Gothtober- the Top 10 Goth Albums of 2023

 

Having already started the End of the Year List season of with the Top 10 Post-Punk Albums of 2023, it's time to move in a darker direction with the Top 10 Goth Albums of 2023. If this seems premature,  record labels have already sent me most of what this year has to offer. After I sort through sorting through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2023. Perhaps it was marginally better than the previous year, though given the current climate of the world, we are progressing on a downward spiral, making dark music more important as a soundtrack for this.   As far as 2023 goes for Goth, a lot of great music came out forcing me to make hard choices. 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 Goth albums of 2023.

10- Bosco Sacro-"Gem" 

This quartet out of Italy plays a very dark and atmospheric kind of music that is hard to pin down. . There is more in common with neo-folk or goth. The spectacular job of creating this can not be denied and a must for those into dark atmospheric folk.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/bosco-sacro-gem.html

 

9-Skeletal Family-"Light From the Dark" 

These guys are an old-school goth band from the 80s who reformed with a new singer. They came out shortly after Siouxsie so it's not like these guys are a new band trying for a retro sound that is just how it's going to come out,.Anneka Latta employs a broader range of influences. a wonderfully written album that touches so many sonic colors I enjoy.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-skeletal-family-light-from.html

  

8- Male Tears-"Krypt" 

It reminds me a great deal of Drab Majesty and perhaps this is what happens when millennials grow up listening to Drab Majesty rather than Bauhaus. It is very dance-oriented, so I can see young kids requesting this on goth night. Everything is draped in a haze of reverb aside from the retro jazzercise beats. It grows on you, if you have a high threshold for synths. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-male-tears-krypt.html

                          

7-Naut -"Hunt" 

It is hard to believe at times this is not a long-lost album from the early 90s I somehow missed back in the day. In many ways this is defined by the sum of it's parts and the influences that make those up but this album is also a great deal of fun.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/naut-hunt.html

 

6- Ville Valo -"Neon Noir"

Better than the last HIM album, aside from the happy moments and weak bass tone, it is surprisingly well written, not that I was not already clued into the fact he is more than capable of cranking out slapper, it is just good to hear that he still has it. while the production is not as dark as I might like the vocals are really dialed in.   

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/01/ville-valo-neon-noir.html

5-Night Goat - "Totem" 

This band from Portland is kicking up an interesting blend of sonic abrasion that takes Death Rock in a heavier direction.  Imagine L7 jamming with 45 Grave and you are pretty close to what is happening here. The vocals are tortured screams and moaning. It darkly broods like a storm closing in.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/night-goat-totem.html

4-Troller- "Into Dust"

 Troller's Relapse debut opens with the Texas trio droning through a thick atmosphere that is coupled with haunting vocals. Adam Jones of the band SURVIVE is working the synths of this album, so these kids did not just pop out of nowhere. They have a sound they are very focused on but make things interesting enough to tell a story with the mood.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/troller-drain.html

 

 3-VOSH- "Vessel"

This album's strength is how it splits the difference between the guitar-driven goth and dark wave. Their singer throws her voice around in an interesting manner, as they capture  a wonderful balance of old and new goth sounds

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-vosh-vessel.html

2- Myrkur - "Spine" 

The refinement on this album finds her on the more ethereal side and blending post-rock with goth rock, since it has more drive, it is poppy in terms of melody but not in the saccharine manner of dream pop and feels like waking from a depressive episode in the woods, rather than a fey wonderland. She edges out VOSH due to the more organic way she achieved this. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-myrkur-spine.html

1- 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

Gothtober- Myrkur : "Spine"

 I appreciate that Myrkur never puts out the same album twice. There have been moments I have appreciated more than others. Like most artists it is all about balance. I do not need her to make metal. It is a color she sometimes uses as a dynamic, but I am not convinced in her heart she is a metal artist. Perhaps there is a cathartic darkness she needs to purge. I think this album proves in many ways she can accomplish this without being metal. "Like Humans" does have distorted guitar on it that builds the tension, but it is an undercurrent to a bigger then song paints. The focus is her melancholy vocals, that carry a more atmospheric tone. The chorus to this song has a more focused hook than what I recall hearing from her in the past. 

