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2022: Jul-Dec


Fell just shy of 100 albums per month for the first half of the year, I imagine I won't be matching that but let's try to get to a full 1000 albums for the year at least.

Created by: musclassia | 01.07.2022



1. Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
[9.0] - Brilliant follow-up to a brilliant debut.
2. Disillusion - Ayam
[9.0] - This might be even stronger than The Liberation.
3. An Abstract Illusion - Woe
[8.5] - A remarkably strong follow-up to an already impressive debut.
4. Panzerfaust - The Suns Of Perdition - Chapter III: The Astral Drain
[8.5] - More potently atmospheric post-black in a similar vein to Chapter II.
5. Wake - Thought Form Descent
[8.5] - One of the most impressive reinventions of recent years continues to impress, with further integration of softer sounds and proggier inclinations into this increasingly unique mesh of styles.
6. Elder - Innate Passage
[8.5] - More psych/stoner jam wizardry; not sure it's got the highs of Omens, but the vocals seem a bit more fitting on first listen.
7. Conjurer - Páthos
[8.5] - A truly impressive step forward from one of the UK's hottest up-and-coming bands.
8. Laere - Coagula
[8.5] - Pretty amazing black metal EP.
9. Dysgnostic - Scar Echoes
[8.5] - Captivating disso-death.
10. Lamentations - Passion Of Depression
[8.0] - Excellent Persefone-esque ex prog record.
11. Ott - Heads
[8.0]
12. Fallujah - Empyrean
[8.0]
13. Gaerea - Mirage
[8.0] - A great band putting out another great album, one that involves lots of black metal intensity, but also explores post-black and other territory very effectively, particularly on the title track.
14. Daniel Avery - Ultra Truth
[8.0] - Excellent compelling ambient techno.
15. Heiden - Andzjel
[8.0]
16. Ashbreather - Hivemind
[8.0]
17. Euphrosyne - Keres
[8.0] - Powerful post-black debut EP with great clean vocal segments.
18. Feather Mountain - To Exit A Maelstrom
[8.0] - Djenty prog/alt metal with lots of emotion.
19. Anomaly - Somewhere Within The Pines
[8.0] - Just the latest great prog death album from this year.
20. Grima - Frostbitten
[8.0] - In a year of 'good not great' meloblack, this is at a higher level than the competition - very exciting and stirring.
21. Dreadnought - The Endless
[8.0]
22. Ether Coven - The Relationship Between The Hammer And The Nail
[8.0]
23. Mourir - Disgrâce
[8.0] - Exhilarating post-y, semi-dissonant, beastly black metal record.
24. Gob Ribbons - Imparted I: The Age Of Comparison
[8.0]
25. Ggu:ll - Ex Est
[8.0]
26. Hexis - Aeternum
[8.0]
27. Xaon - The Lethean
[8.0] - With the hyper-dramatic symphonics, solid riffs, energetic songs and decent clean vocals, I'm much keener on this album that Septicflesh's offering.
28. Ahriman - Kehely
[8.0] - Really strong melodically-inclined black metal release with equal parts ripping and blasting, dainty piano/keys and strong guitar melodies/solos.
29. The Ever Living - Artificial Devices
[8.0] - Very cool post-metal with bright vibrant mixes like some Rosetta tracks.
30. Spiralist - Eternal Recurrence
[8.0]
31. Blind Guardian - The God Machine
[8.0]
32. Backxwash - His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering
[8.0]
33. Veilburner - VLBRNR
[8.0] - Excellent prog-inclined extreme metal.
34. Resin Tomb - Unconsecrated​/​/​Ascendancy
[8.0] - Thrillingly savage Calligram-esque black/sludge/hardcore EP.
35. Ego Depths - Elläkkairavertta
[8.0]
36. Ars Onirica - II: Lost
[8.0] - Nice Draconian-ish melodic death/doom.
37. Behold! The Monolith - From The Fathomless Deep
[8.0] - Wide-ranging and captivating mix of bruising sludgy/stoner doom with some more psychedelic moments, particularly with The Seams Of Pangaea.
38. Cyborg Octopus - Between The Light And Air
[8.0] - Solid BTBAM-lite kinda record.
39. Isor - Sonnenfraß
[8.0] - Another unique and engrossing industrial blackened metal outing from this project; the ritualistic Erinnerung is a big highlight.
40. Necroplanet - Negative Space
[8.0] - Well-paced, well-written industrial-edged extreme doom record.
41. Torturized - Aftermath
[8.0] - Very solid proggy death metal album with a good variety and some really quality moments.
42. GoGo Penguin - Between Two Worlds
[8.0] - A lush EP from one of the lushest jazz acts around.
43. Black Anvil - Regenesis
[8.0] - Very solid continuation of their sound, with black metal mixed with more classic metal styles and other less orthodox styles; great solos and more melodic songs.
44. Aeternam - Heir Of The Rising Sun
[8.0] - A well-judged injection of symphonic flamboyance into their already solid melodeath sound.
45. Remina - Strata
[8.0] - Spiritual successor to Light Field Reverie that captures the same emotions.
46. Crippled Black Phoenix - Banefyre
[8.0] - Unsurprisingly strong and evocative, if perhaps not to the same extent as the last one.
47. My Sleeping Karma - Atma
[8.0] - Another strong collection of psychedelic stoner jams.
48. Stratovarius - Survive
[8.0] - Very consistent, arguably moreso than the last two albums, a very respectable record.
49. Wesenwille - III: The Great Light Above
[8.0] - Another very solid 'urban' black metal album; there's dark atmospheres, savage attacks, substantial hints of melody, it all works really well.
50. A.A. Williams - As The Moon Rests
[8.0] - Very emotionally connecting moody post-rock with heartfelt, subdued singing, and guitar arrangements that work really effectively alongside each other.
51. Deliverance - Neon Chaos In A Junk-Sick Dawn
[8.0] - Fascinating mesh of black, sludge, post-metal and other sounds.
52. Arizmenda - Spiders Lust In The Dungeon’s Dust
[8.0] - Impressive record from the black metal underground darlings.
53. Dirt Forge - Interspheral
[8.0] - Tasty fuzzy Southern-influenced sludge/stoner with some subtlety alongside the fierier riffs.
54. The Otolith - Folium Limina
[8.0]
55. The Antichrist Imperium - Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory
[8.0] - Epic black-tinged death with some great cleaner parts amidst the intense assaults.
56. Gevurah - Gehinnom
[8.0] - Fierce black metal with a mixture of Behemoth-ish occult blackened death along with some darker, more atmospheric RHLT-style parts. Closing track is a banger.
57. Lorna Shore - Pain Remains
[8.0] - Repeats itself, but the basic sound is so compelling for me.
58. Antecantamentum - Saturnine December
[8.0] - Unusual but impressive proggy dreamy black metal.
59. Devenial Verdict - Ash Blind
[8.0] - Proggy, unpredictable strain of extreme metal.
60. Christian Cosentino - High Rising Times
[8.0] - Hyper-energetic meloblack with prolific blasting, dramatic synths and stirring melodies.
61. Vāmācāra - Cosmic Fires: The Enlightenment Reversed
[8.0] - Thoroughly impressive mixture of death metal with stoner/psych rock, among other influences.
62. My Diligence - The Matter, Form And Power
[8.0] - Very neat stoner-prog/post-metal sound from this trio.
63. Ósserp - Els Nous Cants De La Sibil·la
[8.0] - Spain come crashing in with a feisty slab of grindy death metal.
64. Ianai - Sunir
[8.0] - Very nice neofolk debut with some Rohan vibes (e.g. Vasariah), with just a handful of slightly offputting songs/moments putting it slightly below my favourite albums in the genre.
65. Youth League - Somehow Those Were Days
[8.0] - Really tonally nice emo/math/post-rock record, nice and brief too.
66. Dream Unending - Song Of Salvation
[8.0] - I think I was more impressed by this record than the debut; really dig the dreamier sounds.
67. Grief Circle - Weightless
[8.0] - Solid post-metal debut featuring ex-Moanaa members; a bit of Ortega to this one.
68. Mord'A'Stigmata - Like Ants And Snakes
[8.0] - Don't remember overly clicking with this band previously, but I like the dark jazz 'avant-garde' sound of this record a fair amount.
69. Jade - The Pacification Of Death
[8.0] - Amazing artwork and solid death/doom debut.
70. Empire Drowns - Nothing
[8.0] - Nicely morose gothic doom with sad melodies, dainty piano and nifty electronics.
71. Aenaon - Mnemosyne
[8.0] - Another dark jazzy extreme metal record done well by this group.
72. Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
[8.0] - Exuberant and fascinating album that fills the void until the next A Forest Of Stars record.
73. She Said Destroy - Bleeding Fiction II: Child Of Tomorrow
[8.0] - A lot more stylistically consistent than last year's album, and better for it.
74. Sedna - Last Sun
[8.0] - 20-min EP right up my street, blackened post-metal with lots of atmosphere.
75. Coraxo - Luna
[8.0] - 30-min instrumental post/industrial/avant-garde release, really decent.
