Ian’s Favorite Music in 2023

By Ian

5: Spirit Possession, Of The Sign... (2023).

I am a fan of anything Ephemeral Domignostika (AKA Steve Peacock) does. The guy is a wizard on pretty much every instrument, but on this project he does vocal and guitar duties. The drummer’s no slouch either. I was lucky enough to catch them live in November. The way Ash Spungin beats the drums, shifting and changing the pattern ever so slightly each measure perfectly complements Peacock’s rabid, pick-less playing while he speaks in what I can only assume is tongues. 

4: Pile, All Fiction (2023).

At the beginning of this year, I lived in Rose Park at a little duplex caught between train tracks and two highway overpasses. Much of that time was spent walking in the less-than-half mile circle between these points listening to this album. Pile continually captures an emotional state that’s hard to describe. Where earlier albums like You’re Better Than This and A Hairshirt of Purpose captured a near serene form of explosive-to-withered adult angst, All Fiction sits neatly and provides a perfect sequel to the previous release Green and Gray. To me, it sounds like a benign acceptance of one’s own becoming. Coming to terms with where you’ve been and where you’ll go. 

3: Infernal Coil, Burning Prayer of Infinite Hatred (2016).

This year is the year I really, really, got into blackened death metal. Of Feather and Bone, Teitanblood, Altarage, and Knelt Rote among others have been some musical highlights for me this year. It’s everything I really want out of extreme metal. I remember listening to this when it came out, being floored with just how utterly nasty it was. I’ve been revisiting this band a lot this year, but where their 2018 full length Within a World Forgotten lost me, this EP more than makes up for it by sheer vitriol alone. The full length was mixed in such a way that the reverb works to the album’s detriment rather than complement it, unlike this one, which has a production that near perfectly matches the music. The track “Our Punishment” is a favorite of mine. Truly, my only gripe is that this EP wasn’t the full length. 

2: Bríi, Último Ancestral Comum.

Black metal, ambient, house, and traditional Brazilian music all crammed together into such an unbelievably solid and beautiful release it still blows my mind. This is the same guy behind Kaatayra, music that is of a similar style but leans heavier into the Brazilian folk side of things. I severely recommend both projects to any who will take me up on such things. It’s a swirling mass of sound that is so mind numbingly beautiful that trve kvlt dorks will seethe forever in their mother’s basements for decades to come. 

1: Headache, The Head Hurts but the Heart Knows the Truth. 

“People need to stop trying to be cool and they need to start trying to be hot.” 

Sometimes all you really need is an album that’s just chill, breezy beats with a nameless British male reciting various isms over them for some fortyish minutes. Sometimes profound, sometimes gloriously banal, this album seemingly has a little something to say for everything. Did I say the beats were good too?