I was talking to a buddy of mine and he sent a note to our chat group concerning his favorite albums of 2023. Stripped to its essence it read, “My favorite albums are the ones you liked.”  A philosophy I’ve spent over six years trying to get across on these end of year lists, boiled down to a single sentence. At the end of the day when the sun goes down what’s important – what’s always been important – is that you found a band, an album, or a song that brought you joy. A modicum of peace or comfort. Or barring that, a measure of understand to fight against the dark.

I found a lot of that this year. Almost too many albums to count. But we’re going to count them anyway, since that’s what we do, both here at Nine Circles and across the AI-riddled online music landscape. Half of those lists will be compiled by someone dumping shit into ChatGPT and vomiting out listicles. Half will be “critics” telling you these are definitely the best albums, in the best order, and everyone else are fools. Half will argue those people are fools, and lists don’t matter, even as they themselves are making a list. 

Yes, I know that’s three halves. Blame the algorithm.

I wrote in my Honorable Mentions post that this is probably the last year I’m going to be separating out my entries into distinct lists. It makes less and less sense when any album regardless of where it’s ranked stands for a singular moment in time – literally a moment in some cases – and rises and falls based on where we are as a person on this meandering trek we call a life. And that’s how it should be. If you’re so set on a favorite being concrete and immovable for all eternity then my friend I wish you well, but you have some growing to do. 

So one last time into the breach. Numbers are there, use them how you will. And remember that even though this is my list, my actual favorite albums are the ones you loved, because in the end if you found a thing you love, even if it’s different than my thing, it’s still the same thing.

You know what I mean?

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The Inner Circle

My Top 25 Albums of 2023, Part I: Albums 25-11

25. Boris – Bright New Disease/Klatter/Heavy Rocks (2002)/”Akuma no Uta(2023)“: Boris may have only released one “proper” full length in 2023, the blistering Bright New Disease with industrial metal band Uniform (covered here), but it was still an incredibly busy year. Two collaborations with Merzbow finally saw vinyl release after decades of being out of print and unavailable, including the wonderful Klatter (and the more challenging 04092001). The band re-recorded the title track from Akuma no Uta for that album’s 20th anniversary, and then to cap it all off, finally brought the first (and best) Heavy Rocks album from 2002 back up in a great vinyl package and available for all through streaming. Not a bad year at all for one of my favorite heavy bands.

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24. Thy Catafalque – Aföld: The opening track “A csend hegyei” sets the stage for the latest from Thy Catafalque: this is a decidedly heavier affair than the progressive amalgam of previous releases. Alföld means “The Earth” and like our planet the music within is dense and layered. There are still moments where mastermind Tamás Kátai indulges in his globe-encompassing instrumentation and arrangements, particularly on the synth-heavy dance and vocal section of “A földdel egyenlo” and the beautiful acoustic passage that ends the epic title track. If you’re still not convinced, the flute that opens personal favorite “Folyondàr” should convince you with its strains of KFMDM filtered through traditional world melodies. So, yeah: still very much a Thy Catafalque release (and a strong AOTM you can listen to here), but with an extra helping of the heavy to get your blood racing.

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23. Mutoid Man – Mutants: Stephen Brodsky and Ben Koller are still ripping it as Mutoid Man, and with new bass player Jeff Matz in tow they’re back with their third release Mutants. Kurt Ballou remains behind the boards and gives the production a slightly rougher sound which makes the heavy moments even heavier, allowing Brodsky’s incredible voice to pierce through even more. Early single “Call Of The Void” was a clear signal that even though Brodsky and Koller have bigger bands in Cave In and Converge, Mutoid Man is taken just as seriously. The music is shreddy and filled with hooks, but in between songs about mythical sirens and graveyard love you can see some serious thought given on weightier issues lyrically on tracks like “Demons” and the sublime closer “Setting Sun” featuring some truly powerhouse drumming from Koller.

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22. Sermon – Of Golden Verse: The ambient gothic progressive doom that launched Birth of the Marvellous to my Best of 2019 list is still present on new album Of Golden Verse, but the primary focus here is very much metal. Mysterious Sermon ringleader HIM continues his partnership with drummer James Stewart to craft an enthralling record that may be less immediate but yields more surprises with every listen. Tracks like “The Distance” pulse with barely restrained power, HIM channeling Katatonia and Tool both vocally and musically, with to my ears a touch of late-period Ulver. But lurking underneath those influences is the heart of something much more aggressive and metallic. ”Wake the Silent” features swirling, muted chugging and a rising vortex in the chorus, driven by Stewart’s drums. He might be the MVP on this record, but make no mistake: all the mystery and darkness is intact throughout Sermon’s sophomore slab.

