first album was a total gas three years ago, didn't know they were still kicking around. I did the pre-order because these guys stick with their core competencies on their recordings - thick, heavy, fuzzy, crunchy, hard-hitting instrumentals. Judge their albums by their covers: these guys are FUN!

[Zzzptm]

^ Oh yes, this will be in my top ten. A real hard rocking monster of an album.