Best Of 2023 – Lone Watie: Light Prevails

For a very long time in my life, it was very important to me that the music I listened to was evil or at least dark (or at the very least tuff). Well, not really. I knew it wasn’t actually evil but I really liked that it left that impression on particular people. I enjoyed some lighter fare, too, but I usually kept that to myself. I’m sure I’m not blowing anybody’s mind here; this is a fairly common circumstance, I think. It’s really only important because, as I thought about my Best Of list for this year, I realized I’d spent far more time in the light than before and that this was part of a trend that started a few years ago. Sure I listened to a ton of death metal and even my share of black metal in 2023 and all manner of other extreme metals depending on the mood or sometimes (often, really) what had my pals getting all gobby at the time. There’s even a few representatives of that below. By and large, though, my favorite music after it all got tallied up came down to those albums that left me feeling powerful or otherwise positive or at least peaceful. Good feelings were the order of the day most often this year and it’s no coincidence that it was power metal, trad metal, and prog metal that did that for me most reliably.

I mean, just try keeping that sourpuss while listening to bright-as-balls power metal warriors like ShadowStrike belt out a nuclear rainbow-charged chorus like,

On and on into the universe
Sing a song for old memories
A broken heart can’t sing a melody
But true friendship is a symphony

On a comet’s tail kissing the moon crest sky
Dancing high on icy stars
The journey begins with what lies within
And at least I can feel true emotions
Flowing from my heart and soul

Listen, the dark and dire stuff ain’t goin’ nowhere. I still need it. It plays a very important role in my music life. Like a lot of folks who love extreme music, death metal and black metal and doom and grind and all the other myriad manifestations of metal are a way of confronting and coping with the very real horrors of everyday life and the existential dread of simply being. That means Autopsy and Malokarpatan and Sorcerer and Nashgul and so many other great extreme bands like them got their spins this year, not to mention the classics of their subgenres, and nothing about that will change going forward. They’re necessary, essential, crucial.

That said, and fully acknowledging the buttressing effects of successfully confronting the darkness, I drew the vast majority of my energy this year from the glow of uplifting heavy metal and I found myself liking it a lot and, indeed, feeling much stronger as a result when I needed it most.

So how about those Champions of Love and Light? Those Defenders of Sunshine and Rainbows? How about the fight for good and right and honor and truth and virtue and empathy and compassion and kindness? How about taking that shit to the extreme? Fuck yeah.

Here is a necessarily incomplete list of the music that made it a little easier to find the light in the darkness this year.

BRIGHTNESS

20. ShadowStrike – Traveler’s Tales

Big, bright, soaring and strong, Traveler’s Tales is European power metal by a bunch of boys from… Long Island? It’s absolutely Disney AF and they own every minute of it. No other album lifted me quite as high this year when I needed it most.

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19. TEMIC – Terror Management Theory

As Prog Metal inches closer every year to having run the gamut, the freshness of bands like TEMIC becomes clearer as they find perfect balance in a world of excess and extreme, between atmosphere and virtuosity, darkness and light, melancholy and joy.

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18. Angra – Cycles of Pain

For my money, the Rebirth – Temple of Shadows – Aurora Consurgens run is the almighty peak for Angra and some of the best progressive power metal of all times. But Angra vFabio.Lione? Also great! This album is wonderful and surely would have ranked higher here if, as ol’ Captain observed in this year’s WHTP, it carried the strength of the first couple tracks throughout.

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17. Vórtize – Desde Bajo Tierra

Shoowee, ol’ Javy Ortiz just can’t help but knock ‘em dead, whatever he’s doing down there in skinny ass sexy ass Cheelay. (Another of his bands, Demoniac’s offering this year deserves to be on this list but I am dummy). Though cleaner and smoother this time around, Vórtize on Desde Bajo Tierra conveys every bit of the old school spirit of heavy metal as they did on debut ¡Tienes Que Luchar! and once again, the magic is palpable. One gets the impression that, if one were to open Javer Ortiz in his guts, it would be Heavy Metal that come pouring out.

