Tag: Atlantic Records

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2023 (Part One)

The first month of 2023 is almost over. We should probably get cracking on this list.

In 2023, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2023, in no particular order.

Fucked Up

Album: One Day (Merge)

Release Date: 1/27

Fucked Up’s sixth studio album One Day has a very literal title. Written and recorded in one day, One Day is the Canadian indie/hardcore legends’ shortest record to date, clocking in at 40 minutes. “Twenty-four hours can feel like a long time, but you can get a lot done then, too,” guitarist Matt Haliechuk said in a press release. “It can feel like forever and one minute at the same time. If you work on something for one day, it can end up being really special.” The record is also special with frontman Damian Abraham contributing lyrics for the first time since 2014’s Glass Boys. Even with its small length, One Day will show you how much you can get done in one day, and maybe you’ll fall in love with it in one day.

Tennis

Album: Pollen (Mutually Detrimental)

Release Date: 2/10

I was introduced to husband-wife/indie pop duo Tennis over a decade ago by my older sister. She showed me one of their songs “Marathon”, which to this day is still lingering in my brain. If you put your ears to my head, you can faintly hear “Coconut Grove / Is a very small cove / Separated from the sea / By a shifting shoal”. It’s been years since I thought about Tennis and wanted to see if they were active. Not only are they still around, but they’re dropping their sixth album Pollen next month on their own label Mutally Detrimental. “We wanted to write a big album,” Alaina Moore said in a press release. “…something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward.” Pollen drops February 10.

White Reaper

Album: Asking For A Ride (Elektra)

Release Date: 1/27

On their second outing with major label Elektra Records (Avril Lavigne, Fitz And The Tantrums, Tones And I), Kentucky garage punks White Reaper decided to switch things up while also sticking to their guns. Produced by the band themselves, along with help from friend and Grammy Award winning engineer Jeremy Ferguson (Cage The Elephant, Lambchop, Turbo Fruits), White Reaper “directly channeled the energy of their live show” into each of the album’s 10 songs. From the kick-ass Cheap Trick-esque “Fog Machine” to the closing number “Pages”, Asking For A Ride is definitely something that you should be looking forward to this Friday. Maybe this will be the record that’ll launch the band into the mainstream. Only time will tell.

Narrow Head

Album: Moments Of Clarity (Run For Cover)

Release Date: 2/10

Houston, we got a banger. Texan grunge act Narrow Head added a third guitarist Kora Puckett and it hasn’t changed the band’s sound drastically. Their third album — Moments Of Clarity — which is their second with Bostonian label Run For Cover Records (Anxious, glass beach, Portrayal Of Guilt), will contain the same core themes found in their prior records: desolation, loss, and self-medicating. But, as stated by Rough Trade, the new album “rises above the darkness with a sense of elegant repose, like a butterfly-winged figure-skater skimming the hardened rim of a freezing black lake.” Narrow Head will be touring next month with White Reaper and Taipei Houston, and they’ll be attending the inaugural nu-metal festival Sick New World in Las Vegas on May 13 with System Of A Down, Papa Roach, Turnstile, Death Grips, Failure, and many more.

Paramore

Album: This Is Why (Atlantic)

Release Date: 2/10

Rejoice! Paramore is back! After vanishing for nearly six years, the Franklin, Tenn., the pop-punk turned post-punk trio have returned with an album that sounds like nothing they’ve done before. Heavily influenced by Bloc Party, Foals, and Wolf Alice, their sixth album, produced by Carlos de la Garza (Bad Religion, The Linda Lindas, M83) and last with major label Atlantic Records (GAYLE, Matchbox Twenty, Royal & The Serpent) marks the closing of one chapter of their career and the beginning of another. “We’ve been really lucky,” frontwoman Hayley Williams told Billboard about leaving Atlantic. “We always will have gripes — it’s an industry — but we know that we’ve been really lucky. It’s more just the fact that it’s time to fucking finish something. And it’s time to know that we’re not doing the same shit that we’ve been on since we were teenagers. It’s just going to feel so nice to start a new book. You know, like no more chapters of this one. Whole new book. And I’m excited.” If you were hoping for an After Laughter Part II, your dreams are gonna be dashed. But know this, it is still a Paramore record. Even if you were praying for songs to sound like “Pressure”, “Misery Business”, “Now”, “Still Into You”, or “Rose-Colored Boy”, they won’t sound like them. Yet tracks like the title track and “C’est Comme Ça” should be the soundtracks to your 2023.

