 and here we go. Welcome to the greatest night of the year. You ready for it, Alan? The long anticipated, I hear the event. There it is. There it is. This is the greatest night of the year. Look at that. There it is. How beautiful it is. Look at that. Look at this. Look. The top, the bottom. This weighs at least 70 pounds. Look at that. Greatest album of 2022, Jim. Where did the year go? Where did the year go? Alan, let's start things off. Every year we do this. What's your criteria to picking the best albums of the year? I don't know. No? You're just going to go with it? No. I mean, this year, if things stand out, sometimes it's early in the year, sometimes it's late in the year. But, you know, there's certain albums that stand out. I kind of scrolled them away. And, yeah, I mean, try to get a little variety in there. Okay. And also, you know, there's some albums that I kind of put away and just didn't go back and revisited them. And some of them, you know, say, you know, that one, I tend to listen to it quite a bit. I like to go back and listen to that often. So I'm listening to it that often. I like to put on my top 10 list at the end of the year. So. All right. So you scroll them away? Like? Well, there's some albums we listen to. We review. We interview the players during the year. So then, you know, some of them, you don't listen to them again, right? Yeah. Some of them you go back to time after time after time. So the ones I'm listening to time after time, hey, so there's good candidates for the top 10. That's that's how I do it, Jeff. You know, it's fascinating. The albums that were released early on in the year, you know, you kind of, you're excited about them. You want it to be on your top 10 list. And then as the time goes by, there's a different opinion, either it's still favorable or it's not, right? Because now you've had some time to sort of digest it and absorb it. See if it stood the test of time, even though if it's like three or four or five months. So that might cry sometimes. That definitely happens sometimes. Sometimes the albums I listened to early in the year, that's the ones I measure everybody else up against. So in the past, there's been some, the year we chose Michael Shanker, resurrection, I think the first one is Shanker fest. I mean, that's the one I measured up the rest of the year. Everybody else that came along last year, the dead daisies too. That was a good one that everybody else had to kind of try to beat. This year, I've got number one. That was the one that I matched up and said, Hey, is anybody going to beat this one as my number one? And it turns out nobody could. But we'll save that. So this is a two-part series like usual. Part one, we're going from 10 to six. And the next show will be in a week or two. We'll do the five to one. A lot of people say, Why the heck are you doing this so early? It's because we've got so much to go through. It's a series. It's like a mini series. And that's what we do. All right. So my criteria, quick, quick is basically this year, my criteria is, of course, it's got to be a great song, a great album with great songs. And there's got to be a lot of consistency and momentum on that band over the years. Like there's got to be some sort of momentum happening. I don't want those one offs out of nowhere. And that's the end of that. I want some bands with some good, good momentum. And they've always been consistent in the past. Okay. So there you go. There you have it. But let's start off with some passing. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You take a band's history into account. I factor it. I factor it in. Like the Oscars. Okay. I learned something new. No, but criteria. No, no. But A. But A is. The album of the year is based on the band's history. No, no. What I'm trying to say is I first look at the quality of the album and the songs. Okay. And then I look at the history because there might be another album equally as good. But the one where there's more momentum with that band and there's more history of having consistency. Well, that tends to elevate a little more. Does that make sense? They manage your show. You know, you do it the way you want to do it. You do your thing. You do your thing. This is our list. Right. This is our list. Fuck all other lists. Okay. What's beautiful about when we do these lists, it's everybody else's, no, you should have chose this, this and this. And that gives us another opportunity to go and explore other albums. Yes. Exactly. We can't listen to every album that came out in 2022. We try our best. We do listen to hundreds, I would think, during the year. And these are the ones we scroll down. But yeah, feel free to send us your list because I'd love to check out some of those. And then hopefully some of the ones that we're suggesting, you'll check out and you'll enjoy as much as we did. That's the beauty of the metal community. We share. We love it. We want to hear more. We embrace. We embrace. But before we begin with the list, we should talk a little bit about 2022. We're out of COVID and the concerts are coming out, right? Right. John is saying, let's get on with it in a boxing guy's voice. So they don't like how I built stuff up, Alan. I built things up. First we got to talk about what happened. Jimmy wants us to be. This is Jimmy's form of the opening dance segment of the Oscars. Yes. Yes. But this is the walnuts. So, okay, here we go. The deaths. Let's just recognize these people that passed away this year. All right. I'll start off with February 1st, 2022. Johnny Zazula, co-founder of Megaforce Records. He died at 69 years old. Legend. I'll even put up his picture. Legend. I'll even put up his picture here just so we can remember Johnny. At the forefront of metal, thrash and speed, he brought this music to the masses. So, salute to Johnny Zazula. Now, let's go down the list. There was also Randy Rand, bassist of Autograph, who died not too long ago. I believe it was April 26th. Nicky Moore, a former vocalist of Samson. Samson, the band where Bruce Dickinson was in as well at the age of 75. And here's a near and dear one to our heart, Steve Grimmett, vocalist of Grim Reaper. Died at the age of 62. I'm going to put Steve's picture up there with you. You and him together, Alan. Let it boom. There you go. Yeah, that was, that was still smart. So, yeah, that's the first time we were able to interview Steve on Steve Grimmett. So I think that was the, what was it? Walking in the shadows? What was it called, the album? I'm not even sure if it was released yet, but I do know he pooped that day. I think it was close to being released, I think. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. And he pooped that day, so. Yeah, so it was all good. He felt good. He had a great sense of humor, a great voice. And, you know, we should keep on remembering Steve and his music. That's all. Anything else you want to say about Steve? No, I mean, the first time we tried to interview him was back in the old days when we were having him on a telephone interview and he kept breaking up. He really didn't have too much success. Jimmy could always release that on like a bonus, bonus CD or something. The Lost Interview. And all we get is Steve keep breaking up every two or three minutes and us trying to call him back. Luckily, we were able to interview him live a couple of times. In the early days of Skype, in the early days of Skype, and two other, you know, legendary guys, Gorda Kirchen from the Cult Metal Band Paul Driver. Remember this guy? He died at the age of, I think he was 60, correct me if I'm wrong? And of course, Dan McCafferty, vocalist of Nazareth. Yeah. What a voice. 76. What a voice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very, very sad. And that's pretty much it. I mean, there's other ones. And if we forgot anybody, please text the people that passed away this year. I know there's a long list, but these are the people that are sort of near and dear to us, right? Metal Acquisition is a classic, says John. I'll never forget Steve. He was a pioneer in Metal, says Rob Johnson. And already it's starting. It's already starting. The list, people says, Michael says, I'm late. No, you're not late because we're still talking about dancing girls are still, you know, still dancing away. And I like to show everybody who's late. This is what is going on. There will be laughter. There will be tears. Yet they'll only be one or two winners for the giant. All the votes were tabulated by the accounting form of a no-folk and way pal. As always, every year we hire them to count all our numerous and hundreds of thousands of votes that come in to help influence our decisions. We accept money as well. Yes. And Neil Turbin will be joining us in about 20 minutes to tell us his top three albums of the year. Or you'll give us his top 20. I don't know what's going on. Our West Coast correspondent. Good old Neil Turbin. Neil Turbin himself. All right. Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here, man. Okay. So I'll let you start. Okay. Because I got to do the controls here. Are you ready? Are we doing the honorable mentions? I think we should do the honorable mentions in the next show. Okay. All right. We've got a lot to cover, Alan. Yeah. People are really excited. All right. Let's get going. Here's my controversial choice at number 10. Hold on. Hold on. I'll do it again. Are you ready? Are you ready? Okay. Here you go. Now. Go. Okay. So number 10. I'm going with. Starracci. Starracci. Live and let live. Liberace. Liberace. Starracci. Mark Starracci of Crocus fame solo album came out. And this was one gym. I found myself for the rest of the year going back and enjoying listening to it. So it was a definitely a grower. And you know, great songs. Don't want to go broken wings. Time rates for no one. Those are my top three off the album. His voice is still as powerful and as great sounding as ever. And that's my number 10. It's slid in there last minute. And those are. That was one of the albums like you said before. It's sort of it started off early in the year and you kind of squirreled it away. And that was sort of like the bar for the other albums. Correct. Reaching for stuff to listen to and find myself always kind of going back to that one on numerous occasions. So I said, well, what the heck got to put it on the top 10. All right. So here it comes. Here's my number. 10. So, oh, by the way, we should have told everybody it's going to be 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. Me and Alan, we pick one. Okay. Here we go. Well, impact is imminent. There we go. Look, a lot of people, you know, disanvil, but I understand Anvil. There's just something beautiful about their passion for writing songs, catchy songs. You watch them play live. They love everything you they do. This album, fantastic production. Guitar work is great. The bass work is great. The drumming is fabulous as always. I just think this album tends to be a lot higher than their last albums, the last few albums, even those were, those were good too. But this one, just there's something great about this album. I just love the playing on this. I love the energy and I love the melody. Every album that comes out, just the best Anvil album. It is. They keep getting better. So impact. I love the bass playing on that. Great drumming, of course. Rob Reiner, the one and only. And look at this artwork here. See, there's like an Anvil and there it is. There's the guys. Take a lesson. David Grohl starts things off on the album. Yeah. Yeah. Go Shadows, I love. Fire Rain, I love. And T-Bag and Gomez, if you know the story or not, T-Bag and Gomez is the name of Sasha, their friend. He had two names. So he decided to name