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”

Earthside – Let the Truth Speak (Review)

Earthside - Let the Truth SpeakThis is the second album from US progressive rock band Earthside.

Let the Truth Speak is a 78-minute odyssey of contemporary progressive rock and metal. Built around a core of the main band, these musicians are augmented by a range of guest musicians and vocalists, (including the singer of Tesseract). Continue reading “Earthside – Let the Truth Speak (Review)”

Owdwyr – Receptor (Review)

Owdwyr - ReceptorThis is the debut album from US extreme metal band Owdwyr.

Receptor is an interesting beast. Blurring the boundaries between technical death metal, grindcore, and progressive metal, Owdwyr’s music is a riot of violence and exploratory brutality. It’s a 44-minute sophisticated wrecking ball. Continue reading “Owdwyr – Receptor (Review)”

Bear – Vanta (Review)

Bear - VantaBear are a progressive hardcore/metal band from Belgium and this is their fifth album.

When the promo blurb states that an album is recommended for fans of bands such as Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch, and Norma Jean, how can you not check it out? Besides, I’m already a fan of Bear’s work, as both 2017’s /// and 2020’s Propaganda were very enjoyable slabs of angular heaviness. Continue reading “Bear – Vanta (Review)”

Aortha – Monolit (Review)

Aortha - MonolitAortha is a metal project based in Norway, and this is their debut album.

To best explain who/what Aortha is, let’s turn to the promo blurb – “AORTHA is new metal project/band founded by Predrag Glogovac . He was guitar player from known metal band in ex.Yugoslavia called MONOLIT which was active from 1988-1992 until war broke in country and band ceased to exist. Reunion in 2006-2008 and one fine album released on One Records from Belgrade «Arcana Balkanica» in 2008. Predrag has played in Norway with some known metal musicians for years. In 2020 with a lot of unreleased music and songs he started to gather old friends & musicians for project and album you have in hand is born.” Continue reading “Aortha – Monolit (Review)”

Heart of a Coward – This Place Only Brings Death (Review)

Heart of a Coward - This Place Only Brings DeathThis is the fifth album from UK metalcore band Heart of a Coward.

Following on from 2019’s The Disconnect, Heart of a Coward have now returned with another slab of modern heavy music. Running to a lean 36 minutes, This Place Only Brings Death finds the band stripping back their sound somewhat, and refining their focus. Continue reading “Heart of a Coward – This Place Only Brings Death (Review)”

Alkaloid – Numen (Review)

Alkaloid - NumenAlkaloid are a German progressive death metal band and this is their third album.

Containing current and ex-members of bands such as Defeated Sanity, Hate Eternal, Howling Sycamore, Obscura, Obsidious, and many others, Numen is an album that benefits from a wealth of experience, and it shows in all aspects of this professionally crafted record. Continue reading “Alkaloid – Numen (Review)”

Tesseract – War of Being (Review)

Tesseract - War of BeingTesseract are a UK progressive metal band and this is their fifth album.

This is my first time listening to Tesseract since their debut EP Concealing Fate back in 2010, (which appears to be one of my earliest reviews too). It seems that the band have developed and evolved very nicely since their humble djent-injected beginnings, and new record War of Being is leagues ahead of the material on that release. It seems I have some catching up to do at some point. Continue reading “Tesseract – War of Being (Review)”

Sylosis – A Sign of Things to Come (Review)

Sylosis - A Sign of Things to ComeThis is the sixth album from UK metal band Sylosis.

Bringing together metalcore, thrash metal, melodic death metal, and a touch of progressive metal into their crunchy, punchy, modern metal framework, Sylosis have been doing good things with the style for many years now. A Sign of Things to Come provides us with a lean 43 minutes of new material, and finds the band on absolute fire. Continue reading “Sylosis – A Sign of Things to Come (Review)”