ALBUM OF 2022
From another year of albums ranging from the brilliant to the good, the bad and the downright ugly, from established stars, up-and-comers and new kids on the block, Classic Rock’s critics pick the 50 best.
50 CATS IN SPACE
Kickstart The Sun HARMONY FACTORY
Not an album so much as an explosion in a melodic rock factory, Kickstart The Sun finds these Cats bouncing ideas around as if all nine lives depend on it. Horns parp, choirs wail, guitars soar like roving search beams, and Queen’s A Night At The Opera hears it all and goes home with its tail between its legs. Brilliantly ludicrous and ludicrously brilliant. FL
Killer track: Poke The Witch
49 BUZZCOCKS
Sonics In The Soul CHERRY RED
Introduced at the infamous 1976 Sex Pistols gig that ignited Manchester’s punk scene, Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle’s partnership drove Buzzcocks until Shelley’s passing in 2018. Diggle’s decision to continue the band – considered unconscionable by some – is justified by
Sonics In The Soul’s stellar songwriting and fiery performances. Crucially Diggle balances brash bangers with pop smarts
(Nothingness World). RD
Killer track: You’ve Changed
Everything Now
48 BONNIE RAITT
Just Like That REDWING
Bonnie Raitt’s first new album in over six years, Just Like That offered sumptuous, widereaching proof that she’s not done pushing herself yet. It’s full of swampy, soulful blues swagger and deft guitar touches that served the likes of Little Feat and James Taylor similarly well, plus the sort of sweet and wry tones you can hear in Raitt acolytes like Susan Tedeschi, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Larkin Poe and so many more. Americana at its finest.
Killer track: Made Up Mind
PG 47 THE BLACK KEYS Dropout Boogie NONESUCH
Twenty years after they released their first album, The Black Keys are still walking the fine line between smart and simple. On latest album Dropout Boogie the duo from
Akron, Ohio added a refreshing dash of bubblegum soul and pop to their original blues-rock package, while a stellar performance by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on Good Love takes them out of the garage and into the Texas desert. Hot stuff. DS Killer track: Good Love (feat. Billy F Gibbons)
46 CARDINAL BLACK
January Came Close JUMP IN
Members of Cardiff rock’n’soul quartet Cardinal Black played together in another band more than a decade ago, so this, their first album, has been a long time coming. It was worth the wait. Featuring the bluesy, innovative stylings of guitarist Chris Buck, January Came Close oozes lifeaffirming depth from top to bottom. Terra Firma is sumptuous. Jump In is stunning. This is a precious, extraordinarily inspired debut album. CL
Killer track: Where Do You Go?
45 FM
Thirteen FRONTIERS
The cover resembles an 80s album by Satanist screamer King Diamond, but fear not. Thirteen is a feelgood melodic rock record in the classic FM tradition. The tunes are big, the delivery smooth, Steve Overland’s voice is still as strong and pitch-perfect as it was in his twenties. And everything that’s great about FM comes together on Waiting On Love – not just the best track on the album, but also one of the greatest AOR songs of modern times. PE
Killer track: Waiting On Love
44 WHISKEY MYERS
Tornillo WIGGY THUMP/THIRTY TIGERS
On this dazzling bestyet sixth album, sixpiece Whiskey Myers have got it all going on: bar-room rockin’, alt. country heritage, brass, and gospel backing singers. But Tornillo is no southern “kitchen sink”; it reflects the care and love injected by singer Cody Cannon, guitarist John Jeffers and the rest of the band. How else could two heartrending ballads – For The Kid’s and Heart Of Stone – be among its better tracks? NJ Killer track: Feet’s
43 NICKELBACK
Get Rollin’ BMG
Twenty years after How You Remind Me gave these Canadians their first monster hit, Nickelback’s MO hasn’t changed. Get Rollin’ has its testosterone-charged anthems and a masterful power ballad. The surprise comes with Just One More. With an 80s vibe and a deep lyric, it’s one of the best songs Chad Kroeger has ever written. PE
Killer track: Just One More
42 FANTASTIC NEGRITO
White Jesus Black Problems STOREFRONT
On one of the most original rock records you’ll hear this year, Negrito takes his truelife tale of ancestral interracial romance and celebrates it with an imaginative, multilayered gospel, blues, soul and funk soundtrack. Smart, heartfelt and thoughtprovoking, Negrito’s analysis of who he is (or thought he was) and where he came from might have provided his finest hour thus far. JK
