(Re-Rank’d): Albums Of The Year 2022
Echo Chamber
Welcome back to the FINAL installment of RE-RANK’d! This is it. The last one. This journey has been a blast, the whole idea for the lists being in one easy to read spot was one i’d had for a long time and i’m super stoked in how it all came out. Even if i had no one to read them but myself, i’m still incredibly happy with the results. Plus it’s just been fun going back and re-listening to records from years past and remembering where I was then and where i’m at now.
Before I get on with the list, just a quick thanks to those who DO read. Really appreciate it!
Anywho, let’s get to it!
As always, here are the changes: No exclusions, but another new category, one huge addition to the lineup, and a new “Listen if you love” section that’s going in each entry from here on.
The “What The Fuck Happened” Awards: Alestorm - Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum and Slipknot - The End, So Far…
Genre(s) - Pirate Metal and Whatever The Fuck Slipknot is doing now.
Listen If You Love: Yeah, don’t listen to these.
Ok, now right off the bat, we got a new entry that I may or may not include later on, but 2022 really deserved this one. The sheer amount of great bands I listen to that either put a disappointing album, or in the case of these two, downright AWFUL. I mean we had year in which we had albums from Re-Rank’d alumni: Animals As Leaders, Dirty Shirt, The Algorithm, Oceans Ate Alaska, KoRn and of course…Parkway Drive(I won’t even get into that one) as well as many others. From every single one of those bands I had some hope for something great but, MAN it was a downer of a year for my favorites.
In the case of these two in particular, just this once, i’m going to give you, verbatim, my thoughts on each album as I felt back when writing the old post:
Alestorm:
'“Now, a bit of preface, I LOVE Alestorm, became incredibly infatuated with the genre because of their last record and have since binged their entire catalog and have learned multiple tracks on guitar. So my excitement was quickly destroyed when the new record dropped and its...basically just D-Sides of the last record. Now with an album title like that, you'd halfway expect a piratey Maiden cover. Nahrr, Matey. Instead it's one of the worst tracks on the record. No stand outs, the fun just seems forced this time around. But that isn't even the worst of it. Return To Tortuga...what i had hoped would be a sequel...is actually a completely bland re-recording of Tortuga without ANY of the fun that made the original one of the best songs they've ever done. After hearing it, I literally shut it off and never listened to the record again since. Which sucks because i got the sick collectors edition with the Tankard. Despite all that, this hasn't killed my enjoyment of them as a whole, but really bums me out that they seem stretched so thin on ideas.”
Slipknot:
“When some of the band members themselves say they didn't like it, you know its fucked. When We Are Not Your Kind got teased with All Out Life, I felt like it was such a return to form for them...it was so good, it wasn't even on the album. Fast forward to The Chapeltown Rag and I immediately went...uhhhhh that wasn't great. I quickly ignored any hype around it until Corey said they had a Type O style song coming for the record, and as a recent rabid Peter Steele fan, hype ensued. Only to find out when the record released, that it, while still ok and the only good song on the whole record, was NOT a Type O style song. The record as a whole just seems rushed and lacks the love and incredible sound of the last record. The production suffers the worst here, akin to Vol.3 instead of the grit of Self-titled/Iowa or even the mainstream feel of All Hope Is Gone. None of that, just a garbled mess of guitars with Corey's wails in the background. I dunno what went wrong, maybe Roadrunner tightening the screws made it suffer and the 9 needed more time but i don't know. Really bummed me out, this one.”
Yeah. My feelings on 2022 being a bummer year were pretty justified, despite the lineup I DID get. Now on to some BETTER news.
Single Of The Year: Loathe - Dimorphous Display (Originally…here)
Genre: Djent? / Shoegaze
Listen If You Love: Deftones…but done (way) better.
As of writing, the excruciating wait for a new Loathe album has yet to end. And this is the only new thing we’ve gotten outside of an odd remix/ambiance record. I’ll take it. It’s refreshing, chaotic and VERY Loathe. If this is the new sound of what’s to come, I kinda dig it. It’s different, but honestly i’m down for anything this band puts out. Please guys, new album…I beg of you.
EP(s) of the Year: Spiritbox - Rotoscope and Cane Hill - Krewe D’Amour (Originally just Spiritbox)
Genre(s): Djenty Metalcore and Sexy Swamp Metal respectively.
Listen If You Love: Women kicking ass on vocals / Metal that makes you feel funny down below.
Once again Cane Hill sneaks into the EP list, I mean, I can’t leave ‘em out. How else am I gonna manifest a new album? Anyway Spiritbox needs no introduction at this point, they’re a household name right now and this is the tweener set after their latest full length and before their newest EP(which we will be covering later). And really, they don’t miss at this point. Rotoscope is a fantastic GROOVY tune that is a welcome shift from the usual Metalcore offering and the other two tracks could have easily fit the last album perfectly.
