Synthentral Top 100 Albums of 2022

Incredible amount of new music released in 2022! In previous years, I’ve had to start with 500+ albums and go through them all at the end of the year. This year I did it different: I only added albums to my “to be rated list” if I thought it had a chance to at least get in the Top 100. This narrowed my starting off point to just above 250 albums. Still a lot, but half the time to do the rating.

First step is to get down to 100 for the Top 100 (here we are). Then I go down to 50 for the Top 50, and finally remove an additional 20 for the Top 30. The Top 30 will have a corresponding show with one song from each album. Once I start removing albums from the 50 to the 30 that’s when it gets painful for me as an album I really loved gets removed because it had a rating of 8.62 and the album above it had an 8.63. Yes, it’s often that tight.

Here are the rules and guidelines I work with:

• I only rate albums. There are tons of “best of” lists out there for singles and EPs.
  • An album consists of at least 7 original songs. Remixes, intro/outro, instrumentals, versions, compilations, etc. do not count toward the “at least 7.” Covers do count as long as it’s not an album of all covers.
• I must have the album in my collection to rate it. If a band or label didn’t get it to me, I didn’t buy it, or get it from a DJ resource, then it’s not on my list to rate.
• Song are rated individually and the album is rated overall for listenability, danceability, whether I wanted to skip any tracks, was I engaged from start to finish, etc.
• Rating is weighted so an album with 7 songs does not have an edge (or handicap) to an album with 17 songs.
• I post the Top 100 and Top 50 lists alphabetically and not in “countdown” style. The Top 30 will be in countdown style.
• I post my list after the year is over so any album released late in December 2022 still gets a chance at making it on the list.

I expect people to disagree with my list because it’s subjective. In fact, I hope you disagree with my list and post some of your favorites that I didn’t include or I may have missed during the year. I hope your list is different and you are passionate about your favorite bands and albums from 2022!

Most importantly, I hope you discover new bands from my lists.

I have “LISTEN HERE” links below each album cover, so go and listen and give each band and album a chance, and support the bands you like!

The Synthentral Top 100 for 2022 (in alphabetical order):

1984 – Sharp Dressed Men (LISTEN HERE)

ÆON RINGS – Enemy (LISTEN HERE)

Alex Sindrome – Eject (LISTEN HERE)

Am Tierpark – Forevermore (LISTEN HERE)

Angry Pete – Misanthrope (LISTEN HERE)

Any Second – Enemies (LISTEN HERE)

Avarice In Audio – Our Idols Are Filth (LISTEN HERE)

Ayria – This Is My Battle Cry (LISTEN HERE)

Blackbook – Confessions Of The Innocent (LISTEN HERE)

Blaqk Audio – Trop D’amour (LISTEN HERE)

Blind Passenger – Teamwork (LISTEN HERE)

Blood Handsome – A New Calm (LISTEN HERE)

Buzz Kull – Fascination (LISTEN HERE)

C-Lekktor – New World Disorder (LISTEN HERE)

Causeway – We Were Never Lost (LISTEN HERE)

Chinese Theatre – Unfinished Business (LISTEN HERE)

Claustraphobia – Vita Et Mors (LISTEN HERE)

Code 64 – Broken Rhythm (LISTEN HERE)

Corlyx – Blood In The Disco (LISTEN HERE)

Current One – Praeludium (LISTEN HERE)

Curse Mackey – Immoral Emporium (LISTEN HERE)

CZARINA – Arcana (LISTEN HERE)

Dagon – Owen Sebastian (LISTEN HERE)

Das Leiden – Chapter I, Dies Irae (LISTEN HERE)

Deep Down Wise – Deep Down Wise (LISTEN HERE)

Die Robo Sapiens – Robo Sapien Race (LISTEN HERE)

Dina Summer – Rimini (LISTEN HERE)

Dreamkid – Dreamkid (LISTEN HERE)

e:lect – Disoriented Illusion (LISTEN HERE)

Eisfabrik – Life Below Zero (LISTEN HERE)

Electro Spectre – Stereo Dreams PT1 (LISTEN HERE)

Electronic Frequency – CON:TRAST (LISTEN HERE)

ElektroTerapi – Diagnose: Liebe (LISTEN HERE)