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21. Ulthar – Anthronomicon/Helionomicon: 20 Buck Spin had a year, huh? Almost too good a year; between releases from VoidCeremony, Tomb Mold, Torture Rack, Ascended Dead, and Lunar Chamber (not to mention Vastum, Gravesend, and the Dream Unending/Worm split) I got more than a little fatigued with the almost signature sound the label is putting out. But Ulthar clawed through the pack with a pair of absolutely vicious albums. Anthronomicon refines the blistering attack found on the band’s previous releases, but with an emphasis on dynamics I found lacking on Cosmovore and Providence. It’s a killer record, but the real jewel is Helionomicon, which features two massive, 20-minute tracks that need stop offering up exquisite idea after idea, shifting mood and tone without every being less than a full on death metal assault. 

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20. The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness: I’ve made no secret of my love for prog, so all I needed to hear was Andy Tillison from The Tangent was the keyboard player in the new progressive metal outfit The Anchoret and I was hooked. Masterminded by bassist Eduard Levitsky, It All Began With Loneliness is startling in how fully formed it sounds for a debut album. Straddling multiple influences like Opeth, latter day Porcupine Tree and subtle shades of Pink Floyd and King Crimson if they had the gain to 11, the album yields continual surprises, with tricks that go deeper with each listen. Vocalist Sylvain Auclair surprises with effortlessly shifting from solid cleans to some really nasty roars and more metal deliveries. Tillison’s keyboards are a revelation, showing how versatile he is as he solos with more metal abandon than in his solo work. But as I listened to tracks like “A Dead Man” and “Forsaken” I was taken back time again to James Christopher Knoerl and some genius drumming that shows off his chops while never seeming to be the focus. It’s a marvelous job, and taken as a whole with Levitsky’s composition and arrangements It All Began With Loneliness is one of the best debuts I’ve heard in a while.

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19. Spirit Adrift – Ghost At The Gallows: I don’t follow the discords or reddits – are people mad at the turn away from the earlier doom-centric metal Spirit Adrift used to traffic in? Because honestly the band ever did much for me until Nate Garrett invoked the spirit of rock and roll and let his fingers and voice soar on 2020’s Enlightened in Eternity. Ghost At The Gallows takes the formula further, evoking Thin Lizzy in its leads and harmonies on tracks like the early single “I Shall Return”. But the real joys are right up front: I dare you to listen to opener “Give Her to the River” and the prophetically titled “Barn Burner” and not snap a vertebrae rocking your head back and forth. There’s also a tight chemistry between Garrett’s guitar and the drumming of Mike Arellano, and thanks to the masterful production job handled by Garrett, Sanford Parker, and Zeuss handling the mixing/mastering that band dynamic shines through on one of the most enjoyable albums of 2023. May they keep channeling the spirit of the rock. D. Morris covered the album here.

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18. Dødhemisgard – Back Medium Current: When I was grabbing the embed for Black Medium Current, the latest avant-garde black metal offering from Norway’s Dødhemisgard one of the downloaders left a comment saying “this should be a Ved Buens Ende album.” I get the sentiment; there are few band who so consistently shift and twist within the genre like Dødhemisgard have been doing for over 20 years. It’s a bold move to open your album with the somber reflection of the 10-minute “Et smelter” and even bolder to end it with 70s disco bass and synths. Colin reviewed the album here and I have to agree with him: the give and take between the more traditional elements and the liberal doses of other styles feel more integrated than ever, making songs like “Tankespinnerins Smerte” and the deep terror of “Abyss Perihelion Transit” flow with a deadly undercurrent other band would fail to consider, let alone emulate. There’s no-one like DHG, and we’re the luckier for it.