"Mothlike" continues to toy with the moodier ambiance coasting through the melodies. The screamed vocals are sparse and mixed way back to sound like the shadow of a witch howling deep in the woods. There is a double tracked guitar solos that rips through a harmony, but this in and of itself does not make the song metal  "My Blood is Gold" hovers above a deeper darker speculation. Piano is the dominant instrument on this one. As a song it is not a focused as the first two. It works off creating pleasing moods , but what we stress is it's sounds vs songs. To credit it does build into a more memorable melody , but at that point we are almost at the end of the song. 

Steady double bass joins the guitars for the title track which ebbs back and forth from a post-folk flow of melody. The power chords create tension to the ethereal melodies. She brings back the black metal influence leading into "Valkyrienes". The blast beat shuffle in the back ground as the layers of vocals remain at the forefront, which they should be. She plays to her strengths on this album. Her screamed vocals also occur, but sit even further back in the mix.  "Blazing Sky" moves more like a goth rock song. This is great hooky songwriting with her vocal lines weaving into darker places. "Devil in the Detail" highlights the fact this is a more accessible album aimed at western audiences.  But it seems like she needed this kind of streamlining to refine what she does, as these are some of the best songs she has to date.  

The last song feels more like a lullaby. There is less of a backbone to it and it feels like it's intent is to create soothing atmosphere. While it is not the strongest note the album could end on, overall this album is her strongest in terms of song writing. I will give it a 9.5, and see how these songs grow on me. This refinement finds her on the more ethereal side that is closer to post-rock or goth rock, since it has more drive , it is poppy in terms of melody but not in the saccharine manner of dream pop and feels like waking from a depressive episode in the woods, rather than a fey wonderland.   

Myrkur : "Folksange"

Here is an album where the cover is a spoiler for what is inside. The opening track is so beautifully sung it's hard to resent her for not making another metal album. The metal side of  what she did was weaker than her more melodic efforts to begin with. The second song has a little more frolicking to it and if you are in the mood to do a little jig then you will dig it, but I prefer the more somber tone of the opening track. Things stay on the more somber side for "Ramund". Somber might seem like it's being used a bit for this review, but it's more accurate than dark or melancholy. Their is a more misty morning feel to these songs, but never a foreboding or anything thing sinister lurking in the woods the songs are taking you into.

She goes up into her head register for "Tor I Helheim " This song is o.k , but the songs are all beginning to sound the same at this point in the album. If it continues in this direction  it will be begin to bore me. So I can take about 5 songs of this. You might get butt hurt or defensive about this and try to argue I just do not like this kind of music and to that I will say"I have never gotten bored listening to Dead Can Dance" . It looks like their is a new Burzum coming out so knowing the path he has gone down I can imagine it will be similar in mood, though not as a well sung. "Svea" doesn't get on my nerves as their is a more accented syncopation and stays in a minor key. Once again somber, not dark or melancholy.   The song after this however sounds like it's the same song just slightly modulated.

When the fiddle does begin to give the first hints of  melancholy her voice dances around it in a more upbeat manner . The more traditional strum of "House Carpenter" shows how bluegrass was derived from Northern European roots. It's upbeat ,but is still once of the album's best songs. In comparison "Relar' fades to into the distance to become background music. Where she proves she can compensate for the lack of sonic heft is with haunting melodies, some have more propensity to entrance than others.  The last song is some ambient piano tinkling and vocals that hover around it . This kind of folk can be sonically heavy without being metal, projects like Wardruna and Heilung both accomplish this, There three great songs, but other wise things re 'nice" . Pleasing sounds without much backbone to them. The minimal percussion factors into this . I will give this album an 8.5 . Better than the bulk of music pumped out these days , but as far as what we have heard from her in the past mediocre.It will have all the basic bitches who pretend to be witches dancing in the woods.


