LISTMANIA 2022 WRAPUP

 LISTMANIA 2022  7 Responses »
Jan 122023
 

We posted the last of our many year-end lists on January 2nd. If I’d had my mental shit in working order I would have quickly followed that with the annual wrap-up providing links to all the lists we published, but I forgot to do it… until today.

As in years past we posted an extensive series of lists for 2022. As usual, some of them were re-postings of lists that appeared at “big platform” web sites and print magazines, and others were prepared by our own stable of race-horse writers. But once again we had a large group of lists from other guests and old friends. Plus, we’ve again received valuable, extensive lists in reader comments on THIS POST (new lists can still be added there).

In this article I’m setting forth links to all of the 2022 year-end lists that we published, divided into categories and listed within each category in the order of their appearance. For people who are looking for the best metal that 2022 had to offer, these lists and our readers’ lists provide a tremendous resource, as they have in past years. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: A YEAR-END LIST FROM SEB PAINCHAUD (TUMBLEWEED DEALER)

 LISTMANIA 2022  1 Response »
Jan 022023
 

(Seb Painchaud, the main man behind the Montréal band Tumbleweed Dealer, has very expansive and eclectic musical tastes, which is one reason why for seven years in a row we’ve asked him to share a year-end list with us. This one, as usual, goes in all sorts of different directions. And if it hadn’t been for a malfunctioning NCS spam filter we would have shared it with you a lot sooner than now.)

Feels like these lists are getting closer and closer apart…

Around the beginning of October, I realized I had hundreds of 2022 releases I had not gotten around to listening to yet, and compiled a playlist. It was over 200 hours long. It was quite disheartening. I’ve listened to that playlist exclusively since, adding a bunch of releases every week to it, barely making a dent in it. As I write this at the beginning of December, it’s down to 110 hours. To be honest, my list has not changed much since I started that process. So here is a list that is “lived in” with no last-minute infatuations, no scouring of other people’s lists, just the albums I spent the last twelve months with.

Expect a “Shit I slept on” list a few months into 2023, but for now, this sums up my year… Continue reading »

OH GREAT, IT’S THIS ASSHOLE AGAIN: THE THRILLING CLIMAX

 LISTMANIA 2022  1 Response »
Dec 302022
 

 

(We’ve been enjoying Neill Jameson‘s year-end lists as they’ve arrived, and making lots of new discoveries (we hope you have too), and today we bring you his fifth and final list for 2022 at NCS.)

I don’t really look at these lists as the “best of” a certain year, per se, rather just recordings I’ve enjoyed throughout whatever calendar year it currently is. However, the last part is historically what I considered “best”, so forget whatever the fuck I just said a few words ago. These were my favorites out of everything we’ve covered thus far. Continue reading »

VONLUGHLIO’S TOP 25 OF 2022

 LISTMANIA 2022  9 Responses »
Dec 302022
 

(For many, many years our friend Vonlughlio , originally from the Dominican Republic and now in North Carolina, has compiled a list of his favorite brutal death metal releases for sharing at NCS, and he’s done it again this year, with a rogue’s gallery of artwork replete with guts, blood, skulls, monsters, and other eerie and abhorrent scenes.)

It’s been so long since I have written for NCS and I do sure miss it, but with my new job and family I have almost no time to do so. Nevertheless, I will try to change this for 2023. I am just thankful that Islander, lets me post my top 25 BDM albums list each year.

To those not familiar, the reason to do a year end list just for Brutal Death Metal is to give this genre and the bands more exposure. Also, NCS writers and collaborators do a fantastic job in covering other metal genres. So, this year for BDM has been a great one, providing lots of cool releases that just blew me away from start to finish. Since this is only a list of 25 albums, some albums that you might like might not there. Probably because I did not have the chance to listen or it was not released by the time I made my choices.

Another thing, if an album you loved is not here, that does not mean it sucked, It might be because I just like the ones I chose more. Anyway, not taking too much of your time, below is my list. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JOHAN HULDTGREN

 LISTMANIA 2022  2 Responses »
Dec 292022
 

 

For the 12th year in a row, our friend Johan Huldtgren of the Swedish black metal band Obitus — whose 2017 album Slaves of the Vast Machine (reviewed and premiered here) is still their latest release — has again allowed us to share with you his year-end Top 10 list, which originally appeared on Johan’s own blog.

