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By Thus Spoke
The first eight centuries of the common era were a tumultuous one for Christian theology, played out in the writings of scholars now considered Early Church fathers. The study of this back-and-forth, which eventually resulted in an agreed ‘canon,’ gives Patristic their name. On debut Catechesis, the trio turn to the turbulent and culturally pivotal period that saw the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the once-marginalized religion. The album’s title refers to the practice of Christian instruction imparted upon potential converts—teachings which stemmed from a still-divided root, even as the religion spread and any pretenses to truth conceded to power. This chaos informs Patristic’s music in a way unique to freeform dissonant metal and culminates in a record whose resonance goes beyond the literal echo of its notes.
The seamlessly flowing sermons that comprise Catechesis are both discomfiting and alluring. Churning riffs and undulating waves of percussion, though sinister and often dissonant, mesmerize through hypnotic recurrence, as Patristic sway and lurch between moments of eerie calm, and punishing violence. And the whole evolves gradually through repeated returns to restless drum patterns, and passages of tense atmosphere, cataclysmic blackened-death assaults, and imposing, frightening melody. As with all the best dissonant extreme metal, Catechesis is intense without being totally overwhelming, and beyond this, is haunting in its particular approach to the interplay between spaciousness and crushing density. In this—particularly a disposition towards dark layers of guitar, and a reverberating quality to the vocals (“A Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I”)—the closest comparison is Verberis,1 though Patristic craft a drama that is very much their own.
Catechesis can and should be seen as one piece; you could say, one instruction, one imparting of sacred knowledge or dogma. Without lyrics, much is hidden, but as the album progresses, one gets the sense of approaching order by means of violence. The grand refrain that first emerges towards the end of “Catechesis II” comes to fruition with yet ominous finality in closer “Catechesis IV,” and this ultimate reprise echoes the subversive creep of themes through Catechesis. The music’s stream allows the ebb and flow of elements to layer, rise, and fade away with grace that borders on predatory, melodies teased in fragmentary glimpses (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “Catechesis IV”), or their aura turned back from menacing to mournful (“A Vinculis Soluta II” “Catechesis III”). Riffs overlap in uneasy syncopation, hum malevolently, or chime emphatically in a reverberant chorus with rasping and cavernous bellows, and cello2—played in shuddering vibrato3—weaves through the darkness to amplify tension, and eerie beauty (“Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I,” “Catechesis II”). Driving the whole through union and separation is a current of mesmerizingly fluid and dynamic drumming, which heightens the already portentous atmospheres and pulls you deep into the writhing mass of it all.
The convergence of the many thematic and percussive threads across the album is impressive in its scope and deceptive ease; it is seamless, beautiful, and often frightening. Patristic also achieve the practically unachievable by using spoken word to add powerful gravitas, which increases rather than lessens the song’s impact (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “A Vinculis Soluta II”). And speaking of impact, the drum performance, courtesy of Sathrath, deserves particular praise for being one of the most insane of its kind I have ever heard.4 It’s impossibly delicate in shivering cymbal taps, lethally fast in split-second rollovers and fills, and ruthless in its sharp, brutal cascades of double-bass. Everything, drums included, is produced perfectly to allow the convulsing lows to reflect and resonate in a cavernous, immersive portal of grinding guitar and bellowing howls, and the stalking highs dip chillingly below and above its surface.
With such immensity, it’s easy to see how Patristic got a signing with Willowtip so soon; I struggle to believe that these musicians have been playing together for less than five years. So arresting is Catechesis, so layered and immersive, that it threatens to overshadow all other extreme metal this year—if not all metal, period. This is a teaching that all acolytes of the dark and dissonant, and hell, maybe even the crucified Lord, need to hear.
Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025#2025 #45 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Catechesis #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #ItalianMetal #Jun25 #Patristic #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate #Verberis #WillowtipRecords
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By Thus Spoke
The first eight centuries of the common era were a tumultuous one for Christian theology, played out in the writings of scholars now considered Early Church fathers. The study of this back-and-forth, which eventually resulted in an agreed ‘canon,’ gives Patristic their name. On debut Catechesis, the trio turn to the turbulent and culturally pivotal period that saw the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the once-marginalized religion. The album’s title refers to the practice of Christian instruction imparted upon potential converts—teachings which stemmed from a still-divided root, even as the religion spread and any pretenses to truth conceded to power. This chaos informs Patristic’s music in a way unique to freeform dissonant metal and culminates in a record whose resonance goes beyond the literal echo of its notes.
The seamlessly flowing sermons that comprise Catechesis are both discomfiting and alluring. Churning riffs and undulating waves of percussion, though sinister and often dissonant, mesmerize through hypnotic recurrence, as Patristic sway and lurch between moments of eerie calm, and punishing violence. And the whole evolves gradually through repeated returns to restless drum patterns, and passages of tense atmosphere, cataclysmic blackened-death assaults, and imposing, frightening melody. As with all the best dissonant extreme metal, Catechesis is intense without being totally overwhelming, and beyond this, is haunting in its particular approach to the interplay between spaciousness and crushing density. In this—particularly a disposition towards dark layers of guitar, and a reverberating quality to the vocals (“A Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I”)—the closest comparison is Verberis,1 though Patristic craft a drama that is very much their own.
Catechesis can and should be seen as one piece; you could say, one instruction, one imparting of sacred knowledge or dogma. Without lyrics, much is hidden, but as the album progresses, one gets the sense of approaching order by means of violence. The grand refrain that first emerges towards the end of “Catechesis II” comes to fruition with yet ominous finality in closer “Catechesis IV,” and this ultimate reprise echoes the subversive creep of themes through Catechesis. The music’s stream allows the ebb and flow of elements to layer, rise, and fade away with grace that borders on predatory, melodies teased in fragmentary glimpses (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “Catechesis IV”), or their aura turned back from menacing to mournful (“A Vinculis Soluta II” “Catechesis III”). Riffs overlap in uneasy syncopation, hum malevolently, or chime emphatically in a reverberant chorus with rasping and cavernous bellows, and cello2—played in shuddering vibrato3—weaves through the darkness to amplify tension, and eerie beauty (“Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I,” “Catechesis II”). Driving the whole through union and separation is a current of mesmerizingly fluid and dynamic drumming, which heightens the already portentous atmospheres and pulls you deep into the writhing mass of it all.
The convergence of the many thematic and percussive threads across the album is impressive in its scope and deceptive ease; it is seamless, beautiful, and often frightening. Patristic also achieve the practically unachievable by using spoken word to add powerful gravitas, which increases rather than lessens the song’s impact (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “A Vinculis Soluta II”). And speaking of impact, the drum performance, courtesy of Sathrath, deserves particular praise for being one of the most insane of its kind I have ever heard.4 It’s impossibly delicate in shivering cymbal taps, lethally fast in split-second rollovers and fills, and ruthless in its sharp, brutal cascades of double-bass. Everything, drums included, is produced perfectly to allow the convulsing lows to reflect and resonate in a cavernous, immersive portal of grinding guitar and bellowing howls, and the stalking highs dip chillingly below and above its surface.
With such immensity, it’s easy to see how Patristic got a signing with Willowtip so soon; I struggle to believe that these musicians have been playing together for less than five years. So arresting is Catechesis, so layered and immersive, that it threatens to overshadow all other extreme metal this year—if not all metal, period. This is a teaching that all acolytes of the dark and dissonant, and hell, maybe even the crucified Lord, need to hear.
Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025#2025 #45 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Catechesis #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #ItalianMetal #Jun25 #Patristic #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate #Verberis #WillowtipRecords
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By Thus Spoke
The first eight centuries of the common era were a tumultuous one for Christian theology, played out in the writings of scholars now considered Early Church fathers. The study of this back-and-forth, which eventually resulted in an agreed ‘canon,’ gives Patristic their name. On debut Catechesis, the trio turn to the turbulent and culturally pivotal period that saw the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the once-marginalized religion. The album’s title refers to the practice of Christian instruction imparted upon potential converts—teachings which stemmed from a still-divided root, even as the religion spread and any pretenses to truth conceded to power. This chaos informs Patristic’s music in a way unique to freeform dissonant metal and culminates in a record whose resonance goes beyond the literal echo of its notes.
The seamlessly flowing sermons that comprise Catechesis are both discomfiting and alluring. Churning riffs and undulating waves of percussion, though sinister and often dissonant, mesmerize through hypnotic recurrence, as Patristic sway and lurch between moments of eerie calm, and punishing violence. And the whole evolves gradually through repeated returns to restless drum patterns, and passages of tense atmosphere, cataclysmic blackened-death assaults, and imposing, frightening melody. As with all the best dissonant extreme metal, Catechesis is intense without being totally overwhelming, and beyond this, is haunting in its particular approach to the interplay between spaciousness and crushing density. In this—particularly a disposition towards dark layers of guitar, and a reverberating quality to the vocals (“A Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I”)—the closest comparison is Verberis,1 though Patristic craft a drama that is very much their own.
Catechesis can and should be seen as one piece; you could say, one instruction, one imparting of sacred knowledge or dogma. Without lyrics, much is hidden, but as the album progresses, one gets the sense of approaching order by means of violence. The grand refrain that first emerges towards the end of “Catechesis II” comes to fruition with yet ominous finality in closer “Catechesis IV,” and this ultimate reprise echoes the subversive creep of themes through Catechesis. The music’s stream allows the ebb and flow of elements to layer, rise, and fade away with grace that borders on predatory, melodies teased in fragmentary glimpses (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “Catechesis IV”), or their aura turned back from menacing to mournful (“A Vinculis Soluta II” “Catechesis III”). Riffs overlap in uneasy syncopation, hum malevolently, or chime emphatically in a reverberant chorus with rasping and cavernous bellows, and cello2—played in shuddering vibrato3—weaves through the darkness to amplify tension, and eerie beauty (“Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I,” “Catechesis II”). Driving the whole through union and separation is a current of mesmerizingly fluid and dynamic drumming, which heightens the already portentous atmospheres and pulls you deep into the writhing mass of it all.
The convergence of the many thematic and percussive threads across the album is impressive in its scope and deceptive ease; it is seamless, beautiful, and often frightening. Patristic also achieve the practically unachievable by using spoken word to add powerful gravitas, which increases rather than lessens the song’s impact (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “A Vinculis Soluta II”). And speaking of impact, the drum performance, courtesy of Sathrath, deserves particular praise for being one of the most insane of its kind I have ever heard.4 It’s impossibly delicate in shivering cymbal taps, lethally fast in split-second rollovers and fills, and ruthless in its sharp, brutal cascades of double-bass. Everything, drums included, is produced perfectly to allow the convulsing lows to reflect and resonate in a cavernous, immersive portal of grinding guitar and bellowing howls, and the stalking highs dip chillingly below and above its surface.
With such immensity, it’s easy to see how Patristic got a signing with Willowtip so soon; I struggle to believe that these musicians have been playing together for less than five years. So arresting is Catechesis, so layered and immersive, that it threatens to overshadow all other extreme metal this year—if not all metal, period. This is a teaching that all acolytes of the dark and dissonant, and hell, maybe even the crucified Lord, need to hear.
Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025#2025 #45 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Catechesis #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #ItalianMetal #Jun25 #Patristic #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate #Verberis #WillowtipRecords
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By Thus Spoke
The first eight centuries of the common era were a tumultuous one for Christian theology, played out in the writings of scholars now considered Early Church fathers. The study of this back-and-forth, which eventually resulted in an agreed ‘canon,’ gives Patristic their name. On debut Catechesis, the trio turn to the turbulent and culturally pivotal period that saw the fall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of the once-marginalized religion. The album’s title refers to the practice of Christian instruction imparted upon potential converts—teachings which stemmed from a still-divided root, even as the religion spread and any pretenses to truth conceded to power. This chaos informs Patristic’s music in a way unique to freeform dissonant metal and culminates in a record whose resonance goes beyond the literal echo of its notes.
The seamlessly flowing sermons that comprise Catechesis are both discomfiting and alluring. Churning riffs and undulating waves of percussion, though sinister and often dissonant, mesmerize through hypnotic recurrence, as Patristic sway and lurch between moments of eerie calm, and punishing violence. And the whole evolves gradually through repeated returns to restless drum patterns, and passages of tense atmosphere, cataclysmic blackened-death assaults, and imposing, frightening melody. As with all the best dissonant extreme metal, Catechesis is intense without being totally overwhelming, and beyond this, is haunting in its particular approach to the interplay between spaciousness and crushing density. In this—particularly a disposition towards dark layers of guitar, and a reverberating quality to the vocals (“A Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I”)—the closest comparison is Verberis,1 though Patristic craft a drama that is very much their own.
Catechesis can and should be seen as one piece; you could say, one instruction, one imparting of sacred knowledge or dogma. Without lyrics, much is hidden, but as the album progresses, one gets the sense of approaching order by means of violence. The grand refrain that first emerges towards the end of “Catechesis II” comes to fruition with yet ominous finality in closer “Catechesis IV,” and this ultimate reprise echoes the subversive creep of themes through Catechesis. The music’s stream allows the ebb and flow of elements to layer, rise, and fade away with grace that borders on predatory, melodies teased in fragmentary glimpses (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “Catechesis IV”), or their aura turned back from menacing to mournful (“A Vinculis Soluta II” “Catechesis III”). Riffs overlap in uneasy syncopation, hum malevolently, or chime emphatically in a reverberant chorus with rasping and cavernous bellows, and cello2—played in shuddering vibrato3—weaves through the darkness to amplify tension, and eerie beauty (“Vinculis Soluta II,” “Catechesis I,” “Catechesis II”). Driving the whole through union and separation is a current of mesmerizingly fluid and dynamic drumming, which heightens the already portentous atmospheres and pulls you deep into the writhing mass of it all.
The convergence of the many thematic and percussive threads across the album is impressive in its scope and deceptive ease; it is seamless, beautiful, and often frightening. Patristic also achieve the practically unachievable by using spoken word to add powerful gravitas, which increases rather than lessens the song’s impact (“A Vinculis Soluta I,” “A Vinculis Soluta II”). And speaking of impact, the drum performance, courtesy of Sathrath, deserves particular praise for being one of the most insane of its kind I have ever heard.4 It’s impossibly delicate in shivering cymbal taps, lethally fast in split-second rollovers and fills, and ruthless in its sharp, brutal cascades of double-bass. Everything, drums included, is produced perfectly to allow the convulsing lows to reflect and resonate in a cavernous, immersive portal of grinding guitar and bellowing howls, and the stalking highs dip chillingly below and above its surface.
With such immensity, it’s easy to see how Patristic got a signing with Willowtip so soon; I struggle to believe that these musicians have been playing together for less than five years. So arresting is Catechesis, so layered and immersive, that it threatens to overshadow all other extreme metal this year—if not all metal, period. This is a teaching that all acolytes of the dark and dissonant, and hell, maybe even the crucified Lord, need to hear.
Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025#2025 #45 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Catechesis #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #ItalianMetal #Jun25 #Patristic #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate #Verberis #WillowtipRecords
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El Cuervo’s and GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By El Cuervo
El Cuervo
This list represents business as usual in Casa Cuervo. Four albums by bands that have previously hit my Album o’ the Year list. Four albums more-or-less fall into my preferred progressive death metal sub-genre. And one 80s-worshiping retrowave release. Only the very top and very bottom of my list feature acts outside my bailiwick.
You might think this would result in a year that I rate highly for musical releases. Sadly the opposite is true. I found it surprisingly easy to narrow down my list and surprisingly difficult to pick a real number one—both because there too few outstanding options to choose from. It says a lot that I reviewed two of my top three albums but I ‘only’ awarded these a 4.0. I admire all that’s been achieved by the entrants here but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed as we reach the end of 2023. Granted, my 2022 list was topped by two records that would be multi-year winners so the comparison was rough.
And yet, hope springs eternal. While it’s unlikely that 2024 will boast a list fitting so comfortably in my wheelhouse, I remain optimistic for a year full of new musical discoveries. Between now and then, enjoy the holiday season!
#10. Grails // Anches en Maat – Anches en Maat was my favorite music of the year to disconnect from reality and lose myself in a weird and wonderful world. There’s little left from the comparatively direct instrumental rock of early Grails, but their cinematic spectacle makes their recent music all the more intriguing. This one can loosely be bundled into post-rock but its range of influences, from blues to electronica to ambient to TV soundtracks, establishes a sound you won’t hear anywhere else. High-octane, minute-to-minute, and bursting with energy it isn’t. But what you will find is something endlessly evocative and endlessly repeatable in its lilting, laid-back spirit. I’m not a big post-rock nerd but I find everything released by Grails utterly engrossing.
#9. Svalbard // The Weight of the Mask – Svalbard have become more expressive and more creative as their career has progressed. While still firmly rooted in post-hardcore, The Weight of the Mask toys with musical boundaries more than ever. It features more of everything that has previously been a part of the Svalbard sound; from post-metal to post-rock to black metal. But it’s not the musical compositions that make these Brits so good. The emotive weight of their music makes each listen a passion-fuelled journey and I find myself returning for the feels it invokes above anything else. I’m not sure if I like Weight of the Mask more than When I Die, Will I Get Better? But, for those on the fence, it’s at least as good.
#8. Lunar Chamber // Shambhallic Vibrations – Few records from 2023 seemed as custom-built for this Cuervo as Shambhallic Vibrations by Lunar Chamber. Progressive? Check. Death metal? Check. Short run-time? Check. Incredible dynamism? Check. Buddhism?1 Check. Shambhallic Vibrations forges a new path through progressive death metal, leaning heavily on contemplative synths, impressive technicality, and doomy passages, all of which counter-balance the pace and ferocity of its core deathly style. Though shockingly varied for a release just running for 30 minutes, the release is unfailingly cohesive. From the breathy interludes to the brutal blasting, Lunar Chamber harmonizes their sounds into a satisfying whole. It isn’t a prerequisite for progressive albums to run for an hour or more. Shambhallic Vibrations does so much more with so much less.
#7. fromjoy // fromjoy – If you want to hear the coolest thing released in 2023, look no further than the self-titled EP by Houston’s fromjoy. It bottles insanity; conjures madness; flips the musical table. They do this with a fusion of various types of -core (grind, math, break) but streak this with winding, vaporwave synths. If this sounds like an unholy aberration, it is. But this aberration delights and energizes in equal measure. I’ve extracted more joy this year from these 26 minutes than full albums over twice that length. Almost every one of these ten tracks has a unique quirk; from wretched grind to stomping breakdowns to dancing trip-hop to smooth saxophones. fromjoy is a testament to pure creative energy and doing a lot with a little.
#6. Ulthar // Anthronomicon – Though it forms one side of a coin completed by its sister album Helionomicon, it was Anthronomicon that impressed me most of the concurrent release by pan-US collective Ulthar. What strikes me most are the compelling contradictions that Ulthar creates. Anthronomicon’s music is crushingly heavy yet repeatably memorable, while the instrumentation is oppressively other-worldly yet somehow human-performed. Blackened death metal cannot count itself among metal’s most penetrable sub-genres, but something about these warped arrangements hooks me. Ulthar might make strange, atmospheric music but Anthronomicon’s laser focus on outstanding riffs leaves a release I haven’t stopped spinning in nearly a year. It’s one of 2023’s most challenging but most rewarding listens.
#5. Tomb Mold // The Enduring Spirit – Why, after a run of critically acclaimed old-school death metal albums, is The Enduring Spirit the first Tomb Mold record to touch my AotY list? In short, because its music is far more inventive now. Switching out a cavernous aesthetic and unrelenting pace for tidier production and grandiose solos, The Enduring Spirit scratches that prog-death itch better than any other release from 2023. Though Tomb Mold has always been smarter-than-you-first-realize, this record represents a significant leap forward and feels like the next era of the band. Above all, it harmonizes Tomb Mold’s savage roots with newer, cerebral tendencies. While the immaculate transitions go some way to achieving this, the spacious soundstage and perfect instrumental tones ensure the release hangs together to my great satisfaction.
#4. Shadowrunner // Ocean of Time – Rebirth and Oblivion – For the first time, the Ocean of Time duo made me want to dislike a Shadowrunner release. Making the listener buy the same four songs twice in order to access the unique eight ruffled my feathers. But the music here is just so damn captivating that I can’t help but love the two sides nonetheless. Rebirth is as effortless and enchanting as any retrowave act from the last decade, while Oblivion is pure nostalgia bait. Warm synths, driving rhythms, smooth saxophones, and pleasant vocals; all are present and correct. Shameless pleasure and rose-tinted spectacles compel me to consistently choose something synthy for my AotY list and Shadowrunner made the best synth music of 2023. Do not sleep on one of the best acts in the scene.
#3. Sylosis // A Sign of Things to Come – I couldn’t be happier at my rediscovery of Sylosis since 2020’s Cycle of Suffering, and A Sign of Things to Come returns to deliver the goods once again. Despite the flack I took for describing Sylosis as how modern thrash should sound, I stand by that comment. 1986 already exists so go fucking listen to that again if you like. What this album will give you instead is music that fuses thrashy, melodic, technical, and hardcore influences into 10 super-charged tunes. They will fill you with rage, then re-energize you to exorcize that rage. For raw riff-craft, no other record was the match of this one. A sign of more things to come in the future? I fucking hope so.
#2. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Only one other record this year feels as complete as Of Golden Verse. It is a consummate album, expressing its music and thoughts in the exact amount of time it requires. Despite its poignance and emotive qualities, it feels incredibly precise; a work created by masters of their trade. Even with 4 tracks approaching or exceeding 7 minutes, there’s nary a wasted second. That’s a tough feat indeed in the world of prog, and Sermon exemplifies all that is great in the genre. Their undulating songwriting style results in music that ebbs from steely, tense atmospheres and flows to passionate, cathartic explosions. Dramatic, sure; maybe even melodramatic. But exciting and varied as Sermon dabbles in progressive, alternative, and doom metal. Of Golden Verse represents a huge step forward from their debut.
#1. Hasard // Hypnocentrisme – Though Hypnocentrisme wasn’t a clear winner, its complete singularity pushes it above everything else in 2023. Hasard paints stark, abstract images in shades of black; it’s an impenetrable, challenging release, obscuring its immense qualities behind oppressive heaviness and bewildering arrangements. Through the record’s black metal crust hides an accomplished orchestral core that’s just as disturbing—in some ways, more so—as its metal aspects. Purposefully deconstructing the screeching guitars, arhythmic drumming, ominous synths, and erratic counter-melodies delivers the year’s most thought-provoking music. Passively wallowing delivers the year’s most thought-crushing music. While it may not be the most enjoyable record of the year, it is certainly the most striking. No other 2023 record affected me like Hypnocentrisme.
Honorable Mentions
- Myrkur // Spine – Spine is just as sonically varied—arguably inconsistent—as any Myrkur release2 but this time it’s all high quality. From the poppy chorus on “Like Humans,” to the blast beats on “Valkyriernes Sang,” to the gentle folk on “Menneskebarn,” I’m emotionally invested throughout.
Ahab // The Coral Tombs – Ahab is an indomitable force of doom metal, and The Coral Tombs didn’t miss a step after eight years away. Judicious variety and grand arrangements ensure that this is the best doom of 2023.
Ne Obliviscaris // Exul – Balancing poignant string sections with crunchy death and black metal, NeO remains a stellar progressive metal band. Exul proves that even a NeO producing their weakest album is better than most others.
Songs o’ the Year
- Godthrymm – “As Titans”
- fromjoy – “Helios” / “Icarus”
- In Flames – “Meet Your Maker”
- Theocracy – “Return to Dust”
- Hasard – “Hypnocentrisme”
- Sermon – “Golden”
- Angus McSix – “Master of the Universe”
- Saturnus – “The Calling”
- Sylosis – “Poison for the Lost”
- ADMO – “Always”
GardensTale
In previous years, I wrote at least one paragraph about how the year went for me. But for the last 3 years, those have been pretty depressing, so I’m just going to skip that. Let’s talk about the good stuff instead. It’s strange to think that black metal is one of the last genres I seriously got into, around 5 years ago or so. Beforehand, I always thought all black metal was akin to lo-fi second-wave shit that sounds like someone sucked up a marble with the vacuum cleaner. Years before, Belgian unknowns Axamenta3 laid some groundwork to prove my misconception wrong, and Mistur hammered it home. Now the conversion is complete, thanks to a year that’s been absolutely stuffed with quality black metal. I could have made a very respectable list of only black metal records, HMs included. But I still like other genres, too, so it was inevitable a couple of other-minded rascals snuck in for color. At least Doom_et_Al won’t hate my list as much as usual. Probably.
I gotta add though, whilst I’ve heard a lot of praise for this year in metal, I still feel like I am missing a true winner. The order of my top 6 or so feels entirely arbitrary, and I’m not sure an extra month of listening would bring the necessary clarity. I’ve had plenty to love (my shortlist reached 10 albums by March or so, partially thanks to an unusually strong January) but the only albums I have been truly ecstatic about are discoveries that were released before the pandemic and barely metal-adjacent4 But so it goes! Every year is so different, in both life and music. I already had a sneak peek of a likely lister for next year, so I know we’ll be off to a good start in that regard.
I must thank my colleagues and editors for putting up with my slacking ass.5 You are a good bunch and half the reason I’m still pouring my heart and soul into this site. The other half is the free promos. And what’s an end-of-year projectile vomit of thank yous and love yous without addressing the readers? If you’re still here and didn’t just skip through to the list, you have my thanks. If you did skip to the list, you still have my thanks, you just won’t know about it. Even those of you who just check the winners and move on. You are still part of the weird and lovely conglomeration of readers we’ve developed, so thank you as well. And I must give a shout-out to the Discord folks. Though I don’t pop in too often, you’ve made it a lovely and welcoming server, and uncommonly well-behaved! Now, who’s ready for the other half of the worst takes in AMG?
#ish. Xoth // Exogalactic – Xoth is back and thus back in my list, because Xoth remains every bit the cool as hell bunch of motherfuckers it’s always been. It’s a little bit more technical and a little bit less memorable compared to its predecessor, missing a “Mountain Machines” level riff, but I still have a really hard time sitting still in my chair when Exogalactic is playing. Too much bouncy fun and sick solos!
#10. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – I listened to an absolute ton of melodic death metal in my early metal years. I still have a soft spot for the genre, but it also needs to do something different to stand out for me these days. Fires in the Distance fully meets that criterium. The stern, strident tone, doom-adjacent pacing, and tasteful piano make Air an album of aching beauty. I’m reminded in part of Eternal Tears of Sorrow, but far more mature and with great emotional depth. The only reason it didn’t place higher is that it doesn’t keep me coming back somehow, and these lists are nothing if not places to go with my gut.
#9. Leiþa // Reue – Speaking of my gut, Reue was the first full-blown punch it received this year. It amuses me when people claim that all black metal screams sound the same because though the lyrics are as incomprehensible as ever, I feel every ounce of the bottomless pain and despair Noise conjures here. But on top of the throat-ripping gurgles of depression are some very sophisticated melodies and good use of dynamics between quiet passages and all-out raging desperation. Most one-man bands struggle to make one worthwhile project, meanwhile, this guy has Leiþa, Non Est Deus, and Kanonenfieber on his resume. I’d call it unfair if I didn’t love it so much.
#8. Megaton Sword // Might & Power – Traditional metal doesn’t often show up on my year-end list. Maybe Megaton Sword wouldn’t have either, although I do love me a batch of idiosyncratic vocals. But a medical situation in the family made the first half of the year an especially stressful affair, and Might & Power with its simple sense of fun was my main musical comfort in that time. But there’s more to it than that. So many strong melodies with few frills. So many fist-pumping horseback-riding sword-raising shield-carrying moments of triumph and awe. And all tied together by that uncommon voice, acerbically spraying dark heroism over the battlefield. The worst of the family situation is well behind us, but Might & Power still won’t leave my regular rotation.
#7. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – Is it unfair to say Xoth got out-Xoth’ed this year? It’s the obvious point of comparison, between the many-faceted vocals, high technical ability, tongue-in-cheek insanity, twisting multi-part riffs, and snaking bass. But if Xoth is the oblique unknowable architecture of cosmic horror, Carnosus is the fleshy depravity of body horror. It theatrically revels in its filth and cackles as the audience turns green around the cheeks. Most of the death metal highlights this year have been of the cavernous or slamarific variety, neither of which does much for me, but Carnosus has been an absolute delight that’s kept up my good cheers.
#6. Walg // III – The vast majority of my music recommendations originate here, but once in a blue moon, my partner will send me a link to something that popped up in her random music feeds and I just get blown away. That’s how I found this independent duo from Groningen, the Netherlands, who, without any black metal experience, started shitting out annual albums in the middle of the pandemic and manage to outdo most of their peers in the process. III is a furious album, with blast beats and histrionic screeching out the wazoo, but is tempered by a bevy of great melodic riffs and the occasional gothic chant. Because the lyrics are in Dutch, which really is not a good language for this kind of horrific imagery, there’s something endearing to the band as well. The combination makes for a very interesting, dark yet catchy experience and one I can well recommend.
#5. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Wayfarer was always one of those bands I kept hearing about and kept not hearing. No particular reason, either; I resolved to listen to them several times and it just didn’t happen. Then I finally heard them, by seeing them live at Roadburn. It was definitely a highlight of the festival, aside from an interlude that was far too long and not nearly interesting enough. Thankfully, American Gothic is more balanced, a perfectly tuned album that calls forth the man in black stalking the prairie on horseback. It’s an album redolent in atmosphere without forgoing a good hook, one that can carry tension on a single banjo string. In short, it has lived up to the hype and then some.
#4. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Pure prog metal often gets a reputation for being wussy and weenie. Sermon does it differently. What attracts me to this album the most is the sense of threat. Sermon looms a great dark ominous wall that swallows the background and casts everything in shade. For an album to hold its breath even while beating you down takes some exquisite songwriting, and Of Golden Verse is jam-packed with it. Closer “Departure” really opens the floodgates, too, for a satisfying and bombastic finale.
#3. VAK // The Islands – I called The Islands one of the flat-out coolest albums of the year and I stand by it. If anything, my appreciation for VAK’s latest has only grown since then. When you’ve listened to a million albums, the ones that really stand out and stick with you are the ones with the strongest personality. If you’d send me an unlabeled song that didn’t make the cut on The Islands I would recognize it as VAK immediately, guaranteed. While so much sludge tries and fails to get under my skin with a hammer, VAK succeeds by taking a shortcut as it pries off my fingernails with a rusty screwdriver. It’s deliciously uncomfortable and I love it.
