My 20 Favorite Black Metal Records of 2023

 

This really should be a top 40 or 50, as there were a ton of black metal records that I fucking loved this year. But now that I'm an official business office boi, I 100% do not have the time for all that, so ruthless editing is a must. And honorable mentions are the coward's way out, so there'll be none of that. You may notice, however, that my writeups are even shittier than normal. Regardless, these are the black metal albums that I spent the most time with this year, whether it was while pumping iron, laying in a meditative state with all the lights off, sitting in rush hour traffic, or grimly doing the dishes.

#20

Black Shaman

Tradition

Atmospheric hypnotism in slow motion from a one-man Czechian project. Paced like doom metal but the feel is 100% black. If I was still addicted to kratom, this would definitely be higher on the list.

#19

Nadir

Extinction Rituals

Riff-y/thrash-y in a way that clearly has something to do with crust (and maybe sludge metal) but only really leans into those elements in small bursts -- see the chug-y breakdown in "The Old Wind" or the mid-paced intro to "Beyond the Shadow of Death" for evidence.

#18

Gryftigæn

Wurmwaldgaistoz

Sounds like this guy was watching The Fellowship of the Ring, got to the part where they're on the pass through the Misty Mountains and Saruman is bellowing incantations and conjuring an ice storm to destroy them, and thought, "OK but what if, instead of a scene in a movie, this was a raw atmospheric black metal album?"

#17

Nemesis

Nemesis

One of the hardest Google searches of 2023 (adding "black metal Norway" helps). For some reason I listen to this a lot when I'm doing pushups. Is there a shorthand for the kind of black metal that sounds like it's emanating from behind the crumbling walls of a haunted old castle? Can I just call it "OCBM" from now on?

#16

Calligram

Position | Momentum

More black metal with apparent roots in punk/hardcore, this time with a deeper sense of atmosphere, a more cohesive, cerebral aesthetic, and more mature songcraft. The tremolo-picking breakdown on "Frantumi In Itinere" through to the end of the song is one my favorite sections of music in recent memory. 

#15

Ildganger

Wanderer of Fiery Planes

Raw black metal perfection. Sorrowful epics for nomadic ghosts. As I make this list, I'm noticing that literally every single album that comes up, I think, "Fuck, this should really be higher."

#14

Vosbúð

Heklugjá

Looks like Vosbúð edged out Ildganger in the battle of the raw-atmospheric-black-metal-records-with-volcanoes-on-the-cover this year. I suppose it's fitting, as Vosbúð staked their claim by dubbing themselves "Volcanic Black Metal". Sounds like Paysage d'Hiver channeling the majestic aura of Twilight of the Gods-era Bathory. Manages the difficult task of keeping very long songs consistently dynamic and engaging without ever really taking the foot off the gas.

#13

Profane Order

One Nightmare Unto Another

Stupefyingly heavy black/death destruction with stupidly heavy production. Gravity blasts, bonehead riffs, and levels of bestial, chaotic precision that we haven't heard since Anaal Nathraak went on Radio 1.

#12

ὁ Μέɣας

κ​​​ή​​​ρ​​​υ​​​ξ π​​​ῦ​​​ρ

This one's a real oddity: a vicious raw black metal album about Alexander the Great with conspicuously layered folk instrumentation. There's a lot of what sounds like a mandolin and some kind of woodblock percussion, but it's all devoid of any sense of quirkiness or self-consciousness: it just adds to this anonymous project's sense of mystery.

#11

Kringa

All Stillborn Fires, Lick My Heart!

In which Kringa realize their full potential, taking liberally from death-doom, post-punk, and psychedelia, but remaining firmly grounded in grainy, occult BM. All Stillborn Fires definitely sounds like it was recorded live in-studio with minimal overdubs, which further enhances the sense that the whole album is some sort of ritual that we're privileged to be listening in on.

Kringa - Total Mental Desecration (2013)

#10

Afsky

Om hundrede år

After liking but not loving Afsky for years, Om hundred år finally made me a believer. Patiently crafted, melodic DSBM played with passion and urgency.

#9

Wells Valley

Achamoth

The queasy dissonance of Blut Aus Nord intertwined in the murk of Portal with the deliberate pacing and anxious groove of Cult of Luna. This year, I learned to love post-BM again, and Wells Valley led the charge.

#8

Helleruin

Devils, Death and Dark Arts

Helleruin brings a lot to the table -- the odd folk-ish melody, some ethereal guitar layering that suggests an awareness of modernity, one instance of cowbell -- but ultimately, what you're looking at is epic, vicious, true black metal in absolute peak form.

#7

Austere

Corrosion of Hearts

Depression has a way of feeding off of itself. It comes and goes over the years, but every time it returns in earnest, it feels that much heavier with the knowledge that it's never really been gone. Austere, who I had assumed was gone for good until recently, is one of the few bands capable of really embodying that weight.

#6

Uzlaga

The Sunken Seer

Utterly crushing down-tuned power chord riffs, hovering layers of high-frequency drone, one-two beats, hissing vocals, and ambient interludes worthy of one of NIN's Ghosts albums. A truly singular vision courtesy of a dude who runs a black metal memes IG.

#5

Sól án varma

Sól án varma

One-and-done project from members of Misþyrming, Carpe Noctem, Árstíðir Lífsins, 0, Skáphe, and more. The vortex-like heaviness of Icelandic black metal filtered through later-Celtic Frost-esque psychedelic-death-doom. Iceland, man. Iceland.

#4

Runespell

Shores of Náströnd

In which Runespell takes on a full-time drummer and a keyboardist, catapults their sound into lusher, vaster realms, leans into their more mournful, melodic tendencies, and creates some of the greatest pagan black metal I've ever heard. The most excited I've gotten about Runespell since Unhallowed Blood Oath.

#3

Entropia

Total

I've liked this band for years, but for me, Total is absolutely in a class all its own in the band's discography. It's somewhere between progressive and post-metal, but both labels feel misleading. The way the riffs seem to just repeat over and over until you notice that they're constantly melting and morphing into new and strange shapes, removing sections, taking on new layers, or otherwise distorting: I've just never heard anything quite like it. And it's all done so fluidly, it's honestly pretty mind-blowing. I'm also seemingly the only one who thinks so highly of Total, so proceed with caution.

Entropia - Vesper (2013)

#2

Hasard

Malivore

One of the most effective takes on the dissonant French style I've ever heard. Malivore is a nightmare emerging from the void as if conjured by forces beyond all mortal understanding or control, bred only to consume light and negate life. On a somewhat related note, I ordered this LP last Saturday and about half an hour ago, the mail carrier literally frisbee-ed it up from the street -- our front door is up a flight of stairs -- and it hit the door so hard that both of my cats ran and hid. Thanks guy.

#1

Thantifaxath

Hive Mind Narcosis

An absolute fucking masterpiece from start to finish, and I will happily die on that hill. Unflinchingly inventive avant-garde mastery. Queasy guitars vomit, convulse, and sculpt terrifying, amorphous structures. A faceless figure croaks acid-soaked prophecies of bottomless hunger and deathless horrors. Our world spins, slows to a crawl, chokes, and folds back in on itself. Parallel universes glow like embers then melt into nothing. Songs so dense and labyrinthine, I can't even conceive of how they were composed or recorded. Like, what the fuck is going on in "Solar Witch"? Are those guitars? How does it sound so utterly disjointed yet completely cohesive? Who are these mysterious Canadians, and how did they figure out how to bend time?