the Top 10 Rock Albums of 2023

Rock music continues to be one of the last vestiges of picking up instruments and playing songs the artist has written.  With metal having a more loyal market, it feels like less straight-up rock music is coming out, but then again it's not something I always look for. There is a very specific feel of moodiness, melody, and underlying mental health issues I seek out from rock music, and these albums touch on varied corners of that sound.  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 Rock albums of 2023.

10-Vulture Industries- "Ghosts From the Past"

This Norwegian band strips away some of the darkness and most of the metal to reach a  middle road with their post-COVID comeback.  This allows them to create the space to establish melodies. There is a slight hint of the Northern European folk history of their homeland creeping into

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/vulture-industries-ghosts-from-past.html

 

9-Iggy Pop-"Every Loser"

At the ripe age of 75 Iggy Pop released his 20th album.  Duff Mckagan helps him out along with enlisting a who's who of rock royalty to collaborate with, featuring members of Jane's Addiction, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam. Pop described this album as geared to beat the shit out of the listener, but employs more of the cool and collected hints of his 80s new wave past. Which still works really well. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/01/iggy-pop-every-loser.html

8-Buckcherry-"VOL 10"

They kick things off with more of a down-home bluesy swagger that they take in more of a party direction that retains the anthemic charm of their previous hits. They have stripped things down to the bare basics, closer to what they did on the first album, with none of the radio aspirations that fueled some albums. Lets fact it those aspirations worked pretty well as there were a couple of songs that did gain a great deal of radio play. Thus making me respect their self-awareness when it comes to where they stand in the bigger picture of the music industry. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/buckcherry-vol10.html

7- Twin Temple -"God is Dead"

This Duo from California returns with their "Satanic" doo-wop. The band claimed their debut album dropped back in 2019 was recorded in a day and a half, live with only two or three takes. If that is the case then this album only took half a day. There is a rawer sound to what unfolds here, though more orchestration, and arrangements that recall Phil Spector's "wall of sound". They are true to the era they are paying homage to, The way they nailed the sound this time with the lo-fi production that still allows the vocals to stand out, takes the sting out of the lyrics, as this could fit on a Sirrus radio oldies station and almost go unnoticed. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-twin-temple-god-is-dead.html

6-Alice Cooper-"Road"

The 29th album from this legend finds the Coop keeping it real and recording this one live in the studio with his touring band. Done with minimal overdubs, Alice sounds great and the opening track  "I'm Alice" makes it clear at 75, his voice remains where he needs it to be. The songs wink heavily at his classic sound from the 70s, sometimes almost recycling the riffs.  Often lyrically self-indulgent abragging about how great his band is live.  If this was done by anyone else it would not work as well. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/08/alice-cooper-road.html

 

5-Tigercub- "The Perfume of Decay"

This trio from England plays a glammed-out style of rock that feels like a darker, more androgynous take on what Muse does. This is displayed on the title track opens the album. A trickle of angle guitar cascades of the groove, as the vocals coo over it all. They work more of tense groove rather than feeling the need to glitter-bomb everything with grandiose choruses. The choruses are highly melodic and hooky enough to draw you in. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/tigercub-perfume-of-decay.html

4-LA Guns -"Black Diamonds"

As long as both Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns are on board then I am fine with LA Guns. This album finds them continuing to kick ass while their arena-packing peers are fat floundering fools. If these guys can still do it with dignity then we should be expecting the same from the Motley Crues of the world. They open this album with a more Zeppelin-like groove. At 66 Phil Lewis sounds incredible. They stay true to the era they are from, while not sounding dated. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/la-guns-black-diamonds.html

3-The Menzingers-"Some of it Was True"

They set the bar really high for themselves on "Hello Exile", its country leanings carried a convincing twang. This time the slick production has toned down some of the edges with these punk bar anthems. Lyrically it retains the charm of albums past.  They reach a new level of songwriting with tons of conviction poured into the voice of Greg Barnett, which has both the quiver of nervous vibrato and the more punk snarl to punch out the songs' accents.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-menzingers-some-of-it-was-true.html

2-Rolling Stones -"Hackney Diamonds"

This is the Stones's 26th album. They are arguably the greatest rock band ever.  However, this legacy gets threatened with every album they decide to drag their career out with. Keith is having to adapt his playing around his arthritis. Richards is 79, and Jagger is 80. Supplemented by producer Andrew Watt, who helped write three songs. The Jagger / Richards songwriting machine keeps rolling. Don Was who makes more sense for the band than the pop producer Watt, who has also worked with Iggy Pop and Ozzy. Jagger sounds more youthful than any other 80-year-old could ever dream. I guess that deal with the Devil he made worked out wonderfully. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds.html

1-Queens of the Stoneage - "In New Times Roman..."

