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+# My top album of 2020
+
+Months late to the game on this one but it has been something I had been thinking about towards the back half of 2020. Considering what a crazy year it was, I tried to catalog the albums that caught my attention and write a review for my website. I spent the holidays upstate with my family, and then new years with my partners', distracting me from writing an end-of-the-year post about it. But I kept streaming the albums and now I finally made time to write it.
+
+## The album pool
+
+This is not going to be a de-facto album of the year breakdown. It's very much my opinion of the best album from the pool of artists I follow. But there are some extra criteria:
+
+* I found it in 2020
+* It isn't a Single
+* If it is an EP it has to be substantial 
+
+The EP qualification is if its 2 tracks (a single and a B side) without feeling "at length (a 20 minute 2 track Stoner Doom EP)" then it didn't make the cut.
+
+So the albums! (Artist - Album)
+
+* Aiming for Enrike - Music for Working Out
+* Bell Witch, Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Volume I (Collaboration)
+* Cirith Ungol - Forever Black
+* Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
+* Elder - Omens
+* Emma Ruth Rundle, Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full (Collaboration)
+* Inter Arma - Garbers Days Revisited
+* Khemmis - Doomed Heavy Metal
+* Long Distance Calling - How Do We Want To Live?
+* Magic Sword - Endless
+* Moby - All Visible Objects
+* Starcadian, Ian Urbina - Shadowcatcher (Inspired by 'The Outlaw Ocean' a book by Ian Urbina) (EP, Collaboration, Mouthful)
+* The Aquabats! - Kooky Spooky... In Stereo!
+* Uada - Djinn
+* Various Artists - Magnatron III (Compilation)
+* Violent Soho - Everything Is A-OK
+
+I'd like to give a shoutout to all the bands on this list and if you're curious here is a link to the Spotify playlist of these + a few others:
+
+=> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59KFpVXd7BtDzhKd5gBhkQ?si=Z_ILJdQ7TTG2FOnQdUC8DA [spotify] Senders' Releases 2020 Playlist
+
+## The top 5
+
+* Djinn
+* Magnatron III
+* Omens
+* Sign of the Devil
+* Stygian Bough Volume I
+
+## Uada - Djinn
+
+Uada is a Black Metal band from the Pacific Northwest. Djinn opens with a slightly less in-your-face riff compared to "The Purging Fire" the opening track of their previous release 2018's Cult of a Dying Sun. But then the 16th note double bass kicks (pun) in. Then our vocals and we're back in it. 
+
+The rest of the album is filled with that in-your-face Black Metal that Uada has shown us since their first release. I'm not well versed in the Black Metal genre so I'm sure it's not a great representation of the genre but it's a fun, intense head banger.
+
+// TODO
+### Favorite Track
+
+// link to favorite track
+
+## Various Artists - Magnatron III
+
+I was a huge fan of Magnatron (the first one) and it remains a mainstay in my rotation. I never got fully into Magnatron 2.0 but III came out and I kept it in rotation. Magnatron III is a collaboration from various names in the Retro/Synth Wave genre all putting out killer tracks. Each track has its own personality and while the record isn't a seamles story with an obvious progression, it flows. 
+
+What I like most about this album is you can get a track like Vivid Stars by Waveshaper which is bright, hopeful and groovy. Then you get Last Resolve by Kick Puncher which is aggressive and dark.
+
+The album is 18 artists/tracks and 1 hour and 15 minutes long and you want to dance the entire time. 
+
+### Favorite Track
+// TODO
+
+## Elder - Omens
+
+Elder is one of my favorite bands of recent years. I found them a few years ago when I started to get into Doom/Stoner Metal. I saw them live at Desert Fest in NYC back in 2019 and they were killer. I was hyped to see them in May 2020 but well... that obviously never happened. 
+
+Omens isn't quite a "departure" but a progression into a slightly different approach. They introduced some synths into their music. But beyond that it actually is very familiar to their previous album. Just with more psychedelic grooves (a lot of jamming, panning guitars, flangers). But you still get those slow(er) muffed guitars crunching just forcing your head to bang. 
+
+If you're at all into Psychedelic Rock and Metal give this a listen it's an interesting blend. Pop the album on, grab a drink, turn off the lights and just soak into it. \m/
+
+### Favorite Track
+// TODO
+
+
+## Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
+
+Dopelord is a Stoner Doom Metal (surprised?) band from Poland. They released their fourth full length in 2020 and it may be my favorite of theirs. 
+
+The best first track of all the albums I've listed. The Witching Hour Bell SLAYS. It's Stoner Doom through and through. I put the albums on for each of these reviews, and this was the only album where I actually couldn't write the intro because I was head banging the entire time. \m/ Literally, that opening bass riff locked this in the top 5 back when I first heard the track. 
+
+Despite my glowing review of the first track, it just keeps its (albeit slow) pace throughout the rest of the album ending on a psychedelic jam in "World Beneath Us". And then taking a hard fucking left with "Headless Decapitator" a hardcore punk song at twice the BPM. It feels almost like a prank. But its a good punk song so no marks off. 
+
+If Stoner Doom isn't your jam you probably won't like this album, but 
+
+### Favorite Track
+
+=> https://open.spotify.com/track/6lFQwXzCWt5PiAXNKwJzwL?si=xa5FE7g9SPy_zUaaSg6pjA [spotify] The Witching Hour Bell - Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
+
+# Conclusion
+
+While it was my favorite out this pool, according to my Spotify Wrapped - none of the tracks from these cracked by most played. But that is because I actually found older albums this year and I talk about in my companion gemlog:
+
+=> /gemlog/2021-03-12-Favorite-Music-Find-In-2020.gmi Favorite Music Find in 2020