50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 | EP/Live/Compilation

30. Sleep Token – Take Me Back to Eden

[Official site] // [Spotify]

One of the most fascinating factoids of Sleep Token’s extensive and intricate lore is that the band themselves were concocted in a lab to piss off music snobs and elitists. Everything from the soaring clean vocals that are polished to a blinding sheen to the admittedly kind of obnoxious RnB samplings do everything they possibly can to make the conventional fan of prog or metal roll their eyes out of their skull, and frankly, I get it. But that test for elitist purity — known as the No Trve Metalhead fallacy — is a race to the bottom. I was there in the last.fm trenches in 2010 when everyone called Wolves in the Throne Room “Shirts In the Dorm Room” due to their perceived accessibility. Take Me Back to Back to Eden has plenty to criticize and is far from the majesty of Opeth’s Ghost Reveries or the creativity of Between the Buried and Me’s Colors, but in time, it may reveal itself to be the nexus in the same way those works were for an entirely new generation of metal fans and acts. It’s one hell of a time, but only if you’ll uncross your arms and allow yourself to have fun. –Odal

29. TesseracT – War of Being

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

TesseracT have been in a bit of a rut for the past several years. Don’t get me wrong, the band have always been unique when compared to many other djent groups around the world, but ever since Dan Thompkins returned to the band, they seemed to have refused to truly experiment outside of their own sound. Since their debut, lead guitarist Acle and bassist Amos have been completely at the helm at the production table and it certainly shows. They’ve mostly relied on their same tricks and trades throughout their whole career, and their previous albums Sonder truly reflected it. Sonder was a big failure for TesseracT to change their tune, and as a result, it felt like TesseracT had dug their own grave.

War of Being, on the other hand, felt almost like a reawakening. It brought back the initial ambition and drive that made the band great to begin with. While the guitar tones and production might be far from original compared to the band’s previous material, War of Being still manages to provide TesseracT’s best material since One, if not their best album overall. The 11-minute title track as the lead single was certainly a daring move, but it was absolutely the right choice. With some of the slickest guitar and bass work from TesseracT in years, Dan Thompkins’ reinvigorating vocal performance, and one of the most memorable melodies in any metal track so far this year, it truly felt like TesseracT were back in their true form. Then there’s the long-awaited studio version of “Natural Disaster” — which sounds just as fantastic in recording as it does live — the melodic earworm-yet-heavy as hell “The Grey”, and the catchy as fuck “Legion”. An indisputable achievement for the band, War of Being is almost everything that we wanted out of TesseracT for years, and it has the potential to start a brand new chapter for the Brits, assuming they can continue to ride this wave of excellence. –Toondude10

28. Night Verses – Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night: Part One

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

I thought I was completely over instrumental, guitar-wizardry acts, but Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley of Night: Part One turned me into the food critic from Ratatouille. Unlike Chon or Polyphia — two bands that I enjoy a great deal, but have a large part of their success owed to Trojan Horsing RnB, pop, and hip-hop elements into their sound — Night Verses are a throwback to a time in my life when bweedly-bwees and junjunjuns were enough to get my blood pumping. There’s no gimmicks here. No star-studded guest vocals. No stark genre shifts. Not a cellphone in sight. Just dudes being dudes and lighting their instruments on fire.

I realize how tall of an ask an instrumental virtuoso metal album with the title Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley of Night: Part One is in the year of our lord 2023, but this is implorement-by-shoulder-shaking good stuff. At just over 30 minutes in length, it’s remarkably respectful of your time moving from one dizzying highlight to the next at breakneck speed, and more importantly, with the songwriting chops to be believable movements and not some sort of pointless riff salad. Another bonus is the jaw-dropping production that has the lower end legitimately sounding like explosions at times that consistently gave me the dumbest of grins. Here’s hoping that the eventual Part Two is just as good. –Odal

27. Jason Isbell – Weathervanes

[Official site] // [Spotify]

Ten years ago, Jason Isbell’s critical breakthrough and de facto masterpiece, Southeastern, served as the launchpad for what’s become one of the most consistent and contemplative discographies disseminated from Greater Nashville. His penmanship is informed by keen observation and diligent empathy, fluctuating between intimate, often unflattering self-portraits and sympathetic half-fictions, navigating the troubled waters of addiction, the nefarious ghosts of our pasts, and the entrenched, corrosive traditions that spawn each. In the decade since then, follow-ups such as The Nashville Sound and Reunions — each also recorded with his backing band, The 400 Unit — repackaged the singer-songwriter’s social ruminations into bite-sized, chart-topping bundles, priming him in many people’s eyes as the “savior” of (alt-? true?) country music.

