#saturnus — Public Fediverse posts

Astronomen ontdekken een tienhoekige golf op Saturnus
Al bijna 50 jaar staat de noordpool van Saturnus bekend om een bizarre, zeshoekige straalstroom, de zogenaamde hexagoon. Deze structuur
#atmosfeer #cassini #decagoon #hexagoon #hubble #noordpool #saturnus #tienhoek #zeshoek #zuidpool
https://www.kuuke.nl/astronomen-ontdekken-een-tienhoekige-golf-op-saturnus/

Astronomen ontdekken een tienhoekige golf op Saturnus
Al bijna 50 jaar staat de noordpool van Saturnus bekend om een bizarre, zeshoekige straalstroom, de zogenaamde hexagoon. Deze structuur
#atmosfeer #cassini #decagoon #hexagoon #hubble #noordpool #saturnus #tienhoek #zeshoek #zuidpool
https://www.kuuke.nl/astronomen-ontdekken-een-tienhoekige-golf-op-saturnus/

Astronomen ontdekken een tienhoekige golf op Saturnus
Al bijna 50 jaar staat de noordpool van Saturnus bekend om een bizarre, zeshoekige straalstroom, de zogenaamde hexagoon. Deze structuur
#atmosfeer #cassini #decagoon #hexagoon #hubble #noordpool #saturnus #tienhoek #zeshoek #zuidpool
https://www.kuuke.nl/astronomen-ontdekken-een-tienhoekige-golf-op-saturnus/

23.52: De #Maan staat 5,3gr ten noordwesten van #Saturnus (+0,6m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 23:52, in onze streken op 6gr hoogte boven de oostelijke horizon. De #Maan is voor 73% verlicht. De pagina Vannacht a/d hemel toont wanneer de #Maan en planeten te zie Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

04.45: De #Maan staat 5,2gr N van #Saturnus (+0,8m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering vindt om 19:58 plaats, onder de horizon en bij daglicht. Bekijk de samenstand rond 4:45 uur, of op 8 jul rond 2 uur. Het tweetal staat i/h eerste geval boven de zuidoostelijke horizon, op een hoogte van ongeveer 32gr, 9,3gr van elkaar verwijderd. In het tweede geval sta/d twee hemellichamen boven de oostelijke horizon, op een hoogte va... Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

04.30: De #Maan staat 4,9gr ten noordwesten van #Saturnus (+0,9m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 07:40, op een hoogte van 39gr, maar bij daglicht. De samenstand is te zien rond 4:30 uur. Het tweetal staat dan boven de oostzuidoostelijke horizon, op een hoogte van ongeveer 16gr, op een onderlinge afstand van 5,2gr. De #Maan is voor 32% verlicht. De pagina Vannacht a/d hemel toont wanneer de #Maan en planete... Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

13.31: #Mercurius staat 28' ten zuidoosten van #Saturnus (+0.9m), i/h #sterrenbeeld Walvis. De dichtste nadering vindt om 13:31 plaats, op een hoogte van 37gr, maar bij daglicht. De samenstand is vanuit de Benelux niet of nauwelijks zichtbaar. De helderheid van #Mercurius is nu -0 Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

10.29: De #Maan staat 3.5gr ten noordwesten van #Saturnus (+0.9m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 10:29, in onze streken op 29gr hoogte, maar bij daglicht. Vanuit onze streken is er v/d samenstand niet veel te z Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

19.30: #Venus staat 55' ten noordwesten van #Saturnus (+1,0m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 14:15, in onze streken op 37gr hoogte, maar bij daglicht. De samenstand is alleen met veel moeite zichtbaar op 7 mrt rond 19:30 uur, of op 8 mrt rond 18:45 uur. De twee objecten staan i/h eerste geval i/h westen, circa 2gr boven de horizon, op een onderlinge afstand van 1,3gr. In het tweede geval sta/d twee hemelli... Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

20.00: De #Maan staat 3,6gr N van #Saturnus (+1,1m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 23:02, onder de horizon voor een waarnemer. Bekijk de samenstand rond 20 uur. De twee objecten staan dan i/h westen, op een hoogte van ongeveer 6gr, 4,0gr van elkaar vandaan. De #Maan is voor 6% verlicht. Voor de zichtbaarheid van #Maan en planeten, zie Vannacht a/d Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

17.45: De #Maan staat 2,9gr ten noordwesten van #Saturnus (+1,2m), i/h #sterrenbeeld #Vissen. De dichtste nadering gebeurt om 09:46, 7gr onder de horizon en bij daglicht. De samenstand is te zien rond 17:45 uur. De twee objecten staan dan i/h zuidzuidwesten, op een hoogte van ongeveer 35gr, op een afstand van 5,0gr van elkaar. De #Zon staat 5gr onder de horizon. De #Maan is voor 24% verlicht. De pagina Vannacht a/d hemel toont wanneer... Meer info: https://hemel.waarnemen.com/astrokal/

Tyhjensin pyykkitelineitä. Perkasin eilisiltaisia kuvia. Käväisin Prismassa. Pyykkäsin. Koodasin. Käänsin Kodin. Kävin suihkussa.

https://marginaa.li/2024/09/22/22-syyskuuta-2024-awake-before-im-down/

One List to Debase Them All: AngryMetal Guy.com’s Aggregated Top 20 of 2023

By El Cuervo

This aggregation exercise represents my favorite article of the year. I enjoy identifying and highlighting those chosen few records worthy of additional recognition. But most of all I enjoy the sense of power derived from early access to other writers’ list data without the obligations flowing from being an editor. To my satisfaction, this list represents a diverse mix compared with certain previous years. Much ground is covered, from myriad metal sub-genres (death, black, doom, prog) to myriad tones (energetic, strange, historical, sadboi). I enjoy the variety, even if I don’t the specific choices. That said, we’re not helping our own argument against accusations that we despise all power and folk metal – with just one album from both sub-genres in the top 20 and an abundance selected by just a couple of people below this.

The most critical observation is that, compared with 2022, there are ~20% fewer unique records and voting points attributable to the top 10 albums is ~10% higher. This indicates greater alignment this year, with fewer albums chosen and stronger communal favorites. No doubt this is attributable to our loss of individuality and gradual morphing into one awful hivemind.

In a last ditch effort to save my own reputation at the cost of my colleagues, I want to emphasize that I personally had a distinct deviation from this aggregated list. As orchestrator of this article with early access to the data, I did attempt to identify why it was that some of these albums apparently had an impact on everyone else. The only conclusion I can draw following these attempts is that my faceless colleagues seek the average. They should try harder to be deliberately contrary next year; I expect that they’ll maliciously comply by picking the same 20 albums 20 times just to spite me.

–El Cuervo

#20. Crypta // Shades of Sorrow – “While Crypta is still fetid, OSDM adherents, Shades of Sorrow also amps both the black and thrash influences, resulting in a compelling sophomore effort that packs a significant, unforgettable punch” (Felagund).

#19. Onheil // In Black Ashes – “In Black Ashes is melodic black/death/speed/thrash at its finest. Onheil’s mastery of melody and songwriting elevates In Black Ashes into the stratosphere. Every track is a winner, and Onheil strikes an impossible balance between enthralling riffs and emotional heft” (Maddog).

#18. Ascension // Under the Veil of Madness – “There’s not one song on here that isn’t currently stuck in my head. Its huge choruses, hooky verses, and lightning fast shreddery have probably bonded with my DNA by this point” (Kenstrosity).

#17. Somnuri // Desiderirum – “The addition of (Soundgarden-esque) throwback radio alt-rock into their roiling pot of hardcore and progressive sludge makes Desiderium these Brooklynites’ strongest outing to date. It’s rare that an album this aggressive and energetic goes down this smooth” (Cherd).

#16. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – “Warcrab boasts fighting spirit, sharp claws, and a crustacean shell that’s fitted for turret combat. They’re obviously game for a scrap, but–as Cherd pointed out in his review–the band doesn’t have much competition in their death-sludge niche” (Ferox).

#15. Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance – “With heavy doses of classic Candlemass and moments that recall the grim haunts of Fvneral Fvkk, Weight of Remembrance does so many things exceptionally well. There’s nothing I would change or trim on Weight of Remembrance, and if anything, I wish it was a little longer. Doom perfection” (Steel Druhm).

#14. Panopticon // The Rime of Memory – “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. The Rime of Memory more than matched my lofty hopes” (Thus Spoke).

#13. Godthrymm // Distortions – “With meaty riffs, soaring leads, a fantastic rhythm section, and keyboardist Catherine Glencross’ angelic voice, this classic-doom-meets-classic-Pallbearer configuration landed my top spot as soon as I finished listening to it for the first time” (Grymm).

#12. Saturnus // The Storm Within – “The opening tracks comprise the best one-two punch of the year, while the back half of the album feels like an unraveling and stripping down. The Storm Within is a magnificently monolithic and aptly dreary return to form from Saturnus” (Dear Hollow).

#11. Night Crowned // Tales – “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” (GardensTale).

#10. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – [#1, #2, #8, #8, #9, #HM, #HM, #HM, #HM] – Miracle of Death earns the dubious honor of winning more list mentions than the six records ahead of it, but only reaches this tenth spot due to generally low rankings. Undeterred, Steel Druhm highlights the band’s unusual combination of sounds, describing a “strange witch’s brew of genres and styles that is unique and enchanting… It’s doom, it’s goth rock, it’s 70s acid rock all wrapped into one enigmatic, ethereal burrito.” Despite the allusion to hot food, Twelve instead reckons that the album “takes me to a cold place. It’s emotional, but it feels like numbness; it’s quiet, but leaves a huge impression… any time I’ve felt low throughout the year, Vanishing Kids has been there.” This sense of something beyond easy description is mirrored by Carcharodon, who argues that the band “have that very rare something, that je ne sais quoi…. to create something truly unique requires genuine craft and these guys have it in spades.” Check out metal’s innovators.

#9. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – [#1, #4, #6, #7, #8, #ish, #HM, #HM] – Serving arguably the heaviest slot on this list1, Convocation and No Dawn for the Caliginous Night offered a mighty force of doom in 2023. Dear Hollow illustrates the heavier qualities of the release (“No Dawn for the Caliginous Night channels mammoth death-doom and despondent funeral doom to accomplish a weight both viciously devastating and patiently atmospheric”) while Kenstrosity instead prefers the counter-weight of both sides of the sound (“[their] deeply affecting use of orchestration and clean vocals to light up my nervous system while the heft of [their] tectonic death doom strives to end my life”). Bands like this remind us of our humanity and our finite nature; few records could be pitched as “a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels” but Convocation does this as Cherd‘s AotY. Step back, breathe deeply, and simply listen. No Dawn for the Caliginous Night exists in these moments.

