Dolphin Whisperer’s and Ferox’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Dolphin Whisperer

Dolphin Whisperer

Every year, its end becomes more shocking and swift. Once, some guy told me, simply, “it only gets worse.” Not life though—attributing a better or worse or any sort of constant determination of our passage leaves a lot of room for falling into a void of enjoyment—life is, after all, a constant until its not. But time, or our sense of being in its too ever-present stream, flows at a rate that changes in ways to which we never quite catch up.

As such, there’s a comfort in knowing how much time an album, particularly one you enjoy will take. For the ten-to-twenty minutes it takes for grindcore proper to slap me silly or the forty-to-eighty minutes that it takes for my deepest progressive loves to wring out a moaning confession, I know where my attention lies, even if it’s only half there and half on a task at hand. Time and tasks, day to night, play to stop, music makes my world a better place. And entering my now third year at Angry Metal Guy, an institution that has been a fixture of my musical journey for even longer, I continue to hold a profound gratitude and excitement for another year of discovery.

2024 has had its challenges professionally and personally. 2025 will be no doubt the same, even if some trials we can see forming in the distance. But you want to know about the music, right? On that end, 2024 has yielded a heaping trove of great albums. Heck, even a Rodeö pick scratched at the rungs of an honorable mention. The below list barely scratches the surface of the breadth that the year has offered. Further down you will see Ferox‘s list, which captures a different collection equally rooted in joy. He might be more right than I am. But that matters little. Celebrate with us, your favorite collective of writers on the world wide web! Come hang with some of us on Discord too if you’d like. Most of the people there are certified flea-free. And don’t be too upset if 2025 doesn’t hit you the same at first. It’s just another year, and it’ll be over before you know it.

#ish. Kalandra // A Frame of Mind – At my core, I consider myself a Norwegian sad girl. Usually, this manifests in some sort of weepy, melancholy prog, the likes of Age of Silence or Madder Mortem.1 But Kalandra’s enfolkened an impassioned take on an artsy, progressive collection of empowering tunes hit me square in my aching heart from the moment I heard it. Most importantly, though, Kalandra knows that suffering is just a step on the path of growth and happiness, which is a message that inspires me every day.

#10. Dawnwalker // The Unknowing – The power to dream and envision a world driven by mysticism has an allure that’s hard to ignore. And while we know that more determinable laws guide the happenings of our daily lives, a glimpse of the unknown will always find its way into sequence. Dawnwalker putting this esoteric but ever-present concept into an atmospheric, genre-warped, playfully progressive package hardly surprises me, though. The British troupe has had my number since their unsung classic In Rooms,2 so I’m doing my last in continuing to love them despite Twelve‘s best efforts to underrate them.3

#9. Lizzard // Mesh – Lizzard’s 2021 opus Eroded is my favorite album of this decade so far. The French trio’s ability to warp deep, rhythm-tricky layers into driving and emotional rock songs his me at the core of my musical desire for cathartic hope expressed in an unassuming and lush framework. Mesh doesn’t present any differently in that regard. But its wrinkles on Lizzard’s timeless yet ’90s alternative-rooted oeuvre fuel Mesh’s inherent melancholy with a hope that’s jubilant, like a cracked smile on an overcast day.

#8. Dissimulator // Lower Form Resistance – [INCOMING TRANSMISSION.] “My name is Clyde, and I arrive from beyond with wonderful news. My good friend Ferox has survived this timeline after all, having learned to navigate the Lower Form Resistance assault of fast-twitch rhythms and slow-twitch death metal punctuation. His head, fully intact, sways wildly in its hairless glory—big dives for big skanking breaks, snappy rolls for whiplash accelerations. He may not be as rhythmically gifted in pit-galloping cadence as the virtuoso drum and bass duo that provides life to Dissimulator’s effortless strides, but Ferox is my everything nonetheless.” [END TRANSMISSION.]

#7. Mamaleek // Vida Blue – I couldn’t begin to tell you what has never landed about Mamaleek’s works before with a weird precision. As an act dedicated to sounding only like Mamaleek, their singular expression of tortured black(ish) metal warped by jazzy and slogging attitudes has manifested quite the take-it-or-leave-it musical experience. And while you, dear reader, may assume this is firmly up my alley, it has not been. At least not until Vida Blue served a bottom of the ninth heart-shaker as an ode to a departed friend.4 With a soulful swing, a tortured connection, and an exit velocity powered by equal parts loss and love, Mamaleek has clinched a campaign for my attention.

#6. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – As an apex predator in the brutal death metal world, Defeated Sanity’s appearance arouses not questions of competency but rather calculations of the carnage wrought. Chronicles of Lunacy does not mark a turning point or novel twist in the Defeated Sanity timeline—its finely tuned lashings hit as inescapable all the same. When neither a beast’s reach, nor mass, nor attack speed goes contested, an exhibition of its might will flash with morbid glee. As such, Defeated Sanity need not surprise to strike mortal wound. Chronicles’ fangs glisten with an aged-imbrued tarnish, tearing at my flesh in every way I would expect. And I want more.

#5. Orgone // Pleroma – Meticulous and constructed as a master-work, Pleroma’s opening notes signal a trance. Acoustic twang and chamber instrument-fueled swoon build an atmosphere of wonder against a fervent and languished march of post-genre swells and death-fueled crescendos. Cycling through its many shades feels less like a fever dream and more of a trial-filled journey. Wielding a demure grandeur, Pleroma’s effortless realization of Orgone’s peerless vision never feels like the epic journey its runtime suggests. Were my time truly infinite, Pleroma would be even harder to rip away from the queue.

#4. Julie Christmas // Ridiculous and Full of Blood – A lady screaming bloody murder shouldn’t go down this smooth, but that’s always been the promise and success of Julie Christmas. Few vocalists leave me slack-jawed and ear-shaken in the wake of piercing cries, raw-throated shrieks, and impassioned lyrical slather. Yet, Ridiculous and Full of Blood cuts track after track out of sonic patterns that do exactly that, all while empowering a full band expression of alternative-laced grooves, post-informed climbs, and punk-tied sneer. The Christmas season sums a flurry of inspired performances under the banner of a madwoman. And I stand at the ready to fray my vocal cords in attempt to crack with the same battle-tested precision that Ms. Christmas has earned from a life hard-worn.

