Music

The following are some of my favourite albums. They are ordered by genre and release date, not by how much I like them. I limited myself to one album per artist, except where artists have made stuff in wildly different genres.

Check out my Last.fm page for more.

Occult Rock

cover art Ghost - Meliora (2015)
Occult Rock
Many bands make concept albums. Ghost is a concept band.
cover art Year of the Goat - Novis Orbis Terrarum Ordinis (2019)
Occult Rock
50% fun and upbeat, 50% calm and moving, 100% intriguing.
cover art Dool - Summerland (2020)
Occult Rock
Why has this album made me feel nostalgic from the moment it came out?

Doom Metal

cover art Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986)
Doom Metal
There's a reason a genre was named after this album.
cover art Katatonia - Brave Murder Day (1996)
Gothic Death-Doom Metal
Gothic doom with Mikael Åkerfeldt on vocals is peak.
cover art Solstice - New Dark Age (1998)
Epic Doom Metal
Lovecraftian mythos made tangible in sound.
cover art Warning - Watching from a Distance (2006)
Doom Metal
The five stages of grief condensed into one soul-crushing album.
cover art Khemmis - Hunted (2016)
Death-Doom Metal
A modern take on traditional doom metal that works surprisingly well.
cover art Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper (2017)
Funeral Doom Metal
A single 84-minute song of eye-watering beauty.
cover art Thou - Umbilical (2024)
Sludge Metal
Abrasive as sandpaper.
cover art Messa - The Spin (2025)
Doom Metal
A record that oozes style from a myriad of influences.

Black Metal

cover art Bathory - Hammerheart (1990)
Black Metal
Black metal beats to set sail and praise Oden to.
cover art Ulver - Bergtatt (1995)
Atmospheric Black Metal
Norwegian fairy tales told through a combination of black metal and folk.
cover art Immortal - At the Heart of Winter (1999)
Black Metal
You know it's good when there's a blue castle on the cover.
cover art Agalloch - The Mantle (2002)
Blackened Folk Metal
A deep and ethereal mix of styles.
cover art Primordial - To the Nameless Dead (2007)
Blackened Folk Metal
Grim, melancholy music with tasteful use of celtic influences.
cover art Saor - Forgotten Paths (2019)
Atmospheric Black Metal
What you get if you let a Scotsman with a violin scream across the highlands.
cover art Fluisteraars - Gegrepen door de geest der zielsontluiking (2021)
Atmospheric Black Metal
Not so much fluistering going on here as screaming.
cover art Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman (2021)
Black Metal
Gothic black metal, complete with vampires, piano interludes, and built-in vinyl crackle.
cover art Gudsforladt - Friendship, Love and War (2022)
Black Metal
The most uplifting black metal I've heard yet.
cover art Wayfarer - American Gothic (2023)
Black Metal
Westerns and country meet black metal, and it's not a gimmick, it totally works.

Punk

cover art Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Post-Punk
There's a very specific mood here that nothing else quite captures.
cover art The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980)
Post-Punk
Disintegration's probably the better album, this one feels nicer, or something.
cover art Rudimentary Peni - Farce (1982)
Hardcore Punk
11 songs in 14 minutes, now that's punk!
cover art Killing Joke - Night Time (1985)
Post-Punk
Love Like Blood would've been my theme song if i'd been alive then.
cover art Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come (1998)
Hardcore Punk
They really nailed it with that title.
cover art Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
Pop-Punk
I really don't. Want to be an idiot, especially an american one...
cover art My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (2006)
Pop-Punk
Perfect angst music.

Noise / Industrial / Electronic

cover art My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Shoegaze
You know I had to put this one on here.
cover art Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (2008)
Shoegaze / Post-Punk
The feelings this album expresses are something else. And so are the song titles.
cover art Kapitan Korsakov - Stuff & Such (2012)
Noise Rock
Genuine. Raw. Expressive.
cover art HEALTH - RAT WARS (2024)
Industrial Metal / Electronic
I THINK CAPSLOCK GOT STUCK OVER AT HEALTH HQ, EXCELLENT NOISES THOUGH.

Post-Rock/Metal

cover art Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ (1998)
Post-Rock
My soundtrack if the world were to end.
cover art God is an Astronaut - All is Violent, All is Bright (2005)
Post-Rock
What is it like inside a star?
cover art The Ocean Collective - Pelagial (2013)
Post-Metal
The songs are named after oceanic depth zones and get heavier as you go deeper, while the lyrics dive into the mind. Absolutely peak concept album.
cover art Oh Hiroshima - In Silence We Yearn (2015)
Post-Rock
Music to be enveloped by and to float away in.
cover art Cult of Luna - Mariner (2016)
Post-Metal
Cult of Luna's signature wall of sound is a perfect match for Julie Christmas' eccentric vocals.
cover art Spook the Horses - People Used to Live Here (2017)
Post-Rock
Exploring the emptiness of desolate places.
cover art Psychonaut - Unfold the God Man (2020)
Post-Metal
It meanders and sways, draws you in, and unfolds.
cover art Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power (2025)
Post-Metal
A blend of genres and emotions, perfect for dealing with the modern world.

Prog

cover art King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
Progressive Rock
The prog-rock cult hit.
cover art Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
Progressive Rock
I don't think I need to explain this one.
cover art Dream Theater - Metropolis pt2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Progressive Metal
Dream Theater live up to their name.
cover art Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)
Progressive Death Metal
Listening to this album in the woods of Sweden changed me.
cover art Haken - The Mountain (2013)
Progressive Metal
Somehow stereotypically prog and entirely unique at the same time.
cover art Hällas - Excerpts from a Future Past (2017)
Progressive Rock
Adventure rock. Need I say more?
cover art King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland (2017)
Progressive Rock
KGATLW released five (five!) albums in 2017, all excellent, but this is a true stand-out.
cover art Ne Obliviscaris - Urn (2017)
Progressive Death Metal
Who knew violins and blast beats would go so well together.
cover art Iapetus - The Body Cosmic (2019)
Progressive Death Metal
A record of galactic proportions, clearly made with passion.

Heavy Metal

cover art Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (1982)
Heavy Metal
Iron Maiden have fantastic songs across their whole discography, this album is here to represent them all.
cover art Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998)
Heavy / Power Metal
Why isn't there more music based on the Silmarillion?
cover art Eternal Champion - The Armor of Ire (2016)
Epic Heavy Metal
Sometimes a simple power fantasy is quite an enjoyable thing.

Thrash Metal

cover art Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)
Thrash Metal
Metallica got me into metal.
cover art Kreator - Pleasure to Kill (1986)
Thrash Metal
My only aim is to take many lives, the more the better I feel
cover art King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023)
Thrash Metal
Sonic caffeine.

Death Metal

cover art Death - The Sound of Perseverance (1998)
Death Metal
Some of the best riffs you'll ever hear live on this album.
cover art Be'lakor - Stone's Reach (2009)
Melodic Death Metal
An hour's worth of incredibly tight guitar and drum work.
cover art Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God (2024)
Dissonant Death Metal
So many sounds layered, not a harmony in sight, somehow completely coherent.

Other

cover art Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)
Grunge
Down in a Hole is one of the most touching songs out there.
cover art Rome - Flowers from Exile (2009)
Folk
What is an album without any electric guitar doing here?
cover art Tame Impala - Currents (2015)
Indie
Did you know that Tame Impala is actually just one guy?
cover art Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts (2016)
Alternative Rock/Metal
My go-to comfort album.