Holy! Is it July already? No matter how long I’ve been doing these reviews, it always amazes me how time flies even as I find myself doing my best to deliver one review a day every year. Yet, as it is with every year, I still cannot say I am anywhere close to tired or near being done with what’s happening here! 2023 has been another supremely bountiful year with loads on the horizon in the coming months already, but it is now that we look back before doing so yet again in December.
As is the case every year, I find myself blessed with a wide palette of excellence from all styles across multiple genres. The realms of rock and metal have been extremely gracious as we’ve seen the return of massive names like Dozer, Cattle Decapitation, and Obituary while we’ve seen the rising of bands like Leper Colony, Oromet, and Serpent of Old even as acts such as past favorites like Eremit, Esoctrilihum, and Sarcoptes return to further hone their already deadly crafts. Even with all of them, 2023 still is not done with as us The Re-Stoned and Cannibal Corpse are but the most recent of big names to announce new material while the underground’s endless machinations are sure to deliver us grandeur that none of us could have seen coming, and I can only hope to get as much of it as I can!
A note before we dive in, however – these are the only albums that I’ve reviewed before the halfway mark of 2023 (2nd of July). That means there are plenty of albums I’ve not “officially” reviewed yet that would be on here normally like the new Mammutus and The Zenith Passage as well as some of these album that are mentioned aren’t out yet. Arbitrary rules are arbitrary. Contact your lawyers to sue me at any time.
Every year is the same with this particular list but I will restate: in no way is this list ranked in any order. This is a list jumbled together simply as I’ve come across each album with no other qualifier than my own wondrous experiences in each creation.
Even with this list, there are still plenty of other efforts out there that I feel are especially worth your attention even if I need more time with them before I deem them truly of the best of the year in my eyes. They are just as excellent and I can only implore you to not let their small portions on this list dissuade you from investigation. Each band with their album is linked to the respective Bandcamp pages where you can enjoy their material.
71TONMAN – Of End Times / Acid King – Beyond Vision / Megaton Sword – Might & Power / Vale – A Senseless Procession / Allfather – A Violent Truth / Saint Karloff – Paleolithic War Crimes / Morass of Molasses – End All We Know / Fleshvessel – Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed / Serpent Corpse – Blood Sabbath / Lurk – Aegis
I’ve said it a million times and I will say it again: please support the music, bands, and labels that you love. There is more than enough excellence and wonder to be had throughout the vast scene for all of us to fall in love with time and time again, and we wouldn’t be here if these people wouldn’t be doing what they do. I wish I could cover it all, but I am just one person on this one website, and right now the best I can do is to implore you to support when you can and if you can. Without all the hard work and passion behind the scenes, we would not be here today.
IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THESE FINE ALBUMS THEN (please) JUST CLICK ON THE BAND NAME AND ALBUM TITLE TO BE TAKEN TO EITHER BANDCAMP OR YOUTUBE!
Ashen Horde – Antimony
“…Ashen Horde has undergone a metamorphosis like incredibly few others have achieved in recent years with its forthcoming new album the culmination of such grandeur and talent.” (read full review here)
Obituary – Dying of Everything
“…it’s more than evident at every turn throughout “Dying of Everything” that those five years were spent diligently in order to make this record easily one that demands to be considered among the band’s very best.” (read full review here)
Sarcoptes – Prayers to Oblivion
“…a journey the likes of which there is no mere turning away from with Sarcoptes pursuing every opportunity to the fullest in order to make this record not just bombastic and fiery to the touch but fascinatingly intoxicating in even the smallest moments…” (read full review here)
Rye – Bcë
“Spend just a few songs in the realm where this record calls home and I dare you not to be compelled by the beautiful magic at work here.” (read full review here)
Leper Colony – Leper Colony
“…Leper Colony makes it clear from its earliest notes that it’s a beast all of its own kind that is more than capable of demolishing all who stand before it with power unbounded and prowess with death metal that is simply undeniable in every form.” ( read full review here)
Håndgemeng – Ultraritual
“Håndgemeng is one of the thousands of new names out there that have eluded my radar until now, and it’s with all that’s been brought to the table for this bold new opus that I’m not keen on letting them out of my sights from here on out.” (read full review here)
Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite
“…a statement that has its own horrors and messages even if they all stem from the same sources of despair for the planet and hatred for the plague it inhabits, yet it is this newest wave that demands to be heralded in under its own merits rather than some paltry aftershock.” (read full review here)
Dozer – Drifting in the Endless Void
“…it’s been fifteen long years since we last had a full-length creation from Dozer, but now, as if born out of a long-forgotten prophecy, the originators of the European stoner scene as we know it has brought us new material that more than holds up to their wildly high standards.” (read full review here)
Serpent of Old – Ensemble Under the Dark Sun
“It’s not just a promising start from an interesting act; it’s the first splash of blood upon the cold ground that is only the beginning of tainting everything in sight with steaming red.” (read full review here)
Eremit – Wearer of Numerous Forms
“Eremit is an entity and beast all its own that defies convention and comparison to its contemporaries. There is naught like them elsewhere nor are we hoping to find an experience as godly as “Wearer of Numerous Forms” anywhere else.” (read full review here)
Esoctrilihum – Astraal Constellations of the Majickal Zodiac
“No matter what Esoctrilihum may bring to life in the months and years to come, the shadow cast by this record will encompass everything that is to come after without exception.” (read full review here)
Gateway – Galgendood
“…there is no greater joy than to bathe in the darkness and muck that Gateway commands with absolute supremacy as this particular breed of death-doom cannot be easily shaken off no matter what you do.” (read full review here)
Astralborne – Across the Aeons
“Creations such as this are exceedingly few and far between even as this fabulous branch of melodic death metal finds itself more populated by the year, but only the best rise to the top with Astralborne more than earning a seat at the peak with this work.” (read full review here)
Head-Banger Reviews 