As with Cane Hill, speaking of bands not missing, it’s predominately more Cane Hill post record label split. Every single track laid out since then have been flawless. Marking yet another band with an excruciatingly long wait for a full length. As for the 3 tracks here, Blood & Honey kind of gave them a bit of limelight when it dropped(easy to see why), Bleed When You Ask Me is my standout pick for the insatiable lust found in it’s chorus and Drag Me Down kind of slipped through the cracks for me, since they drop singles so sporadically it’s hard to keep up, yet it still hits HARD as well as their single A Form Of Protest released shortly after this EP.
Favorite Track(s): Rotoscope / Bleed When You Ask Me
16. Monument Of A Memory - Harmony In Absolution (Originally #.14)
Genre: Metalcore
Listen If You Love: Metalcore…kidding, but no really, ANY Metalcore.
If there’s one word to describe this album, it’s SOLID. Doesn’t do anything that escalates them amongst the legends of the genre, but they do what they do REALLY well. Just really SOLID metalcore, your breakdowns, cleans, screams and even some daggum guitar solos in there are all, you guessed it, SOLID. Standouts for me have to be either the opener that gets you right into the action or the groove infested banger, Rat.
Favorite Track: Rat
15. Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die (Originally #.15)
Genres: Instrumental / Pop / Funk / Jazz / Hip Hop / Metal / Anime Weeb shit
Listen If You Love: Guitar Pornography
Look, most of whats on here, isn’t my cuppa tea. Some is alright, but really the star of the show, is Playing God. I mean, what a masterclass in guitar work. A mix of erotic flamenco electro-acoustic action with Jazz and Hip Hop. It’s phenomenal, and well worth the price of admission, as well as the music video in which lead guitarist Tim Henson makes sweet love to his guitar. Really if they put out a whole album of stuff like this, it could easily top a list of mine. Oh and the Steve Vai collab joint is alright too.
Favorite Track: Playing God
14. Motionless In White - Scoring The End Of The World (Originally #.11)
Genre: Metalcore
Listen If You Love: Ben Burnley, Marilyn Manson, or Michael Jackson
Awfully nice of Knocked Loose to include a Motionless In White record with their Single….but in all seriousness, my tumultuous relationship with MIW won’t be recounted here, but this is the only album i’ve remotely enjoyed from them in almost a decade. The Manson meets Breaking Benjamin metalcore stuff is…same-y. This album sort of breaks from that, it’s much heavier than previous records. But if i’m being completely honest, the only reason I even bothered with it, is because of the Knocked Loose collab in Slaughterhouse. It’s essentially a lower tuned MIW song with a fantastic KL breakdown at the end. Really great track in an otherwise solid record filled with catchy tunes like Werewolf and Porcelain.
Favorite Track: Slaughterhouse
13. Enterprise Earth - The Chosen (Originally #.13)
Genre: Deathcore
Listen If You Love: Feels in your Deathcore
January of 2022 had one of the greatest release days of Deathcore ever seen in the game, there are 2 in this list, and the first one, is from Enterprise Earth. A band I was familiar with but only a little bit here and there. A real talented group of musicians and vocalists in an album that i’m glad to have listened to all the way through, but really only go back to for one song….Overpass. A common theme so far in this list is that there is a solid album underneath but only one HUGE standout track, and Overpass is absolutely no exception. In fact, I dubbed thee Song Of The Year when I first wrote this list and the feeling pretty much remains the same now. This song is a journey, one of death and consequences. A Somber, almost Alice In Chains-like tone starts, then comes the fantastic clean chorus that overtakes the song. The verse leads to a massive amount of HEVY riffage to carry you further. Afterwards, an insane, melodic solo transitions back to the somber tone. The ending sees the final death nail to oblivion, the breakdown that utters the words “Death Is Only The Beginning.”
If there’s one song to listen to in this whole list, it’s this one.
Favorite Track: Overpass
12. Unprocessed - Gold (Originally #.10)
Genre: (very)Progressive Metal
Listen If You Love: What Polyphia does, but with vocals.
A very unique band that caught my ear with it’s Polyphia-like fusion of genres and incredible guitar work, but this time with vocals. And it’s with the vocals that make and sometimes break the album for me. I’m really here for the guitars, like in Rain, Redwine and particularly Orange Grove. But the vocals are hit and miss. It’s odd, they hit great in tracks like Dinner but are off putting in others. Maybe it’s because they’re natively German, I dunno. It’s good, not GREAT. As for my overall pick, it’s Orange Grove. Very Frusciante-esque guitar work that is silky smooth and I love it.
