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2022: Jan-Jun


Honestly curious to see if I get anywhere near 2021's ludicrous album count (~900) this year; should hopefully be some very high-scoring albums in the first couple of months, but otherwise let's hope for some good stuff this year!

Edit: Somehow managed to reach the list character limit, so going to delete some of the comments

Created by: musclassia | 05.01.2022



1. Persefone - Metanoia
[9.0] - Has the exact same transcendental charm and balance of technicality vs. heartfelt melody as the previous two records, a very fine addition to their discography.
2. Hath - All That Was Promised
[8.5] - Really strong Slugdge-esque proggy death sound.
3. Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
[8.5] - On initial listens, not quite a masterpiece like its predecessor, but still an incredibly strong record.\
4. Playgrounded - The Death Of Death
[8.5] - Great prog/post-metal sound coming naturally from Pelagic Records.
5. Kardashev - Liminal Rite
[8.5] - Fascinating mesh of deathcore, blackgaze, post-metal and other styles in an emotionally charged package.
6. Shadow Of Intent - Elegy
[8.5] - Rising to the challenge set by Melancholy, this album further cements Shadow Of Intent as frontrunners of the symph-deathcore pack.
7. Pure Reason Revolution - Above Cirrus
[8.5]
8. Path Of Might - Deep Chrome
[8.5] - At times groovy stoner metal, at times almost droning ambient doom, other times more progressive, it's quite unique-sounding and it's great-sounding at the same time.
9. Amorphis - Halo
[8.5]
10. Gloson - The Rift
[8.5] - Thick, angry, sludgy post-metal, just what I was hoping for from these guys.
11. The Nest - Her True Nature
[8.5] - Wolvennest sound great, Wolvennest + friends also sound great.
12. Kurokuma - Born Of Obsidian
[8.5] - Hypnotic, repetitive and irresistible sludge doom debut.
13. Sum Of R - Lahbryce
[8.5] - Quality drone/ambient doom album featuring Dark Buddha Rising associates.
14. Process Of Guilt - Slaves Beneath The Sun
[8.5] - Perhaps not quite going to overtake Faemin, but this scratches an itch I've been waiting to have cured for a long time.
15. Allegaeon - Damnum
[8.5] - Another strong outing from the melo/prog/tech-death group.
16. Cult Of Luna - The Long Road North
[8.5] - A bit disappointing for a new Cult Of Luna album, but it's still a Cult Of Luna album, so up high it goes.
17. Mathan - Darkroot Tzantza
[8.5] - Wonderfully percussive Amazon-inspired death metal debut.
18. Ode And Elegy - Ode And Elegy
[8.5] - Unique combination of chamber music and post-metal; it doesn't all grip me, but the emotions it stirs at its most passionate are something to behold.
19. Humanotone - A Flourishing Fall In A Grain Of Sand
[8.0] - An album made for Elder fans, of which I am one.
20. Aeviterne - The Ailing Facade
[8.0] - Great atmospheric death metal right up my street.
21. Druids - Shadow Work
[8.0] - Excellent Mastodon/Elder/Dvne/Neurosis-inspired prog sludge/stoner.
22. Iomair - Fishing For An Apparition
[8.0] - Wonderfully ambitious combination of American folk, post-hardcore, indie, melodeath, symphonics and other stuff.
23. Monuments - In Stasis
[8.0] - They've lost the Amanuensis X-factor, but the new guy makes for a very good singer for a more conventional and emotional djent-core sound.
24. Celeste - Assassine(s)
[8.0] - Strong album in a nebulous musical sphere, sounding something like a mesh of Gojira, blackgaze and sludge.
25. Nonsun - Blood & Spirit
[8.0] - Expansive, atmospheric, at-times droning and evocative post-metal.
26. Fit For An Autopsy - Oh What The Future Holds
[8.0] - How Gojira may have sounded if they became a deathcore band.
27. Katharos XIII - Chthonian Transmissions
[8.0] - Highly impressive evolution from the already very promising Palindrome, refining a lot of that record's rough edges.
28. Meshuggah - Immutable
[8.0] - It's a long album, but damn this is a strong comeback - I can't remember the last Meshuggah album I've dug this much front to back.
29. Vanaheim - Een Verloren Verhaal
[8.0] - Just good fun bombastic symphonic folk/melodeath.
30. Bongtower - Oscillator II
[8.0]
31. Pyrithe - Monuments To Impermanence
[8.0] - Very impressive genre-bending effort with a sludge base taken in progressive, atmospheric, dissonant and avant-garde directions.
32. Empire Springs - The Luminescence
[8.0] - Really pleasant melodic modern prog-metal album with strong emotion which manages to exhibit traits of djent-prog bands without using much djent at all.
33. Arð - Take Up My Bones
[8.0] - Very nice evocative atmosphere, effectively taking atmo-black vibes but placing them in a doom setting.
34. Tersivel - To The Orphic Void
[8.0] - This is nothing like I expected it to be based on the only previous experience I've had with Tersivel, and I mean that in the best way possible, a great transformation.
35. Aurora (NOR) - The Gods We Can Touch
[8.0] - Similar vein to Fever Ray, but poppier, I like the sound a lot.
36. Rivers Ablaze - The Black Hole Era
[8.0] - Great space-sounding techy, proggy, melodic extreme metal sound.
37. Niechęć - Unsubscribe
[8.0] - Remarkably evocative jazz/post-rock sound with some lovely sax solos.
38. Messa - Close
[8.0] - Cool and fairly unique doom sound these guys have, the singer is great and lighter tracks such as Rubedo come out really nicely.
39. Ultha - All That Has Never Been True
[8.0] - Finds a good mix of bleak, intense, blast-heavy suffocation, gaze-y shimmering, momentary sections of melody and other features.
40. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard - The Harvest
[8.0] - Another batch of good-quality weirdo stoner from these guys.
41. Origin Of Escape - Shapes
[8.0] - Eden Circus-esque alt/prog debut that sounds pretty great all around.
42. Et Moriemur - Tamashii No Yama
[8.0] - Intriguing gothic/death/doom sound (light on the death) with a fairly unique sound and a mesmerizing closing song.
43. Tómarúm - Ash In Realms Of Stone Icons
[8.0] - Impressive melodeath-infused prog-black debut.
44. Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)
[8.0] - Perhaps the strongest entry into this high-quality run the current line-up has been on; the opening track is epic.
45. Morrow - The Quiet Earth
[8.0] - Great mix of hardcore, strings, post-metal, crust punk and other ideas.
46. The Algorithm - Data Renaissance
[8.0] - Very cool, slick, groovy electro-metal tour de force.
47. Saor - Origins
[8.0] - Very stirring and well-crafted folk/black metal.
48. Greyhaven - This Bright And Beautiful World
[8.0] - Mathcore/post-hardcore/metalcore, has plenty of frenetic chaos as well as more straightforward bludgeoning or powerful atmospheric inclinations, and some Puciato leanings in the vocals.
49. Isaurian - Deep Sleep Metaphysics
[8.0] - Tagged as 'doomgaze', this is far too uplifting to be doom, but it's really lush.
50. Acherontas - Malocchio ​-​ The Seven Tongues Of Δαημων
[8.0] - Cool black metal from Greece with sinister shamanic vocals; starts off intense and gets more melodic in the later tracks.
51. Sylvaine - Nova
[8.0] - Really nice ethereal blackgaze sound.
52. Super Satan - Celestial
[8.0] - Melodic-inclined black metal with soothing female cleans on top, it works really well.
53. Innana - Void Of Unending Depths
[8.0] - Tasty long-form death metal songs with infernal atmosphere.
54. Abraham - Débris De Mondes Perdus
[8.0] - Bit too hardcore at times, but when it's more post-/sludge, they make some grimly atmospheric music; Fear Overthrown is a killer track.
55. Pylar - Abysmos
[8.0] - Some of the more abstract parts don't quite click, but when it's in an eerie drone groove with ritualistic drumming going on, it sounds pretty great.
56. Soft Ffog - Soft Ffog
[8.0] - Very tasty and fun jazz/prog rock album.
57. Déhà - Decadanse
[8.0] - Another ambitious and creative album from an inspired musician - this one has death/doom, black, industrial, and more in there.
58. Cailleach Calling - Dreams Of Fragmentation
[8.0] - Very blast-heavy, but subtly enthralling cosmic atmo-black sound from the people behind Dawn Of Ouroboros.
59. King Bastard - It Came From The Void
[8.0]
60. A Pale December - Death Panacea
[8.0] - Tagged as atmo-black, there is definitely some of that here, but there's also a sharper, harder edged and a more in-your-face sound; really decent black metal effort.
61. Seer - Vol. 7
[8.0] - Good stoner/sludge/doom mesh with really neat Ozzy-esque vocals and strong guitar leads, this got me more than Seer 6.
62. Wiegedood - There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road
[8.0]
63. Bipolar Architecture - Depressionland
[8.0] - Very decent debut from Clandestine Cuts graduates.
64. ZOS - The Whole Of The Body I Call ZOS
[8.0] - Ominous ambient drony stuff with cool percussion.
65. Patroness - Fatum
[8.0] - Strong and varied debut with elements of black, sludge, doom and more, with clean and extreme parts.
66. Somali Yacht Club - The Space
[8.0] - More high-quality mellow and melancholic post-tinged stoner rock/metal.
67. Gladenfold - Nemesis
[8.0] - 'Extreme' power metal that isn't particularly extreme, but has lots of heart and character to it.
68. Ufomammut - Fenice
[8.0] - Quite a bite-sized album for these guys, but good to have them back.
69. Wyatt E. - Āl Bēlūti Dārû
[8.0] - Very cool droney record with some middle Eastern instruments (get slight Epigenesis/Face The Sun vibes).
