BravePicks 2023 - The Scribes Speak!
Nick Balazs

Top 20 Of 2023
1) THEOCRACY – Mosaic (Atomic Fire)
2) HELLRIPPER – Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags (Peaceville)
3) LOVEBITES – Judgement Day (Victor)
4) MOONLIGHT SORCERY – Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle (Avantgarde Music)
5) WYTCH HAZEL – IV: Sacrament (Bad Omen)
6) SACRED OUTCRY – Towers Of Gold (No Remorse)
7) TANITH – Voyage (Metal Blade)
8) IMMORTAL – War Against All (Nuclear Blast)
9) OVERKILL – Scorched (Nuclear Blast)
10) AUTOPSY – Ashes, Organs, Blood And Crypts (Peaceville)
11) SIGNUM REGIS – Undivided (Ulterium)
12) ENFORCER – Nostalgia (Nuclear Blast)
13) HAUNT – Golden Arm (Church Recordings)
14) ANGRA – Cycles Of Pain (Atomic Fire)
15) EXMORTUS – Necrophony (Nuclear Blast)
16) METALLICA – 72 Seasons (Blackened Recordings)
17) BLOOD STAR – First Sighting (Shadow Kingdom)
18) WARMEN – Here For None (Reaper Entertainment)
19) MARDUK – Memento Mori (Century Media)
20) GATEKEEPER – From Western Shores (Cruz del Sur)

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments
VIRGIN STEELE – The Path Of Dionysus (SPV / Steamhammer) I have respect for David DeFeis doing what he wants with this weird piano metal drama, but man it just doesn’t have the power and majesty those older works do. I’m still a fan, but this is tough to listen to.

LANCER – Tempest (Fireflash) One of the more promising NWOTHM acts, Tempest goes backwards with confusing production choice and attempts at being “mature” falling flat on its face. Hope they can recover from this.

KAMELOT – The Awakening (Napalm)  They just don’t have the magic anymore; their newer material isn’t even close to matching the inspired works when Roy Khan graced the mic.

ELEGANT WEAPONS – Horns For A Halo (Nuclear Blast)  On paper it looked good with Priest axman Richie Faulkner and vocalist Ronnie Romero…but the music is drab and by-the-numbers. Total boredom.

TILL THE DIRT – Outside The Spiral (Nuclear Blast) Kelly Shaefer’s newest venture is a disjointed combo of different energies pulling in opposite directions trying to tie it down into one. Death metal…groove…grunge like vocals…what a mess.

Thoughts On 2023
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct was our #1 album of 2016 and fast forward to now and the newest Metallica release didn’t even make our top 30! It’s funny because I found 72 Seasons an overall stronger record than Hardwired.

Elsewhere, Theocracy was phenomenal, that riff happy, heavy power metal hits that sweet spot for me and Hellripper was close behind – that blackened thrash attack hitting all the right notes. For those that might not be aware, Sacred Outcry was a Greek power metal album that wowed and features the vocal talents of Daniel Heiman (Lost Horizon) on vocals. Check that out – you won’t be disappointed.

From the newer crops of artists, Haunt continues to impress along with Wytch Hazel, and Gatekeeper, and the debut from Moonlight Sorcery and Blood Star were good stuff.

Also a goodbye to one of my favorite BM acts - Dark Fortress. Their German brand of black metal was always engaging and they released some killer material. Always thought they were horribly underrated and sad to see them call it quits.

And of course have to mention the launch of BraveWords Records – an incredible endeavor!

Who/What Has To Stop In 2024
Metal needs to remember its individualistic identity and that it isn’t a “pretty” genre. You are going to run into bands/musicians that might hold opinions that are disagreeable and even repugnant. It’s perfectly ok to not push play on their music, but don’t try to make others feel bad or demand they shouldn’t be listened to by anyone else. We all have our threshold of what we're ok with and what we're not, yet some feel the need to legislate what is "acceptable" and that is the complete antithesis of heavy metal. 

Also to add onto my colleague Aaron’s point – I distinctly remember in 2019 listening to Hair Nation promoting the new Whitesnake record Flesh & Blood and then promptly playing a tune from 1987. That didn’t make any sense to me and still doesn’t. They should be playing the newer stuff from these classic artists as well as the ones keeping it alive – Steel Panther, Crashdïet, Crazy Lixx, Reckless Love, etc.

Metal Predictions
Hoping for a 50th anniversary edition of KISS’ debut album complete with demos and early live material.

For actual predictions – the new Bruce Dickinson will be better than the last few Iron Maiden albums and this new Kerry King solo venture won’t be anything special musically (hopefully I’m wrong). 

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