“HEY, WHERE THE HELL IS [INSERT ALBUM TITLE], YOU EMPTY-HEADED MONSTERS”
We go through this every year, no? You see the Best Of lists begin to drop from all the usual suspects, and the first thing we do is zip through to see what the silly bastards dared pass over or foolishly opted to include. Life doesn’t allow us to lord elite power over much, but thankfully we can still do it to heavy metal best of lists every single year.
Speaking of lists, Decibel’s is always the very first to hit our eyeballs, and this year Last Rites scored a record low of THREE shared albums with their top 40. We also have three mutual hits with PopMatters, ZERO matches with Treblezine, three with Quietus, and the loneliest number with the folks at Consequence. Boil everything down to the savoriest of soups, the two biggest equalizer albums in 2023 doing their best to keep Last Rites connected to our peers appear to be….. [dramatic pause]…. Autopsy’s Bloods & Crips and Dødheimsgard’s very spreadable Black Berry Currant. Maybe there ought to be a special kind of award for those artists. THE PEACEKEEPER AWARD.
So, who’s right? Who’s more right? Why… none of us and all of us, of course! The heavy sphere delivers so damned much great stuff inside 12 months, and the people who take the time to write about all that great stuff are all such nerdy sticklers, you kind of have to expect the overlap numbers to be somewhat small, yes? But holy shmoly, mack, just three? Someone’s got to be off their rocker, and Last Rites is probably the most likely crew to already be sitting in rockers and yelling at albums to get off our lawn, so maybe it’s us. The good news: All the albums on our list are just as awesome as those on any other list, so break out the bubbly and let’s dance. Let’s dance as weirdly and awkwardly as David Bowie and Mick Jagger in “Dancing in the Street,” or at least as inelegantly as I’d expect George Fisher does whenever he hears the theme to Duck Tales.
Bottom line: 2023 was a really good year for basically all of metal’s assorted avenues, and the biggest thing that seems to set Last Rites apart from a number of other ‘zines still interested in publishing best of lists is the fact that, despite being based in the U S and A, we just so happen to get down with the power metal. Power metal’s force was particularly strong in 2023, and you will see that represented below.
Here’s something else that was very important to Last Rites in 2023: YOU. Thank you for spending time with us for yet another full round of months, and please accept this very heartfelt and powerful salute to YOU for reading, sharing and commenting on our work. We look forward to sharing this long, winding river with you again in 2024.
Please stay safe out there, and MERRY LISTMAS! [CAPTAIN]
25. GREAT FALLS – OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN
It’s fitting that Seattle’s Great Falls finds themselves on Neurot Recordings, as they remain one of the best acolytes of the Bay Area greats behind that label (that would be Neurosis, of course). The convenient and cheap description is that Great Falls does the progressive sludge thing with far less expanse, as the oft-dissonant and gargantuan riffs of Demian Johnston (ex-Kiss It Goodbye) provide a constant pounding, while a thick, rumbling bass and wicked good drumming (both always essential elements of noise rock and metal) keep the foundation pummeling in equal measure. But the mathy elements, undertone of sorrow, Johnston’s rageful and desperate vocal performance, and extra flairs like the occasional blast or trippy, unbalanced noise passages push Great Falls into their own artistic space. Objects Without Pain might be the tightest Venn diagram of colossal heft and intensity in 2023. [ZACH DUVALL]
• Bandcamp
24. FABRICANT – DRUDGE TO THE THICKET
