Welcome back for a SECOND LOOK at 2022 curated by The Real Mister Terrific. We listened to more than 240 new releases this year and our original Top 22 list just wasn't sufficient to cover all of the awesomeness the metal world gave us in 2022. Get your battle vest ready for another 22 killer albums that kicked our asses this past year, in no particular order. The list will include only full-length albums of new material - no live albums, compilations, EPs, or reissues. Leave a comment and tell us what albums you were banging your head to in 2022!
Band: THE HALO EFFECT
Album: Days of the Lost
2 Favorite Tracks: Shadowminds / Gateways
Current and former members of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity take a stroll down memory lane with some “classic” Gothenburg melodeath.
Release Date: August 12, 2022
Band: VORGA
Album: Striving Toward Oblivion
2 Favorite Tracks: Starless Sky / Fool's Paradise
Sci-fi themed atmospheric black metal band from Germany destroys the known universe with their debut full-length album. A brilliant follow up to their Radiant Gloom EP from 2019.
Release Date: February 4, 2022
Buy Striving Toward Oblivion here
Band: AEVITERNE
Album: The Ailing Facade
2 Favorite Tracks: Penitent / Dream in Lies
Disorienting modern death metal that is heavy in subject matter as it is in sound.
Release Date: March 18, 2022
Band: CHAT PILE
Album: God's Country
2 Favorite Tracks: Pamela / Wicked Puppet Dance
Release Date: July 29, 2022
Far beyond pissed off, the dudes from Oklahoma hardcore / noise rock quartet Chat Pile are outrageously belligerent and severely fucked up (album closing track “grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg” is fucking BLEAK). Vocalist Raygun Busch must have gotten to some pretty dark places in his mind while recording the brain-shattering, soul-destroying, agonized bellows throughout many of the tracks on God's Country. The one-two-three knockout combo of Why / Pamela / Wicked Puppet Dance is some of the hardest-hitting song sequencing of the year.
Band: HEILUNG
Album: Drif
2 Favorite Tracks: Asja / Anoana
Haunting dark folk with hypnotic percussion and stunning vocal melodies. “Anoana” is one of my absolute favorite songs of the year and the live performance on YouTube is even more powerful than the album version.
Release Date: August 19, 2022
Band: WILDERUN
Album: Epigone
2 Favorite Tracks: Passenger / Identifier
Compelling progressive death metal with strong Opeth influences.
Release Date: January 7, 2022
Band: TONY MARTIN
Album: Thorns
2 Favorite Tracks: Damned by You / Run Like the Devil
Former Black Sabbath singer returns with his third solo album.
Release Date: January 14, 2022
Band: SPITE
Album: Dedication to Flesh
2 Favorite Tracks: Lord of the Upside Down / Made to Please
Relentlessly chaotic deathcore delivered with a side of groove. Vocalist Darius Tehrani brings a standout performance to every track.
Release Date: August 19, 2022
Band: PERSEFONE
Album: Metanoia
2 Favorite Tracks: Architecture of the I / Merkabah
Modern progressive death metal from Andorra featuring plenty of melodic hooks, atmosphere, and meandering song structures.
Release Date: February 4, 2022
Band: ABYSSUS
Album: Death Revival
2 Favorite Tracks: Metal of Death / Uncertain Future
Thrashy old school death metal with riffs for days. Vocals heavily reminiscent of John Tardy.
Release Date: January 21, 2022
Band: VIROCRACY
Album: Ecophagia
2 Favorite Tracks: Devolution / Arboreal Sleep
Melodic death metal lead by the ferocious vocals of Anika ov Moseberg. And that bass guitar tone!
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Band: THE OTOLITH
Album: Folium Limina
2 Favorite Tracks: Andromeda's Wing / Ekpyrotic
Debut album from Salt Lake City avant-garde sludge doom group. Claustrophobic atmospheres underneath cathartic and haunting violin. The crushing weight of the guitars only given reprieve by sorrowful melodies and introspective quieter moments. Fans of early '90s Neurosis will find much to love on songs like Ekpyrotic and Dispirit.
