The Aquanaut's Albums of the year: Part 3

5 to 1 of the the Aquanaut's top 15 albums of the year... and my 3 favourite albums of the series

Dec 31, 2022

If you missed the first ten entries of the Aquanaut’s favourite fifteen albums of 2022, check out the posts here & here. This week we look at numbers 5 to 1 in my list and a quick reminder the list is in order of albums release, not my personal preference.

Aptera - ‘You Can’t Bury What Still Burns’

It’s rare these days to find a rock or metal band that sound… dangerous. Motörhead did on their blistering three album run of ‘Overkill’, ‘Ace of Spades’, & ‘Bomber’. Guns n’ Roses did on ‘Appetite for Destruction’. Arguably Sepultura did up until the release of ‘Roots’.

A multi-national line up of four women based out of Berlin have (in my opinion), matched this with their sophomore album ‘You Can’t Bury What Still Burns’.

Aptera’s qualities are ‘Sabbath-esque guitar riffs, played in an aggressive punk style, with leanings towards a pleasant classic rock sound at times. The word Aptera comes from the ancient city of the same name, where the Sirens and Muses of Greek myth did battle. An apt name for band who’s sound evokes much of what has passed before them.

Behold! The Monolith - ‘From The Fathomless Deep’

Behold! The Monolith were perhaps on the cusp of success, when their frontman Kevin McDade tragically died in a car accident in 2013. Their second full length album was released in 2015 dedicated to his memory. After this, the two remaining original members stayed together mainly as the bass section to another fine Metal band, Lord Dying.

I actually became aware of the band in 2015 and ‘Defender, Redeemist’ & ‘Architects of the Void’ were on rotation on my playlists quite regularly. I then consigned them to the sad list of forgotten Metal acts that seems to grow each year.

When I saw they had a new album out in 2022, I listened to a snippet and immediately ordered the vinyl. This isn’t a comeback album. It’s a reinvention, and it’s a gloriously, monstrous, slab of metal. This is ear-splitting, sludgey, cosmic horror inspired metal.

Black Capricorn - ‘Cult of Blood’

Hailing from Sardinia, Italy, Black Capricorn play a fuzzy, down-tuned form of doom metal of whom the UK’s Electric Wizard are the most famous exponents. Black Capricorn are not exactly the Italian version of Electric Wizard, but if we were talking movies instead of music they’d both be found on the 80s slasher shelf or Giallo section of the video shop.

I first encountered the bands slow and ominous doom riffs on 2014’s ‘Cult of Black Friars’ album. On this years ‘Cult of Blood’ the riffs are equally as heavy though they are played with a bit more swagger.

Sanhedrin - ‘Lights On’

Hailing from Brooklyn, (New York, USA) Sanhedrin are on their third full length. Their influences are obviously from the traditional sources of Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, Judas Priest, Kiss with a smattering of punk and Guns n’ Roses for good measure. Their first album ‘A Funeral for the World’ was released with three hundred copies pressed. It didn’t really sell. But then reviews began to come in (mainly from Europe), the emails from promoters followed (again mainly from Europe), and this led to a superb second album. ‘The Poisoner’ is where I first came across their underground club, occult vibe rock. Efforts to promote the album where hampered by Covid restrictions.

Thankfully they used this time to record and release a third record. ‘Lights On’ is a wonderful offering of traditional sounding heavy metal. I think what separates Sanhedrin from their peers is their enthusiasm. A three piece fronted by vocalist & bassist Erica Stoltz, Jeremy Sosville creating excellent guitar riffs, and Nathan Honor having a wonderful drum sound I can see many more big releases from Sanhedrin. This trio are magic together.

Remina - ‘Strata’

Heike Langhans & Mike Lamb are experienced metal artists. Originally from South Africa, Langhans is possibly best known for her work as a vocalist in Swedish doom band Draconian. New Zealander Mike Lamb, is a multi-instrumentalist from the bands Lysithea and Sojourner. They had previously collaborated under the name Light Field Reverie on 2020’s ‘Another World’. That album was one of my favourites from that year and I was curious why their next album is under a different name.

Remina is intended to evoke a more cosmic sci-fi sound than Light Field Reverie and it succeeds. If you like your metal layered, atmospheric, and emotional this is for you. Langhans is a special voice and I look forward to the next project by these two (no matter what they call themselves next).

So, in no particular order my top fifteen albums of the year were:

Infected Rain - Ecdysis

Zetra - From Without

Amorphis - Halo

Cult of Luna - The Long Road North

Abbath - Dread Reaver

Nite - Voices of the Kronian Moon

Playgrounded - The death of Death

Rammstein - Zeit

Somali Yacht Club - The Space

Steak - Acute Mania

Aptera - You Can’t Bury What Still Burns

Black Capricorn - Cult of Blood

Behold! The Monolith - From The Fathomless Deep

Sanhedrin - Lights On

Remina - Strata

I love all of these albums, but three weeks ago I promised to pick three as my favourites. So here we go.

Aptera - You Can’t Bury What Still Burns
Amorphis - Halo
Nite - Voice of the Kronian Moon

I’ve made a Spotify AND a You Tube playlist for you, featuring a track from each album. Enjoy! Happy New Year everyone!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_K6PCaJuCLgHYcX92f4wmuVb8C9YP6pf