As always, we’re ending 2022 with our final Best of Celebration. And this time, it’s the best metal albums of 2022. Honestly, there were a bunch of great albums this released this year. But I ultimately narrowed this list down to my top 10 that I just couldn’t stop listening to this year.
I also just briefly want to say there were so many underground metal releases this year that I really love. Some of which you’ll be hearing about today on my best metal albums of 2022 list and on my EPOTY list
And so, the best metal albums of 2022 are…
The 10 Best Metal Albums of 2022
Headbang to songs from some of these albums on our Best Heavy Songs of 2022 playlist.
10. Fit For An Autopsy – Oh What The Future Holds
2022 started off strong with the release of Fit For An Autopsy’s Oh What The Future Holds and this album left a lasting impression on me since it dropped. There are so many crushingly heavy, pit worthy moments in this album especially on tracks like “A Higher Level Of Hate”. But there’s also these melodic elements. The album even opens with this eerie piano playing on the title track. And it all builds into this wonderful blend of beautiful headbanger approved heaviness. It just all makes for a really awesome listen and it’s one of those albums that just kind of feels like it hits you right in the chest. In a good way.
9. Dan Brooklyn – The Great Beast
Dan Brooklyn’s The Great Beast came as a pleasant surprise to me at the end of the year. Vocally, there’s areas where it kind of remind of Rotting Christ. And this album is riddled with dark, crushing, and eerie undertones all while being extremely high energy and catchy. And yes, I said catchy; which is something you don’t hear very often with this type of music. But when you hear this record you’ll know exactly what I mean. Immediately you’re as excited as the music sounds. And you just can’t get enough.
You’ll also hear some of those really heavy bass/drum moments that you all know is one of my favorite things, especially on songs like “Chamber of Nightmares”. That song also has this awesome guitar solo that just is like the icing on the cake. So freaking good. Oh and I have to quickly talk about Liber XLIV which has this primal intensity to it. Easily, it became one of my favorite tracks. And when I made the Rotting Christ reference, this song in particular gives me that vibe. Finally, did I mention there’s an awesome cover of Ozzy’s “Mr. Crowley” on here? And when I release my metal covers playlist (hopefully in the near future), it will definitely be on there.
8. Dark Funeral – We Are The Apocalypse
Dark Funeral’s We Are The Apocalypse literally opens with these monstrous instrumentals and a ruthless, unearthly scream on the opening track “Nightfall” and that beastly brutal heaviness from Dark Funeral never loses its energy on this record. This is an album I found myself coming back to a lot this year when I was getting to a point with my music where it was like nothing would feel as blood curdling heavy like I neede in that moment. So I’d put on Dark Funeral’s we are the apocalypse. There are so many good ones on here but “Nightfall” and “When I’m Gone” are two of my absolute favorites. Oh and we can’t forget the roaring ruthless fury heard in “Let The Devil In”. So freaking good.
7. Slipknot – The End, So Far
As I kind of said last year about Trivium’s In The Court of The Dragon, this was kind of like the album I’ve been waiting for from Slipknot, at least in recent years. And for a band that’s been around for so many years, they still kept things fresh on The End, So Far with sides of Slipknot that were reminiscent of past music, but grown up if that makes sense. I feel like this album was the perfect culmination of sounds and themes from Slipknot’s career and it just makes for a really awesome listen especially if you’ve been with them since the early days like me.
6. Arch Enemy – Deceivers
I can’t express enough how awesome Arch Enemy’s Deceivers is. The whole thing kind of feels like one big battle anthem. All the melodic moments, all the aggressively ruthless moments- they all build into this powerful intensity that just feels empowering. There’s so many beautiful riffs like on this record like on “In The Eye of the Storm”. Overall, this is just a great album and one of my favorites to sing/scream along to this year.
