Album Of The Year 2022

Disturbed – Divisive

November 18, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Alternative metal / Hard rock
Label: Reprise Records
Release date: 18 November 2022

Disturbed’s eighth studio album was produced by Drew Fulk and it is short, 10 songs in under 40 minutes, and built for radio. “Hey You” and “Unstoppable” are the expected stompers, with David Draiman barking over chunky mid-tempo riffs and big, simple choruses. The title track is the angriest thing here and works best.

The rest is hit and miss. “Don’t Tell Me”, a duet with Heart’s Ann Wilson, is the one real surprise and genuinely moving. Elsewhere the formula is starting to show its seams, and a few tracks sound like leftovers from the last two records. Fans will be happy, but it won’t win over anyone new.

Best tracks:

Hey You
Divisive
Unstoppable
Don’t Tell Me

Author’s rating: 7.2/10

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Devin Townsend – Lightwork

November 4, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Canada
Style: Progressive metal
Label: InsideOut Music
Release date: 4 November 2022

Lightwork is a more song-oriented, more direct album than what Townsend had been doing lately, and it wears that proudly. Next to the controlled chaos of Empath, this is a calm record, written through the pandemic and co-produced with Garth Richardson.

The big, glowing choruses are the point. “Lightworker” builds to one of those huge Devy walls of vocals and keyboards that makes the hair on your arms stand up, and “Call of the Void” is about as catchy as he gets. “Heartbreaker” is the closest thing to proper prog here, and “Dimensions” finally lets some heavier, industrial grind in, which comes as a relief by that point.

Anyone hoping for the heavy Devin will find the middle section a bit too comfortable. The companion disc Nightwork, included with the limited editions, is the weirder and looser listen. Taken on its own terms, Lightwork is warm, generous and very nicely made.

Best tracks:

Lightworker
Call of the Void
Heartbreaker
Dimensions

Author’s rating: 8.1/10

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Darkthrone – Astral Fortress

October 28, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Norway
Style: Black metal / Heavy metal
Label: Peaceville Records
Release date: 28 October 2022

Darkthrone’s new album arrived hot on the heels of 2021’s Eternal Hails……, and it might be the best thing they’ve done in this late, old-metal phase of the band. Seven songs. Slow to mid-paced almost all the way through.

It was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, and the sound is warm, dry and wonderfully unpolished, like a rehearsal-room tape that somehow turned out perfect. Opener “Caravan Of Broken Ghosts” takes its time, riding a doomy riff for minutes before it lurches forward into something meaner. “Impeccable Caverns Of Satan” has that crusty, half-thrash gallop Darkthrone have been chasing for years, and it nails it.

The centrepiece is “The Sea Beneath The Seas Of The Sea”, which runs past the ten-minute mark and never feels long. Synths and mellotron creep in around the edges of the record, never taking over, just adding a cold, starry haze that fits the title. Fenriz promised it would be “darker than ever”, and for once the press-release line is honest.

“Stalagmite Necklace” and “Eon 2” deserve a mention too, the latter closing things on a heavy, plodding note that just feels right. If you only know Darkthrone from the early black metal classics, this is a different animal. If you’ve followed their recent records, this is the payoff.

Best tracks:

Caravan Of Broken Ghosts
Impeccable Caverns Of Satan
The Sea Beneath The Seas Of The Sea
Eon 2

Author’s rating: 8.8/10

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Avantasia – A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society

October 21, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Germany
Style: Symphonic power metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: 21 October 2022

A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society is the ninth Avantasia album, produced by Tobias Sammet together with Sascha Paeth. The guest roster is the usual who’s who. Floor Jansen, Michael Kiske and Jørn Lande appear twice each, while Ralf Scheepers, Ronnie Atkins, Bob Catley, Eric Martin and Geoff Tate get one song apiece.

The best moments come early. “The Wicked Rule the Night” lets Scheepers tear through a fast, old-school power metal track, and “Kill the Pain Away” is the strongest of the two Jansen songs, big and dramatic without drowning in strings. “Misplaced Among the Angels”, her second turn, is a power ballad that works mostly because she sells every line. Catley’s “The Moonflower Society” is pure theatre in the way only he can pull off.

The back half is where the record starts to feel like a playlist rather than an album. “Rhyme and Reason” is pleasant hard rock that never quite takes off, and “Scars” gives Tate surprisingly little to work with. Closer “Arabesque” pairs Lande and Kiske and brings some of the ambition back. Fans will have a good time. Nobody else will be converted.

Best tracks:

The Wicked Rule the Night
Kill the Pain Away
The Moonflower Society
Arabesque

Author’s rating: 7.8/10

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Architects – The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit

October 21, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: UK
Style: Metalcore / Alternative metal
Label: Epitaph Records
Release date: 21 October 2022

Architects’ tenth album arrived less than two years after For Those That Wish to Exist, and it plays like a sharper, shorter follow-up to it. Drummer Dan Searle and guitarist Josh Middleton produced it themselves, partly at the band’s own Electric Studios in Brighton, and the sound is all industrial stomp, programmed pulses and huge, clean choruses.

When it works, it really works. “Tear Gas” has a groove you can feel in your teeth, and “When We Were Young” is a proper arena anthem with Sam Carter at full stretch. “Deep Fake” is a tight, nasty opener.

The problem is how little of the old Architects is left. The breakdowns are mostly gone, the riffs rarely go anywhere unexpected, and by “Born Again Pessimist” the stomp-and-chant formula starts to feel like a template. If you came for the older, heavier records you may miss the edge. If you want a big, polished rock record with metal muscle, this delivers.

