Metal Hammer writers' top metal albums of 2023

Albums 2023
(Image credit: Press)

As we hit the final stretch of 2023 we've bombarded you with lists galore, covering everything from the 50 best metal albums of the year (as voted by you) to subgenres covering everything from death and black metal to alt and prog

You should also know by now that Creeper's vampire rock opera epic Sanguivore has been voted Metal Hammer's official album of the year. But how did it get there? The answer is simple: we polled every member of staff and writer in Hammer's ranks to get their 20 best albums of 2023 and toted up the scores.

Below you'll find all those picks, offering a wealth of brilliant new music to discover as each writer and staff member offers up their own interpretation about the very best that 2023 had to offer. Do you agree with some lists more than others? What would your top 20 look like? 

Metal Hammer line break

Eleanor Goodman
Editor

1. Tesseract War Of Being
2. The Ocean Holocene
3. Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
4. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
5. Code Orange The Above
6. 3Teeth EndEx
7. Crosses Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete
8. Within Temptation Bleed Out
9. Metallica 72 Seasons
10. Babymetal The Other One
11. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
12. Hanabie Reborn Superstar!
13. As Everything Unfolds Ultraviolet
14. Creeper Sanguivore
15. Blood Command World Domination
16. Green Lung This Heathen Land
17. Voyager Fearless In Love
18. Einar Solberg 16
19. HEALTH Rat Wars
20. Voice Of Baceprot Retas


Dave Everley
Associate Editor

1. Creeper Sanguivore
2. Metallica 72 Seasons
3. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
4. Myrkur Spine
5. Code Orange The Above
6. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
7. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
8. Corey Taylor CMF2
9. Tesseract War Of Being
10. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
11. Pest Control Don’t Test The Pest
12. Green Lung This Heathen Land
13. Orbit Culture Decent
14. Foo Fighters But Here We Are
15. Twin Temple God Is Dead
16. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
17. Venomous Concept The Good Ship Lollipop
18. Sigh Live: The Eastern Forces Of Evil 2022
19. Baroness Stone
20. Enslaved Heimdal


Jonathan Selzer
Reviews Editor

1. Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
2. Tetragrammacide Typho-Tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur'an
3. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
4. Dead Feathers Full Circle
5. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
6. Big | Brave nature morte
7. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
8. healthyliving Songs Of Abundance, Psalms Of Grief
9. Godflesh Purge
10. Arkona Kob'
11. Lana Del Rabies Strega Beata
12. Primordial How It Ends
13. Enslaved Heimdal
14. Maggot Heart Hunger
15. Vomitory All Heads Are Gonna Roll
16. Cryptopsy As Gomorrah Burns
17. Sulphur Aeon Seven Crowns And Seven Seals
18. Blackbraid Blackbraid II
19. Immortal War Against All
20. Myrkur Spine


Rich Hobson
Staff Writer

1. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
2. Green Lung This Heathen Land
3. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream
4. Myrkur Spine
5. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
6. Creeper Sanguivore
7. Margarita Witch Cult Margarita Witch Cult
8. Foo Fighters But Here We Are
9. Skindred Smile
10. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
11. VV Neon Noir
12. Within Temptation Bleed Out
13. Babymetal The Other One
14. Code Orange The Above
15. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
16. Bury Tomorrow The Seventh Sun
17. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
18. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter Saved!
19. Avatar Dance Devil Dance
20. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre


Louise Hilton
Art Editor

1. Skindred Smile
2. Creeper Sanguivore
3. VV Neon Noir
4. Hundred Reasons Glorious Sunset
5. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
6. Foo Fighters But Here We Are
7. Twin Temple God Is Dead
8. Metallica 72 Seasson
9. Voyager Fearless In Love
10. Green Lung This Heathen Land
11. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
12. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse
13. Mammoth WVH Mammoth II
14. Danko Jones Electric Sounds
15. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
16. Baroness Stone
17. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
18. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
19. 3Teeth EndEx
20. Beartooth The Surface


Merlin Alderslade
Executive Editor, Louder

1. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
2. Creeper Sanguivore
3. Green Lung This Heathen Land
4. Code Orange The Above
5. Blackbraid Blackbraid II
6. Orbit Culture Descent
7. Wargasm Venom
8. Blood Command World Domination
9. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
10. Baroness Stone
11. Algiers Shook
12. Health Rat Wars
13. Twin Temple God Is Dead
14. Metallica 72 Seasons
15. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
16. Kvelertak Endling
17. In Flames Foregone
18. Hanabie Reborn Superstar!
19. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
20. Bury Tomorrow The Seventh Sun


