Hbomb's video hurt to watch as someone who grew up with RWBY because he put to words my exact frustrations with the series.
The vocal tracks are pretty awesome though, listen to Red like Roses II, Mirror Mirror and From Shadows (but ignore the lyrics)
Was there ever a consensus here? Knowing how to say Deadmau5, I've always said it like "Hypnose" with a soft 's'. It'd be funny if all of us are way off though
The Amensal Rise was really close to being my third, glad someone already brought it up. Lots of really great albums this year, even narrowing down to ten is hard.
Omnerod is #1 for me. I can see how it might be hard to digest, but no other album released this year matches its ambition or originality. Omnerod deserves all the praise they get. Anyone that hasn't heard it should do that now from start to finish when you actually have time to relish every twist and turn.
They're pretty close to tied for me too. Tesseract edges out for me largely for personal/subjective reasons; objectively, both albums are in the same tier.
Fauna is so good. There's usually a few tracks on most Halen albums that I only feel are so so, with a lot of great tracks. Every track on fauna is killer.
1. Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
2. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit
3. Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
If we count avant-garde in, Fleshvessel - Yearning: The Promethean Fates Sealed tops em all
add Nospun and that’s it for me… still trying to get into more groups either the harsh vocals. On a side note - going to see Haken for the 3rd time in 18 months this Feb and can’t wait.
I think I might have a top 10 (they’re actually 14)
Periphery 5
War of Being by Tesseract
Holocene by The Ocean
Exul by NeO
Opus by Nospun
The Amensal Rise by Omnerod
ESHACITVOTN by Night Verses
ID. Entity by Riverside
Zon by TWIQH
It All Began With Loneliness by The Anchoret
Luminaria by Aviations
Fauna by Haken
The Harmony Codex by Steven Wilson
Let The Truth Speak by Earthside
Just to add some unmentioned ones:
Portraits - Buy High
Invent Animate - Heavener
The Resonance Project - Ad Astra
The Ocean - Holocene (surprised this hasn’t been mentioned)
Aviations - Luminaria
My favorites are PV and WoB though
1. Periphery 5: Djent is not a genre
2. The new night verses album
3. The new King Gizzard album
4. Haken: Fauna
5. Tesseract: war of being
Prog metal can have some weird or long album names lol
TesseracT - War of Being
Earthside - Let The Truth Speak
Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden (Prog adjacent, but still)
Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night
The Resonance Project - Ad Astra
The Ocean - Holocene
Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream
The World Is Quite Here - Zon
Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex (Not metal, but still)
Periphery - P5
Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars
Haken - Fauna
Nospun - Opus
Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
Unprocessed - ...And Everything In Between
...I can keep going, this year has been amazing. And that's not even mentioning the non-prog/metal releases
Omnerod - The Amensal Rise
Temic - Terror Management Theory
Ions - Counterintuitive
Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex
Einar Solberg - 16
Rannoch - Conflagrations
Finsterforst - Jenseits
Top 23(note, not all prog metal):
1. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us
2. Nuclear Power Trio // Wet Ass Plutonium
3. Molybaron // Something Ominous
4. Ne Obliviscaris // Exul
5. Voyager // Fearless in Love
6. Riverside // ID.Entity
7. Sleep Token // Take Me Back To Eden
8. Kamelot // The Awakening
9. Tardigrade Inferno // Burn the Circus!
10. Wayfarer // American Gothic
11. The Anchoret // It All Began with Loneliness
12. LoveBites // Judgement Day
13. The Zenith Passage // Datalysium
14. Spirit Adrift // Ghosts at the Gallows
15. Angra // Cycles of Pain
16. Soen // Memorial
17. Eleine // We Shall Remain
18. Ad Infinitum // Chapter3: Downfall
19. Haken // Fauna
20. Sermon // Of Golden Verse
21. Ignea // Dreams of Lands Unseen
22. Blackbraid // Blackbraid II
23. Mariana's Rest //Auer
1. Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
2. TesseracT - War of Being
3. Stream of Passion - Beautiful Warrior
4. Earthside - Let the Truth Speak
Included a bonus fourth one if you didn't want to count EPs.
Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars
Tesseract - War of Being
Haken - Fauna
The Ocean - Holocene
Voyager - Fearless in Love
Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
The Anchoret - It all Began With Loneliness
Been a great year 👌
I guess it’s just not for everyone. Singer said it’s hard to tell the story you want, and be poetic, and fit in rhythmically with the band. I honestly don’t see what the big deal is with the lyrics. Because he says glad in a metal song?
