Top 10 albums of the year 2022

2023-01-13

Alright, people. First of all, allow me to most likely be the FINAL guy this season to wish you all a happy new year. Hope y'all got your party on, and I hope 2023 will make you happy, bring you fortune, get you laid, whatever you wish for. As long as everyone's cool with it. And also if someone's just being bitchy about it.

Anyway. It's time to look back and settle things a bit in terms of what 2022 brought us. This year, the top 10 album list is somewhat dominated by hard rock and death metal.

Top 10 albums 2022


  1. Magnum – "The Monster Roars"

    Armed with five decades of experience coupled with a virile energy and an attitude of having nothing to lose, Magnum opened 2022 by demonstrating what it looks (and especially sounds) like when heavyweights blow everyone else out of the water in terms of songwriting, production, and integrity.

    "The Monster Roars" is not only a superb hard rock album; it's a just plain great album altogether. In fact, a bit better than that. If, like a lot of other impoverished people, you don't know a lot of Magnum's music, it just goes to show that the world, and especially the music business, is an unfair place.

  2. Porcupine Tree – "Closure/Continuation"

    Finally.
    Even with some admirable solo albums from mastermind Steven Wilson since the last Porcupine Tree output, 2009's "The Incident", only the fewest of us would expect a new PT album to sound this much like PT. Mesmerizingly beautiful melodies and vocal harmonies haunt disturbing soundscapes and complement intense, heavy prog rock. Superior musicianship in every imaginable way.
    Please don't let another 13 years pass!

  3. Thundermother – "Black and Gold"

    Could this be the new hope for hard rock music itself? Thundermother have several albums behind them, but with this one, it sounds like they could take on the goddamn world. Pretty much every song here could have been a single, and Thundermother pulls that off without pandering to anyone else but themselves and their audience. You'll wanna hear it again, and it'll rock your dick off every time.

  4. Saxon – "Carpe Diem"

    Another case of experience reigning supreme, and of old people giving less and less of a shit, 2022 saw almighty Saxon releasing their best album since 2009's "Into the Labyrinth". It's got all the sweet, no-BS rock'n'roll simplicity of any Saxon album, but with that extra fearless conviction and energy that makes the decisive difference. Take note, kids, because this is how true heavy metal is forged.

  5. Author & Punisher – "Krüller"

    While all the cold, machine-like heaviness is intact, Tristan Shone is moving into more and more ethereal, ambient soundscapes reminiscent of Deftones anno "Saturday Night Wrist". The result is what it might sound like if Vangelis had co-written the "Blade Runner" soundtrack along with a doom metal band. And that's one for the category of things that we didn't know we wanted to hear, but we hella did.

  6. Krisiun – "Mortem Solis"

    Brutal and uncompromising as always, Brazilian death metal's equivalent to Motörhead have impressively turned up the prog-knob while still retaining their signature headstrong drive and old-school roots. "Mortem Solis", then, is as chaotic as it's straightforward. Can't say that about a whole lot of bands or albums.

  7. Skid Row – "The Gang's All Here"

    With the addition of new awe-inspiring vocalist Eric Grönwall (ex-H.E.A.T.), Skid Row sound more like themselves than they've done since the mid-'90s. With the raw, gritty energy and the devil-may-care attitude front and center, this is the album that should've come after 95's "Subhuman Race" – perhaps even instead of it.

  8. Soulfly – "Totem"

    Having shed the stalest and most jock-y elements from nu-metal, Max Cavalera & co. have retained a core of pure, primitive aggression. And while maintaining those groovy elements that were always an integral part of the band, Soulfly, these days, sound more like Exodus or Sodom than they ever did. There's still hope for real metal.

  9. Meshuggah – "Immutable"

    A truly original and innovative band gives another demonstration of how and why they're so original and innovative. While "Immutable" doesn't offer much in terms of reinventing anything the band's done so far, it also demonstrates why there's no reason to fix anything that ain't broken.

  10. Psycroptic – "Divine Council"

    While largely another breathtaking display of jagged tech-death madness, Psycroptic's latest album also contains moments where the Tasmanians allow for less being more, adding to the band's ranges of dynamics and creative features. It'll be interesting to see where they allow this to take them.

Runners-up


Miss-outs


Then, of course, there were all those albums that I didn't listen to enough to form a qualified opinion. The latest Goatwhore album, for example, would have probably made it to this Top 10 if I hadn't long been behind on catching up with the year's previous releases. Sounding as wonderfully blasphemous as its title, "Angels Hung From the Arches of Heaven" thrashes sneeringly through those corners of the underworld where suffering and lust are often mutually inclusive.

Blind Guardian's "The God Machine" sounded like Blind Guardian. Queensrÿche's "Digital Noise Alliance" sounded like Queensrÿche – including being a bit too long and everything. And Origin's "Chaosmos", while surely not the band's best effort, still sounded like Origin.

And then there were those albums that I just didn't get to listen to, either fully or partially. Until recently, I would've considered Bloodbath's "Survival of the Sickest" the greatest miss-out, but near the end of the year, I only just heard some wicked stuff from Dave Grohl's Dream Widow album, which, if you need a reference, sounds a lot like the above description of Goatwhore. Yes, don't forget that Grohl's a metalhead at heart, and that he gave us the Probot album.

Also, I did hear, like, half of the new Lamb of God album, which was pretty meh. And then, there were new releases from Candlemass, U.D.O., and Deströyer 666. Paraphrasing Frank Zappa: "So much music, so little time".

Conclusion

My last couple of reviews, and, indeed, this article's been a long time coming. I know. The reason for that is, it's been nothing short of an insane year for yours truly. The first full year of GMB, 2022 finally had me going all-out digital nomad and visiting more new countries than ever. It's been a crazy ride, lemme tell ya.

There are still articles in the pipeline, and there are more to come – with this one, for example, being written in Morocco. And, of course, there are all the new releases.

January already has new albums from Twilight Force, Riverside, and Uriah Heep lined up. There's a new Ahab album coming out today. February's got new releases from comedy bands Steel Panther and In Flames. And April sees a new little studio album from this new little band going by the name of "Metallica".

Thank you all very, very much for reading. GMB is a minor dream project of mine, so seeing it through its first year is kinduva big deal. Here's to the years to come!

Think global, act metal.

 – Andy

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