T-Bag and Gomez as those were his nicknames that the band gave to him. So that's why they're named after that. Pick it up. Fantastic. Looking forward to their next tour, their next album. I'm glad that we got Anvil in again this year. We have to. We have to. It's a tradition here at the Middle Voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring up Anvil as much as possible. Now, Mr. Rock and Dodge says, is that Anvil produced by Mateus? And I believe so it is. It's by Martin Matisse, Pfeiffer, Pfeiffer and George Urkin at Urkin Sound Lodge Studios. So there you go. If I butchered that name there, I apologize. All right. Let me get you ready for number nine for Alan. You ready, Alan? Yep, I'm ready when you are. Boom, done. Number nine for me is the Canadian band. I love them ever since I discovered them. Borealis after a four-year hiatus comes out with Illusion. So there's my little Prague choice for this list. Fifth studio album. I love the guy's voice. I love the subject matter, the stories he tells, going back to fall from grace and everything they've done since. And I'm glad they were able to release another album this year. Typical Borealis, if you'd love the other albums, you're definitely going to love this one. I don't want to say their borderline. It's what they do. It's definitely what they do. Good orchestration. We interviewed Borealis back, back. Oh boy, now it's been, what, six, seven years? We saw them were open for UDO. UDO? UDO, or I said it was ever great for sure. And the first time, I can't remember. I think it was Saxon. It might have been Saxon. I remember all our members you were interviewing. What's the name of the singer again? Matt. Matt. I remember you interviewing Matt in the alleyway. Yeah. Yeah. Good band. Love the band. Glad they came out with a new album this year. Fifth album, fifth studio album after a four-year hiatus. Great Canadian prog metal band Borealis with illusions. Well, Rob Johnson says Alan's got some interesting picks. Look at that. Tanvir saying great pick Borealis were my dark horse. Oh, look at that. Oh, look at that. There we go. Look at that. The greatest night of the year. Metal voice top 10 of 2022. All right. Here we go. Okay. My number nine. Well, let me get it ready. See, I'm doing everything now. So it's a man of many hats. Okay. Here we go. Oh, razor Canada's own Slayer. I'll say cycle of content. I know Alan, you have a tough time with razor, but they're my go-to band. I'll tell you why I love razor so much. You love these guys. I love these guys because there's something there's like it's speed metal. It's thrash. It's dirty metal. It's fist pumping bar fighting metal. That's what it is. It's just everyone's scrapping. When I hear this album, I want to like just throw a chair and maybe pull a punch or something. That's what I want to do. You know, great artwork, great songs. A lot of people complain. Oh, it doesn't sound like before. No, it's supposed to be speed metal in and out, in and out, in and out. Razor, boom, boom, boom, like that. Hey, man. These guys sound great. It's been a long time. Jarbrony, first rate hate, all fist fighting, king shit. These, a bitter pill. Great album was released September 23rd. Again, this is Canada's speed metal champs. A great legacy that they have. Yeah, a lot of people say, oh, it's the same thing over and over again. It's supposed to be the same thing over and over again. It's what they do. It's what they do. And you know what? It's these types of album that separate them from the pack of the generic metal albums. You're passionate, Jim. I am. Gabe is saying the Canadian top 10 so far. That's a pent-up anger. That's what I noticed about your list this year. It's anger. You've got some pent-up anger, my friend. I do. I do. It allows you this type of music. Razor and some of your other choices allows you to vent it. It's cathartic for you. You know what? You don't even realize, Alan? Okay. What was your number 10 again? Storaci. Okay. Well, okay. With the exception of Storaci, Anvil, Razor, and Borealis were Canadian. We're all Canadian so far. What's going on here? I didn't even realize that. Didn't I? It was not out of a medical order. Yes. All right. Neil Turbin is standing by. I didn't even realize that. Me neither. Let's see how many more Canadian bands we have. We're going to break that trend right now, Jim. Okay. Let me get it ready. Let me get the graphics ready for you, my friend. What number are we at? Eight. Eight. Here we go. All right. Now we're getting into where are we going? This is my melodic metal choice. I like to vary it up. I had a prog, right? It's a classic sounding. And now their third album, Nordic Union, Animalistic with our, of course, Ronnie Atkins and Eric Martinson of Eclipse and WET fame. This guy doesn't stop, man. He's like Tobias, Samet. I mean, he's in so many bands, writing so many great tunes. This is probably the weakest of the three I find, but good enough to make my top 10 list. Nordic Union's Animalistic, enjoyable. Check it out. That's my melodic metal choice. Just tell everybody, Alan, what does it sound like? Like, if you were to compare it to something. Oh, like. The Vantage, is that it? WET. I stumped you. A little bit of Eclipse in there, obviously. I mean, he's a principle writer. So, but Ronnie Atkins voice is unbelievably strong yet again on this album. He brings a, he's got his style, man. I love that style of Ronnie Atkins. Yeah. All right. What he made to me. All right, here we go. I have the Nordic Union more like power metal. That's Michael who says that. So yeah, it is. It's like Aventasia. It's like WET. I don't. Yeah. A little more raspier, a little more raspier in the vocals, right? All right. Let's get the graphics going for the next one. What are we at? You're at your number H. Oh, scream for me, screamer. There it is, Alan. Look at that. I