Rory’s Top 10 Albums of 2023
Rory’s Top 10 Albums of 2023
By Rory Bentley
Another year on the books and let me tell you, without any reasonable doubt I can say it sure has been 365 days. I’m loath to say this has been a great year for albums because every year is a great or bad year for albums depending on where you look. It’s just an arbitrary unit of measurement to help our tiny brains deal with the linear, seemingly infinite march of time that’s beyond our puny comprehension , after all. What I can say is a huge chunk of the albums that I’ve been exposed to this year have fallen into the great to exceptional category.
After getting my mojo for gnarlier sounds back towards the tail end of 2022, I have now been fully back onboard with nasty audio filth in all its forms. Unlike last year where Indie and Pop dominated my own personal top 10, this year my Ever Metal list and overall cross-genre faves are probably going to end up being pretty identical, apparently not being severely mentally ill gives one a greater libido for the darkest, dankest bops. I should say that there are a few glaring omissions that I’ve given huge scores to that haven’t made the cut but are just as worthy of the top spot as what I picked, I just went with stuff that I vibed with the most on a personal level. Also, who really cares what I think? Anyway, let’s carve this turkey…
(TLDR? Here’s a video review):
10. Grove Street – The Path To Righteousness
As EM’s resident Captain Hardcore, it would be remiss of me not to have included Grove Street’s unbelievably fun and violent debut at the business end of my 2023 favourites. The band self-describe the album’s sound as mainly inspired by an amalgamation of Suicidal Tendencies and Power Trip, so naturally I was guaranteed to be arse over tit for this one, but what sees it beating out bands that are far more ambitious, innovative and accomplished are the irresistible party vibes that run through the core of this album like a stick of rock. The grooves are massive, the hooks are huge, and the guitar tone is to die for. I cannot stop playing this album and for my money it can go toe to toe with any Crossover classic you’d care to name.
Grove Street – The Path To Righteousness [Official Music Video]
09. Frozen Soul – Glacial Domination
Hi Death Metal, welcome to the list! I missed you last year but I sure am glad you’re back! It’s no secret that 2023 has been a banner year for Death Metal, with old pros and young hopefuls alike seriously overdelivering with quality releases. However, it is a band whose debut I found solid but reasonably unremarkable that has beaten out some huge names for my affections with this sophomore effort. With catchy songwriting, a guitar tone that can best be described as a heckin’ chonker, and a razor sharp production job from Matt Heaffy, “Glacial Domination” has been on regular rotation since I got it through for review. Talk about a glow up, the sheer unfuckwithable quality of the likes of ‘Abominable’ and ‘Arsenal of War’ have seen the frosty Texans smash up stages all over the world to rapturous response. I will literally end anyone on the Ever Metal staff that even thinks about taking my press pass when they come back to tour next year.
FROZEN SOUL – Glacial Domination (feat. Matthew K. Heafy of Trivium) (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
08. Einar Solberg – 16
If this had come out last year it would have comfortably been at the top of the list. In all fairness if you ask me on a different day, it could be at the top of this year’s! The debut solo album from the golden-lunged Leprous lead singer is everything you’d want it to be. To hear his incredible voice stripped down to its most naked, raw form is truly breathtaking. The fact that Solberg doesn’t just coast on his God-given abilities but plies them to all manner of different styles and experimental song structures is a huge credit to him and his various talented collaborators. ‘Home’ was a particularly potent curveball, with its Hip Hop and RnB leanings adding further strings to the stringiest of bows. You won’t hear a more accomplished performance behind the mic all year, but even more impressively, you’re unlikely to hear a better collection of songs.
EINAR SOLBERG – A Beautiful Life (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
07. Fredlos- Fredlos
My first perfect score of the year, and one that I stand by 10 months later as I write this. The debut from the Swedish Folk-Metal project is like being pulled through time to Medieval Scandinavia but they somehow have electric guitars there without having discovered electricity. The marriage of traditional instruments and arrangements with timeless, ethereal Metal is an irresistible combo that was love at first lute for me. You can smell the mud under cart wheels and feel the flicker of a makeshift fire in the woods as tales centuries old are spun with the melancholic croon of the magnificent Liv Hope. Opeth, Wardruna and Myrkur are just some of the revered names that come to mind when describing the album and it’s one that will give comfort and awe through cold winter nights for years to come.
Fredlös – Fredlös (Official Music Video)
06. Baroness – Stone
The entry requirement to get into my top 10 for Baroness was to make a Baroness album. Such is my bias that they’re a band that I should never be asked to review because I might as well be on their PR team, but partisan love aside, this is another truly fantastic Baroness album. Heavier and meaner than recent work but still packing the peerless emotional punch they’ve built a career on, “Stone” is chock full of future setlist staples. John and Gina’s vocal harmonies reach new heights of spine-tingling synchronicity and both of them bring their best riffs to the table. Throw in some weird spoken word sections, acoustic ballads and another stellar performance from one of the best rhythm sections in the game and you have another magnificent addition to a near flawless catalogue. Plus you can all stop moaning about the production now because this thing sounds immaculate.