Technical / progressive death metal that evokes greats like Atheist, Gorguts, Nocturnus, and even Voivod, without sounding too much like any one of them, Drudge To The Thicket is a wonderfully twisted pile of dissonant riffage and intricate rhythms, sharpened to a razor’s edge and honed to perfection. The guitar lines bend and spiral, pulling the songs in unexpected directions; the drums push everything forward with a near-palpable energy, shifting constantly from one complex pattern to the next; the bass bounces through the middle, holding everything together, even as the whole of it seems intent on exploding outward in every direction at once. An absolute gem of truly interesting metal in a style too often focused on creating something impressive at the expense of creating something expressive, this Drudge is anything but dull or menial, one of hell of a first full-length from a band that isn’t exactly new, but is at a new beginning… [ANDREW EDMUNDS]
• Bandcamp
23. LEGENDRY – TIME IMMORTAL WEPT
“At best, I can describe it as an amalgamation of Uriah Heep, Built To Spill, Yes, and–perhaps the deeper and more on-the-nose nod–Connecticut’s cult classic Legend. I no longer saw Legendry as attempting to mimic the stardust of yesteryear, nay–this was that genuine paperback magic, folded corners, beat up cover, musk and all. I may have been seeking a barbarian when I should have been listening for a bard–all of a sudden it made so much sense to me.” [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
22. HEAVY LOAD – RIDERS OF THE ANCIENT STORM
The Heavy Metal Angels ride again! Forty years since last releasing a studio album, the Swedish legends emerge from ancient slumber. Their cruder early sound has been masterfully machined–the music is still heavy hittin’, big liftin’ riffs, but the choir of vocals, synth touches, orchestral hits only enhance the Olde Magick that was first cast so long ago. Their classic 80s sound is still very much present, but Riders Of The Ancient Storm is perhaps the most 70s-sounding thing they’ve done since their ’78 Full Speed At High Level debut. The heavy blues numbers “We Rock The World” and “Slave No More” are some of the finest doom this year, and they’re delivered between the high energy of uplighting burners like “Ride The Night” and the “Angel Dark,” both earworms that put little memos in the brain to keep bringing it back to the album.
A big part of the Olde Magick of Heavy Load was that they made extremely honest albums. Something in that angelic melancholy looming over the hard rocking, heavy metal heart. Even at the most joyful moments, there’s a touch of sadness or struggle that chains the triumphant grab for glory to a tremendous weight being lifted. It feels a little more desperate and a little more real, a feeling summed up particularly well on closer “Sail Away.” S’far as I’m concerned, if the record had that feeling it was a success, but Riders exceeded expectations. It’s more than a return of a classic band, remove the crutch of context and it stands strong on its own as a great record that brings much glory not only to Heavy Load, but to heavy metal and rock n roll of the 1970s, of the 1980s, and, perhaps most importantly in this context, of 2023. [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Spotify
21. TWILIGHT FORCE – AT THE HEART OF WINTERVALE
“…they still really know how to deliver the goods, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the years since 2019’s Dawn of the Dragonstar weren’t exactly spent twiddling thumbs and binging Judge Judy with every inch of their free time. Twilight Force really seem to enjoy doing what they do best (thank goodness), and with At the Heart of Wintervale, they’ve found a surprisingly succinct and powerful way to do it better than 97% of the doppelgängers attempting a similar feat.” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
20. LOST HARVEST – DELUDED SEAS OF DIVERGE
Innovation in music is something to be cherished and encouraged, but there’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve while putting your own spin on a classic formula, either. On their sophomore album, Deluded Seas of Diverge, Lost Harvest is telegraphing their influences so clearly that they close the album with a 10-minute cover of a song by The Chasm.
