Every year is its own experience, even if it's an arbitrary way of looking at things. All it really does is make it easier for us to organize our thoughts, and move certain things from our short-term to our long-term memory. Once we write these things down, and put them in some order, we can shift our thoughts to what is to come. Tomorrow has more hope than yesterday, so we look to the future for everything today has not given us.
That's my way of saying the first half of 2023 has not exactly been overflowing with music I'm in love with. It has been a rather disappointing year, and I'm ready to move on to a second half that will hopefully have a few more records I can say I love. That will have to wait for then. For now, let's talk about what we've already been given.
In alphabetical order...
The Best:
Ad Infinitum - Chapter III: Downfall
They have finally reached the potential the first two records hinted at. Melissa Bonny is a fantastic singer, and for the first time she has the material to make an impact. Easily their hookiest set of songs, this album is about as clean and perfect as metal can get. It might be a bit too sanitized, from a production standpoint, but I can't deny the great melodies after great melodies. It isn't a record to 'connect' with, but it's a heck of a good time.
Katatonia - Sky Void Of Stars
It's funny. I loved "The Fall Of Hearts" when it came out, but quickly tired of it. I didn't like "City Burials" when it came out, but now I do. Both are due to this record, because Katatonia has finally made the record I've been hoping for. They have always had the most beautiful and melancholy sound, but for the first time they give us an energetic and almost upbeat batch of songs. For them, at least. This is where "City Burials" was headed, and it's a glorious city on the hill. They have never done better. Truly.
Rexoria - Imperial Dawn
I love when a power metal record is able to win me over, because it reminds me of how I got here. Rexoria's album delivers a compact set of songs that delivers great vocals and great hooks. It's not a complicated formula, but it's hard to do. They are masters of it, with "Fading Rose" being one of the best songs of the year. Power metal can be the best time you can have with metal, and this is as good as it's gotten this year.
Royal Thunder - Rebuilding The Mountain
Maybe I'm getting old, but I love the narrative of this album being about the band getting sober and making the effort to mature. That this represents a group of people who want to better themselves, who want to build the foundation to make this band last as long as it can, is the sort of thing we should be celebrating. This album works through those issues in a way that makes it a bit moody, and requires some time to fully dig in, but there's a lot of charm to be found. This isn't a huge, loud rock record that treats volume as if it's saying something important. This record is nuanced, but passionate. It's subtle, but still hits hard. Mature is a good way to describe it, and that's what makes it so appealing.
Sarah & The Safe Word - The Book Of Broken Glass
I didn't even know that 'cabaret emo' was a thing, but I'm glad I found out about it. Their blend of jazzy nightclub violin with rousing emo rock is something completely beyond my expectations, and it works so much better than I could have imagined. "Old Lace" is the standout sing-along, but from top to bottom this is an anthemic record that recalls the jauntiness of "The Black Parade", but with its own unique spin. We hear plenty of experiments with new sounds that don't work, but this is why it's worth taking risks.
The Worst/Most Disappointing:
Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream
Take a band that isn't trying to write songs, and have a singer whose voice is shot, and the result might be the worst album I've heard in years. I truly don't understand what anyone involved in this was thinking, because it is so remarkably ill-conceived I can't put it into words. It almost sounds like listening to the recordings of a band's jam session before they found a real singer. And yet, it's still a successful record....
Motive Black - Autumn
We waited years for this? Ugh. An album years in the making, this is a collection of bland and hookless songs mostly made up of songs from the singer's previous band. So what took this long? I hate this even more because of the wait, as I was actually excited when I first heard "Broken". I loved that song, and then spent a couple of years not realizing it was going to be a complete fluke. What a waste.
Paramore - This Is Why
Why is the operative word here, because I don't understand why Paramore is still so successful when they are making records like this. I don't care that they moved in a more indie-pop direction. What bothers me is the repetitiveness of many of these songs, the annoyance of the non-lyric vocal tics, and especially the message where Hayley seems to be telling us not to pay attention to what is going on in the world. It all rubs me the wrong way, and leaves me wanting to hear hooks and songs that are enjoyable. Isn't that what pop is supposed to be?
Redemption - I Am The Storm
This was always going to be disappointing, if for no other reason than I don't like Tom Englund's voice in this band. For me, he sucks all of the life and color out of the proceedings. But what's even more disappointing is that what still could have been a passable record was ruined with a terrible rollout. I've heard the band say the two covers and the remix are 'bonus tracks', but they were never listed that way. We were all led to believe they were part of the actual record, which the sequencing would also indicate, and putting that much non-original material on a record means it's basically starting out with a failing grade. And so it failed.
Sermon - Of Golden Verse
I'm glad I don't write press releases, because I'm not sure I could bring myself to lie like that. This record was sold to me in terms I couldn't say no to, and it was nothing of the sort. This is one of those 'mysterious' bands, and this time I can see why they want to keep their identities a secret. This tuneless slog is so boring I literally cannot remember a note of it as I write this. The only memory I have is the searing frustration of realizing I had wasted forty minutes of my life, because I got suckered by someone who knew what buttons to press in their praise. Damn them.
No comments:
Post a Comment