Last few years I have tweaked the contents of this article, but its always an amalgamation of the entertainment content I’ve consumed. I didn’t watch enough movies to validate adding them to the list, much like wrestling. Wrestling has taken a huge backseat for me, and since all I really watch is IMPACT anymore, its not really a balanced opinion.

So lets stay in the lane of what I spent most of the year on! Music and Television/Streaming series! For albums I’ll just hit a quick blurb as to not go to far, and notate what I consider two of the better songs on the album. Singles and Series will be more straight forward since it’s not like I’m gonna notate an episode to watch in a vacuum. That would be silly.

So I’ve been doing this for a few years, now let’s wrap up 2022!

Top 20 Overall Albums: 

1. Jorn – Over the Horizon Radar: The album that came out of nowhere in June to just floor me consistently and never fall from the pedestal. Such a great mixture of classic heavy metal like Dio or Scorpions, mixed with some European rock elements. Jorn’s voice is really what catches your attention. If you need brutal heaviness like an episode of Metalocalypse; this won’t be your cup of tea. But the album has such a wonderful driving and powerful groove that is complimented tremendously with Jorn’s vocals. Its a great trip over the horizon. Notable Songs: Dead London / Over the Horizon Radar
2. Soulfly – Totem: A band that has been around for 25 years, but not necessarily consistent. If the stars didn’t align for me to be discussing Soulfly at work, at the same time the album released, I might’ve ignored this…like an idiot. While Death Thrash isn’t my normal musical pallete, this whole album balanced Death, Thrash, a little Nu Metal and Folk aspects amazingly. Max hasn’t sounded as good in a while. Also one of the few times an over 9 minute song like Spirit Animal didn’t feel long at all. This was close to unseating Jorn, but didn’t quite make it there. Notable Songs: Scouring the Vile / Rot in Pain
3. Michael Romeo – War of the Worlds: Pt 2: A personal rendition of the H.G. Wells War of the Worlds story, its complex, a little self indulgent but a solidly executed Power Prog album. The mixture of the classical elements and 4 instrumentals help to build tension in the story telling. A couple songs left me thinking there was some meat left on the bone, so the album missed top honors by just a little, however, its still a great album for any Sci Fi music nerds wanting some ear candy. Notable Songs: Divide and Conquer / Parasite
4. Joji – Smithereens: Still hard to think this was Pink Guy and all the Filthy Frank shenanigans that went on, especially after this album. A tale of two albums basically, with the first portion being ballads that take a look within and at past relationships and the second being something that would be on a lo fi YouTube playlist. The first part really carries the album, but its such an interesting and seemingly vulnerable album it resonated well with me. Notable Songs: Glimpse of Us / 1am Freestyle
5. Jack White – Fear of the Dawn: You ever go into an album expecting to hate it, and be completely shocked? That was this album for me. Jack has always been a little too out there and distortion heavy for me to tolerate the inconsistencies. HOWEVER, this time around it struck me as more of an attempt at being Prince with some of the sound changes song to song, arrangements and the features kept me interested. Was it potentially a car crash level of intrigue? Possibly. But I rarely found something to complain about it, even if I was sonically baffled at times. Its a unique album, but damn did it stick with me in a positive way. Notable Songs: Hi-De-Ho / Shedding My Velvet
6. Avi Kaplan – Floating on a Dream: Folk song magic, that is this album. Avi is famous for his stint as the Bass Singer in a cappella group Pentatonix, and I’m a bit of an a cappella fan, so I was curious where his debut solo album would go. The fact that Avi sung all of the harmonies and some performed some of the guitar parts himself. Now Folk and Country stylings aren’t for everyone, so I can totally see people not giving this the credit it deserves because of the genre. But between the amazing vocals, how its mixed and the production values, this is such an easy and beautiful listen, ignoring it is a disservice to yourself. Notable Songs: On My Way / When I’m A Fool
7. Tyrants of Chaos – Relentless Thirst for Power: Canadian metal that struck me like Megadeth and Judas Priest had a baby. Following a few Metal channels on YouTube turned out to be a boon in stumbling on to this. Fast and attacking with geo-political and religious opinions; you know, the good classic metal topics. If you dig the two bands I implied could be their sires, give it a spin. Because this is just a great breath of fresh air that a “newer” band (formed in 2013) just gets it so masterfully. Notable Songs: Slay the Hostages / Indoctri-Nation
8. Rammstein – Zeit: I am pleasantly surprised this held up as well as it did since it came out in April and Rammstein isn’t really known to push out solid albums. But with the exception of Dicke Titten, the album is focused and feels like they were trying to make a point without too much screwing around. I suppose after 10 years of being a touring band and then the pandemic stopping them from doing that again, we instead get a damn great album. If you liked old Rammstein, you won’t be disappointed with this. Notable Songs: Lugen / Zick Zack
9. Cannons – Fever Dream: Synthwave chill California band…yeah none of those words are usually anything I like. But they grabbed me with a single that made my Top 5 singles, so I won’t mention it here. And the album in general did enough to just lull you into the world with Michelle’s voice and enjoy the ride. Is it a lot of weird tenuous relationship songs, yes, but they’re executed in a chill way that touch on a few different emotions; so even if aspects feel redundant in the lyrics, the feelings they evoke move nicely along the album. Notable Songs: Lightning / Hurricane