Hyperbole be damned, no release from Isbell and The 400 Unit since then has indicated they’ve fallen off, and while Weathervanes could be interpreted as more of the same in that regard, its hour-long grab bag of hearty Southern rock and humble folk lamentations illustrates and incises with an even cloudier conscience than normal. If Southeastern owes its gravity to the tug-of-war between self-destruction and wisdom, Weathervanes is emboldened tenfold by the grey area that spans each outcome. In turn, the album’s idyllic, sun-baked arrangements often cede their warmth to sobering, stark pain, one uptempo barnstormer for every two or three evocative parables. The group’s unflinching acuity remains a constant: the winds of our lives may blow us all over the map, but in chronicling them, Isbell and The 400 Unit hold a steady hand. –ashcrash9

26. Gezan with Million Wish Collective – Anochi

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

In an ever-positive world of whimsy and wonder, merry glee and chirpy friendliness, endless prosperity, and blind faith in the common and universal good already in place, there lies at the heart a malicious control machine grinding its gears on the blood of the undesirables. But the undesirables are done being the fuel for your engines of self-destruction. They are done swallowing the lies and surveillance nobody put in place but an invisible hand of the market: an unreal and faceless system obeying no regulation and avoiding all accountability. Greed put it in place and comfort dependency made sure of its remaining in power, further stagnating and destroying all around it. It has formed of base ancient capitalism and turned into a mass of gluttony unheard of in all of history. It has created tools for its own propagation, while carefully convincing everyone that the tools’ existence is in itself the proof of the system’s inherent good, despite the planned obsolescence and the overabundance of social media, most of which was designed to lure and grip you into a doomscrolling, ad-selling, shitshow-binging, vicarious cycle to damage your brain, eyesight, and hopes for humanity. All of the while, just btw, the planet is dieyeieyeing.

In all of this, Gezan made a funny album.

See, the Japanese bandleader wizard and his clan of shapeless ghouls of musicality are the very undesirables. But they certainly desire a kind of fall of mankind. The fall of civilisation that has run its course, imperial aggression that has caused most harm, and us who live in the richest time on the lowest of wages and can still count ourselves among the lucky ones. These are the plights Gezan and his team of well-to-unwell-wishers are rebelling against. Their method of choice is a blasphemously scattered mirage of influences and musical virtuosity, all blended in a bloody mess, purposefully obnoxious and mean-spirited. This is no longer a polite peaceful protest song; this is a fucking riot. And since destruction is inevitable, we might as well enjoy ourselves. Gezan surely will. –someone

25. Foo Fighters – But Here We Are

[Official site] // [Spotify]

Over their nearly 30-year run, the Foo Fighters worked modern rock ‘n’ roll down to a science. There’s still an audience for grit-hardened, approachable tunes in that vein, and they’ve had little reason to deviate from the track established in their heyday; save for 2011’s above-average Wasting Light, they can be forgiven for mostly coasting on good vibes and recycled glories. In 2022, however, their comfortable world was shaken: longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away while on tour, and later that year, frontman Dave Grohl’s mother privately said her goodbyes to this world as well. But Here We Are is directly indebted to each of them, but not in a mopey or morbid sense. For the Foos, laughter is the best medicine, community the clearest avenue out of depression. Ever hear of a rewarding downer arena rock gig? Yeah, didn’t think so.

