The Fallen - 2023 Roundup

I guess it is getting to that time of year where everyone starts looking back over the previous twelve months with a critical eye, so I will start with my favourite music genres and the state of The Fallen Nation. Well It's been another decent year for Fallen releases with a couple of 5/5s for me this year. I've still got one or two significant releases to check out, but here is my 2023 Fallen Album of the Year list so far:

1. Convocation - "No Dawn for the Caliginous Night" [Funeral / Death Doom]

2. Khanate - "To Be Cruel" [Drone Metal]

3. Ahab - "The Coral Tombs" [Doom / Death Doom]

4. FVNERLALS - "Let the Earth Be Silent" [Funeral Doom / Drone Metal]

5. Benthic Realm - "Vessel" [Doom Metal]

6. Mansion - "Second Death" [Doom Metal]

7. Hexer - "Abyssal" [Blackened Sludge]

8. Church of Misery - "Born Under a Mad Sign" (Stoner / Doom]

9. Crawl - "Damned" [Drone Metal]

10. Mournful Congregation - "The Exuviae of Gods: Part II" EP [Funeral Doom]

11. Ocean of Grief - "Pale Existence" [Death Doom]

12. Fires in the Distance - "Air Not Meant for Us" [Death Doom / Melodic Death Metal]

13. Lord Mountain - "The Oath" [Doom Metal]

14. The Howling Void - "Into Darkness Ever More Profound" [Funeral Doom]

15. 1782 - "Clamor Luciferi" [Stoner / Doom Metal]

16. The Abbey - "Word of Sin" [Progressive Doom Metal]

17. Margarita Witch Cult - "Margarita Witch Cult" [Stoner / Doom Metal]

18. Hands of Orlac - "Hebetudo Mentis" [Doom Metal]

19. Isole - "Anesidora" [Doom / Epic Doom]

20. Tribunal - "The Weight of Remembrance" [Doom / Gothic Metal]

Unfortunately I did not listen to nearly enough Fallen playlist material in 2023. It feels like a lot of it didn't garner enough attention across the general metal sphere so most of the Fallen albums I heard in 2023 were paired with another clan. But if I had to provide a top five at least for favourite clan albums of 2023 it would likely be:

1. Mizmor - Prosaic (Doom/Sludge)

2. Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant For Us (Death Doom)

3. Baroness - Stone (Progressive Stoner)

4. Church of Misery - Born Under a Mad Sign (Stoner)

5. Graveworm - Killing Innocence (Black/Gothic)

I'm going to have to do something different for my big list this year as I haven't had enough time / bandwidth to really put a ton of effort into it. So I'm thinking about doing individual lists for each clan then maybe a top 15 or 20 overall, just to split it up and make it easier to rank stuff. Might as well start here. Honestly, not a whole lot in terms of Fallen stuff for me this year, as I'd be inclined to take Sól án varma off the list as it's much more at home in The North. 

This will probably be getting updates from me as the year closes out, but I think this is close enough for now. I have a few other Fallen releases I've listened to but didn't feel like they made the list.  

1. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
2. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
3. Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant For Us
4. Godthrymm - Distortions
5. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction
6. Oromet - Oromet
7. Asphodelus - Sculpting From Time
8. Ahab - The Coral Tombs
9. Fange - Privation
10. The Acacia Strain - Failure Will Follow
11. Ocean of Grief - Pale Existence 
12. FVNERALS - Let The Earth Be Silent
13. Runemagick - Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind
14. Oozing Wound - We Cater To Cowards
15. Tribunal - The Weight Of Rememberance
16. Church Of Misery - Born Under a Mad Sign
17. Mansion - Second Death

I've just gone to "Releases" and put in 2023 Fallen albums that I haven't rated and have just realised how slack I have been with new releases this year as there are loads I would like to check out still and over 100 that I haven't heard at all. I guess my focus has been elsewhere ths year!

The last day or so of listening has seen me make a couple of changes to my Fallen top 20 of 2023:

Isole and Tribunal drop off the bottom of the list.

Edit: A further edit is the inclusion of Indian band Dirge's self-titled at #9, costing Hamds of Orlac a place in the top 20.

I actually went back to Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean as well after you posted about it Sonny and I can definitely see why it received high marks from you, even though the relisten wasn't enough to sway my score away from a 3.5. Definitely one of the more memorable crushing and slow albums to come out this year. I'm actually opposite from you where I enjoyed their 2023 EP a bit more than the full album, which is kind of strange for me given how grimy the EP production is. Probably has to do with overall length, but I'll be interested to see where that project goes in the future. 

I wish I had more time to spend with Distortions this year as I think this proves Godthrymm to be an incredibly consistent modern Doom act.

Great Falls' "Objects Without Pain" album is the frontrunner to take out The Fallen Release of 2023 Award with less than a week to go followed by FVNERALS "Let the Earth Be Silent" & Ahab's "The Coral Tombs" so get those ratings in.

