Favorite Albums of April 2022

Three AOTY contenders in one month is too much

April turned out to be an almost absurdly full month. A new album became my AOTY and then was dethroned two hours later. That’s the level of great music we’re dealing with. In fact, so much excellent music was released in April that I’m going to have to do shorter write-ups for non-metal albums, which honestly I should have been doing for the beginning. Let me know if you object in the comments though, I’ll go back to longer write-ups if y’all are really here for the non-metal section.

METAL ALBUMS

Meshuggah - Immutable

The hardest thing in prog metal is balancing technicality with visceral impact. Lean too hard toward the former and the music you make becomes toothless, gnarled and incomprehensible. Lean too hard the other way and you’re not even making prog metal anymore. Scant few bands ever manage to strike the balance just right, but most bands aren’t Meshuggah. On Immutable, Meshuggah brings the brutality in heaps. The harsh vocals of lead singer Jens Kidman roar through each track like an electric rail, holding together monstrous drums, polyrhythms and knotted guitar parts. At times, the album does threaten to get away from itself, the distinct elements each reaching a level of complexity that threatens to pull you away from the song and into a kaleidoscopic world of bass or a tesseract of drums. Yet, the center always holds, the gravitational black hole of brutality that undergirds all this technicality will not be denied. This cohesion places Meshuggah on their own plane of accomplishment. And that they’ve been doing this for 35 years only makes it all the more impressive. 

 

Gnod - Hexen Valley

When it comes to underappreciated genres of metal, sludge has to be at or near the top. Despite being a relatively small niche within the larger world of extreme metal, it has produced some of the most memorable acts to come out of American metal. At this point, it’s high time to invite Gnod to sit alongside icons like Crowbar and Eyehategod. Hexen Valley is a classic example of how to make excellent sludge metal in a manner that is approachable and not watered down. All the clattering noise, plodding drums and blown out vocals are present in the amounts we’ve come to expect, but the production rarely screeches into a total overwhelm. What’s most impressive about the record is its adoration for the bass guitar. A more present bass section is almost always a staple of sludge, but rarely do they hold songs together with such aplomb, which speaks volumes about the skill of bassist Marlene Ribeiro. As an American, it’s always a bit frustrating to see the Brits beat us at our own game, but when the music is this good I can hardly complain. 

 

Thou & Mizmor - Myopia

Mizmor and Thou became the chocolate and peanut butter of metal this year. Mizmor’s heavy, blackened riffs and contemplative breaks run into Thou’s sludgy drone on every track, creating a gut-churning concoction. I have always found black metal to be lacking in the lower end, and while Mizmor never had that particular problem, the way that Thou’s slower, heavier guitar tone and more present bass rounds out each track makes the album ripe for headbanging. At the same time, Mizmor brings a less-abrasive compositional mode to the tracks, turning them from sprints into wilderness treks. The resulting scenery absorbs all your attention, right up until Thou comes and smashes a meteor into everything, leaving you absorbed by something else entirely.

 

Pyrithe - Monuments to Impermanence

If it’s still unclear, sludge is the way to my heart. In particular, when artists work to combine sludge with progressive, engaging instrumentals and pure heft, I struggle to contain my excitement. Pyrithe does everything I could possibly want. They combine everything I just mentioned with a forceful drive into oblivion that borders on the crescendo-core of Mogwai at times. Songs grow in speed and volume as if they have their own minds, and they drag your heartbeat right along with it. I expect this album to grow in my estimation, but I will admit that it’s maybe not the best album for driving, at least, it isn’t if you want to keep the car under 100mph. 

 

Heriot - Profound Morality

Sometimes you need metal that punches you in the face. Heriot will punch you in the face. If you were worried that the modern metalcore movement of bands like vein.fm, Knocked Loose and Spiritbox were starting to get too artsy, then Heriot will convince you otherwise. The album employs the same tricks of violence and heaviness that the aforementioned groups have used to great success, and does the exact same thing, but cranks it up even further. If this sounds like “they’re great but not groundbreaking” which has long been the rallying cry of the metal world, it kind of is. At the same time, that’s still great, and Heriot deserves to be front and center in your mind when thinking of new metalcore.