70. Chaos Frame - Entropy
[8.0] - Very nice trad-y melodic prog album.
71. Absent In Body - Plague God
[8.0] - Oppressive, industrial post-metal from this Amenra/Neurosis supergroup.
72. Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor
[8.0] - A good next step to take in terms of balancing the original template with adding new ideas and expanding their sound.
73. Grand Harvest - Consummatum Est
[8.0] - Death/doom with both death and doom, from bursts of OSDM to sinister doom with solid dark melodic guitar leads.
74. Trenches - Reckoner
[8.0] - Solid effort in that sludge/hardcore/post-metal pocket, with some hardcore bursts, some Isis-esque sections, some more alt rock-leaning sections coming together nicely.
75. Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia
[8.0]
76. Soldat Hans - Anthaupt
[8.0]
77. DeathCAVE - II
[8.0]
78. Yarotz - Erinyes
[8.0] - Weighty, mean blackened hardcore with some cool more atmospheric moments in there as well, such as in Vergogna, ultimately evolving to more of a post-metal album later on.
79. Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
[8.0] - Really ominous, effective atmosphere on this record, but perhaps lacking a smidge in range, either in terms of style or intensity.
80. Negativa - 04
[8.0] - Quality space-y ambient-y black metal with distant, faded vocals and nice subtle melody weaved into the sinister soundscapes.
81. Seventh Wonder - The Testament
[8.0] - Juicily hooky, if lacking the album-wide gravitas of their previous records with the lack of a similar concept.
82. Axioma - Sepsis
[8.0] - Nice black/sludge/post beast.
83. Imminent Sonic Destruction - The Sun Will Always Set
[8.0] - A very solid prog metal album with heavy moments, nice melodic moments and interesting song structures.
84. Lux Incerta - Dark Odyssey
[8.0] - Quite captivating gothic doom with some long songs.
85. Epitaphe - II
[8.0] - Very impressive extreme doom that throws everything from cavernous dissonant death to sinister jazzy post-black into just one of its songs; Insignificant is great.
86. Faun - Pagan
[8.0] - More melodic than Wardruna, but without being cheesy, really enjoyable neofolk.
87. The Spirit - Of Clarity And Galactic Structures
[8.0] - Very solid Death-meets-Dissection sound.
88. Entgeist - Res Gestae
[8.0] - Solid proggy black metal album with engaging song structures, riffs and melodies.
89. The Chapter - Delusion Of Consciousness
[8.0] - Rather solid melodic death-y doom album with some lovely melodic guitar work.
90. Tyrannus - Unslayable
[8.0] - Gratifyingly sinister black metal debut; some of the guitar leads threw me a bit, but overall it hits hard and has the right vibe.
91. Desolate Shrine - Fires Of The Dying World
[8.0] - Cavernous yet hooky, has some tasty grooves and stomps, good band.
92. Backbone - Embracing Dissolution
[8.0] - The promise of Grey Foundations Of Stone is mostly delivered on here, albeit with some reservations.
93. Marrasmieli - Martaiden Mailta
[8.0] - Pleasing folk/black metal follow-up; becomes folkier as it progresses and I enjoy it more in the process.
94. Pythonissam - Transcending To R'lyeh
[8.0] - Funeral doom with a decent dynamic range on top of the expected glacial trudge.
95. Vanhävd - Vila
[8.0] - Blackened doom that feels very blackened and very doomy, unlike a fair few bands with that tag; I enjoyed it on the whole, very effective atmospheres and the last song kicks ass.
96. Terzij De Horde - In One Of These, I Am Your Enemy
[8.0] - Tasty post-oriented black metal with some relentless blast-beating.
97. Au-Dessus - Mend
[8.0] - The way this is structured does mean it doesn't feature the peaks that End Of Chapter featured, but this is a solid comeback from the Lithuanians.
98. Thebes - Ziggurat Beyond The Unseen Shroud
[8.0] - Very decent sad meloblack debut EP/album.
99. Bríi - Corpos Transparentes
[8.0] - The mixture of black metal, ambient, and electronic music styles here remains unique and compelling.
100. Unprocessed - Boy Without A Gun
[8.0] - Great alt/djent EP.
101. Kvaen - The Great Below
[8.0] - On the stronger end of the meloblack spectrum, tracks such as In Silence and Ensamvarg stand out positively.
102. Moon Tooth - Phototroph
[8.0] - Solid post-hardcorey melodic prog album with Greg Puciato-sounding vocals.
103. Black Lung - Dark Waves
[8.0] - Bit too psych/hard rock at times, but the doomy parts and the more Elder-ish jams are pretty lush.
104. Besna - Zverstvá
[8.0] - Really decent melo/post-black debut with plenty of atmosphere and some good riffs.
105. Hangman's Chair - A Loner
[8.0]
106. Anna Von Hausswolff - Live At Montreux Jazz Festival
[8.0]
107. Dysnerved - Man In The Middle
[8.0] - Solid early-year dissonant black/death debut effort.
108. Riverwood - Shadows And Flames
[8.0]
109. Olhava - Reborn
[8.0] - This ambient-heavy blackgaze record is a huge undertaking, but actually somewhat justifies the length.
110. Heaving Earth - Darkness Of God
[8.0]
111. Hornwood Fell - Sgr A
[8.0] - Diverse and captivating BM release.
112. Notturno - Obsessions
[8.0] - Atmospheric black/doom approach that provides a lighter spin on the blackened doom concept rather successfully.
113. Delvoid - Swarmlife
[8.0]
114. Extinction In Progress - Shades Of Pale
[8.0] - Very promising progressive melodeath/meloblack debut; not every riff lands, but most of them make a good impression.
115. In Aphelion - Moribund
[8.0] - Solid Necrophobic sound from Necrophobic members.
116. Sallow Moth - Failure To Find
[8.0] - Madcap prog death single-song EP that's unfortunately apparently the conclusion of the project.
117. Idol Of Fear - Trespasser
[8.0] - Peculiar mix of more sinister black metal in the vein of Emptiness with theatrical keyboards on top.
118. Aarlon - Dafan
[7.5]
119. Animårum - The Gaian Mind
[7.5] - Encouraging and brief debut prog-death debut with some djent and Amazonian influences in there.
120. Cursed Cemetery - A Frozen Epitaph
[7.5] - is more substantial than most drone albums and also has a really satisfying tone to it, kinda ritualistic and kinda groovy.
121. E-L-R - Vexier
[7.5] - Pretty generic approach, but does sound very good, and has some really neat Wolvennest flavours in there.
122. Hollow Decay - The Frozen Trail
[7.5] - Nice melodeath debut with some progginess, some folky melodies and other bits and pieces; I hear some New World Shadows Omnium Gatherum hints in there.
123. Nordic Giants - Symbiosis
[7.5] - Very dainty cinematic post-rock, and the songs with vocals work really nicely.
124. Copse - Mara
[7.5]
125. Answer From Cygnus - Cygnus
[7.5] - Stirring and evocative melodic/atmospheric black sound with blackgaze leanings, and an intriguing female vocal feature later on.
126. Friends From Moon - Astray
[7.5]
127. Ibaraki - Rashomon
[7.5]
128. Final Light - Final Light
[7.5] - First impressions: not as amazing as it was live, but still very cool.
129. Steroid Puppets - Earthguest
[7.5] - Really nice and upbeat easy-listening jazzy instrumental djent stuff.
130. Mortuus - Diablerie
[7.5] - Evocative and haunting semi-atmospheric black metal.
131. Stengah - Soma Sema
[7.5] - Named after a Meshuggah song, there is Meshuggah-inspired djent in here, but it's also got more dynamic range, with some nice cleaner stretches and nifty song structures.
132. Wovenhand - Silver Sash
[7.5] - Cool Western-tinged acoustic/psychedelic rock sound.
133. Nocturna - Daughters Of The Night
[7.5]
134. Denigrate - Blackguard
[7.5] - Pleasantly evocative guitar melodies in this gothic metal album. Likely to be one of the highlights of the genre this year, generally sounds rather good.
135. Confidential - Devil Inside
[7.5]
136. Shaman - Rescue
[7.5] - Very nice prog/power album with some Seventh Wonder vibes.
137. Terror Cósmico - Miasma
[7.5] - Impressive fiery stoner.
138. Cavernlight - As I Cast Ruin Upon The Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw
[7.5] - Appropriately miserable doomy sludge.
139. Mares Of Thrace - The Exile
[7.5]
140. Envy Of None - Envy Of None
[7.5] - Really cool subdued alt rock album, an interesting new direction for Alex Lifeson.
141. Sergeant Thunderhoof - This Sceptred Veil
[7.5] - Stoner-y, doom-y album with some feels on tracks such as Foreigner.
142. Luminous Vault - Animate The Emptiness
[7.5] - Very effective mesh-up of black, industrial and other metal styles.
143. Yarostan - II
[7.5] - Very solid post-metal/post-hardcore mash-up.
144. Montparnasse Musique - Origins
[7.5] - Very neat Afrobeat/techno.
145. Swampborn - Beyond Ratio
[7.5] - Solid post-black debut on the darker end of the spectrum.
146. Jani Liimatainen - My Father's Son
[7.5] - Surprisingly non-power metally considering the guest list, this is a slightly powery, slightly proggy (particularly on the impressive closer), rather enjoyable melodic metal album, even if I'd probably pick Esa Holopainen's album over it.
147. Silent Kingdom - The Shadowless Queen
[7.5] - Ambitious 30-minute prog song-album with hints of Riverside and more classic prog rock; a bit too wanky later on though.
148. Naxatras - IV
[7.5] - Lacking the long-form psychedelic energy of III in favour of a more prog rock style, it's still got lots to enjoy.
149. Yoo Doo Right - A Murmur, Boundless To The East
[7.5] - Another cool psych-rock odyssey from these guys.
150. Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
[7.5] - Some good collabs here and some synthwave bangers too.
