Best of 2023 - Vince's List

There were soooo many great records this year….it was hard to boil it down to 20. These were the records I kept coming back to each and every week. The albums on this list represent growth. Records like Life Under the Gun, Black Radical Love, and A New Tomorrow all document a newish bands both shifting & perfecting the sound of earlier EPs. While Desolation’s Flower, Hellmode & Metta World Peace show artists still evolving after releasing previously amazing records. But overall, it was Cheap Grills for me. Sincere Engineer is breathing new life into (typically male-dominated) orgcore and I’m here for it.

Happy 2024! These were my favorite records of 2023.

-vh

LPs

1. Sincere Engineer - Cheap Grills

2. Fiddlehead - Death Is Nothing To Us

3. Envision - The Gods That Build Tomorrow

4. Ragana - Desolation's Flower

5. Militarie Gun - Life Under The Gun

6. Move BHC - Black Radical Love

7. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit

8. Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode

9. Ice Spice - Like...?

10. Magnitude - Of Days Renewed

11. Zulu - A New Tomorrow

12. Sunami - s/t (LP)

13. Scalp - Black Tar

14. Krallice - Porous Resonance Abyss

15. Soft Kill - Metta World Peace

16. Dying Wish - Symptoms of Survival

17. Sunrot - The Unfailing Rope

18. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Obsession Destruction

19. Pulsatile Tinnitus - The Finer Art of Heartwork

20. Ethereal Tomb - When The Rivers Dry

EPs

1. XweaponX / World of Pleasure - Weapon of Pleasure

2. Scowl - Psychic Dance Routine

3. Blood Incantation - Luminescent Bridge

4. Stateside - It's What We Do

5. Dead Heat - Endless Torment

Best of 2021 (Vince's List)

Goodbye 2021! Looking forward to greener pastures in 2022.

There were a lot of great records this year. King Woman’s Celestial Blues was outstanding. Definitely my favorite & most listened to record of the year……it’s a career defining album for Kris Esfandiari & crew. If you haven’t checked out Scowl or Midwife yet….please do, you won’t be disappointed. Cheers to Turnstile for showing the biggest growth in 2021. Glow On is an amazing album and bodes well for the future of hardcore. Gatecreeper was one of the few shows we saw in 2021 & I’m glad we’ve had An Unexpected Reality around for the past 12 months.

1. King Woman - Celestial Blues

2. Scowl - How Flowers Grow

3. Turnstile - Glow On

4. Midwife - Luminol

5. Gatecreeper - An Unexpected Reality

6. Ekulu - Unscrew My Head

7. Militarie Gun - All Roads Lead to the Gun I & II

8. World Peace - Come and See

9. Succumb - XXI

10. Pom Pom Squad - Death of a Cheerleader

11. Fiddlehead - Between the Richness

12. Regional Justice Center - Crime and Punishment

13. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I

14. Thirdface - Do It With a Smile

15. Slant - 1st LP

16. Final Gasp - Haunting Whisper

17. Jeff Rosenstock - Ska Dream

18. Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche

19. Portrayal of Guilt - We Are Always Alone

20. Big Brave - Vital