Iodine Artists Reveal Their Top Records of 2022

2022 was an impressive year for new music, and it was hard for the team at Iodine to come up with our list of the best albums, so we asked our artists to share their lists. Take a look below for everyone’s picks!

Jolie Lindholm // The Darling Fire

1. Moodring - Stargazer
2. Thornhill - Heroine
3. VEXES - Imagine What We Could Destroy (If Only Given Time)
4. Gatherers - (mutilator.)
5. ttt (Crosses) - PERMANENT.RADIANT

"Jeronimo found MOODRING this year while looking for new music to listen to, and we didn’t realize at first that they were from our home state. Their new album was on heavy rotation in the car on our band road trips this year. Great harmonies, great songwriting, and the perfect mixture of melodic and heavy. We saw them on tour with THORNHILL and their live show was just as good—if not better—than the album."

Simon Brody // Drowningman

1. Soul Glo "Diaspora Problems"
2. (Tie) Nerver "Cash" & City of Caterpillar "Mystic Sisters"
3. (Tie) KEN Mode "NULL" & Chat Pile "God's Country"
4. (Tie) Desperate Living "Shame" & Ether Coven "The Relationship Between the Hammer and the Nail"
5. (Tie) Sunflo'er "All These Darlings and Now me" & Pilot to Gunner/Her Heads on Fire Split
Honorable Mention: Bloodlet "Stealing Fire" single.

"Drowningman was supposed to have put out a record this year. Life had other plans for us. As we put the finishing touches on the songs for the record in the demo process. We are glad that we didn't rush, and took time to start checking out the amazing music being made around us, and appreciate that we get to make music at such an exciting time."

Erik Ratensperger // Jeromes Dream

1. Weird Nightmare — s/t
2. Kate Bollinger — Look at it in the night
3. Soul Glo — Diaspora Problems
4. Meat Wave — Malign Hex
5. Drugdealer — Hiding in plain sight

"I typically don’t rate albums by year, but these were all ones I thoroughly enjoyed putting on repeat or stopped me in my tracks because the music hit a little different: Weird Nightmare - S/T, for example; the brainchild of METZ’s guitarist/frontman, Alex Edkin, is a breath of punk rock fresh air — offering grit, texture, and welcomes “weirdness” (no pun intended) baked within undeniable songwriting capabilities. Also… Meat Wave and Soul Glo clearly pushing their own envelopes with these stellar releases. Happy New Year, everyone!"

Jason Camacho // Audio Karate

1. MGMT - 11.11.11
2. Audio Karate - OTRA
3. Pool Kids - Pool Kids
4. Pup - Unraveling...
5. The Darling Fire - Distortions

"I have a hard time finding new music and listen to a lot of old music but…"

David Gorman // Orange Island

1. L.S. Dunes “Past Lives”
2. Christian Lee Hutson “Quitters”
3. Big Thief “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”
4. Harry Styles “Harry’s House”
5. Tomberlin “I don't know who needs to hear this…”

"This was VERY hard for me… It’s rare that new, heavier music strikes a chord within me at this point in life. I’ve been a fan of all these guys for years now. L.S. Dunes’ collective talent has given us this beautiful blend of rock, metal, alternative and punk that is Past Lives. After hearing Permanent Rebellion, and playing it on repeat all summer, I had high hopes for the album and the dudes did not disappoint. The sequence of Bombsquad, Grifter & Permanent Rebellion is absolute perfection. Can’t wait to catch the live show!"

Keith M. // The New Scene (Host)

1. Holy Fawn - Dimensional Bleed
2. Greet Death - New Low
3. Anxious - Little Green House
4. Chastity - Suffer Summer
5. Foreign Hands - Bleed The Dream

"Holy Fawn is the greatest band."

Jebb Riley // There Were Wires

1. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
2. PJ Harvey - B-Sides, Demos, & Rarities
3. Spice - Viv
4. Drug Church - Hygiene
5. A Place To Bury Strangers - See Through You

"Cave In could have cut this 14 song album down to just 7 or 8 tracks, and it still would have been my album of the year. While some are content to simply jog along; replaying the hits and miming the actions of their younger, more inspired-selves, Cave In ran a double lap on everyone else."

