I like this new self-titled Ignite album way more than I thought I would. The singles were pretty good, and well... the album is too. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the band without Zoli Teglas on vocals, but Eli Santana (guitarist of Holy Grail...) is doing a good job as frontman. The only major complaint I have about the album is the cover art, which is kinda lame. In any case, it's a perfectly solid piece of melodic punk.

Oh, and Zoli Teglas now has a godawful buttrock band called Ocean Hills so it might be a good thing he left because if he dragged Ignite in that direction... hoo boy.

I had that Ignite album on yesterday and I agree, it's very good.

Also enjoyed the new Maren Morris album that came out yesterday. Catchy, pop infused country.

Favorite so far this year outside of metal has been the new Cloud Cult.

Love this new Pup album very much.
I think they may be incapable of doing anything wrong at this point.

Carpenter Brut's new album is out and I've been spinning the one track that had Gunship as a guest all day today. Freakin' banger of an album and a major step up from Leather Teeth.

I love the new Pup albums as well (the first two songs especially). Morbid Stuff is an all-timer for me, so it was almost impossible to not be a LITTLE let down by this one, but hopefully the rest will continue to grow on me.

The new Duster (slowcore/indie rock/kinda shoegazey at times) is pretty much flawless front to back. Also has some of the best guitar and bass tones I've heard in a good while. https://dusternumero.bandcamp.com/album/together

They aren't accepted here, which is an entirely different debate, but the album "Plague God" from Absent In Body is fucking great.

^I'm so mad (those damn mods man) because that's basically my METAL AOTY at the moment.

Denzel Curry's Melt My Eyez See Your Future is my hip hop AOTY at the moment.

All these are subject to change of course, there's still 8 good months to go.

I think I'm still leaning towards Leather Teeth being better but I'm loving Leather Terror so far. The singles didn't totally grab me at first but everything really works in context and flows really well as an album.

a few great releases in the prog-rock world have dropped. Both of these are stellar....sublime melodies & fantastic vocals (especially with the harmonies on the "Troika" album):

D'Virgilio / Morse / Jennings - "Troika"
Supergroup featuring members of Big Big Train, Transatlantic/Flying Colors, Haken, and Spock's Beard alumni.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ang06EBf8VA

Big Big Train - "Welcome to the Planet"
Singer's a dead ringer for Peter Gabriel (although I believe he passed away a few months back). Great band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST5lsoH ... jzZM8HkAVp

https://officialjackwhite.bandcamp.com/ ... f-the-dawn
https://fatherjohnmisty.bandcamp.com/al ... th-century

New Jack White and Father John Misty released today. The FJM is very different - slow, pensive, cinematic. Like he's a lounge singer in an old 50s Hollywood hotel. Arresting stuff even if not as immediate as some of his old stuff.

Listening to Jack's now - explosive, punch-in-the-face guitar acrobatics. Wild. I'm gonna be fucking obsessed with this I can tell.

The last song on the new Father John is brilliant.

Yeah, that one is a real great track - wizened and surreal and with amazing lyrics. The whole thing feels like it'll take some time to parse. I need to read these fucking lyrics in more detail.

Japanese art pop/rock outfit Cö shu Nie's latest album "Flos Ex Machina" I found to be pretty enjoyable. I do feel they're a bit constrained being on Sony though (their indie material was more experimental), but they still manage to get a few screwball moments in.

Boris' "W" - it's a shoegazing album and, while definitely too short, is very good!

Edit: Just finished Darkher's "The Buried Storm." It came out about two hours ago, as of wroting this comment. It is an incredible, ethereal mix of Neofolk, Doom Metal, and Post-rock with chilling female vocals. My second-place AotY, thus far, behind Sidus Atrum's (metal) Spiral of Life.

It is indeed great, but it's completely not my thing (way too electronic/industrial for me; it's so loud it's grating and just the first song set off my tinnitus), which is a shame because Neurosis is my favorite band of all time. I think it should belong here because it's a side-project for several artists that ARE on the MA. Otherwise, it really doesn't meet the inconsistent criteria this site has arbitrated for "metal inclusion," with which, and I've stated this before, I completely disagree, ergo, my signature yo.

