I’ve always been obsessed with music, but I kind of fell out of the habit during quarantine. I mainly listen to music while working and driving, but for the past few years, I’ve been working from home where I can watch TV and I didn’t have to drive as much.
In March, I decided to go back to music. I dusted off my last.fm account that I’ve had since 2007. It has kept track of what I’ve listened to while working for the past 16 years. There are humans who were born on the day I signed up for last.fm who are now old enough to drive a car.
Admittedly, my taste in music this year was less diverse than in years past. I blame Spotify, which tends to keep you in a lane. Anyway, with no further ado, in alphabetical order by band name, my favorite albums of 2023:
Acid King – Beyond Vision
From: San Francisco, California
Favorite track: Beyond Vision
About: Acid King is a stoner doom band that was formed 1993. Their signature is distortion, tight guitar-bass riff attacks and a Marshall-stacked, bloated low rear end.
In my words: Acid King is back! It’s been a long time since they’ve released anything, but it was worth the wait.
Acid Magus – Hope Is Heavy
From: Pretoria, South Africa
Favorite Track: Demon Behemoth
In their own words: Garage doom on shrooms…
In my words: Slow, long, heavy, fuzzy, sludgy goodness. This whole album is worth a listen. There are only 6 songs.
Bahboon – Thunder Ape
From: Tokyo, Japan
Favorite Track: Thunder Ape
In their own words: The thunder of piercing riffs, the explosion of swirling grooves. Broken spaceships drifting through space, evolving apes.
In my words: Japanese desert rock with surprising genres like reggae and surf rock mixed in. Rampage is another favorite.
Black Rainbows – Superskull
From: Rome, Italy
Favorite Track: Cosmic Ride Of The Crystal Skull
In their own words: heavy psych, stoner, retro rock, 70, vintage rock, psychedelic rock, proto rock, sludge, doom
In my words: this album gets better every time you listen to it. All of their albums are good, but this one hit me immediately and stuck. Other favorites include Apocalypse March and Superhero Dopeproof.
Cam Cole – Unleash
From: London, England
Favorite Track: I Just Don’t Seek To Please
In his own words: Cam Cole is a singer, songwriter, busker and new age traveler who roams around performing on streets and venues as his one-man band show influenced by Folk, Delta Blues, Grunge and Rock N’ Roll.
In my words: Cam Cole is one of the best one-man bands I’ve ever heard. (“One of?” you quizzle. “Well, yes,” I reply. “There’s also Juzzie Smith.”)
For a Londoner, Mr. Cole certainly knows the blues. He just wrapped up a US tour. If you get a chance, see him live. You won’t regret it.
Clutch – The PA Tapes
From: Germantown, Maryland, USA
While I am loath to pick just one favorite band, I listen to, have purchased more albums and merch by, and have seen them play live more than any other band. Therefore, Clutch has been my favorite band since 1993 (yep, I’m old).
Clutch released not one, but three albums in 2023. Granted, they’re all live albums: Live in Nashville (9/24/22), Live In Seattle (10/10/22), Live In Portland (10/19/22). Clutch is a great live band, but usually, the recordings of the live performances don’t do them justice. These are all pretty good though, because they were recorded straight off the soundboard.
Favorite Track: Unfortunately, they don’t have live video to match, but here’s another video of them performing live with some of the same songs.
Domkraft – Sonic Moons
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Favorite Track: Whispers
In their own words: Organic. Electric. Hypnotic. Loud.
In my words: Their words about sum it up. This song in particular just builds and builds… ❤
Dopelord – Songs For Satan
From: Warsaw, Poland
Favorite Track: Night Of The Witch
In their own words: Stoner/doom band from Poland. Founded in 2010. Smoking, rehearsing and touring.
In my words: slow, fuzzy, riffy goodness. According to their record company, this album flaunts their defiance of the Catholic church’s cultural dominance in Poland, which I fully support.
Dozer – Drifting In The Endless Void
From: Borlänge, Sweden
Favorite Track: Ex-Human, Now Beast
In their own words: Heavy music from Sweden
In my words: Dozer has been around forever, and for a long time, they were one of my favorite bands until they broke up. Sadface. But, this year, they gave us a new album. Happyface. They’re as great as ever. This whole album is good, but Dust For Blood is my other favorite song.