76. Incantvm - Strigae
[8.0] - Avantgarde, symphonic blackened doom madness - a very unusual direction for a clarinetist to go in musically.
77. Mamaleek - Diner Coffee
[8.0] - An inspired take on the dark jazzy avant-garde metal idea.
78. Null - Origin
[8.0] - Folky meloblack that is overlong at nigh-on 80 minutes but nevertheless very well made.
79. Scarcity - Aveilut
[8.0] - Very intriguing mix of at-times Oranssi Pazuzu-esque psychedelic and semi-dissonant black metal with more noise/dark ambient stretches.
80. Mother Of Graves - Where The Shadows Adorn
[8.0] - Accomplished melodically inclined death/doom debut from these Clandestine Cuts graduates.
81. Eyrth - Meridian
[8.0] - Very solid instru-post-metal.
82. Blackbraid - Blackbraid I
[8.0]
83. Monolithe - Kosmodrom
[8.0]
84. Chrome Ghost - House Of Falling Ash
[8.0] - Very decent post-y doom record.
85. Abyssic - Brought Forth In Iniquity
[8.0] - Solidly atmospheric symph-tinged trudging death/funeral doom.
86. Hoaxed - Two Shadows
[8.0] - Cool gloomy ethereal rock sound.
87. Constellatia - Magisterial Romance
[8.0] - Very subtle light record with harsh vocals but plenty of shimmering guitars, acoustics and toned down percussion.
88. Ketha - Wendigo
[8.0] - Weird and wacky avant-garde deathy stuff.
89. Tchornobog - Tchornobog / Abyssal
[8.0] - Two very long cacophonic extreme metal odysseys.
90. Jours Pâles - Tensions
[8.0] - Clicking with this nifty genre-hopper more than last year's debut.
91. Grin - Phantom Knocks
[8.0] - Felt the guitarless stoner worked much better this time around.
92. Dragonland - The Power Of The Nightstar
[8.0]
93. Blut Aus Nord - Lovecraftian Echoes
[8.0] - A hellish cacophony harking back to their earlier days.
94. Hussar - All​-​Consuming Hunger
[8.0] - Feisty doomy disso-death from Voidhanger.
95. Hegemone - Voyance
[8.0] - Solid post-black release, albeit not quite reaching greatness.
96. Borealis - Illusions
[8.0] - Channels the Evergrey prog/power sound in a very pleasant manner.
97. Salqiu - خ​م​ا​س​ي​ن ا​ل​و​ب​ا​ء
Fascinating black/death music with heavy Middle Eastern influences.
98. Mournument - Smouldering Into Dust
[8.0] - Suitably atmospheric folky gothic doom release; could do without some of the harsher vocals, but otherwise very solid.
99. Qrixkuor - Zoetrope
[8.0]
100. Jambinai - 發顯 (Apparition)
[8.0] - No one quite sounds like Jambinai, and that sound continues to sound great here.
101. Korpelarörelsen - Är Du Av Den Rätta Tron?
[8.0] - Sinister combination of melodically-inclined black with dark ambient and noise.
102. Ascent Of Autumn - Awakened
[8.0] - Nifty symph-tinged proggy deathcore release.
103. Valve - Thermoclines
[7.5]
104. Judicator - The Majesty Of Decay
[7.5]
105. Gob Ribbons - Imparted II: The Delian Diver
[7.5] - Perhaps not quite as immediate a first impact as part 1, but another solid EP from these smooth progsters.
106. Speaking To Stones - (In)Human Error
[7.5] - Djent-leaning modern prog with plenty of heart and emotion.
107. Warforged - The Grove / Sundial
[7.5]
108. James Norbert Ivanyi - The Sine Intimation
[7.5] - Very soothing instrumental rock record.
109. Lunar Mercia - Leaving The Fragile Space
[7.5] - Shimmering blackgaze with some darker atmo-black/heavier riffs in the equation as well, comes together well.
110. Revocation - Netherheaven
[7.5] - Strong prog/tech thrash/death effort from a consistently decent band.
111. Zemeth - Loneliness
[7.5] - Exuberant melodeath/extreme power in vein of Bloody Cumshot, but more flamboyant and symphonic.
112. Revaira - Journey
[7.5] - Great djent/core EP with lots of atmospheric groove and vocal emotion.
113. Macondø - II
[7.5] - Better late than never in discovering this really decent instrumental post-rock/metal album from January.
114. Motorpsycho - Ancient Astrronauts
[7.5] - More solid prog from this ridiculously prolific group.
115. Lacrimas Profundere - How To Shroud Yourself With Night
[7.5] - Some nice emotions found within this brooding gothic album.
116. Godeater - Vespera
[7.5] - Symph-tinged proggy tech-deathcore, lots of terms thrown in there but the end result works nicely.
117. Darkest Era - Wither On The Vine
[7.5]
118. Ryth - Deceptor Creator
[7.5] - Really good proggy melodic blackened death release from Bahrain.
119. Induction - Born From Fire
[7.5] - Quality vocals and memorable songs, decent power metal offering.
120. Girih - Ikigai
[7.5] - Conventional but very cool and evocative heavier post-rock.
121. Catalyst - A Different Painting For A New World
[7.5] - Proggy tech-death that makes the strongest impression on the longer, proggier tracks.
122. Imperial Triumphant - Spirit Of Ecstasy
[7.5] - Another unholy cacophony - I don't enjoy it, but I do respect it.
123. Kekal - Envisaged
[7.5] - Slightly suffers from the consistency that sometimes comes with avant-garde albums, but there's some great moments here, The Ascending Collective chief among them.
124. Huracan - We Are Very Happy
[7.5]
125. Tuskar - Matriarch
[7.5] - Rather cool post-y sludge doom debut from London duo.
126. Dornen - Leidensweg
[7.5] - Pretty great blackened sludge/post-black debut EP.
127. Dystopia AD - Doomsday Psalm
[7.5] - Really interesting and well-made proggy melo(ish)death album.
128. (EchO) - Witnesses
[7.5] - Cool post-y doomy record with harsher vocals but also some nice cleans from Heike Langhans.
129. Moeror - All That We Seem
[7.5] - Black metal album with some post- leanings that work nicely.
130. Satyr - Totem
[7.5] - Nice post-hardcore/djent sound with solid vocals.
131. Synestia - Maleficium
[7.5] - Straight-up Lorna Shore worship, but a very enjoyable interpretation of it.
132. Boucle Infinie - Summit
[7.5] - Remi from The Algorithm drops the metal in favour of IDM/synthwave - it reminds me of Rival Consoles in a very positive way.
133. Dérives - Ferae Seves
[7.5] - Very pleasant piano-heavy post-rock.
134. Cydemind - The Descent
[7.5] - Nice orchestral metal instrumental record with some lovely strings.
135. Armed For Apocalypse - Ritual Violence
[7.5] - Dirty sludge with some amazing shredded vocals.
136. Asunojokei - Island
[7.5] - Bright shiny Deafheaven-esque post-hardcore/blackgaze.
137. King Buffalo - Regenerator
[7.5]
138. Eye Of Doom - The Sapient
[7.5]
139. VoidOath - Ascension Beyond Kokytus
[7.5] - Serious sludge/death/doom debut.
140. Rioghan - Different Kinds Of Losses
[7.5] - Nice moody alt debut with Leprous influences.
141. Ancient Mastery - Chapter Two: The Resistance
[7.5] - I didn't care for the debut, but I like the storyteller vibe, folkiness and symphonics of this atmo-black release.
142. Fall Of The Idols - Contradictory Notes
[7.5] - Harsh vocals, but generally more classically doom, and sounds rather good while doing so.
143. Rival Consoles - Now Is
[7.5] - Really like this guy's take on ambient/IDM.
144. Nighted - Absence
[7.5] - Don't really hear synthwave here, but the keyboards are quite nice and the black(ish) metal is very pleasantly melodic.
145. A Wake In Providence - Eternity
[7.5] - Not quite Lorna Shore tier, but very solid symph-deathcore effort.
146. Terror Cell - Caustic Light
[7.5] - Intriguing mesh of mathcore, post-metal and a couple of other styles.
147. Voidward - Voidward
[7.5] - Accomplished mesh of classic, stoner, psychedelic and post- rock styles on the heavier end of the spectrum.
148. Raat - Celestial Woods
[7.5] - Some really nice shimmering blackgaze/atmo-black.
149. Bong-Ra - Meditations
[7.5] - Ominous, sinister drone metal with some chaotic saxophone.
150. Deströyer 666 - Never Surrender
[7.5] - One of the best purveyors of thrash currently around.
151. Ashes Of Nothing - A Thousand Serpents Holding Poison
[7.5] - Lots of emotion and heart in this post-metal debut EP.
152. Vermilia - Ruska
[7.5] - Very pleasant folky/pagan meloblack stuff with ethereal vocals, a bit like early Myrkur.
153. Harvest Of Ash - Ache And Impulse
[7.5] - Very neat post-y sludge debut.
