This is the debut album from Greek black/death metal band Kvadrat.
The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion is a 44-minute leviathan that swims through dark, dissonant waters with the self-assured skill of an apex predator. Combining black and death metal into a monster of dissonant nightmare, the artist behind Kvadrat’s skill in delivering this style is impressive and rewarding. Continue reading “Kvadrat – The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion (Review)”
This is the debut album from US death metal band Aberration.
Hot on the heels of January’s split with Diabolic Oath comes the hideous 42-minute Refracture. After that release, I was looking forward to hearing more from both bands, but I wasn’t expecting something so soon. Continue reading “Aberration – Refracture (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Italian death metallers Hideous Divinity.
I do enjoy Hideous Divinity‘s brand of technical brutality. 2014’s Cobra Verde, 2017’s Adveniens, and 2021’s LV-426 were all solid slabs of death metal muscle and intricate aggression, so it’s with expectation that we turn to Unextinct and its 51 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Hideous Divinity – Unextinct (Review)”
This is the debut album from Slovakian death metal band Hecatoncheir.
Hecatoncheir play dissonant death metal, with a sharp blackened edge, and an injection of harsh sludge venom. Nightmare Utopia is a 32-minute album of abrasive nastiness, in the best of ways. Fans of bands such as Convulsing, Deathspell Omega, Ingurgitating Oblivion, Nightmarer, and Ulcerate will not want to miss this. Continue reading “Hecatoncheir – Nightmare Utopia (Review)”
This is the third album from Convulsing, a solo death metal band from Australia.
I haven’t caught up with Convulsing since their immense 2017 split with Siberian Hell Sounds, so we’re well overdue. Perdurance lasts 48 minutes, (56 with the bonus Porcupine Tree cover), and is a monster of avant-garde death metal. Continue reading “Convulsing – Perdurance (Review)”
This is the debut album from UK death/doom metal band Slimelord.
Chytridiomycosis Relinquished comes to us from current/ex-members of Cryptic Shift and Horrified, which should bode well for Slimelord. This coupled with the promo stating that this is for fans of Disembowelment, Immolation, Gojira, Morbid Angel, Voidceremony, Tomb Mold, Edge of
Sanity, and Morbus Chron, made me quite intrigued to check out Chytridiomycosis Relinquished, as that’s quite the mix. Continue reading “Slimelord – Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (Review)”
This is the debut album from Australian death metal band Resin Tomb.
Cerebral Purgatory is brought to us by members of Descent and Siberian Hell Sounds, and assails the listener with 29 minutes of scathing deathgrindsludge mayhem. Continue reading “Resin Tomb – Cerebral Purgatory (Review)”
This is the debut album from US solo death metal act Engulf.
Across 36 minutes The Dying Planet Weeps spans a range of influences, from the old-school to the new. The music of Engulf prioritises a non-standard song-based approach that combines sinuous riffs, expressive harsh vocals, and macabre darkness. Continue reading “Engulf – The Dying Planet Weeps (Review)”
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”
This is the third album from Canadian death metal act Phobocosm.
Foreordained contains 41 minutes of cavernous, doom-infused death metal. It’s a journey into the lightless places that are hard to reach, but if you can endure the extreme environments they offer, then there are many potential rewards to be had. Continue reading “Phobocosm – Foreordained (Review)”
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