#2. The Circle // Of Awakening – This was surely the most heinous underrating of the year. The opener alone should earn the band its 4.0, a perfectly tuned piece of proggy black/death. One thing that strikes me is how good The Circle is at finding the right dosages. Every time it feels like one thing has run its course, something replaces or enhances it, from the versatile vocals to the use of symphonics and from blast beats to breathing room. I’ve revisited this one a lot since the summer, and for a while, I thought it was gonna top my list…
#1. Night Crowned // Tales – …until Night Crowned bum-rushed the stage. Whereas many of my listening habits this year have been decidedly un-brutal, in the metal sphere I have found myself drawn to the combination of melodic and intense music, particularly in the second half of the year. Tales is an exemplary album in this regard. The intense blasting and no-holds-barred shrieking always hold a melodic thread that makes it more than a wall of noise, whether it be from extra vocal layers, subtly interweaved symphonics, or a goddamn hurdy-gurdy that works way better than it should. The track where the latter features most prominently, “She Comes at Night,” is what drew me in, but every track has its own face; its deviations make it stand out from the others, like the clean vocals on melodic mid-pacer “Loviatar” or the Dimmu influence on the grandiose closer “Old Tales.” While I would not rank it as highly as the winners of previous years, you owe it to yourself to grab Tales if you haven’t already.
Honorable Mentions
- Aetherian // At Storm’s Edge – Contrary to my point with VAK, this album doesn’t do much particularly new but it’s the embodiment of Finnish style epic melodeath done really, really well.
- Somnuri // Desiderium – Who knew Mastodon-style sludge could be improved with grunge?
- Mutoid Man // Mutants – Wild, reckless fun with more depth than a first glance betrays.
- Genus Ordinis Dei // The Beginning – Narrative albums aren’t easy, but Genus Ordinis Dei has that shit in the bag. Easy to listen to, easy to love, and feels like a complete, well-rounded movie in the guise of an epic metal album.
- Laster // Andermans Mijne – It’s deeply strange and gets at all the bits of my brain that have been gathering dust for years, but I can’t deny its continuous pull.
Disappointment o’ the Year
This is the first paragraph I’m writing this year because it’s the easiest. I always used to like Soen. With Lotus, I even loved them. Imperial was a clear step-down, branching out in the wrong directions, but it was still enjoyable in its own right, just not approaching list material. They put on some good live shows this year, too. But Memorial goes off the deep end like Thelma & Louise. The remaining semblances of progressive rock and metal are gone, replaced by refried alternative rock. Even Joel Ekelöf sounds downright bad, his buttery smooth croon awkwardly squished into a grungy mold that doesn’t suit him. It’s like the band members collectively decided to challenge themselves by trying to make an album without doing any of the things they’re actually good at. The experiment failed, boys.
Song o’ the Year
Last year I discovered Norwegian artsy prog rock outfit Major Parkinson and fell deeply in love with their quirky, bombastic, gloomy aesthetic and thoughtful, varied songwriting. Not long into this year, I found out that enigmatic vocalist Jon Ivar Kollbotn had suffered a massive heart attack in the middle of a concert in October. Though he managed to finish the set, he flatlined backstage. By some miracle, police officers happened to be just outside the building and they managed to restart Kollbotn’s ticker. When he was sufficiently recovered, the band re-wrote and recorded an old live track named “Take the Prescription” to commemorate his survival. The result is as addictive as prescription drugs, an upbeat and offbeat artful piece of prog-pop with an infectious whistled tune, beautiful smooth bass usage, and the band’s signature dark undertone. Kollbotn sounds as coarse and moody as ever, and new permanent member Peri Winkle offers an outside perspective to the frontman’s near-death experience. And even if the track hadn’t been one of the sweetest things I’ve heard this year, it’d still be my favorite track of 2023. If only because he was still around to record it.
#2023 #Aetherian #Ahab #BlogPosts #Carnosus #ElCuervoSAndGardensTaleSTopTenIshOf2023 #FiresInTheDistance #fromjoy #GenusOrdinisDei #Grails #Hasard #Laster #Leitha #Lists #Listurnalia #LunarChamber #MegatonSword #MutoidMan #Myrkur #NeObliviscaris #NightCrowned #Sermon #Shadowrunner #Soen #Somnuri #Svalbard #Sylosis #TheCircle #TombMold #Ulthar #VAK #Walg #Wayfarer #Xoth
- Myrkur // Spine – Spine is just as sonically varied—arguably inconsistent—as any Myrkur release2 but this time it’s all high quality. From the poppy chorus on “Like Humans,” to the blast beats on “Valkyriernes Sang,” to the gentle folk on “Menneskebarn,” I’m emotionally invested throughout.
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El Cuervo’s and GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By El Cuervo
El Cuervo
This list represents business as usual in Casa Cuervo. Four albums by bands that have previously hit my Album o’ the Year list. Four albums more-or-less fall into my preferred progressive death metal sub-genre. And one 80s-worshiping retrowave release. Only the very top and very bottom of my list feature acts outside my bailiwick.
You might think this would result in a year that I rate highly for musical releases. Sadly the opposite is true. I found it surprisingly easy to narrow down my list and surprisingly difficult to pick a real number one—both because there too few outstanding options to choose from. It says a lot that I reviewed two of my top three albums but I ‘only’ awarded these a 4.0. I admire all that’s been achieved by the entrants here but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed as we reach the end of 2023. Granted, my 2022 list was topped by two records that would be multi-year winners so the comparison was rough.
And yet, hope springs eternal. While it’s unlikely that 2024 will boast a list fitting so comfortably in my wheelhouse, I remain optimistic for a year full of new musical discoveries. Between now and then, enjoy the holiday season!
#10. Grails // Anches en Maat – Anches en Maat was my favorite music of the year to disconnect from reality and lose myself in a weird and wonderful world. There’s little left from the comparatively direct instrumental rock of early Grails, but their cinematic spectacle makes their recent music all the more intriguing. This one can loosely be bundled into post-rock but its range of influences, from blues to electronica to ambient to TV soundtracks, establishes a sound you won’t hear anywhere else. High-octane, minute-to-minute, and bursting with energy it isn’t. But what you will find is something endlessly evocative and endlessly repeatable in its lilting, laid-back spirit. I’m not a big post-rock nerd but I find everything released by Grails utterly engrossing.
#9. Svalbard // The Weight of the Mask – Svalbard have become more expressive and more creative as their career has progressed. While still firmly rooted in post-hardcore, The Weight of the Mask toys with musical boundaries more than ever. It features more of everything that has previously been a part of the Svalbard sound; from post-metal to post-rock to black metal. But it’s not the musical compositions that make these Brits so good. The emotive weight of their music makes each listen a passion-fuelled journey and I find myself returning for the feels it invokes above anything else. I’m not sure if I like Weight of the Mask more than When I Die, Will I Get Better? But, for those on the fence, it’s at least as good.
#8. Lunar Chamber // Shambhallic Vibrations – Few records from 2023 seemed as custom-built for this Cuervo as Shambhallic Vibrations by Lunar Chamber. Progressive? Check. Death metal? Check. Short run-time? Check. Incredible dynamism? Check. Buddhism?1 Check. Shambhallic Vibrations forges a new path through progressive death metal, leaning heavily on contemplative synths, impressive technicality, and doomy passages, all of which counter-balance the pace and ferocity of its core deathly style. Though shockingly varied for a release just running for 30 minutes, the release is unfailingly cohesive. From the breathy interludes to the brutal blasting, Lunar Chamber harmonizes their sounds into a satisfying whole. It isn’t a prerequisite for progressive albums to run for an hour or more. Shambhallic Vibrations does so much more with so much less.
#7. fromjoy // fromjoy – If you want to hear the coolest thing released in 2023, look no further than the self-titled EP by Houston’s fromjoy. It bottles insanity; conjures madness; flips the musical table. They do this with a fusion of various types of -core (grind, math, break) but streak this with winding, vaporwave synths. If this sounds like an unholy aberration, it is. But this aberration delights and energizes in equal measure. I’ve extracted more joy this year from these 26 minutes than full albums over twice that length. Almost every one of these ten tracks has a unique quirk; from wretched grind to stomping breakdowns to dancing trip-hop to smooth saxophones. fromjoy is a testament to pure creative energy and doing a lot with a little.
#6. Ulthar // Anthronomicon – Though it forms one side of a coin completed by its sister album Helionomicon, it was Anthronomicon that impressed me most of the concurrent release by pan-US collective Ulthar. What strikes me most are the compelling contradictions that Ulthar creates. Anthronomicon’s music is crushingly heavy yet repeatably memorable, while the instrumentation is oppressively other-worldly yet somehow human-performed. Blackened death metal cannot count itself among metal’s most penetrable sub-genres, but something about these warped arrangements hooks me. Ulthar might make strange, atmospheric music but Anthronomicon’s laser focus on outstanding riffs leaves a release I haven’t stopped spinning in nearly a year. It’s one of 2023’s most challenging but most rewarding listens.
#5. Tomb Mold // The Enduring Spirit – Why, after a run of critically acclaimed old-school death metal albums, is The Enduring Spirit the first Tomb Mold record to touch my AotY list? In short, because its music is far more inventive now. Switching out a cavernous aesthetic and unrelenting pace for tidier production and grandiose solos, The Enduring Spirit scratches that prog-death itch better than any other release from 2023. Though Tomb Mold has always been smarter-than-you-first-realize, this record represents a significant leap forward and feels like the next era of the band. Above all, it harmonizes Tomb Mold’s savage roots with newer, cerebral tendencies. While the immaculate transitions go some way to achieving this, the spacious soundstage and perfect instrumental tones ensure the release hangs together to my great satisfaction.
#4. Shadowrunner // Ocean of Time – Rebirth and Oblivion – For the first time, the Ocean of Time duo made me want to dislike a Shadowrunner release. Making the listener buy the same four songs twice in order to access the unique eight ruffled my feathers. But the music here is just so damn captivating that I can’t help but love the two sides nonetheless. Rebirth is as effortless and enchanting as any retrowave act from the last decade, while Oblivion is pure nostalgia bait. Warm synths, driving rhythms, smooth saxophones, and pleasant vocals; all are present and correct. Shameless pleasure and rose-tinted spectacles compel me to consistently choose something synthy for my AotY list and Shadowrunner made the best synth music of 2023. Do not sleep on one of the best acts in the scene.
#3. Sylosis // A Sign of Things to Come – I couldn’t be happier at my rediscovery of Sylosis since 2020’s Cycle of Suffering, and A Sign of Things to Come returns to deliver the goods once again. Despite the flack I took for describing Sylosis as how modern thrash should sound, I stand by that comment. 1986 already exists so go fucking listen to that again if you like. What this album will give you instead is music that fuses thrashy, melodic, technical, and hardcore influences into 10 super-charged tunes. They will fill you with rage, then re-energize you to exorcize that rage. For raw riff-craft, no other record was the match of this one. A sign of more things to come in the future? I fucking hope so.
#2. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Only one other record this year feels as complete as Of Golden Verse. It is a consummate album, expressing its music and thoughts in the exact amount of time it requires. Despite its poignance and emotive qualities, it feels incredibly precise; a work created by masters of their trade. Even with 4 tracks approaching or exceeding 7 minutes, there’s nary a wasted second. That’s a tough feat indeed in the world of prog, and Sermon exemplifies all that is great in the genre. Their undulating songwriting style results in music that ebbs from steely, tense atmospheres and flows to passionate, cathartic explosions. Dramatic, sure; maybe even melodramatic. But exciting and varied as Sermon dabbles in progressive, alternative, and doom metal. Of Golden Verse represents a huge step forward from their debut.
#1. Hasard // Hypnocentrisme – Though Hypnocentrisme wasn’t a clear winner, its complete singularity pushes it above everything else in 2023. Hasard paints stark, abstract images in shades of black; it’s an impenetrable, challenging release, obscuring its immense qualities behind oppressive heaviness and bewildering arrangements. Through the record’s black metal crust hides an accomplished orchestral core that’s just as disturbing—in some ways, more so—as its metal aspects. Purposefully deconstructing the screeching guitars, arhythmic drumming, ominous synths, and erratic counter-melodies delivers the year’s most thought-provoking music. Passively wallowing delivers the year’s most thought-crushing music. While it may not be the most enjoyable record of the year, it is certainly the most striking. No other 2023 record affected me like Hypnocentrisme.
Honorable Mentions
- Myrkur // Spine – Spine is just as sonically varied—arguably inconsistent—as any Myrkur release2 but this time it’s all high quality. From the poppy chorus on “Like Humans,” to the blast beats on “Valkyriernes Sang,” to the gentle folk on “Menneskebarn,” I’m emotionally invested throughout.
Ahab // The Coral Tombs – Ahab is an indomitable force of doom metal, and The Coral Tombs didn’t miss a step after eight years away. Judicious variety and grand arrangements ensure that this is the best doom of 2023.
Ne Obliviscaris // Exul – Balancing poignant string sections with crunchy death and black metal, NeO remains a stellar progressive metal band. Exul proves that even a NeO producing their weakest album is better than most others.
Songs o’ the Year
- Godthrymm – “As Titans”
- fromjoy – “Helios” / “Icarus”
- In Flames – “Meet Your Maker”
- Theocracy – “Return to Dust”
- Hasard – “Hypnocentrisme”
- Sermon – “Golden”
- Angus McSix – “Master of the Universe”
- Saturnus – “The Calling”
- Sylosis – “Poison for the Lost”
- ADMO – “Always”
GardensTale
In previous years, I wrote at least one paragraph about how the year went for me. But for the last 3 years, those have been pretty depressing, so I’m just going to skip that. Let’s talk about the good stuff instead. It’s strange to think that black metal is one of the last genres I seriously got into, around 5 years ago or so. Beforehand, I always thought all black metal was akin to lo-fi second-wave shit that sounds like someone sucked up a marble with the vacuum cleaner. Years before, Belgian unknowns Axamenta3 laid some groundwork to prove my misconception wrong, and Mistur hammered it home. Now the conversion is complete, thanks to a year that’s been absolutely stuffed with quality black metal. I could have made a very respectable list of only black metal records, HMs included. But I still like other genres, too, so it was inevitable a couple of other-minded rascals snuck in for color. At least Doom_et_Al won’t hate my list as much as usual. Probably.
I gotta add though, whilst I’ve heard a lot of praise for this year in metal, I still feel like I am missing a true winner. The order of my top 6 or so feels entirely arbitrary, and I’m not sure an extra month of listening would bring the necessary clarity. I’ve had plenty to love (my shortlist reached 10 albums by March or so, partially thanks to an unusually strong January) but the only albums I have been truly ecstatic about are discoveries that were released before the pandemic and barely metal-adjacent4 But so it goes! Every year is so different, in both life and music. I already had a sneak peek of a likely lister for next year, so I know we’ll be off to a good start in that regard.
I must thank my colleagues and editors for putting up with my slacking ass.5 You are a good bunch and half the reason I’m still pouring my heart and soul into this site. The other half is the free promos. And what’s an end-of-year projectile vomit of thank yous and love yous without addressing the readers? If you’re still here and didn’t just skip through to the list, you have my thanks. If you did skip to the list, you still have my thanks, you just won’t know about it. Even those of you who just check the winners and move on. You are still part of the weird and lovely conglomeration of readers we’ve developed, so thank you as well. And I must give a shout-out to the Discord folks. Though I don’t pop in too often, you’ve made it a lovely and welcoming server, and uncommonly well-behaved! Now, who’s ready for the other half of the worst takes in AMG?
#ish. Xoth // Exogalactic – Xoth is back and thus back in my list, because Xoth remains every bit the cool as hell bunch of motherfuckers it’s always been. It’s a little bit more technical and a little bit less memorable compared to its predecessor, missing a “Mountain Machines” level riff, but I still have a really hard time sitting still in my chair when Exogalactic is playing. Too much bouncy fun and sick solos!
#10. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – I listened to an absolute ton of melodic death metal in my early metal years. I still have a soft spot for the genre, but it also needs to do something different to stand out for me these days. Fires in the Distance fully meets that criterium. The stern, strident tone, doom-adjacent pacing, and tasteful piano make Air an album of aching beauty. I’m reminded in part of Eternal Tears of Sorrow, but far more mature and with great emotional depth. The only reason it didn’t place higher is that it doesn’t keep me coming back somehow, and these lists are nothing if not places to go with my gut.
#9. Leiþa // Reue – Speaking of my gut, Reue was the first full-blown punch it received this year. It amuses me when people claim that all black metal screams sound the same because though the lyrics are as incomprehensible as ever, I feel every ounce of the bottomless pain and despair Noise conjures here. But on top of the throat-ripping gurgles of depression are some very sophisticated melodies and good use of dynamics between quiet passages and all-out raging desperation. Most one-man bands struggle to make one worthwhile project, meanwhile, this guy has Leiþa, Non Est Deus, and Kanonenfieber on his resume. I’d call it unfair if I didn’t love it so much.
#8. Megaton Sword // Might & Power – Traditional metal doesn’t often show up on my year-end list. Maybe Megaton Sword wouldn’t have either, although I do love me a batch of idiosyncratic vocals. But a medical situation in the family made the first half of the year an especially stressful affair, and Might & Power with its simple sense of fun was my main musical comfort in that time. But there’s more to it than that. So many strong melodies with few frills. So many fist-pumping horseback-riding sword-raising shield-carrying moments of triumph and awe. And all tied together by that uncommon voice, acerbically spraying dark heroism over the battlefield. The worst of the family situation is well behind us, but Might & Power still won’t leave my regular rotation.
#7. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – Is it unfair to say Xoth got out-Xoth’ed this year? It’s the obvious point of comparison, between the many-faceted vocals, high technical ability, tongue-in-cheek insanity, twisting multi-part riffs, and snaking bass. But if Xoth is the oblique unknowable architecture of cosmic horror, Carnosus is the fleshy depravity of body horror. It theatrically revels in its filth and cackles as the audience turns green around the cheeks. Most of the death metal highlights this year have been of the cavernous or slamarific variety, neither of which does much for me, but Carnosus has been an absolute delight that’s kept up my good cheers.
#6. Walg // III – The vast majority of my music recommendations originate here, but once in a blue moon, my partner will send me a link to something that popped up in her random music feeds and I just get blown away. That’s how I found this independent duo from Groningen, the Netherlands, who, without any black metal experience, started shitting out annual albums in the middle of the pandemic and manage to outdo most of their peers in the process. III is a furious album, with blast beats and histrionic screeching out the wazoo, but is tempered by a bevy of great melodic riffs and the occasional gothic chant. Because the lyrics are in Dutch, which really is not a good language for this kind of horrific imagery, there’s something endearing to the band as well. The combination makes for a very interesting, dark yet catchy experience and one I can well recommend.
#5. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Wayfarer was always one of those bands I kept hearing about and kept not hearing. No particular reason, either; I resolved to listen to them several times and it just didn’t happen. Then I finally heard them, by seeing them live at Roadburn. It was definitely a highlight of the festival, aside from an interlude that was far too long and not nearly interesting enough. Thankfully, American Gothic is more balanced, a perfectly tuned album that calls forth the man in black stalking the prairie on horseback. It’s an album redolent in atmosphere without forgoing a good hook, one that can carry tension on a single banjo string. In short, it has lived up to the hype and then some.
#4. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Pure prog metal often gets a reputation for being wussy and weenie. Sermon does it differently. What attracts me to this album the most is the sense of threat. Sermon looms a great dark ominous wall that swallows the background and casts everything in shade. For an album to hold its breath even while beating you down takes some exquisite songwriting, and Of Golden Verse is jam-packed with it. Closer “Departure” really opens the floodgates, too, for a satisfying and bombastic finale.
#3. VAK // The Islands – I called The Islands one of the flat-out coolest albums of the year and I stand by it. If anything, my appreciation for VAK’s latest has only grown since then. When you’ve listened to a million albums, the ones that really stand out and stick with you are the ones with the strongest personality. If you’d send me an unlabeled song that didn’t make the cut on The Islands I would recognize it as VAK immediately, guaranteed. While so much sludge tries and fails to get under my skin with a hammer, VAK succeeds by taking a shortcut as it pries off my fingernails with a rusty screwdriver. It’s deliciously uncomfortable and I love it.
#2. The Circle // Of Awakening – This was surely the most heinous underrating of the year. The opener alone should earn the band its 4.0, a perfectly tuned piece of proggy black/death. One thing that strikes me is how good The Circle is at finding the right dosages. Every time it feels like one thing has run its course, something replaces or enhances it, from the versatile vocals to the use of symphonics and from blast beats to breathing room. I’ve revisited this one a lot since the summer, and for a while, I thought it was gonna top my list…
#1. Night Crowned // Tales – …until Night Crowned bum-rushed the stage. Whereas many of my listening habits this year have been decidedly un-brutal, in the metal sphere I have found myself drawn to the combination of melodic and intense music, particularly in the second half of the year. Tales is an exemplary album in this regard. The intense blasting and no-holds-barred shrieking always hold a melodic thread that makes it more than a wall of noise, whether it be from extra vocal layers, subtly interweaved symphonics, or a goddamn hurdy-gurdy that works way better than it should. The track where the latter features most prominently, “She Comes at Night,” is what drew me in, but every track has its own face; its deviations make it stand out from the others, like the clean vocals on melodic mid-pacer “Loviatar” or the Dimmu influence on the grandiose closer “Old Tales.” While I would not rank it as highly as the winners of previous years, you owe it to yourself to grab Tales if you haven’t already.
Honorable Mentions
- Aetherian // At Storm’s Edge – Contrary to my point with VAK, this album doesn’t do much particularly new but it’s the embodiment of Finnish style epic melodeath done really, really well.
- Somnuri // Desiderium – Who knew Mastodon-style sludge could be improved with grunge?
- Mutoid Man // Mutants – Wild, reckless fun with more depth than a first glance betrays.
- Genus Ordinis Dei // The Beginning – Narrative albums aren’t easy, but Genus Ordinis Dei has that shit in the bag. Easy to listen to, easy to love, and feels like a complete, well-rounded movie in the guise of an epic metal album.
- Laster // Andermans Mijne – It’s deeply strange and gets at all the bits of my brain that have been gathering dust for years, but I can’t deny its continuous pull.
Disappointment o’ the Year
This is the first paragraph I’m writing this year because it’s the easiest. I always used to like Soen. With Lotus, I even loved them. Imperial was a clear step-down, branching out in the wrong directions, but it was still enjoyable in its own right, just not approaching list material. They put on some good live shows this year, too. But Memorial goes off the deep end like Thelma & Louise. The remaining semblances of progressive rock and metal are gone, replaced by refried alternative rock. Even Joel Ekelöf sounds downright bad, his buttery smooth croon awkwardly squished into a grungy mold that doesn’t suit him. It’s like the band members collectively decided to challenge themselves by trying to make an album without doing any of the things they’re actually good at. The experiment failed, boys.
Song o’ the Year
Last year I discovered Norwegian artsy prog rock outfit Major Parkinson and fell deeply in love with their quirky, bombastic, gloomy aesthetic and thoughtful, varied songwriting. Not long into this year, I found out that enigmatic vocalist Jon Ivar Kollbotn had suffered a massive heart attack in the middle of a concert in October. Though he managed to finish the set, he flatlined backstage. By some miracle, police officers happened to be just outside the building and they managed to restart Kollbotn’s ticker. When he was sufficiently recovered, the band re-wrote and recorded an old live track named “Take the Prescription” to commemorate his survival. The result is as addictive as prescription drugs, an upbeat and offbeat artful piece of prog-pop with an infectious whistled tune, beautiful smooth bass usage, and the band’s signature dark undertone. Kollbotn sounds as coarse and moody as ever, and new permanent member Peri Winkle offers an outside perspective to the frontman’s near-death experience. And even if the track hadn’t been one of the sweetest things I’ve heard this year, it’d still be my favorite track of 2023. If only because he was still around to record it.
#2023 #Aetherian #Ahab #BlogPosts #Carnosus #ElCuervoSAndGardensTaleSTopTenIshOf2023 #FiresInTheDistance #fromjoy #GenusOrdinisDei #Grails #Hasard #Laster #Leitha #Lists #Listurnalia #LunarChamber #MegatonSword #MutoidMan #Myrkur #NeObliviscaris #NightCrowned #Sermon #Shadowrunner #Soen #Somnuri #Svalbard #Sylosis #TheCircle #TombMold #Ulthar #VAK #Walg #Wayfarer #Xoth
- Myrkur // Spine – Spine is just as sonically varied—arguably inconsistent—as any Myrkur release2 but this time it’s all high quality. From the poppy chorus on “Like Humans,” to the blast beats on “Valkyriernes Sang,” to the gentle folk on “Menneskebarn,” I’m emotionally invested throughout.
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Sentynel and Twelve’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By sentynel
Sentynel
Is it that time already? Whew. 2023 has raced past me, carried by a blizzard of endless Stuff. I need a goddamn break, which is currently tentatively scheduled for about 2025. As a result, I’ve been desperately behind on my listening for most of the year. I barely scraped together five reviews, all for bands I knew and liked, and was impressed by… one of them. I was nervous about my list all the way through to about November. Fortunately, I have once again ended up with a solid list of great albums, though the best doesn’t quite top last year’s The Otolith. I have lost track of what a normal selection looks like for me at this point, but this year’s big genre winner is apparently instrumental prog, while I felt it was a slightly weak year for post-metal. I also suspect I have more overlap with some of the cooler members of staff than I usually do, amongst all the records you already know are going to be on my list.
Despite a heavy year, contributing to Angry Metal Guy dot com continues to be one of my favorite hobbies. The other staff continue to have questionable taste, but I’ve found music that brings me joy anyway. We have new writers, I’ve met a couple of last year’s crop, and they’re all pretty chill despite their opinions on music. Everyone continues to put a huge amount of free work into this weird little corner of the internet. And my server load stats confirm that you, the readers, are still out there, using my bandwidth.
Finally, following Twitter’s ongoing trainwreck killing off the review autoposting there, we are now available on a slightly experimental basis on Mastodon and compatible platforms. Simply follow @[email protected]. (Note that comments don’t sync in from Mastodon, so you’ll still need to come to the site in order to tell us we’re wrong.) Of course, RSS and Facebook continue to be available.
#ish. Angus McSix // Angus McSix and the Sword of Power – I’ll defend last year’s Fellowship record to the death as serious music. The sophistication of its writing and the adulthood of its themes proves that upbeat, catchy power metal doesn’t have to be silly or lightweight. I offer no such defense for this record. This is incredibly silly. Honestly, between the track titles and how nakedly the whole thing leans on Winkler’s previous role, I was expecting to write this off as a failed attempt to recapture past glories without the wit—another soulless, forgettable pop-power metal band going through the motions. And yet it works. The fun feels genuine, the runtime too brief to be self-indulgent, the songwriting too varied to be a lazy cash-in. It’s infectious, it’s miles better than the new Gloryhammer record, and I’ve ended up listening to it a lot. I embrace the upcoming savaging in the comments section.
#10. Nuclear Power Trio // Wet Ass Plutonium – Speaking of silly, it’s the guys in creepy dictator masks. As I said when I wrote about this album, after a great EP they’ve stuck the landing on the album as well, cementing their position as serious musicians and not a one-off novelty. Fun, triumphant, soaring, Wet Ass Plutonium is an absolute blast to listen to. The musicianship is fantastic, and in particular I’ll highlight again just how great Putin is. (On bass.)
#9. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Starring a rather more seriously masked musician, this is an emotional, gripping prog album. The only thing holding this back from a higher list placing is that I haven’t found myself compelled to listen to it all the time, which is definitely a me problem (see intro). The moment I actually do put it on I’m hooked. The dynamic, catchy songwriting has an urgent edge to it that gets under your skin and sets it apart from a lot of other prog metal, which can lack a bit of bite. I absolutely love the vocal performance here in particular, but the whole thing is written and performed thoughtfully and impactfully.
#8. Ok Goodnight // The Fox and the Bird – In the best tradition of prog, this is a weird album. It tries to do a lot of things and manages nearly all of them. Williams’ charismatic, mood-changing vocals carry this whimsical tale. The first few times I listened I wasn’t sure it was going to stick, but I kept finding fragments of her lines in my head. With a few more listens, the whole thing settled. There are still a few little stumbles where weird and shifting gives way to just disjointed, but I find the rest of the album far too addictively, earwormily interesting to mind too much.
#7. Scaphoid // Echoes of the Rift – I owe this record more complete thoughts than I have space for here—there’s a TYMHM piece due, but see the intro for why it probably hasn’t appeared yet. In short: I’m a huge fan of this sort of pretty, thoughtful instrumental prog. I loved Absent Passages, and Echoes of the Rift is an improvement in effectively every meaningful way. Hobart has developed as a composer, and as a result it’s shorter, tighter, more varied, and more memorable. As with a lot of music on this list, my love for it is in the mood it conjures. It’s thoughtful, meditative, exploratory, and has been a favorite work and travel soundtrack for me.
#6. Sanguine Glacialis // Maladaptive Daydreaming – This record is A Lot. I mentioned it to Dr. Wvrm, who described it as “like Cradle of Filth bodysnatched Epica, then showed up to the studio and found it double booked with Nik Sundin hanging out with a jazz quartet. And instead of throwing them out being like ‘yea you know what let’s do all of it at once'”. Frankly, I have nothing further to add to this bit of poetry. If this sounds utterly horrifying, you’re not going to like Maladaptive Daydreaming. But if you’re maybe interested, know that it’s way more cohesive than it has any right to be and a lot of fun. The main thing holding it back is an inexplicably loud mastering job.
#5. Night Crowned // Tales – Here’s an interesting study in genre and reviewers’ tastes. Thus, who is far more brvtal than me, describes this as “symphonic/melodic blackened death.” I, meanwhile, relate to this as a folk metal album, though one much more interesting than the genre typically delivers. Just listen to that hurdy-gurdy or the styling of the vocals. (The female vocals really remind me of the Witcher 3 soundtrack’s Eastern European folk, for example. It’s notable that the cover art here features the Wild Hunt.) Either way, Tales is a wild ride and a certified banger through and through.
#4. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – This is so pretty. That seems like an odd thing for melodic death metal to be striving for, but there’s really no other word for it. Soaring guitar melodies, sweeping strings, and airy piano tug at your heartstrings. But a core of heavy riffs and harsh vocals keeps it anchored. The two mesh startlingly well. Fires in the Distance really lean into the lilting piano at times—if you’d told me a band were going to put this much piano into a melodeath record and everyone would love it, I would have laughed at you. You’d think it would sound insubstantial against the rhythm section, but it never does. Genuinely beautiful.
