CD Top 22 of 2022

2022 was a good year for almost all genres I love. Making a top 22 turned out to be pretty hard therefore. Still not making a list was no option as by reading other people's lists I always discover some gems that I simply missed, due to a huge number of releases each month. A quick thanks to Matt Manofmuchmetal, Andy DPRP, Aardschok, iOPages and Angry Metal Guy is needed as some of the new bands on my list I might have missed alltogether, So thank you very much indeed. Main target of this list is that one person checks out one album he or she missed. As I found a good blend of known names and deep underground bands I guess that should be possible. Here's my favorite 22 of 2022 (well 23 as I did a Pardo at one point)

22. Black Swan - Generation Mind

Robin McAuley once again shows he aged best after Glenn Hughes of all vocal heroes from my past. If the band than is made up by Reb Beach, Jeff Pilson and Matt Starr quality is guaranteed. Great songs I can hear anytime, anywhere to speak with mr McAuley.

21. WAIT - The End of Noise

Yet another Max Phelps highlight. With Exist comrade Alex Weber and Charlie Eron on guitars. Progressive Death Metal it says, but with the amount of clean vocals definitely accessible to many.

20. An Abstract Illusion - Woe

This was a fastest ever. Reading Matt's review, listening on bandcamp, ordering the album immediately after and the next day confirmed for PPE 2023. Am I looking forward? yes lots a highlight of the festival guaranteed if they can come even close to the album on stage.

19. Kings of Mercia - Kings of Mercia 

A year without Fates Warning never had so many releases with members of the band pleasing me. Here Jim Matheos and Steve Overland found each other and Joey Vera helped out. One of the best melodic rock metal albums in a long time. Probably Jim Matheos can't do average.

18. Saxon - Carpe Diem / Satan - Earth Infernal

Here is my double (Pardo - Sea of Tranquility) pick. NWOBHM can not be absent in any best of list. I missed White Spirit so far but Saxon and Satan both came with very strong albums like they always seem to be releasing. Missed them live, loved their albums

17. Tribe of Names - Evolver

Sometimes I feel like playing something different. Often Simon Godfrey knows what I  mean. First with Tinyfish, than Shineback and solo, followed by Valdez. Now here is Tribe of Names. Progrock without keyboards, lots of great guitars and just happy music.

16. Voivod - Synchro Anarchy

Somehow I never got into Voivod like I should. I lost Angel Rat and Nothing face in my 1995 apartement robbery and loved The Wake. Now they confirm being as solid as ever. Missing their show due to FNAC messup in Lisbon I will be there at Prognosis and not miss a second.

15. Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark

Yes they did it again. Where I thought of losing them when 15 years ago they released Somewhere Else and Happiness their two worst albums in a row. The last three releases corrected that dip and this is pure poetry again. Noone can sing about Covid like Steve Hogarth can. 

14. Trial  - Feed the Fire

I thought that losing Linus Johanson on vocals would be hard to get over. I was wrong. Vessel my favorite album of 2015 can never be topped, but here Trial show again why they are my favorite Heavy Metal band of the past decade. Come back to Holland please.

13. Parius - The Signal Heard Throughout Space

13-11 are albums I got so recent they are hard to rank, but definitely among my 2022 favorites. Parius bring a form of progressive metal with a Sci-Fy story. Luckily no Ayreon in sight, so really good and far from boring. Surprise tip by iOPages this was. Will be played lots.

12. Threshold - Dividing Lines

Threshold never disappoint. This one sounds a lot like the Mac years and is filled with catchy hooks and songs. Glynn Morgan possibly showing his best vocals ever. Waiting for them in de Boerderij.

11. Disillusion - Maya

Only received this week, but two spins convinced me that this is one of the 2022 highlights. Their best with their debut probably and already curious for their set at Prognosis.

10. Chaos Frame - Entropy

When Aardschok tips bands for ProgPower it usually is Metal Mike and he likes his prog to be metal. This being their third album I missed the first two, but this is just good old progmetal as it maybe always should have stayed. So PPE are you readig along? Some of the older generation would love this band in Baarlo indeed.

9. O.R.K. - Screamnasium

I am so pleased to see that this band got confirmed for Prognosis. First they are awesome, but second they deserve to get exposure to wider audience in Holland. Funny how Colin Edwin was not invited for the Porcupine Tree reunion and than released a much better album. 

