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2020


Thumbs up: +1
My favourite albums of 2020.

I've taken a new approach this year - switching to ratings out of 5, rounded to the nearest 0.5. Trying to rate everything to the nearest 0.1 was becoming a chore. Anything rated lower than 2/5 has been excluded.

Also, while my previous lists have been 99% metal, 2020 has seen me exploring music across a much broader range of genres.

Created by: Moose | 20.09.2020



1. Loathe - I Let It In And It Took Everything
(Progressive / Metalcore / Hardcore, 4.5/5)
2. Hum - Inlet
(Alt Rock / Shoegaze, 4.5/5)
3. Satyr - Locus
(Progressive / Math / Post-Hardcore, 4.5/5)
4. Deftones - Ohms
(Alternative Metal, 4.5/5)
5. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
(Singer-songwriter, 4.5/5)
6. Krosis - A Memoir Of Free Will
(Progressive Deathcore, 4.5/5)
7. Master Boot Record - Floppy Disk Overdrive
(Instrumental industrial metal, 4.5/5)
8. Svalbard - When I Die, Will I Get Better?
(Post-hardcore / shoegaze, 4.5/5)
9. GoGo Penguin - GoGo Penguin
(Instrumental / Jazz, 4/5)
10. Show Me A Dinosaur - Plantgazer
(Post / shoegaze / black metal, 4/5)
11. Pathogen (US) - Null Space
(Djent / Deathcore / Metalcore, 4/5)
12. Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines
(Synthwave, 4/5)
13. Dogleg - Melee
(Post-hardcore, 4/5)
14. Daniel Tompkins - Ruins
(Djent, 4/5)
15. NNAMDÏ - BRAT
(Alternative Pop, 4/5)
16. Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment
(Black metal, Grindcore, 4/5)
17. Keaton Henson - Monument
(Singer-songwriter, 4/5)
18. Haken - Virus
(Progressive, 4/5)
19. Hexecutor - Beyond Any Human Conception Of Knowledge?
(Progressive Thrash, 4/5)
20. Sweven - The Eternal Resonance
(Progressive death, 4/5)
21. Code Orange - Underneath
(Hardcore / Metalcore / Punk, 4/5)
22. Protest The Hero - Palimpsest
(Progressive Metalcore, 4/5)
23. Lorna Shore - Immortal
(Deathcore, 4/5)
24. Dance Gavin Dance - Afterburner
(Post-hardcore / Math, 4/5)
25. Igorrr - Spirituality And Distortion
(Cybergrind, Experimental, 4/5)
26. The Weeknd - After Hours
(Synthpop / Alternative R&B, 4/5)
27. Caspian - On Circles
(Post-Rock, 3.5/5)
28. Intronaut - Fluid Existential Inversions
(Post-metal, Atmospheric sludge metal, 3.5/5)
29. Reflections - Willow
(Deathcore / Downtempo, 3.5/5)
30. Kvelertak - Splid
(Punk / Hardcore, 3.5/5)
31. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
(Psychedelic Rock, 3.5/5)
32. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
(Nu Jazz / Jazz Fusion, 3.5/5)
33. Charli XCX - How I'm Feeling Now
(Electropop / Bubblegum Bass, 3.5/5)
34. The Sorcerers - In Search Of The Lost City Of The Monkey God
(Ethio-Jazz / Jazz-Funk, 3.5/5)
35. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
(Dance-Pop / Nu-Disco, 3.5/5)
36. Moses Sumney - grae: Part 1
(Art Pop, 3.5/5)
37. Pain Of Salvation - Panther
(Progressive Rock, 3.5/5)
38. Mammal Hands - Captured Spirits
(Jazz, 3.5/5)
39. Distant Dream - Point Of View
(Post-Rock, 3.5/5)
40. Zora Jones - Ten Billion Angels
(Electronic
41. Ben Levin Group - Fake (EP)
(Avant-garde, 3.5/5)
42. The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic
(Post-metal, Sludge metal, Hardcore, 3.5/5)
43. Arca - KicK i
(Deconstructed Club / Glitch Hop, 3.5/5)
