If ever an album was titled better to describe my entire view on music, I haven’t found it yet
Christ, this year has been a blur for me, what with real life work, blogging, the exponential growth in actual parenting I have to do (seriously folks, don’t complain when they’re babies, toddlers are busy little fuckers) but I’m always happy when I can get to the end of year lists. My Album of the Year is, this year, not a slam dunk the way some of the last few years have been, but it was closer than ever this year. We’ve got some heavy hitters, some sentimental favourites and some new blood all coming out of the woodwork with stellar work and I am constantly amazed at what music can do to help us get through life. As with last year, you can find full reviews of everything here on the site
20. Chaos Over Cosmos – A Dream If Ever There Was One: I really enjoyed last year’s effort and despite myself, I really fucking loved this one too. At first glance, it should be everything I don’t like in modern metal but this works so fucking well you’d have to be really nitpicky to not enjoy it. Spiralling prog tech melodeath power metal brilliance.
19. Rotheads – Slither in Slime: ‘Slither in Slime’ is a record that seems superficial and straightforward before you dive in, but unwraps its complexities and nuances with each track until you are left drained and bewildered. Rotheads are pushing a form of death metal that truly feels immersive, eldritch and ancient yet never relying on samples or interludes to get that across. Mournful soloing and a melancholic atmosphere lies across everything they touch, and it makes ‘Slither in Slime’ all the more special to me. Majestic.
18. Devenial Verdict – Ash Blind: Weaving songs equally built around dissonant beauty and skull caving devastation, Devenial Verdict pull notes from the miasmic melody of the galaxy and thread it through punishing drums and intense death metal riffing. An incredible emotive album, with each song revealing an inner fragility despite their fearsome execution. If you can imagine Blut Aus Nord covering Morbid Angel or Gorguts, you’ve got an idea. Even then, that doesn’t begin to cover the superlative nature of ‘Ash Blind’. This is special stuff.
17. Malignant Aura – Abysmal Misfortune is Draped Upon Me: A highly accomplished debut from these Australian death/doom newcomers, giving us all the granite slab dragging riffs mixed with the finest Autopsy-gurgling death metal rage you’ll find outside the band themselves. Definitely one to watch in the future
16. Autopsy – Morbidity Triumphant: Few original flagbearers for the genre maintain this level of quality for so long and with such consistency of vision and sound. Autopsy mix gory early 90s death with an imperiously deathly doom stride and a gurgling unhinged mania to such an incredible degree you’d almost believe this was released between ‘Severed Survival’ and ‘Mental Funeral’. Despite the vast swathe of bands that Autopsy have influenced over the years, there’s never anything quite like the originals is there?
15. The Otolith – Folium Limina: An album full of a beauty that is almost too difficult to describe. It hits all notes; from rumbling, crashing doom to delicate folk ballardry through pastoral shade and bright open space. The vocals are ethereal in the TRUE sense of the word, as if draped gently across the music but underpinned by rich tones and simmering strength. The interplay of violin and guitar could teach classic composers something about harmony, and it all comes together to create 2022’s most enriching aural experience
14. Et Moriemur – Tamashii no Yama: An album that may not feel as heavy musically as you would expect but as an emotional and grieving gut punch, then this is incredible. The judicious use of piano lends a really emotional atmosphere, while there is more than enough quiet introspective parts of the album to drift through amongst the granite riffing. I love how different from my expectations it turned out to be, and how positive an experience that was.
13. Monasterium – Cold Are the Graves: I feel like the world of proper epic doom struggles to find real champions in this day and age, with the genre tending to roll downhill towards death/doom and funeral doom. But if Monasterium have anything to do with it, there will always be a champion of the grand, striding thunder, wielding mighty riffs and powerful vocals. ‘Cold Are the Graves’ is that champion’s weapon of choice, and potent it surely is. All hail!
12. Venom Prison – Erebos: This isn’t just a glowing sermon of ‘Erebos’, this is an apology. I’m really sorry Venom Prison for having no idea who you were until this year. That is my failing and I am fixing it immediately. ‘Erebos’ is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year, a brilliant and subversive collaboration between bare-faced savagery and heartbreaking melancholy and melody. The UK’s latest new hope?
11. Helvellyn – The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly: ‘The Lore of the Cloaked Assembly’ pays tribute to all that is ‘old fashioned’ in black metal but in all the best ways. Scathing, rasping vocals? Check. Frostbitten riffs cascading from snow covered mountain tops? Check. An innately bleak atmosphere? Check. I fucking KNEW this band were something special, turns out all I needed was patience and some extra long lasting corpse paint. Take an oath to Helvellyn’s black light and let it bathe you in darkness.
