Looking back at a massive year in music across all arenas of the heavy spectrum.
There's nothing quite like the end of the year where we scramble and try to narrow down a concise selection of records that hooked us in, kept us engaged, and had us asking for more. Though the amount of offerings we were presented with were abundant, a select few stood tall in their ability to astound through awe-inspiring songcraft, profound lyricism, and of course, those memorable moments that had us repeating tracks time and time again. It's these albums that had us buying tickets to tours, had us shelling out the extra bucks for a pristine vinyl copy, and had us lost in the moment. It's time we share a collection of the albums that did that for us.
Here are Heaviest Of Art's Top 30 Albums of 2023:
30. Downfall of Gaia — Silhouettes of Disgust (Metal Blade Records) | Listen
29. Blindfolded and Led to the Woods — Rejecting Obliteration (Prosthetic Records) | Listen
28. Cloak — Black Flame Eternal (Season of Mist) | Listen
27. Periphery — Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre (3DOT Recordings) | Listen
"Periphery delivered a culminating benchmark for themselves, but beyond that, a standout in the prog arena that upped the ante in songwriting. The band pack layers upon layers of excellence within every inch of space afforded to them from one track to the next, reflective of the mental and physical investment placed within this marvelous listen." - Luis
26. Drain — Living Proof (Epitaph Records) | Listen
25. Enforced — War Remains (Century Media) | Listen
24. Dying Wish — Symptoms of Survival (SharpTone Records) | Listen
23. Spirit Adrift — Ghost At The Gallows (Century Media) | Listen
"'Ghost At The Gallows' is as true a Spirit Adrift record as one could get, fulfilling all the band's creative asks and delivering big on thrills while doing so. We're a long ways from 'Chained To Oblivion' (2016) in all the right ways with this latest effort serving as a culmination of a musical entity primed for glory. Garrett has found his magnum opus, and even then, we've yet to see what more awaits a Spirit Adrift with unbridled ambition." - Luis
22. Incendiary — Change The Way You Think About Pain (Closed Casket Activities) | Listen
21. Ahab — The Coral Tombs (Napalm Records) | Listen
20. Fires In The Distance — Air Not Meant For Us (Prosthetic Records) | Listen
19. Baroness — Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | Listen
"Glorious melodies, intricate rhythms, and blistering solos all shrouded in a dense mysterious cloak - this album is such a complete journey and a peak moment in Baroness’s rich discography." - Rohan
18. Full of Hell & Nothing — When No Birds Sang (Closed Casket Activities) | Listen
17. Final Gasp — Mourning Moon (Relapse Records) | Listen
16. Burner — It All Returns To Nothing (Church Road Records) | Listen
15. Judiciary — Flesh + Blood (Closed Casket Activities) | Listen
14. In Flames – Foregone (Nuclear Blast Records) | Listen
13. Katatonia — Sky Void Of Stars (Napalm Records) | Listen
12. Kruelty — Untopia (Profound Lore Records) | Listen
"Maniacal and downright menacing, 'Untopia' stands as a breakthrough for the Japanese outfit that capitalizes on a wealth of punk, hardcore, and death metal influence. 'A Dying Truth' (2020) set the band's rise through the underground in motion and 'Untopia' catapults it entirely with momentous aggression. This is Kruelty at their best (yet)." - Luis
11. END — The Sin of Human Frailty (Closed Casket Activities) | Listen
10. Tomb Mold — The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin) | Listen
"Not many songs on first listen made time stand still the first time we heard “Will of Whispers”. The progressive pivot the-now trio made on this album is nothing short of stunning, and no song crystallizes this better. Tomb Mold jettisoned themselves out of the caverns and into the calamitous cosmos." - Rohan
9. Zulu — A New Tomorrow (Flatspot Records) | Listen
"Boundless and joyously aggressive, LA's hardcore ensemble signal a bright time ahead for the genre with a truly unique full-length that is communal yet personal. Crushing breakdowns, soulful interludes and samples, and more comprise this moving good time while doing justice to the lived experiences that drove its creation. It's far from linear, cohesive and comprehensive, and all-around exhilarating from beginning to end. They know when to put the foot on the gas, when to pull back and narrate, and the listening experience becomes that much more engaging because of it." - Luis