44. Everything Everything - Re-Animator
(Art Pop
45. Jaga Jazzist - Pyramid
(Jazz fusion, Ambient, 3.5/5)
46. The Fall Of Troy - Mulkitearth
(Post hardcore / Math, 3.5/5)
47. Surfjan Stevens - The Ascension'
(Indietronica / Art Pop, 3.5/5)
48. Ocean Alley - Lonely Diamond
(Alternative / Psychedelic Rock, 3.5/5)
49. [STÖMB] - From Nihil
(Djent / Progressive, 3.5/5)
50. Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
(Hardcore, 3.5/5)
51. Luedji Luna - Bom Mesmo é Estar Debaixo D'Água
(Singer-songwriter, Jazz, 3.5/5)
52. Kali Uchis - Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞
(Alternative R&B, 3.5/5)
53. Max Richter - Voices
(Modern Classical, 3.5/5)
54. Machine Girl - U-Void Synthesizer
(Digital Hardcore / Electro-Industrial, 3.5/5)
55. Ben Lukas Boysen - Mirage
(Electronic / Modern Classical, 3.5/5)
56. VASA - Heroics
(Instrumental progressive, 3/5)
57. Run The Jewels - RTJ4
(Hip Hop, 3/5)
58. Tennis - Swimmer
(Indie Pop / Dream Pop, 3/5)
59. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?
(Pop / Post-disco, 3/5)
60. The Pineapple Thief - Versions Of The Truth
(Progressive Rock
61. Ólafur Arnalds - Some Kind Of Piece
(Ambient, Modern Classical, 3/5)
62. DEADLIFE - City Of Eternal Rain
(Synthwave / Dark Synth, 3/5)
63. Cloudkicker - Solitude
(Progressive, 3/5)
64. Pallbearer - Forgotten Days
(Doom metal, 3/5)
65. Nothing - The Great Dismal
(Shoegaze, 3/5)
66. The Flaming Lips - American Head
(Neo-Psychedelia
67. Warbringer - Weapons Of Tomorrow
(Thrash, 3/5)
68. Heaven Shall Burn - Of Truth & Sacrifice
( Metalcore, Melodic death metal, 3/5)
69. Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Patchouli Blue
(Dark Ambient / Dark Jazz, 3/5)
70. Sepultura - Quadra
( Alternative metal, Groove thrash metal, 3/5)
71. Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind
(Neo-Psychedelia, 3/5)
72. Frederik Valentin - Elephant
(Ambient Electronic, 3/5)
73. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts V: Together
(Ambient, 3/5)
74. Pearl Jam - Gigaton
(Alternative Rock, 3/5)
75. Havok - V
(Thrash, 3/5)
76. Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
(Neo-Soul, Singer-Songwriter, 3/5)
77. Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans
(Microhouse / Ambient, 3/5)
78. Draugnov - Arkhipov
(Instrumental Post-rock/metal, 3/5)
79. Good Tiger - Raised In A Doomsday Cult
(Progressive, 3/5)
80. Sevdaliza - Shabrang
(Art Pop, 3/5)
81. Shabaka and the Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History
(Afro-Jazz / Spiritual Jazz, 3/5)
82. The Echelon Effect - Drift Ten
(Post-rock / ambient, 3/5)
83. Ulver - Flowers Of Evil
(Synthpop, 3/5)
84. Ni Moya - Ni Moya
(Electronica / Ambient, 3/5)
85. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?
(Pop / Post-disco, 3/5)
86. Matt Elliott - Farewell to All we Know
(Progressive Folk / Singer-Songwriter, 3/5)
87. Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You
(Indie Pop / Rock, 3/5)
88. Yelle - L'Ère du Verseau
(Pop / Synth, 3/5)
89. All Them Witches - Nothing As The Ideal
(Desert Rock / Psychedelic Rock, 3/5)
90. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
(Tech House / Ambient Pop, 3/5)
91. Their Dogs Were Astronauts - Dreamcatcher / (Djent / Progressive, 3/5)
92. Intervals - Circadian
