The 40 Best Albums of 2022
The gallery on this page contains Metacritic's list of the 40 best-reviewed albums of 2022, ranked by Metascore. This list only includes new albums receiving at least 7 reviews from professional critics.
Otherwise, all full-length studio albums (or mixtapes) released between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 are eligible, though reissues, live albums, box sets and other compilations are excluded. (Those excluded titles are included in a separate list at the end of the gallery.) Albums are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding based on scores as of December 19, 2022.
(#8) Irish five-piece rock band Just Mustard moved to indie label Partisan Records for this follow-up to their 2018 debut Wednesday. Led by Katie Ball's ethereal vocals—sounding remarkably like Cranes vocalist Alison Shaw—Heart Under blends shoegaze, trip-hop, and post-punk into something menacing, evocative, and, at times, danceable.
“Just Mustard have said they wanted their second album, Heart Under, to make the listener feel like they are driving through a tunnel with the windows down. And on this noisy, wonderfully chaotic record, the band seems to have nailed it. ... The inventive beats make you want to dance.” —The Telegraph
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