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16. Twilight Force – At The Heart Of Wintervale

Top-tier, absolutely bombastic, unabashedly romantic, and utterly triumphant symphonic power metal. At the Heart of Wintervale is so richly developed and absorbing that it’ll have me daydreaming like a 10 year old, coursing through silver-blue skies with the ice dragons. Now that’s Power.

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15. DGM – Life

DGM’s power prog is as reliably good as it gets and there’s nothing on new album Life that’ll have a fan scratching their head. It’s a wonderfully rich album that draws as much from finesse as it does from strength, built from power metal pieces into evocative songs that feel like racing down an open highway with the top down on a late summer afternoon as the camera pans up and zooms out.

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14. Legendry – Time Immortal Wept

Maaaaaaan, if you love old school heavy metal and old school prog rock, Legendry is your jam. This itinerant band of warrior bards is at the height of its powers, Vidarr especially wielding his axe with an archmage’s magical might. Time Immortal Wept sounds like it was made in 1979 and bears the heraldry of the era with honor.

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13. Stygian Ruin – A World Past Hope and Fear

It may seem strange, a black metal project making a list that purports to be all about the warm-and-fuzzies, but those who know Stygian Ruin know there is an unusual kind of warmth in it, even despite the chill of the dungeon synth air. And there’s a certain comfort in E.R.’s increasingly space-based context, being on the float, adrift in the vastness.

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12. Lalu – The Fish Who Wanted To Be King

This is such a wonderful album. It’s bright and vivacious and a little weird in a way that suggests Vivien Lalu is writing freely of himself. Pop sound and melody has become fairly common in prog metal but The Fish is chock full of it, to the point that I’m sure it’s pushed some folks away. Lalu does it so well, though; it’s the kind of feel-good good that’s kept my boat afloat all year and still well enough within the wobbly bounds of prog to stimulate the ol’ thinker.

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11. Triumpher – Storming The Walls

Triumpher stormed the heavy metal interwebs early in the year, seemingly out of nowhere, with this astounding album of eclectic epic metal. They are of Greece, but Triumpher flies the banners of metal realms around the globe and across time. You could ask any metal fan for an example of great epic heavy metal and there’ll be echoes of it in Storming The Walls even as the band boasts a distinct and confident voice. It’s kind of amazing that way.

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BRILLIANCE

10. BY FIRE & SWORD – GLORY

By Fire & Sword is a No Remorse power metal band in the old style of powerful heavy metal: epic, fantastical, run through with killer riffs and solos. The vocals, though… they’re preachy. Like, full-on evangelical fire and brimstone save your soul proselytizing in the sprechgesang style of singing. And boy does that sound like something I hate. So… lay this one out on paper and I’d toss it into the trash straight away… if I hadn’t heard it. The truth is, Glory is, well, glorious. And that includes vocalist, The Hon. Rev. Tim Tom Jones. His delivery comes across so earnestly, so steeped in love and grace, especially wrapped in his warnings of fiery damnation, that it almost makes a fella think, well sure, why shouldn’t I drink the Kool-Aid. As much as I kind of rolled my eyes and scratched my head at all this the first time I listened, there was something there that beckoned return, as if I was drawn by some imperceptible, irresistible call, and each time I went back it hooked me a little deeper until now its hold has become unbreakable. I absolutely love it. I would die for Glory.

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9. LOVEBITES – JUDGEMENT DAY

Power metal conjures a lot of imagery, so much of it drawn from the ancient texts of dragons and magic and virtuous champions. The scenes painted by Lovebites are thoroughly modern by comparison, something like that motorcycle fight scene from John Wick 3 where he’s taking out all the baddies with a flurry of badass punches and kicks and pistol whips and headshots while careening down the nighttime NYC streets, except Judgement Day feels like it’s racing through the neon kaleidoscopic night of Tokyo, the bikes tracing dayglo rails, the baddies rolling alongside like a landslide of red-eyed demons, unending. It’s fun imagining Lovebites, thoroughly heroic and pure of heart, dispatching said horde with due haste, all fire and electric energy and blockbuster pyrotechnics delivered with power metal that draws strength from every corner and time of the subgenre’s vaunted history.

