DANCING UPON THE GRAVE OF 2022: THE DGR YEAR-END LIST: 50-41

 LISTMANIA 2022  9 Responses »
Dec 192022
 

(Today we begin the week-long rollout of DGR‘s year-end list with Part One, encompassing his picks from 50 through 41.)

It’s an interesting problem having one of your favorite albums from the previous year come in right underneath the wire for your personal year-end season. It results in a weird dynamic of the first few months of the following year having to compete real goddamned hard to try and make any sort of dent in the sense of ‘but what if I just go back and listen to such and such again…’.

However, I’d like to believe – and likely failed at believing – that I was aware this would be a factor for a decent period of 2022’s release schedule, and did start keeping track of what I’d been listening to early in an attempt to save room in the year-end festivities for those who would bravely set foot into 2022 early on.

Every year since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out has been one of fits and starts, awkward stumbles, drunken lurches forward, and massive waterfalls, at the same time as the music industry has attempted to adapt to the ever-shifting and nebulous landscape. Considering that the current ground we all stand on is about as solid and reliable as a newly forming sinkhole, that much is understandable. If you’re a numbers nerd that means you’ll get to see all sorts of weird patterns and things pop up throughout this list of 50 album from ye olde’ 2022, before we send this thing off in a fitting funeral fire. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE PERSONAL TOP TEN

 LISTMANIA 2022  17 Responses »
Dec 162022
 

(Andy Synn finishes off “List Week”, as always, with a list of his ten favourite albums of the year)

You might expect my “Personal Top Ten” to be an easier list to make than my “Critical Top Ten“… and for the most part you’d be right. But also wrong.

Because while the top three have been pretty much set in stone for a while, the question of how to rank the rest was far more difficult, as the differences between most of these albums was often just a matter of degrees, meaning any order I had one day was likely to be completely wrong by the time I woke up on the next.

This was particularly problematic around the #10 cut off point, with the result being that there are several albums (like Krallice‘s most-excellent Psychagogue, and Feral Light‘s fantastic Psychic Contortions) that, in another timeline, could just as easily have been included if things had only been slightly different.

So what can you expect this year?

Well, while it’s definitely a Metal list (if you want to know what my favourite non-Metal album of the year was, then check this out) you can expect to see a lot of Hardcore and/or Hardcore-influenced stuff here, as well as some long-time favourites of mine whose new albums immediately shot to the top of my list, and stayed there.

It’s definitely not the coolest or most “kvlt” collection of recordings you’re going to read this year, but it’s full of artists and albums I love and hope to still be listening to years from now.

Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP TEN

 LISTMANIA 2022  11 Responses »
Dec 152022
 

(Is it possible to capture the very best of an entire year in just ten albums? Of course not… but that isn’t going to stop Andy Synn from trying!)

This one’s for all you new people… let me explain how this works.

Unlike tomorrow’s “Personal” list, the “Critical Top Ten” is my attempt (emphasis on attempt) to inject some sort of objectivity into the proceedings by identifying ten albums which I think represent the cream of this year’s metallic crop, across as wide a spectrum of styles and sub-genres as possible.

It’s not ranked (as I’m sure you’ll notice) as it’s meant to be more of a representative sample of the year – although, I have to say, ten albums is never enough to properly cover all the bases (for example, I’d love to have included Inanna‘s Void of Unending Depths, but simply didn’t have the space).

Interestingly, this year feels like the first year in a long time where at least a couple of my selections actually align with the wider consensus, and while I’m sure there will be some complaints about the list not being trve/kvlt/underground enough as a result, for me it just says that sometimes, on very rare occasions, I’m not as out of step with the rest of “the scene” as I think I am.

PS – as always (since it’s seemed to have gone down well in previous years), I’ve included a little bonus recommendation alongside each of my main choices, just to increase your potential enjoyment!

Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: STEREOGUM’S 10 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2022

 LISTMANIA 2022  No Responses »
Dec 152022
 

Stereogum easily qualifies as one of the “big platform” web sites whose year-end lists of metal we perennially include in our LISTMANIA series. Of course, the site appeals to an audience of music fans much larger than devoted metalheads, but its staff includes a talented and tasteful group of metal writers who among other things are responsible for the site’s monthly “The Black Market” column, which has been a great source of discovery for extreme music for ten years running now.

