2023 draws to an end and the glory of Listurnalia is upon us. Over the coming days, we will unveil a vast array of hot takes, puzzling choices, and shocking omissions to gawk over and judge. And that’s why you all come here: to second guess the staff of AMG while making godawful “yer mom” jokes. We know what sells and puts butts in the seats, so here comes the cannon fodder. Up first is the AMG staff list. You don’t need to agree, but please refrain from throwing anything more impactful than well-rotted fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Wvrm
#5. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us
#4. Moonlight Sorcery // Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
#3. Ascension // Under the Veil of Madness
#1. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility… and #1. Xoth // Exogalactic – I’ve agonized over this decision for weeks, and you know what? Fuck it. I cannot choose, and no one can make me, not you, not my last shred of dignity, certainly not that damned dirty ape with the hammer. Carnosus and Xoth lapped the field this year and deserve to be recognized as such. Both Exogalactic and Visions of Infinihility epitomize their respective genres, prostrate before that holiest of holy, The Riff. So of course, the end products are impeccable, incredible, impossibly fucking good. I struggle to imagine better blends of execution and energy, mercilessness and memorability. I am still, a hundred spins later, as hopelessly in love with these records as the day I laid ears upon them. As I struggle to carve a place in my life for metal and this wonderful, stupid website, Xoth and Carnosus remind me why it’s all worth the effort.
Honorable Mentions:
Abstract Void // Forever
Svalbard // The Weight of the Mask
Twilight Force // At the Heart of Wintervale
Songs o’ the (Previous) Year: Moonlight Sorcery – “For Thy Light Is Ice” and “Wolven Hour”
Itchymenace
#10. Thulcandra // Hail the Abyss
#9. Begravement // Horrific Illusions Beckon
#8. Thy Catafalque // Alföld
#7. Rotpit // Let There Be Rot
#6. Obituary // Dying of Everything
#5. Morwinyon // Wastelands
#4. Prong // State of Emergency
#3. Kalmah // Kalmah
#2. The Howling Void // Into Darkness Ever More Profound
#1. Night Demon // Outsider – When I wrote the review for this record back in March (my first 4.5), I suspected it would be a contender for AotY. The Howling Void gave it a run for its money, but Outsider is a near-perfect slab of good ol’-fashioned heavy metal. The fact that a band can create an olde school record that is so fun, so well-produced, with such great musicianship is a thing to celebrate indeed!
Honorable Mentions:
Blackbraid // Blackbraid II
Panopticon // Rime of Memory
Moonlight Sorcery // Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
Tanith // Voyage
Danava // Nothing But Nothing
Song o’ the Year: The Howling Void – “Into Darkness Ever More Profound”
Disappointment of the Year: Seeing Carcass struggle to energize the crowd at First Avenue. Apparently, letting Municipal Waste play ahead of you isn’t a good idea. Municipal whipped up what is probably the most energetic and chaotic mosh pit I’ve ever seen. Poor Jeff Walker just couldn’t get the exhausted crowd frenzied again no matter how hard he tried. They still sounded great though!
Iceberg
#10. Crypta // Shades of Sorrow
#9. Gorod // The Orb
#8. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death
#7. Wayfarer // American Gothic
#6. Sigir // Rainmaker
#5. Stortregn // Finitude
#4. Wormhole // Almost Human
#3. Silver Bullet // Shadowfall
#2. Night Crowned // Tales
#1. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – Yes, the name leaves something to be desired. Yes, this is melo-black in a banner year for death and doom. But Sodomisery’s 2023 opus filled the Mistur-shaped hole in my heart in a way few bands have done since the heady days of In Memoriam. The 36 minutes of Mazzaroth are as lean and mean as you can get and are proof of the band’s superior sense of editing. In the age of endless bloat, Sodomisery sharpen their knives and kill all their babies Spartan-style, leaving only razor-sharp riffing and inescapable songwriting in their wake. I spent the final months of the year trying to find something to top Mazzaroth, but no such contender arose. Each time that Nordic curb stomper of a riff closes “Demon in Heaven” and the orchestra draws down the curtain of “Ephemeral Requiem,” I’m more and more confident that Mazzaroth is this floating berg’s AotY. Dinner-table talk with extended family might still be sketchy this year, but hey, at least it’s not Fvneral Fvkk.
Honorable Mentions:
Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night
Panopticon // The Rime of Memory
Moonlight Sorcery // Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
Karras // We Poison Their Young
Song o’ the Year: Silver Bullet – “Soul Reaver”
Mystikus Hugebeard
(ish). Thragedium // Lisboa Depois de Morta
#10. Insomnium // Anno 1696
#9. Rotpit // Let There Be Rot
#8. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth
#7. Panopticon // The Rime of Memory
#6. Scar Symmetry // The Singularity (Phase II: Xenotaph)
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid II
#4. Wormhole // Almost Human
#3. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us
#2. Subsignal // A Poetry of Rain
#1. Ne Obliviscaris // Exul – I had a lot of catching up to do as I was forming this list. Before the monstrous pantheon of writers at AMG plucked me out of the Styx and bestowed me with the power and legitimacy to embarrass myself to our dear readers, I’d been kinda slacking on new metal releases. As I tore through the recommendations of my betters peers, I waited for something to reveal itself to me in all its AotY splendor… but I realized that nothing was drawing me back quite like Exul by Ne Obliviscaris. I love just about everything by these Aussies, but goddamn if Exul hasn’t all but trivialized everything they’ve made before. This is Ne Obliviscaris as they’ve always been, but perfected and wickedly essential. Peaks of light-speed extremity tower above valleys of expressive violin wailing launched into and beyond the stars by laser-precise drumming and what is one of my favorite bass performances ever, all betwixt the almost painful beauty of the clean vocals and relentless growls. Exul feels like what Ne Obliviscaris have been building towards for their whole career, the perfect marriage of ferocious intensity and a dancer’s elegance. Hell, every part of Exul is the best part of Exul, and the album has a vice-grip on me that declares “You will listen to the whole thing again, you dumb idiot.” Who am I to say no?
Honorable Mentions:
Theophonos // Nightmare Visions
Godthrymm // Distortions
Bulletbelt // Burn It Up
Dødheimsgard // Black Medium Current
Song o’ the Year: Insomnium – “White Christ”
Disappointment ov the Year:
Mercenary // Soundtrack for the End Times – I don’t hate this album, but “disappointment” is an apt word. After years and years of eagerly checking on them to see when they’d release something new, it was disheartening to finally get my hands on an album that was just so meh.