151. Mizmor - Myopia [Collaboration]
[7.5] - Solid sludgy blackened doom combination, but one that runs on for a bit too long at 83 minutes.
152. Wilderun - Epigone
[7.5] - Like the last record, ambitious and impressive, but not one that quite clicks with me.
153. In Angles - Cardinal
[7.5] - Fun, poppy, hooky post-hardcore.
154. Qaalm - Resilience & Despair
[7.5]
155. Helsótt - Will And The Witch
[7.5] - Fun saloon-y Western folk melodeath.
156. Crossed - Morir
[7.5] - Ferocious, malicious hardcore with the riffs to back up the aggression.
157. OK Wait - Well
[7.5]
158. Neurotech - Symphonies II
[7.5] - A definite step up from the last album, the metal feels more purposeful, and the electronics have more character; this long-form songwriting works well for Neurotech's sound.
159. Freja - Tides
[7.5] - Nicely atmospheric melodic black metal.
160. Saidan - Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal
[7.5] - An eclectic mixture of meloblack, blackgaze, post-hardcore, pop punk and further-reaching styles.
161. Bâ'a - Egrégore
[7.5] - Good solid black metal sound with neat subtle hints of melody.
162. Enterprise Earth - The Chosen
[7.5] - Overly long at 67 minutes, but a very respectable melodic deathcore sound with some great clean vocal sections.
163. Bjorn Riis - Everything To Everyone
[7.5] - Really soothing, mellow soft prog album.
164. Allt - The Seed Of Self-Destruction
[7.5] - Solid djentcore EP from a band that will probably make some waves soon.
165. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
[7.5] - A bit overlong, but probably one of the most enjoyable Cave In records I've listened to, some proper rowdy stuff.
166. Worm Shepherd - Ritual Hymns
[7.5] - Not in the elite tier of deathcore, but there's plenty of tasty tracks here. Also a good example of less developed symphonics in deathcore that highlight how good Shadow Of Intent are at incorporating them.
167. Venom Prison - Erebos
[7.5] - Neat death metal/metalcore (not necessarily deathcore) mash-up.
168. Urzah - II
[7.5] - Enjoyable proggy sludge EP from Bristol.
169. Oddland - Vermilion
[7.5] - Sounding like a djent-y mix of Pain Of Salvation and Evergrey, I rather like it, particularly the vocal aspect of it and softer segments.
170. The Midgard Project - The Great Divide
[7.5] - Well-written prog/power album with similarities to Symphony X amongst others, featuring Stu Block on vocals.
171. Windrunner - Tan
[7.5]
172. Platon Karataev - Partért Kiáltó
[7.5] - A really pleasant emotional rock album taking cues from post-rock, shoegaze and arguably neofolk.
173. Oh Hiroshima - Myriad
[7.5] - Dreamy post-rock with gaze-y vibes.
174. Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation
[7.5] - Sounds like classic PT, but missing standout moments on first listen.
175. Huntsmen - The Dying Pines
[7.5]
176. Miseration - Black Miracles And Dark Wonders
[7.5] - Sounds very Lorna Shore/SoI to me, so I'm surprised I don't see it described as a deathcore album anywhere, but I naturally rather like it.
177. Strange Pop - Ten Years Gone
[7.5] - Mellow and pleasant cinematic prog sound.
178. Wo Fat - The Singularity
[7.5] - Cool album when it's not bog-standard desert rock; 75 minutes is a bit excessive though.
179. Poliça - Madness
[7.5] - Mellow, subdued, evocative synthpop.
180. Ornamentos Del Miedo - Yo, No Soy Yo
[7.5] - Melancholic funeral doom with synths and gothic guitar leads.
181. Ataraxy - The Last Mirror
[7.5] - Very decent doomy death release.
182. The Last Oblation - Ascend
[7.5] - Kinda techy, slightly melodic, has some punching riffs and quality solos, generally a good time death metal album.
183. Red Eye - The Cycle
[7.5] - At times feeling a bit by the numbers, this stoner doom album does have nice soft parts (including a Wardruna-esque opening track) and can really push the heaviness at times, with Morþor particularly hefty.
184. Agathodaimon - The Seven
[7.5] - Blackened, occasionally gothic, occasionally symphonic, it's not an easy album to categorize but I quite like it.
185. FT-17 - Aisne 1914
[7.5] - More melodic and not quite as compelling as 1914, but still a very decent WWI-themed black metal record.
186. My Useless Life - Bittersweet Agony
[7.5] - Quite a moving a heartfelt-sounding DSBM album.
187. Hellbore - Panopticon
[7.5] - Imposing prog-death album with nice use of symphonics, techiness and deathcore inclinations.
188. Te Ruki - Marako Te Ruki
[7.5] - Overall fairly interesting, but there's hints in here of something potentially greater if they exploit the elements that are seemingly inspired by their traditional music in French Polynesia; the 90s Fisher Price BM synth sounds don't add too much to the record.
189. Towers Of Jupiter - III
[7.5] - Upper-tier evocative post-rock with Porcupine Tree-ish vocals.
190. Perpetual Night - Aconitum
[7.5] - Solid melodeath record with Gothenburg moments and Finnish melancholy.
191. Civil War - Invaders
[7.5] - Rather solid power metal album with some satisfying grit in the lead vocalist's voice.
192. All Things Fallen - Shadow Way
[7.5] - Nice prog/power, albeit not at Seventh Wonder levels.
193. Fostermother - The Ocean
[7.5] - Generic but very enjoyable stoner doom sound at the lighter, groovier end of that spectrum.
194. Cirkeln - A Song To Sorrow
[7.5] - Pagan-edged meloblack with some good melodies.
195. Non Est Deus - Impious
[7.5] - Rudimentary, but strong and hook-laden full-pelt meloblack.
196. Brood Of Hatred - The Golden Age
[7.5] - Fairly brief but enjoyable proggy melodeath album that doesn't follow any obvious template.
197. Buried Realm - Buried Realm
[7.5] - Tech-death-bordering melodeath/extreme power feast (MPE vibes).
198. Tinlicker - In Another Lifetime
[7.5]
199. Mass Worship - Portal Tombs
[7.5] - Strong deathcore (albeit more death metal + hardcore than straight deathcore), got some tasty grooves, riffs and atmospheres.
200. Falls Of Rauros - Key To A Vanishing Future
[7.5]
201. Haunted Shores - Void
[7.5]
202. The Family Crest - The War: Act II
[7.5] - Nice indie stuff.
203. Atlantis Chronicles - Nera
[7.5] - Nifty prog-metalcore with a bit of Protest The Hero to some of the instrumental work, as well as a bit of Shadow Of Intent to it as well.
204. Darkher - The Buried Storm
[7.5] - Mellow and melancholic, this remains engaging despite its subdued nature.
205. IATT - Magnum Opus
[7.5] - Nifty prog-black release.
206. Helioss - Contre Ma Lumière
[7.5] - Symphonic progressive meloblack, it's ambitious and it comes together well.
207. Feral Light - Psychic Contortions
[7.5] - Pretty solid semi-melodic crusty black.
208. Jumalhämärä - Of Enlightenment And Righteousness Pt. III
[7.5] - Well-crafted black-tinged prog long-song EP.
209. Deathwhite - Grey Everlasting
[7.5] - Pretty solid doomy goth release.
210. Mortal Thrall - A Path To Fire
[7.5] - Very Deafheaven-y, but also with some darkness too.
211. Misery Index - Complete Control
[7.5] - Rather decent death metal album with occasional semi-melodic moments; it was let down mostly by a couple of trudgers like Necessary Suffering when it hit hard going at top speed.
212. Harbinger - A Letter To Anguish
[7.5] - Very likeable blackened deathcore EP with good hooks.
213. Poets Of The Fall - Ghostlight
[7.5]
214. Vermillion Dawn - VVitch Den
[7.5] - Slick prog/tech-death with cool lead guitar parts.
215. Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat
[7.5]
216. Sakis Tolis - Among The Fires Of Hell
[7.5] - Gothic detour from the Rotting Christ man, some nice Paradise Lost-influenced guitars here.
217. Mergö - Depths
[7.5] - Nice morose blackgaze with decent lead guitar melodies.
218. Merrow - Mojave Repressions
[7.5] - Tasty dissonant death EP.
219. Sadist - Firescorched
[7.5] - Somewhat peculiar prog-death with non-intense techiness and some intriguing Eastern musical elements.
220. Sisyphean - Colours Of Faith
[7.5] - Sharp-edged deathy black metal with tasteful dissonance and measured aggression.
221. Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain
[7.5]
222. Shape Of Despair - Return To The Void
[7.5] - Arr, here be funeral doom.
223. Heriot - Profound Morality
[7.5] - Fiery industrial hardcore debut EP; this is how to make that combination actually good, Code Orange.
224. Deathbell - A Nocturnal Crossing
[7.5]
225. Babeheaven - Sink Into Me
[7.5]
226. Mosaic - Heimatspuk
[7.5] - Black metal with Melechesh vibes in the droney folk parts; very good, except some of the singing sounds slightly off.
227. Dreariness - Before We Vanish
[7.5] - At-times doomy, and times post-metallic blackgaze that works quite well.
228. Lacrimae - Contradiction
[7.5] - Cool and fairly different-sounding prog debut with good female vocals, an enjoyable mix of complexity and heavier alt-influenced grooves, and eerie softer moments.
229. Winter's Gate - The Voyage In Becoming
[7.5]
230. Vanum - Legend
[7.5] - Rather decent meloblack/atmo-black album, one that I think sounds best in its most melancholic moments, such as on The Gateway And The Key.
231. Ho99o9 - Skin
[7.5]
232. Earthless - Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons
[7.5]
233. We Broke The Weather - We Broke The Weather
[7.5]
234. Azaab - Summoning The Cataclysm
[7.5] - Rather good death metal debut with some OSDM and some tech inclinations, but also some good bursts of melody or ripping solos.
235. Atramentum - Through Fire, Everything Is Renewed
