Best of 2022 by UnhinderedbyTalent
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If you read what I write or follow what I do on here, thank you. You will know I am a cagey one when it comes to new music but I do allow some of the torrent of endless releases to break through every now and again, this year is an honest number of eight releases that have made an impact in my world enough to get consistent plays. Honourable mentions to Thornhill and Tribal Gaze but they (for whatever reasons) did not make the regularity of rotation that these other eight enjoyed.
A late arrival and simply too important a record to place anywhere else in the end of year list. End to end this explores everything doom and psychedelic related through to completely non-metal/rock related influences also. Talented minds make great music, and if you ever needed proof of this then Close is the album for you.
I have already called out Wiegedood in my list for coming of age in 2022. Well, Gaerea simply can do no wrong with Mirage and it is the perfect summit for their journey to date. Expansive, emotional and invasive all at the same time, this is a record made by a band at the top of their game and I would expect them to push that summit even higher the next time around.
Such an assured and impressive record. Never boring because it is always developing, expanding or pushing its own boundaries creating a continuously bigger sound all the while. I always viewed instrumental artists as purely background music until I heard this record, now I cannot do anything other than sit and revel in the majesty of this record each time I play it.
Look, I am as surprised as you are. Totally not my normal bag but just unputdownable this year for me, certainly my most listened to album in the car and that's a place where I really get to know music the best on the long drives around the country. Bits of this I absolutely hate but there is so much that I just love, love, love about this record.
Long under-appreciated by me, Wiegedood came of age this year with an ugly and tormenting album that gets frequent plays on my turntable to this today. Something nefariously infectious about this one.
Another car driving essential album from this year. The simple plug in and play value of this record makes it such a pleasure to listen to. No levels of complexity to work through, no layers to unpick and no delusions of grandeur to manage.
It has taken a while for me to pick up anything of Blind Guardian's without me cringing in anticipation at the amount of pomp that seems to have replaced quality songwriting since At The Edge of Time but my perseverance paid off in 2022 with an album that shows much promise of a return to form over coming releases.
Definitely had this in higher on the list at one point but it has faded a bit despite regular plays. Some of this is down to me simply being a bit exhausted with Immolation after years of loving everything that they have done. Feels longer than it is in reality and one of the few records where owning it on vinyl makes it somehow a little less enjoyable. Still a monstrous death metal album that a lot of contemporaries could learn from.
Purely occupying last place because it came out so early in 2022 I sort of forgot about it. As I was putting this list together though and I was revisiting it, I could not help but recognise just how good this is and how great a reflection of how far A&P has come since he first started out.