Sid Jagger // Her Head's on Fire / Garrison

1. 84 Tigers - Time in the Lighthouse
2. Ways Away - Torch Songs
3. Warpaint - Radiate Like This
4. Anxious - Little Green House
5. Meat Wave - Malign Hex

"I like guitars, and also drums and bass(es). 84 Tigers Killed it."

Thomas Moses // There Were Wires

1. City of Caterpillar - Mystic Sisters.
2. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum.
3. Pet Bric - Liminal.
4. Soft Kill - Canary Yellow.
5. IDLES - Brutalism single Live from BBC.

"Richmond Virginia always had an interesting scene. Bands like Haram and Malady among others, always stuck out to me. Mystic Sisters came out earlier this year. It’s full of noisy guitars and dark melodies that strike the right chord. Great to see these guys still active and writing interesting music."

Adam Marino // Attempt Survivors / Errortype:11 / Saetia

1. Helms Alee - “Keep This Be the Way”
2. Show Me The Body - “Trouble the Water”
3. Czarface - “Czarmageddon”
4. Spice - “Viv”
5. High Vis - “Blending”

"The new Helms Alee album is a perfect album front to back. I just love how heavy and beautiful it is at the same time. It’s been on repeat since it came out."

Casey // Iodine Recordings

1. The Darling Fire “Distortions”
2. Be Well “Hello Sun”
3. Holy Fawn - Dimensional Bleed
4. Zola Jesus - Arkhon
5. (TIE) Cave In - Heavy Pendulum & Her Head’s on Fire “College Rock and Clove Cigarettes”

"Making a top album list this year was close to impossible, but I had to put The Darling Fire at top. There was no other album that I listened to nearly as frequently. But it's not only such a breakthrough record for them, as I had been so intimately involved with the band as they wrote and recorded it, that it holds a special place. Some may say that it's shameless self promotion, but this record would hold the top slot even if it wasn’t on Iodine. Be Well’s “Hello Sun” isn’t a full album, but it earns a spot on this list because it is so damn good. This EP holds up better than most full lengths out there. Holy Fawn was practically perfect, Zola Jesus was beautiful and hit me hard, and Cave In returned by setting the bar high and delivered in a big way. Couldn’t leave off Her Head’s On Fire, who killed it with their insanely catchy debut." 

Chris Enriquez // Light Tower / Spotlights / On The Might Of Princes

1. Chat Pile - God’s Country
2. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
3. Lamacchia - Thunderheads
4. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
5. Author & Punisher - Kruller

"Chat Pile is a band I was just made privy to this year. They're on The Flenser who have a lot of great contemporary up and coming artists like Have A Nice Life, Planning for Burial and Street Sects to name a few. Joshua from Light Tower loves noise rock and sent this to me. I loved it from the get go but it still took awhile to really get into it. Spotlights was playing a gig in Akron, OH and it was playing in between bands and I had to shazam it cause I was like "woah, this is incredible." Sure enough it was Chat Pile's "God's Country. The production, the songwriting, the uniqueness of being heavy without doing it in a typical way and the powerful vocal delivery without being cliche. For me, it has equal parts Godflesh "Streetcleaner" specifically and early era Swans but with their own twist that makes it fresh and their own. In my opinion, it's rare that heavy bands can do all of the above in a way that is appealing, memorable, especially for someone like me in their 40's that has lived through so many eras of aggressive music. Chat Pile is a HUGE exception to the rule and is such a stand out for me."

Trevor Lee // Hey Thanks!

1. Crest by Bladee and Ecco2k
2. Fast Trax 3 by 454
3. NOT TiGHT by DOMi & JD BECK
4. SID THE KID by Deaton Chris Anthony
5. Bewitched by DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ

"This list was veryyyy tough for me to narrow down to 5. My top 3 were locks but i wrestled with about 11 other projects that i loved. After much deliberation this is the list. Mine will probably have some different energy than the other lists you’ll find here so i hope you check out some of this stuff with open ears and an open heart if you haven’t heard of them already. Enjoy (:"