It's already been well-established that 2022 was a phenomenal year for heavy-music albums. Everyone from nu-metal pioneers to hardcore up-and-comers dropped killer full-lengths over the last 12 months, but we wanted to zero in a little tighter and see what our readers consider the best songs of the last 365 days.
From deathcore innovators to thrash-metal trailblazers, a wide heavy spectrum was represented by the voters, but the five tracks that racked up the most votes are ranked accordingly below.
5. Orbit Culture - "Vultures of North"
Last year, our readers deemed that Swedish groove-metal outfit Orbit Culture were one of 2021's breakout bands. They earned that very same distinction again for 2022, and they achieved that honor by dropping just one song this year. But yes, that one song, "Vultures of North, is a total fucking heater. The pulverizing tune dials into Orbit Culture's sweet spot, balancing the relentless chugs of Meshuggah with the intense, rah-rah chants of Gojira.
4. Lorna Shore - "Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames"
After dropping the most talked-about deathcore song of 2021 ("To the Hellfire"), Lorna Shore unleashed a whole album's worth of potential Song of the Year's in 2022. Their masterpiece, Pain Remains, concludes with a three-part suite — "Pain Remains I," "II" and "III" — that solidifies their standing as the finest auteurs in the breakdown business. However, our readers think "Pain Remains I" is the standout cut of them all, a six-minute gut-punch of agonizing black-metal melancholia and brutal deathcore chuggery. We don't disagree.
3. Metallica - "Lux Æterna"
In 2022, Metallica dropped their first new song in six years. That's reason to celebrate in and of itself, but what's even better is that the song genuinely rips. "Lux Æterna" is a throwback to the lean-and-mean thrash metal of their Eighties catalog, stripping away the proggy pomp and hard-rock stomp, and zeroing in on what 'Tallica have always done better than anyone else: meaty riffs, dizzying soloing, rubber-burning speed and a hook you can't help but holler along with.
2. Lamb of God - "Ditch"
Lamb of God's Omens was one of the best albums of 2022, and "Ditch" is far and away its greatest. That's really saying something because the whole album smacks, but "Ditch" already feels like a classic in their catalog, sitting right up there with fan favorites like "Omerta" and "Ruin" in the way it's both humongously heavy and so fucking fun to scream along to. The whole thing is mosh-able and the instrumentation is staggering, but the way Randy Blythe screeches, "Down, down in a ditch!" is so goddamn satisfying.
1. Ghost - "Call Me Little Sunshine"
Other Impera highlights like "Spillways" and "Griftwood" got their fair share of votes, but "Call Me Little Sunshine" was the clear winner of this poll. It's a song that makes sense for No. 1. 2022 was Ghost's year, from the TikTok virality and MLB first pitch, to the AMA win and arena tours, this was the year Tobias Forge and Co. became mega-stars, and "Call Me Little Sunshine" is their shining beacon of triumph. It's quintessentially Ghost — laundering satanic themes through bright, even sunny-sounding occult rock that's definitely metal but also ... not quite. Whether you love Ghost or never want to hear that gosh-darn "Mary on a Cross" song ever again, you can't deny "Call Me Little Sunshine" its flowers. It's the song that helped Ghost bloom.