So, you know, here they are: this album witnesses Grohl and co. as dramatic as they’ve ever been, barely tweaking their established formula and instead upping their quality control to unforeseen degrees. All ten tracks frolic with either astonishment or absolution; they rouse and ring true, roping you in with immediate, blunt sentiments and daring any critics (and there have been some, mostly regarding the muddy production job) to simply turn the volume knob up until the righteous frequencies drown out any qualms. And I kind of hate to admit it, but they know exactly what they’re doing: bearing enchanting ballads, some of the gleamiest gold to touch rock radio in recent memory, and even an envelope-pushing 10-minute behemoth, But Here We Are is a uniquely joyful bundle of odes to help us compartmentalize grief and celebrate living on in the memory of those we’ve loved and lost. –ashcrash9

24. Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

[Official site] // [Spotify]

With a brazen self-confidence evident both in the songwriting and personal, earnest lyricism, Caroline Polachek’s second full-length release is a curious slice of sunny pop. A modest improvement over previous full-length Pang, and an audacious genre mixture that comprises heavy-handed flips of vocal styles, musicality and general ambience, Desire is wonderfully affecting as a body of work — with emotional lyrical content and appropriate instrumentation sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and forming an album that feels introspective, lackadaisical, focussed and grand all at once, thanks to its creative use of musical diversity.

Front and centre to this experience is Polachek herself, whose incredible voice is both robust and delicate — oftentimes in the same breath. Although there is more than a hint of overproduction to the record, this glossy sheen affords the album a new-age, distinctly modern sense of pizzazz that fluxes between trendy and timeless in the blink of an eye. There is a cut for all moods, with a wanton flutter between uplifting, broody, empowering, and emotionally strained. Far from feeling overstretched, though, the album gently tumbles down this rabbit hole of moods like a feather descending through the air, and with as much grace. It’s a honeyed, sleek and polished record that offers memorable moments from its opening strains. –PumpBoffBag

23. Peter Gabriel – i/o

[Official site] // [Spotify]

The Bright-Side and Dark-Side Mixes offer up a different listening experience of what is a phenomenally rich record wistfully musing on decay, life, age, new beginnings and love with absolutely outstanding production and seamless flow. Possibly the greatest record ever made by a septuagenarian. The Dark-Side Mix is the one to listen to, but both are essential. A complete work of quality. –zakalwe

I lean more towards the Bright-Side Mixes for the majority of songs tbh; they’re a bit more airy and fragile emotionally, which to me works better than the more broody, dark aesthetic of the Dark-Side Mixes. All in all an excellent album, though. –Sinternet

What a beautiful album. The lyrics to “Playing for Time” hit me just like a sledgehammer (almost no pun intended here). Almost moved me to tears — getting more and more soft-hearted with each passing year it seems. i/o might be my personal AOTY. –Davil667

22. Svalbard – The Weight of the Mask

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Svalbard once again venture into their icy, melodic explosions with all the guts and heartache they have been always known for, once again delivering a solid batch of tried and true tunes. This band can charm and rivet even on autopilot. –someone

Been jamming this nonstop. One of those albums that came at just the right time and is speaking directly to me. They really made a great piece of work here. –Gmork89

This is really something else. Really lovely, soaring cleans and appropriately emotional instrumentals throughout; very good balance of the “skramz” vibe with a more metallic edge. A few moments genuinely remind me of Envy (“Be My Tomb” stands out most immediately), and few other bands capture that feeling for me. –nomemomemon

21. Ostraca – Disaster

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Credit where it is absolutely due: for an album packed with hxc effortlessly flowing into all sorts of them metals and cores, all throaty and tortured like. –someone

This leans a lot towards the post-metal side. At times it reminds me of Locktender’s best moments. –Piripichotes

This is some good fucking shit right here. Sludgy screamo. Sludgmo. –jmh886

20. Sprain – The Lamb As Effigy

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Sprain’s rabid monster of a record set out to push the limit of performance (and perhaps pretension) to an almost unrivaled extent this year. In that, they overwhelmingly succeeded and spawned a lot of understandably divided discussion. The band seemingly relished that division; look no further than them heralding the closer as this record’s best piece. The thematic debates surrounding this album, its complex yet airtight compositions, and its sheer expanse made this all too easy to keep coming back to ever since it came out. On the surface, there are countless quotable lines and many outstanding grand and subtle instrumental moments per song. But looking when scaling back, what becomes most intriguing is determining how much of the album’s character can be related to the band themselves. Even Sprain’s demise was like the album’s hidden epilogue. I picture this record as a world-class circus performance where the entire tent is tarped in layers of Stańczyk-esque irony. There’s even a moment in “We Think So Ill of You” where the narrator gets maniacally laughed at by an audience. The album hates itself as much as any listener can possibly hate it, but the magnificent product of that self-hatred and admitted degeneracy kept me wanting more. This show unfortunately could not go on, but it was a blast while it lasted. We won’t be hearing future rock records sounding this bold for a long, long time. –BlazinBlitzer

