Well, another year in the books. I can say this year was slightly better than previous years, personally speaking. But only marginally. Music wise, however, it was absolutely fantastic. A literal deluge of great albums. I’ve decided to break up my top five picks and my favorite death metal picks. It seems like there was just SO much good stuff. I couldn’t limit myself to just five. So without further ado…
Top Five Favorite Albums of 2023
Haken, Fauna – I’ve enjoyed Haken’s output since I first discovered them with The Mountain. However, Fauna is probably the first album since then that’s reached the heights of that classic album. I listened to this over and over when it came out. There’s so many good hooks on this one. And so much emotion.
Fall Out Boy, So Much For Stardust – I’ve always been a fan of Fall Out Boy, but there later albums are…lacking… to be polite. I heard the “Love From the Other Side” and was blown away. This album could have been a follow up to Infinity on High. It’s everything I always liked from that era of the band. Except the two spoken work interludes, which I deleted after I heard them.
Randy Rose, The Masquerade – I wasn’t big on Rose’s previous album, Songs for the Ritually Abused. The Masquerade, however, is exactly what I wanted from him. Maybe a bit more sludgey and doomy – but this only makes it better. The grooves on this album just hit hard and are immediately infectious. Easily stacks up against Sacrificium and Healing.
Alice Cooper, Road – I was a bit concerned after Detroit Stories did absolutely nothing for me. Road won me over pretty quickly. This album finds Alice excelling in his niche. I also really liked the whole “touring band” theme. It felt like it gave this album some motivation and energy. Much like Paranormal, Alice isn’t doing anything new or groundbreaking, but everything here is vintage Alice.
Mutoid Man, Mutants – I hadn’t heard about this band until YouTube dropped “Call of the Void” into my feed. I was immediately impressed and intrigued and bought the album the day it came out. The rest of the album is also impressive. It’s kind of noisy, sludgey punk metal. With awesome vocals. This is a band that I’m going to have to keep tabs on and maybe check out their back catalogue.
Honorable Mentions
Paramore, This is Why
D’Virgilio, Morse, and Jennings, Sophomore
Gama Bomb, Bats
Favorite Death/Black Metal Album of 2023
Wayfarer, American Gothic – Here’s a thing I didn’t know existed, country black metal. Now, this isn’t “trucks, girls, beer” country. This is definitely “outlaw” country. And honestly, it’s not really THAT country. What it does is give you a very clear, evocative picture of the American West at the turn of the century. Cowboys, oil fields, the struggle living during that time and place. The riffs are like nothing you would normally hear in black metal. Now that I listen to a lot of it all the time, I’m really happy when something really out of left field shows up.
Honorable Mentions
Mangled Carpenter, Salvation Syndrome
Fleshvessel, Yearning: Promethean
Fates Sealed
Tomb Mold, The Enduring
Spirit
Favorite Album of 2023 That Came Out in 2022
Blind Guardian, The God Machine – I’ve always liked vocalist, Hansi Kirsch’s voice. But the music of Blind Guardian itself has never really dug it’s hooks into me. It’s always been a little….too theatrical. But The God Machine is a great balance of hooks, riffs, and the theatrical. One day last January I was listening to this as the sun rose while I was driving to get groceries. It was one of those times when you think, “Hey, life is pretty grand, ain’t it?” I hope the band continues on this path because I dug the heck out of this one.
Disappointments of 2023
Applehead, The Light Side of the Apple – Ya’ll don’t know how much it kills me to put this album on here. I wanted to love this. It’s got great songs, strong riffs, and it’s really heavy. Now, a lot of people love this album. So I’m going to chalk it up to something being wrong on my side, because it’s definitely not bad. I just didn’t get into like everyone else did. Love Greg Minier though and I hope he keeps putting out music and maybe the next one will grab me.
Favorite Random Album I Picked Up in 2023
Dream Evil, Evilized – Back in college I heard “Children of the Night” from this album. I absolutely loved that song. Still love it today. I realized at some point that I wanted to hear that song again and decided to pick up the full album. Naturally, it’s full of awesome power metal songs that get the blood pumping and make you feel like you can take on a dragon. I’m not sure I’d rush out and buy the rest of their albums (famous last words) but this one was money well spent for sure.
And there you have it, folks. The best of the best. This was legitimately one of the hardest ones I’ve had to do. There’s so many on here that I feel bad that I didn’t put on this list. Albums from Last Battle, Fires in the Distance, Ritual Servant, Troparion, Adorned Graves, Jimmy P. Brown, Vials of Wrath, Municipal Waste… I could go on. But then this would just be a list of stuff. Have a great year everyone!
