Welcome to the final part in our series looking back at our favorite metal albums of 2023. You can find Part 1 (40-21) and Part 2 (20-11) here on the site, and don’t forget you can check out some of our favorite tracks from the top 20 over at The Metal Dad Radio Show.
10. Krieg – Ruiner
It had been six years since one of my favorite US black metal bands had released a full length record, and nine years since their last studio effort to feature all new material. Clearly it was worth the wait. This is an unrelenting album of crust-infused black metal, yet Neill Jameson and crew aren’t afraid to mix things up with layers of atmosphere and experimentation. This includes riffs and interludes that skillfully drift into darkwave territory, and a penchant for the occasional blackened hardcore moments. Altogether one of the best black metal releases from a year filled with some stellar selections.
https://kriegofficial.bandcamp.com/album/ruiner
9. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean – Obsession Destruction
I have to give a nod to my 17-year old co-host of The Metal Dad Radio Show for tipping me off to this record just after its release. My son knows my tastes in metal well. He knows I love sludgy, death-infused doom metal; that I love records that feel as heavy as they sound as if you could wear them like a funeral shroud. He hit a home run with the newest full-length from Massachusetts act Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean. This band takes literally everything I love about doom, death metal, sludge, crust, and even hardcore and melds it into an absolutely skull-crushing concoction on this album. As dreary and despondent as it heavy Obsession Destruction is the type of record that simply engulfs you with every listen, and as someone who has given this record multiple listens I can tell you it’s worth every second of it.
https://chainedtothebottomoftheocean.bandcamp.com/album/obsession-destruction
8. Predatory Void – Seven Keys to the Discomfort of Being
Emerging from the same Belgian scene that has gifted us Amenra, Oathbreaker, and Cross Bringer (and featuring members from each act as well), Predatory Void exploded onto the scene with their debut full-length back in April. Mixing the doom-laden, post-metal elements of Amenra (courtesy of Amenra guitarist/songwriter Lennart Bossu) with a distinct crust/sludge aesthetic, and a predilection for drifting into ‘blackened’ territory, Predatory Void was able to create an album that was equal parts beauty and brutality. One of the best debut records of the decade thus far and the foundation for a band with unlimited potential.
https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/seven-keys-to-the-discomfort-of-being
7. Vastum – Inward to Gethsemane
Hands down one of my favorite death metal bands of the last two decades has been San Francisco’s Vastum. When death metal started to have its renaissance in the late 2000s/early 2010s there was quickly a glut of bands doing really interesting things within the genre. Unfortunately, all these years later, most of those bands have either broken up or stopped being interesting. Vastum joins a small handful that have continued to churn out release after quality release. Their ability to continue to captivate listeners in a swirling vortex of sonic mayhem is uncanny and newest release Inward to Gethsemane is easily one of their best albums to date.
https://vastum.bandcamp.com/album/inward-to-gethsemane
6. Thantifaxath – Hive Mind Narcosis
Hard to believe it’s been nine long years since the last Thantifaxath full-length yet here we are. Few bands in the world bend and morph the boundaries of black metal the way this Toronto collective do, especially on newest album Hive Mind Narcosis. The guitar work alone on this album is downright nightmare inducing, with riffs often sounding like they’d be more at home in the background of a series of avant-garde horror films than on a black metal record. The entire cacophony delivered here is off-putting, yet mesmerizing in so many different ways with each track sounding like its own snapshot of captured madness. Truly one of the most unique albums of the year.
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hive-mind-narcosis
5. Enslaved – Heimdal
One of the first truly exceptional albums of the year dropped in March courtesy of Norwegian legends Enslaved. I’ll go on record as stating that this band has never put out a bad record, and being they are on full-length album number sixteen that is a truly exceptional feat of musical strength. Heimdal sees the band continue to trod the path of progressive, blackened metal. Their Viking black metal roots build the foundation for a mansion of ethereal prog metal to flourish in stunning fashion. Never a band afraid to reach back to their past while wedding it to their future, Enslaved have once again created a brilliant record worthy of as many visits as you are willing to make.
https://enslaved.bandcamp.com/album/heimdal
4. Marduk – Memento Mori
Speaking of bands who have been grinding out top-notch albums for longer than should be expected, Sweden’s black metal masters Marduk returned with their 15th full-length album this year. Memento Mori shifted the lyrical focus off of their World War II fixation and honed it down to one centered on death and mortality in general. The corresponding music matched the lyrical themes with an album that felt darker and more ominous than recent releases, and that’s saying a lot. It would not be hyperbole to say that this might be the best album Marduk has produced since 2012’s Serpent Sermon, which for my money was their best album of the 2010s.
https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/memento-mori
3. Fires in the Distance – Air Not Meant For Us
Hands down the best record to emerge from my home state of Connecticut belonged to melodic death-doom outfit Fires in the Distance. I’ve been a massive fan of this band since their 2020 debut and their newest offering certainly did not disappoint. Mixing majestic melodies with a gothic aesthetic this album was one of the most gripping and engaging records of the year, genre be damned. I don’t throw the term “epic” around very often because I think my fellow bloggers and scribes overused it into oblivion, but if I were to bestow one album with that title in 2023, this would be it. This band writes truly epic songs that build up, crash down, and wrap the listener in a blanket made of the finest melodic tapestry. I cannot wait to see how this band continues to grow and evolve in the future.
https://firesinthedistance.bandcamp.com/album/air-not-meant-for-us
2. Godthrymm – Distortions
Sometimes I hear an album and on first pass I immediately think to myself, ‘this is going to wind up on the year-end list’ because it’s just that good. This was one of those albums. I love doom metal as a genre in general, but UK’s Godthrymm peddle in my favorite type of doom – the kind that rides the gothic, melodic, ethereal vibes. (Think the heyday of the Peaceville three back in the ’90s and you’ll get where I’m coming from.) Godthrymm embody everything I love about this specific sub-genre. Huge, memorable riffs, vocals that hit all the right notes all the time, a crushing low-end, and songs that are drenched in dark atmospherics. Distortions embodies all of these qualities, and then expands on them even further. Arguably the band’s best work to date and a must own for doom fans.
https://godthrymmdoom.bandcamp.com/album/distortions
1. Wayfarer – American Gothic
I love all things Americana music. I count Willie Nelson as my all-time favorite musician. (I even host a second weekly radio show called Wrong Side of the Tracks.) I was a history major in college and the American West has always fascinated me and I count the year I lived in Arizona and the year I lived in Southern California as two of my favorites from my childhood. Perhaps it’s all these factors that have drawn me to Colorado’s Wayfarer and their wholly unique Americana-themed black metal. Or perhaps my love for this band simply grows from the fact that there is literally no one that sounds like them in the black metal world. Whatever the cause, when they dropped American Gothic back in October I was instantly transfixed. This band doesn’t just write songs in the general sense of the term. They write mini soundtracks to an alternate past, they write music so poignant that you simply can’t help but drop what you’re doing to offer this album the full attention it deserves. Wayfarer are quickly amassing a catalogue of albums that put them on par with just about every great band to emerge from the USBM scene and this is their best one to date. A truly brilliant record from start to finish.
https://wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com/album/american-gothic
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