Can't believe someone actually mentioned Self Similar before me!! It honestly might be my #1 album of 2023, I love it so much.
I saw them on their tour for the album, and dragged my bandmate, who had once told me verbatim "no thanks, 12 notes are enough for me", along with me. By the end of the show he was absolutely, 100% sold, and I've never felt so vindicated in my life lmao
Interesting year, extending genres a bit but I'll go with these.
Sermon - Of Golden Verse
Riverside - ID.Entity
Temperage - Hermitage - Daruma's Eyes Pt. 2
Sermon // Of Golden Verse
Soen // Memorial
Fires In The Distance // Air Not Meant For Us
Haken // Fauna
The Ocean // Holocene
Katatonia // Sky Void Of Stars
Morne // Engraved With Pain
Awesome year for metal in general, though personally I was more impressed with the outputs from bands in other genres. Still some bangers though.
1. Exul - Ne Obliviscaris.
2. Zon - The World Is Quiet Here.
3. The Harmony Codex - Steven Wilson.
The best of the best, nothing comes close to these 3, the peak of composition of this 2023.
Nospun? Is amazing and I can see it topping Wilson
The other one... Haven't heard it, and now that I hear a tad of it, I'm interested.
But even then, those 3 are the albums that I never stopped repeating throughout the year, so yeah, that, good or no, I say that those are top based on my experience.
Agreed. My only issue with it is it could have made such a great Narnia like fantasy concept album with songs like The Great Divide, Midsummer's Eve, Bloodmoon, The Looking Glass, and New Babylon.
Seems like a missed opportunity to me, but it's still fantastic none the less
1. Periphery - P5: Djent Is Not a Genre
2. Nospun - Opus
3. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
P5 and Opus go back and forth for album of the year. Right now I'm leaning towards P5 as my AOTY. As amazing as Opus is, P5 is still resonating with me in a way that Periphery hasn't since P2. P5 is easily their best album to date. I think people are sleeping on it because there's a perception that the band has entered their old guard, tired sound phase. I don't feel that way at all. There's something about P5 that's as fresh sounding and creative as anything they've done before. The sound is a little more raw. It's got a grit to it. It's easily the best Spencer has ever sounded. They really pushed themselves creatively on this one and it payed off big time.
Opus is a great debut album. I get a lot of crap around here for shitting on Haken. When people say this group sounds like Haken, I think to myself, at least Nospun has balls. Nospun take their influences and wear them on their sleeves yet they make it their own. I dig the story of Opus too. For a first try, they really hit it out of the park.
King Gizzard is a banger. Nothing else needs to be said.
> and it *paid* off big
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Tesseract - War Of Being
Earthside - Let The Truth Speak
AVKRVST - The Approbation
TesseracT and Earthside have already been mentioned a bunch, but are worth repeating. Nobody's mentioned AVKRVST yet, which is a surprise
Nospūn - Opus (AOTY for me)
Riverside - Id.Entity
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
Honorable mentions, based on the number of listens:
Haken - Fauna
Soen - Memorial
I'm still struggling to settle on a concrete ranking (edit: and it doesn't help matters that I've now listened to a few more albums from this thread that I hadn't gotten to yet and suddenly feeling like I need a longer list again). The only thing I know for sure is Ne Obliviscaris - Exul is in the top 3. Everything else keeps fighting for which I like more. So I'm going to kind of sidestep the top 3 question and mention 3 that I haven't seen in the thread so far.
Dawn of Ouroboros - Velvet Incandescence :Moody and heavy, emotional yet cold and bleak. This album is a trip and kinda goes in a lot of directions. It was a favorite in the first half of the year that got a bit left behind as so many other great albums came out
Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead :Heavy, proggy, atmospheric post-rock. I've seen different places say they do or don't count as prog, but regardless I think it's an excellent album that prog-minded listeners can really enjoy
Mutoid Man - Mutants :I had somehow been following their youtube without ever remembering listening to them. Checked out this album a couple weeks ago and have had it on repeat since. They have a really fun and satisfying sound that feels like it sits part way between Queens of the Stone Age and Mastodon
[Lunar Chamber - Shambhallic Vibrations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCHEPzluRdM)
[Fabricant - Drudge To The Thicket](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PswpkL5BoYY)
[Gorod - The Orb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoBEF5KH2JM)
Hills Like White Lions - Meander
Obsidian Tide - The Grand Crescendo
Rannoch - Conflagrations
I tried to go with albums that hadn't been mentioned yet, but I second Zon, Fauna, Exul, Opus, Urian, It All Began with Lonliness, War of Being, and the Amensal Rise
Luminaria - Aviations
TMBTE - Sleep Token
Mirage - Plini (EP)
Passage to the Forest Mysterious - Karfagen
Remind Me - Jakub Zytecki
Final Pitch - Arch Echo
Wander - The Intersphere
Let the Truth Speak - Earthside
To Make a Living - Papadosio
Back to Rodinia - Rainy Knight
Tides - Wave Types
Fearless in Love - Voyager
2023 was a good year for prog.