5. Krypt – Ripe With Sin
When Ripe With Sin opens with these eerie haunting and kind of witchy sounding tones, I thought “oh man I’m in for a treat.” And it became even more when this album explodes into this wild, thrashy, nasty goodness where all of these tracks sound like they literally came “from the depths”. (which is also the title of one of my favorite tracks on this album.) When I first listened to this album, I actually listened to it twice, back to back, because I was like damn! More of that please! I definitely can’t wait for more from Krypt after this album so I’d be keeping an eye out for what they do next if I were you. Especially if you’re really into thrash, crossover death thrash, etc.
2. Inhuman Condition – Fearsick
Nasty, thrashy, and brutally heavy from the second it opens, Inhuman Condition’s Fearsick delivers banger after banger. This is a solid album from start to finish. Fearsick is another album that I’d find myself turning to when I just needed something to give me that super heavy fix. I also find Inhuman Condition to be one of the most exciting bands to watch. They only just emerged in 2020 and the two albums they’ve released since, Rat God and this year’s Fearsick, are basically the epitome of what I love to hear in heavy music.
3. Meshuggah – Immutable
Meshuggah gave us the pulse pounding, dark, and heavy intensity fans like myself crave with their 2022 album, Immutable. This album has some of my favorite hypnotizing Meshuggah riffs especially in songs like “Broken Cog” and my personal favorite, “Ligature Marks”. If you’re new to metal this is an album that may send a chill down your spine but that’s a quality some of the most regarded metal albums of all time have been described as. See Slipknot’s Iowa and Sepultura’s Arise for more details.
There’s so much crushing heaviness and eerie energy all at the same time on this album. And the sheer amount of technical precision with their instruments and all these different tones you’re hearing quite literally forces you to see the imagery the Meshuggah is trying to convey. And obviously that looks different to all of us. But Meshuggah just has this way of making their music surround you and engulf you in every way, and that’s what they gave with this album.
2. Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
Simply put, there is nothing quite like what Zeal & Ardor is doing right now, especially on their self titled album which was released in early 2022. This is an album that throughout the year a song from it would come on during one of my playlists and as a Zeal & Ardor song usually does for me, I just would become instantly hooked and be like okay time to listen to the whole album now. Because I would start thinking about all the cool things I heard on this album and it was like all of a sudden I was craving listening to it.
This album has EVERYTHING- black metal elements, spiritual/gospel elements, even catchy electronic synthy stuff. And there are several tracks here that honestly need picked up for major soundtracks. That’s how huge and amazing they sound. Especially “Golden Liar” which just rips my heart out every damn time I listen. Also, I have to mention of my favorite songs ever which is on this album called “Run”. It will forever be on my Heavy Halloween playlist fyi. But the two tracks I just named are great examples of the different blends you’ll hear on this record. “Run” is very high energy, vicious, an definitely a pit worthy track. Then Golden Liar is the opposite. Melodic, haunting, somber, yet still so freaking heavy. Just in a different way. And you’re getting that with this whole album, not just two tracks that I mentioned.
1. Extinction A.D. – Culture of Violence
Culture of Violence is my number one album because it is the only album this year that I have listened to over and over again, back to back and still haven’t been burnt out on it. This album has such high energy from the second you hit play and I just can’t get enough of it. So I always find myself listening to it when I want to get stuff done, especially when I’m sewing. This is also my number one album to sing/scream along to. Because lyrically, it captures I think what so many of us have been feeling just about the state of the world that has become. Or as Extinction A.D. titled their album, a Culture of Violence.
This record musically embodies that rage, fury, and relentless strength and energy that it takes to survive a culture of violence. Not to mention it contains some of my most favorite solos and riffs of the year, and is the only album that fully gave me that feel it in your chest- pulse pounding heavy drum bass action throughout that you all know is one of my favorite things. I feel to simply say this album is explosive is an understatement. Even though the music is so just aggressively in your face that it is like one big musical explosion and you’re just joy riding through it.
To summarize, think of the mind-bending, hypnotizing riffs you get from a band like Megadeth, with that intensely heavy bass-drum action that you get from bands like Hatebreed and Sepultura, and vocals raging with venomous fury that epitomizes a Culture of Violence.
That is Extinction A.D.‘s 2022 album, Culture of Violence, in a nutshell. And that is why it it my AOTY.
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