19. Lankum – False Lankum

[Official site] // [Spotify]

In far too many reviews of mine I attempt to wrestle with what is essentially the same question in each: where is folk music’s place in the internet age? While 2023 has given us several good answers to that question, few have been as notable, or as titanic, as False Lankum. A band with a keen ear for auditory spectacle, married to as much sinew, marrow and soul as any voice in the tradition has had in living memory has made for one of the more memorable solutions to the trad-folk crisis to date. This Janus-faced colossus had managed to look both to the past and the future simultaneously, breathing renewed life into the language of the former by calling up its ghosts and setting them reeling against the post-industrial Dublin skyline. If this is a road that is going to be more and more traveled in the future, the future of folk in general, and Irish in particular, is, if not universally brighter, at least a little less murky than it’s been. –DadKungFu

18. Johnny Booth – Moments Elsewhere

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

When I was younger, I was much more concerned with musical technicality than I was with how music made me feel. At the time, I couldn’t listen to a masterpiece like “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and appreciate it for what it was: beautiful. In my life’s music discovery journey, especially with heavy music, there came a time for me where, if the music didn’t have shifty time signatures or strange guitar or drum work, it didn’t matter. As I continued to grow older, I started to care more about the impact a band had on me musically, and not how technically amazing they were. Basica–

“Hey, wait a second… what the hell, Mike? What does that have to do with Johnny Booth?”

Oh, yeah, right. Well, basically, of all the nu-sput-blah-blah-lovetohateit-metalcore albums that got dropped in 2023, Moments Elsewhere was among the most unashamedly aggressive and unrelentingly intense. I mean, holy shit, the opener is like a blast of arctic air blowing the doors open of my apartment, only to then jump straight into the volcanically intense “Collapse in the Key of Fireworks”, which goes from completely insane to jazzy to groovy, culminating in a breakdown so simple a child (or more likely a caveman) could have written it — except it’s so blisteringly heavy that it doesn’t fucking matter. And that’s just the first six minutes, folks. As Moments Elsewhere progresses, Johnny Booth infuse effects, a healthy dose of melody and a hint of atmosphere to create brief breaths in an otherwise full-throttle, guns blazing, Mad Max-esque car chase into the horizon.

Sure, there were some gripes (yes, people that complained about the production, we heard you), but with moments like that one breakdown in “Only by Name” or songs like “Full Tilt” (quite possibly one of the best they’ve ever written), or that last stretch of the album where Johnny Booth pick up the musical equivalent of a crowbar and just start beating you with it, I simply didn’t care. Here’s the point: of all the albums in this growing genre that I could have picked as my personal favorite, I picked this one. Why? Because rather than simply settle for acceptably heavy, technically proficient music, Johnny Booth harnessed the very substance of aggression itself and translated it into an album of unbridled fucking ridiculousness. Was this album the best, uh, “nu-sput-blahblahblah” of the year? It’s debatable. But was it one of the most intense, adrenaline-pumping, breathtaking, and just plain fun albums I listened to all year? Yep — it sure was. –Manatea

17. There Will Be Fireworks – Summer Moon

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

There Will Be Fireworks never intended to wait a full decade before releasing their next record; what became Summer Moon had been patchworked and refined for the better part of that span, unburdened by deadlines and letting progress arrive on the Scottish quintet’s own time and terms. Fanfare wouldn’t be too hard to come by once they were eventually ready — the group’s cult classic The Dark, Dark Bright captivated our little community back in the day, and this long-awaited follow-up likewise traces its footsteps with impassioned, romantic brushstrokes of post-rockified indie fervor, drawing justified comparisons to regional heavyweights like Frightened Rabbit, Mogwai, and The Twilight Sad.

