Best Of 2023: The best EPs of 2023
As is customary for almost any musical medium, the time of year comes when it is convenient to look back and review everything that has been released in 2023 to take stock of all the good and bad that the current year has left us. Over the next few days we will be publishing these lists in which we will review the most important works and those that we liked the most of all those that have been released in 2023, starting first with the list of EPs.
This time we have decided not to make a list following a specific order, so we will not list the releases in a ranking, it is just a compilation of all those that we liked the most in no apparent order.
Insomnium: Songs Of The Dusk (Century Media Records)
Insomnium does not usually disappoint at all and this year we also had a double launch. Although we can tell that Anno 1696 will be on our list of the best albums of 2023, the same thing happens with this complementary and at the same time indispensable release Songs Of The Dusk. It could be said that the list of songs are the remains of those that did not make it into the aforementioned album, but such a statement is totally incorrect. What Insomnium manages to provide with Songs Of The Dusk is a solid and direct release, a must in their career.
Wolves In The Throne Room: Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge (Relapse Records)
The new studio release from the Washington-based atmospheric black metal trio is made of four brand new songs, two of which are instrumentals. Wolves In The Throne Room knows what they are doing and in Crypt Of Ancestral Knowledge they once again demonstrate that they know how to capture all the elements that surround them to offer a most interesting new release. This is without a doubt the perfect sequel to Primordial Arcana (2021).
Dust Bolt: Disco Nnection (AFM Records)
This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting on the list, a collection of songs in which the German quartet mixes with surprising success the thrash metal to which we are accustomed with the so-called disco music with a very interesting result. It is not the best that the band has released to date but it is material to take into account.
Heretoir: Wastelands (AOP Records)
2023 seems to have been a very prolific year for Heretoir, a post-black metal band based in Augsburg (Bavaria) currently formed by guitarists Max F. and Eklatanz (also vocalist), bassist Nathanael and drummer Nils Groth. This same year they released their third full-length studio album Nightsphere, an excellent release that at the beginning of 2023 was preceded by the dark and melancholic EP Wasteland, a release made up of three new and excellent studio songs such as Anima, At Dusk and the homonymous Wastelands to which we must add the live versions of Golden Dust, Exhale and The White.
Tribulation: Hamartia (Century Media Records)
Much expectation had been generated around the Swedish quartet Tribulation with their new release after the excellent album Where The Gloom Becomes Sound with which in 2021 they practically seemed to have reached the musical peak. However, the gothic metal project with death metal overtones of their first albums manages to lay the foundations for a next full-length album while maintaining a level that very few bands are capable of achieving today. The inclusion of Joseph Tholl as guitarist after the departure of Jonathan Hultén in 2020 has been further solidified in this new studio work that gives us four new essential songs for every lover of the genre.
Ihsahn: Fascination Street Sessions (Candlelight Records)
The prolific Norwegian musician Ihsahn, known for his long-standing work at the helm of Emperor since its founding in 1991, returns solo three years after his last release with the outstanding Pharos to delight us again with two very convoluted songs in which the multi-instrumentalist manages to surprise us with a perfect combination of genres and elements in which he once again gets rid of all prejudice to deliver two authentic anthems. Completing the release is a cover by Dom Andra of the swedish-based alternative rock band Kent. Also pay close attention to the two previews that Ihsahn has published in recent weeks.
Calarook: Cruel And Cold (Independent)
The Zurich-based folk metal quartet debuted in 2020 with the very interesting full-length Surrender Or Die, an album that followed in the wake of their debut EP Calico from 2017 before the band changed its name to Calarook in 2019. With Cruel And Cold manage to improve the formula of their debut album by providing a dose of aggressiveness that makes their folk metal something to take into account in the future. The combination of genres is very well balanced and the melody is not abused excessively as is the case with many other bands. This is without a doubt one of the best EPs of 2023.
Judicator: I Am The Void (Independent)
Power metal is not a genre that is practiced much in the United States, but that is something that Judicator manages to bring to its field and in this way deliver something very interesting like I Am The Void. The Utah/California quintet already caught my attention in 2018 with The Last Emperor, a very solid album that also features the famous vocalist Hansi Kürsch as a guest on Spiritual Treason. I’ve been following them since then and with I Am The Void they captivated me again. The album itself is made up of the title track of the EP and a cover of The Curse Of Feanor by the Germans Blind Guardian, but it is undoubtedly a good preview of what is to come after the majestic The Majesty Of Decay from 2022.
Sodom: 1982 (Steamhammer)
The band led by Tom Angelripper continues to maintain the level with their most recent releases after reforming the band in 2018, releasing new material every few months with the excuse of keeping their fans happy, one of which is myself. After the interesting 40 Years at War – The Greatest Hell Of Sodom that the band published in 2022 where they reviewed the best of their career coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Sodom. Following a bit in the wake of said album, the band has met again at the Staudio Studio in Altenessen (Germany) to re-record the songs Witching Metal, Victims Of The Death, Let’s Fight In The Darkness Of Hell and Equinox that until date were only available in the 40 Years At War box set, in addition to a remixed version of the song 1982 that gives the title to the release itself.
Elliot Vernon: Zombiewizard (Independent)
Elliot Vernon, known for his work as keyboardist and backing vocalist in Alestorm, made his solo debut in 2021 with the release of the EP The Flame, a release that I overlooked and that I discovered in 2023 after being stunned by his new work Zombiewizard. I didn’t expect at all what I found the first time I heard the song Zombie Wizard a few weeks ago, a combination between thrash and black metal that has nothing to do with what the British musician has accustomed us to. This is one of the releases that has surprised me the most in 2023, a rare bird that every good lover of the genre should listen to at least out of curiosity.
Omnium Gatherum: Slasher (Century Media Records)
In 2021, the Finns Omnium Gatherum published one of the best works of their career to date, the superb Origin whose shadow seemed to obscure everything the band could release in the future but which with Slasher they have managed to reinvent thanks to three new songs and one interesting cover of the song Maniac by Michael Sembello. Everything I can say about the album is positive, so you better listen to it yourself.
Exhumed: Beyond The Dead (Relapse Records)
The San Jose, California-based death metal and grindcore quartet return to the studio following 2022’s excellent To The Dead album to deliver a grotesque new chapter in their musical journey with Beyond The Dead. Four new and aggressive songs give life to this EP, which is also complemented by four live songs. Don’t forget to play it at full volume.
