2023 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP TEN

(Andy Synn attempts to capture the venom, vitality, and variety of the year in just ten albums)

Of everything I’ve published so far during this year’s List Week this one is the closest so far to what you might call your “typical” end of year list. Although, even then, it’s still a little different than what you might expect.

Case in point, although I’ve limited it to just ten albums (which, let me be clear, is never, ever enough, as there’s at least one more album… cough, Torpor, cough… I really wanted to include here) it’s pointedly not a ranked list like most of the others you’ll probably have seen.

No, the key idea here is – because it’s impossible for any one writer to craft a truly definitive list of the “Best” albums of the year – is to present ten releases from the last twelve months to serve as prime examples of the best the year had to offer, while attempting to represent as wide a cross-section of styles and sub-genres as possible (sometimes within the same album).

It’s a subtle distinction, true, but an important one all the same, and it’s my hope that in five years, ten years, fifteen, I’ll be able to look back on the selections I’ve made here and appreciate just how good 2023 was.

So, without further ado, here’s the ten albums, many of which I don’t think have received anywhere near the amount of attention and acclaim they deserve – plus a bonus entry for each, just in case you’re already familiar with my main choice – which I have chosen for my “Critical Top Ten”.

ULTHAR – ANTHRONOMICON / HELIONOMICON

Some might say it’s cheating to pick a double-album to represent the Death Metal scene, but… let’s face it… it’s not just the size of the band’s ambition which makes Anthronomicon / Helionomicon such a fantastic pairing, it’s the sheer savagery of their execution, the unholy blend of punishing precision and barely-controlled chaos which underpins every scorching second, which earned these records their place on this list.

And, in a year where it felt like a lot of bands were more than happy to play it safe and pander to the lowest common denominator, it was reassuring to hear Ulthar refusing to play to the cheap seats while still playing Death Metal in its most undeniable, uncompromising form.

Bonus feature: Outer Heaven – Infinite Psychic Depths

Brutal and brutish but laced with a psilocybin-esque strangeness, this could easily have taken the top spot. In fact I’ve been shocked at how little mention I’ve seen of it. Perhaps it’s just a little too ugly, too inaccessible (especially compared to their debut), but for me it’s easily one of the best Death Metal albums of the year.

WITCH RIPPER – THE FLIGHT AFTER THE FALL

If you’re looking for something similarly impressive, in terms of songwriting and structure, to the previous entry, but that exists on the much more melodic and progressive end of the scale, then look no further than Witch Ripper‘s stunning sophomore album,  The Flight After the Fall.

Part Mastodon, part Muse… part Queen, part Coheed and Cambria… but with a style and swagger all of its own, this is the sort of anthemic, ambitious Prog Metal that simultaneously tells a story, tugs at your heartstrings, and gets your head banging with reckless abandon.

Don’t believe me? Then read my review and stream the full album right here.

Bonus feature: Somnuri – Dessiderium

Equal parts proggy melody, sludgy riffage, and grungy groove, Dessiderium was the sound of a band stepping up their game and achieving a whole new level of awesome – not to mention a whole new level of accessibility (which, to be clear, isn’t a dirty word when the album in question is this good) – without losing their unique sense of self. It’s the sort of album which grabs you immediately, but also gets better and better every time.

DØDHEIMSGARD – BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT

Sticking with the theme of bands going above and beyond (and I do mean beyond), who else could I have chosen to represent the more artfully progressive, shamelessly avant-garde end of the Black Metal spectrum than Dødheimsgard?

And while some members of the scene may have been suitably outraged by the band’s shamelessly outlandish brand of genre-blending, rule-defying black magic – and there’s no question that Dødheimsgard love pushing people’s buttons almost as much as they love pushing the boundaries – those with a more open-minded disposition (or those willing to have their minds opened) will doubtless have come to find themselves operating on the same weird wavelength as this singularly unconventional and endlessly unpredictable album.

