Hi, MetalBite readers! As a bonus to our usual month-end lists, here are the top 20 albums of the Year from our more regular writers. As you'll see below, there was absolutely no consensus between the four of us as to what the best albums this year were. No one album is on more than two top 20 lists.

We've covered a lot of these already via reviews and other album features, so we're not linking to every single one of them in our lists - that would be way too monotonous and taxing. If it's on the list, we think it's good, what else do you need to know? The fact that you're reading this means you know how to use Google, so look something up yourself if you want to hear it. I'm not your mom.

Of course, all these lists are subjective, but don't let that stop you from telling us why our lists suck, are narrow-minded, demonstrate how we are posers who don't know where the good stuff is, how your year-end list is clearly superior… whatever form it takes, your hatred is our fuel.

BENJAMIN'S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2021

20. Darkthrone - Eternal Hails…

19. Corr Mhona - Abhainn

18. Necromantia - To The Depths We Descend

17. Severed Boy - Tragic Encounters

16. Mastodon - Hushed And Grim

15. Skepticism - Companion

14. Enforced - Kill Grid

13. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst

12. Carcass - Torn Arteries

11. Concrete Winds - Nerve Butcherer

10. Thanatomass - Black Vitriol & Iron Fire

9. Sorguinazia - Negation Of Delirium

8. Leprous - Aphelion

7. At The Gates - The Nightmare Of Being

6. Obsolete - Animate // Isolate

5. The Ruins Of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires

4. Thy Catafalque - Vadak

3. Craven Idol - Forked Tongues

2. Lamp Of Murmuur - Submission & Slavery

1. Rivers Of Nihil - The Work

NATE'S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2021

20. Altered Dead - Returned To Life

19. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm

18. Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime

17. Diabolizer - Khalkedonian Death

16. Spectral Wound - A Diabolical Thirst

15. Ophidian I - Desolate

14. Worm - Foreverglade

13. Dvne - Etemen Aenka

12. Ominous Ruin - Amidst Voices that Echo in Stone

11. Pestilential Shadows - Revenant

10. Passeisme - Eminence

9. Crystal Coffin - The Starway Eternal

8. Dormant Ordeal - The Grand Scheme of Things

7. The Flight of Sleipnir - Eventide

6. Fractal Generator - Macrocosmos

5. Aenigmatum - Deconsecrate

4. Stortregn - Impermanence

3. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning

2. Archspire - Bleed the Future

1. Stone Healer - Conquistador

FELIX'S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2021

20. Mortal Vision - Mind Manipulation

19. Myronath - Djevelkraft

18. Meister Leonhardt - Meister Leonhardt

17. Grabak - Scion

16. Czarnobog - Night Of The Uralic Storm

15. The Stone - Kosturnice

14. Malakhim - Theion

13. Trapped In Purgatory - Damned Nation

12. Meuchelmord - Mordmelodien

11. Eisenkult - ...Vom Himmel, Hoch Herab

10. Portrait - At One With None

9. Terrordome - Straight Outta Smogtown

8. Mavorim - Non Omnis Moria

7. Killing - Face the Madness

6. Artillery - X

5. Cryptosis - Bionic Swarm

4. Exodus - Persona Non Grata

3. Malum - Devil's Creation

2. Craven Idol - Forked Tongues

1. Malignament - Hypcrisis Absolution

MICHAEL'S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2021

20. Fear Factory - Aggression Continuum

19. Volbeat - Servant Of The Mind

18. Rhapsody of Fire - Glory For Salvation

17. Sněť - Mokvání V Okovech

16. Inhuman Condition - Rat God

15. Impaled Nazarene - Eight Headed Serpent

14. Memoriam - To The End

13. Vulture Lord - Desecration Rite

12. Cryptosis - Bionic Swarm

11. Wode - Burn In Many Mirrors

10. Space Chaser - Give Us Life

9. Nekromantheon - Visions Of Trismegistos

8. Wormwood - Arkivet

7. Exodus - Persona Non Grata

6. Killing - Face The Madness

5. Ravager - The Third Attack

4. Carcass - Torn Arteries

3. Schavot - Galgenbrok

2. Necromantia - To The Depths We Descend…

1. Portrait - At One With None

A wonderful evening with a great thrash billing awaited me that Tuesday. The tour was originally planned for April 21 but for the reasons we all know the tour was postponed. Starting with Swiss guys from Algebra, the audience (who wasn't too big that early evening) got offered some pretty interesting technical thrash with a lot of Slayer and Sepultura-influences. They put the focus mainly on their newest album Chiroptera and only played two songs from their previous albums. I have to say that I liked their performance quite a bit and that the music came over much better and more aggressive than on their albums. I guess I should give them another spin though.

Tracklist: 'The Fallen' / 'Kleptomaniac' / 'Resucitation' / 'Inner Constraints' / 'Chiroptera' / 'Accomplice' / 'Crook' / 'Suspect'

After Algebra another Swiss band, namely Comaniac, entered the stage. They must have been a real blast on tour because they told me that their latest album Holodox was already sold out and that the Hamburg audience was to blame for that. First of all their eye-catcher was their bass player who had a fracture and sat on the stage with a plaster cast. The music that the quartet plays is more technical than what Algebra did, I would say that it is what you would have called techno-thrash in the 90s. A lot of Coroner-influenced song-writing and some really cool hooks made out the music.

Tracklist: 'Coal' / 'Secret Seed' / 'Holodox' / 'Art Is Dead' / 'New Face Of Hell' / 'Narcotic Clan' / 'Head Of The Snake' / '1,2 Rage'

With Cryptosis my personal highlight of the evening entered the stage. The first thing that caught my attention were the two huge monitors with a lot of advertisement for the band which was displayed before they started. But also during the gig the monitors played a main role. The Dutch trio played the whole Bionic Swarm album and this was done to absolute perfection. The audience was involved and I guess that everybody was astonished about the guys. During the gig the monitors played all their videos and a lot of animation and the timing of Franck Johanson, Laurens Houvast and Marco Prij was absolutely flawless. No mistakes were allowed because of the videos that ran with their gig and they really got it. So let's hope for a new album soon.

Tracklist: 'Overture 2149' / 'Decypher' / 'Death Technology' / 'Prospect Of Immortality' / 'Transcendence' / 'Perpetual Motion' / 'Conjuring The Egoist' / 'Game Of Souls' / 'Mindscape' / 'Flux Divergence'

After this it was pretty hard to top the concert but Vektor did a very fantastic job. I won't go into detail now with all the gossip about being on/off at Century Media and the reasons about that, just focus on the music. They also played a perfect gig without any flaws so that everybody who is into extreme technical thrash was absolutely satisfied with their performance. They interacted a lot with the audience and appeared to be quite appealing that evening. What may be a little bit exhausting is the fact that they have such long songs so that it might be hard to follow sometimes.

Tracklist: 'Charging The Void' / 'LCD' / 'Black Future' / 'Dead By Dawn' / 'Tetrastructural Minds' / 'Collapse' / 'Recharging The Void' / 'Asteroid'