What a year 2020 was… So many interruptions to many peoples normal lives. lots of ups, lots of downs. The cancelation of concerts hit home for many and for all the musicians not being able to go on tour put a huge impact on the music scene. It’s hard to imagine that within a matter of a couple days our lives changed. But, I’m not here for the negative of 2020, lets talk about the positives. 2020, believe it or not, was IUF’s year. We had to put our heads together and come up with a strategy to survive 2020 and we did… A Podcast. With our podcast, we were able to interview over 100 bands and we found new friendships along the way. But lets focus on the bands themselves. I feel like even without concerts, 2020 was the year for music. Just think, no concerts = more time to focus on new material. There were so many GREAT album releases in 2020.. and I’m super excited for what 2021 brings us. Just to name a VERY VERY small percent, here are some releases from some bands that we covered:
Sodom – Genesis XIX (eOne)
Scour – The Black EP (Nuclear Blast)
Cadaver – Edder & Bile (Nuclear Blast)
Tombs – Under Sullen Skies (Season Of Mist)
Jinjer – Alive In Melbourne (Napalm)
Helvik – Welcome To Hel (Nuclear Blast)
Dark Tranquillity – Moment (Century Media)
Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons – We’re The Bastards (Nuclear Blast)
Accuser – Accuser (Metal Blade)
Tesseract – Altered State Re-Release (Century Media)
Surma – The Light Within (Metal Blade)
Sevendust – Blood & Stone (Rise)
Saul – Rise As Equals (Spinefarm)
Armored Saint – Punching The Sky (Metal Blade)
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown – Pressure (Snakefarm)
King Parrot – Holed Up In The Lair EP (Housecore)
Ascension Of The Watchers – Apocrypha (Dissonance)
DevilDriver – Dealing With Demons I (Napalm)
Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment (Metal Blade)
Amaranthe – Manifest (Nuclear Blast)
The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic (Metal Blade)
Kataklysm – Unconquered (Nuclear Blast)
Cristian Machado – Hollywood Y Sycamore (Coconut Bay)
Plague Years – Circle Of Darkness (eOne)
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment Of Chaos (Century Media)
Aether Realm – Tarot Re-Release (Napalm)
Cult Of Lilith – Mara (Metal Blade)
Necrot – Mortal (Tankcrimes)
Unleash The Archers – Abyss (Napalm)
(Hed) P.E. – Class Of 2020 (Suburban Noize)
Kamelot – I Am The Empire – Live From The 013 CD/DVD (Napalm)
Onslaught – Generation Antichrist (AFM)
Primal Fear – Metal Commando (Nuclear Blast)
Let Us Prey – Virtues Of The Vicious (M-Theory)
Voivod – The End Of Dormancy EP (Century Media)
Ensiferum – Thalassic (Metal Blade)
Carach Angren – Franckensteina Strataemontanus (Season Of Mist)
Make Them Suffer – How To Survive A Funeral (Rise)
Lamb Of God – Lamb Of God (Epic)
Beyond The Black – Horizons (Napalm)
BPMD – American Made (Napalm)
Aversions Crown – Hell Will Come For Us All (Nuclear Blast)
Make Them Suffer – How To Survive A Funeral (Rise)
Currents – The Way It Ends (SharpTone)
The Wise Man’s Fear – Valley Of Kings (SharpTone)
Xibalba – Anos En Infierno (Southern Lord)
Sorcerer – Lamenting Of The Innocent (Metal Blade)
Bleed From Within – Fracture (Century Media)
Plague Years – Circle Of Darkness (eOne)
Vader – Solitude In Madness (Nuclear Blast)
Aether Realm – Redneck Vikings From Hell (Napalm)
Warbringer – Weapons Of Tomorrow (Napalm)
Trivium – What The Dead Men Say (Roadrunner)
Nightwish – Human. :II: Nature. (Nuclear Blast)
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals (Rocket)
August Burns Red – Guardians (Fearless)
Stitched Up Heart – Darkness (Century Media)
Tombs – Monarchy of Shadows EP (Season Of Mist)
Suicide Silence – Become the Hunter (Nuclear Blast)
Kreator – London Apocalypticon: Live at the Roundhouse (Nuclear Blast)
Clint Lowery – God Bless the Renegades (Rise)
Avatarium – An Evening With Avatarium (Nuclear Blast)