Our Annual Report keeps rolling with the 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2023. As the year winds down, keep it tuned here for more awards, lists, and exclusive features about the best in music, film, and TV of 2023. You can find it all in one place here.
The year 2023 has been a strange one in terms of heavy music albums. It’s been a quiet year for major acts, save for the thunderous release of 72 Seasons by the world’s biggest heavy metal band and Consequence cover stars, the mighty Metallica, and a few others.
Most mainstream hard rock and metal bands took the year off from releasing new material, perhaps too busy touring as they were still making up for lost time due to the concert industry shutdown that plagued the first couple years of the new decade. That opened the door for underground, extreme, and rising acts to shine in 2023, and many of them took full advantage of the opportunity with stellar LPs.
Death metal was well represented with standout albums from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, Tomb Mold, Obituary, and more. Meanwhile, unique collaborations made for excellent releases, including joint LPs from Boris & Uniform and Full of Hell & Nothing.
Wholly unique bands like Poison Ruïn and Sleep Token took momentous steps in their recording careers, each delivering breakthrough albums in 2023. And acts like Nita Strauss and BABYMETAL delivered anthemic songs that were equal parts catchy and heavy.
As we wait to see what 2024 bring us in terms of new music, we look back on 2023 with Heavy Consequence’s picks for the 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2023. Take a trip through the year’s finest heavy releases below.
— Spencer Kaufman
Managing Editor, Heavy Consequence
30. 3Teeth — EndEx
3Teeth are a band that seems to age like fine wine. Known for their industrial sound, the bad explores more of a hard rock direction on EndEx, and we are here for it. Songs like “Acme Death Machine” and “Plutonomicom” have a pounding rhythm, catchy hooks, and crunchy guitars — more along the lines of Slipknot or Korn than Nine Inch Nails. Not that they’ve lost that industrial edge; it is still very evident on songs like “Merchant of the Void” and their version of Tears for Fears’ ’80s hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” — Colette Claire
Listen via Apple Music
29. Danava — Nothing but Nothing
Within the metal community of Danava’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, it became a running gag that the heavy rock band would never actually finish their fourth studio album. Well, the joke’s on those naysayers as Nothing but Nothing was finally unleashed on this world and immediately upended any and all expectations for what leader Dusty Sparkles and his gang of prog-boogie accomplices were capable of. The eight tracks on this LP are tightly wound epics of time signature abuse and denim-clad groove. — Robert Ham
Listen via Apple Music
28. Steven Wilson — The Harmony Codex
Steven Wilson’s work has always been special; yet, it’s his solo career that best reveals the daring range of his artistry. The Harmony Codex exemplifies that notion wonderfully, as it feels like a fresh yet familiar culmination of his catalog. Just as the electro-pop experimentations of “Inclination” and “Economies of Scale” evoke polarizing predecessor The Future Bites, the catchily accessible “What Life Brings” recalls Grace for Drowning before “Impossible Tightrope” and “Actual Brutal Facts” conjure the retro prog rock/jazz fusion ominousness of The Raven that Refused to Sing and The Incident. It’s a stunning journey as only Wilson could provide. — Jordan Blum
Listen via Apple Music
27. Year of the Knife — No Love Lost
Year of the Knife’s horrific van accident earlier this year shook the heavy music underground. Every band member sustained injuries of varying severity, with vocalist Madison Watkins suffering the most serious ones. She was in critical condition following the crash and put into a medically induced coma to keep her stable. Watkins continues to rehab following surgeries for numerous broken bones and other issues, and the brain trauma from the crash impact has led to extensive physical, cognition, and speech therapy.
Prior to the accident, the band was in the studio with renowned engineer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou to record new material — some of which was premiered during the concerts that predated the crash. The resulting album, No Love Lost, is a document of a band on top of its game, running its brand of metalcore/deathcore at blistering speeds while Watkins trades saliva-splattering gutturals with guest vocalists such as Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker and Sanguisugabogg’s Devin Swank (whose bands also appear on this list). The album comes as a triumph amidst utter tragedy. — Jon Hadusek
Listen via Apple Music
26. Spotlights — Alchemy for the Dead
Much like Hum displayed on their surprisingly metallic reunion record, Spotlights are a band that focuses more on lovingly detailed shoegaze that becomes heavy as all hell. Alchemy for the Dead continues their legacy of taking keen notes from Deftones on how to meld art pop and heavy music interests, wisely letting the heaviness operate more as a riveting backbone to lush and compellingly crafted songs. This is a record to dream to, a comforting cocoon. Lord knows we all need one. — Langdon Hickman
Listen via Apple Music
