LISTMANIA: GONZO’S TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2023, PART II

(To help bring life to the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s Day we continue presenting year-end lists by our writers. Today we have Part II of a two-part list by our Denver-based contributor Gonzo. You can find Part I here.)

It’s only when you start to write your year-end list that you realize how much shit you didn’t listen to each year. I’m not even sure how that happened, given that I’m borderline psychopathic about keeping track of what I listen to every week, but the result here – the top 10 in my yearly two-parter – is something I feel represents the best of what I heard throughout 2023.

I could make up for that with a list of “honorable mentions” that didn’t quite make the cut, but in all transparency, the day job and life have culminated into a real bitch of a time-suck this month. So, this will be briefer than I’d prefer, but here it is no less.

 

10. Thy Catafalque, Alf​ö​ld

Over the past 15 years or so, Hungary’s one-man project Thy Catafalque has been churning out all kinds of releases that span the musical spectrum. Of them all, though, Alf​ö​ld might be the most crushingly heavy and memorable to date.

There’s still plenty of experimentation going on here that transcends any label I can throw on it, but the prevailing heaviness of death and black metal are the stars on Alf​ö​ld. Opener “A csend hegyei” begins with a thunderous chug, and “Testen tul” follows with a more decisively black metal flavor. The riffs are tasty as hell and the hodgepodge of musicians that mastermind Tamás Kátai has assembled for this effort is one of its greatest strengths. The resulting record is ferocious, adventurous, and uncompromising.

 

09. Majesties, Vast Reaches Unclaimed

Multi-instrumentalist Tanner Anderson of Obsequiae fame and some very talented bandmates released a staggeringly awesome debut album in March, and it’s consistently held up as one of my favorite repeat listens since.

Majesties channel parts of Anderson’s aforementioned endeavors into its sonic fabric, with guitars reminiscent of the regal harmonies you’ll hear on any Obsequiae record being the most noticeable. But it’s the somewhat subdued production value and Anderson’s tortured Lindberg-esque howl that make Vast Reaches Unclaimed share more in common with early At the Gates. “Our Gracious Captors” boasts some beautiful dual fretwork and leads, and “The World Unseen” could almost be a B-side to “The Red in the Sky is Ours.”

 

08. Blackbraid, Blackbraid II

From the heart of the Adirondacks comes the second album from this indigenous black metal crew, and it’s just as good as – if not even better than – the band’s previous album, released just last year.

Between two monstrous albums and an equally monstrous touring schedule (I’ve seen them play twice in less than 12 months), Blackbraid is quickly ascending the ranks within metal today. At ten songs with a total run time of just over an hour, II is both a reflection and a testament to just how hard the band has been at work.

After an opening interlude, “The Spirit Returns” sinks its teeth into you at warp speed, its catchy hooks whipping around a torrential blast beat. “The Wolf That Guides the Hunter’s Hand” brings to mind the very thrill of the hunt it describes, and the massive duality of “Moss Covered Bones on the Altar of the Moon” and “A Song of Death on Winds of Dawn” function as the album’s de facto centerpiece.

It’s masterful work, through and through, and I look forward to Blackbraid being a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come.

 

07. Mercenary, Soundtrack for the End Times

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Denmark’s Mercenary. So long, in fact (about a decade) that I’d assumed they were completely defunct. And if we’re being honest, it would’ve been a fucking shame to lose such a force in melodic death metal.

Not only is their return to form one of their best releases ever, but it’s also one of the strongest albums I heard all year. The band has returned to superb form for Soundtrack to the End Times – vocalist/bassist René Pedersen has never sounded more ferocious with his astounding range, and songs like “Heart of the Numb” and “From the Ashes of the Fallen” waste no time in getting heads banging. I can’t rave enough about Pederson’s vocal delivery through this album – if you didn’t know any better, you’d think he had two different sets of pipes. (And maybe that’s why Scandinavian vocalists sound like they do?)

 

06. Asinhell, Impii Hora  

When working this slab of brilliance from Michael Poulsen of Volbeat fame into my top 10, I went back to read my review of it back in October. Turns out, my auspicious prediction for Impii Hora held up. Here’s what I said back then:

We’re quickly reaching the end of the year, and that means I’m starting to think about which albums are going to be in my year-end top 20 for Listmania. And every year, without fucking fail, there’s at least one October surprise that throws my entire order into abrupt chaos. The debut album from Asinhell is the one this year.

Formed by Volbeat main man Michael Poulsen, Asinhell is the culmination of his desire to get back into his death metal roots. Enlisting the help of his longtime friends Marc Grewe on growls (formerly of Morgoth fame) and ex-Raunchy drummer Morten Toft Hansen, the results of the efforts here are searingly heavy, catchy, and immediately warrant multiple listens. “Fall of the Loyal Warrior” was the one that grabbed me first, as it was released as a single at some point this summer.

The rest of the album is absolutely loaded with headbanging grooves and relentless growls. There’s not a song on this record that I listen to and think “This could’ve been better” – every single one of the 10 tracks here just rips. “Inner Sanctitude,” “The Ultimate Sin,” “Wolfpack Laws,” and “Desert of Doom” all exemplify why Poulsen should spend more time in heavier circles than his main project.

It’s impressive that Poulsen and co. could put together such thoroughly fucking excellent work in a relatively short timeframe, but it’s just more proof that when death metal calls you to its unholy altar, you answer accordingly.