I’ll admit my initial listen wasn’t super positive because of the rather quiet production/recording was throwing me off. You know what fixes that? Turning the volume knob. What a dingbat I am! Once I got off my dumb high horse, I discovered an endless buffet of riffs, hooky melodies and ripping leads. Deluded Seas of Diverge is an absolute journey that flexes in a perfect amount of acoustic guitar reminiscent of Opeth’s early unpolished days. This Texas-by-way-of-Mexico duo delivers over an hour of raw, fiery and passionate death metal that knows our most beloved genres live and die by the riff. If you lost this one among the bevy of new releases in 2023, you’re missing one hell of a delicious harvest! (Don’t worry, I’ve already thrown myself off of a bridge for that one.) [SPENCER HOTZ]
• Bandcamp
19. ANACHRONISM – MEANDERS
“…Anachronism’s overall style—a notably crooked, highly technical brand of death metal rooted in a similar peat as Gorguts, Defeated Sanity and Artificial Brain—feels exceptionally off-the-cuff, with each player balanced equally in the mix and very gingerly darting around one another’s notes like so many antelopes cutting away from the snaps of wild dogs.” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
18. TRICHOMONIASIS – MAKESHIFT CREMATORIA
“…Makeshift Crematoria is a blurry, near-constant cacophony, broken up only by the brief moments when clean guitars are twisted into perhaps the most direct affront to proper ‘music’ on the whole album. The heavy metal wrap-up cliche would be to say the album sounds like it was birthed from the maw of some Eldritch Horror, but this is a monster of our making, a gargantuan cancerous mass aimed back at mankind’s millennia of wrongdoings…” [ZACH DUVALL]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
17. MORTUARY DRAPE – BLACK MIRROR
“…the underground metal scene is standing at the feet of former students—back in 1986, when Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Quorthon, and other creators of the extreme were at the very forefront of the extreme music scene—and these former students have now become masters. I’d even be willing to bet that the Drape’s newer musicians’ greatest influences heading into the studio are probably the first few Mortuary Drape albums. Either that, or they’re just Italian; they know the drill because they grew up on all of this. Satan’s secrets run through their veins.” [KONRAD KANTOR]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
16. STYGIAN RUIN – A WORLD PAST HOPE AND FEAR
“The pair [of songs] flows seamlessly together by conjuring very similar moods, and both put a strong emphasis on a very equitable fusion between dark ambient outer space synth blip-bloopery and an epic form of whooshing black metal that underscores crumbling vocals that sound buried by time and dust. Adding further to their harmony, everything is wrapped in an extraordinarily satisfying sense of wistful introversion—as if the hardships have already been met, fought and mourned, so all that’s left to do moving forward is to remember and revere.” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
15. RIVERSIDE – ID.ENTITY
“The shift in tone and texture represents no mere flight of fancy but an instance of real identity transformation… …this is a group of renowned journeymen who’ve decided that, even in the serious business of prog metal, there’s real value in (also) looking on the bright side of life. That they manage the metamorphosis without losing the recognizable essence of Riverside speaks to the authenticity of their muse.” [LONE WATIE]
14. DEMONIAC – NUBE NEGRA
“…I could throw out a simple ‘for fans of the orgiatic offspring of Apostasy, Sadus, and Dark Angel’ and hit it somewhere in the ballpark, but Demoniac’s path of evolution suggests a closer look beneath the microscope to appreciate just how hungry they are to bend their musical language to their will, twisting thrash into a weapon of artistic guerrilla warfare.” [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
13. ANGRA – CYCLES OF PAIN
“Just know it favors calmer seas with a stronger emphasis placed on melodic, equable sailing. But if you’ve come to love Bittencourt’s easily recognizable fretwork and also enjoy getting lost in Lione’s dulcet voice, the formula works beautifully. Sure, we love it when Angra strikes with the sort of BIG ruckus a song like ‘War Horns’ delivers, but sometimes you just gotta MELLOW OUT, MANNNNN.” [CAPTAIN]
• Cycles of Pain in We Have the Power
• Spotify
12. ASCENDED DEAD –
EVENFALL OF THE APOCALYPSE
“Ascended Dead’s greatest strength on Evenfall Of The Apocalypse isn’t so much in emulating the spirit of the Ancient Ones as it is shoving them into the Almighty Grinder™️ and pureeing them into a sort of Necronomic Salsa. Or, in other words, atom-splicing, nuclear metal of death.” [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
11. MAJESTIES – VAST REACHES UNCLAIMED
“This is an absolutely stunning melodeath record that calls back to some of the genre’s greatest classics while making sure that the personalities and styles of Majesties’ lineup shine through. The most obvious inspiration here is In Flames’ towering classic The Jester Race, which should come as little surprise to anyone that has spent much time listening to [Tanner] Anderson’s melodic approach in Obsequiae.” [ZACH DUVALL]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
10. REZN – SOLACE
“…REZN has found wholly new pastures by seamlessly spinning long, honeyed strands of reflective dream pop / electro synth into their picture. That familiar and solemn heaviness that’s always been at the crux of the McWilliams / Cangelosi / Dunn trinity is of course still there, but the addition of Ouellette and an increased underscoring of his role over the years has definitely pushed REZN into a sphere of its own.” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
9. THY CATAFALQUE – ALFÖLD
If you’ve been lurking amongst the Last Rites swamps for a while, you’ve almost certainly come across Thy Catafalque. While not every member of our staff goes apeshit for Tamás Kátai’s zany brand of metal (some of us have dumb ears that don’t work correctly), there are a strong number of us who can’t get enough and ultimately vault his works onto our collective year-end lists. But what is it that makes Thy Catafalque such a shoo-in for a regular best-of spot?