Wow, putting an album as your second favorite of the year within hours of hearing it is pretty bold. I just finished it myself though, I'd quite been looking forward to it. However, I'm not so sure about neofolk, it doesn't have a martial sound, and the vibe is different than the neofolk I've heard. This is more in the Chelsea Wolfe vein, in what I would call doom folk, which is melancholic, ominous folk with influences from doom metal, gothic rock, ethereal wave, sometimes darkwave, industrial. Kind of a cousin to neofolk, but not really the same, I don't think, neofolk is usually less pretty and even less accessible. Not sure I'm hearing post-rock either. But regardless, I certainly imagine it's going to be fairly high up my end of the year list once I'm more familiar with it though. You should hear Emily Jane White's album Alluvion from this year though if you haven't, it's a bit less foreboding version of this, and Jayn/Darkher even guests on a track.

You're totally right about the neofolk objection. It doesn't have the trademark tribality for which neofolk is known (I guess that would be "martial," as you stated). To be fair, folk subgenres are not my speciality. It's because of the ambience that I called it neofolk, but then I also compared it with Post-rock, which would cover that. I suppose it's time to coin a new term for this brand of atmospheric, but constrained style of "doom folk," perhaps "post-folk?" Frankly, I dislike Chelsea Wolf. Her music is just so... soulless, you know? People keep recommending Alluvion, so I'll def try it out next!

The only reason its so high so early is that this year has been disappointing, thus far, to say the least. But one thing I've noticed is that all the good releases are fronted by women. I guess 2022 is the year of ambient soundscapes with ethereal and cathartic female vocals, it seems. m

Yeah, they haven't been my historical forte either, but I've been diving into them a lot more in the past few years and it's become some of my favorite stuff of late. After thinking and reading about it off and on, the terms I like at the moment are doom folk, for the darker stuff, and dream folk, for the lighter material. A lot of artists drift between them. I liked "funeral folk" for awhile, but changed my mind, it's too intense and on the nose. Apocalyptic folk is already an AKA of neofolk. Dark folk is more of a specific Nordic neofolk offshoot. Post-folk is interesting, though it seems to limit it to just post-rock influences. Ethereal folk, ambient folk, atmospheric folk, lots of choices, but getting one in particular to catch on will probably be tricky. It's a bit Procrustean anyway, since artists have all kinds of different influences they bring to it, and it's some degree of arbitrarily lumping them together because they don't fit the common and/or traditional folk categories.



Yikes, she's actually one of my favorite artists, but oh well, I guess we can't all like the same ones. Interesting that you'd like Darkher and not her, given how many uncanny similarities they have, though Darkher is more focused and Chelsea does a broader range of styles, which obviously don't appeal to everyone.



What have you liked this year of that description, metal or otherwise? I notice you already mentioned Boris, who I historically haven't been crazy about, but it could be worth another shot. Have you heard Sylvaine's? She seems like she could be up your alley if you like post rock-influenced music.

I'm really liking this new album from GGGOLDDD (formerly known as just GOLD). I'm not sure what genre it is exactly, but RYM has it tagged as Darkwave and Post-Metal.

I really liked Peter Donohoe's new Felix Mendelssohn album "Songs without Words, Volume 1". He doesn't play the 'books' in order, but instead plays various pieces from each. I would normally consider this a huge a detraction since I like things to be orderly, but the way he plays and his tone totally makes up for it. I'm not a professional music reviewer, so the only way I can describe it is that it sounds rich, full of warmth and heart. This is different from another pianist I enjoy, Ronald Brautigam, who also did the Songs without Words (and in order!!!) whose sound is more 'bouncy'/spry/brisk. Donohoe's interpretation are more mid-paced and have a touch of melancholy to them, which is perfect for those dark, rainy days.

A few samples:

Pusha T's It's Almost Dry has that bombastic big picture sheen that classic hip hop albums from big names in the past did. I love that he's of that ilk but still incredibly engaging as a rapper with his whole "cocaine rap" persona. This has a spot on the best albums of 2022 so far. On repeat!!!!

The new Miranda Lambert album Palomino came out yesterday and it's fantastic. It's really accessible, catchy country, but not in the glossy, overly poppy way some acts are these days. Anyone familiar with The Marfa Tapes collab album she did last year - she's redone three of those songs here. As far as recording artists go, she's probably the most dependable act out there for me right now.

Agreed. I've been a huge fan since Fear of God II, and while this isn't as incredible as "Daytona" (which is one of my favourite hip-hop albums of all time), it's still fantastic. "Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes" is the banger of a lifetime.

Daytona was short and sweet but this is getting more plays out of me. "Brambleton" is killer - Push always comes through with massive openers - "Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes" is a banger indeed and his bars are just so stylish, "Neck & Wrist" with Jay-Z is killer (how is he still this good???) and "Just So You Remember" and all the vintage Kanye West production is also doing it for me though "Rock N Roll" with Kanye and Kid Cudi is my least favorite of everything so far.

