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Reviews 31 Approval 97%
Soundoffs 54 News Articles 10 Band Edits + Tags 18 Album Edits 83
Album Ratings 5817 Objectivity 66%
Last Active 12-28-22 5:34 am Joined 04-12-10
Review Comments 1,457
| The Post-Metal Revival of 2022?
Is post-metal experiencing a resurgence in 2022? Scholars remain divided on the subject, so this space has been dedicated to cataloguing evidence in the affirmative. | 1 | | Trenches Reckoner
Release date: 1/1/2022
The year had barely begun when we were graced with a ferocious and urgent comeback from a beloved post-metal band of the 00s.
Devil's advocate: Trenches might technically be more metalcore than post-metal. | 2 | | Aequorea Dim
Release date: 1/7/2022
Aequorea makes a compelling case that, if a post-metal resurgence is in progress, it doesn't just belong to established acts. Dim expands the genre slightly beyond what the 00s gave us, incorporating death metal elements into their Neurosis-meets-Agalloch sound.
Devil's advocate: None. Dim is the strongest evidence yet for a post-metal revival. | 3 | | SOM The Shape of Everything
Release date 1/21/2022
SOM compellingly combines post-metal a la Pelican and Russian Circles with the dark shoegaze of bands like Nothing.
Devil's advocate: One, reception of The Shape of Everything has been lukewarm. Two, the blend of sludge and shoegaze is more similar to contemporaneous act Spotlights than to the post-metal of yore, so it may fit better into a new label (sludgegaze?). | 4 | | Ode and Elegy Ode and Elegy
Release date 2/1/2022
A mammoth, single-track composition from one of the most exciting creative forces of 00s post-metal (Kent Fairman Wilson of the Pax Cecilia) that seamlessly incorporates chamber music, choral music, and emotional hardcore, Ode and Elegy is both the best release of 2022 so far and one of the best post-metal releases of all time.
Devil's advocate: With all the myriad styles on display here, can one even call this post-metal? | 5 | | Arcem An Amalgamation of Loss, Defeat, and Renewal
Release date 2/11/2022
Solid, well-written post-metal that brings little new to the table but is nonetheless captivating.
Thanks to RogueNine for the rec. | 6 | | Cult of Luna The Long Road North
Release date 2/11/2022
The Long Road North's extremely solid compositions and intriguing collaborations with Colin Stetson and Mariam Wallentin make it a high-tier Cult of Luna release, ranking up there with Salvation and Somewhere Along the Highway.
Devil's advocate: Cult of Luna never really went away, having consistently put out solid releases throughout the 2010s. Another great CoL album can only be part of a post-metal revival in the context of a sufficient number of other solid post-metal releases. | 7 | | Abraham Débris De Mondes Perdus
Release date 2/25/2022
Abraham’s approach to post-metal is considerably more dissonant than most other bands in the genre, and at times even recalls the blackened hardcore of bands like Plebeian Grandstand and Noise Trail Immersion. But with its sludgy guitars and glacial tempos, it still fits neatly into the genre.
Thanks to Sunnyvale for the rec. | 8 | | Eight Bells Legacy Of Ruin
Release date 2/25/2022
Psychedelic post-metal that, at its best, is reminiscent of Minsk. Legacy of Ruin could use some polish in its songwriting, but shows a lot of promise. | 9 | | Mountaineer Giving Up the Ghost
Release date 2/25/2022
Mountaineer first made their mark on the fledgling post-metal landscape in 2020 with Bloodletting. Giving Up the Ghost is a strong declaration that they're here to stay.
Devil's advocate: Reception to Giving Up the Ghost has thus far been fairly lukewarm. | 10 | | Konvent Call Down The Sun
Release date 3/11/2022
Konvent calls their music doom-death, but I hear way more of a resemblance to something like Amenra or Fall of Efrafa than Katatonia. But whatever it is, it rips. | 11 | | Gloson The Rift
Release date 3/18/2022
Swedish post-metallers Gloson clearly take a lot of cues from their fellow countrymen Cult of Luna, but the end result is still admirable. | 12 | | Absent In Body Plague God
Release date 3/25/2022
Members of Amenra and Neurosis, two bands who helped keep the heart of post-metal pulsing through the 2010s, join forces with Igor Cavalera from Sepultura to contribute something new to the genre that is equal parts Amenra and Godflesh.