#8. Afterbirth // In But Not Of – [#1, #1, #2, #3] – Inspiring a deep love among its few accolytes, Afterbirth reached this list through just a few list-topping selections. In But Not Of offers brutal death metal that isn’t just smart compared with its own – often blunt – sub-genre, but that is smart compared with anything. “For a band that traffics in slammy, knuckle-dragging brutal death, In But Not Of carries with it an undeniable progressive, cerebral quality, which feels like a logical outgrowth from their previous effort” (Felagund). Indeed, Doom et Al finds its progressive qualities its most compelling, describing that “while the first half of brutal, spacy, wacky death metal is great, the second half, with its explorations into post-metal and prog is where real greatness happens”. Nuanced, layered music invites exploration, and even our resident death metal enthusiasts concur: “Afterbirth crams an abundance of riches into a brutal death metal album that twists and transmutes… I continue to find surprises almost every time I revisit In But Not Of” (Ferox). This album exemplifies the power of invention and intrigue.

#7. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – [#1, #2, #4, #4, #9] – Boasting AMG.com’s prog o’ the year award, Of Golden Verse by Sermon is the sole album here also picked by yours truly. I found that “Sermon’s undulating song-writing style results in music that ebbs from steely, tense atmospheres and flows to passionate, cathartic explosions. Dramatic, sure. But exciting.” Saunders, awarding his album o’ the year, favors the record’s singularity, given that “Sermon boasts a unique sound they can call their own, where dark, eerie and deadly serious vibes and almost melodramatic flair flows through towering, intelligent, and emotive prog metal epics.” But even more than its dynamic songs and novelty, GardensTale underlines the most beguiling quality of Of Golden Verse: “What attracts me 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 is exquisite.” Few records are so powerful.

#6. Xoth // Exogalactic – [#1, #3, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #ish] – The first of three techy, deathy albums in a row, Exogalactic by Xoth consolidates the band as a bona fide site favorite. “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… Every time I listen to Exogalactic, I can’t help but grin” (Maddog). More than simple smiles, Dr. Wvrm never hides his arousal around riffs. Of Exogalactic, he describes it as “prostrate before that holiest of holy, The Riff. So of course, the end product [is] impeccable, incredible, impossibly fucking good.” AMG Himself delights in “the consistently best thrashy melodic death metal this world has heard since the early-90s” and continues that “Xoth has started to cement themselves as one of my favorite bands.” This entire website has flown from His opinions so take heed; buy Xoth now.

#5. Wormhole // Almost Human – [#2, #4, #5, #5, #5, #9, #ish, #HM] – It takes a special kind of slam to breach the AMG aggregated list but Wormhole is a special sort of band. Having banged his drum about Almost Human almost all year, Kenstrosity surprisingly failed to AotY this album. But in doing so he was highly complimentary, noting that “Almost Human confirms that with the right songwriting, slam can be thoughtful, intentional, intricate, and enriching. Thanks to a healthy infusion of tech by way of tricky, but subtle maneuvers rather than straight-up wanking speed, Wormhole’s whimsically brutal metal suddenly transforms into something polished, elevated, and immersive.” Emphasizing the record’s heavier qualities, the ever-eloquent Saunders describes the release as a “visceral, ridiculously heavy, sci-fi-themed tech-slam assault.” And while we rightly review albums in their entirety rather than song-by-song, Dolphin Whisperer “repeatedly binged those first two singles as if they were a whole album to themselves.” It’s hard to deny songs so heavy but so gripping.2

#4. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – [#1, #2, #4, #4, #5, #7, #ish] – Visions of Infinihility offered some of 2023’s meatiest death metal. Angry Metal Guy was emphatic in His summary, penning that “the term tour de force was coined to describe albums like Visions of Infinihility. Sometimes an album simply rules and your record o’ the year choice is uncomplicated. Carnosus’ sophomore album is such an album.” As if this statement was insufficient, I’ll rely on Cherd to describe the thing: “a tech-death barn burner… tight, vicious, and catchy, this record also features [one of the] best harsh vocal performance of the year.”3 Some people – including me – are nonplussed by tech death, but Ferox has us poor bastards covered too: “every one of the nine tracks on Visions of Infinihility stands up to heavy listening… It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing four thousand dollar headphones or a bullet belt. Visions of Infinihility should appeal to wonks, diehards, and metalheads all across the spectrum.” You heard the man.

#3. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – [#1, #2, #2, #6, #8, #8, #8, #10, #HM] – Sporting 2023’s shitty band name o’ the year, Sodomisery pulled no punches with their new record called Mazzaroth. Dr A.N. Grier describes how “with Mazzaroth came a new approach, emphasizing the black, death, and melodeath with massive orchestration atmospheres.” Its size warranted comment from other writers too; Twelve highlights “the vocal performance, the orchestrations, the songwriting—everything on Mazzaroth is top-tier, larger-than-life, incredible black metal.” More than anything, great music orbits around great song-writing and nowhere is that more apparent than with Sodomisery. Winning his favorite record of the year, newbie Iceberg commends this aspect. “The 36 minutes of Mazzaroth are as lean and mean as you can get… In the age of endless bloat, Sodomisery sharpen their knives and kill all their babies Spartan-style, leaving only razor-sharp riffing and inescapable songwriting in their wake.” You heard it here first; these Swedes killed their babies in pursuit of The Riff.

#2. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – [#1, #3, #3, #4, #4, #5, #5, #7, #10] – Residing in the top half of 7 lists, Air Not Meant for Us represented the best of 2023’s death and doom metal. Grymm compares these Connecticutens to sadboi legends, articulating that “Fires in the Distance took what makes Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum and added their own unique embellishments to create a truly captivating album.” Thus Spoke highlights its “distinctive form of ethereal, key-accented melodeath/doom”, but favors most how it’s “elegantly composed, stirring, and effortlessly graceful.” She wasn’t the only person to bond with this record. Doom et Al agreed that there are clear influences but still bestowed his top prize: “It isn’t particularly original, but I don’t care. Art is about the connection it forges with the person engaging with it, and I feel every note of Air Not Meant for Us in my marrow. There’s a longing and a beauty here that I connected with immediately.” Who am I – and who are you – to deny his emotions?

#1. Wayfarer // American Gothic – [#1, #1, #2, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #6, #7, #7, #7] – With 12 main list picks, 7 top 5s and 2 AotYs, there was little doubt that Wayfarer would take the aggregated top spot for 2023. Carcharodon posits that while its predecessor may have been “close to fulfilling the promise of their Wild West black metal, American Gothic is the album where everything that Wayfarer has struggled to bring together for years finally clicked into place.” Why is this? Awarding his AotY, Sentynel attributes it to “utterly seamless” genre blending. “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.” Lesser bands have gimmicks; Wayfarer’s central synthesis is essential. “Black metal should not go well with the Old West. Wayfarer crafted not only their best album to date, but also an absorbing, engrossing classic that begs to be absorbed in full with your complete, utmost attention” (Grymm). If you miss this, we’ll see you at dawn. With pistols.

#2023 #Afterbirth #AngryMetalGuySTop10Ish_ #Ascension #BlogPosts #Carnosus #Convocation #Crypta #FiresInTheDistance #Godthrymm #Lists #Listurnalia #NightCrowned #Onheil #Panopticon #Saturnus #Sermon #Sodomisery #Somnuri #Tribunal #VanishingKids #Warcrab #Wayfarer #Wormhole #Xoth

One List to Debase Them All: AngryMetal Guy.com’s Aggregated Top 20 of 2023

By El Cuervo

This aggregation exercise represents my favorite article of the year. I enjoy identifying and highlighting those chosen few records worthy of additional recognition. But most of all I enjoy the sense of power derived from early access to other writers’ list data without the obligations flowing from being an editor. To my satisfaction, this list represents a diverse mix compared with certain previous years. Much ground is covered, from myriad metal sub-genres (death, black, doom, prog) to myriad tones (energetic, strange, historical, sadboi). I enjoy the variety, even if I don’t the specific choices. That said, we’re not helping our own argument against accusations that we despise all power and folk metal – with just one album from both sub-genres in the top 20 and an abundance selected by just a couple of people below this.

The most critical observation is that, compared with 2022, there are ~20% fewer unique records and voting points attributable to the top 10 albums is ~10% higher. This indicates greater alignment this year, with fewer albums chosen and stronger communal favorites. No doubt this is attributable to our loss of individuality and gradual morphing into one awful hivemind.

In a last ditch effort to save my own reputation at the cost of my colleagues, I want to emphasize that I personally had a distinct deviation from this aggregated list. As orchestrator of this article with early access to the data, I did attempt to identify why it was that some of these albums apparently had an impact on everyone else. The only conclusion I can draw following these attempts is that my faceless colleagues seek the average. They should try harder to be deliberately contrary next year; I expect that they’ll maliciously comply by picking the same 20 albums 20 times just to spite me.

–El Cuervo

#20. Crypta // Shades of Sorrow – “While Crypta is still fetid, OSDM adherents, Shades of Sorrow also amps both the black and thrash influences, resulting in a compelling sophomore effort that packs a significant, unforgettable punch” (Felagund).

#19. Onheil // In Black Ashes – “In Black Ashes is melodic black/death/speed/thrash at its finest. Onheil’s mastery of melody and songwriting elevates In Black Ashes into the stratosphere. Every track is a winner, and Onheil strikes an impossible balance between enthralling riffs and emotional heft” (Maddog).

#18. Ascension // Under the Veil of Madness – “There’s not one song on here that isn’t currently stuck in my head. Its huge choruses, hooky verses, and lightning fast shreddery have probably bonded with my DNA by this point” (Kenstrosity).

#17. Somnuri // Desiderirum – “The addition of (Soundgarden-esque) throwback radio alt-rock into their roiling pot of hardcore and progressive sludge makes Desiderium these Brooklynites’ strongest outing to date. It’s rare that an album this aggressive and energetic goes down this smooth” (Cherd).

#16. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – “Warcrab boasts fighting spirit, sharp claws, and a crustacean shell that’s fitted for turret combat. They’re obviously game for a scrap, but–as Cherd pointed out in his review–the band doesn’t have much competition in their death-sludge niche” (Ferox).

#15. Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance – “With heavy doses of classic Candlemass and moments that recall the grim haunts of Fvneral Fvkk, Weight of Remembrance does so many things exceptionally well. There’s nothing I would change or trim on Weight of Remembrance, and if anything, I wish it was a little longer. Doom perfection” (Steel Druhm).

#14. Panopticon // The Rime of Memory – “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. The Rime of Memory more than matched my lofty hopes” (Thus Spoke).

#13. Godthrymm // Distortions – “With meaty riffs, soaring leads, a fantastic rhythm section, and keyboardist Catherine Glencross’ angelic voice, this classic-doom-meets-classic-Pallbearer configuration landed my top spot as soon as I finished listening to it for the first time” (Grymm).

#12. Saturnus // The Storm Within – “The opening tracks comprise the best one-two punch of the year, while the back half of the album feels like an unraveling and stripping down. The Storm Within is a magnificently monolithic and aptly dreary return to form from Saturnus” (Dear Hollow).

#11. Night Crowned // Tales – “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” (GardensTale).

