This year has been a bit of a CLUSTERFUUUUUCK to say the least. I’m slowly but surely settling in to my new environment in the lovely land of Cleveland, Ohio, and dealing with the fact that I’ll have a big boy job by the middle of 2024. Grad school has been a harsh mistress, and a lack of social support has really left me feeling a bit wonky in the head. Certain events have left me shaken, beaten, and mentally brutalized, but even in the darkest corners of my life, I still have music. Music is what brings me joy in life. Its the reason I wake up in the morning and keep going despite insurmountable life circumstances.
I met my one of my musical idols, Alex Haddad of Dessiderium this year. He told me this was not the last time we meet, and I intend to keep it that way. He told me that Aria, my 2021 AOTY, was written in times of dire straits in his life, just as it came into my life when I felt the same. A little voice in the back of my head tells me “we haven’t seen Opeth live yet” when I feel like giving up. As much as this year has been a shitshow and a half, I have plenty to be grateful for that keeps me from giving up.
This is where I give my thanks. Thank you for reading my silly little reviews. Thank you for sticking with my deeply inconsistent review schedule that I’m trying to get better about. Thank you to my fellow Subway reviewers for dealing with the bullshit of my high scores and lack of consistency. Most of all, thank you to whoever is reading this. See you all in 2024
Honorable mentions:
- Massen – Gentle Brutality: ENERGY SYSTEM. ENERGY SYSTEM. ENERGY SYSTEM. ENERGY SYSTEM.
- Obsidian Tide – The Grand Crescendo – A great prog-death album with the grandest crescendos I’ve heard this year.
- Omnerod – The Amensal Rise – As I’ve called them before, “Leprous if they existed in a circus from hell.”
- Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations – The most promising new band I’ve heard, courtesy of someone who’s on my top 10.
- The Anchoret – It All Began With Loneliness – An incredibly unique debut from a brand new up and comer.
- Sermon – Of Golden Verse – An incredible slab of songs that sound like demented versions of The Killers covers.
- Gridlink – Coronet Juniper – Grind of the year.
10. Wormhole – Almost Human
Style: technical death metal, slamming brutal death metal (harsh gurgle vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Analepsy, Devourment, Gorguts, Ulcerate
Slam has been the unlikely hero of this year, and it’s ironic that my AOTY list is bookended by the genre. To get us started, we’ve got a band that has only been on an upward trajectory. Wormhole has been the brainchild of guitar wizards Sanjay and Sanil Kumar since 2015, and it now feels that they’ve perfected their sound. Who knew the missing ingredient was a pinch of Ulcerate?
Listening to this album feels like getting hit with ten tons of rocks, and for some strange reason, you enjoy it. Wormhole is what happens when a slam band has a stupid amount of talent and a penchant for incredible songwriting. In my review, I wrote one of the best lines I’ve ever written, it being that this album is for the caveman who discovered fire. Almost Human has endless riffs, breakdowns, disgusting vocals, and everything a good tech-slam band should have bundled into one bite-sized package.
Recommended tracks: Elysiism, Data Fortress Orbital Stationary, Almost Human
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
9. Valdrin – Throne of the Lunar Soul
Style: Symphonic black metal, melodic black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dissection, Limbonic Art, Caladan Brood, Stormkeep
There’s always one album that comes in right at the end of the year, and completely throws off the balance of what my top 10 list looks like. Valdrin should pat themselves on the back for creating exactly what I wanted to hear out of a black metal album all year, and was surprisingly missing until now. This is black metal mined straight from Khazad-Dum, shipped off to Dol Guldor and enchanted by The Nine.
Tinged in an atmosphere of dark fantasy, Throne takes the listener on a journey that can run just a tad too long, but remains entertaining throughout. This is the soundtrack to the best old-fashioned RPG that never existed, in that every song provides a perfect lyrical backdrop for the theme presented. From the very first synth swirl, to clean vocals, to the hardest lines delivered this year (For now I reside/Upon the throne where Ausadjur died/As the golden spires collapse/I bid farewell, to another world I killed), Valdrin will impress the black metal and fantasy fans alike.