154. Labyrinth Of Stars - Spectrum Xenomorph
[7.5] - Vicious, contorted disso-death with prolonged ambient outro.
155. Fliege - One Day They'll Wonder What Happened Here
[7.5] - Nifty The Thing-themed meloblack record with certain quirks.
156. Irist - Gloria
[7.5] - Very decent follow-up to Order Of The Mind that further emphasizes them as a torchbearer of Gojira's legacy.
157. Contrast - Acedia
[7.5] - Solid record mixing MPE-style melodeath with more meloblack/folk tracks.
158. Unprocessed - Gold
[7.5] - Smooth djent-tinged poppy math rock.
159. Body Void - Burn The Homes Of Those Who Seek To Control Our Bodies
[7.5] - 2 more tracks of misanthropic, noisy sludge from these purveyors of vile sounds.
160. Psycroptic - Divine Council
[7.5]
161. Mare Infinitum - Cryosleep
[7.5] - Fluctuates between grandiose symphonic doom and more extreme-leaning styles; the former works a bit better for me.
162. Xeno - Reconstruction
[7.5] - Very decent prog death EP.
163. Bál - F​é​nytelen
[7.5] - Post-black release; really reveals its strengths in the closing minutes.
164. Parius - The Signal Heard Through Space
[7.5]
165. Vengeur - Par Feu Et Par Flammes
[7.5]
166. Hierophant - Death Siege
[7.5] - Ferocious slab of dissonant blackened death metal.
167. Royal Hunt - Dystopia – Part II
[7.5] - Rather solid prog/power release with a couple of fine long songs at the end.
168. Ştiu Nu Ştiu - New Sun
[7.5]
169. Asuryan - Abraxis
[7.5] - Really pleasant mix of power metal with bits of melodeath, folk and metalcore.
170. Mico - Zigarut
[7.5] - Frenetic, aggressive, compelling dissonant blackened hardcore (FFO namedrops Plebeian Grandstand, for reference).
171. Wheel - Rumination
[7.5] - Short taste of Wheel goodness.
172. Obsidious - Iconic
[7.5] - I dig the more melodic, proggier Obscura approach, even if sometimes those melodic vocals don't quite hit the mark for me.
173. Shallow Rivers - The Tales Told Under The Willow
[7.5] - Nice melancholic melodic death/doom.
174. Potvor - You Will Never Go Back
[7.5] - Good balance of hardcore savagery and sludgy menace.
175. Indepth - Ancient Architects
[7.5] - Solid tech/prog-death with some great solos.
176. The Dear Hunter - Antimai
[7.5]
177. Aura - Underwater
[7.5] - Very pleasant if slightly rough-edged alt-y prog rock/metal soothing listen; cool Pink Floyd cover.
178. Becoming The Archetype - Children Of The Great Extinction
[7.5]
179. Frowning - Of Void
[7.5]
180. Second To Sun - Nocturnal Philosophy
[7.5] - Sharp-edged, menacing meloblack
181. Gematria - Gematria II: The Spindle Of Necessity
[7.5] - Convoluted, trippy experimental instrumental prog rock album.
182. Kathaaria - To Be Shunned By All​.​.​.​As Centres Of Pestilence
[7.5] - Intimidating yet sometimes surprisingly melodic black/death fury.
183. Die Sünde - Strega
[7.5] - Suitably menacing 20-minute post-black one-song EP.
184. Heron - Empires Of Ash
[7.5] - Grim and murky sludge doom.
185. God Alone - ETC
[7.5] - Semi-eclectic mix of post-hardcore, post-metal, and some more intense metal styles.
186. Nordjevel - Gnavhòl
[7.5] - Similar to Behemoth, without the symphonic/choral flourishes but with a lot of bite.
187. Jordfäst - Av Stoft
[7.5] - Good black/Viking metal release with memorable tracks.
188. Toehider - I Have Little To No Memory Of These Memories
[7.5] - Vibrant one-song prog epic, albeit with some annoying moments.
189. Petricor - Terra
[7.5] - Instrumental-only meloblack/doom/some other styles - track 2 is pretty excellent in how evocative it is, but the more straightforward black metal parts aren't quite of the same quality.
190. De Profundis - The Corruption Of Virtue
[7.5] - Very well-made tech-death in the Obscura vein.
191. KEN Mode - Null
[7.5] - Dirty, malevolent sludgy noise rock; much prefer this than something like Chat Pile.
192. Toadeater - Bexadde
[7.5] - Intense but subtly epic black metal.
193. Freedom Of Fear - Carpathia
[7.5] - Pretty solid tech death with a melodic slant.
194. Etrange - Enigme
[7.5] - Warm, pleasant instrumental prog.
195. Orbital - Wretched Earth
[7.5] - Very peculiar and intriguing ex prog debut EP.
196. Lethian Dreams - EnVain
[7.5]
197. Walg - II
[7.5] - Solid meloblack with dramatic flair.
198. Ithaca - They Fear Us
[7.5] - Good vocals, nice songwriting turns and generally enjoyable mathcore/metalcore record.
199. She Must Burn - Umbra Mortis
[7.5] - Doesn't do anything special with the symph-deathcore approach, but at least has pretty memorable songs.
200. The Lovecraft Sextet - Miserere
[7.5] - Sinister dark ambient/dark jazz from Jason Kohnen, Colin Webster and others, sparse saxophone/vocals in ominous soundscapes.
201. MMXX - Sacred Cargo
[7.5] - Impressive roster of guests on this doom record.
202. Methuselian - Beyond Human
[7.5] - Cool stoner doom with throat singing.
203. Into Eternal Skies - Submerged In Time
[7.5] - Emotionally poignant heavy post-rock.
204. Mo'ynoq - A Place For Ash
[7.5] - Sadness-tinged black metal with plenty of blasting.
205. Frayle - Skin & Sorrow
[7.5] - Another pleasant ethereal doom record from this promising project.
206. Black Math Horseman - Black Math Horseman
[7.5] - Cool doomy, atmospheric return from this band.
207. Krvna - For Thine Is The Kingdom Of The Flesh
[7.5]
208. Stake - Love, Death And Decay
[7.5] - On the whole, very solid post-metal, but with just a few moments that slightly throw me off (e.g. the awful closing song).
209. The Sombre - Monuments Of Grief
[7.5] - Classic-sounding death/doom with strings, very pleasant stuff.
210. Dawnwalker - House Of Sand
[7.5] - A tad long-winded, but a very decent proggy post-metal album with some cool folky strings popping up and Deafheaven-esque blackened vocals.
211. Abest - Molten Husk
[7.5] - Sludge of the venomous hardcore variety with bite and jagged edges.
212. ColdWorld - Isolation
[7.5] - Mellow, fairly serene, space-style ambient-tinged atmo-black.
213. Cult Leader - Gather & Mourn
[7.5] - Intense split with END that ends with a surprisingly evocative closing track.
214. Déhà - Eerie
[7.5] - Extensive compilation of tracks that cover Anathema-esque melancholy through to extreme doom.
215. Andy Gillion - Arcade Metal
[7.5] - Exuberant, entertaining videogame-inspired instrumental metal.
216. Russian Circles - Gnosis
[7.5] - Russian Circles doing Russian Circles things - not their greatest, but it's got some nice stuff on.
217. Avandra - Prodigal
[7.5]
218. Encyrcle - Deeper
[7.5] - Tagged as heavy/speed metal, it's not quite either, but the amorphous, indistinct take on metal that they do offer is more compelling than either of those styles in isolation.
219. Sugar Horse - Waterloo Teeth
[7.5] - Gemitsch of heavyish rock/metal styles featuring a who's who of up-and-coming British musicians.
220. Lathe - Tongue Of Silver
[7.5] - Nice Americana/post-rock fusion.
221. Udånde - Slow Death - A Celebration Of Self-Hatred
[7.5] - 50% meloblack, 50% ambient/drone - if you like one style in particular, just listen to that half of the tracklist.
222. Sonja - Loud Arriver
[7.5] - Catchy goth-tinged rock.
223. Thoughtcrimes - Altered Pasts
[7.5] - Cutting mathcore from former Dillinger drummer.
224. Ammothea - Terminal Burrow
[7.5] - Interesting concept lurking somewhere between ambient black metal and blackgaze - incredibly fuzzy and droning backdrop but with some shoegaze inclinations.
225. Alvenrad - Veluws IJzer
[7.5] - Good meloblack folk with lots of tremolo and gang singing.
226. Renunciation - Autelmorte
[7.5] - Well-written, hard-to-classify release with hints of tech-death, melodeath and meloblack.
227. Lune - Hymns To The Lunar Realm
[7.5] - Enchanting semi-celestial, semi-medieval atmo-black with dungeon synth aspects.
228. Anticreation - From The Dust Of Embers
[7.5] - Cavernous, semi-dissonant death metal, starts off standard enough but develops an added oomph on later tracks such as Unborn.
229. Firtan - Marter
[7.5] - Straightforward, blast-heavy, melody-tinged black metal.
230. Mountainscape - Atoms Unfurling
[7.5] - Instru-post that brings in a few heavier sounds to expand their sonic palette.
