It’s that time of year, and since last year went so well we figured to go ahead and share some of our contributors favorite albums from 2020. This is also a great way to see how diverse all the team members are in their picks. And you better believe it, we will be sharing a total year end Doom Charts list featuring the best scoring albums of the year featured on the charts. Here is our first eager contributor Chris Tighe, who has his own page called The Mighty Decibel. Chris has some heavy taste and represents the heavy underground superbly as evidenced by his list below.

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album reviewers from the heavy underground around the globe.  Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom, sludge metal, stoner-psychedelic and heavy rock albums.  The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart below.  This is a one-stop shop for the best new albums in the world…

25. VOLCANOVA – RADICAL WAVES
26. THUNDERCHIEF – No Sufferance For Thy Fools
27. MOONS – Go Out Swinging
28. VOID MOON – THE AUTUMN THRONE
29. GRAVE BATHERS – THE FEATHERED SERPENT
30. HELLHOOKAH – THE CURSE
31. BLACK RAINBOWS – COSMIC RITUAL SUPERTRIP
32. CARDINAL’S FOLLY – DEFYING THE RIGHTEOUS WAY
33. WARLUNG – OPTICAL DELUSION
34. MOUNTAIN WITCH – EXTINCT CULTS
35. ELECTRIC HYDRA – ELECTRIC HYDRA
36. SUNYATA – THE GREAT BEYOND
37. YATRA – BLOOD OF THE NIGHT
38. DOPELORD – SIGN OF THE DEVIL
39. OCEAN GATES – OCEAN GATES
40. CANDLEMASS – THE PENDULUM
41. GOATSNAKE – BREAKFAST WITH THE KING
42. WITCHSKULL – A DRIFTWOOD CROSS
43. RIVER OF SOULS – USURPER
44. GRACELESS – WHERE VULTURES KNOW YOUR NAME
45. EYE OF DOOM – CURSE OF THE PHAROAH
46. SLEEPING VILLAGE – HOLY WATER
47. NORTHERN CROWN – IN A PALLID SHADOW
48. MOONSTONE – MOONSTONE
    
    
    
    Doom is all about the riff … and there wasn’t a better album this year for riffs than the self-titled debut full length from Poland’s Moonstone. Considering that the band specializes in slow moving doom, there admittedly aren’t that many riffs here, but when each one rears its lumbering head and the band pounds it into your kidneys endlessly, you know that you’ve been sent out back for a beating. My sub-woofer will never be the same.
    
49. HEX A.D. – ASTRO TONGUE IN THE ELECTRIC GARDEN
    

Is it prog, doom or hard rock? The answer is – yes. The other answer would be ‘who cares’, given the monumental song writing that can be found on this fourth full length from Norway’s Hex A.D.. This is one of those rare albums that demands multiple listens to ensure that you’ve got a handle on what’s being offered, and then more repeated listens just because every damn track is so good. Astro Tongue In The Electric Garden is not only my doom album pick of the year, it just may be my fave release of 2020, period.