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8. PROJECT: ROENWOLFE – PROJECT: ROENWOLFE

What a tremendously underappreciated band Project: Roenwolfe has been during their run. It’s no mean feat pulling off the kind of technical power metal they play; so much in this style impresses while failing to hook. But shoooooowee, has Project: Roenwolfe got the hook down to an artform. The self-titled album is a diverse one, with songs that will pull the listener in immediately with a potent combo of riff and melody and others that take a little more time and run deeper, taking a little longer to set. This seems to be a bit of lightning in a bottle, between the guitar prowess of Alicia Cordisco, the unique vocal talents of Patrick Parris and the songwriting strength of the pair, and we should count ourselves lucky it was caught because with this wonderful album 2023 also brought Project: Roenwolfe’s end, as they split after its release.

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7. GATEKEEPER – FROM WESTERN SHORES

I’ve been scratching my head at the lack of Gatekeeper on the year-end lists I’ve seen thus far. It sure seems to check all the boxes for me. It’s epic and melodic and full of great riffs and solos and features amazing vocals from Tyler Anderson, whose powerful and versatile voice is the kind that can push a very good album straight over the top to great. One of the things I appreciate most about From Western Shores is that the epic atmosphere is given the utmost priority over flashiness in favor of a prevailing stateliness. These are songs that embrace heroic ideals, that the footsoldiers can sing on a steady, moderately paced march, that celebrate memories of twilit past and idyllic futures, and rising to a gallop where the story conjures battle and conquest.

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6. GALNERYUS – BETWEEN DREAD AND VALOR

I’m going to go ahead and volunteer up front for the lumps I’ll be taking on this one. I know that the vast majority of long-time Galneryus fans are fairly disappointed by the band’s latest effort. Then again, I’m not sure there’s ever been a band more befitting the old notion that a mediocre album from this band is still better than the best from so many others. Between Dread And Valor still soars and cuts and radiates. The songs are still powerful and elegant, brimming with gallant melody. I’m still relatively new to Galneryus, so maybe I just don’t have the context, but this album sure does make me happy and, as the primary factor in how I’ve sorted my list this year, there it is.

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5. ANTHEM – CRIMSON & JET BLACK

We missed it initially, but caught up in July: “Despite having been at it for more than 40 years, Japan’s Anthem sounds fresh and invigorated on Crimson & Jet Black, which is no surprise to anyone who’s kept up with their post-reunion output. True to their bearing in the new millennium, Anthem’s twentieth album generates palpable energy from the arc between traditional and power metal, bursting from the gate and coursing unremittingly through 11 songs in just under an hour. That album cover gets at it pretty well, actually: bright, shiny, dark in turns, strong and agile, somehow elegant in its ferocity.”

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4. AFTERBIRTH – IN BUT NOT OF

I sure do love it when a great album’s cover art is also great, but especially when it’s great in the way that it perfectly reflects and even encapsulates the music it’s representing. Looking at that fella on the cover of In But Not Of there, it’s easy to see some tripped out version of a Frankenstein’s monster, which is actually spot-on, as long as you consider the Monster, as opposed to the assemblage of its pieces by the mad scientist. Afterbirth has always embraced a relatively mellow side as a complement to their brutal death metal core, and, of late, an affinity for fully-fledged psychedelic atmospherics. But that uniquely progressive take on slam has never been quite so fully realized as on this latest record. Just like the unfortunate space/time traveler on the cover, this music is comprised of plenty of weird and grotesque, both technical and organic, but it’s also more functionally and even aesthetically cohesive than ever before. There are hints, too, in the art, that new horizons have been reached, from the cosmic/temporal portal/event behind to the revelation of an infant under countless layers of metaphorical matter that was being protected (trapped?) by that helmet. I’ve listened to In But Not Of a bunch, often with that art in hand, and I still can’t wait to dive back in, knowing there’s even greater depth to plumb.

