Best of 2022: Vincent’s List

Best of 2022

I think that we all have a tendency to give more personhood to years than they deserve. “So long 2022!” is the defining refrain this January, and I know I will be among those more than glad to see last year in the rear view mirror, but 2022 didn’t purposefully single me out to do me wrong. The passage of time is like a natural disaster; we give human names to hurricanes, but a hurricane doesn’t have malicious intent. It simply is. 2023 will be a year that is as well. It will have good days and bad days in store for me just like its predecessor. So instead of imploring for something better and pretending the bad days are all behind me now, I will start this year as is my tradition to start every year, and say only this:

I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.

You, of course, didn’t come to me for my half-baked philosophical ideas. You came here because you are interested in what it was that I listened to and loved this year. Thank you for that, sincerely. However small the number might be, the thought that there are people who take genuine interest in what I talk about is what keeps me wanting to talk about it more. 2022 certainly gave me a lot more to talk about than in previous years, and brought with it some of my favorite discoveries in recent memory. Some of these you’ve heard me mention more than once, some I haven’t had the pleasure to yet, all are worthy of being reminisced on here. Read about them all below.

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Nine Circles ov…What Didn’t Make My 2022 End of Year List…(But Could Have)


We’re back, exactly 365 days from the last time I kicked off my run of End of Year tomfoolery. And I’m not gonna lie: this year the wear of listening to and giving time, consideration, and word to so many albums is taking more than a little toll. At 40 years and counting of being obsessed with music I can still feel the flush of discovering something new, but I think I’m quicker to make the call on whether I’ll continue to listen to something or not. And I admit the pull of the nostalgic, the familiar, the comfort is stronger than it’s ever been.

That hasn’t stopped me from finding joy from a lot of records: You’re still getting altogether a list of 40 albums – my “official” Top 25 ranked list and an Honorable Mention list of 15 other albums in alphabetical order (if Decibel can list 40 than so can I). And just like in years past I’ve tacked on an additional nine albums that didn’t make my lists for various reasons, but I still love and want to put on your radar. The reasons why are fickle and unique, and time being the great equalizer means these omissions may come back to haunt me…lord knows they have in the past. That’s the great thing about lists – they’re snapshots of a moment and never written in stone. Well, maybe one list was, but these are far from commandments. They’re just more great albums to get excited about.

Once more into the breach. Forget labels. Forget hype and marketing. Take a look (better yet, take a listen) to this edition of Nine Circles ov… and see what didn’t make my list for 2022…but could have.

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Chaos is Me: September 2020

coma regalia band photo

Chaos is Me took a few months off, due to a lot of reasons, but we’re back and (hopefully) better than ever.  If you’re a repeat reader, thanks for sticking with me during the periods of down time, and if you’re new here, then welcome.  This is Nine Circles’ monthly column devoted to the world of screamo, and my curation for the month of September includes only the most choice and the most tender cuts.  Read about them all after the break.  Continue reading

Nine Circles ov…The Binder of Forgotten Metal

forgotten binder header

There is a significant real estate issue in my house when it comes to physical media.  I have one room that is totally mine, but there’s only so much you can cram into a 9×12 foot office.  So I began to make concessions: in addition to moving largely digital I’ve been transferring a lot of my CDs into binders, relegating the towers (thank you IKEA Gnedby) to the music I listen to the most.

When I first got back into extreme music, I was buying whatever I could to get a sense of what it was I liked and identified with.  Now I have two fat binders full of stuff I probably haven’t listened to in years, so for this edition of Nine Circles ov… I decided to grab one of those dusty old binders, open it up and grab some metal to see what I moved in error, and what rightfully deserved its place among the forgotten. Let’s dig in…   Continue reading