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.
Punk Goes Prenatt 