[7.5] - Good disso-black, not RLHT-tier despite the similar artwork though.
236. Rejuvenation - Crystalline
[7.5] - Nicely melodic prog/tech-death record.
237. Design Flaw - Beasts Of A Future Decay
[7.5] - Very promising atmospheric post-rock/post-hardcore/whatever EP.
238. Kuolemanlaakso - Kuusumu
[7.5] - Enjoyable melodic death-doom sound with a good mixture of melodic bombast and genuine extreme aggression.
239. Mental Fracture - Disaccord
[7.5]
240. Sataray - Blood Trine Moon
[7.5] - Neat dark ambient EP with slight Chelsea Wolfe vibes.
241. Magnatar - Crushed
[7.5] - Cool post-y sludge with occasional rougher moments.
242. Mournful Congregation - The Exuviae Of Gods - Part I
[7.5]
243. Tableau Mort - Visio In Somniis
[7.5]
244. Tranzat - Ouh La La
[7.5] - Quirky prog-metal album with some very cool ideas but also some moments where the exuberance becomes irritating.
245. Arkaik - Labyrinth Of Hungry Ghosts
[7.5] - Chonky tech-death with some meaty riffs.
246. Aequorea - DIM
[7.5] - Conventional but quality post-metal, has some really nice builds.
247. Slowbleed - The Blazing Sun, A Fiery Dawn
[7.5] - Groovy, chunky and satisfying thrash/death/hardcore mash-up.
248. Whales Don't Fly - The Golden Sea
[7.5] - Somewhat promising prog debut, one that exhibits clear similarities in some songs to Persefone but is also generally geared towards a more mainstream metal sound, whilst also having some nicer softer detours. Definitely peaks on the last three songs, when it goes proper Persefone.
249. Incandescence - Le Coeur De L'Homme
[7.5] - Slightly melodic, slightly proggy black metal with some quality in its arsenal, without quite reaching greatness.
250. Pensées Nocturnes - Douce Fange
[7.5] - Another solid slice of their circus/black metal fusion.
251. Yin Yin - The Age Of Aquarius
[7.5] - Weird but cool psychedelic disco thing.
252. Dunerider - Ascend To The Void
[7.5] - Tasty stoner doom with filthy tone.
253. The Hangmans Sorrow - Divided Dimensions
[7.5] - Pretty solid gothic-but-not-really-gothic heavy album with nice vocals and melodicism.
254. End Boss - They Seek My Head
[7.5] - Fem-fronted stoner with more dirty sludge to the riffs, which works in its favour.
255. Eisflammen - Следуй За Мной
[7.5] - Fairly strong post-black album, with black metal bits, blackgaze bits and post- bits; generally likeable but too not many moments that really made an impact (the Enslaved-style clean vocals midway through Like Ash were cool).
256. Phreneticis - Maze Of Time
[7.5]
257. Soichi Terada - Asakusa Light
[7.5] - Cool, mellow house record from seemingly a genre legend.
258. Immolation - Acts Of God
[7.5]
259. Helpless - Caged In Gold
[7.5] - Ferocious mathgrind with mania and some decent riffs too.
260. Astronoid - Radiant Bloom
[7.5]
261. Grayscale Season - Do You Like Violence
[7.5] - Overlap of post-hardcore, metalcore, deathcore, djent, basically the -core spectrum in an accessible and pleasant package.
262. Anna Sage - Anna Sage
[7.5] - Hardcore album with bite but with appreciation of the importance of enjoyable riffs, as well as some potent moody moments, such as in Lost In A Cage.
263. Jo Quail - The Cartographer
[7.5]
264. Dychromia - The Dangers Of Curiosity
[7.5] - Nifty djenty/BTBAM-y/deathcorey debut.
265. Kalandra - Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands Soundtrack (Extended)
[7.5] - A good soundtrack album, but also not quite what I want from them, hope they return to The Line with the next album.
266. Tishina - Uvod...
[7.5] - Solid gothic-tinged death/doom debut with lush guitar lead melodies.
267. Black Void - Antithesis
[7.5] - The 'evil twin' of White Void, this crusty black metal (+ Borknagar melodicism) debut is perhaps more up my street than most of White Void's debut.
268. Lettuce - Unify
[7.5] - 70 minutes is a lot of funk, but this is pretty slick.
269. Exocrine - The Hybrid Suns
[7.5] - Cool Obscura-esque tech-death.
270. Cosmic Putrefaction - Crepuscular Dirge For The Blessed Ones
[7.5] - Has clear OSDM moments, but some of the use of melodic or clean tones elevates it above similar albums.
271. Andromida - Wrath Of The Vanguard
[7.5] - Synth/electronic-heavy instru-djent, sounds cool, particularly in its more synthwave moments.
272. Lords Of The Trident - The Offering
[7.5] - Nicely melodic USPM-leaning heavy metal sound with great vocals and solid solos.
273. I Built The Sky - The Quiet Place Away
[7.5] - Pleasant instru-prog in acoustic form.
274. Mendel - Equilibrium
[7.5] - Too long for an instru-djent album, but pretty tasty.
275. Gardenjia - Invictvs
[7.5] - Chaotic, maddening disso-black/death.
276. High Pulp - Pursuit Of Ends
[7.5] - Cool jazz fusion album with nice electronics and soloing.
277. Vile Creature - A Hymn Of Loss And Hope [Collaboration]
[7.5] - Grim single-song drone doom with a brief piano interlude; it does the job, but most of it is just plodding feedback.
278. Blue States - World Contact Day
[7.5] - Soothing yet slightly peculiar, I'm not quite sure what this is classed as but I enjoy it and the the way the vocals float around these songs.
279. Heidra - To Hell Or Kingdom Come
[7.5] - Quite a nice album with an array of heavy, power, melodeath and folk influences nicely coalescing.
280. Billy Howerdel - What Normal Was
[7.5] - Really pleasant moody synthpop in the vein of recent Ulver albums.
281. Divided By Design - Irretraceable Steps
[7.5] - Nice upbeat instru-prog record; there's some djent here, but it feels more shreddy/Dream Theater-y than other albums in this field.
282. Burned In Effigy - Rex Mortem
[7.5] - Pretty neat TBDM-esque debut.
283. This White Mountain - The Final Sorrow
[7.5] - Black metal with melodic inclinations, black n' roll sections, and some solid lead guitar work.
284. Zela Margossian Quintent - The Road
[7.5] - Nice mellow jazz sound.
285. The Sun Burns Bright - A Hollow World
[7.5] - It's very conventional post-rock, but it sounds good.
286. Soulsplitter - Connection
[7.5] - Has a bit too much of early Haken in the sound to my current liking, but it's a good modern prog album, not especially heavy but with some djenty passages as well as more conventional prog-metal, and has some nice lead guitar passages as well as smooth vocals.
287. Haunter - Discarnate Ails
[7.5] - Chaotic and abrasive blackened death metal.
288. Primitive Man - Insurmountable
[7.5] - Malevolent long-form sludge doom with a bit of ambient noise in there too; pretty chunky effort.
289. Dessication - Cold Dead Earth
[7.5] - Respectable doomy black metal debut.
290. Toundra - Hex
[7.5] - Very nice instrumental post-metal/heavy post-rock with a few standout moments, such as in Part II of the opening suite and La Larga Marcha.
291. Pact - God Only Knows
[7.5] - A good blast of intense and noisy black metal that uses dissonance well while also shining well in more atmospheric/melodic moments.
292. Vein.fm - This World Is Going To Ruin You
[7.5] - A solid continuation of the hardcore aggression/nu metal groove fusion from the debut album, one that is very abrasive while still have a solid alt-metal sense of groove and punch.
293. Breaths - Though Life Has Turned Out Nothing Like I Imagined, It Is Far Better Than I Could Have Dreamt
[7.5] - Blackgaze/post-metal mesh, prefer it when it's closer to the latter (e.g. The Tormented).
294. Aethereus - Leiden
[7.5] - The first significant tech/prog-death album of the year, albeit slightly too tech for my tastes.
295. Dark Millennium - Acid River
[7.5] - Eclectic proggy, stonery, sludgy, deathy, doomy album, has quite a few cool moments but isn't always quite as compelling as I'd like it to be - manages to fit in some nice and interesting melodic moments though.
296. Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
[7.5] - Band still sounds good, particularly Hoggarth's vocals; their mellow prog sound is a lot more enduring than some other classic prog rock groups.
297. Fireproven - Epilogue
[7.5] - Decent melodeath-y prog record with good clean femme/growled vocal trade-off.
298. Depressed Mode - Decade Of Silence
[7.5] - Bit overlong, but I like this funeral-ish symphonic doom sound.
299. Hollow Front - The Price Of Dreaming
[7.5] - Typical but catchy djenty metalcore.
300. Downfall Of Mankind - Vile Birth
[7.5] - Intense deathcore with Lorna Shore-inspired symphonic inclinations.
301. Michael Romeo - War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2
[7.5] - It's rather good, but the vocalist has such a Russell Allen tone that it just sounds like a BTEC Symphony X.
302. Dark Funeral - We Are The Apocalypse
[7.5] - Solid melodic-tinged BM rampage, but gets a bit repetitive before it's over.
303. Artificial Astronaut - Deep Black Out
[7.5] - Neat metal-tinged heavy rock album with clear 'Download alt' influence to it.
304. Lastryko - Sesje
[7.5] - Cool, mellow psychedelic space rock journey.
305. This Is Oblivion - This Is Oblivion
[7.5] - Cool dark trippy electronic stuff.
306. Esoctrilihum - Consecration Of The Spiritüs Flesh
[7.5] - Good, but missing the unbound creativity that made Eternity of Shaog so impressive.
307. Von Hertzen Brothers - Red Alert In The Blue Forest
[7.5] - Quite emotional and well-made artsy prog rock album, albeit one that does drag along at times.
308. Devil Master - Ecstasies Of Never Ending Night
[7.5] - Blackened punk, works pretty well, but not quite my thing.
309. Author & Punisher - Krüller
[7.5] - A cool sound, even if it's not one that I'm massively into.
