The Top 11 Albums of 2023 - D.M's List

Here we are again - we're at the end of another year, which means it is time for the most arbitrary thing of all, which is to recap the musical arts of the year in the manner of a concise, ten-item list!  Naturally, diligent readers will note that my list goes to 11, because Spinal Tap.  

I usually allow my editorial blurbs to speak for themselves as far as an individual album on this list goes, but I did want to pause to the make the following assertion - as recently as the fall, I was not confident in this list, and I was notably alarmed that I hadn't managed to determine what I wanted the number one album of the year to be.

This last four weeks of dedicated music listening and review to things that caught my interest over the course of 2023 has turned around my opinion of the year entirely.  There were a lot of strong efforts to be had in this calendar year, they just didn't happen to come from the usual sources.  That's probably my own hubris and lack of time that accounts for what felt like personal disappointment.  Luckily, hedging against my own laziness, I kept copious notes of what I thought was interesting this year, so it wasn't too terribly difficult to go back there and unearth what I feel now are the most valuable gems.

More than ever, in what was a difficult year in many ways personally, I found myself gravitating more towards albums that I simply enjoyed listening to, and away from ones that I found academically interesting or musically intricate.  Bear that in mind as you read on.

First order of business, the rules:
-All albums must be original studio content
-No live albums
-No covers albums
-No re-releases
-No anthologies of any kind

-No EPs (this is a little fungible, as if say, NIN's "Broken" came out this year, it is so good that it would merit inclusion.  But it would take an extraordinary effort.  Which is why I give away a separate EP of the Year Award.)

I first began reviewing music in a forum such as this in 2008, which is making me feel slightly nostalgic, so to catch up for new readers, here are all the albums I have ranked #1 over the years, beginning in 2011, when I did my first official year-end list:
2011 - Turisas - Stand Up and Fight
2012 - The Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovell - Don't Hear It...Fear It! (<--the only one on this list I regret.)
2013 - Turisas - Turisas2013
2014 - Red Eleven - Round II
2015 - Shawn James & The Shapeshifters - The Gospel According to Shawn James & The Shapeshifters
2016 - Destrage - A Means to No End
2017 - The Midnight Ghost Train - Cypress Ave.
2018 - Cancer Bats - The Spark That Moves
2019 - Destrage - The Chosen One
2020 - The Heavy Eyes - Love Like Machines
2021 - Cave of Swimmers - Aurora
2022 - Rxptrs - Living Without Death's Permission

A brief mention to some artists who put out albums that merited consideration, but didn't make the cut: Phantom Elite, DieHumane, Metallica, Asinhell, Kontrust, Jason Blake, Degrave, Smokey Mirror, Children of the Reptile, Glacier Eater and FLO (though this last was released this year, it was recorded in 2004.)

Alright, I've wasted enough of your time. Let's get to it:

HONORABLE MENTION: Blood Ceremony – The Old Ways Remain

Blood Ceremony’s stylistic shift toward the retro folk-pop they experimented with on “Lord of Misrule,” is a decision that I don’t know if I would have made, but after a long absence, the band proves that their unique mix of the occult, fuzzy guitar, haunting vocals and, well, flute continues to make them a force to be reckoned with.  Those who walk into this hoping for old Blood Ceremony may be disappointed, but if you keep an open mind, there’s a lot of well-constructed old-school rock to be had here.

EP OF THE YEAR: Hellevate – The Purpose is Cruelty

It’s been a long while since I enjoyed a sampling of thrash that reminded me so much of the golden days of thrash and the revival that Power Trip promised but was sadly never able to totally deliver on.  Everything about this EP works, and the very fact that it is an EP works in its favor,  As they say, leave ‘em wanting more, and Hellevate does exactly that.  The guitars are crunchy, the vocals are edgy but restrained, the beats are good but not obsessive – it all meshes into some of the best pure thrash that’s been produced in the new millennium.  This is also the best band from Kansas City since The Browning.

11 – Necropanther – Betrayal 

I published the review of this album a week after its release just because I felt I needed more time with the album to really digest it and try to make something of it.  It’s maybe the only review I’ve ever penned (typed? Word processed?) where I ended up scoring the album incomplete.  Some six or whatever months later, with a dozen more listens, I still don’t know if I really have a grip on everything good and bad that’s happening here.  But that sense of intrigue alone makes it a unique listen worthy of consideration for this list just because of its staying power.  Throw in the fact that the juxtaposition of rock guitar solos with modern death metal presents as novel a sound as exists in any quantity in metal right now, and this record is worth the time.

10 – Overkill – Scorched

Another couple years, another Overkill album.  Overkill may well be the thrash version of AC/DC – if you have some concept that you like Overkill, you may well like the overwhelming majority of their catalogue, and if you don’t, you probably won’t like this either.  But that’s overly dismissive and doesn’t address the fact that Overkill, some twenty albums into their career, still sounds dedicated and vital.  It’s hard to find that amount of professionalism within any band that’s been around so long, let alone among Overkill’s thrash contemporaries.  “Scorched” stands out because Dave Linsk, long undervalued in the metal community as a guitar player, finds new avenues to control the pace of the band without losing any of their famed teeth.