mean, I'm surprised the women's group didn't get all pissed off about that. You know, they put like a towel on the lady's head or a sheet and they push her down with that. Unless that's her hand. And you know, it's a beautiful cover. I'm a rock believer. Look at that. Look at that. The Scorpions. The Scorpions. There you go. Look, again, this is about a good album with great songs and a great legacy. Who would have thought after a thousand albums that they've created, you know, they still could come out with something good. Now, we did the show when it came out. 19th. As usual, about two hours to listen to it. Then we had to review it. So I was pretty hard on that album when it came out. My first reaction was, oh my gosh, these guys are so middle of the road. Neil Diamond looks like heavy metal compared to them. Basically. And you know what? It's a grower. I mean, it's not my favorite Scorpion album, but I can see what Martin Popoff meant. It's a lot of guitar work. He thought it was one of their heaviest ones in a while. So I went back and listened to it. Been listening to it since we reviewed it. And it's not as bad as I originally thought. But that's, you know, sometimes your first impression. Mr. Rock and Dodge says, I love this album. Didn't expect that in their age. So I guess their age group. After so many years, they've come up with a very strong album. This is just to clarify. This is their 19th studio album was released in February. So we had a lot of time to really go back and see, was it as good as we thought it was when it first came out? I find this is more hard rocking, right? A lot of throwbacks. You know, there's like the zoo there. Is there anyone there with that reggae guitar work? Of course, there was the anthemic rock believer and peacemaker and gas in the tank. Dynamite. Dynamite, Alan. Dynamite. There's a lot of that. See them live. Jim, you and I had agreed at the time that the rhythm section with Mickey D seems like it had that extra boost of energy. And, you know, I hope this goes on. You know, I think it is what it is at this point of their career and we'll just accept it at that. Yeah. Yeah. Glad you made your top 10 list. Here's a plug. My eighth. This is Michael saying my eighth is Graham Bonnet's day out in nowhere. So that's good. That's a very good choice. Jim's a huge Graham Bonnet fan. There you go. He loves Graham Bonnet. But he didn't make the list, but I respect it. Tony Wade is saying Scorpions was a pleasant surprise this year. And yes, it was. And that's why he made my number eight. Yes, eight. Scream for me, screamer. Scream for me, Alan. Okay. It's hard to keep. You changed the list about 15 times. So I'm glad to... You should say one to five. I got the latest copy here. One to five. I kept playing the albums over and over again. I go, which one is going to be number one? Which one is going to be number one? There could only be one in here, Alan. See? Look at that. Look at that. It's like Pac-Man in a way. But it's not. No peaking. No peaking. No peaking. In the olden days, we used to pass it. We had this protocol. Yeah. We had a protocol. Now we're resuming it. All right, Alan. Neil Turbin's on standby. Neil Turbin's on standby. All right. Number seven. Okay. Let's get rid of that. Number seven for Alan. Okay. Ready? I'm going with Germany's own Devil's Train Ashes and Bones. All right. A lot of people don't know this album. It's not as popular. You know, Jim, we get a lot of albums sent to us by the various record companies who want to review. We can do a show on every band, right? Mm-hmm. So Devil's Train, even if we did a show, you know, might not have got too many hits, right? Ten. So it gives us a chance to listen to the albums and add them to it this time of year. Add it to our top ten list. So I mean, for me, this is down and dirty, hard rock and roll. It's kind of like Buck Cherry meets Pantera meets Steel Panther. It's got that feel to it. It's classic sounding. Just, you know, I wanted to pick out three songs. These are my suggestions of the top three. Every song in this album is unbelievable. And it's a band that, you know, again, I never heard of. I'm glad we do this show because we learn about new bands. So that's what it's all about. And I think this is their third studio album, first one in a while. So it could almost be considered a comeback album. And I was pleasantly glad that I checked it out. And it made my top ten list, man. You know what I like about our list, Alan? Our lists are different. You kind of look at it one way and I kind of look at it another way. And both ways aren't wrong, right? It's just different perspective and, you know, giving props to where props are due to different bands and different level of bands. Right? Not everybody's as big as the Scopians. No sir. No. That's it. We want to check out the little band sometime. And again, like I said, we can't, you know, we got to go with who's available and Devil's Train. At least we got the album we're able to do. And now we can promote it on our top ten list. That's what it's all about, Jimmy. That's it. Exposure. You know, this is our chance to, when everybody says, why don't you guys talk about the smaller bands and they need exposure? Well, here you go. Alan's list is full of them. You ready? You're ready for your number. What am I at? Your seven, Jimmy. Your number seven. Okay. We'll remove Alan from there. Okay. You love this album. You love it. Oh, there it is. Tony Martin Thorns. Yep. Here's a perfect example of an album that was released January 14th. Think about that. Still kind of on the cusp of COVID, right? COVID was still kind of happening. We didn't know what was going to happen. What was going on? Could we go out? Can we not go out? But this album's released. And to my surprise, it's probably one of my favorite black Sabbath Tony Martin era sounding albums, right? I