#3. Helga // Wrapped in Mist – This record reminds me of Gåte (who put out a good EP this year!) gone atmospheric, both in the folk composition but also in the slightly unusual vocals. There’s also some hints of Meer. It’s been criticized, not unfairly, for imperfectly mixing its folk takes on post-metal and airy dream-pop. I like both, but the more I listen, the less I think that separation is the right lens to view it through. Both these genres are characterized by a prioritization of atmosphere and feeling over immediacy, and that’s where Wrapped in Mist’s success lies. I’ve spoken before about my love of music that feels like a witches’ forest ritual, and this is the exact button Helga presses for me. Wherever it sits among its contributing genres, it conjures that feeling.
#2. Essence of Datum // Radikal Rats – Wildly underrated by some hack at little-known music blog Angry Metal Guy, “a heavier God is an Astronaut do the Mass Effect soundtrack” is right up my alley. Even then, I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve listened to this album. It’s not the world’s most challenging record, which has probably contributed to me reaching for it so often over a difficult few months. But don’t confuse that with a lack of impact. It’s cleverly written and impeccably performed, catchy, interesting and varied. This would be a fantastic soundtrack to a top-notch sci-fi film. (I listened to it a lot while reading the new Murderbot book.) As I said above, this has been a good year for instrumental prog, and the placement of this record despite two other strong contenders in the genre should speak volumes.
#1. Wayfarer // American Gothic – This one shouldn’t come as a surprise if you read my thoughts on Lathe on last year’s list. I’m a sucker for the micro-genre I’ll call industrial bluegrass, and last year Lathe mixed it with post-metal with unexpectedly successful results. Wayfarer, meanwhile, bring in black metal, a genre I normally find myself bored by. Indeed, A Romance with Violence didn’t quite do it for me. American Gothic though absolutely knocks it out of the park. The genre blend is utterly seamless, to the extent that to simply call it black metal does it a disservice. This is the best of bleak country painted with the instrumentation of black metal. Electric guitars pick up melody lines from banjos with a twang. Distorted slide guitars get that pedal steel feeling. There’s even a honky-tonk piano. It’s all deceptively melodic, and it helps there’s a heavy twist of post here. This seems to have put some members of the staff off—the second half is less immediate than the first—but these people are wrong. The atmosphere that results is pitch-perfect. The vocals and the lyrics are great. This is not an album that I expected, nor did I expect to love it like this. But it shot to the top of my list within the first couple of listens, and I love it a bit more with every spin.
Honorable Mentions
- BRIQUEVILLE // IIII – I saw these guys play at ArcTanGent this year and was dead impressed. This is really slow-burn post, but it’s worth it.
- Mutoid Man // Mutants – Another ATG band, although from many years ago. Not a big departure from their prog/punk usual, but a lot of fun.
- healthyliving // Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief – “Bloom” narrowly missed out on my Song of the Year. The rest of the album is also really good post-metal, with a great vocalist.
- Svalbard // The Weight of the Mask – This didn’t blow me away like When I Die, but it’s not for lack of quality; it’s a great album still, it’s just not a huge evolution.
- Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance – A really solid bit of classic doom. As with any well-trodden genre it takes a lot to stand out, and Tribunal nail it with some great interplay—on vocals and instruments—between the duo.
Disappointment of the Year
Repeatedly giving poor-to-middling reviews to bands I like. Also, the production on that Anareta album, which I wanted so badly to love.
Song of the Year
Vienna Teng “The Riversitter” – I’m not even going to pretend to claim that this is metal, though I did of course first hear Teng on this very website. She is my favorite lyricist ever, and one of my favorite musicians in general. It’s been a long ten years since Aims, and it’s fantastic to have new music from her again. This is a pretty, moving piece, based on a short story, about not overthinking or overplanning, community, beauty, and building on each other’s ideas. I can’t fully explain why I’ve been so gripped by this song, but it spoke to me. I’m not normally a “same song on repeat” person, but I’ve listened to this song over three times as often as anything else this year.
Twelve
Up until a few weeks ago, I’d have said this was a pretty solid year, all things considered—but alas, here I am, ending the year on a low note. 2023 felt both very long and very quick, and we weren’t too far into it when I realized my contributions to this here blog were pretty much abysmal. Thankfully, my fellow writers and alternate personas are very understanding people, but it’s still rough to realize that the year has ended to mark my lowest output yet here at Angry Metal Guy.
At least the music was solid. While I was off doing who-knows-what offline, a whole bunch of talented and wonderful writers ghostwrote a whole bunch of compelling reviews and recommendations here that have come to dominate my listening. So before I properly dive into sharing my top albums for 2023, I’ll take a second to thank every one of them, from the newest n00b to the oldest olde, for a level of dedication and talent I just didn’t reach this year. I’m looking forward to the next one, and the one after that as well.
Anyway…
#ish. David Eugene Edwards // Hyacinth – Usually there’s a space or two on this list for the most exciting neofolk that comes my way in a given year, but this year was a quiet one on that front. In its absence, however, the dark country tellings of David Eugene Edwards are quickly becoming a favourite. It’s not a style I’m very familiar with—hence the #ish—but owing to the gorgeously ominous storytelling on Hyacinth, that’s something I’m determined to fix in 2024.
#10. Sacred Outcry // Towers of Gold – Life™ works in mysterious ways; when I was unable to review Towers of Gold following my excitement at Sacred Outcry’s debut, I felt pretty badly. Thankfully, Holdeneye’s account captures what is so special about this power metal odyssey better than I’d have been able to at the time. An adventure for the whole family, and an impressively emotive power metal opus.
#9. Theocracy // Mosaic – Speaking of power metal, I also loved Mosaic in a way I haven’t been taken by a Theocracy album in some time. The balance of joyful and serious themes is something the band does really, really well here, and it’s a splash of positivity that I was happy to receive just as the weather began to turn cold. Not to mention it’s impressively heavy on top of it all, and the choruses stick around long after the album is done.
# 8. The Ocean // Holocene – I’ve said in a couple of places that I don’t care much for post metal, but I do like it when The Ocean does it. The trend continued this year with Holocene, which felt more experimental, less heavy, and altogether weirder than a lot of their past work. This all works great for me, and I found I kept returning to Holocene as the year went by. “Atlantic” in particular may be one of my most listened-to songs for the year. High defeatism, am I right?
#7. Warfarer // American Gothic – Blistering, beautiful black metal; a heartfelt reason for the anger; influence from the wild, wild West to keep it all fresh. What could there possibly be to not like about American Gothic? In the past, Wayfarer haven’t quite captured my attention, but this album broke through my resistance and pummelled it to the ground within the first four seconds of “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise.” A phenomenal album, through and through.
#6. Briqueville // IIII – IIII is not an album I expected to list here; in fact, one of the first things I did when I saw Charcharodon’s 4.0 review for it was ignore it. More fool I. I thought I had this list down when I finally spun Briqueville’s latest for the first time and it tore its way up these IIII spaces astonishingly fast. Dreamy, experimental doom atmospheres are not easy to pin down, but the songwriting here is incredible. The time passes so quickly, and then what’s left to do but to spin the whole album over again?
#5. Godthrymm // Distortions – Rounding out the other half of my top doom metal albums of the year is Distortions, essentially because this album is heavy. I love the straightforward style, the well-produced misery, and the way Godthrymm is able to so cleanly convey such powerful emotions. This album is a testament to doom metal done well, and it’s been a welcome companion since the first time I heard it—I was hooked pretty much instantly.
#4. Burden of Ymir // Heorot – If you read my reviews, you already know that the accordion is the way into my heart. This feast of black metal incorporates exactly that, and makes for a heavy, folky journey, an amazing album with a story to tell and a ton of heart. It’s also a sneaky album, the kind that grows on you the more you listen to it, with small details hidden in clever songwriting. It’s hard to ask for more; this is an album that feels made exactly for me.
#3. Angus McSix // Angus McSix and the Sword of Power – Speaking of albums that feel made exactly for me, Angus McSix is some of the most fun you can have listening to power metal. I am a sucker for cheesiness, and Angus McSix’s debut dials the cheese factor up to the maximum. The other, crucial side of the dial, however, is the songwriting. Thanks to that, everything works in a way that makes the album more than the sum of it’s ridiculous concept1. It’s a very strong album, and one that’s only grown on me with time.
#2. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – I can only imagine that Dr. A. N. Grier and I have dramatically different year-end lists, but his review of Mazzaroth is spot-on, and I’m certain we’ll share this entry. As orchestral black metal goes, this album is grand, heavy, and huge, making for a phenomenal opus that is my top black metal album of the year. The vocal performance, the orchestrations, the songwriting—everything on Mazzaroth is top-tier, larger-than-life, incredible black metal.
#1. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – It will be difficult to sum up my appreciation for Miracle of Death in the short blurb I have before me. From the first seconds of “Spill the Dark,” this album takes me to a cold, comfortable place. It’s emotional, but it feels like numbness; it’s quiet, but leaves a huge impression. Everything about this album works to create atmospheres of bleakness and hopelessness, and any time I’ve felt low throughout the year, Vanishing Kids has been there2. Miracle of Death is, in that regard, an amazing album, and one that was always going to take this spot on my list. Truthfully, I’m shocked to realize this only came out a couple of months ago—it’s been so right for my 2023 that it feels like it’s been there since January 1.
Honorable Mention
- Suotana // Ounas I – I had a lot of fun reviewing Ounas I, and have had a lot of fun listening to it since. The black/melodeath/power metal thing Suotana does so well lends itself to an extremely fun, energetic album that is just so solid. This is an album done well, and I’m still recommending it to pretty much all of you!
Song of the Year
Sometimes, you just need to have some fun. No matter how difficult, irritating, or otherwise negative this year may have been, “Ride to Hell” has been the pick-me-up song to deal with it. This is a terrific power-meets-traditional metal anthem, and the enthusiasm in which Angus McSix performs it is a huge part of the appeal. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s wildly addictive—it’s everything you need when times are rough and you don’t know any supernatural motorcyclists in the real world. It’s also a great song when you’re having a good day already and want to make it better.
#2023 #AngusMcSix #BlogPost #Briqueville #BurdenOfYmir #DavidEugeneEdwards #EssenceOfDatum #FiresInTheDistance #Godthrymm #healthyliving #Helga #Lists #Listurnalia #MutoidMan #NightCrowned #OkGoodnight #SacredOutcry #SanguineGlacialis #Scaphoid #SentynelSAndTwelveSTopTenIshOf2023 #Sermon #Sodomisery #Suotana #Svalbard #TheOcean #TheOtolith #Theocracy #Tribunal #VanishingKids #ViennaTeng #Wayfarer
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Sentynel and Twelve’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By sentynel
Sentynel
Is it that time already? Whew. 2023 has raced past me, carried by a blizzard of endless Stuff. I need a goddamn break, which is currently tentatively scheduled for about 2025. As a result, I’ve been desperately behind on my listening for most of the year. I barely scraped together five reviews, all for bands I knew and liked, and was impressed by… one of them. I was nervous about my list all the way through to about November. Fortunately, I have once again ended up with a solid list of great albums, though the best doesn’t quite top last year’s The Otolith. I have lost track of what a normal selection looks like for me at this point, but this year’s big genre winner is apparently instrumental prog, while I felt it was a slightly weak year for post-metal. I also suspect I have more overlap with some of the cooler members of staff than I usually do, amongst all the records you already know are going to be on my list.
Despite a heavy year, contributing to Angry Metal Guy dot com continues to be one of my favorite hobbies. The other staff continue to have questionable taste, but I’ve found music that brings me joy anyway. We have new writers, I’ve met a couple of last year’s crop, and they’re all pretty chill despite their opinions on music. Everyone continues to put a huge amount of free work into this weird little corner of the internet. And my server load stats confirm that you, the readers, are still out there, using my bandwidth.
Finally, following Twitter’s ongoing trainwreck killing off the review autoposting there, we are now available on a slightly experimental basis on Mastodon and compatible platforms. Simply follow @[email protected]. (Note that comments don’t sync in from Mastodon, so you’ll still need to come to the site in order to tell us we’re wrong.) Of course, RSS and Facebook continue to be available.
#ish. Angus McSix // Angus McSix and the Sword of Power – I’ll defend last year’s Fellowship record to the death as serious music. The sophistication of its writing and the adulthood of its themes proves that upbeat, catchy power metal doesn’t have to be silly or lightweight. I offer no such defense for this record. This is incredibly silly. Honestly, between the track titles and how nakedly the whole thing leans on Winkler’s previous role, I was expecting to write this off as a failed attempt to recapture past glories without the wit—another soulless, forgettable pop-power metal band going through the motions. And yet it works. The fun feels genuine, the runtime too brief to be self-indulgent, the songwriting too varied to be a lazy cash-in. It’s infectious, it’s miles better than the new Gloryhammer record, and I’ve ended up listening to it a lot. I embrace the upcoming savaging in the comments section.
#10. Nuclear Power Trio // Wet Ass Plutonium – Speaking of silly, it’s the guys in creepy dictator masks. As I said when I wrote about this album, after a great EP they’ve stuck the landing on the album as well, cementing their position as serious musicians and not a one-off novelty. Fun, triumphant, soaring, Wet Ass Plutonium is an absolute blast to listen to. The musicianship is fantastic, and in particular I’ll highlight again just how great Putin is. (On bass.)
#9. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – Starring a rather more seriously masked musician, this is an emotional, gripping prog album. The only thing holding this back from a higher list placing is that I haven’t found myself compelled to listen to it all the time, which is definitely a me problem (see intro). The moment I actually do put it on I’m hooked. The dynamic, catchy songwriting has an urgent edge to it that gets under your skin and sets it apart from a lot of other prog metal, which can lack a bit of bite. I absolutely love the vocal performance here in particular, but the whole thing is written and performed thoughtfully and impactfully.
#8. Ok Goodnight // The Fox and the Bird – In the best tradition of prog, this is a weird album. It tries to do a lot of things and manages nearly all of them. Williams’ charismatic, mood-changing vocals carry this whimsical tale. The first few times I listened I wasn’t sure it was going to stick, but I kept finding fragments of her lines in my head. With a few more listens, the whole thing settled. There are still a few little stumbles where weird and shifting gives way to just disjointed, but I find the rest of the album far too addictively, earwormily interesting to mind too much.
#7. Scaphoid // Echoes of the Rift – I owe this record more complete thoughts than I have space for here—there’s a TYMHM piece due, but see the intro for why it probably hasn’t appeared yet. In short: I’m a huge fan of this sort of pretty, thoughtful instrumental prog. I loved Absent Passages, and Echoes of the Rift is an improvement in effectively every meaningful way. Hobart has developed as a composer, and as a result it’s shorter, tighter, more varied, and more memorable. As with a lot of music on this list, my love for it is in the mood it conjures. It’s thoughtful, meditative, exploratory, and has been a favorite work and travel soundtrack for me.
#6. Sanguine Glacialis // Maladaptive Daydreaming – This record is A Lot. I mentioned it to Dr. Wvrm, who described it as “like Cradle of Filth bodysnatched Epica, then showed up to the studio and found it double booked with Nik Sundin hanging out with a jazz quartet. And instead of throwing them out being like ‘yea you know what let’s do all of it at once'”. Frankly, I have nothing further to add to this bit of poetry. If this sounds utterly horrifying, you’re not going to like Maladaptive Daydreaming. But if you’re maybe interested, know that it’s way more cohesive than it has any right to be and a lot of fun. The main thing holding it back is an inexplicably loud mastering job.
#5. Night Crowned // Tales – Here’s an interesting study in genre and reviewers’ tastes. Thus, who is far more brvtal than me, describes this as “symphonic/melodic blackened death.” I, meanwhile, relate to this as a folk metal album, though one much more interesting than the genre typically delivers. Just listen to that hurdy-gurdy or the styling of the vocals. (The female vocals really remind me of the Witcher 3 soundtrack’s Eastern European folk, for example. It’s notable that the cover art here features the Wild Hunt.) Either way, Tales is a wild ride and a certified banger through and through.
#4. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – This is so pretty. That seems like an odd thing for melodic death metal to be striving for, but there’s really no other word for it. Soaring guitar melodies, sweeping strings, and airy piano tug at your heartstrings. But a core of heavy riffs and harsh vocals keeps it anchored. The two mesh startlingly well. Fires in the Distance really lean into the lilting piano at times—if you’d told me a band were going to put this much piano into a melodeath record and everyone would love it, I would have laughed at you. You’d think it would sound insubstantial against the rhythm section, but it never does. Genuinely beautiful.
#3. Helga // Wrapped in Mist – This record reminds me of Gåte (who put out a good EP this year!) gone atmospheric, both in the folk composition but also in the slightly unusual vocals. There’s also some hints of Meer. It’s been criticized, not unfairly, for imperfectly mixing its folk takes on post-metal and airy dream-pop. I like both, but the more I listen, the less I think that separation is the right lens to view it through. Both these genres are characterized by a prioritization of atmosphere and feeling over immediacy, and that’s where Wrapped in Mist’s success lies. I’ve spoken before about my love of music that feels like a witches’ forest ritual, and this is the exact button Helga presses for me. Wherever it sits among its contributing genres, it conjures that feeling.
#2. Essence of Datum // Radikal Rats – Wildly underrated by some hack at little-known music blog Angry Metal Guy, “a heavier God is an Astronaut do the Mass Effect soundtrack” is right up my alley. Even then, I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve listened to this album. It’s not the world’s most challenging record, which has probably contributed to me reaching for it so often over a difficult few months. But don’t confuse that with a lack of impact. It’s cleverly written and impeccably performed, catchy, interesting and varied. This would be a fantastic soundtrack to a top-notch sci-fi film. (I listened to it a lot while reading the new Murderbot book.) As I said above, this has been a good year for instrumental prog, and the placement of this record despite two other strong contenders in the genre should speak volumes.
#1. Wayfarer // American Gothic – This one shouldn’t come as a surprise if you read my thoughts on Lathe on last year’s list. I’m a sucker for the micro-genre I’ll call industrial bluegrass, and last year Lathe mixed it with post-metal with unexpectedly successful results. Wayfarer, meanwhile, bring in black metal, a genre I normally find myself bored by. Indeed, A Romance with Violence didn’t quite do it for me. American Gothic though absolutely knocks it out of the park. The genre blend is utterly seamless, to the extent that to simply call it black metal does it a disservice. This is the best of bleak country painted with the instrumentation of black metal. Electric guitars pick up melody lines from banjos with a twang. Distorted slide guitars get that pedal steel feeling. There’s even a honky-tonk piano. It’s all deceptively melodic, and it helps there’s a heavy twist of post here. This seems to have put some members of the staff off—the second half is less immediate than the first—but these people are wrong. The atmosphere that results is pitch-perfect. The vocals and the lyrics are great. This is not an album that I expected, nor did I expect to love it like this. But it shot to the top of my list within the first couple of listens, and I love it a bit more with every spin.
Honorable Mentions
- BRIQUEVILLE // IIII – I saw these guys play at ArcTanGent this year and was dead impressed. This is really slow-burn post, but it’s worth it.
- Mutoid Man // Mutants – Another ATG band, although from many years ago. Not a big departure from their prog/punk usual, but a lot of fun.
- healthyliving // Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief – “Bloom” narrowly missed out on my Song of the Year. The rest of the album is also really good post-metal, with a great vocalist.
- Svalbard // The Weight of the Mask – This didn’t blow me away like When I Die, but it’s not for lack of quality; it’s a great album still, it’s just not a huge evolution.
- Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance – A really solid bit of classic doom. As with any well-trodden genre it takes a lot to stand out, and Tribunal nail it with some great interplay—on vocals and instruments—between the duo.
Disappointment of the Year
Repeatedly giving poor-to-middling reviews to bands I like. Also, the production on that Anareta album, which I wanted so badly to love.
Song of the Year
Vienna Teng “The Riversitter” – I’m not even going to pretend to claim that this is metal, though I did of course first hear Teng on this very website. She is my favorite lyricist ever, and one of my favorite musicians in general. It’s been a long ten years since Aims, and it’s fantastic to have new music from her again. This is a pretty, moving piece, based on a short story, about not overthinking or overplanning, community, beauty, and building on each other’s ideas. I can’t fully explain why I’ve been so gripped by this song, but it spoke to me. I’m not normally a “same song on repeat” person, but I’ve listened to this song over three times as often as anything else this year.
Twelve
Up until a few weeks ago, I’d have said this was a pretty solid year, all things considered—but alas, here I am, ending the year on a low note. 2023 felt both very long and very quick, and we weren’t too far into it when I realized my contributions to this here blog were pretty much abysmal. Thankfully, my fellow writers and alternate personas are very understanding people, but it’s still rough to realize that the year has ended to mark my lowest output yet here at Angry Metal Guy.
At least the music was solid. While I was off doing who-knows-what offline, a whole bunch of talented and wonderful writers ghostwrote a whole bunch of compelling reviews and recommendations here that have come to dominate my listening. So before I properly dive into sharing my top albums for 2023, I’ll take a second to thank every one of them, from the newest n00b to the oldest olde, for a level of dedication and talent I just didn’t reach this year. I’m looking forward to the next one, and the one after that as well.
Anyway…
#ish. David Eugene Edwards // Hyacinth – Usually there’s a space or two on this list for the most exciting neofolk that comes my way in a given year, but this year was a quiet one on that front. In its absence, however, the dark country tellings of David Eugene Edwards are quickly becoming a favourite. It’s not a style I’m very familiar with—hence the #ish—but owing to the gorgeously ominous storytelling on Hyacinth, that’s something I’m determined to fix in 2024.
#10. Sacred Outcry // Towers of Gold – Life™ works in mysterious ways; when I was unable to review Towers of Gold following my excitement at Sacred Outcry’s debut, I felt pretty badly. Thankfully, Holdeneye’s account captures what is so special about this power metal odyssey better than I’d have been able to at the time. An adventure for the whole family, and an impressively emotive power metal opus.
#9. Theocracy // Mosaic – Speaking of power metal, I also loved Mosaic in a way I haven’t been taken by a Theocracy album in some time. The balance of joyful and serious themes is something the band does really, really well here, and it’s a splash of positivity that I was happy to receive just as the weather began to turn cold. Not to mention it’s impressively heavy on top of it all, and the choruses stick around long after the album is done.
# 8. The Ocean // Holocene – I’ve said in a couple of places that I don’t care much for post metal, but I do like it when The Ocean does it. The trend continued this year with Holocene, which felt more experimental, less heavy, and altogether weirder than a lot of their past work. This all works great for me, and I found I kept returning to Holocene as the year went by. “Atlantic” in particular may be one of my most listened-to songs for the year. High defeatism, am I right?
#7. Warfarer // American Gothic – Blistering, beautiful black metal; a heartfelt reason for the anger; influence from the wild, wild West to keep it all fresh. What could there possibly be to not like about American Gothic? In the past, Wayfarer haven’t quite captured my attention, but this album broke through my resistance and pummelled it to the ground within the first four seconds of “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise.” A phenomenal album, through and through.
#6. Briqueville // IIII – IIII is not an album I expected to list here; in fact, one of the first things I did when I saw Charcharodon’s 4.0 review for it was ignore it. More fool I. I thought I had this list down when I finally spun Briqueville’s latest for the first time and it tore its way up these IIII spaces astonishingly fast. Dreamy, experimental doom atmospheres are not easy to pin down, but the songwriting here is incredible. The time passes so quickly, and then what’s left to do but to spin the whole album over again?
#5. Godthrymm // Distortions – Rounding out the other half of my top doom metal albums of the year is Distortions, essentially because this album is heavy. I love the straightforward style, the well-produced misery, and the way Godthrymm is able to so cleanly convey such powerful emotions. This album is a testament to doom metal done well, and it’s been a welcome companion since the first time I heard it—I was hooked pretty much instantly.
#4. Burden of Ymir // Heorot – If you read my reviews, you already know that the accordion is the way into my heart. This feast of black metal incorporates exactly that, and makes for a heavy, folky journey, an amazing album with a story to tell and a ton of heart. It’s also a sneaky album, the kind that grows on you the more you listen to it, with small details hidden in clever songwriting. It’s hard to ask for more; this is an album that feels made exactly for me.
#3. Angus McSix // Angus McSix and the Sword of Power – Speaking of albums that feel made exactly for me, Angus McSix is some of the most fun you can have listening to power metal. I am a sucker for cheesiness, and Angus McSix’s debut dials the cheese factor up to the maximum. The other, crucial side of the dial, however, is the songwriting. Thanks to that, everything works in a way that makes the album more than the sum of it’s ridiculous concept1. It’s a very strong album, and one that’s only grown on me with time.
#2. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – I can only imagine that Dr. A. N. Grier and I have dramatically different year-end lists, but his review of Mazzaroth is spot-on, and I’m certain we’ll share this entry. As orchestral black metal goes, this album is grand, heavy, and huge, making for a phenomenal opus that is my top black metal album of the year. The vocal performance, the orchestrations, the songwriting—everything on Mazzaroth is top-tier, larger-than-life, incredible black metal.
#1. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – It will be difficult to sum up my appreciation for Miracle of Death in the short blurb I have before me. From the first seconds of “Spill the Dark,” this album takes me to a cold, comfortable place. It’s emotional, but it feels like numbness; it’s quiet, but leaves a huge impression. Everything about this album works to create atmospheres of bleakness and hopelessness, and any time I’ve felt low throughout the year, Vanishing Kids has been there2. Miracle of Death is, in that regard, an amazing album, and one that was always going to take this spot on my list. Truthfully, I’m shocked to realize this only came out a couple of months ago—it’s been so right for my 2023 that it feels like it’s been there since January 1.
Honorable Mention
- Suotana // Ounas I – I had a lot of fun reviewing Ounas I, and have had a lot of fun listening to it since. The black/melodeath/power metal thing Suotana does so well lends itself to an extremely fun, energetic album that is just so solid. This is an album done well, and I’m still recommending it to pretty much all of you!
Song of the Year
Sometimes, you just need to have some fun. No matter how difficult, irritating, or otherwise negative this year may have been, “Ride to Hell” has been the pick-me-up song to deal with it. This is a terrific power-meets-traditional metal anthem, and the enthusiasm in which Angus McSix performs it is a huge part of the appeal. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s wildly addictive—it’s everything you need when times are rough and you don’t know any supernatural motorcyclists in the real world. It’s also a great song when you’re having a good day already and want to make it better.
#2023 #AngusMcSix #BlogPost #Briqueville #BurdenOfYmir #DavidEugeneEdwards #EssenceOfDatum #FiresInTheDistance #Godthrymm #healthyliving #Helga #Lists #Listurnalia #MutoidMan #NightCrowned #OkGoodnight #SacredOutcry #SanguineGlacialis #Scaphoid #SentynelSAndTwelveSTopTenIshOf2023 #Sermon #Sodomisery #Suotana #Svalbard #TheOcean #TheOtolith #Theocracy #Tribunal #VanishingKids #ViennaTeng #Wayfarer
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Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum Review
By Alekhines Gun
The first time I gave Ordo Diabolicum, the third album from international outfit Aran Angmar, a full listen, I was in the car, ruing an upcoming 12-hour day at work. The sun beat down with mockery, telling me I should be at the beach. The skyline shimmered in radiant beauty, while the birds sang songs about how every day was a day off when you’re unemployed. Suddenly, the absolute bejeebus was scared out of me as an ambulance went screaming by, sirens blasting and throttle abused to such a melodic cacophony that I watched in atypical enthrallment as it careened between the traffic ahead and disappeared behind the second star to the right. Glancing down, I noticed the name of the song escorting the ambulance towards its destination: “Chariots of Death.” I can’t say how much that experience colored my perception of the album, but I can say is this: Aran Angmar delivered an absolute tooth-and-claw-covered beast of a record that is not to be missed.
The Ordo of Diabolicum is immediacy. Across eight tracks, Aran Angmar unleash more hooks than a fisherman’s erotica, with melodic runs, choruses, and catchiness to flay eardrums and boil blood. Eschewing the more tinny, underproduced sound of second wave in favor of a much more immediate, thicccboi Hellenic sound, every cut hits with fist-pumping flair. Using the riff game of older Uada with the vocal stylings of a much more death-inclined band, Aran Angmar offers up an album that, serious artwork aside, sounds far less inclined to the darkness and more bent towards sacrifice and courage. Moments ranging from the vaguely pirate metal crowd calling bop in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar”1 to the enticingly heavy carrion splattering chug fest of the title track “Ordo Diabolicum” usher listeners from one slab of glory to another, each delivered with flair and flourish.
Enhancing Ordo Diabolicum is a heavy bent towards Mediterranean and Nordic instrumentation and texture. Surprisingly, this doesn’t come off as a cheap gimmick, but instead lends the choruses and hooks their own flavor. Kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” rocks a clean vocal wail of a line2 which has no right to be as infectious as it is, lifting an already mighty chorus to new heights. “Aeon Ablaze” tinkers with Nile-style interludes by way of modern Mystifier ritualistic chants. “Primordial Fire” boasts a host of guest instruments3 which transitions into a bounce reminiscent of Labyrinthus Stellarum doing a folk metal cover. This commitment to diverse instrumentation beyond a mere contrivance for an easy tune pays massive dividends and keeps track after track refreshing and engaging.
All of this would be for naught if the album sounded wack. Mercifully, Aran Angmar avoid such a pitfall, with each performance on Ordo Diabolicum sounding crisp and sharp. The vocals of Lord Abagor are nasty, opting for an unusually guttural approach with a double-tracked higher shriek, channeling the swagger of Amon Amarth (particularly in closing song “Vae Victis”) with the menace of Immolation. Guitar lines from Mahees are piercing and rapturous, with clean tones erupting from hazy blasted trems. Leads are gorgeous and triumphant, with harmonized melodies in “Chariots of Fire” and a beautiful solo in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar” standing tall among a litany of sing-along worthy licks and highlights. Alessandro Cupi’s drums are well placed; while never doing anything out of the ordinary, they come with thunder and thunk, adding heft and weight without ever overpowering the music on display.
We’ve arrived at the concluding paragraph, and I suddenly realize I’ve yet to heap scorn on much of anything. I suppose if I squint a bit, some of the atmospheric interludes don’t need to be as long as they are. The intro to “Crown of the Gods” sounds like a bit of an anticlimax compared to the rest of the album’s attention-gathering intros. And yet, I’m not sure I truly believe such ideas. Every time I’ve spun this album I’ve been left with a big dorky grin on my face, invisible oranges clutched firmly in bent palms, utterly and inarguably smitten. Aran Angmar have unleashed an album that has been an absolute joy to listen to, and a first contender for my end-of-year list. Get in on the Ordo while you can.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: facebook.com/aranangmar | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025#2025 #40 #AmonAmarth #AranAngmar #BlackMetal #Immolation #InternationalMetal #LabrinthusStellarum #Mar25 #Mystifier #Nile #OrdoDiabolicum #Review #Reviews #SoulsellerRecords #Uada
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Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum Review
By Alekhines Gun
The first time I gave Ordo Diabolicum, the third album from international outfit Aran Angmar, a full listen, I was in the car, ruing an upcoming 12-hour day at work. The sun beat down with mockery, telling me I should be at the beach. The skyline shimmered in radiant beauty, while the birds sang songs about how every day was a day off when you’re unemployed. Suddenly, the absolute bejeebus was scared out of me as an ambulance went screaming by, sirens blasting and throttle abused to such a melodic cacophony that I watched in atypical enthrallment as it careened between the traffic ahead and disappeared behind the second star to the right. Glancing down, I noticed the name of the song escorting the ambulance towards its destination: “Chariots of Death.” I can’t say how much that experience colored my perception of the album, but I can say is this: Aran Angmar delivered an absolute tooth-and-claw-covered beast of a record that is not to be missed.