I rest my case, metal gods.

 

05. Wayfarer, American Gothic

If you’ve read anything I’ve written here in the past five or so years (where the hell did that time go?), you’ll probably know that I love me some Wayfarer. There are probably a handful of bands out there that can adequately capture the spirit of their home country or State through their music, and I would argue that these four Coloradans are one of North America’s best examples of that.

I’ve heard them described as “frontier metal,” and that’s probably the best moniker for their dusty, rustic, and atmospheric take on black metal. Listening to American Gothic, you’d almost be convinced that time as you know it ceased to exist, and you’ve found yourself moments away from violence while sitting in a dimly lit saloon surrounded by shady-looking outlaws.

While it’s not quite on the mind-blowing scale of 2020’s inimitable A Romance with Violence, Wayfarer’s American Gothic is still loaded with thrilling hooks, searing vocals, and that sense of adventure and excitement that makes this music so goddamn fun to listen to. “The Cattle Thief,” “To Enter My House Justified,” and the epic dirge of “A High Plains Eulogy” are responsible for some of the most fun I’ve had listening to music throughout the entire year. And it all somehow gets better with every listen.

 

04. Fires in the Distance, Air Not Meant for Us

After a promising debut in 2020, Connecticut’s Fires in the Distance has returned with a compellingly beautiful new album that surpassed every expectation I had for it.

What I love most about this record is how the band took what worked from their debut and fine-tuned every last part of it, not being afraid to dump the parts that fell short. The band’s doomy death formula sounds revamped and more focused this time out, with songs that unfurl more naturally. Take “Harbingers” as exhibit A – it takes a little bit to build momentum, but I defy you to not be growling along to the chorus of “I’LL NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT.”

“Wisdom of the Falling Leaves” at times evokes the old dreary likes of Sentenced and Paradise Lost in their primes, balancing meaty riffs with a bottom-heavy chug that reminds you that you can’t possibly headbang this hard and be sad. (Though the band does try to make you feel both at once, which is really how I love my metal about half the time anyway.)

Fires in the Distance are finding themselves now, and their emerging identity is one you’d be foolish to ignore. Air Not Meant for Us has set this band up for great things to come.

 

03. Entheos, Time Will Take Us All

It’s fun to watch bands release the album that you just know is going to launch them to another level, and that’s what I’d like to think Entheos has done with Time Will Take Us All.

What sets this record apart from so many of its peers in the world of dizzying fretwork and mind-fucking time changes is how varied it is. Yes, songs like “Absolute Zero,” “The Interior Wilderness,” and especially “The Sinking Sun” absolutely rip on a molecular level, but the slow, sludgy crawl of “I Am the Void” and “Oblivion” add some extra (and somewhat unexpected) atmospheric depth to what Entheos bring to the table. Vocalist Chaney Crabb gives a masterclass on how the human vocal range can be applied to music, while multi-instrumentalist Navene Koperweis puts sick leads where you wouldn’t think they belong. “The Sinking Sun” is undoubtedly one of the most prescient examples of this and also one of my favorite songs of the year.

How this band records all this as a duo is beyond my comprehension. The temptation in tech death is always to go harder and faster and denser than everyone else, but Entheos cleverly applies the mantra of “work smarter, not harder” to this approach, with spellbinding results.

 

02. Heretoir, Nightsphere

Like I said in a previous review at some point while writing this list, it was a banger of a year for the German metal scene. Out of all the great releases I heard, though, Nightsphere topped the list.

Featuring gorgeous songwriting, shimmering leads, and Alcest-like vocals that often shift between angelic and tortured, Heretoir has crafted something truly special here. It’s atmospheric black metal that’s evolved into something more transcendent. And at five songs that clock in at a total of 42 minutes, a determined listener will get a hell of a lot to unpack.

Just the duo of “Sanctum – Nightsphere Part I” and “Glacierheart – Nightsphere Part II” would make for a fine 22-minute EP, but the fact that we get even more staggering work with three more songs is a true gift. There’s something especially tantalizing about a band that can effortlessly go from a folky interlude to a raging blast beat, and Heretoir demonstrates that ability beautifully here.

 

01. The Zenith Passage, Datalysium

I’ve probably listened to this album no less than 100 times since its July release, and every time I get through it, I feel like I have to screw my head back on afterward.

For tech death royalty across the globe, Canada has Archspire, Australia has Psycroptic, and the US has The Zenith Passage. That’s the level of songwriting and dizzying musicianship we’re talking about here. Passage took their time with this one, releasing it seven years after their debut Solipsist. But in every possible way, Datalysium is an impossibly brilliant evolutionary step.

Opener “The Axiom of Error” hits hard and fast, furiously throwing punches from every angle until its pit-whipping breakdown hits. Derek Rydquist’s formidable “URGH” to signal the start of said breakdown is fucking devastating here. Meanwhile, Chris Beattie’s unreal fret gymnastics on “Algorithmic Salvation” and “Lexicontagion” are complete madness. It’s all enough to make me stop missing The Faceless so damn much, and then some.

I could easily spend another five paragraphs yelling about how the keyboards and electronic effects put an unmistakably distinct layer on The Zenith Passage’s music, or how the entire rhythm section makes most everything else I heard this year look silly in comparison, or how high the bar has been raised yet again for tech death because of this album or…

Fuck it, just listen to it.