just think this is the album he should have made with Tony Ioni. Not to say I do like his work with Tony Ioni, but I think this is actually a little bit better as the world burns. You could not, that's your neon lights. You know, that's like that in your face. Put the pedal down, car driving song down by you. The vocal delivery is outstanding. Black widow angel, another phenomenal vocal delivery. Then you have Pamela Moore on the song Thorns at the end. Oh my God, we're getting a little, a Queen's Right-ish kind of feel here, right? What a great track. Then you have the flamenco part. You know what? We did an interview with Tony. For this reason alone, his album was released early January. Like I said, people have forgotten about it in the past 11. They think it was like 2021. So we wanted to remind everybody, hey, Tony Martin's album's out there. Don't forget to check it out. And hopefully you'll put it on your list too. Jim, I'm glad you revisit it. Then we had a chance to revisit it with Tony at basically a week ago, I think. And I went back and listened to it. His voice takes you right back to that era of those Black Sabbath albums. A lot of songs give you that feel. And then he does other songs that are completely different and you enjoy them equally. So I mean, he's a guy, like you said, it's how many albums is he up to? It's incredible how many albums he's performed on. A long overdue solo album. And it is absolutely a scorcher. It's really good album. A lot of people are agreeing with this. A lot of people actually put it higher on their list. I agree. It can go higher. It's very difficult these lists. Like you said, there's a lot of math involved. You changed this a lot. There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of... And times like that. You've got to bring a calculator out. You know, we have to punch it, you know, the punch cards on the computer, giving us a readout, trying to read them out. Which one's going to do it? John the Veromatic, Verna was got his own great show on the Internet. I'll take your word, Alan. Check it out. Oh, that was in regards to Devil. Oh, this is what he said. Sorry, sorry, John. Yes, but though it made his top five. So if I confuse everybody, that's what I want to say. All right. Alan, Neil Turbin's on standby. We're going to bring him on. Hey, yeah, yeah. We got our buddy Neil on. We got two left. Should we bring him on now? Yeah, let's bring him on now and then we'll finish up with our number six each. All right. Yeah, okay. I can't wait because Neil always has some interesting choices. Yeah. Yeah, Neil, Neil. Here he comes. Bring on Neil Turbin now. There he is. There's Neil Turbin. There he is. Oh, he's got, he can't hear us yet. So all that funny business. Oh, there we are. There he is. Neil. Great seeing you, buddy. Do my check, my check, my check. Check, check. Can you hear me? Got you. Got you. All right. Neil Turbin. Hey, everyone. Yeah. You can't look away. The little end of the Great Walnut. Neil Turbin, Alan. There it is, Neil. Oh, there it is. You just want to touch it. I was watching, man. You guys were talking about the awesome people that passed this year. It's too bad. Yeah. Miss them. Steve Grimmett. We're all getting older. Yeah. Steve Grimmett, a friend of yours as well. You know, it's, there's Serenity Rand and there was, of course, Johnny's Azula, where you have a massive connection. You know, he started everything. You know, he really enabled our father to make it happen. A very touching moment, Alan. I'm not sure if you remember or not, but, you know, it's, since the departure of Neil with anthrax, you didn't talk to Johnny in ages. But Johnny, Johnny, he wanted to reconnect with Neil. You know, despite all the divisions and all the sort of, you know, things that happen, right? There was something in Johnny's heart that he wanted to reconnect with Neil. You know, he asked me, I know he asked Maria Ferrero to, because I need to talk to Neil and he did talk to Neil, right, Neil? Absolutely. And you had your moment with him. Johnny, he reached out and Marcia Z and Marcia Azula, Johnny Azula, and also I got to give a lot of credit, major credit to Maria Ferrero, you know, for adrenaline PR, because she was really, you know, there and made it happen. So along with you, Jimmy, I mean, you guys are all instrumental in that. And it was, you know, you, you look at situations in your life and sometimes, you know, you haven't talked to a relative or you haven't talked to a, you know, a friend from the old neighborhood or something where something went down and, you know, you, you know, it's an awkward situation over the years, you know, and you're trying to figure out, well, you know, how do you, how do you reconnect? You know, and it turns, as it turns out, you know, John Azula and Marcia Azula and Maria Ferrero, you know, just people of great class and great dignity and great, you know, just great people that, you know, go beyond just rock and roll. I mean, it's about people always and it's about that connection. And, you know, Johnny really, you know, showed me, you know, he showed me something that I didn't know. He showed me that he didn't really, you know, he was in the business side of things, but he didn't really have much to do with things that went on inside the band. And that's a whole different arrangement. But of course, being a business manager, you know, being the band manager, being the record label, you know, business decisions, right? So just like Elon Musk, you know, got to make some hard decisions, right? And, and, you know, some of them people don't necessarily agree with or understand, but, you know, he knows what's good for his business. I guess that's kind of, you know, what happens when you're running a business. And, but above that, you know, Johnny was a person. So is Marcia. And they really, you know, you know, gave the love, you know, and they founded with them within them to reconnect with you before they passed. Yes. That's pretty outstanding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let's, let's move from the sad to the happy and to the celebration of music. Neil, you got your top three. Don't give us a top 30. 