#3. Ingurgitating Oblivion // Ontology of Nought – Though born of minds unrelated, Ontology of Nought exists as an esoteric companion to the Pleroma embodiment. Orgone is the twin that went to conservatory, graduated with honors, and holds an honorable performing chair, all while remembering its young love for death metal. Ingurgitating Oblivion, on the other hand, dropped out, spiraled into entheogenic dissociation, earns a living gigging at jazz clubs—also maintains its youthful lust for the clamoring riff and hammering blast. Maximalism oozes a frothing wonder in the hiss of distorted chatter and rhythmic mastery. An imperfect and breathing construction rises and falls in ethereal inhales and vision-spinning mantras. Ontology of Nought deserves each of its over-budget minutes. Invest time in the freedom that it promises… “and cease to be.”

#2. OU // 蘇醒 II: Frailty – The casualness of OU’s inception belies its profound leap into my necessary rotation. No incumbent love ever has a defined position in the halls of end-of-year accolades,5 and even more so when the act’s very presence rang suspicious in its finely-tuned invasion to my critical wiles. But, as I noted when I first blew my love for 蘇醒 II: Frailty over the pages of Angry Metal Guy, it’s OU’s “idiosyncratic atmosphere” that pulls from a “polyrhythmic hypnosis” and masterful “energetic flow” that continues to chart them deservedly high in the annals of ’20s progressive music. And while this collision of classically-minded, synth-addicted madness slowly expands its universe one OU release at a time, I’m content to sit here and yell their praises at anyone who will listen.

#1. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – You know you’re getting old when an album about modern burnout and the pains of traffic resonates with you all the way from frozen shoulder to radiating lower back to cold-groaning knee. But when Pyrrhon stealth-bombed my aging metalhead mind with a tech-dial riff barrage of noisy and shouting proportions, I had no choice but to surrender. Exhaust demands attention from its initial irony-laced lift-off to its closing brutalist clock-out, swinging skronk-enabled splatters and ache-addled vituperation around every faded line and pothole in its death metal architecture. Though Pyrrhon uses simpler blocks, their construction here defies convention at every step. One fine commenter summed up Exhaust in the most succinct manner in that regard: “Death Metal, Hardcore, Noise Rock, Technical Death Metal. It’s just mathcore.” Except they took away the wrong message from that distillation. The verdict, in fact, is fuck you.

Honorable Mentions:

• • Inner Strength // Daydreaming in Moonlight – Another way you know you’re getting old is that you love an album that sounds like it should have released in 1995. Alas, here we are.
  • Dysrhythmia // Coffin of Conviction – Instrumental progressive music should be as exciting as Dysrhythmia. Comes for the Martyr riffs. Stay for the Metheny floating.
  • Beaten to Death // Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis – Beaten to Death is still the best grindcore band on the planet. They probably won’t ever release a better album than D​ø​dsfest!, but that’s OK. Their discography is now about two hours total. Go listen to it if you haven’t.
  • Stygian Crown // Funeral for a King – Doom should always have a guitar tone that feels equally powered by swords and beer alongside vocals that feel soft like bar-stained leather stools.
  • Kollapse // AR – I didn’t know KEN mode had a Danish doppelgänger with a frightening, large pink face. But they do, and boy does Kollapse know how to yell and riff.
  • Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // of the Last Human Being – Had I infinitely more listening time, I may have been able to parse better this deeply cinematic and wacky slab of no wave emboldened prog. Most don’t actually earn the avant-garde tag the way SGT does.
  • Defying // Wadera – Hour-long albums based on old Polish werewolf stories and horror movies shouldn’t be this easy to repeat, but I find myself often falling into Wadera’s unbreakable spell.
  • Arthouse Fatso // Sycophantic Seizures: A Double Feature – I didn’t have radically-minded industrial deathgrind about the frustrated escapades of a fictional Orson Welles life on my 2024 bingo, but here I am telling you to listen to it anyway.
  • Concrete Winds // Concrete Winds – Just this. And shitloads of riffs.

Disappointments o’ the Year:

• Myrath // Karma – I love Shehili so much. My love for power metal isn’t what it used to be, but Myrath’s exuberance while staying rooted in both the trickier waters of prog and the anthemic cries of power metal gave me hope both that I’d continue to latch on to the kind of playful love it can offer. But the arrangements on Karma, despite Myrath’s still life-affirming messages, do absolutely nothing to bolster that same joy for me. Karma sinks my listening brain. And that hurts.
• Pallbearer // Mind Burns Alive – The continued non-success of Pallbearer and their sleepy-toned take on creaky prog rock hurts the Dolph who fell in love with their weepy doom classic (and still controversial to true doomsters) Heartless. And yet the general blogging population seems to praise them for trying to reinvent sadboi roots rock with worse lyrics. And, for my money, Pallbearer is sounding increasingly thin live. If a return to glory is in store for Pallbearer, it will begin with them finally playing a riff again.
• Polterguts // Nobody Likes You – Okay, this EP actually rips because Polterguts rips. Hard. But, Polterguts, if you’re reading this, please put it on Bandcamp so I can link the shit out of it and give you money. I am disappointed that I have no way to contribute currency to your cause. “Ricky Has a Knife2” is worth the price of admission alone.

Songs o’ the Year:

Why give you one when I can give you twenty-seven? Why twenty-seven? That’s my secret. Now, I’ve talked enough, go out there and enjoy some music, friends. And enjoy this photo of my dogs.

Coconut (left), Kiwi (right) in a stylish Adidog sweater.

Ferox

I worked way too much in 2024. I can’t complain; it was meaningful work that I chose to take on, and it got me that much closer to not having to work at all if I don’t want to. Still, that’s what I’ll think of when I think of 2024: lots and lots of work. That had a knock-on effect, especially when it comes to hobbies like lifting, getting out to national parks, and writing here. I did very little of any of that. I kept up with metal as best I could, and embarked on a big end-of-year listening push to have an accurate picture of what came out in 2024. I’m grateful that I got to do a list at all this year, so I took the responsibility seriously… but I’d be lying if I said I was buried in the scene all year.

