#10 PROCESS OF GUILT Slaves Beneath The Sun
I can’t front, the world is in a state of DOOM! So, therefore, it’s time for me to immerse myself in sick AF Doom Metal from Process of Guilt. Their claustrophobia-infused sonic storm of heaviness speaks to my inner emotions due to the global upheaval.
Released June 24, 2022, via ALMA MATER RECORDS.
#9 MIZMOR Wit’s End
As I delve ever deeper into the sonic abyss that is Wit’s End, I feel like Mizmor has captured the despair so many of us wake up to every day. Even as I comprehend that the very essence of life is just to be, I can’t help but reach the end of that comprehension on a daily basis. With just two songs, Wit’s End feels like an excruciatingly languid, devastatingly depressive opus. I can literally feel the soundwaves vibrating my ears as I listen to this, and I know that live, my chest would feel like it was going to cave in.
Released January 14, 2022, via Gilead Media.
#8 VORARE Voyeur
Open your black heart and feel the sonic terror that is VORARE. This band creates the kind of chilling drone doom that really is the thing of our darkest fears! I love the grim space that I find in their morbid soundscapes!
Released Aug. 30th, 2022, via Total Dissonance Worship.
#7 CHROME GHOST House of Falling Ash
It’s honestly hard for doom to catch me off guard these days, but that’s exactly what CHROME GHOST did. The haunting and melodic vocals draw me into this song, only to ravage my synapses as soon as Eva Rose of CHRCH comes in. The bludgeoning comfort of the percussion, and the melancholy, melodic riffs. Every hair on me stands up; my body’s reacting to emotions on this record that my conscious mind isn’t even processing.
Released October 28, 2022, via Seeing Red Records.
#6 GGU:LL Ex Est
WTF!! The new album from Ggu:ll entitled Ex Est is so fucking good! They truly have made a Doom album in 2022 that will be here forever! The amount of Blackened Empathy on this record is UNREAL. The tones that this band has created are perfect and super haunting. Ggu:ll is giving us the soundtrack to the emotional terror that we have all faced over the past couple of years. I love the space they give the riffs to grow which allows the listener to immerse themselves in every track. Hot damn, the vocals on Ex Est are full of agony and pain which only makes me love them more. Big tunes like “Stuip” prove that this band is shaping the genre of Doom in their own likeness which I respect 100%. Ggu:ll’s sound is majestic like a clear winter sky and heavy as the realities of the world. If y’all had one Doom record to buy this year this record should be it.
Released via Consouling Sounds.
#5 BLOOD OF SOKAR CINIS
Has Blood of Sokar ever released a record that I did not love? The answer is NO! Their extremely Blackened Doom music never fails. Their ritualistic death hymns slither into your reality only to choke you out! On their latest offering, CINIS, these architects of audio horror conjure up an atmosphere of uncut dread. Blood of Sokar’s songs have different layers of pain that will drag you down into their pits of filth. If their records were horror films no one would survive. As I blast their album, I begin to feel like poison dust is floating into my brain and I’m finding it hard to breathe. Don’t be dumb by trying to put this band into a box. The best thing you can do is turn off the lights, spark one, and let them do the rest. From the first riff on “Manes AI” you will realize that Blood of Sokar can’t be fucked with!
Released September 11, 2022.
#4 ASSUMPTION Hadean Tides
Assumption makes the kind of doom that feels like it’s literally trying to beat you into submission with crushing riffs and unrelenting percussion. Listening to Hadean Tides feels like I’m actually traveling to my demise on the River Styx, knowing that I will never again feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. Instead, I’ll feel the heat of 1,000 suns searing my flesh at the Lord of the Underworld’s whim.
Released May 20, 2022, Sentient Ruin Laboratories
#3 MEPHISTOFELES Violent Theatre
Do you like your doom with a poisonous dose of the occult? Do you like your doom with a healthy respect for its founders? Do you like your doom with a filthy helping of lo-fi scuzz? Then look no further than the Mephistofeles. Their record Violent Theatre is all of that and much more.
Released October 7, 2022, via Regain Records
#2 MWWB The Harvest
MWWB, the experimental space rock doomgaze entity formerly known as Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, may have changed their name, but they haven’t changed the fact that their music is a heavy trip into the unknown! Their new record The Harvest came out this year via New Heavy Sounds and it’s a testament to the band’s brilliance. Think about everything you’ve ever loved about doom, and you’ll find it woven into new forms on this record! Between the ethereal vocal highs and the crushingly low riffs, MWWB lays out a vast doom tapestry I could get lost in. We’ve been fans of this band for years, and we’re super excited about this new step they’re taking.
Released March 25, 2022, via New Heavy Sounds.
#1 DEVIL’S WITCHES In All Her Forms
There are a lot of folks who’ve been waiting patiently to hear from Devil’s Witches. Their undulating, permeating riffs and psychedelic sampling have people hooked! In All Her Forms covers Woman in all her forms: Maiden, Mistress, Mother, Matriarch, with each quadrant defined by three songs that tie all four forms together while articulating each. This album is an addictively magickal listen, a sonic conjuring rising from the core of the universe to paint my entire mind with a dope, doomy landscape!
Released October 28, 2022, via Majestic Mountain Records and Charlie Company.
