the Top 10 Albums of 2023

At the end of the day... or in this case, year, these are the albums I listened to the most. The reason these albums earned the top spot is because I listened to over 2000 albums this year and these are the ones that endured the influx of new music that hit My inbox every morning and made me want to hear them again and again. Yes, this is the culmination of all the other lists done up to this point for other blogs and was refined down to this master list of all genres.  So here ya go...

10-the Lion's Daughter -"Bath House" 

There is a great deal going on with this album. The synths are very present in the mix going into the otherwise hammering open song. Throaty vocals are aggressive but howled more than growled. Sung vocals often emote over what is a  more brooding turn for the band. There is an ominous feel to counterbalance the more grandiose feel. I really enjoyed this one it's an improvement over what they did on "Skin Show" This album grew on me, and carries great depth.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-lions-daughter-bath-house.html

9-Rid of Me -"Access to the Lonely" 

Having added a second guitarist for this album and you can hear how it adds in the denser sonic layers. The new sound of this album " is heavier and punches with a more sludge-ridden sound. Dissonant guitar passages cut through, along with more guitars on this album, to add a more firey rock n roll attack. She really proves herself as a singer on this album, still maintaining punk integrity. There a many dynamic vocal colors being introduced. They show you punk can be so much more than what we take for at face value. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/11/rid-of-me-access-to-lonely.html

8-Code  Orange - "Above" 

 I have been pretty invested in this band's career since being blown away by their 2017 album "Forever".  They broke away from the conventions of hardcore, which they continued to perfect with "Underneath". This set pretty high expectations for this album. Once I accepted the fact that they were no longer playing metal, I was able to really enjoy this album. It was tough to let go of this idea as they are still rather punchy in places, but they owe more to late 90s rock than hardcore or even nu-metal here. It is wonderfully written and shows there is no limit to what they are capable of. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/code-orange-above.html

7- Temple of Angels - "Endless Pursuit" 

I sat down with this album and weighed the dream pop shoegazing moments versus those that owe more to romantic darkness, and came to the conclusion that this album leans into the shadows at least 60 percent of the time, and even when it lightens up a bit their songs are still haunted by a melancholy longing that still earns their place here.  They might not dress the songs up for Halloween in the way other bands on this list do but they are better songwriters, which is why they take the number one spot. These songs are passed by plenty of heart-gripping moments.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/temple-of-angels-endless-pursuit.html

6-Harm's Way - "Common Suffering" 

After being convinced to check them out upon hearing the "Undertow" single featuring the singer of King Woman, I was surprised by the rest of the album, which hits in the way that I typically want my hardcore to slap me. Harm's Way has a gritty musculature to the riffs, and the vocals punch in all the right places to rally the head bob inducing syncopations shift with a groove. There is a great deal of emotion to the construction of the songs that paints things in a bleak shade of gray rather than just being the macho in-your-face beat down you might expect this to be

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/harms-way-common-suffering.html

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5-Frozen Soul - "Glacial Domination"

This Texas band pulls from classic death metal without worshipping any band too religiously. Their strength is taking a riff and grooving it without compromising the heaviness, In this way, there is a bit of Bolt Thrower in their DNA, but not enough to lump them in with bands who are clearly trying to re-live that band's glory days. I went into this album only aware of them by name, and by the end was a fan, thanks to hooky riff magic. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/frozen-soul-glacial-domination.html

 

 

4-Pierce the Veil - "The Jaws of Life" 

Here is an album that had no business being as good as it is. I only knew this band from the Punk Goes Pop series of tribute albums. Much like that series, they strike me as being more on the pop side of the equation. Now five albums later the band has continued to shine their songwriting formula to create something catchier than other pop that dropped this year, while still carrying the torch for the Myspace era,. Singer Vic Fuentes'   tenor sounds like he is in high school. It is impressive that he has kept this youth vigor now that he is almost forty.  If Justin Beiber made metal the results might be similar. Which is better than it sounds on paper. In fact, it is so good I listened to this album as much or more than any other album this year. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/pierce-veil-jaws-of-life.html

3-Grave Pleasures -"Plagueboys"

This year's release by My favorite Finnish post-punk revivalists grew on me with each listen. The songwriting trades bombast for subtlety for the sake of greater melodic value.  They took their tried and true sound, echoing all the way back to their Beastmilk days, and polished it into something even catchier. The sheer replay value of this album solidifies their place at the top.   

