Aah Christmas time! A time to kick back and relax. Sports fans rejoice in assessing the Best Free Bets ahead of a busy festive period, whilst most simply revel in having a little more free time than usual. As music fans, one of our favourite ways in which to while away those leisure hours is to take a look back at the best releases from the year just gone.
2022 has provided no shortage of highlights, with acts from the majority of sub-genres hitting the metal news headlines for all the right reasons. Here we adjust the receiver to the Black Metal frequency and pick out the five records which darkened our days in the best of ways in 2022.
Behemoth – Opvs Contra Natvram
Polish extreme metal titans, Behemoth, returned in 2022 with their first release since 2018’s I Loved You At Your Darkest. Now 27 years into a career which has seen the band become one of their nation’s most famous musical exports, Behemoth are exuding confidence on this latest release. In parts as vicious and bludgeoning as ever, moments of calm and melodic ages provide welcome oases of calm within the storm. Whilst possibly not quite hitting the heights of the stellar “The Satanist” of 2014, this is still a healthy notch above most releases in the genre.
Gaerea – Mirage
Exploding onto the scene in 2018 with Unsettling Whispers and following up with the well-received Limbo in 2020, the masked quintet Gaerea are back to assault your senses once more. Whilst on the face of it there is nothing particularly new or unique about the Portuguese outfit’s combination of blast beats and icy tremolos, these aspects seem to take on a significant emotional heft when focussed through the Gaerea lense. A cathartic listen containing moments of pure brilliance, Mirage adds the faintest glimmer of hope to the darkness, and continues a three-album run that few bands can match.
Doldrum – The Knocking, or the Story of the Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance
Easily one of the year’s most intriguing debut efforts comes from this Colorado/Massachusetts outfit. Plumbing the depths of the darker elements of American folklore, The Knocking……takes listeners on a disturbing but ultimately rewarding adventure. A concept album of rare class, particularly from so new a band, the distorted rhythms, off-kilter guitar work and tunnelling grooves grip like a vice over the course of this 36-minute occult vision. A band to keep an eye on!
Wake – Thought Form Descent
Emerging in 2009 as a straight-up Grindcore outfit, Toronto band Wake have undergone quite the transformation in recent years. 2018’s Misery Rites hinted at a change of direction, with that vision being more fully realised on 2020’s excellent Devouring Rain. Thought Form Descent continues in the same vein as its predecessor, layering impressive melodies and elements of death and doom over a fiery and relentless up-tempo fury. A concept album chronicling the protagonist’s efforts to escape reality, Wake invites you to come along for the ride and, chances are, you won’t be disappointed.
Nechochwen – Kanawha Black
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Aaron Carey and rhythm section connoisseur Andrew D’Cagna present their fourth full-length release, and first since the much-ired Heart Of Akamon in 2015. Quite the wait for fans, but the West Virginia duo have come up with trumps with Kanawha Black.
As ever taking inspiration from Native American traditions and spirituality, the duo displays their full range here, pushing the boundaries of Black Metal ever further. Occasionally veering into Death and Doom, it is the fingerprints of Prog and Folk Metal which are most clearly visible. Mixing clean vocals with deathly roars, this is no doubt something of a smorgasbord of an album but is nevertheless a richly satisfying experience.