 

The Top 10 Mainstream Metal Albums of 2017

Mainstream is not to imply that these bands sold out, in most cases, but rather they fall some where in the middle of the road. Genres that are not extreme enough to get their own list. So things like the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Hair Metal, Power Metal, Pagan Metal all fall within this . Most of the albums were ranked due in accordance to how much I actually listened to them. In order to obtain this I referred to my Last Fm page after synching it to my iPod over the course of the year. This year I added a brief blip to help explain what factored into the ranking that might have inspired me to listen to one band more than another.

10-Beastmaker - "Inside the Skull"

On their first album it didn't feel like there was a much Sabbath worship as what goes down here. The slight Dax Riggs inflection in the vocals is now more of a Ozzy like whine. Not in the same tenor register as Ozzy, but the phrasing is similar . This time around there is more weight in the Sabbath like punch they are packing.Seems like the guitar solos have been dialed up on this album as the band gets more adventurous. I did not like this one as much as their previous album, but it is certainly good enough to make this list.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/05/beastmaker-inside-skull.html

9-Hanging Garden - "I Am Become"


Goth metal is a term that makes you think of either Type O Negative or something like Theater of Tragedy. There are a few shades lighter and darker than are romantic or elegant enough to warrant that title. This gloomy band from Helsinki has returned to create some sounds that come closer to the Theater of Tragedy side of the coin. Finland seems to be the breeding ground for goth inflected metal. So these guys might be named after a Cure song , but they are less flowery than most. I suppose an ex-death metal band who now mainly works with melody like November's Doom might be a good reference point, as they do lapse back into the death metal vocals, though are more often more melodic than not when doing so. These guys offered up more solid songs than the almost disappointing Beastmaker album.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/10/gothtober-hanging-garden-i-am-become.html

8-Steel Panther- "Lower the Bar" 


These guys are more of a parody, but in the process make some good music by mistake. It opens with a some what subtle ode to anal sex. There have more similarities of Bon Jovi  and Van Halen's more metal moments than anyone else. While they are a parody of the big hair school of metal I listened to in adolescent they are still clever song writers. The lyrics to "Anything Goes" are funny, but I am not sure this is the same level of songwriting that they show on the first song. They were fun and clever enough to beat out Hanging Garden's more morose approach when it comes to song writing and I typical go for more morose.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/03/steel-panther-lower-bar.html

7-Corrosion of Conformity- No Cross No Crown


Pepper Keenan is not the original vocalist, but sang on their first full blown metal album "Blind" . It Open with a bigger sound than they had on "Blind" which lets be fair, has to be the album we weight this against. They do have more of a Metallica sound now. "Cast the First Stone" brings this to a more aggressive rock place, with blues tinged guitar solos.this album exceeded my expectations. It might not be  "Blind" , but it is still  pretty solid.and has enough soul to it's grooves to beat out Steel Panther.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/12/corrosion-of-conformity-no-cross-no.html

6-Dool -There Then


This  album that carries the torch of the Devil's Blood in a much different way than expected, It features the former drummer and bassist from the Devils Blood, so why no buzz? Not really trying to replicate the sound of the Devils Blood. The ten minute opener is certainly less retro. It also feels a little darker and their singer has more of a modern rock radio friendly voice. The guitars don't sound like they are running through Orange Amps.Of all the albums on the list this might be the least heavy , but it makes up for it in dynamic songwriting which is why it beats out

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/12/catching-up-with-2017-dool-here-now.html

5-L.A. Guns- the Missing Peace"

 In the early metal years, LA Guns was one of the few hair metal bands that was actually metal instead of pop with guitars. Their first two albums are awesome, and they have been hit or miss from there. This album surprised me with the fact that they sound better than Guns N Roses these days. Phil Lewis' voice sounds terrific.The opening track is more aggressive than expected. This renewed fire to their sound is why they beat out Dool.