It follows that Stereogum‘s annual metal list is one I especially look forward to seeing every year, and the 2022 edition is out now. As usual it consists of only 10 entries, with accompanying reviews of the choices by Ian Chainey, Michael Nelson, and Wyatt Marshall. And again as usual, the list is preceded by an essay written by Ian Chainey.

I’d like to think that if I didn’t write for NCS every day I could use the time to come up with something as funny, erudite, and thought-provoking as that essay, but if I’m being honest I know I couldn’t. Same goes for the reviews accompanying the 10 album picks. But I don’t let that humbling and somewhat jealous realization interfere with enjoying the writing, which I did, and always do.

The essay also includes statistics, such as this one: “There have been 7,994 full-lengths released or slated to be released in 2022. That’s slightly off 2020’s 11-month pace of 8,409. Either way, and everyone please chant this like we’re on a game show, ‘Metal, there is a lot of it.’” That’s for damn sure. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GREAT

 LISTMANIA 2022  36 Responses »
Dec 142022
 

(Andy Synn presents his selections for this year’s top-tier albums)

What more is there to say?

If you’re one of our long-time followers then you likely already know the score, and if you’re new to the site (welcome, by the way) then… well, it’s probably pretty self-evident right?

The albums featured here are all records which I feel achieved a form of greatness in their own way – maybe they pushed their particular genre forwards, maybe they combined different styles to create something even stronger than the sum of its parts, maybe they just did it better than everyone else – and which I think represent the cream of this year’s metallic crop.

Of course, as I’ve stated elsewhere already, it’s not comprehensive or definitive – no list can be, and anyone who tells you otherwise is just lying, to you and to themselves – but the level of quality is extremely high all the same, and I’d put any of these selections up against any other year in a heartbeat.

Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: BANDCAMP DAILY’S “BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2022”

 LISTMANIA 2022  3 Responses »
Dec 142022
 

 

Reading year-end lists that someone other than you made tend to provoke mixed feelings of validation, perplexity (which sometimes verges into anger), and discovery. The opportunity for discovery is the main reason we here at NCS devote so much space to our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza, even though we know those other feelings will also be in the mix of reactions. The list we’re re-publishing from Bandcamp Daily will probably be no different in any of these respects.

Bandcamp, of course, has become a vital platform for the digital release of music of all stripes (and physical merchandise as well) since its founding in 2007. Bandcamp used to release an annual compilation of performance statistics, but I haven’t found a similar report since the one they released for 2017. However, the main Bandcamp page today reports that “Fans have paid artists $1.03 billion using Bandcamp, and $187 million in the last year”.

Those are staggering totals, and some part of those enormous sums has been the result of Bandcamp’s laudable decision to continue the monthly tradition of “Bandcamp Fridays” that they began during the height of the pandemic.

In the summer of 2016, the company launched Bandcamp Daily, an online music publication about artists on the platform. Bandcamp Daily regularly publishes articles of relevance to metalheads, though metal is of course only one of hundreds of music genres represented on Bandcamp. Recently Bandcamp Daily once again published its list of the year’s Best Metal Albums, again under the byline of Brad Sanders, who writes the monthly metal column for Bandcamp. Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD

 LISTMANIA 2022  17 Responses »
Dec 132022
 

(Andy Synn kicks “List Week” into gear properly with a hefty collection of albums which, while maybe not top-tier – though some come very close – all have something to offer to the discerning metalhead)

Those of you who’ve been with us for a while will already be aware, but the primary purpose of this article is to serve as a resource for albums that you may not have been able (or willing) to listen to over the course of the last twelve months. It’s not ranked (obviously) but it is broken up into sections that should, hopefully, help you navigate by whatever different styles or sub-genres you’re most interested in, with links provided so you can listen to them at your convenience.

