Yearlist 2023:

Eighties //Nineties //90919293949596979899 //Nihils //00010203040506070809 //TwentyTens //10111213141516171819 //Twenties //202122[2023]24 //All_Time
 
Cradle Of Filth - Trouble and Their Double Lives
Score: 10/10
I've been listening to Cradle Of Filth since the early nineties, so it's quite amazing that they haven't had a decent live album out until now. It consists of two new songs and a compilation of live recordings. I greatly prefer their first four albums, so was pleased to hear songs from Dusk and Cruelty, but their later releases always contains some good songs which are present on this album as well. Fully aware I'm not scoring scene-points by putting this at the top of my yearlist though ;)
 
Dark The Suns - Raven and the Nightsky
Score: 10/10
Dark The Suns have been around for a while and have released some excellent melodeath albums already, but this one is my favourite. Usually I'm waiting for a fuckup, but I actually like all the songs on this release. Some songs are more doom than death which is also highly appreciated, so (non-live) album of the year for me!
 
Austere - Corrosion of Hearts
Score: 10/10
Austere is hard to define. Maybe melo-doom-death leaning towards atmospheric black? And I'm sure some people would throw a 'post' in there, whatever that means. For sure is that it's music for people who would not hesitate to call their metal "beautiful" - because dear reader, this is a beautiful album. Special mention for the last track which is a Type O Negative cover. And while I don't like the original so much, Austere's version is much improved: Combining the Type O catchiness with the Austere sound can make it play in your head for weeks though!
 
Dream Unending / Worm - Starpath
Score: 10/10
Every yearlist needs a split cd, and the honor this year befalls to the Dream Unending / Worm split. Both bands are bordering somewhere on funeral doom, though the speed is a bit too high for pure funeral fun. Both also throw in a bit too much prog-sounding solos for my taste, but otherwise deliver an excellent 45 minutes of dooming darkness.
 
Høstsol - Länge leve döden
Score: 10/10
Even though Länge leve döden is the first full length of Høstsol, the band is probably well known by many as it's comprised of some well known artists in the metal scene, most notably Niklas from Shining, but also members of Ajattara and Manes. Earlier releases even had Hellhammer on drums, but on this album he's replaced by Shining's old drummer. And speaking of Shining, Høstsol does sound a lot like Shining. And while the recent Shining album did end high on my yearlist, I do like this release just a bit better!
 
Árstíðir Lífsins
Hermalausaz
Score: 10/10
 
Lacrimosa - Nachts
Score: 9.5/10
Ok so it miiiight be a bit of a cop out to put two live albums in a yearlist. But I can't deny Lacrimosa being one of my favourite not-quite-metal bands and Nachts being their best live album so far. It's a compilation of several live concerts performed since the Covid lockdown, and while it's a mix of older and newer songs as on the various other live albums they released, they managed to focus more on the songs I actually like. Together with an excellent sound quality this album is a clear recommendation!
 
Saturnus - The Storm Within
Score: 9.5/10
The true doomer metalhead needs no introduction to Saturnus. They cemented their name in the scene back in 1996 with Paradise Belongs to You, and since then they've released new albums with generous intervals (doom metal speed one could say) - the last full length was 11 years ago. Stylistically their new album The Storm Within is exactly as we would expect from Saturnus, which is not a bad thing because it brings us back to those early nineties doom days, melancholically banging our grey hair after we took our blood-pressure pills...
 
Shylmagoghnar
Convergence
Score: 9.5/10
 
Eye Of Solitude - X
Score: 9.5/10
To be honest, this album is exactly what you would expect from a funeral doom release. Ok, the songs are a bit short (average only 8 minutes!?) but other than that there's no big surprises here. Still, it sounds so good though, the perfect cold winter soundtrack.
 
Primordial - How It Ends
Score: 9.5/10
Primordial has long been one of my favorite bands ever, so expectations for a new album are always high. With their latest release How It Ends I was not disappointed, but still I feel it's not quite as good as it could have been, or as Primordial has been in the past. I do think it's a better album than their previous "Exile Amongst the Ruins", but less good than the one before "Where Greater Men Have Fallen". Good things are definitely Nemtheanga's vocals and the musicianship of the rest of the band: these guys have been around for a while and shows. On the downside however, the songs just seem less memorable, a bit been-there-done-that. Also the 3/4 rhythm starts being a bit overdone, and the instrumental passages seem to last just a bit too long here and there. So overall not a bad album at all, but not their greatest work either.
 
Aphonic Threnody - When Death Comes Again
Score: 9.5/10
This years entry of Aphonic Threnody in the yearlist is a bit of a cheat: When Death Comes Again is a re-recorded version of their 2014 album When Death Comes. However, since it's not just a newly recorded version of the same album, but the songs are actually changed, and sole member Riccardo even pulled in some celebrity talent from bands like Void Of Silence and The Howling Void, I decided it counts as a new album. So, what else to say? Excellent not-quite-funeral doom from the UK, check out their full discography!
 