9 – Lord of the Lost – Blood and Glitter

I’m so glad that Chris and I had the conversation at the end of last year about how we define a ‘year’ for the purposes of these lists.  We came to the joined conclusion that any album released after the publication of the previous list should count toward the next year’s list.  Lord of the Lost released this record on December 30th of 2022, and I would have been loathe to leave it without any further consideration.  I’ve long been a tangential follower of the band (who’s popularity seems to only be growing after cruelly finishing last in the Eurovision song contest 2023,) but they’ve never put together a full album that made me say ‘wow’ until this one.  (That said, I still don’t know if they’ve ever written a better single than 2018’s “Loreley,” but this record’s “Dead End” comes close.) Every song on this record pops in some way, finds a way to be interesting or catchy or both, and culminates in the best LotL album to date.

8 – Hellfreaks – Pitch Black Sunset

What a strange record, and I mean that in the best possible way.  It’s one part pop-punk album, one part rock sing along and one part screaming hardcore anthem.  While those idioms are all related, none of that sounds like it should work on paper, but listen to “Old Tomorrows,” which throws in a quasi-metal breakdown, and pureblood metal solo, and you’ll see how this genre-bending, swirling mass of an album becomes so much more than the sum of its parts.  This is like if Cripper and New Year’s Day tried to write an album together, but, you know…good.

7 – Royal Thunder – Rebuilding the Mountain

I am not a typical musical listener in that I have very little emotional attachment to any of the music that I enjoy.  I don’t associate songs or albums with any particular feeling one way or the other (with the exception of the Destrage song “Rage, My Alibi,” for reasons I’ll keep to myself.)  I say that though, to say that the emotions of an artist that they press into their music is not lost on me.  And “Rebuilding the Mountain” is a deeply painful and cathartic album for Royal Thunder, and while the circumstances of the record are serious and dire, the record is so much better for the raw infusion of genuine frustration and pain and hurt and ultimately forgiveness that permeates every moment.  “Now Here – No Where” will live in my head for a long time. 

6 – Powerwolf – Interludium

Power just writes fun records.  There may not be a metal band that does that with greater skill or sense of adventure than Powerwolf.  That’s really all there is to it.  The fact that they live on the outer orbits of power metal without succumbing to the cookie cutter that’s disfigured that genre forever is even better.

5 – Lucifer Star Machine – Satanic Age

A new-age Misfits?  Well, no, because the songs are more than forty seconds.  But that’s the vibe, and I’m here for it.  To go one level deeper, there’s also a healthy dose of the Dropkick Murphys mixed in here, and I mean Dropkick Murphys from back in the “Do or Die” era, not in the last fifteen or so years.  It’s the rasp in the vocals that sells that latter aspect, but this whole record bops along with gross lyrics set against the kind of accessible rock that gave birth to the entire punk movement in the first place.

4 – Robots of the Ancient World – 3737

As good a slow burn as there’s been since the first Mothership album, or Sundrifter’s “Visitations.”  Less direct than the best works of The Heavy Eyes, RotAW succeeds in that this is a full-on stoner doom record that never retreats into minimalism or gets lost in jam-like wandering.  That’s not an easy feat when all your songs are 6-plus minutes.  “3737” is aided by the fact that it’s limited to 6 songs, one of which is a throw away interlude, so all the band’s good ideas were mashed into a few packets, rather than spread out unnecessarily.  (Subtracting the throwaway, this has the same number of tracks as Hellevate’s EP, but because it still runs more than thirty minutes, qualified as an album.  For those scoring at home.)

3 – Zardonic – Superstars

This is two years in a row now that a DJ has put out a metal album that cracks my year-end list (Dampf’s “The Arrival” last year.)  Maybe it’s time that I just admit that I was born in the 80s and a certain degree of automatic love for electronic programming is burned into my genetic code.  Still, you know why this album is here?  Not to go too deep into the reeds, but this has been a tough year for me.  Lot of adversity, lot of trial and tribulations that required patience to navigate.  And this album makes me smile.  The fun factor is even greater than the baseline for Powerwolf, since this album exists solely for the purpose of being a fun album.  There’s no story here.  No grand mysticism or mountain in the distance that holds the secret to the keys, or whatever the hell.  “Rock and Roll Tonight” is more or less a KISS song for the 21st century, but it's just so damn awesome.  In the end, if your music isn’t making you smile, or making you enjoy it on whatever level it needs to meet you at, what the hell is the point anyway?  Plus, a really banging cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday,” a song that was in desperate need of a kick in the ass anyway.

