Thus, 2022 drew to a close. It marked the return of live gigs for Grumpy Metal Guy and Girl (Cradle! Tribulation! Devin! Opeth!), as well as the discovery of new music by familiar and unfamiliar bands. What music decked the halls of Grumpy Manor this Christmas?

Borknagar - True North⌗

While this came out a little while ago, it had somehow slipped out of our regular rotation. Which is pretty much a crime against music, as this is a cracking album. The opening duo of Thunderous and True North really show what the album is all about, with urgent riffs, melodic solos, and a soaring vocal performance from the unmistakable ICS Vortex. Some of the later tracks are somewhat slower paced, but lose none of their melody, and Voices closes out a great album on a haunting note.

Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (Remastered)⌗

I had no idea this was even on the horizon, and stumbled across it by mistake while browsing online. PEM is one of my favourite Dimmu albums, and the remaster adds an interesting new layer to proceedings. The intense riffage of the original is still present, but the orchestration, which was already excellent for the time, feels like it’s rejuvenated the songs. The one thing in the remaster that I didn’t think worked so well were the female operatic vocals however - they felt a bit too Cradle-like for a Dimmu album. But if you liked the original, this is definitely worth your time.

Metallica - Ride the Lightning⌗

OK, let’s get this out of the way. Ride The Lightning is better than Master of Puppets. Having now offended at least 70% of my readership (with another 25% of readers asking “Who is Metallica?” and “Why am I reading about music?"), the 3 remaining readers are hopefully agreeing with me. This album, with one exception1, is flawless, with the one-two punch of Fight Fire With Fire and Ride The Lightning breaking your face with Hetriffs galore, some searing leads from the Hamster, and Lars showing that he used to actually be able to drum2. Yes yes yes, there’s a ballad in there, but it’s actually good! And the end instrumental shows why we all miss Cliff Burton. This album is essential listening for anyone into heavy metal.

Tori Amos - Midwinter Graces⌗

Nearly every metalhead I know is into Tori Amos in one way or another. This is true even if they haven’t heard her cover of Reign in Blood! Midwinter Graces is a very Tori take on traditional Christmas carols, and features her trademark vocal style and pianos to good effect. While it’s not my favourite Tori album3, it’s perfect for decorating the blackened and charred husk of a Christmas tree that we set up each year.

Spotify - Heavy Metal Christmas 2022 (Playlist)⌗

I have no idea who put this together, but this came as quite a fun surprise. Consisting of a bunch of Christmas covers by various metal artists4, this was far more entertaining that the usual radio-friendly Christmas crap that gets played on store soundsystems or radio stations. Recommended if for no other reason than saving your sanity during the “festive” season.

Album of the Year 2022⌗

This seems like an appropriate place to list the album that I enjoyed and listened to the most this year. It was a pretty close one, but Wilderun’s Epigone came out on top, closely followed by Ghost’s Impera. Epigone’s melodies and heaviness kept me returning month after month, with Identifier being the track I listened to most often. Impera had a much stronger first half than second, and Spillways was definitely the catchiest track for these Grumpy ears. Overall though, 2 great albums amongst many other discoveries of the year. Will be interesting to see how 2023 shapes up musically!

  1. That’s right Escape, I’m looking at you. ↩︎

  2. This may come as a surprise to younger readers under the age of 30. ↩︎

  3. I’m a traditional Little Earthquakes person myself. ↩︎

  4. Disclosure - I have no idea who a lot of them are! ↩︎