 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/10/la-guns-missing-peace.html

4-Enslaved- "M"

These guys used to be one of my favorite metal bands then they drifted too far out into Opeth territory and lost some of their bite. This doesn't change the fact they are great musicians and slayed it when I saw them live. They meander into the opener, with granted cool guitar tones , but it goes to show some off the fat could have been trimmed off it. Clean vocals are the first two show. Though the scowling growl does chime in to remind you they are metal. This album is great because it finds them forgetting about the Opeth aspirations and moving back into the kind of epic heaviness that beats out C.O.C.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/10/enslaved-e.html

3- Myrkur -"Mareridt"


t first blast beat you might expect this just to be same kind of black metal that we heard on her debut full length, this is not the case. There is an even greater blending of folk and ambiance in the songs ebb and flow. There is a darker tone to "the Serpent" that builds tension , with her singing with a more sultry manner that holds a sexuality not explored in her previous work. Production wise the vocals are going through a distorted filter, but this more spacious, without feeling pretentious and overblown, however not the kind of lo-fi affair fans of black metal might prefer. This is not always black metal. Get ready for this,  sometimes this album is not metal at all.It is heavy enough to be on this list and while it is not as heavy as the new Enslaved it does have a wider range which is why I got more play time out of it and it beat out Enslaved.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/09/myrkur-mareridt.html

2-Spirit Adrift- "Curse of Conception"

 When this album started in reminded me more of In Solitude, than the band's previous work as there seemed to be more of a longing in the wail of the vocals. Typical this album gallops along at much more of an uptempo charge than doom to lead them more in the direction of NWOBHM bands. The twin guitar harmonies further enforce this.The guitar tones are incredibly produced and make this sound like it is a lost classic from the 80s which vaults them over Myrkur.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/09/spirit-adrift-curse-of-conception.html

1-Gwar - "Blood of Gods" 

 The elephant in the room becomes their strength. Blothar the new singer, is the old Beefcake the Mighty taking on a new mantel. So they promoted from within. I can deal with this better than if it was some new guy they just brought in.The new sound took getting used to even though, he did handle the vocals on the song "Nice Place to Park". So his voice is not totally alien. He has a more Blackie Lawless like metal quality. This album needed a few listens before I could connect the changes.  It with a much more straight ahead metal feel in the vein of mid 80s thrash. Each listen connected the dot a little more until it raised it sword in victory over bands like Spirit Adrift.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/09/gwar-blood-of-gods.html

Myrkur : 'Mareridt'

The title track that opens with an atmospheric folk piece that feels more like an intro for the song that follows that a sung in and of it self. At first blast beat you might expect this just to be same kind of black metal that we heard on her debut full length, this is not the case. There is an even greater blending of folk and ambiance in the songs ebb and flow. There is a darker tone to "the Serpent" that builds tension , with her singing with a more sultry manner that holds a sexuality not explored in her previous work. Production wise the vocals are going through a distorted filter, but this more spacious, without feeling pretentious and overblown, however not the kind of lo-fi affair fans of black metal might prefer. This is not always black metal. Get ready for this,  sometimes this album is not metal at all. "The Serpent" is totally out of left feel from what a band like Lacuna Coil might do if they felt adventurous.

Strings color "Crown" which is more along the lines of Marissa Nadler. I like the varied layers of vocal and at the end of the day the interesting vocal preference makes up for the fact this is not metal. The vocals are extremely well done, though more conventional.We do not get back something closer to black until "Elleskudt". The time the black metal has more of a symphonic flare. I would say it is certainly not what the more cvlt minded black metal fan would accept as being truly black metal. "De Tre Piker"is another folk song that feels more like an interlude and not something I would feel to keep around on my iPod. Already on this album that have been moments that felt inspired by Chelsea Wolfe, it's not until "Funeral" that they actually sing a duet. Their voices work well together . The song is more at a sludged out doom pacing that Wolfe would favor.

