navybsn

Ok, well I get started with all of the stuff I really didn't get to spend any time with this year but is probably worthy of consideration. Just couldn't fit them in. Most came to my attention in the past week or so while others just got buried in the mountain of releases I picked up this year. Not saying they are all worthy, but stuff that is worthy of attention. Definitely releases I'll be focused on over the next month or so. No write ups on these for obvious reasons.
The Could have beens:
Parasit - En Falsk Utopia
Kryptograf - The Eldorado Spell
Spiral Staircase - Vision Shifting Form
Hersker - Hudangst
Rigorous Institution - Cainsmarsh
Imprecation - In Nomine Diaboli
GEVURAH - Gehinnom
Malist - As I become Darkness
Drudkh - All Belong to the Night
Sigh - Shiki
Eteraz - Villian
Grave Axis - Dismal Aeon
High Vis - Blending
Phantasia - Ghost Stories
French Police - Onyx
Locust Revival - Your Delusion Are Not Mine
Carrion Bloom - Sacraments of Pestilence
Djevel - Naa skrider natten sort

Voilet Age - Night Sins - will be somewhere on my list
HAUNTER - Discarnate Ails - another list entry but no idea where. Probably in the HMs.
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller - really on the fence on this one and whether it is EOTY deserving
King Gizzard - Polygonwondaland
Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron

Prayer Position - S/T
THERMOKARST - S/T
Phantasia - Ghost Stories
Kryptograf - The Eldorado Spell
Poison Ruiin - Poison Ruiin II
Devil's Witches - In All Her Forms - @markm this one may be up your alley
Locust Revival - Your Delusions are not Mine

Wiegedood - There's Always Blood at the End of the Road (2022)
Number five on my top nine releases of 2022
The criminally underrated Wiegedood came straight out of the blocks in 2022 with their fourth full-length. With the band name literally meaning “death in cradle” it is a safe bet that there are zero strains of happiness on any Wiegedood release. Having completed their trilogy of albums the band have now ramped up the darkness on album number four and this is most certainly the ugliest black metal release I have heard this year.
However, there is a lot more to this album than just blasting black metal that is delivered with an almost inhuman fury. The band have upped their game in the experimental stakes without sacrificing any of their traditional sound. Unafraid to drop in synths and distressing sound samples to create real atmosphere and menace, Wiegedood deliver an experience that transcends just being auditory in nature. I have a real sense of connection with what is going on during TABATEOTR not just because I like the blazing intensity of the tempo but because the band know how to dial things down when needed by giving my brain something else to focus on. The harrowing spoken word sample in And in Old Salamano’s Room, The Dog Whimpered Softly is one such example of this, but even just by applying the subtlest amounts of melody to proceedings, Wiegedood snap my attention into nothing but this record when it is playing.
The hint of jazz on Now Will Always Be is unexpected but brilliantly placed at the opening of the middle track on the album. The track overall retains this jazz like structure (there is no trumpet guys – fear not) as it undulates the riffing against that harsh and abrasive backdrop of blistering pace, with the looming vocals imposing their own sense of dread on proceedings superbly. This shamanic masterpiece is the high point of the album, weighing in at over eight minutes (and I could honestly listen to it all day). The sublime misery of the instrumental track that follows this, Wade, with its horrific string picking that sound like they are playing the hair of the dead just completes this whole middle section of the album. As the crushing chaos of Nuages lands (reminiscent of Altarage it should be noted) I am sold on the record already.
Emotionally tumultuous and focusing on the inner self, TABATEOTR is a triumph for a band who continue to grow with each release. This is an utterly satiating and substantial release that has proven essential to my listening needs.

Fields of the Nephilim - Dawnrazor (1987)
 

Seems appropriate to drop this here. Pretty great cover.
 

High Command is definitely not crust(thrash/crossover). Neither are the OSees (grarge/psych), but they're on there too. Rest of the list looks ok at a quick look, but I haven't heard anything outside of those specific 2 selections.

Hey man, I'm sorta shell shocked you listened to Darkher, but I need to give you credit as you do often try stuff that's out of your wheelhouse when people take the time to post, so  kudos on that front. Totally get it's not your thing. 
I like that we have different tastes but respect each others listening space. Like you always say, it's just music. Not that I'm Darkher's PR man but I think what you're calling ambient is what the band refers to on their Bandcamp page as ethereal vocals, guitars, and added strings conjuring iridescent cinematic scenes in which it becomes hard to tell whether there lies beauty in darkness or if it is the other way around. There's a folk thing going on here that borders on new age.
So yeah, there's a sea of of bands often in doom, sludge and post metal intersections that use extended atmospheric passages. For the sake of argument, I decided to re listen to the first track and there is definitely doomy guitar, albeit not super heavy at approximately 4.30 minutes with post metal(ish) tremolo. And from there on out, it's largely atmospheric. It's not a metal album. 
I compartmentalize my music into categories in a way you probably don't and have large chunks of non metal interspersed with heavy music.  

