Spotify Playlist: Best Albums of 2021

Dear readers,

It's this time of the year again! In times when most people listen to individual songs on streaming applications, I still keep discovering the magic of albums that develop a unique, inspiring and creative atmosphere from start to finish. Whenever it's possible, I try to purchase physical versions of said albums to directly support the musicians, the labels and the record stores. Arts such as music need support in order to survive and prosper. The following playlist includes one song from each of my twenty favourite records of the year. None of these songs can be found on my other playlist for the best songs of the year as I have specifically decided to choose tunes that represent their respective records best rather than potential hits. This playlist covers numerous genres from relaxing new age over nostalgic progressive rock to blackened folk metal. The countries covered by this playlist range from Japan over Lebanon and Hungary to Germany and Canada among many others. Please click on the following link to discover twenty songs taken from twenty different albums by twenty different groups that offer two hours and two minutes of captivating entertainment: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3AQ77I1AAlYWZIPpruAfNl

1. Ningen-Isu - Toshishun (taken from the album Kuraku)

2. Thy Catafalque - Szarvas (taken from the album Vardak)

3. Galneryus - The Howling Darkness (taken from the album Union Gives Strength)

4. Greta van Fleet - Trip the Light Fantastic (taken from the album The Battle at Garden's Gate)

5. Aquilus - Eternal Unrest (taken from the album Bellum I)

6. Bader Nana - The Dream (taken from the album Wormwood 2)

7. Hämatom - Die Welt ist high (taken from the album Berlin (Ein akustischer Tanz auf dem Vulkan))

8. Helloween - Down in the Dumps (taken from the album Helloween)

9. Unto Others - Destiny (taken from the album Strength)

10. April Rain - Prince Rupert's Drop (taken from the album Mirror of Ether)

11. Liquid Tension Experiment - Beating the Odds (taken from the album LTE3)

12. Therion - El Primer Sol (taken from the album Leviathan)

13. Rob Zombie - The Eternal Struggles of the Howling Man (taken from the album The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy)

14. Portrait - Ashen (taken from the album At One with None)

15. Volbeat - Becoming (taken from the album Servant of the Mind)

16. Cân Bardd - Autumn Shore (taken from the album Devoured by the Oak)

17. Les cowboys fringants - Les nuits de Repentigny (taken from the album Les nuits de Repentigny)

18. Thurnin - A Lament for the End (taken from the album Menhir)

19. Iron Maiden - Stratego (taken from the album Senjutsu)

20. Nemophila - Dissension (taken from the album Revive)