What We Loved in 2022

2022 was a year of change for Amplify the Noise.

While we rebranded ourselves from Pretty Vacant One, our focus to “dig through the music crates of life and share what we like” remains unchanged.

We also dialled in our focus to raise the frequency of music we like without crapping on the dreams of others. If something wasn’t to our taste, we simply didn’t write about it. There is enough hatred and unkindness out there, and there’s absolutely no sense for us to add to that pile of negativity when we can amplify those that rocked our worlds.

There was also a lot of music we liked and loved that we didn’t write about.

Like Lorna Shore’s Pain Remains, Motionless in White’s Scoring the End of World, Fitz and the TantrumsLet Yourself Be Free, and Teddy SwimsSleep is Exhausting to name a few. All four were on regular rotation at Amplify the Noise plus everything we wrote about.

Our promise to readers who have stuck with us this year is to write about everything we’re digging in 2023, even if it’s not within the week of the release. Sometimes, we just like to sit with an album, song, or artist and immerse ourselves in their craft and their magic and dwell on how much their work affects us. We realise that maybe, you too were affected by it and it might be nice to know that you weren’t alone at feeling the magic of music.

Enough of feels, let’s get into what we loved in 2022.

There was a lot we loved in 2022 and we do mean A LOT.

We’ve decided to break it down to following 10:

  • Songs – there were a lot of songs that rocked our world but these 10 stood out amongst them all.
  • EPs – these just teased the hell out of us and had us wishing for a full album.
  • Albums – we could have broken these down to genre to allow for more, but we forced ourselves to pick the 10 albums that we had on repeat.
  • Artists – these are the artists we couldn’t get enough of this year.

If we didn’t limit ourselves, this article would be 47 pages long!

The 10 songs we loved in 2022:

10. “Roll Away (Like a Stone)” by Butch Walker
09. “Show Me Your God” by The Amity Affliction
08. “Claustrophobia” by Bec Sandridge
07. “Preach” by Sir Jude
06. “Bones” by Quantum Dot
05. “Lupines” by Krooked Tongue
04. “Control” by Adult Leisure
03. “Runaway Dream” by All the Damn Vampires featuring James Hart
02. “Angst” by Rammstein
01. “Darkness at the Heart of My Love” by Ghost

The 10 EPs we loved in 2022:

10. Madness / Medicine by As Paradise Falls
09. Let’s Have a Satanic Orgy by Twin Temple
08. Random Casualties by Quantum Dot
07. Tyrants by IOTA
06. Sleep is Exhausting by Teddy Swims
05. Consparanoid by Primus
04. Lost Dog by Bec Sandridge
03. No Vacancy Hotel by Krooked Tongue
02. No Man Isle by Haunted by Silhouettes
01. The Weekend Ritual by Adult Leisure

The 10 albums we loved in 2022:

Honourable mention goes to Black Heart by Palps
10. Ego Trip by Papa Roach 
09. Afterlife by Five Finger Death Punch
08. Synth City by All the Damn Vampires
07. Revelations by Sir Jude
06. Spiritual Machines II by Our Lady Peace
05. Rise by The Rasmus
04. PERMANENT.RADIANT by †††
03. The Optimystic by Drake White
02. Zeit by Rammstein
01. Impera by Ghost

The 10 artists we loved in 2022:

10. Our Lady Peace
09. The Rasmus
08. †††
07. Drake White
06. Haunted by Silhouettes
05. All the Damn Vampires
04. Adult Leisure
03. Krooked Tongue
02. Rammstein
01. Ghost