ELM – Penetrator (LISTEN HERE)

Encephalon – Surfacer (LISTEN HERE)

Exsect – Opéra Mécanique (LISTEN HERE)

EXTIZE – MonStars (LISTEN HERE)

Fractal Age – Another Way (LISTEN HERE)

Francesca e Luigi – Dirty Disco – The Ultimate Album (LISTEN HERE)

Ginger Snap5 – Make Me Bad (LISTEN HERE)

Give My Remains To Broadway – My Will Is Not My Own (LISTEN HERE)

Harsh Symmetry – Display Model (LISTEN HERE)

Headless Mannequins – Shadowland (LISTEN HERE)

Hidden Souls – All That We Destroy (LISTEN HERE)

Humans Can’t Reboot – No Tomorrow (LISTEN HERE)

IDEON – Forever Can Wait (LISTEN HERE)

Ill Humans – New Light (LISTEN HERE)

In My Despair – Last Mirage On The Earth (LISTEN HERE)

Incirrina – Lip Led Scream (LISTEN HERE)

Jason Alacrity – The Criminal Class (LISTEN HERE)

Kim Lunner – From Dusk To Dawn (LISTEN HERE)

The Kolour Kult – Reception (LISTEN HERE)

Kondratie – Москва (LISTEN HERE)

LAU – Circumstance (LISTEN HERE)

Liquid Modern – Circle & Light (LISTEN HERE)

LMX – Habits & Addictions (LISTEN HERE)

Lucca Leeloo – Prosperous (LISTEN HERE)

Martiné – My Mind – The Hand Grenade (LISTEN HERE)

Matthias & Marss – Plus One (LISTEN HERE)

Mental Discipline – Nothing To Die For (LISTEN HERE)

The Midnight Computers – Romantic Disaster (LISTEN HERE)

Miseria Ultima – In Colors Of Void (LISTEN HERE)

Movie Camera – Memory / Display (LISTEN HERE)

My Own Burial – Breathing Sorrow (LISTEN HERE)

No – Domestic Pulse (LISTEN HERE)

Noise Resistance – Stripped (LISTEN HERE)

Panic Priest – Psychogoria (LISTEN HERE)

Peppy Pep Pepper – Decline (LISTEN HERE)

Perel – Jesus Was An Alien (LISTEN HERE)

Poison Point – Poisoned Gloves (LISTEN HERE)

Prager Handgriff – Das Letzte Gefecht (LISTEN HERE)

Priest – Body Machine (LISTEN HERE)

A Projection – In A Different Light (LISTEN HERE)

Propter Hoc – History The Operator (LISTEN HERE)

Pure Obsessions & Red Nights – Let Your Obsessions Run Wild (LISTEN HERE)

Rebel Empire – Street Art (LISTEN HERE)

Reflection – Anima (LISTEN HERE)

Reichsfeind – Darken (LISTEN HERE)

Risk Risk – Blue Science (LISTEN HERE)

RROYCE – RROARR (LISTEN HERE)

Rue Oberkampf – Liebe (LISTEN HERE)

Sacred Skin – The Decline Of Pleasure (LISTEN HERE)

Saft – Dansar Med Satan (LISTEN HERE)

She Hates Emotions – Happy Pop Music (LISTEN HERE)

Solitary Experiments – Transcendent (LISTEN HERE)

Stereoskop – Silk (LISTEN HERE)

Sweet Tempest – Going Down Dancing (LISTEN HERE)

Sydney Valette – Home Alone (LISTEN HERE)

Tempers – New Meaning (LISTEN HERE)

Tragic Impulse – Distant Worlds (LISTEN HERE)

Undine – Ether (LISTEN HERE)

Unidad Obscura – Entre La Agonia (LISTEN HERE)

Unify Separate – Music Since Tomorrow (LISTEN HERE)

Vandal Moon – Queen Of The Night (LISTEN HERE)

Vanguard – Spectrum (LISTEN HERE)

Voicecoil – Strange Days (LISTEN HERE)

VVMPYRE – Neon Night Fright (LISTEN HERE)

X Marks The Pedwalk – New/End (LISTEN HERE)

Xenturion Prime – Prisma (LISTEN HERE)

Zynic – Best Before End (LISTEN HERE)

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