Best Music of 2022

I guess one of these hasn't been made yet, which means I get to make the rules!

Let's see all your favorite music of 2022. That could be albums, EPs, songs, whatever you feel like sharing. maybe a separate post for each...go wild! If you found an album in 2022 and loved it, even if it didn't come out this year it is fair game. If you just want to post a list, I think that's cool, if you want to write about each thing in ur list too, I think that's also cool. No pressure here.

Also, try to include some links, YouTube/bandcamp/qobuz/etc to make it easier for people to check out the tunes.


EDIT: today I learned that you can only have 5 media embeds per post, so uh...this will be a multi-part affair for everyone

 

I'll go ahead and go first. loosely in order, my favorite albums of 2022.

My list is mostly metal with some pop mixed in. Not all of it is extreme metal, but quite a bit of it is.


Epilogue - To the Grave

This is a savage deathcore album from Australia, but one that also carries a message. It came out in 2021, but i didnt find it till February, so its on the list. It was easily my most listened to album of 2022.

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/epilogue




6th Album Repackaged 'End Theory': Final Edition - Younha
This is kinda of cheating as its a repackage of a 2021 album, but its still incredible, and even just the three new tracks for the repackage would have made it onto this list. Younha is my favorite solo artist from Korea, and this album is an excellent showcase of her talents. This is a great pop release.





The Saberlight Chronicles - Fellowship
This absolutely incredible power metal album came out of nowhere for me and knocked my socks off. It's like Fellowship manages to bottle up everything that is good in this world and make it into music. This music will make you happier just listening to it. and it manages to do that with minimal cheese. What an incredible album.

https://fellowshipmetal.bandcamp.com/album/the-saberlight-chronicles





Metanoia - Persefone

Ive been listening to this Andorran progressive death metal group since their 2010 release Shin-Ken. They've always been an interesting group, but they never quite reached excellence. That is, until Metanoia, they really brought it all together for this one.





Oh What the Future Holds - Fit for an Autopsy
Recent Fit for an Autopsy is what you get if you take Gojira's magnum opus L'enfant Sauvage, but...make it deathcore. When it first came out Oh What the Future Holds didnt grab me the same way The Sea of Tragic Beasts, their previous record, did, but over time I've come to love it just as much.

https://fitforanautopsy.bandcamp.com/album/oh-what-the-future-holds



To be continued in pt2

 

Pt2:

False Light - White Ward
I don't normally listen to black metal, but whatever this is that these Ukranian lads are cooking up is some melodic and progressive shit.

https://whiteward.bandcamp.com/album/false-light





Modern Primitive - Septicflesh
These titans of greek symphonic death metal have had their ups and downs. for every incredible album theyve put out, eg, Communion, there is a phoned in one, eg, Titan. So its always a crap shoot for me. but to my delight, this years Modern Primitive knocks it out of the park.

https://septicflesh.bandcamp.com/album/modern-primitive





The God Machine - Blind Guardian
The title and cover art for this one give me very heavy Neon Genesis Evangelion vibes...that is definitely a Lance of Longinus. Anyways, this new Blind Guardian release took some spins to really grow on me, but grow on me it did. Blind Guardian made their way back to some truly incredible riffs. Theyve found some incredible energy here.

https://blindguardian.bandcamp.com/album/the-god-machine





28 Reasons - Seulgi
Yes, this is kpop, but all but the middle two songs on this album are fantastic pop tracks. I haven't liked anything her group Red Velvet has done since like 2018, but this is a fantastic solo release.





Woe - An Abstract Illusion
Fantastic progressive death metal and fantastic cover art, what more can you ask for.

https://anabstractillusion.bandcamp.com/album/woe




To be continued in pt3

 

Pt3:

Viscera - Strigoi
the best death doom album since the absolutely heart breaking No Stars Upon the Bridge by Hallatar in 2017.

https://strigoiofficial.bandcamp.com/album/viscera





Close - Messa
Im gonna call this progressive doom metal. but whatever it is, this female fronted group gets to me.

https://messaproject.bandcamp.com/album/close





Acts of God - Immolation
I don't normally listen to much death metal, its a sub-genre of metal i typically find farely boring and samey. Immolation somehow managed to knock Acts of God out of the park, incredible riffs.





Eternity - A Wake in Providence
Lorna Shore's new album Pain Remains might have turned out to be one of my biggest dissapointments of the year, but I'll be damned if their singer's last group didn't put out a fantastic progressive deathcore album of their own.



https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/eternity

As a bonus they also put out a fantastic single, Godkiller

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/godkiller




to be continued in pt4

 

Pt4:

Omens - Lamb of God
Omens continues Lamb of God's streak of every other album being good, but good it definitely is. This is the Lamb of God you know and love.





Abhorrent Obsessions - Carrion Vael
Slightly more technical than, but heavily inspired by, The Black Dahlia Murder, Carrion Vael carries that torch admirably with this barn burner of a melodic death metal album.

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/abhorrent-obessions

 

Thanks for starting this thread. I'll add here as well. I feel like my list is pretty pedestrian this year, but nonetheless here's 10 albums that I listened to the most (in no particular order):

Alvvays - In Blue Rev: probably my favorite of the year. Just good fun, fuzzy vibes with great melodies throughout. Any singer that rhymes "pomeranian spinster" with "presbyterian ministers" should get at least a listen.