100 gecs

Album: 10000 gecs (Atlantic/Dog Show)

Release Date: 3/17

OK, I was off by a year. In 2022’s list, I put 10000 gecs as one of my most anticipated albums alongside Tears For Fears, Dashboard Confessional, and †††. But the only thing hyperpop duo 100 gecs gave us was an EP in December called Snake Eyes. And on the same day Snake Eyes dropped, 100 gecs finally gave us the release date for their highly anticipated second album, that date being March 17. Rejoice gec nation, it’s almost here.

Pierce The Veil

Album: The Jaws Of Life (Fearless)

Release Date: 2/10

Another one I was off by a year. Featured in last year’s most anticipated list alongside Joyce Manor, Dance Gavin Dance, and Counterparts, Pierce The Veil’s long-awaited fifth album originally had no name nor any real information, except that longtime drummer Mike Fuentes was removed from the group due to sexual allegations made public in 2017 and that the album will be produced by Mutemath frontman Paul Meany (The Blue Stones, half•alive, twenty one pilots) and mixed by Adam Hawkins (Avenged Sevenfold, Machine Gun Kelly, Switchfoot). As time went on, we finally got the album’s name, that being The Jaws Of Life. Three singles were released, “Pass The Nirvana”, “Emergency Contact”, and “Even When I’m Not With You”. Collaborations with Fueled By Ramen (Fall Out Boy, Lights, Quinton Griggs) artist chloe moriondo and Third Eye Blind’s drummer Brad Hargreaves were also announced. It better be worth the wait.

Fall Out Boy

Album: So Much (For) Stardust (Fueled By Ramen/DCD2)

Release Date: 3/24

If it weren’t for how amazing “Love From The Other Side” sounded, So Much (For) Stardust wouldn’t be on this list. No longer sounding like the band who gave us Mania, Chicago’s Fall Out Boy are (technically) going back to basics, working with mentor and producer Neal Avron (New Found Glory, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Yellowcard) to help bring the band back to the top. During a secret show at the Metro on Wednesday night, bassist Pete Wentz said that the album will sound like a combination of all of their albums (even Fall Out Boy’s Night Out With Your Girlfriend?). If the best parts of all prior albums makes So Much (For) Stardust the best Fall Out Boy record since Folie à Deux (fight me), then this will be so worth the wait.

Enter Shikari

Album: A Kiss For The Whole World (Ambush Reality/SO Recordings)

Release Date: 4/21

2020’s Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible helped reignite my love for Enter Shikari. The St Albans electronicore act have been unstoppable since their formation 24 years ago. And on their upcoming seventh studio album, A Kiss For The Whole World, the band are about to enter a whole new era. Vocalist Roy Reynolds told Rock Sound, “Back to basics. This band – my best friends – bundled into an old farmhouse, miles away from anywhere. Off-grid, and ready to rediscover ourselves. This album is powered by the sun, the most powerful object in our solar system. And I think you can tell. It’s a collection of songs that represent an explosive reconnection with what Enter Shikari is. The beginning of our second act.” I’m excited for this second act.

All Time Low

Album: Tell Me I’m Alive (Fueled By Ramen)

Release Date: 3/17

Just a few weeks ago, Baltimorean pop-punk quartet All Time Low began teasing what would be the second (we didn’t know that then. The album’s first single “Sleepwalking” came out in 2022) single for their upcoming ninth studio album Tell Me I’m Alive. Frontman Alex Gaskarth was inspired by Paul McCartney and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when working on the track. “Jack [Barakat] and I had plans to go see Paul McCartney that night so naturally I’d been listening to Sgt. Pepper’s all week…” Gaskarth wrote on Instagram. “Theatre. Concept. A bit of cheek coupled perfectly with weight and consequence. Its sensibilities were bleeding into our creative process for the day and suddenly I was picturing this fumbling, stumbling mess, a caricature of a person hell bent on burning down everything around them for the laughs and the memories.” While not a lot of info has been revealed yet, all we do know is that the record will have 13 songs.

Part two will come out next week!