Bonus feature: Teitan – In Oculus Abyss

While they may still dwell in the shadow of some of the bigger, more bombastic bands out there, unorthodox underground alchemist Devis Hisgen, aka Teitan, continued to play his strange, yet seductive, games with the fundamental formula of Black Metal on In Oculus Abyss, refusing to be limited or defined by the expectations of others while still staying true to the genre’s fundamental commandment to “do what thou wilt”.

LO! – THE GLEANERS

Australia’s Lo! have always been a good band, a very good band… but The Gleaners is where they became a great band, and the reason why they’re on this list today.

Fusing the rawest, riffiest side of Sludge with the darkest, heaviest end of Post-Metal and explosions of almost-Grindcore levels of extremity, this is one album whose seething aggression and visceral, venomous intensity are matched in equal measure by a plethora of subtle songwriting tricks and vicious, virulently infectious hooks, all of which – when taken together – make for a record which is truly all killer, no filler.

Bonus feature: Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean – Obsession Destruction

I’ll likely be giving this one some additional focus in a “catch-up” review before the end of the year, but let me be clear – this is also one of the best albums of the year, a towering titan of tormented Sludge and torturous Doom that plumbs the darkest depths of the human soul without remorse or restraint. And I mean that in a good way.

TODOMAL – A GREATER GOOD

This was a late addition to the list – I wasn’t even aware of the band until Islander hosted the premiere of A Greater Good a few weeks back – but one which deserves to be here just as much of any of the other albums.

With its scintillating songwriting, mournfully moody riffs, and sublime sense of melody – all coupled to the spellbinding singing style of vocalist Christopher Baque-Wildman – this is exactly what Doom could, and should be, without resorting to rip-off retroism or relying on throwback traditionalism.

Heck, if anything, songs like “Silent Mass” and “Antichrist of Love” sound like what I’d imagine Anathema might have, had they chosen to go down a slightly different path. And I can’t think of bigger, better praise than that.

Bonus feature: Isole – Anesidora

Isole have quietly, and confidently, become one of the best Doom bands in the world over the last decade or so (case in point, their previous album, Dystopia, was part of my Critical Top Ten in 2019), so it should be no surprise to learn that Anesidora is one of the best Doom albums of the year, one which finds the band opting for a subtly proggier approach that is – somehow – even moodier and more atmospheric than ever.

THE WORLD IS QUIET HERE – ZON

There were a lot of good albums on the more “Technical” end of the spectrum this year, and even a few great ones… and then there was Zon, the shamelessly OTT second album from Wisconsin fret-wizards The World Is Quiet Here, which absolutely blew my mind when I first heard it… and continues to do so even now.

Sitting somewhere between Between the Buried and Me, Psycroptic, and Faith No More (with new vocalist Lou Kelly putting in an astonishingly multifaceted, Mike Patton-esque performance behind the mic), this is the album to listen to if you like your music thrillingly technical, organically unpredictable, and infectiously irresistible, and don’t give a damn about adhering to the often arbitrary limitations of style or genre.

Bonus feature: Hypno5e – Sheol

Hypno5e are a band who really should be bigger, such is the ambitious, cinematic scope of their music. Although perhaps its very complexity is what keeps their – an extraordinary amalgamation of Progressive, Technical, Acoustic, Atmospheric, and Ambient elements – from fully crossing over. Despite that, however, Sheol is another stunning achievement by a band who truly don’t sound like anybody else.

ИКОТКА – Р​А​С​П​А​Д

Choosing one band to represent the “true” face of Black Metal wasn’t easy, but Р​а​с​п​а​д (transl: “Disintegration”), the third album from mysterious Russian trio Икотка, ultimately stole the top spot due to its truly bleak and oppressive sense of atmosphere, which shrouds every track in a suffocating pall of desolation and despair.