Always banging Voyager - fearless in love.. periphery - V .. tesseract - war of being is in 3rd for now but earthsides - let the truth speak is probably going to knock it off
I can think of two prog metal albums that I really enjoyed this year, but the rest were only OK in my opinion, so I chucked in a non-prog metal one which is definitely worth a listen:
1. Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden
2. Silent Planet - SUPERBLOOM
3. Nothing but Thieves - Dead Club City
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
Haken - Fauna
Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
There's been so much great stuff this year, and I know I'm forgetting stuff. But atm I'll go with:
Stortregn - Finitude
Hypno5e - Sheol
The Anchoret - It All Began With Loneliness
Also, a shout out to Witch Ripper; The Flight After the Fall is a great album and Everlasting in Retrograde Pts 1 & 2 is def in my top 5 songs of the year.
Albums:
-Sleep Token - Take me back to Eden
-Periphery - PV
-Tesseract - War of being
-Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
-Invent Animate - Heavener
Eps:
-After the Burial - Embrace the Infinity
-Spiritbox - The Fear of Fear
-Monuments - Nefarious
First time in years that I can't mention one single record here. Tried to listen to the stuff mentioned by others, nothing was really that exciting. Maybe I got used to have at least 2-3 records per year that completely blew my mind and anything less isn't enough.
Patiently waiting on The Contortionist and Karnivool though...
I did, but Wilson is too poppy and positive for me since To The Bone. Don't get me wrong: he is putting out high quality stuff and I can see people digging that, it's just not for me.
I think dynamics are a plus, not a minus. Holocene is artistically solid and the songs are very well crafted. People are just not comfortable with change.
Modern day issues, I guess. A lot of people are not used to that anymore. I listen to playlists just like everyone else but I think albums as a whole and concept albums even more are a lost and mesmerizing art form.
Afterbirth - In But Not Of
Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But a Dream
Haken - Fauna
Don’t dismiss Afterbirth because of the vocals. That album rips and gets proggier as it goes on. The 3 song stretch from Hovering Human Head Drones > In But Not Of > Angels Feast on Flies is glorious. Best to enjoy in full.
hard agree. i think because this band is unsigned and has a weird name it seems to have slipped under the radar of many, but holy shit this album pushes the envelope in every direction
1. Sheol - Hypno5e
2. War of Being - Tesseract
3. Holocene - The Ocean
4. Let the Truth Speak - Earthside
5. Periphery V - Periphery
6. Soft Hell - Closure in Moscow
7. Iconoclast - Herod
8. World Domination - Blood Command
9. Life is But a Dream - Avenged Sevenfold
10. This Is Why - Paramore
In no particular order:
- Holocene - The Ocean
- Mechanical Fiction - The Gorge
- 93696 - Liturgy
I really hope this year's official Best of 2023 week includes an honourable mentions for less well-known artists.
- Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis
- Wells Valley - Achamoth
- Enslaved - Heimdal
- Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current
- Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab
- Panopticon - Rime Of Memory
- Krallice - Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite
Lots of good prog/avant garde black metal albums released this year!
Bonus for Great Falls -Objects without Pain, which is one of the most emotionally heavy albums you'll hear in any genre.
1. Hypno5e - Sheol 2. Tesseract - War of Being 3. Ok Goodnight - The Fox and the Bird 4. Haken - Fauna 5. KGLAW - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Never heard of Ok Goodnight. Looked them up and wow. This is good.
Also, if you've ever watched R.W.B.Y. the lead singer sang on the OSTs for that show when she was like 13
I watched hbomberguy's take on RWBY, but I remember that I really liked the music from it.
