The Aquanaut's Albums of the Year: Part 3

The remaining 5 of my top 15 albums of the year

Last post we looked at the next five entries of the Aquanaut’s favourite fifteen albums of 2023, check out the post here. This week we look at numbers 5 to 1 in my list and a quick reminder the list is in no particular order this year.

Fire Down Below - Low Desert Surf Club

Hailing from Ghent in Belgium, Fire Down Below have been one of the best purveyors of sunshine infused, psychedelic desert rock over the last eight or so years. This years new album isn’t just a return to form, it is their very best. Channeling a sound with influences of Truckfighters and Kyuss, this is the kind of fuzzed out rock that makes you feel like it’s a sunny day. Ideal for lifting the mood in the dark months of winter, or providing the actual soundtrack to beach trips. Oh and this is trippy too. Heavy on the psych rock.

Pest Control - Don’t Test the Pest

I caught Pest Control live, supporting Metal giants Obituary last autumn. Hailing from Leeds in England, this very young band play thrash metal with a swagger that’s straight out of the late 80s. Anyone familiar with the classic thrash band Nuclear Assault will love Pest Control. With a touch of punk and crossover, vocalist Leah Massey-Hay is a force of nature on stage and the screamed vocals are thankfully intelligible. I loved this band so much I bought the vinyl on the strength of their warm up show.

Håndgemeng - Ultraritual

One of my most played albums of 2023, this 5 piece band from Norway have produced a slab of Stoner Metal for the ages. The fuzzed tones, Iommic riffs, Mike Paton like shrieking, are all rolled up in a spliff of classic rock n’ roll cool. They’ve gone for the comedy stoner act in the video below, but I believe their music is a tad more highbrow than that. There’s a lot going on in this album and it has stood many repeated listens in 2023.

Dead Feathers - Full Circle

The biggest compliment I can pay Dead Feather’s is that Marissa Welu’s singing is absolutely astounding, but it’s not the first thing you notice about the band. It’s their entire tone. The guitars are melodic and ethereal. The bass sits perfectly in the mix, and the drums never threaten in the way many porto-metal bands do.

This might be an old cliche, but this album is so retro sounding that if you were told it was discovered in some dusty recording studio alongside some Led Zeppelin test presses, you’d believe it. Many great bands out there have a female vocalist doing the Black Sabbath thing, and there is nothing wrong with that. But that isn’t what Dead Feather’s are about. There’s a magical, otherworldly, almost shamanic quality to their music. The guitars gently jangle on some fae like frequency before Marissa Welu carries you away on a river of melody.

Restless Spirit - After Image

Restless Spirit have a rare quality in their psychedelic, stoner rock. It’s quite simply aggression. Sometimes you want your prog rock to be played with the aim of an axe flying towards its target on a battlefield. I was surprised when I found out they’re a trio. This makes them a bit more like metal legends High on Fire, rather than say The Sword. This is still cerebral metal, but it’s also just enough to headband to it. Epic stuff.

For those of you into Spotify I’ve made you a full playlist of my top 15 tracks here.

Honourable mentions to albums that didn’t make the list:

78 Seasons - Metallica (The latest album by the world’s most successful Metal band is a lot of fun. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone liking this from the San Fran Legends).

A Sign Of Things to Come - Sylosis (I very near shoe-horned this one in the list somewhere. It’s an excellent album and one I’ll come back to)

Finally you must be wondering by now if there is a point to this list. Do I have a favourite record this year? I’ll leave you with two.

The Living And The Dead by Cruachan is a fantastic metal album AND it is equally a great Irish folk album. If you’re curious about this fusion, or love either genre, or just love music with heart then check this out.

Finally the aforementioned Full Circle by Dead Feathers gets a repeat here. It’s on the quieter side of all things rock, but it’s pure magic.

Happy New Year everyone!

Next post will be along mid January!