Music of 2022 - Part 1

It does not seem that long ago that I was sitting down at the end of 2021 to write my Albums of the Year list, but 12 months have indeed past and a lot has happened in the intervening time. When I was writing my list last year there were threats and rumours circulating of another lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many other countries in Europe and even parts of the UK introducing stringent restrictions, but England held firm - and that now seems to have been the right decision. Wisely putting faith in the vaccines, the Christmas of 2021 was a pretty normal affair - and the rest of 2022 that followed, to me at least, was one free of restrictions and serious threat of further lockdowns. All of that rather seems to be a thing of the past, now, and 2022 has been a very busy year for me. I have written the most blog posts that I have ever done in a single year this year, and it is very likely that I have also been to the most gigs in a single year, too. This is largely due to many of 2022's shows being held over from 2020 and 2021, but it has been great getting back out there again in a big way. As always, I will discuss some of my favourite gigs of the year tomorrow, when I publish my Albums of the Year list, but it is safe to say that I have been to many great ones this year - with the first few months of 2023 also looking busy. Sadly, though, with one crisis ending another seems to be beginning - and it is not yet clear how the financial position that most of the world seems to find itself in currently will effect touring bands. I would not be surprised to find 2023 much quieter than 2022 due to this, sadly, but also due to the sheer number of tours that have taken place this year. It will take a while for bands to regain their traditional touring cycles again following all of the delays, but I hope that 2023 will be another successful year for live music - and I will continue to get to as many gigs as I can throughout the year. As it traditional for this blog, though, before getting into what 2023 has in store for us, and even before running through my favourite albums of the 2022, I would like to shine the light on a few releases that I did not have the opportunity, for whatever reason, to write about throughout the year. Blogging is something that often has to take a backseat to work and other commitments, and with the amount of gigs this year I have sometimes not had as much time as I would have liked to review new albums. I have still reviewed a lot of new albums this year, but there were some more that I would have liked to cover - so I have picked out five albums/EPs to briefly discuss here. As always, too, I will detail my favourite live release of the year - as I do not tend to cover them elsewhere on this blog.

Up first is the only new EP that I bought this year. Usually I cover a few EPs throughout each year, but only one band that I follow released one this year - and last month the symphonic metal act Epica released the excellent The Alchemy Project. I would have liked to have covered this in more detail, given the variety of the seven songs here and the sheer amount of guests that appear throughout - but Amazon decided to post my copy out around a month late, which meant that it then got snared up in Royal Mail's strikes. As such, I have only had the EP for just over a week at this point - but I have listened to it a handful of times and am already really enjoying it. As its title suggests, the EP sees Epica teaming up with a number of guests on each of the songs here. Not only have these guests contributed their talents to the songs, but many have also written with the band - which ensures that there is a lot of diversity throughout the EP's seven songs. Epica's trademark symphonic, progressive metal is very much intact - but the guests all bring something different to the song on which they appear, meaning that the EP ranges from jazz-influenced power metal to out-and-out death metal. Standouts for me include the smooth, organic Wake the World, which sees Seventh Wonder/Kamelot frontman Tommy Karevik duetting with Simone Simons throughout - whilst Uriah Heep's Phil Lanzon lays into his Hammond organ - and lead single The Final Lullaby which is jazzed up by Shining mastermind Jørgen Munkeby and his saxophone. Others who appear throughout include former Delain frontwoman Charlotte Wessels, God Dethroned's Henri Sattler, and Powerwolf drummer Roel van Helden - and the variety here will certainly keep Epica fans busy until the band gets to work on their next full length release.

Moving on now to one of 2022's most-hyped young metal bands, at least here in the UK, and Sheffield's Malevolence have been causing quite the stir of late with their third full length album Malicious Intent. It is their first album to be released via a big record label, the band have really entered the wider metal consciousness this year. I was certainly not familiar with them prior to this year, although I understand that they impressed at last year's Bloodstock Open Air - so much so that they were invited back this year to headline Saturday's activities on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. I had intended to watch them, but I decided against doing so following such an excellent set from Mercyful Fate on the Ronnie James Dio Stage - but on the strength of Malicious Intent I am looking forward to catching the five-piece when they open for Trivium next month. In truth, though Malevolence's brand of modern metalcore, mixed with groove metal and hardcore influences, is not generally my thing - but something about Malicious Intent impressed me. The riffing throughout is excellent, with its Pantera and Lamb of God-esque grooves, whilst the vocal interplay between frontman Alex Taylor and guitarist Konan Hall gives the band an edge that many of their peers do not have. Hall's gritty, clean vocals are used sparingly, but they hit the spot when they need to, whilst Taylor's throat-shredding harsh vocals drive everything - sitting atop the band's slightly thrashy grooves perfectly. It helps, too, that Malicious Intent contains a handful of genuine metal anthems - and I can definitely see Malevolence breaking through to the next level if their current trajectory continues.