Mystifier - Goetia

Quite a following on another forum I peruse. I dig their stuff in general, but it's just ok. Wouldn't go out of my way for anything.
A.I.D.S. - The Road to Nuclear Holocaust
ETERAZ - Villian
Grave Axis - Dismal Aeon
Phantasia - Ghost Stories - @FatherAlabaster - you may dig this. The warbly vocals are borderline for me, but the music is pretty good.
French Police - Onyx - another one you may enjoy FA. Short 12 min EP
 

Whiplash - Power And Pain

surpisingly well produced for a black metal demo

The Otolith-Folium Limina 
Haunter-Discarnate Ails-this has been a consistent favorite of mine all year-not much interdweeb attention, but I dig it.

New Model Army - The Ghost of Cain (1986)
 

Quite a following on another forum I peruse. I dig their stuff in general, but it's just ok. Wouldn't go out of my way for anything.
A.I.D.S. - The Road to Nuclear Holocaust
ETERAZ - Villian
Grave Axis - Dismal Aeon
Phantasia - Ghost Stories - @FatherAlabaster - you may dig this. The warbly vocals are borderline for me, but the music is pretty good.
French Police - Onyx - another one you may enjoy FA. Short 12 min EP
 

Possessed - Beyond the Gates (1986)
 

l won't argue that Darkher is really metal, but I did caveat metal adjacent and will say to the goat gentleman from NY that with a modicum of patience there is some low and slow doom guitar styling. The Buried storm is her/their 2nd album. The first is a bit heavier,
She belongs to a handful of female fronted doom lite acts like Vouna but even less metal-more along the lines of a slightly more metal leaning Chelsea Wolfe or doom(ish) slice of acts like Sylvaine -but here I go making word salad twisting myself into pretzels for the various female fronted bands that have an obvious dark or heavy atmosphere but are lite by metal standards...I think you either have a soft spot for the witchy femme bands or you don't....we can all recall the female-occult-witchy-stoner doom bands that were a thing a few years ago-I'm recalling Witch Mountain and Royal Thunder-both bands I have spent time with....and yes, heavier than the more ethereal Darkher.  
I missed their earlier albums but I recall Negative Plane had a following. I tried it twice and I agree-it's just aight. 
Bjork-Fossora
 

Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race (2019)
 

The Clan Destined - In the Big Ending... (2006)
Rush - Hemispheres (1978)
Viking - Do or Die EP (1986)

Vltimas - Something Wicked Marches In (2019)
  Voight Kampff - Substance Rêve (Dream Substance) (2018)  

Sonja-Loud Arriver-giving this one another go
White Ward-False Light
Negative Plane-The Pact
Phobophilic -Enveloping Absurdity-I'm not finding anything remarkable about this while hitting all the usual hallmarks that have been hit time and time again without any special sauce for me-just another perfectly fine OSDM platter....
Darkher-The Buried Storm-One of my favorite melo metal adjacent albums of the year which I intend to finally pick up at year's end.....doom meets dark folk

Djevel - Naa Skrider Natten Sort, Norway. Majestic but yet straight-forward Nordic black metal. Took me awhile to warm up to these guys because they're not exactly raw and filthy. I'm getting Emperor vibes here, but slower, less chaotic and without the keys if that makes any sense. Emperor without all the things I don't like about Emperor. Then I saw Faust was the drummer so that might actually make some sense. Surprisingly, I see I have 4 of their 8 full lengths (counting this one) but this year's was the one that really won me over. I've had it about a month (Thanksgiving weekend) but til now I hadn't listened to it since the day I bought it. It's an hour long but still I don't want it to end. I might even let it go again. On the list it goes.
 

Think I've found the perfect Christmas gift for Jon-O. A beautiful Rakshak Bloodywood case for his iPhone.

Nachthymnen rules. My fave of their 90s stuff. It's all pretty badass though. Their album Totschläger from a couple years ago is great, more along these melodic lines than some of their other recent albums - I still wake up with riffs from that one stuck in my head. Might be a bit busy for you but it's worth a few spins to see if it clicks.
 
Two tusks, one trunk... lame. No real competition.

Swans/Filth
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mantar-pain-is-forever-and-this-is-the-end-review/

Wardruna - Runaljod Yggdrasil (2013)