GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 2023

[no country for old wainds]

​

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Notes ready...

 

[CiG]

 

[Bloopy]

I've mostly been inspired to listen to local bands as usual. Didn't even find enough to bump Metallica out of my post yet, d'oh.

1. Static Abyss - Aborted From Reality
2. Mammuthus - Imperator
3. Unruly - Hominid
4. Love Your Witch - A Journey Into the Unknown
5. Hecotonchir - Venerations of Vexation I
6. Demons of Noon - Death Machine
7. Extinction Campaign - Condemned to Fire
8. Beastwars - Tyranny of Distance
9. Dead Shrine - The Eightfold Path
10. Metallica - 72 Seasons

 

[Cronopio]

01. Evermore - In Memoriam
Favorite song: "Broken Free"

02. Twilight Force - At the Heart of Wintervale
Favorite song: "At the Heart of Wintervale"

03. Skyblazer - Infinity's Wings
Favorite song: "Across the Heavens"

04. Frozen Land - Out of the Dark
Favorite song: "White Lightning"

05. Bloodbound - Tales from the North
Favorite song: "Land of Heroes"

06. Theocracy - Mosaic
Favorite song: "Mosaic"

07. Eunomia - The Chronicles of Eunomia Part II
Favorite song: "Glorious"

08. Chamelion - Legends & Lores
Favorite song: "The Demonic Creature of the Night"

09. Temperance - Hermitage - Daruma's Eyes Pt. 2
Favorite song: "Cliff"

10. Final Strike - Finding Pieces
Favorite song: "Finding Pieces"

Honorable mentions:

Apostolica - Animae Haeretica
Edu Falaschi - Eldorado
Iron Savior - Firestar
Majesty - Back to Attack
Powerwolf - Interludium
Prydain - The Gates of Aramore
Rexoria - Imperial Dawn
Saint Deamon - League of the Serpents
Serenity - Nemesis AD
Signum Regis - Undivided

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Spoiler

Subject to change....


10. Apparition - Fear the Apparition

9. Farscape - Purged and Forgotten

8. Inculter - Morbid Origin

7. Sepulcrum - Lamentation of Immolated Souls

6. Begravement - Horrific Illusions Beckon

5. Phantom - Handed to Execution

4. Vortize - Desde Bajo Tierra

3. Trastorned - Into the Void

2. Blood Oath - Lost in an Eternal Silence

1. Demoniac - Nube Negra

Honorable mentions:
Cemetery Dwell - Towards a Dreadful Cosmos
Crippling Madness - Wladcy Nocy
Invasion Eterna - Ouroboros EP
Menace - Open Fire
Parasitario - Everything Belongs to Death
Savage Ruins - World in Wrath
Serpent Corpse - Blood Oath
Shadows - Out for Blood
Quantum Void - Escaping Reality

I don't know, maybe some of these can/might replace some of the top 10.....

EDIT: Alphabetized my honorable mentions

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Spoiler

1. Sacred Outcry - Towers of Gold
Favorite song: "The Flame Rekindled"


2. Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current
Favorite song: "Et smelter"


3. Zorn - Zorn
Favorite song: "Voices from the Past"


4. Protean Shield - Protean Shield
Favorite song: "Mariner's Dream"


5. Witchtower - Voyeur
Favorite song: "Chain Reaction"


6. Lost Harvest - Deluded Seas of Diverge


7. Vision Master - Sceptre
Favorite song: "Knife in a Velvet Glove"


8. Hellix - Montage


9. Danava - Nothing but Nothing
Favorite song: "Enchanted Villain"


10. Blazon Rite - Wild Rites and Ancient Songs
Favorite song: "The Fall of a Once Great House"

 

[no country for old wainds]

Spoiler

10. Yaaroth - The Man in the Wood
Favourite song: 'They Seek Baryba'


(i consider this to be functionally a 2023 release, but if it's ineligible i'd replace it with Voyeur by Witchtower).