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3. DODHEIMSGARD – BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT

Dødheimsgard is black metal at the vanguard, sharp and angular, often dissonant and uncomfortable, so how is Black Medium Current a thing that makes me feel good? Bit of a different thing this go ‘round, Vicotnik assuming vocal duties and positioning the band closer to what a typical human might call normal but only just barely. The melange of black metal and post-black within waves of goth melody and electronic sounds and ambient atmospherics, gives the impression of a plane of existence where one is both present and absent, real and not. If that sounds frightening, Black Medium Current reflects that in classic trilled and blasted bursts. And if it sounds oddly liberating, that’s reflected here, too, in drifting and expansive passages woven with languor and lament. In the balance lies what most intrigues me about the album: listening to Black Medium Current, I sometimes feel like I’m sharing space with a friendly stranger, our eyes meeting intermittently until, without quite noticing, I’ve become lost in his stare and am unable to break it, his visage briefly, subtly distorted, distant, translucent. The hair on the back of my neck tells me to run. The stranger’s still warm smile says there’s no use in that. And the acceptance in that moment feels like peace.

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2. THY CATAFALQUE – ALFÖLD

Some consternation this year among Thy Catafalque fans over Tamás Kátai’s relatively focused and pared down approach on Alfö​ld, especially compared to his most recent efforts. Shouldn’t have been any surprise, though, Kátai being anything but complacent in the way he makes music. The last several albums have seen Thy Catafalque’s formative black metal influence nearly abandoned, and so, of course, Alfö​ld is absolutely brimming with it. All the progressive hallmarks are there, from complex structure and time to electronic sounds and beats to Hungarian folk melodies (and an extensive cast of guest musicians), just in more measured doses in deference to foundational weight. One thing I’ve always loved about the music of Tamás Kátai is that, no matter the particular tack, it always feels intimately connected with the notion of Home and this is true here, as well, as alfö​ld is Hungarian for “lowlands,” as reflected in the wonderful cover art behind the artist.

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1. SACRED OUTCRY – TOWERS OF GOLD

Good lord, what can be said about the new Sacred Outcry album that hasn’t been said already. Well, it’s all true. How about that? Even the most effusive and ostensibly hyperbolic gushing about the greatness of Towers of Gold is absolutely on the mark. In the midst of a vibrant resurgence of traditional heavy metal, Sacred Outcry made an album that very well could be seen as having slammed the door on the pretenders (everybody else?). Actually, though, what’s really exciting about that is that Towers of Gold is a bridge, grounded in the storied history of epic heavy metal and reaching to new golden shores, lighting the way for all who will follow. Now there will surely be a glut of imitators but if there’s going to be a band spawning countless progeny, what better inspiration could there be than Sacred Outcry? Tough act to follow, though, when you consider the lengths to which the band went to realize this album, including an unparalleled combination of soundtrack-worthy production, compelling concept/story, and top-tier packaging, not to mention George Apalodimas’s gathering of absolutely elite talent to execute it. Epic, adventurous, poignant, tragic, and triumphant in turns, Towers of Gold is the heavy metal album I’ve listened to most this year and it has yet to loosen its grip.

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IODINE
(that’s a clever reference to something non-metallic that still shines)

10. Deep Space Destructors – Voyage to Innerspace

Psychedelic space rock from Finland with a great sense of melody and flow to juice up the requisite high end riffs, solos, and spaced out atmosphere.

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9. Ozric Tentacles – Lotus Unfolding

Ed Wynne and Ozric Tentacles have long been a guiding light in the space rock universe and their most recent album, Lotus Unfolding, absolutely shines. And it just keeps getting better with every spin so I’m guessing it will continue to rise.

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8. Galahad – The Long Goodbye

Galahad is a long time favorite and a bit of an unsung neoprog hero. Their 21st Century output has been reliably great and The Long Goodbye is a wonderfully sweet, poignant addition that keeps the streak alive.

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7. Krypta – Outo Laakso

Finland’s Krypta make occult rock that conjures the spirits of those 70s FM radio greats that celebrated the dark. No other album struck quite the nostalgic chords for me in 2023.

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6. Agusa – Prima Materia

Sweden’s Agusa is (mostly) instrumental psychedelic prog rock and they do this style (which is relatively well-saturated, it may surprise you) with a flair for the dramatic, infusing sounds and textures and even phrases from every corner of the musical world and using every instrument it takes to do it right. Prima Materia seemed at first to be derivative, but repeated spins sold me on its inspired greatness.