Favorite song: Velveteen


Wilco - Cruel Country: this album honestly didn't grab me at first but I couldn't help but keep returning to it throughout the year. Possibly my favorite album of theirs since Whole Love.

Favorite song: Falling Apart (Right Now)


Redveil - Learn 2 Swim: really impressive album from this 18-year old. Probably my favorite hip-hop album of the year (in a year that I think was really great for hip-hop). Redveil does all the production on it, and brings back that early-00's vocal sample heavy aesthetic. While he's not the most gifted rapper, he understands how his voice should flow/interact in a way that maximizes his talents.

Favorite song: PG Baby


The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention: outside of The Eraser, I've been pretty meh to lukewarm on all of the Radiohead/Thom side projects, but this is my favorite of them all. Tom Skinner adds a whole new dynamic to the drums as there's more free-flowing interplay between them.

Favorite song: You Will Never Work in Television Again


Pusha T - It's Almost Dry: nothing groundbreaking here but Pusha has mastered the cocaine rap aesthetic and put out an extremely polished and focused album here.

Favorite song: Neck and Wrist



Bleh, I'll finish the other 5 later.

 

Here’s my list. I’ll link to YouTubes or similar, unsure if I’ll have time for write ups, sorry.

My taste is broadly for “experimental” music, I guess, so you’ll get a lot of drone/ambient/concrète/manipulated field recording and that kind of thing in here. Also some “experimental techno” or adjacent stuff thrown in, although I’m getting pretty tired of that trend so I sort of strayed away this past year with a few exceptions. Some jazz, a little bit of Amapiano in Toxicated Keys, which is a South African House sub genre of which I like pretty much everything I listen to, some more straight ahead “indie” stuff (Cass, Alex G), etc.:

1. anadol - felicita (sample)
2. billy woods - aethiopes (sample)
3. mary halvorson - amaryllis/belladonna (sample)
4. perfume genius - ugly season (sample)
5. klein - cave in the wind (sample)
6. carl stone - wat dong moon lek (sample)
7. jeff parker ETA IVtet - mondays at the enfield tennis academy (sample)
8. ailie ormston & tim fraser - it changes (sample)
9. toxicated keys - from thutlwane to the world (sample)
10. mister water wet - top natural drum (sample)
11. maxine funke - pieces of driftwood (sample)
12. cass mccombs - heartmind (sample)
13. alex g - god save the animals (sample)
14. yahritza y su esencia - obsessed (sample)
15. daniel villarreal - panamá 77 (sample)
16. nik colk void - bucked up space (sample)
17. kendrick lamar - mr. morale and the big steppers (sample)
18. bogdan raczynski - addle (sample)
19. black midi - hellfire (sample)
20. nilufer yanya - painless (sample)
21. silvia tarozzi/deborah walker - canti di guerra, di lavoro e d‘amore (sample)
22. ghais guevara - there will be no super-slave (sample)
23. niknak - chasing solitude (sample)
24. sote - majestic noise made in beautiful rotten iran (sample)
25. daniel bachman - almanac behind (sample)

 

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You



Tank and the Bangas - Red Balloon



The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention



DOMI and JD Beck - NOT TiGHT

 

Gonna make another list.

This time its my favorite songs, but only songs that aren't on one of the albums in my AOTY of the year list. Any of the YouTube embeds above would basically qualify for this list. Normally im very much an album listener, so if an album has more than 1-2 skip tracks, I just don't listen to it, but some of these are either from albums from bands I like and released disappointing albums this year, or are from Kpop, which basically never has complete albums, usually just a song or two.


Sun//Eater - Lorna Shore
I was so incredibly hyped for this album. Not only was their first release with their new singer last year amazing, it was an EP, but this track was incredible. Alas, the album came out and most of the songs that weren't released in advance were kinda filler. This is top tier progressive death core.




Cold Burn - Cult of Luna
I have a weird relationship with Cult of Luna and post-metal in general. It always rides this fine line of incredible or boring. Their last release, The Raging River, was kinda meh. The album before that, A Dawn to Fear is their best. When they put out Cold Rain leading up to the release of The Long Road North, I could not have been more hyped. This song is fantastic, its too bad that outside of another song or two, the rest of the album wasn't it.

https://cultofluna.bandcamp.com/album/the-long-road-north




Drone Carrying Dread - Author & Punisher
this album very nearly made the AOTY list above, but just barely got edged out. This song sold me on it. Sort of industrial/post-metal sound with a gorgeous video.

https://authorandpunisher.bandcamp.com/album/kr-ller




Plastic Tears - Wings Denied
This was just a single release, Wings Denied are a fantastic progressive metal group and I hope they put out a new album soon.

https://wingsdenied.bandcamp.com/track/plastic-tears




Totemic - Morrow
Im gonna be honest, this should have been on the AOTY list, and I forgot to include it. but here I am making amends. This is a sort of crust punk/hardcore group.

https://morrowpunx.bandcamp.com/album/the-quiet-earth




Ill bore everyone with my top Kpop later