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Greetings, infernal warbröethers and all that. After a marathon stretch we’re finally here, hammering the last rusty nail into our 2020 LISTCRUSH series – the full-length albums that resonated most with me throughout 2020. At a cursory glance, Metal Archives has 3146 full-length black metal albums logged as being released last year. Of those, I probably only checked out around a thousand, tops. So remember: this is in no way a definitive list. I’m not the grand arbiter of taste or final word on anything. These are just the records that tickled my own personal blasphemy glands juuuust right.
The original shortlist was over 200 albums long and I’ve (excruciatingly) whittled it down to a hundred of the finest – there is no “near misses” section, because in a year in which we were absolutely spoiled for good music as most had much else better to do in quarantine, there are simply too many that would have very deservedly made the cut.
There are records that immediately blew my mind (number 92, number 2, number 8), records that crept up over time to become firm favourites (number 31), expected hypebeasts (number 4) and records that deserve FAR more attention (59, 63). There were things of beauty (58, 24) and ugliness (49, 38). There are records that I fell asleep to almost every night since they were released (number 3), thrilling new discoveries (95), old masters making a triumphant return (6)… and in the case of number ONE, records that unleashed their black irradiant glories extremely late in the year yet annihilated everything else that had come before.
If any of the album titles are highlighted, clicking that will take you to our coverage of the album (reviews, premieres, interviews and all that good stuff). This list is strictly black/blackened, so if you’d like recommendations for other genres hit me up – for example my top death metal album was Ulcerate, of course, followed by Atræ Bilis. I’d probably give label of the year to the untouchable Debemur Morti Productions and if you want to check out what I consider to be the strongest demos, EPs or Splits I heard last year, read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.
That’s it. Have at it, Listcrush is finally done for another year. Hails.
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TOP 100 ALBUMS OF 2020
100. FORTRESS OF THE OLDEN DAYS – Verlassenheit (Worship Tapes / A Pile Of Graves)
99. ENEPSIGOS – Wrath Of Wraths (Osmose Productions)
98. ANCIENT BURIAL – Beyond The Watchtowers (Signal Rex)
97. ONIRIK – The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity (I, Voidhanger Records)
96. BLATTARIA – Dream, Dwell, Die (Harlequinflesh / A Fine Day To Die Records)
95. OLD NICK – Pretty Much Everything They Released This Year (Grime Stone Records)
94. CURSE UPON A PRAYER – Infidel (Saturnal Records)
93. GRAVEIR – King Of The Silent World (Impure Sounds / Brilliant Emperor)
92. REVERORUM IB MALACHT – Vad är inte sju huvud? (Le Narthécophore / Rubeus Obex)
91. VAMPIRSKA – Tortuous Omens of Blood & Candlewax (Crown & Throne)
90. MAVORIM – Axis Mundi (Purity Through Fire)
89. MYSTRAS – Castles Conquered And Reclaimed (I, Voidhanger Records)
88. DUMAL – The Confessor (Fólkvangr Records / Vigor Deconstruct)
87. AKHLYS – Melinoë (Debemur Morti Productions)
86. YGG – The Last Scald (Ashen Dominion)
85. HORNA – Kuoleman Kirjo (World Terror Committee)
84. KHTHONIIK CERVIIKS – Æequiizoiikum (Iron Bonehead Productions)
