THE EDITOR’S LIST – BEST HARD ROCK ALBUMS OF 2023
THE BEST MUSIC OF THE YEAR 2023 – MARK’s TOP 20
As usual every year we promote Australian music by creating two lists – one of our favourite albums of the year and one of our favourite Australian albums of the year. If we did a combined list I think that this year all of our Top Australian albums of the year would have made the Top 20 in my overall list. As usual 2023 was proof that Hard Rock will never die…
1. DIRTY HONEY – CAN’T FIND THE BRAKES
2. SWEAT – WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?
3. BLACK STONE CHERRY – SCREAMIN’ AT THE SKY
4. BAD TOUCH – BITTERSWEET SATISFACTION
5. DYNAZTY – FINAL ADVENT
6. MIDNITE CITY – IN AT THE DEEP END
7. THE DEFIANTS – DRIVE
8. BUCKCHERRY – VOL 10
9.ECLIPSE – MEGALOMANIUM
10. THE ANSWER – SUNDOWNERS
11. JOHN DIVA AND THE ROCKETS OF LOVE – THE BIG EASY
12. EXTREME – 6
13. ELECTRIC BOYS – GRAND EXPLOSIVOS
14. BOYS FROM HEAVEN – THE DESCENDANT
15. ROBIN McAULEY – ALIVE
16. THE 69 EYES – DEATH OF DARKNESS
17. BLACK STAR RIDERS – THE WRONG SIDE OF PARADISE
18. GARDNER JAMES – NO STRINGS
19. NITRATE – FEEL THE HEAT
20= ANGEL – ONCE UPON A TIME
20= MITCHELL’S KISS OF THE GYPSY – UNFINISHED BUSINESS
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ROB JONES’ – BEST HARD ROCK ALBUMS OF 2023
2022 was one of the best years ever for new rock n roll albums, So it was always going to be an impossible task for 2023 to top it. I feel like the first half of the year really struggled to have very many releases that were really impressive and again.. last year set the bar extremely high. The last half of the year is where things started to pick up. For me personally this was a fun year as I got to see VV (Ville Valo of H.I.M), The Dead Daises, Depeche Mode, and L.A. Guns live. Knocking off a couple of bucket list bands in the process and making L.A. Guns the band I’ve seen the most live, and if you ever get the chance I highly recommend going. I also got to interview a few great artists that I admire like Dave Moraz of Hell in the Club, Pontus Walldin of Confess, Shaun Soho of Crash Midnight, and Nick Hogg of Nitrate. After giving it much thought here are my albums of the year:
1. Nitrate – Feel The Heat.
I can’t say enough great things about this album, it is from start to finish a phenomenal record that everyone should hear. I could go on but I reviewed it already if you want my detailed thoughts about it.
2. VV – Neon Noir.
This almost took the top spot, it’s a fantastic album that is everything I was sad to lose when H.I.M split up. The album is even more impressive when you know that unlike in his former band Ville Valo wrote and played every part for every instrument on this album, making it a true solo album in every sense of the word.
3. Hell in the Club – F.U.B.A.R.
I’m such a big fan of this band, they are one of the very best bands of the modern hard rock renaissance. You need to hear these guys if you haven’t heard them before.
4. Station – And Time Goes On.
This band deserves to be better known than they are and you shouldn’t miss out on their music, these guys write excellent songs with a great sense of melody, their power ballads in particular would’ve been HUGE back in the 80s had they been around back then. Their new album much like their prior ones is impressive.
5. Eclipse – Megalomanium
Eclipse is one of the best bands in the world, Wired for me was not only the album of the year in the year it was released but I consider it their masterpiece and one of the best albums of the modern movement. As the follow up to Wired, this album for me isn’t as consistent, it’s still a good album with tracks that have greatness but some seem like re-treads of melodies they’ve done before.6. Extreme – Six
What can I say about this album that a million people haven’t said already, it’s got absolutely mind blowing guitar playing on it and these guys are just as good as they ever were. But where most people are focused on the harder songs I personally feel it’s in the mellower songs that these guys really shine the most on this album.
7. L.A. Guns – Black Diamonds.
These guys are one of the few 80’s hard rock bands that are still absolutely killing it decades later, they have arguably one of the most consistently great catalogs of the bands of their era minus a couple of duds and many line up changes. Phil Lewis is still an incredible vocalist and the band are putting out some great albums ever since he and Tracii patched things up, their live shows in recent years are maybe the best I’ve ever seen of any band if not at least close to the best.
8. Midnite City – In At The Deep End.
With only a few albums under their belt Midnite City continue to impress with great catchy songs and their latest is in my opinion their best album yet.9. Trench Dogs – Stockholmiana.
To look at these guys you might think that they are a sleaze band, but what you get instead falls somewhere between Cheap Trick and The Ramones. These songs are well played and fun and “A Little Overdressed” is one of my favourite songs released this year.
10. Dirty Honey – Can’t Find The Brakes.
These guys bit by bit are getting the attention they deserve, they are stunning musicians with a singer that would impress fans of Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey. They fit somewhere in between Led Zeppelin and The Who musically, on their second album they build on the strengths of their first and expand on them. If I have only one gripe about these guys it’s that they don’t make the physical CD worth buying, both of their albums either come in a cardboard sleeve or a digipack and both have no liner notes. In an era where less of us buy CDs, I think that’s no way to reward the people who are actually supporting bands by buying copies of their albums. Liner notes, lyrics, and pictures aren’t a big ask. But regardless, this is a band you’ll want to keep an eye on because with music this good they will have an exciting future.