Recommended tracks: Neverafter, Sojourner Wolf, Throne of the Lunar Soul
Related links: original review is yet to be published [editor’s note: Zach is a lazy bum] | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
8. The Ritual Aura – Heresiarch
Style: technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Inferi, Obscura, Arkaik, Aethereus
When making an album with two 13+ minute songs on it, you best be confident that those songs are not only great, but won’t absolutely kill the pacing of your album. The Ritual Aura get a gold star for keeping their album tight, and trimmed of relatively little fat even with two gargantuan epics. Heresiarch has some of the best pacing I’ve heard all year and leans so hard into experimenting with their sound that I can say no two Ritual Aura records have sounded alike at this point.
But not only have they experimented, they’ve gotten it so right. The symphonic breaks are perfectly timed just when the album’s techy onslaughts are just about to start feeling monotonous. The obvious inspiration from From Software’s soundtracks have given the album a gothic tone, matching with Ryan Cho’s stellar violin moments. Dalek and Iacovella’s riffs are stellar as always, and their effort in restraining the techy side just shows how far they’ve both come as musicians. But make no mistake, they can very easily blow you away at 200 BPM, and I promise you, they and the rest of the band will.
Recommended tracks: Heresiarch, The New Plague, Denouement Knell
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
7. TEMIC – Terror Management Theory
Style: progressive metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Frost*
In the age of BTBAM, Dream Theater and Haken wannabes, regular joe prog has been wow-ing me less and less. What was once an innovative and exciting genre has turned to stock riffs and jarring transitions for the sake of them. So, TEMIC wasn’t initially on my radar, but boy am I glad the Subway made a stink out of this when we got the promo. This isn’t the most innovative prog I’ve ever heard, but it’s got the heart and passion the genre has lacked for me as of late.
TEMIC is what happens when a competent supergroup forms. Everyone in this band is at the top of their class, and knows how to write a complex, yet memorable song. ‘Count Your Losses’ has one of, if not the best chorus I’ve heard all year, and Eric Gillette’s quick scale run between vocal lines is a moment that encapsulates why I love this band. Tasteful songwriting written from a bunch of prog-brained musicians is second to none.
Recommended tracks: Falling Away, COUNT YOUR LOOOOSSEEESS, Skeletons
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
6. Fires in the Distance – Air Not Meant for Us
Style: Melodic death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Insomnium, Be’Lakor, Swallow the Sun, Eternal Storm
Here’s where things begin to get dicey. Every album from here on out, aside from the AOTY pick, has my immense respect, and was at one point in the top three for this year. Honestly, these next picks could all be interchangeable depending on the kind of mood I’m in. And what a mood Air Not Meant for Us puts me in. Opener ‘Harbingers’ is easily my definitive pick for Subway SOTY, and the crushing atmosphere of this album does not relent after the ten minute colossus is done.
Fires in the Distance play sadboi melodeath that isn’t just copying Insomnium. Sorrow-filled leads and orchestration dance around chunky, heavy-as-balls guitar riffing, as vocalist duo Craig Breitspecher and Kristian Grimald bellow out bone-shattering roars. Fires not only have riffs for days, but the orchestration takes this Air Not Meant For Us to a whole other level. This is easily the best melodeath release of the year, and my only regret is not being the one to review it!
Recommended tracks: Harbingers, Psalm of the Merciless
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
5. Alkaloid – Numen
Style: technical death metal, progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Obscura, Necrophagist
Alkaloid are, quite frankly, one of the best in the business right now. Three albums in and the tech-death supergroup have seemingly released nothing but high quality material. Among a catalog of non-stop bangers, Numen stands tall. In a year of incredible album openers, the three hit combo of ‘Qliphosis’, ‘The Cambrian Explosion’ and ‘Clusterfuck’ knocked my socks off. Overall, Numen has some of the best Alkaloid has to offer…and some of the worst.
The back half, barring incredible closer ‘Alpha Aur’, is where the album begins to falter, hence why Numen isn’t higher up. After a downright jaw-dropping first half, which has most of the best stuff this band’s ever done, Numen takes a turn for the weird, if only for a minute. With ten minutes shaved off the runtime, this could easily stand at the #2 spot. For now, though, it’s still a worthy entry on this list.