2 – Kiberspassk – Smorodina

When I first heard this album at the end of December last year (it was released in January of 2023,) I was convinced I had already heard the best album of 2023.  It’s been a long time since I had heard an album that was so different than anything I’d heard before.  The rarest of all gems in music journalism is an album that sounds like literally nothing else in the best possible way, and Kiberspassk (who, by the way, are the same folks as in the more traditional folk band Nytt Land,) have crafted an album that combines metal, industrial, dance, folk, mythology and throat singing into a stew that it totally without peer.  The single “Daleko” is as haunting and beautiful and strange and energizing as any song I’ve ever heard.

1 – Graveyard – 6

This feels a little bittersweet.  This is the fifth consecutive Graveyard record to appear in my top albums of the year.  And it’s the first to be ranked number one.  Which, to come around, is bittersweet because I don’t think this is the best Graveyard album.  “Hisingen Blues” is almost certainly better, and I think I enjoyed “Peace,” this album’s forerunner, more than I did this one.  That doesn’t mean, however, that this can’t be the best album of 2023, though I do think I’m going to mentally jockey between this and “Smorodina” for years to come, and there will be days that I’m sure I will regret my decision.  Still, as Chris and I talked about when we wrote the double review for this record, this is Graveyard’s most soulful, most cinematic album to date (I will cede the point that every song Truls Mörck sings, even the ones I love like “Sad Song” on this record, all have the same tone.)  Really, what this comes down to is that there are no songs on this record I have any inclination to skip – they are all not only enjoyable, but unique in their own right within the context of the album.  That kind of fluidity and consistency of songcraft has to count for something.

D.M's Top Ten Albums of 2018!

This is all pretty straightforward.  Nothing makes us happier as a society than an arbitrary list of a subjective medium, so here’s mine!

The rules, such as they are, remain the same as ever – must be an original stadium album.  No re-releases, no greatest hits, no live albums, no covers albums.  Got it?  Second rule – it goes to 11.

Moving on.

The list you see below, simply for informational purposes, was whittled down from approximately thirty semifinalists that ranged in genre, composition, production and release date.  Thirty candidates is probably fewer than I’m accustomed to compiling, but this may not be a reflection of the year in music, at least not anymore than it is a reflection in my personal and professional life and the diminished time I had to spend with new albums on the whole.  It is entirely possible that I missed something this year I would have really enjoyed, but I remain confident in the caliber and conviction of this list.

The one casualty of having less time, however, was my Little Album That Could award.  I just didn’t get exposed to much local or truly independent music this year, so I have decided not to award that honor, rather than award it in a lackluster, half-assed fashion.

First out of the gate, EP Of The Year – There can be no other choice, it has to be Red Eleven’s “Fueled By Fire.”  These guys are among the best bands working today, and their production is spotless for a group working with less than a full budget.  Their guitars are sharp, the harmonies soar, and the songs click with a combination of ‘90s rock sensibility and new age pomp and circumstance.


HONORABLE MENTION– Fair number of bands just on the outside looking in this year, but honorable mentions still abound – The Browning followed up the excellent “Isolation” with “Geist,” and while this new record isn’t as groundbreaking or bombastic at its predecessor, it’s still an album of high merit.  I enjoyed the grunge throwback overtones of Kobra and the Lotus’ “Prevail II,” actually significantly more than I enjoyed the original “Prevail” last year.  Orange Goblin put out another Orange Goblin record, and I also found it was the year for ‘Black’ bands – Black Elephant, Black Royal and Black Wizard all held my attention for a moment.  I had my requisite hour of fun with Parasite, INC, and they flirted with the list for a moment before ultimately falling short.  The last album to be cut was Black Mirrors and their record “Look Into the Black Mirror.”  It was the 12th man on an 11 player roster.  So kudos to them in particular.

Without further ado –

#11 – KING WITCH – “Under the Mountain”

I spent a lot of time with this album when it first came out, and then as the year wore on, I found myself less and less attracted to it.  Some of that was an influx of new material, and I think some of it is that the album doesn’t have a lot of secrets to unravel – the first listen and the twentieth are much the same experience.  That said, this is as great a straight-ahead metal bulldozer as was released this year, and it should be treated as such.  There’s got to be something to be said for being in my personal rotation for five months.

#10 – WITCHSKULL – “Coven’s Will”

It was a great year for doomy, drone-y artists, and Witchskull was no exception.  Relative to the fine wines of high-end production and popular tastes, Witchskull goes down like grain alcohol, but that actually works in its favor.  It’s too easy to draw parallels between this and the grand Black Sabbath albums of old, but sometimes the easy way out is the best way out.  There’s a lot of bluesy dust covering every inch of this album, which makes it infectious.  It’s entirely too easy to just start nodding your head and bob along with the strangled rhythms.  Good stuff.

#9 – GHOST – “Prequelle”

Suck it, haters!  This is a fun record.  I know, I know, there’s a million papercuts of betrayal to all we thought Ghost or wasn’t, blah, blah, blah.  I don’t care about any of that crap.  Ghost has the right to do whatever they want.  Is this a pop album?  Yeah, maybe.  Is the single a sugar-coated affair that leans way over the line?  Sure is.  But the recognition of that fact doesn’t make it any less fun.  You do you, Ghost.

