THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF THE MONTH should be self-explanatory, an ordered ranking of twenty albums that’d resonated most throughout this month. If you’re new to the site, the tendency is heavy and/or surreal music. Choices are selected based on temporal immersion, personal connection, impressive style, point of view, aesthetics and with consideration for the lasting value of each selection. All choices are ultimately personal and come without consideration for populism, nepotism, cronyism or perceived “relevance”. Writing about music is a passion I afford as much time as is manageable and I am grateful to have so much to choose from. Thank you.

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I. The website, social media, and my output will continue to look a bit transitional as I continue to plan, prepare and focus on the future: GrizzlyButts.com will become MystificationZine.com starting January 1st but the “branding” for the site will continue to change during December. This means that this years “list season”, all reviews from November through December, and the Top 75 Albums of 2023 will all be published under the new name and domain. All of the old links to the site still work and will redirect without issue ad infinitum.

II. 2024 is approaching! All 2023 releases must be submitted before December 15th! Anything sent in after that point will be passed by with few exceptions. The Album of the Year stuff will be done somewhat differently (in five parts) this year and a single “Albums I Missed in 2023” list will published as I scour the year’s releases for oversights, the rest will become a series of posts in January. The total long-form review count coming up in December will consist of about ~18 items and the Best of December list will arrive before the ~21st, as per usual.

III. In 2023 most written reviews will now also have an additional video component. Both edited and off-the-cuff videos will now be embedded or posted to the site regularly (weekly). If you enjoy these please consider following on YouTube. We’ve recently reached 600 subscribers, thank you for your support! Several features/series are planned for next year.

IV. Each day I meditate with all-consuming gratitude aimed toward the bands, labels and PR firms who choose to work with me — Not to mention the kind few readers who donate to the site intermittently. The goals and ethos of Grizzly Butts have not changed in 2023 but I will be looking for new ways to cover music under the Mystification banner next year. Thank you.

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#1	Album of the Month
ARTIST:	CRUCIAMENTUM
TITLE:	Obsidian Refractions
RECORD LABEL(S):	Profound Lore Records

Back with a fine-tuned line-up, the right folks for the job, and a refined vision this is easily one of the best death metal records of the year. — “The long awaited return of the old Death’s ancestral pillar arrives by way of this paen to the very currents of morbidity and corporeal dissolve as England, Scotland and United States based death metal quartet Cruciamentum return for a much anticipated sophomore full-length album well worthy of all patiently held high expectations. Crafted with impeccable taste and years-honed sound design, which is once again beyond world class in render, ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ cannot represent a mere follow-up so much as it serves to rebirth the entity, still bearing key traits of its core embodiment yet well past any notion of plain iteration. Built from timeless threads yet only just possible here-and-now this champion of atmospheric death metal mutation appears with fire in every available hand, blurring the road with its sinkhole and lava-strewn vision.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#2
ARTIST:	MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY
TITLE:	Biolume Part III: A Fullmoon Madness
RECORD LABEL(S):	I, Voidhanger Records

Great works cannot solely require a strong will, they must enhance it. — “Having cast their spell inconsolably into the dark in order to draw the moon down to light the way Brisbane, Australia-based atmospheric black metal artist Midnight Odyssey complete their Biolume triptych by the shocking grace and gravitas of Luna-Selene per this longest, last and arguably most dramatic entry. At just over two hours and bulging within its triple LP status it’ll be difficult to not get bogged down in discussions of length, scope and substance as ‘Biolume Part 3: A Fullmoon Madness‘ lends us its path into a realm lit only by stars, yet the ‘epic’ nature of the whole considered only adds to the mystique of its contents since so very few folk today persist with fortitude and wonderment necessary to greet such an involved and ambitious feature. There is a lot to muse over here and without existing well-formed opinions on the previous two pieces, much less the greater body of work form the artist, this one may very well prove beyond the depth of many an addled mind. Nonetheless the long-standing adorer will find themselves heaped, hunched and well-engulfed in the sensorial majesty available herein.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#3
ARTIST:	SADUS
TITLE:	The Shadow Inside
RECORD LABEL(S):	Nuclear Blast Records