83. GRÓGALDR – Illness Unto The Womb Of Spirit (GoatowaRex / Perverse Homage)
82. EBONY PENDANT – Incantation Of Eschatological Mysticism (ASRAR / Forbidden Sonority / Grime Stone Records)
81. STARLESS DOMAIN – Alma (Crown & Throne / Aesthetic Death / Tartarus Records)
80. GJENDØD – Angrep (Hellthrasher Productions)
79. STARCAVE – Final Sins (GoatowaRex)
78. FAIDRA – Six Voices Inside (Northern Silence Productions)
77. THECODONTION – Supercontinent (I, Voidhanger Productions / Repose Records)
76. AFSKY – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død (Vendetta Records / Old Mill Artefacts / Screaming Skull Records)
75. GUIGNOL NOIR – Mantric Malediction (Repose Records)
74. ODRAZA – Rzezcom (Godz Of War)
73. BAŠMU – The Encircling (Independent)
72. ABSTRACT THE LIGHT – Magna Sapientia Quaerere – to the depths of thy soul… (Talheim Records)
71. WEALD & WOE – The Fate of Kings and Men (Fólkvangr Records)
70. WARDAEMONIC – Acts Of Repentance (Transcending Obscurity Records)
69. MAQUAHUITL – At The Altar Of Mictlampa (GoatowaRex)
68. BLOOD STRONGHOLD – Spectres Of Bloodshed (Nebular Carcoma / Satanik Requiem)
67. OLHAVA – Lagoda (Avantgarde Music)
66. LAMPIR – Awaiting The Predatory Dreamscape (Altare Productions / Perverse Homage)
65. STREAMS OF BLOOD – Erløsung (Rising Nemesis Records / The Hidden Art)
64. PRISON OF MIRRORS – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso (Oration / Norma Evangelium Diaboli)
63. PETRINE CROSS – Centuries of August (Panurus Productions)
62. FLUISTERAARS – Bloem (Eisenwald)
61. OLDOWAN GASH – Hubris Unchained (Drakkar Productions)
60. VENGEFUL SPECTRE – 殞煞 Vengeful Spectre (Pest Productions)
59. VUAL – To End All Life (Independent)
58. NODUS TOLLENS – Melancholic Waters Ablaze With the Fires of Loss (Trepanation Recordings / Pacific Threnodies)
57. BLACK FUNERAL – Scourge Of Lamashtu (Iron Bonehead Productions)
56. VOUS AUTRES – Sel de Pierre (Season Of Mist Underground Activists)
55. OLD SORCERY – Sorrowcrown (Essential Purification Records / White Wolf Productions)
54. ÄKTH GÁNAHËTH – Crowned In Shadows (Death Kvlt Productions)
53. MRTVI – Omniscient Hallucinatory Delusion (Transcending Obscurity Records)
52. ENTROPY CREATED CONSCIOUSNESS – Antica Memoria di Dis: Acheron & Lethe (Fólkvangr Records)
51. BÜTCHER – 666 Goats Carry My Chariot (Osmose Productions)
50. SVRM – Занепад (Vigor Deconstruct)
49. DEARTH – To Crown All Befoulment (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
48. VETËVRAKH – Dominion Of Terror (Black Gangrene Productions)
47. VOID PRAYER – The Grandiose Return to the Void (Black Gangrene Productions / Altare Productions)
46. BOREAL – The Battle Of VOSAD (King Of The Monsters / Nebulae Artifacta / Realm & Ritual)
45. DEATH.VOID.TERROR – To The Great Monolith II (Repose Records)
44. YMIR – Ymir (Werewolf Records)
43. ÁRSTÍĐIR LIFSINS – Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir (Ván Records)
42. BELORE – Journey Through Mountains And Valleys (Northern Silence Productions)
41. VASSAFOR – To The Death (Iron Bonehead Productions)
40. DWARROWDELF – Evenstar (Northern Silence Productions)
39. VOIDSPHERE – To Sense | To Perceive (Amor Fati Productions / Prava Kollektiv)
38. OMEGAVORTEX – Black Abomination Spawn (Invictus Productions)
37. MALOKARPATAN – Krupinské Ohne (Invictus Productions / The Anja Offensive)
36. DARKENHÖLD – Arcanes & Sortilèges (Les Acteurs de l’ombre)
35. HÄXENZIJRKELL – Die Nachtseite (Amor Fati Productions)
34. ISOLERT – World In Ruins (Nihilistische Klangkunst)
33. SERPENT NOIR – Death Clan OD (World Terror Committee)
