One of top albums this year so far. Disso fans rejoice.

And here's my fav BM album this year so far:

New Goatmoon is their best in some time.

This is the "worthwhile albums" thread not the trash NSBM thread, Ya goof.

Well I made a very concerted effort to listen to more metal this year, and I'm pretty sure I listened to more albums this month than I did all last year lol. Here's what I made it through for the month:

Rye/Рожь
The Howling Void
Thy Darkened Shade
The Gauntlet
Obituary
Scalp
Leper Colony*
Inherits the Void*
Tribunal*
Ahab
Nothingness*
Dryad
Deiquisitor*
Re-buried*
Imperium Dekadenz
Oak Pantheon
Mortality
Idle Ruin
Trastorned*
Conjureth*
Sarkasm
Anachronism*
Malleus
Firienholt

Stuff with asterisks are what I ended up liking the most. Solid month, especially for death metal. Looking forward to February and Soulmass, Memoriam, Sanguisugabogg, Hellripper, Tithe, Ulthar, and Siege of Power.

I liked Deiquisitor, Conjureth, Hoplites/Ὁπλίτης and Negative Vortex this month. Reverence of the Martyr - Blood Horizon also stood out for me. M-A lists them as melodic death/black metal which is mostly accurate. Not sure I hear much black metal but there's some in there I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... DBVdycqDUA

Another one I enjoyed was the debut from Pestigor (not to be confused with Finnish DM band Pestigore) called Baptized in Pus. I kind of expected a death metal band when I saw the album cover but they play kind of a punk/thrash style that leans more on punk than thrash IMO. Not something I'd normally like but I dig it.

https://pestigor.bandcamp.com/album/baptized-in-pus

Pretty easy to do since January was absolutely stacked with releases! Love your list.

My favourites in no discernible order:

Haxprocess - The Caverns of Duat
Nothingness - Supraliminal
Invertia - Through the Black Bubble
Ὁπλίτης - Ψ​ε​υ​δ​ο​μ​έ​ν​η
Anachronism - Meanders
Wothrosch - Odium
Ominous Scriptures - Rituals of Mass Self-Ignition
Alyiria - Heiress
Orator - The Burden of Existence
The Howling Void - Into Darkness Ever More Profound
Ungraceful - Artificial Aberrations

This was just stuff I heard, and I'm sure there's plenty of others. 2023 is going to be an amazing year for metal.

Yay, about time! I was waiting for them to drop a new one soon. I like pretty much everything they've done so this should be a treat.

So far I'd say the following are all worthwhile enough. Dunno if anything is unique but hey, extra votes towards some stuff might draw some eyes. So far not massively impressed with the year but it is young.

Arnaut Pavle - Transilvanian Glare - The best black/punk band going around I think. It's got riffs and the songs are distinct. There's 8 million of these bands so it's hard to really sales pitch it, they're just better than everyone else.
Ὁπλίτης (Hoplites) - Ψευδομένη - Mathy dissoblack like a less technically insane Serpent Column
Conjureth - The Parasitic Chambers - Like early 90's proto tech death if it was into the NY tremfest scene, and a lot cleaner. It's a couple of songs long though, 9 doses of the same thing gets a bit brain mushy.
Dryad - The Abyssal Plain - More black/punk goodness. Clearly inferior to Arnaut but one of the better ones kicking about.
Mansion - Second Death - More straight doom than their earlier stuff, but the best songs (No Funeral, You Are Suspicious, Heathen Hole) are really good.

As for some comments on some frequently name dropped releases I didn't like so much, I thought Anachronism straight sucked, totally forgets death metal is meant to be extreme. I didn't vibe with Deiquisitor's jabby riffing style, but might vibe for people more into the Florida sound. Thy Darkened Shade was absolutely not my thing, slick and weak Antichrist Imperium-y junk.

Yeah outside of two releases in the past few days and a prospective psychedelic stoner rock album January has not been kind to my tastes.

What would those be?

So just in case January wasn't already full, here's some stuff I recently found that I liked.

Turbid North - The Decline



Metal Archives lists them as death/groove, but from what I heard it sounds pretty grindy with some slower, doomier elements. They sound pissed off, so it's definitely something worth checking out.

https://turbidnorth.bandcamp.com/

----

Pyramid Mass - Monolith



Described as blackened sludge/progressive metal, which is close to the truth, but with instances of you saying "how in the hell do they make those strange sounds from their guitars!?"

https://pyramidmass.bandcamp.com/album/monolith

----

Kollaps\e - Phantom Centre



More blackened sludge. Think if Cult of Luna was a little more black metal, it might sound like this.

https://kollapsemusic.bandcamp.com/album/phantom-centre

----

Karma Rassa - Khmel'



Highly interesting progressive metal with clean Russian singing. This type of prog metal isn't generally my thing, but I like the sound of this.

https://karmarassa.bandcamp.com/album/khmel-2023

Ahab - The Coral Tombs



It was released on the 13th, but I've not seen a post dedicated to it yet (someone mentionned it yesterday in a list of albums they listened to during the month). I didn't really know the band all that much before listening to this release, so when I found myself really enjoying their newest release, I went and listened to their 2006 opus The Call of the Wretched Sea, and I'm quite happy with what I heard. Anyway, great and massive funeral doom metal album, and I love how their entire discography focuses on nautical literature.

