2022 Progradar’s Best Of The Year – The Editor’s Top 20

Your intrepid editor running a 24 hour event earlier in 2022.

As most of you know I am a very committed runner so the above picture is really my personal running highlight of 2022 (a 24 hour running event) but below you will find my top 20 albums of the year for 2022.

The first fifteen are in no particular order, they are just brilliant albums that I really enjoyed throughout the year but the final five are my definitive favourites of the year. So, without further ado, here we go…

David Longdon – Door One

A wonderful collection of songs that made a fitting and poignant epitaph for an amazing songwriter, musician and, above all, a wonderful man. I was lucky enough to meet David a few times and he was the least likely ‘rock star’ you could ever meet but, boy, what a voice and this album was the culmination of his musical career. One that was tragically cut too short.

Gandalf’s Fist – Widdershins

The ‘Clockwork Saga’ will always be seen as a monumental piece of work but, as a stand-alone release, ‘Widdershins’ sees Gandalf’s Fist at their absolute vibrant and dynamic best, every musician giving 100% and, while I’ve always been a fan of this very distinctive band, this new release sees them hitting an entirely new level.

Avandra – Prodigal

AVANDRA have created a thrilling and compelling take on the progressive-metal genre and one that is delivered with not a little expertise and finesse. ‘Prodigal’ is one of those intricate and influential albums that takes some understanding at first but when you peel back the final layer of this epic behemoth, it is a wonder to behold.

The Opening Song – Hidden Walls

Imagine music written like a classic novel of the 20’s and 30’s, there’s a wide eyed and wistful innocence that you just don’t get anymore in the world but behind that innocence, there’s also a world weary knowledge that the world isn’t always what you think it is or what you want it to be. ‘Hidden Walls’ is achingly beautiful but also wistfully painful at the same time. It’s made me quite emotional and that’s a rare thing but, isn’t what what music should do?

Comedy of Errors – Time Machine

After a long five year absence, ‘Time Machine’ is a fine return from one of progressive rock’s premier artists and an album that I am constantly revisiting. Cementing Comedy of Errors‘ status as one of the foremost artists in the genre, it is sure to be one of 2022’s most welcome releases.

Esthesis – Watching Worlds Collide

An object lesson in combining the stylish sensibilities of smokey jazz grooves with an almost 50’s noir film score to deliver a slick musical experience, all wrapped up in a sharp suit. Overall, ‘Watching Worlds Collide’ is a seriously good album with tons of Gallic flair, intelligence and inventiveness, it is also the coolest thing you are going to hear this year and I love it!

The Round Window – self-titled

A high quality release with wonderfully emotive songs and superb musicianship, this self-titled album may be The Round Window’s debut release but it shows a group of musicians who are already playing at a very high level and have creativity to burn. I can’t recommend it highly enough, this should be in everyone’s music collection…

Oak – The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise

Oak have a unique, innovative sound and you can hear it mature and transform on every album they release. Their approach to music is refreshing and sees them deliver meaningful music that has heart and soul and, with ‘The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise’, these talented musicians have created their most accomplished and consummate work yet.

Glass Hammer – At The Gate

Melodic, symphonic and, at times, monumentally heavy, ‘At The Gate’ is a superb, majestic leviathan of an album that enhances the band’s legacy as masters of the genre. This final instalment in the impressive trilogy brings things to a triumphant and proudly pompous conclusion, this is Glass Hammer at their finest, hugely expressive and sonically brilliant.

Threshold – Dividing Lines

For fans of the band it’s been a long five years since ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but when they return with an album as strong as ‘Dividing Lines’, you could say it has been worth the wait. Threshold are one of the pre-eminent proponents of prog-metal performing today and this fantastic new release has cemented their position right at the top of this particular musical tree.

VLMV – Sing With Abandon

There are times when you hear a piece of music that leaves you open mouthed in appreciation and, when I first heard ‘Sing With Abandon’ I was utterly stunned. Albums like this are more than mere music, they pervade your very soul, take over your life and almost bring you to tears at their beauty. VLMV have created something so good that it almost becomes a state of mind and I thank Pete Lambrou from the bottom of my heart for doing so.

Dim Gray – Firmament

I was seriously impressed with Dim Gray’s debut release ‘Flown’ but the last forty five minutes has shown me that this band have elevated themselves to another level entirely. ‘Firmament’ is a magnificent achievement, twelve songs that ebb and flow superbly and sum up perfectly what music is truly about. These three truly inspiring musicians have created something that is prime and organic, their music can get under your skin and influence your very moods and my life would truly be a much sadder place without it!

