The Gateway - 2023 Roundup

As 2023 comes to an end, it's time to look back at the releases from those 12 months and see which ones are well-deserved highlights. For one of my clans, The Gateway has spawned amazing releases, with one of them reaching a perfect 5 stars and making me want to check out more of that band. Here's my top 10 of 2023:

1. Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden

2. Polaris - Fatalism

3. Code Orange - The Above

4. Of Mice & Men - Tether

5. Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars

6. Silent Planet - Superbloom

7. For the Fallen Dreams - For the Fallen Dreams

8. In This Moment - Godmode

9. Butcher Babies - …'Til the World’s Blind

10. Butcher Babies - Eye for an Eye…

Any releases this year from this clan that you enjoy, enough for a top 5 or top 10 or more? Discuss!

I don't really go out of my way to check out much Alternative Metal so let's see how much I ended up listening to this year: 

1. Klone - Meanwhile
2. Narrow Head - Moments of Clarity
3. Graphic Nature - A Mind Waiting to Die
4. Soen - Memorial
5. Katatonia - A Sky Void of Stars

Wow, really not a whole lot. Klone is the real winner here, since Graphic Nature and Narrow Head only got one or two listens from me throughout the year and were overall forgettable at the end of the day.

Meanwhile is an extremely consistent and solid album that I've gone back to here and there for my fix of some powerful lead vocals and more airy, spacious riffing. 

Other than that, the new Soen and Katatonia albums were letdowns for me, but at this point, i wasn't expecting anything more or less.

I pretty much had the same favourites as Xephyr for 2023. I listened to more alternative metal because that's what gets popular, but even this years biggest breakthrough act, Sleep Token, did not wow me the same as they did for so many others. Perhaps I expected more from them following the rollout of the singles.

Anyways, here's the full list:

1. Klone - Meanwhile

2. Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars

3. Sleep Token - Take me Back to Eden

4. Spiritbox - The Fear of Fear

5. Narrow Head - Moments of Clarity

6. Silent Planet - Superbloom

7. Sevendust - Truth Killer

8. Code Orange - The Above

9. Avatar - Dance Devil Dance

10. BABYMETAL - The Other One

11. Soen - Memorial

12. Vulture Industries - Ghosts From the Past

13. Beartooth - The Surface

14. Polaris - Fatalism

15. In This Moment - Godmode

16. Asking Alexandria - Where Do We Go From Here?

17. Godsmack - Lighting Up Bar-B-Q's The Sky

Katatonia's "Sky Void of Stars" & Klone's "Meanwhile" are neck & neck in the race to take out The Gateway Release of the 2023 Award at the moment followed by Sleep Token's "Take Me Back To Eden". There's less than a week to go so get those ratings in guys.