20 Best Metalcore Albums of 2023
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Hi, it’s me again, with the best metalcore albums of the year for the third year in a row. It’s a really exciting time for metalcore and its various related sub-subgenres, and as you’ll see below, I took a somewhat liberal approach to the definition of “metalcore.” With albums that swing from “metallic hardcore” to “death metal meets hardcore” to “black metal meets hardcore,” the bands on this list aren’t all coming from the same place or aiming at the same thing, but, if you ask me, all of the albums represented here achieve what the best metalcore albums almost always do. Once I started bending the rules, then I had to decide if some of my favorite hardcore albums of the year like Drain’s Living Proof (which is basically a thrash/groove album) and Zulu’s A New Tomorrow (which is one of the most supremely heavy hardcore albums of the year) counted as metalcore, and I felt like they didn’t. BUT, if you like the albums on this list and you haven’t heard those, you’re missing out.
If you don’t agree with my album choices or genre distinctions, feel free to yell at me on the internet. Here’s the list…
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20. Chamber – A Love To Kill For (Pure Noise, USA)
19. A Mourning Star – A Reminder Of The Wound Unhealed (DAZE, Canada)
18. Blind Equation – Death Awaits (Prosthetic, USA)
17. Cauldron – Suicide in the City (Ephyra/The Coming Strife, UK)
16. All Out War – Celestial Rot (Translation Loss, USA)
15. Harms Way – Common Suffering (Metal Blade, USA)
14. Never Ending Game – Outcry (Triple B, USA)
13. The Callous Daoboys – God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys (MNRK Heavy, USA)
12. Will Haven – VII (Minus Head, USA)
11. The Acacia Strain – Step Into The Light and Failure Will Follow (Rise, USA)
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Of all the bands toeing the line between hardcore and death metal, Fuming Mouth stand out as one of the hardest to pigeonhole, and one of the heaviest. Their Kurt Ballou-assisted sophomore album is not only an aural assault of ass-beating riffs and rhythms, it’s also lead barker Mark Whelan’s most devastatingly personal record yet. He rewrote portions of the album after recovering from a nine-month journey with cancer, and he calls the album a “concept-reality hybrid” that was largely influenced by his brush with death. It’s a reminder that nothing is more brutal than real life, and it’s not just a kickass record; it’s also the sound of resilience.
Listen here.
Chicago legends Racetraitor’s new album is as much a black metal album as it is a hardcore album, so, black-metalcore? For the purposes of this list, sure why not. Whatever you call it, this thing is tremendous. Musically, it’s the heaviest and most extreme thing this band has done since forming nearly 30 years ago, and thematically, it’s just as unflinchingly political as Racetraitor have always been in an even grander sense. It’s a concept album where each song is about a different societal struggle in different locations around the world–the band calls it “a sorta geographic autobiography of Racetraitor”–fleshed out by guest vocals by Dennis Lyxzen (Refused), Tim Kinsella (Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz), Stan Liszewaki (Terminal Nation), Sanket Lama (Chepang), and Patrick Hassan (xRepentancex).
Listen here.
Those of us who miss Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan were in luck this year. Former DEP vocalist Greg Puciato teamed up with most former ETID members Better Lovers, and their debut EP God Made Me An Animal (and standalone single “Two Alive Amongst the Dead”) pretty much sounds like an exact combination of those two iconic bands. (Former ETID vocalist Keith Buckley also debuted his new band Many Eyes this year, but no proper release to speak of yet–maybe next year.) Supergroups of veteran musicians go wrong more than they go right, but Better Lovers is exactly the dream come true that it sounds like on paper.
Listen here.
A lot of bands worship at the altar of early 2000s metalcore, but few modern bands have an arsenal of At the Gatesian riffs as tasty as Dying Wish. Add on top of that one of the most commanding vocalists in the game right now (Emma Boster), and you’ve got a force to be reckoned with, to say the absolute least. Their sophomore album Symptoms of Survival is glossier than the band’s debut, but no less menacing. There’s not an ounce of posturing here; the anger and pain in Emma’s delivery is real and human and you really feel it.
Listen here.
Forget about what other bands you know these musicians from; at this point, END is just one of the best bands that they’ve all played in. For a refresher, END’s members are/were also in Counterparts, Fit For An Autopsy, Better Lovers, Misery Signals, Shai Hulud, The Acacia Strain, and more, but END stands out from all of those projects. On The Sin of Human Frailty, guest vocalists J.R. Hayes of Pig Destroyer, Debbie Gough of Heriot, and Dylan Walker of Full of Hell add to the madness, and band member Will Putney’s sleek production only makes the band sound even heavier than they did on their debut.
Listen here.
Pupil Slicer really entered the abyss this year. Kate Davies said the goal for this album was “to further break down the walls between metal, hardcore, shoegaze, electronic music and pop,” and the result is an album that exists totally in a world of its own. It these bright, soaring, airy pop moments, alongside moments that are brutally heavy, and it all swirls together into something completely cohesive. It makes the band’s already-great 2021 debut LP Mirrors seem run-of-the-mill in comparison.
Listen here.
Death Goals are a UK queercore duo where the “-core” is chaotic screamo and mathcore, and A Garden of Dead Flowers is their second and best album yet. It packs a vicious punch, from the crazed riffage to the abrasively-screamed dialog about gender dysphoria, trauma, violence, and more. With songs that are both brutally heavy and strangely catchy, this record is relentless from the lurching intro of “Genderless Clones of Gameshow Hosts” to the sass/dance-punk closer “Faux Macho.” Passive listening is not an option.
Listen here.
Year of the Knife’s whole year has sadly had the shadow of the band’s severe car crash looming over it, but 2023 was also the year that YOTK released one of their best albums yet. No Love Lost is their first with longtime member Madi Watkins–who was left in critical condition by the crash–taking over on lead vocals, and Madi’s ferocious screams give YOTK a fresh new appeal. Sanguisugabogg’s Devin Swank and Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker also add their voices to the madness, and the rest of the band just bulldozes through this record, providing a total onslaught for its brief-but-intense 20-minute runtime. It looks like the band is finally ready to play again, so let’s hope 2024 is the year that YOTK get to bring these killer songs to life.
Listen here.
A lot of modern metalcore gets talked about within the context of its relation to the late ’90s / early 2000s, but Jesus Piece’s new LP …So Unknown sounds like the future. Produced by Randy Leboeuf (Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, etc), it’s got a sleek exterior with elements of industrial and noise, and Jesus Piece’s bludgeoning chugs and throat-shattering screams only sound even heavier amidst all the atmosphere. If …So Unknown‘s not the most menacing metalcore album of 2023–and it might be–it’s certainly the most bleak.
Listen here.
In an era where regional scenes tend to have less of an identity than ever, there’s still no place like Texas, where the metal and punk scenes are one and the same. That’s reflected in so many heavy bands from The Lone Star State, especially the latest Judiciary album. It’s one of the most monstrous thrash albums of the year and also one of the most fiery hardcore punk albums. It’s obviously a line that’s been toed before, but Judiciary toe it in a way that takes me by surprise every time, with songs that will rip your heart out.
Listen here.
