Jan 8, 2024
Part 2 (of 2) of my 50 Best Albums of 2023! My #1 album is AODON (France), album - Portraits!
0:25-4:04
OLKOTH (SC),
album - At The Eye Of Chaos (Death)
song – The Resurrectionist
— Chunky drums and jagged guitars
circle meditatively, texture upon texture, dropping to beat after
surprise after glory.
5:22-11:55
FORTÍÐ (Iceland),
album - Narkissos (Black, Melodic)
song – Tímans ör
— Cinematic, beautiful and complex
black metal with big tumultuous melodic and a blast of incredibly
catchy thrashy portions.
12:27-17:08
BERZERKER LEGION
(Netherlands/Sweden/UK), album - Chaos Will Reign (Death,
Melodic)
song – Choirs Of Anguish
— Frenzy of technical guitar fingers,
a pummeling of blast beats, and the grooviest of hooks in this
sophomore release.
17:37-21:28
KOSTNATĚNÍ (MN),
album - Úpal (Black, Modern)
song – Skrýt se před Bohem
— A jungle of unhinged and
unpredictable sound, with twangs of foreign melodies. This is wild
and beautiful.
21:51-25:51
CARNATION (Belgium),
album - Cursed Mortality (Death)
song – Herald Of Demise
— Melodic groove, chomping and
galloping pace with incredible guitar solos that match the
integrity of the 2020 album.
26:19-30:05
GABESTOK (Denmark),
album - Med Freden Kommer Hadet (Black, Modern)
song – Det er mig der står herude og
lurer
— Gabestok had my #2 album of 2021.
This duo genre bends. Rock elements, including blues
and garage and psychedelic black metal. Extremely
charismatic.
30:31-37:49
SULPHUR AEON
(Germany), album - Seven Crowns and Seven Seals (Black and
Death)
song – The Yearning Abyss Devours
Us
— Theatrical vocals in expressive
baritone vocals and a whisper of rasp coupled with ferocious death
and moody plaintive melodic black only the Germans know how to
create.
38:11-43:29
LASTER
(Netherlands), album - Andermans Mijne (Weird)
song – Achterstevoren
— Experimental in the versatility
with jazz, rock, black metal, psychedelic and progressive. Quirky
but highly consumable.
43:58-47:36
CRYPTOPSY
(Montréal), album - As Gomorrah Burns (Death)
song – Godless Deceiver
— Vocals and tempos lurch, twist and
writhe in a whirlwind of a death storm.
47:58-54:10
HORDA (Poland),
album - Form (Black)
song – Oneirataxia
— Dangerous, ominous black metal
hurtling forward and breaking into headchurning riffs, with
groove-infested demonic beats and melodic death. This is a
ripper.
54:37-57:43
NIGHTMARER
(Portland), album - Deformity Adrift: Reformed (Death,
Modern)
song – Baptismal Tomb
— Heated, weaponized vocals in an
unconventional sinister death and experimental
structures.
58:21-1:04:47
WILLOOS
(Netherlands), album - Begeerte (Black,
Melodic)
song – De zon tegemoet
— The tragedy, the agony, and the
breakdown in beautiful shoe-gazy compositions in shades of black
metal wretched.
1:05:14-1:10:47
THE RITUAL AURA
(Perth), album – Heresiarch (Death, Modern)
song – Heresiarch III: Devouring
Sun
— Disparity throughout the album with
sweet horns and full strings coupled with proggy technical death
and the hottest fucking demonic screech battling for
lead.
1:11:19-1:14:59
ONDFØDT (Finland),
album - Det Österbottniska Mörkret (Black,
Melodic)
song – Furstins Tid
— Wholly sinister, rapid-paced black
metal, a race to the end in a demonic Finnish forest. But
super hot and emotional too. So make out with that
demon.
1:15:26-1:20:55
ARBORESCENCE OF
WRATH (France), album – Inferno
(Death)
song – Into Everlasting
Fire
— Debut of pummeling and
incredibly memorable earworm in a precisely constructed technical
death. No bullshit here.
1:21:22-1:25:59
DISMAL AURA (CAN),
album - Imperium Mortalia (Black, Melodic)
song – One Path, Many
Voices
— A vicious beast with vocals that
slice and murder. Strummed melodic beauty and fun keyboard
transforms this to Canadian melodic black metal.
1:26:39-1:33:12
METASPHAERA
(Germany), album - S/T (Death, Melodic)
song – Einheit
— Muscular death and prog with
precise drums and a unique melodic. Tight spirals unravel
into galaxies.
1:33:51-1:41:48
DØDHEIMSGARD
(Norway), album - Black Medium Current (Black,
Melodic)
song – Interstellar Nexus
— Synth drenched and theatrical
compositions with stunning vocals, piano effects and flute, 70’s
galaxy synth, bleeding into sinister guitars and back to bliss.
1:42:10-1:49:21
HORRENDOUS (Philly),
album - Ontological Mysterium (Death, Modern)
song – Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology
of Dawn)
— Thrashy avalanche pace, proggy
melodic and acerbic death, packaged in something completely unique.
This will grow on you.
1:49:47-1:55:30
ASKHEIMR (Norway),
album - S/T (Black, Melodic)
song – Your Throne, My
World
— One-man band creating magic,
beauty, and fantasy with brutal edges. Black and death with
melodic and synth creating incredible textures.
1:56:05-1:59:58
MAJESTIES (MN),
album - Vast Reaches Unclaimed (Death, Melodic)
song – Temporal Anchor
— Members of Obsequiae and Inexorum.
Melodic atmospheric death metal with harmonizing guitars, and
a lunatic, cracked vocalist that takes it over the
cliff.
2:00:34-2:07:25
LEIÞA (Germany),
album - Reue (Black)
song – Fremdkörper
— Germans are romantic vampires, this
is torment and brooding. A bleak, miserable landscape with
the sun trickling through the clouds. Leipa is behind one of
my Best of 22, Non Est Deus.
2:07:46-2:12:35
JUST BEFORE DAWN
(Sweden), album - A War Too Far (Death)
song – The Gulf of Tonkin
— Beautifully headbang-worthy with
intense concepts of war, including melancholy melodic and precision
from start to finish.
2:13:02-2:16:23
NECROPANTHER
(Denver), album - Betrayal (Black, Modern)
song – Covenant
— I have seen this band multiple
times live, and they are badass technical savages throwing their
vocals in every direction. Thrash and black and just plain
fun.
2:17:00-END
#1 Album - AODON
(France), album - Portraits (Black, Melodic)
song – Sheelagh
— Beauty and anguish balanced to
perfection. This is moody and vicious and glorious, I love
every element of this album.