40. Don't give us a top 30 deal. Yeah, wait here. You don't want to start with journey in top 40. All right. So, Alan, do you want to, do you want to take one of Neil's first and then we'll do, you now have two left. So, Neil, why don't you give us your bottom, man? What's going on? That's good. Neil's number three. All right. Number three deal. Come on. Use the number three. Okay. So as much as, as much as I'll give you three, but as much as gathering of Kings could have been number three, you know, excellent singer, Johnny Lakequist and also Rick Altsy. I mean, Johnny is a friend of mine and he's, you know, I loved him in nocturnal rights. Love what he did on the new album. But I have to give it to Hammerfall, you know, because I mean, that band is just a phenomenal band. They sound incredibly cohesive. You know, their songwriting gets better every time. And, you know, they are the true spirit of metal. I mean, there's no band that I can think of that really exemplifies metal like Hammerfall because when they played at Valken, I think it was 20 or 17, 16, something like that. Who knows? I wasn't there, but I saw the video. You know, I looked at except I looked at all these other bands. Hammerfall was the band to be watching for that festival. And that's, that's something to be proud of. And also, you know, they have some secret weapons in their production of their music as well as, you know, great singer, great production, great guitar players, great drummers, just a team, you know, that really executes it well. And of course, being Swedes and, you know, being heavy metal, power metal guys. They just, I don't know. There you go. There you go. I think it's an outstanding album. And I think I have to give it to Hammerfall. Congrats to Hammerfall. That's great. You know what? A great bunch of guys, great bunch of guys, great music. Beer drinking buddies from the heavy metal Hall of Fame. Absolutely. You know what? When I went to see Hammerfall and Flotsam and Jetsam in Montreal, and I was, I went to the show and I go, I'll probably be a lot of Flotsam fans. No, no, no, no. They're all Hammerfall. Not to say they didn't have their fans Flotsam, but you could see there was a big presence of Hammerfall fans. This is like a, you know, it was at Fafund, Alan, about what, 250, 300 people fit in there. Lots of love for Hammerfall. All right. Alan, you can swing it and bring it. They swing it and bring it. Hammers. Number two. You want to do anyone? Okay. All right. Well, Neil, go number two. You know, it's as amazing as Hammerfall is, you know, and as well as they execute things. I mean, there is a band that is hard to, you know, the band to beat and they're super experienced, super, you know, super headliner. You know, they're not afraid to get in the dirt and get dirty and rock it, rock it out. And, you know, I saw them opening up for Motorhead. Of course, they were famous for opening up for Motorhead on many tours, bomber tour. So you must know that I'm talking about the one and only Saxon, the mighty Saxon and Carpe Diem. And what an album. Carpe Diem. I think, you know, these guys just deliver pure fierceness, fury on the music and on the vocals and the songwriting production. I mean, you know, it's hard to beat a machine like Saxon. I mean, they are just unstoppable. And, you know, people don't know who Saxon is or they haven't heard their newer material. You have to listen to it because you might have heard Power in the Glory. You might have heard Denim and Leather. You might have heard Wheels of Steel. You might have heard, you know, so many albums, Crusader. But I mean, their current album, Carpe Diem, I mean, it's just ripped roaring. It's just full of fury and thunder and, you know, what can I say? It's great songwriting, great band, and they're consistent. You know, how many bands can say that they don't go through, you know, all of this drama? You know, they need like psychotherapy and all this crap. You know, like these guys, Biff doesn't mess around. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy, but he's a hell of a cool guy. And a hell of a businessman, a hell of a great singer. Leader. We should sell even a leader. I mean, this guy could be a military leader. I mean, he's that strong of an artist, you know? I mean, we want to go into the military, but I'm just saying it's just, you know, I've always admired Saxon for that and they haven't like let up one fraction of an inch since Wheels of Steel in my years. Agreed. Good album. Great. Great stuff. Okay. So, all right, this is what we're going to do. Alan, we're going to give you your, we have one each left. Okay. Alan, let me get your graphics up. I'll go with my number six. All right. Hold on, here we go. My number six, I called it the comeback album. The comeback kids! One of the greatest comeback albums. Okay, go ahead. What's up? The greatest comeback album since Blood of Nations. I called it at a time. Skid Row's, The Gang's All Here, New Vocalist, Merrick Gronwall. I know I was never a big Skid Row fan back in the day. Enjoyed Mr. Bach's vocals, but this album is that fine line of doing something new and respecting the past. I would say my interview of the year with the Snake Sabo, that was great. I loved that interview. Super guy. And to go out and get somebody that they've never even met to record a whole album and tour just hats off to them. I think that's a great album. And again, paying respects to the past, but sounding fresh as always. Right. A super solid singer. I mean, he did a great job with