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17. Liturgy – 93696: Speaking of bands absolutely no one else sounds like, Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix is back with Liturgy and 93696 feels like a call to everyone, saying “THIS is ME, THIS is MY EXPRESSION OF MYSELF” and Christ on Toast is it ever glorious. This sat right at the top of my list for months (this is why numbers don’t matter) and the only reason it’s not there now is because I needed a mental and emotional break from it. Listening back now I can feel all the chills I got when “Djenneration” kicked in the first time I heard it. In between massive drum blasts and crushing guitars there are flutes, pianos, and other orchestral instruments fully baked into the maelstrom of sound the band creates. Beautiful voices rise out of the roar…and I’m still only talking about the first song. D. Morris covered the album here and I was jealous that I didn’t get to cover it myself. Shorter pieces like the choral “Angel of Sovereignty (Angel of Sovereignty)” segue into despairing nightmares like “Haelegen II” and the massive 14-minute title track (released in sections last year as the EP As the Blood of God Bursts the Veins of Time) give you a sense of traveling through time and space. At almost 90 minutes of music I’m still discovering nuances and incredible sequences months later; if that’s not a sign of greatness well, agree to disagree then. This album is amazing.

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16. Godthrymm – Distortions: Godthrymm are truly carrying the torch held previously by My Dying Bride and early Anathema – no surprise considering it’s the brainchild of Hamish Glencross who was a huge part of MDB back in the 2000s. Distortions is the second part of a conceived trilogy that started with 2020s Reflections and it’s exactly what you’d think it is: dark doom metal with that special British tint the Peaceville 3 made famous. The 11-minute opener “As Titans” actually moves at a brisk pace for a large part of its runtime, then drowns in a beautiful well of doom sadness accompanied by the gorgeous, ethereal vocals of Catherine Glencross. Everything sounds like it weighs a ton, and the production…my god, the sound of this thing is truly gigantic. This kind of music doesn’t work if you can’t feel the weight of every instrument, and Distortions might be one of the best produced album on this list. That goes a long way for me, especially when it’s in the service of such good, gloomy music.

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15. Celestial Sanctuary – Insatiable Thirst For Torment: You know how I know 2023 was a fantastic year for death metal? This isn’t my highest ranked death metal album, and I LOVE this album. Celestial Sanctuary still hold the HM-2 as their deity, but their homage to early Entombed and Carnage isn’t as obvious on new album Insatiable Thirst For Torment. There’s just as much Florida as Sweden on tracks like “Swivel Eyed and Gurning in the Shadows”. BTW, “gurning” means to snarl and distort your features into something terrible. So a little education along with your d-beats and drop d tunings. But seriously, the riffs feel like they’re barbed and steeped in sewage, the better to infect you when they hit. Throw in a few well-timed grunts and Tom Warrior “ugh!” exclamations on “Biomineralization (Cell Death)” and you have the makings of a future death metal institution.

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14. Deadly Carnage – Endless Blue: My appetite for post-metal and blackgaze and its offshoots have subsided over the years (see (or don’t, more accurately) my heartbroken omission of the new Ocean for this list), but something about the chorus on “Sublime Connection” off Endless Blue, the fourth album from the oddly disconnected named Deadly Carnage struck me. It took a while to figure out, but then I got it: this is what I always hoped I would get from Dredg before they released whatever the heck Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy was in 2012. So have I been waiting a decade for this? No, but I’m glad to experience what the Italian outfit are bringing, a kind of mix between early Alcest, the aforementioned Dredg (check out the first three albums – stone cold classics), and the foundations of what make Pelagic Records so attractive for the atmospheric post-metal crowd. Come for the stunning artwork and whale sounds, stay for some great emotive music that at 38 minutes gets in and out without repeating every riff for 20 minutes.

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13. Cloak – Black Flame Eternal: A recurring theme for what I enjoyed in 2023 were bands I never cared for before suddenly putting out albums that felt like shots fired over the bow. Cloak was another band like that for me, and Black Flame Eternal manages the feat of staying aggressive and wallowing in black metal even as it ramps up the rock and gothic atmosphere to tremendous effect. Listening to tracks like “Ethereal Fire” and “Seven Thunders” I hear the band I want Watain and Tribulation to be, but never quite reach. I love the opening of “The Holy Dark” with its anguished choir chants – Cloak is a band that mean business, but also full embrace some of the more theatrical elements of the genre. Tremolo lines abound with more moody fare (check out late track “Heavenless” which despite being more subdued may be the most evil song on the album), making Black Flame Eternal a record more people need to be listening to and talking about.