BARONESS – Last Word [Official Music Video]
05. Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite
The kings have returned and they’re bringing some gross humanoid bug lads with them to pull us into the latest dystopian misanthropic hell-scape devised in the sick mind of the goblin-voiced Travis Ryan. After the sweeping grandiosity of “Death Atlas”, “Terrasite” dials up the skin-flaying ferocity while keeping the massive choruses and hooks to devastating effect. The likes of ‘We Eat Our Young’ are almost comically extreme as they blend numerous filthy genres into a cacophonous yet meticulously composed gut punch that will make you too scared to ever skip recycling day again. Nobody combines the ethical and the horrible better than the mighty Cattle Decapitation, PETA and Greenpeace take note, ya melts!
Cattle Decapitation – Solastalgia (Official Video)
04. Maggot Heart – HUNGER
I could easily do a top 3 of releases this year of albums that have sprung from the Beast Milk alumni. Grave Pleasures and Hexvessel have released absolutely killer records, with the former band guaranteed to be in Dark Juan’s list, but I’ll leave it to everyone’s favourite Yorkshire Goth Gimp (I should be offended by this, but it is spectacularly accurate. At least I don’t sing like I have something pointy stuck up my arse – Dark Juan) to wax lyrical on that one. It is Grave Pleasure’s former guitarist, however, that has provided my own personal favourite slice of cool Scandinavian gloom.
Main lady and contender for coolest singer in Rock Linnéa Olsson has outdone herself on Maggot Heart’s third album, delivering a sinister, raucous collection of snarling Post-Punk chock-full of twisted anthems that bristle with danger. The introduction of horns to the likes of LBD is a master stroke and adds extra grandeur that sits beautifully with the squalling, filthy menace of the band. Olsson’s knack for an ear-worm guitar lick and her slightly unhinged drawl are what tips this over the edge and I really hope this record propels them to new heights. They’re like an evil Swedish Blondie and I for one want as much of that as you can give me!
MAGGOT HEART – This Shadow (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
03. Code Orange – The Above
These next three are all pretty much number 1 but I had to rank these somehow! Following up my 2020 album of the year was always going to be tough. “Underneath” was an utterly unique labyrinthine masterpiece like nothing I’ve heard before or since, Code Orange were never going to top it, and it is to their credit that they haven’t even tried. They’ve once again ripped up the blueprint and branched out into something different. “The Above ” is an album of extremes, offering up breezy delightful Alt Rock ragers alongside glitchy, scabrous Hardcore and brooding Industrial elements. I’m still unpicking all of its intricacies and there’s a lot to dive into, yet most impressively it is a record that is immediately accessible if you just want a bunch of bops to Rock out to.
Code Orange – Mirror [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
02. Blood Command – World Domination
Hang on, didn’t we have a Blood Command album last year? Why yes we did and it was awesome, but Nikki, Yngvie and the gang are on fire right now, and this record hasn’t left my ears since it dropped. Chucking in Hardcore, Pop, Black Metal, Hip Hop and Dance music to name just a few genres and blending it into a lightning fast thrill ride that keeps you guessing right until the end, “World Domination” is like you’ve stuck your entire music library on shuffle and still ended up with a cohesive classic album. The Punk parts are heavy as fuck, the Pop choruses are as huge as anything on mainstream radio and the whole thing is absolutely bonkers. Pure adrenaline with 20 tracks condensed into the most joyous 37 minutes you’ll hear all year. World Domination is what they deserve.
Blood Command – The Plague On Both Your Houses (Official Video)
01. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – SAVED!
2019’s “Caligula” by Lingua Ignota is the heaviest album I’ve ever heard and probably ever will. There’s barely any guitars, not a blast-beat to be found and most of it is made up of one woman and a piano, yet it is the most brutal, intense listening experience possible. Genuinely upsetting and unpleasant yet brilliant, it depicts the artist’s very real experiences of abuse with terrifying rawness that often feels voyeuristic in its unflinching presentation of one woman’s broken psyche. 2021’s “Sinner Get Ready” isn’t much easier to listen to and its subject matter is equally harrowing, though slightly more shielded in metaphor.
Now retiring the Lingua Ignota moniker as she thankfully moves on to a hopefully much brighter chapter of her life, Kristin Hayter has produced a record of cathartic exorcism that leans heavily on traditional Christian music. But don’t worry, it’s still utterly terrifying but also profoundly moving in places.
This is a record that sounds like it was discovered in the basement of a haunted house, recorded to analog tape the album warps in and out of focus like the tape itself has been possessed. The mixture of original compositions and traditional hymns conjures the image of a makeshift Appalachian church full of all kinds of wrong ‘uns playing homemade instruments and doing weird shit with snakes. Hayter’s vocals are frankly astounding, conveying beauty, pain and sometimes sheer bug-eyed insanity, though mercifully less imbued with the abject despair of her previous work.
Like the soundtrack to an American Folk Horror, complete with some unnerving jump scares and Hayter speaking in tongues this is an album that feels fiercely innovative yet also like it has existed since time began. A truly biblical experience.
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter “All Of My Friends Are Going To Hell” (Official Video)
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