Ne Obliviscaris
Exul
Score: 9.5/10
 
Hermóðr
To Be Alone
Score: 9/10
 
The Negative Bias
The Seven Seals of Saligia
Score: 9/10
 
Arkona (RUS)
Kob'
Score: 9/10
 
Blackbraid
Blackbraid II
Score: 9/10
 
Sulphur Aeon
Seven Crowns and Seven Seals
Score: 9/10
 
Sól Án Varma
Sól Án Varma
Score: 9/10
 
Slidhr
White Hart!
Score: 9/10
 
21Arcas
Where the Light Once Shone
Score: 9/10
 
Panopticon
The Rime of Memory
Score: 9/10
22
 
23Karner
Berg wocht
Score: 9/10
 
Fen
Monuments to Absence
Score: 9/10
24
 
25Various
Verloren Vertellingen
Score: 9/10
 
Helleruin
Devils, Death and Dark Arts
Score: 9/10
26
 
27...And Oceans
As in Gardens, So in Tombs
Score: 9/10
 
Aeon Winds
Night Sky Illuminations
Score: 9/10
28
 
29Runemagick
Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind
Score: 9/10
 
The Color of Rain
Oceans Above
Score: 9/10
30
 
31Woe
Legacies of Frailty
Score: 9/10
 
Shining
Shining

Score: 9/10
32
 
33Miserere Luminis
Ordalie
Score: 9/10
 
Waldgeflüster
Unter Bronzenen Kronen
Score: 8.5/10
34
 
35Yoth Iria
Embracing the Mexican Shadows - Live Rites of Yoth Iria
Score: 8.5/10
 
Varg
Ewige Wacht
Score: 8.5/10
36
 
37Ultha
Live At Soulcrusher MMXXII
Score: 8.5/10
 
Ice Ages
Coma
Score: 8.5/10
38
 
39Deadly Carnage
Endless Blue
Score: 8.5/10
 
Artanor
In Servitude of Darkness
Score: 8.5/10
40
 
41Fortíð
Narkissos
Score: 8.5/10
 
The Arcane Order
Distortions from Cosmogony
Score: 8.5/10
42
 
43The Kryptik
A Journey to the Darkest Kingdom
Score: 8.5/10
 
Immortal
War Against All
Score: 8.5/10
44
 
45Theosophy
Bleeding Wounds of the First and the Last
Score: 8.5/10
 
Afsky
Om hundrede år
Score: 8.5/10
46
 
47Grima
Red Forest Ritual (digital)
Score: 8.5/10
 
Aeternus
Philosopher
Score: 8.5/10
48
 
49Nornír
Skuld
Score: 8.5/10
 
On Thorns I Lay
On Thorns I Lay
Score: 8.5/10
50
 
51Iku-Turso
Ikuinen kirous
Score: 8.5/10
 
Minas Morgul
Nebelung
Score: 8.5/10
52
 
53The Project Hate MCMXCIX
Abominations of the Ageless
Score: 8/10
 
Insomnium
Anno 1696
Score: 8/10
54
 
55Den Saakaldte
Pesten som tar over
Score: 8/10
 
Uada
Crepuscule Natura
Score: 8/10
56
 
57Heimdalls Wacht
Mystagogie - Lieder voll Ewigkeit
Score: 8/10
 
Wolvennest
The Dark Path to the Light
Score: 8/10
58
 
59Hermóðr
Where All the Rivers Meet
Score: 8/10
 
Kalmankantaja
Second Death
Score: 8/10
60
 
61Kalmankantaja
Kohti Valon Kuolemaa
Score: 8/10
 
Thulcandra
Hail the Abyss
Score: 8/10
62
 
63Phlebotomized
Clouds of Confusion
Score: 8/10
 
Taake
Et hav av avstand
Score: 8/10
64
 
65Nocte Obducta
Karwoche - Die Sonne der Toten pulsiert
Score: 8/10
 
Deviser
Evil Summons Evil
Score: 8/10
66
 
67Insomnium
Songs of the Dusk
Score: 8/10
 
October Tide
The Cancer Pledge
Score: 8/10
68
 
69Moonlight Sorcery
Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle
Score: 7.5/10
 
Orbit Culture
Descent
Score: 7.5/10
70
 
71Old Forest
Sutwyke
Score: 7.5/10
 
Memoriam
Rise to Power
Score: 7.5/10
72
 
73Kalmankantaja
Surun saattomailla
Score: 7.5/10
 
Ancestors Blood / Heimdalls Wacht
Split
Score: 7.5/10
74
 
75Mesarthim
Arrival
Score: 7.5/10
 
Misþyrming
Með Hamri Í Lifandi Formi
Score: 7.5/10
76
 
77Ocean Of Grief
Pale Existence
Score: 7.5/10
 
Fjoergyn
Judasmesse
Score: 7.5/10
78
 
79Cultus Sanguine
Dust Once Alive
Score: 7.5/10
 
Hermóðr
Guardian
Score: 7.5/10
80
 
81Graveland
Live in France
Score: 7.5/10
 
Elffor
The Black Sentinel
Score: 7.5/10
82
 
83Obituary
Dying of Everything
Score: 7/10
 
Cruachan
The Living and the Dead
Score: 7/10
84
 
85Porta Nigra
Weltende
Score: 7/10
 
Orbit Culture
The Forgotten (digital)
Score: 7/10
86
 
87Blood Incantation
Luminescent Bridge
Score: 7/10
 
Immemorial (POL)
Rebirth
Score: 7/10
88
 
89An Autumn For Crippled Children
Closure
Score: 7/10
 
Atrocity
Okkult III
Score: 7/10
90
 
91Amorphis
Queen Of Time - Live At Tavastia
Score: 7/10
 
Walg
III
Score: 7/10
92
 
93Arde / Nakkiga
Split
Score: 7/10
 
Cemetery Of Scream
Oceans
Score: 6.5/10
94
 
95Beenkerver
Twee Wolven
Score: 6.5/10
 
Sigh
Live: The Eastern Forces of Evil 2022
Score: 6.5/10
96
 
97Wayfarer
American Gothic
Score: 6.5/10
 
Shining
Allt för döden
Score: 6.5/10
98
 
99Panopticon
Cedar Skeletons (digital)
Score: 6.5/10
 
Therion
Leviathan III
Score: 6.5/10
100


Stats generated at: 03/05/24

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