First, happy new year. There’s an element of ‘whew, we made it’ behind that and plenty of ‘here’s looking forward to more good music,’ so take from it what you will. In any case, I hope you’re well and whenever you find this or it finds you, that continues to be true.

This post is a big deal for me. Like I said when the poll went up on Nov. 28, I use these posts, these lists, for years after the fact, sometimes just to find bands for a Friday Full-Length, sometimes to check out how ahead of me other listeners are (generally very) and invariably to help me get a glimpse of where the people within The Obelisk‘s reach are when it comes to what’s been enjoyed most over this stretch of time. This poll has run for well over a decade now, and I love it every time. That is only because of your contributions to it, so thank you.

As per the back end of the poll app, there were at least 1,700 separate album entries (more actually, but I’m trying to account for typos on lists, etc.) and 420 (ahem) total list entries to the poll in 2022 (that’s up; I was stoked to pass 400), about 20 of which, including mine, came in just yesterday. I’m going to take that as a reminder to share the link on New Year’s Eve again and hope to remember. I can’t say the results are a surprise, but it was exciting to watch them unfold, and I’ll try to explain a bit of why in the notes below. First, a refresher on how this works:

As ever (and I mean that, since this part is cut and pasted from last year), two polls were posted. Raw votes and points. For reference, here are the same rules that I’ve been cut and pasting for however long: You submit your list of up to 20 favorites. Anything from the start of 2020 to the finish is eligible. There are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

That’s how the magic happens. Here’s the magic:

Top 20 of 2022 — Weighted Results

1. Elder, Innate Passage (676 points)
2. King Buffalo, Regenerator (647)
3. Clutch, Sunrise on Slaughter Beach (274)
4. Wo Fat, The Singularity (260)
5. Messa, Close (228)
6. Cave In, Heavy Pendulum (201)
7. Colour Haze, Sacred (197)
8. The Otolith, Folium Limina (179)
9. Earthless, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (170)
9. Sergeant Thunderhoof, This Sceptred Veil (170)
10. Freedom Hawk, Take All You Can (163)
11. Psychlona, Palo Verde (155)
12. Sasquatch, Fever Fantasy (155)
13. Conan, Evidence of Immortality (144)
14. Telekinetic Yeti, Primordial (138)
15. Steak, Acute Mania (135)
16. Nebula, Transmission From Mothership Earth (131)
17. Vitskär Süden, The Faceless King (125)
18. My Sleeping Karma, Atma (118)
18. Samavayo, Pāyān (118)
18. Valley of the Sun, The Chariot (118)
19. Russian Circles, Gnosis (116)
20. Ruby the Hatchet, Fear is a Cruel Master (113)

Honorable Mention:

Mammoth Volume, Half Gramme of Soma, Somali Yacht Club, Birth, Motorpsycho, Cult of Luna, Smoke the Light, Ecstatic Vision, Caustic Casanova, Geezer and Gnome were all pretty close here.

Notes:

You can see the story for yourself here in the numbers. All along, it was Elder and King Buffalo vying for that top spot, and the reason they’re so close in the points tally is because one or the other was regularly on the top of somebody’s list. That was consistent the entire time the poll was up, and everything else was behind it, almost to a different scale. I can’t remember another time when poll results were so much about two bands with such a clear drop-off to everything else. The moral of the story I guess is people really liked Innate Passage and Regenerator.

Those were my one and two as well, so I ain’t arguing, but you can see a ton of stuff behind that that’s killer as well. I was curious for most of the year how Telekinetic Yeti would end up, and they did well. That’s a band I expect big things from their next time out, and no, I’m not just talking tonally, though certainly that as well. With the backing of Ripple Music, Vitskär Süden’s The Faceless King also seemed to provoke strong feelings from its listeners, Psychlona killed it, and I was glad Steak’s Acute Mania made it here, since the scope of that record/comic book/maybe-movie/etc. is still fleshing out. Plus some standards in Clutch, Wo Fat, Cave In, Colour Haze, Earthless, Freedom Hawk, Sasquatch, Nebula, My Sleeping Karma, Valley of the Sun, Russian Circles and Ruby the Hatchet? Nothing wrong with that.