Many Top 10, etc., lists this year will likely contain the eleventh studio album by the progressive rock act Porcupine Tree Closure/Continuation - which was released back in June. Despite being quite a big fan of prog in its various guises, I have personally never really understood the love for all things Steven Wilson. I enjoy a few of the later Porcupine Tree albums on a casual level, but the band have never really resonated with me - and neither has what I have heard from Wilson's solo catalogue or his many other projects. At this point I have just accepted that this vast body of work is just not for me, but I did not want to miss out what could have been one of the prog releases of the year - so picked up Closure/Continuation in the hope that I could perhaps start afresh with Wilson and his output. Despite the album sounding impressive and complex, though, in many ways it confirmed my view about the band. There are some strong moments throughout, including the pseudo-industrial Harridan and the more melodic Of the New Day - but much of the rest of the album left me cold. I listened to it quite a few times around the time that I came out, but very little of it really stuck with me - and it was not too long before it was removed from my iPod. The couple of Porcupine Tree albums that I do somewhat like are pretty riffy and saw the band shift into more of a metal direction - but that is largely absent from Closure/Continuation, with much of the album instead sounding quite cold and mechanical in my opinion. I do not tend to write overly negative reviews on this blog, especially in this context of covering a few extra releases at the end of the year, but Closure/Continuation has been conspicuous by its absence from my blog this year - so I wanted to give my opinion on it as it was certainly one of the biggest and most anticipated prog releases of 2022.

Turning now to good old-fashioned hard rock, one of the newer bands that has been making a name for themselves recently is Wales' Scarlet Rebels. Despite liking a lot of the newer hard rock bands which are now generally grouped together under the 'New Wave of Classic Rock' (NWOCR) banner, Scarlet Rebels were a band that had generally eluded me until earlier this year. I started to listen to the band when they announced a show local to me, which I ended up going along to. In the build up to the show, I picked up their second album See Through Blue - which caused a bit of a stir when it was released earlier in the year as it reached number 7 in the Official UK Album Chart. Even with the charts as they are these days this is a big achievement for a relatively small band, and I hope that they are able to capitalise on this success going forward. Turning to the album itself, it is a strong addition to the NWOCR scene. There are other bands that I personally prefer from the 'movement', if indeed it is a movement, but See Through Blue contains a lot of memorable songs - and the band's sound is not as rooted in the 1970s or the 1980s as the sound of many of their peers. There is a modern freshness to Scarlet Rebels' sound which helps them to standout somewhat from the crowd, but there is still plenty of classic rock strut to be found within their relatively poppy sound. There is a lot to like about the Welsh band's second album, and I would imagine that we will be hearing more from them going forward.

To close out this suite of mini reviews, I would like to look at the second album from Venom Inc., a band formed back in 2015 by former members of the legendary and influential British metal band Venom. Fronted by bassist Tony 'Demolition Man' Dolan, who was in Venom between 1989 and 1992,  and including Venom founding guitarist Jeffrey 'Mantas' Dunn, Venom Inc. continue on the sound that Venom forged back in the 1980s - with those trademark hints of speed and black metal. Joined on second album There's Only Black by drummer Jeramie 'War Machine' Kling, Venom Inc. very much deliver what is expected of them here. I am certainly no Venom expert, but There's Only Black channels the band's classic sound perfectly - whilst sitting at the heavier end of the band's sound. Venom Inc. certainly seem to favour the tougher side of Venom's sound. With Venom proper channelling something of a black 'n' roll sound these days, which is fun in its own way, Venom Inc. continue to display why Dunn's riffing inspired countless metal bands that followed in Venom's wake - including the thrash legends Slayer. The riffing throughout There's Only Black is excellent, and is enhanced by the raw production, whilst the throaty roars of Dolan add to the album's unsettling and heavy atmosphere. There is certainly no reinventing the wheel here, but with There's Only Black Venom Inc. have staked a claim as the true holders of the original band's torch.

Whilst the above wraps up my coverage of 2022's new music, I would also like to highlight my favourite new album release of the year. There have been a few good ones this year, despite the dearth of live music over the past couple of years, but my favourite is Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More - the latest live album from former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and his excellent band. Over the past few years, Hackett has been touring regularly - highlighting many of Genesis' classic works whilst doing so. Last year, his lengthy UK tour, which I caught in Plymouth, was centred around Genesis' seminal 1977 live album Seconds Out - with the set featuring the album played in full, as well as a short set of some of Hackett's solo material. The live album, over two CDs and a Blu Ray disc, perfectly captures the Manchester stop of the tour - and is complete with crystal clear sound and stunning visuals. The show opens with the Hackett solo material, which is a lot of fun, but the highlight of course is the full performance of Seconds Out. A live album of a live album may seem a strange concept, but having the full show on Blu Ray makes the release very much a must-have for me. Hackett's playing is masterful throughout, whilst the vocals of Nad Sylvan perfectly capture the spirits of both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins - with everything really come together during a standing ovation-worthy rendition of the epic Supper's Ready.

With the above out of the way, all that is really left for me to do is to run down my albums and gigs of 2022. This will come tomorrow, starting the new year looking back to this year as I always do, but I would also just like to look briefly into the new year. I already have a number of new albums pre-ordered which I am looking forward to - so 2023 is already shaping up to be another strong year for new music. The first new album which will drop for me is the debut solo album from former HIM frontman Ville Valo, Neon Noir, which comes out on 13th January. I am also really looking forward to the next opus from Uriah Heep, Chaos & Colour, which drops at the end of January, as well as the first album in quite a few years from the Irish bluesy rockers The Answer - who will release Sundowners in March. I am sure that a lot more will follow throughout the year, and I am expecting to spend a lot of 2023 writing again - bringing you all the best new rock, metal, and prog releases of the year.