2023: That's a Wrap

By BRIAN GIFFIN, BRENDAN DELAVERE and DAN SOUTHALL

BRIAN GIFFIN

EXACTLY 12 months ago my former website, Loud Online, crashed catastrophically and permanently as I was attempting to upload a year-end posting. Despite the best efforts of myself and my former webmaster, the whole thing became irrecoverable. It’s fair to say that 2023 didn’t exactly start on a happy note for me. Then a chance encounter at Glam Fest led to the proper resurrection of Hot Metal – Steve Mascord invited me to join forces and bring this sleeping giant back to full wakefulness. So the New Year being a new beginning wasn’t just another cliche for me, it really was starting something afresh. Now into what will be the first full calendar year of the new Hot Metal and I’m really looking forward to making it a big one, just as 2023 was, and I hope plenty of you will come along the journey with us.

Seeing Iron Maiden in their homeland on the first English date of their tour was a dream I didn’t know I had until I had the chance to do it. Even better that my Maiden-tragic 15-year-old was with me to witness it. A couple of months earlier I got reacquainted with Bikini Kill at the Opera House, this time with my 18-year-old who came out saying they had just had a religious experience. When I was still discovering these bands I never even thought that one day my own kids would be getting into the same bands, much less going to see them together. My parents never went to see bands with me and had no interest in my music, so it’s meant a lot to me to share a few shows with my kids this year. I got along to a few killer shows during the year, but these are the ones that really stayed with me –

IRON MAIDEN at Utilitia Arena, Birmingham. Reviews for this tour seem to have been mixed but this show was incredible, one of the best metal bands of all firing on every cylinder for over two hours;

DEF LEPPARD at Giants Stadium, Sydney. A true masterclass in slick arena rock, a total package of classy, hook-ridden, non-stop entertainment;

L7 at Metro, Sydney. A true gold standard in raw, grimy, gut-level rock and roll. Fiery, feisty, angry and joyous all at the same time;

BIKINI KILL at Sydney Opera House. Part punk rock show, part feminist rally, all riot girl rage and energy;

GLAM FEST at the Factory. A fun day full of fun bands and non-stop rocking;

THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE TOUR at the Hordern Pavilion. Two great veteran bands, two impressive local acts adding up to a night of heavy rocking bliss that was far more than the sum of its parts;

NAPALM DEATH at the Factory. Nothing more need be said;

This year was absolutely littered with amazing releases from across the rock and metal worlds. There were so many it was hard to narrow down, so I’ve decided to just choose 10 from Australian bands that everyone should definitely check out, if you haven’t already.

THE POOR – High Price Deeds. Just when you think there will never be another straight up raw rock and roll record, along comes The Poor to set things right;

C.O.F.F.I.N. – Australia Stops. Just when you thought unbridled rock and roll abandon had died with Motorhead, C.O.F.F.I.N. keeps the flag flying high;

ASTRODEATH – Vol. II. Just when you thought – ok, enough of that. While Matt Pike continued to hunker down somewhere in Oregon, Astrodeath did his job for him with a perfect album of sludge metal fury;

THE AMENTA – Plague of Locus. Albums of covers almost always suck, but trust The Amenta to make one that completely deconstructs its source material to create something in their own terrifying image;

THE HARD-ONS – Ripper ‘23. Ripper by name, ripper by nature. This could be their finest recorded moment;

DOWNGIRL – Manic. HIgh energy nineties riot girl tribute with enough cheek, attitude and exuberance to make you believe they mean it. And they do;

VOYAGER – Fearless in Love. Darkness and joy E-pop synth metal from a band that can’t stop winning;

THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION – Hidden Hymns of the Underworld. Normally a compilation wouldn’t make a list like this, but this collection of singles and non-album releases from one of Sydney’s best bands shows them at (ahem) full power, filtering classics through a psychedelic lens and veering into garage punk, seventies metal and doo-wop;

LO! – The Gleaners. Ugly, dark, primeval, omnious and terrifying soundscapes of sludge, like looking into the abyss and seeing something staring back;

WEREWOLVES – My Enemies Look and Sound Like Me. Another bloodcrazed release of flesh-ripping, bone-crushing unrelenting death metal from a band that just doesn’t know how to stop.

ALSO: THE MARK OF CAIN – Ill at Ease Deluxe Edition. The ultimate statement from Australia’s all-time greatest exponents of loner rock intensity gets even better with extra tracks and a crushing live EP to boot.

Now that I’ve had my say, it’s time to hand over to a couple of contributors who have gone above and beyond, as they all do.

DAN SOUTHALL

Two thousand and twenty-three has been a huge year for music, as bands continued to release material written and recorded during the modern plague and bands hit our shores harder than jackboots on faces. There have been so many shows that I actually struggle to keep up with what I saw this year and as such my favourite shows draw from fuzzy memory, but more from the recent gigs that have still left a positive shine in my dull mind.
The albums list isn’t in any particular order other than as they were released. Have a read and hit me up where you can find me for a chat, and tell me where I went wrong.

AVATAR – Dance Devil Dance. A band showing off every facet of their creative abilities, possibly the best album from them upon reflection;

ENSLAVED – Heimdal The best album from the band in years. Less meandering and some great story telling;

SUICIDE SILENCE – Remember…You Must Die. Another band that it has become cool to hate. I have always tuned it to whatever they have done and this album continued to knock it out of the park;

METALLICA – 72 Seasons. It’s Metallica, doing Metallica things. What wasn’t to enjoy unless you have become some elitist metal snob?

THE AMITY AFFLICTION – Not Without My Ghosts. A ‘return’ for the band. After hiding behind sugary radio tripe for a couple of albums the band hit the ground hard with this album, opening with some of their heaviest material;

BLACKBRAID – Blackbraid II. Great American black metal;

ALICE COOPER – The Road. It’s Alice F’n Cooper!

BEARTOOTH – The Surface. Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo has found peace in his music. This album is a heavy reflection of his previous more emo albums, like a live musical therapy session in action;

Special Mention –
VENOMOUS CONCEPT – Good Ship Lollipop. A strange diversion from the bands usual grind fare, but in a good way;

SPIRITBOX– The Fear Of Fear EP. Its not an album, but if you haven’t checked it out yet, get on it!

Best Gigs –

Frank Turner – Always the best punk show you will ever see. If you haven’t caught a Frank Turner show, you are missing out on possibly the best time you can have;

Avatar – I mean, balloon art… live… in the middle of a set. What wasn’t to love?

Knotfest – Keenly awaited by music fans throughout the country the ‘Fest didn’t disappoint;

Sepultura – This was a band firing on all cylinders, and now the band is hitting the road for the last time, it feels like seeing them this time was a fitting final curtain call.

BRENDAN DELAVERE

Two thousand and twenty-three was another one of those years. I spent a lot of time wondering what I’d done all year and why the days were flitting away – but it turns out I did quite a lot. Two weeks in Thailand/Malaysia, two months in Europe where I got to cover Arctangent Fest and Rockstadt Fest. With LOUD gone and Hot Metal slowly coming into being, I still managed to shoot some of my favourite bands this year, Heilung, Igorrr, Brutus, Limp Bizkit and countless more. I quit my job and now spend half the year in the West Australian desert so let’s how many gigs I get to in 2024.

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

KORDHELL – A Million Ways To Murder

Hypno5e – Sheol

Blood Command – World Domination

Frenzal Rhomb – The Cup Of Pestilence

To The Grave – Offcuts

Dying Wish – Symptoms Of Survival

Year Of The Knife – No Love Lost

Wound Man – Human Outline

Blackbraid – II

Eyes – Congratulations

Honourable mentions: