BravePicks 2023 - The Scribes Speak!
"Metal" Tim Henderson

Top 20 Of 2023
1) MARDUK - Memento Mori (Century Media)
2) OBITUARY - Dying Of Everything (Relapse)
3) KATAKLYSM - Goliath (Nuclear Blast)
4) METAL CHURCH - Congregation Of Annihilation (Rat Pak)
5) IMMORTAL - War Against All (Nuclear Blast)
6) VOIVOD - Morgöth Tales - (Century Media)
7) ENSLAVED - Heimdal (Nuclear Blast)
8) CANNIBAL CORPSE – Chaos Horrific (Metal Blade)
9) OVERKILL - Scorched (Nuclear Blast)
10) OLATHIA - The Forest Witch (Independent)
11) VOMITORY - All Heads Are Gonna Roll (Metal Blade)
12) TILL THE DIRT - Outside The Spiral (Nuclear Blast)
13) KAMELOT - The Awakening (Napalm)
14) PRONG - State Of Emergency (Steamhammer / SPV)
15) RAVEN - All Hell's Breaking Loose (Silver Lining)
16) IN FLAMES – Foregone (Nuclear Blast)
17) KATATONIA - Sky Void Of Stars (Napalm)
18) SONS OF CULT - Back To The Beginning (Xtreem)
19) TAAKE - Et Hav Av Avstand (Dark Essence)
20) DØDHEIMSGARD - Black Medium Current (Peaceville)

Top 5 Concerts Of 2023
MARDUK, OBITUARY, TESTAMENT, KATAKLYSM - Summer Breeze Open Air, Dinkelsbühl, Germany
HELLHAMMER / CELTIC FROST, EXCITER, RAZOR - Houston, Texas
EXCITER - Rockpile, Toronto, Ontario
KREATOR, HYPOCRISY, MELECHESH, AMORPHIS - 70000 Tons Of Metal 2023
OBITUARY - Phoenix, Toronto, Ontario

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments
ICED EARTH - Hellrider / I Walk Among You (Rock Of Angels Records)
How desperate. If you had any class at all, you’d be running far away from anything to do with Jon Schaffer. ROAR? All I can hear is a whimper. Pathetic label, poor judgement.

STEEL PANTHER – On The Prowl (Steel Panther INC)
Never been a fan of this gimmick.

DEF LEPPARD WITH THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – Drastic Symphonies (UMe)
Although I must say they still own it live (with orchestra), this band has consistently failed me since Euphoria.

U.D.O. - Touchdown (Atomic Fire)
How the mighty have fallen. I guess I need to “accept” that.

BABYMETAL - The Other One
Why hasn’t this baby been aborted yet?

Thoughts On 2023
As I type this, I’m totally head-deep into Geddy’s Lee’s wonderful biography, so why not start out with the theme of books. The Rush legend details his 70 years on this Earth, but the most riveting was his family history and tale of horror and survival. It literally put me to tears reading how his folks survived the Holocaust and started a family in Canada. There’d be no Rush without their strength and endurance. Another honourable mention includes Geezer Butler’s Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath―And Beyond.

The year kicked off with the first 70000 Tons Of Metal adventure since the COVID-19 pandemic, so the metal masses were in extreme party mode and right now is the time off the year that the excitement of the next cruise is boiling in your veins. Did you book 70000 Tons Of Metal 2024 yet? Right now the highlights are Marduk (playing Panzer Division Marduk in its entirety), Kataklysm, Nile, My Dying Bride and the Halo Effect, with 23 more bands still to be announced! 

When we first started BW&BK 30 years ago this year (1994), we always said that it makes sense that your top albums of the year were the ones you listened to most. So if there was any carnage left behind my almost daily bike rides around Lake Ontario this summer, it was caused by Marduk’s new album, Memento Mori. There is truly not another extreme metal band like them, your body feels like it was hit by a steamroller. And Marduk are a band that it actually takes effort to listen to. And education, cuz if you weren’t weaned on bands like Venom, Motörhead, Bathory, Hellhammer as a young kid, this will go way over your head as the intensity and speed is mind-numbing. And we saw them crush the audience at Summer Breeze and if you ever needed a reason to go on 70000 Tons Of Metal, this would be it. Wait until Marduk destroys the Pool Stage! 