Killer track: Oh Betty
41 DAN REED NETWORK
Let’s Hear It For The King DRAKKAR ENTERTAINMENT
Since re-forming in 2012, Dan Reed Network have steadily climbed closer to their gold standard, 1989’s Slam. Here they improve again as Reed brings melody and thought-provoking words (the title-track’s ‘double-decker blow-job bus’ and, on Stumble, the first ever lyric to place Buddha in a burlesque show), while guitarist Brion James delivers the heavy funk riffs. The combination is a mix of dancefloor bangers and full-on rockers, and it’s joyful stuff right from start to finish. NJ
Killer track: Starlight
40 THE HELLACOPTERS
Eyes Of Oblivion NUCLEAR BLAST
The Hellacopters blasted away the cobwebs of a 14-year hiatus with Eyes Of Oblivion, a whirlwind mix of retro-revivalism à la Monster Magnet, unhinged protopunk garage rock (think The Sonics or MC5, but with Cheap Trick’s additivelaced choruses) and gospel-inflected blues. Each track is brought to life in a cacophony of wailing guitars, serpentine grooves and huge hooks, Nicke Andersson and Dregen utilising everything in The Big Book Of Brilliant Rock’n’Roll to deliver spectacular, toe-tapping results. RH
Killer Track: Reap A Hurricane
39 MAGNUM
The Monster Roars SPV
During their 50-year career, Magnum have experienced arenapacking peaks, and bad breaks that would have crushed lesser bands. Having fought their way back to a latecareer revival, only for covid to derail the tour for The Serpent Rings (2020), guitarist/ songwriter Tony Clarkin rallied the troops and charged undeterred into the recording of The Monster Roars. Magnum’s characteristic blend of passionate delivery and majestic melody burns bright throughout, reaching resonant high points in All You Believe In and Come Holy Men. RD Killer track: Come Holy Men
38 JOE LYNN TURNER
The Belly Of The Beast MUSIC THEORIES RECORDINGS/MASCOT
With a CV that includes stints in Rainbow and Deep Purple, Joe Lynn Turner always had heavyweight prowess at his fingertips. With Belly Of The Beast he eschewed the fluffier AOR of his previous releases in favour of majestic hard rock and brooding metallic flavours. The opening title track is pure pummelling riffage, while Tortured Soul combines sombre grandeur with infectious industrial-edged riffs – you can hear producer Peter Tägtgren’s experience with (Rammstein singer) Till Lindemann. At 71, Joe Lynn Turner looks and sounds like a new man. PG
Killer track: Tortured Soul
37 MONSTER TRUCK
Warriors BMG
For the best part of a decade, these no-bullshit Canadians have sustained a loyal following by sticking to the bearded, righteous chops that won them over in the first place. Still, after years of continuous touring and a bunch of life changes, they were due a refocus.
Warriors is the sound of Monster Truck doing just that, bringing to mind the heavy, bluesy fuzz and monstrous riffs of debut album Furiosity – plus extra hot sauce from the roosty warmth of Country Livin’ and solid-gold bangers like Love And Time and Golden Woman. PG
Killer track: Golden Woman
36 MEGADETH
The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! UMC
Megadeth’s best days are long behind them, right? Well… wrong, actually. The sixteenth album from the thrashmetal pioneers was also the highest-charting of their career across the world, entering at No.3 in the UK.
Even throat cancer was unable to stop frontman/band leader Dave Mustaine, whose latest Megadeth line-up is a little shorter in the tooth than him, although every bit as hungry and well-drilled. Now into his sixties, the chances of Mustaine mellowing with age would appear to be absolutely zero. DL
Killer track: Life In Hell
35 JETHRO TULL
The Zealot Gene INSIDE OUT
A UK Top 10 hit, Jethro Tull’s twentysecond studio record was their first since 2003’s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album – and was well worth the wait.
With the Bible as his frame, an inspired Ian Anderson leads his band through caustic songs broaching sibling rivalry, toxic social media, drunken revellers and the horrors of Hiroshima. He even plays God at one point (type-casting?), on a literate, listenable album right up there among Tull’s best. GM
Killer track: Mine Is The Mountain
34 GINGER WILDHEART & THE SINNERS
Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners WICKED COOL
The abrupt curtailing of The Wildhearts’ creative rebirth was perhaps not that surprising, given their mercurial frontman’s unpredictable ways. And perhaps we should also have expected the unexpected from this new band he’d had up his sleeve since 2019.