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12. Begravement – Horrific Illusions Beckon: Holy crap this album. Credit where it’s due: I had no idea about this band’s existence until reading about them over in the end of year round up from Last Rites. Now I can’t stop listening. The debut from Minnesota’s Begravement conjures up some serious death metal heaped with liberal amounts of old school technical thrash giving off major Death vibes, especially around the Leprosy/Spiritual Healing era. But there’s also an exuberance to songs like “A Horrific Illusion” and “Stifling Execution”, as if the guys in the band are cackling at every riff they throw in. And they throw in a LOT of riffs. Horrific Illusions Beckon may only sit at #12 on this list, but we all know how much the numbers mean, right? This sits way higher in my soul right now, and is probably going to be one of those albums that never leaves my playlist. An absolute killer in every way and the one album on this list I would implore you to seek out and give a listen to. It’s that good – so good I went and grabbed a cassette because at the time that was what was available and I fully intend to support these guys to make the next masterpiece of dearth metal.

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11. Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite: I think this is the best album Cattle Decaptiation have ever released. There, I said it. Few bands have jumped from one genre to another so effortlessly, and while Travis Ryan and the gang may have left their grindcore roots behind, they’ve morphed into one of the best death metal bands alive on Terrasite, their eighth full length. Ryan’s voice is a revelation, his curdling take on crafting a “hook” for choruses just as vicious at the roars and screams he uses elsewhere. There’s a precision and clarity to the production that serves the songs perfectly: “Scourge of the Offspring” sounds like a scalpel delivering 1,000 cuts in the name of humanity’s greed and gluttonous ways serving as the virus killing the planet. Dave McGraw’s drumming is borderline superhuman and the albums almost passes in a blur, barely taking a breath until we get to the 10-minute closing of “Just Another Body” which can only hold a moderate tempo for so long before diving headlong back into furious attack. In a year of fantastic death metal releases, this was one of the best.

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The Ninth Circle

My Top 25 Albums of 2023, Part II: Albums 10-1

10. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation: Two live albums, a collection of demos, and an electronic synth album. If that was all King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released in 2023 it’d still be a pretty good year. But nope: they went ahead and released a spiritual sequel to Infest The Rat’s Nest, otherwise known as my #3 album of 2019. I may never type out PetroDragonic Apocalypse’s full album name again, but I also won’t ever stop listening to KGLW’s second full on metal album. The band delights in taking great riffs and extending them to the point of breaking – there’s an almost motorik feel to the repetition of the musical ideas, and when juxtaposed against a more indie rock production the sound is unlike any other metal album out there. And it’s a huge plus that Stu Mackenzie and the gang don’t consider themselves a metal band: it makes each idea feel alive in a way more traditional metal bands strive and fail to achieve. It’s hard to pick a favorite when every single track utterly slays, but I’m going with “Supercell” tied with the epic onslaught of “Dragon”, at least until the next listen reveals a new favorite.

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9. Metallica – 72 Seasons: My list, my rules…and no apologies. Nostalgia is a dangerous drug, but so is the bizarre groupthink that comes with bashing something just because it isn’t what you want it to be. We’ll talk about that in another entry later, but for now I’ll just say that 1986 was almost 40 years ago, and it’s time to accept that Metallica have no interest in further mining the fruits of their early work. I’m fine with that, and the mature, looser groove they inhabit on 72 Seasons is something I fell for from the opening seconds of first single “Lux Æterna”. I took some time to wrestle with the album over on my personal site and surprise: I can acknowledge the issues with the album and still love it, warts and all. Incredible to hold two seemingly opposable thoughts in your head, but try it sometime. Yeah, I know Lars has basically whittled his drumming to 2 kinds of beats and almost no fills. Yeah, the band lost the vigor of their youth, but guess what? They’re old! Hetfield’s writing some of the most personal lyrics of the band’s career, and his vocals sound fantastic 40 years on from Kill ‘Em All. Kirk Hammett solos with gleeful abandon, and Robert Trujillo is finally getting his time in the sun – the bass is loud and proud on 72 Seasons. The opening title track is a beast, “Screaming Suicide” is one of their best tracks in forever, “Lux Æterna” feels like a leftover cover from the Garage Days EP, and “Crown of Barbed Wire” has become a recent late cut favorite. Enjoy your hate and gather what little satisfaction you can from snarky online commentary; I’ll still be here playing 72 Seasons with joy long after your spite has faded.