#10. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – [#1, #2, #8, #8, #9, #HM, #HM, #HM, #HM] – Miracle of Death earns the dubious honor of winning more list mentions than the six records ahead of it, but only reaches this tenth spot due to generally low rankings. Undeterred, Steel Druhm highlights the band’s unusual combination of sounds, describing a “strange witch’s brew of genres and styles that is unique and enchanting… It’s doom, it’s goth rock, it’s 70s acid rock all wrapped into one enigmatic, ethereal burrito.” Despite the allusion to hot food, Twelve instead reckons that the album “takes me to a cold place. It’s emotional, but it feels like numbness; it’s quiet, but leaves a huge impression… any time I’ve felt low throughout the year, Vanishing Kids has been there.” This sense of something beyond easy description is mirrored by Carcharodon, who argues that the band “have that very rare something, that je ne sais quoi…. to create something truly unique requires genuine craft and these guys have it in spades.” Check out metal’s innovators.

#9. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – [#1, #4, #6, #7, #8, #ish, #HM, #HM] – Serving arguably the heaviest slot on this list1, Convocation and No Dawn for the Caliginous Night offered a mighty force of doom in 2023. Dear Hollow illustrates the heavier qualities of the release (“No Dawn for the Caliginous Night channels mammoth death-doom and despondent funeral doom to accomplish a weight both viciously devastating and patiently atmospheric”) while Kenstrosity instead prefers the counter-weight of both sides of the sound (“[their] deeply affecting use of orchestration and clean vocals to light up my nervous system while the heft of [their] tectonic death doom strives to end my life”). Bands like this remind us of our humanity and our finite nature; few records could be pitched as “a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels” but Convocation does this as Cherd‘s AotY. Step back, breathe deeply, and simply listen. No Dawn for the Caliginous Night exists in these moments.

#8. Afterbirth // In But Not Of – [#1, #1, #2, #3] – Inspiring a deep love among its few accolytes, Afterbirth reached this list through just a few list-topping selections. In But Not Of offers brutal death metal that isn’t just smart compared with its own – often blunt – sub-genre, but that is smart compared with anything. “For a band that traffics in slammy, knuckle-dragging brutal death, In But Not Of carries with it an undeniable progressive, cerebral quality, which feels like a logical outgrowth from their previous effort” (Felagund). Indeed, Doom et Al finds its progressive qualities its most compelling, describing that “while the first half of brutal, spacy, wacky death metal is great, the second half, with its explorations into post-metal and prog is where real greatness happens”. Nuanced, layered music invites exploration, and even our resident death metal enthusiasts concur: “Afterbirth crams an abundance of riches into a brutal death metal album that twists and transmutes… I continue to find surprises almost every time I revisit In But Not Of” (Ferox). This album exemplifies the power of invention and intrigue.

#7. Sermon // Of Golden Verse – [#1, #2, #4, #4, #9] – Boasting AMG.com’s prog o’ the year award, Of Golden Verse by Sermon is the sole album here also picked by yours truly. I found that “Sermon’s undulating song-writing style results in music that ebbs from steely, tense atmospheres and flows to passionate, cathartic explosions. Dramatic, sure. But exciting.” Saunders, awarding his album o’ the year, favors the record’s singularity, given that “Sermon boasts a unique sound they can call their own, where dark, eerie and deadly serious vibes and almost melodramatic flair flows through towering, intelligent, and emotive prog metal epics.” But even more than its dynamic songs and novelty, GardensTale underlines the most beguiling quality of Of Golden Verse: “What attracts me 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 is exquisite.” Few records are so powerful.

#6. Xoth // Exogalactic – [#1, #3, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #ish] – The first of three techy, deathy albums in a row, Exogalactic by Xoth consolidates the band as a bona fide site favorite. “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… Every time I listen to Exogalactic, I can’t help but grin” (Maddog). More than simple smiles, Dr. Wvrm never hides his arousal around riffs. Of Exogalactic, he describes it as “prostrate before that holiest of holy, The Riff. So of course, the end product [is] impeccable, incredible, impossibly fucking good.” AMG Himself delights in “the consistently best thrashy melodic death metal this world has heard since the early-90s” and continues that “Xoth has started to cement themselves as one of my favorite bands.” This entire website has flown from His opinions so take heed; buy Xoth now.

#5. Wormhole // Almost Human – [#2, #4, #5, #5, #5, #9, #ish, #HM] – It takes a special kind of slam to breach the AMG aggregated list but Wormhole is a special sort of band. Having banged his drum about Almost Human almost all year, Kenstrosity surprisingly failed to AotY this album. But in doing so he was highly complimentary, noting that “Almost Human confirms that with the right songwriting, slam can be thoughtful, intentional, intricate, and enriching. Thanks to a healthy infusion of tech by way of tricky, but subtle maneuvers rather than straight-up wanking speed, Wormhole’s whimsically brutal metal suddenly transforms into something polished, elevated, and immersive.” Emphasizing the record’s heavier qualities, the ever-eloquent Saunders describes the release as a “visceral, ridiculously heavy, sci-fi-themed tech-slam assault.” And while we rightly review albums in their entirety rather than song-by-song, Dolphin Whisperer “repeatedly binged those first two singles as if they were a whole album to themselves.” It’s hard to deny songs so heavy but so gripping.2

#4. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – [#1, #2, #4, #4, #5, #7, #ish] – Visions of Infinihility offered some of 2023’s meatiest death metal. Angry Metal Guy was emphatic in His summary, penning that “the term tour de force was coined to describe albums like Visions of Infinihility. Sometimes an album simply rules and your record o’ the year choice is uncomplicated. Carnosus’ sophomore album is such an album.” As if this statement was insufficient, I’ll rely on Cherd to describe the thing: “a tech-death barn burner… tight, vicious, and catchy, this record also features [one of the] best harsh vocal performance of the year.”3 Some people – including me – are nonplussed by tech death, but Ferox has us poor bastards covered too: “every one of the nine tracks on Visions of Infinihility stands up to heavy listening… It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing four thousand dollar headphones or a bullet belt. Visions of Infinihility should appeal to wonks, diehards, and metalheads all across the spectrum.” You heard the man.

#3. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – [#1, #2, #2, #6, #8, #8, #8, #10, #HM] – Sporting 2023’s shitty band name o’ the year, Sodomisery pulled no punches with their new record called Mazzaroth. Dr A.N. Grier describes how “with Mazzaroth came a new approach, emphasizing the black, death, and melodeath with massive orchestration atmospheres.” Its size warranted comment from other writers too; Twelve highlights “the vocal performance, the orchestrations, the songwriting—everything on Mazzaroth is top-tier, larger-than-life, incredible black metal.” More than anything, great music orbits around great song-writing and nowhere is that more apparent than with Sodomisery. Winning his favorite record of the year, newbie Iceberg commends this aspect. “The 36 minutes of Mazzaroth are as lean and mean as you can get… In the age of endless bloat, Sodomisery sharpen their knives and kill all their babies Spartan-style, leaving only razor-sharp riffing and inescapable songwriting in their wake.” You heard it here first; these Swedes killed their babies in pursuit of The Riff.

#2. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – [#1, #3, #3, #4, #4, #5, #5, #7, #10] – Residing in the top half of 7 lists, Air Not Meant for Us represented the best of 2023’s death and doom metal. Grymm compares these Connecticutens to sadboi legends, articulating that “Fires in the Distance took what makes Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum and added their own unique embellishments to create a truly captivating album.” Thus Spoke highlights its “distinctive form of ethereal, key-accented melodeath/doom”, but favors most how it’s “elegantly composed, stirring, and effortlessly graceful.” She wasn’t the only person to bond with this record. Doom et Al agreed that there are clear influences but still bestowed his top prize: “It isn’t particularly original, but I don’t care. Art is about the connection it forges with the person engaging with it, and I feel every note of Air Not Meant for Us in my marrow. There’s a longing and a beauty here that I connected with immediately.” Who am I – and who are you – to deny his emotions?

#1. Wayfarer // American Gothic – [#1, #1, #2, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #6, #7, #7, #7] – With 12 main list picks, 7 top 5s and 2 AotYs, there was little doubt that Wayfarer would take the aggregated top spot for 2023. Carcharodon posits that while its predecessor may have been “close to fulfilling the promise of their Wild West black metal, American Gothic is the album where everything that Wayfarer has struggled to bring together for years finally clicked into place.” Why is this? Awarding his AotY, Sentynel attributes it to “utterly seamless” genre blending. “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.” Lesser bands have gimmicks; Wayfarer’s central synthesis is essential. “Black metal should not go well with the Old West. Wayfarer crafted not only their best album to date, but also an absorbing, engrossing classic that begs to be absorbed in full with your complete, utmost attention” (Grymm). If you miss this, we’ll see you at dawn. With pistols.

#2023 #Afterbirth #AngryMetalGuySTop10Ish_ #Ascension #BlogPosts #Carnosus #Convocation #Crypta #FiresInTheDistance #Godthrymm #Lists #Listurnalia #NightCrowned #Onheil #Panopticon #Saturnus #Sermon #Sodomisery #Somnuri #Tribunal #VanishingKids #Warcrab #Wayfarer #Wormhole #Xoth

Private: Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Steel Druhm

Well, we made it the end of another year full of surprises, disappointments, gains and losses. 2023 saw us add a few new voices to the AMG staff and sadly, it will see a few longtime members of the family stepping back from the day-to-day operations and activities. The much beloved Madam X has moved on from managing our everflowing stream of promos and that will now be handled by yours Steely. Sadly, our main cat man Grymm is also moving on for the time being, taking some personal time away from the deadlines and pressures of nonstop blogwork.

Throughout all the changes we’ve endured over the years, both good and bad, the AMG mission remains the same: to bring you the most honest, insightful, and entertaining reviews possible without being beholden to labels or outside pressures because we earn absolutely nothing for our efforts, We are truly terrible capitalists, but we love metal as much as you do and we want to talk about it, so the site grinds on year after year. I hope it always does.

Let’s all embrace the new year and what it holds for us. Life is always an adventure and one best shared with people you care about who make you laugh and make you think. If you don’t have those people, WE can be those people. Get on the war wagon with us and into the future we go!

Without further ado, here are the things that brought out my inner primate in 2023.

(ish) Blood Oath // Lost in an Eternal Silence – One of the year’s best and most entertaining throwback death metal releases, Lost in an Eternal Silence targets the exact point where early death metal looked to the skies and dreamed of being something more complex. Blood Oath have the raw talent and crazy creativity to recapture the early days of death metal and to replicate that frantic jump from brutality to proggy insanity that the genre toyed with in the late 80s. The album is the perfect blend of nostalgia and insane creativity, melding the past with the present and what may be the future. One of the most inventive and zany death platters of the year.

#10. Tanith // Voyage – Formed by Satan axe-master Russ Tippins, Tanith exist in a space between classic NWoBHM and 70s hard tock with a sheen of folk covering the entire enterprise. On sophomore outing Voyage, they take this retro formula and mine it for every ounce of precious metal, crafting some killer little gems along the way. Songs like “Snow Tiger” and “Olympus by Dawn” have been replayed more times than I can count and there’s something magical and endearingly DIY and indie about this whole release. It’s not especially heavy, but the hooks stick so deep, you won’t care much. This is the Charmer o’ the Year for sure.

