(Andy Synn dives into the thrilling third album from France’s Death Engine)
Broadly speaking, there are two types of “Post-Metal” bands – there are the Post-Rock bands who discover the power of massive metallic distortion, and the Hardcore bands who discover that ambience and atmosphere can actually make you sound even heavier.
And, let me tell you, Death Engine are very much the latter sort of band.
(Andy Synn digs into the upcoming third album by long-time NCS favourites Turbid North)
Pick up a coin, any coin, and take a look at it.
Now, turn it over. What’s changed?
In some ways, not much. It’s still the same object, after all. Still the same size and shape, still composed of the same elements and materials.
Yet, at the same time, it’s now showing you a whole new side of itself, a whole other face that you couldn’t see before, even though you knew it was there.
And that’s a surprisingly fitting metaphor for what Turbid North have done on The Decline.
(Andy Synn provides a short but sweet review of a mesmerising EP from last year)
As the grinding gears of another year begin to slowly spin once again, I’m going to be taking some time over the rest of this month – in between reviewing new and/or upcoming releases – to feature some of the albums and artists from 2022 that I wasn’t able to cover properly last year, beginning with an EP that I totally missed out on by dreamlike “Doomgaze” chanteuse Suvi Savikko, aka Shedfromthebody.
(Andy Synn kicks off 2023 with the highly-anticipated new album from Australia’s Ashen)
As I’ve stated before, 2022 was a good year for Death Metal. Occasionally a very good year for Death Metal. But not necessarily a great year for Death Metal.
That being said, there were definitely some albums which hit harder, and aimed higher, than others, and if Ashen‘s debut had been released in December of last year (as it was originally meant to be) it definitely would have ranked among them.
As it stands, however, Ritual of Ash has the distinction of being the first truly great Death Metal record of 2023.
Recommended for fans of: Grave, Lock Up, Exhumed
Choosing what band to feature for the last edition of The Synn Report for 2022 wasn’t an easy task.
While I knew I wanted to use this as an opportunity to highlight one of the many bands I didn’t get to write about properly this year, there were so many bands that fit that description that I almost didn’t know where to start.
But, ultimately, there could be only one, and that one had to be Ripped to Shreds, as not only was their latest album arguably the best true/classic/old-school Death Metal record of 2022, but it was also high time we gave their entire back catalogue the attention and acclaim it so richly deserves.
So let’s get to it, shall we?
(Andy Synn chooses the new album from Iceland’s Misþyrming as his final review of the year)
It’s crazy to think, now that I’m forced to reflect upon it, how long my (admittedly one-sided) relationship with Misþyrming has been going on.
After discovering them just prior to the 2015 edition of Inferno Festival (where I was fortunate enough to see them perform as part of a truly stacked three-band line-up of them, Sinmara, and Svartidauði), I’ve since written glowingly about them multiple times (and included both their previous albums in my annual “Great” list without hesitation) and also caught them live on several subsequent (and, arguably, superior) occasions.
And now, once again, Misþyrming have returned – almost without warning, and with very little fanfare – with a new album (and a new drummer) to give us all the punishment we deserve.
(Andy Synn finishes off “List Week”, as always, with a list of his ten favourite albums of the year)
You might expect my “Personal Top Ten” to be an easier list to make than my “Critical Top Ten“… and for the most part you’d be right. But also wrong.
Because while the top three have been pretty much set in stone for a while, the question of how to rank the rest was far more difficult, as the differences between most of these albums was often just a matter of degrees, meaning any order I had one day was likely to be completely wrong by the time I woke up on the next.
This was particularly problematic around the #10 cut off point, with the result being that there are several albums (like Krallice‘s most-excellent Psychagogue, and Feral Light‘s fantastic Psychic Contortions) that, in another timeline, could just as easily have been included if things had only been slightly different.
So what can you expect this year?
Well, while it’s definitely a Metal list (if you want to know what my favourite non-Metal album of the year was, then check this out) you can expect to see a lot of Hardcore and/or Hardcore-influenced stuff here, as well as some long-time favourites of mine whose new albums immediately shot to the top of my list, and stayed there.
It’s definitely not the coolest or most “kvlt” collection of recordings you’re going to read this year, but it’s full of artists and albums I love and hope to still be listening to years from now.
(Is it possible to capture the very best of an entire year in just ten albums? Of course not… but that isn’t going to stop Andy Synn from trying!)
This one’s for all you new people… let me explain how this works.
Unlike tomorrow’s “Personal” list, the “Critical Top Ten” is my attempt (emphasis on attempt) to inject some sort of objectivity into the proceedings by identifying ten albums which I think represent the cream of this year’s metallic crop, across as wide a spectrum of styles and sub-genres as possible.
It’s not ranked (as I’m sure you’ll notice) as it’s meant to be more of a representative sample of the year – although, I have to say, ten albums is never enough to properly cover all the bases (for example, I’d love to have included Inanna‘s Void of Unending Depths, but simply didn’t have the space).
Interestingly, this year feels like the first year in a long time where at least a couple of my selections actually align with the wider consensus, and while I’m sure there will be some complaints about the list not being trve/kvlt/underground enough as a result, for me it just says that sometimes, on very rare occasions, I’m not as out of step with the rest of “the scene” as I think I am.
PS – as always (since it’s seemed to have gone down well in previous years), I’ve included a little bonus recommendation alongside each of my main choices, just to increase your potential enjoyment!
(Andy Synn presents his selections for this year’s top-tier albums)
What more is there to say?
If you’re one of our long-time followers then you likely already know the score, and if you’re new to the site (welcome, by the way) then… well, it’s probably pretty self-evident right?
The albums featured here are all records which I feel achieved a form of greatness in their own way – maybe they pushed their particular genre forwards, maybe they combined different styles to create something even stronger than the sum of its parts, maybe they just did it better than everyone else – and which I think represent the cream of this year’s metallic crop.
Of course, as I’ve stated elsewhere already, it’s not comprehensive or definitive – no list can be, and anyone who tells you otherwise is just lying, to you and to themselves – but the level of quality is extremely high all the same, and I’d put any of these selections up against any other year in a heartbeat.
(Andy Synn kicks “List Week” into gear properly with a hefty collection of albums which, while maybe not top-tier – though some come very close – all have something to offer to the discerning metalhead)
Those of you who’ve been with us for a while will already be aware, but the primary purpose of this article is to serve as a resource for albums that you may not have been able (or willing) to listen to over the course of the last twelve months. It’s not ranked (obviously) but it is broken up into sections that should, hopefully, help you navigate by whatever different styles or sub-genres you’re most interested in, with links provided so you can listen to them at your convenience.
To save you any surprise, I’ll let you know right now that you’re not going to be seeing many of the “big” names – Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Decapitated, Machine Head, etc – here, both because they don’t really need any attention for us (I’d much rather focus on bands who don’t get even 1/10th the same amount of coverage) and because, to be brutally honest, I didn’t think any of them were particularly good…
You’ll also note the absence of some of the year’s most hyped releases (Chat Pile, Lorna Shore, Obsidious, Callous Daoboys) that, to be quite honest, just didn’t do anything for me, and I’m sure there are heaps of other albums that are going to be missing too, including a few (most notably the new Misþyrming) that I’m hoping to get around to writing about in the next few weeks.
That being said, if you don’t see something here that you expected, then don’t fly off the handle just yet… there’s still tomorrow’s list of the “Great” albums to come, and you might be pleasantly surprised as to what I’ve included in the top tier this year!
Until then, however, here’s 250-ish albums here for you all to check out, all of which have at least something to offer if you’re willing to give them a shot.