The punky intensity and high-octane rock textures of his alma mater are less in evidence here, but a love of southern and heartland rock, along with vintage Americana, shines through on 10 effusive tracks that might not be as wild of heart but whose soul resonates loud and clear. JS Killer track: Footprints In The Sand
33 THE HU
Rumble Of Thunder BETTER NOISE
While The Hu’s debut album The Gereg was all about global conquest, and propelled the Mongolian group into charts worldwide, Rumble Of Thunder is about consolidating those gains while expanding their sonic repertoire. Fist-pumping, galloping-horse folk metal is still present, but the band also explore more limber folk stylings, while Mother Nature feels like a Mongolian take on the soulful grunge of Temple Of The Dog. RH
Killer track: Upright Destined Mongol
32 TUK SMITH & THE RESTLESS HEARTS
Ballad Of A Misspent Youth MRG
Tuk has had his share of bad luck. When his former band Biters fell apart, he put together a solo group and landed a spot on the Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe tour, only for covid to intervene. Two years on he’s back with this sparkling love letter to the 70s rock’n’roll he loves so much. Girls On The East Side Of Town is a joyful Thin Lizzyesque romp. Ain’t For The Faint burns with driving, hawk-eyed bite. But it’s the ballad Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead that proves he can deliver a poignant message, along with a blinding tune. PG
Killer track: Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead
31 MUSE
Will Of The People WARNER
When Muse decided to base their ninth album on real-world events, they had plenty to work with. Described in these pages as “the most visceral condemnation of the global situation that Muse have yet conceived”,
Will Of The People finds them casting a thrilling shadow over the pandemic era. From the sassy-robot-army glam stomp of the title track, to the electro-punk fuzz of
We Are Fucking Fucked and the brutal, groovy judder of Won’t Stand Down, it capitalises on their organic rock and retrofuturist-cyberdude extremes (and all the nuances in between). PG
Killer track: Won’t Stand Down
30 ROSALIE CUNNINGHAM
Two Piece Puzzle ESOTERIC ANTENNA
For her second solo album, vocalist/multiinstrumentalist/ producer Cunningham further embraced a glorious gamut of 60s
psychedelic and 70s progressive styles, as immediately evidenced by opener Start With The Corners, a strident epic that splices together Van der Graaf and Yes. Cunningham and partner Rosco Wilson then add touches of Nilsson, Curved Air and Fairport Convention to set this bold, colourful, humorous and mushroomfuelled record apart from the modernprog pack. JK
Killer track: Duet
29 ERIC GALES
Crown PROVOGUE
We’ve heard for years about how the gifted Eric Gales is ‘the guitarist’s guitarist’.
But on Crown, his seventeenth album, he finally translates those virtuoso powers into hard-hitting, blues-rock brilliance. From the propulsive swagger of Death Of Me to I Want My Crown’s infectious, funky licks (featuring Joe Bonamassa) this is Gales’s finest and most diverse record to date. Too Close To The Fire’s eye-watering guitar solo would even knock Hendrix for six. It’s a coronation in all but name. CL Killer Track: Too Close To The Fire
28 RAMMSTEIN Zeit UNIVERSAL
Rejoice! The inimitable Germans return with more reasons to study their native tongue. Zeit captures Rammstein in reflective mood. The title track and Schwarz tie delicate piano textures with Till Lindemann’s haunting croon. But don’t worry, there’s still room for riff-heavy, madcap musings on plastic surgery (Zick Zack) and mammaries (Dicke Titten). Much of it finds the band on autopilot, but that means stompy, metallic earworms that rarely fail to impress. A perfect blend of vision and familiarity. CL Killer track: Angst
27 THE SHEEPDOGS
Outta Sight WARNER MUSIC CANADA
Outta Sight, the Sheepdogs’ seventh album didn’t move the hirsute Canadian quintet much beyond its predecessor, but hey, that’s them. A celebration of and a tribute to the lusty magnificence of the 70s, they’re a band forever sealed in classicrock amber, smooshing all your favourite bands together with apparent ease, enormous affection and no small amount of humour. It’s more fun than a barrel of beavers, but the songwriting is world-class and there’s not a moment where it sounds like pastiche. FL
Killer track: Scarborough Street Fight
26 HALESTORM
Back From The Dead ATLANTIC
Lzzy Hale’s lockdown identity crisis was brutal – “So now I’m just Elizabeth Hale on the couch in her pyjamas for three days?” – but Back From The Dead was both her own fightback and the rallying cry we all needed. Even when writing for nonexistent audiences, the Halestorm frontwoman has the stadiums in her mind’s eye, and the seething title track, cruncher Bombshell and standout The Steeple
announce that any remaining face masks can now be tossed onto the funeral pyre.
