2022 was a great year for music, but mostly because live shows came back after the pandemic and we could see our favourite bands in person again. I think a lot of artists focused on making up for lost touring time this year, and as a result, there weren't a ton of albums that captured my imagination like there were in the past two years. The albums I had in heaviest rotation were classic death metal records I discovered through doing my podcast. There was still some pretty good stuff to come out this year, but almost nothing that I listened to again and again and again.
I usually do EPs and full-lengths as two separate lists, but this year the EPs were of such high quality that I had to include them on the main list. I added 5 more slots to my normal top 20 to account for that.
Here are records 25-10. Part 2 is here.
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| Punitive Damage |
25. Earl Sweatshirt - Sick (Tan Cressida)
Hip-hop had a pretty down year as far as I'm concerned, but you can always count on Earl Sweatshirt to deliver when he drops. This record fits in perfectly with the rest of his catalog, so if you're a fan, you know what to expect. It's not Some Rap Songs but it'll do in a pinch.
24. Terminal Nation/Kruelty - The Ruination of Imperialism (20 Buck Spin)
This falls squarely into the recent trend of "hardcore kids making extreme metal" and does a pretty good job of it. These two bands are on the more hardcore end of that spectrum riff-wise, even though the songs are pretty long. The Terminal Nation songs on here don't hit the heights of their last full length, but they get the job done. This was my intro to Kruelty and I was impressed by their doom-infused heaviness.
23. Killing Pace - Killing Pace (Raven Records)
Continuing with the "hardcore kids playing extreme metal" through line, these dudes from RVA are going for a "late 80's British hardcore" kinda thing. This is super influenced by shit like Napalm Death and the whole scene that came up around them, but it's also congruent with a lot of modern hardcore. You don't have to be an Earache Records head to enjoy this, although it certainly helps.
22. Slug - Continuing Growth (Delayed Gratification)
The DGR Records scene from Ohio is turning out a lot of formidable demo-core, and Slug might be their flagship band. This is basically just Mental/Righteous Jams reimagined for a 2022 basement show. What's not to like about that?
21. Punitive Damage - This is the Blackout (Atomic Action!)
I think this record would have been higher on my list if I had more time to spend with it, because it's very well done. You can tell there's a lot of thought that goes into this from looking at the artist's Bandcamp page, and I think that translates to the music. They're taking well trodden West Coast DIY hardcore and doing it as well as you possibly could. This album has riffs for days and not an ounce of fat.
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| Chat Pile |
20. Chat Pile - God's Country (The Flenser)
This is another album I expect to move up the list as time goes on. I initially wrote it off as hipster BS because of who was jocking it and the fact that it was being compared to Eyehategod but didn't sound like it was made by low down New Orleans drug addicts. I re-listened recently though, and the album's weight hit me like a brick. This sounds like when the wimpy kid in your elementary school finally lost it on the bully and hit back.
19. Pusha T - It's Almost Dry (GOOD Music/Def Jam)
Pusha T is gonna do what he's always done -- call up his hall of fame producer friends and rap about selling cocaine over their beats. Instrumentals on this album were exclusively handled by Kanye West and Pharrell, Push's longtime musical collaborators who just happen to be two of the best to ever do it. This isn't a five mic classic, but Push never spits wack bars and there are moments where he's doing stuff he's never really tried before from a musical standpoint. Still, the album's high points are when Push does what he does best.
18. Primal Brain - It's Still All a Game (O.D.D. Tapes)
Early 80s-influenced punk hardcore seems to be having a moment in the popular zeitgeist. Many of those bands have very specific touchpoints when it comes to their influences. Primal Brain flirts with some of that popular stuff, but it seems like mostly a coincidence. Their brand of crate-digging goes a little further into the deep end. The result is genuine weirdo shit that still manages to be part of the conversation by virtue of skill and good fortune.
Listen to "Smiles in the Service Industry"
17. Drake - Honestly, Nevermind (OVO Sound)
This record was widely panned when it first came out for taking an absolutely bizarre direction. As a longtime Drake fan, however, it felt good to hear him try something outside of the formulaic pop-rap he had been mass-producing for the last half decade. I think artists deserve to be rewarded for taking risks, especially considering Drake could have just dropped Views 4.0 and it would have probably sold more than a house record that got ripped apart by amateur critics on Twitter. Not every track on this record is good, in fact some of them are really bad. The ones that hit, though, hit a little different, don't they?
16. Peace Test - Pry (To Live a Lie)
This record was an early-year favourite for me, but as more stuff came out I found myself going back to it less and less -- a shame, considering there are some great songs on here. Pry closely explores powerviolence's ties to early 80;s hardcore, retconning a record that's just as enjoyable for the Xclaim! Records head as it is for the Slap-A-Ham goober. There are parts of this record that legit sound like The Rival Mob with blast beats. How could you say no?
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| Dream Unending |
15. Televised - Human Condition (Convulse)
Convulse Records are the top merchants of the early 80's hardcore revival, and this was arguably my favourite from their seemingly endless torrent of 2022 EP releases in that vein. You know what to expect right from the first riff of this record: stompy, meat and potatoes hardcore punk with a no-nonsense attitude. This sounds like it very much could have come out in 1981, but has the benefit to draw on 40 years and an entire global movement worth of hardcore for inspiration. Classic stuff.
Listen to "Waiting Around to Die"
14. Taylor Swift - Midnights (Republic)
Here comes my biannual does of poptimism. 1989 was the record that made me fall in love with pop music. Taylor's next two albums were quite frankly, the worst in her discography, and then Evermore and Folklore went down a route I wasn't trying to hear. Midnights is a return to form, proving TSwift is one of few pop artists who can make an album listenable from front to back, instead of a playlist stuffed with random Tik Tok jingles and songs written by committee. This record stumbles here and there, but it just came out and I expect it to grow on me pretty hard.
13. Kendrick Lamar - Mister Morale and the Big Steppers (TDE/PGLang)
Kendrick is another world renowned artist who popped back up on my radar this year after a long time away. In his case, though, it wasn't because he was making bad music, but that he wasn't making music at all. We can debate if MMATBS was worth the five year wait. I may not love the songs to the extent I love GKMC or To Pimp a Buttlerfly, but I relate more to his lyrics than I ever have. This is some of his most visceral and personal work, and even if it doesn't necessarily get a room moving like his older shit, there's still a lot of value on this record.
12. The Flex - Chewing Gum For the Ears (Lockin' Out)
The Flex have been flying under my radar for quite some time, releasing a formidable brand of stompy, burly hardcore punk that I think the rest of the scene is finally catching up to. With the popularization of bands like The Chisel, as well as a seemingly increased appetite for shit like Rival Mob, Chewing Gum... lands perfectly in the centre of hardcore's current taste. I already know a few bands who cite The Flex as an influence, and I expect their legendary status to grow over time. Especially if they keep putting out music of this calibre.
11. Dream Unending - Song of Salvation (20 Buck Spin)
This is the second Dream Unending record in 12 months, which is impressive considering how sprawling and textured these records are. Song of Salvation is bookended by two 15 minute epics. The second song on the record, "Secret Grief" is arguably the band's most digestible track from a conventional perspective. I saw someone on Twitter describe tracks three and four as "guitar playthrough type shit" which I think is a very apt way to describe them. They feel kind of throwaway to me. I can't stop listening to this album despite that, and it only came out a few weeks ago. I think that's good enough to land it just outside the top ten.
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Thank you for reading part 1 of my list. Check out part 2!
