Metal Academy Awards for 2022 Announcement

The ratings are in and the Academy attendees have spoken. Below are the releases from each clan that topped the year. Let us know how you feel about them.

METAL ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS FOR BEST RELEASE OF 2022

• THE FALLEN...... Dvvell  - Quiescent
• THE GATEWAY...... Northlane - Obsidian
• THE GUARDIANS...... Blind Guardian - The God Machine
• THE HORDE...... An Abstract Illusion - Woe
• THE INFINITE...... Cult of Luna - The Long Road Home
• THE NORTH...... Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
• THE PIT...... Critical Defiance - No Life Forms
• THE REVOLUTION...... Static Dress - Rouge Carpet Disaster
• THE SPHERE...... Author & Punisher - Krüller

METAL ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS FOR BEST COVER OF 2022

• THE FALLEN...... Epitaphe - II
• THE GATEWAY...... Parkway Drive - Darker Still
• THE GUARDIANS...... Blind Guardian - The God Machine
• THE HORDE...... Exocrine - The Hybrid Suns
• THE INFINITE...... Dreadnought - The Endless
• THE NORTH...... Stormruler - Sacred Rites & Black Magick
• THE PIT...... Destruction - Diabolical
• THE REVOLUTION...... Vatican - Ultra
• THE SPHERE...... Author & Punisher - Krüller

Dvvell definitely gets a thumbs-up from me as Fallen AOTY. It was one of only two to get full marks from me last year, the other being Messa's Close and while that is a brilliant album, it didn't make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck like Quiescent did.

Apparently the only Gateway release I rated last year was by Thornhill and it only got a couple of stars (and I can't remember anything about it now), so, obviously, The Gateway is not really a clan I care that much about.

Surprisingly, for me, I actually didn't mind The God Machine. It was as decent a power metal album as I have heard in ages, so I can get behind that win, although for me, Satan's Earth Infernal was the best album from under The Guardians' umbrella last year.

Only four Horde releases from last year rated - I thought it would be more - and Immolation's Acts of God was my pick with Desolate Shrine's Fires of the Dying World coming in a close second. I haven't heard the winner.

I understand why Cult of Luna won the award for The Infinite as they are indeed a class act, but my winner in the clan would have to be an album I must thank Vinny for putting me onto - Russian Circles' Gnosis.

I'm a bit surprised that Blut aus Nord took the North crown, even though I enjoyed it myself, as it doesn't seem to have received a lot of praise here on Metal Academy. My personal favourite was DsO's latestThe Long Defeat, with Hate Forest a close second.

I have neglected The Pit recently with only three 2022 releases rated from that clan, but my easy winner, in common with everyone else it seems, was Critical Defiance's No Life Forms.

Unsurprisingly for me, considering my loathing of -core genres I rated no Revolution releases from 2022, so have no opinion.

I only rated one Sphere release from 2022, but luckily it was the winner, which was a damn fine album and deserved it's win.

In terms of The Pit, although I did not find it that remarkable, Critical Defiance was destined to win as nothing else really stood out across the site for all the regulars (based on what I read anyway).  MegaDave and Kreator or Destruction were never going to get anywhere near most certainly.  My standout releases were Autonoesis and Schizophrenia (although I can't say I revisited the latter much since my four star rating).

The North felt much more like my home last year.  Although I have come to it late, the BAN album is really good but I feel I need a lot more time with it at present before settling on a rating.  I really enjoyed Gaerea the most out of the releases I cottoned on to last year.  Such a mature and accomplished release and great to see a band I have found myself following increasingly over the years really hitting their stride.  Although not quite hitting full marks, Wiegedood's release is another proud physical trophy in my vinyl collection from last year.  That's some ugly shit right there folks.  A special shout out to Nordicwinter who has fast become a firm favourite over the last 18 months since my discovery of his music. 

Upon reflection, The Horde enjoyed a mediocre year.  I did my fair share of dishing out 4 star ratings but nothing (not even the mighty Immolation) could hit top marks last year.  Abhorrency were a fucking blast and Tribal Gaze took my face off but I just do not find myself going back to it that much since the first month of repeated plays.  Ripped to Shreds and Mortuous would be my shout outs.

Although no longer affiliated with The Guardians, I agree that The God Machine was a standout record for the clan and Blind Guardian themselves.  A welcome return to form after several pompous and over the top releases.  Super pleased to see Krüller win The Sphere, another mature release from an artist I see going from strength to strength with every release. 

Only heard that Messa record from The Fallen and that hit top marks for me.  I have to fess up that I have played that Death of Piece of Mind record by Bad Omens so much in the car last year that it is probably my most played release of the year, so unusually, The Gateway tops my list in terms of most played release of the year.

The Dvvell, Northlane & Critical Defiance releases all got my vote as winners of their respective clans so I'm very comfortable with those. Although I've yet to explore it, the Blind Guardian record seems to be fairly unanimous on social media too so it was a bit of a no-brainer for a clan that we found had surprisingly few ratings in our datatbase in 2022. The An Abstract Illusion record was an interesting one. Ben & I had to decide on a cut-off point for The Horde as far as minimum ratings go & had two different potential winners depending on which one we chose. In the end we decided that there simply wasn't enough releases with 4+ ratings to make it a valid option so we went with 3 which saw Inanna missing out. I would have gone with Inanna personally but are comfortable with the result nonetheless because I know Ben will absolutely love "Woe" & even if he only awarded it a four star rating it would still be ahead of Inanna. Besides, two of our regulars awarded "Woe" an impressive 4.5/5 rating which should count for something. My personal pick for The Infinite would have been the self-titled Ode & Elegy album but I'm happy with Cult of Luna as it's a stunning release in its own right. The Author & Punisher album is also a worthy winner. I personally enjoyed the Northlane record a touch more but it's already won another clan award & there isn't a lot between the two for mine. I haven't gotten around to the Static Dress album as yet but will likely get to it at some point in the future while I've opted not to rate the Blut aus Nord one to date as I think it deserves a little more active listening time than I've afforded it thus far.

