Synthentral Top 30 Albums of 2021

There was so much amazing music in 2021. Bands released more singles and EP’s this year than albums, so I started with just under 450 albums to rate.

First step was to get that down to 100 for the Top 100. Then I removed 50 more for the Top 50, and finally I had to remove an additional 20 for the Top 30 (here we are), which will have a corresponding show with one song from each album (pending).

Here are the rules and guidelines I work with for my Top 2021 lists:

• I must own the album to consider it (either through purchase or provided by band or label).
• Only albums qualify: no EP’s or Singles. There are plenty of lists out there for “top songs.”
• To qualify as an album it must have at least seven original songs. Remixes, new versions, covers albums, compilations (“best of”), etc., do not qualify. Intro and outro songs, instrumentals, and intermission songs do not count toward the song total.
• Albums are weighted so that an album with 7 songs has the same point system as an album with 12 songs.
• I judge each song individually, then rate the album overall. Did I want to listen to the entire album? Were there songs I wanted to skip? Was I engaged as a listener and fan?
• I post the lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style.

I fully recognize that my list (and everyone’s list, for that matter) is subjective. I love that others have different lists and are passionate about different bands and albums! I hope you agree with many fo these, but I also hope you have some favorites that aren’t on my list, but more importantly, I hope these lists introduce you to a band or album you may have missed in 2021!

I have “LISTEN HERE” links next to each album cover below, so give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 30 for 2021 (in alphabetical order):

Balvanera – Courses Of Action (LISTEN HERE)

Beyond Border – Awakening (LISTEN HERE)

BlakLight – Into The Void (LISTEN HERE)

CHVRCHES – Screen Violence (LISTEN HERE)

Dagon – Adam Krueger (LISTEN HERE)

Devours – Escape From Planet Devours (LISTEN HERE)

District 13 – Mind Over Matter (LISTEN HERE)

Double Echo – ☾ (LISTEN HERE)

Dräger – Goths À La Discothèque (LISTEN HERE)

echōdead – Random Headnoise Parallax (LISTEN HERE)

Elektrostaub – Reliance (LISTEN HERE)

F.O.D. – Mensch Macht Maschine (LISTEN HERE)

j:dead – A Complicated Genocide (LISTEN HERE)

LAU – Believer (LISTEN HERE)

Machine Made Pleasure – Danceland Graffiti (LISTEN HERE)

Nation Of Language – A Way Forward (LISTEN HERE)

Nature Of Wires – Out Of My System (LISTEN HERE)

Norderney – Without The Limelight (LISTEN HERE)

Nórdika – Hipnotik (LISTEN HERE)

Nuovo Testamento – New Earth (LISTEN HERE)

Parralox – Travelogue (LISTEN HERE)

Piston Damp – Making The World Great Again (LISTEN HERE)

Potochkine – Sortilèges (LISTEN HERE)

Raindancer – A Different Horizon (LISTEN HERE)

Rector Scanner – Radioteleskop (LISTEN HERE)

The Saint Paul – Core (LISTEN HERE)

Tenderlash – Hold Still (LISTEN HERE)

thewalkingicon – Shadow Of The Saints (LISTEN HERE)

Tobias Bernstrup – Petrichor (LISTEN HERE)

Yota – Lucid Dreams (LISTEN HERE)

Synthentral Top 50 Albums of 2021

There was so much amazing music in 2021. Bands released more Singles and EP’s this year than albums, so I started with just under 450 albums to rate.

First step was to get that down to 100 for the Top 100. Then I removed 50 more for the Top 50 (here we are), and finally I’ll remove an additional 20 for the Top 30, which will have a corresponding show with one song from each album.

