2022 Top 40 Albums

(#2-10)

10: Jani Liimatainen - “My Father’s Son”

Power Metal/Assorted

Jani Liimatainen’s album is, personally, a revelation. He was the original guitarist for Sonata Arctica, which was one of my favorite bands for a long time before their music slipped and just wasn’t the same for some mysterious reason. Turns out, the downturn in quality happened at the same time Jani left the band.

And now we get this solo album with songs that sound very much like the material that Sonata Arctica used to produce, most notably “All Dreams Are Born to Die”, featuring Tony Kakko (the Sonata Arctica vocalist) on vocals. And because Jani is a guitarist, this album, like the Avantasia album, has a revolving door of guest vocalists. These include Timo Kotipelto (Avantasia, Cain’s Offering (notably, Cain’s Offering is a project in which Liimatainen and Kotipelto are the guitarist and vocalist, respectively; but it may also be dead, as the last album there is from 2015)), Pekka Heino (Firetribe), Bjorn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), and Annette Olzon (The Dark Element, Allen/Olzon, ex-Nightwish).

Every song on the album is firmly rooted in power metal, but each one also delves into other eras and genres. “Side By Side”, for example, is basically a successful exercise in writing the most 80s song possible. And it’s *incredible*. “I Could Stop Now” has strong folk elements. And “My Father’s Son”, the title track, is an eleven-and-a-half minute prog-infused opus.

As varied as the album is, there’s not a bad bit anywhere on it. This album feels like a gift.

9: Noah Cyrus - “The Hardest Part”

Acoustic Pop/Country-Soul

This is the first of the albums which had a final rating of purple (9.5+). This album really blew me away on the first listen. Like, I expected ‘it’s Miley’s little sister, cool, good for her’. But I got this full-on burgeoning young adult who has already made huge mistakes and faced heartbreak and disappointment and is dealing with all of that trauma and grief, dumped into a bucket and then carefully woven into this fine tapestry of growth and maturity in the form of this collection of lyrically-exquisite bangers delivered in a gorgeous alto.

Totally blindsided me.

And yes, she’s a Cyrus, so she has connections and she’s lived and breathed music growing up. But her process, from what she’s publicly revealed of it, is pretty straightforward - she has one songwriting partner she works with (Peter Harding) reliably. Everybody else is incidental.

I’m sandbagging a bit here because I know how a lot of people think about upcoming pop artists. I remember what we did to Miley. And Noah deserves better. There is genuine depth of emotion and experience here, and there is incredible talent and raw potential on display. I came into this album completely blind to any singles or EPs Noah had released previously, and I expected it to be decent at best. But this is one of the best albums of the year, hands down. I’m really excited to see what she does next. I just hope the next album is full-length, as this one clocks in at 33 minutes, which is the biggest reason why it didn’t place higher.

8: Fletcher - “Girl of My Dreams”

Pop

Fletcher has been on my radar for a few years, ever since I listened to her “Finding Fletcher” EP. So I was *excited* to see she was finally releasing her debut album. And it didn’t disappoint. It’s filled with seriously good songs, no matter your position on the “Becky’s So Hot” controversy. “Guess We Lied…”, “Conversations”, “Her Body is Bible”, and “Holiday” are just a few of the standouts.

But, to be frank, this album might have ended up 5-6 positions lower on the list if not for the throughline. This is the strongest arc of any album I covered in 2022 - starting with a relationship falling apart, then learning to love herself, rather than be dependent on somebody else. It is moderately reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves’ “star-crossed” from 2021 in that fashion. But it’s incredibly well-done, so it just beats out Noah Cyrus for the best debut album on the list.

7: Evergrey - “A Heartless Portrait”

Prog Metal/Power Metal

Everygrey has recently hit on a particular blend of prog and power metal that is just…excellent. It’s so good that even releasing a new album just a year after 2021’s top five effort didn’t really diminish the quality. I haven’t found the actual through-line, plot, or concept that’s meant to tie it together yet, but it’s filled with greatness. I’ve happily jammed to this one for most of the year.

The music is deep and tight throughout the album, often presenting as an auditory wall of layered instruments, and only thinning out when it absolutely needs to. This, I think, is thanks to a low-tuned guitar on top of the bass, so it just feels thick and soft and enveloping. I love it.

They also apparently did a thing where they had fans send in recordings and included those in “Save Us” to give the effect of a mass of people calling out in unison. It’s pretty awesome. Again, there’s not a bad song here. This is a great album for anybody looking to explore Metal a bit more.