I completely missed Great Falls in my 2023 listening; decided to fix that this morning. Chilling stuff, for sure. I went back and forth about the vocals, sometimes even within songs with them being suitably anguish-filled or right over the cusp of no longer enjoying them. This might be more of a mood album for me, as I can't see myself wanting to really sink my teeth into Objects Without Pain at any given moment. The pacing is well done though, with the more chaotic sections being few and far between massive sludge riffs so they really have an impact whenever they show up. I kind of prefer this darker and more despondent atmosphere compared to a more violent and aggressive one, even though this album definitely has sections conveying the latter. 

I think I would put this above Godthrymm in my list since this is way more adventurous, varied, and hard-hitting. I can see this one being a pretty big underground hit that people in the know will go back to, since my second listen was better than the first. 

4/5

Oromet - "Oromet" (2023)

This debut album from a new Sacramento-based duo is a great example of the funeral doom metal genre in my opinion & I'm surprised that it hasn't been mentioned as yet. With its three tracks spanning a suitable 43-minute duration, it doesn't outstay its welcome like so many funeral doom records do. It's also quite melodic with a noticeably epic feel that provides just a little differentiation from the pack. The second track "Diluvium" is spectacular & is one of the better examples of the genre you're gonna find. There's just not quite the musical proficiency to reach my elite scores but this is a damn fine release nonetheless & has even bumped its way into the lower positions in my top ten for the genre overall.

4/5

I find it inconceivable to be talking about the best Fallen albums of 2023 when Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean's "Obsession Destruction", Convocation's "No Dawn for the Caliginous Night" and Khanate's "To Be Cruel" don't even qualify because no one has listened to them.

And yet you apparently started the thread in order to do just that. ;)

And yet you apparently started the thread in order to do just that. ;)

Yet obviously nobody took any notice!!

I'll try and do my due diligence today as I've kind of been in my own listening bubble as of late. I've obviously gotten to a lot of 2023 releases but only through my own research, not a whole lot of recommendations, so it'd be interesting to round each of the clans out with some experimentation. 

I fully agree with the Oromet record Daniel, basically the same opinions and conclusions I came to. I don't think the atmosphere hooked me as much as I have it sitting at a 3.5/5 at the moment, but I'm normally not quick to recommend Funeral Doom and this album was an exception this year. I think it's a great example of how a new band can have slight tweaks to the common genre sound and have it make a huge difference. You don't have to do something absolutely crazy to stand out as long as your songwriting is solid enough to get what you're trying to do across. 

Updated Top 10 based on my final list on RYM that I haven't converted over yet, Great Falls isn't going to be on the 2023 list but I'll put it here. I'll update this once I'm finished listening to Sonny's picks as they're very different than mine. The Clan system is really working against me here as my Top 3 are 100% Fallen secondaries instead of primaries, but thems the breaks. Fallen icon shows up on 'em, so who am I to argue with the mighty MA. 

1. Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
2. Sól án varma - Sól án varma
3. Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant For Us
4. Great Falls - Objects Without Pain
5. Godthrymm - Distortions
6. Oromet - Oromet
7. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction
8. Asphodelus - Sculpting From Time
9. Fange - Privation
10. Ahab - The Coral Tombs

I will definitely check out Oromet before the deadline because as I always say, you can never have too much funeral doom...

I was able to give Convocation a shot yesterday and it's definitely a gem that I missed as far as Funeral Doom goes. I'm not sure I quite have the ear yet to know whether I think it's better / on par with something like Evoken's discography, but it gets pretty damn close from just one listen. I put in my rating to attempt to sway the charts in Sonny's favor. 

I gave Khanate an honest try but as Sonny alluded to in his review, I wasn't able to make it fully through. I would have gotten through the whole thing if I didn't run out of time at work yesterday, but I have zero interest in picking it back up or restarting it from the beginning to try and get the full experience. I can see why it would resonate with people as I saw what they were going for with the vocals, but man, really not something for me at the end of the day. So I'll refrain from rating that one, it's very far from my wheelhouse. 

I gave Khanate an honest try but as Sonny alluded to in his review, I wasn't able to make it fully through. I would have gotten through the whole thing if I didn't run out of time at work yesterday, but I have zero interest in picking it back up or restarting it from the beginning to try and get the full experience. I can see why it would resonate with people as I saw what they were going for with the vocals, but man, really not something for me at the end of the day. So I'll refrain from rating that one, it's very far from my wheelhouse. 

As we have got to know each other's tastes, I would have been very surprised if you had come out in favour of Khanate, Xephyr. They are definitely not for everyone and I would never hold it against anyone who didn't much care for them, even though I absolutely love them. Drone metal is an acquired taste at the best of times and Khanate are by no means an easy listen, even in drone circles.