Arse’s Best Metal Albums Of 2023
Hey freinds,
Barring any last-minute writeins or surprises, this is my set of the finest new releases I heard in 2023.
Hey freinds,
Barring any last-minute writeins or surprises, this is my set of the finest new releases I heard in 2023.
✦✦✦✧ This is BAN at their most discordant, most troubling, and ultimately most successful. Sure, their brand of avant-garde music is by now reliably atmospheric, but on this album they seem to really gotten much closer to the crawling chaos than ever before. Catchy, this is not, but I don’t think you want this nightmare fuel rattling in your head any more than the runtime requires.
✦✦✧✧ I will give this much to Code Orange: they’re certainly not resting on their laurels. Unfortunately, their experimentation here feels like it never fully pays off (with results ranging from “almost” to “oh no thank you”). Also, with this album the band have gone so far post hardcore that they somehow created a wormhole and punched right back through to nu metal.
✦✦✦✧ Gorgeous, shreddy, and downright proggy instrumental post-metal. Think of a more exciting and interesting Intronaut (or a less obnoxious Polyphia) and you won’t be far from the mark. Stick around for the cameo from Tool’s Justin Chancellor in the closing track!
✦✦✦✧ Surprisingly accessible, as far as avant-garde black metal goes. The album’s experimentation comes at you as curveballs without warning; while not every bet pays off, there are definite rewards here if you’re patient enough to receive them. Vicotnik’s vocals are a conspicuous letdown when compared to the lush production, instrumentation, and expansive songwriting.
✦✦✦✧ This is fucking ridiculously blistering post-grindcore that feels more like speed metal than anything else. Note that this is technically a double album, with the second half dedicated to “karaoke” versions of the 11 songs. Also note that, even doubled up, the album is less than 40 minutes long. Also also note that, even listening solely to the trve 19-minute core album will leave you exhausted.
✦✦✧✧ OSDM pioneers are back with another slab of gory filth. This time, they’re sounding more experimental and expansive than on their previous albums, and that’s for the good. You’ll hear plenty of nods to virtually all over kinds of metal… so long as those influences are from 1987. There’s lots of tasty shredding all over the place, too.
✦✦✦✧ This is Tomb Mold’s most confusing work to date: a wild and uneven album, full of masterful shredding and conspicuous mistunings, jazzy interludes and unpredicted pummelings. It’s still solidly old school death metal, but proggier than ever. Imagine if Cynic went through puberty.
✦✦✧✧ At their best, Baroness approximates an unstable equipoise between Helmet, Intronaut, and The Decemberists. I don’t smoke nearly enough reefer to really enjoy them, but with this album, I can sorta see how you might.
✦✦✧✧ If you’ve never heard Skindred before, this is as good an example as any: Welsh nu metal with a decided Jamaican flair (thanks largely to vocalist and keyboardist Benjy Webbe).