A Turn of the Page

Spotify tells me that the album I listened to most this year was Iron Maiden's Senjutsu. That doesn't really surprise me, though the album came out in 2021 and I do usually try to spend a significant amount of time with new music every year. I love Iron Maiden and Senjutsu (which I really do think could have been great if 4 tracks had been dropped — ask nicely and I'll tell you which ones) got me through a winter that felt VERY long. I promise, though, that I have been trying to branch out past Senjutsu. I loved so much music this year, including albums by artists who didn't quite crack my songs list. The Mountain Goats sound revitalized on Bleed Out, which has a little more energy than their last two records. Beach House's Once Twice Melody is an amazing sustained mood piece. Pusha T put out a perfect record. Mdou Moctar's Niger EPs showcase some wonderful guitar playing. Charlie Griffiths made the best traditional prog metal album in years. Zach Bryan dropped a country record that another artist might have released as four albums. All of these albums (and so many more) made the year great, but the songs I've listed below are the ones I couldn't stop coming back to. Except the ones from Senjutsu. Those belong to 2021.

Amanda Shires - "Empty Cups"

Amanda Shires has had a tough time over the last couple of years? And maybe you don't want to listen to sad county songs all the time. I get that. But "Empty Cups" is a song about two middle-aged people having trouble navigating a relationship that isn't as new as it was and it stings so beautifully. Maren Morris performs really stunning backing vocals on the chorus, lifting Shires' voice up and supporting her as she shares her pain. Incredible, start to finish.

Angel Olson - "Big Time"

Angel Olson hasn't always clicked for me, but as an album I thought Big Time cohered in a way that her other work hasn't. (I promise to go back to All Mirrors, really. I'm not sure why I didn't spend more time with it.) The title track ambles wonderfully, all organ and swooning guitar, and the chorus doesn't overstay its welcome at all. As a bonus, try the version with Sturgill Simpson. It isn't as strong as the original, but his voice blends wonderfully with Olson's.

Avantasia - "The Moonflower Society"

A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society is not Avantasia's best record. For my money, that honor goes to 2016's Ghostlights, though I'll hear arguments for 2019's Moonglow as well. Moonflower Society is, however, a prime slice of pure, unadulterated power metal cheese and "The Moonflower Society" is the best it has to offer. Frontman Tobias Sammet's predilection for keyboard-drenched, '80s-inspired goofery is at its peak here, his magnificent vibrato wobbling alongside a surprisingly agile performance by Magnum singer Bob Catley. I don't know that I, personally, could ask for more.

Avatarium - "God Is Silent"

Ronnie James Dio fronted Black Sabbath for three albums: Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992). Between those three records, I would argue there are enough great songs for one great double album (and maybe that album is Heaven & Hell's 2007 live album Live From Radio City Music Hall?). As far as I am concerned, no band has mined the sound of those records as well as Avatarium. They don't just write great riffs, though they do write great riffs. They also have a dynamic vocalist, something that so many Black Sabbath clones have missed over the years. Jennie-Ann Smith, a truly tremendous singer in a way that not many metal vocalists are these days, elevates Avatarium above the rest of the traditional/doom metal pack and "God Is Silent" is the cream of their recent crop.

Blind Guardian - "Blood of the Elves"

The best Blind Guardian songs wed melody with aggression and "Blood of the Elves" does exactly that, letting Hansi Kursch spit venom before bursting into a chorus for the ages. It's also based on The Witcher, which maybe more power metal songs should be. Blind Guardian's The God Machine was absolutely the best power metal album of the year. "Blood of the Elves" makes clear exactly why. That scream at the end? Exactly.

The Comet is Coming - "CODE"

I don't know that the members of The Comet is Coming would want the music they make to be referred to as jazz, exactly, but this music is a bit jazz. It's also a bit psychedelia, a bit funk, a bit rock, and a whole lot of desire to move. In his fantastic book Dilla Time, Dan Charnas refers to J Dilla's music as sound that mimics movement. That's what "CODE" feels like to me. I defy you not to shimmy when that beat starts. Whew.

Gospel - "MVDM: The Magical Volumes Vol.1: The Magick Volume of Dark Madder or Magic Volume of Dark Matter"

Gospel make emo-prog, which is a thing you have to hear to believe. They put out a great album this year, The Loser, which marked their return to recording for the first time in 17 years. This song is not on that record. "MVDM" was released as a standalone single. It runs more than 21 minutes. It runs the gamut from screaming to gleaming synths. It is a prog jam strung out to absurd lengths. It is pretentious. It is absurd. It is astonishing. It is perfect. It could start at minute 12 without anyone missing the first half. It could, sure, but come on. The glorious, glorious excess of it all is wonderful. There just isn't anything else like it.

Joan Shelley - "Amberlit Morning"

On "Amberlit Morning," Joan Shelley and Bill Callahan sound magnificent together. Providing backing vocals, Callahan lends a little grit to Shelley's very clean voice. The song is childhood wonder streaked with tragedy, with cruelty. I don't have much to say here. I just know that I couldn't help but come back to this track again and again throughout the year.

Open Mike Eagle - "Kites"

Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton sampled/remixed/rewrote/ripped off the hip-hop and R&B he grew up with. "Kites" is a song that sounds like what happens when Hamilton gets folded back into the mix. I know it isn't Open Mike Eagle's flashiest song of the year, but it is the one that moved me every time I heard it.

Sam Smith and Kim Petras - "Unholy"

"Unholy" was a huge hit. It broke boundaries on a few different levels. It is maybe not, strictly speaking, a good song. It doesn't really do that much? It is maybe not exactly finished? It is, however, my vote for catchiest song of the year. Write a chorus as massive as this one and I will not complain too hard about anything else happening on the track. This is a song made for arenas. Expect it to pop on Sam Smith's tour next year.

The Smile - "The Smoke"

It turns out that when Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead make music together, they make music that sounds a lot like Radiohead. Sure, the percussion (provided by Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet) sounds a little different than the chopped and screwed drumming Radiohead has relied on for its last two records. Otherwise, though, Yorke and Greenwood know how to make music that at the very least lives adjacent to the work they do in Radiohead. That is not a complaint. The Smile's A Light For Attracting Attention would be a great Radiohead album, too, one that sounds a little more loose-limbed than that band's recent work. "The Smoke", with Yorke's vocals floating over lovely drums and a shimmying bass line, is a clear standout.

Titus Andronicus - "We're Coming Back"

A cover of the 1983 song by the English punk band Cock Sparrer, "We're Coming Back" is exactly the sort of song I needed in the wake of the height of the pandemic. No, it isn't over. Maybe it won't ever be over. I don't know. I'm not an expert. I do know that in a year that ricocheted between almost feeling "normal" and like society was on the brink of absolute collapse, "We're Coming Back" was a raft to cling to. "We're gonna run, we're gonna crawl, kick down every wall / It won't be long we're coming back to you." A welcome return for Titus Andronicus and a song that perfectly matches the moment.