#8 – LORD OF THE LOST – “Thornstar”

I’ll admit it, this got by me on the first pass.  On my running list of music I take in over the course of the year, I marked it down, but didn’t make any special notations next to it.  On some whim in the late fall, I went combing through and tried it again, and that’s when it stuck.  Part industrial, part dark rock, part melodic singalong, “Thornstar” does a lot right, and deserves its place on this list for “Loreley” alone.  I say this through gritted teeth because I have such respect for the artist I’m about to impugn, but Lord of the Lost released the album that Emigrate should have released.

#7 – BLACK MOTH – “Anatomical Venus”

This album hit early and I just kept coming back to it.  The cover art is….well, blech.  But the album is freakin’ great.  I’m starting to think that any band with “Black” at the front of their title is using the word as a family name – it’s their honorific tie to Black Sabbath, a band they all hope to emulate in some form or fashion.  Black Moth takes that formula, injects some rock into it, and then combines the entire proceeding with a siren, hypnotic overlay.  There’s something about this music that’s difficult to describe, something with the tone that’s new and original and haunting.  Every couple months, this would work its way back into my ear.

#6 – SUNDRIFTER – “Visitations”

The desert rock is strong with this one.  Yet, it’s companion is doom, and so the combination of those elements makes for an unique experience.  “Visitations” isn’t solely colored by the red and yellow hues of a sunset among the sand, nor it is entirely given to a black, forested midnight, but lives at the twilight of both those images.  If Witchskull released an album that was easy to fall into the groove of, Sundrifter gave us all an opportunity to zone out entirely, a chance to separate from time itself and just be swept by the undulating wave of music.  This entire paragraph has been too dramatic in general, but it should illustrate the point.

#5 – FEAR OF DOMINATION – “Metanoia”

Many years ago, I reviewed an album by a duo called Alien Vampires, and I think at one point I think I said something like “grab your many-buckled leather pants, colored dreadlock extenders and gas masks, we’re going dancin’!”  I feel the same about this album.  I remain eminently fascinated by the revival of industrial metal that seems to be hand in hand with the rise of EDM, and the fact that those train tracks are colliding with increasing frequency has led to the creation of something entirely new – Alien Vampires, The Browning, Kontrust and 6:33 have all toyed with varying aspects of the idea, but Fear of Domination seems to have found the most complete synthesis of the metal and the electronic.  “Metanoia” also feels the most like a recording of a live experience of any album on this list.  “Sick and Beautiful” might be my favorite song of 2018, and also might be the most fun metal song of the year.

#4 – ALIEN WEAPONRY – “Tu”

We’re getting into the big hitters now.  This is the separation point, where the albums before now were one caliber and this one and on are the gems of the season.  When I first heard this band described as a bunch of teenagers making metal, I shuddered involuntarily as horrible, uninvited memories of the hype machine surrounding Black Tide came swarming back into my brain.  So it was with considerable caution that I hit play on “Tu”…and was instantly taken by it.  Make no mistake, these kids have a lot of work to do, because the music rough around the edges at the best of times, but the core is a diamond.  There’s one album every year that cracks my list just because it’s so impossibly heavy, and this is it this year.  “Tu” is a straight-ahead banger, a wrecking ball of noise and chanting.  The incorporation of the Maori verses and heritage works to give the band a novel feeling in much the same way as culture works in favor of Tengger Cavalry.  Musically, there’s not a lot new here, but the accents make it feel different and unique.

#3 – GRAVEYARD – “Peace”

I feel a little bad about this, only because as late as October, I was really convinced this was finally going to be the Graveyard album that made it to #1 for me.  This is one of the three or four best bands active in modern music, regardless of genre, and I really felt good giving them the top spot….but then as time went by, two albums edged ahead.  Graveyard, if you’re reading this, I am sorry.  I am out of superlatives to describe this band – they’ve never disappointed me, and every song on this album, and the three albums before it, gives us another piece of an amazing puzzle yet to be completed.  Graveyard does everything right, and reaches across a hundred aisles to attract fans from all walks of music.  “Peace” is a masterpiece, but then, four of the band’s five albums are (and the first one is still good, but not as iconic as the others.)  If you’re not a Graveyard fan yet, I don’t know what to tell you at this point.  Get on the bandwagon, damn it!

#2 – CLUTCH – “Book of Bad Decisions”

Clutch is still teaching masters classes on how to write music.  For a few years there, I was leaving them for dead (my full apology can be found in my formal review of this album,) but now here they are, having hit a double with “Earth Rocker,” and two home runs with “Psychic Warfare” and “Book of Bad Decisions.”  While different in craft and sound, this is some of the band’s best work since “Blast Tyrant,” and Clutch’s impact and command of the genre can’t be undersold.  These boys from Maryland are still a force to be reckoned with and they’re not done yet.