“I was very much writing in the now, but I had started going to therapy shortly before lockdown,” Lzzy told us. “There were a lot of things I didn’t like about myself. I found myself in bouts of depression, little anxiety attacks that I haven’t had since I was a teenager. All that stuff started coming back, and I’m sure it leaked into the writing process.” HY
Killer track: The Steeple
25 JOURNEY
Freedom BMG
Journey have been more soap opera than band in recent years, but their first album since 2011 found mainstays Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain putting aside their differences to reclaim their hard-rock crown. Killer anthems and creamy ballads mine the band’s own glorious past just the right amount, guitarist Schon lights fireworks on Together We Run, while ‘new’ singer Arnel Pineda does an effective job of banishing the ghost of Steve Perry. ‘Don’t give up on us, baby,’ he sings on Don’t Give Up On Us. We won’t if you won’t. DE
Killer track: Together We Run
24 EDDIE VEDDER
Earthling SEATTLE SURF/REPUBLIC
Auditioned by
Pearl Jam on the recommendation of former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, Eddie Vedder shot from obscurity to global fame as Pearl Jam’s debut Ten took off like a rocket.
Earthling finds Vedder taking a more definitive solo step (after several acoustic projects), buoyed by a vibrant band featuring Chilis drummer Chad Smith, and former Chilis guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Vedder’s unmistakable vocals combine elements of punk (Good And
Evil), stadium-shaking rock (Invincible) and psychedelia (Brother The Cloud) into a cohesive whole. RD
Killer track: Long Way
23 REEF
Shoot Me Your Ace RAGING SEA
If there’s was a record this year with more out-and-out swagger than Shoot Me Your Ace, I’d like to hear it. Reef’s sixth album sounds like the work of a band just hitting its stride. With Jesse Wood and former Duranie Andy Taylor (who also produced) crossstitching guitar riffs over Jack Bessant’s bumping bass parts, the platform is set for Gary Stringer’s outlandish, rough-core vocal gymnastics. ‘I wanna see just how far I can go,’ he bellows, like King Kong sizing up the Empire State Building. DS
Killer track: Wolfman
22 SAXON
Carpe Diem SILVER LINING MUSIC
Twenty-three studio albums into a career that began back in the late 70s, you’d expect Saxon to be flagging. Not at all. Carpe Diem (Latin for ‘seize the day’) delivers few surprises but a great many delights. We know what we want from Saxon, and they deliver it time after time. As our man Jason Arnopp said in his review: “As was the case with Motörhead, there’s genuine pleasure to be had in knowing what to expect from salty sea dogs like these.” DL
21 H.E.A.T.
Force Majeure EARMUSIC
With long-time singer Erik Grönwall headed off to front Skid Row, H.e.a.t decided the only way forward was with their first singer. And after 12 years of soul-searching, recovering from illness and turning into a rock star through solo work and Queen tribute shows, Kenny Leckremo was ready to rejoin the band. Force Majeure shows what a positive reunion it’s been, with Top Gunready standouts like Harder To Breathe, Back To The Rhythm and Nationwide screaming, synthing and riffing into our hearts. Turn it up and party like it’s 1986 – like it was never not 1986. PG
Killer track: Nationwide
20 BIG BIG TRAIN
Welcome To The Planet ENGLISH ELECTRIC
These beloved British proggers’ latest album came along just six months on from 2021’s acclaimed Common Ground, and songs such as the sumptious title track, by new vocalist-keyboard player Carly Bryant, helped create one of BBT’s most uplifting albums to date; see also Made Of Sunshine and the brass-’n’-drums workout Bats In The Belfry. Capitaline Venus and Oak And Stone pulled at the heartstrings, made more poignant by the reality that this would be vocalist David Longdon’s final BBT recording, following his untimely passing in November 2021. Beautiful, intimate yet soaring in a way that only BBT can really do, it’s inevitably a bittersweet listen, but with an uplifting, proudly prog heart. As Longdon told us not long before he died: “Others are in denial, but we always embraced being a progressive rock band. It’s given us a very loyal fan base.” JK
Killer track: Lanterna
19 MICHAEL MONROE
I Live Too Fast To Die Young SILVER LINING MUSIC
Michael Monroe continues to age disgracefully, punting out albums that retain all the fervour of old and singing with the livewire energy of a man whose chest is permanently attached to defibrillators. This monster energy surges throughout
I Live Too Fast To Die Young, tempered by moments of tender reflection on Derelict
Palace and Antisocialite and, on the haunting Dearly Departed, a grief most raw. More happily, Monroe now makes better albums than his heroes (Bators, Thunders) ever did. FL