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2022 (Part Four)

Here we are. The final part of our most anticipated albums of the year. Please enjoy part 4!

This is part four of four. If you haven’t read part three yet, check it out here.

2021 was the year many musicians showed us the works they created during the 2020 pandemic. And since the pandemic is still (somewhat) raging around the world, it’s giving musicians even more time to perfect their craft.

In 2022, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2022, in no particular order.

Album: The Collapse (Velocity)

Release Date: 6/10

Back in the early 2010s, SECRETS were just one of the many post-hardcore bands that simply existed among the sea of run-of-the-mill sounding bands who played Warped Tour. A decade has passed and so has that style. What’s a post-hardcore band to do? Toss everything away and become heavy af. That is what the now metalcore band are trying to accomplish on their new record The Collapse, coming out today on Velocity Records (And So I Watch You From Afar, D.R.U.G.S., The Villa). And from what’s been heard so far, they’ve became the band they’ve always wanted to be.

Album: TBA (Hopeless)

Release Date: TBA

Ready to be sad again? Philly’s greatest sad boys have graduated to sad men with their upcoming seventh studio album. The Wonder Years have gifted us two beautiful songs: the emotional “Oldest Daughter” and the slow burn semi-acoustic track “Summer Clothes”. Both are beautiful to say the least. No word yet on a release date but the band promised that it will drop later this year via Hopeless Records (Fame On Fire, Scene Queen, Vaines).

Lizzo

Album: Special (Atlantic/Nice Life)

Release Date: 7/15

It’s about damn time. Prince’s protégé has returned to us with new material, the first since her breakthrough third album Cuz I Love You back in 2019. And just as the name says it, Special is truly special, according to Lizzo. “I think that the music really is going to speak for itself,” she told Apple’s Zane Lowe. “I’m writing songs about love from every direction, and I hope that I can turn a little bit of the fear that’s been running rampant in this world, energetically into love. That’s the point. I had a lot of fear, and I had to do the work on myself, and this music is some of that work in turning that fear into love. I hope that when people listen to this album, it makes their day just a little bit better, a little bit more filled with love.” Let’s hope this album is truly worthy to be named special.

Album: Viva Las Vengeance (Fueled By Ramen/DCD2/Warner)

Release Date: 8/19

Twitter’s most hated popstar is back. Love him or hate him, Brendon Urie has proven time and time again that he can do no wrong music wise, and his seventh album, Viva Las Vengeance, will hopefully show us that he hasn’t lost touch in his four-year absence. Working with producers Jake Sinclair (Fall Out Boy, New Politics, Weezer) and Mike Viola (Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness, Fall Out Boy, Mandy Moore), the album dives into Urie’s childhood and relationships. Viva Las Vengeance is a “cinematic musical journey about the fine line between taking advantage of your youth, seizing the day and burning out.” Rage against the dying of the light, P!ATD.

The Devil Wears Prada

Album: Color Decay (Solid State)

Release Date: 9/16

It took me decades to get into The Devil Wears Prada. The christian metalcore band have been growing stronger since their Warped Tour days, becoming giants in their genre. Now with their eighth record on the horizon, Color Decay, the band decided to test their growth and togetherness by recording the album in “remote hideaways” across Wisconsin and California with keyboardist Jonathan Gering sitting in the producer’s chair. They said in a press release that “collaborating closely” brought TDWP a “rich sonic architecture.” Color Decay drops September 16 on Solid State Records (Azusa, Fit For A King, Norma Jean).

Polyphia

Album: TBA (Rise)

Release Date: TBA

Oh who are we kidding? Album four is a myth. Everyone knows that. Or is it? Could this be the year that album four officially drops? Could be. The instrumental prog-rock quartet have been teasing fans about this mythical album for a bit, but guitarist Tim Henson did tell Alternative Press that it does exist. “The only hints that we give towards it are printed on merch drops with little texts on hoodies and stuff. It’ll say something like ‘album four is a myth,’ just to mess with people because they’ve been waiting so long, but it’s really interesting to watch our Spotify and our socials grow without us doing anything,” Henson said in an interview with the magazine. “Obviously, we’re doing a ton of things behind the scenes, but not putting anything out for anyone to grasp on to when they’re just rallying together with all the old stuff, it definitely feels good to know that we have a very starved fanbase waiting for us to drop [songs].” He did tease the appearances of an “OG goat guitar player” on the record (Steve Vai, perhaps?), “an OG goat rock singer”, and some “pretty well-known rappers and then lots of incredible instrumentalists.” Album four will hopefully drop this year on the band’s new label Rise Records (Covey, Flogging Molly, Royal Coda).

Travie McCoy

Album: Never Slept Better (Hopeless)

Release Date: 7/15

Twelve years have passed since Travie McCoy dropped his debut solo album Lazarus. In that span of time, his collaborator on his hit single “Billionaire”, Bruno Mars, became a superstar, reunited his old rap-rock band Gym Class Heroes before killing it off shortly before their appearance at Warped Tour’s 25th anniversary show, and signed with Hopeless Records. Now in the present day, he’s about to unleash his long-awaited second solo album Never Slept Better. Can he strike gold once more?

Porcupine Tree

Album: Closure/Continuation (Music For Nations)

Release Date: 6/24

British prog-rock legends Porcupine Tree blew everyones’ minds back in 2021 when they announced that they were reuniting for the first time in a decade. During that break, frontman Steven Wilson committed himself to his solo work with the rest of the band doing the same. The same day they reunited, the now trio (bassist Colin Edwin is continuing his solo endeavors) released a new song and announced their eleventh album Closure/Continuation, which wouldn’t come out for another seven months. Get stoked, Porcupine Tree fans. Only a few more days til Closure/Continuation drops.

Death Cab For Cutie

Album: Asphalt Meadows (Atlantic)

Release Date: 9/16

25 years ago, a small band from Washington state graced our ears by the name of Death Cab For Cutie. And 25 years later, they’re about to give us their tenth record Asphalt Meadows. Dropping this September through longtime label Atlantic Records (100 gecs, Coldplay, In This Moment), the group collaborated with Grammy Award winning-producer John Congleton (AJJ, The Dismemberment Plan, Manchester Orchestra). The record is their follow-up to 2018’s Thank You For Today and 2020’s The Georgia EP which had DCFC covering bands like TLC, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Cat Power.

Album: TBA (Glassnote)

Release Date: TBA

French indie pop darlings Phoenix have been really quiet for a while after dropping Ti Amo in 2017. But in January, they confirmed that album #7 was in the works. And while no more word on the record has dropped recently, they did release to the public a brand new track called “Alpha Zulu”, which is slated to appear on the record.

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2022 (Part Two)

This is part two of four. If you haven’t read part one yet, check it out here.

Silverstein

Album: Misery Made Me (UNFD)

Release Date: 5/6

Post-hardcore legends Silverstein are aiming to shake things up on their eleventh album Misery Made Me. Frontman Shane Told put it, “We went into this with no rules and no preconceived notions of what Silverstein is or what it could be. The results are bold. We somehow wrote the heaviest, saddest, catchiest, and most emotional songs in 22 years of being a band…all on the same album. I wanted to explore the meaning of ‘Misery’ as a main theme throughout the album. Despite the mountains climbed and boulders pushed during recent years, we were confronted by the weight and misery of staying relatively in the same place for a long period of time. Finding peace in the reality of this misery became important. The record is about the acceptance of a new reality and adapting to it.” Check out the misery when it drops May 6 via UNFD (Crossfaith, In Hearts Wake, Short Stack).

Hot Water Music

Album: Feel The Void (Equal Vision)

Release Date: 3/18

Gainesville punk rockers Hot Water Music are planning on an electric return to form on album #9. With The Flatliners’s frontman Chris Cresswell now an official member and the band being on a new label, Equal Vision Records (And So I Watch You From Afar, Hail The Sun, Scary Kids Scaring Kids), HWM are ready to show that they haven’t slowed down for a band that’s nearly 30 years old. The record was produced by longtime producer Brian McTernan (Bane, In Fear And Faith, Strike Anywhere). When it album drops later this month, make sure to get the album New Noise called “a solid album.”

Portugal. The Man

Album: TBA (Atlantic)

Release Date: TBA

2017 was a massive year for Alaskan turned Oregonian psychedelic pop-rock band Portugal. The Man. Their eighth studio album Woodstock would become one of their most successful albums to date, selling over half a million copies, and even won them a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Feel It Still”. Fast forward five years later and no word on a new record. But during the pandemic, they have been working hard on their ninth record, including some new tracks, one, a collaboration with deadmau5, being only available as an NFT. “We’ve been writing a lot of music,” bassist Zachary Carothers told Riff Magazine last April. “We’ve been working on an album for the last couple years and, once again, we just had to overthink it. We strip stuff away; we throw away sessions—kind of like we always do. But we are getting very, very close. We’re getting to the last few weeks. We’re still writing new songs and stuff. We have a real easy time starting songs and incredibly difficult time finishing songs. When it comes to something like this, nobody knows when the song is done. You just have to stop at some point. And we’re getting very close to the stopping stage. But no one can really tell when that is. I know that we do want to get a little bit more on the grid before we release anything, and … kind of figure out the world that we’re coming back to.” Only time will tell when the new record drops.

Drug Church

Album: Hygiene (Pure Noise)

Release Date: 3/11

Back in 2018, I put their third album Cheer as the best album of the year. Will they be able to repeat that feat come years end when Hygiene hits stores this Friday? It’s hard to say right now, especially since we’re only three months in to 2022. Last year, the post-hardcore/grunge act dropped a stupendous EP called Tawny, bridging the gap between Cheer and Hygiene. And it did tie fans over, showing that the band aren’t ready to slow down yet. From what’s been released so far off of Hygiene, it’s gonna be a bonafide hit that no one should sleep on.

Eve 6

Album : TBA (Velocity)

Release Date: TBA

No one expected Eve 6 to make a comeback. Nearly 20 years after their relevancy ended, the 90s alt-rock act known for their “heart in a blender song” meme’d themselves into popularity when frontman/bassist Max Collins started using Eve 6’s Twitter to create hilarious posts and memes. And somehow this shitposting got the band a deal with rebooted label Velocity Records (D.R.U.G.S., If I Die First, Nate Bergman), who released the band’s latest EP Grim Value last June. It was the band’s first batch of new material since 2012’s Speak In Code album which came out on another oddball label for the band, Fearless Records (Archetypes Collide, Grayscale, Oceans Ate Alaska). They’re gonna ride on this rebirth of fame by dropping a brand new album sometime later this year.

Placebo

Album: Never Let Me Go (Rise)

Release Date: 3/25

Placebo are doing a bunch of firsts on their upcoming album Never Let Me Go. For starters, it’s the band’s first album recorded solely as a duo following the departure of drummer Steve Forrest in 2015. Second, it’s their first album under Rise Records (Angels & Airwaves, The Distillers, Merci). Third, it’s their first album in nearly a decade. Heavily inspired by Kanye West’s Yeezus, Rolling Stone called Never Let Me Go “Placebo’s strongest album in years,” packed with songs full of “metallic stoner rock, post-punk and gorgeous piano melodies.” Get this one at the end of the month.

Charli XCX

Album: Crash (Atlantic)

Release Date: 3/18

Meet Charli XCX’s bad side. On her final album under her contract with Atlantic Records (100 gecs, Lizzo, Royal & The Serpent), the pop goddess is going all out, unleashing bangers left and right. The album follows her early pandemic release How I’m Feeling Now and features her “demonically talented” friends, with production Ariel Rechtshaid (Adele, Plain White T’s, Vampire Weekend), Lotus IV (Cash Cash, Ty Dolla $ign, Zedd), Ian Kirkpatrick (Breathe Carolina, Lauv, The Ready Set) and Justin Raisen (Joji, Sharon Van Etten, Yves Tumor), plus appearances by Christine And The Queens, Caroline Polachek, and Rina Sawayama.

Bleachers

Album: TBA (RCA)

Release Date: TBA

Already? But they just released one! Yup. Apparently, Jack Antonoff, the man behind Bleaches, made a promise on Twitter that a new album would be out this year, tweeting, “i am going to put out a bleachers album this year.” That tweet was posted on New Years Day. If this is going to happen, it will be the shortest amount of time between Bleachers albums. Their third studio album Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night coming out last July.

Album: THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND (Little Dipper/Rise)

Release Date: 4/1

Recorded over the span of five summer days last year with Grammy-award-winning producer Peter Katis (The Get Up Kids, Interpol, The National), PUP’s fourth album has the band trying some very experimental things. Due to the pandemic, Katis let the Canadian punks stay in his house during the making of THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND. This let the band experiment with instruments like pianos, synths and horns. They even remotely collabed with several acts like NOBRO, illuminati hotties, Casper Skulls, and Remo Drive. So far from what we’ve heard, it’s gonna be a masterpiece.

State Champs

Album: Kings Of The New Age (Pure Noise)

Release Date: 5/13

With their fourth album, Albany pop-punkers State Champs are here to prove they’re the kings of the new age. The band in a press release, “Kings of The New Age is our fourth album, the one that we spent the most time on, and the one that makes the biggest statement. After writing over 30 songs, we narrowed it down to 11 that best represent our mission as a band, and sonically, match the energy level we wanted to captivate heading into this new chapter.” Continuing they add, “KOTNA is a reflection on the past few years during a very weird time,” they continue. “However, it is also a reminder that we’re only here for so long. Although we will always live and learn by trial and error in areas like friendships, family, careers, relationships, etc., there’s no time for toxicity and negativity when a certain opportunity presents itself. Never waste a moment that can be seized. Times are changing, culture is evolving, and we’re happy to provide the soundtrack and let you know that we’re here to stay. Welcome to The New Age.” It’s gonna be amazing.

Part three will come out next week!

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2022 (Part One)

New year, new music.

Tears For Fears

Album: The Tipping Point (Concord)

Release Date: 2/25

Could it be? Is this actually happening? Are we finally getting brand spanking new music from Tears For Fears? Yes. Sound the alarm. The last time these British legends dropped an album of new original material was 2004’s Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. 18 years later, we’ve been gifted The Tipping Point, ten songs fueled by sadness and pain which nearly pushed Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith to their tipping points (no pun intended). Let’s see if the nearly two decade long wait was worth it when it drops this Friday.

D.R.U.G.S.

Album: TBA (Velocity)

Release Date: TBA

Don’t call it a comeback. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows aka D.R.U.G.S. have been really busy creating their second album, their first since 2011’s self-titled debut. Back in December, frontman Craig Owens announced that the vocals were all recorded. “Can’t begin to tell you how much this new D.R.U.G.S. album means” he wrote on Twitter earlier this month. “Those who’ve heard it say it’s my best work yet. We are at the beginning of a new era, and I can’t wait to share this experience with all of you. Get ready! It’s coming soon…” Earlier this month, the band dropped a new track called “DESTINY”. No release date has been posted, but it will come out this year on Velocity Records (Eve 6, If I Die First, Thursday).

†††

Album: TBA (Warner)

Release Date: Spring

It’s the return of Crosses (spelled †††)! The experimental superduo consisting of Deftones’s frontman Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez dropped two covers over the last two years, but now they are confirming new music is on the way. “Very happy to announce that @crossesmusic recently signed a worldwide deal with @warnerrecords. Looking forward to working with such an amazing crew,” Lopez posted in a statement on Instagram. The record should come out this spring on Warner Records (Avenged Sevenfold, The Head And The Heart, Saweetie).

Weezer

Album: The SZNS Saga (Atlantic/Crush)

Release Dates: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter

Last year, Weezer dropped two albums. Now, they’re upping the ante by releasing four albums in 2022. Dubbed the “SZNS” saga, each record is supposed to have a sound relating to its coordinated season. As NME put it, “Each of the project’s albums is due to be released on the first day of every season next year, and will feature its own unique style. For example, one of the four records will be inspired by Elliot Smith. Another will be inspired by Weezer themselves.” So if this is happening, the first album should come out March 20.

Avril Lavigne

Album: Love Sux (DTA)

Release Date: 2/25

If you told me a decade ago that Avril Lavigne would be making a comeback in the pop-punk world, I would’ve laughed. But alas I’m the fool. Coming this Friday is the Canadian pop-punk superstar’s comeback record Love Sux, dropping on Travis Barker’s label DTA. Her seventh album has her collaborating with stars like Machine Gun Kelly, blackbear, and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, and was produced by her boyfriend Derek Smith aka Mod Sun and scene producer John Feldmann (311, Escape The Fate, The Used).