#1 – CANCER BATS – “The Spark That Moves”

What strikes me the most about this album is that Cancer Bats appear to have dropped all pretense of anything else and have gotten back to having fun.  “Searching for Zero” was a fine album, but it lacked a certain human quality that made “Dead Set on Living” such an instant classic.  “The Spark That Moves” is just that, full as ever of piss and vinegar, but also grinning from ear to ear, punching out a combination of styles that still remain harmonious and catchy.  It’s a difficult niche to live in – the speed and simple hooks of punk, the abrasiveness of hardcore and the edgy gravitas of metal must exist in their proper balance, and more bands that we care to recount have tried and failed, or at their best only managed to carry two of the three.  Cancer Bats, by contrast, have found the secret formula.  Much like “Sick and Beautiful” mentioned above (though for wildly different reasons,) if you can’t get up and feel your pulse quicken for “We Run Free,” then you’re abusing the privilege of music.  Every song on this album feels much the same, leaving us with a glorious album that rolls and rumbles with power and conviction.  Find it.  Buy it.  Then buy it for a friend.

A Joyous Night of Rock Revival - Graveyard Concert Review

The Brooklyn Bowl is, to say the least, a unique place to see a show.  Naturally, when a common concert attendee sees the name ‘Bowl,’ the natural assumption is that we’re talking about a place shaped like an amphitheater, indoors or out, capable of pristine audio and a thoroughly dignified concert experience.  The Brooklyn Bowl by contrast, while certainly dignified and in possession of pretty good aural reproduction, nevertheless asserts its name in a different fashion, as a fully functional bowling alley, in companionship with the normal amenities of a concert venue.  While a pleasant surprise, the sensation of walking in for the first time is not unlike Otto Mann’s reaction on “The Simpsons” upon leaving a store called ‘Stoner’s Pot Emporium.”

The night began with Spiders, the four-piece retro rock act that is bravely trying to change the common musical word association with “The Gothenburg Scene.”  To lead the evening was the power and circumstance of “Mad Dog,” the band’s best riff and most infectious song, which immediately sent the crowd into a head-nodding paroxysm of appreciation.  The focal point of Spiders is vocalist Ann-Sofie Hoyles, who channels the music into her being and allows the power of the groove to bodily move her about the stage.  She dances, stomps, twists and gyrates, kneeling to feel the power of the beat and swinging into the microphone for a performance that’s surprisingly consistent, given all the kinetic energy being expended.  Hoyles’ presence is uniquely her own, but for the sake of argument is somewhere between Janis Joplin and Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes.  While Spiders performed a tight set behind her, Hoyles was the full story (despite the delightfully over-the-top feathered lapels of bassist Olle Griphammar,) capturing the audience’s attention and making fans out of many.

Graveyard.  As if they needed to prove it on this night, in the argument for best active rock band on Earth.  The four piece led by Joakim Nilsson comes out to the stage without assuming any particular air; they are there simply to perform for the gathered masses, which had filled in by this time, anxious with anticipation.  Many bands set the tone for their set by projecting an image, but Graveyard stands apart in that the band members allow the tone of the songs to set the attitude of the performance.  It seems like an elementary notion, and it’s difficult to explain in words, but Graveyard manages to almost take a back seat to their own songs.

While the energy of some of Graveyard’s pieces are a talking point, the real star of their set on this night were the slow, measured, heavily blues-laden pieces that so successfully dot their albums.  Beginning the set was “No Good, Mr. Holden,” a gem from “Hisingen Blues,” that swayed and undulated with deep, throwback groove.

It is rare in music to discover an album that sounds like an old friend from the first few listens.  It is rarer still to discover that that album takes on entirely new and virile dimensions when it is exhibited live.  Such is the case with Graveyard’s “Innocence and Decadence,” which is quickly coming up on six months old.  “From a Hole in the Wall,” featuring the smoother vocals of new(ish) bassist Truls Mörck exploded forth from the stage, rousing the gathered throng and giving perhaps just a small window of what it might have been like to see Cream perform in their heyday.  The psychedelic influence on “I&D,” though subtle, helped differentiate and diversify the set, as the paced swing of “Cause and Defect” shifted into the leaping drive of “The Suits, The Law and the Uniforms,” keeping the set moving and the crowd interested.

The standouts of Graveyard’s performance, almost unilaterally, were the love songs, or perhaps more appropriately, the songs concerning love and relationships.  “Too Much is Not Enough,” a song that sounds slightly overdone on the album, comes alive in this setting, the other band members taking the place of the recorded chorus and the tones of Jonatan Larocca-Ramm’s guitar finding depth in reverb.  By the time the set wound down to a thunderous “Uncomfortably Numb,” sweat dripped freely from Nilsson as he crooned the verses of a song that has always sounded like an inverted “Free Bird.”

