And here it is: a mammoth collection of one-sentence reviews (complete with a whole city’s worth of janky traffic lights as rankings) of every single other album I listened to in 2021 that wasn’t covered in any of my Roundups. Consider this the very last hurrah of 2021 before finally moving onto 2022. It’s been quite a ride. Thanks for reading.

1914 – Where Fear and Weapons Meet
This Ukrainian blackened death metal album, themed around World War I and the atrocities within, runs a little long, but at least tries to keep things unique and interesting to the ear with occasional sound samples from the WWI era.

6:33 – Feary Tales for Strange Lullabies: The Dome
French vaudevillian Mr. Bungle disciples bring an ever-changing mashup of hyperactive proggy styles while adding very little new to the table.

Abstract Void – Wishdream
What makes this sugary synthwave album stand out is its use of black metal shrieking vocals over the ’80s synths, but there’s still too much power chord cheesiness for me to subject myself to any genuine emotional reaction from it!

Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
Truly one of the only extreme metal releases of the year on almost everybody’s radar, the band actually built their own instruments in order to craft this otherworldly sonic experience, so be a dear and listen to this when you get a chance.

Ænigmatum – Deconsecrate
Riff-heavy blackened death/thrash metal that’s entertaining enough in the moment, but you can get this kind of thing everywhere else.

Aephanemer – A Dream of Wilderness
Children of Bodom-style melodeath that leans just far enough away from positive power chords to make me not feel too dirty listening to it.

Aesop Rock / Blockhead – Garbology
Aesop Rock’s complex old-fuck world-weary rhymes mesh well with Blockhead’s trippy beats and production, I just wish I heard this one sooner for my year-end list.

Alterage – Succumb
This speedy, unabating concrete block of black metal is ruined by the 21-minute drone of the final track.

Alustrium – A Monument to Silence
If you ask me, this is a pretty loud monument if it’s dedicated to silence.

Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across The Mountains of the Drämmarskol
A nerdy black metal symphony for Lord of the Rings dorks and Legend of Zelda fans.

Andy Shauf – Wilds
In the right mood, perhaps in the right environment, I can really connect with Shauf’s brand of Shins-style midtempo baroque pop, and Wilds is another triumph.

Andy Stott – Never the Right Time
BOOOOORRRIING, you’re boring Andy Stott, this is BORING, uggghhh!

Årabrot – Norwegian Gothic
Unfortunately, the fresh approach of hooky gothic blues alt-country à la Nick Cave gets naggingly stale throughout this album’s ponderous duration.

Arca – KICK ii
Arca’s music is cool and all, but I can’t think of a better way to naturally dilute the impact of your album release than releasing three more in the span of three days like a Buckethead wannabe.

Arca – KicK iii
And, yeah, if the third installment is supposed to be the best of the KICK series, then I’m done for now and I’ll try to absorb all this music at another time.

Arcane Existence – Colossus
Gorgeous (and well-mixed) piano arrangements with female operatic vocals make this symphonic metal album a 2021 standout, kids.

Archspire – Bleed the Future
Excellent technical death metal featuring unmatched lightning-fast staccato riffs and vocals with razor-sharp precision; proving once again that Archspire are masters of their niche.

Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
Straightforward indie rock that can occasionally border on dull, but, once in a while, the interesting storytelling makes up for the slightly monotonous music.

Armand Hammer / The Alchemist – Haram
I’m sure this is good, and in fact one of the better hip-hop albums of the year, but I couldn’t for the life of me get this one to stick as much as I tried.

Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince
Everything about this is gorgeous: the chamber arrangements, Aftab’s voice, the minimalistic jazz noodlings, the vibes, man, the vibes!

Ars Magna Umbrae – Throne Between Worlds
With such a wealth of great, powerful black metal released in 2021, bands will have to do more than just go through with the motions the way it feels like Ars Magna Umbrae did with the slumpiest sophomore slump that ever slumped.

Astrakhan – A Slow Ride Towards Death
The kind of epic progressive metal you’d get from the likes of Riverside or Pain of Salvation, but I didn’t hear any impressive moments that I’ve come to expect from Astrakhan’s forebearers.

At the Gates – The Nightmare of Being
Seasoned melodeath stalwarts keep pushing their sound to new boundaries; one can’t help but wish for the old At the Gates back.

aya – im hole
No one carried the tradition of unsettling old school industrial, Musique concrète, and abstract poetry in 2021 quite like aya.

Be’lakor – Coherence
Yet another Be’lakor studio album carries all the pristine and technically proficient playing of a melodic death metal album without anything that advances the stagnant genre even a micrometer further.

Bent Knee – Frosting
I’m usually very happy with Bent Knee’s music, but this album was a mess of uninspired songwriting and obnoxiously heavy use of autotune.

