A Year In Music — 2023 | Pt. 3
Raise your horns
Well, this took me way, way longer to write up than I expected. Blame it on the new job, or seasonal sad-brain, or the fact that I, uh, actually have games I’m trying to play all the way through — including the behemoth that is Baldur’s Gate III — I’ll probably have two more years of these lists written before I can call that done.
Either way, here’s the next installment of my end-of-year listens, which is getting harder and harder to keep up with as it seems 2023 is hellbent on being the year of endlessly intriguing releases worming their way into my possession. Still, I can hardly complain — it’s been a fantastic year for metal music, with returning favorites and plenty of surprising newcomers, and while I’ve undeniably bitten off a bit more than I can chew — both as a listener and writer — it’s a problem I’m all-too-happy to shoulder.
Here we go!
19 — Garden of Stillborn Idols by Dyssebeia
I knew going into this endeavor that there would be last-minute additions to this list — though, to be fair to Dyssebeia (and myself), Garden of Stillborn Idols had been pre-ordered months ago when I first caught wind of it via the Transcending Obscurity newsletter.
Like Ashen Horde, I picked this up firstly because I am a sucker for TOR’s raglan tees, and after sampling one of the available songs, I felt confident in my purchase. An adventurous platter of black-and-death metal swirled around progressive compositions, Garden of Stillborn Idols might be one of the more exciting late-comers this year.
20 — Heritage by Distant
Deathcore is almost as notorious as rap when it comes to featured artists. Rare is the album that doesn’t boast at least one guest. Rather than buck the trend, the mad lads in Distant decided to throw down the gauntlet — hard — by looping in 12 guests for one song.
Can I pick them up out of the sonic lineup? Absolutely not. Did it make me want to buy the album even more? Yes, it did. “Argent Justice” is a bonafide bone crusher, 7 minutes of uncorked ‘core slaughter,’ and a prime selling point for the remaining 40 minutes of Heritage’s runtime.
The only downside of this album is that it gets lost a bit in its own insanity, and the runtime can feel a bit longwinded. After a few initial spins, it struggled to find repeat playback beyond the tried-and-true shuffle. Still, Distant is a band I’m always down to support — they’re horrendously passionate, solid at what they do, and the sci-fi/horror narrative that informs their work is a fun touch.
21 — Holocene by The Ocean
I stumbled across this on Bandcamp and picked it up after recalling enjoying some of their older material, specifically their 2013 album Pelagial. Vast, imposing, beautiful, complex, soothing — these are all words I would use to describe the ocean, and thus, The Ocean; Holocene is all of these things, an understated yet mighty work of progressive metal that I found myself diving into repeatedly across many a writing and painting session.
22 — ID.Entity by Riverside
Strangely enough, I have my brother to thank for cueing me onto this album — I say “strangely” because I introduced him to Riverside through their 2015 effort Love, Fear And The Time Machine, after which he proceeded to usurp me as Main Fan.
Having now traveled along the entire road of their discography leading into ID.Entity, it becomes no difficult matter for me to proclaim that Riverside is one of the most consistent and consistently exciting progressive metal bands I’ve ever heard. They remain fresh with every album, exploring new pathways or finding fresh ways to explore old ones. If you haven’t heard them before, this is as good a time as any to give ’em a spin — ID.Entity is a captivating and ecstatic entry from one of the genre’s (seemingly) unsung bands.
23 — It All Began With Loneliness by The Anchoret
There’s just something about saxophone in death metal that queues me up for enjoyment. Starting with Rivers of Nihil’s excellent Where Owls Know My Name, then on to the jazzy, noir-infused black metal of White Ward (Love Exchange Failure, False Light), the sax creates an immediate mood and element of intrigue.
The Anchoret conjured themselves into my awareness thanks to this — and a comparison to another favorite of mine, Kardashev, by a friend. While they lack some of the emotive gloom and heft of Kardashev’s masterful Liminal Rite, they nonetheless put forth an absolute must-listen for the year — an album that took its influences and spun them all into something uniquely its own. I’d go so far to say that even non-metal fans should give this a listen, with its focus on cleaner singing and an altogether more accessible sonic palette that could fastlane people into not just metal in general, but its weirder, more experimental causeways, too.
