The past couple of years has seen a surge in new album releases from veteran bands. Typically, artists in the twilight of their career focus on monetizing their back catalogue through regular touring. The Covid lockdowns and inability to travel gave these bands the time and energy to write and record new music.
During this time, I’ve experienced the joy of listening to new albums from old favourites like Stone Temple Pilots, Deep Purple, Kansas, Yes, My Morning Jacket, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne and of course, ABBA, with their thrilling return in Nov 2021 after a 40-year hiatus with the Grammy-nominated Voyage. Irrespective of the quality of these albums, the experience of listening and re-listening to them, identifying musical influences and shortlisting the best songs, has been immensely rewarding.
Having done this for 2020 (Part 1 and Part 2) and 2021 (Part 1 and Part 2), I was excited to see an even larger number of familiar names on the release list for 2022. As we close out the year, here are thumbnails of new albums from some of my favourite bands/artists, the majority of whom are rock and metal.
Jethro Tull – The Zealot Gene (28th Jan): I haven’t listened to a new Jethro Tull album since 1989’s Rock Island, a decent follow-up to their outstanding 1987 release, Crest of a Knave (which upset Metallica‘s …And Justice for All to win the inaugural Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Grammy). Fast-forward more than three decades, and 75-year-old founder Ian Anderson has returned with an all-new line-up (essentially the musicians he had been touring with over the past decade) to release the band’s 22nd studio album. Anderson’s flute-work is the DNA behind the album’s unmistakable “Tull” sound, while the songs themselves flit between Tull’s mid-70’s folk-rock sound and late 80’s rock-pop phase. The opening track, Mrs Tibbets, falls into the latter category while Sad City Sisters and Where Did Saturday Go? are examples of the former. Other notable tracks include Mine is the Mountain, The Zealot Gene, Barren Beth,Wild Desert John and the lovely, acoustic Three Loves,Three. The album does have a few filler songs, during which one tends to “tune out”, but then a good track comes along and grabs your attention. The closing song, The Fisherman of Ephesus, has a storytelling cadence which bears a passing similarity to some of Al Stewart‘s classic songs. Overall, the album is definitely worth a listen, and it’s really commendable that Mr. Anderson is still writing all the music and lyrics himself after all these years.
Steve Vai – Inviolate (28th Jan): My first exposure to Steve Vai’s virtuosity was on David Lee Roth‘s 1989 album, Skyscraper. One year later, his lead guitar magic on Whitesnake‘s Slip of the Tongue made it my favourite album from the band. And his 1990 solo release, Passion and Warfare (still considered his best work), yielded my favourite guitar instrumental track, Sisters. I am less familiar with his subsequent albums, although that didn’t come in the way of a mind-blowing experience watching him live in Kuala Lumpur in 2014. The 62-year-old released his tenth studio album in January, and it carries his instantly recognizable playing style, particularly what I refer to as “the sitar sound”. The standout track on the album is the first one, Teeth of the Hydra, which manages to sound relaxed and incredibly complex at the same time; the music video showcasing his new custom triple-neck Ibanez Hydra guitar is a treat to watch. My other favourite tracks are Little Pretty, Candlepower and Avalancha; all are melodious and have catchy hooks, not something one can take for granted with guitar virtuosos, who sometimes get carried away creating technically challenging music that may not necessarily be fun to listen to. No such issues with this amazing album.
Scorpions – Rock Believer (22nd Feb): German rock band, Scorpions, released their 19th studio album seven years after their previous effort. Incredibly, three of the stalwarts from their glory years are still with the band – diminutive vocalist Klaus Meine (now 74 years old), rhythm guitarist Rudy Schenker (also 74) and lead guitarist Matthias Jabs (67 years old). On the new album, the band has revisited the formula that has delivered hits over the years and made them a popular live attraction – punchy riffs and hooks, a standard rock drum beat, the occasional guitar solo, and Meine’s distinctive nasal vocals. But for that very reason, it felt a bit dated and I struggled to stay focused through the first four tracks. Then come two consecutive songs which really stood out. Shining in Your Soul has a reggae/ska beat, reminiscent of their 1979 hit Is There Anybody There. And then came Seventh Sun, perhaps the best track on the album – the underlying slow drum beat gives the song a heavy feel, but there’s also variety – a plucked guitar intro line, a light catchy chorus and a guitar solo. The final track, When You Know (Where You Come From), is the obligatory ballad, but doesn’t have the same magic as Wind of Change. The deluxe version of the album has 5 additional tracks adding another 20 minutes to the album, but honestly none of them grabbed my attention.
D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings – Troika (25th Feb): The prolific prog-rock singer-songwriter-musician Neal Morse (Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band), is out with yet another album, this time a collaboration with drummer Nick D’Virgilio and vocalist Ross Jennings. This highly pleasing one-hour-long release is filled with easy listening songs, which are strongly influenced by, and pay tribute to, the music of CSN. Every track delivers a combination of delightful vocal harmonies and beautifully coordinated musicianship. There’s no question that the acoustic ballad, Julia, is the standout track of the album, and is sure to be a staple of future live shows; listening to the track gave me echoes from Dream Theater‘s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, particularly Solitary Shell. My other favourite songs are Everything I Am, You Set My Soul on Fire, One Time Less, Another Trip Around the Sun and My Guardian. I’ve named more than half the songs in the album, so it’s pretty clear that I really enjoyed it! At the age of 62, Neal Morse shows no signs of slowing down, with more than 40 studio albums under his belt, as well as countless cover albums, live recordings (including one with Yellow Matter Custard, a Beatles tribute supergroup) and compilations.