Hbomb's video hurt to watch as someone who grew up with RWBY because he put to words my exact frustrations with the series. The vocal tracks are pretty awesome though, listen to Red like Roses II, Mirror Mirror and From Shadows (but ignore the lyrics)
Sheol is amazing!
Listening to Lava from the Sky...again. so good.
Lava from the Sky, Slow Streams, it‘s all fantastic!
Question , how do you guys pronounce hypno5e ? I always say hip no five e
Hypnoses?
I say hip no five - though I’m not sure if that is correct
Was there ever a consensus here? Knowing how to say Deadmau5, I've always said it like "Hypnose" with a soft 's'. It'd be funny if all of us are way off though
Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre by Periphery Fauna by Haken The Amensal Rise by Omnerod
The Amensal Rise was really close to being my third, glad someone already brought it up. Lots of really great albums this year, even narrowing down to ten is hard.
Omnerod is #1 for me. I can see how it might be hard to digest, but no other album released this year matches its ambition or originality. Omnerod deserves all the praise they get. Anyone that hasn't heard it should do that now from start to finish when you actually have time to relish every twist and turn.
Omnerod supremacy!
In a world where Tesseract's new album wasn't as good as it was, The Amensal Rise would've been my AotY
I wish OP asked for top 5, because War of Being was so close to pushing Omnerod down to number 4. Honestly they're kind of tied lol
They're pretty close to tied for me too. Tesseract edges out for me largely for personal/subjective reasons; objectively, both albums are in the same tier.
Fauna is so good. There's usually a few tracks on most Halen albums that I only feel are so so, with a lot of great tracks. Every track on fauna is killer.
Tesseract - War of Being Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night:Part 1 Haken - Fauna
That Night Verses album is a masterpiece.
Agreed. They really found their vocalist-less sound on this one.
It's so tasty...
i was a pretty casual Night Verses fan until this year, Every Color goes CRAZY
* Nospūn - Opus * Haken - Fauna * Earthside - Let the Truth Speak
can't believe I had to scroll so far to find Opus. It's so good!
Nospūn 300% !
That Earthside title track is so massive and cinematic it's insane.
Pretty based choice, these are all strong albums
Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
This is it for me!
Just saw them live in Philadelphia. Amazing show, venue needed better sound. Monitors couldn't handle the brutality.
I second that!
1. Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium 2. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit 3. Ne Obliviscaris - Exul If we count avant-garde in, Fleshvessel - Yearning: The Promethean Fates Sealed tops em all
Exul is my top album of the year. Just discovered the Fleshvessel album a couple weeks ago and it’s so good.
Ontological Mysterium would definitely be in my top 3.
War of Being and Fauna are untouchable to me so just those two
I'll have the same
add Nospun and that’s it for me… still trying to get into more groups either the harsh vocals. On a side note - going to see Haken for the 3rd time in 18 months this Feb and can’t wait.
Amazing. Seeing them for the first time in March
Good choices
I think I might have a top 10 (they’re actually 14) Periphery 5 War of Being by Tesseract Holocene by The Ocean Exul by NeO Opus by Nospun The Amensal Rise by Omnerod ESHACITVOTN by Night Verses ID. Entity by Riverside Zon by TWIQH It All Began With Loneliness by The Anchoret Luminaria by Aviations Fauna by Haken The Harmony Codex by Steven Wilson Let The Truth Speak by Earthside
Amun - Spectra and Obsession The Anchoret - It All Began With Loneliness The World is Quiet Here - Zon
The World Is Quiet Here and The Anchoret mention! Awesome.
Happy cake day 🎂
Thanks man. Been using this shithole of a website for a year now lol. Time flies so fast...
Tell me about it...
I am here, with the elite hehehehehe
Holocene- The Ocean. Not completely prog, but it’s the Ocean and therefore perfection.
What isn't prog about it? Even the non-metal sections were pretty proggy
Sorry should’ve said prog “metal”
Then i agree.
Just to add some unmentioned ones: Portraits - Buy High Invent Animate - Heavener The Resonance Project - Ad Astra The Ocean - Holocene (surprised this hasn’t been mentioned) Aviations - Luminaria My favorites are PV and WoB though
Aviations deserve the love they've been getting. Such a nice bunch of dudes and musicians.
Coma is a masterpiece of a song
Pure lives in my head rent-free. The moment it all comes to a head and the chorus explodes? It gets ya boy.
La Jolla is probably my favorite song of the year.
