This is the debut album from Angmodnes, a funeral doom band from the Netherlands.
Rot of the Soul is a 55-minute journey into funeral doom misery and woe. The music of Angmodnes is engrossing and immersive, covering the listener in layers of rich darkness and compelling atmosphere. Continue reading “Angmodnes – Rot of the Soul (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”
Slow are a funeral doom band from Belgium and this is their seventh album.
Both 2017’s V – Oceans and 2019’s VI – Dantalion were colossal records of immersive atmospheric doom immensity. The latter made it onto my end of year list for 2019 too. With that in mind, and with expectations running high, we turn to the 44 minutes that Abîmes I has in store for us. Continue reading “Slow – Abîmes I (Review)”
Convocation are a funeral doom band from Finland, and this is their third album.
Having been impressed with Convocation’s colossal doom offerings on 2018’s Scars Across and 2020’s Ashes Coalesce, the arrival of No Dawn for the Caliginous Night is a welcome one. Continue reading “Convocation – No Dawn for the Caliginous Night (Review)”
Tideless are a death/doom metal band from the US and this is their second album.
Eye of Water is a monster of an album, in more ways than one. Running to an imposing 75 minutes, Tideless spew forth five tracks of inhuman death/doom of an unexpected and idiosyncratic synth-enhanced nature. Continue reading “Tideless – Eye of Water (Review)”
Bell Witch are a funeral doom band from the US and this is their fourth album.
Following on from 2017’s now-classic Mirror Reaper, (by way of 2020’s collaboration with Aerial Ruin Stygian Bough: Volume I), Bell Witch have unleashed another giant work of funeral doom art. Continue reading “Bell Witch – Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (Review)”
Hellish Form are a doom/sludge band from the US and this is their second album.
Embrace the atmospheric nightmare sludge of Hellish Form. If you do, you won’t regret it. Featuring members of Body Void, Elder Devil, and Keeper, Deathless contains 48 minutes of the good stuff. If by good stuff you mean a compelling mood-focused mix of funeral doom, sludge, and drone, of course. Continue reading “Hellish Form – Deathless (Review)”
This is the fourth album from international funeral doom band Mesmur.
Following on from 2017’s S and 2019’s Terrene, Chthonic provides us with 48 minutes of new material from Mesmur. Spoiler alert: it’s the band’s best album yet. Continue reading “Mesmur – Chthonic (Review)”
Oak are a Portuguese doom metal band and this is their second album.
2019’s Lone impressed me with its atmospheric misery, so I’m pleased to see the band return. Brought to us by current/ex-members of Gaerea, Disintegrate provides 45 minutes of atmospheric death/doom and funeral dirge intensity. Continue reading “Oak – Disintegrate (Review)”
Slog are a death/doom metal band from the US and this is their second album.
Divination contains 46 minutes of the foulest death/doom. Minor elements of funeral doom and black metal can be heard within the band’s eerie onslaught, all delivered within a doom-drenched death metal framework that drips with uneasy atmosphere. Continue reading “Slog – Divination (Review)”
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