BravePicks 2023 - The Scribes Speak!
Carl Begai

Top 20 Of 2023
1) EXTREME - Six (earMusic)
2) DANKO JONES - Electric Sounds (Bad Taste)
3) WARMEN - Here For None (Reaper Entertainment)
4) ALICE COOPER - Road (earMusic)
5) KATAKLYSM - Goliath (Nuclear Blast)
6) ANTHEM - Crimson & Jet Black (Victor)
7) KAMELOT - The Awakening (Napalm)
8) NERVOSA - Jailbreak (Napalm)
9) MEMORIAM - Rise To Power (Reaper Entertainment)
10) OCEANHOARSE - Heads Will Roll (Noble Demon)
11) IN FLAMES - Foregone (Nuclear Blast)
12) SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION - Golden Age Of Music (Music Theories)
13) OVERKILL - Scorched (Nuclear Blast)
14) PRONG - State Of Emergency (Steamhammer / SPV)
15) COREY TAYLOR - CMF2 (BMG)
16) METAL CHURCH - Congregation Of Annihilation (Rat Pak)
17) IN THIS MOMENT - Godmode (BMG)
18) SVEN GALI - Bombs And Battlescars (Music In Motion)
19) NITA STRAUSS - The Call Of The Void (Sumerian)
20) RAVEN - All Hell's Breaking Loose (Silver Lining)

Top 3 Concerts Of 2023
Kamelot - Grünspan – Hamburg, Germany
Bloodywood - Hirsch - Nuremberg, Germany
Overkill / Exhorder - Backstage - Munich, Germany

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments
ICED EARTH - Hellrider / I Walk Among You (Rock Of Angels Records)
It's BraveWords policy not to put EPs in our year-end lists - particularly when it's basically archive material - but the annual Iced Earth cashgrab is insulting. Mr. Schaffer made a mistake that effectively destroyed the band's name, thus it's time to put it to bed for good. We have an epic catalogue of timeless metal to celebrate; stop tarnishing the Iced Earth legacy.

SLEEP TOKEN - Take Me Back To Eden (Spinefarm)
I am definitely in the minority here, but I don't get the hype that follows these guys around. Slipknot cornered the creepy masked mystery band thing until they didn't, and musically Sleep Token border on the verge of an insomnia cure (with the exception of the ominous "Vore"). That said, this proves that the metal community are the most open-minded music lovers on the planet. Just not everything sticks.

GLORYHAMMER - Return To The Kingdom Of Fife (Napalm)
About as serious as hearing someone fart in an elevator: you'll pull a face but end up laughing about it. This is everything that is great and absolute shite about power metal, featuring some of the best worst lyrics ever. As in, ever. If I wasn't such a grumpy fucker I'd probably give this a deserved chance.

ELVENKING - Reader Of The Runes - Rapture
I borrowed my brother's eagle and had this blasting in my earpods on the flight to Mount Doom.

BABYMETAL - The Other One
The name of this corporate boardroom project... ahem, "band"... still makes me want to facepalm somebody, but the big problem with this record is the production. Singer Suzuka "Su Metal" Nakamoto is the star of the show - and if you've ever seen Babymetal live, she delivers - but the decision to autotune her voice to death (which is insulting to Su) and then have the vocal tracks overshadow everything else on the record is an amateur and just plain stupid move. Sure, the diehard fans won't care, but those of us on the fence will pass.

What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024
This year, the cauldron started to bubble once again with regards to Skid Row reuniting with

Sebastian Bach. For the love of Christ, Buddha or The Cat In The Hat, the metal press should just leave the topic alone. Baz has made it clear he would be into it, the band has said they're not interested, so leave it at that. As a fan, I'd be into a reunion of the original line-up if they could blast out a Slave To The Grind II, but I gotta say, Mr. Erik Grönwall is killing it fronting Skid Row in the here and now. Let him do his job without the bullshit clickbait headlines mucking up the works.

On a far more serious note, this bullshit of bands / artists being receiving 0.000002 cents per play from streaming services has to be trashed. Everyone loves the idea of "free" music, but it is utterly disgusting to think that the musicians we love and support get raped for their art while some suit-and-tie guy - who wouldn't know a melody if it hit him in the fucking head - sucks in millions of dollars a year. Sadly, this is the realm of big government needing to get its hands dirty, and I highly doubt that will happen. I would love to be proven wrong.

Metal Predictions For 2024
KISS will continue to be a dominant force in the rock world even though they have (sort of) said goodbye. Rachel Bolan of the aforementioned Skid Row recently stated that it would be an odd world with KISS no longer in it, but with the talk of avatars and a new era, this is one rock n' roll b(r)and that isn't done by a long shot. Like it or not.

And sadly, as prices continue to rise and artists continue to get fucked over by Spotify and their ilk, we're going to see bands having to put together bigger tour packages (meaning higher prices, overlong nights at the bar), or scale down the amount of touring they do (if at all). Fans will be forced to think twice and then again before shelling out $$ for concert tickets, associated merch and drinks. The days of seeing three shows in a week are gone, unless you're printing your own money or know a bank manager with sticky fingers.

Read our BravePicks 2023 countdown where Obituary's Dying Of Everything took the throne at #1 here.

More Scribes Speak!:
Mark Gromen
Aaron Small
Greg Pratt
Nick Balazs
James Garvin