One of the highlights of my 2024 was meeting a whole slew of staffers in person. I traveled a bunch this year, both for work and for my daughter’s ballet pursuits, and with that came the chance to hang with some of the people who make this place go. My body count of staffers met this year: Steel Druhm, Madam X, Cherd, Twelve, Dr. Wyrm, Thus Spoke, El Cuervo, Doom et al, and Holdeneye. It was a veritable orgy of almost entirely chaste fellowship, and only one (1) bad hang among the lot!6

I’m grateful to Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy for indulging my schedule, and for the real leadership they provide at my fake job. I found this unique community because it had the best music writing on the internet, and that remains true today thanks to the talented people who contribute their time and enthusiasm to keeping the machinery humming. I’m lucky to be a small part of it, and hopeful that 2025 will give me more time to spend in the Hall.

#ish. Mother of Graves // The Periapt of Absence – My “-ish” spot typically goes to an album that might have listed if I just had more time with it. That holds true of the sophomore effort from Indianapolis’s Mother of Graves, which landed on my radar by way of Carcharadon‘s excellent TYHMHM piece. This slab of classic sadboi death doom transcends any tribcore concerns through sheer quality of execution. From opener “Gallows” through final track “Like Darkness to a Dying Flame,” The Periapt of Absence guides the listener through the stages of grief with varied compositions that maintain a consistent mood throughout. Classic death doom is alive and well.

#10. Wormed // Omegon – Maddog‘s compelling rave for Omegon is my personal Review o’ the Year; fortunately, the prose was well spent on this efficient and brutal riff delivery system. Wormed has been creating slam-adjacent otherworldly death metal for a good while now, and Omegon is a distillation of everything the band has learned over the past two decades. 2024 is the year I realized I’ve been a brutal death metal guy all along. With songs like “Pareidolia Robotica” and “Virtual Teratogenesis,” Wormed took me by the hand and guided me through this journey of self-discovery… all while the people in the offices around me called in noise complaints.

#9. Ripped to Shreds // Sanshi – The already impressive Ripped to Shreds leveled up with Sanshi, a blast of aggressive but technically adept death metal that never left my rotation after its release. The guitar hero shredding plays like a release valve to the vicious and punky energy that Andrew Lee injects into his compositions. This cycle of tension and release makes for an addictive listen that feels like it ends mere moments after you hit play. The thrash elements of the R2S sounds are more prevalent on Sanshi, meaning the band now scratches the same itch for me that Horrendous did with their last killer slab.

#8. Scumbag // Homicide Cult – Scumbag! SCUUUMMMMBAGGGG. This nasty bit of business, with its deathgrind touches and morbid sense of humor (“Pure Adrenaline Hard-On,” “The Meating”), was tailor-made for the Ferox sensibility. Herein lie twenty-eight minutes of death metal that never slams but still walks the same line that Wormhole managed to last year: brutal but somehow cheerful, and stoopid without being remotely dumb. Dylan Cruz, of this band and Noxis, came out of nowhere to occupy a huge chunk of my limited listening time this year.

#7. Black Curse // Burning in Celestial Poison – With Burning in Celestial Poison, Black Curse stages a forty-five-minute takeover of your central nervous system. Eldritch Elitist captured the elemental power of these five compositions better than I ever could, but this album gave me exactly what I needed in a 2024 that was characterized by an extreme lack of work-life balance. Metal can provide a safe outlet for less-than-savory feelings, and Black Curse expressed a lot of things for me that I couldn’t express myself and stay employed. Lose yourself in these five tracks and emerge scoured but smarter.

#6. Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – The hot streak continues; Songs of Blood and Mire, Spectral Wound’s fourth album, is their best effort yet. Carcharadon capably cataloged crisp new cross-currents in the band’s sound, but the song quality remains the same. Tracks like “At Wine-Dark Midnight in the Mouldering Halls” and Song o’ the Year “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” showcase the band’s gift for coupling aggression with sweeping melody. In this way, Spectral Wound recalls Watain without so much distracting ooga-booga. Songs of Blood and Mire finds them continuing to refine their sound and grow in confidence.

#5. Endonomos // Endonomos II – Enlightenment – Endonomos carried the torch for doom in 2024. Enlightenment is a stately procession, its six long tracks blending influences from all across the doom spectrum. This is music that soars as it plods. Steel Druhm noted similarities to both Khemmis and Fvneral Fvkk. Those comps are perfect; not since Carnal Confessions has a doom album so effectively cut through the clutter of genre tropes to evoke genuine emotion.

#4. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I hate it when the promotional push for an album ties a record too strongly to the narrative of its creation. It’s like the record company is trying to force a reaction that the album itself might or might not evoke. So when Exhaust arrived with heavy-handed descriptions of process and what Pyrrhon went through trying to make the album happen, I bristled and stopped reading. Fortunately, the music on Exhaust speaks for itself. This is a bitter and blistering record that finds the band raging against their rage’s inability to change even a single thing. I’ve always appreciated Pyrrhon, but I’ve never connected with their music as immediately as I did on Exhaust.

#3. Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Defeated Sanity has had quite the AMG journey. They’ve gone from being brushed aside by a n00b named Potato Jim to being on the receiving end of a double-4.0 fellating from the tenured likes of Dolphin Whisperer and Maddog. Chronicles of Lunacy finds Defeated Sanity extending the Colin Marston-enabled peak that they hit on 2020’s The Sanguinary Impetus. It takes extreme skill to weaponize the base and the stoopid this effectively. Defeated Sanity is more than up for the job.

#2. Inter Arma // New Heaven – Here’s another band that could be wrestling with The Law of Diminishing Recordings by now, but instead persists with quality release after quality release. Inter Arma never repeats themselves, but each of their albums could only come from them. Hot take: Sky Funeral has remained my favorite Inter Arma album even as they’ve racked up an epic run of excellence. New Heaven makes a run at unseating it. This is a slab that rewards the many repeated listens I gave it in 2024; it sat in my top slot for much of the year until a late-breaking favorite pushed it aside.