Sabaton – The War to End All Wars (4th Mar): Swedish heavy metal band, Sabaton’s tenth studio recording is yet another concept album revolving around war, and serves as a sequel to their 2019 release The Great War – both commonly used terms for World War I. I’ve previously written about The Great War album, in my on-going series about favourite rock/metal concept albums. Fans of the 2019 album know what to expect from the sequel – Joakim Brodén‘s elaborately descriptive lyrics, set to Hannes Van Dahl‘s militaristic drumbeat, and highlighted by catchy singalong choruses; the best examples are Stormtroopers, Dreadnought, Soldier of Heaven and Lady of the Dark. The opening and closing tracks – named Sarajevo and Versailles respectively – are a pair, built on the same musical structure. There are two tracks that deviate (pleasantly) from the established template. One is Hellfighters, which with its chugging rhythm guitars and lead solos, sounds very much like something that could have been written by Iron Maiden. And the other is Christmas Truce, which kicks off with keyboards and is sung in a suitably poignant tone. There’s no question that Sabaton continue to evolve musically, while staying true to their chosen military metal sub-genre.
BENEE – Lychee EP (4th Mar): New Zealand pop singer BENEE (aka Stella Rose Bennett) is the youngest of my “old favourites”, given that I first listened to her only in 2020. Her two excellent 2019 EPs, Fire on Marzz and Stella & Steve, and her first full length album, Hey U X, from late 2020 were very much on repeat play on Spotify at that time. I really enjoyed her brand of bubbly pop with a hint of melancholy in her soulful voice, and included her in my post, Favourite female singers of the decade. She released her third EP earlier this year, containing 7 songs and clocking in at 25 minutes. It’s bit of a mixed bag; the lead single, Beach Boy, definitely delivers the catchy pop hooks that I enjoyed so much in 2020. Soft Side continues in the same vein, with some Auto-tune vocals thrown in. The third track, Hurt You, Gus would be classified as “chilled out background music”, rather than achieving sing-along status. From that point onwards, the songs felt progressively less distinctive, and the final song, Make You Sick, which is nearly 7 minutes long did absolutely nothing for me. Still, three songs out of seven isn’t too bad, and hopefully the 22-year-old will explore interesting musical avenues with her future efforts.
Joe Satriani – The Elephants of Mars (8th Apr): Joe Satriani has been a mentor, friend and elder stateman to the rock guitar community for decades; both Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett were students of his, and credit him for the techniques they learned in their formative years. Certainly, his virtuosity was in no doubt on his iconic breakthrough albums Surfing with the Alien and Flying in a Blue Dream in the late ’80s, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the sameness of the compositions. I therefore hadn’t kept up with his subsequent (and regular) output over the years. And so I was incredibly surprised by the maturity, variety and the sheer joie de vivre shining through on this 18th studio album. Pretty much every track is amazing and different; I tried listing my favourites and it looks like I’ve covered most of the songs in the album – Sahara with its eastern rhythms, the cinematic thriller vibe of The Elephants of Mars (in spite of the sudden interlude in the middle which I didn’t like), the contemplative and moving “Vai-like” Faceless, the upbeat and funky Blue Foot Groovy, the epic-sounding Sailing the Seas of Ganymede, the tabla intro and mystical rhythms in Doors of Perception, the bright tonal colors and jazzy groove of E 104th St NYC 1973 and the party-themed electronica-infused Night Scene. A special shoutout to all the artists on this album – Kenny Aronoff (drums), Bryan Beller (bass), Rai Thistlethwayte (keyboards) and Eric Caudieux (keyboards, sound engineer and record producer). I am indeed contemplating declaring The Elephants of Mars as one of my top instrumental albums of all time!
Kirk Hammett – Portals EP (23rd Apr): What a coincidence that Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett all released solo albums in the same year – the key difference for Hammett is that this is his first ever solo effort after more than 40 years as Metallica‘s lead guitarist. Although the release is an EP with just 4 songs, they are all pretty long and the album clocks in at nearly half an hour. The first time I listened to the album, I couldn’t get a hang of it, but I then read an interview with Hammett in which he said that the songs are “soundtracks to the movies in your mind”. I felt that context was critical, and the second time around I was able to appreciate the music better; and it also explains the track titles – Maiden and the Monster (Hammett is a horror aficionado), The Jinn, High Plains Drifter and The Incantation. In comparison with the easy accessibility of the first six albums in this list, I needed to work harder as a listener in this case. The musicianship is unquestionably great, but I suspect the only times I will play this album is when I need some background music, or to test the acoustics on a pair of headphones.
In Part 2, I will cover 2022 album releases from James LaBrie, Harry Styles, Def Leppard, Michael Schenker Group, Coheed and Cambria, Of Montreal, Russian Circles and The Mars Volta. And Part 3 will have albums from Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin, Queensrÿche, Joji, Bruce Springsteen and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Chronophlogiston 
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