One of my favorite things about being managing editor of New Noise is the opportunity to dig into punk as well as metal. While metal is my first and true love, and everywhere else I write just focuses on metal, I was raised by parents who were heavily into the heyday of punk (“Human Fly” by The Cramps was my Veggie Tales, if that gives you any idea). As such, I’ve maintained a love for the genre, and I’m so grateful I get to keep up with all things heavy and punk working here. Definitely the most varied list I put together in 2022, here are my top picks from across the board.
10. Escuela Grind – Memory Theater (MNRK)
I slept on this band until I got to see them live in Denver, and damn, I wish I tuned in earlier! Their aggressive blend of punk and hardcore with metallic influence is executed flawlessly, and I can’t get enough of their debut record. Definitely a band to watch if you’re watching the new directions metal and hardcore are taking.
9. Victim of Fire – Disembrace (Casket Collective)
I told myself I was going to avoid doing local bands on this list, as there are too many Denver bands close to my heart, but I had to list Victim of Fire and give them credit for dropping what I consider one of the best records of all time. Think Dystopia and Tragedy meets even more melodic influence, but also heavier and tinged with the absolutely brutality of modern death metal, and you have some idea of what they’re going for, but that description doesn’t even do them justice. Check out the record!
8. Cloud Rat – Threshold (Artofact Records)
There are few things I love more than artsy, experimental grindcore executed well, and Cloud Rat are very much that. The key to experimenting and getting weird with grind is that it still has to rip and have riffs, and they definitely do. Catchy, heavy, and breaking new ground: They check all the boxes.
7. Bodysnatcher – Bleed-Abide (MNRK Heavy)
It’s almost embarrassing how many times I’ve spun this album in full. The person who got me turned on to the band said “I probably shouldn’t like this as much as I do” and somehow, that feels right for a descriptor. It may be a little bro-y in lyrical content and themes, but man is it heavy. Zero regrets about listening to the full record 15,919 times or whatever Spotify told me.
6. Wicca Phase Springs Eternal – Full Moon Mystery Garden (Self-Released)
This one just squeaked in, having been released at the end of the year, but I’m so glad it did. Everyone’s favorite goth sadboi has been dropping some seriously powerful EPs back to back, but it’s been a minute since he came out with a full record. Full Moon Mystery Garden has everything—sad songs, sing-alongs, samples, raps, riffs, breakbeats, the works. It tells a story, and you’ll find yourself wanting to immerse in the music and memorize the whole thing.
5. Militarie Gun – All Roads Lead To The Gun (Deluxe) (Loma Vista)
Everyone is talking about this band this year, so there’s not much new stuff I can say that hasn’t already been said, but I still wanted to make sure they ended up on this list. I went to college in Richmond, and almost took this sound for granted—Punks there were constantly spinning old records of early, proto-hardcore and bands recreating that sound that absolutely slayed, but there is something even more powerful about this album than music normally in this genre. Like most things on this list, it is heavy, catchy, and memorable.
4. Hoaxed – Two Shadows (Relapse Records)
It wasn’t a great year for what I like to call “witch music”—metal-inspired music that would be at home in a spooky, alt metaphysical shop, stuff like Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle, so thank god Hoaxed came along. Far from sounding like a carbon copy of the two ladies I mentioned before, who are both incredibly unique and different from each other, Hoaxed take a whole new approach to the sound, getting jammy and doomy with the instrumentation. It’s no surprise they’re so new and already on Relapse Records.
3. Amenera, Cave In, Marissa Nadler – Songs of Townes Van Zandt, Vol. III (Neurot Recordings)
On the theme of “witchy music” mentioned above, one of the artists in that genre whom I really enjoy, Marissa Nadler, did sort of come out with an album this year, but it’s not the norm. This collaboration focuses on, as the name implies, the songs of Townes Van Zandt, but reimagined in the style of these modern artists. Different than the rest of the pics on this list, and not to be missed for fans of acoustic, indie ballads with staying power.
2. Undeath – It’s Time… To Rise from the Grave (Prosthetic Records)
I purposely tried to leave pure death metal off this list. As someone in a death metal band, married to someone in death metal bands and in a band with me, and who writes about death metal all the time, I really wanted this list to focus more on my other tastes, but this Undeath album is just so damn good it is honestly in my top 10 of any genre. I have listened to it more than any other album that came out this year, and I truly believe that if you’re a light death metal connoisseur and only consume from time to time, make this the band you gorge yourself on.
1. Ithaca – They Fear Us (Hassle Records)
This record completely stopped me in my tracks and blew my mind. I had no clue what to expect; I was only marginally familiar with their name, and frankly, their old record didn’t slay me. But this record so perfectly hits on all the notes of nostalgia I was missing from hardcore and metal growing up, as 33-year-old aging scene kid, I wanted to say @ me next time to the band, but also hats off, because this easily could have been a sad rehashing of musical tropes that just don’t really work in 2022. It was not that, and I would go so far as to say that they’ve taken elements of the old to create something entirely new.
