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This was another year loaded with quality releases, so much so that, like last year, I had to push back some extremely good records and had to picky extra picky in choosing a top 23. For context, I'd rate everything below an 8.5/10 or above. As always, the most important predictor of a high rating is how likely I would re-listen a given album, and how much much I would enjoy it months after I first spun it. Albums released in winter have a bit of disadvantage given that 'time' element, which is why I periodically reassess my rankings and reorder where necessary. The diversity of genres is on point, I even surprised myself for having included so much underground black/death variety, since this niche is typically overcrowded with cavern-mongering copycats lacking inspiration. Yet it was impossible to disavow the efforts of Wyrgher, Vertebra Atlantis, and Valdrin, who showed once again that smaller, underground labels that easily oust the more established mainstream companies in quality and quantity.
There was a lot of heresay about 2023 being 'the year of death metal', and though it was definitely a stalwart year for veterans joining back into the foray, I found more enjoyment in the backlog of black metal I listened to. My top 50 has a more comprehensive list of everything I enjoyed in that realm in case you were wondering where all the black metal was at. For sure, my tastes veer more towards the unorthodox and innovative, so it's almost a given that bands like Kvelertak, Dødheimsgard, Enslaved and Malorkarpatan ended up where they did. Insane performances all, the Dødheimsgard disc especially mesmerized me every time I spun it. An elegiac, mind-bending ode to absurdism.
There are also a couple of 'outliers' like the new In Flames and Voyager, records that seem to fit awkwardly between the grim, subterranean subtext engulfing them. As with previous years, I do not give a damn, these records were on repeat until my ears bled dry this year, and they've earned their spot for having some annoyingly catchy songs. Go figure. Finally, although there's a relatively equitable distribution of genres, it would have been nice to see some more standout tech death this year. My craving for noodling guitars and clinical breakdowns that thankfully satisfied by Gorod with one of their strongest outings to date, although Suffocation and Afterbirth (on my top 50 list) also did well. Other popular albums from this space, like the new The Zenith Passage, Nithing or Nightmarer were either mediocre or poorly executed.
Links to the albums are below, as well as other random lists I've accrued over the year.
* Top 23 Metal Albums of 2023*
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You can find a more comprehensive list with short review blurbs that I've written for my top 50 albums over at RateYourMusic. Link to that list over HERE.
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~ Top Gym Tunes of 2023 (In No Order) ~
2023 was a year of many good albums, but also of many good lifts.
Coldly Calculated Design − The Faceless (US)
The Grand Conjuration − Opeth (Se)
Somewhere I Sadly Belong − Subterranean Masquerade (Il)
The Secrets of the American Gods − Blind Guardian (De)
We Are the Sun Gods − Gorod (Fr)
Wheels of Fire − Anthem (Jp)
Unleashing the Bloodthirsty − Cannibal Corpse (US)
Motsols − Kvelertak (Nr)
Back to Times of Splendor − Disillusion (De)
The Widow Maker − Carpenter Brut (US)
Fallow Season − Madder Mortem (Nr)
~ Top 10 Books I've Read in 2023 ~
10. Nomadland − Jessica Bruder
09. Burning the Books − Richard Ovenden
08. The Fall of Yugoslavia − Misha Glenny
07. Alexander the Great − Norman F. Cantor
06. Why We Sleep − Matthew Walker
05. The Pursuit of Italy − David Gilmour
04. Snow Crash − Neal Stephenson
03. Crack-Up Capitalism − Quinn Slobodian
02. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty − Patrick Radden Keefe
01. Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World − Samuel Moyn
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