#1. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – This is my third time publishing a list at AMG; each previous year, I had clear Album o’the Year winners in Immolation’s Acts of God and Afterbirth’s In But Not Of. 2024 marked the first Listurnalia that began with an opening for my top slot. But as I weeded through my favorite music of the year, I realized: Noxis drew me in with the bass flourish at the beginning of album opener “Skullcrushing Defilement,” and they still haven’t let go. The Pittsburgher in me hates to credit anything from Cleveland, but Noxis weeded out that deeply rooted prejudice with their inventive and fresh take on death metal. Every track on Violence Inherent in the System is a wild ride that alternately crushes, challenges, and tickles. The only break from the madcap pace comes on mid-album interlude “Excursion,” but that just prepares you for the utter barking lunacy of “Horns Echo Over Chorazim.” That song incorporates strange arrangements that include various woodwind instruments, and somehow they do it with zero pretension and abundant commitment to brutality. Listurnalia may have begun with a blank space atop my list, but it ended with Noxis firmly entrenched as the winner of 2024.

Honorable Mentions:

• • • Stenched // Purulence Gushing from the Coffin – This one-man outfit captured that elusive filthy magic and spewed out the annum’s premiere filthy wallow.
    • Aborted // Vault of Horrors – These Belgian veterans, long under-appreciated in the Hall, finally found their champion in Grier. They hooked themselves up to the juvenation machine by leaning into the melodeath that has been creeping into their sound, and cranked out their best set in years.
    • Vitriol // Suffer and Become – Here’s a mean and heavy slab that seemed to fade from the general consciousness as the year wore on, but remains worthy of note.

Disappointment o’the Year:

Ferox! I just didn’t have time to make a meaningful contribution here this year. It has been a pleasure to watch other members of my n00b class like Dolph and Maddog and Thus become AMG institutions, even as I mostly watch from the sidelines and come out to play when I can.

Song o’the Year:

Imagine being asked to name your favorite song of the year, and responding with a twenty-seven song playlist!7

#2024 #AFrameOfMind #Aborted #AR #ArthouseFatso #BeatenToDeath #BlackCurse #BurningInCelestialPoison #ChroniclesOfLunacy #CoffinOfConviction #ConcreteWinds #Dawnwalker #DaydreamingInMoonlight #DefeatedSanity #Defying #Dissimulator #Dysrhythmia #Endonomos #EndonomosIIEnlightenment #Exhaust #FuneralForAKing #GodsOverBrokenPeople #HomicideCult #Horrendous #IngurgitatingOblivion #InnerStrength #InterArma #JulieChristmas #Kalandra #Khemmis #Kollapse #Lists #Listurnalia #Listurnalia2024 #Lizzard #LowerFormResistance #Mamaleek #Mesh #MotherOfGraves #Myrath #NewHeaven #NobodyLikesYou #Noxis #OfTheLastHumanBeing #Omegon #OntologyOfNought #Orgone #OU #Pallbearer #Pleroma #Polterguts #PurulenceGushingFromTheCoffin #Pyrrhon #RidiculousAndFullOfBlood #RippedToShreds #Sanshi #SaveThisUtility #Scumbag #SleepytimeGorillaMuseum #SongsOfBloodAndMire #SpectralWound #Stenched #StygianCrown #SufferAndBecome #SunriseOverRigorMortis #SycophanticSeizuresADoubleFeature #ThePeriaptOfAbsence #TheUnknowing #VaultOfHorrors #VidaBlue #ViolenceInherentInTheSystem #Vitriol #Wadera #Watain #Wormed #蘇醒IIFrailty

Dolphin Whisperer’s and Ferox’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023

By Dolphin Whisperer

Dolphin Whisperer

I don’t remember anymore exactly when or how I stumbled upon Angry Metal Guy, but I know that I’ve been reading the site for fourteen years now. In that time I’ve gone from barely a student to a working professional who routinely feels the drain of a society sinking around him. But it’s ok because along the way I managed to find a partner who loves me for all my flaws and quirks (or at least that’s what she tells me).1 She wasn’t always there, though, nor was the comfort that we’ve built into our life. When she wasn’t there, and when human company could not provide for whatever reason, both Angry Metal Guy and the music world at large always existed to evolve around me and shine a path to work that saw where I was and reflected my pain. Or my happiness. Or the existential dread of another day. Or just comforted me with a warm bowl of guitar noodles with a side of riff salad.

You may not have seen my words pop around much over that time, but rest assured, I was there like all of you now, reading as AMG the Man validated my feelings or presented admiration for an idol I don’t worship or killed my darlings with questionable opinions. I was there when Steel was the new Ape on the block. I developed a taste for the cast who I agreed with most and scanned with ravenous eyes for the next 0.5 or 1.0 to watch a train wreck meet a car crash. I watched this community who knew nothing of me stand up for important and meaningful things all while staying steadfast to the goal of simply reviewing metal in all its glory.2 Then one day I decided to join the Discord group that had been advertising itself at the bottom of every article for I don’t know how long before I noticed. And in that feverish chatterbox of swirling opinions, I realized that this community meant so much to me that I wanted to give it a go behind the curtains.