231. Belphegor - The Devils
[7.5] - My first proper taste of Belphegor, a pretty solid chunk of black/death metal.
232. Am Himmel - As Eternal As The Starless Kingdom Of Sorrow
[7.5] - Intriguing ambient black metal sound overloading with bright fuzz.
233. Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvram
[7.5] - More aimed towards the jugular than the last album, this is a solid slab of blackened death metal, but not an overwhelming release.
234. David Maxim Micic - Bilo 4.0
[7.5]
235. Dead Neanderthals - Metal
[7.5]
236. My Hair Is A Rat's Nest - The Longing Machine
[7.5]
237. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Laminated Denim
[7.5]
238. A Concrete Future - Remnants Of Times To Come
[7.5] - Solidly enjoyable prog/stoner/post-rock debut EP.
239. Morbid Evils - Supernaturals
[7.5] - Initially impressive sludgy death doom album, but one that doesn't quite reward repeat playthroughs.
240. Altars Ablaze - Life Desecration
[7.5] - Very no-frills, no-nonsense blackened death compared to Behemoth, this is just full-pelt fury and works rather well.
241. Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial
[7.5] - Solid stoner effort with a mixture of driving rock parts and gnarlier doomy bits; Stoned Ape Theory is a highlight.
242. A Feast For Lampreys - Graveyard Abyss
[7.5] - Intriguing proggy extreme metal venture.
243. Dhyana - Trikaya
[7.5] - Dronier than their earlier 2022 album, this is like Bong meets Om.
244. Petbrick - Liminal
[7.5] - Fun lively industrial/noise stuff; the tracks with the greater percussive emphasis (e.g. Ayan) are the standouts.
245. Unity of Opposites - Inner Sketches
[7.5] - Nice, emotionally resonant prog debut EP.
246. Endonomos - Endonomos
[7.5] - Retro-sounding but decent epic-style death/doom album.
247. The Neologist - Oracle
[7.5] - Starts off slowish, but eventually reminds me why I liked Coming Full Circle back in the day, has some nice feelz here.
248. Ploughshare - Ingested Burial Ground
[7.5] - Nasty industrial/industrial metal with plenty of bile.
249. SkyThala - Boreal Despair
[7.5] - Bonkers, maddening avant-garde black metal with symphonic flourishes and other weird stuff.
250. Vorbid - A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala
[7.5] - Interesting prog that veers instrumentally towards tech-death while remaining primarily melodic.
251. ACOD - Fourth Reign Over Opacities And Beyond
[7.5] - Rather solid blackened death album slightly on the more melodic end of the spectrum, with some nice spoken word and symphonic hints in there.
252. Kuedo - Infinite Window
[7.5] - Cool mellow electronic release.
253. Carrion Vael - Abhorrent Obsessions
[7.5] - Some kind of technical melodeathcore fusion that works out pretty well.
254. Ou - One
[7.5] - Exuberant and wide-ranging prog debut that features frenetic technicality but also some moments of eerie ambience.
255. Orm - Intet • Altet
[7.5] - A very decent post-black record with a solid mixture of uplifting meloblack/blackgaze and sullen quiet post-rock/metal moodiness, but 4 songs near/over 20 minutes is excessive.
256. Antimatter - A Profusion Of Thought
[7.5] - Another pleasant Antimatter album, although I do find the constant vibrato on the vocals a tad grating across the whole album.
257. Skin Failure - Radillac
[7.5] - Interesting punky thrashy sound.
258. Avatarium - Death, Where Is Your Sting
[7.5] - Solid doom with nice vocals.
259. Desbot - Pass Of Change
[7.5] - Nice heavy evocative post-rock.
260. Menace Ruine - Nekyia
[7.5] - Fluctuates between 'somewhat tedious' (Your Sadness Is Vain) and 'utterly charming' (Pigeon Rain, One Last Song).
261. Black Royal - Earthbound
[7.5]
262. Primitive - With The Rats And Snakes
[7.5] - Feisty darker deathy thrash EP with a bit more substance than a lot of modern thrash.
263. Defacing God - The Resurrection Of Lilith
[7.5] - Neat symph-tinged dramatic-sounding melodeath record.
264. Asterism - Animetic
[7.5] - Fun instrumental album presumably inspired by anime soundtracks.
265. Dark Forest - Ridge & Furrow
[7.5]
266. My Education - Emka
[7.5]
267. Misþyrming - Með Hamri
[7.5] - Bit more straight black than the last one, very good final song though.
268. Spaceking - Anticosmic Stoner Metal
[7.5] - Decent return from the instru-stoners after a long absence.
269. Woods Of Desolation - The Falling Tide
[7.5] - Less depressive black, more shimmering blackgaze; it's still decent, but not too impactful.
270. Goatwhore - Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven
[7.5]
271. Ueldes - Foreverer
[7.5] - Pleasant folk-tinged atmo-black very much on the lighter, more melodic end of the spectrum.
272. Arallu - Death Covenant
[7.5] - Solid Middle Eastern blackened death making good use of local folk instruments.
273. Long Distance Calling - Eraser
[7.5] - More of the same, but the same is good.
274. Autonoesis - Moon Of Foul Magics
[7.5] - The sophomore album of this black/death/thrash band places more importance on black metal.
275. Lumbar - Revisiting The Darkest Of Days
[7.5] - Unusual ponderous doomy sludge sound with some subtly uplifting tones.
276. Early Moods - Early Moods
[7.5] - Very classic retro trad doom sound purpose-built for genre fans.
277. Doldrum - The Knocking, Or The Story Of The Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance
[7.5] - Meandering dissonant black metal with a sinister atmosphere.
278. Greylotus - Dawnfall
[7.5] - A cool technical deathcore debut with some neat symphonic and blackened touches, but a few too many wanky bits to be as great as it could be.
279. In Slumber - While We Sleep
[7.5] - Rather decent melodeath effort taking cues from both Gothenburg and Finnish styles.
280. Slave Keeper - Ślad
[7.5] - Surprisingly enjoyable trad-style heavy; there's a brightness to the music that helps, as do the great vocals.
281. Celestial Season - Mysterium II
[7.5] - Good good gothic doom.
282. Black Lava - Soul Furnace
[7.5]
283. Lillian Axe - From Womb To Tomb
[7.5] - Very enjoyable metallic prog rock album (not sure how else to best describe its tone).
284. Krisiun - Mortem Solis
[7.5] - Chunky and generally satisfying DM effort from these veterans.
285. Moonshade - As We Set The Skies Ablaze
[7.5] - Solid melodeath record with good hooks.
286. Kathaaria - To Be Shunned By All​.​.​.​ As Centres Of Pestilence
[7.5] - Mix of black n' roll with some darker sounds, it's decent but I'm not engrossed by it.
287. Kokoroko - Could We Be More
[7.5] - Fun, lush Afro-jazz debut.
288. Implore - The Burden Of Existence
[7.5] - Feisty extreme metal-leaning metallic hardcore.
289. Crone - Gotta Light?
[7.5] - Nice rich-sounding proggy hard rock record with good vocals.
290. Pilori - Quand Bien Même L'enfer Et Le Déluge S'abattraient Sur Nous
[7.5] - Feisty death album with frequent detours into grindcore, still has some time for some bleak atmospheric sections on top of that within a concise 30-minute package.
291. Liminal Shroud - All Virtues Ablaze
[7.5] - Solid atmo-black album on the blacker end of the spectrum.
292. Dance Gavin Dance - Jackpot Juicer
[7.5] - A solid album that marks another turbulent period in this band's history.
293. Miscreance - Convergence
[7.5] - Classic old-school tech/prog-death done well.
294. The Air Of Hiroshima - К​р​а​с​о​т​а р​у​с​с​к​о​й т​о​с​к​и
[7.5] - By-the-book but nevertheless movingly atmospheric and textured post-rock.
295. Onhou - Monument
[7.5] - Grim sludge doom with some cool highlight moments.
296. Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
[7.5] - Less varied than his debut, but still a solid alt-rock/alt-metal venture.
297. Xenoglyph - Spiritfraud
[7.5] - Subtly 'off' cosmic black metal that is moderately alluring.
298. Thūn - II
[7.5] - Solid mix of trad-heavy, doom and death/doom with Karl Sanders on guitar.
299. Krimh - The Eternal Return
[7.5] - Rather solid proggy, deathy solo effort.
300. Rýr - Transient
[7.5] - Conventional but enjoyable heavy instru-post.
301. Soul Dissolution - SORA
[7.5] - By-the-book but pleasant blackgaze with nice guitar melodies.
302. Gnash - Shared Nightmare
[7.5] - Very decent sludge first outing with grimness but faint atmospherics too.
303. Grief Ritual - Spiritual Disease
[7.5] - Gnarly heavy hardcore debut.
304. Alatyr - Do Zeme Zabudnutia
[7.5] - Pleasantly stirring symph-tinged atmoblack.
305. In Nothingness - Black Sun Funeral
[7.5] - Really captures the Jester Race vibe at times; just wish they didn't have the St Anger snare.
