20: Metric - “Formentera”
Indie Rock/New Wave/Synth Pop
Metric is a band with a great blend of rock and pop with a lot of dark tones and excellent synth usage. Their opening track for this album, “Doomscroller”, is a ten-minute opus that exemplifies this. If we’re ever going to see a genre evolution with anything termed “New Emo”, Metric should be the standard-bearer. I mean, look at “All Comes Crashing” - it’s a love song for the times we live in, the crux being that *when* it all comes crashing down, there’s nobody else I would rather be with than *you*. It’s deeply romantic and fatalistic, and absolutely one of my favorite tracks of 2022.
Metric is also very much a shoegaze band, and some tracks like the title track, “Formentera”, “I Will Never Settle”, and “Paths in the Sky” showcase these skills with some intricate melodies and harmonies that are, frankly, chill-inducing. “Enemies of the Ocean” is a bit less complex, but no less gorgeous. Much of this album equates to ear candy, and I’m happy to have it in my top 20.
19: Bad Omens - “The Death of Peace of Mind”
Metalcore
I’m hard-pressed to figure out what other genres this album dovetails with, but it’s my top metalcore album of the year, for sure.
Metalcore is a genre full of harsh, raw sounds and emotions. And that’s all present on this album, but it’s also just *silky* smooth. Like, this album is *glossy* while still having all of the harsh metalcore benchmarks. I don’t know how much is production or Noah Sebastian’s pitch-perfect falsetto, tone control, or transitions to harsh vocals. What I do know is that this album feels like a masterclass in how artistic the genre can be while being composed in such a way that it’s approachable for those who are normally turned off entirely by the genre’s harshness.
It’s a Metalcore gateway drug.
And it’s damn-near perfect, and completely addicting, start to finish. It’s beautiful (lyrically and melodically), it’s aggressive, it’s emotionally raw and dark. It’s a phenomenal album.
18: Brye - “Dream Girl"
Indie Pop/Synth Pop
Brye, the indie singer/songwriter who first gained popularity with “Lemons”, finally released an album. And, please understand that this “album” has been penalized in the rankings because it really isn’t a full-length album. It’s like EP-length, at just 25 minutes. But all eight of the tracks present are extraordinary.
Listening to it, it’s clear that she’s the only artist here. She is her own producer, manufactures her own accompaniment, and writes it all. And these songs are layered and deep. She’s incredibly talented, and I’m stoked to see where she goes from here. I’m on the hype train and I think you should be, too. If you aren’t willing to take me at my word, listen to “Everything at Once” or “Rebuilding” - then give it a second and third listen and see how many additional elements you can pick up, how the composition is layered together with these various elements.
As short as it is, this album deserves to be here.
17: Seventh Wonder - “The Testament”
Power Metal/Symphonic Metal/Prog Metal
I love Kamelot. They’re one of my favorite ba—.... Oh, Right. Seventh Wonder.
Okay, yes, this is honestly one of Seventh Wonder’s best albums to date. The instrumentation is *tight* and the melodies are gorgeous. And Tommy Karevik is an incredible vocalist. Every song on the album is fantastic.
But it *really* does sound like a Kamelot album, except maybe with a slightly lower production value. Oh, and except for the instrumental, “Reflections”, that sounds like a Dream Theater song. And that’s really the harshest criticism I can give the album - Seventh Wonder is incredibly talented, but they really just don’t have their own sound. They haven’t found it yet.
Otherwise, this would likely be a top ten album. Still, it served to whet my appetite for the Kamelot album coming out in early 2023.
16: Lights - “PEP”
Pop/Electropop
Lights is, at this point, one of my favorite pop acts. Still not very well-known, but her music is always incredibly good. And this album has, for that reason (plus the fact that it released on April 1), been one of my most-played albums of the year. Might’ve worn myself out on it a bit. But these songs are incredible.
“Money in the Bag” has unbeatable energy and attitude; “Sparky” is one of the boppiest bops of the year; “Rent” is a grade-A meme song that doesn’t just exist for the lolz; “Voices Carry” brings in some New Wave and Prog elements and just sounds incredible. I could go on. It is definitely one of the brightest albums (also literally, if you’re looking at cover art) of the year, and it set a really positive tone for Pop releases early in the year.
