BEST OF 2023 – Dave Wilks (Writer) 🇺🇲
Rock is far from dead and 2023 proves it. It was an especially great year for albums from New Wave of Traditional Heavy, legacy, and blues rock bands.
I listened to a ton of albums this year, and narrowing it down to 10 was a difficult task. It was a fantastic year for young bands taking the sound of early metal, embracing the raw and dirty side of it, and spitting out metal classics. You’ll find a bunch those albums in my top 10. I needed a top 10 countdown just for NWOTHM albums since outstanding releases from Night Demon, Haunt, and Blood Star didn’t make the final cut.
It was also a fine year for the old guys. I haven’t had an album from a legacy band crack my top 10 in two years, and this year, two made it. I couldn’t find a spot for Metallica. Hell, they didn’t even have the best album from a classic thrash band released on April 14. That honour went to Overkill‘s crushing album, Scorched. Tygers of Pan Tang‘s Bloodlines was another killer album from a legacy band that just couldn’t quite crack the list.
My list also includes several albums with blues influences of various degrees. I’m easily hooked by a combination of heavy rock and the blues, which shows itself in bands like Ayron Jones, Jared James Nichols, and The Winery Dogs.
#10 🇺🇲
EXTREME – Six
Thank the Metal Gods that Extreme didn’t waste their creative juices in coming up with the uninspired title of their sixth album, Six. They poured all of their creativity into the songs on their best album since Extreme II: Pornographiti (see, they didn’t just stop at II on their second album!).
I’ve always been hot and cold on Extreme. I love some of their stuff – Pornographiti is one of my favourite albums ever – but nothing’s really tripped my trigger since. And then 23 years later, along comes Six, and it blew my mind. Nuno Bettencourt is absolutely on fire on this album. Gary Cherone sounds incredible. It should appear on a lot of lists this year, and if it’s not on yours, you’re just wrong.
Highlights include the first two tracks “Rise” and “#Rebel“, both as good as anything Extreme’s ever done and feature Bettencourt doing six-string acrobatics. My favourite song is hands-down “Beautiful Girls”. It reminds me of one of my favourite Van Halen songs. No, not “Beautiful Girls“, but “Ice Cream Man”, or maybe “Stay Frosty.” It’s a stripped-down, beach vibe ode to all the beautiful ladies out there. I dare you not to smile when you listen.
#9 🇺🇲
AYRON JONES – Chronicles of the Kid
Ayron Jones‘s fourth studio album Chronicles of the Kid sees Jones leveling up from his fantastic 2021 album Child of the State. Jones is a dynamite songwriter, an excellent singer, and an absolutely outstanding guitar player. “Filthy” wins the Lyrics of the Year award with “Turn this fucker up and get loud if you feel me!” I feel him and crank this song every chance I get.
Jones‘s flavour of rock and roll is deeply inspired by the Blues. While “Baptized in Muddy Waters” is the most obvious example, the rest of the album is littered with songs mining the emotions of his tough background. Check out “Blood in the Water” and “On Two Feet I Stand” for that Blues-inspired goodness.
#8 🇨🇦
LA CHINGA – Primal Forces
If you’re like me and love cranking heavy rock and roll from the 70s to now, you’ll love this album. The first half of the album crushes you with great choruses and killer riffs. The first three songs “Light It Up,” “Ride the Dragon“, and “Ball of Lightning” say everything you need to know about La Chinga‘s high-energy hard rock. Get in the car and turn it to 11. I don’t know if there’s a better three-song punch on any album in 2023.
The album changes direction a bit from the pummeling first half, to a more jam-like stoner vibe, but I’m not complaining. “Witch’s Heart” is a freaky psychedelic jam. Really, if you like anything remotely close to Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, or Motorhead, you’ll love La Chinga.
#7 🇺🇲
LOVE GANG – Meanstreak
I’m really digging bands who embrace a ’70s psychedelic hard rock vibe, and nobody’s doing it better than Love Gang. Their tone is perfect for what they do: biker bar mood music. I’d like to buy a motorcycle just so that I could blast “Deathride” doing 100 on the Million Dollar Highway.
