overground scene

Some great music from 2023 on the sofa

The year 2023 has been a relatively unexciting year music-wise. Lots of bands released new music, some bands that I’ve loved since the 1990s, but there were hardly any albums that blew my mind. Still, some expected and some unexpected gems made life a bit less shitty this past year, again. Lets start with the albums that I didn’t like: I enjoyed Enforcer‘s new album, titled Nostalgia, even less than their previous album, which I didn’t like very much. The slow ballad-y songs I find really cringey. I never particularly liked Wikstrand’s voice, but especially on these slow songs I can’t stand it. There are moments that are reminiscent of their brilliant works like Diamonds (2010) and From beyond (2015), but they’re thin on the ground. Vomitory‘s new album did not change my opinion of them. I’ve never been a fan of this band, although I’ve always liked a few songs off albums like Redemption (1999), Revelation nausea (2001) and Blood rapture (2002). Once again, some songs really stand out and are devastating, like the opening track, but overall, I cannot listen to the album from beginning to end. Dying Fetus is a band I fell in love in the late 1990s, but completely lost interest after the departure of Netherton and Talley. Since then, I listen to their new output from time to time, but fail to enjoy it. I listened to the new album a couple of times and it’s pretty cool, if I listened to it back in the 1990s I’d have loved it, but I kinda feel like I’ve outgrown this style. Cannibal Corpse released another album which, after listening to for a few times, left me disappointed. In my opinion, it sounds like the band is plodding along, refusing to die, when it is clearly sick and tired. I feel bad writing these words about Cannibal ‘cos I love them, the whole Barnes era is really close to my heart, as well as the beginning of the Corpsegrinder era, but the last 20 years it’s been hit and miss. When I came across the title of Cadaver‘s new album I thought to myself, Anders Odden is an aging, Norwegian, extreme metal musician with affiliations to bands like Satyricon, so it’s no surprise that so late in his career he decides to be political in such an unimaginative manner. To be fair, reading the lyrics of the eponymous song, the meaning is a bit ambiguous, I’m not sure he is lashing out at people who call out offensive behaviours. Anyway, the album has some good moments, I liked a couple of the songs (like “Crawl of the cadaver” and “Deadly metal”), but overall I didn’t feel the need to listen to it again. I thought it was funny how the nostalgic sounding “Deadly metal”, has an intro riff that sounds like Blind Guardian (compare it, for example, to “This will never end”). Suffocation released the follow up to Of the dark light, and marks the first album after Frank’s departure. Frank actually appears on the re-recording of the classic “Ignorant deprivation”, and although his vocals do not have the power they once had, they are unique and, sadly, that is what’s missing from his replacement. Musically, I was not impressed by this album, but, to be fair the last Suffo album I loved was the eponymous one from 2006. It didn’t grab me, so I haven’t listened to it carefully, but because it’s Suffocation I think it deserves more careful listening so I might eventually change my mind. I first heard Pest Control at the Obituary gig in Brighton, UK, last August (they were the opening band). Good crossover which sounded to me better on the recording than live. Their album titled Don’t test the pest is cool, the eponymous song is killer. Along similar generic lines, the new side-project by Paul Mazurkiewicz called Heaven’s Gate released the eponymous EP, and is not bad, I listened to it a couple of times. Static Abyss‘s second offering feels a bit rushed. It’s only been one year since the debut, and this new album lacks standout numbers in my opinion. Rotten Casket is a relatively new band with Martin van Drunen at its helm. I listened to their debut, titled Zombicron, a couple of times. It feels like an album that Rogga Johansson would have released. I think I might eventually enjoy it more.