Obituary and Kataklysm are two juggernauts that continue to deliver the goods and these lads aren’t spring chickens. It just amazes me that so late in their career, both continue to hone their art and we as fans bask in the glory. Obituary truly taking the piss out of the sh*t show that was COVID with that album title, Dying Of Everything. But you’ve got to hand it to Metal Church, returning with new vocalist Marc Lopes who replaces the late Mike Howe. Think about it. 40 years into their career, the band survives the deaths of two singers and leader Kurdt Vanderhoof is still riffing like a madman, Congregation Of Annihilation is that good.  

2023’s tragic death list looked like this: Jeff Beck, Myles Goodwyn (April Wine), Kirk Arrington (Metal Church), Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Bernie Marsden, Algy Ward (Tank), Steve Riley, John Regan (Frehley’s Comet) Tim Aymar (Control Denied), Jon Kennedy (Cradle Of Filth, Hecate Enthroned), Mark Adams (Saint Vitus), Josua Madsen (Artlillery), Charlie Dominici (Dream Theater), Denny Laine (Wings, The Moody Blues), George Tickner (Journey), Robbie Bachman (BTO drummer) and Tim Bachman (BTO guitarist). And on a “lighter” note, to us Canuckleheads, the loss of Gordon Lightfoot and Robbie Robertson hit damn hard as well.

Looking forward to the “The Most Important Night In Hard Rock and Heavy Metal!!” -  the 2024 Metal Hall Of Fame Gala - which will take place January 24th at the Delta Marriott Garden Grove, Anaheim, CA. Mick Mars, Sebastian Bach, Tim “Ripper” Owens, Carlos Cavazo, Biohazard, Penelope Spheeris (Producer/Director: Decline Of Western Civilization, Wayne’s World), Eddie Trunk and Mikeal Maglieri (Whisky A Go Go) all getting inducted. 

Last but not least, Metallica. Funny, when we unveiled our BravePicks of the year we had arrived at the #2 position (Immortal) and Metallica hadn’t appeared, so many presumed it would be #1. And it didn’t even make our collective Top 30. That’s saying something. Why? I truly think people are just tired. It’s not like it sucked, but there was nothing that grabbed my throat, pulled me into the circle, like they’ve done so many times in the past. I need to hear a reinvigorated Metallica like we heard on Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. Back to the drawing board lads.

Who/What Has to Stop in 2024
Every day a new generation of music fan is born. Generations of fans that were never introduced to music by a family member. Or on AM/FM radio like I was. Or to hold your first 45 or LP. Your first 8-track or cassette tape. Walk into an actual retail store and buy physical product. Actually have to bring something to your car and slot it into your console. Never in my wildest dreams would I see the majority of the planet carry around devices worth over $1000 that rule your world. Entertain you effortlessly. I think back to my public school days and the most you could afford was a skateboard or a baseball glove. Not a four-digit price tagged phone.

So I hear people bitching about avatars, holograms. Pantera reunions. Bands going out on the road that only have one surviving member. So nothing has to stop. As long as you have people living and breathing music, that’s the point. Just keep the fires burning… And the beauty of it is that the metal elders get to share all this history with the younger fans.

Metal Predictions For 2024
Well, as mentioned. BraveWords turns 30 this year, so stay tuned for all sorts of celebratory editorial. We printed 200 copies of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles on July 6th, 1994. The website launched in 2000. And here we stand. Very curious what Kerry King will be bringing to the table. 

New Down and Corrosion Of Conformity music sounds quite pleasing. The new Mick Mars is stellar and I truly hope Ace Frehley rockets us back to the Frehley’s Comet days!

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
Carl Begai
Rich Catino
Sephora Henderson