Liz Scarlett
Staff Writer, Louder

1. Green Lung This Heathen Land
2. Creeper Sanguivore
3. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
4. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
5. Baroness Stone
6. Twin Temple God Is Dead
7. Myrkur Spine
8. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse
9. VV Neon Noir
10. Pigs x 7 Land Of Sleeper
11. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
12. Code Orange The Above
13. Blood Ceremony The Old Ways Remain
14. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
15. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
16. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
17. Crosses Goodnight, God Bless, I Love You, Delete
18. Starbenders Take Back The Night
19. Skindred Smile
20. Hawxx Earth, Spit, Blood And Bones


Olivier Badin
Writer

1. Suffocation Hymns From The Apocrypha
2. Dozer Drifting In The Endless Void
3. Sulphur Aeon Seven Crowns & Seven Seals
4. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
5. Runemagick Beyond The Cenotpah Of Mankind
6. Outer Heaven Infinite Psychic Depths
7. Immortal War Against All
8. Godflesh Purge
9. Cirith Ungol The Dark Parade
10. The Night Eternal Fatale
11. Nocturnal Breed Carry The Torch
12. Church Of Misery Born Under A Mad Sign
13. Obituary Dying Of Everything
14. Rotten Sound Apocalypse
15. Ahab The Coral Tombs
16. Bongzilla Dab City
17. Tumulation Haunted Funeral Creations
18. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
19. Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
20. Khanate To Be Cruel


Adam Brennan
Writer

1. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
2. Obituary Dying Of Everything
3. Code Orange The Above
4. Metallica 72 Seasons
5. Unearth The Wretched; The Ruinous
6. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
7. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
8. Primordial How It Ends
9. Myrkur Spine
10. Baroness Stone
11. Orbit Culture Descent
12. Sermon Of Golden Verse
13. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
14. Dying Fetus Make Them Beg For Death
15. Immortal War Against All
16. Wayfarer American Gothic
17. Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium – Nahab
18. Temic Terror Management Theory
19. Bell Witch The Clandestine Gate
20. Master’s Call A Journey For The Damned


Chris Chantler
Writer

1. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
2. Cirith Ungol Dark Parade
3. Primordial How It Ends
4. Enforcer Nostalgia
5. Ahab The Coral Tombs
6. Girlschool WTFortyfive?
7. Spirit Adrift Ghost At The Gallows
8. Church Of Misery Born Under A Mad Sign
9. Autopsy Ashes, Organs, Blood And Crypts
10. Doro Conqueress - Forever Strong And Proud
11. Godthrymm Distortions
12. Fen Monuments To Absence
13. The Night Eternal Fatale
14. Green Lung This Heathen Land
15. Mortuary Drape Black Mirror
16. Twilight Force At The Heart Of Wintervale
17. Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
18. Enslaved Heimdal
19. Obituary Dying Of Everything
20. Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific


Alec Chillingworth
Writer

1. The Armed Perfect Saviors
2. Creeper Sanguivore
3. Oxbow Love's Holiday
4. VV Neon Noir
5. Hellripper Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
6. Blood Command World Domination
7. Liturgy 93696
8. Vulture Industries Ghosts From The Past
9. Maggot Heart Hunger
10. Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
11. Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament
12. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
13. Primordial How It Ends
14. OHHMS Rot
15. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
16. Kvelertak Endling
17. Godflesh Purge
18. Mizmor Prosaic
19. Agabas A Hate Supreme
20. Lamp Of Murmuur Saturnian Bloodstorm


Joe Daly
Writer

1. Myrkur Spine
2. Wayfarer American Gothic
3. Shylmagoghnar Convergence
4. Fires In The Distance Air Not Meant For Us
5. Cloak Black Flame Eternal
6. Night Crowned Tales
7. Blackbraid Blackbraid II
8. In Flames Foregone
9. Creeper Sanguinvore
10. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
11. Baroness Stone
12. Royal Thunder Rebuilding the Mountain
13. Avatar Dance, Devil, Dance
14. Carnifex Necromanteum
15. Arkona Kob
16. Metallica 72 Seasons
17. Gozu Remedy
18. Bell Witch The Clandestine Gate
19. Kvelertak Endling
20. Urne A Feast On Sorrow