The Ordo of Diabolicum is immediacy. Across eight tracks, Aran Angmar unleash more hooks than a fisherman’s erotica, with melodic runs, choruses, and catchiness to flay eardrums and boil blood. Eschewing the more tinny, underproduced sound of second wave in favor of a much more immediate, thicccboi Hellenic sound, every cut hits with fist-pumping flair. Using the riff game of older Uada with the vocal stylings of a much more death-inclined band, Aran Angmar offers up an album that, serious artwork aside, sounds far less inclined to the darkness and more bent towards sacrifice and courage. Moments ranging from the vaguely pirate metal crowd calling bop in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar”1 to the enticingly heavy carrion splattering chug fest of the title track “Ordo Diabolicum” usher listeners from one slab of glory to another, each delivered with flair and flourish.
Enhancing Ordo Diabolicum is a heavy bent towards Mediterranean and Nordic instrumentation and texture. Surprisingly, this doesn’t come off as a cheap gimmick, but instead lends the choruses and hooks their own flavor. Kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” rocks a clean vocal wail of a line2 which has no right to be as infectious as it is, lifting an already mighty chorus to new heights. “Aeon Ablaze” tinkers with Nile-style interludes by way of modern Mystifier ritualistic chants. “Primordial Fire” boasts a host of guest instruments3 which transitions into a bounce reminiscent of Labyrinthus Stellarum doing a folk metal cover. This commitment to diverse instrumentation beyond a mere contrivance for an easy tune pays massive dividends and keeps track after track refreshing and engaging.
All of this would be for naught if the album sounded wack. Mercifully, Aran Angmar avoid such a pitfall, with each performance on Ordo Diabolicum sounding crisp and sharp. The vocals of Lord Abagor are nasty, opting for an unusually guttural approach with a double-tracked higher shriek, channeling the swagger of Amon Amarth (particularly in closing song “Vae Victis”) with the menace of Immolation. Guitar lines from Mahees are piercing and rapturous, with clean tones erupting from hazy blasted trems. Leads are gorgeous and triumphant, with harmonized melodies in “Chariots of Fire” and a beautiful solo in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar” standing tall among a litany of sing-along worthy licks and highlights. Alessandro Cupi’s drums are well placed; while never doing anything out of the ordinary, they come with thunder and thunk, adding heft and weight without ever overpowering the music on display.
We’ve arrived at the concluding paragraph, and I suddenly realize I’ve yet to heap scorn on much of anything. I suppose if I squint a bit, some of the atmospheric interludes don’t need to be as long as they are. The intro to “Crown of the Gods” sounds like a bit of an anticlimax compared to the rest of the album’s attention-gathering intros. And yet, I’m not sure I truly believe such ideas. Every time I’ve spun this album I’ve been left with a big dorky grin on my face, invisible oranges clutched firmly in bent palms, utterly and inarguably smitten. Aran Angmar have unleashed an album that has been an absolute joy to listen to, and a first contender for my end-of-year list. Get in on the Ordo while you can.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: facebook.com/aranangmar | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025#2025 #40 #AmonAmarth #AranAngmar #BlackMetal #Immolation #InternationalMetal #LabrinthusStellarum #Mar25 #Mystifier #Nile #OrdoDiabolicum #Review #Reviews #SoulsellerRecords #Uada
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Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum Review
By Alekhines Gun
The first time I gave Ordo Diabolicum, the third album from international outfit Aran Angmar, a full listen, I was in the car, ruing an upcoming 12-hour day at work. The sun beat down with mockery, telling me I should be at the beach. The skyline shimmered in radiant beauty, while the birds sang songs about how every day was a day off when you’re unemployed. Suddenly, the absolute bejeebus was scared out of me as an ambulance went screaming by, sirens blasting and throttle abused to such a melodic cacophony that I watched in atypical enthrallment as it careened between the traffic ahead and disappeared behind the second star to the right. Glancing down, I noticed the name of the song escorting the ambulance towards its destination: “Chariots of Death.” I can’t say how much that experience colored my perception of the album, but I can say is this: Aran Angmar delivered an absolute tooth-and-claw-covered beast of a record that is not to be missed.
The Ordo of Diabolicum is immediacy. Across eight tracks, Aran Angmar unleash more hooks than a fisherman’s erotica, with melodic runs, choruses, and catchiness to flay eardrums and boil blood. Eschewing the more tinny, underproduced sound of second wave in favor of a much more immediate, thicccboi Hellenic sound, every cut hits with fist-pumping flair. Using the riff game of older Uada with the vocal stylings of a much more death-inclined band, Aran Angmar offers up an album that, serious artwork aside, sounds far less inclined to the darkness and more bent towards sacrifice and courage. Moments ranging from the vaguely pirate metal crowd calling bop in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar”1 to the enticingly heavy carrion splattering chug fest of the title track “Ordo Diabolicum” usher listeners from one slab of glory to another, each delivered with flair and flourish.
Enhancing Ordo Diabolicum is a heavy bent towards Mediterranean and Nordic instrumentation and texture. Surprisingly, this doesn’t come off as a cheap gimmick, but instead lends the choruses and hooks their own flavor. Kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” rocks a clean vocal wail of a line2 which has no right to be as infectious as it is, lifting an already mighty chorus to new heights. “Aeon Ablaze” tinkers with Nile-style interludes by way of modern Mystifier ritualistic chants. “Primordial Fire” boasts a host of guest instruments3 which transitions into a bounce reminiscent of Labyrinthus Stellarum doing a folk metal cover. This commitment to diverse instrumentation beyond a mere contrivance for an easy tune pays massive dividends and keeps track after track refreshing and engaging.
All of this would be for naught if the album sounded wack. Mercifully, Aran Angmar avoid such a pitfall, with each performance on Ordo Diabolicum sounding crisp and sharp. The vocals of Lord Abagor are nasty, opting for an unusually guttural approach with a double-tracked higher shriek, channeling the swagger of Amon Amarth (particularly in closing song “Vae Victis”) with the menace of Immolation. Guitar lines from Mahees are piercing and rapturous, with clean tones erupting from hazy blasted trems. Leads are gorgeous and triumphant, with harmonized melodies in “Chariots of Fire” and a beautiful solo in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar” standing tall among a litany of sing-along worthy licks and highlights. Alessandro Cupi’s drums are well placed; while never doing anything out of the ordinary, they come with thunder and thunk, adding heft and weight without ever overpowering the music on display.
We’ve arrived at the concluding paragraph, and I suddenly realize I’ve yet to heap scorn on much of anything. I suppose if I squint a bit, some of the atmospheric interludes don’t need to be as long as they are. The intro to “Crown of the Gods” sounds like a bit of an anticlimax compared to the rest of the album’s attention-gathering intros. And yet, I’m not sure I truly believe such ideas. Every time I’ve spun this album I’ve been left with a big dorky grin on my face, invisible oranges clutched firmly in bent palms, utterly and inarguably smitten. Aran Angmar have unleashed an album that has been an absolute joy to listen to, and a first contender for my end-of-year list. Get in on the Ordo while you can.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: facebook.com/aranangmar | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025#2025 #40 #AmonAmarth #AranAngmar #BlackMetal #Immolation #InternationalMetal #LabrinthusStellarum #Mar25 #Mystifier #Nile #OrdoDiabolicum #Review #Reviews #SoulsellerRecords #Uada
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Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum Review
By Alekhines Gun
The first time I gave Ordo Diabolicum, the third album from international outfit Aran Angmar, a full listen, I was in the car, ruing an upcoming 12-hour day at work. The sun beat down with mockery, telling me I should be at the beach. The skyline shimmered in radiant beauty, while the birds sang songs about how every day was a day off when you’re unemployed. Suddenly, the absolute bejeebus was scared out of me as an ambulance went screaming by, sirens blasting and throttle abused to such a melodic cacophony that I watched in atypical enthrallment as it careened between the traffic ahead and disappeared behind the second star to the right. Glancing down, I noticed the name of the song escorting the ambulance towards its destination: “Chariots of Death.” I can’t say how much that experience colored my perception of the album, but I can say is this: Aran Angmar delivered an absolute tooth-and-claw-covered beast of a record that is not to be missed.
The Ordo of Diabolicum is immediacy. Across eight tracks, Aran Angmar unleash more hooks than a fisherman’s erotica, with melodic runs, choruses, and catchiness to flay eardrums and boil blood. Eschewing the more tinny, underproduced sound of second wave in favor of a much more immediate, thicccboi Hellenic sound, every cut hits with fist-pumping flair. Using the riff game of older Uada with the vocal stylings of a much more death-inclined band, Aran Angmar offers up an album that, serious artwork aside, sounds far less inclined to the darkness and more bent towards sacrifice and courage. Moments ranging from the vaguely pirate metal crowd calling bop in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar”1 to the enticingly heavy carrion splattering chug fest of the title track “Ordo Diabolicum” usher listeners from one slab of glory to another, each delivered with flair and flourish.
Enhancing Ordo Diabolicum is a heavy bent towards Mediterranean and Nordic instrumentation and texture. Surprisingly, this doesn’t come off as a cheap gimmick, but instead lends the choruses and hooks their own flavor. Kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” rocks a clean vocal wail of a line2 which has no right to be as infectious as it is, lifting an already mighty chorus to new heights. “Aeon Ablaze” tinkers with Nile-style interludes by way of modern Mystifier ritualistic chants. “Primordial Fire” boasts a host of guest instruments3 which transitions into a bounce reminiscent of Labyrinthus Stellarum doing a folk metal cover. This commitment to diverse instrumentation beyond a mere contrivance for an easy tune pays massive dividends and keeps track after track refreshing and engaging.
All of this would be for naught if the album sounded wack. Mercifully, Aran Angmar avoid such a pitfall, with each performance on Ordo Diabolicum sounding crisp and sharp. The vocals of Lord Abagor are nasty, opting for an unusually guttural approach with a double-tracked higher shriek, channeling the swagger of Amon Amarth (particularly in closing song “Vae Victis”) with the menace of Immolation. Guitar lines from Mahees are piercing and rapturous, with clean tones erupting from hazy blasted trems. Leads are gorgeous and triumphant, with harmonized melodies in “Chariots of Fire” and a beautiful solo in “Hêlēl ben-Šaḥar” standing tall among a litany of sing-along worthy licks and highlights. Alessandro Cupi’s drums are well placed; while never doing anything out of the ordinary, they come with thunder and thunk, adding heft and weight without ever overpowering the music on display.
We’ve arrived at the concluding paragraph, and I suddenly realize I’ve yet to heap scorn on much of anything. I suppose if I squint a bit, some of the atmospheric interludes don’t need to be as long as they are. The intro to “Crown of the Gods” sounds like a bit of an anticlimax compared to the rest of the album’s attention-gathering intros. And yet, I’m not sure I truly believe such ideas. Every time I’ve spun this album I’ve been left with a big dorky grin on my face, invisible oranges clutched firmly in bent palms, utterly and inarguably smitten. Aran Angmar have unleashed an album that has been an absolute joy to listen to, and a first contender for my end-of-year list. Get in on the Ordo while you can.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: facebook.com/aranangmar | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025#2025 #40 #AmonAmarth #AranAngmar #BlackMetal #Immolation #InternationalMetal #LabrinthusStellarum #Mar25 #Mystifier #Nile #OrdoDiabolicum #Review #Reviews #SoulsellerRecords #Uada
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Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes Review By Dr. A.N. Grier
If you know anything about grumpy ole Grier, you know he’s been dry-humping Bizarrekult ever since 2021’s Vi Overlevde. “Dry-humping” might not be the correct term. Maybe passionate lovemaking? Yeah, that’s the stuff. But, in all seriousness, this little band came out of nowhere and has been making waves in such a short time. While the debut had me glued to my seat, the follow-up, Den Tapte Krigen, damn-near bolted me down—to the point that I had to cut myself out of my pants to break free. If that had been the band’s swansong, I would have been just fine for the rest of my life. But Bizarrekult is back to ruin another pair of my pants. Behold! Alt Som Finnes!
Before we begin, let’s explore some of the new additions Bizarre and co. have brought to the table with this new outing. While the general structure of the output remains the same, the approach can vary. Joining the ranks of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Alcestian meloblack, and Enslaved-like intricacies are three guest vocalists: Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (Dødheimsgard), Lina (Cross Bringer, Predatory Void), and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl, The Arcane Order). I’m not sure whether the songs were created with the guests in mind or whether they evolved during the songwriting process, but each song was made for its guest. Each with a gentle, clean vocal style, you can expect some of the most melodic, gorgeous accompaniment in the Bizarrekult’s repertoire. And besides Sternkopf’s contribution to the closing “Tomhet,” this song is also the first ever to be penned in English. Not that we metalheads have an issue with songs in a country’s native language, unlike the rest of the mainstream poser fucks. But it’s a nice addition.
Alt Som Finnes by Bizarrekult
Alt Som Finnes kicks off with a surprising piece in the form of “Hun.” Mostly surprising in its simplicity and short runtime. Alternating between clean and distorted vocals and ripping blackened riffs, this track only whets the whistle—nothing more and nothing less. Which leaves me wanting more before “Blikket Hennes” slaps the fuck out of me like a cat who hasn’t received its treats. This track has a thick bass, unsettling old-school black metal dissonance, venomous Aldrahn-like growls, and a trudging pace slowed by tar. Then, it collapses into a gorgeous atmosphere as Parvez’s beautiful vocals hit hard and crush the olde ticker like it’s made of parchment.
There are so many reliable tracks that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. That said, “Avmakt” is a beautiful piece with one of the most memorable black metal licks I’ve heard in some time. And not because it’s thrash, death, or any other sort of approach, but because it’s a killer true black metal riff. As the song progresses, the melodies expand like an ever-growing blanket that settles over mountains and valleys, like giants slumbering below the fabric. It’s one of those songs that proves you don’t need the beauty of the clean vocals of “Blikket Hennes” to achieve the same task. While there are others in the same vein as “Avmakt,” “Aversjon” takes it to another level with its influences. Opening with slow-moving melodics and sorrowful sustains, it quickly goes dark, slithering below the Earthly strains like a viper. But, like a miracle at the darkest of times, an uplifting, Alcest-like air breathes over—pushing deep and far, even into Enslaved-esque prog-tivity.
On first spin, Alt Som Finnes is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that, even though it’s not uncommon for Bizarrekult to instill, leave me completely crippled by the end. Outside of the surprisingly two-pump Chuck that is “Hun,” the rest weave together while many still try to resist the tempting urge to give in and conform to the predictable fabric patterns. Instead, you have a glowing blanket that is also scorched and tattered beyond repair. Though it remains intact, when touched, it feels both gentle and painful at the same time. It’s a conflicting album in its tone but not in its delivery, and the intricacies of this slow burner try hard to topple Den Tapte Krigen from its perch. Who knows where it’ll stand in time, but, regardless, this new outing is a worthy addition to the Bizarrekult family.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
#2026 #40 #Alcest #AltSomFinnes #Bizarrekult #BlackMetal #CrossBringer #Dödheimsgard #Enslaved #Feb26 #Møl #NorwegianMetal #PredatoryVoid #ProgressiveBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistUndergroundActivists #TheArcaneOrder
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Websites: bizarrekult.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/bizarrekult
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026 -
Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes Review By Dr. A.N. Grier
If you know anything about grumpy ole Grier, you know he’s been dry-humping Bizarrekult ever since 2021’s Vi Overlevde. “Dry-humping” might not be the correct term. Maybe passionate lovemaking? Yeah, that’s the stuff. But, in all seriousness, this little band came out of nowhere and has been making waves in such a short time. While the debut had me glued to my seat, the follow-up, Den Tapte Krigen, damn-near bolted me down—to the point that I had to cut myself out of my pants to break free. If that had been the band’s swansong, I would have been just fine for the rest of my life. But Bizarrekult is back to ruin another pair of my pants. Behold! Alt Som Finnes!
Before we begin, let’s explore some of the new additions Bizarre and co. have brought to the table with this new outing. While the general structure of the output remains the same, the approach can vary. Joining the ranks of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Alcestian meloblack, and Enslaved-like intricacies are three guest vocalists: Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (Dødheimsgard), Lina (Cross Bringer, Predatory Void), and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl, The Arcane Order). I’m not sure whether the songs were created with the guests in mind or whether they evolved during the songwriting process, but each song was made for its guest. Each with a gentle, clean vocal style, you can expect some of the most melodic, gorgeous accompaniment in the Bizarrekult’s repertoire. And besides Sternkopf’s contribution to the closing “Tomhet,” this song is also the first ever to be penned in English. Not that we metalheads have an issue with songs in a country’s native language, unlike the rest of the mainstream poser fucks. But it’s a nice addition.
Alt Som Finnes by Bizarrekult
Alt Som Finnes kicks off with a surprising piece in the form of “Hun.” Mostly surprising in its simplicity and short runtime. Alternating between clean and distorted vocals and ripping blackened riffs, this track only whets the whistle—nothing more and nothing less. Which leaves me wanting more before “Blikket Hennes” slaps the fuck out of me like a cat who hasn’t received its treats. This track has a thick bass, unsettling old-school black metal dissonance, venomous Aldrahn-like growls, and a trudging pace slowed by tar. Then, it collapses into a gorgeous atmosphere as Parvez’s beautiful vocals hit hard and crush the olde ticker like it’s made of parchment.
There are so many reliable tracks that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. That said, “Avmakt” is a beautiful piece with one of the most memorable black metal licks I’ve heard in some time. And not because it’s thrash, death, or any other sort of approach, but because it’s a killer true black metal riff. As the song progresses, the melodies expand like an ever-growing blanket that settles over mountains and valleys, like giants slumbering below the fabric. It’s one of those songs that proves you don’t need the beauty of the clean vocals of “Blikket Hennes” to achieve the same task. While there are others in the same vein as “Avmakt,” “Aversjon” takes it to another level with its influences. Opening with slow-moving melodics and sorrowful sustains, it quickly goes dark, slithering below the Earthly strains like a viper. But, like a miracle at the darkest of times, an uplifting, Alcest-like air breathes over—pushing deep and far, even into Enslaved-esque prog-tivity.
On first spin, Alt Som Finnes is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that, even though it’s not uncommon for Bizarrekult to instill, leave me completely crippled by the end. Outside of the surprisingly two-pump Chuck that is “Hun,” the rest weave together while many still try to resist the tempting urge to give in and conform to the predictable fabric patterns. Instead, you have a glowing blanket that is also scorched and tattered beyond repair. Though it remains intact, when touched, it feels both gentle and painful at the same time. It’s a conflicting album in its tone but not in its delivery, and the intricacies of this slow burner try hard to topple Den Tapte Krigen from its perch. Who knows where it’ll stand in time, but, regardless, this new outing is a worthy addition to the Bizarrekult family.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
#2026 #40 #Alcest #AltSomFinnes #Bizarrekult #BlackMetal #CrossBringer #Dödheimsgard #Enslaved #Feb26 #Møl #NorwegianMetal #PredatoryVoid #ProgressiveBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistUndergroundActivists #TheArcaneOrder
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Websites: bizarrekult.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/bizarrekult
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026 -
Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes Review By Dr. A.N. Grier
If you know anything about grumpy ole Grier, you know he’s been dry-humping Bizarrekult ever since 2021’s Vi Overlevde. “Dry-humping” might not be the correct term. Maybe passionate lovemaking? Yeah, that’s the stuff. But, in all seriousness, this little band came out of nowhere and has been making waves in such a short time. While the debut had me glued to my seat, the follow-up, Den Tapte Krigen, damn-near bolted me down—to the point that I had to cut myself out of my pants to break free. If that had been the band’s swansong, I would have been just fine for the rest of my life. But Bizarrekult is back to ruin another pair of my pants. Behold! Alt Som Finnes!
Before we begin, let’s explore some of the new additions Bizarre and co. have brought to the table with this new outing. While the general structure of the output remains the same, the approach can vary. Joining the ranks of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Alcestian meloblack, and Enslaved-like intricacies are three guest vocalists: Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (Dødheimsgard), Lina (Cross Bringer, Predatory Void), and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl, The Arcane Order). I’m not sure whether the songs were created with the guests in mind or whether they evolved during the songwriting process, but each song was made for its guest. Each with a gentle, clean vocal style, you can expect some of the most melodic, gorgeous accompaniment in the Bizarrekult’s repertoire. And besides Sternkopf’s contribution to the closing “Tomhet,” this song is also the first ever to be penned in English. Not that we metalheads have an issue with songs in a country’s native language, unlike the rest of the mainstream poser fucks. But it’s a nice addition.
Alt Som Finnes by Bizarrekult
Alt Som Finnes kicks off with a surprising piece in the form of “Hun.” Mostly surprising in its simplicity and short runtime. Alternating between clean and distorted vocals and ripping blackened riffs, this track only whets the whistle—nothing more and nothing less. Which leaves me wanting more before “Blikket Hennes” slaps the fuck out of me like a cat who hasn’t received its treats. This track has a thick bass, unsettling old-school black metal dissonance, venomous Aldrahn-like growls, and a trudging pace slowed by tar. Then, it collapses into a gorgeous atmosphere as Parvez’s beautiful vocals hit hard and crush the olde ticker like it’s made of parchment.
There are so many reliable tracks that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. That said, “Avmakt” is a beautiful piece with one of the most memorable black metal licks I’ve heard in some time. And not because it’s thrash, death, or any other sort of approach, but because it’s a killer true black metal riff. As the song progresses, the melodies expand like an ever-growing blanket that settles over mountains and valleys, like giants slumbering below the fabric. It’s one of those songs that proves you don’t need the beauty of the clean vocals of “Blikket Hennes” to achieve the same task. While there are others in the same vein as “Avmakt,” “Aversjon” takes it to another level with its influences. Opening with slow-moving melodics and sorrowful sustains, it quickly goes dark, slithering below the Earthly strains like a viper. But, like a miracle at the darkest of times, an uplifting, Alcest-like air breathes over—pushing deep and far, even into Enslaved-esque prog-tivity.
On first spin, Alt Som Finnes is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that, even though it’s not uncommon for Bizarrekult to instill, leave me completely crippled by the end. Outside of the surprisingly two-pump Chuck that is “Hun,” the rest weave together while many still try to resist the tempting urge to give in and conform to the predictable fabric patterns. Instead, you have a glowing blanket that is also scorched and tattered beyond repair. Though it remains intact, when touched, it feels both gentle and painful at the same time. It’s a conflicting album in its tone but not in its delivery, and the intricacies of this slow burner try hard to topple Den Tapte Krigen from its perch. Who knows where it’ll stand in time, but, regardless, this new outing is a worthy addition to the Bizarrekult family.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
#2026 #40 #Alcest #AltSomFinnes #Bizarrekult #BlackMetal #CrossBringer #Dödheimsgard #Enslaved #Feb26 #Møl #NorwegianMetal #PredatoryVoid #ProgressiveBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistUndergroundActivists #TheArcaneOrder
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Websites: bizarrekult.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/bizarrekult
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026 -
Bizarrekult – Alt Som Finnes Review By Dr. A.N. Grier
If you know anything about grumpy ole Grier, you know he’s been dry-humping Bizarrekult ever since 2021’s Vi Overlevde. “Dry-humping” might not be the correct term. Maybe passionate lovemaking? Yeah, that’s the stuff. But, in all seriousness, this little band came out of nowhere and has been making waves in such a short time. While the debut had me glued to my seat, the follow-up, Den Tapte Krigen, damn-near bolted me down—to the point that I had to cut myself out of my pants to break free. If that had been the band’s swansong, I would have been just fine for the rest of my life. But Bizarrekult is back to ruin another pair of my pants. Behold! Alt Som Finnes!
Before we begin, let’s explore some of the new additions Bizarre and co. have brought to the table with this new outing. While the general structure of the output remains the same, the approach can vary. Joining the ranks of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Alcestian meloblack, and Enslaved-like intricacies are three guest vocalists: Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (Dødheimsgard), Lina (Cross Burner, Predatory Void), and Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl, The Arcane Order). I’m not sure whether the songs were created with the guests in mind or whether they evolved during the songwriting process, but each song was made for its guest. Each with a gentle, clean vocal style, you can expect some of the most melodic, gorgeous accompaniment in the Bizarrekult’s repertoire. And besides Sternkopf’s contribution to the closing “Tomhet,” this song is also the first ever to be penned in English. Not that we metalheads have an issue with songs in a country’s native language, unlike the rest of the mainstream poser fucks. But it’s a nice addition.
Alt Som Finnes by Bizarrekult
Alt Som Finnes kicks off with a surprising piece in the form of “Hun.” Mostly surprising in its simplicity and short runtime. Alternating between clean and distorted vocals and ripping blackened riffs, this track only whets the whistle—nothing more and nothing less. Which leaves me wanting more before “Blikket Hennes” slaps the fuck out of me like a cat who hasn’t received its treats. This track has a thick bass, unsettling old-school black metal dissonance, venomous Aldrahn-like growls, and a trudging pace slowed by tar. Then, it collapses into a gorgeous atmosphere as Parvez’s beautiful vocals hit hard and crush the olde ticker like it’s made of parchment.
There are so many reliable tracks that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. That said, “Avmakt” is a beautiful piece with one of the most memorable black metal licks I’ve heard in some time. And not because it’s thrash, death, or any other sort of approach, but because it’s a killer true black metal riff. As the song progresses, the melodies expand like an ever-growing blanket that settles over mountains and valleys, like giants slumbering below the fabric. It’s one of those songs that proves you don’t need the beauty of the clean vocals of “Blikket Hennes” to achieve the same task. While there are others in the same vein as “Avmakt,” “Aversjon” takes it to another level with its influences. Opening with slow-moving melodics and sorrowful sustains, it quickly goes dark, slithering below the Earthly strains like a viper. But, like a miracle at the darkest of times, an uplifting, Alcest-like air breathes over—pushing deep and far, even into Enslaved-esque prog-tivity.
On first spin, Alt Som Finnes is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that, even though it’s not uncommon for Bizarrekult to instill, leave me completely crippled by the end. Outside of the surprisingly two-pump Chuck that is “Hun,” the rest weave together while many still try to resist the tempting urge to give in and conform to the predictable fabric patterns. Instead, you have a glowing blanket that is also scorched and tattered beyond repair. Though it remains intact, when touched, it feels both gentle and painful at the same time. It’s a conflicting album in its tone but not in its delivery, and the intricacies of this slow burner try hard to topple Den Tapte Krigen from its perch. Who knows where it’ll stand in time, but, regardless, this new outing is a worthy addition to the Bizarrekult family.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
#2026 #40 #Alcest #AltSomFinnes #Bizarrekult #BlackMetal #CrossBurner #Dödheimsgard #Enslaved #Feb26 #Møl #NorwegianMetal #PredatoryVoid #ProgressiveBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistUndergroundActivists #TheArcaneOrder
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Websites: bizarrekult.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/bizarrekult
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026 -
Spotted this beauty last night…
The mighty Hillman Imp — my parents’ first car back in the late ’60s.
Rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive too… a layout shared with the Porsche 911. Just with slightly less oomph (and a much smaller price tag).
Once a common sight on British roads: affordable, economical, compact and full of charm and character.
Now a much rarer sight.
#HillmanImp #ClassicCar #VintageCars #CarSpotting #IsleOfWight
-
Spotted this beauty last night…
The mighty Hillman Imp — my parents’ first car back in the late ’60s.
Rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive too… a layout shared with the Porsche 911. Just with slightly less oomph (and a much smaller price tag).
Once a common sight on British roads: affordable, economical, compact and full of charm and character.
Now a much rarer sight.
#HillmanImp #ClassicCar #VintageCars #CarSpotting #IsleOfWight
-
By Maddog
Determined to explode my word count while safeguarding my character count, K L P S is a familiar band with an unfamiliar name. The band’s 2023 debut Phantom Centre, released under the name Kollaps\e, got stuck in our filter before I yanked it out. Phantom Centre’s sludgy mix of atmosphere and eighteen-wheeler riffs made it concise and compelling, albeit one-track. Two years on, K L P S sees Sweden’s sludgers drop a backslash and four letters while adding even chunkier riffs, more atmosphere, and three non-breaking spaces.1 After an already-promising start, K L P S has taken one leap closer to being a titan of their genre.
K L P S takes Phantom Centre’s measurements and doubles each one. The riffs are bigger, with distorted rhythmic explosions that recall LLNN. Conversely, even these heavier sections come drenched in post-hardcore sorrow. Adding to the soup, K L P S’ use of chunky riffwork to build meditative atmospheres resembles stoner sludge acts like Dvne. While K L P S has amped up their extremity, K L P S’ softer pieces step up as well. The album’s sparser passages, often featuring just simple guitar melodies and ritualistic drum beats, add stark contrast to its heavyweights. Although K L P S is less rhythmic and bass-focused than Phantom Centre, it magnifies nearly every other dimension of its predecessor. The resulting record bears the familiar markers of sludge, but accentuates them all to avoid fading into irrelevance.
K L P S’ blend of heft and emotion makes every track a highlight. The album’s hulking riffs harness sludge’s power while eschewing its typical laziness, tethering themselves to ominous, infectious melodies (“Undertow”). Aided by blackened motifs, even these heavy segments ooze pathos (“Subverse”). K L P S’ descents into minimalism stand in stark musical contrast but embody the same strengths, using subtle melodic tweaks to both hypnotize and grip the listener (“Katarsis”). The record’s greatest triumph is that it never treats these diverse elements as mutually exclusive. The sections that blur the line between heart and muscle show off the best that K L P S has to offer, like the interplay of meditative guitars, post-rock ambience, and climactic riffcraft on “Tribulation.” Like Amenra before them, K L P S wields beauty and brawn in ways that are at once worlds apart and inextricable.