Recommended tracks: Qliphosis, The Cambrian Explosion, Clusterfuck
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
4. Carnosus – Visions of Infinihility
Style: Technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Black Dahlia Murder, Infant Annihilator, Archspire, Revocation
If you’ve been following me since the beginning of the year, you knew this one was bound to be on here. There has been an emergence of caveman metal with university degrees this year, and Carnosus clearly did boatloads of cocaine at Cave University. Everything about this album is stupid in the best way possible. Carnosus were probably classmates of Archspire, because they took the speed up a notch since their debut, and what monsters they’ve become.
The vocals are disgusting, Dickie Allen-esque gargles. The riffs are fast. The drums pound and reverberate through every crevice of my neanderthal skull. What more can be said? ‘Castle of Grief’ and ‘In Debt to Oblivion’ are two of the best tech death songs I think I’ve ever heard, so let’s keep this brief, like the album.
Recommended tracks: Castle of Grief, In Debt to Oblivion
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
3. Stortregn – Finitude
Style: technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dissection, Inferi, Beyond Creation
So, I jumped the gun. I proclaimed Carnosus to be the best tech-death this year aaaand I was wrong. As you can see, it’s still pretty high, but it seems that Stortregn has taken that crown. After I (admittedly) underrated Impermanence, I was excited to see what else the Swiss tech-kings had in store. Those opening acoustic notes of Finitude told me all I needed to know. This album has some of the most spine-tingling melodies I’ve heard all year, and practically every single part of this album is in counterpoint. That means there are about five-thousand layers of song to peel back on all eight of these tracks, and Stortregn comes out swinging from that opening until the very last note.
Like Impermanence, Finitude is a tech-death epic that covers all grounds, which means repeated listens are absolutely necessary. You’ll be completely overloaded with lightspeed BPM at first, and then it somehow all clicks. Every riff that Stortregn presents is as furious as it is catchy, with a great example being ‘Xeno Chaos’’s opening, well, chaos. Every bit of fury and beauty all leads up to the beautiful shred that is ‘The Revelation’’s end. But, like its predecessor, it’s nothing without the greater sum of its parts. Carve out 43 minutes, and let the melodies pound you to a pulp.
Recommended tracks: A Lost Battle Rages On, Xeno Chaos, Cold Void
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
2. Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium
Style: progressive death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Death, Atheist
Well, we did say Andy’s list was gonna look a bit similar to mine. I’m an unabashed Horrendous fanboy, and they can frankly do no wrong in my book. This album is no exception. Horrendous have distilled Schuldiner-era prog-death down to a fine art, and the creativity these guys bring into what should be simple Death-worship is nothing short of astounding.
‘Preterition Hymn’ and opener ‘Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn)’ are everything I love about this album summed up in two songs. The first being the closest to an outright prog ballad I’ve ever heard for a death metal song, and the second being chock full of incredible songwriting choices. Andy and I have been talking about the riff in the opener since it came out, and trust me, you’ll know it when you hear it. Especially the incredible reprisal at the end. But the whole album is the closest thing to perfection the genre has seen in a while, and Horrendous should revel in their success.
Recommended tracks: Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn), Neon Leviathan, Pretention Hymn
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
1. Afterbirth – In But Not Of
Style: progressive death metal, brutal death metal (harsh gurgle vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Devourment, Wormhole, Synths and alt rock riffs in your slam
I’m a big believer that limitation breeds creativity. Brutal death metal has been stuck in the limitations Suffocation bestowed upon the genre since ‘91. Nobody dared to impose on such a perfect formula of chugs and vocals lower than my self-esteem. Until now. Afterbirth are innovators in a field of stagnation. They dared to bring influence from synth, alt-rock, and post-rock in a genre that is so far detached from all of those. And most of all, they made it work.
This is the true essence of prog. Something that is unbound by genre and influence, and brings that all into one cohesive vision. This is brutal death metal’s finest hour, and I firmly believe that in five-ish years, this will be recognized as the cornerstone of the genre. Each listen astounds with dazzling riffs, melody and Will Smith’s artful gurgles. The production job is equal parts grimy and clean, perfectly highlighting every instrument with space for breathing room. This is the innovation and sheer creativity I crave from prog that the genre has seemingly lost. Even if you’re not a BDM fan, please listen to this.
Recommended tracks: Tightening the Screws, Devils With Dead Eyes, In But not Of
Related links: original review | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook
