Some other Music I Liked in 2022
These songs come from albums that I found interesting, but that didn't quite make my Top Nine Albums List (releasing tomorrow).
Static Dress -- "Marisol"
Static Dress -- "Marisol"
Rouge Carpet Disaster is a delightful throwback to early 00's hardcore and art-metal, and nearly made my best album's list. My favorite moment is the album climax, the gentle, romantic "Marisol," which feels like the best kind of ode to Deftones' more sensual side, and whose stunning, strings-aided climax is one of my favorite musical moments of 2022.
Moodring -- "Stargazer"
Speaking of Deftones, Moodring's sound is focused on an exploration of that seminal band's more lush corners (woah, that sounded dirty!), and the title track on their newest album finds a unique, uplifting beauty there.
Rolo Tomassi -- "Cloaked"
"Cloaked" greatly exemplifies the way Rolo Tomassi's Where Myth Becomes Memory combines crushing heaviness with calming beauty. It's emblematic of the entire album, and an absolute stunner.
Demon Hunter -- "Another Place"
Demon Hunter drop almost all of their crushing heaviness on this year's EXILE, adapting more of a stripped down metal ballad style that actually works quite well for the band, though like with many of their later career albums, I wish they'd trim a few tracks., though definitely not the stirring "Another Place." The song features an Alice in Chains-esque build, and explodes in an emotive chorus I can't help but feel.
Skillet -- "Dominion"
While I'm hanging out in Christian rock territory, Skillet's newest album features some of the youth group cheesiness you'd expect, but also, sometimes, the mega-Chad John Cooper you were hoping for, none more muscular than on the shredding, fist-pumping title track.
He Is Legend -- "Sour"
I've been hoping He Is Legend would revisit the expansive, spacey sound of 2009's It Hates You, which I think is one of the greatest rock albums of the century. They refuse to oblige, but there are hints of it from time to time on 2022's Endless Hallway's, particularly on the ominous, yet soaring "Sour."
Norma Jean -- "A Killing Word"
I didn't quite connect with 2022's sprawling Deathrattle Sing for Me like I have with Norma Jean's previous decade of albums, but I gave it a lot of spins. "A Killing Word"'s exploration of quiet-to-loud dynamics is a great example of everything I do connect with in the album.
Weezer -- "Run, Raven, Run"
Weezer released four eclectic seasonal EP's this year, full of satisfying hits and weird misses, but if you culled the ten best tracks, you could make a really great album with some all-timers like "Records," "Blue Like Jazz," and "Dark Enough to See the Stars." However, the standout track for me is Autumn's "Run, Raven, Run," which starts off like a classic, high-energy Weezer pop-rock song, then slows down to a jammier, heavier rock bridge, leading to one of those brilliant, epic, emotional, "running down a hill" Weezer song outros.
William Basinski & Janek Schaefer -- "...on reflection (one)"
Moodring -- "Stargazer"
Speaking of Deftones, Moodring's sound is focused on an exploration of that seminal band's more lush corners (woah, that sounded dirty!), and the title track on their newest album finds a unique, uplifting beauty there.
Rolo Tomassi -- "Cloaked"
"Cloaked" greatly exemplifies the way Rolo Tomassi's Where Myth Becomes Memory combines crushing heaviness with calming beauty. It's emblematic of the entire album, and an absolute stunner.
Demon Hunter -- "Another Place"
Demon Hunter drop almost all of their crushing heaviness on this year's EXILE, adapting more of a stripped down metal ballad style that actually works quite well for the band, though like with many of their later career albums, I wish they'd trim a few tracks., though definitely not the stirring "Another Place." The song features an Alice in Chains-esque build, and explodes in an emotive chorus I can't help but feel.
Skillet -- "Dominion"
While I'm hanging out in Christian rock territory, Skillet's newest album features some of the youth group cheesiness you'd expect, but also, sometimes, the mega-Chad John Cooper you were hoping for, none more muscular than on the shredding, fist-pumping title track.
He Is Legend -- "Sour"
I've been hoping He Is Legend would revisit the expansive, spacey sound of 2009's It Hates You, which I think is one of the greatest rock albums of the century. They refuse to oblige, but there are hints of it from time to time on 2022's Endless Hallway's, particularly on the ominous, yet soaring "Sour."
Norma Jean -- "A Killing Word"
I didn't quite connect with 2022's sprawling Deathrattle Sing for Me like I have with Norma Jean's previous decade of albums, but I gave it a lot of spins. "A Killing Word"'s exploration of quiet-to-loud dynamics is a great example of everything I do connect with in the album.
Weezer -- "Run, Raven, Run"
Weezer released four eclectic seasonal EP's this year, full of satisfying hits and weird misses, but if you culled the ten best tracks, you could make a really great album with some all-timers like "Records," "Blue Like Jazz," and "Dark Enough to See the Stars." However, the standout track for me is Autumn's "Run, Raven, Run," which starts off like a classic, high-energy Weezer pop-rock song, then slows down to a jammier, heavier rock bridge, leading to one of those brilliant, epic, emotional, "running down a hill" Weezer song outros.
William Basinski & Janek Schaefer -- "...on reflection (one)"
Basinski and Schaefer's "...on reflection" is essentially a repeated meditation on one lovely passage of looped piano and ambient noise, and that meditation is most clearly and beautifully stated in the first track of this beautiful album, which is introspective, and yet also, due to some well-placed environmental sounds, reflective in an outward looking manner.
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