Metallica‘s new album did not impress me, and for a while I considered it among their worst output, alongside Reload (1997) and St. Anger (2003).  I absolutely love Death magnetic (2008) and Hardwired (2016), and I thought that the new album lacked some of the elements that made those albums awesome. There are many riffs in 72 Seasons which, in my opinion, are super generic, sounding like jams by any person who gets a guitar in their hands. In my opinion, the band sounds like in their Load-Reload-St Anger period, in the sense that the songs feel like they emerged out of jams and that they’d use every single riff they’d come up. Still, most songs have good moments in them, whether it’s a bridge or, more often, a good vocal melody. There’s lots of Black album (1991) and Load (1996) moments, and the three more fast thrashy moments of the album (“72 seasons”, “Lux Aeterna” and “Room of mirrors”) are standout tracks. The main riff of “Lux Aeterna” is pretty similar to the verse riff of “Heaven’s on fire” by Venom. Hetfield’s voice is the best it’s been in two decades and, for me, the highlight of the album alongside the melody lines he came up with. For my tastes, if “Sleepwalk my life away”, “You must burn!”, and “Inamorata” were omitted the album would be superior. Favourite songs: “Room of mirrors”, “Lux Aeterna”, “Crown of barbed wire”. I thought that the new Brujeria album had too many songs, not enough standout moments, and overall it felt kinda tired. Moments of absolute insanity are few and far between. Songs like “Bruja encabronada” and “El patron de reventon” are deadly but I find the drum sound a bit weak. Those two, together with “Mochado“, are my favourite on the album. These are songs which I consider can compete with any Brujeria release. Some of the other songs are cool, some really pissed off and some cool grooves (“Bestia de la muerte”), but also some filler. Sadus returned after almost two decades with a good album. It starts with an intro similar to the main melody of “Lost reflection” (Crimson Glory) and evolves into a manic thrash attack that is trademark Sadus. That opening song, “First blood”, is up there with the top Sadus songs of all time. I like a lot the first half of the album, but after that it gets a bit boring for me. Jon and Darren’s performances are absolutely stellar though. At the same time, I cannot help but being disappointed by the contemporary sound of most classic bands, especially those who once worked with great producers. What a flat and lifeless sound, especially the drums. Guts is a new band I discovered this year, and their album Decay is pretty cool. Very simple and catchy death metal that’s fun to listen to.

Among the albums that almost made the top-10 list is Obituary‘s new album, titled The end of everything. It’s been many years since I enjoyed a new Obituary album. The last album they released which I loved was their comeback album, Frozen in time (2005), but I also enjoyed Executioner’s return (2007). The last few albums did nothing for me. I don’t know if the new album is “better” than the last few albums, or simply it had been a long time I paid attention to Obituary so I was hungry for their unique style, but I really enjoyed The end of everything. There’s nothing terribly new here, as expected, although I have to say that the break in “Barely alive” (around the 1:53 mark) contains more notes than any other riff Obituary ever played, so that was a new element, I guess. Fantastic break and riff, by the way. Some of the songs stand out and command their unique place in Obituary’s body of works, especially songs like “Wrong time“, “Weaponize the hate” and that main riff and vocal pattern of “By the dawn” are pretty cool too. As usual, certain riffs and vocal patterns are identical to some of their classic riffs and vocal patterns from the past. A blast from the past was Mezzrow‘s new album titled Summon thy demons. This is a band I first listened when a friend got their debut album back in the late 1990s from a second hand shop. That album made no impression, it was your typical Swedish Bay Area thrash rip-off. The comeback album has some killer stuff in it though. I find the vocals a bit cringey, but musically it’s really cool. The opening song is a highlight, an energetic thrash attack that sets the mood for the rest of the album. The album is generally super catchy, check out the chorus on songs like “What is dead may never die” and “De mysteriis inmortui“, for example. I listened to it loads and it almost made my top 10 list. Nasty Surgeons is a band I discovered when they released their previous album, and I thought that it was awesome. I was looking forward to the new album, and, initially, I was a bit disappointed, as it felt a bit simpler. Eventually, I enjoyed it much more. A positive change has been the drums. In the previous album that was the weak point in my opinion. But, here they are better produced, the drum fills are simpler and more to the point, and the grinding is at times a lot faster. Everything else is pretty much following the same recipe; well-composed, catchy grind with heavy doses of old school death metal riffs. The Grifted is the continuation of Mr. Death, and their album titled Doomsday and salvation released earlier this year is pretty cool old-sounding Swedish death metal. Its biggest flaw I guess is that it does not feature exactly the tightest performances, especially the blasting bits on the drums. “Hope for death” is one of the most catchy moments in the album. “Days of the end” is another interesting song, with a happy main riff, which is not common in this kind of music. Overall, I’ve listened to it a few times, and I’d like to enjoy it properly with lyrics and all, but this album is another casualty of small record labels with poor distribution making it costly and difficult to get hold of a physical copy (the vinyl especially). Another sickening addition to Autopsy‘s discography, Ashes, organs, blood and crypts has a set of cool tunes. Still, if I had to compare it to last year’s album, I’d say it’s inferior. Morbidity triumphant is more brutal, more reminiscent of the band’s early days, with Reifert using his deep growls more often than not, and has more songs that stand out. The highlights in this album in my opinion come from the sick minds of Coralles and Cutler. Songs like “Rabid funeral“, “Marrow fiend”, “Bones to the wolves”, but also Reifert’s “Well of entrails”, are the ones that stood out for me. The rest of them, I’m not too crazy about. Incantation‘s newest album impressed me more than the last couple. Unholy deification is more straightforward and faster than the band has been in a while. McEntee’s vocals sound awesome, riffs are catchy, and there’s hardly any long, drawn-out, swampy sections, in which the band is known to often indulge. When I say it is more straightforward, I mean that the melodies are a bit more conventional, not as warped as in the past, so less consistent with the Morbid Angel/Immolation school of death metal, with which Incantation align themselves. Having said that, the chords at the beginning of “Invocation” remind me of the ending of Immolation’s “Those left behind”. “Concordant”, “Megaron”, “Offerings” are among the best in the album. I don’t consider it a highlight in their career, but it’s another good addition to their legacy. The thing on the cover is like one of the monsters from the TV series Stranger Things.

