In today's world we need the hateful nature of black metal more than ever. Here is the best of the current crop. As with years past I sort through the genre lists before making the overall top ten of the year list. I know many of you are ready for 2022 to be over with. Hate to break it to you but nothing is getting better next year. The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. You can bitch and complain about your favorite band not being on the list. I listen to five new albums a day so yes, I heard your favorite album and was not impressed. No, I do not care what you think about it. I do hope you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top 10 Black Metal albums of 2022
10-Abhor- "Sex , Sex, Sex"
The 8th album by this Italian black metal band, finds them in a similar place that captures a horror movie feel and pays homage to occult b-movies of the 70s and 80s.Their sound touches on a Mercyful Fate like place that also invokes a similar spirit to Acid Witch. The writing is very deliberate, and mood perfectly captured. The bulk of the blast beats are far and few between though they do show up from time to time
Abysmal Hymns: Abhor :"Sex Sex Sex"
9-Pamzerfaust-" The Suns of Perdition, Chapter III: The Astral Drain"
If these guys are always as dark and sonically sinister as are on their 6th album, then I have been missing out. The lack of blast beats is inspiring and while the dense sound has a great deal in common with sludge, this still feels very much like black metal. While I like all the creepy elements of their sound that they have in play, The throaty roar of the vocals could also be applied to so sludge or death metal band as there is less of a scream to them than what you expect from death metal. This album captures one of the year's best evil auras.
Abysmal Hymns: Panzerfaust :" The Suns of Perdition, Chapter III: The Astral Drain"
8-Freja - "Tides"
This duo from the Netherlands is very interesting in their approach to atmospheric black metal. The have little in common with Deafheaven. Myrkur might be a better comparison at time with the female vocals are layered around the otherwise epic pounding that is burlier than anything the black gaze bands would do though they do weave in some cool melodic ambiance in the midst of their charge ahead. It made for one of the more interesting journeys into the darkness.
Abysmal Hymns: Freja : "Tides"
7-Deathspell Omega- "the Long Defeat"
The French Black metal project's 8th full length. The bar is always high for these guys as they continue to make music that challenges both themselves and the listener. This album is both their most accessible work and some of the densest darkest atmosphere they have dug into in some time. The vocals are varied from a proclamation to croaks and gurgles. The bass tone is their sickest yet. They drape everything in dissonance. Not a depressive black metal band, but they touch on a similar gut-wrenching vibe
Abysmal Hymns: Deathspell Omega : "the Long Defeat"
6-Blut Aus Nord- "Disharmonium -Undreamable Abysses"
Heading back into their darker heavier roots this French Black Metal projects returns to their sinful ways of summoning ancient evils by opening portals of sound for nameless horrors to slither from. Ripe with Lovecraft references, at times they are as close to a straightforward black metal as we have gotten from these guys in sometime, with that said we have to consider who is making this music and how in the past decade they have gotten further and further from convention.
Abysmal Hymns: Blut Aus Nord : "Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses"
5-Sigh- "Shiki"
Heavier and less progressive than their past few albums, they also offer up more blast beats in the first two songs than I have heard from these guys in the past decade. Not that they are back to being a black metal band, they dip into other styles of metal as well to create some of the most accessible grooves and head banging riffage t I have heard from these guys with dumbed down with less of the manic jerking into other styles, crossing a broad range of musical colors, but it is done in a more flowing organic fashion. It is the undercurrent of anger that earned their place back to this list.
4-White Ward -" False Light"
The third album from Ukrainian black metal band, starts off with a more typical aggression that might come to mind when you think of black metal. I was a huge fan of their 2019 album "Love Exchange Failure" in how it blended jazz with the genre. They continue to perfect what they embarked upon there, creating something that transcends the genre, while still being true to black metal's mood.
Abysmal Hymns: White Ward : "False Light"
3-Watain-"the Agony and Ecstasy of Watain"
Their 7th full length finds Watain continuing to show how they change and yet stay the same with each album. The production is crisp and big without losing what makes them sound like themselves. In fact, if you stripped away a lot of the symphonic tones from Dimmu Borgir's earlier work comparisons can be drawn sonically. They have often been accused of sounding like Dissection and I think those comparisons are long gone here. If you are a fan like I am then this is what you want from them.
Abysmal Hymns: Black Metal History Month- Watain : "the Agony and Ecstasy of Watain"
2-Darkthrone- "Astral Fortress"
Watain put out an album that was what I expected from them, Darkthrone put out an album I did not expect from them and that is how they earned the number two spot. On their 19th album it's good to hear these guys get back in the direction of black metal. If they had pumped out another tribute to Celtic Frost or a Venom sounding punk album, I would have been less surprised. This more blackened offering is not them trying to recreate what they did in the 90s, but a darker turn from where they were already heading.
Abysmal Hymns: Darkthrone : "Astral Fortress"
1-Black Anvil - "Regenesis"
This was tough, at the end of the day New York's blackened trio charged out of the gates with a great deal of power, but the scope of what they do and how finely keened their songwriting is this time around is what earned them the number one spot over bands that I might be a bigger fan of. So, it speaks very loudly that repeat listens to this album were able to sway me away from fine albums by band's I am more connected to. These guys were always ok in my book, and I enjoyed what they did, but this time they have taken it to the next level when it comes to the epic scope of the black metal they have created here
Abysmal Hymns: Black Anvil : "Regenesis"
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