Best of 2023 by UnhinderedbyTalent
However, the true talent that any good BAN record has is its ability to fill any room that it is playing in. Disharmonium: Nahab does this brilliantly. There is always a multitude of things going on with any track on here. Haunting and melancholic melodies carve slow cuts out of the very atmosphere around the listener whilst dense atmospherics constantly plunge you into some further incalculable fathom to try and orientate yourself with. The dizzying urgency that opens The Black Vortex soon settles into some undulating and pulsing construct that lurches with some unexpected grace. Yet that opening chaos is never truly lost in the track overall, it merely gets dialed into the structure and tempered a little by the pace of the track overall.
This sense of being propelled by the rhythm of the record whilst being caressed by the applied melodies and atmospheres I found to be quite unsettling at first. However, I soon settled into this slightly esoteric pattern with repeated listens and feel like the album becomes more accessible with each listen. Ordalie does not need to dredge the depths of extremity to get its message across and nor does it need to rely on excessive shrouding of atmospherics to simply make its mark. Instead, it creates a clever maelstrom of the required component parts to deliver what is ultimately a clean and concise sounding record overall.
The haunting vocals of Tiffany Ström are perfect alongside the gazey atmospheres and doom soaked passages. Seemingly at home in any scenario that her and fellow band member Syd Scarlet can concoct between them, Tiffany's vocal chords offer a cold and ethereal attraction that although is devoid of positivity or optimism is still utterly addictive. Add in to the mix some feedback seeping guitars and cavernous percussion and Fvnerals soon start to create dense layers of murky and absorbing music. Even when the focus is more on the instrumentation (as with the powerful Rite) it is hard not to engage with the efforts here.
The anthems almost form an orderly queue here on this, Spirit Adrift’s fifth full-length offering. Catchy riffs and hooks spill forth aplenty from the beginning proper of Give Her to the River. Couple them with the equally instantaneous and memorable vocals and you have a winning formula for Ghost of the Gallows sticking around in your head for hours on end. Variety comes in various forms. Pace, tempo, structure, melody, and technical prowess. Tom Hardy is a fucking beast of a guitarist. His blooping and looping leads are one of the outstanding takeaways from the record. Possessing a near progressive edge to the work on the six strings, the opening to Barn Burner is a frenzied foray that brings instant variation from the tone set by the lengthier opening track.
Whilst there is a sense of fight to the record, there is a frustrating futility to that conflict, an underlying tone of defeat being known but the level of tenacity in the energy of the tracks refuses to admit defeat. Monotone bass lines and an often-deployed plodding rhythm compliment the dark edge to the lyrics well without ever making for dull or lifeless compositions either. There is a level of intrigue that I maintain in listening to this record that I do not often find with most releases nowadays. VOID certainly has something to say but it is not limiting itself to shouting in my face, nor is it hiding behind conjecture either.
Their energy levels here match Drain on their opus from this year but there is a more down and dirty element to Enforced that carries the aura of an Iron Reagan or even a Cro-Mags. Enforced are a fun band talking about serious topics. Revelling in highlighting the hypocrisy inherant in politics, religion and war, they blaze a bruising and scarring commentary on War Remains. It is a state of the world address without the bullshit, minus the glitter and with the turd firmly centre stage with all eyes forced toward it. This disdain exudes forth from War Remains in every gruff chant, every scathing riff and every predatory drum strike.
The experimentation ventures even further though on Living Proof with rapper, Shakewell guesting on Intermission and the band go off into dreamy yet catchy punk-pop on Good Good Things. Look beyond these more blatant breaks from the blueprint and you will note groove metal excursions - check out the solo on opening track Run your Luck for a prime piece of Dimebag worship - alongside the crossover familiarity. On the whole though, regardless of the medium used to deliver the message, it is clear that Drain have a lot to say on this album. That aforementioned smile on Sammy's face has a snarl behind it with some venomous content to keep those hardcore vibes on the menu. With such a brief run time it would be easy for the record to pass you by, but it is so damn punchy and gnarly (as well as downright catchy as fuck in places), you find yourself actively listening to the whole album.
Having heard the previous album (Kindred) from some three years ago, it is fair to say the band have gotten heavier this time around and I can only hope this trajectory is maintained on future releases. They still have a healthy mix of styles present here though that compliment each other nicely and so I am equally eager to hear that this blending of influences is alo retained moving forwards.
There is little to no hope present in the messaging of the record. It is an utterly immersive yet incredibly punishing experience as Liam lays bare his range of complex and deep emotions across one of the most desolate soundscapes you will hear this year. When in full flow, his music is thunderous and powerful but there is still a near constant scathing edge to proceedings on Prosaic. Admidst all the dark density there is a real sense of frustration and a degee of futility being expressed also that personalises that darkness and frames it perfectly.
The scathing black metal that sits atop this unexpected restraint is much less subtle of course (otherwise I doubt I would be reviewing this release). The punishing drums and grim vocals serve as ample reminder of where Fen’s heart lies when it comes to the driving force behind the band, it is just that there is plenty of room on this album to accommodate so much more musical direction as well. Monuments to Absence is a big sounding record, albeit one that never quite achieves a Drudkh level of expansiveness. It still successfully marries the intensity of black metal with the relentless beauty of nature though and steers the listener down some different avenues of exploration.
The main immediate difference to note this time is that production job that makes the drums sound like they are incredibly brittle. Despite the obvious hard work of Charles Koryn, his efforts are stifled somewhat by knob-twiddler, Gabriele Gramaglia. The leads shine well enough though. Soaring and uplifting, they do a quality job of expanded the soundscape of Threads... without giving us any pretentious traits to get annoyed over. These cleaner, more progressive elements are the strongest part of the album for me and I agree that VoidCermony do work better as a progressive outfit as opposed to a technical/prog-death band. I do not have a problem with the vocals actually. I can see where the aversion comes from but I find them perfectly acceptable.
There is a lot of modern black metal on display here but it is more or less all delivered with tether firmly pegged back with Fenriz and Nocturno Culto sitting astride it. At the same time, Tilintetgjort are trying to take an avant-garde direction at times - albeit they lack maturity, direction and an anywhere near decent enough production job to achieve it. There are drum and riff patterns here that are not from any black metal playbook.
The guitars weave a diving and dizzying tapestry of knotted and tightly interwoven threads that you inevitably lose sight of as the more abrasive and aggressive textures of the rest of the instrumentation invade the space around them. The time-changes and off-kilter rhythm keep you on your toes for sure and this is all done at a frenetic, near rabid pace for the most part. The vocals are suitably throaty and monstrous, retaining that bm grimness perfectly throughout. From the opening horror of Solar Witch through to the disorientating Mind of the Sun, Thantifaxath offer real end-to-end experience of their musical repetoire. Shrouded in mystery (no known line-up has ever been confirmed), Hive Mind Narcosis carves a very unique space for itself.