#9. The Night Eternal // Fatale – I loved the sadly defunct act In Solitude dearly. Their mash-up of NWoBHM, occult metal and Mercyful Fate was hard to resist and I wanted more, more MOAR. When I first stumbled on The Night Eternal, it sounded to me as if In Solitude had possessed them, forcing them to pick up where they left off. I’m very okay with this and Fatale plays out like the new In Solitude platter I so desperately wanted. It’s the same sweet, hooky mix of classic Mercyful Fate-isms, chilly occult rock, Goth rock and early 80s metal. This thing gets into your head deep and demands many replays, and if I had found it earlier, it would have moved up the rankings considerably. Get this and feel The Night’s iron grip.

#8. Oak // Disintegrate – Oak is the project of Gaerea lead guitarist/vocalist, Guilherme Henriques, and instead of creating another black metal act, Oak is steered into the funeral doom universe and what better way to accomplish that than to make Disintegrate one 45-minute-long track? Yes, that makes for a daunting, intense listen but the beauty of what Oak do is just how listenable their ultra doom, deathy sound ends up. Heavy as fook riffs intertwine with weepy melancholic trills and beautifully emotive solo work and the listener gets carried along on ephemeral waves. The ebb and flow of the 45 minutes is remarkable and it never feels bogged down or dead in the mud. This is first-rate writing and execution and the slightly blackened edges add a great spice to the wood flavor. Bring in this wood.

#7. Rotpit // Let There Be Rot – In the time of old school death metal mania, Rotpit is the proudly unevolved monkey. Formed by members of Heads of the Dead, Wombbath, Just Before Dawn, and Revel in Flesh, Rotpit has the pedigree, and they leverage it to make Let There Be Rot the most over-the-top fun, mindless, dumb, death platter of the year. Cuts like “Slimebreeder,” “Let There Be Rot,” and “Beastfeeder” are Grade A bloody meat with no expiration date, and you will use them as the soundtrack to everything you do in life. This idiotic collection of caveman deathage has been a constant companion to me since it dropped and I’m stupider for having its company.

#6. Serpent Corpse // Blood Sabbath – Picking the best old school death metal platter of this year was no easy feat in 2023. There was so much good death this year at times it felt impossible to stay ahead of it and give everything a fair listen. At the end of the race though, it was Serpent Corpse that kept dragging me back for another beating more than anyone else, though Rotpit came so close! Their toxic blend of Autopsy-core and the scuzziest of Swedeath HM-2 abuse is seasoned with unexpected doses of melodeath to create a near-perfect cacophony of chaos that feels old but also fresh and evil. This things slithers, slaps, and grinds in all the ways a deathhead wants and needs. Get it inside your skull.

#5. Prong // State of Emergency – My bingo card for 2023 did NOT include falling in love with a new Prong album and beating it into the ground for 4 months straight. As much as I loved those classic Prong platters in the late 80s and 90s, they went through a long period of weak/erratic release and I had only been impressed by 2012s Carved in Stone. That’s why State of Emergency hits so damn hard. It’s the best thing Prong’s done in forever and takes you back to the salad days when they were on the cusp of metal’s adventurous edge. This thing is chocked full of the best riffs and harmonies Tommy Victor’s dreamed up in a long time and every song grabs you and smacks you around with NYC attitude. It;s so good to hear these back in fighting shape!

#4. Saturnus // The Storm Within – Saturnus have always had a relaxed release schedule, with only 5 albums to show for some 30 years in the business. It took them almost 10 years to drop The Storm Within, but the product was well worth the impossible wait, ending up one of the most polished and captivating doom albums of the year. Recapturing their classic sound and ability to wring emotion from the listener, Saturnus does their doom thing with style and panache all across the album, blending crushing riffs, airy trilling and mournful melodies to harsh your mellow completely. I’ve heard loose talk about this album being overrated or overhyped. Ignore that noise and tell the spewer to taste the floor!

#3. Isole // Anesidora – There weren’t a lot of classic doom releases that blew me away, by Isole have my number and once again they used it to knock me flat with their take on the Candlemass style on Anesidora.

#2. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death –

#1. Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance –

HM

Overkill // Scorched –

Phobocosm //

Theocracy // Mosiac –

Wytch Hazel //

Vomitory // All Heads Will Roll –

Disquished Malignance //

Dripping Decay //

Wormhole //

Autopsy //

Sacred Outcry //

#2023 #BlogPost #BlooaOath #DisquishedMalignance #Isole #Listurnalia #Oak #Overkill #Phobocosm #Prong #Rotpit #Saturnus #SerpentCorpse #SteelDruhmSTopTenIshOf2023 #Tanith #TheNightEternal #Theocracy #Tribulation #VanishingKids #Vomitory #WytchHazel

Private: Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Steel Druhm

Well, we made it the end of another year full of surprises, disappointments, gains and losses. 2023 saw us add a few new voices to the AMG staff and sadly, it will see a few longtime members of the family stepping back from the day-to-day operations and activities. The much beloved Madam X has moved on from managing our everflowing stream of promos and that will now be handled by yours Steely. Sadly, our main cat man Grymm is also moving on for the time being, taking some personal time away from the deadlines and pressures of nonstop blogwork.

Throughout all the changes we’ve endured over the years, both good and bad, the AMG mission remains the same: to bring you the most honest, insightful, and entertaining reviews possible without being beholden to labels or outside pressures because we earn absolutely nothing for our efforts, We are truly terrible capitalists, but we love metal as much as you do and we want to talk about it, so the site grinds on year after year. I hope it always does.

Let’s all embrace the new year and what it holds for us. Life is always an adventure and one best shared with people you care about who make you laugh and make you think. If you don’t have those people, WE can be those people. Get on the war wagon with us and into the future we go!

Without further ado, here are the things that brought out my inner primate in 2023.

(ish) Blood Oath // Lost in an Eternal Silence – One of the year’s best and most entertaining throwback death metal releases, Lost in an Eternal Silence targets the exact point where early death metal looked to the skies and dreamed of being something more complex. Blood Oath have the raw talent and crazy creativity to recapture the early days of death metal and to replicate that frantic jump from brutality to proggy insanity that the genre toyed with in the late 80s. The album is the perfect blend of nostalgia and insane creativity, melding the past with the present and what may be the future. One of the most inventive and zany death platters of the year.

#10. Tanith // Voyage – Formed by Satan axe-master Russ Tippins, Tanith exist in a space between classic NWoBHM and 70s hard tock with a sheen of folk covering the entire enterprise. On sophomore outing Voyage, they take this retro formula and mine it for every ounce of precious metal, crafting some killer little gems along the way. Songs like “Snow Tiger” and “Olympus by Dawn” have been replayed more times than I can count and there’s something magical and endearingly DIY and indie about this whole release. It’s not especially heavy, but the hooks stick so deep, you won’t care much. This is the Charmer o’ the Year for sure.

#9. The Night Eternal // Fatale – I loved the sadly defunct act In Solitude dearly. Their mash-up of NWoBHM, occult metal and Mercyful Fate was hard to resist and I wanted more, more MOAR. When I first stumbled on The Night Eternal, it sounded to me as if In Solitude had possessed them, forcing them to pick up where they left off. I’m very okay with this and Fatale plays out like the new In Solitude platter I so desperately wanted. It’s the same sweet, hooky mix of classic Mercyful Fate-isms, chilly occult rock, Goth rock and early 80s metal. This thing gets into your head deep and demands many replays, and if I had found it earlier, it would have moved up the rankings considerably. Get this and feel The Night’s iron grip.

#8. Oak // Disintegrate – Oak is the project of Gaerea lead guitarist/vocalist, Guilherme Henriques, and instead of creating another black metal act, Oak is steered into the funeral doom universe and what better way to accomplish that than to make Disintegrate one 45-minute-long track? Yes, that makes for a daunting, intense listen but the beauty of what Oak do is just how listenable their ultra doom, deathy sound ends up. Heavy as fook riffs intertwine with weepy melancholic trills and beautifully emotive solo work and the listener gets carried along on ephemeral waves. The ebb and flow of the 45 minutes is remarkable and it never feels bogged down or dead in the mud. This is first-rate writing and execution and the slightly blackened edges add a great spice to the wood flavor. Bring in this wood.

#7. Rotpit // Let There Be Rot – In the time of old school death metal mania, Rotpit is the proudly unevolved monkey. Formed by members of Heads of the Dead, Wombbath, Just Before Dawn, and Revel in Flesh, Rotpit has the pedigree, and they leverage it to make Let There Be Rot the most over-the-top fun, mindless, dumb, death platter of the year. Cuts like “Slimebreeder,” “Let There Be Rot,” and “Beastfeeder” are Grade A bloody meat with no expiration date, and you will use them as the soundtrack to everything you do in life. This idiotic collection of caveman deathage has been a constant companion to me since it dropped and I’m stupider for having its company.

#6. Serpent Corpse // Blood Sabbath – Picking the best old school death metal platter of this year was no easy feat in 2023. There was so much good death this year at times it felt impossible to stay ahead of it and give everything a fair listen. At the end of the race though, it was Serpent Corpse that kept dragging me back for another beating more than anyone else, though Rotpit came so close! Their toxic blend of Autopsy-core and the scuzziest of Swedeath HM-2 abuse is seasoned with unexpected doses of melodeath to create a near-perfect cacophony of chaos that feels old but also fresh and evil. This things slithers, slaps, and grinds in all the ways a deathhead wants and needs. Get it inside your skull.

#5. Prong // State of Emergency – My bingo card for 2023 did NOT include falling in love with a new Prong album and beating it into the ground for 4 months straight. As much as I loved those classic Prong platters in the late 80s and 90s, they went through a long period of weak/erratic release and I had only been impressed by 2012s Carved in Stone. That’s why State of Emergency hits so damn hard. It’s the best thing Prong’s done in forever and takes you back to the salad days when they were on the cusp of metal’s adventurous edge. This thing is chocked full of the best riffs and harmonies Tommy Victor’s dreamed up in a long time and every song grabs you and smacks you around with NYC attitude. It;s so good to hear these back in fighting shape!

#4. Saturnus // The Storm Within – Saturnus have always had a relaxed release schedule, with only 5 albums to show for some 30 years in the business. It took them almost 10 years to drop The Storm Within, but the product was well worth the impossible wait, ending up one of the most polished and captivating doom albums of the year. Recapturing their classic sound and ability to wring emotion from the listener, Saturnus does their doom thing with style and panache all across the album, blending crushing riffs, airy trilling and mournful melodies to harsh your mellow completely. I’ve heard loose talk about this album being overrated or overhyped. Ignore that noise and tell the spewer to taste the floor!