Yet for all that, the set’s most emotional moment came in the encore, as Nilsson emerged alone and lit only on one side by a single stage light, strummed and sang through “Stay For a Song,” the powerful ballad which had the crowd mouthing the lyrics and the fashionable ladies of Brooklyn swaying in appreciation.  The performance was perfectly dotted by the subtle ovation the rest of the Graveyard received from the crowd as they took their places to continue the evening.  Ultimately, the band said goodnight following the bigger-than-life organized blues chaos of “The Siren,” and the crowd was left smiling, knowing they had just seen professionals put on. a. show.

Graveyard stands poised to take on the world.  And they just might win.

The Top 11 Albums of 2015!

I think by this point we’ve covered everything that needs to be said by way of introductions, so here we go with a recap on the rules of this game: To merit consideration, all records must be composed of entirely new studio material – no re-releases, live albums, re-masters or compilations.  Also, we do a top eleven here, because as we all know, 'it goes to eleven.'  Got it?  Here we go:

Other Receiving Votes) Clutch – “Psychic Warfare,” Iron Maiden – “The Book of Souls”, Mongol Metal – “Mongol Metal” (disqualified only because it was made up of previously released material.)

Honorable Mention) Niche – “Heading East”

A late comer to the party!  Niche blends classic rock and with folk and just drop a psychedelia in a way that harkens back to the storytelling rock heavyweights of yesteryear.  Three part vocal harmony and intricately layered melodies make “Heading East” an absorbing and yet relaxing listen.

11) The Great Game – “The Great Game”

This record doubles as my Little Record That Could for 2015, as it stuck in my memory for most of the year.  For those following, 2015 was the Year I Tried to Hear Something Different, and really, each time someone would ask me what I had heard this year that fit the bill, “The Great Game” jumped back in my head.  Infectious in its liberal deployment of genres and tropes, The Great Game, a band of the world if ever there was one, can tie together a melody with everything from a guitar to an accordion and back again.  This is an expansive effort that can be a challenging listen, but its heart is a passion for experimental music that just plan works.

10) Annihilator – “Suicide Society”

Because very year there’s a record that’s worthy of the cut solely because it’s fun to listen to, more than that it actually possesses novel artistic merit.  Jeff Waters’ guitar tone remains one of the all-time greats, and becomes his de facto signature on every track of this album.  You can say what you want about Annihilator; that they’ve put out some very average records (true) and that they’ve never really tried to change their game plan (also probably true,) but that steadfast dedication to what got them here also means that they can drop a great record at any time.  “Suicide Society certainly isn’t going to qualify for the ‘Something Different’ title like The Great Game does, but it’s a blast to listen to, and damn it, that counts for something.

9) Pentagram – “Curious Volume”

And yet, amidst all the upstarts, we see a second legacy act join the fray and produce their best record in years.  Every metal fan keeps in his or her heart a small, burning love of doom metal, and Pentagram fills that niche will not getting bogged down in the idea that doom must be slow or plain.  Rich melodies, hook-y blues riffs and veteran craftsmanship show those damn kids how we did it back in the day!  (Note: back in the day for me was like, 1992, so I can’t really lay legitimate claim to the ‘we’ there.)  Anyway, Pentagram.

8) Children of Bodom – “I Worship Chaos”

After the shoulder-shrug of “Halo of Blood,” CoB comes back re-engineered as a quartet, which oddly ends up expanding their repertoire rather than collapsing it.  Alexi Laiho ends up writing a couple emotional pieces that no one would have ever expected from the alcohol celebrating, Finnish, metal champions and perhaps most surprising of all, they work!  This is a more mature sound from Children of Bodom while at the same time really bringing their keyboard work back into the fore.  The style is a work in progress for these guys still, but this record shows a ton of promise.

7) 6:33 – “Deadly Scenes”

Am I cheating here?  I think I might be cheating a little.  If memory serves, there were parts of the globe that got this album in the latter half of 2014, but Kaotoxin Records lists the official release date at January 15th, 2015, so I’m going with them.  Anyway, 6:33 is in that same vein as The Great Game, music designed to go way beyond the borders, except that 6:33’s production is both more compelling and well, this might sound simple, but more fun.  The best moments on “Deadly Scenes” have a jaunty swing in an inverse relationship with how much sense the songs make, which is weirdly all the album’s benefit.  Five dudes in masks with no live drummer playing music that wanders in a hundred directions?  Sold!

6) Cancer Bats – “Searching for Zero”

Following up the singular greatness that was “Dead Set on Living” was a tall order, but Cancer Bats delivered with “Searching for Zero,” an album that eschewed some of the rock overtones of its predecessor to deliver crunchy, ugly riffs circled around personal torment and rebellion.  There’s depth here in the bass tones alone, never mind the slow, churning drudgery that the band mated with it to create an authentic feeling of dread.  It’s rare that a band with hardcore roots can show this much discipline and growth, but Cancer Bats fit the bill.