310. Déhà - Averses
[7.5] - The unstoppable music machine has a second 2022 record in the form of a decent atmo-black/blackgaze album.
311. Deadscape - Of The Deepest Shade
[7.5] - Decent melodeath debut, takes cues from CoB extreme power and folky Finnish melodeath.
312. Emmeleia - III
[7.5] - Rudimentary but relatively compelling doomy atmo-black record.
313. SOM - The Shape Of Everything
[7.5] - Fuzzy heavy shoegaze with very husky vocals.
314. Apes - Lullabies For Eternal Sleep
[7.5] - Hefty and relatively satisfying grindcore EP.
315. Dance With The Dead - Driven To Madness
[7.5] - Very fun metal-oriented darksynth.
316. Pike Vs The Automaton - Pike Vs The Automaton
[7.5]
317. Bekëth Nexëhmü - De Dunklas Sorgeakt (Ett Nordiskt Afvsked​.​.​.​)
[7.5] - Solid but overlong lowish-fi atmo-black.
318. Septicflesh - Modern Primitive
[7.5]
319. Helms Alee - Keep This Be The Way
[7.5] - This band remains in the good-but-not-great tier with this album.
320. Portal-Hex - A Decay In Gray Matter
[7.5] - An instrumental 'trap metal' record that leans closer to metal than most albums with that tag, while still getting lots of use out of trap beats.
321. Lalu - Paint The Sky
[7.5] - Self-described by Lalu as 'Yes metal', it has that upbeat charm of Yes in the form of dad prog-metal songs, with Damian Wilson doing a good job on vocals.
322. Virocracy - Ecophagia
[7.5] - Slight Obscura vibes at times, this is a decent enough prog death album with some dirty heavier parts and nice subtle melody, albeit one that's not quite got that X factor to stand out against the competition.
323. Golgothan Remains - Adorned In Ruin
[7.5] - Dirty semi-dissonant, occasionally atmospheric death metal with a decent amount going for it.
324. WAIT - The End Of Noise
[7.5] - Oddball djent/prog album seemingly a long time in the making, mainly a cleaner prog sound but occasionally goes harder.
325. Autumn's Tomb - The Raven's Lament
[7.5] - Cool black metal debut EP.
326. Turpentine Valley - Alder
[7.5] - Good, satisfying heavy instrumental post-rock sound.
327. Tangerine Dream - Raum
[7.5] - Pleasant and expansive ambient electronic record.
328. Urushiol - Pools Of Green Fire
[7.5] - Mad, chaotic death metal with plenty of ventures into the weird and avant-garde; can't say I like listening to it, though.
329. Famyne - II: The Ground Below
[7.5] - Solid doom release with occasionally Marmite vocals but generally nice vocal melodies and solid riffs.
330. Pure Wrath - Hymn To The Woeful Hearts
[7.5] - Nice pagan-y atmo-black that can be quite aggressive at times.
331. Desolate Grave - Det Sista Steget
[7.5] - Cool symphonic death/doom debut record.
332. Novarupta - Carrion Movements
[7.5] - Definite improvement on the previous Novarupta albums, a bit more substance and emotional depth to it.
333. Rise To The Sky - Every Day, A Funeral
[7.5] - Conventional but well-made melancholic death/doom.
334. Besvärjelsen - Atlas
[7.5] - Cool stoner-y blues rock.
335. Katharos - Of Lineages Long Forgotten
[7.5] - Rudimentary but well-produced symphonic black metal that clearly likes Emperor.
336. Sabaton - The War To End All Wars
[7.5] - I have to be honest, I didn't hate this - I even liked a couple of the songs (Unkillable Soldier and Valley Of Death).
337. The Troops Of Doom - Antichrist Reborn
[7.5] - Gnarly death-thrash with some strong riffs amidst a lot of low-end churn.
338. Hollie Cook - Happy Hour
[7.5] - Neat reggae/RnB/synthpop sound.
339. Cold Night For Alligators - The Hindsight Notes
[7.5] - Light on the djent, more focused towards emotional melodic singing and accessible alt/prog instrumentation; generally sounds good, if not completely clicking.
340. Hello Meteor - Comfortable Loneliness
[7.5] - Mellow and somewhat evocative chillwave album.
341. Dawn Of Solace - Flames Of Perdition
[7.5] - Starts off strong; drops off a bit later, but still has some very nice melodies littered throughout.
342. Obscurcis Romancia - The Bringer Of Light
[7.5] - Suitably flamboyant and energetic symphonic black metal.
343. Bonobo - Fragments
[7.5] - I find Bonobo a bit hit and miss, and that remains, but it's generally very likeable.
344. Schizophrenia - Recollections Of The Insane
[7.5]
345. Thomas Giles - Feel Nothing
[7.5] - Nice little electronic EP with a blast of BTBAM at the end.
346. Vorga - Striving Toward Oblivion
[7.5] - Straightforward, no-nonsense, slightly melodic black metal debut.
347. Hex - Behold The Unlighted
[7.5] - Hefty doom-death EP with a tasty production.
348. Knoll - Metempiric
[7.0] - Explosing mathy grindcore.
349. Thy Kingdom Will Burn - The Void And The Vengeance
[7.0] - The backing instrumentation for these melodeath songs is rather good, but the hoarse harsh vocals and flat sung vocals let it down a bit.
350. Sound Of Ceres - Emerald Sea
[7.0] - Dreamy art-pop.
351. Sunczar - Bearer Of Light
[7.0] - Solid Down worship.
352. Liber Null - For Whom Is The Night
[7.0]
353. Master Boot Record - Personal Computer
[7.0]
354. Fjara - Kuušiveneh
[7.0] - Very pleasant Nordic acoustic folk EP.
355. Einvigi - Yö Kulje Kanssani
[7.0] - Rather Alcest-y sound, it's a pleasant one and some of the folkier melodies that appear elevate it a bit as well.
356. Al-Namrood - Worship The Degenerate
[7.0] - No-frills, sharp-edged black metal, but the production has improved since the last album and features some cool little features, such as the Arabic influences early in Guerillas.
357. Astodan - Évora
[7.0] - Decently moving heavier post-rock.
358. Seven Kingdoms - Zenith
[7.0] - Vocals are still great and there's some exciting moments here, but a few too many moments that go awry.
359. Askeesi - Genetic Grief
[7.0] - A rather solid overtly melodic atmo-black record, although 83 minutes is a bit excessive; it's not Trisagion.
360. Gwendydd - Censored
[7.0] - Feisty, brief metalcore with some chunky riffs and decent cleaner sections.
361. Semblant - Vermilion Eclipse
[7.0] - Quite nice symph-tinged gothic-lite album.
362. Kaipa - Urskog
[7.0] - Very retro prog album in the vein of Transatlantic and the like, but it's enjoyable enough.
363. Bog Wizard - Frog In The Bog
[7.0] - Fun split between Bog Wizard and Froglord.
364. Deadlife - Tortured Waters
[7.0]
365. Morgue Supplier - Inevitability
[7.0] - Respectably bizarre doomy, deathy grindcore.
366. Horn - Verzet
[7.0] - Conventional but fun black-tinged folk metal.
367. Hällas - Isle Of Wisdom
[7.0] - A good retro-prog/hard rock album, although there's times when the vocalist gripes me a bit.
368. Grand Old Wrath - Every Man For Himself
[7.0] - By the books tech-death but sounds good.
369. Dir En Grey - Phalaris
[7.0] - Interesting genre-crossing alt album with extravagant vocals.
370. Umbra Conscientia - Nigredine Mundi
[7.0] - Brief, effective BM burst.
371. Concilivm - A Monument In Darkness
[7.0] - Somewhat OSDM but more cavernous and doomy, making it more interesting than OSDM worship.
372. Dreamtale - Everlasting Flame
[7.0] - Memorably hooky, fully energetic and not excessively cheesy, this is pretty solid on the power metal front, but is too long.
373. RLYR - RLYR
[7.0]
374. Iron Griffin - Storm Of Magic
[7.0] - Very retro production on this heavy/doom album, but the prog and folk influences give it a fairly distinctive feel.
375. And So I Watch You From Afar - Jettison
[7.0] - It's nice post-rock, but on the lighter and less emotionally resonant side compared to a Maybeshewill.
376. Nightrage - Abyss Rising
[7.0] - Generic NWOAHM-leaning Gothenburg metal, but hooky with some solid songs.
377. Thumos - The Republic
[7.0] - Rough around the edges, but this instrumental blackened post- album sounds easily different to most instru-post debuts these days.
378. Seven Sins - My Triumph
[7.0] - Pretty decent accessible symphonic black metal from Kazakhstan.
379. Without Waves - Comedian
[7.0]
380. Aquarian - Mutations I: Death, Taxes & Hanger
[7.0] - Cool dnb/IDM EP project.
381. Saphath - Ascension Of The Dark Prophet
[7.0] - Enjoyable gothic- and black-tinged melodeath slightly hindered by subpar clean vocals.
382. El Ten Eleven - New Year's Eve
[7.0] - Similar energy to Aiming For Enrike, but more a post-rock format.
383. SunStare - Ziusudra
[7.0] - Sludge-heavy post-metal with some really solid moments, but also little to truly stand out.
384. Firebreather - Dwell In The Fog
[7.0] - Decent fiery stoner effort.
385. Coheed & Cambria - Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind
[7.0] - Underwheming pop-focused follow-up to what was the band's best album in over a decade. Ends with a few bangers tho.
386. Nechochwen - Kanawha Black
[7.0] - The folk/black combination works well, but this wasn't as impactful as I'd hope.
387. Unlucky Morpheus - Evolution
[7.0] - Bit too 'turned to 11' at times, but the anime soundtrack power metal sound is fun.
388. Diablo - When All The Rivers Are Silent
[7.0] - The alt bits are a bit offputting, but the proggier/melodeathy parts sound good.
389. (Dolch) - Nacht
[7.0] - Pretty solid darkwave album, although a bit up and down.
390. VRSTY - Welcome Home
[7.0]
391. Void Dancer - Prone Burial
[7.0] - Decent but forgettable proggy -core release; The Unread Palm is the obvious highlight.
392. Dol Theeta - Monad
[7.0] - Quite interesting proggy operatic/symphonic album, albeit a bit flat on the metal production.
393. Malignant Aura - Abysmal Misfortune Is Draped Upon Me
[7.0]
