Finding a Syringe in a Needlestack, part 1

Ten of My Top Twenty Albums of Twenty Twenty-Three

Nobody warned me that making a Top Twenty list would be so hard. I’ve listened to hundreds of albums this year, most of them bad or boring. That said, as I dove into this years release roster, it became clear that I’ve still heard a great deal of albums that I found very impressive - far more than twenty.

Per Encyclopaedia Metallum, there’s been at least ten thousand black metal releases this year. I can’t even imagine what diamonds are scattered in the rough. Undoubtedly, there were likely hundreds of incredible albums that I not only didn’t hear, but may never hear. That thought certainly took some wind out of my sails a few times while writing up this list.

The biggest challenge thus far is that I’ve largely found it disingenuous to attempt quantitatively ranking twenty different albums. The statistician in me cringes at the very thought. Instead, I’ve chosen my twenty favorite albums of the year, in no particular order, with one reigning supreme. To keep it easy to digest, I’m split…