Coming off of the back of the dumpster fire that was 2020, we all had high hopes for 2021 here at Maniacs. While some of those hopes were quickly squashed by yet another variant of the virus that shall not be named, at least one of them, the desire to hear top-shelf new music from our favourite metal, punk, hardcore and rock acts, was not just lived up to, but well and truly exceeded.
In fact, the quality of music from the heavier end of the spectrum was so next level this year, that we had to split our best singles of the year into three different lists, one for metal, one for punk/rock and one for Aussie artists to ensure we included all the worthy bangers and we still feel like we left out more than a few worthy contenders off of the list. So with apologies to many and congratulations to 30, listed in alphabetical order, by artist, here are the 30 best metal singles of 2021 according to us.
Amenra - De Evenmens
Architects - Dead Butterflies
Avatar - Going Hunting
Animals As Leaders - Monomyth
Brand Of Sacrifice - Animal
Bodom After Midnight - Paint The Sky With Blood
Cannibal Corpse - Inhumane Harvest
Code Orange - Out For Blood
Converge - Blood Moon
Dying Wish - Fragments Of A Bitter Memory
Employed To Serve - Exist
Every Time I Die - Post-Boredom
Exodus - The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)
Fit For An Autopsy - Far From Heaven
Ghost - Hunters Moon
Gojira - Amazonia
Heriot - Recreant
Iron Maiden - The Writing On The Wall
Jinjer - Vortex
Korn - Start The Healing
Lamb Of God - Ghost Shaped People
Lorna Shore - To The Hellfire
Mastodon - Teardrinker
Pupil Slicer - Wounds Upon My Skin
Slaughter To Prevail - Baba Yaga
Slipknot - The Chapeltown Rag
Spiritbox - Circle With Me
Trivium - In The Court Of The Dragon
Unto Others - When Will Gods Work Be Done
Venom Prison - Pain Of Oizys
Listen to metal now