Loving "Beautiful Distortion", The Gathering's new album.

Bought the album after trying "Call My Bluff." Sounds good to me, yeah. My hip hop knowledge is not nearly good enough to compare it to shit, but it sounds fucking incredible and it all flows very well.

A lot of good to great hip hop albums this year including the new Black Star, their first in 24 years. I've already heard the leaked version and I wanted a physical copy only to discover they're releasing it exclusively on some app called Luminary that requires fans to subscribe. I understand artists are sick of Spotify and how streaming platforms in general are handling album rollouts these days but this move only fucks the fans in the end. Don't normally agree with Fantano on everything but he's spot on here. This album's really good though (Madlib on production!!!) but no one wants your damn podcast service Talib Kweli for $5 every month just to hear the new Black Star lol.

The Waterboys – All Souls Hill

The last couple of Waterboys albums ("Out of all this Blue", "Where the Action Is", "Good Luck, Seeker") were surprising and interesting but difficult to digest because 'celtic soul with a hip-hop production' (or whatever it was Mike Scott was trying to get out of his system) wasn't what anyone expected or wanted to hear from those Scottish, Irish, American, cosmopolitan veterans. The new one is arguably even more difficult since it mixes rootsy influences (from blues, jazz etc.) with a lack of energy and rather faceless pop hooks that could have come from anywhere. Most tracks are ballads, smoke from a window, driftwood (in stagnant, not streaming, water). 6/10

That doesn't mean there are no top class moments on "All Souls Hill", e.g. "Hollywood Blues". The verses are a bit Bowie-y while the chorus is a distant (and long estranged) relative of Priest's "Last Rose of Summer":

Enjoying the new Arcade Fire album. Especially after how much I hated the last one.

Ann Wilson – Fierce Bliss

Wow. Next month she'll be 72 but here her voice often sounds almost exactly like on "Desire Walks On" from 1993. (I know, I know... – I'm only playing the "great – considering the artist's age card" because, on the last couple of Heart albums, that voice wasn't 100 % there – but here it's on fire!)

The music: there's blues, 70s influences, grunge influences (natch because the Seattle grunge scene thrived in the soil that had been fertilised by Heart in the 70s) and a pinch of that British post-punk-U2ness that can create a feeling of timelessness when combined with the older and more traditional influences (see e.g. the opener "Greed").

Like the best Heart albums, Ann's new tracks (plus a couple of covers) have an edge, a growl and a rumble. The funny thing is: they never sound like Heart. Three cheers for creativity! 8/10

Technically the album has yet to be released but all the songs were released as singles during this winter. Does it count?

Initial thoughts regarding Kendrick Lamar's double album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers: worth the wait and worth the weight. billy woods' Aethiopes is still my favorite rap album of the year so far but this is Hip Hop Major Blockbuster Culture Moment shit right here haha.

I quite like the Lalalar debut. They mix Turkish traditional music with various more modern western styles, it's pretty all over the place but it works for sure.

https://lalalar.bandcamp.com

For anyone into Chelsea Wolfe, Marissa Nadler, Thayer Sarrano or stuff like Death In Vegas, I highly suggest this:

That track is by far the darkest song on it, but it's a pretty enjoyable and relaxing album. "A House in Nebraska" was the other standout for me. It's probably closer to someone like Lana Del Rey than Chelsea.

Anybody enjoying the new Cave In? I had assumed Final Transmission was intended to be their last album, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard they released a new one. And then I was ecstatic when I found out it's actually excellent.

I expect disagreement, but I personally think the Envy Of None record is outstanding. Extremely well done atmospheric female fronted alterna-pop with electronic/slight industrial flourishes. Fantastic songcraft and arrangements.

I get that people were disappointed because Alex Lifeson is playing decidedly un-Rush like music with a decidedly un-Rush like approach (this album basically has no traditional earmarks of his playing style), but if those expectations and preconceived notions are put aside and the music taken at face value, it’s a truly engaging listen.

I understand why after 45 years of making music with someone and then they pass away, he would want to do something totally different than what he’s known for. And truthfully, if he was gonna do Rush like music, it has to be with Geddy Lee anyhow (while they are still both around to do it), not with some upstart band project.

At any rate, I very much enjoyed this record.

I really like this new Joyce Manor album "40 Oz. to Fresno". The definition of short but sweet - only 16 minutes... but it's still not their shortest, that would be "Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired" (13 minutes, lol).