A decade in to his AMG tenure, Grymm is here to tell you what the best albums of 2023 were! The Listurnalian bounty abounds!
Darkher
Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022
“You don’t know shit until you read this. It’s not opinion; it’s science.”
Grymm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022
Grymm has tidings of musical wisdom in his Top Ten(ish) of 2022. Partake of it.
Saunders’ and Felagund’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022
Saunders and Felagund demand to have their Top Ten(ish) lists heard across the land. We obliged.
Huck N’ Roll’s and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022
Huck N’ Roll and Cherd have important opinions on what was the cream of the crop in 2022. Now you’re going to hear about it.
Record(s) o’ the Month – April 2022
“There appears to be some lingering confusion relating to the March installment of Record(s) o’ the Month. It was intended as a semi-subtle April Fools gag while also allowing AMG Himself to opine on a few albums he felt strongly about. Now we must focus on the recent past (i.e. April).” Long game, short board.
Serpentent – Mother of Light Review
“If all you want is raw riffs, skull-crushing rhythms, or dissonant aggression, you’ve come to the wrong place. Serpentent’s debut full-length Mother of Light flirts casually with distorted guitars and heavier percussion, but there’s no metal to be found here. The brainchild of Seattle multi-instrumentalist Anne K. O’Neill, Serpentent plays minimalist dark folk music built around O’Neill’s emotive vocals and acoustic guitars. Spring 2022 has set a high bar for folky non-metal around these parts, with Urferd releasing an intricate slab of Nordic folk and Darkher continuing to set the standard for introspective doom. Mother of Light doesn’t quite reach those lofty heights, but it’s a pleasant surprise in a crowded genre.” Snake charming.
Darkher – The Buried Storm Review
“I still remember the initial impact Realms, the 2016 full-length debut from singer/songwriter Jayn Maiven, aka Darkher, left when it was first released. Her stripped-back instrumentation, multi-layered vocals, and hefty command of atmosphere reshaped what doom metal could be if a little bit of creativity were applied, and in doing so, set one hell of a bar for similar acts to try to surpass. Thanks to numerous delays, word on a follow-up was sparse, and it looked like anything that would follow such a tremendous album would be a letdown.” Dark expectations.
Sylvaine – Nova Review
“I’ve become a jaded man-cat over the last few years or so. I can blame Covid, or humanity’s lack of… well, humanity towards one another, or a myriad of other reasons. The fact of the matter is whenever I turn on the news or see yet another impossibly bad hot-take on Twitter, the anger that begins to well up inside me can power my home city for months. So, what’s a grouchy man-cat to do? Listen to Nova, the fourth full-length by Norwegian/French multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kathrine Shepard, aka Sylvaine, that’s what. Having reviewed not one, but two, albums of hers, I knew what to expect. Or so I thought.” Prime Nova.
The Answer Lies in the Black Void – Forlorn Review
“Who doesn’t love international cooperation? Well, I suppose we’re bound to have a few hardcore nationalists in our readership who don’t, but in our increasingly connected world, getting cozy with the neighbors can go a long way. The same goes for metal; people from all over the globe, or even just the continent, working together can result in some magical things. Case in point: newly erected international project The Answer Lies in the Black Void, which is quite a mouthful as band names go. The duo consists of Hungarian citizen Martina Horváth (Thy Catafalque) and Dutch breakcore specialist Jurgen Köhnen (Servants of the Apocalyptic Goat Rave).” Fellow metal travelers.