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8. Zulu – A New Tomorrow: I’m going to keep shouting until more people tune in: Zulu and their incendiary debut A New Tomorrow is hands down my best discovery of 2023. The hardcore unit out of Los Angeles forges traditional hardcore, powerviolence, hip hop, jazz, and funk into a potent molotov cocktail of rage. Curtis Mayfield samples sit side by side with crushing metal like “Lyfe Az A Shorty Shun B So Ruff”, featuring a bass tone so heavy it shook my intestines. ”From Tha Gods to Earth” is another tectonic slab that will bury you, but there are moments of utter beauty, such as the R&B soul of “Shine Eternally” and “We’re More Than This”. But the majority of A New Tomorrow’s runtime is dedicated to furious metal, and whether it’s the crush of anger that permeates “Divine Intervention” or the djent-ified harmonics of “Fakin’ The Funk (You Got Did)” you are in for one of the wildest rides of the year. I can’t wait for whatever Zulu put out next.

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7. Panopticon – The Rime of Memory: I don’t know if there’s a more important (or at least looming) figure in USBM right now than Austin Lunn. Whether it’s his prevalent themes of nature and conservation, his preserving of his local history, his legendary (and rare) live events or even his love of brewing, the man is a towering figure in the metal community, and Panopticon has long been at the apex for that community. None of that kept me from being severely disappointed in how muddy the production has been on his last few albums, as if his care was for the more traditional bluegrass pieces (all of which sound beautiful) while his metal tracks felt like side thoughts with no care given to actually being able to distinguish his lyrical/thematic intent or discern the nuances in the playing. I have to call it as I see hear it, which also means I have to say The Rime of Memory is a monumental feat, potentially his best album (and I’ll go to Hell and back for the trifecta of Kentucky/Roads to the North/Autumn Eternal) because it feels like Lunn finally let his guard down, and opened up in a way he never had before. Maybe part of that is the collaboration with Charlie Anderson, doing a lot of the orchestration and composition of the strings, which are prominent throughout the entire album. On of the things I’ve learned in 2023 is how difficult it is to let people in, and how – when you do – it makes all the difference. That openess, that willingness to expose your heart is evident in the gorgeous lyrics for the two-part “Winter’s Ghost” as Lunn meditates on memory and nostalgia and how the past can break loose of its moorings. The openness of the lyrics expands to the production as well: Spenser Morris finally allowed a fraction of space to permeate the metal section of the music, and the results are revelatory, from the sprinkling of bells that haunt the swirling chaos of “An Autumn Storm” to the great harmonized guitars in “Enduring the Snow Draught”. I can now hear the fragments of light and optimism in Panopticon’s music again, and it warms my soul. You can hear the group’s thoughts since this was also a 9C AOTM pick.

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6. Moonlight Sorcery – Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle: I can’t count the ways Moonlight Sorcery have stolen my heart since first grabbing their debut EP last year. The gleeful Immortal worship, the copious and mighty shredding guitar solos…all of that promise comes together on their debut full length Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle, covered here by Colin.. There is nothing that is not wonderful and over the top with this thing, starting with the incredible artwork by Linda Piekäinen. It perfectly captures the spirit of Moonlight Sorcery’s music. Conceived as a single narrative, this is black metal as divine worship, enthralled with the form and dedicated to perfect emulation even as they add their own personal touches (those solos!) to the genre. The drums on “To Withhold The Day” sound like they were recorded in the bowels of a mountain, and the guitar tone borrows literally from 80s hair metal while maintaining the frosty bite of the second wave. The mix is handled masterly by Dan Swanö, who keeps a fresh bite on everything. Listen to the opening of the stellar “The Secret of Streaming Blood” and tell me that guitar doesn’t sound like it’s trying to snap at your flesh, I dare you. I also can’t think of another black metal band (maybe…maybe Cradle of Filth) who would put an instrumental like “The Moonlit Dance of the Twisted Jester’s Blood-Soacked Rituals” on an otherwise traditional black metal record – in another universe this would be what Joe Satriani started doing after hearing Emperor for the first time. Other black metal albums might have been more ambitious, more evil, more necro…but none were as fun as Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle.