The darker intervals of black metal are applied to "Ulvinde" though the song it self is more like dark indie rock . The distorted chord just lurk under the melancholy melodrama until they snarl out of it midway though. But if you are wanting this to be more of a black metal album, don't get your hopes up as it's only a an odd break away into the scowling vocal or less than a minute. Not that it's not a good on it's own merit, the black meta is just getting shed to make room for a more mature song writing approach. I live blast beats are just  the under current for the ethereal folk of "Gladiatrix" which might be my favorite song on the album.The songwriting is very concise no sprawling drones to bore you. Nor would these songs need the extra time as she knows how to make everything fit in the frame given to the songs.

Not only does another folk interlude follow this song, but something weird and theatrical that could be the intro to a King Diamond closes out the album. It's like a little girl talking about demons. I appreciate the though but once again not something I need on my iPod. So when you strip away some of the atmospheric interludes and just look at this album in terms of songs it's really strong. I'll give it a 10 as they most outstanding moments compensate for the more odd Lacuna Coil like steps into convention which are not bad just not what I was warmed up for. This album will without a doubt bring her a larger audience and this was not done by really selling out even though the black metal was dialed back to make room for it. This comes out September 15th.

Myrkur : " M"

If you were hoping Chelsea Wolfe's new album would have been more metal, then this Norse singer's black metal project might be what you were looking for. Her first ep sent the world of black metal a buzz as she blends very pure folk vocals with atmospheric black metal. Her full length ties her to the upper tier of second wave black metal as its produced by Garm from Ulver and features members of Mayhem and Nidingr helping out with some of the instrumentation . Since the songs are in Norse I'll go ahead and translate them for you as we jump into this one.This first song alone covers more ground than most black metal albums do in their entirety. Her singing voice can go up into a soprano range with fluid ease, and while many singers claim to be classically trained, you would expect her to be. She holds off on the raw blasting until the second song. The angelic folk is more of  a decorative accent than the focal point of this song that slows into a drearier paced offering. "Evil Born" almost feels like the more melodic extension of the previous. Her dreamy vocals float like the Cocteau Twins of the metallic pulse.  Vocal interlude that flirts with chamber music leads into the doomy "I am God, I am Servant".

"Northern Lights" is another interlude consisting of voice and piano that serves as the intro to the classic metal chug of "Murder" which is the most straight forward song on the album with the vocals sounding like a possessed honey badger attacking. This is also the only song that I had second thoughts  about . Going back and giving it a harder listen , there is the darker section that provides some dynamic atmosphere midway into it and goes into a more tribal drum section before speeding back up into the blasting and fades out.  "Byssan Lull" fades back into a classical folk piece that is once again just piano and voice. "Deep in the Forest" has a slight post-punk feeling to the opening guitar riff as her vocals glide over it. It hovers on that more shoe gazing metal feel leaving no corner of black metal unturned on this album. There is a harsher turn following this one up on "Skadi" which finds the guitars creating a beautifully ugly dissonance before the more melodic elements are layer onto the song. The song goes into more of a gallop when her graceful vocals return to haunt the din. The album ends with the delicate piano piece "Norn"

Its albums like this one that further my upset that I can't find my iPod and make me eager to replace it if it has indeed fallen into the abyss as this is music that I need on hand at all times especially as we head into the fall. This album shows you can make dark icy black metal without having to compromise melody and resort to blast beats all the time. In fact it makes the more raw and feral parts that much more effective for providing a broader range of dynamics. She is one of the best female metal singers in the game and that goes for all the frilly symphonic bands that want to be Night Wish as well. This is an album I can just leave on and not get enough of so it deserves at least a 10, maybe even a 10.5 for going above and beyond we what have begun to expect from not only black metal but metal of any genre.If you are fan of dark metal black or otherwise this needs to be heard.



This album comes out August 21st on Relapse.