Hywel Davies
Writer

1. Green Lung This Heathen Land
2. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
3. Creeper Sanguivore
4. Skindred Smile
5. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
6. Code Orange The Above
7. Metallica 72 Seasons
8. In Flames Foregone
9. Tesseract War Of Being
10. Katatonia Sky Void The Stars
11. Orbit Culture Decent
12. Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
13. Insomnium Anno 1696
14. Baroness Stone
15. Voyager Fearless In Love
16. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
17. Nuclear Power Trio Wet Ass Plutonium
18. Evile The Unknown
19. Bury Tomorrow The Seventh Sun
20. August Burns Red Death Below


Remfry Dedman
Writer

1. Baroness Stone
2. The Armed Perfect Saviours
3. Empire State Bastard Rivers of Heresy
4. Spotlights Alchemy for the Dead
5. Blackbraid Blackbraid II
6. The St. Pierre Snake Invasion Galore
7. Code Orange The Above
8. Narrow Head Moments of Clarity
9. Ohhms Rot
10. Vanishing Kids Miracle of Death
11. Will Haven VIII
12. Super Pink Moon Iron Rain
13. Periphery V: Djent is not a Genre
14. The Hirsch Effekt Urian
15. Arabrot Of Darkness and Light
16. Forcefed Horcehead Monocerous
17. Crosses Goodnight, God Bless, I Love You, Delete
18. Svalbard The Weight of the Mask
19. Pupil Slicer Blossom
20. Urne A Feast of Sorrow


Alex Deller
Writer

1. Great Falls Objects Without Pain
2. Big | Brave nature morte
3. David Eugene Edwards Hyacinth
4. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
5. KEN mode Void
6. Lana Del Rabies Strega Beata
7. Marthe Further In Evil
8. Oxbow Love's Holiday
9. Remote Viewing Modern Addictions
10. Baroness Stone
11. Khanate To Be Cruel
12. Jesus Piece ...So Unknown
13. Wallowing Earth Reaper
14. Cirith Ungol Dark Parade
15. Dead Feathers Full Circle
16. Fågelle Den Svenska Vreden
17. Arabrot Of Darkness And Light
18. Zulu A New Tomorrow
19. Kvelertak Endling
20. End Reign The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay


Cheri Faulkner
Writer

1. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
2. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
3. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
4. Creeper Sanguivore
5. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
6. Monasteries Ominous
7. Heart Of A Coward This Place Only Brings Death
8. Haken Fauna
9. Graphic Nature A Mind Waiting To Die
10. Vexed Negative Energy
11. Signs Of The Swarm Amongst The Low & Empty
12. VV Neon Noir
13. Kvelertak Endling
14. Pupil Slicer Blossom
15. Silent Planet Superbloom
16. Holding Absence The Noble Art Of Self Destruction
17. Myrkur Spine
18. Invent Animate Heavener
19. Mental Cruelty Zwielicht
20. Baroness Stone


Spencer Grady
Writer

1. Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium – Nahab
2. Bacchus II
3. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
4. Khanate To Be Cruel
5. Wayfarer American Gothic
6. Reverence To Paroxysm Lux Morte
7. Agriculture Agriculture
8. Tetragrammacide Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur'an
9. Dawn Ray'd To Know The Light
10. Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
11. Óreiða The Eternal
12. Guts Club Cliffs/Walls
13. Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
14. Pa Vesh En Martyrs
15. Gawthrop Deterioration
16. Hellripper Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags
17. Tsjuder Helvegr
18. Rotten Sound Apocalypse
19. Lamp Of Murmuur Saturnian Bloodstorm
20. Úlfúð Of Existential Distortion


Stephen Hill
Writer

1. The St. Pierre Snake Invasion Galore
2. Urne A Feast on Sorrow
3. Militarie Gun Life Under the Gun
4. Avenged Sevenfold Life is But a Dream...
5. Code Orange The Above
6. Ohhms Rot
7. Zulu A New Tomorrow
8. Blood Command World Dommination
9. Creeper Sanguivore
10. Narrow Head Moments of Clarity
11. Eyes Congratulations
12. Helmet Left
13. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
14. Hundred Reasons Glorious Sunset
15. Sylosis A Sign of Things To Come
16. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
17. Host IX
18. Will Haven VII
19. Harms Way Common Suffering
20. Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre


Dom Lawson
Writer

1. Frozen Soul Glacial Domination
2. Vomitory All Heads Are Gonna Roll
3. Spirit Adrift Ghost At The Gallows
4. Skindred Smile
5. Celestial Sanctuary Insatiable Thirst For Torment
6. Danko Jones Electric Sounds
7. Primordial How It Ends
8. Katatonia Sky Devoid Of Stars
9. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
10. Great Falls Objects Without Pain
11. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
12. Hellripper Warlocks Grim and Withered Hags
13. Nocturnal Breed Carry The Beast
14. Mork Dypet
15. Church Of Misery Born Under A Mad Sign
16. Enslaved Heimdal
17. Tesseract War Of Being
18. Green Lung This Heathen Land
19. Domkraft Sonic Moons
20. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite


Elliot Leaver
Writer

1. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
2. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
3. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
4. Creeper Sanguivore
5. Obituary Dying Of Everything
6. Tesseract War Of Being
7. Arkona Kob'
8. Pupil Slicer Blossom
9. Tortured Demon Rise Of The Lifeless
10. Vexed Negative Energy
11. Code Orange The Above
12. Burner It All Returns To Nothing
13. Zulu A New Tomorrow
14. Orbit Culture Descent
15. Night Demon Outsider
16. Godflesh Purge
17. Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
18. Insomnium Anno 1696
19. Voyager Fearless In Love
20. KK's Priest The Sinner Rides Again


Dannii Leivers
Writer

1. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
2. Code Orange The Above
3. Creeper Sanguivore
4. Narrow Head Moments OF Clarity
5. Tesseract War Of Being
6. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
7. Crosses Goodnight, God Bless, I Love You, Delete
8. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
9. Poppy Zig
10. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
11. Dying Wish Symptoms Of Survival
12. Bury Tomorrow The Seventh Sun
13. Babymetal The Other One
14. Within Temptation Bleed Out
15. Blood Command World Domination
16. Filth Is Eternal Find Out
17. Drain Living Proof
18. Twin Temple God Is Dead
19. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
20. Voice Of Baceprot Retas


Dave Ling
Writer

1. Mammoth WVH Mammoth II
2. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
3. Girlschool WTFortyfive?
4. Metallica 72 Seasons
5. KK’s Priest The Sinner Rides Again
6. Elegant Weapons Horns For A Halo
7. Black Star Riders Wrong Side Of Paradise
8. Black Spiders Can’t Die, Won’t Die
9. Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons Kings Of The Asylum
10. Doro Conqueress - Forever Strong And Proud
11. Skindred Smile
12. Within Temptation Bleed Out
13. Primal Fear Code Red
14. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
15. Voyager Fearless In Love
16. Kamelot The Awakening
17. Baroness Stone
18. Marc Hudson Starbound Stories
19. Burning Witches The Dark Tower
20. Serenity Nemesis AD


Will Marshall
Writer

1. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
2. Zulu A New Tomorrow
3. Dying Wish Symptoms Of Survival
4. Vexed Negative Energy
5. Fuming Mouth Last Day Of Sun
6. Year Of The Knife No Love Lost
7. Pupil Slicer Blossom
8. END The Sin Of Human Frailty
9. Sylosis A Sign Of Things To Come
10. As Everything Unfolds Ultraviolet
11. Holding Absence The Noble Art Of Self Destruction
12. HEALTH Rat Wars
13. Conquer Divide Slow Burn
14. Creeper Sanguivore
15. Code Orange The Above
16. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
17. Baroness Stone
18. Green Lung This Heathen Land
19. Drain Living Proof
20. Tesseract War Of Being


Sophie Maughan
Writer

1. Carnifex Necromanteum
2. To The Grave Directors Cuts
3. Signs Of The Swarm Amongst The Low & Empty
4. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
5. Vexed Negative Energy
6. Viscera Carcinogenesis
7. Mental Cruelty Zwielicht
8. Heart Of A Coward This Place Only Brings Death
9. Metallica 72 Seasons
10. Tesseract War Of Being
11. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
12. Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
13. Necrotted Imperium
14. Polaris Fatalism
15. Pupil Slicer Blossom
16. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
17. Existentialist The Heretic
18. 3Teeth EndEx
19. Graphic Nature A Mind Waiting To Die
20. Year Of The Knife No Love Lost


