We are still wrapping up all the goodness of 2023 with some fun guest posts from bands, friends, and fiends! Check out this list from Swedish two-piece cosmic Black metal band Lightlorn! They just dropped their new full-length album At One With The Night Sky in October and you can buy it at the link below.

When asked last year for my AOTY list, I had to decline since I had hardly listened to any new releases in 2022. I was way too focused on finishing up and promoting our EP These Nameless Worlds. Which is bizarre in retrospect because I normally listen to so much music. I made certain to remedy that in 2023, and if I had the time, I could easily compile a Top 50 list. 

Anyway, in no particular order, here are the 10 releases I enjoyed most this year. I should probably state from the outset that my taste in music can euphemistically be described as eclectic.

…And Oceans – As in Gardens, So in Tombs

Although, I said this list is in no particular order, my subconscious almost definitely steered my hand while compiling the list, since …And Oceans’ new album is certainly one of the albums I truly loved this year. Melodic, uplifting, brutal, and beautiful, it has all the characteristics of the type of black metal I love – and try to emulate in Lightlorn.

Mesarthim – Arrival

These guys never disappoint. Probably the band that most deserves the ‘cosmic black metal’ tag! This is music for stargazing on a clear, cold winter’s night.

 

 

Insonika – Lost at Sea

Atmospheric, sludgy, doomy heavy rock from Jönköping, Sweden. At 30 minutes with 3 songs, this EP is the soundtrack to waves crashing on jagged rocks upon stormy seas. Mesmerizing and melancholy in equal measure.

Enslaved – Heimdal

This is one of those bands who, in my book, can do no wrong. I enjoy the intricacy of their songs, how you need to pay attention to be able to absorb the whole. At the same time, the atmosphere on Heimdal is both contemplative and, at times, crushing.

Dødheimsgard – Black Medium Current

The best avant-garde black metal album of the year. It’s strange, stimulating, and stressful – these guys are the epitome of ‘experimental metal’. Black Medium Current is weird and wonderful, and perfect for when you just want to immerse yourself in music and shut out the world.

Paradise Lost – Icon 30

The original Icon was the first Paradise Lost album I heard, and to hear it re-recorded for 2023 is nostalgic to the extreme. 

 

Mike Melan – We Still Have Hearts

From the opening track Where All I Have is Tears, you know this album will be uplifting, melodic and catchy, with just enough melancholy to counteract any hopefulness. Indie rock at its finest!

 

Tjaktjadálvve – Echoes on A Windswept Plain

I really enjoyed Lifeless, the debut full-length from this one-man DSBM project from Sweden, and Echoes on A Windswept Plain doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. Cold, brooding, unremitting and starkly atmospheric, this is quintessential Swedish depressive black metal.

 

Blink 182 – One More Time

I dig punk, especially pop-punk. Sue me. Blink 182 with Tom DeLonge back in the band. What’s not to love?

 

Panopticon – The Rime of Memory

I’m loath to admit it, but I only heard Panopticon for the first time last year, but since then I have voraciously consumed his discography. So, The Rime of Memory was an album I eagerly anticipated. It’s long, atmospheric, and the visions it conjures up of the Appalachian wilderness are enough to make you feel like you’re walking those woods and climbing those mountains. Totally sublime.

 

Buy and stream Lightlorn music here:
https://lightlorn.bandcamp.com/album/at-one-with-the-night-sky