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5. Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium: Horrendous were another band I came relatively late to, not really getting on their wavelength until 2015’s Anareta with its ridiculous amount of Death worship. That dedication to technicality and progressive experimentation is still present on Ontological Mysterium, but the oblations laid art the altar of Schuldiner have been replaced by smaller threads grasping at an array of influences, and it works like gangbusters. ”Chrysopoeia (The Archeology of Dawn)” acts as a blueprint for the entire record, starting with a snappy guitar attack dishing out plenty of licks and solos. But then there’s clean vocals, and then a nasty vocal breakdown with some insane bass licks before launching into a syncopated lead break with soaring solos that wouldn’t be out of place some of the progressive rock albums I mentioned in my first Best Of post. Every other track feels like the offspring of this seven and a half minute behemoth. ”Neon Leviathan” trades in speed metal and technical thrash with another standout bass performance (Alex Kulick is an animal all over this album), while “Cult of Shaad’oah” gets almost hardcore in its barked vocal delivery, backed by some truly twisted lead work. Death never grooved this hard, and I’ve never been so happy to see a band step out of the shadows of their sonic idols and and claim their unique space in the scene. Also only 38 minutes long?! Just means I’m going to spin this over and over again.

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4. Green Lung – This Heathen Land: Let’s get this out of the way: ”The Forest Church” might be the best song Ghost never wrote. I love singing along to the chorus, and the vocal melody Tom Templar weaves in is a beauty with the way it rises on the last line. Green Lung traffic in straight up 70s occult rock with heavy waves of psychedelia and stoner metal, keyboards high in the mix and the guitars laying down stacks upon stacks of fat, fuzzed out bliss. I discovered the band with Black Harvest, an album that hit #9 on my Best of 2021 list, but This Heathen Land gets even deeper in the green weeds of what I love about heavy rock. Whether it’s the driving rock and roll of “Maxine (Witch Queen)” or the forlorn anguish of “One for Sorrow” the band makes sure to cover everything in a thick haze of space that makes each instrument feel like it’s the star, even as they complement each other wonderfully. ”Song of the Stones” perhaps wanders a little too far off the path with its flute and folk inspirations, but I kinda love it for that (though maybe not sequencing it right after the majestic “One For Sorrow” would have been a good idea). But when Green Lung want to rock, they rock with a swagger that I relish, as on the 1-2 punch of “The Ancient Ways” and “Hunters in the Sky”. The jump to Nuclear Blast just gave Green Lung more to work their black forest magic into some truly fun tunes, and there’s only a few records I had more fun with this year. Yeah, I said “records” because you better believe I have this on delicious green vinyl. 

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3. In Flames – Foregone: Okay, let’s get into it. Let’s talk about In Flames and the weird backlash against a band that put out their best album in forever (I’ll argue Josh’s point a bit since I adore Come Clarity) in Foregone. And let’s talk about the comparison way too many folks are making between this and another album – not on my list – that clearly takes inspiration from the band’s classic work. It’s similar to what I found with Metallica – at this point In Flames has been around for almost 30 years and clearly have no interest in trying to recreate the past, no matter how much you think they should. So putting that aside here’s what I found with the new album: a band invigorated with new members, itching to make something heavy and melodic that marries the attack of their earlier work with the hooks and anthemic vibes of their later work. And based on “State of Slow Decay”, “Meet Your Maker”, and the killer two-part title track they achieved it better than they had since, well…forever. And that’s only the first half of the album. The addition of Chris Broderick really amps up the guitar soloing, and say what you want about the filter effects on Anders Fridén’s vocals, but he’s on fire throughout Foregone, really leaning into his screams more than he has in, well…forever. But if there’s an MVP for this album my god, Tanner Wayne has earned it. That dude seems incapable of playing a dud hit on the kit. “In the Dark” is so heavy and then takes a left turn into heroic anthem. I could go on about every single track, but the 9C Top Brass did just that in what I think is our best Album Ramble (something we’ll bring back in 2024, promise). The bashing of this album online from “critics” is frankly embarrassing; you’re doing that other band no favors by constantly putting up their album against an album that has no interest in trying to emulate its past. I don’t get the praise for that album, but I also don’t feel the need to shit all over it just because it isn’t what I wanted from that band. But that brings me back to In Flames and Foregone: this sounds like exactly the kind of record they wanted to put out, and it just so happens to be exactly the album I wanted from In Flames since, well…forever.

