Top Five Tracks Released in 2021
I'll level with you, end of year stuff has not been something I've done before but I'm willing to give it a go and lets be honest 2021 is probably one of the easiest years to cover as it couldn't have been any more 2020 if it tried. Its one saving grace was that it was over and done with pretty quickly. During 2021 we did glimpse some forms of normality with theatres and music venues opening up albeit with a fair few restrictions and regulations but I did manage to make it out to not one ... but two live shows! A lot less than I'm used to but it's still two more shows than last year. The lockdowns and closures have not deterred resourceful musicians though and bands have still been able to record new material which we the fans have needed more than ever these last couple of years. Without further ado here are my top 5 tracks released in 2021 that have gotten me through...
1
Totenkopf - Send More Paramedics
Self Released, 2021
Undead zombiecore thrash metal 4 piece Send More Paramedics announced a reunion tour to celebrate their 20th anniversary falling on Halloween 2021. In the summer of this year they brought us news that they had recorded a brand new 9 track album The Final Feast (15 years after their last album) which they self released on Bandcamp in Sept '21 in time for fans to digest this new offering ready for their tour dates. The first song from The Final Feast we heard was "Totenkopf", with its unique opening riff plunging straight into their frantic thrash and wonderfully ferocious vocals spat out at quite a pace by frontman B'Hellmouth, it was everything I had hoped it to be. Having called it a day back in 2007 and only resurfacing to play some anniversary show dates here and there, it was always a bit of a worry that they might not be as great as I remembered but I needn't have worried. Send More Paramedics were back to true form with The Final Feast and "Totenkopf" was the best choice for the first single. Not only is it a tribute to Jesus Franco's zombie B-movie "Oasis Of The Living Dead" (1982) but a huge nod to Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (1983). The line "Nazi zombies fuck you!" is the sing along outro you never knew you needed. After my first listen of "Totenkopf" I actually felt a little bit emotional as I was so pleased to hear such great new material from a band that are still one of my all time favourites! The rest of The Final Feast is a triumph of an album but the joy that "Totenkopf" still brings me means it deserves the top spot on my list!
2
Paint The Sky With Blood - Bodom After Midnight
Napalm Records, 2021
One of the most devastating pieces of news to reach me about a week into 2021 was that Alexi Laiho had passed away, my heart just broke. Having had an obsession with Children Of Bodom for the last two decades and still reeling slightly from the fact that COB had split in 2019 I was hopeful that Laiho and Freyberg would do great things with their new band Bodom After Midnight... and they did but unfortunately it was very short lived. Alexi was the original "Wild Child" and he partied hard but news of his death still hit me like a brick. Luckily Bodom After Midnight had hit the studio back in 2020 and recorded a 3 track EP titled Paint The Sky With Blood and I have chosen this EP's title track as my number 2 because it was the first track I had heard since Laiho's passing and it did things to me emotionally. Lets face it Alexi Laiho was Children Of Bodom and where he goes the music follows so Bodom After Midnight are just like COB and it was so good to hear that style again. I would say it is a bit more raw than COB's later albums which really brings back the excitement and pace of albums like Hatebreeder or Hatecrew Deathroll. I don't feel sadness when listening to this or the COB back catalogue but it was just so great to hear his voice and that guitar one last time.
3
Night Stalker - Beyond Paranoid
Razor To Wrist Records, 2021
A recent incarnation of the Dog Fasion Disco family. Beyond Paranoid are a thrash/punk band featuring the talents of Todd Smith, Jasan Stepp and Brian "Wendy" White who are all current members of Dog Fashion Disco with Tommy Sickles, ex- Nothingface, on drums. These prolific song smiths have once again pulled it out the bag showing that they can turn their hands to pretty much any sub genre within the alternative metal market. "Night Stalker" is from their debut album Dead Meat and has a horror movie theme running all the way through it with their lyric video being absolutely stacked with classic horror movie clips. As the title suggests it is loosely based on serial killer Richard "Night Stalker" Ramirez and other unsavoury characters plus the innocence of childhood spent hanging around graveyards. To people of a certain age the line "The killers and the crazies, God I miss the 80s, those were the best of times" will hopefully bring up pangs of nostalgia. Beyond Paranoid remind me a lot of early Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver incorporating a little bit of a later incarnation Knives Out!, hence the reason I really rate this single and the rest of the album. Again, I have been a Dog Fashion Disco fan for well over 20 years now and always look forward to their new projects and Beyond Paranoid are well worth checking out.
4
Far From Heaven - Fit For An Autopsy
Nuclear Blast Records, 2021
As my first three choices have been bands that I have been familiar with for many years I thought I should really try to mix things up a bit, so my number 4 is a band that is new to me. Deathcore band Fit For An Autopsy have been around since 2008 (I think) and although I was aware of them I had just not really paid that much attention to them until I came across this song kind of by accident. I had a YouTube playlist on as I was doing some chores and this absolute belter made me stop what I was doing and finally give them the time of day. I adore this song!! It's one that makes me wanna play it again as soon as the last chord has rung out. The technical guitar licks and softer melodic vocals of the intro draw you in then and then WHAM! you're slammed with the speed of the intro riff cranked up a few BPM and then that drum heavy chugging section starting at the 1:16 mark is just pure adrenaline. I absolutely love this, it makes me want to hug someone then promptly smack them over the head with a 2x4 for no apparent reason... this a normal reaction to this band right??? "Far From Heaven" is the first song released from their new album Oh What The Future Holds which isn't out til January '22 so I know what one of the first purchases of 2022 will be for me. This has since led me to check out the rest of their stuff and whilst I'm still obsessed with this song I have to admit to wishing I had bothered to check these guys out a lot sooner as I'm really enjoying what I hearing and it gives me something to look forward in the New Year!
5
Atlantic - Sleep Token
Spinefarm Records, 2021
To be honest with you I'm kind of surprised that I decided to put Sleep Token on my list too as they are not my normal listening and again I am very new to this band so know very little about this mysterious mask wearing alternative/progressive metal collective but I do know that I love "Atlantic". The very first time I listened to this was just after I had been to a wake to remember an old friend and this just completely went with my mood and hit me right in the heart. Musically the melancholy meandering is beautiful yet simple and stripped back. The lyrics hinting at self harm and eating disorders are a little unnerving yet weirdly feel so soothing almost like you're floating. The vocalist has a style that seems really familiar but at the same time I can't quite place where I know it from. Wherever it is I do or don't recognise him from really doesn't matter as you kind of forget everything and zone out (in a good way) when you hear him start singing this song, he has an amazing vocal range and subtle vibrato that nothing else really matters. "Atlantic" is the opening track of their album This Place Will Become Your Tomb which was released in Sept '21, one of these days I will get around to listening to the whole album but right now I still can't get passed this track to pay attention to the rest of the album. It may have just been perfect timing when I decided to listen to "Atlantic" and maybe if I had been in a happier mood I would have dismissed this song entirely but this is the way music works. To me Sleep Token might just have this one track that I love but I'm glad I came across this when I did as I will not forget it in a hurry.