8. Ard - Take Up My Bones

Thanks Matt for the tip. The album I played most in spring after purchase. History lessons included. Absolute masterpiece of melancholy and atmosphere. Interesting how my favorite doom album of the year did not come from the Candlemass/Sorcerer school this time.

7 Karcius - Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold.

Thanks Andy, what a wonderful album. According to Prog Archives they belong under the jazz rock/fusion banner. Well I hear progmetal and hard prog in the blend. A wonderful collection of songs which should please fans of progressive rock and metal alike.

6. Obsidious - Iconic

Is there live after Oscura? Well yes there is and what an album Obsidious gave us. One of those that after one spin at bandcamp I bought and my favorite Techdeath release of the year (never heard Persefone). Vocal performance of the year? Prognosis promises to be good in 2023. 

 

5. Toxik - Dis Morta

Toxik came back with their first proper full album since the two eighties classics World Circus and Think This. Again bordering between thrash metal and tech metal Toxik delivers. Ron Iglesias was good live, on album even better. And now a five-piece, they always convince on stage. See ya on tour.

4. Figure of Speechless - Tunnel At The End Of The Light

Glenn McMaster was unknown to me as well. When he writes one the best progmetal albums of the year and asks for some help of Derek Sherinian, Tony Franklin, Brian Tichy, Ron Bumblefoot Thal and my favorite vocalist Ray Alder we have a winning team. Love it from start to finish.

3. Lillian Axe - From Womb to Tomb

Some bands never disappoint and Lillian Axe is one of them for me. My favorite melodic metal band, who this century managed to match their high level of the eighties/nineties every time again. From Womb to Tomb their first album after ten years is another hit. Anyone with the slightest interest in melodic metal should have this.

2. Imminent Sonic Destruction - The Sun Will Always Set 

Thank you Matt for this new discovery. Progressive metal they play according to Metal Archives, but more of the all over the place kind. Some songs are progrock, some melancholic and grunts appear occassionally as well. I loved this album from the beginning and when you still go back to it frequently that always is a good  sign. Discovery of the year fo rme, as they already had two albums before.

1. A-Z - A-Z

Technically a new band, but with Alder Zonder completed by Philip Bynoe, Vivien Lalu and Joop Wolters no new names. And yes, this is not a progmetal release, but given the musicianship and the song it has been the album I played most this year,  Zonder and Alder proving to be a class on their own, packed in catchy songs always makes this a joy to play. Even the Apple- Zebra artwork is great, now Mark Zonder spoke the magic word: touring. Please bring them to Holland.

 

Albums that (just) did not make it to my Top 22 of 2022

2022 was a great year for music. So when I started looking into my favorites I quickly found I had more than 22 albums I really liked this year. So in the spirit of the losers flight from the Dutch Olympic Comittee  during the Rio Olympics I gathered all losers in a row (not flight). Don''t think you don't need to check these albums out, they made my year better as well. Just...

So before passing some categories with good albums I did buy, first the ones I missed all together. I still don't do spotify as a man of principle. So some albums I never heard. Main reason my hopping between Holland and Portugal. Some albums were released shortly before I would be away for a month. The low this year I had when albums I ordered took so long in the mail, that I was not home to receieve and since you have to pay bloody taxes as high as the CD price at times they were returned to sender. So on first thinking the ones I missed so far are by: Queensryche, Riot City, Arena, MSG, Pattern Seeking Animals, Cosmograf and Martyr. Martyr have this habit of playing nearby when I am not around. For 2023 they already announced a festival at Musicon during PPE. So without me, and no Vinnie at PPE. But you can run, you can not hide as I will see Planet Metalhead in January in Baroeg when they open for Jag Panzer. The albums I did get, enjoyed but not making it to my list are the following.

Bands that released a good album but not their best ever:

Zero Hour, Oceans of Slumber, Giant, Soilwork, Wilderun and Porcupine Tree. All released albums in teh range decent to very good, but their problem is that they set their own stadard ridiculoudsly high in the past. So from change of style (Oceans of Slumber) to surprise comeback (Giant, Zero Hour) and even somewhat disappointing given their past (Wilderun, Porcupine Tree) these all were good enough albums, but not shocking me like my top 22 would.

