Decibel’s Top 40 Albums of 2021

Year-end list season is underway, and as always, the first major metal list of the year comes from Decibel. As you'd expect from Decibel, the list has a good mix of legends, up-and-comers, and plenty of the in-between, and it's pretty genre-diverse too, from thrash to death metal to black metal to doom to progressive metal to grind to albums that aren't metal at all. Bands who made the list include Rivers of Nihil, Darkthrone, Frozen Soul, Spectral Wound, The Ruins of Beverast, Enforced, Exodus, Deafheaven, Rudimentary Peni, Genghis Tron, Gatecreeper, Cannibal Corpse, Worm, Unto Others, Full of Hell, Cerebral Rot, Amenra, Lingua Ignota, The Silver, Fucked Up, Carcass, Converge, Wolves in the Throne Room, Tribulation, Khemmis, Iron Maiden, Lamb of Murmuur, and more.

Check out the full list below and pick up the new issue of Decibel here to read more about each pick. Some of them available on vinyl HERE. What do you think of the list?

Decibel's Top 40 Albums of 2021
40. Rivers of Nihil, The Work, Metal Blade
39. Darkthrone, Eternal Hails……, Peaceville
38. Body Void, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, Prosthetic
37. Frozen Soul, Crypt of Ice, Century Media
36. Mare Cognitum, Solar Paroxysm, I, Voidhanger
35. Silver Talon, Decadence and Decay, M-Theory
34. Spectral Wound, A Diabolic Thirst, Profound Lore
33. The Ruins of Beverast, The Thule Grimoires, Van
32. Enforced, Kill Grid, Century Media
31. Knoll, Interstice, Self-released
30. Archspire, Bleed the Future, Season of Mist
29. Dungeon Serpent, World of Sorrows, Nameless Grave
28. Exodus, Persona Non Grata, Nuclear Blast
27. Hulder, Godslastering Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry, Iron Bonehead
26. Craven Idol, Forked Tongues, Dark Descent
25. Deafheaven, Infinite Granite, Sargent House
24. Rudimentary Peni, The Great War, Sealed
23. Stormkeep, Tales of Othertime, Van
22. Genghis Tron, Dream Weapon, Relapse
21. Gatecreeper, An Unexpected Reality, Closed Casket Activities
20. Cannibal Corpse, Violence Unimagined, Metal Blade
19. Worm, Foreverglade, 20 Buck Spin
18. Unto Others, Strength, Roadrunner
17. Full of Hell, Garden of Burning Apparitions, Relapse
16. Cerebral Rot, Excretion of Mortality, 20 Buck Spin
15. Amenra, De doorn, Relapse
14. Lingua Ignota, Sinner Get Ready, Sargent House
13. The Silver, Ward of Roses, Gilead Media
12. Skepticism, Companion, Svart
11. Fucked Up, Year of the Horse, Tankcrimes
10. Wolves in the Throne Room, Primordial Arcana, Relapse
9. Iron Maiden, Senjutsu, BMG
8. Lamp of Murmuur, Submission and Slavery, Self-released
7. Converge, Bloodmoon: I, Epitaph/Deathwish Inc
6. Hooded Menace, The Tritonus Bell, Season of Mist
5. Panopticon, …And Again into the Light, Bindrune
4. Apparition, Feel, Profound Lore
3. Tribulation, Where the Gloom Becomes Sound, Metal Blade
2. Khemmis, Deceiver, Nuclear Blast
1. Carcass, Torn Arteries, Nuclear Blast

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Pick up the Carcass album on limited edition white vinyl, two different variants of the Converge album, and other records from this list on vinyl.