What a weird musical year 2023 was (for me at least). In terms of mainstream music, some combination of my continued descent into the cultural black hole that is being in your 30's, a pretty substantial lack of high-profile new releases and the TikTokification of the hit machine led to a year that was light on excitement and even lighter on real hits (a Taylor Swift song from 2019 was among the year's biggest chart-toppers for fuck's sake!). On my home turf of the metal genre, several bands that I had long written off put pretty good albums (In Flames, Suffocation, The Acacia Strain) and metalcore albums albums dominated my favorite EP's and LP's lists like it was 2008 all over again
The bizarre tomfoolery afoot didn't stop with this pair of broad trends. My least favorite album of the year was by somebody that I consider to be a totally unique visionary who just happened to take a massive swing that missed by a mile this time around. blink-182 made their 15th comeback record in the last 12 years (and Tom DeLonge seems to actually care at least somewhat this time!). Members of the now-defunct Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan joined together to create a new band. Carnifex made the most evil moving tribute song in the history of music. A new album from the elusive Sampha emerged. Somebody from Run the Jewels actually released a new solo album. And last but certainly not least, a poetic, melancholic Americana singer became the next superstar in country music. Perhaps 2024 will offer up something more predictable, but that doesn't feel like a particularly safe bet considering the state of the industry and world-at-large right now.
Below, you'll find a complete ranking of every 2023 LP and EP that I've heard along with my picks for the top 50 songs and some miscellaneous awards. Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for reading.
EP's:
7.Brand of Sacrifice-Between Death and Dreams (B)
6.Ice Spice-Like...? (B)
5.JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown-SCARING THE HOES: DLC PACK (B)
4.Spiritbox-The Fear of Fear (B+)
3.Better Lovers-God Made Me An Animal (B+)
2.Knocked Loose-Upon Loss Singles (A-)
1.The Callous Daoboys-God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys (A)
LP's:
97.Janelle Monae-The Age of Pleasure (D+)
96.Amaarae-Fountain Baby (C-)
95.blink-182-One More Time... (C-)
94.Young Fathers-Heavy Heavy (C)
93.Young Thug-Business is Business (C)
92.Metallica-72 Seasons (C)
91.Offset-Set It Off (C)
90.Suicide Silence-Remember... You Must
Die (C)
89.Royal Blood-Back to the Water Below (C)
88.Lil Uzi Vert-Pink Tape (C)
87.The Ocean-Holocene (C)
86.Sexyy Red-Hood Hottest Princess (C)
85.Hozier-Unreal Unearth (C)
84.Baroness-Stone (C)
83.Caroline Polachek-Desire, I Want To
Turn Into You (C)
82.Don Toliver-Love Sick (C)
81.Olivia Rodrigo-GUTS (C)
80.Post Malone-Austin (C+)
79.Ava Max-Diamonds & Dancefloors (C+)
78.Lil Yachty-Let's Start Here (C+)
77.White Reaper-Asking for a Ride (C+)
76.Gunna-A Gift & a Curse (C+)
75.Sleep Token-Take Me to Eden (C+)
74.Killer Mike-MICHAEL (C+)
73.Sunami-Sunami (B-)
72.Fall Out Boy-So Much for (for) Stardust (B-)
71.Mitski-The Land is Inhospitable and So
Are We (B-)
70.Hail the Sun-Divine Inner Tension (B-)
69.Invent Animate-Heavener (B-)
68.Dominic Fike-Sunburn (B-)
67.Crown Magnetar-Everything Bleeds (B-)
66.Overkill-Scorched (B-)
65.Avenged Sevenfold-Life is But a
Dream... (B-)
64.boygenius-the record (B-)
63.King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-The
Silver Cord (B-)
62.Zulu-A New Tomorrow (B-)
61.2 Chainz and Lil Wayne-Welcome 2
Collegrove (B-)
60.Miley Cyrus-Endless Summer Vacation (B-)
59.Harms Way-Common Suffering (B-)
58.Paramore-This is Why (B-)
57.Jessie Ware-That! Feels Good! (B-)
56.Victoria Monet-Jaguar II (B-)
55.100 gecs-10,000 gecs (B-)
54.Gel-Only Constant (B-)
53.Wound Man-Human Outline (B-)
52.Thy Art is Murder-Godlike (B-)
51.Currents-The Death We Seek (B-)
50.TesseracT-War of Being (B)
49.Fromjoy-Fromjoy (B)
48.Cannibal Corpse-Chaos Horrific (B)
47.Black Pumas-Chronicles of a Diamond (B)
46.Sylosis-A Sign of Things to Come (B)
45.Fuming Mouth-Last Day of Sun (B)
44.Frozen Soul-Glacial Domination (B)
43.Cattle Decapitation-Terrasite (B)
42.Entheos-Time Will Take Us All (B)
41.Doja Cat-Scarlet (B)
40.Pupil Slicer-Blossom (B)