Streetlight Manifesto

Album: TBA (Pentimento)

Release Date: TBA

Just to let you know how long it’s been since Jersey ska legends Streetlight Manifesto dropped a record, Victory Records was still around, Obama was president, and I was still in high school. And it seemed that we would never get that long-awaited sixth album. That all changed when the band posted last July that a new album was underway. “So you’ve been asking about it and we’ve been coy about it. And there’s a reason we’ve been keeping things on the down low, and that’s simply because we don’t want to talk about something until it’s well under way and inevitable. That changes today because, well, it is now WELL under way and inevitable,” the band posted on Facebook. “Along with everyone else on the planet, our plans for 2020 and 2021 were a bit… steamrolled. We are now back on track and for the last few months have resumed working in the studio after a year apart from one another, both remotely and in person, on what will be our next album. This is simply a proof of life post, with some photos to prove that all of the SM gentlemen are alive and being kept busy in the studio. Hydration and food rations are being provided when absolutely necessary. We won’t have anything to share with your earballs for a bit, but we’re on course to release this behemoth of a record sometime in 2022. We will sporadically provide updates now and then, but we want all of you faithful and kind (and PATIENT) Streetlight fans to know we are hard at work and hope to exceed your expectations with a new batch of jams soon.” Now all we can do is be patient. But hey, at least we know it’s coming!

Dashboard Confessional

Album: All The Truth That I Can Tell (AWAL)

Release Date: 2/25

After a four year gap and an almost deadly motorcycle crash in 2020, Chris Carrabba’s beloved acoustic emo/rock band Dashboard Confessional has returned with new music on a new label. Dropping this Friday is the eighth album All The Truth That I Can Tell, releasing under the AWAL banner (Aly & AJ, Everything Everything, Lauv). Carrabba opened up about the album to Kerrang!, saying, “Honesty was at the heart of the writing process, at the heart of the recording process, and at the heart of this collection of songs. I had the rare opportunity to be unflinchingly honest. But I think I would have thought in the early days that that would be commonplace. Now, I realize it’s some kind of cycle within your life and there’s great personal reward in accepting that.”

Belmont

Album: Aftermath (Pure Noise)

Release Date: 3/4

After dropping two EPs with Pure Noise Records (Devon Kay & The Solutions, Grumpster, Moon Tooth), Chicago easycore trio Belmont will be finally dropping their first full-length with the label, Aftermath, next Friday. The album is the band’s second overall. Vocalist Taz Johnson talked about Aftermath in a press release, stating, “There’s a lot of serious stuff on this album. It’s personal and vulnerable and hopefully people can relate to it. But at the same time, the process of making it taught us to remember to have fun.” Drummer Brian Lada adds, “All our influences are here, and we put them into one big melting pot. More than anything, I just hope this album inspires people to give less of a fuck and instead do whatever they want.”

100 gecs

Album: 10000 gecs (Atlantic/Big Beat/Dog Show)

Release Date: TBA

100 gecs were one of the many bands I have let slip through my fingers on my Prenatt’s Picks a few years ago. Still won’t get over that, especially with how popular the experimental hyperpop duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady have gotten. Their groundbreaking debut record 1000 gecs changed the game of pop music for the greater good (or not, your opinion). And now, with 10000 gecs, they’ll up the ante somehow. So far, we’ve heard some tracks off of 10000 gecs on their 10000 gecs tour last fall like “Hey Big Man”, “Fallen For You”, “One Million Dollars”, “Hollywood Baby”, and the only commercially released song “mememe” (with the Toronto date being cancelled and being moved to Buffalo, which I got to see with the creator of the Punk Goes Prenatt logo and icon. And someone recorded the show on their Nintendo 3DS.) With what has been performed and released, 10000 gecs will blow their debut out of the water.

Nekrogoblikon

Album: The Fundamental Slimes And Humours (Mystery Box)

Release Date: 4/1

The greatest goblin-inspired melodic death metal band has returned. Santa Barbara’s Nekrogoblikon are set to unleash their heaviest goblin-est record to date, The Fundamental Slimes And Humours, hitting stores and steaming services on April Fools’ Day. If you wanna hear a sneak peek at the record, check out “This Is It”, a heavy banger that has the band sounding as tight as ever. “This was the first song that got completed during the writing/demoing process, meaning it’s also the one we’ve been waiting the longest for you all to hear,” the band wrote in a press release. 2022 is no longe the year of the tiger, now it is the year of the goblin.

Part two will come out next week!