VWMusic

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By Kimmarie Erickson
skullgurlmanagement@yahoo.com

Congratulations, if you are reading this, it means you have made it through 2022 alive.

As you may know, heavy metal continued to stake its claim as the most resilient genre, showing the world that metal music won’t stop, can’t stop. 2022 was a year filled with old-school metal bands embarking on “farewell” tours and fresh-faced nu-metal acts beginning their race to the world’s top.

I believe that even in the day and age of the interwebs, there are bands that never get their well-deserved day in the sun. Now, as much as I would love to start rattling off names of bands that I feel the world needs to pay attention to, the list would be neverending, so to that end, I’ll digress.

Instead, I wanted to write a little blurb about each band and why I chose them. But once again, I prattle on about nothing and run out of space, so this is how it will go down: I’ll throw you the names of the top thirteen bands you need to stop, drop and listen to right meow. Oh, and on a side note, some of these bands have been around the block a time or two but deserve your love.

Okay, so batten down your hatches; here is the list (in no particular order):

Blacktop Mojo: Original hard rock music from the heart of Texas.

Spread Eagle: Veteran East Coast Street street metal legends.

Jinger: A Ukrainian metalcore band to remember.

Jeffrey Nothing: The musical brainchild of the brilliant multi-faceted ex-Mushroomhead singer Jeff Hatrix.

Vended: A melodic nu-metal band fronted by Griffin Taylor (song of Slipknot’s Corey Taylor).

Matriarchs: L.A.’s premier hardcore/metalcore band.

Crobot: Stoner rock done right by good ole boys from Pennsylvania.

Budderside: High-energy, alternative rock unleashed by young rising stars (guitarist Sam ‘Bam’ Kolton is also a member of Faster Pussycat and Dorothy).

Gemini Syndrome: Alternative/nu-metal dynamos.

Awake for Days: A tremendously talented alternative/metalcore band from Nuoro, Italy.

Space of Variations: Ukrainian metalcore newbies.

Small Town Titans: Gritty modern hard rock up-and-comers.

A Killer’s Confession: Ex-Mushroomhead singer Waylon Reavis’s industrial/nu-metal group.

There you have it, my fellow metal music lovers, the thirteen bands that you should most definitely be checking out (and buying their music. So, go to a show or two and tell all your friends about them. Now get on gettin’ on, and as always, Be the metal!

– Kimmarie Erickson (@KimmarieEricks1) is a contributor for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at skullgurlmanagement@yahoo.com