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Band: REVOCATION
Album: Netherheaven
2 Favorite Tracks: Diabolical Majesty / Nihilistic Violence
Groovy death metal with a healthy dose of thrash.
Release Date: Sept 9, 2022
Band: INGESTED
Album: Ashes Lie Still
2 Favorite Tracks: Ashes Lie Still (feat. Julia Frau) / From Hollow Words
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Deathcore legends from Manchester, UK continue to expand their sound on the sixth full-length album, more in touch with their atmospheric side without sacrificing heaviness.
“Ashes Lie Still was written in my darkest times, my father suddenly passed away while I was on tour and the very next day Covid halted our career for over two years. You can hear my pain and frustration musically as well as lyrically; it’s a dark, brooding piece and Julia compliments the feel of the track perfectly. It’s an incredibly personal song to me and I’m proud it’s the first single from our Metal Blade debut,” comments guitarist and backing vocalist Sean Hynes.
Band: DEFACING GOD
Album: The Resurrection of Lilith
2 Favorite Tracks: Rise of the Trinity / The End of Times
Blackened death metal from Denmark. Impressive debut album blends symphonic elements with melodeath and classical black metal.
Release Date: Sept 2, 2022
Buy The Resurrection of Lilith here
Band: ENTERPRISE EARTH
Album: The Chosen
2 Favorite Tracks: Where Dreams Are Broken / Reanimate // Disintegrate
Metalcore / deathcore with all the piq squeals, dive bombs, breakdowns and guitar solos in their right place. "Rip out the human heart
Squeeze it in your palm and tear it apart." - Where Dreams Are Broken
Release Date: January 14, 2022
Band: SOREPTION
Album: Jord
2 Favorite Tracks: The Artificial North / Död Jord
Do you even tech, bro? And yeah, it djents. But more importantly, it stays interesting without noodling off into wankery. IYKYK.
Release Date: June 10, 2022
Band: AETHEREUS
Album: Leiden
2 Favorite Tracks: Enshrouded in Kaleidoscopic Skin / Behold, The World Eater
Dissonant, cacophonic, deranged death metal. Truly evil sounding choas, the perfect album to go and scream your demons out. Go to the gym and blast out the album closing track “Upon Infinite Seas” and you'll definitely get exercised. Or exorcized. Or both.
Release Date: January 14, 2022
Band: KVAEN
Album: The Great Below
2 Favorite Tracks: Cauldron of Plagues / In Silence
Fast and catchy melodic black metal that'll make you immediately drive out to the nearest forest and dance naked in the fire while screaming at the full moon. No need to bring your own wolves.
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Band: AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION
Album: Woe
2 Favorite Tracks: Prosperity / In the Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster
Release Date: September 9, 2022
Masterfully-written progressive death metal that highly contrasts brutality with beauty. The last 3 and a half minutes of “Prosperity” has a deliciously hypnotic outtro in a Gojira / Opeth style that fades into a mournful atmospheric whisper. The simple beauty as piano and flute merge into instrumental track “Blomsterkrans” is one of the many album highlights. Even under the gorgeous piano melody a melancholy remains. The violin is simultaneously breathtaking and heartbreaking. Give this album your full patience and you will be rewarded.
From the bandcamp page: “A 60-minute song divided into seven pieces, combining beauty and brutality in a unique way, the album's musical depth is a feat to behold, one that will remain lodged in the psyche long after the final note is heard. Let the waves wash over you, the behemoth has awoken...”
Band: FALLUJAH
Album: Empyrean
2 Favorite Tracks: Into the Eventide / Soulbreaker
Intricate and atmospheric progressive death metal.
Release Date: September 9, 2022
Band: KARDASHEV
Album: Liminal Rite
2 Favorite Tracks: Compost Grave-Song / Glass Phantoms
Heavy in its sound, style, and subject matter. Let it rip your soul to shreds.
“He got lost” That's what I told them, And I'm mocked by the stone on his head. How could I have known it would be like this?
Release Date: March 24, 2022
And here we rest with 22 more of the best heavy albums from 2022. Listen to the above songs and many more at our ever growing “Ultimate Heavy Music Playlist” on YouTube.