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5. Sunchild – Exotic Creatures and a Stolen Dream

Displaced Ukranian artist Antony Kalugin is a hero of bright, beautiful, and uplifting modern progressive rock. Sunchild is just one of his many projects (he is a full time music maker), but one for which he pulls out all the stops, gathering musicians and singers from around Ukraine to make his most intricate, sophisticated, and (move over Neal Morse) unapologetically celebratory music. He’s made 8 albums under the Sunchild moniker and Exotic Creatures is the best yet.

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4. Lars Frederik Frøislie – Fire Fortellinger

Lars Frederik Frøislie is the keyboardist for Norwegian symphonic prog luminaries, Wobbler, and Fire Fortellinger is his first solo album. Talk about pressure to perform! Lars does, though, beautifully. Fire Fortellinger is an accomplished work of symphonic prog that spotlights a delightful array of keyboards and synthesizers to honor the elders while celebrating the new age of prog via Scandinavia.

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3. Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex

While Steven Wilson’s latest doesn’t get us back to the impeccable run of Grace for Drowning, The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories), and Hand. Cannot. Erase., it is a welcome enough return to form after pop radio experiment, The Future Bites. The Harmony Codex is a diverse album, drawing from about all eras of Wilson’s solo works, and one that doubles down on the electronic features, which have generated some controversy among fans (eyeroll). All I know is that it has ten great songs that are made in his inimitable, always interesting, way.

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2. Andrea Orlando – La Scienza delle Stagione

La Scienza delle Stagione is my favorite album from the ultraniche Rock Progressivo Italiano subgenre since LogoS’s Sadako e le mille gru di carta in 2020. This is supremely chill, wistful, and melancholic symphonic progressive rock in the classic RPI style, full of mellotron and Moog, with occasional drifts into ambient and jazz, and featuring an amazing vocal performance from Meghi Moschino, whose plaintive storytelling embraces the listener throughout. The sadness here is palpable but also accommodating, even inviting, presenting as perhaps the most natural way through.

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1. The Chronicles of Father Robin – The Songs & Tales of Airoea Book I: The Tale of Father Robin (State of Nature)

Easily my favorite album of 2023 (and just the first part of a trilogy!). The Tale of Father Robin is a masterclass of classic symphonic prog developed over the course of thirty years by friends that hatched the plan for The Chronicles of Father Robin as high school pals and who are now active in a multitude of bands comprising the core of the amazing and wonderful modern Scandinavian Prog scene. Of course, an endeavor like this one has all the hallmarks of a vanity project, ripe for failure under the weight of hubris and vainglory, but The Tale of Father Robin shows no sign of that. Instead, it’s well-developed and orchestrated and executed without flaw, owing as much to respect for the Old Ways as to the desire to create progressive music for new generations. Really an amazing feat all the way around.

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JAZZ, ET AL.

10. La Théorie Des Cordes – 4U-9525

4U-9525 is jazz fusion crafted in the post-rock style of slow build, crescendo, crash, repeat. It’s a simple formula that belies the intricacy of the pieces that comprise it. Electric guitar and bass, piano, and drums work themes through various time, tempo, and textural changes to paint dynamic landscapes, distant and vague to the casual glance yet brimming with lavish detail upon more mindful observation.

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9. Alfa Mist – Variables

Knocks on Alfa Mist’s fifth album, Variables, center on his refusal to hem himself in with stylistic boundaries, which is a strange if all too common complaint to make about a modern jazz artist. Intricate instrumentals dominate here, but his cool, moody rapping and neo soul sounds feature, as does naked guitar, so “cohesive” won’t be the first word that comes to mind, but it will come when you focus on deeper variables than style.

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8. Henri Texier – An Indian’s Life

I hadn’t heard of double bassist Henri Texier before I discovered An Indian’s Life in some jazz digest or other earlier this year. Since then I’ve learned that he’s been deeply interested in American Indian culture since childhood and he’s made several albums dedicated to this over his sixty year career. An Indian’s Life is absolutely steeped in classic jazz and especially walks, he’ll tell you, in the footsteps of Charles Mingus. It’s wonderful music that reflects both worlds while, most impressively, venerating both.

