We’ve come to the top of one other 12 months, and so we dive headlong into awards season. It’s all properly and good guitars, pedals and amps, however what concerning the individuals who play them? Time to honour the guitar tracks, albums and artists that made our 2022 particular.

Artist Of The 12 months: Polyphia

It’s protected to say that it’s been Polyphia’s 12 months. There’s seldom been a time they haven’t been grabbing headlines, however this goes past rehashing the boomer-bends debacle: Polyphia are doing one thing new with the guitar. Not only a mathy prog-metal act, their newest LP Bear in mind That You Will Die confirmed how succesful they’re of constructing actually uncategorisable music with out having to utterly reject what got here earlier than. As if we would have liked any additional proof of this, they even went out and collaborated with Steve Vai – the gold normal of following your personal stressed guitar muse.

Maximalist, provocative, and charming, Polyphia make certain you take note of them. And so no matter whether or not you like them or hate them, their completely unignorable presence is a good factor for everybody who loves the guitar: with bands like them round, there’s no likelihood the instrument goes to fade into the background anytime quickly.

Winner – Polyphia

Album Of The 12 months: Moist Leg – Moist Leg

Isle of Wight duo Moist Leg had loads to stay as much as in 2022, as they spent the higher a part of final 12 months build up a juggernaut of hype for his or her debut. However they caught the touchdown: //Moist Leg// is wall-to-wall glorious, incomes a simple 10/10 from us right here at Guitar.com. Its winding, complicated guitar traces do every part to extend the forever-repeatable nature of the album and nothing to seem like they’re making an attempt too arduous.

It’s vibrant and life-affirming with out being tacky. It’s humorous with out being a novelty. And it’s without delay polished and emotionally-charged. It’s, in essence, every part good guitar-pop needs to be. In the event you don’t personal a duplicate of this album, change that now. You gained’t remorse it.

Winner – Moist Leg – Moist Leg

Observe Of The 12 months: Willow – ur a <stranger>

Willow Smith’s guitar-centric reinvention has been a pleasure to observe – whereas Gen Z’s revival of 2000s nu-metal and pop-punk is in full swing, Willow is way from simply rehashing Avril Lavigne hooks: ur a <stranger> slides effortlessly between steel chugging and a wonderful, Muse-esque hook. Her love of alt-metal greats like Deftones could be very audible right here, albeit packaged into a fast two minutes – combining the sting of alt-metal with a brief, sharp pop hook has typically led to nice outcomes, and ur a <stranger> is not any exception.

Winner – WILLOW – ur a <stranger>

Guitar.com Incoming Award: Horsegirl

Horsegirl make a lot of noise for a three-piece. And once we say noise, we imply it: the woozy interaction between always churning Bass VI and fuzzy, vibrato-laden guitar traces evokes the very best of 80s and 90s noise rock and shoegaze. Not surprisingly, Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo gave Horsegirl their stamp of approval, and performed on two songs on their glorious 2022 launch Variations Of Fashionable Efficiency.

However a tribute band they aren’t: to begin a band within the 2020s is to begin one in a whirlpool of influences, all a long time earlier folded into themselves inside streaming’s strong time-crystal. My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Constructed To Spill, and extra: there’s a cocktail of noise being combined by Horsegirl. And in the event you’re studying this web site you in all probability don’t want us to inform you of the attraction of the bottom ingredient: delay-pedal-soaked, reverb-drenched, never-letting-go-of-the-whammy-bar guitar.