The Aquanaut's Albums of the Year: Part 2
10 to 6 of the Aquanaut's favourite albums released in 2023
Last post we looked at the first five entries of the Aquanaut’s favourite fifteen albums of 2023, check out the post here. This week we look at numbers 10 to 6 in my list and a quick reminder the list is in no particular order this year.
High Priest - Invocation
I happened across High Priest on Bandcamp back in 2016. That 5 track e.p. had me begging for more. This band sounded so good. Sabbath-esque riffs, but played with a fuzz effect that is delicious. Another e.p. followed that was just as good. I began to lament that they’d never get around to dropping a full album. Well guess what happened in 2023? ‘Invocation’ is a 45 minute long epic and with 8 tracks, each tune is a decent length. Worth the wait. This is Stoner Doom Metal with a hopeful atmosphere, which makes it a rarity. I wish these guys the best in 2024.
Hail The Void - Memento Mori
This is the second album from Canada’s Hail The Void, and it’s a visceral experience. If you prefer your Doom to inspire actual dread and feelings of doom then this will be your go to. But this isn’t just another downtuned ode to the darker side of human emotions. It’s a celebration of it. The music has a discordant edge and gives a meandering vibe. At the same time it’s incredibly heavy and tight. Vocalist Kirin Gudmundson has a crooning quality that suddenly transforms into an otherworldly growl, all delivered with a self confident swagger. Headbanging stuff.
Cruachan - The Living And The Dead
One of the greatest Irish Metal bands have delivered again. Is this their magnum opus? Time will tell. Frontman Keith Fay is the only surviving member from their formation in 1992, but as he often points out Cruachan are basically a huge extended family. Members drop out, join other projects and rejoin, be it in the studio or live. ‘The Living And The Dead’ has all the hallmarks of a covid lockdown album, in that it’s perfectly thought out, written and produced.
Fay’s vocals are superb here, his ‘clean’ folk voice is melodic and on a par with many Trad Folk bands. His ‘unclean’ growls here are exceptional and the transition between both styles is seamless.
There are so many great tracks on this album, I almost struggled to pick one to highlight. But it had to be ‘The Queen’. Cruachan’s love letter to Ireland’s genuine Pirate Queen Gráinne Mhaol (Grace O’Malley) a real life 16th Century badass. Check out the lyric video below and learn a bit of history too.
Obituary - Dying of Everything
Formed in 1986 in Florida, the home state of U.S. Death Metal. Obituary stand apart from their peers with their almost leisurely heavy riffs, unique time signatures, excellent drumming, and drawling vocals.
Obituary actually split in the late 90s before making several comebacks. Record deals were hard to get for Metal bands in the wastelands of the early 2000s where Nu-Metal was king. But comeback they did. If anything I feel they are one of the few Metal bands of the 80s and 90s that are still improving. I was a huge fan of 2017’s self titled album. I then caught them live when they supported Slayer on their farewell tour. January 2023 saw them release their eleventh album. It’s actually my favourite release by them. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s a really great wheel they’ve produced this time. I caught them live again this year on a headline tour, and they were so good.
Royal Thunder - Rebuilding the Mountain
Royal Thunder are a truly great band. When I was a teenager in the 90s you heard of new bands through MTV, or in Ireland you heard all the grunge, college rock, and alternative stuff on Dave Fanning’s radio show on 2FM. Metaller’s tuned into John Kenny’s ‘The Metal Show’ on Sunday evenings. There were moments of serendipity where hearing a track off of the soundtrack to ‘The Crow’ (or ‘The Beavis and Butthead’ movie) took you down a musical rabbit hole and you were suddenly a fan of Helmet.
Today is different. Teenagers, Millenials, Gen Xers, et al, have pretty much the entirety of all recorded music in history available on smartphones. With that in mind, it begs the question why are Royal Thunder not one of the biggest bands on the planet?
I have no idea how I discovered them. Their album ‘Wick’ was released in 2017 and I reckon it was then. I quickly devoured their back catalogue, which was only two other albums. Around the time of covid, they vanished and I feared they had gone the way of many other bands around that time and packed it in. It turns out they almost did. That’s a story for another day I think.
I got my hands (digital hands I guess) on ‘Rebuilding The Mountain’ at the start of December and I’ve listened to it everyday since. When I discuss my favourite albums of my top 15 it’s probably gonna be one of them.
After losing a band member they are now a three piece. Their music always feels like it’s going to explode into really hard rock or metal, but it never quite does. It doesn’t need to. The music provides the back drop for the most power instrument at their disposal. The amazing voice of Mlny Parsonz. If you’re new to Royal Thunder, check them out below. I’ll be gushing about them again in 2024.
Next Post: 5 - 1 of the list and maybe a bit more