Hello, my fellow metalheads! I sincerely hope you’ve had an amazing holiday season with your friends, family, dogs, cats, or whoever you hold dear in your life. So, with 2021 coming to a close, I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon and do what every source of music media does and the end of the year and share what I felt was the best music that this past year had to offer. However, since I need to find some way to make myself special, I’m gonna do something that I haven’t seen a lot of media outlets doing yet, but I feel is gonna be more necessary as the years go on. As streaming continues to influence the way music is put out into the world, we’re gonna see more and more bands leave the album format behind and switch to a more bite-sized format. That format in question today is the EP. Indeed, I have never seen EP releases garner as much hype as they did in 2021, and as much as the idea of full LPs becoming irrelevant saddens me, I’d be a bold-faced liar if I said that a decent chunk of my favorite releases this year were EPs. So, with that said, I’m gonna put myself ahead of the curve this year and list out my top 5 favorite Eps of 2021. Let’s kick things off with my #5 pick!
#5: The Baring of Shadows – Kardashev
Kardashev freaking rules. These guys blend sub genres in a manner that I’ve never heard any other band do quite the same way. Think post blackened death metal…if that’s even a thing. The Baring of Shadows sees them continuing to refine this unique sound of theirs as vocalist Mark Garret experiments with new techniques and vocal production on tracks like “Snow Sleep”. Even with only four tracks, these songs are beefy enough in size, scale, and atmosphere that they still manage to make this EP feel every bit as satisfying as a full album experience. This release definitely has me on an eager lookout for what Kardashev will be putting out next, and they should be on your radar too.
#4: The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was – Invent Animate
Ok, I really debated whether to even include this on the list because it’s really only two songs plus an instrumental interlude, but believe me when I tell you that these two songs are the best pieces of work that this band has ever done. Dead serious. And this band was already my favorite metalcore band to debut in the 2010’s (besides maybe Counterparts…believe me, we’ll talk about them sooner rather than later), so yeah, I do NOT say that lightly. “The Sun Sleeps” is an absolute banger of a track with huge chunky riffs that’ll put some serious hair on your chest. As for “As If It Never Was”…let’s just say it’s been a very long time since I’ve had as strong of a physical emotion reaction as I did this first time I heard this song, and it may very well take the place of “Luna” as my favorite IA song of all time. Once again, I do NOT say that lightly.
#3 ZII – The Devil Wears Prada
This release is particularly special to me for a couple reasons. Reason #1: TDWP was one of my very first loves in the metal music world (the music video for “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?” left me equal parts mesmerized and freaked the heck out whenever it aired on tv as a kid…wow, remember when that was a thing?). Reason #2: ZII actually sounds like that same band that I first fell in love with! Now, don’t get me wrong here, I LOVE TDWP’s newer material. “Chemical” is a freaking beautiful song, and if they decided to do a full album of nothing but songs in that same style, I’d be 110% on board. However, when you’re gonna set out to make a sequel to debatably your heaviest release ever, you’d better bring back the heavy, and oh boy, did my boys bring back the heavy. This thing channels the energy of the OG Zombie EP so well that it serves as an instant nostalgia trigger for me, and yet it still manages to weave in some of the band’s newer, more mature elements without compromising on a single drop of the intensity. Between this EP and their latest single, “Sacrifice” (y’all, how freaking good is “Sacrifice”, am I right?!), TDWP is on a roll, and I can’t wait to hear what they’ve got coming next.
#2 A Tear in the Fabric of Life – Knocked Loose
Ok…how did Knocked Loose actually get this much heavier?? Seriously, this EP is so intense, so dark, and so freaking heavy that it puts everything they’ve ever released prior to shame. Musically, these guys have taken the best aspects of Laugh Tracks and A Different Shade of Blue and just cranked them up to 11, so it still sounds like the Knocked Loose we know and love, just on some serious steroids. Lyrically, things get much darker here too, as Bryan screams out a detailed fictional story told from the perspective of someone who lost a loved one in a car crash. The 20 minute claymated music video they made to go along with the EP only serves to make the story even more immersive, yet mind boggling, at the same time. For someone trying to figure out whether this would be their thing or not, the opening track, “Where Light Divides the Holler”, specifically that nasty…NASTY breakdown, is probably what I would use to try and sell you. If you’re in need of some new go-to angry music, A Tear in the Fabric of Life should fill that role for you for some time to come. I know I’ve definitely been switching to the heavier dumbbells when I bump this thing in the gym.
Honorable Mentions:
Before, we talk about the best EP of 2021 (in my humble opinion), let’s highlight just a few honorable mentions. First we’ve got Earth Groans with their new EP, The Body, which I highly recommend for my fellow fans of old school 2000’s metalcore. Next, Circa Survive put out an awesome EP this year called A Dream About Love that really doubles down on their atmospheric side and contains what has become one of my favorite Circa Survive songs ever in the form of “Imposter Syndrome”. Finally, I wanna quickly highlight Shaman by Orbit Culture which continues to progress the style the band was developing on Nija but now with even hookier choruses and nastier breakdowns.
Alright, that’s enough ado for now, so I present to you, my #1 pick.
#1 …And I Return to Nothingness – Lorna Shore
What do I even say about this release that hasn’t already been said by critics, musicians, youtube reactors, and more across the whole metal scene? Lorna Shore was at a very pivotal point in their career in 2021, and it was honestly a pretty do or die moment for the band. They were just coming off the heels of all the highly publicized controversy surrounding their former vocalist, and now they had Will Ramos graduating from touring member status and officially coming into the fold as their new vocalist. Fans were waiting with bated breath to see what kind of change this would bring to the band’s sound, and I think now it’s pretty safe to say that any changes brought on by Will were DRASTICALLY for the better. The metal community at large was sure of that the day that the lead single, “To the Hellfire” dropped and struck fear into the hearts of every poor, unsuspecting soul who heard that final breakdown, specifically that final scream, for the first time. I gotta say though, my personal favorite track off this EP has got to be “Of the Abyss”, which still has all the heaviness of “To the Hellfire” except paired with some super rad symphonic metal trappings to go along with it. This is easily Lorna Shore’s finest hour to date, and I’m super happy for these guys and very proud of all the success they’ve seen as a result of …And I Return to Nothingness this past year.
And there you have my top 5 favorite Eps of 2021! I didn’t even come close to talking about every awesome EP that dropped in 2021, so be sure to leave a comment and let me know what your favorite EPs of 2021 were. Thank for reading, and I hope you check back in next week for some more good ol’ fashioned metal talk. Take care, y’all!