The foursome from Denver, Colorado makes a hell of a racket with standouts Kam Wentworth on Guitar/Vocals and Leo Muñoz on the organ. The title track “Meanstreak” is the perfect example of Love Gang’s heavy, psychedelic, and up-tempo, Deep Purple-esque rock and roll. “Headed Down to Mexico” is just the kind of barroom boogie Dave Meniketti would enjoy
#6 🇺🇲
JARED JAMES NICHOLS – Jared James Nichols
How have I not heard of Jared James Nichols before? He’s been pumping out guitar-heavy blues rock since 2015 and his self-titled 2023 album is so good. It’s no wonder I love the albums from Ayron Jones and Jared James Nichols; they’re both killer songwriters, singers, and guitar wizards with deep roots in the blues. But they also turn the blues up. I’ve seen Nichols compared to Cream, but he’s way heavier and up-tempo.
He already has a reputation in guitar circles, having played with Joe Bonamassa, Slash, Steve Vai, and Zakk Wylde. Tracks “Down the Drain,” and “Bad Roots” showcase not just his ridiculous guitar prowess, but his overall ability to perform heavy and melodic blues rock.
#5 🇺🇲
L.A. GUNS – Black Diamonds
Over the last few years, L.A. Guns have been consistently releasing great albums. But none of them have cracked my top 10 until now. With Black Diamonds, L.A. Guns really embraces their more stripped-down garage side. Call me crazy, but this is a punk album and a damn fine one at that. Take a listen to “You Betray” or “Lowlife” if you don’t believe me.
#4 🇸🇪
AVATAR – Dance Devil Dance
Avatar‘s not my usual, but Dance Devil Dance is an undeniably excellent heavy metal album. It’s the Swedish band’s ninth studio album. The album twists and turns through groovy tracks like “The Dirt I’m Buried In“, the dark and heavy “Dance Devil Dance“, the pure mosh metal in “Chimp Mosh Pit“, and the schizophrenic “On the Beach“. Each song is totally different and they nail every one.
#3 🇺🇲
THE WINERY DOGS – III
How can you go wrong with Billy Sheehan, Richie Kotzen, and Mike Portnoy? You can’t. They’re the rare super group that sounds like they were meant to be together. I can best describe the sound as thick. There’s not a wasted note.
Just like their 2013 debut, this album is a lesson in how to make classic hard rock. Each musician is at the top of their game. Sheehan’s bass and Kotzen’s guitars feel like they are one completely unseparated entity. These guys are ridiculously good and even better together.
The single “Xanadu” kicks off the album and instantaneously surrounds you with layers of amazing musicians playing the hell out of their instruments. Each artist shines in individual moments while never feeling like they’re taking turns to be polite. Guitar solos, bass solos, and sick beats are all over the place. The music of The Winery Dogs is a thing of beauty.
#2 🇺🇲
SPIRIT ADRIFT – Ghost at the Gallows
In keeping with my love for 2023 NWOTHM albums heavy on the classic metal sound, I have to put Ghost in the Gallows on this list. It blew me away the first time I heard it and I told everyone who would listen how great it was. It’s heavy, psychedelic, and full of nasty attitude. As Viv would say, very metal.
Check out the video for the killer “Hanged Man’s Revenge“. That’s just perfectly executed metal from the riffs to the grungy horror-themed visuals.
#1 🇬🇧
GREEN LUNG – This Heathen Land
From the moment I saw the “Maxine (Witch Queen)” video, I was absolutely hooked on Green Lung. They’re combining two of the coolest things: classic theatric metal and the horror vibe of 70s-era horror. We’re talking creepy metal for a soundtrack to some unreleased Christopher Lee (metal legend in his own right) occult film circa 1971.
I usually like up-tempo music and quickly get bored with slower songs. But “One for Sorrow” is just so full of passion and regret, you can’t help getting sucked into the story.
This album has been my go-to since it came out. It’s well worth finding time for an uninterrupted listen.
Thanks for taking the time with my top 10 list. The first few years of the ’20s delivered another slew of kick-ass Rock and Roll and I’m looking forward to what 2024 has in store.
Check out my other articles here. Dave
