Continuing on from Part 1 and Part 2 of my 2022 music review, here are the final 8 albums released this year by some of my favourite artists.
Megadeth – The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead (2nd Sep): This band from LA was formed in 1985 following founder Dave Mustaine‘s exit from Metallica, and were considered one of the “big four” thrash metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer. I think their best work is 1992’s Countdown to Extinction, which came out at the tail end of the metal era, just as grunge was taking over the world. Their 1994 follow-up, Youthanasia, had some good tracks too, but I’ve struggled to get through any of their subsequent albums; I think this is partly because they have stayed true to their brand of high-speed thrash metal, while my tastes have changed. That remains the case with this, their sixteenth studio album; diehard fans will probably love tracks like Life in Hell, Sacrifice and Killing Time, but they didn’t do anything for me. Night Stalkers with legendary rapper Ice-T and This Planet’s On Fire with Sammy Hagar on vocals both bring some variation to Mustaine’s limited vocal range. Although the album has received praise from music critics (it has a Metacritic score of 78), I don’t see myself going back for more. I’ll just have to be content with Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, their excellent greatest hits CD from 2000.
Ozzy Osbourne – Patient Number 9 (9th Sep): The prolific rock vocalist continues to stay relevant at the age of 74, releasing his thirteenth solo album, just two years after his previous well-received effort, Ordinary Man. That 2020 album was notable for collaborations with a host of well-known musicians like Post Malone, Elton John, Slash and Charlie Puth, some of whom I would never have imagined recording with the former Black Sabbath front man. Osbourne continues in the same vein on his latest release, with a mouth-watering line-up of some of the greatest guitarists in rock (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mike McCready from Pearl Jam and former Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi), and a similarly impressive array of drummers (the late Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and bassists (Metallica’s Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses fame). Does it all add up? Well, it’s received an incredible 4 Grammy nominations – for Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance (both for the title track), and Best Metal Performance (Degradation Rules). The songs are immaculately arranged and produced, but do not explore any new musical ground. The only two songs that I would feel like listening to again are Nothing Feels Right and God Only Knows. Frankly, I would rather go back to Ozzy’s first three solo albums from the 80’s – Blizzard of Oz, Diary of a Madman and Bark at the Moon; they still set my pulse racing.
Vieux Farka Touré / Khruangbin – Ali (23rd Sep): Boureima “Vieux” Farka Touré, the son of legendary Malian musician Ali Farka Touré who passed away in 2006, released his self-titled debut album in 2007. I was captivated by his distinctive guitar play and the underlying groove of songs like Ana, Wosoubour and Courage. However, I lost track of his subsequent albums, and then was pleasantly surprised to discover that he had partnered with one of my current favourite bands, Khruangbin, to release Ali, a tribute album of his father’s cover songs. I hadn’t previously listened to Ali Farka Touré’s music, and had no point of comparison for these cover versions. So I ended up listening to each song twice to understand how they had been updated in this new collaboration. Essentially, Ali Farka Touré steps in for his father’s guitar and vocals, while Khruangbin adds a dubstep groove; the result is similar to the DJ remixes of old Hindi songs, which really works for me. It’s a crisp 37-minute-long album with 8 tracks and I really loved Lobbo, Tongo Barra and Alakarra. This is Khruangbin’s second collaboration of the year, having already released an EP titled Texas Moon with Leon Bridges in February.
Queensrÿche – Digital Noise Alliance (6th Oct): Queensrÿche’s 1988 magnum opus, Operation: Mindcrime is frequently included in lists of all-time great metal albums, and it also features in my own series of favourite rock/metal concept albums. The band went through a tumultuous phase following the dismissal of lead singer Geoff Tate in 2012, leading to a dispute around the rights to the band’s name. In 2014, a court decided in favour of co-founders Michael Wilton (lead guitar) and Eddie Jackson (bass), following which Tate (unsurprisingly) named his band Operation: Mindcrime. In spite of all the ups and downs, Queensrÿche have kept up a steady output and this, their 16th studio release, is their highest charting album since their glory years. Vocalist Todd La Torre does an impressive job of replicating Tate’s amazing vocal range, and the twin guitar attack from Wilton and Mike Stone ticks all the boxes on tracks like In Extremis, Lost in Sorrow and Out of the Black. The obligatory power ballad, Forest, unfortunately does not have the epic scope nor emotional depth of their classic Silent Lucidity. The album ends with an enjoyable cover of Billy Idol‘s Rebel Yell. Overall, I would rate Digital Noise Alliance as one of the best mainstream rock/metal albums of the year.