306. Slaughter The Giant - Depravity
[7.5] - Melodeath record that sprinkles in tech-death, symphonic and deathcore riffs, but also has some killer evocative melodies.
307. Amken - Passive Aggression
[7.5] - Brings in some melodeath and straight death to make a thrash sound more in line with my tastes than most of their peers in the genre.
308. Imha Tarikat - Hearts Unchained - At War With A Passionless World
[7.5]
309. Astrosaur - Portals
[7.5] - Solid instru-post with a strong 20-minute closing track.
310. Deathbringer - It
[7.5] - Interesting techy proggy death, but a bit overlong.
311. The Hirsch Effekt - Solitaer
[7.5] - Djenty EP that's not as mathy or wacky as I know THE to be, quite easy to listen to tbh.
312. Holy Fawn - Dimensional Bleed
[7.5] - Dreamy post-/metalgaze, it's a bit dreary in a few moments, but is generally pleasant, plus a few screams.
313. Djevel - Naa Skrider Natten Sort
[7.0] - Decent melodic-leaning black metal release with some good atmo-black riffs and use of acoustics.
314. Der Trauerschwan - Sanguinare Vampiris
[7.0] - Well-made moody blackened doom.
315. Epica - The Alchemy Project
[7.0] - The variety on this arising from the guests isn't a bad thing.
316. Souldrainer - Departure
[7.5] - Pretty decent melodeath, but does have a couple of bits much better than the rest.
317. Katla/Czar - Overdoser
[7.0] - Feisty stoner/sludge/punk split.
318. Witcher - Lélekharang
[7.0] - Bit too Summoning with the keyboards but fairly decent atmo-black.
319. Marc Urselli's SteppenDoom - SteppenDoom
[7.0] - Starts off as stoner doom, ends up as ritualistic drone, pretty interesting.
320. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
[7.0]
321. Dargor - Ascend To Infinity
[7.0] - Short nice meloblack.
322. Noctem - Credo Certe Ne Cras
[7.0] - Nice little blastfest.
323. Colonial Wound - Easy Laugh
[7.0] - Gnarly noise rock mathcore.
324. Epectase - N​é​croses
[7.0] - A few different styles chucked into this album, including more blackened, ambient, gazey, and other sounds.
325. Afghan Haze - Hallucinations Of A Heretic
[7.0] - Hairy chest sludge/stoner with lots of fire.
326. Chest Rockwell - Mentis Oculi
[7.0] - I always want to dig a 22-minute stoner/prog song, and parts of it are quite lovely, but I find the vocals a bit of a barrier to clicking with this as much as I want to.
327. Scarlxrd & Kordhell - PSYCHX
[7.0] - Less metal-trap and more synthwave-oriented, works pretty well.
328. High Command - Eclipse Of The Dual Moons
[7.0]
329. Go​ł​oledź - Go​ł​oledź
[7.0]
330. Karg - Resignation
[7.0] - A shorter album for once but still overly long songs.
331. Death Comes In Waves - Not Of This World
[7.0] - A fairly conventional meloblack sound, but a nice one with some pleasant acoustic melodies amidst the blasting.
332. The Sawtooth Grin - Good.
[7.0] - Beastly mathcore with some proper solid riffs/grooves.
333. EF - We Salute You, You And You!
[7.0] - Post-rock veterans showing their competence.
334. Love Your Witch - The Endless Rider
[7.0] - Diverse, imaginative single-song EP with good use of brass; the more standard sections are less engaging.
335. Vessel Of Iniquity - The Path Unseen
[7.0]
336. Sinister Downfall - The Last Witness
[7.0]
337. Lvtvm - Irrational Numbers
[7.0] - Intriguing post-y jazzy instrumental prog album, but not super compelling.
338. Trup - Nie
[7.0] - Grisly black/sludge/hardcore EP with blasting through to noisy doom crawls.
339. Stranger Vision - Wasteland
[7.0] - Bold to get Hansi Kursch to sing the first song; could give a false impression when he's not on the rest of the record, but the following songs are still decent.
340. Cavernous Gate - Voices From A Fathomless Realm
[7.0] - Mostly standard death-tinged doom, but makes good use out of electronic/keyboard sections to add character to tracks.
341. Graceless - Chants From Purgatory
[7.0] - Bit too OSDM at times for me, but does have some moments of gravitas scattered across it, such as track 4.
342. Tiwanaku - Earth Base One
[7.0] - Decent spacey death metal album.
343. Barren - I
[7.0]
344. Hordous - Mon Fant​ô​me
[7.0] - Covers the black-meloblack-blackgaze range a bit; felt the track(s) in the latter category were the most noteworthy.
345. Ellende - Ellenbogengesellschaft
[7.0] - Blackgaze/atmo-black with the feels in its best moments, but also a few bland parts, and the clean vocals are rough on the edges.
346. Art Of Attrition - The Void Eternal
[7.0] - Like many other albums, it's a pretty conventional spin on the symphonic deathcore sound, but it's good fun.
347. Blizzard Hunter - The Path Of Triumph
[7.0] - Peru pumping out some tasty NWOBHM worship.
348. Emberla Firgasto - Temporal Capsule
[7.0] - Decent disso-death from the school of Ulcerate.
349. Chelsea Grin - Suffer In Hell
[7.0] - Decent deathcore that hits on a lot of modern genre tropes well.
350. Marlugubre - Maladie
[7.0] - Still Life-era Opeth with a post-black/blackgaze twist.
351. Drudkh - Всі Належать Ночі (All Belong To The Night)
[7.0] - Pleasant enough atmoblack from the veterans.
352. Hammer Of Dawn - Uzil
[7.0] - Doesn't really add anything specific to the current symphonic deathcore wave, but this EP is an engaging rendition of the sound.
353. Mycelia - In A Late Country
[7.0] - A bit scattered in its mixture of djent, mathcore, deathcore, alt sounds and unexpected sounds, but when it's not too jarring, it's pretty enjoyable.
354. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava
[7.0] - Very summer of love, hippie psych-rock, it is occasionally slightly soporific but is generally very pleasant, gentle listening.
355. Arkæon - Parasit
[7.0] - Ghoulish dissoblack, very I, Voidhanger.
356. The Mountain King - Collateralus
[7.0] - Very different direction to their other two 2022 records, going techno.
357. Miss May I - Curse Of Existence
[7.0] - Generic djenty metalcore record, but I found it rather enjoyable.
358. Nightlife - Fallback
[7.0]
359. Inclination - Unaltered Perspective
[7.0] - Chunky metallic hardcore with lots of venom but also some semi-melodic/atmospheric leads woven in.
360. Arkheth - Clarity Came With A Cool Summer's Breeze
[7.0] - Peculiar mix of proper retro prog/psychedelic rock with symphonics and black metal, undermined a bit by the lacklustre vocals.
361. Gavran - Indistinct Beacon
[7.0] - Moody, atmospheric doom post-metal that's slightly lacking in terms of overall impact.
362. Wolfheart - King Of The North
[7.0]
363. Culprate - αριθμός τέσσερα
[7.0] - Eclectic experimental electronic record that doesn't always hit the right spot, but has some really cool ideas.
364. Hexed - Pagans Rising
[7.0] - Symphonic prog in the vein not unlike Evergrey.
365. Trial - Feed The Fire
[7.0] - Good interpretation of 80s Helloween-style power metal.
366. Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
[7.0] - A couple of solid songs on an otherwise affable record.
367. Recoil In Horror - Amalgam
[7.0] - Fun, gnarly, djenty deathcore album.
368. Arche - Transitions
[7.0] - Pleasant melancholic funeral doom bitesized record with nifty acoustic bridge track.
369. Hammers Of Misfortune - Overtaker
[7.0]
370. Infidel Rising - A Complex Divinity
[7.0] - Shiny, pretty power-y prog album that is slightly undermined by its memorability.
371. Auriferous Flame - The Great Mist Within
[7.0] - More conventional atmo-black from Ayloss than whatever the last Spectral Lore was trying to be, and thus more enjoyable, if lacking in standout features.
372. The Cimmerian - Thrice Majestic
[7.0] - Tasty High On Fire worship.
373. Vintas - Solar
[7.0] - Nice but typical djentcore EP.
374. Living Tales - Persephone
[7.0] - Respectable symphonic prog/power just lacking a touch of oomph.
375. Reliqa - I Don't Know What I Am
[7.0] - Nu-metal/djent-core - remove the nu-metal and rap and I would like this quite a bit.
376. The Wind In The Trees - Architects Of Light
[7.0] - Vicious mathy grindcore with some neat twisty bits and gnarly riffs/sequences.
377. Tulip - Derangement, Exquisite Tenderness
[7.0] - Slightly less mathy grindcore with similarly solid bursts of aggression, as well as occasional more restrained moments (Saccade).
378. The Blessing Way - Erik's Lament
[7.0] - Blackish gothy symph-tinged metal, it's generally pretty enjoyable.
