Albums of the Year (2022) February 27, 2023 on peregrinator's blog

I dread publishing lists of this kind especially because ranking things was never something I enjoyed and since I have a tendency to forget artists and albums, often even those that I listen to regularly. I also remember bands by sound and almost inevitably refuse to keep track of when artists I like release new music. This is in no sense complete nor could I get myself to write about each of the albums — I’ll perhaps get down to this sometime later. There is no ranking within this list for the same reasons as before

KEN mode - Null

Exasperated with everything good in life going to dogs? Throw Your Phone in the River! It’s noisy, ambient with an abundance of harsh industrial sounds blended into the background, delivered with bleak, sludgy instrumentation. This time they’re a four piece, with the addition of Kathryn Kerr bringing in the saxophone and it expectedly sounds great with this brand of metal. This release also marks a stylistic shift from their typically outright angry sound to this tinge of despair in the way the vocals are delivered.

Primitive Man - Insurmountable

From practitioners of the most brutal form of Death/Sludge arguably pioneered by them, the latest offering from Primitive Man bludgeons the anxieties and dread that came with the pandemic into a slow-burning, gloomy and angry 4 track record. Their sound appears to have been perfected over the years into the combination of oppressive mammoth-like riffs, a loud menacing bass, copious amounts of guitar feedback and noise samples embedded into the background, and drums with the hint of a twang on the snare leaving the listener in an atmosphere dripping with tension and apprehension. McCarthy’s vocals are as wild as ever — there’s undertones of the sludge scream, the black metal snarl, alloyed with the Death-growl into guttural lows and highs. This album also includes a cover of “Quiet” by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Ethan McCarthy’s other project — Vermin Womb — also saw a new release that I’d also recommend. It’s similar sounding in the instrumentation and overall feel but has songs with a more blackened and chaotic Grindcore style.

Drowse - Wane into It

I know no better words to describe this than lucid dream-like.

Kathryn Mohr - Holly

Liminal perhaps describes the kind of music Kathryn Mohr makes accurately and in a single word but it’s got a lot more to it. I find that listening to this album when I need to unwind makes the process a lot easier and a great deal more enjoyable, but I’m inevitably left craving more. Holly has droney chords strummed on a Jazzmaster (?), fuzzy and exclusively on neck pickups — and I feel like I shouldn’t have to describe this any further but I’ll just add that it takes the edge off the typical bright tone. This perfectly compliments haunting, layered vocals that sometimes sound off-key. The vocals don’t appear to be too central to her sound and songs are often instrumental, overlaid with pretty synth riffs and crucially set in a brown-noise base. Also worth noting is the way tracks are arranged in the style of a cassette release — both sides have short instrumental introductory pieces and is available as a cassette on her Bandcamp!

Chat Pile - God’s Country

What hasn’t been said about the Purple man that took the world by storm with their debut album, under the Flenser label, no less. Heavy guitars and skull numbing reverb laden drums thumping out slow and dark songs about despair and the anti-anthem “Why”. Needless to say, I’m sold on the Purple Man.

Miscreance - Convergence

I came across them when the Dead Neanderthals tweeted

Not enough people are talking about this album.

A perfect mix of Death (Human era), Pestilence (Consvming era) and Revenant!https://t.co/LrJFPwEnBJ

— Dead Neanderthals (@deadneanderthal) January 31, 2023

and I’m in full agreement. Being the dedicated Death fan (for life), this does indeed sound like Chuck Schuldiner performed the vocals. Both Pestilence and Death drips off their thrashy, bass-heavy minor key riffs.

Mamaleek - Diner Coffee (?)

As the Flenser repeatedly tweets, Who is Mamaleek?. Weird noisey and dark but it’s really hard to describe them without sounding insane.

Meshuggah - Immutable

I came to realise they had a new release out when I saw and absurd “meme” video on Youtube. It’s got the usual sick groove but I could have sworn a pronounced blackening to their riffs.

Wormrot - Hiss

It’s got everything a Wormrot album promises in grindcore, but this release felt more mellow as compared to the brutally fast and precise riffing/drums from earlier releases.

Exhumed - To The Dead

Morbidly groovy and detuned Death/Grind, often reminiscent of Carcass’s very old grindcore delivers human entrails yet again. 2022 has been a prolonged fangirling moment for Doktor Ross Sewage and every band he’s played with. His twitter feed is never boring.

Russian Circles - Gnosis

Post-metal but it often sounds black and heavy.

Wake - Thought Form Descent

There’s no words I can conjure to describe Wake humanly. It’s got everything — sickeningly catchy riffs like grindcore, dark ambient black metal and post-metal — but then there’s so much more. It’s loud and hits you like a tidal wave but is also meditative of sorts.

Hath - All That Was Promised

Modern Death metal that is blackened and sometimes slightly technical. There are mellow passages too but ultimately the album feels not as abstract as older Death metal and betrays a sort of sorrow.

Mares of Thrace - The Exile

This was easily one of the most tension filled, deathy Doom metal records of my year.

Heriot - Profound Mortality

Hard to pin down but it’s black, hardcore and deranged.

Hexis - Aeturnum

Unabashedly Satanic, these black metallers deliver the loudest and fullest sounding black metal record I’ve heard in a while. The air is heavy and icy but the vocals hit like a draft from a furnace.

Cloud Rat - Threshold

Chaos!

Scarcity - Aveilut

Bleak, just the way post-black metal should be. This was an early contender for the list.

Thou & Mizmor - Myopia

Trepidation and tension does make one myopic. Doom with a good deal of sludge mixed in, this is bleak and heavy.

thoughtcrimes - Altered Pasts

Chaotic but with some vague semblance to the newer Alice in Chains - post Robert DuVall’s joining. Thoroughly noise like the label indicates.