I made friends—friends surrounding music whether I agree with them or not. That’s what it means to love music in my mind. Hate and love both ignite passion, and passion is what squirms the happy juice in our brains. I’m sure you, dear reader, will have thoughts about the below choices. And know that you are more than welcome to voice them in any way you see fit. Go ahead, recommend me something while you’re at it. If you do agree with these opinions, also know, then that you can click through to any of the associated reviews, Bandcamp pages, label links—any way that you can reward the artist with your hard-earned currency, if you’re able. Because remember, it’s people like you and me (nerds) who keep this silly business of music alive. Did you know you can click those links? On my reviews, on my buddy Ferox‘s reviews. Even on reviews that you don’t agree with! So read something, click something, support something, tell a friend, tell a partner… or just take whatever knowledge you gain and listen to some good music. If you continue reading, you will encounter my recommendations to fill that void of good music in your life. Above (or below, whatever the Editing Gods decide) Ferox has some recommendations for you too. Know that these two sets are the best recommendations you will receive this year. Live loudly, listen responsibly.3

#ish. Anareta // Fear Not – In a year with less to love, Fear Not could have placed higher, but the riches across different facets of my listening pleasures spilled forth in almost every possible way. Alas, this unique act couldn’t have come further out of left field when promos began to trickle in for 2023, and Anareta’s delicate precision with weeping string melodies against their brutish incisions of blood-curdling shrieks struck the tucked-away Grayceon bone in my body. Alongside up-and-coming act Exulansis out of Oregon, there’s a promising wave of chamber-informed bands growing in the wilds of niche-loving minds. As they say, it only takes two to tango…though “Omnicide” feels a little more like a foxtrot, right?

#10. Tongues // Forml​ø​se Stjerner – That I managed to cobble together words that described the mysterious air that surrounds this album baffles me. Countless listens later, I still get lost in the swaying vibrations of the tricky whammy-addled leads and layers of reverb decaying over a vast landscape. And even though all these forward choices usually spell a path down the intangible and incoherent, a lurking melody and grounded rhythmic performance seals the hypnotism that would feel just out of reach with a lesser performance. Your mind knows that each tone source here found its way to the recording behind closed doors, but the energy that emits throughout Forml​ø​se Stjerner casts like a sonic beacon through the dreariest of nights on the open, foggy sea.

#9. Vanishing Kids // Miracle of Death – The kids are gone!!! I wasn’t particularly a fan of their previous release so that Miracle of Death hooked me was a small miracle all in itself. I’m no stranger to enjoying shoegaze-y things, psych-rock-laden things, sinfully synthful things—the airy 60s era croons and shimmering Hammond shudders throughout this give me all kinds of shoulder-relaxing, neck-tingling goodies. You think that’d remind me of someone like The Mamas & the Papas, but my mind drifts toward the episodic, warble-clipped daze of the Cunninglynguists classic Oneirology. Funny how the mind works, innit? Regardless, the sheer beauty of sound on display throughout Miracle of Death is impossible for my sugar-starved brain to ignore. Vibe with me.

#8. Slumbering Sun // The Ever-Living Fire – I know the Rodeö entries provide a healthy serving of less-than-desirable releases, but if you’re skipping them entirely then maybe you missed Slumbering Sun when they dropped their debut LP, The Ever-Living Fire way back in February. You see, one of the reasons I’ve helped fuel the Rodeö is that bands like Slumbering Sun still exist out there, under the radar, largely unpromoted, with gem ideas. Leaning on the modern sadperson melodic doom angle pioneered by an early Pallbearer, this Texas troupe delivered a longing yet hopeful collection of tunes that never fails to stir the slow burn of teary-eyed smiles in my heart. If Patrick Walker (Warning) were younger when he found peace, perhaps 40 Watt Sun would have gone this direction.

#7. Jarhead Fertilizer // Carceral Warfare – I didn’t even think I was getting a Jarhead release this year, but the death metal overlords decided that 2023 hadn’t quite graced me yet with this extremely specific kind of deranged, violent, feral death metal that I crave. Samples and segues function like dim lights in a dive bar, masking the filth strewn about while the seedy world around you builds its slow assault on your senses. Carceral Warfare stinks, its riffs carved in cracked and corroded skin. There’s nothing acute about injuries that Jarhead seeks to afflict—the wounds Carceral Warfare doles out aim to fester and brim black with incurable disease.

#6. Gridlink // Coronet Juniper – I never expected my favorite power metal album of the year to be a grindcore album. Gridlink’s take on the punk specialty has always been a bit different though. Always fast, always pushing the treble ceiling, and always leading with melodies that don’t quit, Coronet Juniper highlights all the strengths that this outfit has always promised. As their last album, it functions as a tribute to themselves—their collective passions executed at ridiculous speeds and unadvisable levels of throat punishment. It may not be as groundbreaking as what came before it, but when you’re ten steps ahead of the pack, you can settle to simply show ’em how it’s done. And I got to use Gundam clips in the review. Win-Win.

#5. Wormhole // Almost Human – The formatting will get all weird if I only scream WOOOOOOOOOOOORMMMMMMMMM-HOOOOOOOLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE like I want to, so here’s more. Ken and I don’t often end up hole-to-hole on an album, but when we do, you better bet that it’s great. When all that was out for Almost Human was the singles, I repeatedly binged those first two tracks as if they were a whole album to themselves. And that’s the magic of this bright and horrifying slamfest. It’s shiny, it’s punishing, and, most importantly, it’s relentless in worming its way into my gaping sound receptors.

#4. Anachronism // Meanders – I’ve been listening to this all damn year at this point. I was late to the Anachronism party with Orogeny, but not so with Meanders. Its uncanny ease in mood and brevity in run hold an important home in contrast to its finger-testing technicality and unparalleled rhythmic brutality. A natural but still unexpected successor to the post-tinged, brooding brutality that showed itself in flashes, Meanders rains textural and colorful in ways that other death metal simply doesn’t—all while still staying death metal. Oh, and Lisa Voisard has a piercing shriek to go with her scruffy bellow. Who would’ve guessed?

#3. healthyliving // Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief – I knew how much I loved this album before I realized it. When it dropped, I told all the writers, “I think I have my first TYMHM y’all.” But then I went and filtered it, which is no dishonor but doesn’t quite capture the intensity of what healthyliving has to offer on this debut outing. Building tension through an eclectic array of jangling chords and understated rhythms, the supporting cast sets the perfect stage for vocalist Amaya Lopez-Carramerro to absolutely shred with fearless virtuosic wail. Or she’ll sit back and set a slow burn with a restrained and emotive croon. Can I call her my favorite vocalist in metal right now? Is this even metal? Maybe. But I couldn’t care less. It’s damn good.

