By Greg Maki
Didn’t we just do this? Another year is winding down, and we’re back to share the music we have enjoyed the most throughout 2023. With so many albums out in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and bands more focused on touring now, this year might not have been quite as strong for new releases as 2022 or 2021. But there still was plenty to get excited about, and the records at the top can go toe to toe with any recent year.
Before getting into 2023’s top 10, I need to make special mention of two releases I enjoyed as much as anything this year—neither of which should come as a surprise considering they are alternate versions of Live Metal’s albums of the year for 2021 and 2022. Included in its “Welcome to Horrorwood: Under Fire” box set, Ice Nine Kills released a fully orchestral version of its most recent album, “The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood,” which finds Francesco Ferrini of Fleshgod Apocalypse transforming the record into a spooky symphony that plays out like the soundtrack to a lost Tim Burton movie. A few weeks later, deathcore act Lorna Shore dropped an instrumental version of its 2022 album “Pain Remains,” showcasing the ultra-talented band that’s been a bit overshadowed by the inhuman performance of vocalist Will Ramos, further confirming this record as a progressive, symphonic, blackened masterpiece.
Now, on to our main event …
HONORABLE MENTION:
Avatar – “Dance Devil Dance”
Baroness – “Stone”
Crypta – “Shades of Sorrow”
Dark Divine – “Deadly Fun”
KK’s Priest – “The Sinner Rides Again”
10. Nita Strauss – “The Call of the Void”
“One step closer, can you hear us now?”
On solo album number 2, Nita Strauss further stakes her claim as one of today’s true guitar superstars, combining the instrumental prowess of her debut, “Controlled Chaos” (2018), with a handful of tracks featuring an impressive lineup of guest vocalists. While the singers—including Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, David Draiman of Disturbed, Anders Friden of In Flames and some guy called Alice (more on him in a minute)—bring strong personalities and performances, Strauss’s guitar heroics drive the songs, giving the recording a dynamic and cohesive identity.
Key tracks: “Summer Storm,” “Victorious,” “Winner Takes All”
9. Sevendust – “Truth Killer”
“Been down so long that the bottom’s up …”
Consistency has been the name of the game for Sevendust in a recording career that has spanned 26 years and counting. “Truth Killer,” album number 14(!), is as inspired as anything in the band’s catalog, with riffs and rhythms as sharp and heavy as they’ve ever been and the signature multi-pronged vocal attack in top form. With “Everything” becoming the highest charting single in the band’s history, maybe long overdue wider recognition is on the horizon.
Key tracks: “I Might Let the Devil Win,” “Everything,” “Fence”
8. Alice Cooper – “Road”
“I’m the master of madness, the sultan of surprise …”
At 75 years old and over 50 years into his career, Alice Cooper refuses to slow down, quickly following up 2021’s “Detroit Stories” with “Road,” featuring his supremely talented live band—including the aforementioned Nita Strauss—playing a set of songs loosely themed around the touring life. It’s clear Alice is having a blast as he delivers some of his best hooks in years, and the band is lively and game as the songs careen from the garage rock that Cooper has embraced throughout much of the 21st century and a heavier, more modern sound.
Key tracks: “Dead Don’t Dance,” “White Line Frankenstein,” “Rules of the Road”
7. Dogma – “Dogma”
“Just follow me and free yourself …”
Blending ‘80s arena rock and symphonic metal while pushing a message of personal freedom, Dogma arrived with purpose on its self-titled debut. I’m a sucker for a good gimmick, and this band has one, with its four members adopting the guise of corpse-painted nuns. That would mean nothing if the songs weren’t there, though, and the record is packed with indelible hooks and wicked riffs that are pure classic heavy metal.
Key tracks: “Forbidden Zone,” “My First Peak,” “Father I Have Sinned”
6. Periphery – “Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre”
“There’s a lesson to be learned and I’ll heal again …”
Continuing to take their music seriously but not themselves, the members of Periphery have crafted yet another near-masterpiece with their seventh album. “Periphery V” finds the band at its most varied, inventive and experimental. It’s a record with an ebb and flow, and its songs take the listener on a journey, shifting and building within themselves and off of each other. Djent may not be a genre, but progressive metal certainly is, and Periphery continues to assert itself as one of the field’s most exciting acts.