Edwin McFee
Writer

1. Therapy? Hard Cold Fire
2. Mutoid Man Mutants
3. Naked Lungs Doomscroll
4. Pigs x 7 Land Of Sleeper
5. Gozu Remedy
6. Metallica 72 Seasons
7. JAAW Supercluster
8. Mondo Generator We Stand Against You
9. Burial Clouds Last Days Of A Dying World
10. Primordial How It Ends
11. High Priest Invocation
12. Herod The Iconoclast
13. Grief Symposium ...In The Absence Of Light
14. Acid Magus Hope Is Heavy
15. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
16. Black Star Riders Wrong Side Of Paradise
17. Domkraft Sonic Moons
18. Evile The Unknown
19. Code Orange The Above
20. Shores Of Null The Loss Of Beauty


Ken McIntyre
Writer

1. Overkill Scorched
2. KK's Priest The Sinner Rides Again
3. Nervosa Jailbreak
4. Hellripper Warlocks Grim And Withered Hags
5. Frozen Soul Glacial Domination
6. Green Lung This Heathen Land
7. Mutoid Man Mutants
8. The 69 Eyes Death Of Darkness
9. Legion Of The Damned Poison Chalice
10. Knife Heaven Into Dust
11. Blackbraid Blackbraid II
12. Crypta Shades Of Sorrow
13. Immortal War Against All
14. Deathstars Everything Destroys You
15. Blood Ceremony The Old Ways Remain
16. Sorceror Reign Of The Reaper
17. Obituary Dying Of Everything
18. Slave Steel In Fieri
19. Kvelertak Endling
20. Tsjuder Helvegr


Matt Mills
Writer

1. Tesseract War Of Being
2. Burner It All Returns To Nothing
3. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
4. Underdark Managed Decline
5. Enslaved Heimdal
6. Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
7. Health Rat Wars
8. Ken Mode Void
9. The Ocean Holocene
10. Sylosis A Sign Of Things To Come
11. Godflesh Purge
12. Baroness Stone
13. In Flames Foregone
14. Insomnium Anno 1696
15. Green Lung This Heathen Land
16. Host IX
17. Creeper Sanguivore
18. Mutoid Man Mutants
19. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
20. Urne A Feast On Sorrow


Catherine Morris
Writer

1. VV Neon Noir
2. Maggot Heart Hunger
3. Royal Thunder Rebuilding The Mountain
4. Within Temptation Bleed Out
5. Avatar Dance Devil Dance
6. Graveyard 6
7. Voice Of Baceprot Retas
8. healthyliving Songs Of Abundance, Psalms Of Grief
9. Grave Pleasures Plagueboys
10. Metallica 72 Seasons
11. Hexvessel Polar Veil
12. Beyond The Black Beyond The Black
13. Myrkur Spine
14. Naut Hunt
15. Blackbriar A Dark Euphony
16. Enslaved Heimdal
17. Ad Infinitum Chapter lll - Downfall
18. Skindred Smile
19. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter Saved!
20. Hanabie Reborn Superstar!


Tom O’Boyle
Writer

1. Entheos Time Will Take Us All
2. The Zenith Passage Datalysium
3. Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
4. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
5. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
6. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
7. Code Orange The Above
8. Creeper Sanguivore
9. VV Neon Noir
10. Imperium Dekadenz Into Sorrow Evermore
11. Naut Hunt
12. Enslaved Heimdal
13. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
14. Baroness Stone
15. Blut Aus Nord Disharmonium-Nahab
16. Year Of The Knife No Love Lost
17. OHHMS Rot
18. Outer Heaven Infinite Psychic Depths
19. Slomatics Strontium Fields
20. Lamp Of Muurmur Saturnian Bloodstorm