Ghost Of The Machine – Scissorgames

This superb album was reviewed for Progradar by my good friend Leo Trimming and I have to agree with every single one of his words:

Scissor Games‘ is a remarkable debut album. It clearly owes so much to earlier eras of Prog Rock but when it is done with this sheer amount of brio and skill, allied with powerful, impactful lyrics, then it is entirely valid and worthy as a piece of music and art. Many Prog fans will absolutely fall in love the style and emotional content of ‘Scissor Games‘ which will very probably be rightfully be regarded as one of the best debut progressive rock albums of 2022.

Gustaf Ljunggren with Skúli Sverrisson – Floreana

Philosophical and meditative, ‘Floreana’ will leave you in place of utter calm and leave you ruminating on life, the universe and just about everything. It’s as much about the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves and the state of mind that your are left in. To me, it is one of the surprises of the year so far and an album that I implore you to listen to at least once, trust me, it will be worth it…

Omega Point – A Great Escape

Matt Cohen has brought together a stellar group of musicians and, in Omega Point, created a powerful musical statement, close-knit and cohesive. ‘A Great Escape’ is another fantastic addition to the ranks of accomplished new releases we have already been lucky enough to hear in 2022 and can proudly hold its head high along with the best of them. Let’s hope this is just the start of things to come!

So that’s fifteen of the best albums I’ve heard in 2022 and they all rightly deserve a place in this review but now for the top five…

In fifth place:

Bjørn Riis – Everything to Everyone

Music can make a world that seems to be falling into monochrome light up and be revitalised with blazes of colour and vitality and this wondrous new album from musical maestro Bjørn Riis brings all that and more. Power, soul and grace are infused throughout its six tracks and combine to make it one of the outstanding releases of 2022 so far.

Fourth place was taken by:

The Tangent – Songs From The Hard Shoulder

‘Songs From The Hard Shoulder’ is just a wonderful piece of work, The Tangent at their brilliant best. People need some cheer in the world and music has the power to lift people, after just one listen to this amazing album I was smiling again. Andy and the band could just have released their most important record yet…

Now on to the top three, starting with:

cosmograf – Heroic Materials

The sumptuous, questioning ‘Heroic Materials’ is undeniably brilliant. Robin has laid his heart and soul, his whole being in fact, down as music. Emotive, melancholy at times, this record is a story and history at the same time. A plea for the future of the planet it may be but, above all, it is an immersive artistic triumph and one of the best releases of recent years.

And, as hard as I tried,I couldn’t split the final two so we have joint winners of my album of the year and I’m listing them arbitrarily by release date:

Joint First Album of the YearMarillion – An Hour Before it’s Dark

I have been a fan of Marillion for over three decades and, in a career of superlatives, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ can truly be seen as one of their most accomplished albums. It is an outstanding piece of music that the band should be incredibly proud of and, even though we are only in February, it will take something amazing to knock it off the top of my album of the year list.

Joint First Album of the Year – Galahad – The Last Great Adventurer

When music is as good as this and touches you in a very personal manner, it can’t really get any better. In my opinion Galahad have returned with what can only be described as a modern progressive masterpiece and one that will stand the test of time and should be remembered as being one of the best albums of recent years. It’s my joint first album of the year and I really can’t give it any higher praise than that.

So, in a year of high quality releases, this is my definitive top twenty, a collection of superb albums that would grace anyone’s music collection, tomorrow will see Progradar’s respected contributor John Wenlock-Smith’s top 20 albums and I am already looking forward to what 2023 will bring…

Review – Galahad – The Last Great Adventurer

“A great song should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good.” Colbie Caillat.

A simple caveat to an art form that transforms our daily lives into something utterly different. If you’re like me than music can take you to a much better place, my life would not be what it is without the joy and enrichment of music and, every now and again, an album arrives that completely blows me away, there is only music that can have this effect on the human race.

Before I tell you why I think Galahad’s eleventh studio album is just so good, let us delve into the background of the band and the album with some of the PR blurb:

‘The Last Great Adventurer’ has been several years in the making and many of the songs on the album actually pre-date the previous ‘Seas of Change’ album from 2018! Plus, due the constraints of the recent Covid emergency, the album was recorded at several locations over the last couple of years by the various band members and finally edited, mixed and mastered, as usual, by engineer/producer extraordinaire Karl Groom (Threshold/Dragonforce/Pendragon/Arena/Yes etc.).