24 — Jailbreak by Nervosa
I fell in love with Brazilian shredders Nervosa after picking up Victim of Yourself (2014). Thrash is not usually a genre I seek out, with notable exceptions (Megadeth, and Exodus’ 2007 grand-slam, Shovel-Headed Kill Machine). I can’t pinpoint why, but I prefer it most when mixed in with other genres, like death or black metal — which Nervosa happens to execute in spades, peddling a ferocious brew of death-y thrash.
The near-collapse of the band in 2020 scared the hell out of me, but luckily founding member and axe-shredder extraordinaire Prika Amaral wasn’t going to let something like losing 2/3s of the band stop her from kicking ass. Since then, they put out the awesome Perpetual Chaos — a title that would prove bizarrely prophetic as more lineup changes followed. Now, on fifth record Jailbreak, Amaral steps into the spotlight to sling strings and shred larynxes both, and delivers on what might be the strongest Nervosa outing yet. This thing is full of bite and snarl, tearing through its 13 tracks like a prison riot. Heads will bang; spines will snap; fingertips will sizzle from the sheer friction of their manic air-guitaring. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
25 — Kalmah by Kalmah
There’s nothing quite like the return of legends. As I stated in my review for Kalmah earlier this year, they were the band who opened the doors to death metal for me. You can read more about the excellence of their 9th studio release here:
All that really need be said here is that this swamp is far from drained. May Kalmah reign longer still.
26 — Karnival by Disfiguring The Goddess
I was not expecting a new drop from DTG this year, but lo it came, and with it, all that makes up the human form was reduced to gelatin. Disfiguring The Goddess have written some of the weirdest, heaviest, death metal I’ve ever heard — so much so that I’m not sure calling them death metal is adequate to categorize and define their output.
Karnival sees them in fine form, though across their eight studio releases, I’ve never found them to be in anything less. Still, Karnival is a violent tour de force that builds and expands upon DTG’s brand of electronic-infused, slam-soaked, off-kilter, slow-cooked death madness.
- Editor’s Note — while fact-checking how many albums Disfiguring the Goddess have, I discovered they released three more albums this year; another full-length, an EP, and a remix/reproduction of their 2021 effort, Blood Animal. A glorious year, indeed!
27 — A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven by Outergods
I picked this up based on the badassery of the album title alone… and then failed to give it a proper listen until literally as I sat down to write this. I’m immediately struck by the whirlpool of styles at work, from the more obvious death and black metal elements informing the rasping vocals, blasting drums, and creeping atmosphere to the sneaky, often prog-infused thrash riffage.
Since it’s playing the very moment I’m typing this sentence, “Catacombs of Madness” seems a good track to highlight this fusion of metallic ferocity. “Flesh Prison,” too, with its punky drumming, throat-shredding screams, and helter-skelter axe-slinging that informs much of the song until it erupts into a hardcore-focused slowdown hellbent on churning one mean crockpot of a pit.
A Kingdom Built Upon The Wreckage Of Heaven reminds me in some ways of Basilysk’s Emergence, with its ruthless and effective blending of styles. Outergods’ effort feels somehow new and nostalgic all at once, like it should have been released decades ago but also never could have.
I don’t know if that makes any sense… but I know what does: Outergods’ A Kingdom… is vicious, dangerous, and creative, bringing its constituent parts together like some sort of godforsaken genre S’more in the most delicious way.
Three down, three (four, five? I can’t keep track anymore, with all this music still coming out) lists to go! With any luck, I’ll get these done before the end of the year.* What about you guys? Let me know what you’ve been listening to, any favorites — or disappointments, whatever’s struck a chord with you this year.
- Editor’s Note 12/26/23: I’m not sure what spawned my particularly egregious bout of optimism several days ago, but sitting here now, with the rest of these lists yet unwritten, I can do naught but laugh.
Also, if you’re new to the journey and wanna get caught up, here are parts 1 and 2 of my 2023 music countdown:
