Sorry folks…. no overly exacting or over-wordy “Best of…” list this year. I’m too lazy, and I always inevitably forget to include albums purely because they slipped my mind, only to remember them later on when I read other and frankly better written lists, haha! No, this is just a quick monthly break-down of cool things that came out that I enjoyed, killer videos that crossed my path, and stuff that made me happy this year.
January:
Holy crap, is it 2023, or 1993?
The year started off with a huge bang, with a supremely killer Old School Death Metal release from San Diego’s Conjureth. I really enjoyed their previous album, and 2023’s “The Parasitic Chambers” is more of the same: all killer and no filler!
February:
Paul Gilbert has been a card-carrying guitar hero since forever, but rarely has he done anything that really knocks my boots off or blows my skirt up. A lot of “ghee-tar weedly-wee”, but not much in the way of certified ass kickin’.
But him doing a Dio tribute album – with the vocals cleverly replicated with his insane guitar chops…, now this is right up my alley.
March:
San Diego’s own homegrown thrashers Nukem came out with a killer track this year, featuring great solos from not only both Steve and Laura, but also a guest solo from Exodus‘ Gary Holt. So many sick riffs and so much bad assery!
April:
Speaking of thrashy riffs, this year Overkill came out with their 135th album. Oops, maybe that’s an exaggeration lol!
But seriously, these Jersey guys have never put out a bad album, and this one for 2023 has lots of great riffs and great tracks. Yes, they are dependable and overly reliable, but in a very good and very thrashy way!
May:
May’s highlight, and frankly one of the biggest highlights of 2023 in my opinion, was when Cattle Decapitation‘s “Terrasite” issued forth upon this plane of existence.
I confess that “Death Atlas” never really 100% worked for me. Maybe because of it coming with some COVID-19 baggage in my mind. But “Terrasite” stays with me for days and weeks — an album that keeps me jazzed each and every time I throw it on!
June:
June brought us Voivod fans a nice treat: “Morgoth Tales”. I generally avoid “old band re-recording their old songs for a quick buck” releases. (Cavalera, I’m looking at you lol!).
But this is a neat package, with not-really-new-kids Chewie and Rocky helping put some cool new spins on some great older Voivod songs. They also did one new track, an “anthology”-type song, that drops tons of references to their large catalog of songs over the past 40 years. A warm and caring love letter to the fans, from the same band that once screamed “Fuck Off And Die!” 😛
July:
July was very hot here in San Diego, but was also the month that San Diego’s Necrochamber posted a very cool video for the frosty Black Metal song “Lunar Hallucinations”.
With the help of our very own Brian Parker, my good buddy Nocturnal Overlord gives us a cold, grim, and violent view of the world after dark. Very cool!
August:
Holy crap, is it 2023, or 1983?
August brought forth a new-to-me band from Germany. This album from Cruel Force is about as “Ye Old Speed Metal” as it gets, and I’m all about it!
September:
This year was crazy busy for me for work and my various trips (for fun and/or pleasure): Florida (x2), The Philippines (x2), Hawaii (x2), Italy, Japan, Spain…, plus side trips to Switzerland, Monaco, and Malta…, and a family visit to Maryland, too.
With all of that travel, I got to read a lot, and sometimes catch up on some good tunes. One of the cooler finds was how Philippines Airlines has a really nice free in-flight music selection. I spent a fair amount of a 10 hour flight in September listening to good stuff, such as this live album from Dream Theater:
October:
Xoth is a rather insane Tech Death outfit from Seattle WA that I’ve enjoyed over the years. But even that didn’t prepare me the interstellar multi-dimensional coolness of this album!
So many crazy good riffs and passages, masterfully played and laid out in a cosmic grand array for Grade-A coolness, start to finish. I’m hearing new and killer things each and every time I listen to this. “Exogalactic” is clearly my #1 pick for 2023!
November:
Sadus is a band that has been in my heart and mind for a very long time. I grew up in Concord CA, which is a bullshit Bay Area suburb a bit closer to Sadus‘ hometown of Antioch. At the time, they were maybe too fast/aggressive for the Bay Area Thrash Metal scene, and a bit out of the loop in the proto-Death Metal scene.
They peaked around 1992, put out some less impressive albums in 1997 and 2006, and were left for dead until popping out of nowhere last year with a great single.
Flash forward to 2023, Sadus is firmly back in action, and sounding amazing!
December:
December is normally a slow album release month. But two legends from Greece chose the end of the year to release their respective new beasts: Varathron‘s “The Crimson Temple”…, and Sakis Tolis‘ “The Seven Seals of the Apocalypse – (Revelation 5:7)“.
The former has never done wrong in my book, while the later — going here by the moniker of “χ ξ ς'” — has had some minor fumbles with his later Rotting Christ albums. FFS: enough of the ritualistic chanting already, lol!
But here and now, it’s two-for-two for the Grecian Black Metal duo, and I can’t get enough of these two albums as the year winds to a close.
If you made it this far, great! Thanks for reading, and let me know what I got right and/or wrong haha! Here’s to a great 2023 and a better 2024 – Cheers!!
//TB