The heavy music landscape since 2020 has demonstrated tremendous growth for the various subgenres of metal and hardcore, and 2023 was no exception.
Some of the highlights and trends of 2023 include the development of the “thall” offshoot of djent and progressive metal by bands like Catsclaw, Humanity’s Last Breath, and Vildhjarta, the meteoric rise of Sleep Token, Spiritbox’s collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, and the explosion of popularity for bands were previously considered too heavy or inaccessible to be popular, such as Knocked Loose, Loathe, Invent Animate, Silent Planet, and many more.
This year brought a multitude of excellent releases from a variety of different artists across many heavy subgenres. Here are ten of my favorite releases of the entire year, as well as some excellent EPs:
10. Dying Wish – Symptoms of Survival
Genre: Melodic Metalcore, 2000’s Metalcore Revival
Dying Wish’s previous release, “Fragments of a Bitter Memory”, offered some good-sounding throwback metalcore that was enjoyable, but lacked identity or true memorability. With “Symptoms of Survival”, Emma Boster & Co. have far surpassed their previous work in terms of memorability and songwriting. Much like the previous pick on this list, this album does not accomplish anything new for its genre, but is nearly flawless in execution.
This record balances blisteringly heavy mosh parts, like on the title track or “Tongues of Lead,” with beautifully performed melodic sections like on “Paved in Sorrow” or “Lost in the Fall.”
9. Panopticon – The Rime of Memory
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Metal, Americana
By this point, Panopticon has become one of the most innovative and well-respected black metal artists of our time. The sole songwriter and performer for every single instrument and lyric, Austin Lunn has proven himself over many albums to be one of the most talented metal artists out there, and this release is absolutely no exception to that rule. “The Rime of Memory” is a crushing yet stunningly beautiful look at both the worsening climate crisis and a take on the acceptance of aging and death over time.
I highly recommend reading Lunn’s full excerpt about the album here. While this album does not add much to the genre as a whole or do anything particularly innovative, it serves as a mature and thoughtful art piece, accomplishing exactly what it set out to do.
8. Soulkeeper – Holy Design
Genre: Mathcore, Glitch, Avant-Garde Metal
Soulkeeper is easily the least-known artist on this list. With just under 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify as of writing this, the band flew under my radar until shortly after the release of this album. Despite this, the band has put out one of the most sonically baffling and enjoyable pieces of work of the entire year. “Holy Design” is a disorienting display of complex yet extremely enjoyable mathcore with plenty of interesting experimentation in sound to make the record stand out from the crowd.
7. Chamber – A Love To Kill For
Genre: Mathcore, Self-proclaimed “Psychotic Mosh Metal from Nashville”
I had the pleasure of seeing this band live at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago, and their performance was one of the most impressive I’ve seen from a band of their size. Similar to Soulkeeper, this band has just under 20,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and is a very promising up-and-coming band to pay very close attention to over the coming years.
They blend technically impressive and satisfying mathcore instrumentals with heavy and enjoyable breakdowns that make me want to run through a brick wall, and this album incited that feeling incredibly well.
6. Incendiary – Change The Way You Think About Pain
Genre: New York Hardcore, Metalcore
Incendiary have been a centerpiece of the New York Hardcore scene and the hardcore scene in general for many years now, but had not released an album before this one for six years, leaving us with what has become one of the most beloved and respected hardcore releases of all time, “Thousand Mile Stare”. Finally, Incendiary have returned and have brought more than enough to the table to remain relevant and interesting with “Change The Way You Think About Pain”. In terms of messaging, this record sets out to do just as the title says, and I would say that it delivers on that front.
In terms of the music, the album blends Incendiary’s typical brand of hard-hitting New York Hardcore with some interesting experimentation in the latter half of the album, particularly with the guitar work. Tracks like “C.T.E,” “Rats in the Cellar,” “Santosha (Illusion of the Self),” and the title track set this album apart from the band’s previous work in a satisfying and enjoyable way.
