Tom Campagna's Top Albums of 2023

The Slovakian masters of black metal return with their last folk laden dirge into the Tatra Mountains and the medieval themes of Slovak histories. Their fourth album Vertumnus Caesar is more of what you expect from the band as they continue to draw inspiration from traditional heavy metal structure with more black metal vocal styles and ambience. 

The band throw the kitchen sink at the listener with how they are able to turn on a dime giving way to stylophones, Moogs, bongos, tubular bells, and whatever else they feel fits their unique representation of extreme metal. First proper track “Koár postupuje temnomodrými dálavami na juhozápad” hits a ton of variety and gives way to the rest of the album’s bipolar nature, which is ultimately somewhere between the first and second waves of black metal with a distinct flair for their homeland of Slovakia—Frankly it not only needs to be listened to, it needs to be experienced.

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Right from the opening vocal attack from the title track, lead singer Joseph Schafer demands that you “Brace For Impact.” Coming from the vibrant and growing scene in the Pacific Northwest which Schafer and I spoke about during the album’s streaming premiere, Colony Drop use a wide range of styles that get thrown into their baseline of crossover thrash from which this album was ultimately built. 

The self-proclaimed purveyors of “High Speed, Twin Lead” do not hide their adoration for the forebears of the genre that helped forge the fires of heavy metal within guitarists Ben Burton and Ryan Moon. Masterful tracks like “The Clockwork Grip” and “Fantasize The Best” showcase a “castle full of traps” approach that would make the nearest Metroidvania fan blush, allowing listeners to discover more and more nuance through each diabolical dirge through this scorching debut. 

This album is definitely a grower and one that reveals itself more and more on repeated listens, with each minute detail showcasing the band’s spectacular attention to detail, like finally finding that missile tank after walking through the same corridor 20 times. You never know what is lurking around the next corner.

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Reigning kings of Sweden, Katatonia continue to cement their legacy as one of the best bands in the world. On Sky Void of Stars, they advance their goth tinged rocking metal, tugging at your heart strings in a way that isn’t seen as often these days. 

On “Austerity” Jonas Renske gets to properly ply his trade with beautiful vocal lines that draw the listener in, giving way to a wall of effects and guitars to allow this to properly marinate to maximum effect. “Birds” is more of a straight forward, rocking number that has more bombast on drums than the rest of the album and gives you a good amount of energy to balance out some of the moodiness of the slower tracks. 

It amazes me that a band that has been around as long as they have is able to sound so fresh in 2023, but here we are. Katatonia have released their best album since The Great Cold Distance, and the result is exactly what you want from Katatonia, somber, moody, and stunning.

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This was an interesting year for heavy metal with the return of Heavy Load, a dynamite debut for Helms Deep (see above) more from recent success stories like Haunt and Spirit Adrift, and then some. Enter Century, one of the more surprising additions to my list. This Swedish duo’s debut is pure classic tinged heavy metal that gallops along without having to be over the top and given the country’s pedigree especially with this subgenre, there was a lot to live up to. 

Tracks like “The Fighting Eagle,” “Master of Hell,” and “Breakthrough” allow this trad twosome to take flight, leaning heavily on the guitars and vocalist Staffan Tengner’s delivery style with production evocative of European bands 40 years their junior. If you are looking for an album that hearkens back to the days of yore in Sweden, a time before death metal reigned supreme in a place once called Svithiod, look no further than the latest scorching stylings of Century.

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In a battle for death metal supremacy in 2023, there were a lot of contenders, legacy acts like Autopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and Dying Fetus all released good to great records, but it was 2 albums from newer bands that managed to make this list (more on that below). I had listened to this record exactly once before speaking to Frozen Soul vocalist Chad Green and guitarist Michael Munday before our album breakdown, and I could tell that there was something special happening here that wasn’t a part of their phenomenal debut Crypt of Ice over two years ago. 

Guitar solos and sections of melody allowed Frozen Soul to properly flesh out their songs in a way that added proper growth and depth to take their sound to the next level. While the early part of the album is similar to their debut, it’s the latter half where the band’s new sense of freedom is on full display with the title track and the blistering “Assimilator”. The former track shows off the melodic flair that is positioned well between their militaristic crawl through a minefield. The latter track is a culmination of all things Frozen Soul past and present with an eye towards LP three, all the aforementioned dynamics are contained with and make for a winning formula that the band isn’t likely done with. One of the hardest working bands in death metal and for good reason.

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When I am in search of new extreme metal, black metal is usually one of the last places I go to find something new which is interesting considering that I have two black metal albums in this top 10; it helps when two of my favorite black metal bands drop an album within the same year. Italy’s greatest extreme metal treasure, Mortuary Drape, have been plying their blasphemous trade for nearly 40 years, and with their last album, Spiritual Independence, a masterpiece in its own right coming all the way back in 2014, who knew when the next chapter would arrive? 