#3. Isole // Anesidora – There weren’t a lot of classic doom releases that blew me away, by Isole have my number and once again they used it to knock me flat with their take on the Candlemass style on Anesidora.

#2. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death –

#1. Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance –

HM

Overkill // Scorched –

Phobocosm //

Theocracy // Mosiac –

Wytch Hazel //

Vomitory // All Heads Will Roll –

Disquished Malignance //

Dripping Decay //

Wormhole //

Autopsy //

Sacred Outcry //

#2023 #BlogPost #BlooaOath #DisquishedMalignance #Isole #Listurnalia #Oak #Overkill #Phobocosm #Prong #Rotpit #Saturnus #SerpentCorpse #SteelDruhmSTopTenIshOf2023 #Tanith #TheNightEternal #Theocracy #Tribulation #VanishingKids #Vomitory #WytchHazel

Carcharodon’s and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Carcharodon

Carcharodon

I’ve been tetchy in 2023. Little things I’d normally barely even notice—about people, records, life in general, Mrs Carcharodon‘s recent insistence that we buy an air fryer—have really irked me. I’m (just about) self-aware enough that I clocked this, only to get more irked when I couldn’t put my finger on why. Yes, I turned 40, so am officially Olde and probably have to start listening to Saxon soon but that doesn’t fully explain it. It’s been a pretty good year in the main. I’m in a new job I like, Shark Pup No 1 has adjusted well to starting school and Shark Pup No 2 continues to get larger(!). We’ve had some good holidays, both as a family and, as a 40th treat to myself, a great trip to Islay, where very large quantities of smoky scotch1 were consumed with three very good friends. So why was I so tetchy? Maybe I was just tired?

As the year drew to a close, however, I realized I wasn’t just tired, I was weary. There’s a difference and it’s an important one. While I’m very lucky in many ways, there’s also a lot going on in my life, lots of spinning plates, and I don’t really take any time for myself. That was a bit of a realization. I’ve never been much for self-care or introspection; if I’m quiet, it doesn’t mean that I’m having deep thoughts, I’ve simply powered down for a bit. So, my resolution for 2024 is to find a little time to do a bit more for myself. I want to up my exercise game. I want to start reading more again. In short, I need to make time to do things I want to do, not just things I need to do. Needy, hey?

Apparently, I also needed a new list mate, after my emotional support sponge of several years ascended to a new name and (deservedly) to a new list status. Farewell Kenstrosity, I’ll miss you but maybe the real List mates are the ones we made along the way. In general, the USS AMG has charted a steady course through choppy waters in 2023, with Steel Druhm a steady, if stern, presence at the helm, while the editors dealt out the daily lashes and suspiciously cloudy grog. Thanks to them for all their efforts (only sometimes literally) whipping us into shape, and to all my fellow writers. You are all, to quote everyone’s favorite A.N.Gry Doc, idiots and I love less than half of you, half as well as you deserve but you are still better than many alternatives (like the Commentariat, who are awful(ly loveable)).

And with that, I have indulged myself enough. So, without further ado, here is the List of the writers who last year won the First Annual Killjoy Kudos for Best Taste Award (although, strangely, the statuette to which I assume I am entitled, has thus far failed to materialize…).

#ish. Omnivortex // Circulate – Tech death—indeed, death metal in general—isn’t really my thing, and the adulation heaped on Omnivortex’s 2020 effort, Diagrams of Consciousness, caused only bemusement for me. However, Circulate is a different beast. It’s interesting that my (now former *sob*) listmate Kenstrosity awarded Diagrams… his #1 spot in 2020 but, in his review of this year’s effort, said that it took Circulate a while to click for him, with the consistency of songwriting more pronounced here, over its predecessor’s spiky highlights. Perhaps that says something about the difference between what my erstwhile partner and I respectively look for in records. Perhaps it doesn’t. Either way, Omnivortex bullied and beasted their way onto this List because there was no force to stop them.

#10. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – Warcrab’s Damned in Endless Night made it to #6 on my first-ever List here at AMG, way back in 2019. Looking back now, it probably should have been higher. It’s been a long wait for The Howling Silence but it didn’t disappoint. Operating at that sweet intersection between doom and sludge, the UK veterans sound as filthy and pummelling as ever and, as Cherd pointed out, are now allowing elements of OSDM to bleed into their rumbling assault. The combination makes them as brvtal as they’ve always been but brings a sense of freshness and revitalized energy to Warcrab that I didn’t expect but loved to see.

#9. Leiþa // Reue – I had a sneaking suspicion that I underrated the second record from Leiþa, when I reviewed it back in January. This was confirmed when AMG awarded it ROTM in extremely timely fashion, on February 1st, declaring it to be a “masterful platter of great—potentially even excellent—black metal.” And so it has proved. It’s an album I’ve returned to over and over as the year went on. It’s hard to overstate the sheer raw, dark emotion that Reue’s creator Noise channeled into this record. For all that, the great songwriting brings a surprising amount of melody, although this only serves to heighten the sense of loss, remorse, and bitter self-loathing that drenches this (potentially) excellent album. It’s a devastating album.

#8. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – It’s hard to put into words exactly what makes Vanishing Kids’ brand of progressive doom so damn good. Sure, Jason Hartman is a fucking great guitarist but he’s not completely alone in that. Nikki Drohomyreky’s vocals are hauntingly beautiful but again, other vocalists can achieve that. In his review of Miracle of Death, Steel highlighted the “graceful, ethereal, and dreamy atmosphere” conjured by the band from the opener “Spill the Dark” (also my undisputed song of the year) and that’s probably about as close as we’ll get to the pinning it down. The fact is that Vanishing Kids have that very rare something, that je ne sais quoi. Combining trad doom, psychedelia, 70s occult rock, and more, to create something truly unique requires genuine craft and these guys have it in spades.

#7. The Circle // Of Awakening – I only went back to The Circle to be sure I could cross it off my List’s longlist. After all, it only got a 3.5 from Dear Hollow, whose taste overlaps with mine to a fair degree. That was about six weeks ago and I’m here to tell you DH underrated it. Of Awakening has been in heavy rotation ever since. Drawing together the likes of Ahab, Dark Funeral, and My Dying Bride, this is a crushingly dark album, that, despite its beautifully trim runtime, has a real sense of grandeur and majesty about it. Contrary to DH‘s thoughts, for me, Of Awakening is so tightly written that The Circle can get away with being as pummelling as they want but there’s also a lot more nuance and refinement here than one might hear on the first spin. Trust me. I’ve spun this a lot.

#6. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – There’s a sweet spot in the year for dropping records. Too early and they may be forgotten; too late and people may not have enough time with them. November 24th definitely falls into the latter camp. With more time, No Dawn for the Caliginous Night could probably have laid siege to my top three but I just didn’t get to spend the same amount of time with Convocation’s massive slab of outstanding doom as I did with the other outstanding things you will read about below. Be in no doubt though, Cherd was correct2 to drop a 4.5 on this majestic beast of a record.

#5. Antrisch // EXPEDITION II: Die Passage – Atmoblack comes in for a lot of stick. Some of it is even justified. But, when it’s done right, it’s a thing of beauty and Antrisch undoubtedly does it right. Frigid atmosphere pours out of EXPEDITION II in icy waves but never at the expense of the music, which is killer. Every time I press play, Antrisch drags me away to a tale of terror in the frozen arctic wastes, woven in shades of deepest black. The tremolos cut through me and the rasping vocals cause the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. I feel this record, as much as I hear it and that’s exactly the way atmoblack should be.

#4. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean // Obsession Destruction – Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean understand claustrophobia. When I listen to Obsession Destruction it feels like the walls are closing in, like the air is getting thick and hard to take in. The record feels like it’s pressing in on you. That is what sludge should do and Chained is drawing on inspiration from doom to heighten that sense. It’s beautiful, anguished, and bludgeoning all at once, and despite passing the hour mark, it’s compelling. I loved this record from the moment I heard it, even as it crushed the life out of me.

#3. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – I don’t usually accuse I have never accused Thus Spoke of underrating anything. Until now. The faintly progressive, doom-tinged melodeath of Air Not Meant for Us is not great. It is excellent. And I almost slept on it. For whatever reason, the first time I span this album, I didn’t even make it to the end and discarded it. But I came back, some months later, and was floored by this record. The deep seams of melody, the excellent use of keys, the soaring guitars, the whole package hit me with a force that only two other records did this year. Whatever was wrong with me the first time around has been scorched away, as Fires in the Distance burn with emotional intensity. The album is beautifully written and paced, which for all its weight and heaviness, also feels fragile and honest, revealing new depths on each revisit.

#2. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Wayfarer’s 2020 effort, A Romance with Violence, was so close. So close to fulfilling the promise of their Wild West black metal. But for all that it did well, as with their earlier two efforts, too many of the tracks went on too long, suffocating under their own weight. As Doom_et_Al said in his review, however, this year’s “American Gothic is the album Wayfarer have been threatening to make for years … Wayfarer take the violence and beauty of the land they inhabit and translate that to music that reflects that dichotomy.” I’m not sure there’s a better way to say it. American Gothic is the album where everything that Wayfarer has struggled to bring together for years finally clicked into place and it’s something truly special.3

#1. Cursebinder // Drifting – Poland’s Cursebinder kinda crept up on me. Since its April release, I have seen little acclaim for it, and my attempts to sell it to my fellow scribes have been met with non-committal murmurs of appreciation. But there is something about Drifting’s progressive black metal, borrowing heavily from both doom and post-metal, that just kept me coming back. Again. And again. There’s a shimmering intensity to the record, driven as much by the bright synth work, as Hubert Fudała’s crushing riffs and Maciej Proficz’ sulphuric vox, which means that I tend to find myself stopping whatever it is that I’m doing and simply staring into the middle distance while Drifting washes over me. It’s not the most technically complex thing on this list, nor is it a record that defies categorization. It’s simply the album that speaks to me in a way nothing else I heard this year did and what more can you look for in an Album of the Year?

Honorable mentions:

• Anti-God Hand // Blight Year – Blight Year took everything I liked about Anti-God Hand’s debut, Wretch, and refined it to a point where it still remained so harsh as to border on raw BM. Yet there is something about this album that I find kind of magical.
• BRIQUEVILLE // IIII – Finding a mid-way point between the melodicism and experimentation of ISIS’ Wavering Radiant and the slightly disconcerting edge of Celestial, BRIQUEVILLE’s excellent use of synths and samples, together with some sawing, jagged riffs is a winner.
• Downfall of Gaia // Silhouettes of Disgust – This is the record where Downfall of Gaia manages to blend most effectively all the disparate facets of their sound. Progressive and melodic, bleak and furious, this is a record to get lost exploring.
• God Disease // Apocalyptic Doom – With Apoclyptic Doom, God Disease delivered exactly that. This was the end of the world, cataclysmic stuff. What more can I say? If you lift and “Leper by the Grave of God” doesn’t help you hit a PB, I advise you to take up chess.
• Lo! // The Gleaners – I carelessly threw The Gleaners into April’s Filter after only a couple of spins, recognizing the quality on show but not having spent much time with it. Lo!’s abrasive sludgy post-metal / hardcore has stayed with me, however, as the sheer anger and intensity, and (surprising amounts of) melody kept me coming back.
• Saturnus // The Storm Within – In an incredibly strong year for doom, Saturnus turned in a great offering that I thought would be top 5 for sure. It didn’t have quite the staying power I thought it would—not least thanks to those sickly sweet spoken word parts—but it remains a great record, with one of the best SOTY in “The Calling.”
• Sworn // A Journey Told through Fire – Great Norwegian melodic black metal, channeling the likes of Vorga and Uada but also Insomnium, this record was just well written, beautifully paced, and fun as fuck.