“Antioch, California-based death/thrash metal duo Sadus return with an energetic, illustrative and riff-clenching examination of the lack of accountability in modern society today on this long anticipated sixth full-length album. Encouraging mankind to look to the self, the inner protagonist, for the answers and much of the blame ‘The Shadow Inside‘ spares none of its shockingly vivid stabs at classicist death/thrashing riffcraft as they encourage an honest, virtuous path through adversity. Now in their thirty-eighth year as a band and clipped down to half their original ranks today no doubt the curious and long-dormant fandom will be shocked and compelled alike in finding the return of these legends not only inspired but trimmed down to a twisted-yet-tasteful, sometimes dirging/elsewhere thrashing yet still appropriately eccentric thrill herein.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#4
ARTIST:	MORTUARY DRAPE
TITLE:	Black Mirror
RECORD LABEL(S):	Peaceville Records

“Channeling the reflections of past lives through thirty plus years of experience in morbid necromancy and the dark arts Alessandria, Italy-based black/heavy metal quartet Mortuary Drape accesses eerily familiar events, parallel happenstance alight in spine-chilling déjà vu on this admirably achieved sixth full-length album. Returning with an even more profound, and perhaps easiest read, sense of self in hand the cult behind the legend who’d generate their own obsidian pathway between the first and second waves flings burnt parchment and ghastly premonition to each side as their tunnel-envisioned sermon retains its familiar transformational sting on ‘Black Mirror‘. A thrilling, kicking speed arcane heavy metal record still obsessed with the old ways, there is some strong argument made herein for the timeless efficacy of auld evil heavy metal.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#5
ARTIST:	TOTENMESSE
TITLE:	Fiktionlust
RECORD LABEL(S):	Pagan Records

“Here on Polish black metal trio Totenmesse‘s second full-length album we explore massive death on a scale which the human mind cannot perceive without compartmentalizing its horror, becoming callous to the numbers they cannot count, scrambling for the pleasure of fictive reasoning when faced with an abysmally faceless competitive existence. A violent and vitriolic tirade to start and a sprawling nuclear cloud to finish ‘Fiktionlust‘ blazes past the thoughtful ebb of their debut and slams forth the throttle upon impending extinction by compressing their statement into potent, ever-hammering wrath and the acrid atmosphere resultant.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#6
ARTIST:	CONVOCATION
TITLE:	No Dawn for the Caliginous Night
RECORD LABEL(S):	Everlasting Spew Records

“This third and most surreal full-length from Helsinki, Finland-based funeral death and doom metal duo Convocation should be seen as their defining work thus far. For the sake of progression in vernacular which is their own, the study of morbidity found on ‘No Dawn For the Caliginous Night‘ likewise concerns itself with suffering, the slow process of enfeeblement and exclusion at the end of life. As such there is more than mourning to be felt within this tension-rich, staggering waltz of organ-fed and death/doom metal girded gloom. As the shapes refine and the maimed spiritus of the album reveals its condition we witness this toppling empyrean vision of extreme doom secure some additional depth and style of its own in the midst.”

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#7
ARTIST:	ILDSKÆR
TITLE:	Blod & Jern
RECORD LABEL(S):	Vendetta Records

“Aalborg, Denmark-based atmospheric black metal duo Ildskær present a second longform envision of historic Danish warfare on this sophomore longplayer, this time around trading the icy spray of the Northern sea for the lowland and rolling hill conflicts of the lower Jutland Peninsula in depiction of the lost lives and demolished pride per the Dano-Prussian War of 1864. By all accounts, be they impressionist writers or historians ‘Blod & Jern‘ (blood and iron) is a reasonable description of the nine months of bayonet whipping, cannon hauling and musket cracking combat wherein Denmark would lose the lowlands (Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg) to Prussian and Austrian forces.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#8
ARTIST:	INFAMOVS
TITLE:	Stench of the Unholy Graves
RECORD LABEL(S):	Empyrean Collapse, Crypts of Eternity

“The second full-length album from Coquimbo, Chile-based pure death metal quartet Infamovs comes six years after the first and all the wiser for its brutally sledged invocation of chaos and blasphemy. Fans of late 90’s fire-branded brutality a la Diabolic, the weirding lunges and lava-spewing aspects of ‘Formulas Fatal to the Flesh‘, and the cavernous dirges of compatriots Dominus Xul will know this language and appreciate the arcane yet atmospheric rapture of this record as it hammers through its ~34 minute run. I’ll review this album in full sooner or later but I need a few more days with the CD.”