394. Xaoc - Proxime Mortis
[7.0] - Technically inclined death metal with lots of rage but not much to latch onto.
395. The Big Deal - First Bite
[7.0] - Super catchy heavy arena rock band.
396. The Gathering - Beautiful Distortion
[7.0] - Has some nice songs, but lacks the highlights of Disclosure.
397. Dead Head - Slave Driver
[7.0] - Ballistic thrash rocketing by at full speed, with some decent riffs and solos.
398. Dirty Shirt - Get Your Dose Now!
[7.0]
399. Eight Bells - Legacy Of Ruin
[7.0] - A bit of a 'weird for weird's sake' type of album, but one that does deliver in parts, particularly when it goes closer to a Dreadnought-style sound.
400. Bekor Qilish - Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism
[7.0] - Avant-garde instrumental insanity with a few too little moments that offer more than just technical chaos.
401. Temple Of Void - Summoning The Slayer
[7.0]
402. Decapitated - Cancer Culture
[7.0] - Pretty decent groove/death metal with some tasty parts, albeit with some irritating moments too.
403. The Chasm - The Scars Of A Lost Reflective Shadow
[7.0] - Fairly classic-sounding death metal album with some cool riffs and melodic hints that lift it above average.
404. Beyond The Structure - Scrutiny
[7.0] - Decent proggy/techy death metal effort.
405. Black Oath - Emeth Truth And Death
[7.0] - Fairly classic doom sound, but with a bit more appeal to me than a lot of the retro stuff.
406. Pjusk - Sentrifuge
[7.0] - Soothing, mellow ambient electronic album with just enough substance to avoid becoming too much of a drag.
407. City Of Dis - Alterity
[7.0] - A pretty good prog-metal debut, albeit a slightly forgettable one.
408. Coma Hole - Coma Hole
[7.0]
409. Hurakan - Via Aeterna
[7.0] - Chonky deathcore that's satisfying if unremarkable.
410. Bhleg - Fäghring
[7.0]
411. Elegeion - Plight Of The Heretic
[7.0] - Fairly good doom with beauty/beast vocals and a nice atmosphere.
412. Visions Of Atlantis - Pirates
[7.0]
413. Crown Compass - The Drought
[7.0] - Thrashy prog supergroup debut that has its share of promising moments, but also enough rough edges to work on with future records.
414. Thou - Norco Original Soundtrack
[7.0] - Bit of a weird combination to have 80% mellow ambient and electronica and then a bunch of Thou songs at the end, but both parts of this split are decent.
415. Melt Yourself Down - Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In
[7.0]
416. The Mountain King - WolloW
[7.0]
417. Volcandra - Border World
[7.0] - Neat meloblack EP with some cool shredding.
418. Stygian Oath - Midnight Flames
[7.0] - Assimilation of lots of 70s/80s heavy metal sounds.
419. Soliloquium - Soulsearching
[7.0]
420. Treat - The Endgame
[7.0] - Basically Stratovarius/Avantasia making arena rock, it means it's more likeable than a lot of arena rock due to the power metal-ish layer of cheese on top.
421. Mountaineer - Giving Up The Ghost
[7.0] - Nice pleasant gaze-y/post- sound, but I don't find the vocals fit that well with it at times.
422. Coffin Nail - Years Of Lead
[7.0] - Straight-up grindcore, but on the more enjoyable end of the spectrum.
423. Elektro Guzzi - Triangle
[7.0] - Nice little techno record.
424. Solipsism - Our Night Never Ends
[7.0] - Pretty neat black metal debut with some nice piano bits.
425. Shapeshifter - Dark Ritual
[7.0] - No-nonsense grindcore with some brief lighter interludes.
426. Negative Plane - The Pact
[7.0] - I just don't dig the vocals on this retro-first wave BM record.
427. Darkmatter - Project Darkmatter
[7.0] - Pretty fun nu metal/djent EP.
428. The Land Of Lucy - Moksha
[7.0] - Decent tech-death effort.
429. Darkane - Inhuman Spirits
[7.0]
430. Amalunga - We Are Stardust, This Is Our Sound
[7.0] - Very standard instrumental post-rock, but the first couple of songs are rather good.
431. Lucida Dark - Of Death, Of Love
[7.0]
432. Glasya - Attarghan
[7.0] - Generic operatic femme-fronted symphonic metal (with clean male vocals - who does he remind me of??), and not super memorable but fairly good.
433. Bleed From Within - Shrine
[7.0]
434. Undeath - It's Time​.​.​.To Rise From The Grave
[7.0]
435. Tome Of The Unreplenished - Earthbound
[7.0] - Arrr, here be atmo-black; has some folky/pagan moments and nice melodies, but nothing out of the ordinary.
436. Mydreamfever - Rough And Beautiful Place
[7.0] - Long-winded but peaceful ambient-oriented piano music.
437. Viande - L'abime Dévore Les Âmes
[7.0] - Cavernous, dissonant and unpleasant death metal, but lacking a little something on top of that.
438. Skee Mask - A
[7.0] - Decent compilation of techno tracks.
439. Purgatory - Apotheosis Of Anti Light
[7.0] - Has a bit more to it than straight-up OSDM worship, and is more enjoyable as a result, even though it's fairly generic.
440. Oceans Of Illusion - Unrecognizable
[7.0] - Generic but satisfying deathcore.
441. Hugar - Rift
[7.0] - Dainty neoclassical post-rock, one that's a tad lightweight at times.
442. Soreption - Jord
[7.0] - Technically accomplished tech-death missing much in the way of moments to latch onto.
443. Saxon - Carpe Diem
[7.0] - For a 24th album, it's very impressive, even if it's not something I'm interested in.
444. Moonlight Sorcery - Piercing Through The Frozen Eternity
[7.0] - By-the-books but fun symph-tinged meloblack record.
445. Shores Of Elysium - Plaguewrought
[7.0] - The keyboard parts are the best bit of this deathcore EP, they should expand more on them.
446. Power Paladin - With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel
[7.0]
447. Pattern-Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through
[7.0]
448. Abstracted - Atma Conflux
[7.0] - Respectable thrashy prog-death debut with some nice melodic proggy moments and intense extreme complexity, but lacking a bit in terms of engaging material.
449. Flummox - Rephlummoxed
[7.0] - Bit too weird for its own good at times, but quite cool and quirky.
450. Nite - Voices Of The Kronian Moon
[7.0] - I can't tell if the whispered black metal vocals on this heavy metal album are genius or rubbish, but they're at least memorable one way or the other.
451. Ereb Altor - Vargtimman
[7.0] - Sounds a bit like a blackened Tyr based on the vocals, or something Borknagar-y; found the more black-heavy songs more interesting.
452. Wolf - Shadowland
[7.0] - Listenable power metal-tinged classic heavy sound.
453. Spheric Universe Experience - Back Home
[7.0] - Very classic-sounding prog/power album, has some genre excesses that detract but is generally solid.
454. Vehemence - Ordalies
[7.0]
455. Obsidian Sea - Pathos
[7.0] - Somewhat uneven but decent-sounding retro hard rock/proto-doom sound.
456. Candina - Apparitions
[7.0] - Raw, impassioned post-hardcore/DSBM crossover.
457. Oshiego - Jaljalut
[7.0] - Enjoyable Middle Eastern tones to the death metal riffs here, although I find the vocals slightly offputting.
458. An Evening Redness - An Evening Redness
[7.0] - Blood Meridian-themed ambient record gos on a bit.
459. Collapsed Skull - Eternity Maze
[7.0]
460. Sadness (USA) - I
[7.0] - This guy is overly prolific considering the consistency in style, but he does make decent feels.
461. Vimur - Transcendental Violence
[7.0]
462. Midnight - Let There Be Witchery
[7.0]
463. Chaos Invocation - Devil, Stone & Man
[7.0] - Decent quasi-melodic BM record.
464. Out Of The Mouth Of Graves - Harbinger Uncerimonious
[7.0] - Sickening cacophony of death metal; 25 minutes is a short debut album, but it's a long time to suffer through this.
465. Thos Ælla - Sempiternal Mobocracies
[7.0] - Aggressive, semi-melodic, loud, a bit whatever.
466. Predatory Light - Death And The Twilight Hours
[7.0] - Very retro-sounding heavy/black metal; considering I don't like first wave BM much, it's not surprising I'm not totally into this.
467. Satan - Earth Infernal
[7.0] - Upper-tier NWOBHM, but still NWOBHM, which is why it's here.
468. Gutrectomy - Manifestation Of Human Suffering
[7.0] - Unlike the symphonic deathcore, I'm not totally taken by slam/deathcore, but this album's pretty chonky.
469. Black Fucking Cancer - Procreate Inverse
[7.0] - Black metal with lots of venom, but doesn't quite grip me.
470. Verikalpa - Tunturihauta
[7.0] - Lots of energy and enthusiasm, if no real staying power beyond that.
471. Enthrallment - Against The Will To Live - Macabre Universe Embrace
[7.0]
472. Valley Of The Sun - The Chariot
[6.5] - Pleasant but very conventional desert rock.
473. Space Coke - Lunacy
[6.5] - Generally good stoner doomy release, but a bit tonally inconsistent.
474. Runecaller - Runecaller
[6.5] - Passingly enjoyable proggy stoner/sludge album, but one with room for improvement.
475. 10,000 Years - III
[6.5]
476. Jungle Rot - A Call To Arms
[6.5]
477. Mattergy - Primordial Wrath
[6.5] - Decent djenty prog-metal album with some cool, almost Placebo-y vocal inflections, but it has a bit too much 'technicality for technicality's sake' for my tastes.
478. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
[6.5]
479. Kreator - Hate Über Alles
[6.5]
480. Demonical - Mass Destroyer
[6.5] - Completely generic but very competent Swedish OSDM.
481. Grafix - Half-Life
[6.5] - Has a few Pendulum-style bangers, but a few too many tracks I don't dig.
482. Sealed - Disciple
[6.5] - Decent Gothenburg-style metal with not enough hooks and a few iffy vocal bits.
483. Saviour - Shine & Fade
[6.5] - Djentcore very much in the vein of their compatriots in Polaris.
