LISTMANIA 2023: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JOHAN HULDTGREN

(For the 13th year in a row, our friend Johan Huldtgren of the Swedish black metal band Obitus — whose 2017 album Slaves of the Vast Machine is still their latest release — has again allowed us to share with you his year-end Top 10 list, which originally appeared on Johan’s own blog.)

I rarely include this caveat, but sometimes it’s good to reflect on it. Lists like this are always snapshots in time, it’s the ten albums I picked at the time of writing whittled down from a longer list, and often times which get picked and which get left off is just mood dependent. And that is only the albums which I’ve heard; experience has taught me that I will sometime down the road find albums released this year which could easily have made the list. Regardless I hope you find something here you enjoy which you may otherwise have missed.

 

10: Olde Throne – In The Land Of Ghosts

Not straying very far from their formula of mid-paced atmospheric blackmetal we get a well executed album intermingled with some local (read Scottish) folk elements and instruments, but without losing any of its intensity. The guitars are sharp and raw, and vocals are caustic. There is much here to like and very little to complain about. Great second album from this New Zealand duo, looking forward to what comes next.

 

9: None – Inevitable

None has been one of my favourite DSBM bands of the past few years, churning out four albums in the last five years, each one drenched in pure despair. The guitars are raw, the vocals range from roars to painful, haunting shrieks. If one were to complain about anything it’s perhaps that they lean quite heavily on the atmosphere on this one, leaving relatively little space for the metal side of their DSBM. This is a pretty minor quibble as the album is still relentlessly… well, enjoyable, for lack of a better word, just an album I find myself returning to time and time again.

 

8: Blut Aus Nord – Disharmonium – Nahab

Blut Aus Nord return with part two of their latest trilogy of albums again tackling various Lovecraftian horrors. BaN have almost a tick-tock pattern to their albums (or group thereof) where they’ll release one atmospheric album and then one dissonant one (or as is the case here a trilogy). So after the atmospheric tick of Hallucinogen we are now in the dissonant tock with the Disharmonium trilogy. While I generally prefer the former the latter is always interesting and if given your full attention is a rewarding experience.

 

7: Afsky – Om hundrede år

Afsky returns with Om hundrede år, their third release after 2020’s Ofte jeg drømmer mig død and 2018’s Sorg. When I wrote about their sophomore effort a few years ago I noted that while it was a great album I had a hard time not comparing it and feeling it came up short against the magnificent debut. I still feel that Sorg is an album which will be hard to top, but with Om hundrede år I don’t immediately feel I need to scratch that Sorg itch after a listen.

Musically Afsky straddles the atmospheric and DSBM space. While a band like None crush with pure despair and hopelessness, Afsky relies more on mournful and melancholy riffs to create a funereal atmosphere.

 

6: Blood Abscission – I

Blood Abscission is… well, I certainly don’t know; Metal-Archives lists them as a brand new 2023 band with no members and just this one album. So a blank canvas, but given the proficiency shown here I doubt whomever is behind this is a novice.

While I is described as atmospheric black metal it often feels far more raging and chaotic than what I normally associate with that; there are certainly parts which may pass as atmospheric but my go-to description wouldn’t necessarily be that. Vocals have an interesting range from long drawn-out croaks to tortured screams. Production is raw but a bit muddled, you can make out everything while at the same time everything is enveloped in a sort of smog of sound. A promising debut.

 

5: Slow – Abîmes I

There are few more apt names for a funeral doom band than Slow. They certainly live up to their name, there is no false advertising here. Slow are a prolific band; this is their ninth album since their debut in 2009. My first exposure to them was 2017’s V – Oceans, which was a great album, and 2019’s VI – Dantalion was if anything even more crushing. They return with a new series of albums (dropping the roman numeral prefix, instead opting for a suffix which probably means there are more albums named Abîmes coming).

If you’re a fan of funeral doom you’ll do well to pick this up, it’s (again) slow, crushing, and suffocating, namely to say it’s pretty much everything you’d ever want from an album in the genre.

 

4: Aset – Astral Rape

When Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions sent out the announcement for Aset I got curious, and after hearing a few of the tracks decided this was interesting enough to warrant picking up. Since then it’s been in heavy rotation. It’s in interesting blend of eerie atmosphere and dissonant raw melodies, the vocals are at times reminiscent of latter day Mayhem, the riffing at times reminds me of early Nightbringer. It’s not necessarily an easy listen nor for most probably an album that will immediately click, but as with most difficult things, sticking with it is rewarding.

 

3: Taubrą – Therizo

Therizo is Taubrą‘s debut album and it’s been one of my most-played albums since it came out in mid-October. While it should probably have been obvious, I hadn’t reflected over who was in the band until now when I looked over their Metal-Archives page. If I had, I would probably have been less surprised by how much I liked it, given that it features two members of Aara and the drummer of Porta Nigra, who careful readers will know have been favourite bands in years past.

Musically Taubrą isn’t breaking any new ground, as it’s squarely in second wave Scandinavian territory, but as so often is the case, doing something ridiculously well is often good enough: the riffing is blistering and melodic, the drums furious and precise, the roars are cavernous. Couldn’t ask for much more.

 

2: Sühnopfer – Nous sommes d’hier

Billed as Baroque blackmetal, I was wholly unfamiliar with Sühnopfer until this year’s release. However, after giving it a single spin I immediately ordered it. It’s very much in the vein of many other medieval blackmetal bands like countrymen Véhémence, Aorlhac, or Ferriterium and not unlike Switzerland’s Ungfell. It’s aggressive, fast, and sickeningly sweet and melodic. Compared to 2019’s Hic regnant Borbonii manes the sound is cleaner and crisper but perhaps lacks some of the depth which its predecessor had. Would have been interesting to hear this with just a bit more dirt in the production, would probably have dulled some of those melodies but without necessarily diminishing their value. Regardless of those issues this is a great album which I find myself returning to over and over again.

 

1: Aara – Triade III: Nyx

According to the stats, Triade III: Nyx was my most-played album of 2023, which given how early in the year it came out isn’t a huge surprise but should show how much holding power this album has had on me this year. There are years when something unexpected comes out late in the year and steals the show, however as of the time of writing this nothing has even come close.

I have enjoyed all parts of their trilogy of Melmoth the Wanderer, but I think they really outdid themselves with the final chapter. The production is a bit warmer and clearer than on Hemera and has lost most of the rawness one could hear in part on Eos; I can only assume this was purposefully done, but it does mean the three albums don’t quite flow as a whole (or rather making each part distinct); again perhaps this is the point, this isn’t even a complaint rather than an observation.

It will be interesting to see where Aara goes now that they’ve completed this project. Given their history and how much I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve released, I’m fairly certain I’ll be writing about them again.