5) Midnight Ghost Train – “Cold Was the Ground”

I’m starting to sense a theme within my own list, which is that everything I really connected to this year largely fell into one of two categories – different and complex, or ugly and fun.  Midnight Ghost Train swings the needle the farthest in the latter direction, slopping out fuzzy riffs and channeling immense amounts of distortion to create a romp that sounds, well, like I imagine a midnight ghost train would.  What sets this album apart and finishes its showcase is two-fold; first, that if you can sift through the grime, there’s a really accessible metal album underneath and second, there’s a sense of humor here that makes the proceedings lighter than the music would seem at first blush.  An enjoyable ride, and hey, they made a tour poster with a vintage-style nude woman hiding in the shadows on it.  Bonus!

4) Mountain of Wizard – “Casting Rhythms and Disturbances”

Apparently, it’s becoming a trend that I put an instrumental album in my top ten.  Well, here’s this year’s entry, an avalanche of inspired, monster riffs that nod heads and demand notice.  It’s a curious thing when an album can capture attention without speaking a single syllable, and that makes Mountain of Wizard all the more notable for what they’ve accomplished here.  Each of these songs feels like an organic, handcrafted creation, a thoughtful plan executed by musicians who had an idea and then jammed it out a bunch of times until it sounded right.  There’s a lot to like here.

3) Powerwolf – “Blessed and Possessed”

Okay, if Midnight Ghost Train was the ugliest of these albums, then by comparison in the ‘ugly and fun’ category, “Blessed and Possessed” is the most fun.  Don’t get me wrong, every Powerwolf is fun just because of what it is and what the band does, but this album in particular screams ‘road-trip sing-a-long.’  The Christian werewolves have outdone themselves this time, creating a tome of epic anthem after epic anthem, running the gamut from thumping arena rock to heart-pounding chase.  Attila Dorn’s vocals are as resonant as ever, but the brothers Greywolf outdid themselves this time with sharp, poignant riffs and excellent articulation.  Just look at that video!  I mean, doesn’t that look like fun?

2) Graveyard – “Innocence and Decadence”

Okay, at this point, Chris C and I have salivated over this album enough that everyone knows why it’s on here.  “Innocence and Decadence” is the most complete, best composed record of 2015, assembled and executed by talented musicians who display not only a complete mastery of their sound, but a healthy respect for the heritage of it.  So, what’s holding it back from being #1?

1) Shawn James and the Shapeshifters – “The Gospel According to Shawn James and the Shapeshifters”

This would be the answer.  Sometimes, there is an album so raw, echoing with the vibrations of sheet power, that it overwhelms even the best-laid blueprint of its competitors.  “The Gospel According…” may not be a match for “I&D” when it comes to precision or craft, but the pulpit-shaking bellow of Shawn James stirs the listener on a different level altogether.  This is vigorous, commanding music that’s tempered with enough sense of humor to prevent it from being melodramatic.  The fury and bluster of opener “No Gods” is balanced only too perfectly by the stark, cold grip of “Lost.”  Each track has a different character, a different feel, as the down-home riffs and bluegrass instrumentation create a dynamic sound from the album’s beginning to end.  If you are someone who appreciates being moved by music, or if you simply enjoy being absorbed by the album you’re listening to, there’s something for everyone on this record.  It’s the clear choice for Album of the Year.

Album Review: Graveyard - "Innocence and Decadence"

*Editorial note - we both wanted to review this album because we had strong thoughts about it and the band in general, so rather than fight over who would, we simply both did, as we are sometimes inclined to do.  D.M's review is after the break.

Chris C: When I survey the landscape of rock and metal, there is a worrying trend that I notice. Of all the bands that have debuted in the last decade or so, there are merely a handful that have made more than one album that I love. My tastes are odd, sure, but the fact that so few have hit the mark for more more than once is deeply troubling, and doesn't bode well for the sustained future of the scene. The main exception to that observation is Graveyard, the group who I wrote in a column is the best band of this new millennium. I didn't hear it at first, but over the last couple of years they have grown to be a legitimately great band, and all three of their albums are in regular rotation. Simply put; they are the type of band that not only do I want to hear, but that we all NEED to hear.

With that being said, I approached "Innocence & Decadence" with the highest of expectations. "Lights Out" was my co-album of the year in 2012, and had I not been foolish, "Hisingen Blues" would have had a shot at that title in 2011. Can Graveyard make it three masterpieces in a row?

That's actually a very tricky question, because I'm of two minds about this album.

Let's start with the good news: Graveyard still writes some of the best songs in the business today. They have a unique ability to take simple ideas, and turn them into something unforgettable. There's not a moment of flash in their music, nor do they ever pander to what could be called pop, but they're able to make their music damn near unforgettable. While other bands continue twisting their fingers to make the most arcane riffs imaginable, Graveyard takes three or four chords, and a simple lick, and runs circles around them.

Just listen to lead single "The Apple And The Tree" for an example of this. The main guitar part is a simple blues lick, and the rest of the song is built from strummed chords, but the songwriting is so deft that you don't notice how simple the message is. That's the mark of a great artist; being able to amaze without doing anything amazing. Graveyard has that ability, and they showcase it here. Songs like the gospel-tinged "Too Much Is Not Enough", the Cream-inspired "Cause & Defect", and the stunningly gorgeous closing ballad "Stay For A Song" are as good as Graveyard has ever been. They're songs Graveyard writes that every other band playing this kind of vintage feeling music simply can't muster.

