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 – MetalMike71 (Writer/Contributor) 🇸🇪
MetalMike71 (aka: Mikael Norstedt) one of CGCM Rock Radio‘s website contributors from Sweden showcases his personal top ten favourite albums of 2022 here in this article. Check out his recommendations and all of our CGCM staff’s list through the link above.
10 – THE HELLACOPTERS – Eyes Of Oblivion 🇸🇪
The Hellacopters return with their first new album since Head Off from 2008. Dregen is back on guitars and it is full of great rock n roll songs like in the old days of the band. Standout tracks for me are “Eyes of Oblivion” and “Reap a Hurricane”. Great return and I want more.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: THE HELLACOPTERS – Eyes of Oblivion (Tom Cornell)
WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
09 – SABATON – The War to End All Wars 🇸🇪
Sabaton are absolutely brilliant live and they have made some great albums too. This is one of them that I really like from start to finish. Great catchy heavy metal with great solos and singalong choruses. Standout tracks for me are “Stormtroopers”, “The Unkillable Soldier”, “The Valley of Death” and “Christmas Truce”.
08 – SKID ROW – The Gang’s All Here 🇺🇸
Skid Row is back with a bang! New vocalist Erik Grönwall (Ex. H.E.A.T) lifts them to new stardom. Sebastian who? Erik has a great range and his live performances are awesome.
Production on this and the songs reminds me of the old Skid Row and I am looking forward to seeing them live next summer at Sweden Rock Festival in June 2023. Standout tracks are “The Gang’s All Here”, “Hell or High Water”, “Tear it Down”, “Resurrected” and “When The Lights Come On”.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: SKID ROW – The Gang’s All Here (Kryfar)
BUY: AMAZON.ca / AMAZON.com / AMAZON.co.uk
07 – SAXON – Carpe Diem 🇬🇧
Saxon is one of my all-time favourite bands. I have been listening to them since 1982 and they are still an amazing live band. Biff’s vocals are so unique and still sound great. This album is their best in many years as a whole album. They have released good albums through the years but not as good as this one. I saw them live this fall (a review of the gig is up on CGCM here). Standout tracks are “Carpe Diem”, “The Pilgrimage”, “Remember the Fallen” and “All For One”.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: SAXON – Carpe Diem (Maddog)
BUY: AMAZON.ca / AMAZON.com / AMAZON.co.uk
06 – RONNIE ATKINS – Make It Count 🇩🇰
Ronnie, the singer in Pretty Maids, has released two solo albums in two years and I think this second one is the better overall. You can’t tell that he has stage four lung cancer when you hear him sing. I was lucky to see him live in May together with The Meister and what a great show it was. His band both live and on the album are top-notch. The songs sometimes sound a little like the melodic Pretty Maids songs but there is so much more to them that catch your ear. I really hope Ronnie will continue to release new music as long as he can and wish him all the best in his fight against the disease. Standout tracks are “I’ve Hurt Myself (By Hurting You)”, “Rising Tide”, “The Tracks We Leave Behind, Blood Cries Out” and “Make It Count”
05 – H.E.A.T – Force Majeure 🇸🇪
Switching vocalists can be a problem for bands but here we get Kenny Leckremo back in the band and he is great. He sang on their first two albums and I liked his vocals already then. Erik Grönwall who left and now sings in Skid Row is phenomenal on stage and Kenny was maybe a little more laid back before but I have only seen some live clips on YouTube yet and it looks like Kenny is rocking out really hard as well. This album continues where II left off.
Great guitars, heavy sound and killer choruses. I really want to see them live again soon.
Standout tracks are “Back to the Rhythm”, “Nationwide”, “Harder to Breathe”, “Demon Eyes” and “Wings of an Aeroplane”.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: H.E.A.T. – Force Majeure (Kryfar)
04 – BOWLING FOR SOUP – Pop Drunk Snot Bread 🇺🇸
Here is a surprise maybe? Not metal or AOR but a really fun and catchy album by my favourite pop/punk rock band Bowling For Soup. I can’t help it but I really like their sense of good melodies, great choruses and fun lyrics and also always really cool videos to go with it.
Just pure fun and sometimes I really need this kind of music. Standout tracks are “I Wanna Be Brad Pitt”, “Hello Anxiety”, “Getting Old Sucks(But Everybody’s Doing It)”, Alexa Bliss” and “Wouldn’t Change a Thing”.
03 – PERFECT PLAN – Brace For Impact 🇸🇪
The third album (fourth if you count their in-studio live album) and they are on their way to the AOR heaven. I love the sound of this album where you can hear that they play as a band and it differs from many of the albums coming out on Frontiers Records these days. Kent Hill‘s vocals are up there with the best of the genre and the rest of the band delivers rock-solid ground with great memorable songs. I can’t wait to see them live someday. Standout tracks are “Surrender”, “If Love Walks In”, “Can’t Let You Win”, “Gotta Slow Me Down”, “My Angel” and “Devil’s Got The Blues”.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: PERFECT PLAN – Brace for Impact (MetalMike71)
02 – GHOST – Impera 🇸🇪
I never get tired of listening to this album. You hear new cool things all the time and what a great bunch of songs they deliver. It is pompous, heavy, melodic, doomy at the same time. I saw them live in May and for me from Sweden I must say that it was one of the best shows a Swedish band has ever done. I still don’t know who plays in the band except for Tobias Forge on vocals but I don’t care because they all got the chops to deliver a thunderous sound. Standout tracks are Spillways, “Call Me Little Sunshine”, “Hunter’s Moon”, “Watcher In The Sky”, “Griftwood”, “Darkness At The Heart Of My Love” and “Respite On The Spitalfields”.
CGCM Rock Radio Album Review: GHOST – Impera (Britny Alfonzetti)
OFFICIAL GHOST WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
01 – TREAT – The Endgame 🇸🇪
The best album in my ears this year is The Endgame by Treat. Wow! I have followed and listened to them since their start in 1985 with Scratch & Bite and I saw them on their first tour for that album. Anders Wikström‘s incredible songwriting with great hooks and great choruses has been there since day one. Now on their 9th studio album, they sound better than ever and the sound on this album is amazing. There are no fillers, just killers. Not a bad song in my ears at least. Thank you Treat for this amazing album and hope to see you live soon again.
Standout tracks are ……. All of them 🙂
Happy New Year, hope to hear lots of new great music and see many great friends at concerts and festivals in 2023.
Check out all of my reviews here. MetalMike71.