32. SVARTSYN – Requiem (Carnal Records)
31. HYRGAL – Fin de Règne (Les Acteurs de l’ombre)
30. MÄLEFICENTT – Night Of Eternal Darkness (Night Of The Palemoon)
29. CÉNOTAPHE – Monte Verità (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
28. GRIFFON – ὸ θεός ὸ βασιλεύς’ (o Theos, o Basileu) (Les Acteurs de l’ombre)
27. FANEBÆRER – Den første ild (Nattetale)
26. AARA – En Ergô Einai (Debemur Morti Productions)
25. ACHERONTAS – Psychic Death: The Shattering Of Perceptions (Agonia Records)
24. HÖSTBLOD – Dikter om döden (Fólkvangr Records, Winter Sky Records, Le Narthécophore)
23. TURIA – Degen van Licht (Eisenwald)
22. SKÁPHE – Skáphe³ (Mystískaos, Iron Bonehead Productions, Vánagandr)
21. KAWIR – Adrasteia (Iron Bonehead Productions)
20. BURIER – In Communion With Death (GoatowaRex)
19. CETUS – Khaosmos (Elderblood Productions)
18. GRAFVITNIR – Death’s Wings Widespread (KFT Produktion, Carnal Records)
17. SEVEROTH – Vsesvit (Avantgarde Music)
16. GRIFTESKYMFNING – Bedrövelsens Härd and Malignant Morningstar (Darker Than Black)
15. CARVED CROSS – Severance of Disparity in Absolute Acrimony (Death Shadow Records)
14. OBSKURITATEM – Hronika iz mraka (Black Gangrene Productions)
13. ANAAL NATHRAKH – Endarkenment (Metal Blade Records)
12. ORANSSI PAZUZU – Mestarin kynsi (Nuclear Blast)
11. IFERNACH – The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard (Tour de Garde)
10. HAVUKRUUNU – Uinuos Syömein Sota (Naturmacht Productions)
9. AVERSIO HUMANITATIS – Behold The Silent Dwellers (Debemur Morti Productions, Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
8. PRECAMBRIAN – Tectonics (Primitive Reaction)
7. KATAVASIA – Magnus Venator (Floga Records)
6. ONDSKAPT – Grimoire Ordo Devus (Osmose Productions)
5. SELBST – Relatos De Angustia (Debemur Morti Productions)
4. LAMP OF MURMUUR – Heir of Eliptical Romanticism (Death Kvlt Productions)
3. PAYSAGE D’HIVER – Im Wald (Kunsthall)
2. KOMMODUS – Kommodus (GoatowaRex)
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1. ABIGOR – Totschläger (A Saintslayer’s Songbook) (World Terror Committee)
I originally intended to keep it simple and wasn’t going to write anything at all about any album on this list, but I simply have to say a few words about this diabolical gem. After TT blew me away at the death of 2019 with the dazzling NEDXXX (well, personnel are still as-yet unconfirmed but I’d bet a solid hundred that he and Rune from Shaarimoth were involved) he’s done it again with Abigor‘s twelfth album, Totschläger (A Saintslayer’s Songbook). I’ve been listening to these nine tracks repeatedly since release and over countless spins each experience brings something new to appreciate and astound – be it tiny details in each intricate composition, or an entirely new favourite track each time. Silenius from Summoning puts in what may be the best performance of his life here, too – I liked Höllenzwang, but this proves Abigor remain at the absolute top of the game. I mean, just check out the final moments of album closer ‘Terrorkommando Eligos’ – what other band would have the testicular fortitude and sheer unbridled ability to pull off what’s ostensibly a minute or two of wild, slavering, black metal drum & bass?
THIS is, hands down, the best black metal album of the year for me. Listen to it. Hail Abigor.
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Ultimate respect to all artists, labels, writers and supporters of the black arts. You are all lords.
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