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#9
ARTIST:	MÊLÉE DES AURORES
TITLE:	Aube Cannibale
RECORD LABEL(S):	Sepulchral Productions

“Fermenting in slow transcendence from mortified flesh to wrathful geist Quebecois avant-black metal trio Mêlée des Aurores returns an amorphous swarm of unearthly belligerence as they suffocate the senses with unknowable horrors on this long-awaited full-length album. A work of semi-improvised dissonant monstrosity, reeling out of control in its tirade of blinded destruction ‘Aube Cannibale‘ is an unwaking nightmare drain set upon the unwitting public without warning. There is yet a psychedelic serpentine art to their scathing brimstone whipping and cauldron-shaped longform movements herein, a surrealistic intellect which lets loose one explosive experiment at a time without a mind for controlling the outcome beyond emphasizing the rattle of ivory keys and shattered wood as they nuke their orchestral chamber with unreal malevolence.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#10
ARTIST:	DESTRUCTOR
TITLE:	Blood, Bone, and Fire
RECORD LABEL(S):	Shadow Kingdom Records

The best Destructor album yet, no hyperbole intended. — “No matter what adversity, tragedy and shifting industry tides might’ve hit Euclid, Ohio-borne heavy metal quartet Destructor over the years it’d never crippled their ability to sound exactly like themselves. In truth these power-thrashing underground legends won the battle of attrition and endurance long ago, having proven themselves and the strength of their pure heavy metal personae within several releases beyond their reformation over twenty years ago. Yet as we step back into their realm for a sixth full-length album the profundity of their steadfast handicraft and its ever-high standard for traditional heavy metal songwriting cannot help but impress, giving the old ways another kick in the ass which yet bleeds of authenticity and continues reigning on undaunted. ‘Blood, Bone, and Fire‘ is exemplar by design, a fully charged and rousing heavy metal experience which doesn’t waste a second of its breath, shaking both fists at the crowd and firing off in a way which reinforces a legacy gratefully revived and upheld.”

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#11
ARTIST:	TETRAGRAMMACIDE
TITLE:	Typho-tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur’an
RECORD LABEL(S):	Iron Bonehead Records

Uncompromised within their absolute violence. — “Kolkata, India-based occult Shaivite blackened death metal duo Tetragrammacide present their second full-length album of anti-existential war in a thrilling display of riff-obsessed speed and brutality. Long divorced from the scream and rumble of a peaking amplifier as their medium these perpetrators of karmic hammering who’d drive ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ into skull today craft maniac death metal intending a dangerous, confrontational pulse sans the obscuration of their earliest work. A follow-up in most every sense this second LP aims for density of ideas, quality of riffcraft, and vexing weave of brutal and hallucinatory textures presented as an attempt to push the limits of their transformation further beyond surface-level chaos.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#12
ARTIST:	DÉLÉTÈRE
TITLE:	Songe d’une Nuit Souillée
RECORD LABEL(S):	Sepulchral Productions

Délétère remain one of the more notable acts from the Quebecois black metal scenery, a gathering of fellowes from all manner of bands in that universe who’ve brought something incredible to each of their full-lengths. For this third LP we could safely expect a lot from these plague-angelic folks since their whole realm is defined by pestilential theme yet ‘Songes d’une nuit souillée‘ aims bigger, toward enormous chorales and grandiose pieces which not only distinguish their melodic black metal focused work from the past but set this record as quite easily one of the best releases of November this year.

