Albums of 2022

 

Here are my Top Albums of 2022. 

I grade albums on a 1-5 scale. One being the worst and five being the best. I also use in between numbers. I include every album I listened to in 2022. I will start with the best albums to the worst. I have also split my album list into "Metal" and "Non-Metal". I grade music based on: style of music, musicianship, lyrics, album art, mixing and production. By now no one should be surprised at how picky I am with my music selection. For the purpose of organization, all albums will be in alphabetical order. 

My "Album of the Year" will be in asterisks and italics. This blog entry would be pages and pages long if I described every detail I liked and disliked of an album. Therefore, I will only write about my "Album of the Year".

Please note this is just my opinion. One thing to keep in mind, is that my favorite genre is death metal.  I'm very biased and the pickiest with my death metal. 

Metal & Punk 

5

Everything is perfect! Holy crap what an album! 

• Assumption-Hadean Tides 
• Battlelore-The Return of the Shadow 
• Corpsessed-Succumb to Rot 
• Cryptic Hatred-Nocturnal Sickness
• Demonical-Mass Destroyer 
• Ferum- Asunder/Erode 
• Hammerfall- Hammer of Dawn 
• Human Mass Extinction-Galactic Extinction Anomalies 
• Kampfar-Til Klovers Takt 
• La Armada-Anti-Colonial II
• Mournful Congregation- The Exuviae of Gods, Pt. 1
• Mutilatred-Determined to Rot 
• Phobophiliac- Enveloping Absurdity  
• Reeking Aura-Beneath the Canopy of Compost
• Slugathor-Crypt of the Ancient Fire** 
• Shape of Despair- Return to the Void
• The Chasm-The Scars of a Lost Reflective Shadow 
• Wiegedood-There's Blood At the End of the Road 
• Year of No Light- Consolamentum 

4.5

Potential to be a 5 but the production or mixing is off. 

• Drudkh-All Belong to the Night 
• Father Befouled-Crowned by Veneficum
• Forseen- Untamed Force 
• Kuolemanlaakso-Kuusumu
• Mass Worship-Portal Tombs 
• Morbific-Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm 
• Tzpompantli-Tlazcaltiliztli 
• Verikalpa-Tunturihauta 

4 

Not quiet a 5. But definitely not average. 

• Amorphis-Halo 
• Autopsy- Morbid Trimphant 
• Bloodbath-Survival of the Sickest
• Darkthrone-Astral Fortress 
• Desolate Shrine- Fires of the Dying World 
• Gogol Bordello-Solidaritine 
• Immolation-Acts of God 
• Sabaton-The War to End All Wars 
• Undeath-It's Time...To Rise from the Grave

3.5 

Above average, but still needs some more work. 

• Desecresy-Unveiling the Abyss
• Destroyer 666-Never Surrender 
• Diablo-When All the Rivers Are Silent 
• Entrails-An Eternal Time of Decay 
• Paganizer-Beyond the Macabre 
• Stratovarius-Survive 
• Vomit Forth-Seething Malevolence 
• Wormrot-Hiss 

3

Average. Good. What I have come to expect from these bands. 

• Acephalix-Theothantology 
• Blind Guardian-The God Machine 
• Evergrey-A Heartless Portrait 
• Gaerea-Beautiful Distortion 
• Golgothan Remains-Adorned in Ruin 
• Manegarm-Ynglingaattens Ode 
• Misery Index-Complete Control 
• Molder Engrossed in Decay 
• Morgue Supplier-Inevitability 
• No/Mas-Consume/Deny/Repent 
• Origin-Chaosmos 
• Nightrage-Wake Up Dead 
• Ratos de Porao-Necropolitica 
• Svarsot-Kumbl
• Temple of Void-Summoning the Slayer 
• Therion- Leviathan II 
• Triumvir Foul-Onslaught to Seraphim 

2

A for effort. But these albums do not spark joy in me. 

• Celeste-Assassine(s) 
• Darkane-Inhuman Spirit 
• Ensanguinate-Eldritch Anathomy 
• Midnight-Let There Be Witchery 

1

"Oh baby what is you doing?!" Such a disaster. Who's idea was it to release this? The material on these albums should have been reworked. Music is all over the place. I have no idea what is going on. 

• Crematory-Inglorious Darkness 
• Incantation-Tricennial of Blasphemy
• Kaipa-Urskog
• Soilwork-Overgivenheten 
• Soreption-Jord (which honestly is such an insult to Thor's Mother.) 
• Vanir-Sagas 

Non-Metal 

There are bands included in here who have changed their sound or are a different genre. 

• Blood Incantation- Timewave Zero: 5
• Carpenter Brut-Leather Terror: 5
• Darkher-The Buried Stone: 5
• Dance With The Dead-Driven to Madness: 4
• The Gathering-Beautiful Distortion: 4 
• Gogol Burdello-Solidaritine: 4 
• Heilung-Drif: 4 
• Lalu-Paint the Sky: 3.5
• Muse-Will of the People: 3.5 
• Ville Laihaila & Saattajat- Ei Meilla Ole Kuin Loisemme: 1
• Wardruna-Kvitravn: 5

Album of the Year: Slugathor-Crypt of the Ancient Fire

I confess originally my AOTY was going to be Cryptic Hatred. I was so ready to crown it. Then I looked for more albums that came out this year. I'm glad I did because "Crypt of the Ancient Fire" is literally fire. It is gold. It makes my ears cry tears of joy. I know what you're all thinking, Slugthor won because they're Finnish. Ei. Which means "no" in Finnish. I picked it because it blew my mind. How does one band combine old school death metal, black metal, hardcore, and doom and it doesn't sound like mush?! That takes skill. The vocals are death doomy. But the riffs are very beat downy. The drums are full and rich. The drums are thicccck!  I imagine the drummer had cement blocks while trudging through a Finnish swamp. The bass is simple, but I can actually hear it. Most bassists are basically eye candy because they're usually not heard. That's just sad. Bass and drums are the most important to keep time. The time measurement changes from a hardcore punk beat to a sludgy, doomy drone. Here's the weird part after the beat down riffs it is followed by guitars playing Archgoat like harmonies. I know black metal and harmony in one sentence. Shocking, but Slugthor did it. What a perfect comeback album. Crossing my fingers that Demilich's second album can also be a banger. 

While Cryptic Hatred and Forseen make me want to start a circle pit in my kitchen/work area, Slugthor makes me want to slug people in the face. From the first note it goes from 0 to 100.