Without further ado, here are the 10 albums that I’ve listened to and enjoyed the most during 2023. There is an ostensible lack of established bands in this list, but the more discerning eye will notice that all the bands that follow include experts in their respective genre.

1. Siege of Power – This is tomorrow

Siege of Power’s sophomore album was this year’s surprise, personally. Their debut was one of the worst albums of the year it came out, so, I didn’t have any expectations for this album. For some reason I decided to give it a listen, and I couldn’t believe my ears. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say that this is the best thing Reifert has released in the last nine years, but it’s definitely my favourite album of 2023. It contains 11 songs with distinct identities, super catchy, fantastic lyrics, Reifert gives the performance of a lifetime. This is a truly inspired death metal album that combines in a meaningful way Autopsy, Asphyx, Slayer and Motorhead. Asphyx can be heard on songs like “Scavengers“, or “Sinister Christians”, especially the guitar melody during the chorus. Bagchus’s drumming is, as always, simple but pummelling. The song “Sinister Christians” feels like Reifert’s homage to Asphyx’s Theo Loomans, and his masterpiece God cries (1996), as it contains lyrics that point to a couple of songs on that album. For example, similar lines to the “…as they stab you in the back” and “…who falls for this shit?!” can be found in the Asphyx songs “God cries” and “Cut-throat urges” respectively. The lyrical themes vary, but there seems to be a few songs about a dystopian future created by uncaring humans. “Ghosts of humanity” is one of the top moments in the album; fantastic atmosphere, very unique juxtaposition of growling vocals and arpeggiated chords without distortion, catchy chorus, and the built-up to the fast Slayer-esque break in the middle is God! A truly great album overall, with no mediocre moments.

2. Fake Names – Expendables

Now this is what I call a fantastic album. Fake Names impressed me with their debut a few years ago (which is still in frequent rotation), and their new album is at least as impressive. It contains ten wonderful tracks of old school punk rock combined with more modern indie sensibilities, expertly played and produced, the way only seasoned musicians can deliver. When I listen to this band, I feel like someone worked out exactly the music that I want to listen to and wrote a bunch of songs especially for me. Despite the simple song-writing formula that underpins the whole album the melodies and riffs are absolutely addictive. Each song conforms to the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle section recipe, and the fact that this band does not stray much from this but still manage to write beautiful and timeless music is inspiring. Some of my favourite moments include the middle-section on songs like “Too little, too late” (starting at 1:40) and “Don’t blame yourself” (starting at 1:50), and the main riff and melodies of “Damage done”. Production-wise there are not many gimmicks, all the instruments are prominent in the mix and the different guitar layers contribute to a rich, for the genre, guitorchestration. If you like punk-rock do yourselves a favour and listen to Expendables.