6: Rina Sawayama - “Hold The Girl”

Pop/Alt Pop

Rina Sawayama is a tour de force. Her voice is incredibly flexible, with the potential for Gaga-esque depth and power (as in “Hold the Girl”) while still being emotionally flexible and fragile for lighter tracks like like “Send My Love to John”. “This Hell” is an incredibly fun anthem for couples who aren’t the hetero standard; “Frankenstein” is one of the most upbeat, hyperactive tracks of the year; “Phantom” is as haunting and heartbreaking as its name deserves.

The stylistic approach of the album is incredibly eclectic, but there isn’t a single miss to be found. And the titular motif is well-utilized, with every song basically boiling down to “don’t let me go” - addressing lovers, friends, parents, and even herself. Some of these are light and whimsical, some romantic, and others are heartbreaking or tragic. But it’s a beautiful, fun album.

5: Coheed & Cambria - “Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind”

Prog Metal/Electronic Rock/Prog Rock

I’m honestly so upset that I never got into C&C earlier. Seriously, this album was phenomenal at the first listen, and has only grown on me over the course of the year. It has an excellent opener in “Beautiful Losers”, and one of the strongest finishes of the year, if not THE strongest, in its closing suite (“Ladders of Supremacy” and “Rise Naianasha (Cut The Cord)”) and finale (“Window of the Waking Mind”). Those four songs, alone, would carry any album. But the other nine tracks between them are all bangers in their own right.

I REALLY want to get into the comics now. I need to figure out how I can do that.

If you’ve been needing emo vibes, this album provides those. If you want technical prog, it’s here. Emotional storytelling, check. Like…this one is incredible. I underrated it at first. I think it definitely fits in my top five.

4: The Hu - “Rumble of Thunder”

Folk Metal/Prog Metal

The Hu’s sophomore album was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Their debut blew my mind in 2019, ranking third on that year-end list. Because the concept of merging Mongolian folk music and prog metal is just wild, but it works incredibly well. And I was very interested in whether the novelty would wear off.

Clearly, the answer is a resounding no. And, frankly, this album is better than their debut on every level, with a great variety of songs contained within its 13 tracks spanning 68 minutes. And with the way the tracks are arranged, there is a clear illustration of the range of sounds between the second and third tracks (“YUT Hovende” and “Triangle”). The former sounds less like a song and more like a warband hyping itself; the latter is more poppy and bouncy and just a great fucking jam.

Of course, I don’t speak Mongolian, so I can’t really analyze the album on a deeper level. But it’s great music, and at face-value, alone, is worth a top five spot here.

3: Oceans of Slumber - “Starlight and Ash”

Southern Gothic/Doom Metal

This album has haunted me continuously since its release. It has probably my favorite single track of the year in its opener, “The Waters Rising”, which is so good that I couldn’t focus on the rest of the album for a while. And it’s an album that I was very excited for, as Oceans of Slumber, and the gorgeous voice of Cammie Beverly, is still a recent discovery for me, and I’ve enjoyed the way their albums are trending. The band started very much in the prog/death/doom vein with a lot of harsh vocals, then their original vocalist left and Cammie came in. With Cammie’s dulcet tones available, the band started leaning on her clean vox more and more, with this lighter, but still moody, atmospheric side of the band evolving and taking up more of each album.

It was clear that they would eventually become mostly or solely that, but it really feels like they recognized it and skipped over a huge portion of the organic growth into that with this album. Why wait?

So this album still has a ton of Doom influence, but Southern Gothic is the best fit for genre, and that’s really felt more in the lyricism and tone, rather than the instrumentation. Doom metal dovetails beautifully with it, as well. What is Southern Gothic? Look no further than their choice of cover song on this album: “House of the Rising Sun”. You know it, and it defines the genre incredibly well. Their version of it is beautiful and sad and soulful, and I’m not sure a better cover is possible.

This album is gorgeous and deep and dark. Because of the transitional nature of it, it also serves as a fantastic introduction to Doom Metal for the uninitiated. I highly recommend this one.

2: Porcupine Tree - “Closure/Continuation”

Prog Rock

This was likely my most anticipated album of the year. It was one I thought I would never get, honestly, as the band announced it had broken up shortly after their last album in 2009. Frontman and composer Steven Wilson had decided he wanted to work on a solo career, as he had decided Porcupine Tree, and fans’ expectations of what PT should sound like, was too constraining. (It kinda showed in that last album, too, I guess, cause I didn’t like any of it and was greatly disappointed)

This album doesn’t disappoint. Every track is fantastic. There is a bit of prog metal influence, as PT have released two albums that were distinctly over the line into Metal, rather than Rock, but this album is definitely prog rock.

There are no individual songs I want to call out because I’ll be here all day. Just go listen to it.