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Belphegor - Lucifer Incestus Here's a band I haven't in about a decade. I forgot their early stuff actually rips.

Aeternus - Beyond The Wandering Moon Stone cold classic.

Nice work on the lists, gents! My turn now... Starting things off with some honorable mentions, as is the way of things... Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition, Chapter III: The Astral Drain: A worthy, if slightly disappointing follow up to their previous couple masterworks. I like Panzerfaust better when they quicken their pace, which they don't much here, but they're competent enough at slow, brooding, nightmare fuel as well. Hersker - Hudangst: By far the best blackened hardcore release I've heard in years but came across it too late in the year to warrant a place in the top 10. Needs more time to sink in for now. Prehistoric War Cult - Under The Sign Of The Red Moon: Best war metal release I heard this year, bar none. The Chasm - The Scars of a Lost Reflective Shadow: Legendary band returning with an excellent album that should've garnered a lot more hype and acclaim than it did. But I guess these guys have always flown under the radar so it only makes sense. Pharmacist - Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Mental Grounds: I had this one as a lock to make my top 10 all year long and it hurts to leave it off now. Best early Carcass worshipping album I've heard.... maybe ever? They give Exhumed a run for their money, and some. Straight up facts! Grima - Frostbitten: Another album I previously had as a lock for the top 10 but was knocked out by some late-year powerhouse releases. I really appreciate Grima's lean, straight forward approach to melodic/atmospheric black metal with no agonizingly long, meandering build-ups that go nowhere or banal samples of trees rustling in the wind or anything like that. To the point melo-black, done very very well. The top 10 10. Downcross - Hexapoda Triumph (Black Metal, Belarus) Very well-rounded, very headbangable black metal that's lighter on the atmospheric side but doubles up on riffs. These guys paint with very broad strokes and cover a lot of the black metal spectrum without ever boxing themselves into any one specific sub-sub genre. A little bit second wave, little bit melodic, little bit black n' roll, a little bit of dissonance but a whole lot of awesome! 9. Stangarigel - Na Severe Srdca (Pagan Black Metal, Slovakia) Side project from one of the Malokarpatan guys and damn near equal in quality to the main band. Emotive, folky and atmospheric is the name of the game, no goats to be found here. This is black metal of the mystical, enchanted forest variety. Very approachable and warm-sounding. The perfect compatriot to a rainy stroll though the woods. 8. Kampfar - Til Klovers Takt (Pagan Black Metal, Norway) I'm a longtime lover of this band. Kampfar are lowkey the most consistent, and overlooked, Norwegian black metal act and firmly in the upper tier of Pagan BM. 'Til Klovers Takt' is another strong addition to their impeccable catalogue and only a slight step down from the band's best work. If you liked any of their previous albums, you're pretty much guaranteed to enjoy this one. 7. Immolation - Acts of God Everyone knows who Immolation are and where they stand with them. Immolation are for sure my favourite death metal band. They are, in my opinion, the closest any metal band has ever come to having a perfect discography. Even the worst Immolation album is still a solid 7.8/10 in my books. Acts of God does fall into the lower half of my Immolation discography ranking, however, though that's more of a testament to how amazing some of their other albums are. My favourite death metal release of 2022, easily (though it didn't exactly have any stiff competition). 6. Daeva - Through Sheer Will and Black Magic (Blackened Thrash, USA) Black/Thrash has long been a micro-genre that I've enjoyed but not loved... until I discovered this album. This record absolutely smokes! If you want blistering speed, face-melting riffs and unhinged vocals, Daeva’s got you covered. If you want dark, foreboding, sinister atmosphere replete with all the grit one needs in extreme metal to sound truly nasty, Daeva's got you covered. This album ticks every box. 5. Sisyphean - Colours of Faith (Black Metal, Lithuania) Icelandic Black Metal.... from Lithuania. Yeah, that's how'd I'd describe Sisyphean in five words or less. Very modern sounding, slightly dissonant and borderline atonal. A rather tempered sound for this style of black metal but Sisyphean really excel at crafting thrilling and engaging songs that are coherent and don't ever feel like a mere collection of riffs. Just a very well written and well arranged album. Really enjoyed this one. 4. Wake - Thought Form Decent (Post/Black/Death/whatever, Canada) Wake really impressed me with their 2020 release, 'Devouring Ruin', claiming the number three spot on my list that year. Their follow-up EP, 'Confluence', later that same year was also fantastic. 'Thought Form Descent' picks up right where the EP left off with a more melodious, emotive and blackened twist on their death/grind/post-metal hybrid. I wasn't quite as blown away by this new one and I do miss the sheer "fuck-your-face-off" aggression of past albums like 'Misery Rites' but there's no denying that Wake have really come into their own with a unique brand of progressive black/death metal. 3. Ultha - All That Has Never Been True (Black Metal, Germany) This album really caught me off guard as upon seeing the album cover I thought for sure there was no way I was gonna like this. Never judge a book/album by it's cover, so they say, but we all do it. 'All That Has Never Been True' is a visceral, atmospheric and melodic opus of Black Metal and a very rewarding listening experience. The album expertly flows between harsher and moodier sections while finding creative ways to supplement the atmosphere without going into cliché heavy/acoustic/heavy/mellow structures. Unquestionably one of the very best of the year. 2. Misþyrming - Með hamri (Black Metal, Iceland) Misþyrming are one of my top favourite bands. I've loved every one of their albums with their last one being my AOTY for 2019 and this Icelandic juggernaut knocked it out of the park again with their surprise, late year release 'Með hamri'. These guys have an immaculate talent for blending melody with dissonance that that I absolutely adore. They also had a real anthemic angle on their last record which I'm glad to hear has carried over to give some fist pounding clamor to the overall hostility of their sound. Black Metal at its most malignant and abrasive but also melodious and triumphant. Misþyrming hold my favor as one of the best bands in the genre. 1. Gevurah - Gehinnom (Black Metal, Canada) Well, after six long years since the band's debut, and four since their excellent 'Sulphur Soul' EP, Gevurah finally graced us with what should go down as their magnum opus. 'Gehinnom' is a statement of intent that solidifies the band as one of the most lethal and menacing forces in contempoary black metal. Seriously, this record is just viscious, but not without dynamics. What really strikes me about this album is how rare it is for both atmospheric and dissonant black metal bands to riff this hard, and minus a handful of tempo reprieves, this record is a punishing onslaught of furious riffing set to pummling blasts. A standard setting release and I would hope a trend setting one as well. I would very much like to hear more black metal bands take a page from Gevurah's playbook. Less Gaerea, more Gevurah!