9. Legendry - Time Immortal Wept
Favourite song: 'Warrior of Space and Time'


8. Contrarian - Sage of Shekhinah
Favourite song: 'In Gehenna'


7. Kostnatění - Úpal
Favourite song: 'Slunce svázáno s krvácející Zemí'


6. Vision Master - Sceptre
Favourite song: 'Wet Net'


5. Vórtize - Desde bajo tierra
Favourite song: 'Tempestad'


4. Void - Jadjow
Favourite song: 'Self Isolation'


3. DHG - Black Medium Current
Favourite song: 'Tankespinnerens Smerte'


2. Sühnopfer - Nous sommes d'hier
Favourite song: 'D.S.F.R.'


1. Demoniac - Nube Negra
Favourite song: 'La Caída'


11-25 (alphabetical, asterisk next to my favourite three):
Begravement - Horrific Illusions Beckon
Colony Drop - Brace for Impact*
Darkrypt - As Fate Draws Near*
Hellix - Montage
Hellwitch - Annihilational Intercention
Inculter - Morbid Origin
Jag Panzer - The Hallowed
Protean Shield - Protean Shield
Quantum Void - Escaping Reality
Sacred Outcry - Towers of Gold
Smoulder - Violent Creed of Vengeance
Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya
Triumpher - Storming the Walls
Witchtower - Voyeur*
Zorn - Zorn

Top 5 EPs/demos:
1) Savage Oath - Savage Oath
Apolium - Live and Die with Honor
Gideon's Horn - Triumphant Command
Lividus - Teratorns
Stargazer - Bound by Spells

happy new year everybody!

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Whoa there wainds, i didn't even know you liked Demoniac...but the #1 spot?! Shocked!

 

[no country for old wainds]

i didn't actually expect you to have it at #1 either, didn't you have vortize rated higher on rym at one point? that album is massssively up my street though so feel free to recommend anything in the same ballpark.

 

[Slammed]

No pictures. No links. No genres. No fucks given.

1. Dropkick Murphys – Okemah Rising
2. Doro – Conqueress - Forever Strong And Proud
3. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An 4. 4. 4. Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
5. Shakma – On Tenebrous Wings
6. Frenzal Rhomb – Cup Of Pestilence
7. Overkill – Scorched
8. Drug Mother – Rise Witch
9. Viovod – Morgoth Tales
10. Gravestone – Hallowed Be Thy Grave

 

[RadicalThrasher]

i didn't actually expect you to have it at #1 either, didn't you have vortize rated higher on rym at one point? that album is massssively up my street though so feel free to recommend anything in the same ballpark.

Well, Demoniac's one of my favorite current bands. If you go back and look at 2017 and 2020 you'll see i have Intemperance ( overlooked album) and So It Goes in the #1 spots for those years also. What else sounds like Demoniac? .......well Vortize maybe i guess. Ortiz has a pretty distinct riffing style and song writing ability, kind of like mike sifringer from destruction.... you can tell when it's him playing right away. And i think i still have new vortize higher than new Demoniac....as far as rym I'm still figuring things out....and besides that you won't be able to make any sense of my reasonings or ratings and that's because i have no idea what the hell I'm doing

 

[Cronopio]

Hey, cool to see so many of you posted your year's best lists.

 

[Lios]

Woah, thanks for the lists, cool stuff that I haven't heard.
I haven't listened to many new records, so I don't have a fat best-of 2023 list.
But I have two 2023 disappointments:
1) The Armed- Perfect Saviors
Such a massive let-down after a groundbreaking record like "Ultrapop". One or two genuinely GOOD songs cannot balance all this mishmash of watered-down, thin and weak poppy sensibility. They were catchy before this record too- they didn't need to lose so much power and vigor from their music to reassure us that they can become even catchier.
2)Dodhmeisgard- Black Medium Current
Look, Vicotnic is a musical genius, and this record is full of genius music. It's just that it fails to surpass the psychedelic devilish juggernaut that was "a Umbra Omega".

