THE LOUDER STUFF
BLIND ILLUSION – Wrath of the Gods
It’s sort of like Megadeth but with less annoying vocals and no born-again Christian crap. (8)
THE CULT – Under The Midnight Sun
This is not the hard rocking Cult of “Electric” and “Sonic Temple”, it’s actually closer to the post-punk goth Cult of “Love” but with extra strings, and it’s pretty good! (8)
LAMB OF GOD – Omens
This is a very good Lamb Of God album, i.e. a very good Pantera/Swedish melodeath hybrid. (8)
LITURGY – As the Blood of God Bursts the Veins of Time
Seriously fucked up music by and for seriously fucked up people. But black metal purists will hate this, again. (7)
VANILLA FUDGE – Vanilla Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin covers sounding like Deep Purple songs by a band older than both, but you can live without this. (6)
THE OTHER STUFF
2nd GRADE – Easy Listening
16 songs in 35 minutes by a band with ambitions to spearhead a power-pop revival. RIYL Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies. (8)
RYAN ADAMS – Devolver
His fourth album in 2022 (!) is given away as a free download and it’s punkier than usual. The guy’s in top songwriting form, too bad he’s still being cancelled. (8)
COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS – Loose Future
A gorgeous album of spacious Americana by this talented singer/songwriter. (8)
BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN – Rolling Golden Holy
Second album by indie-folk supergroup blurs the boundaries between traditional and contemporary folk music with a strong autumnal feel. (8)
JAKE BLOUNT – The New Faith
A fantastic album that’ll certainly make the year-end list a couple of months down the road – a minimalistic, Afro-futuristic concept album based on old gospel music and spirituals with a post-modern twist. I just can’t stop listening to this. (9)
JOHN FULLBRIGHT – The Liar
Fullbright’s approach to songwriting, a melting pot of country, rock, and pop, brings to mind another Oklahoman piano man, Leon Russell – when not verging into early Waits-ian whiskey-soaked territory. An all-around stellar album. (8)
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Return Of The Dream Canteen
Second (extremely long) long player from the Chili Peppers in 2022, meaning they’ve released 150 minutes of new music this year. This one’s the better of the two, funkier and more fun. But if they had released just one 50-minute album featuring half the tracks from this album plus the top 3-4 tracks from “Unlimited Love”, it would’ve been a masterpiece. (8)
TITUS ANDRONICUS – The Will To Live
Working-class indie rockers forego the Clash-isms of their previous album and go full-on classic rock in a “Who meets Alice Cooper” sort of way – a few months ago this guy twitted that he was going for a Mutt Lange vibe on this album, and I suspect he was only half-joking. (8)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Sea Songs Sessions
Some of the top names in today’s British folk music (Jon Boden, Seth Lakeman etc.) join forces on this great collection of traditional sea shanties given the contemporary treatment. (8)
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