The North - 2023 Roundup

I haven't listened to nearly enough new metal this year for one reason or another and that that I have listened to has tended to be from The Fallen. Anyway, here are the few black metal releases that have piqued my interest in 2023:

1. Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant

2. Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another

3. Imperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow Evermore

4. Taake - Et hav av avstand

5. Tilintetgjort - In Death I Shall Arise

6. Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya

Black Metal continues to be the most interesting modern Metal subgenre to me, so this list is probably going to be pretty extensive before I trim it down. 

1. Panopticon - The Rime of Memory
2. Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
3. Vertebra Atlantis - A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime
4. RUÏM - Black Royal Spiritism - I.O sino da igreja
5. Victory Over the Sun - Dance You Monster to My Soft Song!
6. Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
7. Fen - Monuments to Absence
8. Theophonos - Nightmare Visions
9. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
10. Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another
11. Odz Manouk - Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)
12. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
13. Malokarpatan - Vertumnus Caesar
14. Spirit Possession - Of the Sign...
15. Kostnatění - Úpal
16. Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab
17. ...And Oceans - As in Gardens, So in Tombs
18. Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya
19. Turpitude - Une interprétation de la dissolution glaciale en quatre mouvements
20. Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
21. Miserere Luminis - Ordalie
22. Häxanu - Totenpass
23. Urfaust - Untergang
24. Goatmoon - What Once Was... Shall Be Again
25. Nameless Mist - Lifeless
26. Arnaut Pavle - Transylvanian Glare
27. Inherits the Void - The Impending Fall of the Stars
28. Imperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow Evermore
29. Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis
30. Hoplites - Ψευδομένη
31. The Gauntlet - Dark Steel and Fire
32. Spectral Lore - 11 Days
33. Hoplites - Τρωθησομένη 
34. Odz Manouk - Ծուռ (Tzurr) 
35. Heáfodbán - Heáfodbán
36. Bríi - Último ancestral comum
37. Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant
38. Liturgy (NY-USA) - 93696
39. Hasard - Malivore
40. Hoplites - 'Aντιτιμωρουμένη
41. Totenmesse - Fiktionlust
42. Skálmöld - Ýdalir
43. Sühnopfer - Nous sommes d'hier
44. Jute Gyte - Unus mundus patet 

This list is going to take some serious work, there were a ton of Black Metal albums that I enjoyed this year as the genre never fails to bring the variety. Moonlight Sorcery was a hilarious find this year though, as it perfectly fits within my tastes and will make Black Metal purists squirm a little bit. I'll have to trim this one down quite a bit, I only left the Jute Gyte album on there because I think others may really enjoy it, but it was a little too avant-garde and abrasive for me.

My Black Metal AOTY will ultimately be the Panopticon one too, Xephyr, but so far I have been reluctant to review it as it resonates with me so much that I don't think I could ever do it justice.

Update to my list:

1. Panopticon - The Rime of Memory

2. Árstíðir Lifsins - Hermalausaz

3. Ebony Pendant - Ebony Pendant

4. Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another

5. Imperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow Evermore

6. Taake - Et hav av avstand

7. Tilintetgjort - In Death I Shall Arise

8. Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya

I checked out Panopticon's "The Rime of Memory" this weekend & were left feeling very similarly to Austen's last full-length to be honest. If pushed, I'd probably take "...And Again Into The Light" over it by the barest of margins. There's definitely less of that Americana feel about this record than there was on some of his previous work. There's also more post-rock influence & even a bit of a dreamy, shoegazy atmosphere about some of the melodics, particularly through the back end of the album. I agree with Saxy that the intro to the album is far too long & self-indulgent. I know I've said it before but Lunn's blast beats aren't the tightest either as there's a few clear timing errors that have been kept in which annoys me a little. As is my trademark, my album highlight is also the least popular of the proper songs in the ethereal "An Autumn Storm" while I do think the last two tracks see the quality levels dropping a touch with their more melodic & accessible sound. Still... it's hard to be too critical as Panopticon inevitably release solid atmospheric black metal (bordering on post metal on this occasion) & I can't see too many Wolves of the Throne Room, Aggaloch & Saor fans finding "The Rime of Memory" anything less than captivating. The limiting factor with me is the lack of genuine menace that I look for in my black metal which sees Panopticon always struggling to convince me that they're worthy of all the hype. Regardless of that, I do think "The Rime of Memory" sits on a higher rung in the pecking order than some of the other 2023 The North releases we've discussed on the Academy forums like Hopelites' "Τρωθησομένη", Liturgy's "93696", Tilintetgjort's "In Death I Shall Arise" & Malokarpatan's "Vertumnus Caesar" so it should rightfully enter the discussions around next month's awards.

4/5

Moonlight Sorcery - "Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle" (2023)

I struggled quite a bit with this popular Finnish outfit's debut album to be honest. I'd describe it as being a combination of Stormkeep style melodic black metal & the power metal infused sound of Children of Bodom with the regular use of neoclassical guitar solos & smatterings of Emperor's symphonics. With the exception of Dissection, I've never been much of a fan of the more melodic end of black metal & I'm sure you're all aware of my issues with the European brand of power metal by now so that mix was perhaps never going to be something that'd appeal to my personal taste profile, particularly when a fair chunk of the album is pretty much European power metal with black metal vocals. I've never felt that flashy guitar solos were well suited to the dark & evil atmosphere of genuine black metal either. I guess I'm just not really the target audience for a record like this one.

