My top 50 of 2022 (and 70 others I also enjoyed)

[Guillaume]

Here it is, once again. Hope you'll enjoy reading and maybe will find some stuff to enjoy you might have missed.

TOP 50
#50 Bomber - Nocturnal Creatures
Newcomers from Sweden that play hard rock/melodic metal in the 80s style, inspired by the best of the genre (early Def Leppard, early Europe).
https://youtu.be/SGF9-LevDo0


#49 Seventh Wonder - The Testament
These progsters never disappoint. Great vocals, musicianship and melodies all around.
https://youtu.be/OmCFMSReKEc


#48 Battle Beast - Circus Of Doom
One more good album from them, Noora is still a beast on vox, but I miss a bit of their early days rawness, some songs being a bit too cinematographic for me. But overall, I like most songs of the album.
https://youtu.be/C7Z-IP2onYQ


#47 Legions Of The Night - Hell
2nd album only a year after the great 1st one. Maybe not as great as the 1st one for me, but still many Savatage influences and Henning Basse remains a killer singer.
https://youtu.be/GSiFzK8japM


#46 Jack Starr's Burning Starr - Souls Of The Innocent
More traditional heavy metal by the legendary Jack Starr. Same style as the previous albums, but Todd Michael Hall (Riot V) has been replaced by Alexx Panza (Hitten), who’s got a fine set of pipes as well.
https://youtu.be/EfVlEPaFz_U


#45 Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society
Another quality album by the master Tobias Sammett but I like it a bit less than the last few. Still I enjoy most songs and this is one of the heaviest.
https://youtu.be/IfbIAJy9kF8


#44 Mantric Momentum - Trial By Fire
Late entry by the new band of multi-instrumentalist Christer Haroy (Divided Multitude) who teams up with the great Terje Haroy (Pyramaze) on vocals (his brother?) for some excellent crunchy melodic metal. Would probably have moved further the list if it’d have been released earlier.
https://youtu.be/R82OFSYFp4A


#43 The Dead Daisies – Radiance
The legendary Glenn Hughes really made the band his own when he joined. Another very good hard rock album for them, arguably their heaviest. Doug Aldrich still shines on guitars, Hughes at age 71 is still in great voice.
https://youtu.be/60yWt1bzGzY


#42 Ginevra - We Belong To The Stars
Maqgnus Karlsson teaming with other fine Swedish musicians to create some damn fine crunchy hard rock/melodic metal.
https://youtu.be/etafg9ATKA4


#41 Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait-The Orphean Testament
Another fine album for the Swedish progsters. Heavy, melodic, complex and the always great vocals of Tom Englund.
https://youtu.be/sX-1MxycLp4


#40 Jeff Scott Soto – Complicated
Another fine slab of catchy hard rock by the legendary singer, still in top vocal form.
https://youtu.be/sIsIXmb9cwc


#39 Civil War – Invaders
Kelly Sundown does a killer job replacing original singer Nils Patrik Johansson. Some more excellent melodic power from the ex-Sabaton band members.
https://youtu.be/4tkhozu3QdI


#38 The Ferrymen - One More River To Cross
1st of 3 mentions from the busiest singer around, the great Ronnie Romero. Excellent 3rd album for this melodic heavy power band/project, again with the awesome Magnus Karlsson and Mike Terrana.
https://youtu.be/_3is5pOencY


#37 Tony Martin – Thorns
Surprisingly good new album by the legendary ex-Black Sabbath singer, still in very fine voice in the studio (live can be another story). Quite varied album, sometimes very heavy, like this song.
https://youtu.be/_-gy9Cjv8rw


#36 Treat - The Endgame
Another very strong album by the veteran hard rocking band, at his best for creating catchy choruses.
https://youtu.be/Y2W9kzdTDdo


#35 Alter Bridge - Pawns & Kings
Once again chuck full of heavy riffing and great melodies. Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti rarely disappoint.
https://youtu.be/snl8OANQ948