#2. KEN mode // VOID – NULL ended up on my top ten last year, and with the consistency that these angry Canadians provide, enjoying VOID came naturally, disarmingly so. What I didn’t expect, however, was that this act known for being noisy and rambunctious and pulverizing would be able to dial back the melancholy of previous works with an additional varnish of lived-in depression. A partner to what came before it, VOID captures the last spat of mania before an extended comedown and the dragging sorrow that follows. And yet somehow, though it hurts almost every step of the way, I feel just a little bit lighter after every listen. Get over yourself and listen if you haven’t bothered yet, if only for the buzzing synths and buttery, booming bass tones.

#1. Vvon Dogma I // The Kvlt of Glitch – You, the commentariat, had plenty to say about this album when it dropped. “I tried… No thanks.” — “I’m voting Dolphin Whisperer off the island. This is crap.” — “What the actual fuck?” All choice examples. Some of you also decided to write this off because of the AI-base of the cover art despite the artists involved self-funding this whole exploration and fully crediting the digital assistance. Your asceticism will go unrewarded. This is a humble reminder that you, the commentariat, do not influence my complete and utter enjoyment of this mad pairing of cyberpunk industrial, fanned-fret progressive, angelic electronic piece of edge-skirting metal. The spirit of adventure that graces every phrase throughout the Kvlt of Glitch stimulates the thrill-seeker, the floating spirit, the head-banging hooligan in me all at once, while lathering me with a fresh sense of dread for a technology-warped future. Maybe you never liked Genghis Tron before they disbanded after Board Up the House. Maybe you never liked Unexpect when they graced us with album after album of shrill and unfathomably progressive fantasy. Maybe you’ve got a shallow throat for multi-layered, programmed voices that fizzle the ears with rich harmony. But The Kvlt of Glitch is willing to welcome you whenever you choose to accept its power. I am God now!4

Honorable Mentions:

• World’s End Girlfriend // Resistance & The Blessing – WEG possesses the esoteric ability to manipulate time with beauty. Resistance & The Blessing continues to unravel itself before me as I tackle it as a whole, in chunks, in the narratives it allows you to build with each of its whispered ideas. Sadness, happiness, anger, frustration, longing, acceptance—this monumental offering has it all. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s a lot to take in. But I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t love it.
• Angra // Cycles of Pain – What can I say, I love Angra. The Lione era is developing a thing for long albums, but at least it’s all good.
• Autarkh // Emergent – An album that loops with glitchy industrial and ethereal post-metal as well as this one does is dangerous. You could do a lot worse than hearing this three times in a row though.
• Aphotic // Abyssgazer – Blackened deathdoom? Funeral-tinged ritualistic black metal? Whatever you want to call this, there’s an alternate timeline where it’s on the list proper. It just goes.
• Horrendous // Ontological Mysterium – Progressive death metal ear candy. I could probably listen to this album all damn day if the last song didn’t dampen the mood a little.
• Pupil Slicer // Blossom – Metalcore with nu-metal tropes shouldn’t be as fun as this or the new Mouthbreather album, but those industrial grooves keep on giving. Start the album with the title track for an even better listen.
• Ok Goodnight // The Fox and the Bird – I take some issue with the proggy detours in this album, but its storybook charm holds more endearing than all of that.
• Maud the Moth + trajedesaliva // Bordando el manto terrestre – Chill-out album of the year. Meditate, read, relax… or just listen to the sultry whispers with your eyes closed. They tickle.

Disappointments o’ the Year:

Soen // Imperial Memorial – Let me level with you, Lotus is a fantastic album and the pinnacle of a career for Soen, a band that has grown further away from the flourishes that make their music interesting. Lush production? Humming Hammond overlays? Joel Ekelöf spreading sweet nothings over the course of an urgent and chunky build? Who needs any of that when you can write worse choruses over the same riff and people continue to latch onto it. Soen almost remembers their strengths (“Fortress,”5 “Tragedian,” “Vitals”), and it is admirable that Ekelöf tries to stretch his wings as a grittier vocalist while maintaining his Eurovision aspirations. But with a direction that’s even less dynamic than the uncharacteristically narrow master that Memorial shows, I’ve got little to reason believe that this is a direction that Soen should continue. Not good. Not good at all.

Einar Solberg // 16 – After Aphelion wiped away the hope I had left for Leprous, I looked to this solo outing from Mr. Solberg as a chance for him to find a way back to a good tune. It seems that it did help him reclaim a somber and less ahhAAAahhAAAaahaah character to his voice, and drummer Keli Guðjónsson (Agent Fresco, notable Leprous-like act) really helps a few bright moments shine (“Remember Me,” “Blue Light”). However, Solberg did not have to take his play at Jamiroquai (“Home”) nor include a guest rapper (also “Home”) nor include his sister (for what effect on “Where All the Twigs Broke”) nor include his brother-in-law for a growled guest spot on a trip-hoppy track (that’s Ihsahn on “Splitting the Soul”) nor give us seventy minutes of whatever you want to wrap this up as. Sadboi art pop perhaps? Skippable in any case.

Best Thing I Missed in 2022:

Polterguts // Gods Over Broken People – I haven’t heard an album this seriously fucking pissed off since Admiral Angry’s Buster, but the level of frustration here rings just a touch less sexual and frustrated—it’s defeated. The malaise that Gods captures renders itself in lyrics that spout from a voice fed on apathy and gravel: “I used to pray for my friends/I used to hurt when they hurt/I used to love without expecting any love in return” (“Skullbowl”), “I like it here at the bottom where they know me by name/I used to think I wanted out, but now I’m begging to stay” (“Buckle the Spine”), “I’m not strong enough to hold it together, but It breaks my heart to watch you struggle for air/I’m sorry I couldn’t get both of us out, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t there” (“Injury”). As harrowing as that is to read, it’s even more brutal to hear. And I suspect for those stuck in the same kind of recursive, small-town Midwest drain from which this attitude grows, this would hit even harder. One part Meshuggah, one part Chat Pile, and another part its own punished deathcore, Polterguts holds in one hand my aching heart and in another its own, stained and hollow.

Songs o’ the Year:

Why give you one when I can give you twenty-seven? Why twenty-seven? That’s my secret. Now, I’ve talked enough, go out there and enjoy some music, friends. And enjoy this photo of my dogs.