Although K L P S remains interesting throughout, its tracks bleed together over several listens. The album’s six songs have similar lengths and lean into similar styles, without a clear sense of evolution or climax in the tracklist. While each song navigates deftly between serene minimalism and sludgy cacophony, this style grows stale by the end. K L P S’ production choices magnify this feeling; although each instrumental line shines through, the loud master and the muddled sludge riffs make K L P S seem more repetitive than it really is. Still, these are faint splotches on an otherwise impressive record. Given its tempered 43-minute runtime, K L P S never threatens to lose my interest altogether. And when the album does prioritize buildup and climax, the results are spectacular. The closer “Aureola” takes the cake, using powerful melodies to anchor the listener before building up into oblivion and then back down into cathartic quiet. K L P S would benefit from more of this continuity overall.
K L P S has improved upon their debut on nearly every axis. While Phantom Centre was already a breath of fresh air in a moldy genre, K L P S steps up its riffs, its ambience, and its emotional weight. Displaying an uncanny level of maturity, K L P S’ sophomore release shines by blending these elements into a heady brand of sludge where the riffs have soul and the atmosphere has grit. While I wish K L P S had more ebb and flow as an album, its masterful songs keep me coming back for more. Even skeptics of sludge and post-metal owe this hidden gem a listen.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: These Hands Melt
Websites: kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/kollapsemusik
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025#2025 #35 #Amenra #Dvne #KLPS #Kollapse #LLNN #Mar25 #PostHardcore #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge #SwedishMetal #TheseHandsMelt
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By Maddog
Determined to explode my word count while safeguarding my character count, K L P S is a familiar band with an unfamiliar name. The band’s 2023 debut Phantom Centre, released under the name Kollaps\e, got stuck in our filter before I yanked it out. Phantom Centre’s sludgy mix of atmosphere and eighteen-wheeler riffs made it concise and compelling, albeit one-track. Two years on, K L P S sees Sweden’s sludgers drop a backslash and four letters while adding even chunkier riffs, more atmosphere, and three non-breaking spaces.1 After an already-promising start, K L P S has taken one leap closer to being a titan of their genre.
K L P S takes Phantom Centre’s measurements and doubles each one. The riffs are bigger, with distorted rhythmic explosions that recall LLNN. Conversely, even these heavier sections come drenched in post-hardcore sorrow. Adding to the soup, K L P S’ use of chunky riffwork to build meditative atmospheres resembles stoner sludge acts like Dvne. While K L P S has amped up their extremity, K L P S’ softer pieces step up as well. The album’s sparser passages, often featuring just simple guitar melodies and ritualistic drum beats, add stark contrast to its heavyweights. Although K L P S is less rhythmic and bass-focused than Phantom Centre, it magnifies nearly every other dimension of its predecessor. The resulting record bears the familiar markers of sludge, but accentuates them all to avoid fading into irrelevance.
K L P S’ blend of heft and emotion makes every track a highlight. The album’s hulking riffs harness sludge’s power while eschewing its typical laziness, tethering themselves to ominous, infectious melodies (“Undertow”). Aided by blackened motifs, even these heavy segments ooze pathos (“Subverse”). K L P S’ descents into minimalism stand in stark musical contrast but embody the same strengths, using subtle melodic tweaks to both hypnotize and grip the listener (“Katarsis”). The record’s greatest triumph is that it never treats these diverse elements as mutually exclusive. The sections that blur the line between heart and muscle show off the best that K L P S has to offer, like the interplay of meditative guitars, post-rock ambience, and climactic riffcraft on “Tribulation.” Like Amenra before them, K L P S wields beauty and brawn in ways that are at once worlds apart and inextricable.
Although K L P S remains interesting throughout, its tracks bleed together over several listens. The album’s six songs have similar lengths and lean into similar styles, without a clear sense of evolution or climax in the tracklist. While each song navigates deftly between serene minimalism and sludgy cacophony, this style grows stale by the end. K L P S’ production choices magnify this feeling; although each instrumental line shines through, the loud master and the muddled sludge riffs make K L P S seem more repetitive than it really is. Still, these are faint splotches on an otherwise impressive record. Given its tempered 43-minute runtime, K L P S never threatens to lose my interest altogether. And when the album does prioritize buildup and climax, the results are spectacular. The closer “Aureola” takes the cake, using powerful melodies to anchor the listener before building up into oblivion and then back down into cathartic quiet. K L P S would benefit from more of this continuity overall.
K L P S has improved upon their debut on nearly every axis. While Phantom Centre was already a breath of fresh air in a moldy genre, K L P S steps up its riffs, its ambience, and its emotional weight. Displaying an uncanny level of maturity, K L P S’ sophomore release shines by blending these elements into a heady brand of sludge where the riffs have soul and the atmosphere has grit. While I wish K L P S had more ebb and flow as an album, its masterful songs keep me coming back for more. Even skeptics of sludge and post-metal owe this hidden gem a listen.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: These Hands Melt
Websites: kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/kollapsemusik
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025#2025 #35 #Amenra #Dvne #KLPS #Kollapse #LLNN #Mar25 #PostHardcore #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge #SwedishMetal #TheseHandsMelt
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By Maddog
Determined to explode my word count while safeguarding my character count, K L P S is a familiar band with an unfamiliar name. The band’s 2023 debut Phantom Centre, released under the name Kollaps\e, got stuck in our filter before I yanked it out. Phantom Centre’s sludgy mix of atmosphere and eighteen-wheeler riffs made it concise and compelling, albeit one-track. Two years on, K L P S sees Sweden’s sludgers drop a backslash and four letters while adding even chunkier riffs, more atmosphere, and three non-breaking spaces.1 After an already-promising start, K L P S has taken one leap closer to being a titan of their genre.
K L P S takes Phantom Centre’s measurements and doubles each one. The riffs are bigger, with distorted rhythmic explosions that recall LLNN. Conversely, even these heavier sections come drenched in post-hardcore sorrow. Adding to the soup, K L P S’ use of chunky riffwork to build meditative atmospheres resembles stoner sludge acts like Dvne. While K L P S has amped up their extremity, K L P S’ softer pieces step up as well. The album’s sparser passages, often featuring just simple guitar melodies and ritualistic drum beats, add stark contrast to its heavyweights. Although K L P S is less rhythmic and bass-focused than Phantom Centre, it magnifies nearly every other dimension of its predecessor. The resulting record bears the familiar markers of sludge, but accentuates them all to avoid fading into irrelevance.
K L P S’ blend of heft and emotion makes every track a highlight. The album’s hulking riffs harness sludge’s power while eschewing its typical laziness, tethering themselves to ominous, infectious melodies (“Undertow”). Aided by blackened motifs, even these heavy segments ooze pathos (“Subverse”). K L P S’ descents into minimalism stand in stark musical contrast but embody the same strengths, using subtle melodic tweaks to both hypnotize and grip the listener (“Katarsis”). The record’s greatest triumph is that it never treats these diverse elements as mutually exclusive. The sections that blur the line between heart and muscle show off the best that K L P S has to offer, like the interplay of meditative guitars, post-rock ambience, and climactic riffcraft on “Tribulation.” Like Amenra before them, K L P S wields beauty and brawn in ways that are at once worlds apart and inextricable.
Although K L P S remains interesting throughout, its tracks bleed together over several listens. The album’s six songs have similar lengths and lean into similar styles, without a clear sense of evolution or climax in the tracklist. While each song navigates deftly between serene minimalism and sludgy cacophony, this style grows stale by the end. K L P S’ production choices magnify this feeling; although each instrumental line shines through, the loud master and the muddled sludge riffs make K L P S seem more repetitive than it really is. Still, these are faint splotches on an otherwise impressive record. Given its tempered 43-minute runtime, K L P S never threatens to lose my interest altogether. And when the album does prioritize buildup and climax, the results are spectacular. The closer “Aureola” takes the cake, using powerful melodies to anchor the listener before building up into oblivion and then back down into cathartic quiet. K L P S would benefit from more of this continuity overall.
K L P S has improved upon their debut on nearly every axis. While Phantom Centre was already a breath of fresh air in a moldy genre, K L P S steps up its riffs, its ambience, and its emotional weight. Displaying an uncanny level of maturity, K L P S’ sophomore release shines by blending these elements into a heady brand of sludge where the riffs have soul and the atmosphere has grit. While I wish K L P S had more ebb and flow as an album, its masterful songs keep me coming back for more. Even skeptics of sludge and post-metal owe this hidden gem a listen.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: These Hands Melt
Websites: kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/kollapsemusik
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025#2025 #35 #Amenra #Dvne #KLPS #Kollapse #LLNN #Mar25 #PostHardcore #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge #SwedishMetal #TheseHandsMelt
-
By Maddog
Determined to explode my word count while safeguarding my character count, K L P S is a familiar band with an unfamiliar name. The band’s 2023 debut Phantom Centre, released under the name Kollaps\e, got stuck in our filter before I yanked it out. Phantom Centre’s sludgy mix of atmosphere and eighteen-wheeler riffs made it concise and compelling, albeit one-track. Two years on, K L P S sees Sweden’s sludgers drop a backslash and four letters while adding even chunkier riffs, more atmosphere, and three non-breaking spaces.1 After an already-promising start, K L P S has taken one leap closer to being a titan of their genre.
K L P S takes Phantom Centre’s measurements and doubles each one. The riffs are bigger, with distorted rhythmic explosions that recall LLNN. Conversely, even these heavier sections come drenched in post-hardcore sorrow. Adding to the soup, K L P S’ use of chunky riffwork to build meditative atmospheres resembles stoner sludge acts like Dvne. While K L P S has amped up their extremity, K L P S’ softer pieces step up as well. The album’s sparser passages, often featuring just simple guitar melodies and ritualistic drum beats, add stark contrast to its heavyweights. Although K L P S is less rhythmic and bass-focused than Phantom Centre, it magnifies nearly every other dimension of its predecessor. The resulting record bears the familiar markers of sludge, but accentuates them all to avoid fading into irrelevance.
K L P S’ blend of heft and emotion makes every track a highlight. The album’s hulking riffs harness sludge’s power while eschewing its typical laziness, tethering themselves to ominous, infectious melodies (“Undertow”). Aided by blackened motifs, even these heavy segments ooze pathos (“Subverse”). K L P S’ descents into minimalism stand in stark musical contrast but embody the same strengths, using subtle melodic tweaks to both hypnotize and grip the listener (“Katarsis”). The record’s greatest triumph is that it never treats these diverse elements as mutually exclusive. The sections that blur the line between heart and muscle show off the best that K L P S has to offer, like the interplay of meditative guitars, post-rock ambience, and climactic riffcraft on “Tribulation.” Like Amenra before them, K L P S wields beauty and brawn in ways that are at once worlds apart and inextricable.
Although K L P S remains interesting throughout, its tracks bleed together over several listens. The album’s six songs have similar lengths and lean into similar styles, without a clear sense of evolution or climax in the tracklist. While each song navigates deftly between serene minimalism and sludgy cacophony, this style grows stale by the end. K L P S’ production choices magnify this feeling; although each instrumental line shines through, the loud master and the muddled sludge riffs make K L P S seem more repetitive than it really is. Still, these are faint splotches on an otherwise impressive record. Given its tempered 43-minute runtime, K L P S never threatens to lose my interest altogether. And when the album does prioritize buildup and climax, the results are spectacular. The closer “Aureola” takes the cake, using powerful melodies to anchor the listener before building up into oblivion and then back down into cathartic quiet. K L P S would benefit from more of this continuity overall.
K L P S has improved upon their debut on nearly every axis. While Phantom Centre was already a breath of fresh air in a moldy genre, K L P S steps up its riffs, its ambience, and its emotional weight. Displaying an uncanny level of maturity, K L P S’ sophomore release shines by blending these elements into a heady brand of sludge where the riffs have soul and the atmosphere has grit. While I wish K L P S had more ebb and flow as an album, its masterful songs keep me coming back for more. Even skeptics of sludge and post-metal owe this hidden gem a listen.
Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: These Hands Melt
Websites: kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/kollapsemusik
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025#2025 #35 #Amenra #Dvne #KLPS #Kollapse #LLNN #Mar25 #PostHardcore #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge #SwedishMetal #TheseHandsMelt
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Holdeneye’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Holdeneye
This was a strange year for old Holdeneye, characterized by relative outer peace and significant inner turmoil. Peruse my last few lists, and you’ll see that I’ve been on a mental health journey for some time now, and this year has honestly been the toughest nut for me to crack. I’ve spent the last few years changing my external circumstances to set me up for interior success, and that has certainly helped. But I’m starting to come to grips with the fact that my choice to follow a career as a first responder, while it has benefitted my family and myself enormously, has come at a cost. Combine with that the absurdities of modern society, and the anxieties and pressures of parenting children, and I’ve been finding my fortitude to be mightily tested. I’m afraid I’m come down with a moderate-to-severe case of cynicism.
George Carlin once said, ‘Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist,’ and I strongly agree. I’m by nature a pretty soft-hearted, idealistic person, but with high ideals come high expectations—and high expectations are basically impossible to meet. I spent much of this year (years, really) embracing my newfound cynicism because it seemed easier and less painful than having my impossibly high expectations disappointed again and again. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a book called Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki, and it has been an amazing tool for recalibrating my perspective on life. The book proves—scientifically—that Samwise Gamgee was correct when he said, ‘There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.’ I highly recommend that anyone and everyone read it—it’s exactly what the world needs to hear right now.
Cynicism is not conducive to creative work, so my 2024 AMG output was abysmal. Instead of listening to new albums, I listened to my Manowar playlist over and over and over. At one point, I finally pulled the trigger and told Steel I needed to step away. I felt good about that decision, that is until my friend Kenstrosity had his home destroyed by a hurricane. The way the Angry Metal community banded together to support Ken broke through the hard crust that had been forming around my tender heart. The staff, and especially you, the readers, jumped at the chance to help, and it was incredibly inspiring—and it once again proved just how wholesome and unique this little internet community can be. I’m resolving to stay involved, producing whatever content I can make time for, but more importantly, to just be around. When times are hard, I tend to withdraw, but I’m finding that those are the times when I really need to fight to stay engaged.
Thanks for your patience and for your even-handed, if brutal, leadership, Steel. Thanks to everyone who makes this place so special; you are all agents in the war on cynicism. Special shoutouts to Dr. Wvrm, Ferox, and Doom_et_Al for hanging out with me in person—extra special to Doomy for letting me crash at his place—and to Crispy Hooligan (Rest In Retirement) for recognizing and chatting with me at a Judas Priest show. It was awesome to take my AMG community into three dimensions this year.
Well, you’ve heard enough from this gloomy goose! Rest assured that I’m looking to 2025 with hope and a healthy skepticism instead of my usual oscillation between idealism and cynicism. Onto the tunes!
#ish. Judas Priest // Invincible Shield – This one comes as a bit of a shock to me. When it first released, I was pretty indifferent. I really enjoyed the previous album Firepower, but I didn’t feel a strong need to hear or enjoy a new Judas Priest album in 2024. I have my ten-year-old son to thank for changing my mind. While I was driving him to school one day, he randomly said, ‘Dad, my favorite band is Imagine Dragons, but my favorite music is heavy metal.’ I knew I had to capitalize on this make-or-break moment, so as soon as I got home, I bought two pre-sale tickets to the Invincible Shield tour. Seeing these legends with my boy was a core memory that I will always treasure, and while I prepped for the show, I began to see Invincible Shield for what it really is: one more gift from the metal gods of old, one that is far more energetic and ruthless than it has any right to be. Sample: “Panic Attack”
#10. Necrophobic // In the Twilight Grey – As someone who gained their black metal fangs because of Necrophobic’s modern-day sound, I understand that I’m unfairly biased to enjoy everything they’re putting out these days. But biased or not, I absolutely dig what Necrophobic have done on In the Twilight Grey. They’ve taken just about every shade of black metal available and incorporated a bit of this one and a bit of that one to construct a varied collage of blackened brutality. The guitar work on this record is exemplary, and it speaks to my classic heavy metal heart with lead after lead that could fit on just about any Priest album. I didn’t listen to much black metal this year, and this album is partially to blame. In the Twilight Grey arrived early on and essentially sated my appetite for blackened platters. Sample: “Shadows of the Brightest Night”
#9. Ironflame // Kingdom Torn Asunder – Consistency is an underrated and often maligned trait when it comes to music, but it’s something I really value. I love when every day is just about the same as the last. I can eat the same meal three times per day, no problem. As I mentioned above, I can listen to the same Manowar playlist on repeat for months at a time. I like consistency because I like to know what I’m getting. Ironflame has become my poster child for consistency when it comes to modern traditional metal, and I while I may know exactly what an Ironflame record is going to sound like before I ever play it, I take an enormous amount of joy finding my preconceived notions to be 100% accurate. Andrew d’Cagna can write killer metal anthems in his sleep, and Kingdom Torn Asunder is full of them. Sample: “Sword of a Thousand Truths”
#8. Vitriol // Suffer & Become – This album definitely tested the limits of my musical taste. Vitriol’s brand of death metal is so punishing that it becomes overwhelming for me, but Suffer & Become includes just enough beauty to let the beast shine by contrast. Full disclosure: I have to be in the right mood for this album. It is so dense, so challenging, so heavy, that it makes me uncomfortable. Without relying on the overt groove or melody that usually anchors the music I enjoy, Suffer & Become manages to hook me through pure violence, leaving me just a few fleeting moments to pop my ahead above the surface to grab a quick breath before dragging me back below. Released back in January, my response to this record was the first indication that my taste (and my list) in 2024 would be trending in a brutal direction. Sample: “The Flowers of Sadism”
#7. Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – As I went to wheel my thrash can to the street, I wondered if it would even be worth the trip. While I didn’t listen to all that many albums in total this year, I had an especially noteworthy dearth of thrash albums that caught my attention. Fortunately, the one album that did end up in my thrash can filled it to the point of overflowing. Oxygen Destroyer has received honorable mention on my year-end list before, but this time around, the band has leveled up in so many ways that it was impossible for me not to put Guardian of the Universe on my list proper. Where previous albums were more of an even death/thrash mix, this one is an absolute thrashterpiece, and every single song has at least one earworm riff that refuses to leave my brain. Lord Kaiju’s utterly pissed-off vocals are the perfect match for what the rest of the band is doing musically, and with one forthcoming exception, there was no better half-hour set of music with which to torture myself this year. Sample: “Banishing the Iris of Sempiternal Tenebrosity”
#6. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’m a late-stage Aborted adopter. Vault of Horrors was my first exposure to the band, and the uniqueness of this album is probably responsible for why I’ve come to enjoy the band so much. I was at first put off by all the guest vocalists, but then I remembered that I love hardcore vocals. Aborted’s mixture of brutal death and deathcore is already potent, but when a host of talented hardcore and metal vocalists add their voices to the mix, the result is an adrenaline-pumping, testosterone-boosting beatdown. One of my favorite metal moments of the year goes to witnessing many of these cuts live in the mighty presence of my Angry Metal brothers Ferox and Doom_et_Al. Vault of Horrors has been one of my gym mainstays since its release, and that quality alone is nearly enough to boost an album onto my Top Ten(ish). Sample: “Death Cult”
#5. Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectres and Strife – I honestly can’t remember what review it was for, but one of our lovely readers suggested this album in the comments, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Unhallowed Deliverance is another band that mixes brutal death metal and deathcore, but where Aborted goes for the throat nearly 100% of the time, these guys throw in a pinch of atmosphere and a boatload of technicality to create an insanely strong, multifaceted sound. Frontman Arthur Haltrich complements his standard death/deathcore growls and shrieks with some of the gnarliest belches, gurgles, and verbal flatulence I’ve ever heard, giving Of Spectres and Strife’s sonic texture even more depth that its already intricate music provides. The record even includes a collaboration with Kenneth Copeland, the artist responsible for my 2020 Song o’ the Year. Sample: “Treatise on the Lowest Form of Man”
#4. Nemedian Chronicles // The Savage Sword – It’s been many months since Iceberg grossly underrated this absolute gem, and it is a gem that I’ve clutched as greedily as if I’d personally plucked it from a cursed dungeon’s treasure hoard ever since. When I first sampled The Savage Sword, I was intimidated by its 70-minute length, but it took little more than a single listen for me to realize that this album is incredibly well-executed from start to finish. Yes, Nemedian Chronicles made the bold choice to start the record with what are essentially two intro tracks, but they are so epic and genuine that they act as a pair of tentacles, forcefully drawing me into the concept’s Hyborian world and setting me up to enjoy of deep immersion. The rest of the album is a masterclass on how to properly deliver epic heavy and power metal goods, and it is frankly the best Blind Guardian album released since the 90s. Sample: “The Savage Sword”
#3. Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – More like Harbinger of Whoa, amirite? I could probably sum this album up with just that single word ‘whoa,’ but Steel would most likely force me to sit on that old-timey chair on the cover art if I didn’t elaborate. This was another comment section find, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t grab me almost immediately—a rare occurrence for music of this level of intensity. The production on this album raises it so far above much of its comparable competition because it so perfectly balances the material’s speed and chaos with an overwhelmingly tangible heft. Harbinger of Woe’s 30-minute runtime is so bludgeoning that my watch sometimes registers my listening sessions as cardio, so I’d like to think that this album has made me a healthier person in 2024. Brodequin, or Brother Quinn as I like to refer to them, can take comfort in putting out one of the finest brutal death metal albums in a year filled with quality brutal death metal albums. Sample: “Of Pillars and Trees”
#2. Keygen Church // Nel Nome Del Codice – In what is perhaps my greatest musical surprise of the year, this album instantly bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love it, and wish from this day forth never to be parted from it. I’ve enjoyed some of Victor Love’s work in Master Boot Record, but as someone who is drawn to liturgical expressions of spirituality, Keygen Church’s inclusion of Baroque organs and choirs absolutely godsmacked me from moment one. If you asked me to name the greatest song of all time in any genre, I’d probably go with Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” so it should come as no surprise that Nel Nome Del Codice feels as if it were tailormade to tickle me right in the pipe organs. I have no idea how music like this is produced, but my hat is off to Love for creating such a powerful aural experience. Sample: “Sulla Via Della Gloria”
#1. Hell:on // Shaman – When I dropped a 4.5 on this back in May, I was pretty confident that nothing else would be able to top it, and since I’m almost always right, I was right, of course. Hell:on’s mix of death metal, throat-singing, ritualistic rhythms, and Eastern instrumentation makes me feel like I’m trapped within some infernal combination of a death metal concert and a Witcher III boss fight, and it’s a feeling that has yet to get old. The band went all-in on the inclusion of their Ukrainian cultural elements within their music this time around, and it was an incredible success. In a year where death metal made up the majority of my top records, Shaman had to fight to keep its place upon the top of the heap, but no other album felt as spiritually dense to me in a year where I’ve fought to find my own personal peace. The textures offered here both exhilarate me and help me into a meditative state, and the resulting empowerment has been a Godsend to me. Sample: “What Steppes Dream About”
Honorable Mentions
- Brothers of Metal // Fimbulvinter
- Pneuma Hagion // From Beyond
Olde Record (and Hot Take) o’ the Year
Manowar // Warriors of the World – When I wasn’t listening to new music in 2024—which was really, really often—I was probably listening to Manowar. I listened to them so much, in fact, that my streaming platform placed me within the band’s top 0.1% of listeners worldwide. Warriors of the World was the first true heavy metal album that I ever purchased, and so many of its songs remain personal favorites to this very day. As I ravaged the band’s discography this year, I came to the realization that Manowar circa 2002 is the absolute highwater mark for heavy music. This album has some weird inclusions that make it feel somewhat unbalanced and goofy at times, but I’m convinced that if the band had cut a bit of the fluff and added in the two cuts from the Dawn of Battle EP, Warriors of the World would have been a 5.0 and the greatest metal album of all time. Disagree? Then you’re not into metal, and you are not my friend. Just kidding. We can still be friends, poser!
Disappointment o’ the Year
In Aphelion // Reaperdawn – After In Aphelion’s debut Moribund pummeled its way into the top tier of my Top Ten(ish) of 2022, I had huge expectations for its follow-up, Reaperdawn. Whether it is because several of the band’s members released a similar-sounding and stronger album with their main project Necrophobic or because these songs just don’t match up to the debut, this one just didn’t do it for me. It has a nice blackened aesthetic and some quality moments and performances, but it lacks the edge that made Moribund feel so genuinely dangerous. I hope to hear something new from these guys in the not-so-distant future, because I know they’re capable of going for my throat.
Song o’ the Year
Hell:on // “I Am the Path” – This song resonated with me from the very first time I heard it. The way the song swings back and forth between brutal death metal and ritualistic groove strikes the perfect balance for me, and the folk instrumentation adds even more layers to the experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to “I Am the Path” this year, but just about every time I do, I feel my eyes wanting to roll into the back of my head so I can commune with the primal spirits of the earth. The track’s title and chorus have become something of a personal mantra for me as I’ve struggled to find inner harmony this year. It reminds me that I can make all the positive external changes in the world, but if I really seek health and joy, I must walk that most challenging of all paths: the path within.
#2024 #Aborted #BlogPosts #Brodequin #BrothersOfMetal #Fimbulvinter #FromBeyond #GuardianOfTheUniverse #HarbingerOfWoe #HellOn #HoldeneyeSTopTenIshOf2024 #InAphelion #InTheTwilightGrey #InvincibleShield #Ironflame #JudasPriest #KeygenChurch #KingdomTornAsunder #Lists #Manowar #Necrophobic #NelNomeDelCodice #NemedianChronicles #OfSpectresAndStrife #OxygenDestroyer #PneumaHagion #Reaperdawn #Shaman #SufferBecome #TheSavageSword #UnhallowedDeliverance #VaultOfHorrors #Vitriol #WarriorsOfTheWorld
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Holdeneye’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Holdeneye
This was a strange year for old Holdeneye, characterized by relative outer peace and significant inner turmoil. Peruse my last few lists, and you’ll see that I’ve been on a mental health journey for some time now, and this year has honestly been the toughest nut for me to crack. I’ve spent the last few years changing my external circumstances to set me up for interior success, and that has certainly helped. But I’m starting to come to grips with the fact that my choice to follow a career as a first responder, while it has benefitted my family and myself enormously, has come at a cost. Combine with that the absurdities of modern society, and the anxieties and pressures of parenting children, and I’ve been finding my fortitude to be mightily tested. I’m afraid I’m come down with a moderate-to-severe case of cynicism.
George Carlin once said, ‘Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist,’ and I strongly agree. I’m by nature a pretty soft-hearted, idealistic person, but with high ideals come high expectations—and high expectations are basically impossible to meet. I spent much of this year (years, really) embracing my newfound cynicism because it seemed easier and less painful than having my impossibly high expectations disappointed again and again. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a book called Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki, and it has been an amazing tool for recalibrating my perspective on life. The book proves—scientifically—that Samwise Gamgee was correct when he said, ‘There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.’ I highly recommend that anyone and everyone read it—it’s exactly what the world needs to hear right now.
Cynicism is not conducive to creative work, so my 2024 AMG output was abysmal. Instead of listening to new albums, I listened to my Manowar playlist over and over and over. At one point, I finally pulled the trigger and told Steel I needed to step away. I felt good about that decision, that is until my friend Kenstrosity had his home destroyed by a hurricane. The way the Angry Metal community banded together to support Ken broke through the hard crust that had been forming around my tender heart. The staff, and especially you, the readers, jumped at the chance to help, and it was incredibly inspiring—and it once again proved just how wholesome and unique this little internet community can be. I’m resolving to stay involved, producing whatever content I can make time for, but more importantly, to just be around. When times are hard, I tend to withdraw, but I’m finding that those are the times when I really need to fight to stay engaged.
Thanks for your patience and for your even-handed, if brutal, leadership, Steel. Thanks to everyone who makes this place so special; you are all agents in the war on cynicism. Special shoutouts to Dr. Wvrm, Ferox, and Doom_et_Al for hanging out with me in person—extra special to Doomy for letting me crash at his place—and to Crispy Hooligan (Rest In Retirement) for recognizing and chatting with me at a Judas Priest show. It was awesome to take my AMG community into three dimensions this year.
Well, you’ve heard enough from this gloomy goose! Rest assured that I’m looking to 2025 with hope and a healthy skepticism instead of my usual oscillation between idealism and cynicism. Onto the tunes!