Songs o’ the Year:

1. Vanishing Kids – “Spill the Dark”
2. Saturnus – “The Calling”
3. Fires in the Distance – “Crumbling Pillars of a Tranquil Mind”
4. Downfall of Gaia – “Bodies as Driftwood”
5. Lo! – “The Gleaners”
6. Inherus – “One More Fire”
7. Cursebinder – “Drifting”
8. Blackbraid – “Twilight Hymn of Ancient Blood”
9. Aetherian – “Starlit Shores”
10. God Disease – “Leper by the Grace of God”
11. Moonlight Sorcery – “Yönsilmä”

Cherd

I’ve heard it said that the older one gets, the faster time seems to pass. That’s why your memories of childhood seem to take place over an interminable timespan, while your children seem to blast through developmental phases and clothing sizes faster than a grindcore song. Take the little goober directly to the left. He was six weeks old when AMG announced their open call for writers that would eventually lead to my tenure here. Now he’s five and a half and draws pictures of angry carrots and ninja-bread men (a subset of gingerbread men). Since gaining the summit of the Middle Ages, I now face the downward slope of life’s back half, with its ever-increasing velocity and promise of an abrupt end. All this to say, I don’t have any wry observations about 2023 because the fucking thing blew by way too fast.

Perhaps the only way to dampen the breakneck pace of life and reclaim one’s sanity is to partake in some nice, slow doom metal. In this respect, the universe was merciful as it gifted us with the finest year for down-tuned, down-tempo misery we’ve had in ages. There are no fewer than seven doom or doom adjacent entries on my list this year and another handful that only just missed the cut. Yearly disclaimer: if you read my list or any of the others, and wonder why you don’t see your pet record, remember that I am but one man with but one kindergartner who robs me of time and life force. I probably didn’t get to it. Or maybe I did and your taste is just terrible. I’d like to thank Steel Druhm for keeping the good ship AMG afloat through a combination of duct tape, bungee cords, and brutal yet dispassionately professional beatings, AMG himself for forgetting that I work here, thus ensuring I won’t be fired, and of course you for reading. With that, here’s my objectively correct list.

(ish) Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean // Obsession Destruction – This wouldn’t be a Cherd list without some sludge doom, and Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean put out one of the finest examples of the genre in 2023. Always a prolific EP band, Obsession Destruction is only their second full length of the last six years, but it sees the band finally shrug off their reputation as a Thou knockoff and come fully into their own. “The Altar” and “The Gates Have Closed and They Will Never Open” have forever entered my rotation of killer sludge doom tracks. The only band to beat them at their game in 2023 was Warcrab, but we’ll get to them in a bit.

#10. Xoth // Exogalactic – No one has more fun with cosmic horrors than Xoth, except maybe those of us who get to smash the play button over and over again on their albums. I got on the “Party Lovecraft” bus four years ago when I first heard Interdimensional Invocations, and while it may have taken a complete remixing of the album at the 11th hour to get there, Exogalactic does not disappoint as a follow-up. Songs like “Reptilian Bloodsport,” “Saga of the Blade,” and “Map to the Stars, Monument to the Ancients” take their rightful place alongside the band’s best work as they continue to hone their winning combination of blackened melo-death and tech-thrash.

#9. Oromet // Oromet – I’m always thrilled when a new band impresses me with their debut record enough to land a hard-fought spot on my yearly top ten. This year it happened twice. The first entry is Oromet’s self-titled LP of expansive, airy funeral doom. The album art of a dramatically jutting rocky peak piercing the firmament while bathed in golds and blues could hardly be a better visual representation of the music. This two-man project of Patrick Hills and Dan Aguilar is an exercise in judiciously balanced light and shadow, weight and buoyancy. There’s as much empty space on this record as there is tectonic heft, with overt beauty and ragged desperation embraced in equal measure.

#8. Big|Brave // Nature Morte – In the grand tradition of quoting myself out of laziness: “The most impressive thing about Nature Morte is its meticulous construction. No matter how sparse it gets, no matter how repetitive the drum strikes or how loose the guitar squalls, there’s no wasted space. None of the three out of six tracks that stretch past nine minutes feel remotely that long thanks to well-placed transitions, hypnotic rhythms, and the commanding presence of (Robin) Wattie’s vocals… Big|Brave delivers a stunning, unique statement on Nature Morte. Without changing the core of the band’s sound, it signals a remarkable refinement of vision a decade into their existence.”

#7. Curta’n Wall // Siege Ubsessed – Abysmal Specter’s MO has always been to knock down the castle gates with his goofy parade of wizards, knights, and witches riding ostriches and walruses while sneaking infectious melodies and riffs in through the kitchen servants’ entrance. This is true of Curta’n Wall, one of his dozen or so projects other than his flagship band Old Nick, but on Siege Ubsessed, the black metal mad scientist stands at his infernal machine, turns the knob marked “raw black metal” down to its lowest setting, and the knobs marked “accordion,” “bagpipes,” “harpsichord,” and “pan flute” to 11. This is jaunty, stupid medieval folk music and an absolutely essential release in Abysmal Specter’s ever-growing oeuvre.

#6. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – Warcrab is the premier death/sludge outfit operating today, and this is their most refined release to date. As I said in my review, “With The Howling Silence, Warcrab both re-instates their sludge doom bonafides and leans into proper OSDM in ways they haven’t before.” It’s quite the trick making not only one of the best death metal songs of the year in “Sword of Mars,” but also the best sludge doom song in “Sourlands Under a Rancid Sky,” but Warcrab pulls it off with aplomb. Even as more bands join this burgeoning style, none approach these Brits in terms of talent or execution.

#5. Agriculture // Agriculture – The second of my two favorite new bands of 2023, Agriculture’s “ecstatic black metal” is unlike anything else I heard this year, and I listen to A LOT of black metal. By turns stark and lush, these Californian’s debut record was forged in the fires of blazing black riff craft and the contemporary post-rock zeitgeist. While that usually means some form of black gaze, this is not remotely the case with Agriculture. There’s nothing laconic or detached here. The almost shocking earnestness may leave some a bit taken aback, but it’s not as if they’re any different in that regard than the countless self-serious black metal musician basement dwellers the world over.

#4. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – I’m sure many of my colleagues will fall all over themselves in their respective lists about how much good death metal came out in 2023. I enjoyed my share of it as well, with Dying Fetus, Fossilization, and the mighty Incantation all turning my head, but the only purely death metal record I couldn’t stop spinning was Carnosus’ tech-death barn burner Visions of Infinihility. Tight, vicious, and catchy, this record also features the second-best harsh vocal performance of the year behind only the one found on my number-one record. A lot of vocalists can oscillate between death growls and blackened shrieks, but precious few can give you four different tones in one song while putting affected spins on individual words the way Jonatan Karasiak can.

#3. Somnuri // Desiderium – I’ve been pushing this NYC progressive sludge band like a used car dealer with a quota to meet since they dropped their debut in 2017. They’ve rewarded my faith in them by improving on each subsequent release. From my review: “Somnuri has done exactly what you want to see a promising band do with their third record. Namely, take anything that worked with the first two, amp that up a bit, and commit fully to a new wrinkle to elevate the material. The addition of (Soundgarden-esque) throwback radio alt-rock into their roiling pot of hardcore and progressive sludge makes Desiderium these Brooklynites’ strongest outing to date. It’s rare that an album this aggressive and energetic goes down this smooth.”

#2. Hellish Form // Deathless – This record is special. In any other year, it probably would have been my number one. As I said in April, “Considering it embodies three of the most miserable subgenres in all of metal (funeral doom, sludge, and drone), the remarkable thing about Deathless is how powerfully hopeful it is. The themes of the album are pointedly heavy and political. It’s an admonition of an oppressive world delivered with withering vitriol by the aggrieved, but both musically and lyrically, (Willow) Ryan and (Jacob) Lee steadily fix their gaze upward.” I doubt there are any more affecting lines in metal this year than Ryan’s delivery in the title track of “You can take my life, but I am deathless. I am deathless.”

#1. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – What else can I say about the first 4.5 I’ve ever awarded on this site? “By the time you reach the halfway point in opening track “Graveless yet Dead,” you’ve heard swirling organs, ominous violins, harmonized choirs, riffs that measure their gravity on the scale of celestial bodies, and (Marko) Neuman’s enormous death roar. The whole thing keeps escalating like a light growing in intensity until, nearly blinding, a biblically accurate angel emerges with its six wings and concentric wheels full of eyes and multiple heads and burnished bronze appendages and it bellows in an inhuman voice, “B̴̧̈E̴͝ͅ ̸̫̈Ń̷̦Ò̸̭T̸̜̈́ ̸̟̄A̷͈͌F̵̯̊R̴̳̽Ā̷͇I̸̜͊D̶͈͛.”…With No Dawn for the Caliginous Night, LL and Neuman have completed their transformation from practitioners of impressive if well-trod death doom to a unique voice in the ranks of funerophiles. This is a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels.”

Honorable Mentions

• Gridlink // Coronet Juniper – Acidic but deceptively smooth grindcore from one of the best bands in the genre over the last decade plus.
• Stortregn // Finitude – Just because I was slightly disappointed in the direction these Swiss boys are going after releasing my favorite record of 2021 doesn’t mean this isn’t one of my fifteen favorite records of 2023. They may be moving more and more tech, but they’re still Stortregn and they still slay.
• AGLO // Build Fear – STAR TREK THEMED DEATH DOOM SLUDGE ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? COULD ANYTHING POSSIBLY BE MORE CHERD!?
• Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – I liked Heavy Dreamer a fair amount, but by leaning harder into classic doom, Miracle of Death rose to list-worthy. “Spill The Dark” is one of the very best songs of any genre this year.
• Bell Witch // Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate – I’m reserving some judgment for when all three parts are revealed, but this single 83-minute track is plenty compelling on its own.