379. Murmur (ESP) - Pvtrefactio
[7.0]
380. Brutus (BEL) - Unison Life
[7.0] - Wish I liked it more than I did.
381. Temnein - Fables: Devouring Desires
[7.0] - Fun melodeath EP.
382. Strigoi - Viscera
[7.0] - Decently atmospheric death metal, albeit a tad plodding for my tastes.
383. Pale Sketcher - Golden Skin
[7.0] - Justin Broadrick goes IDM - it's pretty good.
384. And Now The Owls Are Smiling - Epitaph
[7.0] - Gaze-y atmoblack with some delicately atmospheric softer tracks.
385. Elisa C. Martin - Nothing Without Pain
[7.0] - Solid solo career debut from ex-Dark Moor singer - I like the Devin vibes on Take Off The Mask.
386. The Offering - Seeing The Elephant
[7.0]
387. Edenbridge - Shangri-La
[7.0] - A lot of bombast, but a bit too much style and not quite enough substance.
388. Stormruler - Sacred Rites & Black Magick
[7.0] - Meloblack record that does its best work in the more acoustic moments.
389. Breath Of Sindragosa - The Decaying Seeds Of Hatred
[7.0] - Enjoyable enough, but one of the less remarkable symph-tinged deathcore releases.
390. Norma Jean - Deathrattle Sing For Me
[7.0] - Decent fiesty metalcore record from these vets.
391. Xenobiotic - Hate Monolith
[7.0]
392. Bonecarver - Carnage Funeral
[7.0] - Another decent but not overly noteworthy symph-tinged deathcore album.
393. Gloomchild - Summer's Over
[7.0] - Nice metalcore/post-hardcore with atmospheric leanings but also some exciting guitar solos and solid riffs; some soy parts as well though.
394. Fleshwater - We're Not Here To Be Loved
[7.0]
395. Dead Cross - II
[7.0]
396. Brymir - Voices In The Sky
[7.0] - I remembered these guys being a tad less cheesy than this, but the album is alright.
397. Shades - From A Vein
[7.0]
398. Vargsheim - In The Tower Of Ivory
[7.0]
399. Spectrum Mortis - Bit Meseri - The Incantation
[7.0] - More interesting than straight OSDM with the intensity of the riffs and some Melechesh-style instrumental passages.
400. Triumvir Foul - Onslaught To Seraphim
[7.0] - Tasty cavernous dissonant death metal.
401. Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean - I Tried Catching You But You Fell Through Me
[7.0]
402. Fit For A King - The Hell We Create
[7.0] - Classic-style metalcore that has flirtations with more modern styles on certain songs.
403. Conan - Evidence Of Immortality
[7.0]
404. Heavy Metal Perse - Jumalia Paossa
[7.0] - It loses its appeal a bit in the middle, but the 14-minute opener is an impressive effort for a band with 'heavy metal' in their name, and the closing song is quite neat too.
405. Cloud Rat - Threshold
[7.0] - Not just pure bile, with some flow and dynamic range to it, it's a decent grindcore release.
406. Nidhög - Fjord
[7.0] - Decent meloblack debut EP but the highlight is the ambient electronic outro track.
407. Chaosbay - 2222
[7.0] - Very catchy and accessible djent with occasional -core moments.
408. Abhorson - A Weather Front
[7.0] - Chonky djenty instru-post, pretty hefty and decent with tranquil post-rock parts.
409. Lord Elephant - Cosmic Awakening
[7.0] - Fun jammy stoner album with some Weedpecker-y moments.
410. Mosara - Only The Dead Know Our Secrets
[7.0] - At-times gnarly but approachably stoner-y sludge doom record.
411. Oceans Of Slumber - Starlight And Ash
[7.0] - The extreme metal is gone, and so is the prog for the most part; vocals are still great, and less self-indulgent than the last album, but a bit boring.
412. The Halo Effect - Days Of The Lost
[7.0] - Decent debut, but a bit unremarkable.
413. Devin Townsend - Lightwork
[7.0] - Factions is a good song, but overall Lightwork is a bit meh and Nightwork is a bit scattered.
414. Abrams - In The Dark
[7.0] - Stoner release that's actually really nice in its best moments (In The Dark, Black Tar Mountain) but also has a few uninteresting songs.
415. Forlesen - Black Terrain
[7.0] - The mix of gloomy Wolfecore, ambient, post-metal, black metal, it doesn't click for me here as much as I would like; in its best moments, though, it's very decent.
416. Walls Of Babylon - Fallen
[7.0]
417. Alter Bridge - Pawns & Kings
[7.0] - Definitely saved by the title track.
418. Sumerlands - Dreamkiller
[7.0] - Great vocals, the song quality is a bit inconsistent but there's a few really good ones here.
419. Krokmitën - TAU
[7.0] - Peculiar proggy death metal album-song.
420. Gaupa - Myriad
[7.0] - More decent rock with Bjork-y vocals.
421. Crust - Wanderers
[7.0] - Another competent entry to this prolific sludge band's discog.
422. BlackLab - In A Bizarre Dream
[7.0] - Middle-of-the-road bluesy stoner hard rock, sounds fine but not in love with it.
423. Scamp - Man Meets Ape
[7.0] - A djenty album that veers closer to the genre's thrash/groove origins.
424. The Temple - Of Solitude Triumphant
[7.0] - Very classic doom, sounds pretty decent.
425. Sleestak - Harbinger
[7.0]
426. Hysterial Blindness - Notre Héritage
[7.0] - Pretty decent black/post-black album, albeit not super memorable.
427. Diakron - Spectre At The Feast
[7.0] - Lengthy, moody blackened prog/doom album with a decent atmosphere.
428. Teethgrinder - Dystopia
[7.0] - Chonky deathgrind release.
429. Šakal - Jav, Prav, Nav
[7.0]
430. Mysloplaz - Mirage
[7.0] - Djent/DnB mash-up - room for growth but interesting attempt at the fusion.
431. Dhyana - Terma
[7.0] - A perhaps overly rudimentary interpretation of the classic Om style.
432. Crown Of Ascension - Transmission Errors
[7.0] - Similar in style and abrasion to Vessel Of Iniquity.
433. Terra Atlantica - Beyond The Borders
[7.0] - Very cheesy power metal, but not unenjoyable.
434. Death Scythe - Killing For Pleasure Forever
[7.0] - Decent melodeath with a nice acoustic interlude track and some lush classic In Flames-style melodies.
435. Locrian - New Catastrophism
[7.0]
436. Black Magnet - Body Prophecy
[7.0] - Pretty decent alt-y industrial rock/metal album.
437. Praise The Sun - The Proffer Of Life
[7.0] - Gains points for making melodeath not completely in the typical mould (with aspects that run close to The Gallery), but loses points by having a few unremarkable tracks.
438. Lybica - Lybica
[7.0] - Very conventional heavy post-rock, but it was pleasant to listen to.
439. Lamb Of God - Omens
[7.0]
440. Broodmonger - Wither
[7.0] - Typical but fun techy deathcore debut EP.
441. The Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist
[7.0]
442. Last - The Sinless Birth
[7.0] - Fiery hardcore EP with some chonky riffs/grooves.
443. Opus Arise - The Network
[7.0] - Interesting instrumental-only symphonic release.
444. Lungtoucher - The Ninth Incantation
[7.0]
445. Birds In Row - Gris Klein
[7.0] - Decent (post-)hardcore, some of the more light-toned songs are fairly impressive.
446. Universally Estranged - Dimension Of Deviant Clusters
[7.0] - Interesting use of electronics within a fairly typical OSDM sound.
447. Bran - Odch​á​zení
[7.0] - Decent meloblack.
448. Vananidr - Beneath The Mold
[7.0]
449. The Cult - Under The Midnight Sun
[7.0] - Pleasant enough.
450. Arch Enemy - Deceivers
[7.0] - Never been much of an Arch Enemy fan, but I enjoyed this more than Amon Amarth's latest at least.
451. Contemplator - Morphose
[7.0] - Well-crafted and at-times gnarly instrumental prog effort.
452. Gillian Carter - Salvation Through Misery
[7.0] - Frenetic screamo, frequently abrasive but with some moments that offer respite.
453. Clutch - Sunrise On Slaughter Beach
[7.0] - Quite underwhelming early on, but pulls its way back with a quality song like Skeletons On Mars.
454. Sigh - Shiki
[7.0] - Nails-on-chalkboard vocals weren't redeemed by the musical quality.
455. Malist - As I Become Darkness
[7.0] - Less impressed with this than their previous one.
456. A Pit Of Me - Seven Stones
[7.0] - Pretty decent djenty prog debut, albeit with some ineffectual vocal hooks.
457. Spire Of Lazarus - Soaked In The Sands
[7.0] - Solid tech-deathcore with some really nice moments, but also quite a bit of directionless wankery.
458. Pestilent Hex - The Ashen Abhorrence
[7.0] - Full-on and fairly exciting symph-tinged meloblack.
459. Sinnery - Black Bile
[7.0] - Darker, meaner thrash that sounds pretty decent.