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2. Howling Giant – Glass Future: There’s a theme running through my top two albums of 2023. Sometimes you build something up so much in your mind there’s no way the reality of the thing can equal it…and sometimes, very rarely, it can. There’s music that, the first time you hear it, pierces your soul. You feel like it was made precisely for you. That was my experience hearing Howling Giant for the first time, on their split with Sergeant Thunderhoof back in 2020. Since making it the #2 pick on my Best Of 2020 list I’ve been waiting for a new full length from the band, and from the moment the triumphant “Siren Song” kicks in on latest album Glass Future I knew this was one of those rare times an album would live up to all the expectations placed on it. The trio of Tom Polzine, Zach Wheeler, and Sebastian Baltes are working on a telepathic level, crushing it with sweet vocal harmonies, ear worm melodies, and a gorgeous concoction of psych, desert/stoner rock, and progressive elements that manage to come together in some of the most uplifting, anthemic songs this side of the universe. Since writing the review I’ve worn out the grooves on my vinyl singing along at the top of my lungs and basking in the wash of love pouring from the speakers. ”Siren Song” may be the clarion call to action, but Glass Future is stuffed to the gills with great moments, from the propulsive instrumental “First Blood of Melchor” to the foot stomping rockers like “Hawk in a Hurricane” and the title track to the more reflective, somber closer “There’s Time Now” bringing the album back full circle to the intro, which invokes a classic line from The Twilight Zone. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find your soul’s equivalent in music; Howling Giant is that for me, and Glass Future is 41 minutes of self identity.

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1. Wayfarer – American Gothic: Allow me a moment’s pretension by quoting Whitman: “Do I contradict myself?  Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.” Hopefully that goes some way to explaining how – despite being very differently musically – the western blackened death metal of Wayfarer can affect me the same way Howling Giant can. The Denver, CO band have gotten exponentially better which each release, and after the incredible A Romance With Violence all I could hope for was that they would get close to matching it. After all, how much better could they get?

As I wrote in my review, a lot better, it turns out. American Gothic refines everything about A Romance With Violence, shortening the songs and making sure each riff hit for maximum impact. Clean vocals are present, just one sign that Wayfarer opened themselves up to more influences and, rather than bury them deep in their black metal foundations, let them rise to the surface, allowing for a much more dynamic record. A lot of that is thanks to the stellar production from Arthur Rizk, who brightens the overall sound to allow the crispness of the guitars to shine through. And in the opening sections of both “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” and single “To Enter My House Justified” they live up to that sublime riff on “The Crimson Rider (Gallows Frontier, Part 1)”. 

But if there’s a track that utterly captivates me, it’s the nine-minute “Cattle Thief” which just doesn’t stop with killer guitar licks and a galloping rhythm that carries you up and over its length in no time at all. When the drums kick into overdrive it feels like the rush of a rollercoaster. And then the songs collapses into a slow dirge, awash in pads and those riffs stretched to break, only to slowly snap back in a menace that is an all-timer in metal for me, right before that double kick comes back. There’s a swirling darkness Wayfarer captured on American Gothic that fascinates me, and I keep coming back to it. Not because there are more things in the music to be illuminated, but because I keep finding things it illuminates in me.

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When I listen to American Gothic, or any of these albums I find reflections of myself, reflections I wish were better seen, or reflections I wish I could keep buried. 2023 was the year my depression became more than just feeling sullen, directly impacting my life in a way people were noticing. Part of my retreat from the week to week reviewing for Nine Circles was because I needed to step away and find something – anything – that would help with the sense of despair I was feeling. Putting my focus on those activities, and especially my family and my own health have really helped, as has largely stepping away from social media and the online metal community. I’m sorry, I do love you and this music but sometimes the levels of vitriol and bullshit that gets paraded around is just too much. I find myself at the end of 2023 with a slightly clearer perceptive on what matters, what I can control and what I can’t. And it’s to re-open me to the pleasures of this loud, extreme music with an enthusiasm that’s frankly been missing for a while. I can’t promise it will continue forever, but while it does I want to keep sharing and writing about the music that moves me in the hopes it moves you, too.

You all make Nine Circles what it is, not us. So I thank you for another year, for your patience as we continues to fine-tune what we present here. And extra thanks to the 9C staff – reading your voices and views on the music you love is a trip I don’t want to end. And extra special with secret sauce thanks to my brothers Corey, Dan, and Josh – working with you guys behind the scenes to keep the 9C machine running has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, not because of the work itself, but because of the friendship and support you all give me on a daily basis.

Okay, that’s enough. It’s the last day of 2023 as I write this, and there’s miles to go before I sleep, as another great writer once said. So one more time:

Keep it heavy. Keep it safe.

-Chris