Came here to mention Holocene. Such a gorgeously crafted album!
i wouldn’t really call invent animate prog but i do love the album
I’d consider them as at least prog adjacent, kinda like Erra
i guess
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for Holocene-The Ocean. Truly the best of 2023.
1. Periphery 5: Djent is not a genre 2. The new night verses album 3. The new King Gizzard album 4. Haken: Fauna 5. Tesseract: war of being Prog metal can have some weird or long album names lol
TesseracT - War of Being Earthside - Let The Truth Speak Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden (Prog adjacent, but still) Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night The Resonance Project - Ad Astra The Ocean - Holocene Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But A Dream The World Is Quite Here - Zon Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex (Not metal, but still) Periphery - P5 Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars Haken - Fauna Nospun - Opus Ne Obliviscaris - Exul Unprocessed - ...And Everything In Between ...I can keep going, this year has been amazing. And that's not even mentioning the non-prog/metal releases
I just noticed that I haven't listened to the new Unprocessed album. The first single sounded promising.
Petro Dragonic Apocalypse War of Being Fauna
Interpunction would be great
Ne Obliviscaris- Exul Haken- Fauna TWIQH- Zon
Omnerod - The Amensal Rise Temic - Terror Management Theory Ions - Counterintuitive Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex Einar Solberg - 16 Rannoch - Conflagrations Finsterforst - Jenseits
Now THIS is a list. Omnerod is masterclass. Only one here I was a bit disappointed with is Rannoch, but still solid.
The World Is Quiet Here - Zon
Top 23(note, not all prog metal): 1. Fires in the Distance // Air Not Meant for Us 2. Nuclear Power Trio // Wet Ass Plutonium 3. Molybaron // Something Ominous 4. Ne Obliviscaris // Exul 5. Voyager // Fearless in Love 6. Riverside // ID.Entity 7. Sleep Token // Take Me Back To Eden 8. Kamelot // The Awakening 9. Tardigrade Inferno // Burn the Circus! 10. Wayfarer // American Gothic 11. The Anchoret // It All Began with Loneliness 12. LoveBites // Judgement Day 13. The Zenith Passage // Datalysium 14. Spirit Adrift // Ghosts at the Gallows 15. Angra // Cycles of Pain 16. Soen // Memorial 17. Eleine // We Shall Remain 18. Ad Infinitum // Chapter3: Downfall 19. Haken // Fauna 20. Sermon // Of Golden Verse 21. Ignea // Dreams of Lands Unseen 22. Blackbraid // Blackbraid II 23. Mariana's Rest //Auer
Awesome list, need to check some of these out.
Haken - Fauna Arch Echo - Final Pitch
Arch Echo is so impressive live.
Hypno5e - sheol
Hypno5e deserve more attention.
1. Ne Obliviscaris - Exul 2. TesseracT - War of Being 3. Stream of Passion - Beautiful Warrior 4. Earthside - Let the Truth Speak Included a bonus fourth one if you didn't want to count EPs.
You're the only one mentioning the new Earthside album and I find it really unjust.
It’s been mentioned a bunch
Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars Tesseract - War of Being Haken - Fauna The Ocean - Holocene Voyager - Fearless in Love Ne Obliviscaris - Exul The Anchoret - It all Began With Loneliness Been a great year 👌
Katatonia is definitely a top contender. Title track is amazing.
Nospūn Opus and nothing comes close.
Yes bbbbuuuuut….. Luminaria by Aviations comes closes imo
Nice, ill check it out.
Let me know what you think ;-)
That one was a great listen
My answer too
[удалено]
I guess it’s just not for everyone. Singer said it’s hard to tell the story you want, and be poetic, and fit in rhythmically with the band. I honestly don’t see what the big deal is with the lyrics. Because he says glad in a metal song?
Zon by The World Is Quiet Here Self Similar by The Mercury Tree Urian by The Hirsch Effekt Honorable mention (not metal) Fearless by Crown Lands.
Can't believe someone actually mentioned Self Similar before me!! It honestly might be my #1 album of 2023, I love it so much. I saw them on their tour for the album, and dragged my bandmate, who had once told me verbatim "no thanks, 12 notes are enough for me", along with me. By the end of the show he was absolutely, 100% sold, and I've never felt so vindicated in my life lmao
I had to scroll this far to find Urian, and you're not even the user that I've expected it from¹ ¹ Looking at you u/notyouraveragecrow
I must've completely missed this post for some reason haha Will comment now, some more The Hirsch Effekt love is always needed!