Ultimately, Kátai never makes the same album twice, and that leaves us perpetually fascinated with the unexpected twists and turns that come with each new release. While continuing to push new elements, Alföld is an oddly more straightforward album. It opens with a pummel and deathly growl in “Acsend Hegyei,” pivots to a bit melody in its heft on “Testen túl” and straight-up blasts away on “A földdel egyenlő.”
That isn’t to say Kátai’s preferences for variety and experimentation are entirely absent. Sure, there are no electronic bagpipes present like on Vadak, but you still get a flute, clean female vocals and sturdy doses of folksy whimsy, electronic bounce and delectable groove amongst this heftier, deathlier battering. You never know exactly what you’re going to get with Thy Catafalque, but you can be sure it will be damn good anyway. [SPENCER HOTZ]
• Bandcamp
8. DØDHEIMSGARD – BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT
“…walking into any new DHG adventure has always been a bit like getting invited to stroll the Nicolas Cage’s estate: ‘Is… Is that the hull of an actual Space Shuttle in the living room? Oh, look, there’s a tiger on the couch.’ The unexpected is a big part of why we always pay the price of admission for DHG, and Black Medium Current continues the quest for that unique and unpredictable connection.” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
7. BEGRAVEMENT – HORRIFIC ILLUSIONS BECKON
“Across these nine songs, you’ll find ripping death/thrash, melodeath, early technical death metal, progressive death metal, and more, all of it done with the twofold intent of A) demonstrating the band’s careful study of the genre’s greats and B) crystallizing those myriad influences into a unique and cohesive blueprint all their own.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
6. VÓRTIZE – DESDE BAJO TIERRA
“It’s a rallying cry for metaleros that speak any language with their tongue and one with their heart, all while conveying proudly what makes the Chilean scene so special in the current metal lexicon–steadfastly true and unabashedly creative on a very personal level. While Vórtize is labelled as a ‘one-man project,’ in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a group of friends, compatriots, musicians, and warriors of iron coming together to bring the vision of one man to life.” [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
5. AUTOPSY – ASHES, ORGANS, BLOOD AND CRYPTS
“The frequent tempo changes and doom passages are obviously nothing new to this band, but that extra looseness really makes it feel as if the band is just jamming, that the whole of Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts was done live in just a couple takes. The sense that Autopsy was reenergized on Morbidity Triumphant is even stronger here, but it isn’t some forced or Obvious New Era of the Band thing, just four crusty veterans doing their awesome thing.” [ZACH DUVALL]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
4. TRIUMPHER – STORMING THE WALLS
“The epic prefix is important, though, for the dramatic and sometimes cinematic way that Triumpher craft their music. Storming the Walls is a masterclass in guitar pyrotechnics, mesmerizing vocals, rich, independent bass, and inventively monstrous drumming, but it also overflows with instrumentation and detail that elevate the already powerful songwriting to a place of grandeur, battle, and triumph.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
3. MOONLIGHT SORCERY – HORNED LORD OF THE THORNED CASTLE
“… you will be filing Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle under black metal, even if you happen to be one of those stiff cemetery devils who thinks the genre went soft the moment more than two colors were added to album covers. However, I do believe the album will be enjoyed to the umpteenth degree by those who don’t cower in the glorious presence of power metal. So if you happen to be one of those conquering heroes who doesn’t blink an eye when Sargeist and Stratovarius get played back-to-back, be sure to step to the front of the line…” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
2. AFTERBIRTH – IN BUT NOT OF
