Yersin are from the UK and play crust/metal. This is their second album.
Yersin play a hybrid style that combines grindcore, crust, death metal, black metal, and thrash metal into 25 minutes of sludgy filth and fury. This may be a short album, but it packs a punch. Continue reading “Yersin – The Scythe Is Remorseless (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 debut album from French avant-garde black metal band Eitrin.
And what do we have here, appearing out of nowhere in a cloud of poisonous fumes? We’re told the following – “The specially commissioned debut album from EITRIN brings together the talents of Vindsval (BLUT AUS NORD), Marion (MÜTTERLEIN) and Dehn Sora (THROANE) to celebrate 20 years of Debemur Morti Productions in fittingly defiant style.” Continue reading “Eitrin – Eitrin (Review)”
This is the second album from Swedish grindcore band Walking Corpse.
A grindcore band named, (presumably at least), after a Brutal Truth song? Count me in. I instantly knew I had to check this out. Good grind is hard to come by, so I crossed by fingers and dived right in. What did I find? Continue reading “Walking Corpse – Our Hands, Your Throat (Review)”
Underdark are a post-black metal band from the UK and this is their second album.
Following on from 2021’s Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry, Underdark have now returned with the 41-minute Managed Decline. Continue reading “Underdark – Managed Decline (Review)”
This is the second album from US metalcore band Dying Wish.
2021’s Fragments of a Bitter Memory was a solid slab of 00s-style metalcore, so Symptoms of Survival is one that I know I wanted to check out. Boasting a lean, mean 32 minutes of new material, in what form do we find Dying Wish’s 2023 offering? Continue reading “Dying Wish – Symptoms of Survival (Review)”
Closet Witch are a grindcore band from the US and this is their second album.
Sometimes, you just need to GRIIIIIINNNND. But not just any kind of grind; no, sometimes you need to grind and burn with the sort of visceral, idiosyncratic grind that leaves scars. For times like that, you have a band like Closet Witch. Continue reading “Closet Witch – Chiaroscuro (Review)”
This is the third album from Ὁπλίτης, (otherwise known as Hoplites), a solo post-black metal band from China.
The artist behind Ὁπλίτης has had a busy year. This is the third album from this project alone, (following on from Ψευδομένη and Τρωθησομένη), never mind other extracurricular activities such as the Vitriolic Sage record. With such a withering rate of output, has Ἀντιτιμωρουμένη seen the quality levels of Ὁπλίτης dip? Continue reading “Ὁπλίτης (Hoplites) – Ἀντιτιμωρουμένη (Review)”
This is the second album from US metallic hardcore band Capra.
I enjoyed 2021’s In Transmission, and now it’s time to check out what Errors has to offer. Is its title a warning against its content? Continue reading “Capra – Errors (Review)”
Svalbard are a crust/hardcore band from the UK and this is their fourth album.
This is one I’ve been quite eagerly awaiting. 2018’s It’s Hard to Have Hope was a very enjoyable record, but 2020’s When I Die, Will I Get Better? was the record that really put Svalbard on most people’s radars. Now the band have returned, with the 44-minute wonder that is The Weight of the Mask. Continue reading “Svalbard – The Weight of the Mask (Review)”
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