There was this thread, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=137051

I really like the first couple of tracks on Coral Tombs, but after that it devolves into the same too soft and pretty stuff they've been doing too much of ever since the second album. I miss the dynamics that the debut had with the big caveman riffing smashing through all the dainty parts.

Already several mentions for the new Conjureth, and I agree that it is very good.

While on the topic of death metal, I've been really digging "Feast of the Repulsive Dead" by Seven Doors. It is especially recommended if you enjoy some cool soloing/guitar noodling. Bonus points if you enjoy some Lucio Fulci aesthetics.

https://sevendoorsdm.bandcamp.com/album ... lsive-dead

The new Act of Impalement record comes out tomorrow but there's already a stream up. If you're looking for some solid blackened death/doom, check this one out.

More Bolt Thrower-esque goodness from Just Before Dawn. Although MA lists the release date as December 15, 2022, according to their Bandcamp this is out today, so...
I haven't loved all their work as I found a few of their releases a bit boring, but this new EP totally works for me. It seems much more lively thanks to the melodies and clearer production, while still sounding crushing as fuck (Jo Bench deserved that bass tone):


https://justbeforedawn1.bandcamp.com/al ... ht-zeroing

It actually as a rawer production that the previous few, but somehow it kinda works. Also liking the lack of interludes - just makes it feel more direct. For me, it's definitely a winner.

Same. Soaring leads and tasteful synths, good continuation to Cosmic World Mother. Kind-of-symphonic black metal done right. Here's the link to Bandcamp.

The new Iron Void album came out last week, solid some tradtional doom metal from a band that knows how to do the style well.

One man blackened death/doom from the US, out on Profound Lore Records. Hear a bit of drone in there too, pretty unsettling stuff.

I guess this is technically not a new album since it's a compilation of previous released tracks, but this is symphonic/melodic black metal from the same guy as Ancient Mastery (and a bunch of other bands). There's a part in the song The Process where the synth reminds me of something you would hear in a cheesy 90s eurodance song of all things.

Mithridatum - Harrowing. Out today, pretty good dissonant stuff.

https://mithridatum.bandcamp.com/releases

I had a listen to this one earlier today. Pretty good stuff.

Happy Memoriam, Soulmass, and Sanguisugabogg release day to all that celebrate!

I gave that Sanguisugabogg album an honest fair shake. Much better than I expected but their brand of "heavily slam-influenced caveman death metal bordering on deathcore" just ain't my cup o' tea. It really overstays it's welcome at 45 minutes long as well.

EDIT:

Trespasser - 'Αποκάλυψισ

https://trespasserxvi.bandcamp.com/album/--2

Absolutely killer Swedish black metal not dissimilar to Marduk or Funeral Mist but with none of the ... uh.. "WWII enthusiasm" of the former, lol.

A Dismember demo compilation just popped up on Spotify. It's not on their MA page yet, so I don't know if it's actually a new release or not.

Just listening to the new Ashen Horde, 'Antimony' (US progressive black/death). Interesting, lots of twists and strange tempo changes with weird clean vocals. Lots to uncover here:
https://ashenhordeband.bandcamp.com/alb ... eath-metal

Forgot new Memoriam was out today, I'll get on it!

It's this. It got added to streaming services, along with a different master of Like an Ever Flowing Stream, some time in the last week or so.

Ah right, cheers

yeah definitely not for me, solidifies that I'm not really into the whole brutal death thing

I've enjoyed taking advantage of these threads but rarely contribute so I figure I'd so from time to time.

Here are the releases from 2/3 that clicked for me

Act of Impalement - Infernal Ordinance
(already mentioned)

Calderum - Lord Cramridor
Lo-fi black metal but pleasing sound

Dysmal – Gates To Apperception
solid sounding Melodic Death Metal with grit

Godiva - Hubris
epic theatrical gothic/death metal kind of Septic Flesh mixed with Cradle

Memoriam – Rise To Power
Bolt thrower worship

Ophiocordyceps - Anthropocene
Modern brutal death metal, sounds good

Palace Of Worms - Cabal
death/doom with keys and interesting songwriting

Sanguisugabogg – Homicidal Ecstasy
(already mentioned)

Xandria – The Wonders Still Awaiting
solid Symphonic Metal

The only album from 2023 I've listened to so far. Extremely bright, uplifting, symphonic power metal. Now if I could just feel like 1/10th as happy as this sounds...

This album is fantastic.

New Haxanu is out tomorrow but there's already a full album stream. This is just as good as Snare of All Salvation if not better IMO.

Add me to the list of fans of the new Inherits the Void.

Spacey-techy-atmospheric-deathened-black metal with a twist of melody and digestible song lengths. What's not to love?

It's so good. My favorite album released this year so far.

Thanks, that Pyramid Mass is fucking great. Going to check out the rest of your recommendations

Zemial should come soon and be THE album of the year. Does anyone have an idea when we will get the new Despair and Horrendous?

Wrong thread. Please post elsewhere.

My favorite metal album of the year so far!