But while the atmospheric element is undoubtedly a heavy (and hypnotic) part of the band’s sound, there’s also a raw energy and riveting intensity to the music – not to mention a palpable sense of anguished emotion and crippling desperation – which makes Р​а​с​п​а​д more than just another excellent example of “Atmospheric Black Metal”, but one of the most haunting, and heart-breaking, Black Metal albums of this year (and beyond).

Bonus feature: Nyrst – Völd

After just one listen to Völd, the recently-released new album from Nyrst, I could tell they’d grown into something truly special. Combining elemental energy with an enigmatic sense of creativity which keeps you captivated yet constantly guessing as to what might come next, this is one of those records which seamlessly combines icy intensity and fiery fury in a way that only our Icelandic cousins seem to be capable of.

NIGHTMARER – DEFORMITY ADRIFT

Equally as capable of pleasing fans of Dissonant Death Metal as lovers of the darkest, heaviest corners of the Deathcore scene, there’s not a doubt in my mind that the release of Deformity Adrift back in May elevated Nightmarer and their instantly recognisable amalgam of massive, discordant riffs, abrasive, anti-melodic ambience, and crushing, complex percussive patterns, to a whole new level.

So good they released it twice (with Deformity Adrift: Reformed offering a rawer and more spontaneous reimagining) it’s an absolute monster, and as I  saw someone post recently, “every time I find myself wondering whether this album is really as good as I think it is, I just put it on again and remind myself that… yeah… it is.”

Bonus feature: Nott – Hiraeth

Undoubtedly one of the heaviest albums I’ve heard all year, Hiraeth exists at the nexus point between Dissodeath, Doom, and Deathcore, and features some of the most crushingly heavy riffs and chillingly claustrophobic passages of ambient atmosphere – the juxtaposition of which only makes the band sound even heavier – that I’ve heard all year. It’s a personal favourite of mine, and I hope you’ll love it too.

AETHERIAN – AT STORM’S EDGE

If you’re looking for something truly epic, then look no further than the new album from Aetherian, which is as majestically melodic and extravagantly energetic as the very best bands you could mention.

Albums like this, ultimately, live or die not just on the power of their riffs or the catchiness of their melodies (although both are of vital importance) but, more than anything, on the strength of their songwriting, and this is where Aetherian really excel, every song swiftly capturing the entirety of your attention and then refusing to let it go until it’s done.

At Storm’s Edge was a full six years in the making, but it doesn’t sound to me like a single second of that time was wasted, as this is one album that keeps on hitting new highs track after track after track.

Bonus feature: Atavistia – Cosmic Warfare

Atavistia‘s previous albums were (in my opinion at least) solid, if somewhat unremarkable, examples of Melodic Death Metal. But on Cosmic Warfare they honestly sound like a band reborn. The music is faster and more furious. The riffs are more powerful, the melodies more extravagant, the proggier ambitions more organically integrated. Everything is bigger, bolder, and more bombastic, in the best possible way.

DREAMWELL – IN MY SADDEST DREAMS, I AM BESIDE YOU

The eclectic, electrifying amalgam of Screamo, Hardcore, Post-Rock, Pop, Sludge, Metal, and Mathcore influences (and more besides) which makes up Dreamwell‘s complex, creative, and cathartic new album is certainly a heady brew indeed, one which will probably prove as alienating to some as it is alluring to others.

But while it definitely won’t be for everyone – it’s too wilfully eccentric, too wildly unconventional, to really have that sort of mainstream mass-appeal – I don’t think I’ve encountered an album in the greater Hardcore scene as inventive in its intensity, as uncompromising in its creativity, as this one since Poison the Well called it a day.

Bonus feature: Racetraitor – Creation and the Timeless Order of Things

While it may not cover quite as much ground as the above album, Racetraitor‘s new one is still a striking example of progressively-minded Metallic Hardcore that’s not afraid to challenge expectations or push the evenlope or to wear its emotions, and its ideals, right out in the open.