The Besnard Lakes – …Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
The Besnard Lakes always makes these cinematic, sweeping sonic landscapes while avoiding post-rock tropes by incorporating sentimental, psychedelic rock insight, and if you wanted more after checking out the new Low record, this one might scratch that itch for you too.

Beyond Grace – Our Kingdom Undone
Decent, rumbling death metal that feels like a marriage between the old school chugging and the new school tech metal crispness, and is that a sample of Obama I hear at the end of “Dark Forest Doctrine”?

Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
I guess most of Eilish’s initial draw was her disturbed personality; somehow it seems stale this time around.

Billy Strings – Renewal
Yeah…I gave straight bluegrass a shot this year and it was a mistake, haha, don’t worry, it’ll never happen again.

Bizarrekult – Vi overlevde
Black metal as stark and bleak and snowy as that coniferous moose on the album cover!

Blvck Hippie – If You Feel Alone at Parties
A rather distinctive, relatable, and deceptively complex indie emo project brought to us from an introverted, nostalgic black guy, so what’s not to like?

The Body – I’ve Seen All I Need to See
And I’ve heard all I need to hear, because this kind of death industrial chaos puts hair on your chest (even if you’re a woman!).

Bossk – Migration
This post-metal effort leans a little too hard on the more dull side of the Neurosis catalog for me to find anything new to unearth after several listens, but I liked it at first.

BROCKHAMPTON – ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE
Yet another thrilling and dynamic mix of songs from this multi-background hip hop collective proves that BROCKHAMPTON is the best boy band since Wu-Tang Clan!

The Bug – Fire
The Quietus’ AOTY for 2021 is an abrasive, claustrophobic, suffocating mess of accent-heavy British grime, and usually that sounds great to me, but I must not be feeling it at this point and time.

Caprae Idolum – Samhain Ceremonies
A decent display of ghostly, and surprisingly dynamic, depressive suicidal black metal that even has a trombone in the final track!

Cerebral Rot – Excretion of Mortality
Cerebral Rot brings stinky old-school death metal sensibilities into this over-bloated, often repetitive, often uninspired effort.

Churchburn – Genocidal Rite
The blackened doom aspect of this is interesting…I just don’t think any of this goes anywhere…at all, actually.

Circuit des Yeux – -io
This lady sounds like a deeper-voiced Siouxsie Sioux and she sings over a bunch of piano and cello so I don’t need to say anything more – green fuckin’ dot.

Clairo – Sling
I listened to this album eight times and I still don’t remember a single thing about it, so a red dot it gets!

Cloud Nothings – The Shadow I Remember
Hey, this album is pretty decent for something that not one single person in the entire universe cared about, including the band members’ loved ones.

Converge / Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
The first in what I hope to be a multi-part series, Bloodmoon: I sees the metalcore veterans team up with the seasoned gothic rock/folk/metal lady and bring about the best of both worlds.

Darkthrone – Eternal Hails……
Hahahaha…… …… …… …… …..yeah fucking right.

Dave – We’re All Alone in This Together
Dave offers another heaping helping of prettily orchestral, sad-boy, British hip hop that is as long as a therapy session and just as introspective.

Dawn Richard – Second Line
I often don’t get thrilled with this kind of r’n’b music, but there are a lot of cool twisty synths and electronics that make the surprising moments frequent and fun.

Death from Above 1979 – Is 4 Lovers
This band ruined its legacy by coming back, that’s for sure.

Decline of the Eye – Johannes
Post-black metal, whatever that means, and it makes good background music, but it’s way too even throughout to fully grab my interest.

Devin Townsend – The Puzzle
Devin Townsend surprises us again with a meandering mess of experimental collages stuck together with duct tape that take the idea of “progressive metal” and buttfucks it with no advanced warning.

Devin Townsend – Snuggles
All right, Devin, that’s enough.

Diabolizer – Khalkedonian Death
The very definition of meat-and-potatoes death metal that isn’t obnoxiously overlong, not bereft of musical ideas, and they’re also from Turkey!

Dinosaur Jr. – Sweep It Into Space
When did Dinosaur Jr. becoming a straight southern rock band, bleh.

Diskord – Degenerations
It took Diskord nine years to make another studio album, but the often abstract, chaotic, bendy bass thumpin’ and murky songwriting of Degenerations was worth all the wait (especially for someone like me who never heard of the band before 2021 anyway, ha!).

dltzk – Frailty
I can’t quite put my finger on what I don’t like about this, it feels like hyperactive digital hardcore Flying Lotus-type vignettes all with the disposability of my one-year-old’s fourth dirty diaper of the day.

Dormant Ordeal – The Grand Scheme of Things
Polish death metal of the Decapitated / Behemoth ilk with a fraction of the creativity.