Best New Music - 2022 edition

Amon Amarth have announced a new album to be released August 6th. There's an accompanying single:


I personally preferred Put Your Back Into The Oar (which is not part of the album, apparently) but I'm looking forward to what they have to show.
 
It´s like the catchy poppier nephew of Dream Theater. Never got into Mercy Falls album but this song sounds great! Gonna check out the rest of it.
 

One Desire - "Never Gonna Stop"

New single from this Finnish band whom I first encountered at a festival in Stockholm. Modern melodic rock whose main draw is vocalist André Linman, a Swedish speaking Finn who also plays great guitar solos. For me, this band could be his solo show.

He was in a teen rockband called Sturm und Drang a couple of years ago but this is on another level. Glad they will soon be releasing their third album as One Desire - their previous two efforts have been fantastic (especially the Linman-penned songs) and I feel they're doing something fresh with a super-modern production while retaining 80's pop metal hooks and guitars.
 
Fellowship's debut album just dropped. I suspect they're going to be the next big thing in power metal. They go hard on the sincere, super-uplifting side of the genre in a way that makes a nice counterpoint to all meme bands that are gaining popularity in power metal.


 
Helphyre said:
Fellowship's debut album just dropped. I suspect they're going to be the next big thing in power metal. They go hard on the sincere, super-uplifting side of the genre in a way that makes a nice counterpoint to all meme bands that are gaining popularity in power metal.
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There's something a little weird about the vocal delivery (strange, since it looks like these guys are from Britain), and there's obviously a mountain of cheese involved here, but I agree that the melodies and songwriting are great. Nice to hear some straight-up power metal with a distinct sound and without any "beauty and the beast" schtick. I'll check out the full album. Thanks for the recommendation!
 


I’ve really been enjoying the self-titled A-Z album, which is hard rock / AOR from Mark Zonder and Ray Alder of Fates Warning. It’s like a mash-up of 80s Rush and Journey with a number of mildly proggy parts. Very clean and crisp, and every band member is great on their instrument.
 
In no particular order, but my favourite albums of this year:

Conjurer - Páthos
Ghost - Impera
Sabaton - The War to End All Wars
Kreator - Hate Uber Alles
Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait
Heriot - Profound Mortality
Baest - Justitia (EP)
Battle Beast - Circus of Doom
Saor - Origins

Looking forward to hopefully adding Blind Guardian, Avantasia, and Devin Townsend to the list by the end of the year.
 
Aside Saxon, Scorpions, Circle Of Silence, Deficiency, Kreator, Destruction, KingCrown and Tony Martin, I didn't have listened to so much new releases this year. I don't even want to. Right now I'm rooted in the past with the good old heavy metal albums from Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, Black Sabbath, Accept, U.D.O., Saxon, Scorpions, Dio, Rainbow and some others...
 
In terms of albums, I've really enjoyed the following so far this year:

Amon Amarth - The Great Heathen Army
Battle Beast - Circus Of Doom
Ghost - Impera
Halestorm - Back From The Dead
Hardcore Superstar - Abrakadabra
Scorpions - Rock Believer

In terms of songs, I've enjoyed all of the songs Avantasia and Dynazty have released from their upcoming albums. The new Megadeth song was pretty good, and Amon Amarth's Put Your Back Into The Oar is one of my favourite songs of theirs to date. My biggest surprise was The Night Flight Orchestra's new song, Black Stars And Diamonds, as I really wasn't expecting them to be releasing any new music for a while yet.
 
www.loudersound.com

Unbreakable Spirit: the unexpected return of Janick Gers's first band, White Spirit

Despite disintegrating four decades ago, White Spirit are back with an album of rejuvenated lost recordings and have another record already in the works
www.loudersound.com www.loudersound.com

Janick's first band, White Spirit released their 2nd studio album called Right Or Wrong - the first one was released back in 1980!

Unexpected return. They have another record already in the works and there’s also been interest in some live dates.

-> This album was made following the discovery of a cassette tape containing studio demos recorded in 1981 of what was to be the 2nd White Spirit album. Maybe the songs are co-written by Janick?
Guest performers on the album include Neil Murray, Russell Gilbrook, Jeff Scott Soto, Steve Overland & Lee Small. It would have been great if Janick also played on the album... the style of the band (Deep Purple/Rainbow) is in his soul.

Classic hard rock from the 80's. 10 really enjoyable songs (''Better Watch Out'' is a re-recorded version of the their song ''Watch Out'').

 
Jer said:


I’ve really been enjoying the self-titled A-Z album, which is hard rock / AOR from Mark Zonder and Ray Alder of Fates Warning. It’s like a mash-up of 80s Rush and Journey with a number of mildly proggy parts. Very clean and crisp, and every band member is great on their instrument.
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Cool artwork, but prefer Fates Warning music.
Sea of Tranquility says in his review (and in the comments) he's pretty sure Fates Warning "is done"... :wtf:

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This is a pretty interesting album from Mike Gaspar, the former drummer of Moonspell. It draws from a shockingly broad cross section of metal, including folk, neoclassical, power, prog, melodeath, black, and doom, but it also has one foot firmly planted in the 90s nu metal sound, often reminiscent of Godsmack. It’s an unusual combination, but somehow it works.

All the vocals are melodic, though there’s a coarser texture to them. My only real complaint is the periodic blast beat / cut time drumming that finds its way into the songs a bit too often for my taste, though it usually doesn’t last too long.

This album caught my interest on the first listen, but it’s continued to grow on me each time I’ve heard it, and now I’m really into it. Definitely one of the stronger albums of 2022.

The full album is linked from the cover art above, but here are the singles:



 
Jer said:

This is a pretty interesting album from Mike Gaspar, the former drummer of Moonspell. It draws from a shockingly broad cross section of metal, including folk, neoclassical, power, prog, melodeath, black, and doom, but it also has one foot firmly planted in the 90s nu metal sound, often reminiscent of Godsmack. It’s an unusual combination, but somehow it works.

All the vocals are melodic, though there’s a coarser texture to them. My only real complaint is the periodic blast beat / cut time drumming that finds its way into the songs a bit too often for my taste, though it usually doesn’t last too long.

This album caught my interest on the first listen, but it’s continued to grow on me each time I’ve heard it, and now I’m really into it. Definitely one of the stronger albums of 2022.

The full album is linked from the cover art above, but here are the singles:



Click to expand...
Agree with you. It’s a fantastic album.
 
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