 

NON-METAL ALBUMS

Orville Peck - Bronco

Until further notice, Bronco is my album of the year. I never thought that a country album would have me by the throat quite like this, but Bronco blends the best elements of country (storytelling, heartbreak) with the best elements of pop (big sounds, catchy melodies, fun vocal performances) to create something unforgettable. Go listen to this today.

 

Vince Staples - RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART

This was my album of the year before it got almost immediately dethroned by Bronco. Vince Staples has never released a dud. Even in this catalog of excellence, RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART sits in the upper echelon. It perfectly balances his documentary style of rap with more engaging hooks and beats. If you’re unfamiliar with Vince Staples, this is a great starting point, just don’t make it your stopping point.

 

Pillow Queens - Leave the Light On

I’m a sucker for sad indie music with a lot of harmonies, I think it comes from being alive when the whole Bon Iver thing happened. Unfortunately, Bon Iver pulls the style off better than just about anyone else. Pillow Queens make themselves stand out by pulling in more guitar and heavier rock elements that add some oomph without taking away the emotional impact. Great for when you want to sadly dance free of shame in your living room.

 

billy woods - Aethiopes

Some rap projects are for fans of the craft and others are for everyone, billy woods fits in the latter category. The rhymes and beats on this album flit between the referential and obtuse, but despite their gnarled nature, they remain extraordinarily listenable and engaging. More than most, this album demands repeated listens, if only to fully pick apart the complexity of the rhymes. The themes will come in time and in waves, let them happen when they will.

 

Wet Leg - Wet Leg

God bless us, post-punk is having a comeback. I love basslines and I love deadpan vocal deliveries, and Wet Leg’s debut album brings it all together wonderfully. The lyrics are sarcastic, cutting and delicious, the vocals are perfect, and my god the grooves are undeniable. If this is what Wet Leg delivers on a debut then I cannot wait to see what they deliver going forward.

 

Syd - Broken Hearts Club

Syd makes really good R&B music. We do happen to be in a renaissance of sorts for the genre, but few do it as smoothly and lovingly as Syd does. The music takes me back to the days of listening to R&B, smooth jazz and easy listening music on the radio on the way to school. Does that make me an unbiased party? Yes. But does that mean the music hits the same excellent notes all those songs did? Also yes.

Lil Texas - FASTER

Sure, this sits in the non-metal section but it’s more extreme than a majority of the metal that got featured this month. If you have ever loved intense dubstep, hardstyle, the sound of a dial-up modem or noise music in general, then you may have a foothold for this album. It’s fast, it’s loud, it’s abrasive, and I adore it even when it gives me a migraine. 

 

Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry

Yet another entry in the “dangerously close to being my AOTY” chart, It’s Almost Dry stands a strong chance at being the rap album of the year even if Kendrick Lamar did release an album this year. Pusha T manages to achieve the same excellent balance of thrill and terror that he did on DAYTONA, but this time over more tracks and with the joyful addition of Pharrell on the boards. There are those who would like Pusha T to evolve into new lyrical content, but those people are fools. You wouldn’t ask Patrick Mahomes to switch to wide receiver just because he’s been good at playing QB for too long. Why ask the king of coke rap to talk about anything else?

 

Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful

Spiritualized releasing an album always draws some attention, which is pretty impressive when you consider they’ve been releasing music for 30 years. Thankfully, they earn the attention with beautiful, airy melodies and spaced out synth work that many artists in today’s era of easy production still fail to accomplish. As the album cover implies, it’s a ticket for a round way trip around the beauty our universe has, and it’s a welcome reprieve from everything around us while still being a deep dive into all the beauty in that chaos.

 

Hatchie - Giving the World Away

From the opening moments of “Lights On” Hatchie confidently lets us know that she has a handle on how to ride the groove. Giving the World Away continues to make good on that promise as it delivers engaging shoegaze atmospheres and exciting grooves that will no doubt soundtrack at least some portion of tomorrow’s trendy show about twenty-somethings who fall in love.

 

Girlpool - Forgiveness

For some time Girlpool has been a band that seemed exciting on the surface but never pulled things together in a way that appealed to my taste. Forgiveness sees them overcome my own personal obstacles by pushing further into a spacelike atmosphere and overdone vocal treatments. The move has been a bit controversial amongst fans, which is exactly why I love it and hope that they keep this style moving forward.