Songs o’ the Year

In alphabetical order by band:

#2023 #Aetherian #AGLO #Agriculture #AntiGodHand #Antrisch #BigBrave #Blackbraid #BlogPost #Briqueville #Carcharodon #CarcharodonSTopTenIshOf2023 #CarcharodonSAndCherdSTopTenIshOf2023 #Carnosus #ChainedToTheBottomOfTheOcean #Convocation #Cursebinder #CurtaNWall #DownfallOfGaia #FiresInTheDistance #GodDisease #Gridlink #HellishForm #Inherus #Leitha #Listurnalia #Lo_ #MoonlightSorcery #Omnivortex #Oromet #Saturnus #Somnuri #Stortregn #Sworn #TheCircle #VanishingKids #Warcrab #Wayfarer #Xoth

Carcharodon’s and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Carcharodon

Carcharodon

I’ve been tetchy in 2023. Little things I’d normally barely even notice—about people, records, life in general, Mrs Carcharodon‘s recent insistence that we buy an air fryer—have really irked me. I’m (just about) self-aware enough that I clocked this, only to get more irked when I couldn’t put my finger on why. Yes, I turned 40, so am officially Olde and probably have to start listening to Saxon soon but that doesn’t fully explain it. It’s been a pretty good year in the main. I’m in a new job I like, Shark Pup No 1 has adjusted well to starting school and Shark Pup No 2 continues to get larger(!). We’ve had some good holidays, both as a family and, as a 40th treat to myself, a great trip to Islay, where very large quantities of smoky scotch1 were consumed with three very good friends. So why was I so tetchy? Maybe I was just tired?

As the year drew to a close, however, I realized I wasn’t just tired, I was weary. There’s a difference and it’s an important one. While I’m very lucky in many ways, there’s also a lot going on in my life, lots of spinning plates, and I don’t really take any time for myself. That was a bit of a realization. I’ve never been much for self-care or introspection; if I’m quiet, it doesn’t mean that I’m having deep thoughts, I’ve simply powered down for a bit. So, my resolution for 2024 is to find a little time to do a bit more for myself. I want to up my exercise game. I want to start reading more again. In short, I need to make time to do things I want to do, not just things I need to do. Needy, hey?

Apparently, I also needed a new list mate, after my emotional support sponge of several years ascended to a new name and (deservedly) to a new list status. Farewell Kenstrosity, I’ll miss you but maybe the real List mates are the ones we made along the way. In general, the USS AMG has charted a steady course through choppy waters in 2023, with Steel Druhm a steady, if stern, presence at the helm, while the editors dealt out the daily lashes and suspiciously cloudy grog. Thanks to them for all their efforts (only sometimes literally) whipping us into shape, and to all my fellow writers. You are all, to quote everyone’s favorite A.N.Gry Doc, idiots and I love less than half of you, half as well as you deserve but you are still better than many alternatives (like the Commentariat, who are awful(ly loveable)).

And with that, I have indulged myself enough. So, without further ado, here is the List of the writers who last year won the First Annual Killjoy Kudos for Best Taste Award (although, strangely, the statuette to which I assume I am entitled, has thus far failed to materialize…).

#ish. Omnivortex // Circulate – Tech death—indeed, death metal in general—isn’t really my thing, and the adulation heaped on Omnivortex’s 2020 effort, Diagrams of Consciousness, caused only bemusement for me. However, Circulate is a different beast. It’s interesting that my (now former *sob*) listmate Kenstrosity awarded Diagrams… his #1 spot in 2020 but, in his review of this year’s effort, said that it took Circulate a while to click for him, with the consistency of songwriting more pronounced here, over its predecessor’s spiky highlights. Perhaps that says something about the difference between what my erstwhile partner and I respectively look for in records. Perhaps it doesn’t. Either way, Omnivortex bullied and beasted their way onto this List because there was no force to stop them.

#10. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – Warcrab’s Damned in Endless Night made it to #6 on my first-ever List here at AMG, way back in 2019. Looking back now, it probably should have been higher. It’s been a long wait for The Howling Silence but it didn’t disappoint. Operating at that sweet intersection between doom and sludge, the UK veterans sound as filthy and pummelling as ever and, as Cherd pointed out, are now allowing elements of OSDM to bleed into their rumbling assault. The combination makes them as brvtal as they’ve always been but brings a sense of freshness and revitalized energy to Warcrab that I didn’t expect but loved to see.

#9. Leiþa // Reue – I had a sneaking suspicion that I underrated the second record from Leiþa, when I reviewed it back in January. This was confirmed when AMG awarded it ROTM in extremely timely fashion, on February 1st, declaring it to be a “masterful platter of great—potentially even excellent—black metal.” And so it has proved. It’s an album I’ve returned to over and over as the year went on. It’s hard to overstate the sheer raw, dark emotion that Reue’s creator Noise channeled into this record. For all that, the great songwriting brings a surprising amount of melody, although this only serves to heighten the sense of loss, remorse, and bitter self-loathing that drenches this (potentially) excellent album. It’s a devastating album.

#8. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – It’s hard to put into words exactly what makes Vanishing Kids’ brand of progressive doom so damn good. Sure, Jason Hartman is a fucking great guitarist but he’s not completely alone in that. Nikki Drohomyreky’s vocals are hauntingly beautiful but again, other vocalists can achieve that. In his review of Miracle of Death, Steel highlighted the “graceful, ethereal, and dreamy atmosphere” conjured by the band from the opener “Spill the Dark” (also my undisputed song of the year) and that’s probably about as close as we’ll get to the pinning it down. The fact is that Vanishing Kids have that very rare something, that je ne sais quoi. Combining trad doom, psychedelia, 70s occult rock, and more, to create something truly unique requires genuine craft and these guys have it in spades.

#7. The Circle // Of Awakening – I only went back to The Circle to be sure I could cross it off my List’s longlist. After all, it only got a 3.5 from Dear Hollow, whose taste overlaps with mine to a fair degree. That was about six weeks ago and I’m here to tell you DH underrated it. Of Awakening has been in heavy rotation ever since. Drawing together the likes of Ahab, Dark Funeral, and My Dying Bride, this is a crushingly dark album, that, despite its beautifully trim runtime, has a real sense of grandeur and majesty about it. Contrary to DH‘s thoughts, for me, Of Awakening is so tightly written that The Circle can get away with being as pummelling as they want but there’s also a lot more nuance and refinement here than one might hear on the first spin. Trust me. I’ve spun this a lot.

#6. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – There’s a sweet spot in the year for dropping records. Too early and they may be forgotten; too late and people may not have enough time with them. November 24th definitely falls into the latter camp. With more time, No Dawn for the Caliginous Night could probably have laid siege to my top three but I just didn’t get to spend the same amount of time with Convocation’s massive slab of outstanding doom as I did with the other outstanding things you will read about below. Be in no doubt though, Cherd was correct2 to drop a 4.5 on this majestic beast of a record.

#5. Antrisch // EXPEDITION II: Die Passage – Atmoblack comes in for a lot of stick. Some of it is even justified. But, when it’s done right, it’s a thing of beauty and Antrisch undoubtedly does it right. Frigid atmosphere pours out of EXPEDITION II in icy waves but never at the expense of the music, which is killer. Every time I press play, Antrisch drags me away to a tale of terror in the frozen arctic wastes, woven in shades of deepest black. The tremolos cut through me and the rasping vocals cause the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. I feel this record, as much as I hear it and that’s exactly the way atmoblack should be.

#4. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean // Obsession Destruction – Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean understand claustrophobia. When I listen to Obsession Destruction it feels like the walls are closing in, like the air is getting thick and hard to take in. The record feels like it’s pressing in on you. That is what sludge should do and Chained is drawing on inspiration from doom to heighten that sense. It’s beautiful, anguished, and bludgeoning all at once, and despite passing the hour mark, it’s compelling. I loved this record from the moment I heard it, even as it crushed the life out of me.

#3. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us – I don’t usually accuse I have never accused Thus Spoke of underrating anything. Until now. The faintly progressive, doom-tinged melodeath of Air Not Meant for Us is not great. It is excellent. And I almost slept on it. For whatever reason, the first time I span this album, I didn’t even make it to the end and discarded it. But I came back, some months later, and was floored by this record. The deep seams of melody, the excellent use of keys, the soaring guitars, the whole package hit me with a force that only two other records did this year. Whatever was wrong with me the first time around has been scorched away, as Fires in the Distance burn with emotional intensity. The album is beautifully written and paced, which for all its weight and heaviness, also feels fragile and honest, revealing new depths on each revisit.

#2. Wayfarer // American Gothic – Wayfarer’s 2020 effort, A Romance with Violence, was so close. So close to fulfilling the promise of their Wild West black metal. But for all that it did well, as with their earlier two efforts, too many of the tracks went on too long, suffocating under their own weight. As Doom_et_Al said in his review, however, this year’s “American Gothic is the album Wayfarer have been threatening to make for years … Wayfarer take the violence and beauty of the land they inhabit and translate that to music that reflects that dichotomy.” I’m not sure there’s a better way to say it. American Gothic is the album where everything that Wayfarer has struggled to bring together for years finally clicked into place and it’s something truly special.3

#1. Cursebinder // Drifting – Poland’s Cursebinder kinda crept up on me. Since its April release, I have seen little acclaim for it, and my attempts to sell it to my fellow scribes have been met with non-committal murmurs of appreciation. But there is something about Drifting’s progressive black metal, borrowing heavily from both doom and post-metal, that just kept me coming back. Again. And again. There’s a shimmering intensity to the record, driven as much by the bright synth work, as Hubert Fudała’s crushing riffs and Maciej Proficz’ sulphuric vox, which means that I tend to find myself stopping whatever it is that I’m doing and simply staring into the middle distance while Drifting washes over me. It’s not the most technically complex thing on this list, nor is it a record that defies categorization. It’s simply the album that speaks to me in a way nothing else I heard this year did and what more can you look for in an Album of the Year?

Honorable mentions:

• Anti-God Hand // Blight Year – Blight Year took everything I liked about Anti-God Hand’s debut, Wretch, and refined it to a point where it still remained so harsh as to border on raw BM. Yet there is something about this album that I find kind of magical.
• BRIQUEVILLE // IIII – Finding a mid-way point between the melodicism and experimentation of ISIS’ Wavering Radiant and the slightly disconcerting edge of Celestial, BRIQUEVILLE’s excellent use of synths and samples, together with some sawing, jagged riffs is a winner.
• Downfall of Gaia // Silhouettes of Disgust – This is the record where Downfall of Gaia manages to blend most effectively all the disparate facets of their sound. Progressive and melodic, bleak and furious, this is a record to get lost exploring.
• God Disease // Apocalyptic Doom – With Apoclyptic Doom, God Disease delivered exactly that. This was the end of the world, cataclysmic stuff. What more can I say? If you lift and “Leper by the Grave of God” doesn’t help you hit a PB, I advise you to take up chess.
• Lo! // The Gleaners – I carelessly threw The Gleaners into April’s Filter after only a couple of spins, recognizing the quality on show but not having spent much time with it. Lo!’s abrasive sludgy post-metal / hardcore has stayed with me, however, as the sheer anger and intensity, and (surprising amounts of) melody kept me coming back.
• Saturnus // The Storm Within – In an incredibly strong year for doom, Saturnus turned in a great offering that I thought would be top 5 for sure. It didn’t have quite the staying power I thought it would—not least thanks to those sickly sweet spoken word parts—but it remains a great record, with one of the best SOTY in “The Calling.”
• Sworn // A Journey Told through Fire – Great Norwegian melodic black metal, channeling the likes of Vorga and Uada but also Insomnium, this record was just well written, beautifully paced, and fun as fuck.

