Mick's Töp 15 Albums of 2022

In terms of my output to this blog, this past year felt like a 2021 redux. Not only did I devote an embarrassing amount of time digging through my video game backlog (Elden Ring is 100% deserving of all the praise it’s received) but I also traveled quite a bit more than usual to play more dodgeball while my body can still handle it. Yes…dodgeball. No…it’s (mostly) not like the movie. This double whammy left me with virtually no energy to write reviews. I can’t promise 2023 will see any fewer video games or less dodgeball but I’ll do my damndest to prioritize throwing together some more writing for around these parts. That all being said, 2022 had plenty of gems that are worth checking out!

 

Gevurah - Hallelujah!

"Atmospheric" is the variety of black metal that I tend to enjoy most. "Regular" black metal, while I certainly appreciate its history and evolution, has admittedly never been something I would consider a part of my wheelhouse. Perhaps it's been so instilled in me that black metal, at its core, HAS to be comprised of lo-quality instrumental recordings and shrieking, throaty vocal screams that anything else that ventures too far outside that box would come across as illegitimate. Lo and behold, it took just one listen of Canadian black metal duo Gevurah's full-length debut, Hallelujah!, for me to realize how ridiculous a preconceived notion that really was. By reinforcing black metal tenets with immense amounts of energy and volume, Gevurah has made an indelible entrance into the metal limelight, one that is easily among this year's most memorable so far.