“Their latest work, the aptly titled In But Not Of, loosens the concise songwriting a bit and lets the band explore even further, opening them up to drift a bit deeper into the oxygenless void. Testing the limits of the lifeline to the mothership, the album feels more untethered, as though floating through the cosmos of the band’s imagination. Their greatest skill–the ability to sneakily but profoundly mix elements of space rock and post-rock into their riffing style while retaining every ounce of sheer heaviness they professed back in the promising demo era remains a touchpoint for their sound.” [RYAN TYSINGER]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
1. SACRED OUTCRY – TOWERS OF GOLD
“Greece’s Sacred Outcry understands the impact of triumph threaded into the details, as well as the perpetual virtue of escapism… …their sophomore album, Towers of Gold, is a clarion call for any and all interested in a foundation built on the early / mid-80’s Metal Blade Records escapist bands, embellished further by the wildly imaginative, mythical realms of ’90s / early 2000s power metal from the likes of Blind Guardian, Virgin Steele, Rhapsody, Angra, and Domine… …as anyone obsessed with escapism who’s versed in the explorations of, say, the Lands Between or Hyrule can confirm, the realm really opens up when you stop speeding through it on your Spirit Steed and take the time to walk and explore all the dark corners and brilliant panoramas” [CAPTAIN]
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
Where the hell is Nithing you empty headed monsters!!1! 😉
Nice list, I have Sacred Outcry in my top spot too. Killer year for BDM. I want to shout out the Cadavoracity album too, which was too much for some but which I think will age very well and be looked back on as an elite album in the genre.
Some of us didn’t 😉
I always look forward to this list b/c it’s filled with stuff I haven’t heard of at all. My personal favorites of the year were:
1. Cattle Decapitation
2. Incantation
3. Majesties
4. Sanguisugabogg
5. Dying Fetus
6. The Anchoret
7. Ulthar (both albums)
8. Kruelty
9. Lamp of Murmuur
10. Bekor Qilish
11. Gridlink
12. Suffocation
I always enjoy these lists. Time to get to work. I don’t think LR reviewed Katatonia’s latest? Not that it is end of year list worthy, but Nov starts Katatonia season and I’ve been re-reading the fantastic catalog of Katatonia reviews on this site. I recommend any fan do so. Happy holidays!
No particular order:
Rorcal – Silence
Sulphur Aeon – Seven Crowns and Seven Seals
Voidhaven – Lithic
Warcrab – The Howling Silence
Sermon – Of Golden Verse
Krigsgrav – Fires in the Fall
Fires in the Distance – Air Not Meant For Us
Aetherian – At Storm’s Edge
Wayfarer – American Gothic
Miserere Luminis – Ordalie
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean – Obsession Destruction
Carnation – cursed mortality
Predatory Void – Seven Keys to the Discomfort of Being
Phantom Winter – Her Cold Materials
Wallowing – Earth Reaper
Oromet – Oromet
Anti-God Hand – Blight Year
Cursebinder – Drifting
Terra Builder – Solar Temple
Mnajdra – Mnajdra
Crust – Dissolution
Health – Rat Wars
Glad to see some Oromet love!
Whoa–i havent even heard of half of these bands. I look forward to checking them out. I had a disturbing realization this year: I am suddenly losing my taste for dissonance in metal. That is why I didn’t enjoy Fabricant and Anachronism so much, though a few years ago I would have liked them more. I love that Ascended Dead record. Oh, I almost forgot…WHERE THE HELL IS STORTREGN, YOU MONSTERS (not empty headed, just monsters).
Fleshvessel bros we got too cocky
HEY, WHERE THE HELL IS The Enduring Spirit, YOU EMPTY-HEADED MONSTERS
It feels like December came around way too quickly this year and I didn’t get a chance to put the few albums I listened to in any sort of order. Needless to say, Tomb Mold’s The Enduring Spirit was the standout album for me. I also dug Dyoxidon’s The Decaying Multiverse, Restless Spirit’s Afterimage, Health’s Rat Wars, and Enslaved’s Heimdal. The Ocean’s Holocene was probably my most listened to album, though I don’t think it’s their best work.
Looking forward to working my way through this list, starting with Towers of Gold (digging it on first listen).