I actually had a way easier time putting together a list this year as there were only 7-8 albums that REALLY grabbed my attention. 2022 was the year where I really crashed and burned out on hunting for new music all the time. I only purchased 59 albums this year, compared to 105 last year, 123 in 2020 and 187 in both 2019 and 2018. Probably small potatoes though compared to some. I'm astounded at how some people will rack up 250+ new releases in a year. Seriously, do you guys listen to anything other than new releases?

Chat Pile - God's Country (2022) I've seen this album appear on a metric fuck ton of lists so I guess curiosity got the better of me. Yeah... this is definitely not my thing.

Abigor - Nachthymnen (From The Twilight Kingdom) Abigor - Opus IV Reconnecting with these guys after having not spun them in a while. I forgot how much I love this band.

Huh. It would seem the current iteration of the vortex really isn't too fond of black metal. Immolation and Daeva will be on my list, but that's about the only overlap.

Lol, man this kid is REALLY sensitive about people not liking his favourite bands.

Ugh.... my most recent ex was the exact same way. If you don't spend X amount of dollars on her present then you don't care about her. Made inexorably worse by the fact that she didn't reciprocate it. For x-mas last year I got here a really nice specialized backpack for mountain biking, $250 or so. She got me...... a bluetooth adapter for my vehicle, and not a very good one either. Probably cost like $20. I'm honestly quite happy being single this holiday season.

That Rauta channel is great. Lots of cool interviews on there. For some Finnish white trash hilarity, check out the Barathrum and Azazel interviews.

Would happily trade my current Yukon winter for a bipolar Australian summer. We're on day three of sub -35 temperatures, was -46 this morning with wind chill. Haven't left the house since Saturday. And it isn't supposed the warm up until this coming weekend at the earliest.

Daeva - Through Sheer Will and Black Magic... (2022) Late year discovery for me and a definite list contender.

Hate Forest - Innermost (BM, Ukraine) Don't finalize those year end lists just yet. New Hate Forest full length just dropped out of nowhere.

The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard..... That band name should be illegal.

Blows me out you like Undeath given you sledge similar sounding DM bands as mainstream garbage. I too am quite taken aback that the Goatmaster is fond of Undeath. They're like.... as far from "goat worthy" as you can get whilst still being an extreme metal band. On that note, they're also one of the least "extreme" death metal bands I've ever come across. I would've thought for sure they'd fall into the "poser mainstream garbage" category for him haha. I think they're alright. I mean, I have both their albums, mainly because I figured if everyone and their dog was raving about them then there must be something of substance there, but I don't really hear it. They're remarkably unremarkable.

Its streaming on the bardo methodology website http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2022/12/15/misthyrming-med-hamri-interview/?fbclid=IwAR1XRGD99CDXT3e7feNjZz4Z5EIU2bsepwEpZuWiIBGdDK24WZoWHxVjzBg

Misþyrming - Með hamri (2022) Well, I probably just found my AOTY. The Icelandic kings knock it out of the park again.

Oh wow. Goatmaster is going hard in the paint on USBM today. EDIT: Oh yeah and I concur that Blasphemy were a shit band that happend to influence a lot of good ones. Same goes for Revenge.

The particular brand of metalcore that rose to prominence in the 2000's gave that genre an unfairly bad rap, if you ask me. I spent a good chunk of this past year digging into blackened hardcore and really liked a lot of what I found. Stuff like Young And In The Way, Sunlight's Bane and Pilori, to name a few. Nobody calls this stuff "metalcore" but really a black metal/hardcore fusion IS metalcore in the true sense of the word.

Ooooookay buuut..... very very little about fantasy or even sci-fi genres makes much sense to begin with so why would having ethnic diversity among the differing species seem illogical? Like, we're talking about a completely fictional world where dragons exist along with dwarves, wizards, magic, fairies, trolls and orcs and goblins and giant eagles and elves who are immortal...... but if the Hobbits have a bunch of different skin tones then that's a step too far???? That's the point where it all becomes illogical? It's really strange to me that a fictitious fantasy world must have a strict, codified set of guidelines that must be adhered to or else it's "woke" or whatever.

The Dune novel saga would be the only one for me. And as it happens they actually did change both the race and gender of one of the minor characters in the recent Denis Villeneuve adaptation (Liet-Kynes). And, predictably, many fans were utterly outraged by this even though it really didn't change anything meaningful about the character. In fact, had I not already known about the gender change prior to viewing the film, I may not have even noticed. Other than the gender swap, the character was portrayed incredibly accurately in regards to the novelization, rendering the backlash all the more ridiculous. But that didn't stop the anti-woke crusaders from rage posting about it for months on end. I never read Tolkien's works, but I'd be interested to hear how the ethnicity changes in RoP changed the lore significantly.

I mean... this is mostly true but the fact that there was such immense outrage over that Rings of Power Amazon series having an ethnically diverse cast is very revealing. The needle hasn't moved as far as many would like to believe.

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