Skid Row – The Gang’s All Here (14th Oct): Skid Row was among the last of the “hair metal” bands that rose to fame at the end of the 80’s, enjoying massive success with their self-titled 1989 debut, driven by the singles 18 and Life and I Remember You. Lead singer Sebastian Bach had an impressive set of pipes, and became a hard rock sex symbol, following in the footsteps of other rock vocalists like David Lee Roth and Axl Rose. The band went off the radar with the rise of grunge and alternative rock, and hadn’t released an album for 16 years, until returning this year with their sixth studio album. Three of the original members remain – guitarists Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill, and bassist Rachel Bolan (all 58 years old) – and are accompanied by 35-year-old Swedish vocalist Erik Grönwall. The band still packs a punch, and songs like Hell or High Water, Time Bomb, Resurrected and When the Lights Come On evoke the American heavy metal sound made famous by bands like Mötley Crüe. The only disappointment is the 7-minute-long power ballad, October’s Song, which meanders along without any catchy hooks or riffs. The album peaked at a respectable #14 on the US Billboard charts, indicating there is plenty of appetite for more from the reconstituted band.
Joji – SMITHEREENS (4th Nov): George Kusunoki Miller (aka Joji) is a former YouTuber turned singer-songwriter, who I came across a couple of years ago via his poignant duet Afterthought, with New Zealand singer-songwriter BENEE. The song featured on Joji’s introspective and somewhat dark 2020 album, Nectar, and his new release SMITHEREENS, continues with a set of similarly thoughtful and melancholic tracks. Joji’s music can be described as lo-fi pop; the songs feature minimal instrumentation – essentially some synthesizer lines and a drum machine – delivering simple but appealing melodies. All the action revolves around Joji’s heartfelt vocals, which I would describe as a “baritone-edged tenor”, with falsetto used quite effectively as a hook on some lines, and electronic enhancement used purposefully elsewhere. Most of the praise from reviewers has been focused on the lead single, Glimpse of Us, but in fact, I enjoyed almost all the songs on this short 24-minute album – Feeling Like the End, Die For You, Before The Day is Over, Dissolve, NIGHT RIDER and BLAHBLAHBLAH DEMO (like the album name, some song titles are styled in all-caps).
Bruce Springsteen – Only The Strong Survive (11th Nov): “The Boss” is back with his 21st studio album and this time he’s recorded covers of his favourite R&B and soul songs. Given that Springsteen has built his career on “blue collar rock”, I admit I was surprised to learn that he is so fond of the R&B genre. Needless to say, the songs are all well-established classics, effectively a Motown greatest hits collection with nothing to dislike. The lead single is a delightful cover of Frank Wilson‘s Do I Love You, made all the more enjoyable by the high-energy music video. I got goosebumps listening to the second single from the album, a rendition of the Commodores‘ Nightshift. The music videos for all four singles (the other two being Ben E. King‘s Don’t Play That Song and Tyrone Davis‘ Turn Back the Hands of Time) capture Springsteen’s live performance energy. I do like the way the arrangement on most of the songs incorporates a string (violin, viola and cello) section. What an amazing gift from the legendary 73-year-old musician.
Smashing Pumpkins – Atum: Act One (15th Nov): Smashing Pumpkins was a high-profile poster child of the alternative rock movement, churning out critically acclaimed albums Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in the 90’s, before fading out of mainstream pop culture over the next two decades in spite of regular recording and touring. They have returned with a bang with their latest project, Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, an ambitious concept album which acts as a sort of sequel to the albums Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina/The Machines of God, continuing the story of a rock star named Glass. The album is being released in three instalments of eleven songs each. The first instalment, Atum: Act One was released last month, The opening track is an instrumental named Atum (pronounced “Autumn”), which starts off slow, but ends with a sense of grandeur. It is followed by three outstanding tracks – Butterfly Suite, The Good in Goodbye and Embracer – the last of which will definitely end up on my 2022 playlist. The compositions revolve around Billy Corgan‘s distinctive, heartfelt vocals and catchy keyboard riffs, with Jeff Schroeder‘s and James Iha‘s twin guitars and Jimmy Chamberlain‘s drums all interlocking beautifully. The remaining seven tracks continue in the same vein, although I didn’t find any that I loved quite as much as the first three (although Where Rain Must Fall has been rapidly growing on me). Overall, this is a mature, highly accomplished effort and I am definitely looking forward to Act Two scheduled for 31st Jan, 2023 and Act Three due on 23rd April, 2023.
That concludes my snapshot of 24 new albums released by my favourite artists in 2022. In 2023, I look forward to new releases from Uriah Heep, Metallica and Dream Theater, as well as the remaining two instalments of Smashing Pumpkins’ rock opera.
Chronophlogiston 
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