Kiwi (top) and Coconut (bottom).

Ferox

I got my own big boy list! AMG Industries: where doing an adequate job on the free work you’ve been assigned leads to opportunities for more free work. I wouldn’t have it any other way–I love this place, even if the prospect of making this list fills me with anxiety and imposter syndrome. I am generally not given to best-of lists, or year-end reflection. But we’ve got a fake job to do, so let’s get stuck in!

2023 was a weird one. It began with a case of long-ish Covid that saw me coughing uncontrollably every time I laughed, segued into a writer’s strike that shut down my industry for six months, and ended with a faint and collision between the Ferox noggin and a concrete floor. That last one put me in bed recovering for the better part of a month and seriously fucked with my workout goals. Despite all this, it was an incredible year! My family flourished, I snuck a couple of projects into production at my day job, and I had a blast writing here as much as I could. The only complaint I could possibly muster is that it’s all flying past way too quickly.

As for AMG… this is that rare place that improves the lives of all who touch it (Rodeö bands excepted). It did that for me when I lurked as a reader, and it continues to do so now that I cling to a staff position. How does a place this positive place exist? On the internet?! I’m grateful to Steel for providing real leadership at my fake job, to my fellow members of the AMG Class of ’21 for being good eggs and excellent writers, and to everyone I’ve met through a gig that makes life richer and more fun. Maybe the real 2023 was the bollocks we talked along the way.

#ish. Spirit Possession // Of the Sign… – Do you guys like Nifelheim? I sure as heckfire do, and this album that captures some of their defiant spirit stole my heart in the waning moments of 2023. The reprobates of Nifelheim aren’t the only point of departure here. Portland’s Spirit Possession is a borderline tribcore act that aims to capture the feel of an era more than the work of one particular band. Here you’ll find echoes of Bathory, Hellhammer, and Venom. Sometimes a project like this works so well that the music transcends the lack of originality baked into these sorts of things. Of the Sign… is one such album; it may well have landed in my top ten if I had had more time with it before Listurnalia.

#10. Horrendous // Ontological Mysterium – Horrendous, already on a very short list of the best metal bands so far this century, bolsters their legacy with the concise and intoxicating Ontological Mysterium. The quartet has carved out a take on progressive death metal that is entirely their own, one that is melodic, wonky, and sweeping all at once. They’ve never been more engaging than they are on Ontological Mysterium. The album wends its way through nine tracks in less than forty minutes–Ontological Mysterium defies its run time by taking you on a journey that feels epic, but releases you before fatigue sets in. Only closer “The Death Knell Ringeth,” an inexplicable dud that can scarcely walk and chew gum at the same time, keeps Ontological Mysterium from ascending to loftier heights.

#9. Wormhole // Almost Human – Wormhole’s take on brutal death metal is at once savage but cheerful, and stöopid without being remotely dumb. I am fully on board with any band that uses the low art of the slample to describe their own sound, as Wormhole does with a sunny interjection of “Tech Slam!” on the title track of their latest. The AMG staff would have you believe that it’s necessary to choose between Wormhole and Afterbirth, the band’s peer in innovative and excellent brutal death metal. That is nonsense; appreciate the Slam-aissance in all its glory, as these two remarkable outfits elevate one of metal’s least-loved subgenres to new heights.

#8. Sodomisery // Mazzaroth – Sodomisery makes life hard on themselves with an atrocious name that is way too persnickety about the respectable pursuit of sodomy. Some folks just need to play the game on difficult mode, I guess. If the hideous moniker is what it takes to spur Sodomisery to this kind of work, then the outfit should keep indulging themselves. Mazzaroth is an endlessly replayable slab of genre-bending excellence. Symphonic flourishes and well-placed clean vocals accent the band’s hybrid of black metal, death metal, and melodeath. Mazzaroth is big fun, an album that effortlessly synthesizes a cornucopia of influences into something that feels both classic and new.

#7. Xoth // Exogalactic – A late-in-the-game remaster unleashed the power of a fully operational Exogalactic. The album finds the pan-genre madlads of Xoth playing in the margins, expanding their sound here and there while defending their Party Lovecraft turf. Across eight engaging tracks, the excellent songwriting of Exogalactic is augmented by audacious technical what-the-fuck-ery. The album’s forty minutes fly past, and while Xoth’s sound might not be the revelation it was on Invasion of the Tentacube and Interdimensional Invocations, this Seattle quartet remains very much on top of their game. Play a song, any song, and joy will invade your earholes. That’s the Xoth promise, and Exogalactic delivers.

#6. Gridlink // Coronet Juniper – I could go on about the pleasures of Coronet Juniper, but chances are Dolphin Whisperer already has you cornered and is doing just that. My list buddy extolled the virtues of this grind funhouse to the point where I finally just pretended he was saying “BREEEEEEEEEEEEE” and tuned him out. Then I played the album a month or so later in the gym, and Gridlink rocketed me to a dimension of pure fun. Coronet Juniper is a grind joyride, so confident in its songwriting that the band includes a run of instrumental “karaoke versions” at the end of the album that is every bit as playable as the so-called official tracklist.

#5. Outer Heaven // Infinite Psychic Depths – Outer Heaven understands both the virtues and the confines of old-school death metal. Infinite Psychic Depths gives the subgenre a glow-up by taking us on a tour of everything that still works, while adding a few new wrinkles. The album never plays as mere pastiche; like some kind of Quentin Tarantino of death metal, Outer Heaven refreshes old tropes by building something new from a pile of familiar elements. I haven’t dug much into the high concept that underlies Infinite Psychic Depths, but that’s because I don’t need to. The music stands on its own. Already a highlight of 2023, Infinite Psychic Depths feels like one that could grow in esteem with time. It could well be underrated in my fifth slot.