39.Ne Oblivscaries-Exul (B)
38.Carnifex-Necromanteum (B)
37.City Morgue-My Bloody America (B)
36.Soulkeeper-Holy Design (B)
35.Danny Brown-Quartana (B)
34.Zach Bryan-Zach Bryan (B)
33.Sampha-Lahai (B)
32.The Acacia Strain-Step Into the Light (B)
31.Carly Rae Jepsen-The Loveliest Time (B)
30.Lana Del Rey-Did you know there's a
tunnel under Ocean Blvd (B)
29.In Flames-Foregone (B)
28.Gorod-The Orb (B)
27.The Acacia Strain-Failure Will Follow (B)
26.Tomb Mold-The Enduring Spirit (B)
25.Kvelertak-Endling (B)
24.Drain-Living Proof (B)
23.Suffocation-Hymns from the Apocrypha (B)
22.Kali Uchis-Red Moon in Venus (B)
21.Yves Tumor-Praise a Lord Who Chews but
Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (B)
20.Genesis Owusu-STRUGGLER (B)
19.Judiciary-Flesh+Blood (B)
18.Jesus Piece-...So Unknown (B+)
17.The Zenith Passage-Datalysium (B+)
16.Travis Scott-UTOPIA (B+)
15.Silent Planet-Superbloom (B+)
14.END-The Sin of Human Frailty (B+)
13.Unearth-The Wretched: The Ruinous (B+)
12.August Burns Red-Death Below (B+)
11.Veil of Maya-(M)other (B+)
10.Periphery-Periphery V: Djent is Not a
Genre (B+)
9.Year of the Knife- No Love Lost (B+)
8.Mutoid Man-Mutants (B+)
7.Dying Wish-Symptoms of Survival (B+)
6.Horrendous-Ontological Mysterium (B+)
5.Dying Fetus-Make Them Beg for Death (A-)
4.Queens of the Stone Age-In Times New Roman... (A-)
3.Foo Fighters-But Here We Are(A-)
2.King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (A-)
1.JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown-SCARING THE HOES (A)
Awards/Superlatives:
Biggest Surprises:
1.Foo Fighters-But Here We Are
2.Queens of the Stone Age-In Times New Roman...
3.Suffocation-Hymns From the Apocrypha
4.In Flames-Foregone
5.Carnifex-Necromanteum
Biggest Letdowns:
1.Janelle Monae-The Age of Pleasure
2.Young Thug-Business is Business
3.Killer Mike-MICHAEL
4.Post Malone-Austin
5.Royal Blood-Back to the Water Below
Most Underrated:
1.Queens of the Stone Age-In Times New Roman...
2.Mutoid Man-Mutants
3.Veil of Maya-(M)other
4.Unearth-The Wretched; The Ruinous
5.Judiciary-Flesh + Blood
Most Overrated:
1.Carolina Paolochek-Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
2.Mitski-The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
3.Paramore-This is Why
4.Invent Animate-Heavener
5.Cannibal Corpse-Chaos Horrific
Top Discoveries:
1.Year of the Knife
2.Judiciary
3.Tomb Mold
4.Zach Bryan
5.Soulkeeper
Top Artists I Hope Drop An Album in 2024:
1.The Black Dahlia Murder
2.Converge
3.Knocked Loose
4.Dua Lipa
5.Deftones
Top 50 Songs (in alphabetical order by artist name):
August Burns Red-Dark Divide
Better Lovers-30 Under 13
Carly Rae Jepsen-Psychedelic Switch
Darkest Hour-Perpetual Terminal
Dua Lipa-Dance the Night
Dua Lipa-Houdini
Dying Fetus-Feast of Ashes
Dying Fetus-Undulating Carnage
Dying Wish-Path to My Grave
Dying Wish-Symptoms of Survival
Foo Fighters-But Here We Are
Foo Fighters-The Glass
Foo Fighters-Under You
Genesis Owusu-Freak Boy
Genesis Owusu-Leaving the Light
Horrendous-Chryspoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn)
Horrendous-Cult of Shaad'oah
Jesus Piece-Fear of Failure
Job for a Cowboy-The Agony Seeping Storm
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown-Burfict!
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown-Fentanyl Tester
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown-Kingdom Hearts Key (feat. Redveil)
Judiciary-Knife in the Dirt
Kali Uchis-Moonlight
Kesha-Eat the Acid
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-Supercell
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-Witchcraft
Knocked Loose-Deep in the Willow
Knocked Loose-Everything is Quiet Now
Lana Del Rey-A&W
Mutoid Man-Frozen Hearts
Mutoid Man-Graveyard Love
Paramore-Running Out of Time
Periphery-Wax Wings
Queens of the Stone Age-Obscenery
Queens of the Stone Age-Paper Machete
Queens of the Stone Age-What the Peephole Say
Sampha-Suspended
Silent Planet-Collider
Spiritbox-Jaded
The Callous Daoboys-Pushing the Pink Envelope
The Callous Daoboys-Waco Jesus
Travis Scott-Circus Maximus (feat. The Weeknd and Swae Lee)
Travis Scott-My Eyes
Unearth-Dawn of the Militant
Veil of Maya-Red Fur
Veil of Maya-Tokyo Chainsaw
Yves Tumor-Ebony Eye
Yves Tumor-Lovely Sewer
Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves-I
Remember Everything
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