Top 25 Rock and Metal Albums (2021)

Here are my top 25 rock and metal albums for 2021 – in no particular order. These were my favorites and the albums I listened to the most throughout the year.  

Gojira - Fortitude 

Ice Nine Kills – Welcome to Horrorwood 

Iron Maiden - Senjutsu 

Obscura – A Valediction 

Spiritbox – Eternal Blue 

Rivers of Nihil – The Work 

Architects – For Those That Wish To Exist 

Pop Evil - Versatile 

The Pretty Reckless – Death by Rock and Roll 

Dirty Honey – Dirty Honey 

Between the Buried and Me – Colours II 

Trivium – In the Court of the Dragon 

Exodus – Persona Non Grata 

Foo Fighters – Medicine at Midnight 

Archspire – Bleed the Future 

Mastodon – Hushed and Grim 

Thank You Scientist – Plague Accommodations (EP) 

Epica – Omega 

Sleep Token – This Place Will Become Your Tomb 

Royal Blood - Typhoons 

Amenra – De Doorn 

Alien Weaponry - Tangaroa 

Liquid Tension Experiment – Liquid Tension Experiment 3 

Jinjer – Wallflowers 

Volk – Cashville 

 

Honorable Mention 

Various Artists – The Metallica Blacklist 

Favorite Movies of 2020

Due to the pandemic I didn't watch as many films as I normally do in the theater or even at home. But here is a list of my favorite movies of 2020.

The list does include a bunch of horror films, but there's a mix of different things here - it runs the gamut: horror, animated, music docs, drama, comedy, holiday, etc. Remember, this isn't a Best of 2020 list - it's simply my 40 favorite films. These are presented in alphabetical order.

1. Becky

2. Birds of Prey

3. Bloodshot

4. Christmas Chronicles 2

5. Color Out of Space

6. Da 5 Bloods

7. Extra Ordinary

8. Fatman

9. Greyhound

10. Guns Akimbo

11. Hamilton

12. His House

13. Host

14. Invisible Man

15. Jingle Jangle

16. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

17. Onward

18. Possessor Uncut

19. Relic

20. Run

21. Shirley

22. Small Axe (Mangrove, Lovers Rock, Red White and Blue)

23. Sonic the Hedgehog

24. Soul

25. Sound of Metal

26. Sputnik

27. Swallow

28. The Beastie Boys Story

29. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

30. The Dark and the Wicked

31. The Hunt

32. The King of Staten Island

33. The Mortuary Collection

34. The Vast of Night

35. The Way Back

36. The Wolf of Snow Hollow

37. Trolls World Tour

38. Uncle Frank

39. Uncle Peckerhead

40. Underwater

Favorite Songs of 2020

At first I set out to put together a list of my favorite 20 songs of the year (just like I did previously with my favorite albums of the year), but after a day or so of thinking and writing them down, I quickly realized that the list was greater than 20 and in the end, I had a list of 50 songs. 

Well, I shrunk it down to 40 and then decided - what the hell am I doing? All of these songs are great. And I loved each one of them and each one deserves to be on the list. Each and every one of them.

So, here's my 40 favorite songs of the dumpster fire year that was 2020 - once again, in no specific order:

1. Within the Ruins - Black Heart

2. Architects - Animals

3. Foo Fighters - Shame Shame

4. Code Orange - Swallowing the Rabbit Whole

5. Unleash the Archers - Abyss

6. Machine Gun Kelly - Bloody Valentine

7. Poppy - Anything Like Me

8. Spirit Adrift - Screaming From Beyond

9. Green Day - Oh Yeah!

10. The Pretty Reckless - Death by Rock and Roll

11. Deftones - Urantia

12. Adelitas Way - Habit

13. Pop Evil - Work

14. Joyous Wolf - Odyssey

15. Tallah - L.E.D.

16. Black Stone Cherry - Again

17. Lady Gaga - 911

18. Armored Saint - End of the Attention Span

19. Spirit Box - Holy Roller

20. Run the Jewels - Holy Calamafuck

21. Ayron Jones - Take Me Away

22. AC/DC - Shot in the Dark

23. Hawk - CLVRMFKR

24. Avatar - Silence in the Age of Apes

25. Trivium - Amongst the Shadows and the Stones

26. Midnight - Fucking Speed and Darkness

27. August Burns Red - Defender

28. Metal Church - Dead on the Vine

29. Lamb of God - Memento Mori

30. Mr. Bungle - Bungle Grind

31. Royal Blood - Trouble's Coming

32. Hatebreed - When the Blade Drops

33. Stone Temple Pilots - Fare Thee Well

34. Bring Me The Horizon - Parasite Eve

35. Rob Zombie - The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)

36. Pearl Jam - Dance of the Clairvoyants

37. The Violent - Fly on the Wall

38. Smith & Myers - Not Mad Enough

39. Asking Alexandria - They Don't Want What We Want (And They Don't Care)

40. Them Evils - Where Ya Gonna Crash Tonight?

Favorite Music Albums of 2020

Here are my 20 favorite music albums of 2020. 

Why 20? Well, I couldn't choose just 5 or 10 or even 15. The list skews heavily to hard rock and metal as that's what I typically listen to, but there are a few surprise choices here.

So, here's the list - in no specific order: 

1. Deftones - Ohms 

2. Metallica - S&M2 

3. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

4. Code Orange - Underneath

5. Lady Gaga - Chromatica

6. Bring Me The Horizon - Post Human: Survival Horror 

7. Avatar - Hunter Gatherer

8. Trivium - What the Dead Men Say 

9. Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny

10. AC/DC - PWR/UP

11. Taylor Swift - Folklore

12. Static X - Project Regeneration, Volume 1

13. Black Stone Cherry - The Human Condition

14. Dance Gavin Dance - Afterburner

15. Stone Temple Pilots - Perdida

16. Adelitas Way - Shine On

17. Run The Jewels - RTJ4

18. August Burns Red - Guardians

19. Lamb of God - Lamb of God

20. Unleash the Archers - Abyss

Review and Reaction: Dunkin' Donuts Ghost Pepper Donut

Ok, folks. I gave the Dunkin' Donuts Ghost Pepper donut a taste. 

Was it good? Was it terrible? Watch the video for my reactions and thoughts. 

There ya go! Cheers!