#4. Tribunal // The Weight of Remembrance – Here’s one that roared out of the gate back in January and absolutely refused to cede any ground. The Weight of Remembrance runs classic doom through both an orchestral and a death metal filter. The various genre flourishes enhance the strong songwriting–“Of Creeping Moss and Crumbling Stone” is so incredible that it became a workout staple despite its plodding pace, and nearly earned a spot on this year’s Heavy Moves Heavy playlist. The highlights don’t stop there. They don’t stop until The Weight of Remembrance has run its course. The Debut o’ The Year also happens to be one of the very best albums of 2023.

#3. Warcrab // The Howling Silence – Warcrab boasts fighting spirit, sharp claws, and a crustacean shell that’s fitted for turret combat. They’re obviously game for a scrap, but–as Cherd pointed out in his review–the band doesn’t have much competition in their death-sludge niche. A relief, then, that Warcrab is anything but complacent on The Howling Silence. These seven tracks roar past, the stifling atmosphere pierced on occasion by icepick solos that showcase the Guitar Tone o’ The Year. This one was a grower for me. The Howling Silence initially did little to distinguish itself from previous slab Damned in Endless Night. But my lizard brain heard layers that my ears weren’t processing, and the album kept earning spins. Layers of excellence kept revealing themselves, and before I knew it this piece of heavy artillery blasted its way to the upper echelons of my list.

#2. Carnosus // Visions of Infinihility – This rollicking slab of tech death earned a 4.0 from me back in early February, and I do believe I sold these Swedes short by half a point. Visions of Infinihility was a mainstay of my 2023. The album remained close at hand throughout both a long strike and a stretch of vertigo-induced bedrest. If I’m not tired of it yet, I probably never will be. And what’s not to like here? Every one of the nine tracks on Visions of Infinihility stands up to heavy listening. The site’s top writer summed it up most precisely: “It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing four thousand dollar headphones or a bullet belt–Visions of Infinihility should appeal to wonks, diehards, and metalheads all across the spectrum.”

#1. Afterbirth // In But Not Of – Long Island’s Afterbirth crams an abundance of riches into a brutal death metal album that twists and transmutes as it goes. The first half of In But Not Of stays planted in the brutal death genre that Afterbirth had a hand in creating. The second departs for distant parsecs, fusing elements of post-metal, alt-rock, and even ambient music onto death metal songs. The experiments work seamlessly, and I continue to find surprises almost every time I revisit In But Not Of. “Devils With Dead Eyes,” “Autoerotic Amputation,” “In But Not Of,” and “Angels Feast on Flies” are the standout tracks–any one of the four could credibly lay claim to Song o’ The Year. Colin Marston’s production showcases and elevates the material. My favorite critic said it best: “This is music to concuss you and then heal your battered brain… [In But Of] is an album to savor and return to again and again, a companion piece to Four Dimensional Flesh that manages to equal if not surpass its predecessor.” Also: revel in that gorgeous album art by Alex Eckman-Lawn, a sci-fi Frankenstein’s monster that perfectly encapsulates the record. My top score of 2023 is an easy choice for Ferox‘s Album o’ The Year.

Honorable Mentions

• • Autopsy // Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts– Ashes, Organs, Blood, and Crypts plays like Autopsy’s Basement Tapes, a collection of feral death metal songs that also somehow comes off as loose and ramshackle. It stands among the band’s best post-comeback work.
  • Gorod // The Orb – The French masters of tech death hold serve with the predictably excellent The Orb.
  • Convocation // No Dawn for the Caliginous Night – I came up with the genre tag “funereal doom” to describe Convocation’s latest to myself. The band accesses the majesty of funeral doom without the tedious repetition. It’s a potent approach that’s been honed to near-perfection on No Dawn for the Caliginous Night.
  • Tomb Mold // The Enduring Spirit – The Toronto outfit pulled off a tricky shift, surprising fans of their inventive take on old-school death with this proggy slab. I sure wouldn’t have minded another Planetary Clairvoyance, but I wound up thrilled by this new direction.
  • Serpent Corpse // Blood Sabbath – 2023 delivered an abundance of old-school death delights, but Montreal’s Serpent Corpse move to the head of the class with debut Blood Sabbath.
  • Fabricant // Drudge to the Thicket – A trio of virtuoso musicians keep their debut album juuust barely on the “death metal” side of the prog-death divide. Drudge to the Thicket is a load of unpredictable fun from an immensely promising outfit.
  • Omnicidal // The Omnicidalist – Omnicidal takes a huge leap forward with a sophomore album that injects hints of melodeath and black thrash into an already nasty cocktail. In spite of Gardenstale‘s rave, this excellent effort seemed to get lost in the 2023 shuffle. I kept it spinning all year.
  • Gravesend // Gowanus Death Stomp – This second offering of urban nightmare deathgrind from Gravesend improves on Methods of Human Disposal. An album that conjures genuinely unsettling images and one that will leave its boot marks all over your body,
  • Dripping Decay // Festering Grotesqueries— Another exceptional death metal debut, Festering Grotesqueries inspired an epic run of putrid imagery in Steel‘s review. These Portland knuckle-draggers are worthy of all the filthy poetry the Apeman can muster.

Song o’ the Year: Afterbirth – “In But Not Of”

Disappointment o’ the Year

• Immortal // War Against All – After the improbably incredible Northern Chaos Gods, I was PUMPED for Immortal’s Second Coming of Demonaz Era. Cue the record scratch, because the follow-up is generic and pretty much just sucks through and through.

#2023 #Afterbirth #Anachronism #Anareta #Angra #Aphotic #Autarkh #Autopsy #BlogPost #Carnosus #Convocation #DolphinWhispererSAndFeroxSTopTenIshOf2023 #DrippingDecay #EinarSolberg #Fabricant #Gorod #Gravesend #Gridlink #healthyliving #Horrendous #Immortal #JarheadFertilizer #KENMode #Lists #Listurnalia #MaudTheMothTrajedesaliva #OkGoodnight #Omnicidal #OuterHeaven #Polterguts #PupilSlicer #SerpentCorpse #SlumberingSun #Sodomisery #Soen #SpiritPossession #TombMold #Tongues #Tribunal #VanishingKids #VvonDogmaI #Warcrab #WorldSEndGirlfriend #Wormhole #Xoth