#34 Kings Of Mercia - Kings Of Mercia
Jim Matheos, guitarist of Fates Warning, who teams up with an AOR singer, Tom Overland (FM). This gives us some excellent crunchy melodic hard rock. Nice to hear Overland sing heavier stuff than usual and Matheos playing simpler music than his day job.
https://youtu.be/Ce-HVPeiBpE


#33 Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!
Well, Dave and co. didn’t make my top listing since many years. This proves this new album is the best Megadeth in a very long while…
https://youtu.be/xc_mfqPS2LY


#32 Ronnie Atkins - Make It Count
The Pretty Maids survivor singer (cancer stage IV since 2019) did it again. Still has his killer voice and delivered a damn good hard rock album that would have charted higher in my listing if there would have been more heavier songs like this one.
https://youtu.be/3h8J5atDAL0


#31 Shining Black - Postcards From The End Of The World
Mark Boals still shines on vox at age 63. The 2nd album of this project is again damn good melodic metal.
https://youtu.be/NnsTvehx7Wg


#30 Kreator - Hate Uber Alles
The legendary German thrashers remain a vital force in the thrash style. They got more melodic since the last couple albums and it’s surely not a bad thing for me.
https://youtu.be/N0hi1UqRvHI


#29 Candlemass - Sweet Evil Sun
Legendary Swedish doomsters delivered their best album in a very long time for me. Doom on!
https://youtu.be/zYk1adsNZcw


#28 Jaded Heart - Heart Attack
Once again, some excellent melodic hard rock/heavy metal by this long-standing band that rarely disappoints.
https://youtu.be/T7y70CkJ47E


#27 Michael Romeo - War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2
A bit less cinematographic, a couple less instrumentals, and this album would have been higher. Still, some excellent power/prog metal with the killer vocals of rising star Dino Jelusick and the guitar brilliance of Romeo, while we wait for a new Symphony X album. This song is one of the best of 2022 for me.
https://youtu.be/wxemDYCymCw


#26 H.E.A.T. - Force Majeure
Losing Erik to Skid Row could have been a big blow but returning original singer Kenny is just excellent too and this album delivers in the style of the last one, so crunchier hard rock, rather than the mellower 1st albums with Kenny.
https://youtu.be/e4bj3LM3G5A


#25 Gathering Of Kings – Enigmatic
3rd excellent album by this AOR/hard rock band from the Saffire guitarist, still with powerhouse singers Apollo Papathanasio, Rick Altzi, Jonny Lindkvist and Tobias Jansson.
https://youtu.be/ZfLcPioKcI0

#24 Enemy Eyes - History's Hand
The always great Johnny Gioeli (Axel Rudi Pell, Hardline) presents his new band of melodic heavy/power metal. It’s great to hear him sing on heavier songs than usual.
https://youtu.be/oegZn6Zt4fM

#23 Graham Bonnet Band - Day Out In Nowhere
Good old Graham (who just turned out 75!), gives us another great traditional hard rock/metal album, but modernized at the same time. Still got the pipes and has superb musicians surrounding him.
https://youtu.be/IbakmECj-go

#22 Dynazty - Final Advent
More of the same melodic power style by them, but when it’s good and you’ve got such a great singer as Nils Molin, one can’t complain a lot…
https://youtu.be/Q7eEwnnvtIE

#21 Fans Of The Dark – Suburbia
Maybe not as great as the 1st album, but still excellent melodic hard rock/metal stuff by these Swedes.
https://youtu.be/R8h-7pCYAxA

#20 Altzi - All Eyes On Me
1st solo album by the Masterplan and Gathering Of Kings singer and it’s some damn catchy hard rocking stuff with just enough edge on the guitars to compliment the gritty-yet-so-melodic vocals so well.
https://youtu.be/RIC-79nDsYw


#19 Sarayasign - Throne Of Gold
Great newcomers from Sweden that play melodic hard rock/metal with a powerhouse singer named Stefan Nykvist.
https://youtu.be/jSNN9yrL1bg

#18 Crashdïet – Automaton
I had never really connected with this band prior to this new album. Great modern hard rock with heavy guitars and catchy songs.
https://youtu.be/KYZNPk5GkN0