8. Hellripper — Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags (Peaceville Records) | Listen
"James played his fucking ass off this year and this album has received just over 320 spins from me since it hit. It's a destructive monster and with that filthy ballroom dance outro to the album with the distant wailing solo, he finally surpassed all of the artists he has tried to take influence from. I don't know how, where, or when he did it, but Hellripper is leading the pack as the youngest guy on the field." - Jacob Sanders
7. Initiate — Cerebral Circus (Triple B Records) | Listen
"Piercing aggression comes together with glistening melodies for a wondrous record that converts raw emotion into moving instrumentation. 'Cerebral Circus' is an audiovisual feast, injecting acoustic guitars and spoken word amidst vocal roars that characterize this rollercoaster of a listen. It's beautifully balanced on the musical side, cathartic and uplifting in its lyricism, and truly one to own on vinyl with its fitting cover artwork by Guiditta Bertoni." - Luis
6. Harm's Way — Common Suffering (Metal Blade Records) | Listen
"In an incredible year for hardcore, Harm's Way exist in the furthest reaches of the genre's confines and entrance listeners with every trick in the box. Turbulent riffs, slow burning industrial passages, mosh-ready breakdowns, and an extensive scope of work are embodied within a massive wall of sound that reflect their creative high. 'Common Suffering' builds upon 'Posthuman' (2018) in the best of ways and deliver a high mark for a band at the peak of their commanding reign." - Luis
5. Dream Unending & Worm — Starpath (20 Buck Spin) | Listen
"On the split of the year, Dream Unending and Worm came together to take us all on a journey through distant galaxies and solar systems of dark beauty and haunting transcendence. While many comparisons can be drawn to as many influences as possible, each group have found even greater foundations to build on their respective and unique sounds. If the future of extreme doom was ever in doubt, there should be none left after Starpath finishes its runtime and leaves you enlightened from Dream Unending and grim and ghoulish from Worm." - Tyson Tillotson
4. Horrendous — Ontological Mysterium (Season of Mist) | Listen
"Death metal is in a magical fucking place if these guys are at the top of the heap.
In a year of vast, varied and stunning death metal, none was as sharp, complex or engaging as Horrendous." - Rohan
3. Invent Animate — Heavener (UNFD) | Listen
"Like the Hayden Clay Williams cover it sports, 'Heavener' is awe-inspiring with its profound use of melody to accompany it storytelling capabilities. It's vulnerable, it's moving in its composition, and most effectively accessible while remaining forward thinking in its approach with gems like 'False Meridian' to speak for it. There's few in metalcore like Invent Animate and albums like 'Heavener' position the unit amongst the top." - Luis
2. Wayfarer — American Gothic (Profound Lore Records/Century Media) | Listen
"The grandiose tales of western expansion and settlement malcontent are served via an explosive melding of sub-genres and styles. A defining album for a band with a unique approach." - Rohan
1. Jesus Piece — ...So Unknown (Century Media) | Listen
"They say the best records make you feel and ...So Unknown is a roundhouse kick to the chin. More than it being an explosive showcase ideal for the live setting, it's instrumentally expansive and shape-shifting at every turn. There's none harder than the warring anthem that is 'Fear of Failure' - a track that positions this prominent driving force in a league of their own. Vigor and grit radiate with each passing minute of this masterclass, astounding with its performative abilities and the thrill it injects within any listener. The band's continued upwards trajectory is not just assumed, but guaranteed. Lucky those who get to experience it, ourselves included." - Luis
Congratulations to all for another fantastic year in music, and thank you to all of the musicians, publicists, labels, managers, and affiliated individuals responsible for keeping us enriched with great music on a daily basis. Another great year awaits...
