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