>> SHORT REVIEW <<

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#13
ARTIST:	MEPHORASH
TITLE:	Krystl-AH
RECORD LABEL(S):	Shadow Records

Witness the spectacular becoming of this band, what a surprise this one was. — “The true self-born of light, raised from a state of mystical death and self-dispersion by the hand of the Prôtogennêtôr is herein crowned with the crystalline shards of wisdom by the hidden father, the unnamed god, and given robe of cosmic life as Uppsala, Sweden-borne Gnostic mystery cult Mephorash subvert the creation of black metal for the sake of a fifth full-length album best representative of their ascendant spiritual climes. Clothed in the majestic resplendence of a higher-seeking mind and warmed into a second life by an oddly sensual and sensorial drapery of water-scattered light ‘Krystl-Ah‘ offers a difficult to have predicted ambition realized for the artist who’d slowly crawled themselves upright over the last decade, only just now achieving beyond the constraints of sub-genre reliant specificity.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#14
ARTIST:	AETERNUS
TITLE:	Philosopher
RECORD LABEL(S):	Agonia Records

“The ache of fixation, or, the body’s twisted torpor when the mind will not relent in its stream of debilitating muse feeds daimonian malaise directly into this ninth full-length album from Bergen, Norway-based black/death metal legendry Aeternus as they celebrate thirty years spent developing a form of adventurous pagan-minded “dark metal” entirely their own. Per its insistent mid-paced swaggering pulse and verbose exposition ‘Philosopher‘ demands that its overflowing nuance count more than a long-standing reputation, that the whole of its masterful ~40 minute conversation is considered, mulled in real-time as its diabolically swaying pieces engage the mind as additive strokes to the signature available. Rather than bloat on about a considerable legacy upheld, all of which would be warranted, we can receive this album as the latest trip from explorers.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#15
ARTIST:	CARNAL TOMB
TITLE:	Embalmed in Decay
RECORD LABEL(S):	Testimony Records

We arrive upon an ancient church, catching an intentional whiff of its stinking mortuary today for the sake of witnessing mortality fading away in the open air as Berlin, Germany-based death metal quartet Carnal Tomb let loose their crucially realized third full-length album as a despondent soul given a chance at divine judgement. ‘Embalmed in Decay‘ is a dramatic showing of elder rot and eye-burning viscera sloughing off the auld corpse of ‘old school’ death metal wherein they take another worthy step beyond the last in realizing their own vision of classics-minded (but not bound) death metal. The end result is especially well-curated, memorable, and doesn’t lack in its exploration of new textures and riffcraft which enrich the morbid tunnel vision one’d want from the old ways revised and re-fleshed. [Short version: “Hey, cool riffs.“]

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#16
ARTIST:	VASTUM
TITLE:	Inward to Gethsemane
RECORD LABEL(S):	20 Buck Spin

Into the elusive mysteries of… Oakland, California-borne death metal quartet Vastum‘s fifth full-length album, a feat which returns us to their cruel realm of death-erotik pummel in seeming muse upon terror, molestation and submission. ‘Inward to Gethsemane‘ once again attacks the senses of those who reach for the depth of meaning in death music first, lacking none of the subversive symbolic depth these folks are known for while also hammering home the obvious grotesqueries of each vignette as it comes into focus. Unnerving, warping the mind’s path with a heartily disgusted yet strangely torpid tone and wild-eyed delivery these folks once again iterate upon the miserable dread of their prior actions, thusly following exacted parameters in crafting mid-paced death metal textures which romp and stretch in development of coldly surreal statement.