The wait recontextualizes Summer Moon‘s reflections on permanence and nostalgia, though: each stirring crescendo and vulnerable confession brims with the warmth of a homecoming, radiating the album’s starry-eyed, enraptured, emo-adjacent power balladry outward and inviting anyone in need of that heat to open their arms and hug it back. In 2013, There Will Be Fireworks may have been a (superb, overlooked) drop in an ocean replete with acts aiming their sights on that same twee camaraderie, but today their cozy, beaming shimmer proves rarer and even more vital: seasons change and our satellite rotates, but even when it disappears from view, it’s up there, waiting to show its face again. So too do these feelings — Summer Moon weathers the march of time in a hundred different ways, and There Will Be Fireworks’ heart still beats the same. I wouldn’t have it any other way. –ashcrash9

16. Fever Ray – Radical Romantics

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Fever Ray’s latest album begins on the run. That synth line is looking over the shoulder and fumbling for the keys; it’s nervously opening the hotel door before the sun has come out, with only a sling bag of essentials. Karin Dreijer sadly evokes symbols of creating a home — fire and the smell of baking, but admits there’s no place in their plans for resting your head too long. The pursuer is an apparition older and more persistent than any fleeting moment of progress would suggest. Radical Romantics is a record haunted with ghosts — some benign, some malevolent, and some you want to stay over and touch you.

Fans of The Knife will find much joy in the first four tracks, which see them reunite with their brother for an update on their sound. While the opening track is a vivid reminder of the general-mixed-with-parental anxiety present in the first Fever Ray album, the next three overflow with gasps caught in the throat and hesitant fingers longing for offered skin. Song of the year “Kandy” brings out the steel drums that abound on Deep Cuts and pairs them with a sprite of synth, darting around the room, the dancefloor, and the underlit bar. This is the music of dark, unavoidable eyes emerging and becoming focal amidst moving elbows, strobes, and arched backs. It is the sound of the timelessness of attraction, the confusion of dynamics, and perhaps even the seduction of substances. Capturing this enormous mystery within a mere four minutes of bending bass and sweetness alone is a testament to the enduring power of pop music. 

After the naked aggression of “Even It Out”, the playful wide-eyed hope of “Looking for a Ghost”, and the exuberant jostle of “Carbon Dioxide”, the backend of the record becomes like compacted snow between two glass slides — ever more fragmented, melting slightly, cold and soft at the same time. And this morphing, changing pattern rewards closer inspection — as if a scientist examining a hidden world — we see the heart of one of the most vital artists working in contemporary music. Perhaps the only place there is rest for someone as changeable and powerful is at the depths of the unknowable ocean. –fogza

15. Dodheimsgard – Black Medium Current

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Vicotnik and his group are raising that “quality bar” with each album, and this year, they dazzled the audience once again with another brilliant record (even if it took eight years for this one to arrive). Diverse, challenging, exciting, and yet effortlessly graceful are the words that come to mind when thinking about Black Medium Current. Despite its runtime of over an hour, the album is a captivating journey where the darker tones of black metal seamlessly blend with elements from distant genres (psychedelic and post-rock, industrial, and even some new-age and classical music). Throughout Black Medium Current, various styles, like colors, have superbly deepened the picture painted on the canvas of black metal — and in my opinion, the end result is a marvelous and perfect work of art. –garas

14. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse…

[Official site] // [Spotify]

They’ve done it again. No idea how these fuckers can release such great music at the frequency they do. Top 3 Gizz for me. –BitterJalapenoJr

Kinda funny that a non-thrash / metal band has put out two of the best metal records of the last ten years, isn’t it? KG aren’t rewriting any books with what they’re doing here — it’s basically thrash metal with a big nod to Tool, Metallica and Voivod — but the execution and songwriting is just so immaculate, it’s almost funny how effortlessly they do it. Everything they did on Infest The Rats’ Nest is turned up to 11 here, with dizzying meter and time changes and confident, badass riffs that never let up. “Supercell” and “Dragon” absolutely destroy, as does drummer Michael Cavanaugh throughout the record — seriously, the guy’s a machine and world-class drummer. May well be KG’s best record overall, imo. –StrizzMatik