heat. Yeah. He was in heat, right? He was in heat. Not in wet. He was in heat. See what I did there. He's always been a solid singer. So I mean, they did a good job picking him up. And, you know, ZP, I thought was a great singer, but, you know, just didn't work out. Eric Gronwall is doing a great job for him. And, you know, their gig show, right? Yeah. He brought back the energy to that band, right? That they were kind of missing a little bit. And there's just, they've got a momentum. But you know what, Stalin? Neil is like me. We not only picked the best albums, we picked sort of the legacy behind the bands and their continuity and their upswing. See what we're doing? But it's okay, Alan. You're picking sort of the, hey, I didn't think about that band album. That's just good, too. It's good. Got to mix. I really, you know, Jim, since it's the top 10 list of 2022, I focused on albums of 2022, Jim. That's a good thing. I didn't, I didn't take it. You didn't take it to 1979 or anything like that. Okay. Okay. Good. Sometimes there's a sleeper of an album that comes out and it's like, wow. But, but the thing is also like, you know, there's certain anticipated albums. And some of these albums are because the band is huge. You know, you're going to put it on the list, but I didn't think that way. I thought, like, who earned it? You know, who, who did it based on merit? You know what? I think merit and competition is what it's about. It's, you know, what, what was there in the old days? Bands were competing. Even though they were, you know, there was camaraderie amongst bands that they were competing. You know, everyone wanted the top iron maiden or Judas Priest. I mean, everybody wanted to be the biggest, the fastest, the strongest. Just like a race car, you know, and that's, that's kind of what I heard when I listened to those albums. You know, I heard Saxon and Hammerfall, Gathering of Kings. I thought they were roaring, but there's one that's, I picked above those, those bands just because, but hold off, hold off on that just yet. Just yet. Hold off. We need suspense, Neil. We need suspense. I'm holding the reins. He's in a rolling batter. All right, here we go. I'm going to give. All right. All right. Here we go. I'm going to give you my number six here, my last one for today, because we're only doing 10 to six me and Allen. Right. So here it is. Blind Guardian. Again, it's one of those albums that were, was released earlier on in the year, not that early, but nevertheless, it was like maybe like six months now. I think it was September. Right. Oh, shit. Was it September? Not too long ago. It wasn't too long ago. No, it wasn't too long ago. The God Machine by Blind Guardian. Here's a band that it's kind of like to Neil's point, you know, they've always been bringing it. There's just something about Blind Guardian that really draws me to them. I think it's, they care so much about their music. They really do. It's not only about making money. It's also about caring about every note, every guitar riff, every drum pattern. They're just, you know, Hansy, he's just all over it and the whole band is all over it. Deliver Us from Evil, Outstanding Song, Secrets of the American Gods. You know, it's like seven, clocks like seven minutes, just brilliantly written, Violin Shadows, Life Beyond the Sphere. It's got a little Battlestar Galactica theme. We got the, the, the creation of the universe on this album, beautiful album cover. And again, this is probably, they're coming back. They're coming back to more of a speed metal band, less orchestrations. Maybe it's a little in the back there, just a little bit, just to sprinkle, you know, just to get that cool, epic sound, but they've come back to speed metal harder and faster. An aggressive album. Yes. I almost had to have a shower after listening to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Neil, have you heard that album? Yeah. Blind Guardian. I'd like to listen to it. I haven't heard it because I don't have the links that you guys have. I guess I haven't. We'll send you the link. I'd like to hear all of them. I mean, it's finding the time, but I definitely, you know, listen to quite a number of albums. And of course, you know, I can preview it on YouTube or things like that, but absolutely. But I think supporting the old school, of course, is important. I know that as an old school artist myself, you know, it's easy to dismiss the new school or the younger generations that come after, you know, they're not the the new school or the younger generations they're not the the pioneers, but they're the settlers. They come in the second or third wave. And I think that there's been Greeks and the Italians. Yeah, there's bands that carry that carry that torch that are that are not Judas Priest and Iron Maiden that are not black Sabbath and there has to be, you know, there has to be worthwhile bands. And the thing that, you know, kind of that I perceived yes, there's there is an element of what Uli Roth said to me, you know, things that might inspire him from a a neoclassical from a, you know, from a student standpoint where people are taking the time to learn and really get into being great musicians and learning their instruments. But what I find is that yes, some people are lazy, but there's other people that are so phenomenal, so, you know, during the lockdowns and all that, they spent more time working on their craft. Yeah, that's a good point. There's artists that were, you know, doing more recording. I mean, it depends on everyone's situation, but there's artists out there and I have one, I just want to put this in there before I mention, you know, there's old school artists too. Oh, shit. Oh, sorry guys. It was, I got, I got us cut off there. Oops. They're all cut off, but yeah, go ahead. There's old school artists also that have researched, made a resurgence. In other words, like the band around in the 80s, and all of a sudden, they came out with a phenomenal album. And I don't know if you know who I'm talking about. There's a lot of bands like that. There's a lot of tens. I mean, that they, that you never heard of them before, and they were around in the 80s and all of a sudden, they show up on the radar screen and it's like, boom, and that band that I'm thinking of, and that's not in my, they don't have an album this year because they have a 2021 album, but that may be well, what are we talking about here? Honorable mention. Honorable mention. All right. 