Luckily, 2023 was the right time for Black Mirror, the band’s sixth album overall, featuring all the same things that make the band who they are: demonic vocals, fast and furious riffs, plus the absolutely crushing bass lines that litter all of the best songs that The Drape have ever recorded. Album opener “Restless Death” is no exception to this formula as SC’s bass wobbles and vocalist Wildness Perversion channels the demonic dynamics that he established on All The Witches Dance and has continued to fine tune since. 

The Drape can also do blisteringly fast sections and with that too go the basslines, an odd delivery of vocals from Wildness Perversion have him sounding like an evil wizard evoking spells to be cast upon unsuspecting listeners all while the bass keeps pace with the other guitars and is very high in the mix as always. My favorite black metal release of the year, one that deserves more press than it has been getting.

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Returning with an unchanged lineup from the Gold & Grey sessions arrives Stone whose sense of cohesiveness and stability is evident from the album’s first riffs and the one-two punch of “Embers” and “Last Word,” a song that is best reflective of the whole that represents Baroness in 2023. Guitarist Gina Gleason really gets to show her stuff here as her lead duties and guitar solos complement main man John Baizley’s own trademark riffs and guitar tone complete with soulful singing. 

The recording of this beast was a unique endeavor that Baizley, Gleason, and drummer Tristan Thomson spoke about at length around the release of Stone. This radio-friendly heaviness is most comparable to their fourth album Purple in how easily digestible tracks like “Beneath The Rose,” “Anodyne,” and “Under The Wheel” are. Baroness are a gruff band with enough polish to garner fans from outside of the realm of metal and rock, and their powerful reach and work ethic set them apart from many of their contemporaries as they continue to age like a fine wine.

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If you told me that a melodic death metal album not recorded by Carcass or At The Gates would have made my year-end list at this time last year, I would have called you a liar. It took the herculean effort of Inexorum’s Carl Skildum and Matt Kirkwold along with Obsequiae architect Tanner Anderson to make it happen—enter Majesties and their spectacular debut Vast Reaches Unclaimed. 

I spoke to Skildum about what brought this project together and went through the minute details of this record too. Right down to the artwork, the band nailed the mid-90’s Gothenburg style of melodic death metal, adding in the castle metal sections that Anderson typically employs in his current main musical vehicle. 

Just one listen to “The World Unseen” and “Across The Neverwhen” from start to finish would have been enough to accomplish this feat, but there are still eight other songs to sink your teeth into. This is the kind of album that toes the line between extreme and beauty on every track, leaving no stone unturned; luckily I have had the pleasure of this being part of my listening experience of 2023 since around February. This one was always high on the list and for fans of the bands contained within this project it is an easy selection, giving a bit of a different look to their already prolific profile.

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Another mainstay of 2023 was the hardcore stylings of New Jersey’s Gel, a powerful group of road warriors that were nearly unmatched by year’s end. Right from the opening seconds of “Honed Blade,” it is apparent that the fury here is tough to match, and the abrupt nature of this record allows for the transition to “Fortified” to hit all that much harder. This is only a 17-minute album but it covers a lot of hardcore ground, some blasting drums, and even the humorous interlude of “Calling Card” allow for you to get your money’s worth and having the ability to listen to it 3 times in one hour is a tempting proposition for hardcore stalwarts. 

I spoke to guitarist Anthony Webster in March about what makes this band so special, having toured with big names like High on Fire and Drain with a live show that also needs to be experienced. This isn’t just for the new hardcore fans; it’s for the old ones too and who could forget. This is hardcore for fucking freaks; that’s it. The new face of hardcore is NJHC, and Gel have to be at the forefront of this movement.

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Having thought that my album of the year was done by October, it took a surprise record by one of the best current faces of death metal to make me reconsider and eventually change my mind. Tomb Mold are no strangers to my year end lists as they have been a part of them since the release of 2018’s Manor of Infinite Forms, but they were MIA for a few years. When they arrived back into my consciousness in 2023, it was abruptly released, something that happened with a few other albums this year. 

By the time you finish the album’s third track, “Will of Whispers,” you will have taken in some beautiful jazz fusion sections from bassist Derrick Vella, complemented by Max Klebanoff’s growls and Payson Power’s riffs. Tomb Mold have never sounded more progressive than they do on The Enduring Spirit, not like they had to be either, but their experiment in death metal paid off unlike some of their contemporaries this year. “Servants of Possibility” almost comes across like a new ethos from the band, allowing for them to employ some new sounds juxtaposed against what they have been doing for three albums and nearly 10 years to this point, but this new album is the top of their collective heap, besting Manor for what is their best work to this point. 

This was a powerful and mixed year in extreme music, so why shouldn’t a surprise album release from October be the best? Better late than never, The Enduring Spirit is the album you need to compare all death metal current and future against.

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