Best tracks:

Deep Fake
Tear Gas
When We Were Young
All the Love in the World

Author’s rating: 7.3/10

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Lorna Shore – Pain Remains

October 14, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Blackened deathcore
Label: Century Media
Release date: 14 October 2022

Pain Remains is Lorna Shore’s fourth album, and it is enormous. Ten songs, an hour of music, and orchestration from guitarist Andrew O’Connor stacked under nearly every riff. The foundation is deathcore, but the blasting, the choirs and the soaring lead guitar drag it much closer to symphonic black metal than the genre usually gets.

Will Ramos is the main event. His range runs from piercing highs to gurgling lows that barely sound human, and on “Sun//Eater” and “Into the Earth” he flips between them mid-line like it costs him nothing. The lead guitar keeps the songs melodic enough that the breakdowns hit twice as hard when they finally drop.

Then there’s the closing three-part title suite, which is where this album earns everything people say about it. “Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames” builds slowly, the second part turns almost mournful, and “Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire” ends the record on a genuinely emotional high. I’ve played it more than anything else from 2022.

Best tracks:

Sun//Eater
Into the Earth
Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames
Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire

Author’s rating: 9.3/10

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Lamb Of God – Omens

October 7, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Groove metal
Label: Epic / Nuclear Blast
Release date: 7 October 2022

Lamb of God tracked most of Omens live in one room at Henson Recording Studios with producer Josh Wilbur, and you can hear it. Their ninth album has a looser, angrier swing than the 2020 self-titled record, with Art Cruz’s drumming shoving every groove forward.

“Nevermore” is the catchiest thing they’ve done in years, and the title track hits like a hardcore song. “Ditch” and “Gomorrah” bring the classic groove. Randy Blythe sounds properly pissed off from start to finish. Ten songs, no filler worth complaining about.

Best tracks:

Nevermore
Ditch
Omens
Gomorrah

Author’s rating: 8.3/10

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Slipknot – The End, So Far

September 30, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: USA
Style: Alternative metal / Nu metal
Label: Roadrunner Records
Release date: 30 September 2022

Slipknot’s seventh album is the one where they stop trying to prove anything. Produced by the band with Joe Barresi, The End, So Far opens with “Adderall”, a soft, almost lounge-paced crooner that will have some fans checking they pressed play on the right record. It’s a statement of intent, and the rest of the album keeps pulling in two directions.

The heavy side still bites. “The Chapeltown Rag” is pure, jittery Slipknot, all scattershot percussion and Corey Taylor spitting venom, and “The Dying Song (Time To Sing)” finds the sweet spot between that chaos and a chorus big enough for a festival field. “Warranty” is a straight-up riot.

Then there’s the other half. “Yen” is slow, dark and seductive, closer to Stone Sour’s moodier corners than to Iowa, and “De Sade” rides a bluesy, almost classic-rock lead that shouldn’t work but does. Not everything lands. The middle stretch drags, and a few songs feel like ideas waiting for a final push.

The clanging, layered rhythm work is a reminder of how much the extra hands still matter in this band. Patchy, then, but braver than it needed to be.

Best tracks:

The Dying Song (Time To Sing)
The Chapeltown Rag
Yen
Warranty
De Sade

Author’s rating: 8.0/10

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Gaerea – Mirage

September 23, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Portugal
Style: Black metal / Post-black metal
Label: Season of Mist
Release date: 23 September 2022

The third full-length from the masked Portuguese outfit is long and rarely sags. Mirage is built on long, surging songs where tremolo riffs and blast beats keep giving way to wide, melodic passages, then building back up again.

“Salve” and “Mantle” are the most direct cuts, closer to hooks than anything Gaerea had written before. The title track and “Laude” take the slower, heavier road. The vocals are pure anguish throughout, which can wear thin over a long record, but the songwriting is focused enough to carry it.

Best tracks:

Salve
Mirage
Mantle
Laude

Author’s rating: 8.5/10

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Behemoth – Opvs Contra Natvram

September 16, 2022 Published by WeMetalheads

Country: Poland
Style: Blackened death metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: 16 September 2022

Opvs Contra Natvram is Behemoth’s twelfth studio album. The band produced it themselves and brought in Joe Barresi to mix, and the result is ten tracks in a little over 43 minutes, with very little fat on it.

The opening run is the strongest stretch. “Malaria Vvlgata” is pure blast-beat aggression, a short burst and gone. “The Deathless Sun” and “Ov My Herculean Exile” go the other way, built on slow, heavy riffs that give Nergal room to preach. “Off To War!” sits somewhere between the two and has the most memorable chorus on the record.

Nergal has said the title means going against the current, and he named cancel culture and social media as targets. The lyrics are as confrontational as you’d expect. Musically it doesn’t break new ground for Behemoth, but it is consistent and very well executed, and “Versvs Christvs” closes it with real weight.

Best tracks:

Malaria Vvlgata
The Deathless Sun
Ov My Herculean Exile
Off To War!
Versvs Christvs

Author’s rating: 8.3/10

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Disturbed – Divisive

Devin Townsend – Lightwork

Darkthrone – Astral Fortress

Avantasia – A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society

Architects – The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit

Lorna Shore – Pain Remains

Lamb Of God – Omens

Slipknot – The End, So Far

Gaerea – Mirage

Behemoth – Opvs Contra Natvram

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