#17 Cleanbreak - Coming Home
Another new Frontiers project with James Durbin on vocals, Mike Flyntz (Riot V) on guitars and the rhythm section of Stryper. And the album fulfills the promise of this fine line-up. Super melodic heavy metal.
https://youtu.be/k0UOjYvW7MI


#16 Sunstorm - Brothers In Arms
Coming very quickly after last year’s excellent Afterlife album, this new one sees the ever busy Ronnie Romero sing some more great melodic hard rock/metal catchy stuff.
https://youtu.be/aZxjAjQ35Ws


#15 Saffire - Taming The Hurricane
Another great melodic hard rock/metal album (their 4th) by this Swedish band that remains sadly very underrated. Great playing and killer vocals.
https://youtu.be/r92ihkwvh4U

#14 Sabaton - The War To End All Wars
Guitars are finally more upfront versus the tiny keys, along with a selection of excellent songs, make this new album my fave from them in a while.
https://youtu.be/b4vj_WB5w_k


#13 Ghost – Impera
This band is on the rise and the reason is they found the perfect mix between the occult image and the catchy songs. Pop metal or classy hard rock? Yes, but so damn catchy.
https://youtu.be/u9DV1eHQpcA

#12 Scorpions - Rock Believer
Old geezers came back with their best album since the 80s. I guess new drummer Mikkey Dee brought new life to the band. Hats off! And they still deliver live.
https://youtu.be/6MUY50Z5SDk

#11 Michael Schenker Group - Universal
My 3rd pick featuring Ronnie Romero. Schenker and co. deliver another excellent classic hard rock album, with the ever-great playing of Michael and the great vocals of Ronnie. Great live performance as well.
https://youtu.be/QKkhDQ1RtjY

#10 Iconic - Second Skin
Another Frontiers project, with Nathan James (Inglorious), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake) and Michael Sweet (Stryper) on guitars, Marco Mendoza on bass and Tommy Aldridge (Whitesnake) on drums. What we get is some heavier Whitesnake hard rock/metal style and it works!
https://youtu.be/y9o8XD6ADfo

#09 Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
Their best album since the 80s for me and the best with La Torre. Nuff’ said!
https://youtu.be/W6btF3AotH0


#08 Black Swan - Generation Mind
Even better than the 1st album. This band featuring the non-aging vocals of Robin McAuley (69!) and Dokken’s Jeff Pilson is again filled with classic hard rock gems.
https://youtu.be/OfCi7ybORSo

#07 Joe Lynn Turner - Belly Of The Beast
Joe let go of the wig, teamed up with Peter Tagtren and released his heaviest album ever at age 71. Pipes are still there and the songs are mostly excellent.
https://youtu.be/FeXVt-VJaSM

#06 Sword – III
Finally, the first album in 32 years for the great Canadian metal band was released and it was worth the wait. A mix between the classic Metalized and the follow-up Sweet Dreams, III is short but filled with excellent songs. Rick Hughes still got the power and it’s great to still have all 4 original band members who didn’t lose a beat after so many years.
https://youtu.be/Uc8FhYpKPcY?list=RDUc8FhYpKPcY

#05 Sinner- Brotherhood
Finally Mat is back playing all-out metal, after many lighter Thin Lizzy-ish hard rocking albums. The best Sinner since 2007 for me.
https://youtu.be/RjOvK1pOs1w

#04 Audrey Horne - Devil's Bell
Audrey Horne are on a roll with yet another excellent melodic heavy metal album. Sadly remains unnoticed for many as it seems.
https://youtu.be/ywisUKF7Cng

#03 Threshold - Dividing Lines
My fave prog metal band is back with another killer album. Complex, but not too much, always melodic, and with these great killer metal riffs.
https://youtu.be/g9kaTZb4H2A

#02 Saxon - Carpe Diem
Saxon remains of my very fave metal bands and also remains the old band releasing the more consistently good material, album after album. This new opus is no exception. Great classy metal.
https://youtu.be/qMlpK478Dqs