>> FULL STREAM <<

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#17
ARTIST:	VALDRIN
TITLE:	Throne of the Lunar Soul
RECORD LABEL(S):	Blood Harvest Records

“The fourth book in Cincinnati, Ohio-based symphonic black/death metal quartet Valdrin‘s elaborate Ausadjur mythos returns to the perspective of its namesake and protagonist Valdrin Ausadjur after having spent two tomes (and a couple of centuries) detailing the netherworld-set saga of our antagonist and cruel god-lobotomizer Nex Animus. His fight against an evil insurrection unfounded and now with an unruly horde in tow, the peace within Orcus which greets Valdrin feels eerily false upon return yet it is undeniably good to be back at home in this celestial kingdom. An elaborate double LP which thoroughly details the greater musical ambitions of the quartet, ‘Throne of the Lunar Soul‘ retains all of the inventive, crushed-through tension of prior efforts while stretching every limb possible in reaching for a truly next-level showing. Though the full breadth of their oeuvre still has some room to expand and perfect in reach of such a grand vision it’ll be hard to deny the experting touch developed within the eleven parts of the greater ‘epic’ chapter told.”

>> SHORT REVIEW <<

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#18
ARTIST:	ZAHN
TITLE:	Adria
RECORD LABEL(S):	CrazySane Records

“German experimental rock trio Zahn combine the ethos and pulse of krautrock with ’79 post-punk whims, dramatic post-rock turns, and noise rock rattle on this otherwise beat-heavy electro-chilled exploration wherein members of Heads. and Einstürzende Neubauten collaborate without any too-tight strictures on sub-genre in mind. I’d gotten a sense of captivity and restlessness from this thread of pieces which begin juxtaposing glittery beats with sludged noise rock jams, Neu! gone hip-hop beats, and some eerie post-metallic electro to start. The trip presented here is remarkably engaging for an ~80 minute release and very little of it felt like background digs. Up there with the best non-metal selections of the year for my taste.”

>> SHORT REVIEW <<

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#19
ARTIST:	SORT SIND
TITLE:	I Skyggen af Livet
RECORD LABEL(S):	Nuclear Winter Records

“Danish melodic black/death metal duo Sort Sind arrive with a brief yet impactful debut full-length album. ‘I Skyggen af Livet‘, wastes little time with repetition or overwrought atmosphere in crafting an unusually economical and riff-oriented ideal. As a first showing beyond a promising demo tape these results are all-pro, readied and cutting well past the point of formative thought to the point that their statement may very well be too potent an introduction for those who’ve comfortable with the filler-craft of nowadays black metal.”

>> FULL REVIEW <<

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#20
ARTIST:	ÆOLIAN
TITLE:	Echoes of the Future
RECORD LABEL(S):	Black Lion Records

“Mallorcan melodic death metal standouts Æolian continue to escalate their station as one of the most compelling melodic metal bands around today with this third and most approachable full-length album. You could tell they were searching for their own incomparable soul on ‘The Negationist‘ (2020) but I think they’ve made a much bigger stride in that direction here and of course it comes down to more than just melodic interest. Instead of heading in the more typical progressive/power metal loft of moderne melodeath today their work has seemingly taken some of the rousing majesty of Dissection and rounded those moments out with the intimacy of the late 90’s/early 2000’s guitar driven hooks of Rotting Christ propelling their signature ‘anthemic’ tonality into a darker, catchier realm. That isn’t to say that they sound like those other bands, or that they have escaped the golden standard of late 90’s melodeath at peak popularity, but that we can at least be sure they are still rightfully choosing that high standard over the ephemera of today. If you’re a melodic death elitist of sorts, if those still exist, there will be familiar and welcoming elements here that will undoubtedly charm and surprise here as these folks continue to improve with every step.”

>> FULL STREAM <<

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

• GREEN LUNG – This Heathen Land (2023) | REVIEW
• OSSUARY – Stellar Annihilation (2023) | REVIEW
• LEFT CROSS – Upon Desecrated Altars (2023) | REVIEW
• CARCINOID – Encomium to Extinction (2023) | REVIEW
• SADISM – Obscurans (2023) | REVIEW
• VENUS – Obscured Until Observed (2023) | REVIEW
• ELITIST – A Mirage of Grandeur (2023) | REVIEW
• RECEIVER – Whispers of Lore (2023) | REVIEW
• KVELGEYST – Blut, Milch und Thr​ä​nen (2023) | REVIEW
• NIGHT HAG / BURIAL – Utterances From Below (2023) | REVIEW