10. Petrol Girls – Baby: Continuing the list of things I didn’t expect to like, a Post-Hardcore Punk band focusing heavily on feminist topics. I feel this album stuck with me, because of that word sandwich I just described their music as. With the Roe v Wade drama that happened in America coupled with the timing of this album pointing out obvious inequalities with women, their choices and who makes the choices, it was just a perfect storm to stick with me. General body autonomy, abortions, many topics people take for granted are brought to light in a loud Punk style, but feels more in the old Punk mentality of pointing out political inequality loud enough for the morons in the big buildings to hear. Notable Songs: Bones/ Sick & Tired
11. Disturbed – Divisive: While like I said in my review, its not a complete return to form, it was this most well rounded album since Indestructible. We get a return to some anger and songs with deeper points than the weird dark ballad rock garbage they’ve been producing the last few years. Part of my rating was of course just nice to see a band I grew up put in some new dentures and make a damn album with teeth again. Maybe they’ll stay out of the Pop Radio Rock genre moving forward. Notable Songs: Bad Man / Feeding the Fire
12. Eliminator – Ancient Light: If we’ve learned anything about bands from England, when they go to the Iron Maiden school they tend to not suck. So we get a New Wave of British Heavy Metal influenced band, and they don’t disappoint. I did a review in January when this came out, and the easiest way to sum this up, is this is the best Iron Maiden album in over 25 years. If you get what I mean, and like Maiden, give it a spin. There’s Queensryche elements and King Diamond moments; but that Maiden influence bleeds through in everything. Notable Songs: Silent Stone / The Sculptor and the Stone Lady
13. Weezer – SZNZ: Summer: Weezer went for the Vivaldi inspiration and tried to encapsulate the seasons in separate albums with their own Pop Indie Rock sound. Summer was easily the one that struck the most true and stood out with some solid songs and just really concise and smooth direction. Part of me is happy at least one of their albums made it into my Top 20, since if they all missed, that would’ve been a bit sad. Notable Songs: Blue Like Jazz / Thank You and Good Night
14. Arch Enemy – Deceivers: The hard drugs I had to be on to give this a chance man, sheesh. As I call them, “Cookie Monster vocals” don’t usually work for me. But I was riding high after Soulfly and a few other things and figured it couldn’t hurt since I know Alissa White-Gluz has a great clean vocal. Also it’s the first Arch Enemy album in 5 years, so I just hit the fuck it button. And…I was crazy impressed. They mixed in the vocal fry, guttural growls and clean really well. It felt more like an epic story than a sonic assault to my ears. So I’m no Melodic Death Metal expert, but this was really damn good to me. So if you’re on the fence about the growly crap, you may be surprised with this. Notable Songs: Handshake with Hell / Spreading Black Wings
15. Moonbyul – 6equence: We’ve established I listen to a bit of everything so K-Pop should shock no one. Moon is fantastically talented known mostly for her rapping in Mamamoo, but she’s got a great singing voice and can adjust to nearly any style. With elements of old 80s early 90s Hip Hop, sweet ballads, personality reflections and some of the Mamamoo Bluesy/Jazz elements, its just solid Pop music. If not understanding the lyrics doesn’t bother you, you may just be surprised with how musical this version of pop music is. Notable Songs: Lunatic / G999
16. Rolling Quartz – Fighting: We’re still in Korea with this band, but here we have an all girl Rock band; and yes, they all play their instruments. Still fairly new on the scene with covers and collabs being some of their biggest exposure, these girls have a lot going for them. Their vibe reminds me a lot of X Japan and their penchant for covering pop songs adds a brighter element so they’re not all dark and heavy. There’s still plenty of time for them to work out who they are and what their “sound” will be, but they have a fairly high ceiling if they stay together. Notable Songs: Good Night / Holler
17. Bloodywood – Rakshak: Punjabi-Nu Metal! Yeah I didn’t stutter, and I know I’ve seen these guys on a few different lists or at least with keeping a close ear to their future work. Their mixture of Bullet for My Valentine and Rage Against the Machine, with the Hindi or Punjab verses mixed in with English is an interesting listen. They also make sure their music has a bit of purpose, which helps the Rage correlation. Good stuff, looking forward to their future releases. Notable Songs: Dana-Dan / BSDK.exe
18. Luke Combs – Growin’ Up: I guess Avi’s album could count as the first Country album, but this is the highest rating well known Country artist for me this year. Luke Combs does a great job at playing in country tropes but adding that musicality that I loved with 90s Country. So I get huge Garth Brooks vibes from his work, and that’s my kind of country. Can’t really say much more, if you like country you’ll probably like this…if not…move along. Notable Songs: Going, Going, Gone / On the Other Line
19. Phantom Spell – Immortal’s Requiem: Another UK musical act, but this one is a solo side project. Kyle McNeil did some great work throwing this all together for an interesting prog concept album. Using some 70s psychedelic prog elements that aren’t often heard and staying in the mystical realm makes this a hell of a listen. Notable Songs: Seven Sided Mirror / Black Spire Curse
20. Megadeth – The Sick, The Dying…And the Dead!: Well they barely made it into the conversation, an I blame that stupid fucking Mission to Mars song. Megadeth has been my favorite band since I really got into metal in the 90s, and this album is their best one in 15 years. Basically feeling like a slightly heavier Cryptic Writings, we get a few amazing songs, decent rock songs and 1 song that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor to never see the light of day. With Dave Mustaine overcoming throat cancer, re-recording bass tracks and a pandemic, I’m pleasantly surprised this was as good as it was, and not something totally worthless like Super Collider. Notable Songs: Killing Time / We’ll Be Back

Top 5 Singles:

1. Guns & Roses – Hard Skool: What’s there to say, its catchy, just heavy enough and gives a lot of good nostalgia from the peak of GnR between Appetite and Use Your Illusion. I heard about the EP dropping the beginning of this year and Hard Skool just stayed with me and in the playlist quite often. With Duff and Slash back, GnR could be in line for a nice late career resurrection.
2. Rolling Quartz – Azalea: Now anyone that read the LP review knows these girls impressed me throughout 2022. This was their first original song that really struck me as just a great song. Amazing rhythm riff, enough of a darker tone to the vocals to keep you engaged and something still nearly danceable and catchy.
3. Cannons – Purple Sun: This random video caught my attention, musically it reminded me of 311 Amber Energy, and it has yet to bore me. Its such a chill little song, simple and groovy to just vibe to. I definitely gave synthwave more of a listen this year, but this song was always the one I’d run back to for a nice chill little listen.
4. Northlane – Carbonized: Northlane’s new album impressed a few people (I was more mixed), but this song struck me the best and it was their last single from March. The video, the distorted riffs, the almost space age sound gave me Adema and Orgy vibes. The mixture of vocal fry and clean is really well done to drive the song. The epitome of like a heavy metal club banger.
5. Billy Talent – End of Me: So much Rivers Cuomo this year since he featured on this song. I know this song just hit me a weird time with the resilient depressing lyrics rung true to me a bit more than usual. Fantastic imagery of having a friend who drags you down because you try to help, you try to get closer but there’s so much fire and drama that you can’t get closer but also can’t really pull away.

Top 10 TV Series:  