Pretty much the perfect cocktail of Infest the Rats’ Nest and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. This album absolutely RIPS. –Gibleson

13. Billy Woods and Kenny Segal – Maps

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

It’s interesting to me that Billy Woods and Kenny Segal’s first full-length effort together was titled Hiding Places in light of the follow-up being called Maps. Maps indicates a point of reference; a clear touchpoint that can be traced as the route is being followed. Hiding Places, with its inky darkness and malevolent energy, points to blind spots on the map; displays of crushing emotional weight with the implication that there is as yet no precedent for them. Maps dials back on this oppressive severity a few notches but retains the tumult and scrambled sense of bitterness, coaxing listeners out of hazy hip-hop complacency and into an arena that requires attention and, much like Hiding Places, challenges both thematically and sonically.

It’s more digestible than its forebear, retaining the free climbing flows that scramble up and over the craggy rockface of the beats, but also more expansive in the development of its sound. The minimalistic griminess of the beats is offset by frank and creative lyrical flourishes, showcasing Woods’ knife-sharp venomousness by way of flows that contort around the metronomic plodding like a snake coiling around low branches. The sparsity and uncomfortable nature of both of these aspects complement each other, each filling in the dead space of its opposite, creating depth and nuance within each song. Tightrope walking the boundary line between rap and spoken word, the stylistic heaviness mirrors the lyrical content in a sublime way. –PumpBoffBag

12. Ben Howard – Is It?

[Official site] // [Spotify]

While at his part-time home in Ibiza last year, Ben Howard experienced two transient ischemic attacks, or “mini-strokes,” roughly a month apart. Self-resolving, the fits left him temporarily speechless with his other senses heightened. TIAs rarely deal permanent damage the same way a conventional stroke does, but they’re caused by the same mechanisms, can be mitigated through the same means, and should be taken seriously, lest untreated effects snowball into a full-blown crisis. Since then, Howard quit smoking and let his wits come back to him gradually. Preoccupied by his health in the aftermath of these medical scares, Is It? captures his rehabilitation process not with the frustration you’d expect, but through lenience, meditation, and wonder, gaining a newfound appreciation for his corporal lucidity.

The singer-songwriter’s first pairing with producer Nathan “Bullion” Jenkins is a match made in heaven, too. In the past Howard’s ambling, non-committal voice has gotten lost within the lush ecology of his arrangements, but on Is It?, that’s a feature more than a bug: the pair have donned a captivating garb of hypnotic folktronica, the body of each track pinned down by Howard’s repetitious, earthen melodies and vaporized by Bullion’s stilted, pitch-shifted digital effects. The songs’ scatterbrained rhythms and flushes of ambience evoke the sense degradation of the mini-strokes themselves, replicating the oddly comforting beauty of not-quite-death. “I don’t mind it, being in the darkness, baby,” the singer admits on career highlight “Days of Lantana” — and if he can make rebounding sound as inviting and illuminating as Is It? does, neither do I. –ashcrash9

11. Kelela – Raven

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

It’s pretty unfortunate that nobody on Sputnik (myself included) seemed to know how to write an effective review for this upon its release. Certainly criticisms abounded in the soundoff section: too bloated, too smooth, too minimalist, lacking in charm(???). And with exception of the latter, I could see where these criticisms were coming from. But let me put it down here, far too late in the year, that RnB as a whole would be well served by drawing more deeply from the well of this spiritual daughter of Sade. In her impeccably sleek, fluid songsmithing, her cool charisma, her tastefully lit sophistication, the neverending vibe of her music, there’s a fluidity that runs a little deeper than the album art might promise, held together by a remarkable consistency and the idea that a song — and by extension an album — must first and foremost be beautiful, and every other element of it should follow that notion. Raven‘s an album that’s as easy to accept as it is to sink back into a warm bath, but one that, given its irrepressible ease and smoothness, conceals the fact that there is a depth to its beauty under the Rolls Royce sheen of its fluid glamor. –DadKungFu

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