Thanks to DominionMM1 for the rec. | 13 | | Dawnwalker House of Sand
Release date 8/19/2022
Though House of Sand is by no means the first demonstration of Dawnwalker’s style, it’s a good showcase for their somber, solemn brand of post-metal that owes as much to Warning as it does to Neurosis. | 14 | | Russian Circles Gnosis
Release date 8/19/2022
Included for the sake of completion, but honestly Russian Circles have grown stale enough at this point that they need to find a new direction or hang it up. This album isn’t bad, it’s just the same thing we’ve been getting from the band for years. | 15 | | Irist Gloria
Release date 9/16/2022
Fast-paced, prog-tinged post-metal reminiscent of Burst or Siberian. I’m keeping an eye on this band and you should too. | 16 | | Mountains (UK) Tides End
Release date 9/22/2022
Mountains take the textures of post-metal (as well as prog metal and stoner metal) and package them into songs with more accessible alt rock structures, to decent success.
Thanks to RogueNine for the rec. | 17 | | Stake Love , Death and Decay
Release date 9/30/2022
STAKE are fond of incorporating elements of disparate styles like metalcore and straightforward rock ’n’ roll into their post-metal sound, and unfortunately something about the amalgam doesn’t quite work in their hands. But when they hew closer to post-metal staples, they pull off the style admirably, with especially effective atmospheric passages. | 18 | | WOWOD/Somn Split
Release date 10/7/2022
The Somn half is more post-black (which this list is not meant to catalog), but the WOWOD half is a solid little slice of good old fashioned post-metal. | 19 | | Earthrise Until We Rest Beneath the Winter Way
Release date 10/14/2022
Really deftly written old school post-metal a la Mouth of the Architect. Another band to watch. | 20 | | The Otolith Folium Limina
Release date 10/21/2022
Born from the ashes of SubRosa, The Otolith’s style of post/sludge/doom metal is similarly glacial and string-heavy, but just a bit more crushing in tone. | 21 | | Psychonaut Violate Consensus Reality
Release date 10/28/2022
I’ve heard people call Psychonaut derivative, and I’ll admit it’s not hard to identify the influences on their progressive post-metal style. But they still manage to take their sound to new frontiers and execute it all so tightly that the end result is nothing less than thrilling. | 22 | | Sugar Horse Waterloo Teeth
Release date 10/28/2022
Sugar Horse have managed to not only master the various sonic tropes of post-metal, from crushing sludge to ethereal swirls of post-rock and beyond, but make them entirely their own, to the point where I’m hard-pressed to name a classic post-metal band that Sugar Horse is obviously cribbing from. | 23 | | ISIS Panopticon
VERDICT:
I started this list because the first couple months of the year saw an influx of high-quality post-metal releases, a few of which even had the potential to progress the genre, and I was curious to see if that trend would continue. Then the influx stopped, and I thought it might turn out to just be a fluke. THEN, later in the year, another surge of releases came in from September to October—again, many high quality and a few taking the genre in exciting new directions. So what does that tell us? | 24 | | Neurosis Through Silver in Blood
I don’t think I can confidently say that post-metal was truly revived in 2022, but I CAN confidently say that it proved it isn’t completely dead, and a revival in the near future isn’t out of the question. If I had to bet on which band listed here is most likely to really kickstart that revival, I’d place my chips on Sugar Horse. Not only is their style of post-metal unique and compelling, but the guest spots on Waterloo Teeth (including members of Black Peaks, Conjurer, IDLES, Oceansize, and Pupil Slicer) show that they have the connections to get people’s attention. | |
Mort.
02.28.22 | did it go anywhere? i feel like post metal has been thriving for years | hesperus
02.28.22 | Post-black metal, maybe, but the more doom-influenced sound of post-metal proper feels like it's been fledgling for a while, torch-bearers like Cult of Luna notwithstanding. | Mort.
02.28.22 | ah yeah im probably just thinking of cult of luna | RogueNine
03.01.22 | There's a new band called Arcem that I should add to the database, I think they'd fit well on this list. | Uzumaki
03.01.22 | Jambinai kept the post-metal flame burning during the interim, until now. | Snake.