To save you any surprise, I’ll let you know right now that you’re not going to be seeing many of the “big” names – Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Decapitated, Machine Head, etc – here, both because they don’t really need any attention for us (I’d much rather focus on bands who don’t get even 1/10th the same amount of coverage) and because, to be brutally honest, I didn’t think any of them were particularly good…

You’ll also note the absence of some of the year’s most hyped releases (Chat Pile, Lorna Shore, Obsidious, Callous Daoboys) that, to be quite honest, just didn’t do anything for me, and I’m sure there are heaps of other albums that are going to be missing too, including a few (most notably the new Misþyrming) that I’m hoping to get around to writing about in the next few weeks.

That being said, if you don’t see something here that you expected, then don’t fly off the handle just yet… there’s still tomorrow’s list of the “Great” albums to come, and you might be pleasantly surprised as to what I’ve included in the top tier this year!

Until then, however, here’s 250-ish albums here for you all to check out, all of which have at least something to offer if you’re willing to give them a shot.

Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

 LISTMANIA 2022  12 Responses »
Dec 122022
 

(Andy Synn begins his annual List Week with a collection of albums which perhaps failed to reach their full potential)

As I always like to stress, around this time every year, this particular article is not an excuse to be a troll or a hater (or whatever word “the kids” are using these days). Nor are we attempting to farm for clicks or cause controversy for controversy’s sake (and I’m sure at least a few of these picks will be controversial).

Because the truth is, I don’t hate any of these albums. Some of them I even think are pretty good, despite some obvious (and occasionally massive) flaws.

But in a world of (metallic) media that often seems loathe to offer even the mildest of criticisms – whether through fear of the resultant online backlash or an unwillingness to risk losing their precious access to the bigger, more famous names (who, let’s be honest, tend to get treated with kid gloves when, really, they should be being held to even higher standards) – I think it’s important to acknowledge that sometimes the bands we love don’t live up to our expectations… or their own potential.

In that spirit, then, let’s consider this a safe space, one where we can acknowledge that no band is perfect, and being disappointed by their new release doesn’t necessarily make you any less of a fan, even if it hurts a lot when it happens.

So, please, put down your pitchforks and douse your torches… and remember that we’re not here to hate, we’re here to heal.

Continue reading »

2022 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE EPs

 LISTMANIA 2022  4 Responses »
Dec 092022
 

(Andy Synn kicks off his annual “List Week” a few days early)

Let me make one thing clear – what you’re about to read is in no way a “definitive” list of the “best” EPs of 2022.

Rather it’s just a round-up of all the various short-form releases – EPs, splits, and even the occasional “album” which I felt wasn’t quite LP sized when all was said and done – that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to over the last twelve months.

That’s something to bear in mind when you read all of my articles over the next week… there’s no such thing as a “definitive” or “exhaustive” list, not even here at NCS where we do our best to cover everything we can. There’s simply too much music released every year for any site, let alone any individual writer, to cover all of it.

Still, I’ve tried my best (even though, I have to admit, I didn’t write about anywhere near as many EPs as I actually listened to this year) and I hope you all enjoy the following collection of recommendations, including my personal favourites of the year.

Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2022: AN INVITATION FOR READERS’ LISTS OF THE YEAR’S BEST METAL

 LISTMANIA 2022  82 Responses »
Dec 012022
 

We have now entered the final month of 2022, and that begins the final countdown to the end of the year. In the world of metal, this month we’ll also start seeing more and more lists of the year’s best releases.

Back in 2009, when this site was just a few days old, I wrote a post about year-end lists and why people bother with them. The best reason still seems to be this: Reading someone else’s list of the albums they thought were best is a good way to discover music you missed and might like.

We don’t do an “official” NCS year-end “best albums” list. However, we publish the picks of each of our regular staff writers as well as a group of invited guests, in addition to lists that we re-post from a few print zines and “big platform” online sites.

Every year we also invite our readers to share their lists and we’re doing that again right here, right now.

If you’ve been pondering what you’ve heard this year and have made your own list of the albums, EPs, or splits released in 2022 that you think are the best of what you’ve heard, we invite you to share it with everyone in the Comments section to this post. And if you haven’t made a list yet but want to, there’s still plenty of time (read below). Continue reading »

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