Songs o’ the Year:

1. Vanishing Kids – “Spill the Dark”
2. Saturnus – “The Calling”
3. Fires in the Distance – “Crumbling Pillars of a Tranquil Mind”
4. Downfall of Gaia – “Bodies as Driftwood”
5. Lo! – “The Gleaners”
6. Inherus – “One More Fire”
7. Cursebinder – “Drifting”
8. Blackbraid – “Twilight Hymn of Ancient Blood”
9. Aetherian – “Starlit Shores”
10. God Disease – “Leper by the Grace of God”
11. Moonlight Sorcery – “Yönsilmä”

Cherd

I’ve heard it said that the older one gets, the faster time seems to pass. That’s why your memories of childhood seem to take place over an interminable timespan, while your children seem to blast through developmental phases and clothing sizes faster than a grindcore song. Take the little goober directly to the left. He was six weeks old when AMG announced their open call for writers that would eventually lead to my tenure here. Now he’s five and a half and draws pictures of angry carrots and ninja-bread men (a subset of gingerbread men). Since gaining the summit of the Middle Ages, I now face the downward slope of life’s back half, with its ever-increasing velocity and promise of an abrupt end. All this to say, I don’t have any wry observations about 2023 because the fucking thing blew by way too fast.

Perhaps the only way to dampen the breakneck pace of life and reclaim one’s sanity is to partake in some nice, slow doom metal. In this respect, the universe was merciful as it gifted us with the finest year for down-tuned, down-tempo misery we’ve had in ages. There are no fewer than seven doom or doom adjacent entries on my list this year and another handful that only just missed the cut. Yearly disclaimer: if you read my list or any of the others, and wonder why you don’t see your pet record, remember that I am but one man with but one kindergartner who robs me of time and life force. I probably didn’t get to it. Or maybe I did and your taste is just terrible. I’d like to thank Steel Druhm for keeping the good ship AMG afloat through a combination of duct tape, bungee cords, and brutal yet dispassionately professional beatings, AMG himself for forgetting that I work here, thus ensuring I won’t be fired, and of course you for reading. With that, here’s my objectively correct list.

(ish) Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean // Obsession Destruction – This wouldn’t be a Cherd list without some sludge doom, and Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean put out one of the finest examples of the genre in 2023. Always a prolific EP band, Obsession Destruction is only their second full length of the last six years, but it sees the band finally shrug off their reputation as a Thou knockoff and come fully into their own. “The Altar” and “The Gates Have Closed and They Will Never Open” have forever entered my rotation of killer sludge doom tracks. The only band to beat them at their game in 2023 was Warcrab, but we’ll get to them in a bit.

#10. Xoth // Exogalactic – No one has more fun with cosmic horrors than Xoth, except maybe those of us who get to smash the play button over and over again on their albums. I got on the “Party Lovecraft” bus four years ago when I first heard Interdimensional Invocations, and while it may have taken a complete remixing of the album at the 11th hour to get there, Exogalactic does not disappoint as a follow-up. Songs like “Reptilian Bloodsport,” “Saga of the Blade,” and “Map to the Stars, Monument to the Ancients” take their rightful place alongside the band’s best work as they continue to hone their winning combination of blackened melo-death and tech-thrash.

#9. Oromet // Oromet – I’m always thrilled when a new band impresses me with their debut record enough to land a hard-fought spot on my yearly top ten. This year it happened twice. The first entry is Oromet’s self-titled LP of expansive, airy funeral doom. The album art of a dramatically jutting rocky peak piercing the firmament while bathed in golds and blues could hardly be a better visual representation of the music. This two-man project of Patrick Hills and Dan Aguilar is an exercise in judiciously balanced light and shadow, weight and buoyancy. There’s as much empty space on this record as there is tectonic heft, with overt beauty and ragged desperation embraced in equal measure.

#8. Big|Brave // Nature Morte – In the grand tradition of quoting myself out of laziness: “The most impressive thing about Nature Morte is its meticulous construction. No matter how sparse it gets, no matter how repetitive the drum strikes or how loose the guitar squalls, there’s no wasted space. None of the three out of six tracks that stretch past nine minutes feel remotely that long thanks to well-placed transitions, hypnotic rhythms, and the commanding presence of (Robin) Wattie’s vocals… Big|Brave delivers a stunning, unique statement on Nature Morte. Without changing the core of the band’s sound, it signals a remarkable refinement of vision a decade into their existence.”

#7. Curta’n Wall // Siege Ubsessed – Abysmal Specter’s MO has always been to knock down the castle gates with his goofy parade of wizards, knights, and witches riding ostriches and walruses while sneaking infectious melodies and riffs in through the kitchen servants’ entrance. This is true of Curta’n Wall, one of his dozen or so projects other than his flagship band Old Nick, but on Siege Ubsessed, the black metal mad scientist stands at his infernal machine, turns the knob marked “raw black metal” down to its lowest setting, and the knobs marked “accordion,” “bagpipes,” “harpsichord,” and “pan flute” to 11. This is jaunty, stupid medieval folk music and an absolutely essential release in Abysmal Specter’s ever-growing oeuvre.

#6. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – Warcrab is the premier death/sludge outfit operating today, and this is their most refined release to date. As I said in my review, “With The Howling Silence, Warcrab both re-instates their sludge doom bonafides and leans into proper OSDM in ways they haven’t before.” It’s quite the trick making not only one of the best death metal songs of the year in “Sword of Mars,” but also the best sludge doom song in “Sourlands Under a Rancid Sky,” but Warcrab pulls it off with aplomb. Even as more bands join this burgeoning style, none approach these Brits in terms of talent or execution.

#5. Agriculture // Agriculture – The second of my two favorite new bands of 2023, Agriculture’s “ecstatic black metal” is unlike anything else I heard this year, and I listen to A LOT of black metal. By turns stark and lush, these Californian’s debut record was forged in the fires of blazing black riff craft and the contemporary post-rock zeitgeist. While that usually means some form of black gaze, this is not remotely the case with Agriculture. There’s nothing laconic or detached here. The almost shocking earnestness may leave some a bit taken aback, but it’s not as if they’re any different in that regard than the countless self-serious black metal musician basement dwellers the world over.

#4. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – I’m sure many of my colleagues will fall all over themselves in their respective lists about how much good death metal came out in 2023. I enjoyed my share of it as well, with Dying Fetus, Fossilization, and the mighty Incantation all turning my head, but the only purely death metal record I couldn’t stop spinning was Carnosus’ tech-death barn burner Visions of Infinihility. Tight, vicious, and catchy, this record also features the second-best harsh vocal performance of the year behind only the one found on my number-one record. A lot of vocalists can oscillate between death growls and blackened shrieks, but precious few can give you four different tones in one song while putting affected spins on individual words the way Jonatan Karasiak can.

#3. Somnuri // Desiderium – I’ve been pushing this NYC progressive sludge band like a used car dealer with a quota to meet since they dropped their debut in 2017. They’ve rewarded my faith in them by improving on each subsequent release. From my review: “Somnuri has done exactly what you want to see a promising band do with their third record. Namely, take anything that worked with the first two, amp that up a bit, and commit fully to a new wrinkle to elevate the material. The addition of (Soundgarden-esque) throwback radio alt-rock into their roiling pot of hardcore and progressive sludge makes Desiderium these Brooklynites’ strongest outing to date. It’s rare that an album this aggressive and energetic goes down this smooth.”

#2. Hellish Form // Deathless – This record is special. In any other year, it probably would have been my number one. As I said in April, “Considering it embodies three of the most miserable subgenres in all of metal (funeral doom, sludge, and drone), the remarkable thing about Deathless is how powerfully hopeful it is. The themes of the album are pointedly heavy and political. It’s an admonition of an oppressive world delivered with withering vitriol by the aggrieved, but both musically and lyrically, (Willow) Ryan and (Jacob) Lee steadily fix their gaze upward.” I doubt there are any more affecting lines in metal this year than Ryan’s delivery in the title track of “You can take my life, but I am deathless. I am deathless.”

#1. Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – What else can I say about the first 4.5 I’ve ever awarded on this site? “By the time you reach the halfway point in opening track “Graveless yet Dead,” you’ve heard swirling organs, ominous violins, harmonized choirs, riffs that measure their gravity on the scale of celestial bodies, and (Marko) Neuman’s enormous death roar. The whole thing keeps escalating like a light growing in intensity until, nearly blinding, a biblically accurate angel emerges with its six wings and concentric wheels full of eyes and multiple heads and burnished bronze appendages and it bellows in an inhuman voice, “B̴̧̈E̴͝ͅ ̸̫̈Ń̷̦Ò̸̭T̸̜̈́ ̸̟̄A̷͈͌F̵̯̊R̴̳̽Ā̷͇I̸̜͊D̶͈͛.”…With No Dawn for the Caliginous Night, LL and Neuman have completed their transformation from practitioners of impressive if well-trod death doom to a unique voice in the ranks of funerophiles. This is a towering celebration of death’s enormity, packaged in the heaviest and most shimmering of vessels.”

Honorable Mentions

• Gridlink // Coronet Juniper – Acidic but deceptively smooth grindcore from one of the best bands in the genre over the last decade plus.
• Stortregn // Finitude – Just because I was slightly disappointed in the direction these Swiss boys are going after releasing my favorite record of 2021 doesn’t mean this isn’t one of my fifteen favorite records of 2023. They may be moving more and more tech, but they’re still Stortregn and they still slay.
• AGLO // Build Fear – STAR TREK THEMED DEATH DOOM SLUDGE ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? COULD ANYTHING POSSIBLY BE MORE CHERD!?
• Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – I liked Heavy Dreamer a fair amount, but by leaning harder into classic doom, Miracle of Death rose to list-worthy. “Spill The Dark” is one of the very best songs of any genre this year.
• Bell Witch // Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate – I’m reserving some judgment for when all three parts are revealed, but this single 83-minute track is plenty compelling on its own.

Songs o’ the Year

In alphabetical order by band:

#2023 #Aetherian #AGLO #Agriculture #AntiGodHand #Antrisch #BigBrave #Blackbraid #BlogPost #Briqueville #Carcharodon #CarcharodonSTopTenIshOf2023 #CarcharodonSAndCherdSTopTenIshOf2023 #Carnosus #ChainedToTheBottomOfTheOcean #Convocation #Cursebinder #CurtaNWall #DownfallOfGaia #FiresInTheDistance #GodDisease #Gridlink #HellishForm #Inherus #Leitha #Listurnalia #Lo_ #MoonlightSorcery #Omnivortex #Oromet #Saturnus #Somnuri #Stortregn #Sworn #TheCircle #VanishingKids #Warcrab #Wayfarer #Xoth