(At last, the end is upon us. Not the end of our year-end LISTMANIA series (we’re bringing more lists next week), but the end of DGR‘s annual countdown, featuring his Top 10 albums of the year, and a couple of EPs too.)

The final day of the year-end list always has a mixed trove of emotions coming along with it. There’s the relief of finally being able to shut the book on a year – though generally that’s become less and less true as the years have gone on, there’s always something you’ll spot during the holidays that came out two days beforehand – and the greater relief in finally being able to cast this collected musical works out into the wild.

The second one is far more exciting for me because even though it’s just a fifty-album list – and I reiterate, with some surprisingly painful cuts this year, even on stuff I reviewed and enjoyed – there’s knowing that many people may find something in that pile that they’d previously overlooked or just hadn’t gotten a chance to get around to yet. I draw a lot of joy out of knowing that people found music that way – I imagine many people who’re prone to recommending music do – because it makes me feel like even though I’m basically in a ten-foot space clear across the world, I’ve improved someone’s life somewhere in the world incrementally. Even when its a forty-minute long endless blastbeat with someone yelling about the annihilation of the world over the top of it.

This final ten probably won’t shock a lot of you, and looking at it, there’s quite a few bands that’ve been mainstays within my lists over the years. Positions have changed and there’s a couple of new additions, but much like Andy‘s personal top ten, I have my few that I couldn’t help but constantly be drawn into throughout 2022. Continue reading »

(Today we pick up DGR‘s 50-piece year-end countdown with an installment that includes the choices from No. 20 through No. 11.)

We’re in the final reaches of the year-end list and the numbers just seem to be getting lower, no matter how much I try and stop them. This is usually the point in my year-end dunce-cap demonstration wherein the wheels start falling off. Often, when I’m doing these, they happen in a few quick bursts as caffeine-fueled fits of pique and this year is no different – though I like to think I’ve spaced it out a little better as I’ve discovered that doing these all over the course of a day and a half probably is not the healthiest way to be approaching things. So, I says, what if I try two whole days? We’ll see how that works out.

I mentioned it yesterday but this block of the list is going to be a wild one, but also one where you’re going to spot a few critical darlings. I’ve got a few tailor-made-for-DGR bands here, as well as some groups who have just been consistently good and the latest additions to their discography are worthy as well. Tomorrow will be the conclusion of this whole affair, which means I’ll likely be at my spiciest by then so that’ll be something to look forward to.

In the meantime, let’s kick things off with a band whose name I am likely to hear shouted from a few states away from the moment this entry is spotted. Continue reading »

(Today we continue the week-long rollout of DGR‘s year-end list with Part Three, covering his picks from 30 through 21.)

Looking back over older lists, day three always seems like the wildest one because we really start getting into the part of the list where the cuts start to hurt and anything resembling an actual ranking really starts to take shape, though to be fair at this point in the game I’m still mostly basing it off of just how much I remember listening to any particular release throughout the year.

This part of the list has a pretty wild spread I think, although your favorite abyssal death metal group somehow still hasn’t managed to break through the wall just yet, which I apologize for. Apparently the drywall around here is a lot tougher to get through than I would’ve thought. We have another EP in the fight here and then from there the blastbeat nerds get to fully take the stage for a while. If you’ll allow me one spoiler, I was pleasantly surprised by how well my opinion of Immolation‘s latest held up, so keep an eye out for that release. Somehow that band made an album befitting just how monstrously huge their sound has become over the years.

Otherwise, it’s time to keep the 2022 funeral pyre burning and brush off our year-end regalia and hope we can get a few more days out of it before having to toss it into an incinerator because buddy, I will tell you right now, ain’t nothing going to get some of those stains out other than fire. Continue reading »