#ish. Judas Priest // Invincible Shield – This one comes as a bit of a shock to me. When it first released, I was pretty indifferent. I really enjoyed the previous album Firepower, but I didn’t feel a strong need to hear or enjoy a new Judas Priest album in 2024. I have my ten-year-old son to thank for changing my mind. While I was driving him to school one day, he randomly said, ‘Dad, my favorite band is Imagine Dragons, but my favorite music is heavy metal.’ I knew I had to capitalize on this make-or-break moment, so as soon as I got home, I bought two pre-sale tickets to the Invincible Shield tour. Seeing these legends with my boy was a core memory that I will always treasure, and while I prepped for the show, I began to see Invincible Shield for what it really is: one more gift from the metal gods of old, one that is far more energetic and ruthless than it has any right to be. Sample: “Panic Attack”
#10. Necrophobic // In the Twilight Grey – As someone who gained their black metal fangs because of Necrophobic’s modern-day sound, I understand that I’m unfairly biased to enjoy everything they’re putting out these days. But biased or not, I absolutely dig what Necrophobic have done on In the Twilight Grey. They’ve taken just about every shade of black metal available and incorporated a bit of this one and a bit of that one to construct a varied collage of blackened brutality. The guitar work on this record is exemplary, and it speaks to my classic heavy metal heart with lead after lead that could fit on just about any Priest album. I didn’t listen to much black metal this year, and this album is partially to blame. In the Twilight Grey arrived early on and essentially sated my appetite for blackened platters. Sample: “Shadows of the Brightest Night”
#9. Ironflame // Kingdom Torn Asunder – Consistency is an underrated and often maligned trait when it comes to music, but it’s something I really value. I love when every day is just about the same as the last. I can eat the same meal three times per day, no problem. As I mentioned above, I can listen to the same Manowar playlist on repeat for months at a time. I like consistency because I like to know what I’m getting. Ironflame has become my poster child for consistency when it comes to modern traditional metal, and I while I may know exactly what an Ironflame record is going to sound like before I ever play it, I take an enormous amount of joy finding my preconceived notions to be 100% accurate. Andrew d’Cagna can write killer metal anthems in his sleep, and Kingdom Torn Asunder is full of them. Sample: “Sword of a Thousand Truths”
#8. Vitriol // Suffer & Become – This album definitely tested the limits of my musical taste. Vitriol’s brand of death metal is so punishing that it becomes overwhelming for me, but Suffer & Become includes just enough beauty to let the beast shine by contrast. Full disclosure: I have to be in the right mood for this album. It is so dense, so challenging, so heavy, that it makes me uncomfortable. Without relying on the overt groove or melody that usually anchors the music I enjoy, Suffer & Become manages to hook me through pure violence, leaving me just a few fleeting moments to pop my ahead above the surface to grab a quick breath before dragging me back below. Released back in January, my response to this record was the first indication that my taste (and my list) in 2024 would be trending in a brutal direction. Sample: “The Flowers of Sadism”
#7. Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – As I went to wheel my thrash can to the street, I wondered if it would even be worth the trip. While I didn’t listen to all that many albums in total this year, I had an especially noteworthy dearth of thrash albums that caught my attention. Fortunately, the one album that did end up in my thrash can filled it to the point of overflowing. Oxygen Destroyer has received honorable mention on my year-end list before, but this time around, the band has leveled up in so many ways that it was impossible for me not to put Guardian of the Universe on my list proper. Where previous albums were more of an even death/thrash mix, this one is an absolute thrashterpiece, and every single song has at least one earworm riff that refuses to leave my brain. Lord Kaiju’s utterly pissed-off vocals are the perfect match for what the rest of the band is doing musically, and with one forthcoming exception, there was no better half-hour set of music with which to torture myself this year. Sample: “Banishing the Iris of Sempiternal Tenebrosity”
#6. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’m a late-stage Aborted adopter. Vault of Horrors was my first exposure to the band, and the uniqueness of this album is probably responsible for why I’ve come to enjoy the band so much. I was at first put off by all the guest vocalists, but then I remembered that I love hardcore vocals. Aborted’s mixture of brutal death and deathcore is already potent, but when a host of talented hardcore and metal vocalists add their voices to the mix, the result is an adrenaline-pumping, testosterone-boosting beatdown. One of my favorite metal moments of the year goes to witnessing many of these cuts live in the mighty presence of my Angry Metal brothers Ferox and Doom_et_Al. Vault of Horrors has been one of my gym mainstays since its release, and that quality alone is nearly enough to boost an album onto my Top Ten(ish). Sample: “Death Cult”
#5. Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectres and Strife – I honestly can’t remember what review it was for, but one of our lovely readers suggested this album in the comments, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Unhallowed Deliverance is another band that mixes brutal death metal and deathcore, but where Aborted goes for the throat nearly 100% of the time, these guys throw in a pinch of atmosphere and a boatload of technicality to create an insanely strong, multifaceted sound. Frontman Arthur Haltrich complements his standard death/deathcore growls and shrieks with some of the gnarliest belches, gurgles, and verbal flatulence I’ve ever heard, giving Of Spectres and Strife’s sonic texture even more depth that its already intricate music provides. The record even includes a collaboration with Kenneth Copeland, the artist responsible for my 2020 Song o’ the Year. Sample: “Treatise on the Lowest Form of Man”
#4. Nemedian Chronicles // The Savage Sword – It’s been many months since Iceberg grossly underrated this absolute gem, and it is a gem that I’ve clutched as greedily as if I’d personally plucked it from a cursed dungeon’s treasure hoard ever since. When I first sampled The Savage Sword, I was intimidated by its 70-minute length, but it took little more than a single listen for me to realize that this album is incredibly well-executed from start to finish. Yes, Nemedian Chronicles made the bold choice to start the record with what are essentially two intro tracks, but they are so epic and genuine that they act as a pair of tentacles, forcefully drawing me into the concept’s Hyborian world and setting me up to enjoy of deep immersion. The rest of the album is a masterclass on how to properly deliver epic heavy and power metal goods, and it is frankly the best Blind Guardian album released since the 90s. Sample: “The Savage Sword”
#3. Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – More like Harbinger of Whoa, amirite? I could probably sum this album up with just that single word ‘whoa,’ but Steel would most likely force me to sit on that old-timey chair on the cover art if I didn’t elaborate. This was another comment section find, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t grab me almost immediately—a rare occurrence for music of this level of intensity. The production on this album raises it so far above much of its comparable competition because it so perfectly balances the material’s speed and chaos with an overwhelmingly tangible heft. Harbinger of Woe’s 30-minute runtime is so bludgeoning that my watch sometimes registers my listening sessions as cardio, so I’d like to think that this album has made me a healthier person in 2024. Brodequin, or Brother Quinn as I like to refer to them, can take comfort in putting out one of the finest brutal death metal albums in a year filled with quality brutal death metal albums. Sample: “Of Pillars and Trees”
#2. Keygen Church // Nel Nome Del Codice – In what is perhaps my greatest musical surprise of the year, this album instantly bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love it, and wish from this day forth never to be parted from it. I’ve enjoyed some of Victor Love’s work in Master Boot Record, but as someone who is drawn to liturgical expressions of spirituality, Keygen Church’s inclusion of Baroque organs and choirs absolutely godsmacked me from moment one. If you asked me to name the greatest song of all time in any genre, I’d probably go with Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” so it should come as no surprise that Nel Nome Del Codice feels as if it were tailormade to tickle me right in the pipe organs. I have no idea how music like this is produced, but my hat is off to Love for creating such a powerful aural experience. Sample: “Sulla Via Della Gloria”
#1. Hell:on // Shaman – When I dropped a 4.5 on this back in May, I was pretty confident that nothing else would be able to top it, and since I’m almost always right, I was right, of course. Hell:on’s mix of death metal, throat-singing, ritualistic rhythms, and Eastern instrumentation makes me feel like I’m trapped within some infernal combination of a death metal concert and a Witcher III boss fight, and it’s a feeling that has yet to get old. The band went all-in on the inclusion of their Ukrainian cultural elements within their music this time around, and it was an incredible success. In a year where death metal made up the majority of my top records, Shaman had to fight to keep its place upon the top of the heap, but no other album felt as spiritually dense to me in a year where I’ve fought to find my own personal peace. The textures offered here both exhilarate me and help me into a meditative state, and the resulting empowerment has been a Godsend to me. Sample: “What Steppes Dream About”
Honorable Mentions
- Brothers of Metal // Fimbulvinter
- Pneuma Hagion // From Beyond
Olde Record (and Hot Take) o’ the Year
Manowar // Warriors of the World – When I wasn’t listening to new music in 2024—which was really, really often—I was probably listening to Manowar. I listened to them so much, in fact, that my streaming platform placed me within the band’s top 0.1% of listeners worldwide. Warriors of the World was the first true heavy metal album that I ever purchased, and so many of its songs remain personal favorites to this very day. As I ravaged the band’s discography this year, I came to the realization that Manowar circa 2002 is the absolute highwater mark for heavy music. This album has some weird inclusions that make it feel somewhat unbalanced and goofy at times, but I’m convinced that if the band had cut a bit of the fluff and added in the two cuts from the Dawn of Battle EP, Warriors of the World would have been a 5.0 and the greatest metal album of all time. Disagree? Then you’re not into metal, and you are not my friend. Just kidding. We can still be friends, poser!
Disappointment o’ the Year
In Aphelion // Reaperdawn – After In Aphelion’s debut Moribund pummeled its way into the top tier of my Top Ten(ish) of 2022, I had huge expectations for its follow-up, Reaperdawn. Whether it is because several of the band’s members released a similar-sounding and stronger album with their main project Necrophobic or because these songs just don’t match up to the debut, this one just didn’t do it for me. It has a nice blackened aesthetic and some quality moments and performances, but it lacks the edge that made Moribund feel so genuinely dangerous. I hope to hear something new from these guys in the not-so-distant future, because I know they’re capable of going for my throat.
Song o’ the Year
Hell:on // “I Am the Path” – This song resonated with me from the very first time I heard it. The way the song swings back and forth between brutal death metal and ritualistic groove strikes the perfect balance for me, and the folk instrumentation adds even more layers to the experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to “I Am the Path” this year, but just about every time I do, I feel my eyes wanting to roll into the back of my head so I can commune with the primal spirits of the earth. The track’s title and chorus have become something of a personal mantra for me as I’ve struggled to find inner harmony this year. It reminds me that I can make all the positive external changes in the world, but if I really seek health and joy, I must walk that most challenging of all paths: the path within.
#2024 #Aborted #BlogPosts #Brodequin #BrothersOfMetal #Fimbulvinter #FromBeyond #GuardianOfTheUniverse #HarbingerOfWoe #HellOn #HoldeneyeSTopTenIshOf2024 #InAphelion #InTheTwilightGrey #InvincibleShield #Ironflame #JudasPriest #KeygenChurch #KingdomTornAsunder #Lists #Manowar #Necrophobic #NelNomeDelCodice #NemedianChronicles #OfSpectresAndStrife #OxygenDestroyer #PneumaHagion #Reaperdawn #Shaman #SufferBecome #TheSavageSword #UnhallowedDeliverance #VaultOfHorrors #Vitriol #WarriorsOfTheWorld
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Holdeneye’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Holdeneye
This was a strange year for old Holdeneye, characterized by relative outer peace and significant inner turmoil. Peruse my last few lists, and you’ll see that I’ve been on a mental health journey for some time now, and this year has honestly been the toughest nut for me to crack. I’ve spent the last few years changing my external circumstances to set me up for interior success, and that has certainly helped. But I’m starting to come to grips with the fact that my choice to follow a career as a first responder, while it has benefitted my family and myself enormously, has come at a cost. Combine with that the absurdities of modern society, and the anxieties and pressures of parenting children, and I’ve been finding my fortitude to be mightily tested. I’m afraid I’m come down with a moderate-to-severe case of cynicism.
George Carlin once said, ‘Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist,’ and I strongly agree. I’m by nature a pretty soft-hearted, idealistic person, but with high ideals come high expectations—and high expectations are basically impossible to meet. I spent much of this year (years, really) embracing my newfound cynicism because it seemed easier and less painful than having my impossibly high expectations disappointed again and again. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a book called Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki, and it has been an amazing tool for recalibrating my perspective on life. The book proves—scientifically—that Samwise Gamgee was correct when he said, ‘There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.’ I highly recommend that anyone and everyone read it—it’s exactly what the world needs to hear right now.
Cynicism is not conducive to creative work, so my 2024 AMG output was abysmal. Instead of listening to new albums, I listened to my Manowar playlist over and over and over. At one point, I finally pulled the trigger and told Steel I needed to step away. I felt good about that decision, that is until my friend Kenstrosity had his home destroyed by a hurricane. The way the Angry Metal community banded together to support Ken broke through the hard crust that had been forming around my tender heart. The staff, and especially you, the readers, jumped at the chance to help, and it was incredibly inspiring—and it once again proved just how wholesome and unique this little internet community can be. I’m resolving to stay involved, producing whatever content I can make time for, but more importantly, to just be around. When times are hard, I tend to withdraw, but I’m finding that those are the times when I really need to fight to stay engaged.
Thanks for your patience and for your even-handed, if brutal, leadership, Steel. Thanks to everyone who makes this place so special; you are all agents in the war on cynicism. Special shoutouts to Dr. Wvrm, Ferox, and Doom_et_Al for hanging out with me in person—extra special to Doomy for letting me crash at his place—and to Crispy Hooligan (Rest In Retirement) for recognizing and chatting with me at a Judas Priest show. It was awesome to take my AMG community into three dimensions this year.
Well, you’ve heard enough from this gloomy goose! Rest assured that I’m looking to 2025 with hope and a healthy skepticism instead of my usual oscillation between idealism and cynicism. Onto the tunes!
#ish. Judas Priest // Invincible Shield – This one comes as a bit of a shock to me. When it first released, I was pretty indifferent. I really enjoyed the previous album Firepower, but I didn’t feel a strong need to hear or enjoy a new Judas Priest album in 2024. I have my ten-year-old son to thank for changing my mind. While I was driving him to school one day, he randomly said, ‘Dad, my favorite band is Imagine Dragons, but my favorite music is heavy metal.’ I knew I had to capitalize on this make-or-break moment, so as soon as I got home, I bought two pre-sale tickets to the Invincible Shield tour. Seeing these legends with my boy was a core memory that I will always treasure, and while I prepped for the show, I began to see Invincible Shield for what it really is: one more gift from the metal gods of old, one that is far more energetic and ruthless than it has any right to be. Sample: “Panic Attack”
#10. Necrophobic // In the Twilight Grey – As someone who gained their black metal fangs because of Necrophobic’s modern-day sound, I understand that I’m unfairly biased to enjoy everything they’re putting out these days. But biased or not, I absolutely dig what Necrophobic have done on In the Twilight Grey. They’ve taken just about every shade of black metal available and incorporated a bit of this one and a bit of that one to construct a varied collage of blackened brutality. The guitar work on this record is exemplary, and it speaks to my classic heavy metal heart with lead after lead that could fit on just about any Priest album. I didn’t listen to much black metal this year, and this album is partially to blame. In the Twilight Grey arrived early on and essentially sated my appetite for blackened platters. Sample: “Shadows of the Brightest Night”
#9. Ironflame // Kingdom Torn Asunder – Consistency is an underrated and often maligned trait when it comes to music, but it’s something I really value. I love when every day is just about the same as the last. I can eat the same meal three times per day, no problem. As I mentioned above, I can listen to the same Manowar playlist on repeat for months at a time. I like consistency because I like to know what I’m getting. Ironflame has become my poster child for consistency when it comes to modern traditional metal, and I while I may know exactly what an Ironflame record is going to sound like before I ever play it, I take an enormous amount of joy finding my preconceived notions to be 100% accurate. Andrew d’Cagna can write killer metal anthems in his sleep, and Kingdom Torn Asunder is full of them. Sample: “Sword of a Thousand Truths”
#8. Vitriol // Suffer & Become – This album definitely tested the limits of my musical taste. Vitriol’s brand of death metal is so punishing that it becomes overwhelming for me, but Suffer & Become includes just enough beauty to let the beast shine by contrast. Full disclosure: I have to be in the right mood for this album. It is so dense, so challenging, so heavy, that it makes me uncomfortable. Without relying on the overt groove or melody that usually anchors the music I enjoy, Suffer & Become manages to hook me through pure violence, leaving me just a few fleeting moments to pop my ahead above the surface to grab a quick breath before dragging me back below. Released back in January, my response to this record was the first indication that my taste (and my list) in 2024 would be trending in a brutal direction. Sample: “The Flowers of Sadism”
#7. Oxygen Destroyer // Guardian of the Universe – As I went to wheel my thrash can to the street, I wondered if it would even be worth the trip. While I didn’t listen to all that many albums in total this year, I had an especially noteworthy dearth of thrash albums that caught my attention. Fortunately, the one album that did end up in my thrash can filled it to the point of overflowing. Oxygen Destroyer has received honorable mention on my year-end list before, but this time around, the band has leveled up in so many ways that it was impossible for me not to put Guardian of the Universe on my list proper. Where previous albums were more of an even death/thrash mix, this one is an absolute thrashterpiece, and every single song has at least one earworm riff that refuses to leave my brain. Lord Kaiju’s utterly pissed-off vocals are the perfect match for what the rest of the band is doing musically, and with one forthcoming exception, there was no better half-hour set of music with which to torture myself this year. Sample: “Banishing the Iris of Sempiternal Tenebrosity”
#6. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’m a late-stage Aborted adopter. Vault of Horrors was my first exposure to the band, and the uniqueness of this album is probably responsible for why I’ve come to enjoy the band so much. I was at first put off by all the guest vocalists, but then I remembered that I love hardcore vocals. Aborted’s mixture of brutal death and deathcore is already potent, but when a host of talented hardcore and metal vocalists add their voices to the mix, the result is an adrenaline-pumping, testosterone-boosting beatdown. One of my favorite metal moments of the year goes to witnessing many of these cuts live in the mighty presence of my Angry Metal brothers Ferox and Doom_et_Al. Vault of Horrors has been one of my gym mainstays since its release, and that quality alone is nearly enough to boost an album onto my Top Ten(ish). Sample: “Death Cult”
#5. Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectres and Strife – I honestly can’t remember what review it was for, but one of our lovely readers suggested this album in the comments, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Unhallowed Deliverance is another band that mixes brutal death metal and deathcore, but where Aborted goes for the throat nearly 100% of the time, these guys throw in a pinch of atmosphere and a boatload of technicality to create an insanely strong, multifaceted sound. Frontman Arthur Haltrich complements his standard death/deathcore growls and shrieks with some of the gnarliest belches, gurgles, and verbal flatulence I’ve ever heard, giving Of Spectres and Strife’s sonic texture even more depth that its already intricate music provides. The record even includes a collaboration with Kenneth Copeland, the artist responsible for my 2020 Song o’ the Year. Sample: “Treatise on the Lowest Form of Man”
#4. Nemedian Chronicles // The Savage Sword – It’s been many months since Iceberg grossly underrated this absolute gem, and it is a gem that I’ve clutched as greedily as if I’d personally plucked it from a cursed dungeon’s treasure hoard ever since. When I first sampled The Savage Sword, I was intimidated by its 70-minute length, but it took little more than a single listen for me to realize that this album is incredibly well-executed from start to finish. Yes, Nemedian Chronicles made the bold choice to start the record with what are essentially two intro tracks, but they are so epic and genuine that they act as a pair of tentacles, forcefully drawing me into the concept’s Hyborian world and setting me up to enjoy of deep immersion. The rest of the album is a masterclass on how to properly deliver epic heavy and power metal goods, and it is frankly the best Blind Guardian album released since the 90s. Sample: “The Savage Sword”
#3. Brodequin // Harbinger of Woe – More like Harbinger of Whoa, amirite? I could probably sum this album up with just that single word ‘whoa,’ but Steel would most likely force me to sit on that old-timey chair on the cover art if I didn’t elaborate. This was another comment section find, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t grab me almost immediately—a rare occurrence for music of this level of intensity. The production on this album raises it so far above much of its comparable competition because it so perfectly balances the material’s speed and chaos with an overwhelmingly tangible heft. Harbinger of Woe’s 30-minute runtime is so bludgeoning that my watch sometimes registers my listening sessions as cardio, so I’d like to think that this album has made me a healthier person in 2024. Brodequin, or Brother Quinn as I like to refer to them, can take comfort in putting out one of the finest brutal death metal albums in a year filled with quality brutal death metal albums. Sample: “Of Pillars and Trees”
#2. Keygen Church // Nel Nome Del Codice – In what is perhaps my greatest musical surprise of the year, this album instantly bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love it, and wish from this day forth never to be parted from it. I’ve enjoyed some of Victor Love’s work in Master Boot Record, but as someone who is drawn to liturgical expressions of spirituality, Keygen Church’s inclusion of Baroque organs and choirs absolutely godsmacked me from moment one. If you asked me to name the greatest song of all time in any genre, I’d probably go with Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” so it should come as no surprise that Nel Nome Del Codice feels as if it were tailormade to tickle me right in the pipe organs. I have no idea how music like this is produced, but my hat is off to Love for creating such a powerful aural experience. Sample: “Sulla Via Della Gloria”
#1. Hell:on // Shaman – When I dropped a 4.5 on this back in May, I was pretty confident that nothing else would be able to top it, and since I’m almost always right, I was right, of course. Hell:on’s mix of death metal, throat-singing, ritualistic rhythms, and Eastern instrumentation makes me feel like I’m trapped within some infernal combination of a death metal concert and a Witcher III boss fight, and it’s a feeling that has yet to get old. The band went all-in on the inclusion of their Ukrainian cultural elements within their music this time around, and it was an incredible success. In a year where death metal made up the majority of my top records, Shaman had to fight to keep its place upon the top of the heap, but no other album felt as spiritually dense to me in a year where I’ve fought to find my own personal peace. The textures offered here both exhilarate me and help me into a meditative state, and the resulting empowerment has been a Godsend to me. Sample: “What Steppes Dream About”
Honorable Mentions
- Brothers of Metal // Fimbulvinter
- Pneuma Hagion // From Beyond
Olde Record (and Hot Take) o’ the Year
Manowar // Warriors of the World – When I wasn’t listening to new music in 2024—which was really, really often—I was probably listening to Manowar. I listened to them so much, in fact, that my streaming platform placed me within the band’s top 0.1% of listeners worldwide. Warriors of the World was the first true heavy metal album that I ever purchased, and so many of its songs remain personal favorites to this very day. As I ravaged the band’s discography this year, I came to the realization that Manowar circa 2002 is the absolute highwater mark for heavy music. This album has some weird inclusions that make it feel somewhat unbalanced and goofy at times, but I’m convinced that if the band had cut a bit of the fluff and added in the two cuts from the Dawn of Battle EP, Warriors of the World would have been a 5.0 and the greatest metal album of all time. Disagree? Then you’re not into metal, and you are not my friend. Just kidding. We can still be friends, poser!
Disappointment o’ the Year
In Aphelion // Reaperdawn – After In Aphelion’s debut Moribund pummeled its way into the top tier of my Top Ten(ish) of 2022, I had huge expectations for its follow-up, Reaperdawn. Whether it is because several of the band’s members released a similar-sounding and stronger album with their main project Necrophobic or because these songs just don’t match up to the debut, this one just didn’t do it for me. It has a nice blackened aesthetic and some quality moments and performances, but it lacks the edge that made Moribund feel so genuinely dangerous. I hope to hear something new from these guys in the not-so-distant future, because I know they’re capable of going for my throat.
Song o’ the Year
Hell:on // “I Am the Path” – This song resonated with me from the very first time I heard it. The way the song swings back and forth between brutal death metal and ritualistic groove strikes the perfect balance for me, and the folk instrumentation adds even more layers to the experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to “I Am the Path” this year, but just about every time I do, I feel my eyes wanting to roll into the back of my head so I can commune with the primal spirits of the earth. The track’s title and chorus have become something of a personal mantra for me as I’ve struggled to find inner harmony this year. It reminds me that I can make all the positive external changes in the world, but if I really seek health and joy, I must walk that most challenging of all paths: the path within.
#2024 #Aborted #BlogPosts #Brodequin #BrothersOfMetal #Fimbulvinter #FromBeyond #GuardianOfTheUniverse #HarbingerOfWoe #HellOn #HoldeneyeSTopTenIshOf2024 #InAphelion #InTheTwilightGrey #InvincibleShield #Ironflame #JudasPriest #KeygenChurch #KingdomTornAsunder #Lists #Manowar #Necrophobic #NelNomeDelCodice #NemedianChronicles #OfSpectresAndStrife #OxygenDestroyer #PneumaHagion #Reaperdawn #Shaman #SufferBecome #TheSavageSword #UnhallowedDeliverance #VaultOfHorrors #Vitriol #WarriorsOfTheWorld
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Thus Spoke and Maddog’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By Thus Spoke
Thus Spoke
Mum, I’ve made it; I’ve got my own official year-end list on Angry Metal Guy dot com. Just two years ago I had begun my probation period in what would come to be characteristically overzealous fashion, slapping a 4.5 on my first ever review, before deciding that words are much better than numbers. At the time, uncertain of my tenancy in these hallowed halls, I was juggling n00b reviews with short-form reviews on Instagram,1 the latter pursuit being what led me to apply here in the first place. And I’m glad I did!
My first complete year here as a writer has been pretty great, all things considered. I’ve reviewed (and not reviewed) some Excellent (with a capital ‘E’) albums and discovered new favorites—some of whom will be appearing below. It continues to humble me and blow my mind that I get to put my thoughts about music out here on the internet and that people actually read them; that I get to write about bands and records with a critical voice that actually garners some respect, like I’m a proper person who knows things; and that I have the chance to gush about artists I’ve loved for a long time, or only just hit upon. Reviewing Panopticon was a wonderful year-end highlight. Of course, not everything was rosy. It was another year of silence from Ulcerate2, not the greatest year for truly stand-out black metal (with some clear exceptions), and a year in which I struggled with some significant challenges at work. But disappointing promos and unavoidable life hurdles aside, 2023 has been the year that AMG—the reviewing, the staff, and the commenting community—has cemented itself as an important part of who I am. I’m grateful for all of you. Thank you.
Having not made one of these before, this has been my first proper taste of the agony (and perhaps joy) of choosing what to list and where to list them. Can I pen a Contrite Metal Guy piece about my picks later down the line? No, I can’t. So if I’ve forgotten something, please just don’t bring it up or it’ll torture me for at least the entirety of 2024.3 Now, on with the list before I change my mind!
#ish. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – Not only did this album floor me on first listen, but it also made me discover how much I love to say the word “caliginous.” *Annunciates* Cal-ig-in-ous. No Dawn… is just as satisfying, but in a very different way. Its drama, potency, and sheer scale are wondrous to behold and instantly catapulted it into my list (well, close enough). I had been thinking in recent months that I’d kind of fallen off the doom wagon. But Convocation was there right as the year was about to end to shove me firmly back on board. As Cherd opined “This is a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels,” and I concur. It’s really only down to a totally stacked year of music that this behemoth doesn’t rank higher.
#10. Thantifaxath // Hive Mind Narcosis – This album scares the shit out of me and I absolutely love it. Everything about its wacky, dissonant, bendy, manic, and malevolent intensity borders on the hallucinogenic and nightmarish. And as a piece of extreme metal, aiming to confront with the harshest of blackened death metal, this is a very good thing. Thantifaxath were a 2023 discovery for me, and this, their sophomore effort, thoroughly convinced me that I should be paying attention to them. It always sends me into a state of heavy foreboding, anxiety, and nausea at confrontation with the absurd. When I reviewed Hive Mind Narcosis, I talked about its contradictory coherence and beauty under a façade of erraticism and ugliness, and I believe this to be what makes it continue to stand out amidst many other unapproachable extreme metal records that came out in 2023, worthy as they may be.
#9. Downfall of Gaia // Silhouettes of Disgust – While I’ve had an appreciation for Downfall of Gaia since Atrophy, Silhouettes of Disgust has been the first one that’s really made an impression on me. It’s stuck with me nearly all year since it dropped in March, and I find myself continuing to return to it again and again. When I don’t know what to listen to, I’ll stick this on, and I’ll enjoy it every time. Melodically and emotionally powerful, it contains some of my favorite musical moments of the year, including in particular the building surge of drama and catharsis that ends “Optograms of Disgust” and the album entirely. I think the reason Silhouettes has had this effect was pinned down nicely by Carcharodon when he wrote: “this is the [album] that manages to blend most effectively all the disparate facets of Downfall of Gaia’s sound.” And I would go further and assert what he only hinted at, that Silhouettes is indeed the best of the band’s career.
#8. Stortregn // Finitude – I feel like Stortregn have been getting more and more fun with every album, or at least definitely on the last few. While Emptiness Fills the Void (2018) was light enjoyment, Impermanence (2021) stepped things up a gear into real grin-inducing territory. Finitude, however, blows those records out of the water with what is possibly the most fun I’ve had with technical death/black metal of any kind. Everything about it works towards this, from constantly evolving, circularly composed song structures that sweep you away with their drama and flair, to a flipping flamenco break in “Xeno Chaos” which I should hate, but instead, I absolutely fucking love because it works so brilliantly. Its melodies are gorgeous, its energy undeniable, its rhythms irresistible. Damn, I think I’m gonna go and listen to it again now, I’ve really given myself the itch.
#7. To the Grave // Director’s Cuts – This started off higher on my list. It’s not that I’ve cooled off on it. Quite the contrary, as To the Grave are my most-listened-to artist on Spotify this year, and I will still ardently defend, to anyone who bothers to vocalize their disagreement, that this is an Excellent album. It’s simply a testament to the strength of those you’ll find below. But let that not take away from the immensity that is Director’s Cuts. It’s a stunning slab of deathcore that utterly wipes the floor with anything else released in that subgenre this year, not just br00tal and groovy as all hell, but possessed of a powerful and righteous message of animal liberation, wrapped of course, in a super mean metal mien. “Manhunt,” and indeed most of the album, powered many a top set in the gym, while stone-cold classic-in-the-making, “Axe of Kindness” easily makes it to the Songs of the Year playlist. It’s just fantastic all-round. Until all are free! *Headbangs violently.*
#6. Wayfarer // American Gothic – I was not initially overly enamored with American Gothic. I don’t know what I was playing at though, because it’s quite clearly brilliant. It’s grown on me like no other album has this year, quickly and assertively muscling its way almost into my top five. Though at first I thought it was inferior to its predecessor A Romance with Violence, as I’ve mentioned, I was being silly, and it’s actually far superior. With a more coherent and consistent compositional structure, more powerful and punchy songs, with stronger, more memorable melodies, and a better integration of that uniquely Western vibe into vibrant and vicious black metal, this is my favorite Wayfarer album by a country mile. Brilliantly evocative, both satisfyingly savage and stirringly soft when it needs to be, American Gothic never ceases to transport me to the old West in its turbulent transformation with drama, passion, and beauty. And it’s wonderful to experience.
#5. Night Crowned // Tales – It was surprising enough that none of my esteemed colleagues had nabbed Tales before I did. But for it to be so mind-blowingly fantastic that it would end up this high on my year-end list was something else. With a songs-of-the-year-lister for an opening cut and, in general, a tracklist stuffed full of back-to-back bangers, and a blazingly bombastic, infectious spirit all around, Tales charges ahead of the competition with savage glee. It’s actually hard to overstate just how good this album is, particularly given how ridiculously easy it is to listen to with its catchy melodies, (relatively) snappy song lengths, and dynamic energy. The culmination of Night Crowned’s fiery and dramatic style of black metal, and the best of their already stellar discography, Tales calls me back ceaselessly and I’m more than happy to oblige.
#4. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – This album is magical. Nothing has changed since I first heard it in its entirety this spring. Elegantly composed, stirring, and effortlessly graceful, it’s hands-down the most straightforwardly beautiful thing on my list. It’s moving without being sappy, and pretty without being saccharine. And Air Not Meant for Us also wins points for including a midway instrumental that’s not only just as good as the other tracks, but possibly better, and bridges the two sides of the album in this lovely way that makes for a dreamy kind of interlude. Fires in the Distance have such a distinctive form of ethereal, key-accented melodeath/doom that I can only see the immense strength of Air Not Meant for Us as a huge, incredibly exciting sign of more brilliant records to come. As it is, I still haven’t had enough of this one.
#3. Serpent of Old // Ensemble Under the Dark Sun – Back in June, I confidently declared that “Serpent of Old have crafted one of the best metal records of 2023 so far, no exaggeration.” Well, it turns out I wasn’t exaggerating, because here it is, number three on my list. Clear as day I can recall hearing the opening notes of “The Sin Before the Great Sin,” as Ensemble Under the Dark Sun began playing for the first time. Straight away I knew that I’d landed a monster of an album, and 42 or so minutes later I was completely engulfed in its intoxicatingly atmospheric darkness. Like their eponymous snake, Serpent of Old wound their blackened death metal around and around my brain. Ensemble is intense, and yet utterly captivating, dripping with oppressive, haunting melodies and deep, angular dissonance. And it also features the best drum performance of the year in my opinion. To think this is a debut is frankly astonishing, and I am extremely keen to hear more.