Killer track: Everybody’s Nobody
18 THUNDER
Dopamine BMG
Unexpectedly, Dopamine, Thunder’s fourteenth studio album, was a double – although its 70 minutes of music might fit on one CD. More predictably, it comprises superior songs, 16 of them, wrung from the imagination of guitarist Luke Morley. There are no major departures, despite the huge riff heralding opener The Western Sky, although it includes not one but two great ballads – Unravelling and Is Anybody There? – both of which are bleak and empowering. Despite the cover artwork’s brown colour scheme, Dopamine
shines brightly. NJ
Killer track: Dancing In The Sunshine
17 THE CULT
Under The Midnight Sun BLACK HILL
Eternal rock’n’roll shamen The Cult were never going to fall back into the ‘elder statesmen’ comfort zone a near-40-year career can bring, but in 2022 few would have expected them to deliver their finest album in decades. Under The Midnight Sun exudes the kind of dark majesty that comes with age and experience. Ian Astbury’s voice wears the years with dignity, although it’s Billy Duffy’s restless, arcing guitar that defines Outer Heaven’s mystical swirl and the Zep-esque grandeur of Knife Through Butterfly Heart. Watch and learn, kids. DE
Killer track: Outer Heaven
16 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
Unlimited Love WARNERS
Prodigal guitarist John Frusciante’s return for his third stint in the Red Hot Chili Peppers did nothing if not open the creative floodgates. Unlimited Love, the first of two albums the Californian band released in 2022, was a left-field arena rock flex, drilling deep into the rich seam of melody they’ve been mining for the past two years but tempered with the slyly experimental edge this band rarely get respect for. Credit Frusciante for the latter: the protean six-stringer ensured that none of Unlimited Love’s 17 tracks sounded the same. DE
Key track: Black Summer
15 VON HERTZEN BROTHERS
Red Alert In The Blue Forest DOINGBEINGMUSIC
Mortality, the ravages of time and the destruction of the planet; anxiety hung heavy over the Von Hertzen Brothers’ eighth album. Yet the Finns managed to find beauty within impending catastrophe, embracing the beauty of what’s left of nature and casting their minds back to an idyllic childhood. Red Alert In The Blue Forest was both organic and expansive, tackling heavy-duty topics with intelligence and grace – and, in the Floyd-on-steroids epic Peace Patrol, delivering one of the finest songs of their career in the process. DE
Killer track: Peace Patrol
14 SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS 4 GIBSON
With Myles Kennedy laid low by covid midway through sessions for this album, Slash felt a “dark cloud” over 4. Yet the album stands among the pick of the semi-solo years, packed with riffs both feral (the Appetite-worthy intro to The River Is Rising) and left-field (the Eastern neo-classicism of Spirit Love), not to mention the best canineinspired anthem since Black Dog (Fill My World). In a year in which GN’R toured the hits, Slash is still a man in motion. HY
Killer track: The River Is Rising
13 MASSIVE WAGONS
Triggered! EARACHE
Hot as hell after last year’s breakthrough UK No.9 House Of Noise, Triggered! sees frontman Baz Mills strafe his own childhood bullies while speaking to an entire generation whose mental health hangs in the balance. In the hands of a more po-faced band it could have come off as preachy, but Massive Wagons never neglect the tunes, and from the rabble-rousing Fuck The Haters to the new-found maturity of Please Stay Calm, this is therapy you can mosh to. HY
Killer track: Please Stay Calm
12 ANN WILSON
Fierce Bliss SILVER LINING
The voice of Heart remains a thing of wonder. Fierce Bliss,
Ann Wilson’s third solo album, is also the best she has made outside of the mothership. This time there’s more original material, with hard-rock power in Greed and Black Wing, and an emotional tour de force with Angel’s Blues. She also nails two classic 70s songs: Queen’s ballad Love Of My Life and Robin Trower’s bluesrock colossus Bridge Of Sighs. At 73 she’s still kicking ass. PE
Killer track: Black Wing
11 TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND
I Am The Moon CRAFT RECORDINGS
Released across four months and eight sides of vinyl, I Am The Moon seemed to float into being. Inspired by the same Persian poet who introduced Layla to Derek And The Dominos, it’s an album that covers similar territory to Clapton and his assorted love songs, although the technical brilliance on display is always delivered in the service of the song. It’s an album without ego, just a dozen musicians on a shared path to transcendence, pushing each other forwards and ever higher. FL
Killer track: Soul Sweet Song