3/5

Trhä - "Alëce iΩic" (2023)

The gazillionth release from this Mexican one-man black metal producer over the last 3 or 4 years is also close to his best in my opinion. This two-track, 69-minute album sits miles outside of my musical comfort zone with Trhä continuing to expand on his signature sound that combines the lo-fi atmospheric black metal of Paysage d'Hiver & Bekëth Nexëhmü with strong ambient & uplifting trance influences. The first of the two songs is the 23 minute "Tëmana olh qëtën colvënna bé'jar lhëlh tun lhaja enΩëjëda£ehan inqom" which contains a strong blackgaze component similar to Sadness. I struggle with the overblown melodicism of it all to be honest. Things continue in that fashion for a while afterwards too & don't really take off until halfway through the epic 47 minute centrepiece "Limatu◊ën" with the second half of that track being some of the finest black metal I've heard in quite a while. That section alone makes "Alëce iΩic" worth checking out. It's just a pity that I can't appreciate the more melodic & trancey stuff that preceded it anywhere near as much.

3.5/5

Trhä - "Av◊ëlajnt◊ë£ hinnem nihre" E.P. (2023)

Then we see the other side of Damián Antón Ojeda's artistic kit bag with this very unusual three-song E.P. that sees him taking the more traditional black metal model & totally breaking it through the use of avant-garde folk influences. I can honestly say that this release sounds like nothing I've heard before but not necessarily in a good way. The two black metal tracks are both long blasting affairs that are layered with sickly sounding melodics that often seem to battle with the accompanying metal rather than feeling cohesive while the third track is a fairly insignificant four-minute, Japanese-inspired avant-folk instrumental that does nothing much to right the ship. None of the three inclusions hit the spot for me so (much like Trhä's supposedly classic 2020 sophomore album "Novej kalhnjënno") I find myself very much at odds with the consensus on this record. "Av◊ëlajnt◊ë£ hinnem nihre" possesses a lot more artistic value than it does musical value in my opinion & it's simply not an enjoyable listening experience for me personally. Trhä seems to be trying much too hard here & could do with a bit of quality control given the huge quantity of releases he's flooded the market with in 2023.

Odz Manouk - "Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)" (2023)

The long-awaited comeback album from the notorious founder of Californian black metal label Rhinocervs is a very solid release indeed &, in fact, went very close to seeing me dishing out one of my more elite ratings. You may recall that I nominated Odz Manouk's 2011 split E.P. with fellow Californian black metallers Tukaaria for feature release status recently? Well, "Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)" comfortably eclipses that release with sole member Yagian proving himself to possess an undeniable pedigree in the things that made the Second Wave of Black Metal so special back in the early 1990's. His sound sits predominantly in the more conventional black metal space with a couple of tracks steering over towards the atmospheric variety & you'll no doubt pick up the influence of Darkthrone's unholy trilogy. I think the vocals could have been a little more consistent however there's very little to complain about here, particularly on classic black metal outings like "To Feast on Celestial Bodies" & my personal favourite "The Last Bastion of the Serpent's Tongue". This one has usurped Panopticon's position as my front runner the race for The North Release of the Year & fans US black metal acts like Kostnatění, Arizmenda & the rest of Yagian's Rhinocervs roster should not be disappointed.

4/5

Okay, so I'm not gonna gain any new friends here because I didn't like the new Panopticon. I thought it was a slog, and a less interesting, less concise version of ...And Again Into the Light and is more concerned with dragging along with atmosphere than actually saying something. My list of North albums is something like this:

1. Svalbard - The Weight of the Mask (Post-Hardcore/Blackgaze)

2. Fen - Monuments to Absence (Atmo-Black metal)

3. Bludgeon Oath - A Burning Wrath (Atmo-Black metal)

4. Malleus - The Fires of Heaven (Blackened Thrash metal)

5. Wyrgher - Panspermic Warlords (Progressive Black metal)

6. Krisgrav - Fires in the Fall (Melodic Black metal)

7. Malokarpatan - Vertumnus Caesar (Old school Black metal?)

8. Graveworm - Killing Innocence (Gothic Black metal)

The frontrunner for The North Release of 2023 Award are Panopticon's "The Rime of Memory", Hellripper's "Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags" & Malokarpatan's "Vertumnus Caesar". There's less than a week to go so get those ratings in.

Kostnatění - "Úpal" (2023)

Last year's sophomore album from one-man Minneapolis avant-garde black metal project Kostnatění is a really solid release & should probably come into these discussions somewhere. It's currently sitting solely in The North but it's very clear to me that it should have a dual clan allocation with The infinite as it's made an obvious attempt to sound as strange as possible with a Deathspell Omega influence being pretty obvious in the guitar work. It doesn't all work but the majority of the record is highly engaging, despite being more interesting & intriguing than it is traditionally enjoyable. I'm placing it just behind Odz Manouk's "Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)" & Panopticon's "The Rime of Memory".

4/5