484. Angel Nation - Antares
[6.5] - Let down by a flat production, but I generally quite liked it; very Wishmaster-era Nightwish-influenced.
485. Månegarm - Ynglingaättens Öde
[6.5] - Has some rather nice folky melodies, but also too much that's pedestrian, and the vocals are a tad grating at times.
486. Pharmacist - Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Mental Grounds
[6.5] - Mostly nasty goregrind/death metal with some surprisingly melodic moments that pop up.
487. Rammstein - Zeit
[6.5]
488. Trick Or Treat - Creepy Symphonies
[6.5] - Nice 80s Helloween-esque sound let down by a few iffy tracks.
489. Kuoleman Galleria - Armon Loppu
[6.5] - Some nice melodies weaved in and good use of group singing, but overall not the most gripping meloblack release.
490. Izthmi - Leaving This World, Leaving It All Behind
[6.5] - Promising prog-black metal sound, but one that's lacking solid moments to keep me engaged.
491. Kirk Hammett - Portals
[6.5]
492. Konvent - Call Down The Sun
[6.5]
493. Sanhedrin - Lights On
[6.5] - Pretty cool NWOBHM throwback with moments that also send my mind to Rush and Queensryche, but not quite my thing.
494. Moonlight Haze - Animus
[6.5] - Listenable accessible-sounding symphonic record, although not as interesting as something like Nocturna.
495. Pendejo SS - The End Of The Beginning
[6.5] - Conventional angry grindcore with some decent riffs; the main standout feature is the more demented high-pitched style of one of the vocals.
496. Northlane - Obsidian
[6.5] - I've never really gotten on the Northlane hype train, and this is pretty underwhelming for the most part.
497. Nekrogoblikon - The Fundamental Slimes And Humours
[6.5] - Fairly fun but prone to being irritating.
498. Disquiet - Instigate To Annihilate
[6.5] - The thrash parts of this are pretty run-of-the-mill (particularly the Machine Head-inspired parts), but some of the more melodeath-y bits give it a bit more of an interesting dimension.
499. Chalk Hands - Don't Think About Death
[6.5] - Fine but unremarkable post-hardcore.
500. Oar - The Blood You Crave
[6.5] - Competent post-black debut, but lacking in a killer element beyond the builds, blasts and shrieks.
501. Seven Nines And Tens - Over Opiated In A Forest O Whispering Speakers
[6.5] - Mixture of metalgaze, post-metal, alt rock, all with soporific vocals and a bit too little regular gripping material.
502. Victorius - Dinosaur Warfare Pt. 2 – The Great Ninja War
[6.5]
503. Sulphur Nurse - Roopkund
[6.5]
504. Come To Grief - When The World Dies
[6.5] - Deathly sludge that's lacking a bit of spark.
505. Crashdïet - Automaton
[6.5] - Pretty decent glam sound, but the ballad does suck.
506. Heart Attack - Negative Sun
[6.5]
507. Venator - Echoes From The Gutter
[6.5] - Has some of the usual pitfalls of trad heavy, but also has its bright moments.
508. Nostalghia - Olvido
[6.5] - Rudimentary blackgaze/atmo-black with lots of bright guitars and Deafheaven shrieks; sounds nice.
509. The Mist From The Mountains - Monumental: The Temple Of Twilight
[6.5] - Nothing really noteworthy about this, but also fairly solid meloblack.
510. RGRSS - A World Of Concern
[6.5] - Fairly substantial deathgrind effort.
511. Det Eviga Leendet - Reverence
[6.5] - Generic semi-melodic lo-fi black metal, not much that lingers once you finish playing.
512. Ditch Organ - A Rapid Flicker Of Light
[6.5] - Madcap 5-minute mathgrind EP.
513. Beleriand - In The Book Of Life One Leaf Turned
[6.5] - Nice extensive use of keyboards in this otherwise relatively unremarkable atmo-black record.
514. Illuminated Void - Illuminated Void
[6.5] - Fluctuatingly good space-themed dark ambient/electronic from one of the Sleestak guys.
515. Dream Widow - Dream Widow
[6.5] - It's another respectable venture into metal from Dave Grohl, even if it's a bit of a 'jack of all trades' tracklist.
516. Decoherence - More Is Different
[6.5] - Closer to System I than Unitarity in terms of my enjoyment.
517. Crowbar - Zero And Below
[6.5] - Quintessential-sounding Southern sludge, but doesn't quite have much to it beyond having the basics nailed down.
518. Wounded Soul - Lost In Uncertainty
[6.5] - Very generic but pleasant blackgaze/atmo-black sound, with nice uplifting/sorrowful melodies and soundscapes.
519. Wolfbastard - Hammer The Bastards
[6.5] - Decent fun black/speed metal.
520. Nadja - Nalepa
[6.5] - Another Nadja drone album, it's par for the course but sounds decent, they've definitely had less listenable records.
521. Sasami - Squeeze
[6.5] - Interesting pop/alt-rock/industrial fusion with a metal tinge, but I can't say I truly enjoy it.
522. Destruction - Diabolical
[6.5] - It's pretty listenable thrash, I guess.
523. HammerFall - Hammer Of Dawn
[6.5] - Nothing bad, but not especially interesting; like a duller version of Deris-era Helloween.
524. Audrey Horne - Devil's Bell
[6.5] - Perfectly decent hard rock, but also a bit boring and irritating at times.
525. Artisan - The Stain Of Life
[6.5] - Promising proggy death-tinged thrash debut hampered by the vocals.
526. Ysyry Mollvün - Ysyry Mollvün
[6.5] - Bit too lo-fi and basic for the style considering the packaging suggested something a bit more tribal, particularly based on the mentions of native instruments on the Bandcamp.
527. Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
[6.5] - Yet another album that cements Voivod in the 'I appreciate what they're doing, but I don't like it' club.
528. Dagoba - By Night
[6.5] - Easy-going electronic-heavy alt-metal sound; not sold on the vocals but generally quite catchy.
529. Veonity - Elements Of Power
[6.5] - Typical moderately bombastic Europower metal, neither too memorable nor too cheesy.
530. Thin / The Winds In The Trees - Split
[6.5]
531. Battle Beast - Circus Of Doom
[6.5]
532. Jethro Tull - The Zealot Gene
[6.5]
533. Maule - Maule
[6.5] - Extremely generic but adequate heavy metal sound (very Maiden-inspired but a bit on the heavier/faster side).
534. Nebula Orionis - Ephemeral
[6.5] - Slightly lightweight Mesarthim-esque electronic (black) metal sound.
535. Vio-lence - Let The World Burn
[6.5]
536. Boris - W
[6.5] - It's fine, probably preferred the heavier tracks that the slightly shoegaze-y ones.
537. Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion
[6.5] - Impressive as they are compositionally, I just do not enjoy listening to this band.
538. Confess - Revenge At All Costs
[6.5]
539. Dead Sun Rising - As Above, So Below
[6.5] - Respectable alt/grunge/post-metal debut with some nice moments, if it is a tad dour overall.
540. VoidCeremony - At The Periphery Of Human Realms
[6.5] - Some enjoyable guitar soloing, but lies slightly in a no man's land between OSDM and tech-death that doesn't totally bring me in.
541. Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero
[6.5]
542. HRFTR - Spectre
[6.5]
543. Terror (USA-LA) - Pain Into Power
[6.0]
544. Bad Omens - The Death Of Peace Of Mind
[6.0] - Maddeningly, can't remember quite who this reminds me of; it's a very saccharine metalcore sound, a bit too saccharine for me.
545. Black Matter Device - Autonomous Weapons
[6.0] - Fairly exhausting mathcore release.
546. MNRVA - Hollow
[6.0]
547. AngelMaker - Sanctum
[6.0]
548. Ambrotos - Transcendental Mastery
[6.0]
549. Malevolence - Malicious Intent
[6.0] - Metalcore, I like; metalcore-groove metal fusions, less so.
550. Winter In Eden - Social Fake
[6.0] - Somewhat pleasant fem-fronted symphonic, but it's quite thin texturally, so it's impact is quite stunted, and the quality of the songs doesn't compensate.
551. Gnod - Hexen Valley
[6.0]
552. SheWolf - SheWolf
[6.0]
553. Malthusian - Time's Withering Shadow
[6.0] - The Suffering Hour tracks are good, but the Malthusian ones are a chore to get through.
554. Ghost - Impera
[6.0]
555. Party Cannon - Volumes Of Vomit
[6.0]
556. Mizmor - Wit's End
[6.0]
557. Druid Lord - Relics Of The Dead
[6.0]
558. Necrophagous - In Chaos Ascend
[6.0]
559. As Within, So Without - Salvation
[6.0]
560. Sleepwulf - Sunbeams Curl
[6.0]
561. Rings Of Saturn - Rings Of Saturn
[6.0] - Electro-heavy trap-instru-deathcore, I don't hate it, but 30 minutes is already enough to get a bit boring.
562. Hegeroth - Sacra Doctrina
[6.0]
563. Mechina - Venator
[6.0]
564. Vulcano - Stone Orange
[6.0]
565. Astral Tomb - Soulgazer
[6.0] - Fairly unique avant-garde death metal, but quite irritating to listen to.
566. And Hell Followed With - Quietus
[6.0]
567. 40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light
[6.0]
568. P.s.you'redead - Sugar Rot
[6.0]
569. Licho - Ciuciubabka
[6.0]
570. Skullshitter - Goat Claw
[6.0] - Grindcore that does the job and no more, so not my jam.
571. Spitfire - Denial To Fall
[6.0]
572. Excellent Enemies - Interlocks
[6.0]
573. Spiritbox - Rotoscope
[5.5] - Just a bit boring, shame to see the direction this band is going.
574. Battlelore - The Return Of The Shadow
[5.5] - Competent songs, but flat production and anemic vocals.
575. Anvil - Impact Is Imminent
[5.5]
576. Halestorm - Back From The Dead
[5.5]
577. Satan's Host - This Legacy Will Never Die
[5.5]
578. Star One - Revel In Time
[5.5]
579. Corpsegrinder - Corpsegrinder
[5.5]
580. Eucharist - I Am The Void
[5.5]
581. Bloodywood - Rakshak
[5.5]
582. Quantum Oscillations - EX​-​word XD​-​SK2800VP Dictionary Japanese
[5.0]
583. Imonolith - Progressions
[4.0]
584. Ramp - Insidiously
[4.0]
585. Leviathan Project - The Final War
[3.0]