Graveyard – 6
From: Gothenburg, Sweden
Favorite Track: Twice
In their own words: a hard rock band
In my words: Graveyard has been around since 2006 and they never disappoint. This is groovin’ rock and roll from Sweden.
The Heavy Minds – Beyond Gloom
From: Austria
Favorite Track: Names
In their own words: A Garage-Psych–Band influenced by a huge musical melting pot of sounds of the late 60’s ‘n 70’s, Garage/Prog/Krautrock, Lo-Fi, Neo-Psychedelia and all sorts of underground rawness.
In my words: low and heavy garage rock fuzz, catchy hooks, and a surprising falsetto. The whole album is good stuff.
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Hail To The Underground
From: Bendigo, Australia
Favorite Track: Dark Entries
In their own words: a Psych Doom project focusing on the exploits of a drug-addicted outlaw in the west.
In my words: This wins for favorite album art of the year. This song is obviously heavily “inspired” by the Bauhaus song of the same name, yet it’s different and their own. Jack Harlon is sort of experimental garage rock ‘n roll with lots of distortion. It’s not much like anything else out there.
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
From: Birmingham, England
Favorite Track: Panic Attack
I don’t think I need to explain to anyone who Judas Priest is. They haven’t release the full album yet, just a couple of singles so far. I know it’s strange putting this on a list of best albums of 2023 when the whole thing won’t be released until March 8, 2024, but I am that confident it will be amazing based on what I’ve heard.
Priest is as heavy as ever and 72 year old Rob Halford has still got amazing pipes! He’s an adorable metal grandpa-type now on Instagram. He rescues cats. 🙂
Kadabra – Umbra
From: Tacoma, Washington, USA
Favorite Track: High Priestess
In their own words: Psychedelic Fuzz Rock.
In my words: I love this entire album. It’s one of my most listened of the year. The Serpent, The Devil, and Midnight Hour are also favorites.
Kal-El – Moon People EP
From: Stavanger, Norway
Favorite Track: Moon People
In their own words: The fuzzed-out step-child of hard rock and heavy metal, often with hints of pyschedelic and blues rock as well as doom metal. Songs typically feature a bass-heavy groove, detuned guitars and mind-expanding lyrics…
In my words: slow, fuzzy, sexy heaviness. I love this band. Moon People is a 2-song EP; for a full album, I recommend Dark Majesty released in 2021.
Moon Coven – Sun King
From: Malmö, Sweden
Favorite Track: Wicked Words In Gold They Wrote
In their own words: Heavy psychrock from Sweden.
In my words: This and Kadabra win for most listened new albums of the year for me. It’s all good. Other favorite tracks are Gilded Apple, Sun King, and Seeing Stone.
*MotherSoul – Nascent
From: Jakarta, Indonesia
Favorite Track: Lay Low
In their own words: Formed in Jakarta, 2022. *MotherSoul brings the passion of teen spirit that flows through rock-rooted music.
In my words: This is their first album and I happened to luck into it soon after it was released (I love the internet). There are only 4 songs, but they’re all good. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Ritual King – The Infinite Mirror
From: Bolton, England
Favorite Track: Worlds Divide
In their own words: 3 Piece Stoner/Blues/Psych band
In my words: This is more straight up rock and roll than most things on this list. Good stuff.
Most of these albums are available on Bandcamp (for Clutch, go to clutchmerch), where the album art images came from, so go support some musicians today.
There are probably a lot more that I’m forgetting since it’s been a very long year, but these are the ones that stuck with me. Enjoy!
Edit: There were, in fact, quite a few that I forgot. Honorable Mentions:
- Borracho – Blurring The Lines of Reality
- Deathchant – Thrones
- Dwarves – The Dwarves Concept Album
- Fire Down Below – Low Desert Surf Club
- Gozu – Remedy
- Green Lung – This Heathen Land
- The Hives – The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons
- Howling Giant – Glass Future
- Humulus – Flowers of Death
- Margarita Witch Cult – Margarita Witch Cult
- Mars Red Sky – Dawn Of The Dusk
- Massive Hassle – Number One
- Mutoid Man – Mutants
- REZN – Solace
- Ruff Magic – Electric Ram
- Saint Karloff – Paleolithic War Crimes
- Slomosa – Cabin Fever (single)
- Soft Play – Punk’s Dead (single)
- Viagra Boys – Cave World
…and probably a lot more.
Fish Of Gold 