15: Beyonce - “Renaissance”
Dance/R&B/House
I haven’t yet gone back to listen to “Lemonade”. This album has made that a priority.
Anybody who tells you that this is their AOTY, I guarantee, is in a defensible position. Honestly, we’re at a point in the list where any albums after this one - I just won’t argue with anybody who says it’s their AOTY (there are also some that fall lower on my list, or even missed my personal top 40, that meet that criteria).
“Renaissance” is a fucking RIDE, start to finish. I mean, I think that’s why the cover art is Beyonce on a sterling stallion. And any *dirty-minded* connotations that the word or the cover brings to mind…they’re warranted. It’s very sexual. But holy shit, it’s good. This is nowhere near my personal preference for music, but it made my top fifteen out of *checks notes* 138 albums scored in 2022?
Listen to it straight through. Planning an hour to do chores? Pop this on in your headphones or in the background. It’s got the energy you need, and it’s good.
14: Noah Kahan - “Stick Season”
Indie Folk/Indie Rock
Big thanks to Lauren for pointing this one out to me.
Noah Kahan is an incredible talent. Lyrically, this album is impeccable. And of the 14 tracks spanning 55 minutes, there are only a couple of forgettable-ish songs here. The bulk of it is incredible, and it does what folk music does best - gives voice to the daily lives and agonies of the people. In Noah’s case, he really speaks comfortably for people in New England, especially with tracks like “Stick Season”, “Northern Attitude”, and “Homesick”.
“Orange Juice” is the sleeper track on the album. You don’t realize how good it is until you fully digest the lyrics, so don’t listen to it distracted.
This album is full of depth, with tracks both tragic and anthemic. It’s beautiful and has something for everybody. I love it.
13: Silversun Pickups - “Physical Thrills”
Alt Rock/Indie Rock
Okay, my ears aren’t savvy enough to know *exactly* what this album is doing - I never took any music theory classes or learned to be able to tell what key a song is just by hearing it. So, please, help me. Marshall? Anybody? lol
Because holy crap this album is just ethereal and haunting from the outset. Many songs are either in a minor key or are just composed with a shit-ton of accidentals. Listen to the album opener, “Stillness (Way Beyond)”, and you’ll hear it. It really sets the tone for the album - so while I believe the majority are definitely in a major key, I’m hearing flats all over the place. I love it, and I get chills from so many of these songs. Maybe that’s part of where the album title comes from.
All of that aside, this album really fires on all cylinders. It’s haunting and mournful, it’s energetic and poppy at points, and it brings in ample fun melodies and production elements to ensure that each song is delicious in its own way.
12: Kendrick Lamar - “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”
Conscious Hip Hop
Kendrick Lamar’s newest album takes a bit to digest. I still don’t think I’m done. But it’s worth the effort.
It uses a frame structure, with therapy sessions and confessions serving as a structure to hold the thing together. The album is very much a man coming to terms with his own demons, overcoming his past and his traumas, and paints this effort as a necessary exercise that he, and all of us really, *must* undertake in order to break the chain of generational trauma.
Conscious hip hop is really an apt genre title, and this album fits it like a glove.
There are some really addictive songs here - serious earworms thanks to the various composition and production elements. And, overall, it’s a fairly laid-back affair with sung vocals along with rapped lines. It’s easily my favorite hip hop album of the year.
11: Blind Guardian - “The God Machine”
Power Metal/Speed Metal
The last Blind Guardian album before “The God Machine” (not counting the Twilight Orchestra album, which I count as a separate project) released in 2015. The last *good* BG album released in 2010. That’s a long time.
The band is getting older. They’re technically the second-oldest band on this year’s list, as they started in 1984, just three years after Tears For Fears. They haven’t got many releases left - and I’ve been anxious about this album for years.
And it’s phenomenal. I don’t think it’s quite as memorable as the music they made at their peak in the late 90s and early 00s, but it meets what I was hoping for. And of all the bands with gimmicks, they have the best one: literature. Which is why I’m actually hoping that BG might pass the torch, somehow, rather than just retiring. They might only have one or two albums left in them now, but it’s incredible to get this level of quality out of them after all these years. I’m so happy.