Nite Songs Top 100 Albums Of 2022: Part 5 (20-11)
So we're almost there now and getting into the stuff we really liked from the last 12 months. Top 10 tomorrow but first let's see what made the Top 20...
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20. JANUS STARK - "Face Your Biggest Fear"
Safe to say that Britrock mainstays Janus Stark well and truly exceeded our expectations with this album. Built on a band with a rock solid tightness, it has a good mix of full throttle punk assaults (Clusterfuck) and more melodic moments (One More Ghost) and sees Giz Butt and co well and truly casting off their tag of being one of the genre's second division bands to well and truly announce their arrival at the big boys' table.
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19. STENFORS - "The Family Album"
The brainchild of former Hanoi Rocks guitarist Nasty Suicide, Stenfors' debut was a supremely self-assured album which mixes in a ton of well-established influences (rock 'n' roll, blues, country, even the odd bit of jazz-pop) but does so in a way that you don't expect with every song packing killer hooks to reel you back in time and time again. Certainly this one can hold its head up against any of Nasty's former bandmates' offerings.
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18. JO DOG & PAUL BLACK'S SONIC BOOM - "Everybody Rains On My Parade"
The reunion of former Dogs D'Amour guitarist Jo Dog and former L.A. Guns frontman Paul Black for a belated follow-up to 2000's Sundown Yellow Moon turned out to be one of the surprise triumphs of the year. While it keeps the country influences of that effort, it also varies things up nicely with influences ranging from Steve Marriott to Mink Deville and an undeniable knack with a catchy melody to keep you listening. A genuinely great album.
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17. THE LEGENDARY SWAGGER - "Gypsies, Junkies & Thieves"
Rum Bar records have served up some pretty solid offerings this year but California's Legendary Swagger probably take the position as being the cream of the crop. Sure, their influences aren't anything you won't have heard before (Supersuckers, Social Distortion, Hanoi Rocks) but the key is that they do this sort of thing really really well. Gypsies, Junkies And Thieves is an absolute riot of an album with a fearsome locked in tightness and killer hooks to spare. Track it down now if you haven't already.
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16. GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - "The Rest Is Distraction"
With countless numbers of post-punk noisemongers Girls In Synthesis' peers serving up underwhelming efforts this year (Idles, Fontaines DC, TV Priest) and their various EP's since their last effort falling a bit short, the group were looking vulnerable for a moment there. We needn't have worried though - The Rest Is Distraction was a more than worthy follow up to its predecessor with a dark and furious pinpoint anger that showed there's plenty of life left in the post-punk politico movement yet and saw GIS effortlessly elbowing past the competition to take their position at its head.
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15. THE SPEEDWAYS - "Talk Of The Town"
Talk Of The Town saw the Speedways building on their first two albums and coming up with arguably their strongest album to date. The sugar-sweet power-pop that defined the band's classic debut is still very much intact but there's a willingness to push things forward here that lifts this album up a level with the odd dose of post-punk atmospherics and electronica. The sound of a band well and truly locked in and moving their sound onwards impressively well.
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Yes it's an old formula but by 'eck, Ravagers are good at it. With Badlands, these Baltimore natives have served up a brilliant slice of sneering Dead Boys/Alice Cooper style scuzz-punk with snotty aggression by the bucketload and the odd sinister mid-tempo number to vary the pace up here and there. It ain't rocket science but when it's this good, who really cares about that? An absolute stormer.
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FTHC is easily Frank Turner's heaviest solo album to date, dispensing with the folky niceties of its predecessors for a much more angry and fired up approach. But it keeps the brutally honest songwriting that's been one of the guy's main strong points intact throughout with the odd dose of bitter humour in there to break the darkness up. A frustrated and raging howl of an album which seems to get better every time you listen to it.
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12. THE SWEET THINGS - "Brown Leather"
Having served up one of the best albums of 2019 with their debut, it was heartening to see the Sweet Things' sophomore effort carrying on the good work. Taking the best bits of that first effort and building on them nicely while bouncing between genres with a commendable lack of trepidation, this takes the whole Dolls/Stones template and drags it kicking and screaming into the 21st century to thrilling effect. Go give this band a listen now if you still ain't heard them.
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11. BOB VYLAN - "The Price Of Life"
If ever there was an album that summed up the general hopelessness of Britain in 2022 and the widespread anger at our utterly fucked political system then it was this one. Similar to last year's We Live Here mini-album, Bob Vylan are pulling no punches here and genuinely don't give a fuck who might be offended. Yet amidst the sheer chaos of the music, songs such as Health Is Wealth showed a more melodic thoughtful side to the duo and indicated that they certainly aren't standing still. For pure white-hot howls of rage, this is very difficult to beat.
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And so we near the end as we prepare for the Top 10 tomorrow! Excited yet? Drop back at the usual time and see what's made the top of our list for 2022.
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