The topic of COVID-19 vaccinations creates a rift in rock music culture. On one end, musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell take their music off of music streaming service Spotify in protest of their hosting of Joe Rogan's podcast that has contained COVID-19 misinformation. Conversely, artists like Kid Rock releases songs with anti-vax messages.[3]
Future releases[]
Korn is scheduled to release their fourteenth studio album, Requiem. Members described it as more melodic, with an emphasis on layering guitars. It is scheduled for release on February 4, 2022.[4]
In 2019, Swedish band Ghost's frontman Tobias Forge announced plans to release their fifth studio album in early 2021. Unlike many bands who announced plans this early, this was not a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather due to frontman Papa Emeritus's desire to not complete with people's attention against the 2020 US Presidential Election season.[5] However, the pandemic did inspire Forge to revisit and complete an album idea he has had since 2014, about "the rise and fall of empires". The album was eventually announced as being titled Impera and having a March 2022 release date.[6]
Tears for Fears is scheduled to release The Tipping Point. It will be their seventh studio album and their first in nearly eighteen years. It is scheduled for release on February 25, 2022.[7]
Feeder is scheduled to release their eleventh studio album, Torpedo. Described as "heavier but still melodic", the album is themed around the band's frustrations of not being able to perform live due to COVID 19 restrictions. It is scheduled for release on March 11, 2022.[8]
Shinedown was planning on releasing their seventh studio album in late 2021.[9] It was later delayed to April 22, 2022, with a title of Planet Zero.[10]
Coheed and Cambria is scheduled to release their tenth studio album, Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind in May 2022. The album will continue the story of their long running series of concept albums, though frontman Claudio Sanchez notes that parts of the story are still in flux, as some plot points have felt insensitive in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]
British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree reformed in 2021 and is scheduled to release their eleventh studio album, Closure/Continuation, in June 2022. It is the band's first release in 13 years, after being in a hiatus for over a decade while frontman Steven Wilson explored a solo career and other projects. The COVID pandemic halting of the members abilty to further their projects is what lead the band to finally reuniting and completing the album.[12][13]
Blink-182 is scheduled to release their ninth studio album. Originally starting as bonus material for a deluxe release of their prior album, Nine, it was later separated out as a separate release due to its differing sound and content. Initially scheduled for a 2020 and 2021 release, drummer Travis Barker noted that it was likely relegated 2022 due to Barker's commitment to other projects and bassist's Mark Hoppus's cancer diagnosis in 2021.[14]
Machine Gun Kelly is scheduled to release his seventh studio album, and second one of the rock genre. Originally announced as Born with Horns, it was later retitled to Mainstream Sellout. The album is scheduled for early 2022. It is the first of two albums scheduled from Kelly, though the second lack a name and genre designation.[15][16][17]
Slash is scheduled to release his fifth solo album, 4, on February 11. It will be his fourth solo album featuring vocalist Myles Kennedy of Alterbridge.[18]
Papa Roach is scheduled to release their eleventh studio album. The album was written during and inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and was described by frontman Jacoby Shaddix as being themed around heavy guitars and experimentation.[19] The band later decided to delay it to 2022.[20]
Staind is scheduled to release their eighth studio album, their first new album in over a decade. Frontman Aaron Lewis, who spent much of the 2010s starting a country music career, expects the album to be a departure from his and the band's more mellow material, return to the band's "heavier" and "brutal" roots.[21][22]
Godsmack is scheduled to release their eighth studio album. Originally scheduled for 2021, the band instead decided to spend much of the year building their own studio and instead aiming to release a new album in 2022.[23]
Alter Bridge is scheduled to record and release their seventh studio album while many of the members spent 2021 working on their respective solo projects.[24]
Slipknot - is scheduled to release their seventh studio album in 2022. This is a new album, separate album from the previously announced and still yet to be released Look Outside Your Window album recorded by four of the band's member's in 2008 during the band's All Hope Is Gone sessions, which is still without a solid release date.[25]
Weezer - after releasing two full albums over the course of 2021 (OK Human and Van Weezer), frontman Rivers Cuomo announced the band would release four full albums over the course of 2022. The concept, under the conceptual Seasons moniker, see the band release a new studio album on the first day of each season. Cuomo describes the "Spring" album as "Happy chill", a dance rock album themed sonically themed around the work of The Strokes in the fall, and a sadder Elliott Smith styled album in the winter.[26]
Five Finger Death Punch is scheduled to release 2 albums in 2022, an album of newly recorded studio material (their ninth), and a re-recording of their debut studio album, The Way of the Fist (2007).
Jethro Tull is scheduled to release their 22nd studio album, The Zealot Gene, their first in almost 20 years.[27]
Halestorm is scheduled to release their fifth studio album. The album was written as a way to motivate the band to continue moving forward through the uncertainty of the COVID 19 pandemic, much in the same way that their early work motivated them to work on breaking into the mainstream.[28]
Red Hot Chili Peppers are scheduled to release another album, the first with guitarist John Frusciante, since he left the band in 2009 but rejoined in January 2020.[29] The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the bands plan for recording in 2020.[30] Recording was reportedly finished in May 2021,[31] with Rick Rubin announcing that production was wrapping up in late 2021.[32]
Avenged Sevenfold plans on releasing their eighth studio album. The band worked on recording it across 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic complicated and slowed down plans, for example, making it impossible to work with an orchestra for string arrangements.[33] The album is scheduled to release prior to a mid-2022 tour.[34] The band later reiterated plans for an album and touring in 2022.[35]
Nothing More is scheduled to release their sixth studio album, their first since their 2017 Grammy nominatedThe Stories We Tell Ourselves and "Go to War".[36] The band reported they were deep into the recording process in the second half of 2021.[37]
Fozzy was originally scheduled to release their fourth studio album in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans into 2021. The delay also required the band to rename the album, as it has been scheduled to be titled 2020, which frontman Chris Jericho felt no longer made sense with the new release year.[40] It was later delayed to April 2022 and renamed Boombox.[41]
Jane's Addiction has announced their intention to release their first new material in a decade, though frontman Perry Farrell notes that it's unlikely to be a full album.[42]
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails announced his intentions to record and release collaborative new music in 2020.[43] However, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated those plans, causing Reznor to instead release two more iterations of his instrumental Ghost releases, Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts, cancel a major tour in 2020, and alter plans for new music and touring for 2022.[44][45][46]
My Chemical Romance reschedules their reunion tour for 2022. It was originally scheduled for 2020, but was delayed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[50][51]