As well as the long established nucleus of Stu Nicholson (vocals), Dean Baker (keyboards) and Spencer Luckman (drums) ‘The Last Great Adventurer’ is also the first Galahad studio album to feature Mark Spencer (Twelfth Night/Alan Reed) on bass guitar throughout as well as making some great contributions on backing vocals and triangle!  

Lee Abraham, now very much established as the band’s guitarist, also adds his own inimitable stamp to the album with some great guitar playing and a few blinding trademark guitar solos.

The main album consists of five tracks plus two bonus tracks on the CD including, at long last, a new version of  Another Life Not Lived originally written by the late and much missed Neil Pepper and Stu back in 2009.

Alive opens the album in fine, dynamic and powerful style with Dean’s pulsating keyboards and Spencer’s pounding drumbeat before Lee’s crushing guitar riff precedes Stu’s elegant vocals. This towering, fast paced track is charismatic and compelling as it flies along and the catchy chorus will have you singing along in harmony. It really is a fantastic, eye opening start that sees the band hit the ground running, Karl Groom’s influence as producer adding a fine polish to proceedings and new boy Mark Spencer showing he knows his stuff with his superb bass playing, add in a potent, pulsating solo from guitarist extraordinaire Lee Abraham and you just about have the perfect mix. Omega Lights sees the band leaning on their lengthy progressive heritage and the opening has a strong feel of 80’s nostalgia to it with its pared back, calming synth sounds and their wistful note. There’s an almost sombre feel to the song, an anticipation of what is to come, the music feeling as if wrapped in the mists of time as a low bass note enters proceedings followed by Lee’s purposeful guitar. Stu’s dignified vocals see the tempo rise before the song flowers into a glorious chorus. This contrast of refined verse and uplifting chorus continues and delivers a rather fine track full of determination and confidence. There follows an intricate section where the band put their prog chops on show for everyone to see and do so in fine fashion, just a brilliant piece of music. There’s a middle-eastern influence to the opening of Blood, Skin and Bone, like an Islam call to prayer and it works exceedingly well. Lee’s strident guitar combines with the forceful rhythm section to add some polished aggression and Stu’s slightly menacing vocal adds some mystery to the song. I really like the way this track flows with subtle intensity and Dean’s keyboards give a real mystical undertone and make it into an unstoppable force. Lee contributes a deliciously potent solo that just leaves me smiling in admiration, what a stunning song!

Enclosure 1764 has a theatrical, almost operatic quality to it, Stu’s vocal delivery wouldn’t be out of place in the cast of Les Miserables if you ask me and the tension created by the keyboards is hair raising. It is the shortest track on the album but is no less important and I find it bewitching and spellbinding as the drums and guitar add to the intense atmosphere, Lee is absolutely on fire again on this scintillating song. The magnificent title track, The Last Great Adventurer, is a very personal tribute to Stu’s father, Bob and is a highlight among a collection of very high quality songs. There’s emotion, passion and sympathy entwined throughout its ten minute plus running time and Stu’s vocals are at their best. This is a band at the height of their powers, one that is working in perfect harmony and you can hear it in every word and every note, add this to the epic songwriting and you just cannot go wrong. Full of sentiment and warmth, this song will leave a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye, spellbinding and enthralling.

The two bonus tracks are no mere throwaways, included just to flesh out the album, they add to already engaging experience, Normality of Distance is wistful and endearing, a calming influence running throughout, Stu’s vocals heartfelt and harmonious, a beautifully nostalgic and contemplative feeling song, I loved it. There’s obviously a lot of history behind this new version of Another Life Not Lived and you can almost feel it in the atmosphere as the hairs on the back of your neck start to rise. The slow paced opening and the melancholy guitar note make way for Stu’s soulful vocal that touches your very soul. The beautiful chorus is full of a sorrowful passion, there’s a story spanning many years being told here and being told perfectly, I’m not crying, you’re crying!

When music is as good as this and touches you in a very personal manner, it can’t really get any better. In my opinion Galahad have returned with what can only be described as a modern progressive masterpiece and one that will stand the test of time and should be remembered as being one of the best albums of recent years. It’s my album of the year and I really can’t give it any higher praise than that.

Released 24th October, 2022.

Order from bandcamp here:

The Last Great Adventurer | GALAHAD (bandcamp.com)