Favorite Track: Orange Grove
11. D.R.U.G.S - Destroy Rebuild (Originally #.12)
Genre: Modern Myspace Post-Hardcore
Listen If You Love: Chiodos
Man, who had Craig Owens coming back on their bingo card? Thought to have been long gone, now back with a not as good 2nd outing, ELEVEN years in the making. Craig’s vocal work is still top tier of the genre. The choruses are the hooky-est of hooky, especially the first 3 tracks. Though, it’s hard not to not only compare to others in the genre but the bar setting standard that was their first record. I feel this doesn’t have the track by track staying power like the first. I mean the start of the album showed signs of that being where we were headed, but soon after it falls off a bit. Just go back a listen to that first album, then this, you’ll know what I mean. As for my favorite track, it’s Gold. A lighter track, but the chorus is fantastic and the standout for me.
Favorite Track: Gold
10. Greyhaven - This Bright And Beautiful World (Originally #.9)
Genre: Hardcore Fusion
Listen If You Love: Every Time I Diligently Escape with a Plan
In a world where Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die are no more, Greyhaven fills that void with their own brand of genre fused hardcore and it’s lovely. I mean, go in expecting fast HEVY zaniness, but you might find some gems in there that spice up the formula. Much like my favorite track All Candy or the slow melodic closer Ornaments From The Well. Really impressed with both the HEVYness and also their clean vocal melodies. While the screams do get grating for me after a while, those break-ups in the formula really shine and help this album from getting stale. A damn fine band that I can’t wait to see more of.
Favorite Track: All Candy
9. Electric Callboy - Tekkno (Originally #.8)
Genre: Electricore
Listen If You Love: Sexy German Men Gyrating Hips And Pumping Iron
Kind of a disappointing album cover to an otherwise FUN album. The first single has been well documented here, but the rest of the album meets that level of absurdity in my music that I’ve come to crave over the last few years. Nothing tops We Got The Moves, but you got plenty of great tracks like Pump It, Arrow Of Love, Tekkno Train(choo choo) and Hurrikan. The last one in particular ends too damn soon, ugh it’s so good…Really the only song i’d say kinda kills it for me is Fuckboi, it’s just meh and I skip it every time. But everything else, I promise, you’ll have a good time.
Favorite Track: We Got The Moves
8. Megadeth - The Sick The Dying…And The Dead! (Originally #.8)
Genre: Thrash Metal
Listen If You Love: Dave Mustaine
The best and now sadly the last of the Kiko era of Megadeth. Prolly the best ‘deth since…Youthanasia? Maybe Endgame is there with it. As i’ve mentioned before, I love Megadeth ever since my discog excursion. You could say i’m a Dave Mus-Stan now…god that was awful. This record is pure old school ‘deth with a more modern production. Hell even Dave’s vocal work is stepped up from the last few. Even after a bout with cancer, this dude is killing it now. I’m gonna miss Kiko though man, because his leads were fantastic on here. Just a slew of great solos in damn near every song. Looking at the track list, I can’t really find a bad song on here, even the two cover tracks are great, Police Truck in particular. The standout for me though is Mission To Mars. It’s a song I feel could’ve been longer and given the Hangar 18 treatment of dueling solos, but I still love the hell outta this song. It’s more progressive than the usual ‘deth outings. Alot of fun, and a great singalong track.
Favorite Track: Mission To Mars
7. Northlane - Obsidian (Originally #.6)
Genre: Djent
Listen If You Love: Your Riffs Simple And Your Choruses Poppy
An album that probably had the longest growth period of any album on this list. It took MANY listens to get it to where it is now. It’s very simple riffage(usually off putting for me) and a focus on vocals and synths. I need something to hook me and this album DID NOT hook me at first….until Echo Chamber. This song….This. FUCKING. Song. Opened me up to this album. It was the AHA moment that solidified this album as a top contender. It didn’t need to be a guitar or drum masterclass, it just needed to be catchy enough to keep me going. AND HOLY MOTHER OF GOD this song is the epitome of simple but effective, this got damn riff gets me Will Farrell head bobbing like a BUFFOON even after 50 listens. It’s impossible to not even move a toe to this. And I DIDNT EVEN GET TO THE BREAKDOWN. FORGET IT….YOU’RE DONE AFTERWARDS. Sorry for shouting. Go listen to it. Now.
Favorite Track: ^^^^^
6. Darko US - Oni (Originally #.5)
Genre: Industrial Dethcore
Listen If You Love: HEVY shit but have a sensitive side.
Get used to seeing Darko on here, at the rate they’re pumping out bangers, i’ll have a Top 10 Darko albums list by the time 2030 hits. Oni is the best of the bunch. It’s the unrelenting HEVYness that they do so well but also includes the best soft tracks they’ve ever done. In fact for this album, my favorite is a soft track, Infinite Beauty. A very angelic euphoric soundscape is the best that I could describe it, fantastic song. But the HEVY tracks that hit are ones like Hyper Kill, Rosaria’s Fingers, and Ana. The latter of which has an especially sexy intro to get any pit killing each other. Darko is unstoppable now, they own this sector of Metal. Look forward to hearing about them more later!