460. Virtual Symmetry - Virtual Symmetry
[7.0] - Pretty decent classic style prog-metal release with a well-executed 20-minute self-titled opening track.
461. Esoctrilihum - Saopth's
[7.0]
462. The Mountain King - Tsunami Of Hope
[7.0]
463. Spektrvm - Blood For Heaven
[7.0] - Alt/prog record with some strong husky post-grunge vocals.
464. Orthodox - Proceed
[7.0]
465. Northless - A Path Beyond Grief
[7.0] - Contorted, bruising doomy sludge; not taken by the vocals, though.
466. Altars - Ascetic Reflection
[7.0] - Pretty middle-of-the-road dissonanty death metal album.
467. Antigama - Whiteout
[7.0] - Sharp, to-the-point grind with some cool moments.
468. Fellowship - The Saberlight Chronicles
[7.0] - Super-cheesy, but a nice Serenity tinge to it.
469. Walk In Darkness - Leaves Rolling In Time
[7.0] - Very nice vocals; not really gothic though.
470. Gallia - Obscura
[7.0] - Power-ish symphonic metal with some good moments, albeit a bit too much that's plodding or underwhelming to consistently deliver; the Ad Infinitum-esque Mirage is a good example of this. The folkier parts such as Free Me are very nice.
471. Fallen Grace - Fallen Grace
[7.0] - Decent Filipino Gothenburg-inspired melodeath.
472. Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society
[7.0] - It's perfectly decent in its good moments, but they're just too AOR-heavy for their own good on this album.
473. Kaledon - Legend Of The Forgotten Reign - Chapter VII: Evil Awakens
[7.0] - With a name like that, you know it'll be heavy on the cheese.
474. Theotoxin - Fragment: Totenruhe
[7.0] - Black metal; nothing unusual but pretty likeable.
475. Bloodbath - Survival Of The Sickest
[7.0] - Fine but unremarkable.
476. Dovorian - Kneel And Follow
[7.0] - Respectable heavy metal album whose main strength is featuring Tom Englund on vocals.
477. Defect Designer - Neanderthal
[7.0] - Grindcore with some proggy death metal moments (e.g. on Time, Forward) to liven things up.
478. Nadja - Labyrinthine
[7.0] - Interesting use of vocals on this latest effort.
479. Mitch Murder - Selection 6
[7.0] - Fun 80s worship chillwave, if a bit long.
480. Jesu - Pity / Piety
[7.0] - It's Jesu, so it's a bit dreary, but not the worst thing they've done.
481. The Wakedead Gathering - Parallaxiom
[7.0]
482. Patria - Hexerei
[7.0]
483. The Crown Of Yamhad - Vales Of Desperation
[7.0] - Decent gothic metal sound with fairly nice overlapping of different vocal styles and instruments, albeit with some rough edges.
484. Kryatjurr Of Desert Ahd - Devastating Losses Of Ecological Doom
[7.0] - Ambient black metal so lo-fi and eerie that it feels like a musical void at times.
485. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Changes
[7.0] - They're unstoppable; this is probably the least interesting of their October trilogy though.
486. The Necromancers - Where The Void Rose
[7.0] - At-times doomy, other times stonery dirty hard rock,
487. Vermin Womb - Retaliation
[7.0] - Furious, venomous deathgrind.
488. Lunar Spells - Demise Of Heaven
[7.0] - This is black metal, nothing more nothing less.
489. Liturgy - As The Blood Of God Bursts The Veins Of Time
[7.0] - The last track is a bit irritating, but the first three I've gotten more out of than most Liturgy stuff.
490. Wolf Counsel - Initivm
[7.0] - Weighty, brooding doom that I'm a bit more fond of then a lot of retro-doom.
491. Reeking Aura - Blood And Bonemeal
[7.0] - A step up from straight OSDM worship, particularly with some interesting lead guitar moments.
492. Prometheus - Aornos
[7.0] - Ferocious death metal, but can't say I enjoyed this.
493. Gnipahålan - I Nordisk Vredeslusta
[7.0] - Literally just black metal.
494. !T.O.O.H.! - Premiant
[6.5] - Bit all over the place still, but probably a bit better than Free Speech.
495. Grimner - Urfader
[6.5] - Pleasant enough folk metal that does all the right things, but not quite well enough; dig the artwork, though.
496. Lurker In Light - Acumen Of Joyful Sorrow
[6.5] - Very Insomnium-esque melodeath, has a lot of potential but the rougher and flatter production doesn't allow it to shine in the way an Insomnium album would.
497. Ocean Of Ghosts - I Am Awake And My Body Is On Fire
[6.5] - Murky sludgy extreme doom with some horror keyboard layers, does the job without rising too high above that bar.
498. Kampfar - Til Klovers Takt
[6.5] - Middle-of-the-road meloblack/Pagan metal.
499. Candlemass - Sweet Evil Sun
[6.5]
500. Threshold - Dividing Lines
[6.5] - Respectable prog, but a slight chore to listen to at times.
501. Ofdrykkja - After The Storm
[6.5] - Pleasant but slightly perfunctory Nordic neofolk.
502. Outer Space Experiment - Frequencies
[6.5] - Proggy blues hard rock that's a tad inconsistent.
503. Illyria - Take Me Somewhere Beautiful
[6.5] - Rough-edged proggy post-hardcore with more intense moments; not always great (particularly vocally) but shines in parts.
504. Maladie - Wound Of Gods
[6.5] - Big move away from the exuberance of Still, it's closer to blackened rock now.
505. Bark - Rambler Of Aeons
[6.5] - Motorhead/groove metal with fiery barked vocals, nothing special but fun enough.
506. Counterparts - A Eulogy For Those Still Here
[6.5] - Pretty Killswitch-y plus a bit of post-hardcore, but altogether doesn't quite do it for me.
507. Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die
[6.5] - Impressive technicality in this mathy instru-prog, but the autotuned hip hop tracks aren't for me.
508. Exhumed - To The Dead
[6.5]
509. Theudho - Voorbij De Nevelen Des Tijds
[6.5] - Pagan-y black metal album that's a bit too long and a bit not interesting enough.
510. Boundaries - Burying Brightness
[6.5] - Decent but not overly memorable metalcore album; nice ambition on the 10-minute closer, though.
511. Froglord - Army Of Frogs
[6.5]
512. Machine Head - Øf Kingdøm And Crøwn
[6.5]
513. Them - Fear City
[6.5] - Let down a bit vocally at times, this is otherwise a fairly decent classic heavy metal album.
514. Cordura - Annurth
[6.5] - Mellow yet slightly eerie ambience, very easy listening for the style.
515. Enemy Eyes - History's Hands
[6.5] - On the hard rock/heavy metal border, it's mostly by-the-book but has some highlight moments.
516. Therion - Leviathan II
[6.5] - Competent and has its moments, but also a tad boring.
517. Apeiron Bound - Multiplicity
[6.5] - Generally well-made prog, but I don't think the ideas translate into great well-rounded songs.
518. Sun Eater - Vermin
[6.5] - Chonky core-leaning tech-death.
519. Amayeta - Dismal
[6.5] - Meandering, not entirely convincing but pretty decent prog-doom-djent/core mesh.
520. Prime Prophecy - Borders Of Infinity
[6.5] - Pleasant but slightly lightweight symph-tinged prog with nice deep vocals.
521. Sleeping Romance - We All Are Shadows
[6.5] - Nice vocals, some decent instrumentation, but a bit lightweight.
522. Hammer King - Kingdemonium
[6.5] - Decent heavy/power cheese with Avantasia-y vocals.
523. Atomic Witch - Crypt Of Sleeples Malice
[6.5] - Extreme-tinged thrash with exuberant (sometimes overly so) vocals.
524. Sunstorm - Brothers In Arms
[6.5] - Pleasant arena rock with a bit more of a power metal slant.
525. Destruction Of The Healer - Let The Earth Reclaim Me
[6.5] - Nothing particularly noteworthy in this Gothenburg worship record, but I did nevertheless enjoy the songs they wrote in the style.
526. Syryn - Heads Or Tails
[6.5] - Competent thrashy power/heavy metal, but with vocal melodies that didn't fully synchronize with the surrounding music.
527. Seventh Storm - Maledictus
[6.5] - Surprisingly enjoyable prog/power/alt-metal debut.
528. Spite (USA-CA) - Dedication To Flesh
[6.5] - Straightforward knucklehead beatdown deathcore, but it does what it needs to.
529. Soulfly - Totem
[6.5] - Doesn't match up to Ritual, but it's a decent listen still.
530. Hissing - Hypervirulence Architecture
[6.5] - Intense, explosive dissonant death metal cacophony.
531. Graveshadow - The Uncertain Hour
[6.5] - Good vocalist, but the songs on this power metal release don't quite match up.
532. Epoch Of Unlight - At War With The Multiverse
[6.5] - Not sure why I tagged this to listen to - death-heavy melodeath that's a bit uninteresting.
533. The Wind Covenant - Prophecy
[6.5] - Decent enough techy djent/deathcore EP.