Kevin Stewart-Panko
Writer

1. Venomous Concept The Good Ship Lollipop
2. Mutoid Man Mutants
3. Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
4. Obituary Dying of Everything
5. Godflesh Purge
6. Arabrot Of Darkness and Light
7. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
8. Oxbow Love’s Holiday
9. Witch Ripper The Fight After the Fall
10. Ken Mode Void
11. Kvelertak Endling
12. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
13. Blood Ceremony The Old Ways Remain
14. Church of Misery Born Under a Bad Sign
15. Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
16. Nuclear Power Trio Wet Ass Plutonium
17. Harms Way Common Suffering
18. An Autumn For Crippled Children Closure
19. Ex Everything Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart
20. Filth is Eternal Find Out


Emily Swingle
Writer

1. Silent Planet Superbloom
2. Tesseract War Of Being
3. Creeper Sanguivore
4. Twin Temple God Is Dead
5. Vanishing Kids Miracle Of Death
6. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
7. KEN Mode Void
8. Blood Command World Domination
9. Vexed Negative Energy
10. Death Pill Death Pill
11. Sylosis A Sign Of Things To Come
12. nothing,nowhere Void Eternal
13. Burner It All Returns To Nothing
14. Polaris Fatalism
15. Zulu New Tomorrow
16. Host IX
17. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
18. Godflesh Purge
19. Blindfolded And Led To The Woods Rejecting Obliteration
20. Enslaved Managed Decline


Jack Terry
Writer

1. Death Goals A Garden Of Dead Flowers
2. Wothrosch Odium
3. End The Sin Of Human Frailty
4. Sulphur Aeon Seven Crowns And Seven Seals
5. Torpor Abscission
6. Bell Witch The Clandestine Gate
7. Herod The Iconoclast
8. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
9. Ahab The Choral Tombs
10. Foo Fighters But Here We Are
11. Wallowing Earth Reaper
12. Pupil Slicer Blossom
13. The Acacia Strain Failure Will Follow
14. Burner It All Returns To Nothing
15. Ashen Ritual Of Ash
16. Zulu A New Tomorrow
17. Code Orange The Above
18. Dawn Ray'd To Know The Light
19. Urne A Feast On Sorrow
20. Vexed Negative Energy


Paul Travers
Writer

1. Blood Ceremony The Old Ways Remain
2. Myrkur Spine
3. Green Lung This Heathen Land
4. Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy
5. Creeper Sanguivore
6. KK’s Priest The Sinner Rides Again
7. Maggot Heart Hunger
8. Metallica 72 Seasons
9. Ahab The Coral Tombs
10. Enslaved Heimdal
11. Pigs x7 Land Of Sleeper
12. Pupil Slicer Blossom
13. Sorcerer Reign Of The Reaper
14. Skindred Smile
15. Svalbard The Weight Of The Mask
16. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
17. Skáld Huldufolk
18. Twin Temple God Is Dead
19. Code Orange The Above
20. End The Sin Of Human Frailty


Kez Whelan
Writer

1. Khanate To Be Cruel
2. Bell Witch The Clandestine Gate
3. Torpor Abscission
4. Godflesh Purge
5. Wallowing Earth Reaper
6. Urfaust Untergang
7. Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
8. Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
9. Underdark Managed Decline
10. Oxbow Love's Holiday
11. Full Of Hell & Primitive Man Suffocating Hallucination
12. Autopsy Ashes, Organs, Blood And Crypts
13. Cruciamentum Obsidian Refractions
14. Dawn Ray'd To Know The Light
15. Usnea Bathed In Light
16. Dryad The Abyssal Plain
17. Hexvessel Polar Veil
18. Church Of Misery Born Under A Mad Sign
19. KEN Mode Void
20. Downfall Of Gaia Silhouettes Of Disgust


Holly Wright
Writer

1. Avenged Sevenfold Life Is But A Dream...
2. Sleep Token Take Me Back To Eden
3. Ne Obliviscaris Exul
4. Tesseract War Of Being
5. Sylosis A Sign Of Things To Come
6. Voyager Fearless In Love
7. Spirit Adrift Ghost At The Gallows
8. Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
9. Katatonia Sky Void Of Stars
10. Metallica 72 Seasson
11. Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
12. Creeper Sanguivore
13. Hanabie Reborn Superstar!
14. Cattle Decapitation Terrasite
15. Soen Memorial
16. Avatar Dance Devil Dance
17. Skindred Smile
18. Babymetal The Other One
19. Baroness Stone
20. Twin Temple God Is Dead

Rich Hobson

Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn't fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token. 

With contributions from