 

[no country for old wainds]

Spoiler

View attachment 34982
1. Sacred Outcry - Towers of Gold
Favorite song: "The Flame Rekindled"

View attachment 34983
2. Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current
Favorite song: "Et smelter"

View attachment 34981
3. Zorn - Zorn
Favorite song: "Voices from the Past"

View attachment 34984
4. Protean Shield - Protean Shield
Favorite song: "Mariner's Dream"

View attachment 34985
5. Witchtower - Voyeur
Favorite song: "Chain Reaction"

View attachment 34986
6. Lost Harvest - Deluded Seas of Diverge

View attachment 34987
7. Vision Master - Sceptre
Favorite song: "Knife in a Velvet Glove"

View attachment 34988
8. Hellix - Montage

View attachment 34989
9. Danava - Nothing but Nothing
Favorite song: "Enchanted Villain"

View attachment 34990
10. Blazon Rite - Wild Rites and Ancient Songs
Favorite song: "The Fall of a Once Great House"

why do you love 'et smelter' so much out of interest? it's the most conventionally atmo-black song which isn't usually your thing, and also has kind of a blandly linear a - b - c - d etc structure IMO. those individual parts are all v good and far from conventional of course but i dont think any of them are great in the way that, say, the opening and closing of the following song are immediately great. i still have it 4.5'd so i'm not slagging it off, 'tis just kinda surprising to me.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

why do you love 'et smelter' so much out of interest? it's the most conventionally atmo-black song which isn't usually your thing, and also has kind of a blandly linear a - b - c - d etc structure IMO. those individual parts are all v good and far from conventional of course but i dont think any of them are great in the way that, say, the opening and closing of the following song are immediately great. i still have it 4.5'd so i'm not slagging it off, 'tis just kinda surprising to me.

I just get immediate chills from the opening notes, and then when the tremolo riffing comes in at 2 minutes it hits like the end of the Gregorian chanting in Carnal Malefactor. It's just an incredible stage-setting song that immediately defies my expectations of the band, just comes storming out the gate wearing its heart on its sleeve instead of hiding behind musical eclecticism and cryptic self-mythologizing. Also has my favorite lyrics on the album, basically Vånna Inget shit. I do think it's a bit scattershot after the perfect first five minutes and the outro feels like a playful announcement that yes, this is a DHG album, but at that point I'm already won over.

Tankespinnerens smerte hits similarly and might also be a 5/5. What I don't get is Abyss Perihelion Transit, I feel like you could end the album on that orgasmic synth squeal in Det tomme kalde and I'd miss nothing. But I'll confess I haven't actually listened to the album in full that many times yet.

 

[EternalMetal]

1. Autopsy - Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts
2. Nithing - Agonal Hymns
3. Suffocation - Hymns From the Apocrypha
4. Torture Rack - Primeval Onslaught
5. Warcrab - The Howling Silence
6. Paroxysm unit - Fragmentation//Strategem
7. Mortuary Drape - Black Mirror
8. Incantation - Unholy Deification
9. Dying Fetus - Make Them Beg For Death
10. Hellripper - Warlocks Grim and Withered Hags

The new Autopsy might even be my favorite of theirs, time will tell. Pretty solid year, still have a lot of stuff to listen to and digest.

 

[Slayed Necros]

10. Runemagick - Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind



9. Phantom - Handed to Execution



8. Cruel Force - Dawn of the Axe



7. Century - The Conquest of Time



6. Demoncy - Black Star Gnosis



5. Clandestine Blaze - Resacralize the Unknown



4. Demoniac - Nube Negra



3. Mörtual - Evil Incarnation



2. Blood Libel - Giftgas!



1. Desecresy - Deserted Realms

 

[no country for old wainds]

lots of diversity between our lists this year! i will count the votes and post our collective list in a few weeks.

CiG has been locked out of his account since new year btw in case anyone was wondering where that cunt has got to.

 

[Cronopio]

Why? Was his kiddie porn stash breached?