This album has a weird vibe that takes multiple listens to wrap your ears around. At casual listen all the key elements are in place, though perhaps due to the almost too pristine production.  Homme's vocals are in his normal cadence, but the highly compressed guitars have odd effects on them.  Though not a huge departure for the band, it perhaps does not rely on grooves as heavily as "Villains". The tripped-out jams are entertaining. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/06/queens-of-stone-age-in-new-times-roman.html

Vulture Industries : "Ghosts from the past"

 

This Norwegian band was once more of a metal act, after they had already been a goth band, and now they have reached a middle road with their post-covid comeback. The second song finds them building into a more driven hard rock, but album opens with the more metallic intensity dialed back a bit.  It does lend the space to establish melodies. There is a slight hint of the Northern European folk history of their homeland creeping into "This Hell is Mine". If I had to rank them regarding who they fall closest to in terms of heaviness and darkness, the 69 Eyes would be a fair zip code to place them near, but they are not enamored by 80s Sunset Strip glamour, and are content in the world of their own creation that is reflected in the lyrical mythology. 

Vocally "This Hell is Mine" is one of the more dynamically executed songs, with melodies that stick with you. The folk thing is pushed into a more theatrical place on "Deeper" as the story telling takes a bardic level to paint a picture of another time for you. They do gain some intensity here when the dynamic shifts as the song The bounce to "Right Here in the Dark" reminds me of Concrete Blonde. Vocally the croon comes closer to the Cult. Repetition plays to their flavor here , as the guitar circles it in layers.  "Not By Blood But By Words" works of a drone that is decorated by a great deal of melodrama. 

The album closes with a folky strummed power ballad, that is smoothly crooned, but still instilled with the the sense of theater. It does have a dynamic ebb and flow but none of the melodies really grab me. The guitars break down so the story telling comes to the forefront, but it feels like the songs in a musical that are to move the story forward rather than a centerpiece tune. I will give this album an 8.5, I like what they are doing , this kind of steampunk rock is not really my thing , but comes close enough to goth for me to enjoy it, though fans of the band should eagerly embrace what is unfolding here. 

Black Hole Generator : "A Requiem For Terra"

From the brain child behind Vulture Industries comes this apocalyptic metal album that hits you with the same black thunder a band like Dimmu once steam rolled you with. The difference here is some of the more dramatic orchestral trappings are cast aside for something more straight forward and powerful. Now if you read that as me saying this is better than Dimmu, then I am setting the record straight. It is in a similar vein but the riffs are not as catchy. The throb with a different heart beat behind them than their fellow country men.

By the second song things get a little more dramatic vocally. I can hear shades of Arcturus in this, though there is less of that carnival feel and a darker mood. The vocals sound more like something in the gothic flavor of Michael Crawford's Phantom of the Opera. Things do get more intense. This is more mainstream metal than it is black metal. There are more growled vocals on "Moloch". This feels like more run of the mill death metal, with a somewhat spookier underbelly. Not as well composed as the first two songs. They do wind up in a nastier blasting section, but I would not refer to it as black metal. The vocals to the verses of "Beneath a Chemical Sky' are at first sung in more of a crazed caterwaul . This is more of a mid-paced song. It reminds me a little of the Ian Gillan Black Sabbath years.

They gather a mean storm that should be taken more seriously on "Emerging Pantheon". The vocals here are more like something Attila might do. The guitars go into a more spastic shredding mode , so if that is something you are into , know these guys can go there. Though the guitarists from Enslaved and Taake help with this endeavor. Black metal circles are not known for their shredding so it's cool to know more of them can they you might think, though Fredheim from Enslaved is one of the best guitarists out there now, so that might not be as big of a surprise. There is a more deliberate tone to the stomp of "Earth Eater".

Things slow down for the more Urfaust like doom of "Spiritual Blight" that closes the album. The vocals are almost operatic, but at times seem wavering in regards to pitch. Overall this is pretty solid despite the fact industrial was thrown around a lot in regards to these guys and there was nothing industrial at all about these guys.  I'll give this an 8.5.