BEST OF 2022 – Ivan Galesic (Radio DJ/Writer)

BEST OF 2022 – Ivan Galesic (Radio DJ/Writer)
BEST OF 2022 – Ivan Galesic (Radio DJ/Writer)

You can find the Collective List as well as all our Best of 2022 content including contributors’ individual lists, podcasts and radio DJ shows here: CGCM’s Best of 2022 (Year in Review)

BEST OF 2022 – Ivan Galesic (Radio DJ/Writer) 🇨🇦

It’s that time of year again when we look back and try to pick ten of the best albums that were released since we did this last year. Well like last year there were some great albums. I think this year was a lot better than last year’s releases. Here are some of the big names that released albums that didn’t make my list. Scorpions, Saxon, Monster Truck, Kid Rock, Def Leppard, Ghost, Halestorm, Megadeth, Michael Schenker Group, Ozzy Osbourne, Stryper, The Cult, and Queensryche. A lot of those were good releases but they didn’t beat out the ones I picked for my top ten. These are the ones I found I listened to the most.

#10 – FELSKINN – Enter the Light🇨🇭

BEST OF 2022 – Ivan Galesic (Radio DJ/Writer)I liked this album from the first time I heard it. I have never heard of Felskinn before but this album was fantastic. It came out in February and it stayed in constant rotation all year long. Felskinn is from Switzerland, they have been around for 15 years and this is their fourth album. Great guitar work, chugging riffs, soaring vocals and memorable choruses throughout the album. It’s a classic metal album. Some of my favourite tracks are “Darkness In Your Eyes”, “Enter The Light”, “World Will End” and “The Final Reason”.

CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: FELSKINN – Enter the Light (Dr. Tardis)

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#9 – GOODBYE JUNE – See Where the Night Goes 🇺🇸

From Nashville Tennessee, we have Goodbye June. Goodbye June‘s music has been described as “blues-infused rock with hard-driving beats, blistering guitars, and down and dirty vocals” I think they sound like a cross between AC/DC and Jackyl. Landon Milbourn the vocalist really does sound like Jesse James Dupree. This is the band’s fourth album, the guitar solos really express the mood of the songs perfectly. Songwriting is great on this release. Simple and to the point. The album can be described as rustic blues and heavy metal with a Southern-rock sound. This is the type of stuff you would throw on at a party, cruising in your car with the windows rolled down or even just hanging with friends. Standout tracks are “Three Chords”, “Stand and Deliver”, “Breathe and Attack” and “Step Aside”.

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#8 – DERAPS – Deraps 🇨🇦/🇦🇺

Deraps

Deraps is a band that is comprised of 2 Canadians and one Australian. Jacob Deraps grew up listening to Van Halen thanks to his dad. His dad would have Van Halen playing on the car and around the house. When he started playing the guitar he went back to listen to his Dad’s albums and remembered the Van Halen ones. The rest is history. I mention all of that because this album has a huge nod to Van Halen. You can hear it throughout. Jacob is one great guitar player.

The vocals took a few listens to grow on me but I loved the guitar from the first note. This is just a fun album and you just can’t help but want to crank it up. An interesting fact I found out while I was looking into more info on the band was that Jacob and drummer Josh Gallagher did everything themselves. They created the music, did the production, the recording and the mixing in their home studios as well as the videos. The only thing they didn’t do was the mastering of the album. That’s pretty impressive. Check out the following songs. “My Side of Town”, “Live Fast Die Slow”, “Sex, Drugs & Rock N’ Roll” and “Live Fast Die Slow”.

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#7 – CLEANBREAK – Coming Home 🇺🇸

Definitely one of the best bands to come out of the Frontiers random band generator, Cleanbreak was a pleasant surprise. I was never really a fan of James Durbin when he was with Quiet Riot I just didn’t like any of the songs I heard. But I guess if you have good songs and good musicians playing them you can’t go wrong. Rounding out the band are Mike Flyntz of Riot V, Perry Richardson and Robert Sweet of Stryper. This album has some great guitar work and I have to say that I like James’ vocals. Hopefully, this band sticks around to do another album. Coming Home offers ’80s smooth fist-pumping melodic metal fun. Track highlights are: “Before the Fall”, “Dying Breed”, “Cleanbreak”, and “Coming Home”.

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#6 – DYNAZTY – Final Advent 🇸🇪

I first heard Nils Molin on the Ad Infinitum track “Afterlife” last year. The duet with Melissa Bonny was just vocally fantastic. I had to look into the other stuff he was involved in. So I went to google and I found Amaranthe a Swedish band that was listed as Power Metal/Melodic Death Metal. I checked out a few of their videos on YouTube and it was ok but Nils didn’t stand out as much as he did on the “Afterlife” track. They had three vocalists and one of them was singing the harsh vocals and I’m not a fan of that.

Dynazty was next. I found a few videos and that was the voice that I heard on the “Afterlife” track. So that last couple of years I have been getting my fix of Nils and Dynazty. Final Advent was released in August and I have gone back to this album so many times. I just think that this is one of their best albums. The melodies, the grooves, the guitar parts, the bass lines, the drumming, and last but certainly not least, the vocals. Just amazing. Some tracks to check out: “Advent,” “Power of Will”. “Power Of Now” and “Achilles Heel”.

CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: DYNAZTY – Final Advent (Tom Cornell)

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#5 – BOREALIS – Illusions 🇨🇦

Two of my favourite metal genres are Power metal and Progressive metal, so when I stumbled on to Borealis I was able to check off both boxes. The best way I find to describe them is that they are a darker version of Evergrey. The singer Matt Marinelli even sounds like Evergrey‘s Tom Englund on some songs. The album was released in October but I just heard it for the first time in November. Yup just as I was getting my lists together of the albums I needed to listen to again to come up with my top ten.

Well, I kept going back to this one and I couldn’t stop so it ended up in my top ten. If this list was coming out in another month I think this would shoot all the way up to my top two. The music is just amazing and the orchestration just fits and adds to the sound. I just love everything about this release. Some track highlights are: “Light Of The Sun”, “Believer”,”My Fortress” and the epic “The Phantom Silence” that ends off the album.

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#4 – SKID ROW – The Gang’s All Here 🇺🇸

I lost interest in Skid Row after their third release Subhuman Race. Never really go into that album maybe I should go back and give it another listen but it never clicked with me. I would listen to a few songs as the years went on but I just didn’t like the direction and sound that the band was going in. Also, I didn’t care too much for the vocals. Sebastian was great on the first two albums and I have enjoyed a few of his solo albums as well. But when I hear that Erik Gronwall was doing the vocals for the new album I was intrigued. I loved the stuff he has done with H.E.A.T. and as you will see later in the list New Horizon and knew it would be awesome.

Well, my feeling was right. He has revitalized Skid Row. Basically brought them back from the dead. Man, the buzz he generated from the first video that was released to the reviews and video highlights of their shows opening for the Scorpions was just amazing. This album sounds like it fits right in between the first two albums. I can’t wait for the next one where we get a chance to see how his songwriting will fit in. On this one, the record was already written and he just added his vocals to it. Some killer tracks: “Resurrected”, “October’s Song”, “The Gangs All Here” and “Hell or High Water”.

CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: SKID ROW – The Gang’s All Here (Kryfar)

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#3 – KARDANG – We Ain’t Dead Yet 🇳🇴

Kardang We Aint Dead YetFor anyone that’s listened to the Power Chord, you will know about this band. I have played every song off this album. I just love this release. Norway’s Kardang have released a killer debut. It’s a great hard rock record, actually, I think we can call it party rock. Owe’s vocals are great and really fit the songs perfectly and the twin guitars of Henning and Jonkis are fabulous. These guys know how to groove and write catchy fun songs. This is another album that I keep going back to over and over. I hope I get a chance to see them live one day, I have seen some video clips of them live and they seem to have a great time. Some songs to check out: “Magic”, “We Ain’t Dead Yet” “Turbo Prince”, and “Junkie Jane”.

CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: KARDANG – We Ain’t Dead Yet (Ivan Galesic)

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#2 – CRASHDIET – Automaton 🇸🇪

I have been a fan of Crashdiet since I heard the great Generation Wild album. When Simon Cruz left I didn’t know what to expect. Their previous singers were all pretty good so chances were good that the new singer would also be a good fit. Well in comes Gabriel Keyes and they record the album Rust. That was a pretty good album but it didn’t “rock my world”. Well, I can’t say that for this release. This rocks, it’s become my second favourite Crashdiet album right behind Generation Wild. One thing that I noticed as well as others is that this release is a lot less in their normal “Sleaze” vein and tends to lean to a harder edge. To me it’s a welcome change, the songs on this are just amazing. Highlights are: “Together Whatever”, “No Man’s Land”, “Shine On” and “We Die Hard”.

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#1 – NEW HORIZON – Gate of the Gods 🇸🇪

Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contrast with the heaviness and dissonance prevalent, for example, in extreme metal. Power metal bands usually have anthem-like songs with fantasy-based subject matter and strong choruses, thus creating a theatrical, dramatic and emotionally “powerful” sound. That is the definition I pulled from Wikipedia, the reason I lead with that is that it’s my favourite genre of heavy metal.

When I heard that Erik Gronwall and Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.) were releasing a Power Metal album for Frontiers I was excited. I loved what they released when they were bandmates in H.E.A.T. Well this album did not disappoint. It’s been the most played album for me this year. Great songwriting, soaring vocals and epic guitar riffing and solos. The production is outstanding. If you are expecting to hear H.E.A.T or Skid Row then you will be disappointed, this needs to be appreciated on its own. Every song is good on this, but here are a few to sample to see if you will also enjoy it. “Stronger Than Steel”, “Call the Underground”, “The End of All”, and “Gate of the Gods”.

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The Greatness of 2022

This was an amazing year for music, people that say rock is dead are only listening to terrestrial radio and don’t know how to use the internet to find these amazing bands. Listen to CGCM Rock Radio and you will see that it’s not dead. I wanted to mention a few albums that just missed out but could have been in the top ten. My list kept changing and I had to put a stop to listening to any more albums otherwise I would not be able to get this done. Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown – Shake the Roots, Dorothy – Gifts From the Holy Ghost, Wonderlove – All of the Nightmares, Girish And The Chronicles – Hail To The Heroes, Crossbones’ Creed – Artificial Soul, Devil’s Train – Ashes & Bones.

Ivan Galesic

Find more of my album reviews here: AUTHOR LINK 

Check out my radio show The Power Chord

Don’t forget to take a look at all our Best of 2022 content including the COLLECTIVE BEST ALBUMS LIST (culminated via the ratings in the individual lists), all our contributors’ individual best lists, podcast episodes and Radio DJ shows

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