Overall, I agree with Vinny that The Pit & my beloved The Horde had a pretty quiet year from what I've seen & heard. The Infinite was the clan that I think came out on top in 2022 with a slew of outstanding records. This is what my top ten looks like at present with the top seven being the releases that really smashed me:

01. Scarcity - "Aveilut"

02. Ode & Elegy - "Ode & Elegy"

03. Hate Forest - "Innermost"

04. Cult of Luna - "The Long Road Home"

05. Dreadnought - "The Endless"

06. Dvvell - "Quiescent"

07. Disillusion - "Ayam"

08. Inanna - "Void of Unending Depths"

09. Neptunian Maximalism - "Set Chaos To The Heart Of The Moon"

10. Immolation - "Acts of God"

It was a comparitively quiet year for new releases for me last year as I only rated 61 of the hundreds released in 2022 that were added to Metal Academy (I have been averaging a couple of hundred in the previous few years). I don't know if it is because of this or not, but I didn't consider last year a "great" year for metal - solid, but not great. Funnily this year already seems to be shaping up better from my point of view, with some really great releases already. There is, however, still a long way to go so it remains to be seen if this time next year we are lauding 2023 as a classic year for metal!

Anyway, my top releases for '22:

1. Dvvell - "Quiescent"

2. Messa - "Close"

3. Monolithe - "Kosmodrom"

4. Epitaphe "II"

5. Deathspell Omega - "The Long Defeat"

6. The Otolith - "Folium Limina"

7. Mournful Congregation - "The Exuviae of Gods: Part I"

8. Shape of Despair - "Return to the Void"

9. Satan - "Earth Infernal"

10. Russian Circles - "Gnosis"

11. The Funeral Orchestra - "Funeral Death - Apocalyptic Plague Ritual II"

12. Critical Defiance - "No Life Forms"

13. Conan - "Evidence of Immortality"

14. Blut aus Nord - "Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses"

15. BlackLab - "In a Bizarre Dream"

Glad to see the Northlane, Parkway Drive, and Cult of Luna releases taking home the Gateway and Infinite awards! Here are my top 10 releases of 2022:

1. Lorna Shore - Pain Remains

2. Northlane - Obsidian

3. Cult of Luna - The Long Road North

4. Gothminister - Pandemonium

5. Dir En Grey - Phalaris

6. Upon a Burning Body - Fury

7. Seventh Wonder - The Testament

8. In the Woods... - Diversum

9. Psyclon Nine - Less to Heaven

10. Annihilator - Metal II

2022 was definitely a weird year overall. I don't think that there were a ton of truly standout releases, especially in some of the Clans that others have referenced, but it produced my longest list yet of albums that deserve a listen or two. So while it wasn't the most exciting year, it was the deepest and most consistent year I've had so far. Let me go through these real quick. 

The Fallen - Although I haven't gone back to it that much, Quiescent is definitely deserving. It's hard for me to truly get into due to my tastes, but it's still an insanely compelling listen when I get the strength to turn it on for another spin. I preferred Messa's Close and Epitaphe's II, but I'm far from upset about this. 

The Gateway - I'm kind of disappointed with this one, as I think Cave In's offering was much stronger, but I don't think Obsidian is a weak album by any means. 

The Guardians - No surprises here, I'm not the biggest fan of Blind Guardian's more modern material, so this was a massive improvement for them to go back to the kinds of riffs and songwriting that I prefer. It still manages to combine their old and new styles though, making it a really interesting listen for a band that's been going at it for a long time now. There were a lot of other strong releases this year though, especially in the Heavy Metal category. Sonny alluded to Earth Infernal, but Sumerland's Dreamkiller is also a great record, as well as Riot City's Electric Elite. These three albums basically form a trifecta of any classic Heavy Metal style you'd want, ranging from Black Sabbath, to Judas Priest. 

The Horde - I'm pretty torn about this one. I loved Woe when I first listened to it, but as the year went on, I kept finding more and more problems with it. I think my 4.5 still fits, as I still love this style of Metal overall, but to see it take 1st place in The Horde feels a bit disingenuous as I categorize this as an Infinite release way more than a Horde one. While it was an admittedly quiet year for The Horde, I think Inanna, Artificial Brain, or Allegaeon have more of a place than Woe, even though those albums are fairly divisive too. Pretty strange year for The Horde overall as the big albums are hybrids and more progressive overall. 

The Infinite - Not really a surprise, I would have preferred Tómarúm in here, or even Epitaphe, but that's definitely due to personal taste. Even Imperial Triumphant deserve a shoutout, really strong year for this clan overall, Cult of Luna are just way too consistent though. 

The North - This one is VERY surprising as someone who really couldn't get into the atmosphere of this one. I gave it a solid 3.5 score since it accomplishes what it sets out to do very well, but I can't personally get in the right mindset to hear what everyone else seems to be hearing. That being said, the rest of the Black Metal I really enjoyed this year was VERY off the wall, so I wasn't expecting my favorites to be chart-toppers. 

The Pit - There wasn't really another option here. I'd say Autonoesis but I'd consider that more of a North album, I have no issues with Critical Defiance taking it home with some actual straight-up Thrash. 

The Revolution - I'm kind of sad that The Callous Daoboys didn't get more attention here, but Static Dress serve up some serious nostalgia and I'm not surprised this one took it. 

The Sphere - No arguments here, thoroughly enjoyed Krüller all the way through the year.