3. Grand Cadaver – Deities of deathlike sleep

The release of Grand Cadaver’s sophomore album has been met with some dithyrambic reviews (at least the ones posted on FB by the band). It’s a cool album, with some great moments, but in my opinion it’s a bit less complex and less dynamic than the mind-blowing Into the maw of death (2021). Nevertheless, all of the songs are interesting, the mood is deathly, and Stanne’s unique growls and delivery patterns raise the album above the middle-of-the-road old school Swedish death metal wannabees. Just like the debut, there are mostly fast songs, but also a couple of slower numbers. One of the latter is “True necrogeny”, which has some great melodies, especially the bridge and chorus; very melancholic. Other highlights include “A crawling feast of decay”, one of the most brutal songs on the album alongside “Funeral reversal” (a little piece of Swedish death metal trivia: Tormented have a song called “Reversed funeral”), and the closing song “Necrosanctum”. These three songs are, for me, the most imaginative in the album, and the ones with the most powerful dynamics. “Necrosanctum” is one of my top songs for 2023; what a fantastic progression and coda. “Serrated jaws” is one of the singles, and it initially disappointed me, but now I like it, especially that breakdown in the middle of the song is awesome. The opening song also grew on me. It kicks off in a manner that reminded me of post-1997 Dismember, and my favourite thing about it is the post-chorus riff and how it transforms the mood after the melancholic chorus. I love the inscription on the runout groove of side B stating “THE SAW IS THE LAW”, an homage to both Sodom and the buzz saw Swedish death guitar sound. Also, note that the initials of the album’s title spell out DODS, which stands for “death” in Swedish. The design of the album is also really beautiful (and it contains lyrics, thankfully)

4. Tanith – Voyage

I first listened to Tanith when they released their first single (i.e. “Citadel”) and I loved it and looked forward to their debut. In the end, their debut did not impress me. But “Voyage”, their sophomore album, is very beautiful! I’ve only been listening to it for a month or so, but I’m loving it. The vocal trade-offs, and the sweetness of both Russ’s and Cindy’s voice, as well as the rest of the aesthetics of the album really take you on a journey to a lost time in music making, namely NWOBHM but with British prog rock sensibilities (e.g. Wishbone Ash and Uriah Heep‘s more hard rock moments). Overall, Voyage is heavier than the debut, the compositions are imaginative, and it’s awesomely produced. In my opinion, Russ has written songs that could have been in a Satan album, especially the fantastic “Adrasteia“, the fastest cut on the album. “Mother exile”, especially the verse vocal melody made me think of Dinosaur Jr‘s “Forget the swan”. Now that I think about it, Russ’s delivery on the bridge of “Olympus by dawn” (when he says “…the road is long…”) also reminds me of J Mascis. Speaking of “Olympus by Dawn”, what a song! Absolutely brilliant.

5. Host – IX

Greg Mackintosh and Nick Holmes released an album with their side-project Host. The intention of this band is to channel, in a more explicit manner than on Paradise Lost, the non-metal influences of the two musicians, like New Wave and Electronic music, like they did back in the late 1990s. It is pretty cool, it unavoidably sounds like Paradise Lost, due to Holmes’s recognisable sound and delivery and Mackintosh’s mood and trademark guitar leads. Initially, it didn’t make a great impression on me, but after a couple of listens I started appreciating the beautiful atmosphere and catchy melodies, despite the minimalist orchestration (it’d be interesting to know what fans of New Wave and Electronic music would make of this album, as their criteria would be very different than mine). Now I’m loving it; some songs stand out a bit, like “Divine emotion” and “Tomorrow’s sky”, but all songs are awesome.

6. Deteriorot – The rebirth

I had never listened to Deteriorot until recently and the release of their new album, and it is pretty awesome. The style is old school American brutal death metal of the Incantation school of death, particularly reminiscent in my opinion of Funerus‘s first album. Songs like “Return to rot” and “Political evocations” could have been written by Incantation. Other songs have a very melancholic sound, effected to some degree by Swedish Death Metal-esque melodies. The latter can be found on songs like “A nameless grave” (circa 2:30) or “The rebirth”. In the latter there’s also hints of early Paradise Lost (for example the melody that starts at 0:36).  It is definitely a very cool album. The vocals are nice and disgusting albeit quite weak I guess, they sound like they are produced mainly in the throat, but that gives the band kind of a unique feel. The slow, swampy atmosphere is often interrupted by fast-paced explosions, like near the end of “Reanimate“. I’ll definitely be checking out their older albums.

