2022

In 2022 the pandemic was easing, with Omicron spreading fast early on before most restrictions were lifted and borders reopened. Then, on 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine, the largest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War, and the world's attention turned to it for the rest of the year. The population hit eight billion, and ChatGPT arrived in the closing months.

Metal spent the year with its feet firmly planted in the past, and happily so. Rammstein's Zeit led the vault list, while Ozzy Osbourne's Patient Number 9, Slipknot's The End, So Far, Megadeth's The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! and Korn's Requiem kept the old guard busy. Def Leppard gave us Diamond Star Halos, Queensrÿche offered Digital Noise Alliance, and Manic Street Preachers came back with Sleep Next to Plastic. Weezer went seasonal, releasing SZNZ across four EPs: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, one per quarter, which is either tidy or a bit much. The Smashing Pumpkins, never ones for modesty, put out ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts. Reunions ran thick: Pantera, Coal Chamber, Biohazard and Botch were all back, while Ratt, The Sword and Nuclear Assault were listed among the bands that disbanded.

It was also a year of heavy losses. Meat Loaf died on 20 January, and Budgie's Burke Shelley ten days earlier. Taylor Hawkins died on 25 March at fifty. Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder died on 11 May, and former Bon Jovi bassist Alec John Such on 5 June. Nazareth lost both founding guitarist Manny Charlton and, in November, former singer Dan McCafferty.