#2. Dødheimsgard // Black Medium Current – For a long time, this sat comfortably in first place. Why is no mystery. Unlike anything Dødheimsgard have put out in the past, or anything else released this year, Black Medium Current challenged, confronted, and mesmerized me. Weird and discomfiting one moment, tear-jerkingly beautiful another, this album is an emotional and musical rollercoaster that treads perfectly that line between avant-garde wackiness and sincere black metal passion. I recall how stunned I was to discover its 72+ minute length, after already spinning it back-to-back multiple times because it’s so engrossing and intelligently composed. I also recall just how close I came to awarding my first “Iconic” when reviewing it, simply due to the lasting power I perceived it to possess. While the Contrite Metal Guy piece is not on the roadmap for anytime soon, I still believe Black Medium Current to be incredibly special, and an album that absolutely must be heard by everyone in the metalsphere, even if it’s to rapidly discover it’s not one’s cup of tea. Dødheimsgard have made an almost perfect record here. A worthy holder of the top position, were it not for one, equally lengthy rival…
#1. Panopticon // The Rime of Memory – As it’s so recently reviewed, perhaps this was obvious. But with Panopticon, I can be sure that its immense influence is not just due to proximity bias. Just like its predecessor …And Again into the Light, The Rime of Memory knocked me flat off my feet and buried me like an avalanche, with all of the intensity and force, and yet none of the cold. Because this burns white hot with passion and pain. I haven’t yet decided whether it sits above that prior record, but right now, it doesn’t matter, because it easily stands above all others in 2023. “Cedar Skeletons” alone snatches the song of the year accolade, but the whole is something I have to experience again and again. It would just be wrong to give anything less than first place to an album that quite literally brings me to tears because of how emotionally poignant and compositionally powerful it is. As with my #2 pick, its epic duration is immaterial in the face of its effect, which is utterly unmatched by any of my other list contenders. Panopticon—particularly on more recent records—seems to have a unique ability to tug on my heartstrings and to blend the most ferocious of black metal with the most serene and evocative Appalachian folk, and to have it all bleed pure pathos. The Rime of Memory more than matched my lofty hopes, and it already has a very special place in my heart.
Honorable Mentions:
- Ahab // The Coral Tombs – A return to form after the iffy Boats of the Glen Carrig. Managing at turns to be both as heavy as a colossal squid and beautifully still as the depths of the ocean.
- Nightmarer // Deformity Adrift – I love everything Nightmarer put out and this is no exception. Brutal and shivering with grim atmosphere and irresistible rhythm.
- Manbryne // Interregnum: O próbie wiary i jarzmie zwątpienia – Just as good, if not better than its predecessor. Which means it’s really rather good. Gnarly, intriguing Polish black metal with bite and pizzaz.
- The Circle // Of Awakening – This magnificent dramatic black metal opus came the closest to making it into the final list. I slept on this album hard until the final months, and it was only barely pushed out.
- Dymna Lotva // The Land Under the Black Wings: Blood – An album that came out of absolutely nowhere for me and stunned with its emotional potency and devastating delivery. Future Dymna Lotva records may well make the list when that year comes.
- Voidsphere // To Infect | To Inflict – Thank you to Dear Hollow for putting this on my radar. It’s like Decoherence and Darkspace had a baby. A dark, mesmerizing atmospheric black metal baby. Gorgeous.
Songs of the Year:
- “Cedar Skeletons” – Panopticon
- “De Namnlösa” – Night Crowned
- “Axe of Kindness” – To the Grave
- “Optograms of Disgust” – Downfall of Gaia
- “The Fall” – Serpent of Old
- “A Coral Tomb” – Ahab
- “Boreal” – The Ocean
- “Seven Crowns and Seven Seals” – Sulphur Aeon
- “Taufbefehl” – Nightmarer
- “Of Awakening” – The Circle (ft. Ne Obliviscaris)
Guilty Pleasure of the Year:
- “SIRENCORE” – Banshee – Not remotely metal unless you count some black metal shrieking scattered into its dance-pop. I did however, get mildly addicted to this song for a time. What can I say? I have to let my girly side out occasionally. And yeah. It’s going on the playlist.
Maddog
My earballs had a mixed year. A headbanger’s field day, 2023 boasted a solid array of death metal and some doom that won over skeptics like me. But this year’s music lacked emotional weight. Few 2023 albums sounded as beautiful as Inexorum’s Equinox Vigil, as heart-wrenching as Darkher’s The Buried Storm, or as monumental as Gloson’s The Rift, all of which rocked my 2022 list. There was still plenty to love, but something felt missing.
And so, I found solace in music from years past. Trees of Eternity’s Hour of the Nightingale, perhaps the most underrated record in AMG history, offered me catharsis on dark days. Emma Ruth Rundle held my hand,4 expressing boundless empathy through Marked for Death. Every Enshine release whisked me into a secluded world of sorrowful beauty. Conversely, LiveWire’s thrilling Under Attack!, my favorite 2022 record, kept hopelessness at bay; no matter what, I’m happy to inhabit a world that has LiveWire in it. On the fiercer side, I rekindled my love for Morbid Angel’s Covenant (1993), Suffocation’s Effigy of the Forgotten (1991), and Dying Fetus’ Killing on Adrenaline (1998). This deep bench of yesteryear highlights helped scratch the itches that 2023 albums missed.
The scarcity of tear-jerking 2023 music also re-taught me an important lesson: music that isn’t overtly emotional can still offer consolation or escape. Indeed, my favorite 2023 records brought a smile to my tired face rather than feeding my wallowing tendencies. A comment from the recent Suffocation review expressed this sentiment best:
All things fall to ruin in this world, and that’s why we have death metal.
I’ll give thank-yous a shot, though they’ll inevitably be incomplete. Thank you to AMG for his fearless leadership, Madam X for her tireless work, Grier for his insults, Steel for his bourbon (and also his bourbon), Sentynel for keeping us alive, and Dear Hollow for doing all the writing. Thank you to the UK staff for tolerating my occasional visits, and to everyone who’s supported me through bouts of melodrama. And thank you to everyone who makes my world more musical: artists, comment-section banterers, fellow writers, friends who share music with me, kind people at shows, and more. I’ll be on board 70,000 Tons for the first time next month, and I’m excited to keep deepening my musical community.
Finally, thank you to Thus Spoke, my (list) partner in (vegan) crime. Her intense emotional connection to music bleeds through her words, inspiring me to listen more closely and write more goodly. Read her list first; you won’t regret it.
#ish. Ne Obliviscaris // Exul – Exul’s peaks show Ne Obliviscaris at the top of their divisive game. The band’s balance of beauty and brutality is as strong as ever, as the strings, clean guitars, and death metal riffs move in lockstep. Bassist Martino Garratoni’s hyperactive melodies round out Exul’s rich soundscape. It’s a pleasure to hear Ne Obliviscaris’ compositions unfold, ebbing and flowing among the band’s diverse strengths. Exul’s bloat is the only major splotch on an otherwise stellar record. Listen to Exul with an open mind; it’s easy to get clouded by the hype or the popular hatred. Exul offers a lot to love, and there isn’t much else like it.
[Pairing: Maison Ferrand (Ars, France), Citadelle Jardin d’Été Gin. This gin is easy to sneer at; it’s contemporary, a newcomer, and French. But give it a chance. You might find your mind wandering through a château garden in bloom.]#10. Gorod // The Orb – I slept on The Orb at first because of its lackluster bass. After a decade of spectacular performances, bassist Benoit Claus inexplicably dialed back his wizardry after 2015’s A Maze of Recycled Creeds. Still, Gorod makes it work. The Orb’s unhinged harmonic leads showcase guitarists Pascal and Alberny at their finest. Meanwhile, the album’s energetic peaks and valleys give space for the drums to take the driver’s seat. Every moment of The Orb amps me up for the next moment, most notably on career highlight “Breeding Silence.” The Orb isn’t memorable enough to land near the top of Gorod’s formidable discography, but Gorod’s brand of hyper-technical death metal is still fun as hell.
[Pairing: Founders Brewing (Grand Rapids, MI), Porter – 6.5% ABV. Less rich than some of its Founders brethren (e.g. Breakfast Stout), but still a flavorful feast.]#9. Altari // Kröflueldar – I don’t know what the hell this is, but I love it. Altari’s distinctive debut melds black metal and psychedelic rock. While those genre labels might provoke knee-jerk comparisons to Oranssi Pazuzu or A Forest of Stars, Altari’s sound is peerless. Stalwart rhythms ground you while swirling melodies emerge from nowhere to whisk you away, echoing Love’s Forever Changes and Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow. And yet, Kröflueldar’s blackened edge makes it a haunting experience. While Kröflueldar’s abrupt song endings have room for improvement, Altari’s hypnotic debut is a triumph. It might be tucked too far underground to turn many heads, but it’s well worth your time.
[Pairing: Brandy Soymilk Punch (made with Paul Masson VSOP Brandy). “What the hell is this? Why would I ever drink… Errr, why is my glass empty? Fill me up!”]#8. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – The melodic black metal resurgence of 2023 peaked with Sodomisery. Mazzaroth checks every box. Dissection-lite blackened death riffs collude with soaring Misturious melodies to lure you into the fray. The album’s clean sections and Sodomisery’s newfound symphonic elements add emotional depth without sounding generic. Mazzaroth’s strengths coalesce in its belt-along choruses, which maintain the album’s somber mood while still worming into your brain. Because Sodomisery executes every component so well, the record sounds fresh despite trodding well-trodden ground. Even Sodomisery’s less-than-ideal name inspired three of 2023’s most iconic comments. Mazzaroth has captured the hearts of old fans and newcomers alike, and the attention is well-deserved.
[Pairing: BrewDog (Ellon, UK), Drop D – Cascadian Dark Ale, 8.1% ABV. Perfectly balances hoppiness and roasty stout flavors, without reinventing any wheels.]#7. Faithxtractor // Contempt for a Failed Dimension – While 2023 had no shortage of compelling no-frills death metal, the genre peaked in January with Faithxtractor. This is what you get when you cross faith unforgiving death metal with a tractor meticulous songwriting. Contempt for a Failed Dimension’s single-minded focus keeps it concise and fearsome across both its crushing slow sections and its frantic riff carnivals. Faithxtractor’s creativity elevates the album from “mere” fun to the top of its genre. Even at its most unhinged, Contempt for a Failed Dimension never trips over itself. Every riff inhabits its optimal location, and each one is essential to the final product. I’m not sure which dimension has failed—I hope it isn’t a spatial one—but I know Faithxtractor will punish it mightily.
[Pairing: Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma, CA), IPA – 6.2% ABV. A familiar beer in a familiar style, but it always hits the spot. Sometimes that’s all you need.]#6. Xoth // Exogalactic – Xoth’s brand of technical blackened death-thrash is a sci-fi spectacle. Exogalactic’s futuristic riffs, twisting melodies, and narrative arcs make it feel like reptilian aliens are indeed enslaving humans as gladiators like hordes of warriors are really battling for the galaxy. Hearing Xoth play Tetris with electrifying melodies of all shapes and sizes is thrilling. While the album’s peaks fall short of its predecessor, you’ll be belting out its colossal choruses in no time. Xoth’s style is unique, but it shares a strength with Archspire, First Fragment, and Jane Austen: you can hear Xoth grinning through their art. Every time I listen to Exogalactic, I can’t help but grin alongside.
[Pairing: Brouwerij Huyghe (Melle, Belgium), Delirium Tremens – Belgian Golden Strong Ale, 8.5% ABV. A paradox in a glass: strong and flavorful, but light-hearted and bright. It’ll put a smile on your face.]#5. Raider // Trial by Chaos – Trial by Chaos is as dense as its cover art. Over 39 minutes of hectic death-thrash, Raider tells tales of dystopia, science fiction, and righteous defiance. Every element of Raider’s onslaught finds its mark. The guitars range from Floridian death metal steamrollers to three-piece melodic leads, nailing both styles. The thunderous rhythm section raises hell at climactic moments and stitches Trial by Chaos’ disparate pieces together. Most strikingly, Angelo Bonaccorso’s vocal variety imbues the music with emotional force and narrative structure. This is only Raider’s second full-length record, but its cohesion and show-stopping power make it best in class. Expect Raider to be a torchbearer for death-thrash in the years to come.
[Pairing: 3 Floyds Brewing (Munster, IN), Permanent Funeral – Imperial IPA, 10.5% ABV. Unforgiving in its strength, its hoppiness, and its intense flavor. Intimidating but irresistible.]#4. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Seamlessly blending their Western aesthetic with black metal, Wayfarer transports the listener to the Western United States circa 1900. This is not a romanticized Magic School Bus trip; everything around you is greed, senseless violence, and environmental devastation.5 American Gothic’s emotional palette matches this landscape, leading through righteous anger (“The Cattle Thief”),6 longing (“To Enter My House Justified”), and hopelessness (“Black Plumes over God’s Country”). The album’s fantastic rhythm section and its rich production, both uncharacteristic strengths for black metal, allow Wayfarer’s diverse compositions to shine. Even though Wayfarer isn’t the only band playing this style, they’ve won my heart. Concise but powerful, American Gothic is the new American gothic.
[Pairing: Buffalo Trace Distillery (Frankfort, KY), Sazerac Rye. Accessible for the wallet and the palate, but with a fierce rye edge. A flavor bonanza and a perfect companion for an evening of reminiscences or regrets.]#3. Hellripper // Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags – The “old Hellripper” is still alive and well, after two riotous slabs of blackened speed metal. The “new Hellripper” is no less formidable. Forays into death metal and old-school speed metal add flair around the edges. Meanwhile, Warlocks’ longer tracks leap out of Hellripper’s comfort zone while balancing melodic variety and narrative cohesion. Scottish folk influences add depth throughout the melodies, the lyrics rooted in Orkney mythology, and the unexpected bagpipes. With these forces combined, the record’s narrative pieces feel like captivating campfire tales rather than bedtime stories. And still, Warlocks’ speedy killers are the most fun I’ve had all year. Warlocks is both an exhilarating listen and a massive step forward for Hellripper’s songwriting.
[Pairing: St. George Spirits (Alameda, CA), Terroir Gin. The juniper-heavy palate will placate gin gatekeepers, while the Douglas fir and sage will transport open minds to a California coastal redwood forest. Classic, innovative, and delicious.]#2. Onheil // In Black Ashes – In Black Ashes is melodic black/death/speed/thrash at its finest. But that description is both a little too much and much too little. The album’s irresistible speedy riffs alone deserve Grier’s 3.5. Onheil’s mastery of melody and songwriting elevates In Black Ashes into the stratosphere. Led by the indomitable “Void,” In Black Ashes’ powerful melodies offer catharsis like none other. As the album progresses, Onheil flexes their compositional muscles more, melding narrative meloblack epics with Mors Principium Est-adjacent bangers. Every track is a winner, and Onheil strikes an impossible balance between enthralling riffs and emotional heft. In Black Ashes deserves a lot more love.
[Pairing: Hayman’s Distillery (London, UK), Royal Dock Navy Strength Gin. This isn’t just another boring London gin; spices and citrus add a twist. Bottled at the 114 proof point where soaked gunpowder can still ignite, Royal Dock is fierce but shockingly smooth.]#1. Theophonos // Nightmare Visions – Nightmare Visions throws everything at the wall, and everything sticks. I struggled to describe this album once, and it isn’t getting easier. Theophonos’ debut feels like a grind-paced tour through metal history, squeezed through a blackened filter. Armed with razor-sharp riffs, a vicious rhythm section, and a refusal to sit still, Theophonos’ dissonant style is both neck-shattering and evocative. The album’s density makes it a gripping experience, while Jimmy Hamzey’s (Serpent Column) masterful transitions hold the Jenga blocks together. Theophonos’ blood, sweat, and tears glisten through details like the inter-song callbacks and the blurring of frenzied black metal and serene rock. Ten months into our love affair, Nightmare Visions still reveals new facets on every listen. Even if blackened grind isn’t your home turf (trust me, it isn’t mine), give Nightmare Visions a shot. I’d never heard anything like it, but now I can’t stop listening.
[Pairing: Fifth Hammer Brewing (Queens, NY), POGlodyte – Sour Ale with Passionfruit, Blood Orange, and Guava, 5.5% ABV. The description is accurate but inadequate. Wilder than your wildest dreams, this sour is what you never realized your life needed. Rapture for every taste bud.]Honorable Mentions:
- Night Crowned // Tales – Tales is a scorcher from cover to cover, blending ferocious blackened death melodies with clean and folky digressions. Night Crowned jostled their way up here at the last minute. Ask me in a few weeks, and I might regret not pushing Tales up to my top 10.
- Tomb Mold // The Enduring Spirit – Tomb Mold’s 57-degree turn into prog death lands close to Fallujah’s best work. With dueling guitar leads, riveting bass melodies, and groovy drum lines, The Enduring Spirit is gorgeous and engaging. With more oomph, it could’ve landed near the top of my list.
- Saturnus // The Storm Within – From its crushing death-doom riffs to its My Dying Bride-esque dirges, The Storm Within ripped my heart out. Saturnus’ decade-awaited return suffers from bloat, but it’s still one of 2023’s rare emotional juggernauts.
- Kalmah // Kalmah – Kalmah’s Kalmah sounds like Kalmah, in the best way. Firestorm riffs, massive climaxes, and prominent synths get the blood flowing. The slower morose sections hit just as hard, especially with their infectious choruses. Kalmah doesn’t break new ground, but it still holds me rapt.
- Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter // Saved! – Saved! is jarring, but Hayter’s spellbinding vocals and her cohesive compositions won me over. The album pantses my heart in its best moments, like “I Will Be with You Always.” The out-of-place shorter pieces and the record’s rocky start hold Saved! back, but it’s still worth a spin or ten.
- Serpent of Old // Ensemble under the Dark Sun – This one is tough to describe. Ensemble’s blackened death melodies, at once eerie and grabby, crept under my skin on my very first listen. Given how dense and thoughtful Ensemble is, I still can’t believe it’s Serpent of Old’s debut.
Disappointments o’ the Year:
- Myrkur // Spine – Pairing: Methanol. A close relative of excellence, but hazardous in its current form. So close, but so very far.
- The Ocean // Holocene – Pairing: Southwest Spirits (Dallas, TX), Calamity Gin. The heavy floral and citrusy botanicals make for an intriguing promo pitch. Given my history with similar styles, I had every expectation of loving this. Alas, reality was not so kind; I struggled to finish it.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Onheil – “Void”
- Enslaved – “Congelia”
- Xoth – “Battlesphere”
- Sermon – “Golden”
- Gorod – “Breeding Silence”
- Ne Obliviscaris – “Equus”
- Insomnium – “1696”
- Theophonos – “Of Days Past”
- Raider – “Labyrinth”
- Wayfarer – “The Cattle Thief”
- Stortregn – “The Revelation”
#Ahab #Altari #Convocation #Dödheimsgard #DownfallOfGaia #DymnaLotva #Faithxtractor #FiresInTheDistance #Gorod #Hellripper #Kalmah #Lists #Listurnalia #Mānbryne #Myrkur #NeObliviscaris #NightCrowned #Nightmarer #Onheil #Panopticon #Raider #ReverendKristinMichaelHayter #Saturnus #SerpentOfOld #Sodomisery #Stortregn #Thantifaxath #TheCircle #TheOcean #Theophonos #ThusSpokeSAndMaddogSTopTenIshOf2023 #ToTheGrave #TombMold #Top10Ish_ #Voidsphere #Wayfarer #Xoth
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Thus Spoke and Maddog’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
By Thus Spoke
Thus Spoke
Mum, I’ve made it; I’ve got my own official year-end list on Angry Metal Guy dot com. Just two years ago I had begun my probation period in what would come to be characteristically overzealous fashion, slapping a 4.5 on my first ever review, before deciding that words are much better than numbers. At the time, uncertain of my tenancy in these hallowed halls, I was juggling n00b reviews with short-form reviews on Instagram,1 the latter pursuit being what led me to apply here in the first place. And I’m glad I did!
My first complete year here as a writer has been pretty great, all things considered. I’ve reviewed (and not reviewed) some Excellent (with a capital ‘E’) albums and discovered new favorites—some of whom will be appearing below. It continues to humble me and blow my mind that I get to put my thoughts about music out here on the internet and that people actually read them; that I get to write about bands and records with a critical voice that actually garners some respect, like I’m a proper person who knows things; and that I have the chance to gush about artists I’ve loved for a long time, or only just hit upon. Reviewing Panopticon was a wonderful year-end highlight. Of course, not everything was rosy. It was another year of silence from Ulcerate2, not the greatest year for truly stand-out black metal (with some clear exceptions), and a year in which I struggled with some significant challenges at work. But disappointing promos and unavoidable life hurdles aside, 2023 has been the year that AMG—the reviewing, the staff, and the commenting community—has cemented itself as an important part of who I am. I’m grateful for all of you. Thank you.
Having not made one of these before, this has been my first proper taste of the agony (and perhaps joy) of choosing what to list and where to list them. Can I pen a Contrite Metal Guy piece about my picks later down the line? No, I can’t. So if I’ve forgotten something, please just don’t bring it up or it’ll torture me for at least the entirety of 2024.3 Now, on with the list before I change my mind!
#ish. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – Not only did this album floor me on first listen, but it also made me discover how much I love to say the word “caliginous.” *Annunciates* Cal-ig-in-ous. No Dawn… is just as satisfying, but in a very different way. Its drama, potency, and sheer scale are wondrous to behold and instantly catapulted it into my list (well, close enough). I had been thinking in recent months that I’d kind of fallen off the doom wagon. But Convocation was there right as the year was about to end to shove me firmly back on board. As Cherd opined “This is a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels,” and I concur. It’s really only down to a totally stacked year of music that this behemoth doesn’t rank higher.
#10. Thantifaxath // Hive Mind Narcosis – This album scares the shit out of me and I absolutely love it. Everything about its wacky, dissonant, bendy, manic, and malevolent intensity borders on the hallucinogenic and nightmarish. And as a piece of extreme metal, aiming to confront with the harshest of blackened death metal, this is a very good thing. Thantifaxath were a 2023 discovery for me, and this, their sophomore effort, thoroughly convinced me that I should be paying attention to them. It always sends me into a state of heavy foreboding, anxiety, and nausea at confrontation with the absurd. When I reviewed Hive Mind Narcosis, I talked about its contradictory coherence and beauty under a façade of erraticism and ugliness, and I believe this to be what makes it continue to stand out amidst many other unapproachable extreme metal records that came out in 2023, worthy as they may be.
#9. Downfall of Gaia // Silhouettes of Disgust – While I’ve had an appreciation for Downfall of Gaia since Atrophy, Silhouettes of Disgust has been the first one that’s really made an impression on me. It’s stuck with me nearly all year since it dropped in March, and I find myself continuing to return to it again and again. When I don’t know what to listen to, I’ll stick this on, and I’ll enjoy it every time. Melodically and emotionally powerful, it contains some of my favorite musical moments of the year, including in particular the building surge of drama and catharsis that ends “Optograms of Disgust” and the album entirely. I think the reason Silhouettes has had this effect was pinned down nicely by Carcharodon when he wrote: “this is the [album] that manages to blend most effectively all the disparate facets of Downfall of Gaia’s sound.” And I would go further and assert what he only hinted at, that Silhouettes is indeed the best of the band’s career.
#8. Stortregn // Finitude – I feel like Stortregn have been getting more and more fun with every album, or at least definitely on the last few. While Emptiness Fills the Void (2018) was light enjoyment, Impermanence (2021) stepped things up a gear into real grin-inducing territory. Finitude, however, blows those records out of the water with what is possibly the most fun I’ve had with technical death/black metal of any kind. Everything about it works towards this, from constantly evolving, circularly composed song structures that sweep you away with their drama and flair, to a flipping flamenco break in “Xeno Chaos” which I should hate, but instead, I absolutely fucking love because it works so brilliantly. Its melodies are gorgeous, its energy undeniable, its rhythms irresistible. Damn, I think I’m gonna go and listen to it again now, I’ve really given myself the itch.
#7. To the Grave // Director’s Cuts – This started off higher on my list. It’s not that I’ve cooled off on it. Quite the contrary, as To the Grave are my most-listened-to artist on Spotify this year, and I will still ardently defend, to anyone who bothers to vocalize their disagreement, that this is an Excellent album. It’s simply a testament to the strength of those you’ll find below. But let that not take away from the immensity that is Director’s Cuts. It’s a stunning slab of deathcore that utterly wipes the floor with anything else released in that subgenre this year, not just br00tal and groovy as all hell, but possessed of a powerful and righteous message of animal liberation, wrapped of course, in a super mean metal mien. “Manhunt,” and indeed most of the album, powered many a top set in the gym, while stone-cold classic-in-the-making, “Axe of Kindness” easily makes it to the Songs of the Year playlist. It’s just fantastic all-round. Until all are free! *Headbangs violently.*
#6. Wayfarer // American Gothic – I was not initially overly enamored with American Gothic. I don’t know what I was playing at though, because it’s quite clearly brilliant. It’s grown on me like no other album has this year, quickly and assertively muscling its way almost into my top five. Though at first I thought it was inferior to its predecessor A Romance with Violence, as I’ve mentioned, I was being silly, and it’s actually far superior. With a more coherent and consistent compositional structure, more powerful and punchy songs, with stronger, more memorable melodies, and a better integration of that uniquely Western vibe into vibrant and vicious black metal, this is my favorite Wayfarer album by a country mile. Brilliantly evocative, both satisfyingly savage and stirringly soft when it needs to be, American Gothic never ceases to transport me to the old West in its turbulent transformation with drama, passion, and beauty. And it’s wonderful to experience.
#5. Night Crowned // Tales – It was surprising enough that none of my esteemed colleagues had nabbed Tales before I did. But for it to be so mind-blowingly fantastic that it would end up this high on my year-end list was something else. With a songs-of-the-year-lister for an opening cut and, in general, a tracklist stuffed full of back-to-back bangers, and a blazingly bombastic, infectious spirit all around, Tales charges ahead of the competition with savage glee. It’s actually hard to overstate just how good this album is, particularly given how ridiculously easy it is to listen to with its catchy melodies, (relatively) snappy song lengths, and dynamic energy. The culmination of Night Crowned’s fiery and dramatic style of black metal, and the best of their already stellar discography, Tales calls me back ceaselessly and I’m more than happy to oblige.
#4. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – This album is magical. Nothing has changed since I first heard it in its entirety this spring. Elegantly composed, stirring, and effortlessly graceful, it’s hands-down the most straightforwardly beautiful thing on my list. It’s moving without being sappy, and pretty without being saccharine. And Air Not Meant for Us also wins points for including a midway instrumental that’s not only just as good as the other tracks, but possibly better, and bridges the two sides of the album in this lovely way that makes for a dreamy kind of interlude. Fires in the Distance have such a distinctive form of ethereal, key-accented melodeath/doom that I can only see the immense strength of Air Not Meant for Us as a huge, incredibly exciting sign of more brilliant records to come. As it is, I still haven’t had enough of this one.
#3. Serpent of Old // Ensemble Under the Dark Sun – Back in June, I confidently declared that “Serpent of Old have crafted one of the best metal records of 2023 so far, no exaggeration.” Well, it turns out I wasn’t exaggerating, because here it is, number three on my list. Clear as day I can recall hearing the opening notes of “The Sin Before the Great Sin,” as Ensemble Under the Dark Sun began playing for the first time. Straight away I knew that I’d landed a monster of an album, and 42 or so minutes later I was completely engulfed in its intoxicatingly atmospheric darkness. Like their eponymous snake, Serpent of Old wound their blackened death metal around and around my brain. Ensemble is intense, and yet utterly captivating, dripping with oppressive, haunting melodies and deep, angular dissonance. And it also features the best drum performance of the year in my opinion. To think this is a debut is frankly astonishing, and I am extremely keen to hear more.
#2. Dødheimsgard // Black Medium Current – For a long time, this sat comfortably in first place. Why is no mystery. Unlike anything Dødheimsgard have put out in the past, or anything else released this year, Black Medium Current challenged, confronted, and mesmerized me. Weird and discomfiting one moment, tear-jerkingly beautiful another, this album is an emotional and musical rollercoaster that treads perfectly that line between avant-garde wackiness and sincere black metal passion. I recall how stunned I was to discover its 72+ minute length, after already spinning it back-to-back multiple times because it’s so engrossing and intelligently composed. I also recall just how close I came to awarding my first “Iconic” when reviewing it, simply due to the lasting power I perceived it to possess. While the Contrite Metal Guy piece is not on the roadmap for anytime soon, I still believe Black Medium Current to be incredibly special, and an album that absolutely must be heard by everyone in the metalsphere, even if it’s to rapidly discover it’s not one’s cup of tea. Dødheimsgard have made an almost perfect record here. A worthy holder of the top position, were it not for one, equally lengthy rival…
#1. Panopticon // The Rime of Memory – As it’s so recently reviewed, perhaps this was obvious. But with Panopticon, I can be sure that its immense influence is not just due to proximity bias. Just like its predecessor …And Again into the Light, The Rime of Memory knocked me flat off my feet and buried me like an avalanche, with all of the intensity and force, and yet none of the cold. Because this burns white hot with passion and pain. I haven’t yet decided whether it sits above that prior record, but right now, it doesn’t matter, because it easily stands above all others in 2023. “Cedar Skeletons” alone snatches the song of the year accolade, but the whole is something I have to experience again and again. It would just be wrong to give anything less than first place to an album that quite literally brings me to tears because of how emotionally poignant and compositionally powerful it is. As with my #2 pick, its epic duration is immaterial in the face of its effect, which is utterly unmatched by any of my other list contenders. Panopticon—particularly on more recent records—seems to have a unique ability to tug on my heartstrings and to blend the most ferocious of black metal with the most serene and evocative Appalachian folk, and to have it all bleed pure pathos. The Rime of Memory more than matched my lofty hopes, and it already has a very special place in my heart.
Honorable Mentions:
- Ahab // The Coral Tombs – A return to form after the iffy Boats of the Glen Carrig. Managing at turns to be both as heavy as a colossal squid and beautifully still as the depths of the ocean.
- Nightmarer // Deformity Adrift – I love everything Nightmarer put out and this is no exception. Brutal and shivering with grim atmosphere and irresistible rhythm.
- Manbryne // Interregnum: O próbie wiary i jarzmie zwątpienia – Just as good, if not better than its predecessor. Which means it’s really rather good. Gnarly, intriguing Polish black metal with bite and pizzaz.
- The Circle // Of Awakening – This magnificent dramatic black metal opus came the closest to making it into the final list. I slept on this album hard until the final months, and it was only barely pushed out.