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: 11   Visited by: 164 users
05.01.2022 - 12:17
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Make it your challenge this year to reach 1000 albums, I believe you can do it and to make it more challenging, you could review all 1000 albums
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05.01.2022 - 12:39
musclassia
Staff
Written by AndyMetalFreak on 05.01.2022 at 12:17

and to make it more challenging, you could review all 1000 albums

lol I think I'd need to quit my job/stop sleeping to manage that - 3 reviews a day!
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05.01.2022 - 13:52
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Go the exact opposite route. Only one new album a day.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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20.01.2022 - 20:49
Nejde
Where's Cult Of Luna? Should be on the top spot But nice to see Aequorea and Animårum high up on the list. Two very good albums. And it seems that I have some other bands and albums to check out.
----
Liebe ist für alle da.
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21.01.2022 - 00:17
musclassia
Staff
Written by Nejde on 20.01.2022 at 20:49

Where's Cult Of Luna? Should be on the top spot

Feel like I should probably wait to hear the album first :p
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21.01.2022 - 00:26
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Written by musclassia on 21.01.2022 at 00:17

Feel like I should probably wait to hear the album first :p

Only a fool would let such puny things as not having heard the album stop them from rating/reviewing it.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
Loading...
21.01.2022 - 00:46
Nejde
Written by musclassia on 21.01.2022 at 00:17

Written by Nejde on 20.01.2022 at 20:49

Where's Cult Of Luna? Should be on the top spot

Feel like I should probably wait to hear the album first :p

Two songs are already out. That should be enough

Also got tricked since Persefone's album isn't released yet. If you got a promo, that's cheating
----
Liebe ist für alle da.
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23.05.2022 - 23:00
F3ynman
Nocturnal Bro
Contributor
Wow you've been busy!
I haven't really been following this year's releases too closely yet. But that's about to change! Time to explore
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01.06.2022 - 16:37
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
We aren't even half way through the year yet and you are already half way to 1000 albums! Alot of my discoveries this year are from searching through your list
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01.06.2022 - 20:50
musclassia
Staff
Written by AndyMetalFreak on 01.06.2022 at 16:37

We aren't even half way through the year yet and you are already half way to 1000 albums! Alot of my discoveries this year are from searching through your list

I want to see if I can manage to average 100 albums/month for the rest of the year, I'm ahead of the curve just about
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01.06.2022 - 22:47
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Written by musclassia on 01.06.2022 at 20:50


I want to see if I can manage to average 100 albums/month for the rest of the year, I'm ahead of the curve just about

Your doing a great job, and also with your reviews, excellent work
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