LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2023

It has become an annual tradition at our putrid humble site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and they’ve done it again this year, just a few days later than they did in 2022. There’s also the fact that, in my humble opinion, DECIBEL is still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal, and their list always generates healthy discussions, so it’s a fitting way to launch the latest LISTMANIA season apart from the list’s early-bird status.

The DECIBEL 2023 list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2024 edition, which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but DECIBEL again decided (for the ninth year in a row) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place.

This year I think I’ll start by quoting Albert Mudrian‘s online introduction, to place the list in context:

[T]here are three key things to consider since we began this annual tradition 19 years ago: 1) Yes, we know it’s November; don’t make me explain how print deadlines work and or remind you of our access to advance music. 2) The list is still a reflection of the diverse tastes of nearly three dozen members of the Decibel staff, and 3) at least one of your favorite albums from this past year is likely not included. I can confidently state the second point because my album of the year isn’t here. Unlike me, at least you can complain about it on the internet.

I’m not going to complain. I know that anyone’s list is necessarily a reflection of their personal tastes, and it would be a minor miracle if anyone else’s personal tastes matched my own. There’s also the fact that I never make a year-end list of my own (other than the infectious song list, which just goes on and on and on). It’s kind of hypocritical to publicly take pot-shots at other people’s lists when you’re not willing (or in my case mentally unable) to put your own out there.

But on top of that, this year I like DECIBEL‘s list even more than I usually do. Why? Because of course it includes more of my own favorites than usual. I’ll come back to that, but for now I’ll repeat what I write every year about year-end lists and why our site includes not only those of our own writers but also (like this one) lists that appear on prominent platforms elsewhere:

 

Year-end lists continue to serve several useful purposes. One, of course, is to introduce fans to albums they may have overlooked. I also know people who don’t buy much music during the year and actually wait to read year-end rankings before preparing their shopping lists. And, perhaps most obviously, they give us something to discuss and argue about. Because apparently we don’t have enough to argue about already, even within a viciously polarized society in which yelling about something (anything) seems to be the daily past-time of millions.

Of course it’s easy to argue over year-end lists. No matter who compiles them, they’re going to leave out albums you think should be included, they’re going to include albums you don’t think belong, and they’re going to screw up the rankings. I mean, that’s a given, isn’t it? As I’ve mentioned, the only list that could possibly satisfy any individual fan from start to finish is the one they make for themselves.

 

As for DECIBEL‘s lists, in my observation they’ve always attracted snarky comments in some quarters (including the denizens of our little domain) that it leans too much on “safe” choices that include big-name bands and the biggest of metal labels, or the trendy flavors of the month, or that its rankings are too influenced by such commercial considerations. To a degree I’ve had that reaction myself, but tempered by the recognition that it’s not necessarily dishonesty or poor taste for someone else to like something I just don’t get.

But I’ve also appreciated the fact that DECIBEL‘s list always spotlights some much more underground selections, and in doing so, whether you call it tokenism or not, will introduce them to people who otherwise might have overlooked them. That’s true again this year, but I think even more so.

Yes, this year’s list includes five albums on Century Media and four on Relapse, but only two on Metal Blade and Peaceville, and only one each from Prosthetic, Nuclear Blast, and Season of Mist (though the latter did get the No. 1 position). Compare that with five on Profound Lore, two on 20 Buck Spin, and one album each from 15 other labels, including the likes of GoatowaRex, His Wounds, Wise Blood, Cruz del Sur, Argento, and Bindrune.

Moreover, while the list includes the likes of Obituary, Cattle Decapitation, Incantation, Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, and Enslaved (all of which I thought really did put out very good records this year), it also includes albums by Dødheimsgard, Kommodus, Krigsgrav, Great Falls, Krieg, Thantifaxath, Lamp of Murmuur, and Panopticon (to mention some of the more underground groups on the list whose names I either wasn’t expecting to see or didn’t expect to see ranked as highly as they were).

And last but not least, holy shit, our friend Austin Lunn is on the fucking cover of the forthcoming DECIBEL issue with the Top 40 in it, looking right at the camera no less.

 

Are there albums on the list I’ve still not heard? Yes. Are their albums on the list I have no interest in hearing? Yes again. Are there albums missing that I would have liked to see? Lots of them. Did DECIBEL again focus to on bands from North America, the UK, and Western Europe? They did, but of course that’s where most of their paying customers and advertisers are (we, on the other hand, have none of those).

But have I still had fun going through the list? Yes I have, and I’m looking forward to reading the commentary about the picks in the hard copy of the magazine when it hits my mailbox, especially the picks I don’t know anything about. (You can grab a copy of the full issue here if you’re not a subscriber).

Well, with that I’ll shut up and let you guys read the list and continue the conversation in the Comments. I’m quite sure you have opinions.

~ Islander

 

40 Dødheimsgard, Black Medium Current, Peaceville

39 Kommodus, Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall, GoatowaRex

38 Street Tombs, Reclusive Decay, Carbonized

37 Obituary, Dying of Everything, Relapse

36 Fires in the Distance, Air Not Meant for Us, Prosthetic

35 Witching, Incendium, Translation Loss

34 Circle of Ouroborus, Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset, His Wounds

33 Cattle Decapitation, Terrasite, Metal Blade

32 Final Gasp, Mourning Moon, Relapse

31 Spirit Adrift, Ghost at the Gallows, Century Media

30 Krigsgrav, Fires in the Fall, Wise Blood

29 Will Haven, VII, Minus Head

28 Smoulder, Violent Creed of Vengeance, Cruz del Sur

27 Kruelty, Untopia, Profound Lore

26 Night Demon, Outsider, Century Media

25 Incantation, Unholy Deification, Relapse

24 Filth Is Eternal, Find Out, MNRK

23 Cannibal Corpse, Chaos Horrific, Metal Blade

22 Great Falls, Objects Without Pain, Neurot

21 Krieg, Ruiner, Profound Lore

20 Rid of Me, Access to the Lonely, Knife Hits

9 Mizmor, Prosaic, Profound Lore

18 Autopsy, Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts, Peaceville

17 Cruciamentum, Obsidian Refractions, Profound Lore

16 Tribunal, The Weight of Remembrance, 20 Buck Spin

15 The Night Eternal, Fatale, Ván

14 Enslaved, Heimdal, Nuclear Blast

13 Gel, Only Constant, Convulse

12 Enforced, War Remains, Century Media

11 Blackbraid, Blackbraid II, Self-released

10 The Keening, Little Bird, Relapse

9 Thantifaxath, Hive Mind Narcosis, Dark Descent

8 Frozen Soul, Glacial Domination, Century Media

7 Lamp of Murmuur, Saturnian Bloodstorm, Argento

6 Panopticon, The Rime of Memory, Bindrune

5 Godthrymm, Distrortions, Profound Lore

4 Jesus Piece, …So Unknown, Century Media

3 Wayfarer, American Gothic, Profound Lore

2 Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit, 20 Buck Spin

1 Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium, Season of Mist