Due to personal shit, burnout and the state of the world following another bleak year, we went a bit quiet at the tail-end of 2021. The less said about last year the better, but we couldn’t quite leave it behind without bookending those twelve months with an obligatory AOTY list. So to kick-off 2022, we’re publishing two lists. The first is this one, where our writers share their top albums of the year, with one to follow later of the albums that got us through the hellish year. Here’s to 2022. Fuck you, 2021.
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George Parr, Editor
- Kowloon Walled City – Piecework
- Marissa Nadler – The Path Of Clouds
- Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
- Aerosol Jesus – Survive
- Daniel Hart – The Green Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Turnstile – Glow On
- Lil Nas X – Montero
- Backxwash – I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses
- Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
- Year Of No Light – Consolamentum
- Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth
- Victory Over The Sun – Nowherer
- Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
- MONO – Pilgrimage Of The Soul
- Big|Brave – Vital
- The Body – I’ve Seen All I Need To See
- Wardruna – Kvitravn
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- Vexed – Culling Culture
Honourable EP mentions: Ethel Cain – Inbred, Izzy’s Daughter – Beyond The Veil, Ellis – Nothing Is Sacred Anymore
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Luke Jackson, Editor
- BackxWash – I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses
- Mare Cognitum – Solar Paroxysm
- Portrayal Of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
- Baazlvaat – The Higher Power
- Half Mortal – Cut Off From The World
- The Body/Big|Brave – Leaving None But Small Birds
- Cryptae – Decrepit Collection
- King Woman – Celestial Blues
- The Silver – Ward Of Roses
- David Fenn – Death’s Door (Original Soundtrack)
- Big|Brave – Vital
- Succumb – XXI
- Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
- Bobby Krlic – Returnal (Original Soundtrack)
- Grandeur – Aurea Aetas
- Vexed – Culling Culture
- Elaine Elaine – Elaine Elaine
- Cadence Weapon – Parallel World
- Portal – Avow
- Lamp Of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery
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Adam Pegg, Writer
- Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
- Daxma – Unmarked Boxes
- Mastiff – Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth
- Aerosol Jesus – Survive
- LLNN – Unmaker
- Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry
- The Hyena Kill – A Disconnect
- Khemmis – Deceiver
- Delving – Hirschbrunnen
- Slow Crush – Hush
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Swamp Coffin – Noose Almighty
- Kowloon Walled City – Piecework
- Portrayal Of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
- BiglBrave – Vital
- Boss Keloid – Family The Smiling Thrush
- Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
- Still – { }
- Everson Poe – Grief
- Concrete Ships – In Observance
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Stuart Wain, Writer
- Lamp of Murmuur – Submission And Slavery
- Halsey – If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power
- Plebeian Grandstand – Rien ne suffit
- BAAZLVAAT – The Higher Power
- Trhä – lhum jolhduc
- Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
- Plague of Insomnia – Luminous
- Tangerine Dream – Probe 6-8
- Sombre Arcane – Realmsong
- Game Genie Sokolov – Renaissance
- Amenra – De Doorn
- Vaelastrasz – The Age Of Defias
- Puddleglum – Even Here
- Jenn Taiga – Lunar Nocturnes And Esoteric Incantations
- Old Nick – A New Generation Of Vampiric Conspiracies
- Caïna – Take Me Away From All This Death
- Stormkeep – Tales Of Othertime
- Cara Neir – Phase Out
- World Eaters – Grinding Advance
- Gallows – 66 Black Wings
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John Higham, Writer (unranked list)
- Every Time I Die – Radical
- Glassing – Twin Dream
- Urne – Serpent & Saint
- Violet Cold – Empire Of Love
- Frontierer – Oxidized
- Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry
- Aesop Rock & Blockhead – Garbology
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Turnstile – Glow On
- Dvne – Etemen Ænka
- Scowl – How Flowers Grow
- Aerosol Jesus – Survive
- Year of no Light – Consolamentum
- Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
- Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
- Knocked Loose – A Tear In The Fabric Of Life
- 200 Stab Wounds – Slave To The Scalpel
- The Armed – Ultrapop
- Dying Wish – Fragments Of A Bitter Reality
- The Bug – Fire
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Nina Saeidi, Writer
- Frontierer – Oxidised
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Turnstile – Glow On
- Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
- Carcass – Torn Arteries
- Mystras – Empires Vanquished And Dismantled
- Malignant Altar – Realms Of Exquisite Morbidity
- 1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet
- Danny Elfman – Big Mess
- Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready
- Lil Nas X – Montero
- Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
- Amenra – De Doorn
- Vokonis – Odyssey
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Memoriam – To The End
- Black Sheep Wall – Songs For The Enamel Queen
- Froglord – Save The Frogs
- Archspire – Bleed The Future
- LLNN – Unmaker
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Simon Young, Writer (unranked list)
- Devoid Of Thought – Outer World Graves
- Cara Neir – Phase Out
- Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms To A Sordid Species
- Genghis Tron – Dream Weapon
- Victory Over The Sun – Nowherer
- Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
- Jute Gyte – Mitrealität
- Celestial Sanctuary – Soul Diminished
- Leprous – Aphelion
- Atvm – Famine, Putrid And Fucking Endless
- Wowod – Yarost’ I Proshchenie
- So Hideous – None But A Pure Heart Can Sing
- Gonemage – Mystical Extraction
- Pupil Slicer – Mirrors
- Yautja – The Lurch
- Everson Poe – Grief
- Wallowing/Thin/Slabdragger/Vixen Maw – split
- Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
- Knoll – Interstice
- Fawn Limbs – Darwin Falls
Honourable EP mentions: Lowen – Unceasing Lamentations, Mountain Caller – Chronicle: Prologue
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Daniel Cadwallader, Writer (unranked list)
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END
- Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry
- Wardruna – Kvitravn
- Billy Bragg – The Million Things That Never Happened
- Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
- Green Lung – Black Harvest
- Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders – Promises
- Mogwai – As The Love Continues
- Turnstile – Glow On
- For Those I Love – For Those I Love
- Various – Fire Draw Near (An Anthology of Irish Traditional Song and Music)
- Divide And Dissolve – Gas Lit
- Khemmis – Deceiver
- Quicksand – Distant Populations
- Stick in the Wheel – Tone Beds For Poetry
- Scowl – How Flowers Grow
- Carcass – Torn Arteries
- Hannah Peel – Fir Wave
- Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
- Converge & Chelsea Wolf – Bloodmoon: I
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John Morrow, Writer
- Cradle Of Filth – Existence Is Futile
- Obscura – A Valediction
- Dream Theater – A View From The Top Of The World
- Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst
- Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana
- At The Gates – The Nightmare Of Being
- Darkthrone – Eternal Hails…
- Tribulation – Where The Gloom Becomes Sound
- Sanguisugabogg – Tortured Whole
- Gojira – Fortitude
- Jess And The Ancient Ones – Vertigo
- John Carpenter – Lost Themes III: Alive After Death
- Lucifer – Lucifer IV
- Archspire – Bleed The Future
- Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3
- Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
- Mastodon – Hushed And Grim
- Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins
- Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
- Hannes Grossmann – To Where The Light Retreats