Key tracks: “Wildfire,” “Everything Is Fine!,” “Zagreus”
5. Metallica – “72 Seasons”
“Feeding on the wrath of man …”
Figuring out where to slot in the latest opus from what is far and away the most successful metal band of all time was the hardest part of compiling this list. In one way or another, Metallica is part of the fabric of nearly everything we listen to as metal fans, making it virtually impossible to consider its music—old or new—along the same lines as we would that of other bands. That said, “72 Seasons” is the best album yet of this later era of Metallica—which began with 2008’s “Death Magnetic”—that has found the band finally becoming comfortable with simply being Metallica. Like “Hardwired … to Self-Destruct” (2016), “72 Seasons” synergizes all eras of the band in a sound James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo could produce in their sleep, yet it never sounds like they’re going through the motions. Led by a spirited performance from Hetfield, all four sound energized and engaged throughout, delivering a record that’s far better than we have any right to expect from a band 40-plus years into its career.
Key tracks: “72 Seasons,” “Lux Æterna,” “If Darkness Had a Son”
4. Asinhell – “Impii Hora”
“Lone lies the grave of a fallen monster …”
At long last, Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen returned to his death metal roots, alongside former Morgoth vocalist Marc Grewe and drummer Morten Toft Hansen (Raunchy), in the new band Asinhell. While Volbeat mixes and matches styles liberally, Asinhell’s commitment to death metal is complete, delivering an unrelenting assault that easily could fit among the output of Death, Entombed and other classic acts of the subgenre.
Key tracks: “Fall of the Loyal Warrior,” “Island of Dead Men,” “Wolfpack Laws”
3. Spiritbox – “The Fear of Fear”
“Is this the end or is this the beginning?”
Prior to issuing its debut LP, “Eternal Blue,” in 2021, Spiritbox maintained a steady flow of single and EP releases. That’s continued since, with the “Rotoscope” EP in 2022 and this year’s “The Fear of Fear,” featuring six songs that add up to one larger whole. The latter might be the strongest collection of Spiritbox material to date, showcasing the band at both its heaviest and most accessible while also incorporating some of the electronic influence that was more prominent on “Rotoscope.” Even after the major breakthrough of “Eternal Blue,” Spiritbox simply refuses to stand still.
Key tracks: “Cellar Door,” “Jaded,” “Ultraviolet”
2. Enforced – “War Remains”
“War is what makes us human …”
Though far more underground than it was in its 1980s heyday, thrash metal is alive and well in 2023, and Richmond, Virginia’s Enforced is at the forefront. “War Remains,” the quintet’s third album, is a modern classic of the subgenre—10 raging bangers without an ounce of fat on them. The sound is Slayer meets Power Trip, mixing breakneck riffs and rhythms with ultra-heavy grooves for a truly dynamic metallic attack.
Key tracks: “Hanged by My Hand,” “War Remains,” “Mercy Killing Fields”
1. Dying Wish – “Symptoms of Survival”
“If you say there’s beauty in losing control, then why do I collapse?”
Emerging from Portland, Oregon’s vibrant hardcore scene, Dying Wish loudly announced its arrival with 2021’s “Fragments of a Bitter Memory,” then upped the ante in every way on its spectacular sophomore effort, “Symptoms of Survival.” Driven by vocalist Emma Boster’s lyrical honesty that is as brutal as the band’s metallic onslaught, the record’s 11 tracks tackle themes of trauma, suffering, grief and guilt on both personal and societal levels.
The album sits firmly in the metalcore category, like a heavier, more aggressive Killswitch Engage with its chugging, percussive riffs and rhythms that typically relent only to make way for foundation-shaking breakdowns. Though primarily a screamer, Boster finds more spaces for melody here than on the debut, most effectively on the devastating closer “Lost in the Fall” and the heartbreaking quasi-ballad “Paved in Sorrow.” In just 33 minutes, “Symptoms of Survival” covers a remarkable amount of ground musically and lyrically, its leanness giving it a razor sharp edge that only enhances its power.
Key tracks: “Watch My Promise Die,” “Paved in Sorrow,” “Lost in the Fall”
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