534. Wormrot - Hiss
[6.5]
535. Wangelen - Religión De La Materia
[6.5]
536. Sympuls-E - Immensity
[6.5] - Bright, shiny tech-y/core-y melodeath that sadly doesn't quite click for me.
537. Amaurot - ...To Tread The Ancient Waters
[6.5] - The general atmosphere of this gothic doom album is very reasonable, but the vocals don't quite deliver.
538. Wine From Tears - I'm Fine
[6.5] - Pleasant melodic death/doom lacking a tad in impact.
539. After All - Eos
[6.5] - Straddles the thrash/USPM line; uses these soaring vocals in thrash better than Toxik did this year.
540. Ginevra - We Belong To The Stars
[6.5] - Cheesy arena rock, it's alright though.
541. Sunrise Patriot Motion - Black Fellflower Stream
[6.5] - Different spin on blackened gothic rock/metal, but not sure whether the roughness of the sound is a hindrance or a help.
542. Ernia - How To Deal With Life And Fail
[6.5] - Decent grindcore with incredibly grating vocals.
543. Lykotonon - Promethean Pathology
[6.5] - Bit of a scrappy industrial black/death record - not enough industrial content and the black/death parts fluctuate in quality.
544. Wormgod - Where Old Curses Rest
[6.5] - Despite the mesmerizing artwork, this is very straightforward black metal.
545. Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9
[6.5]
546. Abaddon Incarnate - The Wretched Sermon
[6.5] - Unremarkable, but chonky and satisfying grindy death metal.
547. Toxik - Dis Morta
[6.5] - I quite like the power metal tinge to this thrash album, but not hot on the vocals.
548. Autopsy - Morbidity Triumphant
[6.5]
549. Katakomba - Katakomba
[6.5] - Relatively enjoyable OSDM but still fairly unremarkable.
550. Noctu - Norma Evangelium Tenebris
[6.5] - Mix of slow ominous piano, funeral doom pacing and some ambient-black tier production. It's an interesting mesh, but a bit trudging.
551. Nebula - Transmission From Mothership Earth
[6.5] - Stoner rock played perfectly fine without being notable in any particular way.
552. Yhdarl - Drone Nightmares - IV - Decay
[6.0] - The droniest drone.
553. Chat Pile - God's Country
[6.0] - Noise rock can be a bit hit and miss for me, and while there's solid moments in this album, I'm not taken with it as a whole.
554. Behind Our Reflections - Infinity
[6.0]
555. At The Graves - Fear Is God
[6.0] - Unconvincing sludgy noise rock sound.
556. Talas - 1985
[6.0] - 80s arena-style hard rock starts off fairly strongly, but does get quite annoying later on with some songs.
557. Lumnos - A Glimpse Through The Event Horizon
[6.0] - 'Black metal' by the loosest connection, it's more like Mesarthim but a bit more lightweight.
558. Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!
[6.0]
559. Escuela Grind - Memory Theater
[6.0] - It's just grind.
560. Hoofmark - Blood Red Lullabies
[6.0]
561. Darkthrone - Astral Fortress
[6.0] - Maybe more interesting than previous Darkthrone releases?
562. Ritual Dictates - No Great Loss
[6.0] - The death metal tag is very misleading, but although I was initially intrigued when it turned out to be goth/doom stuff instead, the end result didn't quite work consistently enough for me, even if the retro-Anathema sound on Autumn Song is quite nice.
563. 16 - Into Dust
[6.0]
564. The Hu - Rumble Of Thunder
[6.0] - My first proper taste of this band, it's a tad boring.
565. The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta
[6.0] - Very different approach to pre-hiatus TMV, and not particularly appealing because of it.
566. Damnation Defaced - Phobia
[6.0] - Half-decent melodeath/metalcore EP.
567. Dauðaró - Eyðimörkin
[6.0] - Funeral doom that does the job, but he might want to slow down on the release schedule to allow for quality over quantity.
568. Oknos - From Ashes
[6.0] - Decent symphonic power metal with good vocals and some solid songs, but a few flatter tracks.
569. Might - Abyss
[6.0] - Promising post-metal turned into sappy indie.
570. Mourn The Light - Stare Into The Face Of Death
[6.0] - First track was promising for this genre, but track 2 with the soporific 'metal with live forever' chorus curtailed those initial hopes.
571. Goot - God's Doubt
[6.0] - Soft-goth stuff with some pleasant guitar melodies, but fairly forgettable.
572. Nicolas Cage Fighter - The Bones That Grew From Pain
[6.0]
573. The Erinyes - The Erinyes
[6.0] - Good singers, but not particularly interesting songs.
574. Bucovina - Suntem Aici
[6.0]
575. Sunflo'er - All These Darlings And Now Me
[6.0] - Mathcore on the slightly softer, post-hardcore end of the spectrum - bit irritating in parts.
576. Pyramid - Rage
[6.0] - Bloated prog/power with Ripper Owens on vocals.
577. Grave Digger - Symbol Of Eternity
[6.0] - Listenable heavy/power album that doesn't rise to a higher tier than that.
578. Protector - Excessive Outburst Of Depravity
[6.0] - Pretty listenable deathy thrash.
579. Reincarnated - Of Boötes Void Death Spell
[6.0] - Rudimentary death/doom with a decent production.
580. Locrian - Ghost Frontiers
[6.0]
581. Sinner - Brotherhood
[6.0] - Heavy with a power metal inclination (some Firewind hints) that makes it a bit more palatable, this is pretty fine if not my thing.
582. Venom Inc. - There's Only Black
[6.0]
583. False Gods - Neurotopia
[6.0] - Passingly solid sludge, but I don't gel with the punkier tracks or vocals.
584. Hatriot - The Vale Of Shadows
[6.0]
585. The Dead Daisies - Radiance
[6.0]
586. Zeke Sky - Intergalactic Demon King
[6.0] - Eclectic mix of styles between songs, but no one in particular really stands out.
587. Boris - Fade
[5.5]
588. Adventus - Saudade
[5.5]
589. Algebra - Chiroptera
[5.5] - This could actually be decent thrash but damn those vocals are annoying.
590. Major Parkinson - Valesa – Chapter I: Velvet Prison
[5.5]
591. Demon Hunter - Exile
[5.5]
592. Doomocracy - Unorthodox
[5.5]
593. Kurushimi - Return III: Death
[5.5] - Thoroughly grating free jazz drone doon.
594. Skid Row - The Gang's All Here
[5.5]
595. Parasite Inc. - Cyan Night Dreams
[5.5]
596. Black Widows - Among The Brave Ones
[5.5]
597. Isafjørd - Hjartastjaki
[5.5]
598. The Interbeing - Icon Of The Hopeless
[5.0]
599. Slipknot - The End, So Far
[5.0]
600. Destrage - So Much. Too Much.
[5.0]
601. Parkway Drive - Darker Still
[5.0]
602. The Lord - Devotional [Collaboration]
[4.5]
603. Doodseskader - Year One
[4.5]
604. Architects - The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit
[4.0]



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments

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Comments: 6   Visited by: 144 users
05.08.2022 - 18:51
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Your on incredible form at this rate you will surpass 1000 albums for sure! It's going to be a challenge at the end of the year awards for you though.
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01.11.2022 - 16:56
musclassia
Staff
Written by AndyMetalFreak on 05.08.2022 at 18:51

Your on incredible form at this rate you will surpass 1000 albums for sure! It's going to be a challenge at the end of the year awards for you though.


I have surpassed 1000 albums for the year as of today it would appear (585 + 420)
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01.11.2022 - 17:34
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Written by musclassia on 01.11.2022 at 16:56

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 05.08.2022 at 18:51

Your on incredible form at this rate you will surpass 1000 albums for sure! It's going to be a challenge at the end of the year awards for you though.


I have surpassed 1000 albums for the year as of today it would appear (585 + 420)

Crikey that is by no means feat what you've achieved there well done I feel like I've listened through a hell of alot of releases this year myself, but still nothing near that amount
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24.12.2022 - 23:51
ian b
Wow 1,186 albums listened to this year..I've enjoyed looking at your list throughout the year and have found some great albums because of it,The best for me being seer vol 7..I would never have come across that if you hadn't had it in your list and I've played it more than any other lp this year..thanks and happy Christmas
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24.12.2022 - 23:58
musclassia
Staff
Written by ian b on 24.12.2022 at 23:51

Wow 1,186 albums listened to this year..I've enjoyed looking at your list throughout the year and have found some great albums because of it,The best for me being seer vol 7..I would never have come across that if you hadn't had it in your list and I've played it more than any other lp this year..thanks and happy Christmas


It's been a frankly obscene amount of music that I've managed to get through this year, I have to assume this is the peak of my musical consumption! Glad to hear it's introduced others to some music they've enjoyed though; that Seer EP was really good yeah, I clicked with it more than their previous album Merry Christmas man and let's hope for a good 2023, both personally and musically!
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25.12.2022 - 16:47
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Deep respect to offer you made fixing such list. I struggle whit mine monthly , this seems are much much harder to fix.
----
I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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