Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2023

Welcome to my annual attempt to make sense of the ridiculous amount of good metal albums out there, awaiting discovery by intrepid metal explorers.

2023’s best of list has been one of the more difficult ones to put together, placing-wise, which is one of the reasons that I’m posting it later than I usually do. Even more so than normal many of the slots are interchangeable, and I especially struggled with positions two-nine – if such a thing were possible, they all deserve to be higher! In the end I decided to stop overthinking it and go with my gut, but the usual caveat of these lists being very subjective and subject to change depending on mood, feelings, etc. is larger than normal here.

There are some notable acts missing form the below. Not because they’re not worthy of inclusion, but because there are only so many spaces to be had. In fact, I almost ended up limiting this list to 20, rather than the now-customary 30, as I found it really difficult to know who to include and who not to. In the end I went with the standard 30 so that I could promote a few extra bands, as they absolutely all deserve it.

As for the top position, I wasn’t expecting it to be filled by a band I’d never heard before, playing a style that I don’t listen to as much as I used to. However, I suppose after last year, I shouldn’t have been too surprised.

I do hope you enjoy this list and find some new music to obsess over. Like always, thanks for your support if you have ever visited this site before, and here’s to a great 2024 for as many of us as possible. Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2023”

Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral (Review)

Till the Dirt - Outside the SpiralThis is the the debut album by US extreme metal band Till the Dirt.

Brought to us by the singer of Atheist, Outside the Spiral contains 46-minutes of atypical extreme metal. It has a death metal base, but this is spliced with a few different influences to create something a little outside of the norm. Continue reading “Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral (Review)”

Gozu – Remedy (Review)

Gozu - RemedyGozu are a stoner/grunge band from the US and this is their fifth album.

Remedy contains 49 minutes of stoner rock and metal mixed with a healthy dose of grunge. Imagine a mix of Clutch, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Corrosion of Conformity, and Mastodon, and you’ll have a decent idea of where Gozu are coming from. Continue reading “Gozu – Remedy (Review)”

They Watch Us from the Moon – Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension (Review)

They Watch Us from the Moon - Cosmic Chronicles, Act I The AscensionThey Watch Us from the Moon are a doom/stoner metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension provides us with a feast of progressive stoner doom. Across 45 minutes – five meaty songs – They Watch Us from the Moon impress with their charismatic take on a notoriously bland style. Spoiler alert: bland, this is not. Continue reading “They Watch Us from the Moon – Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension (Review)”

Ghozer – Black Lotus (Review)

Ghozer - Black LotusThis is the debut album from UK stoner rock band Ghozer.

It’s been four year’s since Ghozer’s enjoyable debut EP, but now the band have returned with 49 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Ghozer – Black Lotus (Review)”

Oreyeon – Equations for the Useless (Review)

Oreyeon - Equations for the UselessOreyeon are an Italian stoner rock band and this is their third album.

Here we have 42 minutes of stoner rock crafted by a band that know the style well enough to want something extra from it. Oreyeon combine elements of doom, grunge, stoner, psychedelic, progressive, and heavy rock into their music, pushing themselves to produce a quality listen that doesn’t rely on tired tropes to make its impact felt. Continue reading “Oreyeon – Equations for the Useless (Review)”

Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (Review)

Cave In - Heavy PendulumCave In are a US post-hardcore/rock band and this is their seventh album.

Following on from 2019’s Final Transmission, Heavy Pendulum is somewhat of a different beast to their last album. Whereas Final Transmission was short, (31 minutes), fragile, and emotive, reflective of the effects of tragedy and loss, Heavy Pendulum is long, (71 minutes), has greater range, (though still emotive), and more reflective of the band’s varied discography as a whole. Continue reading “Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (Review)”

Besvärjelsen – Atlas (Review)

Besvärjelsen - AtlasBesvärjelsen are a Swedish doom band and this is their second album.

This hefty release has a doom metal base that’s then mixed with grunge, and has heavy, stoner, blues, and psychedelic rock elements liberally sprinkled over everything. Some songs lean into certain influences more than others, which leads to a decent amount of variety across the album. The promo blurb mentions Alice in Chains and Windhand, and that’s a decent picture of Besvärjelsen’s sound, albeit an incomplete one. Continue reading “Besvärjelsen – Atlas (Review)”