- Dymna Lotva // The Land Under the Black Wings: Blood – An album that came out of absolutely nowhere for me and stunned with its emotional potency and devastating delivery. Future Dymna Lotva records may well make the list when that year comes.
- Voidsphere // To Infect | To Inflict – Thank you to Dear Hollow for putting this on my radar. It’s like Decoherence and Darkspace had a baby. A dark, mesmerizing atmospheric black metal baby. Gorgeous.
Songs of the Year:
- “Cedar Skeletons” – Panopticon
- “De Namnlösa” – Night Crowned
- “Axe of Kindness” – To the Grave
- “Optograms of Disgust” – Downfall of Gaia
- “The Fall” – Serpent of Old
- “A Coral Tomb” – Ahab
- “Boreal” – The Ocean
- “Seven Crowns and Seven Seals” – Sulphur Aeon
- “Taufbefehl” – Nightmarer
- “Of Awakening” – The Circle (ft. Ne Obliviscaris)
Guilty Pleasure of the Year:
- “SIRENCORE” – Banshee – Not remotely metal unless you count some black metal shrieking scattered into its dance-pop. I did however, get mildly addicted to this song for a time. What can I say? I have to let my girly side out occasionally. And yeah. It’s going on the playlist.
Maddog
My earballs had a mixed year. A headbanger’s field day, 2023 boasted a solid array of death metal and some doom that won over skeptics like me. But this year’s music lacked emotional weight. Few 2023 albums sounded as beautiful as Inexorum’s Equinox Vigil, as heart-wrenching as Darkher’s The Buried Storm, or as monumental as Gloson’s The Rift, all of which rocked my 2022 list. There was still plenty to love, but something felt missing.
And so, I found solace in music from years past. Trees of Eternity’s Hour of the Nightingale, perhaps the most underrated record in AMG history, offered me catharsis on dark days. Emma Ruth Rundle held my hand,4 expressing boundless empathy through Marked for Death. Every Enshine release whisked me into a secluded world of sorrowful beauty. Conversely, LiveWire’s thrilling Under Attack!, my favorite 2022 record, kept hopelessness at bay; no matter what, I’m happy to inhabit a world that has LiveWire in it. On the fiercer side, I rekindled my love for Morbid Angel’s Covenant (1993), Suffocation’s Effigy of the Forgotten (1991), and Dying Fetus’ Killing on Adrenaline (1998). This deep bench of yesteryear highlights helped scratch the itches that 2023 albums missed.
The scarcity of tear-jerking 2023 music also re-taught me an important lesson: music that isn’t overtly emotional can still offer consolation or escape. Indeed, my favorite 2023 records brought a smile to my tired face rather than feeding my wallowing tendencies. A comment from the recent Suffocation review expressed this sentiment best:
All things fall to ruin in this world, and that’s why we have death metal.
I’ll give thank-yous a shot, though they’ll inevitably be incomplete. Thank you to AMG for his fearless leadership, Madam X for her tireless work, Grier for his insults, Steel for his bourbon (and also his bourbon), Sentynel for keeping us alive, and Dear Hollow for doing all the writing. Thank you to the UK staff for tolerating my occasional visits, and to everyone who’s supported me through bouts of melodrama. And thank you to everyone who makes my world more musical: artists, comment-section banterers, fellow writers, friends who share music with me, kind people at shows, and more. I’ll be on board 70,000 Tons for the first time next month, and I’m excited to keep deepening my musical community.
Finally, thank you to Thus Spoke, my (list) partner in (vegan) crime. Her intense emotional connection to music bleeds through her words, inspiring me to listen more closely and write more goodly. Read her list first; you won’t regret it.
#ish. Ne Obliviscaris // Exul – Exul’s peaks show Ne Obliviscaris at the top of their divisive game. The band’s balance of beauty and brutality is as strong as ever, as the strings, clean guitars, and death metal riffs move in lockstep. Bassist Martino Garratoni’s hyperactive melodies round out Exul’s rich soundscape. It’s a pleasure to hear Ne Obliviscaris’ compositions unfold, ebbing and flowing among the band’s diverse strengths. Exul’s bloat is the only major splotch on an otherwise stellar record. Listen to Exul with an open mind; it’s easy to get clouded by the hype or the popular hatred. Exul offers a lot to love, and there isn’t much else like it.
[Pairing: Maison Ferrand (Ars, France), Citadelle Jardin d’Été Gin. This gin is easy to sneer at; it’s contemporary, a newcomer, and French. But give it a chance. You might find your mind wandering through a château garden in bloom.]#10. Gorod // The Orb – I slept on The Orb at first because of its lackluster bass. After a decade of spectacular performances, bassist Benoit Claus inexplicably dialed back his wizardry after 2015’s A Maze of Recycled Creeds. Still, Gorod makes it work. The Orb’s unhinged harmonic leads showcase guitarists Pascal and Alberny at their finest. Meanwhile, the album’s energetic peaks and valleys give space for the drums to take the driver’s seat. Every moment of The Orb amps me up for the next moment, most notably on career highlight “Breeding Silence.” The Orb isn’t memorable enough to land near the top of Gorod’s formidable discography, but Gorod’s brand of hyper-technical death metal is still fun as hell.
[Pairing: Founders Brewing (Grand Rapids, MI), Porter – 6.5% ABV. Less rich than some of its Founders brethren (e.g. Breakfast Stout), but still a flavorful feast.]#9. Altari // Kröflueldar – I don’t know what the hell this is, but I love it. Altari’s distinctive debut melds black metal and psychedelic rock. While those genre labels might provoke knee-jerk comparisons to Oranssi Pazuzu or A Forest of Stars, Altari’s sound is peerless. Stalwart rhythms ground you while swirling melodies emerge from nowhere to whisk you away, echoing Love’s Forever Changes and Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow. And yet, Kröflueldar’s blackened edge makes it a haunting experience. While Kröflueldar’s abrupt song endings have room for improvement, Altari’s hypnotic debut is a triumph. It might be tucked too far underground to turn many heads, but it’s well worth your time.
[Pairing: Brandy Soymilk Punch (made with Paul Masson VSOP Brandy). “What the hell is this? Why would I ever drink… Errr, why is my glass empty? Fill me up!”]#8. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – The melodic black metal resurgence of 2023 peaked with Sodomisery. Mazzaroth checks every box. Dissection-lite blackened death riffs collude with soaring Misturious melodies to lure you into the fray. The album’s clean sections and Sodomisery’s newfound symphonic elements add emotional depth without sounding generic. Mazzaroth’s strengths coalesce in its belt-along choruses, which maintain the album’s somber mood while still worming into your brain. Because Sodomisery executes every component so well, the record sounds fresh despite trodding well-trodden ground. Even Sodomisery’s less-than-ideal name inspired three of 2023’s most iconic comments. Mazzaroth has captured the hearts of old fans and newcomers alike, and the attention is well-deserved.
[Pairing: BrewDog (Ellon, UK), Drop D – Cascadian Dark Ale, 8.1% ABV. Perfectly balances hoppiness and roasty stout flavors, without reinventing any wheels.]#7. Faithxtractor // Contempt for a Failed Dimension – While 2023 had no shortage of compelling no-frills death metal, the genre peaked in January with Faithxtractor. This is what you get when you cross faith unforgiving death metal with a tractor meticulous songwriting. Contempt for a Failed Dimension’s single-minded focus keeps it concise and fearsome across both its crushing slow sections and its frantic riff carnivals. Faithxtractor’s creativity elevates the album from “mere” fun to the top of its genre. Even at its most unhinged, Contempt for a Failed Dimension never trips over itself. Every riff inhabits its optimal location, and each one is essential to the final product. I’m not sure which dimension has failed—I hope it isn’t a spatial one—but I know Faithxtractor will punish it mightily.
[Pairing: Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma, CA), IPA – 6.2% ABV. A familiar beer in a familiar style, but it always hits the spot. Sometimes that’s all you need.]#6. Xoth // Exogalactic – Xoth’s brand of technical blackened death-thrash is a sci-fi spectacle. Exogalactic’s futuristic riffs, twisting melodies, and narrative arcs make it feel like reptilian aliens are indeed enslaving humans as gladiators like hordes of warriors are really battling for the galaxy. Hearing Xoth play Tetris with electrifying melodies of all shapes and sizes is thrilling. While the album’s peaks fall short of its predecessor, you’ll be belting out its colossal choruses in no time. Xoth’s style is unique, but it shares a strength with Archspire, First Fragment, and Jane Austen: you can hear Xoth grinning through their art. Every time I listen to Exogalactic, I can’t help but grin alongside.
[Pairing: Brouwerij Huyghe (Melle, Belgium), Delirium Tremens – Belgian Golden Strong Ale, 8.5% ABV. A paradox in a glass: strong and flavorful, but light-hearted and bright. It’ll put a smile on your face.]#5. Raider // Trial by Chaos – Trial by Chaos is as dense as its cover art. Over 39 minutes of hectic death-thrash, Raider tells tales of dystopia, science fiction, and righteous defiance. Every element of Raider’s onslaught finds its mark. The guitars range from Floridian death metal steamrollers to three-piece melodic leads, nailing both styles. The thunderous rhythm section raises hell at climactic moments and stitches Trial by Chaos’ disparate pieces together. Most strikingly, Angelo Bonaccorso’s vocal variety imbues the music with emotional force and narrative structure. This is only Raider’s second full-length record, but its cohesion and show-stopping power make it best in class. Expect Raider to be a torchbearer for death-thrash in the years to come.
[Pairing: 3 Floyds Brewing (Munster, IN), Permanent Funeral – Imperial IPA, 10.5% ABV. Unforgiving in its strength, its hoppiness, and its intense flavor. Intimidating but irresistible.]#4. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Seamlessly blending their Western aesthetic with black metal, Wayfarer transports the listener to the Western United States circa 1900. This is not a romanticized Magic School Bus trip; everything around you is greed, senseless violence, and environmental devastation.5 American Gothic’s emotional palette matches this landscape, leading through righteous anger (“The Cattle Thief”),6 longing (“To Enter My House Justified”), and hopelessness (“Black Plumes over God’s Country”). The album’s fantastic rhythm section and its rich production, both uncharacteristic strengths for black metal, allow Wayfarer’s diverse compositions to shine. Even though Wayfarer isn’t the only band playing this style, they’ve won my heart. Concise but powerful, American Gothic is the new American gothic.
[Pairing: Buffalo Trace Distillery (Frankfort, KY), Sazerac Rye. Accessible for the wallet and the palate, but with a fierce rye edge. A flavor bonanza and a perfect companion for an evening of reminiscences or regrets.]#3. Hellripper // Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags – The “old Hellripper” is still alive and well, after two riotous slabs of blackened speed metal. The “new Hellripper” is no less formidable. Forays into death metal and old-school speed metal add flair around the edges. Meanwhile, Warlocks’ longer tracks leap out of Hellripper’s comfort zone while balancing melodic variety and narrative cohesion. Scottish folk influences add depth throughout the melodies, the lyrics rooted in Orkney mythology, and the unexpected bagpipes. With these forces combined, the record’s narrative pieces feel like captivating campfire tales rather than bedtime stories. And still, Warlocks’ speedy killers are the most fun I’ve had all year. Warlocks is both an exhilarating listen and a massive step forward for Hellripper’s songwriting.
[Pairing: St. George Spirits (Alameda, CA), Terroir Gin. The juniper-heavy palate will placate gin gatekeepers, while the Douglas fir and sage will transport open minds to a California coastal redwood forest. Classic, innovative, and delicious.]#2. Onheil // In Black Ashes – In Black Ashes is melodic black/death/speed/thrash at its finest. But that description is both a little too much and much too little. The album’s irresistible speedy riffs alone deserve Grier’s 3.5. Onheil’s mastery of melody and songwriting elevates In Black Ashes into the stratosphere. Led by the indomitable “Void,” In Black Ashes’ powerful melodies offer catharsis like none other. As the album progresses, Onheil flexes their compositional muscles more, melding narrative meloblack epics with Mors Principium Est-adjacent bangers. Every track is a winner, and Onheil strikes an impossible balance between enthralling riffs and emotional heft. In Black Ashes deserves a lot more love.
[Pairing: Hayman’s Distillery (London, UK), Royal Dock Navy Strength Gin. This isn’t just another boring London gin; spices and citrus add a twist. Bottled at the 114 proof point where soaked gunpowder can still ignite, Royal Dock is fierce but shockingly smooth.]#1. Theophonos // Nightmare Visions – Nightmare Visions throws everything at the wall, and everything sticks. I struggled to describe this album once, and it isn’t getting easier. Theophonos’ debut feels like a grind-paced tour through metal history, squeezed through a blackened filter. Armed with razor-sharp riffs, a vicious rhythm section, and a refusal to sit still, Theophonos’ dissonant style is both neck-shattering and evocative. The album’s density makes it a gripping experience, while Jimmy Hamzey’s (Serpent Column) masterful transitions hold the Jenga blocks together. Theophonos’ blood, sweat, and tears glisten through details like the inter-song callbacks and the blurring of frenzied black metal and serene rock. Ten months into our love affair, Nightmare Visions still reveals new facets on every listen. Even if blackened grind isn’t your home turf (trust me, it isn’t mine), give Nightmare Visions a shot. I’d never heard anything like it, but now I can’t stop listening.
[Pairing: Fifth Hammer Brewing (Queens, NY), POGlodyte – Sour Ale with Passionfruit, Blood Orange, and Guava, 5.5% ABV. The description is accurate but inadequate. Wilder than your wildest dreams, this sour is what you never realized your life needed. Rapture for every taste bud.]Honorable Mentions:
- Night Crowned // Tales – Tales is a scorcher from cover to cover, blending ferocious blackened death melodies with clean and folky digressions. Night Crowned jostled their way up here at the last minute. Ask me in a few weeks, and I might regret not pushing Tales up to my top 10.
- Tomb Mold // The Enduring Spirit – Tomb Mold’s 57-degree turn into prog death lands close to Fallujah’s best work. With dueling guitar leads, riveting bass melodies, and groovy drum lines, The Enduring Spirit is gorgeous and engaging. With more oomph, it could’ve landed near the top of my list.
- Saturnus // The Storm Within – From its crushing death-doom riffs to its My Dying Bride-esque dirges, The Storm Within ripped my heart out. Saturnus’ decade-awaited return suffers from bloat, but it’s still one of 2023’s rare emotional juggernauts.
- Kalmah // Kalmah – Kalmah’s Kalmah sounds like Kalmah, in the best way. Firestorm riffs, massive climaxes, and prominent synths get the blood flowing. The slower morose sections hit just as hard, especially with their infectious choruses. Kalmah doesn’t break new ground, but it still holds me rapt.
- Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter // Saved! – Saved! is jarring, but Hayter’s spellbinding vocals and her cohesive compositions won me over. The album pantses my heart in its best moments, like “I Will Be with You Always.” The out-of-place shorter pieces and the record’s rocky start hold Saved! back, but it’s still worth a spin or ten.
- Serpent of Old // Ensemble under the Dark Sun – This one is tough to describe. Ensemble’s blackened death melodies, at once eerie and grabby, crept under my skin on my very first listen. Given how dense and thoughtful Ensemble is, I still can’t believe it’s Serpent of Old’s debut.
Disappointments o’ the Year:
- Myrkur // Spine – Pairing: Methanol. A close relative of excellence, but hazardous in its current form. So close, but so very far.
- The Ocean // Holocene – Pairing: Southwest Spirits (Dallas, TX), Calamity Gin. The heavy floral and citrusy botanicals make for an intriguing promo pitch. Given my history with similar styles, I had every expectation of loving this. Alas, reality was not so kind; I struggled to finish it.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Onheil – “Void”
- Enslaved – “Congelia”
- Xoth – “Battlesphere”
- Sermon – “Golden”
- Gorod – “Breeding Silence”
- Ne Obliviscaris – “Equus”
- Insomnium – “1696”
- Theophonos – “Of Days Past”
- Raider – “Labyrinth”
- Wayfarer – “The Cattle Thief”
- Stortregn – “The Revelation”
#Ahab #Altari #Convocation #Dödheimsgard #DownfallOfGaia #DymnaLotva #Faithxtractor #FiresInTheDistance #Gorod #Hellripper #Kalmah #Lists #Listurnalia #Mānbryne #Myrkur #NeObliviscaris #NightCrowned #Nightmarer #Onheil #Panopticon #Raider #ReverendKristinMichaelHayter #Saturnus #SerpentOfOld #Sodomisery #Stortregn #Thantifaxath #TheCircle #TheOcean #Theophonos #ThusSpokeSAndMaddogSTopTenIshOf2023 #ToTheGrave #TombMold #Top10Ish_ #Voidsphere #Wayfarer #Xoth
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The Season of the Spritz
There is something unmistakable about April light. It stretches a little longer across the table, lingers just enough on the rim of a glass to catch the sparkle, and invites us—quietly but persistently—back outdoors. It is not yet summer’s bold declaration, nor winter’s final whisper. It is a transition. A becoming.
And there is no better companion to this moment than the spritz.
To call the spritz a “cocktail” feels almost too narrow. It is, more accurately, a ritual of restraint and expression. A balance of bitterness and brightness, of bubbles and botanicals, where nothing dominates and everything contributes. It is the kind of drink that encourages conversation rather than interrupting it, the kind that turns a casual afternoon into something just a touch more intentional.
Photo by Augustin Mazaud on Pexels.comFrom Necessity to Nuance
The spritz, like many of the world’s most enduring pleasures, began not as indulgence, but as practicality. In the 19th century, when soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied parts of northern Italy, they found the local wines—particularly those of the Veneto—too intense for their tastes. Their solution was simple: ask for a spritz, a splash of water to soften the wine.
There was nothing glamorous about it. No garnish. No ceremony. Just dilution.
But Italy has a way of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Over time, still water gave way to sparkling. Local bitters—bright, herbal, and often vividly colored—found their way into the glass. And eventually, Prosecco joined the composition, bringing lift, elegance, and a celebratory note that elevated the drink from functional to fashionable. What began as a soldier’s compromise became, quite beautifully, a cultural signature.
The Modern Expression
Today’s spritz is less about watering something down and more about building something up. It is a study in composition, where each ingredient plays a deliberate role. The sparkling wine provides structure and effervescence. The liqueur—whether bitter, floral, or herbal—introduces personality. Soda adds lightness. And the garnish, often overlooked, becomes the aromatic bridge between the drink and the drinker.
Photo by Anna McDonald on Pexels.comThe most recognizable expression, of course, is the Aperol Spritz. Its signature hue—somewhere between a Venetian sunset and a ripe blood orange—has become synonymous with the category itself. It is approachable, gently bitter, slightly sweet, and endlessly drinkable. It does not challenge; it invites.
And yet, just beside it sits the Hugo Spritz, quieter but no less captivating. Where Aperol leans into citrus and bitterness, Hugo drifts into florals—elderflower, mint, lime—like a garden just beginning to bloom. It is the kind of drink that doesn’t announce itself, but once noticed, becomes difficult to forget.
Together, they represent two ends of a spectrum: bold and delicate, bitter and aromatic. Between them lies an entire world waiting to be explored.
The Aperol Spritz
The most recognizable of them all—sunset in a glass. Bright orange, gently bitter, lightly sweet, and endlessly drinkable.
Classic Build:
- 3 oz Prosecco
- 2 oz Aperol
- 1 oz soda water
- Orange slice
It’s the gateway spritz—the one that invites curiosity without intimidation.
The Hugo Spritz
If Aperol is sunset, Hugo is spring morning. Elderflower liqueur, mint, lime—this is the garden in bloom.
Classic Build:
- 3 oz Prosecco
- 1.5 oz elderflower liqueur
- Soda water
- Fresh mint, lime wheel
Elegant, aromatic, and quietly enchanting.
Where Curiosity Begins
If the Aperol Spritz is the introduction, the true joy of the spritz lies in what comes next.
There is a particular delight in watching someone take their first sip of a Cynar Spritz. There is often a pause—just a moment—where expectation meets reality. Artichoke, after all, is not an ingredient most associate with cocktails. And yet, in the hands of an amaro like Cynar, it becomes something earthy, bittersweet, and unexpectedly compelling. It is a spritz that sparks conversation, not just because of its flavor, but because of its audacity.
This is where the philosophy of Sips & Stories comes to life. The classics are not endpoints; they are starting points. A foundation upon which to build, to riff, to reinterpret.
Photo by Nasim Didar on Pexels.comA splash of limoncello can turn a spritz into a sunlit stroll along the Amalfi Coast. A touch of dry vermouth can introduce structure and subtle herbal complexity. Fresh basil, thyme, or even rosemary can transform aroma into memory. The spritz, perhaps more than any other cocktail, invites personalization without pretension.
The Experience in the Glass
Part of what makes the spritz so captivating is its visual and aromatic presence. This is not a drink meant to be confined. It belongs in a generous glass—ideally a large wine bowl—where ice can settle comfortably and aromatics can rise freely. The shape matters. It allows the botanicals to bloom, the citrus oils to express, and the bubbles to carry those scents upward with each sip.
There is also a quiet elegance in how a spritz is built. No shaking. No aggressive stirring. Just a gentle layering—sparkling wine first, then liqueur, then a lift of soda. A soft stir, almost a whisper, and the drink is complete. It is a process that mirrors the drink itself: unhurried, balanced, and intentional.
Photo by Irving Joaquin Gutierrez on Pexels.comAt the Table
The spritz finds its natural home at the table, particularly in the company of foods that echo its lightness or contrast its bitterness. There is a reason it thrives in the Italian aperitivo tradition. Salty bites—prosciutto, olives, lightly dressed seafood—play beautifully against its refreshing lift. Creamy textures, like burrata or ricotta, soften its edges. Citrus and herbs create harmony, reinforcing the very notes that define the drink.
Imagine, for a moment, a simple crostini—grilled bread topped with whipped ricotta, a touch of lemon zest, a drizzle of honey, and a scattering of fresh thyme. Paired with a floral, elderflower-driven spritz, the experience becomes something more than food and drink. It becomes a conversation between them.
Lemon Ricotta Crostini with Honey & Thyme
- Fresh ricotta
- Lemon zest
- Honey
- Fresh thyme
- Grilled baguette slices
Whip ricotta with lemon zest until airy. Spread over warm crostini, drizzle with honey, and finish with thyme.
Pair with a Hugo Spritz or Limoncello Spritz—where citrus and florals echo the dish.
A Story in Every Glass
In Venice, there is an unspoken understanding that a spritz is never just a spritz. It is a reflection of the moment, the mood, and the person holding the glass. Ratios shift. Garnishes change. Preferences evolve. No two are ever exactly alike.
There is even a quiet bit of lore among locals—that the way one builds their spritz reveals something deeper. A heavier pour of bitter suggests boldness. A lighter, more floral touch hints at subtlety. Whether or not this is true is almost beside the point. What matters is the idea that the drink is expressive.
And perhaps that is why the spritz feels so perfectly suited to April. It exists in that same space of transition and possibility. Not fully one thing, not yet another. Open to interpretation.
The Invitation
As we continue to explore the world through Sips & Stories, the spritz stands as a reminder that the best experiences are rarely about strict adherence to tradition. They are about understanding the foundation—and then having the confidence to step beyond it.
So this season, let the classics guide you, but not define you. Reach for something unfamiliar. Add an herb you’ve never used. Swap a liqueur. Change the balance. Tell your own story in the glass.
Because the true beauty of the spritz is not in how it began, but in how it continues to evolve—one pour, one evening, one conversation at a time.
And in April, under that soft, lingering light, there may be no better story to tell 🥂
The April Awakening Spritz
A SOMM&SOMM original—crafted for that first evening you dine outdoors.
- 3 oz Prosecco
- 1 oz St-Germain (elderflower liqueur)
- 0.5 oz Lillet Blanc
- Soda water
- Grapefruit twist
- Fresh basil leaf
Construct in a large wine glass over ice. Garnish with intention.
Tasting Note:
Floral, gently bitter, with a citrus backbone and herbal lift—like spring itself, finding its voice.Cover Photo by ginPhotos on Pexels.com
#Cocktails #food #LearningWine #SparklingWIne #wine #WineBlog -
Northern Genocide – The Point of No Return Review
By GardensTale
Just like a sommelier can (allegedly) sense and describe the minutest differences between wines that may seem identical to the less learned, so can the seasoned metalhead identify regional differences and genre influences that laypersons may question with the tried and true adage: “It’s all just noise, isn’t it?” Melodic death metal has many offshoots and flavors, but the Finnish variety tends to be instantly recognizable anyway, often thanks to a melodic core that draws from neoclassical- and power metal. Northern Genocide wears this hat with pride but then proceeds to layer a bunch of other hats on top until defenestrated by the owner of the hatshop. This has led to two things in the past: I reviewed the previous album Genesis vol. 666 as an industrial metal album, and I was downright impressed by how well the band pulled off a whole stack of hats. Can this feat be repeated?
Absolutely! The Point of No Return skews a little more melodic death metal than its predecessor, but still draws from the industrial pit with gusto, and dots the landscape with symphonic-inspired stubs to boot. To sketch with band names, it most resembles an amalgamation of Noumena, early Kalmah and Turmion Kätilöt with a theatrical streak and an IV full of caffeine. Though never going into hyperspeed, it’s got a ton of energy and drive, and the songwriting is incredibly lean. I’d barely be able to scrape a minute of fat off the 41 minutes of music. Northern Genocide seems to be deathly allergic to boredom, and ensures there is always something going on and grabbing your attention. Instead of beauty and the beast vocals, we have beauty, the beast, the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe all jumping in, with a solid growl and a raw blackened snarl the two main characters. Rapid riffs and sweeping licks bounce back and forth, with slick synths either embellishing or outstripping both.
This may sound like pandemonium, and if you’re not a little inclined to such a hyperactive approach it may get overwhelming at times, but this chaos is calculated. The rhythm section is kept more straightforward, and there is always one leading melody to ride, even when this baton is passed between different vocals and instruments every other bar. And the band refuses to let that variety do all of the heavy lifting: even brief bridges are incredibly infectious, laden with addictive hooks and interesting interplay. With this many tools at its disposal, Northern Genocide makes every track different and rewarding, from the bite-sized epic “Harbingers of Genocide” and the swift assault of “Icaros” to the anthemic “Para Bellum” and Egyptian melodies rendered in synths of “The Engram.”
The only track I don’t love is “My Fortress.” On the one hand, with the relatively dense layering and energetic pacing of the other tracks, a mid-paced centerpiece makes for a nice breather. But it doesn’t engage the way the rest of the album does, particularly the plodding chorus, and instead kills the momentum quite abruptly. The female vocals remind pleasantly of Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering et al) but aren’t quite at that spellbinding level, and they can’t compensate for the lackluster riffs. In addition, though the production is good, it’s a step down from Genesis. It is not as warm and rich as before, though the mixing is as solid as can be with this much going on, and the master is not so loud as to make a spin needlessly tiring.
What The Point of No Return boils down to is that intangible, unquantifiable term: FUN. It is a wicked, wild, joyous ride, full of excess and abandon, where everything goes all-in but the musicianship and songwriting are so good it all gets wrangled into a form that’s easy to digest but leaves a lot of details to appreciate on return spins. It’s difficult to suppress a grin when the beat drops or a particularly characteristic vocal flourish comes along, so I recommend: forget the suppression and let that smile split your face. Northern Genocide are getting damn close to list-worthy greatness here, and I can’t wait for more of their infectious exuberance.1
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Inverse Records
Websites: northerngenocide.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/northerngenocide
Releases Worldwide: March 1st, 2024#2024 #35 #FinnishMetal #IndustrialMetal #InverseRecords #Kalmah #Mar24 #MelodicDeathMetal #NorthernGenocide #Noumena #Review #Reviews #SymphonicMetal #TheGathering #ThePointOfNoReturn #TurmionKätilöt
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Wildlife Photojournalist and Animal Advocate Dalida Innes
Dalida Innes
Wildlife Photographer and Portrait Photographer
“If I could tell animal activists and conservationists something, I would say: Never give up! Once a species is gone that is a terrible loss to us all! #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil” #Wildlife Photographer @dainnes67
TweetDalida Innes @dainnes67 specialises in #wildlifephotography and #portrait #photography. She captures rare intimate moments with animals in all of their emotional complexity. Read more about her and her incredible photos
Tweet“I am against all supermarket brands that have deforestation in their supply chain. I am a vegan for the animals and I #boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife” Wildlife Photographer Dalida Innes @dainnes67
TweetMy name is Dalida Innes, I am from France originally and I live in Sydney, Australia. I love wildlife, landscape, travel photography and everything between. I travel as often as I can and try to make the most of it. Encounters with nature have taken me to incredible places and I have met fantastic people.
I am self-taught with a sincere passion for all things photographic
Adventurous spirit with camera in hand, I try to capture moments of wonder and serenity. For me, capturing images is like freezing the time and I can go back to it whenever I want. Trying to get that precise moment that your eye doesn’t have time to memorise or to remember.
I love witnessing special moments between animals
You never know what’s going to happen. Everyday is a new adventure when you’re photographing wildlife. No two days are exactly the same.
We can learn so much just from watching animals
I have always worked with animals. I just love watching them, observing their behaviour is something I am fascinated by. I have learnt so much from them and I want to share all of the beauty that I have witnessed with the world.
Buy Dalida’s photographic printsWhen I was a child, I used to play with a broken camera
I dreamt that as an adult I would become a filmmaker and make animal documentaries, as I loved watching these shows as a child. Later when I started to work, initially I bought my first video camera but I quickly realised that this wasn’t for me. So instead I started doing photography and it all accelerated from there.
Never give up the fight to save wild animals!
If I could tell animal activists and conservationists something, I would say: Never give up! Once a species is gone that is a terrible loss to us all!
Always respect a wild animal’s personal space
To wildlife photographers just starting out, I would say that it’s important to respect the animals’ personal space. Don’t try and encroach on the animals too much, as they will feel uncomfortable and won’t behave naturally. Always be prepared for the unexpected, it may not happen, but if it does, be ready for it.
Morning Glory by Dalida Innes Wildlife PhotographyI am against all supermarket brands that have deforestation in their supply chain
Less trees means less habitat for wild animals. Not only this, today with so much advanced research and technology there should be other ways, other methods of producing palm oil and other commodities. They have the technology to make anything they want. So I still don’t understand why they don’t just do that instead of destroying forests!
I welcome you to connect with me on social media and visit my shop to buy prints
Visit my website #Africa #ArtistProfile #Artivism #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #conservation #CreativesForCoolCreatures #MountainGorilla #Photographer #photography #portrait #Primate #TigerPantheraTigris #wildlife #wildlifeActivism #wildlifePhotography #wildlifephotography