Top 20 of 2022 — Raw Votes

1. Elder, Innate Passage (160 votes)
2. King Buffalo, Regenerator (144)
3. Clutch, Sunrise on Slaughter Beach (77)
4. Wo Fat, The Singularity (75)
5. Messa, Close (65)
6. Colour Haze, Sacred (55)
7. Cave In, Heavy Pendulum (51)
8. Earthless, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (49)
8. The Otolith, Folium Limina (49)
9. Psychlona, Palo Verde (48)
10. Freedom Hawk, Take All You Can (47)
11. Sasquatch, Fever Fantasy (45)
11. Sergeant Thunderhoof, This Sceptred Veil (45)
12. Nebula, Transmission From Mothership Earth (42)
12. Telekinetic Yeti, Primordial (42)
13. Valley of the Sun, The Chariot (39)
14. Conan, Evidence of Immortality (37)
14. Ruby the Hatchet, Fear is a Cruel Master (37)
14. Steak, Acute Mania (37)
16. Mammoth Volume, The Cursed Who Perform the Larvagod Rites (35)
16. Russian Circles, Gnosis (35)
16. Somali Yacht Club, The Space (35)
17. My Sleeping Karma, Atma (34)
18. Vitskär Süden, The Faceless King (31)
19. Samavayo, Pāyān (30)
20. Geezer, Stoned Blues Machine (29)

Honorable Mention:

If the list went to 21, it would include Motorpsycho, who got 27, if it went to 22, it would have Stöner and probably others who got 26 votes, and if it went to 23, there’d be room for Birth, Ecstatic Vision, Gnome, Hazemaze, Naxatras and Stone Nomads, who got 25. Everything else was fewer votes than that, but there were still strong contenders throughout, and I’m sure my tally is imperfect.

Notes:

Can’t argue with this list, though it’s different from my own once you get past the top two. About those, you can see pretty clearly the drop in votes after King Buffalo. I watched the tally for all of December — because that’s precisely my idea of fun — and it was Elder and King Buffalo all the way, right from the start, and only really in the last week that Elder began to pull ahead to as much as they have here. This kind of consensus is rare and a thing to be appreciated.

Incumbency I think helped Clutch, Earthless, and others here, but it’s cool to see Wo Fat get a good look since their album ruled and though I’m not into Cave In, I know a lot of people are, so good for them too. I had The Otolith higher, but admittedly, that record’s pretty dense, and cheers to Psychlona’s desert style for catching ears, and to Freedom Hawk for living up to their own e’er-reliable standard. And though it’s just outside the top 10, one shouldn’t discount what Sergeant Thunderhoof accomplished on This Sceptred Veil either. Put them on tour with Boss Keloid stat and hail an up and coming legion of British heavy prog. Two or three more bands included and some clever critic is inevitably going to start calling that a ‘wave.’

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Now we get to the (other) good part. The lists. Before I turn you over to that, I want to say thanks again to everybody who participated in this year’s poll. To Slevin for managing the back end of it, to The Patient Mrs. for, well, her patience with my dedicating time that I’d otherwise be probably doing more useful things with to it, and to you one more time for reading. I’m humbled and crushed as if by Conan’s bass tone by your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

All lists follow after the ‘read more’ jump. Who’s ready to be overwhelmed?

Read more »

My favorite post of the year, every year. It never fails that, now even a decade after starting to do these year-end polls, I always go back and can find something new. Or a band comes up and it turns out they’d been included in someone’s list all along. Or even just watching the votes come in throughout the month of December. This is raw fun, as far as I’m concerned. I hope for you too. What’s the point otherwise?

Take however many of your favorite releases of the year you want (up to 20, sorry; gotta draw the line somewhere) and list them below. Careful of spelling, etc. All results are tallied and will be posted on Jan. 2 with everyone’s list. It’s going to be a blast. This has been a great year for music in a wide variety of styles.

That said, whatever you want to include is welcome. Doesn’t have to be heavy, or rock, or whatever. It’s all welcome, and thank you. I can’t wait to see the results.

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Thanks for reading and taking part. Please share the link if you can.

Same rules as always: Anything from Jan. 2022 to whatever’s coming out between now and Dec. 31 is eligible. If something is out digitally now and physical later and you want to include it, do so. Two lists are tabulated; one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

If you’re not sure what counts or what to include, please know that the intent here is to be as open as possible. In all things, when you can, err on the side of inclusion. If you’re the only person who votes for a thing, so much the better to turn other people onto it.

Persistent, deep gratitude to Slevin — as always — for his efforts setting this up every year. I don’t have a lot of friends. Dude is a treasure, a scholar, and someone I love dearly.

Poll runs until Dec. 31, 2022. Results go up Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, along with all the individual lists.