1. Harley Quinn S. 3 (HBO Max) – This may be controversial, but now I’m sold Kaley Cuoco is the perfect voice for Harley. Characterizations of the entire cast are wonderful, you see them in a few very different situations, but they all make sense. Joker wants to be a good step dad and become mayor so he can help his step kids get into a good program in school because of a mean school mom who has connections bumps his kids out. That is SOO stupid…but amazing. Also Alan Tudyk is probably the best Joker after Mark Hamil. Batgirl and Harley have an interesting relationship, Ivy has some growing up she does, Nightwing is pretty hilarious, Damian is still an indignant little shit…but he’s at least acting like a kid. There’s so much to love about this series and this season in particular. Just always remember proper wedding gift etiquette, for Bane’s sake.
2. Avenue 5 S.2 (HBO Max)-  How can you hate a space comedy with Hugh Laurie? You can’t, correct, good answer. Endless stupidity and bad luck plagues the morons on this luxury liner. It’s like Love Boat in space…but piloted by F Troop. Some of the off kilter humour does get a little too odd, but each character is so different they balance scenes well and someone in the ensemble will resonate with you. The show is definitely odd, but that’s part of the beauty to me.
3. Reacher (Prime) – The only thing not from HBO Max in the Top 5 to make my list. What can I say, I have a soft spot for Thad from Blue Mountain State or The Primo from Blood Drive. Alan Ritchson fit the role perfectly from his look, demeanor and everything. Willa Fitzgerald and Malcolm Goodwin are also seemingly underrated actors. The whole cast was great, the way the story unfolded wasn’t complex but it was engaging. Such a great overall series and actually shows Ritchson in a slightly more serious light than some of his afore mentioned work.
4. Peacemaker (HBO Max) – Hey Pod is War actually was reviewing this earlier this year, so you didn’t expect me to ignore it, did you? While the character in Suicide Squad was a little meh, this continued story was genius. It was such a great balance of sophomoric humour, deep childhood trauma, working to build friendships and learning how to work with one another. Yes all encased in this moronic veneer of guns, dumbs jokes and hair metal…but it was really fantastic. Cena never won me over as a wrestler, but maybe as an actor.
5. Barry S.3 (HBO Max) – This was a hell of a ride for the season. HBO Max did a good job at taking a good portion of my top honors this year. Barry struggling to make amends and pull himself out of the mercenary life since Fuches is out of the picture to start with was interesting. Everyone’s life reached a point where things were going well, but Cousineau couldn’t live with things he knew, Barry tries to hold things together and the harder he tries the more it fails, Hank is still a superstar in the series but he has a hell of arc, Sally goes from being fairly self absorbed to snapping, and Fuches screws things up because he feels slighted…like a little baby. So the overall vibe of trying gets you nowhere but screwed even deeper is a bit of a nihilistic perspective but not entirely wrong. The next seasons should be interesting to see how they screw themselves deeper or dig out of the shit.
6. What We Do In The Shadows S.4 (FXX/Hulu) – Still a wonderfully clever FXX series. The reason I didn’t rate this higher is purely because of the direction the series took for this season and the pay off. Everything seemed far too “samey”, while season 3 it seemed like they were turning corners and learning things, this entire season was just them falling back into their old garbage habits and not caring. It almost felt like a soft reset, which seemed a little dumb early on until the pieces started to fall into place that they just frankly have bursts of caring, but immortality allows that to fizzle out fairly quickly.
7. The Boys S.3 (Prime) – Even if its a meme, a lot of this season was carried on the back of Jensen Ackles character Soldier Boy. While the season was generally enjoyable, it definitely felt like it lost some of its punch. Twists with Black Noir, A-Train and The Deep did do a good job at potentially setting up a better season 4, but season 3 felt like it was just a filler to get to something bigger.
8. South Park S. 25 (Comedy Central/HBO Max) – A return to form, where they were topical, quippy, and not tied to a long form storyline. This season felt like the old South Park many of us knew and loved growing up, but they only slated 7 episodes because of the Paramount+ movies. Hopefully we can get more for the next season in this style and stay away from the weird direction the show went the last few years.
9. Cobra Kai S.5 (Netflix) – This was a little disappointing, but had its high points. The whole Mexico arc being summed up in two episodes and a relatively wet fart left a weird vibe to the start of the season. Choices characters made felt a little forced, especially Silver. He lost his clever aura of being calm and a step ahead for rushing and succumbing to emotions. It just didn’t feel well explained and the season generally felt like it was all over the place. There were enough fun moments and big moments like beef squashing with Miguel/Robby and Tori/Sam. This season definitely made me realize the series shouldn’t last for more than one more season because its starting to fall off quality wise and insist upon itself.
10. Alice in Borderland S.2 (Netflix) – A fairly last second add since the second season dropped on Netflix a week ago, but I managed to finish it and this is a giant step up from season 1. Whereas season 1 felt a bit slap dash, left too many holes in the story telling and rushed emotional moments while just playing up Japanese tropes…season 2 masterfully paid them all off. Season 2 lifted the entire show into the next realm of quality. The King of Clubs and Queen of Hearts really steal the show aside from the main cast. The second season did so much heavy lifting for the inadequacies of the first, that I felt like it deserved this nod.

There we have it, singles, albums and series. As I think I stated last year, hopefully something in wrestling reignites my interest, but sometimes hobbies wax and wane. So thankfully this site focuses on many entertainment mediums, so I don’t need to force myself through wrestling content I don’t care about. Let me know if your favorites didn’t make the list, did make the list…opinions are kind of the whole name of the game, ya know.