5. Portrayal of Guilt – Devil Music
Genre: Black Metal, Chamber Music, Sludge Metal, Avant-Garde Metal
Portrayal of Guilt has proven itself to be one of the more interesting black and sludge metal acts of the past few years, but this album easily tops all of their previous work by a mile in my opinion. “Devil Music” takes the listener through dark and winding passages of unique and scary blackened-sludge metal, with each track standing on its own as a greatly enjoyable piece of work.
Each song except the title track is pretty short but contains so much dissonant brilliance in each section. The second half of this album is an orchestral remake of each of the five songs on the first half of the record, and is done in a very interesting and unique way.
4. Invent Animate – Heavener
Genre: Djent, Progressive Metalcore, Alternative Metal
With previous releases, I have greatly enjoyed the uniquely beautiful and complex yet heavy guitarwork that this band has enjoyed, but I always thought they just barely lacked the songwriting needed to take their music to the next level. Then, they released 2021’s “The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was,” which took their sound to the next level and remains one of my favorite releases of that year.
With “Heavener”, Invent Animate absolutely exceeded any expectations and hopes that I had for the band. The album holds a serene beauty to its songwriting that I feel down to my soul, and each instrumental is unique and more than interesting enough to make the album stand out. The guitarists of Invent Animate have reworked their style and sound over the past few years to incorporate a very unique offshoot of technical djent mixed with metalcore stylings, and they seem to have developed their style to the greatest degree on this record.
Highlights include “Absence Persistent,” “Without a Whisper,” “Labyrinthine,” “Void Surfacing,” “Emberglow,” and “Elysium.”
3. Jesus Piece – So Unknown…
Genre: Beatdown Hardcore, Deathcore
This is easily one of the year’s most enjoyable releases for me. While it may not be as experimental or sonically adventurous as Jesus Piece’s last release, this record surpasses it on nearly every other front.
“So Unknown…” contains extremely memorable riffs and uniquely hard-hitting breakdowns throughout each and every song, which is definitely not something I can say about most other releases in the genre of deathcore.
I would like to especially highlight the drumming by Luis Aponte on this album, as it is some of the most impressive and relentlessly enjoyable I have ever heard, and easily the best this year. Tracks like “Fear of Failure,” “An Offering to the Night,” “Tunnel Vision,” “FTBS,” and honestly every other song on this album should absolutely be staples on anyone’s workout playlist.
2. Liturgy – 93696
Genre: Avant-garde Metal, Transcendental Black Metal, Totalism, Progressive Metal
This is easily the most forward-thinking, experimental, and challenging album of the past few years. I have written a full review on this album in particular which can be read here.
1. fromjoy – fromjoy
Genre: Mathcore, Atmospheric Drum and Bass, Metalcore
Since their first release in 2021, Texas mathcore natives fromjoy have been nothing short of intriguing and boundary-pushing. Their entire discography has been on loop for me regularly since 2021 shortly after they unveiled their second project, “the deafening sound of doubt”, and they have only improved with each EP and album.
The band blends atmospheric drum and bass, breakcore, and vaporwave with metallic hardcore and mathcore, which I had never heard before this band, and still have barely ever heard. No band out there sounds like fromjoy right now, and each idea they seem to have in mind has been fulfilled to the highest degree, with their 2023 self-titled album being their greatest feat so far.
Tracks like “accela,” “Eros,” “Helios,” and “machine” show off the more drum and bass/vaporwave-inspired elements of their sound, while the songs “morbidly perfect,” “docility,” and my personal favorite, “fromjoy,” display the band’s beautiful brutality. The emotional depth displayed on tracks like “seraph,” “fromjoy,” “of the shapes of hearts and humans,” and “Icarus” scratches an itch that no other band out there does for me right now.
These guys are extremely underrated (just under 18,000k monthly Spotify listeners), have incredible potential, and keep getting better with every release, so I urge people to check them out.
My name is Austin Lamb and I am a senior at Oswego High School. This is my third year with 42Fifty, and I can't wait to get back into writing and reviewing. I greatly enjoy playing and listening to music, as well as writing. I've always been interested in writing, especially about things that can be critiqued and looked at subjectively. I play the guitar in a band with my friends and primarily listen to metal music but enjoy and appreciate all genres. I hope that my editing abilities, writing knowledge, and leadership skills will pay off for the publications.
