Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Beast of 2023

2023's mass of muzak


10. Hypomanic Daydream - Image


Namechecked in the band camp description "Voivod, Confessor, weird death metal and 16bit video games". If there was a band made discretely for my sensibilities, this would be it…and this ep lives up to these crazy influences, managing to meld everything together into some sort of strange catchy weirdo metal.  


9. OWDWYR - Receptor


Sooo much interesting shit going on in this one. I’m reminded of a lucid dream collab between the sadly defunct Scrambled Defuncts and the not quite defunct Duobetic Homunkulus. There’s also plenty of proggy djent mechanical hallucinatory riffage & shredding leadwork also has a say. A reviewer on bc had this to say ”Kinda like Human Remains resurrected and started to play modern avantgarde tech death with Allan Holdsworth on lead guitar.” Mind bending, future altering stuff!



8. toiret status - He


Skittering, Scattering, Shimmering playfully plunderphonic bliss music with an absolutely euphoric production. 
Also features my fav cover art of the year by Seth Graham.


7. Fleshvessel - Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed


“sounds like the absurd cross between PHLEBOTOMIZED, KAYO DOT and VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR.”

Ummmm….yes please!!!




6. Siege Golem - Desecration


Ballz-out, No holds barred, Raw-As-Stink “Keller synth” par excellence. Siege Golem have yet to let me down with their increasingly “out there” discography.  


5. Laster - Andermans mijne


The ghouls in Laster have struck gold once again with a groovy, dare I say jaunty, post-punk black metal booty shaker.  


4. Bríi - Último Ancestral Comum


Caio Lemos, mastermind of multiple phenomenally progressive black metal projects (Kaatayra, Vauruvã  et al…) proves once again he is top tier at the art of mashing together expansive psychedelic trance and raw black metal.   


3. Void - Jadjow 


Theatrical, technical and inventive avant-garde black metal with that DGH and DotD pedigree. Iniquitous Owl  is destined to be a real crowd pleaser out on the dance floor. 
Also my 2nd fav cover art of the year by Laura Weston.

2. Afterbirth - In But Not Of


Alienworlds of Slam viewed through a Kaleidoscope of Synergistic NuWave Jamz. This satisfies all of my musical itches and leaves me completely fulfilled…what a time to be alive!



1. Flaming Ouroboros - Anthems for Brotherhood


A last minute addition for FO’s long awaited full-length….anthemic rockin’ black metal with melody for days. I haven’t been this blown away by this style of Husker Du influenced black metal since the last Rostorchester album. Glorious, triumphant, and elegant in its own compact simplicity, both Anthems and FO's Blood EP are bound to be in constant rotation during the new year!


Beast of the Reast

Onkos - Vascular Labyrinth

Ménage à un - Now Everybody

Necrocock - Tafelmusik

Forteana - Overload

Baazlvaat - Incredible World

Circle of Ouroborus - Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset

Krallice - Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite

Albionic Hermeticism - Nova Nativitas Mundi 

Phlebotomized - Clouds of Confusion

Univers Zero - Lueur

Tetragrammacide - Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur'an

Christian Cosentino / Winterquilt - Portals to Perdition

Lightbreaker - The Annihilation of the Annealids

Esoctrilihum - Astraal Constellations of the Majickal Zodiac

Reverorum ib Malacht - Kyrie Eleison

KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER

Mortuary Drape - Black Mirror

Varathron - The Crimson Temple

Cunabula - The Weight of Sleep

Yellow Eyes - Master’s Murmur

Ὁπλίτης - Ψ ε υ δ ο μ έ ν η

Soft Kill - Metta World Peace

I.C.E. - Ancient Glacial Resurgence

Moosegut - From The Deepening Gloom

SUP - Octa

Bryophyta - Plantae, Fungi

Raekogg - Hail Enki

Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current

Calderum - Lord Cramridor

Quest Master - Sword & Circuitry

Majesties - Vast Reaches Unclaimed

Passéisme - Alternance

Lunar Chamber - Shambhallic Vibrations

Vaurien - L’esprit et le béton

Yat-Kha - Khan Party 23

Flaming Ouroboros - Blood

Troller - Drain

Bestial Mouths - R . O . T . T.

Ynkleudherhenavogyon - Honan Bleydh II

Fabricant - Drudge to the Thicket

Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium

Prong - State of Emergency

Wagner Ödegård - Kiäpter

R23X - Mist Continent

Malfet - Dolorous Gard

Fortíð - Narkissos

Furia - Huta Lune

Eyemaster - Conjuration of Flesh

Stinking Lizaveta - Anthems and Phantoms

Malokarpatan – Vertumnus Caesar

Internal Suffering - Rituals

Murlo - Puckle

Iravu - A Fate Worse Than Home