Harbinger of D.O.O.M.’s Top 13 Albums of 2021

It’s finally time to compile my list of the thirteen best—or rather my thirteen favourite—albums of the year. Why thirteen, you ask? Because it’s been such an amazing year for music that I couldn’t narrow my list down to only ten albums, and fifteen felt like too many, so lucky thirteen it is! For each album, I’ve posted a little comment along with a link to the review I did of it when it was released. In those reviews, you’ll find links to the bands’ Bandcamp pages to purchase their music, if you so desire.

13. Craneium – Unknown Heights – A great album from a brilliant band that had to be on my year-end list. Read my review here.

12. Altareth – Blood – The doomiest album on this list. Powerful from start to finish. Read my review here.

11. Indus Valley Kings – Indus Valley Kings – The first album I reviewed in 2021 that started the year off with a loud bang. Read my review here.

10. Lords of the Opium Church – Lords of the Opium Church – Fellow Canucks! An old school rock/stoner album to have on repeat. Read my review here.

9. Book of Wyrms – Occult New Age – What a trip this album is! Terrific occult/heavy psych record. Read my review here.

8. Kadavar & Elder – ELDOVAR: A Story of Darkness & Light – The collaboration of the year! Pink Floydesque and immersive album. Read my review here.

7. Devil Electric – GODLESS – One of my absolute favourite Doom bands of the past five years releases a stellar record. Read my review here.

6. Wytch – Exordium – The best female-fronted album of the year. Absolutely phenomenal. Read my review here.

5. KISS – Off the Soundboard: Tokyo 2001 – My favourite band of all-time. It may be 20 years old, but this double live album was officially released in 2021 and it’s on par with the first Alive! so it deserves its place on this list. Read my review here.

4. Sleep Moscow – Of the Sun – Probably the album I’ve listened to the most this year. It suits any mood I’m in and it’s a quiet, meditative record. A stunning collection of some of the most beautiful songs of 2021. Read my review here.

3. VAZUM – V+ - The most underrated band of the year. I absolutely love this album! A Deathgaze/goth/new wave/industrial masterpiece. Read my interview with the duo here.

2. Doctor Smoke – Dreamers and the Dead – What a total blast this album is! Feels like a greatest hits compilation so much it’s filled with cool songs. A perfect heavy rock/metal record. Read my review here.

1. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu – A huge surprise from a band I’d lost a bit of interest in. Their best release in 20 years and an ambitious double album that continues to blow me away with every new listen. Up the Irons for my favourite album of 2021! Read my review here.

There you have it, folks! I hope you’ll discover one or two albums to your liking on this list that you hadn’t heard of or paid enough attention to. Here’s to 2022, hopefully another year that will be stacked with amazing records!

Elder & Kadavar – ELDOVAR: A Story of Darkness & Light

For my final review of what has been a phenomenal year for music, I picked the sublime collaboration between two bands: Elder and Kadavar. The pandemic and lockdown brought them to play together and the end result is ELDOVAR: A Story of Darkness & Light. Elder and Kadavar have been around for a while and both bands have a remarkable discography. If you’re not familiar with either of them, you owe it to yourself to spend a few hours on Bandcamp to peruse their body of work. The two bands whose styles merge seamlessly here, give us a blend of heavy psych and prog rock filled with nuances from a plethora of other genres.

It’s undeniable that Pink Floyd has been a major influence on both bands; the Floyd blueprint is all over this record and it’s blissful to the ears. “From Deep Within” puts the listener in a trance; Floydian vibes abound in this opening track. “In the Way” trades Floyd for Led Zep as it echoes something that could have easily been found on Zeppelin III. A folkish tune, it’s one of the absolute highlights of this wonderful album. “El Matador”, which was the album’s first single, and a perfect choice as it truly encapsulates the record’s musical direction and uniqueness. It’s followed by two magnificent instrumentals, the soft “Rebirth of the Twins” and the delightfully Floydian “Raspletin”, a stellar track. Then comes the centerpiece, the epic 11-minute “Blood Moon Night”. Majestic in scope, I do find it a tad self-indulgent in certain spots. Maybe it’s because I’d read that the lads felt it might be the best song either band have ever written, so my expectations were sky-high for that one. Nonetheless, it remains a fantastic, complex song. Things come to a gentle coda with “Cherry Trees”, a song with some great piano and hints of Supertramp.

ELDOVAR is nothing short of astonishing and a clear album of the year candidate. The communion of Elder and Kadavar has birthed an unforgettable album and we can all be thankful that it’s now in the world for us to cherish. Whether you’re a fan of Pink Floyd, either of the two bands responsible for this record, or simply enjoy quality heavy psych and/or prog rock, you’re bound to fall in love with this mind-blowing collection of songs.

Elder’s Bandcamp page: https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/

Kadavar Bandcamp page: https://kadavarberlin.bandcamp.com/ 

Is it Bandcamp Friday yet? It sure is!

Bandcamp Friday’s back, baby! For the uninitiated, Bandcamp Friday’s the day where Bandcamp waives its revenue share and all the money goes directly to the artists and labels. It happens the first Friday of every month. What better time to support your favorite artists and bands! It’s becoming kind of a tradition for me to give you music lovers some buying suggestions and tell you about my personal picks of the week. Plus, it generates a little traffic on the blog, so everybody’s happy. So, without further ado, here are this week’s finest, from your friendly Harbinger of D.O.O.M.

First off, a collaboration that is absolutely phenomenal: ELDOVAR, which consists of two bands, Kadavar and Elder, joining forces during the pandemic to make an unforgettable album. I’ve just finished listening to the whole thing for the first time and my mind is blown. A review will follow in the days to come. Do your soul a favor and pick up a copy of ELDOVAR: A Story of Darkness & Light right here.

Second, the ever-reliable WEEDIAN has curated another stellar compilation, this time focusing on the Aussies with Trip to Australia. A “Name Your Price” festival of the best Aussie Stoner/Doom/Psych music running over five hours in length and featuring 58 bands. Snatch a copy here.

Third, an instrumental band that is very close to my heart, IKITAN, are releasing a tape (and digital album) featuring two new gems and their now famous “Twenty Twenty Live at Forte Geremia” 20-minute epic. It’s titled Darvaza y Brinicle and you can purchase it here.

Fourth, Magnetic Eye Records are giving us a double dose of AC/DC tribute albums. Their legendary Back in Black album gets the Redux treatment over here from the best Doom/Stoner/Metal bands playing today. Then there’s The Best of AC/DC Redux which shines the spotlight on some of the band’s biggest hits as well as deeper cuts, covered and reimagined by a who’s who of today’s best bands. You can find it here.

And last but not least, if you just want a single song to bob your head to, then Titanosaur’s got you covered with the second single off their upcoming new album; a killer song called “We’re All Waiting”. I can’t wait to hear the full record! Check it out over here; it’s also a “Name Your Price” track.

That’s all for this #BandcampFriday, folks. I hope you’ll find something to your taste in my sample of suggestions and that you'll listen to great music while supporting those hard-working bands. Until next time, have a rockin’ weekend and happy listening!