And without further ado, we turn the floor over to Johan: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: GONZO’S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, PART TWO

 LISTMANIA 2022  6 Responses »
Dec 282022
 

(Today Denver-based NCS writer Gonzo presents the second half of his 2022 year-end list, counting down to the Album of the Year spot. If you missed the first Part, it’s here.)

Ah yes, here’s where we get to the good stuff.

Musically speaking, 2022 surprised me in several ways. It seems like every year just before I put this list together, there’s always the proverbial October surprise – that is, one or more albums that surface in late fall that are so damn good they upend my plans for the top 20 I was just about to write. This year, I planned for it, anticipating some absolute bangers that dropped in October and November, and those anticipations quickly bubbled into a reality that well exceeded what I was hoping for.

All told, it’s a good problem to have. Here’s where we get to my top 10 picks of the year. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: A “HIGH FIDELITY” YEAR-END LIST FROM AXEL STORMBREAKER

 LISTMANIA 2022  No Responses »
Dec 282022
 

(NCS contributor Axel Stormbreaker takes part in our year-end LISTMANIA series with his picks for the year’s “top 10 dark horse releases,” embellished with quotes from a certain 2000 movie and the book it was based on.)

A good compilation tape, like making a “dark horse” year-end list, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention. I started with “Ljúshtaeshrhendlhë Jecan Glézma”, but then realised that you might not get any further than track one, side one, if I delivered what you wanted straight away. It’s a long song too. So I placed it in the middle of side one.

And then you’ve got to up it a notch. And you can’t have raw music and bright music together, unless the raw music sounds like bright music, or the other way around. And you can’t have two tracks that are too aligned, unless you’ve done the whole thing in parts. And the order from start to finish should be correct, regardless if you split it in segments. And… oh, there are loads of rules.

So, here we go. No bands that are well appraised are included. People will listen to their records anyway. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: GONZO’S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, PART ONE

 LISTMANIA 2022  4 Responses »
Dec 272022
 

(Today our Denver-based writer Gonzo wades into the annual LISTMANIA froth with the first installment of a two-part list of his Top 20 albums of 2022.)

As I write this, it’s -10F outside and I’m still thawing the icicles that formed in my beard on the walk to get coffee. The holidays are upon us, yes, and that means getting a much-needed week off from my day job that seems occasionally hellbent on sapping my energy and grinding it into a fine pink mist.

But I am resistant to such aggressions. Anything’s possible with the right amount of determination and caffeine.

So, with the year quickly winding down to a close, one of my favorite times of the year for music is upon us: Listmania, happening on these very pages.

I don’t think I need to elucidate any further thoughts on any of that – by now, you know what we’re all about. Here are my top 20 album picks from 2022. Continue reading »

OH GREAT, IT’S THIS ASSHOLE AGAIN: PART IV

 LISTMANIA 2022  2 Responses »
Dec 262022
 

(One of the perennial highlights of our year-end LISTMANIA series are the articles Neill Jameson has contributed, and we’re very happy that he’s done so again this year. This one is the fourth of a five-part installment of Neill‘s lists for 2022. As you’ll see, it goes in lots of different directions)

As I’ve been writing these I’ve kept an open doc with the list from this year that I just continue to add to. My therapist might tell me that this kind of behavior is me subconsciously punishing myself for years of shitting on people with huge year-end lists but I’d just steer the conversation back to when the neighbor molested me when I was a child.

This is a bit of a longer list. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: A YEAR-END LIST FROM PROFESSOR D. GROVER THE XIIITH

 LISTMANIA 2022  1 Response »
Dec 262022
 

(Our friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth (ex-The Number of the Blog) has been joining us this time of year for many years to share his diverse year-end lists, and does so again now.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. As another year ends I find myself trying to sift through everything I listened to with the intention of compiling a list of everything that I enjoyed, and as usual I realize that I listened to a whole lot of music.

Oddly, this year I thought I was going to have a difficult time filling out a real list, only to wind up with a list of 77 albums that I had to narrow down. Anyway, because they can’t all go on the list, here’s the honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut. All of these albums (and let’s be honest, more beyond this that I didn’t even list) could have made the main list. It really was that close. Continue reading »

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