• Henri doesn’t have much of an internet presence (or any, really), so here’s a Product Page

7. Hiromi – Sonicwonderland

I first got to know Hiromi Uehara way back in 2014 with The Trio Project’s Alive, my introduction to a piano style that intrigued me with as much power and bravado as delicacy and grace. She’s such an expressive player. Since then, she’s released five more albums, including two this year: an anime soundtrack and this one. The accompanying band of bass, drums, and trumpet, completes the quartet here, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, that comprises a palette of colors that paint a vibrant and playful array of adventurous contemporary jazz stylings, including infusions of funk, electronic, and classical music. Sonicwonderland is a brave step for Hiromi, and her comfort in taking it really amplifies the shine in these uplifting songs.

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6. Vicente Archer – Short Stories

Vicente Archer’s trio with Gerald Clayton and Bill Stewart explores a remarkable range of mood, texture, and energy, all of it played loosely, delicately connected between players who sense each other’s movements by the vibrations in the air. Some of my favorite jazz over the last few years has had the sort of vibes that come with friends quietly sharing an intimate space, just… being together, and Short Stories is absorbing in just that kind of way.

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5. Oiapok – OisoLün

Mélanie Gerber’s breathy vocals are the main selling point of OisoLün, for sure, evoking images and feelings associated with art film, especially the French kind. High contrast black-and-white, abstract angles, minimal dialogue. Oiapok’s music behind her is fusion, grounded in the Beat culture of the 50s and 60s, and yet reaches through modern ideas of instrumentation and arrangement to generate songs that feel altogether new and that the band calls futuristic, actually. This sort of avant approach to music is often alienating and uncomfortable, whereas OisoLün is warm and bright and as inviting as it is strange, like a lovely new friend you get to know for a brief, intimate time one summer away from home.

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4. Elina Duni – A Time to Remember

Elina Duni’s second album with the trio of Rob Luft on guitar, Fred Thomas on piano and percussion, and Matthieu Michel on flugelhorn, is unique to these ears. Elina’s voice is both distinct and unassuming, conveying both vulnerability and resolve, and Michel’s horn is warm accompaniment against the delicate latticework of the other players. The sounds are special, each on its own, to be sure but, together, they create an abiding space, room for respite. I loved coming here when I needed quiet, restorative moments this year.

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3. Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music

Another example of what’s become a recurring theme as I recall my favorite music this year, Black Classical Music by drummer and band-leader, Yussef Dayes, is a wonderfully dynamic bridge, connecting the roots of jazz with the expansive eclecticism of modern music. And as it respects all eras of jazz, this album feels fundamentally urban, like a stroll down city streets on a warm, gentle summertime evening.

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2. Jaimie Branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (​(​world war​)​)

Trumpeter Jaimie Branch sadly passed away last summer and this album was released posthumously. And, wow, what an album. It’s jazz in its heart, abundantly, but it’s also world music and rock-n-roll and punk and even Americana and it sounds like the leading edge of art as it’s being created. It’s the kind of album that gets people all in a dither over what jazz even is anymore god damn it! I have a sneaking suspicion of what ol’ Jaimie would have to say if she were to weigh in: “Jazz is whatever the fuck jazz does.”

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1. Yoni Mayraz – Dybbuk Tse!

Yoni Mayraz’s music is nu jazz, constructed of pieces from funk and electronica and hip hop and calling back to its roots in the experimental sounds and vibes of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It all feels as fresh and inspired as it does reminiscent, a testament to Yoni’s artistic versatility and flexibility. There’s been so many times this year that I’ve been up late at night, finally done with the day, feeling the full weight of its toxic mundanity, and found welcome reprieve in this album, which makes learning its thematic focus something of a revelation. According to Yoni’s website, Dybbuk is a demon, a manifestation of the sins of generations past that possesses a living person and that can only be removed by exorcism. Dybbuk Tse! is a command to remove the spirit; thus, Dybbuk Tse! is about restoring vitality through the healing powers of music. It’s the kind of magic you believe in best when you need it most and, for me this year, it’s been a reliable tonic on even the most draining days.

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Thanks for being here, buddy. You’re the best.

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