best album(s) of 2022?

[Mokèlé-mbèmbé]

there's no time for a retrospective of a year than halfway through the next one i suppose. i wanna see what, from that illustrious year, y'all vibed to the hardest. it was a good 'un, in my opinion.

20. autumn brigade - the gates of heaven
19. mark tremonti - sings frank sinatra
18. lil b - afrikantis
17. stealing sheep - wow machine
16. dim - steeped sky, stained light
15. marta sanchez - saam: spanish american art museum
14. liraz - roya
13. joseph allred - rambles and rags of shiloh
12. alaíde costa - o que meus calos dizem sobre mim
11. aj snow - don't pop pills, pop champagne
10. mohi bahauddin dagar - ahir bhairav
9. eve risser red desert orchestra - eurythmia
8. bad bunny - un verano sin ti
7. phobophilic - enveloping absurdity
6. nova twins - supernova
5. gauntlet ring - tyrannical bloodlust
4. current 93 - if a city is set upon a hill
3. rocío márquez & bronquio - tercer cielo
2. negative plane - the pact
1. beyoncé - renaissance

[Vinyadan]

I like this thread, because it made me go back and take a look at what came out, and there are a few things I had not noticed or I had forgotten about.

The ones I would recommend:

Judicator -- The Majesty of Decay
Planeswalker -- Tales of Magic
Otoboke Beaver -- Super Champon
Riot City -- Electric Elite
Talas -- 1985
Trial -- Feed The Fire
Blind Guardian -- The God Machine
Aeternam -- Heir of the Rising Sun
Fellowship -- The Saberlight Chronicles
Ironflame -- Where Madness Dwells
Circle of Silence -- Walk Through Hell

A few bands I enjoyed in the past released more stuff, but I didn't really listen to it (Master Boot Record, Author and Punisher, Amorphis).

[Thrudd]

I agree on Blind Guardian "God Machine"

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava" (my favorite of the 3 they released that year)

Lamb of God: "Omens"

Star One: "Revel in Time"

Michael Romeo:"War of the Worlds pt.2" (pt.1 I actually like a little more, I think, but released a few years too early)

Wo Fat: "The Singularity"

Amorphis:"Halo"

Peth:"Merchant of Death" (yes, it's shameless Black Sabbath worship, but Dio help me, I like it)

Seven Nines and Tens: "Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers"

it was an exercise going through playlists trying to figure out what was released only in '22 (lists invariably miss some of my bands) lol. At least I already organize playlists by decade.

edit: I found some more from bands I've been into

Froglord: "Army of Frogs" (I actually like the previous albums better, but it's not bad)

Ruby the Hatchet: "Fear is a Cruel Master" (same as above)

Cult of Luna: "The Long Road North"

Hangsman's Chair: "A Loner"

[Corlindale]

I've actually embarked on a bit of a musical journey this year, as I decided to turn The Guardian's top 50 of albums from 2022 into a music calendar for 2023. So I'm 'unwrapping' one album each week on Spotify, starting from #50 and working my way up. It's been interesting to listen to a good variety, including some genres that I don't normally delve into. Last week was Two Ribbons by Let's Eat Grandma, which is one of my favourites so far (genre-wise I'd put it as upbeat indie pop).

As for my own 2022 favourites, Lightwork by Devin Townsend takes the crown (and I will be interested to see if anything from the music calendar will dethrone it). I've long had the feeling that Devin was a musical genius, while at the same time not really being into the super-heavy stuff he sometimes does. But Lightwork has kind of reconciled this inner conflict, as it's super approachable and easy to listen to, while still retaining some heaviness. It also really felt like the album I needed at the time, as it was such a shining beacon of light in an otherwise dark time (to borrow a bit from the album's own symbolism).

Other strong candidates include Midnights by Taylor Swift (somewhat to my own surprise I've become a major fan of her over the past couple of years), A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society by Avantasia (which ended up inspiring an entire homebrew D&D campaign I'm currently running) and Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind by Coheed and Cambria.

[Whoracle]

Now that I tried to make a list, I noticed that 2022 was a sad year for me. My top 5 is basically "all the albums I listened to that were released that year".

Well, anyways, here goes, in no particular order:

Disillusion - Ayam
Electric Callboy - Tekkno
The Halo Effect - Days Of The Lost
Septicflesh - Modern Primitive


Apart from those 4, there was one standout for me:

Lorna Shore - Pain Remains

Simply because the vocalist does something else than 90% of extreme metal vocalists.