Our weird year of 2020 is winding down. As our yearly staff-pick round up, all of us here at Sonic Boom will be posting our favorite records of the year. First up is our shop owner Mike P. Dig in for the year’s best in metal, rap and more:

Napalm Death Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism STAFF PICK!

Shabazz Palaces The Don of Diamond Dreams

John Coltrane Quintet Ballads (reissue)

Deep Sea Diver Impossible Weight READ MORE!

Deftones OHMS

Denzel Curry/Kenny Beats UNLOCKED

Elder Omens

Idles Ultra Mono

Run The Jewels RTJ4

Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Various Artists Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore STAFF PICK!

Terminal Nation Holocene Extinction STAFF PICK!

Inoyama Land Danzindan-Pojidon (reissue) STAFF PICK!

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith The Mosaic of Transformation

Various Artists Kaleidoscope: New Spirits Known and Unknown

Gorillaz Song Machine