7. The Hives – The death of Randy Fitzsimmons

I am a big fan of the debut album by the Hives, and I kinda like their second album too, but I didn’t like the 3rd (apart from the brilliant “Love in plaster” and a couple of other ok songs) and 4th album, so I gave up on them more than a decade ago. Now, it’s been a long time since I listened to something new by them, and the new album really entertained me. It’s an interesting one, it kinda feels like a Greatest Hits album. Every singe song is super catchy, the band explores different styles with each song, and overall, it feels like the album was made to be played live. Personally, I would not be disappointed if I saw them live and they only performed this album in its entirety. I was hooked from the first single, titled “Bogus operandi”; awesome main riff, catchy chorus, and a fantastic coda. The second song, “Trapdoor solution“, could have been in their debut; powerful song, fast and energetic. The third song has a classic Hives groove, but it’s not among my favourite. I love “Rigor mortis radio”, the vocals on “Stick up”, the American folky quality of “Crash into the weekend”, the distortion on “Two kinds of trouble”. The only moment in the album that I don’t like is the song “What did I ever do to you”, which is like a parody of the Arctic Monkeys… Is this supposed to be a dig at Arctic Monkeys, who like other indie rock bands at the time, ripped off The Hives?

8. Asinhell – Impii hora

Asinhell is a side-project by Michael Poulsen, the leader of Volbeat. Their debut is a pretty cool album and I’ve listened to it loads. Music-wise is relatively simple death metal, and riff-wise, Poulsen has drawn upon Chuck’s work on Spiritual Healing (1990) and Human (1991). This is the style that dominates the album, and it’s good, but, at the same time, it’s been done to death in the last decade, so it doesn’t feel particularly fresh. One of the key ingredients contributing to the high quality of this album is Marc Grewe’s fantastic vocals. Yet, it’s not like anything Marc sings on turns out good (for example, the first Insidious Disease album is terrible in my opinion); the music has to be good too, and there are some great moments here. The main riff of “Desert of doom” is pure awesomeness, and overall this song is amazing; much closer to Entombed than Death, by the way. Another song I really like is “Pyromantic scryer“, and that break after the second chorus sends chills down my spine, and is also inspired by Entombed, and a song like “Something out of nothing” (listening to the break in the middle of the song). Swedish death is the second big inspiration for this album, I’d say. Entombed, Grave, and even Arch Enemy (in their early stuff) have definitely influenced the song-writing. That guitar solo on the opening song, “Fall of the loyal warrior”, it sounds like something Michael Amott would come up with. Well done on the amazing cover, which alludes to another Danish album, Mercyful Fate‘s Melissa (1983).

9. Bloodphemy – Dawn of malevolence

Bloodphemy is a band in which I became interested once I found out that Bart van Wallenberg (ex-Sinister, ex-Neocaesar), one of the most genius musicians to have graced this planet, joined a few years ago. Their previous album is pretty cool so I wanted to see if his input in this new album is gonna be more prominent. There are unmistakable moments of his musical brilliance present here, but not necessarily more than on Blood sacrifice. I liked the album – it’s meat and potatoes old school brutal death. At times it reminds me of brutal death bands from Sweden, like Defaced Creation and Deranged. The singer, actually, is reminiscent of Deranged’s current vocalist. “Therapeutic torturing” is a standout track; that main riff is classic Bart! “Crimson redemption” could have been written by Cannibal Corpse during the Gallery of suicide (1998) era. This one is another stand out track, with really cool sections, a catchy chorus, and a great atmospheric middle section. From time to time, there are some melancholic, melodic moments here and there (e.g. the intro melody of the title track) that feel a bit at odds with the overall vibe of the album.

10. Memoriam  – Rise to power

Memoriam has established itself by now as a death metal force to be reckoned with. The fifth album in their catalogue of heavy and gloomy death metal is not any different from the previous albums. It has memorable songs and passionate performances. Among the great moments of the album are songs like “Annihilation’s dawn”, “Total war” and “I am the enemy”.  At the same time it lacks the ambition of a monumental song like “As my heart grows cold”, but I guess this one was an one off in their catalogue anyway. It is also a bit slower than their previous albums. I would say that it is a bit more consistent than the previous album, as it doesn’t have any “experimental” songs like “Mass psychosis”. I listened to it quite a lot so far, especially when I first bought it.

2023 PLAYLIST