Favorite Track: Infinite Beauty
5. Bad Omens - THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND (Originally #.4)
Genre: Metalcore(loosely)
Listen If You Love: The Weeknd if he made HEVY(see: good) music.
We just had a conversation about Northlane and how their album was a grower. This album, I should have thoroughly hated. “What is this dang ol’ Weeknd crap in muh Metal!” I would have said. Luckily, I listen to Issues(RIP), i’m willing to give anything a go. Glad I did here, a fantastic medley of HEVY de-tuned guitars set to catchy-as-fuck melodies. The definitive gateway drug to the HEVY side of things. Just show someone CONCRETE JUNGLE, or THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND and they’ll be all in. Plenty of great stuff in between though. The What It Cost / Like A Villain two-fer is the slow groove go to for me. Hell, maybe you want the guilty pleasures of Bad Decisions or IDWT$. Or maybe you wanna smash a fuckers head in, you go with ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE. See? Something for everyone.
Favorite Track(s): What It Cost / Like A Villain
4. Tallah - The Generation Of Danger (Originally #.2)
Genre: Nu-Metal
Listen If You Love: KoRn in your Slipknot
Recency bias took this over the edge for me when I originally wrote the list. That’s not to say it wasn’t deserving of the spot….it absolutely was. But after marinating on it, it’s #2 for me from them. While it’s still the most fantastic display of visceral vocal work and HEVY insanity you’ll hear in music. It doesn’t have some of the catchiness that I go back for like in their debut. Despite that, you should absolutely give it a listen, though it’s not for the faint of heart. The sheer brutality tour-de-force that is Tallah would destroy those with weak constitutions.
Favorite Track: Shaken (not stirred)
3. Orthodox - Learning To Dissolve (Originally #.3)
Genre: Hardcore Groove Metal
Listen If You Love: Pantera
Pure. Unadulterated. RIFFAGE. The most groove in pure metal i’ve heard since Lamb Of God or Pantera. You come for the riffs, you stay…for more riffs. I can’t even put into words the perfection of the guitar and drum work on display here. Honestly the vocal work is really the only slight I could give the band. It’s just okay, it fits. Just make it through Feel It Linger, especially after the outro. If somehow you don’t bang you head to that….check your pulse. The standout, if there has to be one, is Cave In. This GOD TIER riffage sinks its teeth in with the pinch harmonic laden intro and only gets better from there. Just dive in, my words can’t possibly do it justice. Massively underrated band.
Favorite Track: Cave In
2. Moodring - Stargazer (Originally somehow not included)
Genre: Shoegaze-y Nu-metal
Listen If You Love: Deftones, but done (way) better.
If there was ever a bigger fuck up on my end, it was not including this masterpiece in my list last year. But one I intend to rectify here. It absolutely belongs here at 2. A euphoric level of shoegaze slathered with riffs and fantastic melodies. Somehow I only listened to this once and put it aside…not picking it back up until this year. What the hell was I on, this is like Loathe and Breaking Benjamin put together, HOW AM I NOT ON THAT. Anyways, this album is a joy front to back. My favorite track by far, though, is Red Light Gossip. The chorus, THE CHORUS, and by god the solo, so simple but got damn it’s so friggin good. You’ll be hearing more about Moodring very soon, no worries.
Favorite Track: Red Light Gossip
Fit For An Autopsy - Oh What The Future Holds (Originally #.1)
Genre: Deathcore
Listen If You Love: Gojira but HEVYer
There wasn’t anything that was going to beat this, short of a Loathe or Knocked Loose record releasing retroactively in 2022. The other album on my list from the Deathcore day that was January 14th along with Enterprise Earth’s record. Improving on a disappointing album is one thing, but they somehow improved on the perfection that was The Great Collapse from 2017. This album had the unfortunate(?) position of being album of the year IN EARLY JANUARY. Everything that came out afterwards, never came close. Which is probably why I feel the slight tinge of disappointment whenever I revisit this year. But it isn’t because the albums after it were bad, not at all. Fit For An Autopsy just so happened to put out an all timer album and nothing could top it for me. Now it competes with the decade, only time will tell if it holds up then. But as for the album itself, you have to experience it in it’s entirety. You don’t get much better songwriting in the genre as a whole like this. Some of the HEVYest riffs ever put down. Go in with the self titled track, come out having heard the best Metal has to offer. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the JUGGERNAUT of riffage that is A Higher Level Of Hate.
Favorite Track: A Higher Level Of Hate
And with that, we have finally concluded the Re-Rank’d series! These 2 months of revisiting and re-ranking albums have been an absolute blast. 2023 is now on the horizon. We’ll see just how big we go, but until then. Thanks for reading!