Here are the rules and guidelines I work with for my Top 2021 lists:

• I must own the album to consider it (either through purchase or provided by band or label).
• Only albums qualify: no EP’s or Singles. There are plenty of lists out there for “top songs.”
• To qualify as an album it must have at least seven original songs. Remixes, new versions, covers albums, compilations (“best of”), etc., do not qualify. Intro and outro songs, instrumentals, and intermission songs do not count toward the song total.
• Albums are weighted so that an album with 7 songs has the same point system as an album with 12 songs.
• I judge each song individually, then rate the album overall. Did I want to listen to the entire album? Were there songs I wanted to skip? Was I engaged as a listener and fan?
• I post the lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style.

I fully recognize that my list (and everyone’s list, for that matter) is subjective. I love that others have different lists and are passionate about different bands and albums! I hope you agree with many fo these, but I also hope you have some favorites that aren’t on my list, but more importantly, I hope these lists introduce you to a band or album you may have missed in 2021!

I have “LISTEN HERE” links next to below each album cover, so give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 50 for 2021 (in alphabetical order):

Balvanera – Courses Of Action (LISTEN HERE)

Beyond Border – Awakening (LISTEN HERE)

Bikini Death Race – Refrigerator (LISTEN HERE)

Black Marble – Fast Idol (LISTEN HERE)

BlakLight – Into The Void (LISTEN HERE)

Brutalist Architecture In The Sun – Post Democracy The Album (LISTEN HERE)

CHVRCHES – Screen Violence (LISTEN HERE)

Clicks – G.O.T.H. (LISTEN HERE)

Cold Connection – Seconds Of Solitude (LISTEN HERE)

Creature And The Wolf – Night Feed (LISTEN HERE)

Dagon – Adam Krueger (LISTEN HERE)

Dead Lights – Dead Lights (LISLTEN HERE)

Devours – Escape From Planet Devours (LISTEN HERE)

District 13 – Mind Over Matter (LISTEN HERE)

Double Echo – ☾Double Echo – ☾ (LISTEN HERE)

Dräger – Goths À La Discothèque (LISTEN HERE)

echōdead – Random Headnoise Parallax (LISTEN HERE)

Elektroforez – 505 (LISTEN HERE)

Elektrostaub – Reliance (LISTEN HERE)

F.O.D. – Mensch Macht Maschine (LISTEN HERE)

Faderhead – Years Of The Serpent (LISTEN HERE)

Funker Vogt – Element 115 (LISTEN HERE)

Gary Numan – Intruder (LISTEN HERE)

Glass Spells – Shattered (LISTEN HERE)

Ironfield – No Sound (LISTEN HERE)

j:dead – A Complicated Genocide (LISTEN HERE)

Kat Von D – Love Made Me Do It (LISTEN HERE)

LAU – Believer (LISTEN HERE)

Machine Made Pleasure – Danceland Graffiti (LISTEN HERE)

Nation Of Language – A Way Forward (LISTEN HERE)

Nature Of Wires – Out Of My System (LISTEN HERE)

No Trust In Dawn – Lost And Apart (LISTEN HERE)

Norderney – Without The Limelight (LISTEN HERE)

Nórdika – Hipnotik (LISTEN HERE)

Nuovo Testamento – New Earth (LISTEN HERE)

Parralox – Travelogue (LISTEN HERE)

Piston Damp – Making The World Great Again (LISTEN HERE)

Potochkine – Sortilèges (LISTEN HERE)

Pro Patria – Godless (LISTEN HERE)

Raindancer – A Different Horizon (LISTEN HERE)

Rector Scanner – Radioteleskop (LISTEN HERE)

S Y Z Y G Y X – (Im)mortal (LISTEN HERE)

The Saint Paul – Core (LISTEN HERE)

Tenderlash – Hold Still (LISTEN HERE)

thewalkingicon – Shadow Of The Saints (LISTEN HERE)

Tobias Bernstrup – Petrichor (LISTEN HERE)

Velvet Vega – We’ll Never Get Back (LISTEN HERE)

Yota – Lucid Dreams (LISTEN HERE)

Zanias – Unearthed (LISTEN HERE)

Zoodrake – Seven (LISTEN HERE)