Another year begins. This time I'm adding Country of origin next to the rating and genre.

1.Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

2.Wayfarer - American Gothic

3.Varathron - The Crimson Temple

4.Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags

5.Shylmagoghnar - Convergence

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Same deal as always - scenes if I somehow manage to break the 1200-album record I hit last year

1.Sermon - Of Golden Verse

2.Ne Obliviscaris - Exul

3.Fvnerals - Let The Earth Be Silent

4.Enslaved - Heimdal

5.Moonreich - Amer

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Pretty much everything I’ve listened to this year, let me know what I’ve missed and what you’ve found and cheers to 2024 being even better 🍻

Check out my seven favorite album covers that I’ve looked at so many times this year, they’re fucking awesome:















Here’s a link to some of my favorite songs from the year, max 2 per album: Best Songs of 2023

1.Silent Planet - Superbloom

2.Sermon - Of Golden Verse

3.Voice Of Baceprot - Retas

4.Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree - Aion

5.TesseracT - War Of Being

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1.Wayfarer - American Gothic

2.Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

3.Labyrinthus Stellarum - Tales Of The Void

4.Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle

5.Shylmagoghnar - Convergence

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1.Sulphur Aeon - Seven Crowns And Seven Seals

2.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

3.Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium

4.Fires In The Distance - Air Not Meant For Us

5.Wayfarer - American Gothic

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1.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

2.Thy Art Is Murder - Godlike

3.Humanity's Last Breath - Ashen

4.Structural - Decrowned

5.Insomnium - Anno 1696

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2023 here we go. My target for the year is 100+ albums, at a rule of 2 albums a week minimum.

1.Nospūn - Opus

2.Periphery - Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre

3.Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

4.Crow Black Sky - Sidereal Light: Volume Two

5.Against Myself - Tides Of Insanity

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Not totally clean, and I had to cut some categories to stay in the 1000 lines limit.

1.

2.Avatar - Dance Devil Dance

3.Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream...

4.Code Orange - The Above

5.Death Dealer Union - Initiation

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1.Shylmagoghnar - Convergence

2.Sacred Outcry - Towers Of Gold

3.Fires In The Distance - Air Not Meant For Us

4.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

5.Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle

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1.Insomnium - Anno 1696

2.Nospūn - Opus

3.Katatonia - Sky Void Of Stars

4.Ironmaster - Weapons Of Spiritual Carnage

5.Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

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The goats. The near perfect albums that never get old. Some are full of catchy bangers I'm always humming, and some are so full to the brim of details that I still haven't even uncovered them all.

A brief outline of my ratings:
8.5-9.0 = An excellent album with a few mild drawbacks (Weak song, slightly irritating vocals, odd flow)
9.0-9.5 = Perfect albums that haven't quite warranted the time-earnt 9.5+.
9.5-9.9 = Perfect albums that have stood the test of time, ranked by preference.
10 = I don't expect to hear another album like these, ever.

(I use 'perfect' lightly as it makes no sense for a man-made creation to be flawless. 'Perfect' is simply a term to outline how high a level of enjoyment is, specifically the level of enjoyment when minor faults become insignificant.)

(I evaluate albums outside of metal vastly differently to the ones here, which explains the lack of representation of my other favourite genres. Blue Sky Mining is an exception due to being structured very similarly to my optimal metal album. I may add some picks from other genres down the line.)


STATS:
I know y'all don't look at my lists, so these are purely for my own interest.

-Decades
'10s: 37
'20s: 25
'00s: 7
'90s: 2

-Genres (By best fit or most prominent)
Prog: 35
Death: 11
Power: 9
Symphonic: 4
Black: 4
Soundtrack: 3
Contemporary: 2
Folk: 1
Doom: 1
Rock: 1

1.Devin Townsend - Empath

2.Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Persefone - Aathma

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1.TesseracT - War Of Being

2.Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

3.Periphery - Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre

4.Sylosis - A Sign Of Things To Come

5.Guilt Trip - Severance

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This is my ranking of all 2023 albums I heard. I'll update it every time I listen to a new 2023 album.

1.Shylmagoghnar - Convergence

2.Haken - Fauna

3.Lokust - Infidel

4.Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

5.Hellripper - Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags

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These are my favourite albums from the year 2023, ranked in order from my most favourite at number 1 to my least favourite.

1.TesseracT - War Of Being

2.Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden

3.Periphery - Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre

4.Haken - Fauna

5.Extreme - Six

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1.Saturnus - The Storm Within

2.Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

3.Ne Obliviscaris - Exul

4.Tenhi - Valkama

5.Fires In The Distance - Air Not Meant For Us

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