This year I think I branched out a bit. I got into prog metal a lot more, but I still don't care for Dream Theater or Opeth.

Between the Buried and Me - Colors II

Technically this one should have gone on the 2021 list, but I got it on vinyl this year, so here it is. This is easily my favorite BTBAM album, but it's opened me up to a lot of their stuff. I listened to Alaska back when it came out, but for some reason didn't keep up with them. Well, this year I made up for lost time.

Rolo Tomassi

Not really sure how I didn't hear of this band sooner. I think I like the Untitled EP best but I don't think they have a bad release.

Paramore - This Is Why

Some would consider this a guilty pleasure, but there's not guilt here.

Wildermiss - Levitate

Kind of feels like a mellow version of Paramore.

Show Me the Body

They get a lot of crap, but I think banjocore works, at least for one band.

Caligula's Horse - Bloom

Another prog metal find.

The Otolith - Folium Limina

The use of violin is great. Favorite song is "Sing No Coda". Very atmospheric, beautiful vocals. A little slow but in a good way, not the boring droning way the doom metal guys like.

The Reticent - The Oubliette

This is probably the most powerful album I've listened to. You can't include it in the normal random shuffle, it's too emotional and pulls you in any time you hear it.

Septicflesh

Where's the new album? They released a few singles and I'm really looking forward to the full album but nothing yet.

Fleshgod Apocolypse - King

Scratches the same itch that Septicflesh does without either feeling like a knockoff of the other.

GEL - Violent Closure

These guys are just a lot of fun, but wish they would make an album that was longer than 10 minutes.

Maggie Bjorklund

I really like her sound with the steel guitar. In a weird way, similar to Show Me the Body, in that I really like her, but part of that is her unique sound. At this point if I found another artist similar to her I think they would just feel like a cheap knockoff.

Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West

They re-released and/or remastered this year and it took a good album and made it great.

Final Notes

There is a whole ton of other stuff that didn't make the list. I still listened to the classics a lot, but definitely brought in a ton of new stuff this year.