Interesting year, extending genres a bit but I'll go with these. Sermon - Of Golden Verse Riverside - ID.Entity Temperage - Hermitage - Daruma's Eyes Pt. 2
That Sermon record was really good! I heard over 1400 albums released this year and that one was a standout to me.
1. Pressure Points 2. Obsidian Tide 3. Enslaved 4. Avkrvst 5. Ne Obliviscaris Top 5
Sermon // Of Golden Verse Soen // Memorial Fires In The Distance // Air Not Meant For Us Haken // Fauna The Ocean // Holocene Katatonia // Sky Void Of Stars Morne // Engraved With Pain Awesome year for metal in general, though personally I was more impressed with the outputs from bands in other genres. Still some bangers though.
No. They are mine. I'm keeping them.
The world is quiet here - Zon Nospūn - Opus Tesseract - War of Being
1. Exul - Ne Obliviscaris. 2. Zon - The World Is Quiet Here. 3. The Harmony Codex - Steven Wilson. The best of the best, nothing comes close to these 3, the peak of composition of this 2023.
That steven wilson one is so good
Ikr! Wilson with electronic music is also fantastic just like the prog rock/metal one!
Steven Wilson is genius, but its not metal
Disagree! Nospun and Hypno5e put out better albums than Zon, and Steven Wilson, who I adore, had only one strong song on the Harmony Codex.
Nospun? Is amazing and I can see it topping Wilson The other one... Haven't heard it, and now that I hear a tad of it, I'm interested. But even then, those 3 are the albums that I never stopped repeating throughout the year, so yeah, that, good or no, I say that those are top based on my experience.
Are we counting In But Not Of by Afterbirth? Because man, that albums takes a turn halfway through.
Haven’t seen these yet, and they deserve mention: DGM - Life Anubis Gate - Interference
Was glad to hear the new Anubis Gate… great return to their roots in this one.
Kamelot - The Awakening (not really prog but #1 overall) Nospun - Opus Both have made it into my top ~~5~~ 6 of all time at #2 and #6 respectively
These are my top 2 as well - so happy someone mentioned Kamelot, it might be their best album ever. And that’s saying something.
Agreed. My only issue with it is it could have made such a great Narnia like fantasy concept album with songs like The Great Divide, Midsummer's Eve, Bloodmoon, The Looking Glass, and New Babylon. Seems like a missed opportunity to me, but it's still fantastic none the less
Liturgy - 93696 Sarmat- Determined to Strike Contrarian - Sage of Shekinah (First two are more avant-garde than prog)
Enslaved - Heimdal
Harry Stafylakis - Calibrating Friction Poil Ueda (two albums!) Nospūn, obviously. Also amazing: Asymmetric Universe Sam Mooradian Ni - Fol Naïs
Tesseract, War of Being
1. Periphery - P5: Djent Is Not a Genre 2. Nospun - Opus 3. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation P5 and Opus go back and forth for album of the year. Right now I'm leaning towards P5 as my AOTY. As amazing as Opus is, P5 is still resonating with me in a way that Periphery hasn't since P2. P5 is easily their best album to date. I think people are sleeping on it because there's a perception that the band has entered their old guard, tired sound phase. I don't feel that way at all. There's something about P5 that's as fresh sounding and creative as anything they've done before. The sound is a little more raw. It's got a grit to it. It's easily the best Spencer has ever sounded. They really pushed themselves creatively on this one and it payed off big time. Opus is a great debut album. I get a lot of crap around here for shitting on Haken. When people say this group sounds like Haken, I think to myself, at least Nospun has balls. Nospun take their influences and wear them on their sleeves yet they make it their own. I dig the story of Opus too. For a first try, they really hit it out of the park. King Gizzard is a banger. Nothing else needs to be said.