10. Risingfall – Rise or Fall: Every year, one classic heavy metal band really gets to me and crashes into my top ten. Last year it was Ültra Raptör, 2022 it is Risingfall. ‘Rise or Fall’ is a shit ton of fun if you’re into classic metal and I love Risingfall’s energy, their enthusiasm and their execution of anthemic metal laden with hooks, solos and a love for the genre. Massive, dumb fun for all the family!
9. Live Burial – Curse of the Forlorn: ‘Curse of the Forlorn’ is a supreme regurgitation of the band’s career up to this point, taking everything learned in almost a decade of life and creating a masterpiece of modern death metal. It isn’t too shiny, it isn’t too technical, but it’s full of heart and soul. Diseased heart and someone else’s soul perhaps, but it doesn’t stop ‘Curse of the Forlorn’ being one of 2022’s death metal triumphs. Live Burial have fucking done it again. Stop it lads, it’s getting embarrassing at this point
8. Ashenspire – Hostile Architecture: ‘Hostile Architecture’ is a record that I had to stop and rewind sections numerous times, as I was always hearing bits I didn’t comprehend the first time. An invigorating shot in the arm for experimental black metal, Ashenspire’s work is beguiling, shocking and utterly enthralling at every turn. You won’t get it first time. But third or fourth time you’ll unlock the true genius underneath the complexity. Superb.
7. Tyrannus – Unslayable: ‘Unslayable’ is an absolute beast of a record, bringing together everything I’ve enjoyed about Tyrannus in the past and cranking it up a notch. The leap in songwriting and execution from their great but raw debut is amazing, and speaks to a band only gaining in power and ability. I’m glad I hitched myself to the Tyrannus bandwagon early, but I could never have foreseen the behemoth of progressive blackened deaththrash they are about to become. ‘Mon in folks, the fires of Hades are warm fer ye.
6. Sisphyean – Colours of Faith: ‘Colours of Faith’ will strike you immediately with its vibrant album cover, but the music inside is as black and cold as the heartless void of space. Balancing intensity and atmosphere with striking ease, Sisyphean’s work is savage, harrowing and emotionally draining, imploring you to invest your body and soul into their dark arts for a taste of pure black metal ecstasy.By the time you get through that final track, Sisyphean will have left an indelible mark on your 2022. This is an essential crafting
5. Boris – W: The companion piece to 2021’s ‘NO’, this shows Boris at their most introspective, emotive and ethereal. Touching upon their entire stylistic repetoire from ambient, drone, metal and beyond, their first release of 2022 was a staggeringly fragile glimpse at one of rock’s most important bands. And I was daft enough to think they couldn’t beat it…
4. Tzompantli – Tlazcaltiliztli: This is astonishing; as grindingly slow and devastating as anything you’ll hear this year, but with plenty of up tempo death metal destruction too. The whole album just heaves with abyssal weight, crushing your life from your veins with each damning riff. Tzompantli are a must watch band in the future, and this is the best debut record of 2022, no mistake.
3. Kurokuma – Born of Obsidian: If I had to describe this in one sentence, imagine that ancient temple of death in Alien vs Predator, but as sound, not as a backdrop to a terrible movie. Dragging up eldritch, tribal monstrosities and injecting them with a sense of venom and grace, Kurokuma seem to have made a suitable number of sacrifices to the Jaguar Gods and have been granted the skills to gift us this. ‘Born of Obsidian’ is a record that understands the balance between weighty riffs and weighty emotions, and therefore is spellbinding.
2. Darkthrone – Astral Fortress: If anyone ever tells you that modern Darkthrone isn’t as essential as their classic trilogy, they’re out of their fucking mind. Is it the sound they helped form and pioneer? No, not really even close. Is it the sound of a band that has no right still being this relevant and excellent after over 30 years? Yes it is. This ‘old metal’ approach that has characterised the band’s last decade or two has left tattered classics in its wake, and ‘Astral Fortress’ is just as essential as anything Darkthrone have ever crafted into those deep frozen woods. We all live in the shadow of their horns, and we will never see their likes again when they are gone. If my favourite bnd of all time hadn’t released a belter, this would’ve been number one.
1. Boris – Heavy Rocks (2022): I could write for eons about how important this band have been for me personally, and the journeys they’ve taken me but the simplest action is to just listen. Listen to a band who still sound as vital today as they did 30 years ago. A band whose exploration and experimentation with sound has proven to be so influential and like no other. When you’ve gone and done all that, you can write as many albums with the same name as you want. ‘Heavy Rocks 2022’ is a pure expression of Boris; Wata coaxing ribbons of exhilarating guitar melodies from the ether, Atsuo smashing that drumkit like a man possessed and the propulsive, impulsive bass of Takeshi. There’s nobody like them, and there never will be
The Killchain 