2021 honorable mention. Or No, they have a video this year for a new song. Okay. Okay. I have a new song that came out this year in 2021. I'm just fooling around, Neil. I'm just fooling around. That's what I do. That's my response. I was quick, right? So at least I didn't, at least I was, at least I was in the pod guys. I was trying to keep up with Jimmy. Trying to keep up with Jimmy is not easy sometimes. No, it's not. So I can't keep up with myself sometimes. So this band that is, is a super honorable, honorable mention. And there was, there was a couple of other bands that, you know, really, you know, caught my attention and I'll just mention their names without going into it. Blues Pills on the blues rock side. And also a band called High Fade Band. And they're more of a funk rock, but Was this a 2022 release? These are bands that are, that have releases or they are in the process, but they're just, I'm just mentioning the name, but the band that I'm going to give honorable mention to, it's a band from Sweden called Nester. And that band is definitely going places. They're definitely phenomenal. You must check them out. If they had an album this year, I have no question that that would be my number one pick, but my number one pick. Okay. We're on track now, Alan. We're on track. Nester because of the vocals. It's like, it's like the heavy metal Inga version of Journey. It's like incredible. I can't, I don't know. But as far as as far as a number one pick, I wanted to give it to the new school, the next generation, the retro band that, you know, certainly, you know, a follow up wave of heavy metal. And I mean, they keep the traditional vocals, the high pitch vocals, and also, you know, creative melodies and the bands have, you know, that retro sound and I think vintage, you know, and I think that as far as, you know, Saxon and Hammerfall, I mean, you know, they touch the production of those two albums. And this band doesn't have the same production, but they do have the creativity and they do have the talent and they do have, you know, songwriting and execution. So I'm going to give it to Riot City. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You heard the album. Canadian. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. I heard the album. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From the West Coast. In Alberta. No coast in Alberta. So just west. We'll just say west. The prairies around there. Mountains. Riot City. Yes. You know what? Neil surprises us yet again. Every year it's a choice. It's a great to have Neil on because his choices is, it's a learning experience. And sometimes he picks albums. And sometimes he picks albums that weren't even released this year. Look at him. Well, no, Riot City got it. Saxon does. And so does Hammerfall. Yes. And the single that came out by Nestor was in 2022. They have. Okay. Fair enough. Early next year. Fair enough. Fair enough. And by the way, the Nestor album is called Kids in the Ghost Town. Check it out. There you go. Neil. I just want to thank you for all your work this year. We're coming through the close of 2022. And I was your, you're our West Coast correspondent yet again. Here's to another 10 years together. Thanks for all your hard work, Neil. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you. I got no money, baby. That's right. I got no money. I got no money. Yeah. Well, I wore it because it's a special occasion. Right. I wore it. I wore my jacket, which I haven't worn in a long time. Number one, Riot City for Neil Turbin. There you go. I think that's pretty much it. I have to get you guys some of these shirts. This is one my artists did up. It's not the actual original art. It's my art. So it actually says Neil Turbin, right? It doesn't say anthrax. It's a different person there. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's like a picture of Neil with that, that fistful there, right? Yeah, you know, but I have to get you guys some swag. You know, very nice. It's very cool. I love it. All right. There you guys tune in for the top five. Top five coming up in a week or two. Thank you everybody. What's in the wall? Oh, got something there. There's nothing in the walnut because we can't reveal. The big reveal is actually in show number two. Okay. A quick recap. Neil, Neil said, number three was hammerfall. Number two was Saxon. And number one was, I just forgot. Right city. Right city. Yes. Alan, your number. Okay. I went with Marks. Yeah. And then Borealis, Nordic Union, Germany's Devil's train, and skid row at number six. And I went with Anvil, Impact is imminent, Razor, Scorpions, Tony Martin, and Blind Guardian. That's the recap. So, guys, it's been a pleasure. It's always a pleasure, Neil Allen. We'll talk later. You got to put some of that green stuff in your walnut, Jimmy. So this way, you know, you don't forget anything, you know, going to work in reverse, you know what I mean? Or some, or some chocolates, like some, yeah, I could pass them around. Not Easter. Christmas. Like, it's like bedtime over there in Canada. It is. It's 622. You're getting sleepy on me. Come on. All right. Neil, some of that coca-cola or something. Neil, we'll talk soon, buddy. Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone.