That's Not Metal

Start up the fanfare cause the Albums of the Year 2022 are here, celebrating another 12 months of great records with lists from Perran, Sam, & Alec.

Metallica are back with an absolute trad metal joy, we predict the albums of the year from metal's major outlets, and we open the official TNM Listener Album of the Year 2022 poll.Releases:Elder - Innate PassageJamie Lenman - The AtheistIn the Woods… - DiversumJudicator - The Majesty of DecayTrhä - endlh​ë​d​ë​haj q​á​shm​ë​na ëlh vim innivteTchornobog / Abyssal - SplitNOFX - Double AlbumAmberian Dawn - Take a Chance - A Metal Tribute to ABBAIsafjord - HjartastakiHammers of Misfortune - OvertakerNihilist Death Cult - Death to All TyrantsOther Half - Soft ActionCrosses - Permanent.Radiant

In May Album Clubs, we take the opportune time to fairly assess My Chemical Romance's as yet final album Danger Days. From there we dive into a world of weirdness with Swans' White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, Big Black's affront to tastefulness Songs About Fucking, and Sigh's ode to madness In Somniphobia.This episode was originally published May 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

In a week with Turnstile up for multiple Grammys, we head into our last reviews bag of 2022 with albums from Nickelback, Skin Failure, Devin Townsend, SpiritWorld, High Command, Turnover, Dream Unending, & Spider God.Nickelback 37:57Skin Failure 1:00:09Devin Townsend 1:14:47SpiritWorld 1:30:27High Command 1:41:29Turnover 1:51:46Dream Unending 2:04:44Spider God 2:18:45

This week we review this year's massive Damnation, seeing exclusive album sets from the likes of Converge and Pig Destroyer as the event steps up to a much larger part of the festival year, and the enormous line-up for 2023's Download is revealed.Releases:Skin Failure - RadillacL.S. Dunes - Past LivesChelsea Grin - Suffer In HellHe Is Legend - Endless HallwayXentrix - Seven WordsDream Unending - Song of SalvationBonecarver - Carnage FuneralSpider God - Fly in the TrapKampfar - Til Klovers TaktFell Ruin - Cast In Oil The Dressed WroughtConstellatia - Magisterial RomanceFjort - NichtEnvy - SeimeiLast In Line - A Day in the LifeEpica - The Alchemy Project

Hyperblasts mulls over the news that the Lingua Ignota project is being retired, casts an eye over some potential festival hints, and picks a bunch of the perfect rock mixes.Releases:Devin Townsend - LightworkTurnover - Myself in the WayIngested - Ashes Lie StillChuggaBoom - Death PledgeDayseeker - Dark SunBorn Without Bones - DancerWarlung - Vulture’s ParadiseInTechnicolour - Midnight HeavyweightThe Offering - Seeking the Elephant96 Bitter Beings - Synergy RestoredBlack Mirrors - Tomorrow Will Be Without UsBlack Anvil - RegenesisMord’A’Stigmata - Like Ants and SnakesFrank Bello - Then I’m Gone

In this week's Hyperblasts round up When We Were Young got windy, and as it's Halloween we book a TNM Spooktacular and hypothesise the Universal monster's record collections.Releases:The Otolith - Folium LiminaDarkthrone - Astral FortressDead Cross - IIPolyphia - Remember That You Will DieShow Me the Body - Trouble the WaterImplore - The Burden of ExistenceFit for a King - The Hell We CreateThe Gloom in the Corner - TrinityFire from the Gods - Soul RevolutionSingle Mothers - Everything You NeedTherion - Leviathan IIObsidious - IconicWorm - BluenothingPsychonaut - Violate Consensus RealityNoctem - Credo Certe Ne CrasDespised Icon - Déterré

This week's Hyperblasts reviews Architects' star-shooting new album, as well as covering the fiasco around Blink-182 tickets, Botch continuing to definitely not exist, and wondering which band could fight off the most goblins.Releases:Brutus - Unison LifeCabal - Magno InteritusInclination - Unaltered PerspectiveWitch Fever - Congregation84 Tigers - Time in the LighthouseOrden Ogan - Final Days: Orden Ogan and FriendsAvantasia - A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower SocietyAvatarium - Death, Where is Your StingSahg - Born DemonBlack Royal - EarthboundExhumed - To the DeadBattalions - King of a Dead WorldBlack Veil Brides - The MourningFull of Hell - Aurora Leaking from an Open WoundArchitects - The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit

In April's Album Clubs, AC/DC re-ascend to the throne with Black Ice, we return to the dawn of NYHC with Agnostic Front's Victim In Pain, celebrate the growing legacy of In Solitude's gothic heavy metal swansong Sister, and Kids In Glass Houses... try?This episode was originally published April 2022 on patreon.com/thatsnotmetal.

The reaction to the Blink-182 return, October's reviews highlight massive drops in the metal calendar from Lamb of God and Lorna Shore, as well as records from Brutus, Counterparts, Press Club, Cloud Rat, and Cabal.Lamb of God 33:53Lorna Shore 55:42Brutus 1:16:19Counterparts 1:28:01Press Club 1:40:20Cloud Rat 1:47:25Cabal 2:00:33