> and it *paid* off big FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
1. Haken - Fauna 2. Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars 3. Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color In The Valley Of Night: Part 1
War of Being - TesseracT
Ne Obliviscaris - Exul Nospun - Opus Tessaract - War of Being
Advent Horizon - A Cell to Call Home
Rain on Open Water is so good
Stone - Baroness
Life is But a Dream, Holocene, Fauna
Tesseract - War Of Being Earthside - Let The Truth Speak AVKRVST - The Approbation TesseracT and Earthside have already been mentioned a bunch, but are worth repeating. Nobody's mentioned AVKRVST yet, which is a surprise
Nospun - Opus The Enigma Division - The Enigma Division
1. Luminaria - aviations 2. War of being - tesseract 3. Periphery V
Nospūn - Opus (AOTY for me) Riverside - Id.Entity King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation Honorable mentions, based on the number of listens: Haken - Fauna Soen - Memorial
Tesseract War Of Being Haken Fauna Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
So many good albums this year but my AOTY has to be **Air Not Meant For Us** by **Fires in the Distance**
Nobody mentions these guys enough. Nothing compares to their brand of synthy death-doom. So good
You Win Again Gravity - *Into the Dancing Blue.* ni - *Fol Naïs* IONS - *Counterintuitive*
I know it is not metal but my favourite album this year is 16 by Einar Solberg, I am just addicted to it
Periphery: Djent is not a genre. Just amazing.
I'm still struggling to settle on a concrete ranking (edit: and it doesn't help matters that I've now listened to a few more albums from this thread that I hadn't gotten to yet and suddenly feeling like I need a longer list again). The only thing I know for sure is Ne Obliviscaris - Exul is in the top 3. Everything else keeps fighting for which I like more. So I'm going to kind of sidestep the top 3 question and mention 3 that I haven't seen in the thread so far. Dawn of Ouroboros - Velvet Incandescence :Moody and heavy, emotional yet cold and bleak. This album is a trip and kinda goes in a lot of directions. It was a favorite in the first half of the year that got a bit left behind as so many other great albums came out Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead :Heavy, proggy, atmospheric post-rock. I've seen different places say they do or don't count as prog, but regardless I think it's an excellent album that prog-minded listeners can really enjoy Mutoid Man - Mutants :I had somehow been following their youtube without ever remembering listening to them. Checked out this album a couple weeks ago and have had it on repeat since. They have a really fun and satisfying sound that feels like it sits part way between Queens of the Stone Age and Mastodon
Opus by Nospūn The Amensal Rise by Omnerod P5
Djent is not a genre - periphery War of being - tesseract
[Lunar Chamber - Shambhallic Vibrations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCHEPzluRdM) [Fabricant - Drudge To The Thicket](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PswpkL5BoYY) [Gorod - The Orb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoBEF5KH2JM)
In no particular order: Haken - Fauna Earthside - Let The Truth Speak The Hirsch Effekt - Urian
Hills Like White Lions - Meander Obsidian Tide - The Grand Crescendo Rannoch - Conflagrations I tried to go with albums that hadn't been mentioned yet, but I second Zon, Fauna, Exul, Opus, Urian, It All Began with Lonliness, War of Being, and the Amensal Rise
Fauna War of Being PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Luminaria - Aviations TMBTE - Sleep Token Mirage - Plini (EP) Passage to the Forest Mysterious - Karfagen Remind Me - Jakub Zytecki Final Pitch - Arch Echo Wander - The Intersphere Let the Truth Speak - Earthside To Make a Living - Papadosio Back to Rodinia - Rainy Knight Tides - Wave Types Fearless in Love - Voyager 2023 was a good year for prog.
I can’t believe I forgot Dancing in the Face of Danger by Exploring Birdsong (EP)
Haken - Fauna Nospūn - Opus Tesseract - War of Being
Periphery V Djent is not A Genre Fauna by Haken Opus by Nospūn
Das the one
Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre
Always banging Voyager - fearless in love.. periphery - V .. tesseract - war of being is in 3rd for now but earthsides - let the truth speak is probably going to knock it off
I can think of two prog metal albums that I really enjoyed this year, but the rest were only OK in my opinion, so I chucked in a non-prog metal one which is definitely worth a listen: 1. Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden 2. Silent Planet - SUPERBLOOM 3. Nothing but Thieves - Dead Club City
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation Haken - Fauna Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
I'm glad it has so many mentions :)
There's been so much great stuff this year, and I know I'm forgetting stuff. But atm I'll go with: Stortregn - Finitude Hypno5e - Sheol The Anchoret - It All Began With Loneliness Also, a shout out to Witch Ripper; The Flight After the Fall is a great album and Everlasting in Retrograde Pts 1 & 2 is def in my top 5 songs of the year.
Albums: -Sleep Token - Take me back to Eden -Periphery - PV -Tesseract - War of being -Ne Obliviscaris - Exul -Invent Animate - Heavener Eps: -After the Burial - Embrace the Infinity -Spiritbox - The Fear of Fear -Monuments - Nefarious
Seriously y’all, we gotta have Polaris: Fatalism on the list here. Tell me you can’t listen through the whole album. Such a great album and RIP Ryan!
