So this my TWELTH (!) end of year list which seems faintly unbelievable....

And so to my top ten albums in their customary alphabetical order

• Abrasive Trees - Nothing Exists for a Moment
• Arabrot – Of Darkness & Light
• Jenny Colquitt – Lost Animals
• Cruel Diagonals – Fractured Whole
• Happy Axe – The Tiger Dream
• The Lost Trades – Petrichor
• Myrkur – Spine
• New Model Army – Sinfonia
• Public Service Broadcasting – This New Noise
• Silver Moth – Black Bay

If I was really pushed to choose a favourite it would be either Silver Moth or Myrkur but it would be impossible to call.

 Second part of my 2023 roundup are my favourite gigs:

In June I saw Carcass at the Exeter Phoenix. Absolutely packed and possibly the most brutal bands I've seen live. Great to enjoy it as well with friends from the Pig & Pickle pub.

October took me to my first church gig at St Mary’s Church in Totnes to see Jo-Beth Young & Serious Child - The acoustics were amazing and the whole experience was magical

On to November a trip to see The Sisters of Mercy at the Marble Factory in Bristol. One of my favourite ever gigs - The band were sensational even with a set full of unreleased songs.

Finally the only band I saw twice in 2023 was The Lost Trades. The best of the two gigs was the November gig at the All Saints Church in Kenton. The church acoustics suited the acapella voices of the band beautifully.

 Think it might be time to start the festive round up of 2023 - First up are my favourite half dozen standalone singles

• Marie Eidolon – Drive
• Maer – Poisoned Waters
• Regan & Bricheno – Winter 2023
• True Foxes – 17
• Tusks – Artificial Flame
• A.A. Williams – Without You I’m Nothing

Interesting that the list is very female orientated and hopefully some of these will appear on albums in 2024.

Finally it is so great to see Julianne Regan and Tim Bricheno working together again.

 We return to the beguiling and unique world of Australian Emma Kelly and her third album as Happy Axe. As with previous releases, The Tiger Dream, doesn’t adhere to any regular notion of song writing such as verse or chorus but exists in its own realm.

At only four tracks and 30 minutes I guess this just about qualifies as an album rather than EP

Canopy, the opening track, is almost like a dream like soundscape with ghostly vocals floating over harp and flute with plucked violin strings providing what rhythm there is. It sounds like the soundtrack to a spookily atmospheric but as yet un-filmed cinematic masterpiece.

The throb of a heartbeat and violins dominate Injuries while the title track is possibly the most straightforward song on the album.

I would suggest there was no set plan for the aptly named final track, Something Strange is About to Happen, before recording it – We are looking instead at an intuitive 15 minute piece of improvisation where the music ebbs and flows. More plucked violins, the eerie whine of a saw and wordless intonations conjure up strange, unsettling images in your head.

Even if I don’t fully understand it, I love her work

 Another year, another Doro album and at this point it’s a bit like a pudding after a good meal – You know you will enjoy it but hardly essential

Conqueress: Strong and Proud follows the same template laid down with her debut album Force Majeure (34 years ago!) with a mix of old school heavy metal, ballads and the odd duet/cover all housed in artwork that is so distinctively Doro. 

At 15 songs it’s far too long. I never need to hear the awful Lean, Mean Rock Machine, a sort of hackneyed metal version of Greased Lightning with some terrible lyrics or the butchered Total Eclipse of the Heart duet with Rob Halford ever again.

There is still some great fun to be had – The rollicking All for You or the naggingly catchy Bond Unending for example.

There is also a much better duet with Rob Halford on Living After Midnight. You can clearly hear the enjoyment both are having with the song as they trade lines.

For someone celebrating 40 years in the business, Doro’s voice is still in fine form 

Never going to be album of the year but I still wouldn’t miss out on it.

 Now this is fun – The latest album from the musical chameleon that is Myrkur.

Spine, like her previous works, is almost another change in musical direction but still with that DNA that links all her releases.

9 track and only 38 minutes long it’s a short but thrilling ride.

The black metal of the first couple of albums has almost been fully done away with except for occasional traces (the short burst of blast beat drums in Like Humans or the metal shrieks as backing vocals in Mothlike) and the folk influences are a lot less noticeable

A lot of the songs put that gorgeous voice front and centre with the music built around it - See the stunning piano ballad of My Blood is Gone for example. 

Like Humans is a perfectly formed pop song and those synths in Mothlike are as catchy as hell but both songs still have those eccentricities you only get with Myrkur.

Valkyrienes Sang is the closest track musically to old school black metal but topped with those clean crystalline vocals rather than the screams of yore.

A word also about the artwork which is just so beautiful.

Another album of the year contender 

 An odd review as I’m still not sure about the album. The Fell is the latest from Snow Ghosts and described as a collection of “old folk songs that were never written” which is as good as a description as you could give.

So, it’s folk but with the electronic ‘strangeness’ that the band have bought to their previous releases. It’s very atmospheric and a really pleasurable listen (especially with headphones) especially the pulsing Curse and the swirling electronica of Magpie

But:

Give it an hour or so and I struggle to recall any individual tracks, just a memory that I enjoyed it.

Possibly because of trying to tie all the songs into a theme it loses out on individuality, but I’m just not sold on the album as I have been with previous offerings.

It’s strange and I can’t put my finger on the problem, but I will persevere with it.