#01 Nordic Union - Animalistic
Ronnie Atkins and Erik Martensson teamed up again to give us the heaviest Nordic Union album yet and the closest we can get to new Pretty Maids stuff. Nice to hear Ronnie sing on heavier music again. An excellent album that takes my #1 spot for 2022.
https://youtu.be/GHM6f1B63og


HONORABLE MENTIONS
A-Z - A-Z (melodic hard rock/prog)
Absolva - Fire In The Sky (heavy metal)
Band Of Spice - How We Play The Game (heavy metal)
Borealis - Illusions (prog metal)
Crystal Ball - Crysteria (melodic metal)
Degreed - Are You Ready (melodic rock/hard rock)
Defiatory - Apocalyps (thrash metal)
Devil's Train - Ashes & Bones (hard rock)
Destruction - Diabolical (thrash metal)
Disturbed - Divisive (hard rock/metal)
Edge of Forever - Seminole (hard rock)
Ellefson/Soto - Vacation In The Underworld (hard rock/metal)
Eliminator - Ancient Light (heavy/speed metal)
Evil Invaders - Shattering Reflection (speed/thrash metal)
Felskinn - Enter The Light (hard rock/metal)
GATC - Hail The Heroes (hard rock/metal)
Grave Digger - Symbol Of Eternity (heavy/power metal)
Greyhawk - Call Of The Hawk EP (heavy metal)
Hammerfall - Hammer Of Dawn (heavy/power metal)
Hammerking - Kingdemonium (heavy/power metal)
Hammerstar - Hammerstar (heavy/power metal)
Hardcore Superstar - Abrakadabra (hard rock)
Hell Fire - Reckoning (heavy/speed metal)
House Of Lords - Saints And Sinners (hard rock)
Invaders - Beware Of The Night (heavy metal)
Iron Allies - Blood In Blood Out (heavy metal)
Michael Bormann's Jaded Hard - Power To Win (hard rock)
Jani Liimatainen - My Father's Son (heavy/power metal)
John Steel - Distorted Reality (heavy metal)
Jorn - Over The Horizon Radar (hard rock/heavy metal)
Kingcrown - Wake Up Call (heavy metal)
Mario Le Mole - Restless Man (melodic metal)
Lugnet - Tales From The Great Beyond (70s hard rock)
Lords Of The Trident - The Offering (heavy metal)
Medieval Steel - Gods Of Steel (heavy metal)
Metalian - Beyond The Wall (heavy/speed metal)
Meridian - The Fourth Dimension (hard rock)
Midas - Midas (heavy metal)
Munroe's Thunder - The Black Watch (heavy metal)
Nasson - Scars (heavy/prog metal)
New Horizon - Gate Of The Gods (melodic power metal)
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9 (hard rock/metal)
Perfect Plan - Brace For Impact (hard rock)
David Readman - Medusa (melodic metal)
Resistance - Skulls Of My Enemy (heavy metal)
RF Force - RF Force (heavy metal)
Royal Hunt - Dystopia, Pt. 2 (prog metal)
Saint - Heaven Fell (heavy metal)
Serious Black - Vengeance Is Mine (heavy metal)
Seven Kingdoms - Zenith (heavy/power metal)
Skid Row - The Gang's All Here (hard rock)
Skull Fist - Paid In Full (heavy/speed metal)
Spell - Tragic Magic (hard rock/metal)
Spitfire - Denial To Fall (heavy metal)
Starchaser - Starchaser (heavy/power metal)
Stratovarius - Survive (heavy/power metal)
Stray Gods - Storm The Walls (heavy metal)
Stryper - The Final Battle (heavy metal)
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller (heavy metal)
Tad Morose - March Of The Obsequious (heavy/power metal)
Teramaze - Flight Of The Wounded (prog metal)
Tryckvag - Legacy (heavy metal)
Two Sinners - Brutal Emotion (heavy metal)
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy (thrash metal)
Vypera - Eat Your Heart Out (hard rock/metal)
Eric Wagner - In The Lonely Light Of Mourning (heavy/doom metal)
Warcry - Daimon (heavy metal)
Wings Of Steel - Wings Of Steel EP (heavy metal)
Xentrix - Seven Words (thrash metal)
Wolf - Shadowland (heavy metal)

[introclaus]

Here it is, once again. Hope you'll enjoy reading and maybe will find some stuff to enjoy you might have missed.

As always, this will end up costing me $$$
Love your list - you tend to gravitate towards one or two styles within metal (nothing wrong with that) and dig deep in those styles. There’s always something I never heard of before that I have to check out and purchase … my bank account dislike you very much!

[Guillaume]

Here it is, once again. Hope you'll enjoy reading and maybe will find some stuff to enjoy you might have missed.

As always, this will end up costing me $$$
Love your list - you tend to gravitate towards one or two styles within metal (nothing wrong with that) and dig deep in those styles. There’s always something I never heard of before that I have to check out and purchase … my bank account dislike you very much!

Hahaha! Yes, my main styles are melodic metal and hard rock, but still, there is a bit of prog and thrash in each of my listings.

Waiting for your list, that is also always interesting to browse!

[introclaus]

#48 Battle Beast - Circus Of Doom
#47 Legions Of The Night - Hell
#46 Jack Starr's Burning Starr - Souls Of The Innocent
#45 Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society
#40 Jeff Scott Soto – Complicated
#39 Civil War – Invaders
#37 Tony Martin – Thorns
#28 Jaded Heart - Heart Attack
#27 Michael Romeo - War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2
#21 Fans Of The Dark – Suburbia
#10 Iconic - Second Skin
#09 Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
#08 Black Swan - Generation Mind
#07 Joe Lynn Turner - Belly Of The Beast
#06 Sword – III
#04 Audrey Horne - Devil's Bell
#02 Saxon - Carpe Diem
#01 Nordic Union - Animalistic

I've listened to all of those, but none of them made my list, although I did enjoy most of them for what they were ...

A few I knew I wasn't going to like, but tried either way to see if now would finally be the time where it would "click" for me:
Battle Beast (I don't particularly care for their songwriting - her voice is "okay", but I'm not a fan),
Fans of the Dark (already told you that I don't like it much, but ... I tried),
Queensryche (nope, can't do it w/o Tate ... they are still great live though),
Iconic (so tired of Frontiers projects)

A few of those were disappointing:
Michael Romeo (loved the first one, didn't like this one at all),
Black Swan (first one was great, this one not),
Sword (gosh, this has NOTHING to do with those two old classic masterpieces - horrible, horrible, horrible),
Audrey Horne (you actually got me into this band with the previous album, and I like most of their back catalogue now - but this one did nothing for me)

[introclaus]

HONORABLE MENTIONS
A-Z - A-Z (melodic hard rock/prog)
Band Of Spice - How We Play The Game (heavy metal)
Borealis - Illusions (prog metal)
Destruction - Diabolical (thrash metal)
Evil Invaders - Shattering Reflection (speed/thrash metal)
GATC - Hail The Heroes (hard rock/metal)
Grave Digger - Symbol Of Eternity (heavy/power metal)
Hammerfall - Hammer Of Dawn (heavy/power metal)
House Of Lords - Saints And Sinners (hard rock)
Jorn - Over The Horizon Radar (hard rock/heavy metal)
Nasson - Scars (heavy/prog metal)
Royal Hunt - Dystopia, Pt. 2 (prog metal)
Stratovarius - Survive (heavy/power metal)
Stray Gods - Storm The Walls (heavy metal)
Stryper - The Final Battle (heavy metal)
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller (heavy metal)
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy (thrash metal)
Eric Wagner - In The Lonely Light Of Mourning (heavy/doom metal)
Wings Of Steel - Wings Of Steel EP (heavy metal)
Wolf - Shadowland (heavy metal)

Several of these made my list.
The rest of them I enjoyed, but they just didn't make the final cut.

