15 Best Hard Rock & Metal Albums Of 2020 (So Far)

In the public eye, hard rock is not really talked about as much as the Taylor Swifts of the world. For as great as these artists have been over the years, not a lot of the cream of crop reaches the masses in the way that bands like Metallica used to. However, that's not to say that these bands have gone anywhere.

So far, 2020 has been shaping up to be a pretty great year for the darker side of rock music. Whether it be through metal, rock, or even punk, bands have still been able to bring the darkness to the forefront of every one of their tracks. Though this list does feature some fantastic artists doing their thing, the best albums on this list come from bands who are just getting their feet wet. Not only are these debuts great, but they also hint at what new styles (or resurgences) could be coming down the pipeline in the coming years.

With half the year gone by, let's take a look and see what great artists came through with stellar albums to start off the new decade. Since a lot of new releases have been pushed back, the back half of the year is bound to jam-packed with amazing stuff as well.

Over the past few years, pop punk has gone through many different iterations. While bands like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte made the genre sound like a teenage phase, there were always some quality punk acts with actual things to say like Alkaline Trio and AFI. Even though Boston Manor technically fall into that category, they have been giving the genre a decent shake up as of late.

As opposed to going for commercial viability, GLUE shows the band settling into a much heavier groove. Coming off the band's fantastic 2018 release Welcome to the Neighborhood, this album is surprisingly darker than what you might expect out of a punk band, combining elements of emo and electronic flourishes to give the songs a demented twist. The songs may have a sharper focus on atmospherics, but we're far from having something like Kid A on our hands.

Instead of having the synthetic elements fully envelop the sound, Boston Manor use these synthetic tracks extremely tastefully as they interweave them with their signature guitar crunch. As a result, the album coats you in a dystopian headspace that you won't soon recover from. In an era that has seen multiple genres clashing, it's nice to see the hard rock dirtiness and electronic polish working so well together.