Best of 2022

(albums not necessarily produced this year)

Last year I thought I was on the verge of branching out in my musical taste. Honestly, I did not. I found myself thinking about things other than music this year: my wedding, most importantly, but also the book that I'm working on. And my job, of course.

Still, I found some good stuff this year, and I'm happy to share it.

Best albums

Aephanemer / A Dream of Wilderness
Music for a brilliant warrior with a great heart.
Clouds / Despartire
A tragic wanderer on the heath.
MASTER BOOT RECORD / PERSONAL COMPUTER
A dark and noisy Tron.
Wardruna / Kvitravn
Forbidden pagan rituals.
Aquilius / Griseus
Like Fantasia: drama suddenly rising out of quietness.

Great albums

Turnstile / Glow On
Pop punk with a sense of levity.
Scardust / Strangers
Disney musical or metal?
Insomnium / Above the Weeping World
Deceptively well-constructed metal.
Archspire / Bleed the Future
The most excessive, stylized technical death metal album I have ever heard.
Caterina Barbieri / Spirit Exit
Jagged, artsy synth.
Wilderun / Epigone
Complex prog with a beautiful tenor voice. It's a grower.
Aeternam / Heir of the Rising Sun
The treacherous huuuunt. In the shadow of Constantinople.

Good albums

Obscura / A Valediction
Chvrches / Screen Violence
Impure Wilhelmina / Antidote
Stormkeep / Tales of Othertime
Sylvaine / Nova
Silent Island / Tales of the Night Forest
White Ward / Love Exchange Failure
Bjorth / Midgard Rising
Becoming the Archetype / Children of the Great Extinction
Jon Hopkins / Immunity
High Command / Eclipse of the Dual Moons
Sojourner / Premonitions