Also, soooo happy to see someone else digging the Wings of Steel EP. Once they can get the full album funded/financed, I think they'll deliver a masterpiece. They remind me of the perfect mixture of the first two Europe albums, mid-era Judas Priest and some Badlands thrown in for good measure.

[Guillaume]

#48 Battle Beast - Circus Of Doom
#47 Legions Of The Night - Hell
#46 Jack Starr's Burning Starr - Souls Of The Innocent
#45 Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society
#40 Jeff Scott Soto – Complicated
#39 Civil War – Invaders
#37 Tony Martin – Thorns
#28 Jaded Heart - Heart Attack
#27 Michael Romeo - War Of The Worlds, Pt. 2
#21 Fans Of The Dark – Suburbia
#10 Iconic - Second Skin
#09 Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
#08 Black Swan - Generation Mind
#07 Joe Lynn Turner - Belly Of The Beast
#06 Sword – III
#04 Audrey Horne - Devil's Bell
#02 Saxon - Carpe Diem
#01 Nordic Union - Animalistic

I've listened to all of those, but none of them made my list, although I did enjoy most of them for what they were ...

A few I knew I wasn't going to like, but tried either way to see if now would finally be the time where it would "click" for me:
Battle Beast (I don't particularly care for their songwriting - her voice is "okay", but I'm not a fan),
Fans of the Dark (already told you that I don't like it much, but ... I tried),
Queensryche (nope, can't do it w/o Tate ... they are still great live though),
Iconic (so tired of Frontiers projects)

A few of those were disappointing:
Michael Romeo (loved the first one, didn't like this one at all),
Black Swan (first one was great, this one not),
Sword (gosh, this has NOTHING to do with those two old classic masterpieces - horrible, horrible, horrible),
Audrey Horne (you actually got me into this band with the previous album, and I like most of their back catalogue now - but this one did nothing for me)

The new BS is better than the 1st for me.
New Sword doesn't touch Metalized but is better than Sweet Dreams, and far to be horrible!!
The Audrey Horne might be their best yet.

Funny on how people hear stuff differently.

[introclaus]

The new BS is better than the 1st for me.
New Sword doesn't touch Metalized but is better than Sweet Dreams, and far to be horrible!!
The Audrey Horne might be their best yet.

I've heard other people say that they enjoy the new Black Swan more than the debut. Good for them I didn't ... and I gave it many plays just to try to convince myself otherwise.

Sword: Man, I love Metalized (close to a 10 out of 10) and Sweet Dreams was a venture into a commercial sound but really awesome as well (9 out of 10). The new one is lazier songwriting and playing than even Anvil are these days ... it's old mans heavy!

Audrey Horne didn't work for me this time. Don't know why. The previous one was fun and full of Thin Lizzy worship. New one is more "metal" and "serious", so perhaps that's why.

Funny on how people hear stuff differently.

You and I started our own little discussion about this very fact18 years ago (Feinstein "Third Wish") and I think it's safe to say that each year since then our comments on each others lists proves that point haha

[giedrius]

#09 Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
Their best album since the 80s for me and the best with La Torre. Nuff’ said!
https://youtu.be/W6btF3AotH0

I had very low expectations for Queensryche, I don't remember liking any of their albums after "Promised Land" except a few songs. However, this new album is pretty good.

Thanks for the list, I will definitely listen to some of melodic hard rock like Treat and Nordic Union. I listened to the Sarayasign album quite many times and liked it a lot.

[Guillaume]

#09 Queensrÿche - Digital Noise Alliance
Their best album since the 80s for me and the best with La Torre. Nuff’ said!
https://youtu.be/W6btF3AotH0

I had very low expectations for Queensryche, I don't remember liking any of their albums after "Promised Land" except a few songs. However, this new album is pretty good.

Thanks for the list, I will definitely listen to some of melodic hard rock like Treat and Nordic Union. I listened to the Sarayasign album quite many times and liked it a lot.

This Sarayasign was a real nice surprise!
The Treat is more of the same but really well done.
The NU is definitely their heaviest and is kick ass all over.