(Progressive / Djent, 3/5)
93. Magic Sword - Endless
(Synthwave, 3/5)
94. Humavoid - Lidless
(Progressive / Djent, 3/5)
95. Ovid's Withering - Terraphage
(Deathcore / Djent, 3/5)
96. Kardashev - The Baring Of Shadows [EP]
(Progressive/Atmospheric Deathcore, 3/5)
97. Agnes Obel - Myopia
(Art Pop / Chamber Pop, 2.5/5)
98. Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still
(Technical Death, 2.5/5)
99. Wake - Devouring Ruin
(Grindcore, 2.5/5)
100. J Hus - Big Conspiracy
(Brit Rap, 2.5/5)
101. Buckethead - Healing Inside Outside Every Side
(Instrumental, 2.5/5)
102. In The Fire - The Living Horror Show
(Technical thrash metal, Blackened death metal, 2.5/5)
103. August Burns Red - Guardians
(Technical metalcore, 2.5/5)
104. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
(Jazz funk fusion, 2.5/5)
105. Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
(Indie Pop / Singer/Songwriter, 2.5/5)
106. Enter Shikari - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible
(Metalcore / Trancecore, 2.5/5)
107. Birds of Tokyo - Human Design
(Alternative rock, 2.5/5)
108. Psychonaut - Unfold The God Man
(Post-metal, 2.5/5)
109. Sea in the Sky - Dreamer (EP)
(Progressive, 2.5/5)
110. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
(Singer-songwriter, 2.5/5)
111. Christian Lee Hutson - Beginners
(Singer Songwriter, 2.5/5)
112. Covet - Technicolor
(Math Rock / Post-Rock, 2.5/5)
113. Remo Drive - A Portait Of An Ugly Man
(Indy Rock, 2.5/5)
114. The Microphones - The Microphones in 2020
(Singer/Songwriter, Indie Folk, 2.5/5)
115. Elder - Omens
(Stoner, 2.5/5)
116. Globular & Geoglyph - Messages from the Resonator
(Psybient / Trip-Hop, 2.5/5)
117. Wills Desolve - Echoes
(Progressive death / post, 2.5/5)
118. Cytotxin - Nuklearth
(Technical Death Metal, 2.5/5)
119. Currents - The Way It Ends
(Metalcore / Djent, 2.5/5)
120. Declan McKenna - Zeros
(Indie Rock
121. Lamb Of God - Lamb Of God
(Thrash, 2/5)
122. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
(Alt-Country / Singer Songwriter, 2/5)
123. An Autumn For Crippled Children - All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet
(Post-Black / Shoegaze, 2/5)
124. Poppy - I Disagree
(Alternative Metal, 2/5)
125. Black Crown Initiate - Violent Portraits Of Doomed Escape
(Progressive Death, 2/5)
126. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
(Tech House / Art Pop, 2/5)
127. The Black Dahlia Murder - Verminous
(Melodic death / metalcore, 2/5)
128. Little Albert - Swamp King
(Delta Blues / Psychedelic Blues, 2/5)
129. The Strokes - The New Abnormal
(Indie Rock, 2/5)
130. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo
(Hip Hop, 2/5)
131. Nihiloxica - Kaloli
(East African Music / Electronic, 2/5)
132. Kairon; IRSE! - Polysomn
(Shoegaze
133. Zopp - Zopp
(Progressive Rock, 2/5)
134. Okkyung Lee - Yeo​-​Neun
(Modern Classical, 2/5)
135. Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour
(R&B, 2/5)
136. Novelists FR - C'est la vie
(Progressive / Metalcore / Djent, 2/5)
137. Spacey Jane - Sunlight
(Indie Rock, 2/5)
138. Disclosure - Energy
(UK Garage
139. Bill Callahan - Gold Record
(Americana



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by Moose ]




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