In the progrock genre Stuckfish was very good again, Big Big Train I did not get due to the sad loss and Galahad was returned to sender. The best news came from Dec Burke, but Darwin's Radio is expected in 2023 now (I hope)

On the progmetal front I liked the Vass/Katsionis album a lot. Kandia made me tick the box of female vocalist (live at Comendatio very good) and Compass the melodic variant. All very nice albums to check out.

On the edge of Melodic and heavy metal I liked Edge of Forever a lot, especially after seeing them live. Ironflame was one of the True metal highlights this year to me and Spirits of Fire is my number 23 of 2022. Until this afternoon I tried to swap them with one of my top 22. The only failure on this masterpiece by Fabio Lione, Chris Caffery, Steve DiGiorgio and Mark Zonder is that it would be even strong if lasting only some 45 minutes with eight songs. Highly recommended still

On the other genres I loved the albums releases by Eight Bells (classy doom with female vocals), Sacred Son (my favorite Black Metal album is again from the UK, cover of the year for me) and instrumental Spaniards Toundra with Hex (pity I missed their show at DB's).

So if these are the losers, wait for the winners tomorrow. As I said 2022 was a good year for music, if you like it heavy or proggy that is. The rest was as poor as a worldcup in Qatar. 

Live concerts Top 11 of 2022

2022 and at times it looked like Covid was never here. Unfortunately also at times it looked different as I caught the bastard late April. Therefore I missed two shows for which I had tickets and both likely to score high. MSG in de Boerderij and Riot City / Seven Sisters in Kavka Antwerp. Still I visited some damn fine shows. Being away half the year, made me miss a fair share as well. In the end I was far too little times in my favorite places for Live Music: Musicon, Baroeg, Nobel and Little Devil. Due to the limited number of shows no top 22 of 2022, but a top 11. Here we go.

11. Scar Symmetry - de Gigant Apeldoorn 4 November

Headliner of the first evening at Brainstorm. A wonderful show where the double vocals worked very nice to me.

10. Edge of Forever - Bel Air Breda 11 March

A proper meodic metal show in Bel Air. One of Alessandro's many bands and I loved his voice live.

9. Porcupine Tree - Ziggo Dome Amsterdam 6 November

The Tree are back, with a half decent album and an impressive live show. Only the setlist could have been so much better to me. Still pure class on stage

8. Bütcher / Wound Collectror / Alcatrazz - Musicon The Hague throughout the year.

I was far too few times in Musicon this year, but these three were my favorite bands hitting the most sympathetic stage in Holland.

7. Flotsam and Jetsam / Death Angel - Cacaofabriek and DMF Helmond and Eindhoven

Two bands you can see almost every year live and they refuse to disappoint. Bring them on in 2023

6. Mastodon - 013 Tilburg 9 June

Mastodon touring their Hushed and Grim album in great style. 

5. Toxik / Heathen - de Pul Uden 16 June

My pedal to the metal brought me to Uden. Toxik again and Heathen frst time for me, both giving us a great show. 

4. Opeth - Sala Tejo Lisbon 26 November 

What a careeer overview was this. Even much better than what I hoped for. 13 albums, 13 songs, one from each album. The perfect set showing that their career is great from the early years till today.

3. Iotunn - Sjiwa Baarlo 1 October

When a new band that released one of my favourite 2021 albums is invited for ProgPower hopes are high. They surpassed my expectations. And yes in Gigant they might have been tighter (drums more at home) but this first experience being blown away I shall long remember.

2. Lillian Axe - Nightrain Bradford 24 August

When my favorite melodic metal band comes to Europe I will be there (well if I can and timing suits). A perfect evening warmed up by very good Kaine and Riot Act. The latest formation of Lillian Axe passed the classics and walked us through their career. New album on sale, which now still needs to be toured in Europe!!

1. Angel - Baroeg Rotterdam 21 August

The perfect mix of nostalgia and a band in topform. Live Without a Net was one of my favourite live albums from the seventies/eighties. I saw them only once before a few years ago in Liege. Then in a bad mood, now completely loving it on stage'also as the audience was (very) loud. Lost my voice for a few days, more than worth it. Shouting along so many classic songs of my youth was a joy. Never would have thought this band at that location being such a perfect match. Pity their awesome white shirt only was available in M size, which I last could wear when Live Without a Net was released February 1980.

So now Friday closing 2022 live music in Musicon with René's Bday party, but coverbands won't surpass the above. Bring on 2023