Albums of the year (2023 late edition)

This post is way, way overdue, but hey, better late than never.

Metal is a “relatively” new thing for me, I’ve been listening to it in a regular way since 2018. Thus, I feel like 2023 was not as strong as previous years when it comes to metal releases. Definitively we had great albums and eps, but, compared to 2022/2024 I was feeling less excited overall.

Some context: In 2022 I discovered White Ward, Zeal & Ardor and some of the projects of Abysmal Specter. Now, 2024 seems like a promising year with announcements of Alcest, Kiasmos, Zeal & Ardor, Seth, and probably more bands.

All in all, 2023 was a great year, I just wasn’t looking forward to new releases. Here are a couple of excellent albums I’ve been heavily rotating ever since.

Siege Ubsessed!

This album was my first introduction to Curta’n Wall, and oh boy, it is something beautiful, absorbent, funny and catchy. Raw black metal is pretty awesome and if you mix it with the right amount of dungeon synth you’ll get a unique experience. This is what Curta’n Wall delivers in this album. I find it more “accessible” than other raw black metal releases, since the sound of the album is really “clean” in the instruments and in the female voices. Anyway, this was probably my most listened album from 2023, don’t skip it if you are into folk/medieval stuff, or wanna give a spin to black metal. (:

El arte de morir muy despacio

Have you ever found a premier track of an album, listened to it, thought “meh”, and completely forget about it, until a couple of months after, a friend tells you “hey, have you checked out this album?”, you give it another try and fall for it? Well, then you are not alone, bienvenidx al caos. Depresión sonora created a more experimental side of the project sound in this album, still with sad lyrics, catchy chorus and danceable rhythms, but with a backbone like story, I don’t know, but this feels more than just a bunch of songs in an album. You should give it a try if you are looking for a post-punk-ish sound, with a small and few experimental twists.

lhum’adsejja

The first song of this album transports you to some kind of midsomar like ritual, it feels really pagan, but at the same time you can feel the rage, enthusiasm, and you want to be in that ritual (maybe I’m hallucinating). I believe this is my first time listening to Trhä, the day I discovered the project I tried listening several other albums but this one really clicked with me. Later on that pagan vibe will transform into more brutal passages, filled with desperation screams, and from time to time you’ll hear synths (?) or electronic elements that blend in a unique way that cannot bore you, because every song is similar yet very different to rest. Enjoy in a cold night with the lights turned off.

Triade III: Nyx

I can’t recall have listened to a concept album that splits into several releases, it’s a new thing for me. Still, Aara’s Triade final chapter is quite something. The first time I listened Triade III I wasn’t sold to the vocals parseltongue-ish tone, they were a little different from the previous chapters, quieter yet sharper with analog tv noise vibes. But the sound around the album had Aara’s signature all over it, the fast paced drumming, angelical choruses and awesome guitars sections. Also, the artwork is amazing.

Terrasite

It took me a while to decide whether I should place Downfall of Gaia in this spot. Clearly Cattle Decapitation won this. I enjoy the atmosphere around the band, the whole “humans are monsters that destroy the planet” as a concept for a band and album is something I strongly agree with, we create more problems than those we can fix. Anyway, do not be scared away once you hear the “goblin” vocals, those are a signature from Cattle Decapitation, and I think they are great. Enjoy while taking a bike ride in a sunny day.

Not done yet…

For the sake of this post’s length, and whomever is reading this, we will keep this short. Here are more albums that released in 2023 and I consider worth give them a chance:

  • Downfall of Gaia - Silhouettes of Disgust: not so blackened crust
  • Leipa - Reue: dsbm with german lyrics hit hard.
  • Human Tetris - Two Rooms: a middle spot between long flight and happy way…
  • Kanonenfieber - U-bootsman: being trapped in a submarine just got real.
  • Weltende - Porta Nigra: bm with a different sound, give it a try.
  • WARGASM - Venom: nu metal vibes <3 since 2000’s wasn’t enough.

Honorable mentions

A few other great albums, but I haven’t developed enough attachment to them:

  • Rivers Like Veins - Architektura Przemijania
  • Haken - Fauna
  • KG&TLW - PetroDragonic Apocalypse;…
  • 花冷え (HANABIE) - 来世は偉人 (Reborn Superstar!)
  • Antrisch - EXPEDITION II

Musiquita rica

This year Emilio, Fernanda and Cristian shared a couple of interesting songs with the group, those were not released in this year, tho, but you will probably find something interesting in there:

Diego also made interesting contributions, but most of them were way too proggy/jazzy for this site (jk).