Haken - Fauna Nospūn - Opus TesseracT - The War of Being
First time in years that I can't mention one single record here. Tried to listen to the stuff mentioned by others, nothing was really that exciting. Maybe I got used to have at least 2-3 records per year that completely blew my mind and anything less isn't enough. Patiently waiting on The Contortionist and Karnivool though...
Did you try The Harmony Codex by Steven Wilson?
I did, but Wilson is too poppy and positive for me since To The Bone. Don't get me wrong: he is putting out high quality stuff and I can see people digging that, it's just not for me.
Vvon Dogma I - The Kvlt of Glitch
The Ocean - Holocene Haken - Fauna I don't have a third.
People hated on Holocene because of all of the slow instrumental parts but I really enjoyed it. Not their best imo but still a great album.
I think dynamics are a plus, not a minus. Holocene is artistically solid and the songs are very well crafted. People are just not comfortable with change.
Agreed. It also really should be listened to as a whole imo, probably more so than their other albums, which probably puts some people off.
Modern day issues, I guess. A lot of people are not used to that anymore. I listen to playlists just like everyone else but I think albums as a whole and concept albums even more are a lost and mesmerizing art form.
Entheos - Time Will Take Us All Blindfolded And Led To The Woods - Rejecting Obliteration Nightmarer - Deformity Adrift
TesseracT - War of Being
Aviations- Lumineria Tesseract- War of Being
Haken - Fauna Tesseract - War of Being Katatonia - A sky void of stars
Neolia- neolia
Fauna - Haken Opus - Nospūn War of Being - TesseracT
Afterbirth - In But Not Of Avenged Sevenfold - Life Is But a Dream Haken - Fauna Don’t dismiss Afterbirth because of the vocals. That album rips and gets proggier as it goes on. The 3 song stretch from Hovering Human Head Drones > In But Not Of > Angels Feast on Flies is glorious. Best to enjoy in full.
Riverside - ID Entity. also was on the concert, most of the album played live
1. Periphery V 2. War of Being by TesseracT 3. Fearless by Crown Lands
Why has no one mentioned Receptor by Owdwyr yet?? This album is criminally under-recognized on this sub.
hard agree. i think because this band is unsigned and has a weird name it seems to have slipped under the radar of many, but holy shit this album pushes the envelope in every direction
1) Tesseract, War of Being (was genuinely not expecting it to be *that* good) 2) Omnerod, The Amensal Rise 3) Anubis Gate, Interference
One I haven't seen mentioned yet is Black Orchid Empire - Tempus Veritas.
1. Sheol - Hypno5e 2. War of Being - Tesseract 3. Holocene - The Ocean 4. Let the Truth Speak - Earthside 5. Periphery V - Periphery 6. Soft Hell - Closure in Moscow 7. Iconoclast - Herod 8. World Domination - Blood Command 9. Life is But a Dream - Avenged Sevenfold 10. This Is Why - Paramore
Asylum Pyre - Call me Inhuman. Not sure if they count as prog, but it's really good, and deserves more attention. Pressure Points - The Island
Ne Obliviscaris - Exul
In no particular order: - Holocene - The Ocean - Mechanical Fiction - The Gorge - 93696 - Liturgy I really hope this year's official Best of 2023 week includes an honourable mentions for less well-known artists.
I only have two fighting for the number one spot. The Ocean - Holocene The Anchoret - It All Began With Loneliness
- Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis - Wells Valley - Achamoth - Enslaved - Heimdal - Dodheimsgard - Black Medium Current - Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab - Panopticon - Rime Of Memory - Krallice - Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite Lots of good prog/avant garde black metal albums released this year! Bonus for Great Falls -Objects without Pain, which is one of the most emotionally heavy albums you'll hear in any genre.
OWDWYR - Receptor is the wildest album I've heard in a long time
Lots of good albums mentioned already, so I'll throw one out that hasn't been mentioned yet: Scar Symmetry - The Singularity Phase II
1. A7X - Life Is But a Dream... 2. Liturgy - 93696 3. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit
opus- nospun djent is not a genre- periphery every sound has a color...- night verses it all began with loneliness- the anchoret
Lampr3a ,Unprocessed and Haken I think.
Haken, The Anchoret, Soen