Well, another calendar year confined to the history books. With the peak of Covid (seemingly) having passed, 2022 has seen an unparalleled influx of new music hit our eardrums. From black metal giants, to the underground’s hottest young talent, this year was almost too good for heavy music - it took some real soul-searching to whittle down ’22’s finest releases into a concise list. With the promise of more new music on the horizon, bring on 2023!
TOP 10 RELEASES OF 2022
10. Revocation - Netherheaven
9. DarkFuneral - We Are The Apocalypse
8. Baest - Justitia
7. Darkthrone - Astral Fortress
6. Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvram
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK85pJt8VzU
- Chelsea Grin - Suffer In Hell4. Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain3. Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell2. Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia1. I AM - Eternal Steel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qphJMyEWUsc
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Goatwhore - Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven, Absent In Body - Plague God, Kublai Khan TX - Lowest Form of Animal, Belphegor - The Devils, Decapitated - Cancer Culture, Terror - Pain Into Power
TOP 10 SONGS OF 2022
10. KublaiKhanTX - ‘SwanSong’ (feat. ScottVogel)
9. Darkthrone - ‘The Sea Beneath the Sea of the Seas’
8. ArtificialBrain - ‘CelestialCyst’
7. Behemoth - ‘VersusChristvs’
6. Belphegor - ‘VirtusAsinaria - Prayer'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1QeDccgQDc
- Baest - ‘Gargoyles’ (feat. Trevor Strnad)
- Animals As Leaders - ‘Thoughts and Prayers’
- Greg Puciato - ‘Never Wanted That’
- I AM - ‘The Iron Gate’
- Watain - ‘Serimosa’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFm-ARerxbI
TOP 5 MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2022
5. DarkFuneral - ‘Leviathan’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34UtWKgZhg
- Greg Puciato - ‘Lowered’ (feat. Reba Meyers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyh5kFj2fSY
- Gutrectomy - ‘Apocalyptic Squirt Tsunami’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuKVA4aT3GY
- Rammstein - ‘Adieu’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skl6N3zGv-s
- Behemoth - ‘The Deathless Sun’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luHHvbHNxnc
BEST GIGS OF 2022
Aussie Bands - Cog, Disentomb
International Bands - I AM, Kublai Khan TX, Sanction, KISS, The Black Crowes
FAVOURITE CONTRIBUTION
Getting to talk to legends like Nergal, Tommy Thayer of KISS and Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto, as well as covering the great new albums from AnimalsAsLeaders, Watain, ChelseaGrin, Behemoth and others!
FAV NEW BAND DISCOVERED IN 2022
I AM - loved the first singles off their latest album Eternal Steel, and the young Texan’s blew me away when they opened the ThyArtIsMurder on the Human Target tour in September. I’ve never heard a group perfectly balance contemporary heaviness with such an old-school/traditional heavy metal edge before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgzIQ3-zZno
NEXT BIG AUSSIE ACT TO WATCH IN 2023
NicolasCageFighter - their powerful debut The Bones That Grew From Pain was one of the best Aussie heavy releases of the year. Their diverse style delves into metalcore, groove metal and death metal, and with the huge backing of MetalBlade the Ballarat quartet has all the potential to be this country’s next breakout act!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTgDJQDNRYY
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2023
New music, tours, Dune: Part 2 and Knotfest of course!
Written by Andrew Kapper @andrew_kapper