But there is some bad news: This album brings in new influences that I'm not sure completely work. There's a heavier dose of psychedelic tones than in the past, which definitely keeps the music fresh, but it downplays the crisp attack of Graveyard's guitars. There are fewer of those memorable riffs on this album, with those brain-drilling guitar parts replaced by more atmosphere in the slower numbers, and almost punk fury in the heavier ones. I'm not sure either plays to Graveyard's strengths.

That misjudgment of who they are is my biggest issue with the record. The vocals on two tracks here are given to other members of the band, which is a decision I cannot understand. When you have a singer with the tone and expression Joakim Nilsson possesses, letting anyone else replace him is ill-advised. The others aren't bad singers, but they aren't Joakim, and I can't help but have my mind wonder what those songs would have sounded like if he had sung them.

Let's be honest here, the bad news doesn't amount to very much. This is still a Graveyard album, which means it's written at such a high level that even a few blemishes aren't going to make much of a mark. "Innocence & Decadence" is a great album by any standard, except maybe their own. Judging it solely on its own merits, there's no doubt that "Innocence & Decadence" is one of the five or ten best albums of the year. But judged against what Graveyard has already accomplished, I think it might be a slightly weaker album than their last two outings.

But, in fairness, this album is far more subtle than those records, and I'm thinking that it's the kind of album that is going to improve and open up the more that it's listened to. "Innocence & Decadence" is a very, very good album right now, but it may become a great one a month or two down the line.

D.M:  I am incredibly tempted to commit the ultimate in editorial sins: just simply say “I love this album,” drop my figurative pen, and let that stand as testament to how everyone should feel about Graveyard’s “Innocence and Decadence.”  I probably just killed all the suspense of my portion of this review.  Oh well.  Read on for more:

Let’s get one quick thing out of the way first – I totally understand why it has to be this way, but I remain aggravated that Graveyard is marketed almost exclusively as a metal band.  They’re not.  They’re just plain not.  They have much more in common with The Jimi Hendrix Experience than with even Black Sabbath and there are so many people (my dad, for one,) who would love this record but won’t ever know that because the ‘metal’ label disinterests them.  There are tons of old burnouts (and, well, new burnouts,) who will find kinship with the free-wheeling spirit of Graveyard’s latest opus.

Listen, not to get all Joe Friday about this record, but “Innocence and Decadence” doesn’t need poetic language to embellish the sale of its traits.  This is, beyond doubt, the most authentic pure rock album made in at least the last fifteen years, made by the band who is in competition only with themselves for that title.

It’s rare to find an album that does everything right, but this album certainly can lay claim to be in that discussion.  Exhibit A: there are forgotten piles of bands throughout the blues family tree (rock, metal, blues, grunge, etc,) that were given to write ballads because they thought they should, or because the album needed a break from the relentless savagery that in theory would tire out the listener.  But Graveyard doesn’t write slow tunes for slow’s sake – they think it through, and compose a disciplined and impactful piece of music that gives the listener a change of pace, while at the same time utilizing a different arsenal of aural weapons.  Case in point, “Exit 97.”  Moreover, Chris alluded to it above, but the way this album ends with “Stay For a Song” is both heartbreakingly emotional and brilliant in execution.  The song is woven almost entirely out of the combination of love lost and deep longing, and rather than end, just gently fades out into oblivion.  It’s a daring decision to end the record that way, but for the character of “Innocence and Decadence” it’s the right one.

I will cede that I agree with Chris that the employment of another person’s vocals was an unnecessary gamble.  It doesn’t turn out badly per se, but it certainly doesn’t turn out better than it would have with Nilsson still at the helm.  In addition, the added live chorus of “Too Much is Not Enough” might be a bit much (ironic for a song of that title.)

Enough about that.  Graveyard’s bend toward the flowing psychedelic works, even if only for the profile of this one record.  It seems to be a product of the live recording model, and while the eroded edges of the new guitar cadences might have dulled the experience of “Lights Out” or “Hisingen Blues” in particular, the free-form feel lends a certain flair-without-flair which is difficult to describe but works remarkably well, allowing for the unexpected fuzzy power of “The Apple and the Tree,” which just happens to be the album’s best song.  Graveyard took their classic rock accomplishments and rolled them back ten years to the swingin’ sixties, making the incredibly subtle but seemingly effortless transition between Led Zeppelin and Cream in just one record.  The fact that they tried it is one thing, the fact that they had the talent to do it another.  But the fact that they nailed it perfectly is worthy of a different level of admiration.

But we’re getting away from solid facts again.  Two things remain irrefutably clear and beyond argument about “Innocence and Decadence.”  First off, that no one has made an album of this particular style, in this high a caliber, in roughly forty years.  Second, that Graveyard is, without question, one of the best four or five bands working today.