03.01.22 | yeah i agree with mort i don't think that flame ever died out per se | Artuma
03.01.22 | "did it go anywhere? i feel like post metal has been thriving for years"
i'd say the genre has definitely been fading since its heyday (and it's quite a niche genre anyway so that's not exactly surprising), but at the same time i wouldn't say this list is proving a turn of a corner either
will definitely give aequorea a go though | hesperus
03.01.22 | as i said, scholars remain divided.
i made this list because i noticed that an unusually large number of high-quality post-metal albums were released in a short amount of time; six albums isn't a lot for a year, but it is a lot for two months. i agree that that in itself doesn't necessarily constitute a revival, but i wanted a space where i can check back in the months to come and see if the trend continues. | Demon of the Fall
03.01.22 | 1. is great, not exactly revolutionary but really solid post-core type stuff
2. is excellent, agreed... lots of doom influences but I definitely hear post
3. wasn't a fan, the production didn't help
4. at least this was something a bit different
5. Cult of Luna baby
6. what's this? maybe I should check
conclusion... how the chuff should I know? | GhandhiLion
03.01.22 | When was the last time post-metal was revolutionary? Last City Zero? The Destroyers of All? | hesperus
03.01.22 | @GhandhiLion i'd argue Mouth of the Architect's Dawning, but no one else paid it any attention. maybe The Long Procession? | WalrusTusk
03.01.22 | I thought SOM's release started really strong but then lost my interest about halfway through. I can see Dim's appeal but it just wasn't for me. Really curious about Ode and Elegy's release so I'll add that to my list. I listened to Cult of Luna while at the gym so maybe I need to be in a different headspace to get it, because I want to enjoy it so bad. | Snake.
03.02.22 | "what's this? maybe I should check"
it's great but way too short for a pm album, first one was better | DominionMM1
03.02.22 | if the 2 released tracks are any indication plague god is gonna be phenomenal | Sniff
03.02.22 | Here for this | Space Jester
03.02.22 | “i'd argue Mouth of the Architect's Dawning, but no one else paid it any attention. maybe The Long Procession?”
Tbh that was the one that made me lose interest in MOTA, the stuff before that was a lot better. And the post metal parts of TLP are the my least favorite thing about it | Sunnyvale
03.02.22 | Might rec the new Abraham album to people interested in the stuff on this list, not completely sold on it but it's a solid 3.5 in my book, and general reception seems to be quite good. | nightbringer
03.03.22 | Post metal is a great genre and this list has given me things to check, so I thank thee. | hesperus
03.29.22 | added a few more releases, including the ones that y'all recommended - thanks. the jury is still out on whether 2022 is a revival for post-metal, but we are definitely getting quite a bit of it | Senetrix666
03.29.22 | 1 will likely be my aoty | hesperus
12.14.22 | Updated with releases from the rest of the year, plus the verdict on whether 2022 was, indeed, the year of post-metal's revival. | RogueNine
12.14.22 | Woohoo! | Sniff
12.15.22 | Interesting | Uzumaki
12.15.22 | Where new Jambinai? | Demon of the Fall
12.15.22 | 6 was 5 according to my original comment, made me look silly, lol
I really didn't keep up with the posties this year in the end, not after the initial burst, ah well, there's always time. I need to deep dive a few years gone by (instead).
cool list | EphemeralEternity
12.15.22 | cool cover art. Are any of them actually worth listening to (aka something a bit different and not just boring chord progressions stretched well beyond their worth)? | MarsKid
12.15.22 | I'd say Abraham is a unique customer on this list, they have a very neat atmospheric approach that isn't too common, which is likely why it wasn't received too well; it's not really an album you get on first listen ifyaknowatimsayin'
Dawnwalker is also more of a prog rock album that's got some stunning arrangements, which is not often what you get from prog rock these days lol
My two cents, but I could be wrong lol, I don't know if I'm familiar with your taste. | Demon of the Fall
12.15.22 | yeah, the list made me realise I haven't even checked out Burst yet, like wtf?
slacking | Sniff
12.15.22 | Burst. I hardly know her | botb
12.15.22 | Check Shy, Low. They dropped probably the best post metal album last year | Demon of the Fall
12.15.22 | 'guest spots on Waterloo Teeth (including members of Black Peaks, Conjurer, IDLES, Oceansize, and Pupil Slicer)'
oh wow, have to check this now!... I like / love all of those bands (except IDLES, who still did that one half-decent album, once) | hesperus
12.15.22 | "Where new Jambinai?"
i was under the impression that Jambinai was post-rock, not post-metal, but admittedly i haven't spent much time with them. i only listened to Apparition once when it came out and i had forgotten about this list. either way, it's aight
"Are any of them actually worth listening to (aka something a bit different and not just boring chord progressions stretched well beyond their worth)?"
i think Trenches, Irist, Psychonaut, and Sugar Horse could satisfy you | RogueNine
12.15.22 | Nice shoutout to Siberian, I hope we get more from them one day. |
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