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/grave-pleasures-plagueboys.html

2-Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - "Weathervanes" 

Isbell's latest collaboration with his band the 400 Unit is a celebration of songwriting. His voice always finds the perfect place to be. While his solo album "Southeastern" is the masterpiece that this album is going to be measured up against, here he steers things into a more Americana-flavored rock rather than country music. There is a warmth to the album's sound that recalls many classic rock albums with a southern flare, but it is more personable than those. He is one of the best songwriters living today. He transcends country music and does his thing.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/jason-isbell-400-unit-weathervanes.html

 

1- HEALTH - "Rat Wars" 

 This band continues to perfect its unique place in industrial music which is both apocalyptic and an androgynous self-loathing. Their heaviest work to date, also finds their arrangements droning on the groove less and letting them spawn into new landscapes.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/health-rat-wars.html

Top 10 Folk / Country Albums of 2023

For some time we have combined country and folk music into this list since they are on the fringe of what is normally reviewed here. The two genres have a great deal of stylistic overlap since pop country is not my thing, and I like folk music that is darker and more melancholy. These albums do not really give a damn about the Nashville status quo even when it comes to the artists, that are in more of a commercial spotlight.   These are not the coolest albums, but the best, fuck what other blogs say,.   After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2023. The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 country and folk albums of 2023.

10-Conny Ochs - "Wahn und sinn" 

It's been four years since "Doom Folk". The world has gotten weirder since then, so Och's German album makes perfect sense. Musically it's more orchestral than I expected. Sung in German, which is a harsh guttural tongue that does not always lend itself to melody. This awkward phrasing can be heard glaringly well/to a spacious mix that places his vocals at the forefront. There is a slight country feel to the lazy saunter of these songs. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/conny-ochs-wahn-und-sinn.html

 

9-Georgia Mooney- "Full of Moon" 

Australian singer Georgia Mooney feels like she fell from the cosmos of another time. There is a 60s pop feel combined with a dream pop-like atmosphere. Her delicate melodies are supple with each note gracefully ringing out.  Folk is also shown to be at the least an influence in her soul-baring balladry. This album is impressive what she does, and want to hear where her musical journey goes from this point. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/georgia-mooney-full-of-moon.html

 

8-Helena Deland -"Goodbye Summerland" 

The airy dreaminess of Helena's sound works really well. It reminds me of many indie singer-songwriters from the late 90s. The vocals are harmonized in a manner not unlike Azure Ray, with an undercoating of country haunting it.  It's pretty solid songwriting with her own identity superimposed on a familiar sound. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/helena-deland-goodbye-summerland.html

 

7-Rat Boys -"the Window"

There is a fair amount of noise around the raw edges of otherwise slicked pop bounce with a country twang to it thanks to the youthful voice of Julia Steiner, whose voice sometimes reminds me of Katie Crutchfield of Waxahachie. Chris Walla from Dead Can for Cuie produced this album, and this can mainly be felt in the dynamics of making the bigger parts rock more. The style of songwriting flows very easily and organically. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/ratboys-window.html

6-the Keening -"Little Bird" 

Rebecca Vernon's old band SubRosa singer did flirt with darkness. This love affair is reignited with her new project the Keening, which finds her partnering with With Mountain drummer Nathan Carson. This album proves an exercise in minimalism and restraint for him, as the drums give most of the spotlight to the vocals and orchestrated folk elements that weave atmosphere around them. I enjoy the mood, and the dark atmosphere it bathes you in.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-keening-little-bird.html

 

5-Wednesday -"Rat Saw God" 

Karly Hartzman fronts this indie rock band that blends the sounds of the 90s into something compelling on many levels. She sings in a very convincing and emotive manner. There is plenty of rock used as a clamoring dynamic. It makes for a very well written and highly thought out album,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/wednesday-rat-saw-god.html

  4-Chris Stapleton - "Higher" 

Stapleton was once the last great hope for country music. Others have emerged to help take some of the weight off his shoulders, but he is still a titan in the genre, so expectations are high for the new album. It opens with a thoughtful, soulful tune, that has an easy feel while leaning into the melancholic feel country music is known for. He brings the blues with him once more, and some great guitar playing.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/11/chris-stapleton-higher.html

3- Lydia Loveless -  "Nothing's Gonna Stand in My Way Again" 

 Loveless's 6th album might have found her arriving at an iconic level of songwriting. It blends indie rock with country and folk in a very organic fashion. Other albums have attempted to do similar but her album feels the most genuine. This album caught me by surprise and I wish I had checked it out when it first came out.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/lydia-loveless-nothings-gonna-stand-in.html

2-Tyler Childers - "Rustin' in the Rain" 

Childers' sixth album finds him writing songs he thinks might appeal to Elvis. But not the King's "Hound Dog" persona, but Presley's early country roots. This is often done with the twang of the honky tonk, allowing the 32-year-old singer to belt it with his trademark brassy tenor. Lyrically clever, and always heartful, he never dials it in for the radio, and if it happens to have pop appeal it's an added bonus, not an objective, and certainly not the product of the Nashville writer's room

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/tyler-childers-rustin-in-rain.html

1-Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - "Weathervanes" 

Isbell's latest collaboration with his band the 400 Unit is a celebration of songwriting. His voice always finds the perfect place to be. While his solo album "Southeastern" is the masterpiece that this album is going to be measured up against, here he steers things into a more Americana-flavored rock rather than country music. There is a warmth to the album's sound that recalls many classic rock albums with a southern flare, but it is more personable than those. He is one of the best songwriters living today. He transcends country music and does his thing.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/jason-isbell-400-unit-weathervanes.html