J MAYS

2023 was a weird year. I confronted family trauma, opened some old wounds I didn’t know I had, and was able to take the positives from them, let some things go, and grow into the person I’ve wanted to be. I got closer to the edge than ever, and it changed me. I must thank the writers at TOTD, especially my now dear friend Mr. Rini for helping me in more ways than he knows. I’m also grateful that a wonderful person entered my life and has made it all worthwhile. Also, I love metal, and these were my
favorite albums!

My favorite albums of the year

1. Entheos – Time Will Take Us All (Metal Blade Records)
2. Cattle Decapitation – Terrasite (Metal Blade Records)
3. Wayfarer – American Gothic (Profound Lore Records)
4. Sylosis – A Sign of Things to Come (Nuclear Blast Records)
5. Frozen Soul – Glacial Domination (Century Media Records)
6. Sanguisugabogg – Homicidal Ecstasy (Century Media Records)
7. Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium (Season of Mist)
8. Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin)
9. Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration (Prosthetic Records)
10. Fires in the Distance – Air Not Meant for Us (Prosthetic Records)
11. Fryktelig Støy – Disappointment (Self-Released/Gutter Prince Cabal)
12. Creeping Death – Boundless Domain (MNRK Heavy)
13. VCTMS – 5: The Hurt Collection (Self-Released)
14. Keep of Kalessin – Katharsis (Back on Black Records)
15. Cloak – Black Flame Eternal (Season of Mist)
16. Enforced – War Remains (Century Media Records)
17. Sermon – Of Golden Verse (Prosthetic Records)
18. Persekutor – Snow Business (Blues Funeral Recordings)
19. Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun (Nuclear Blast Records)
20. The Zenith Passage – Datalysium (Metal Blade Records)
21. Décembre Noir – Your Sunset/My Sunrise (Lifeforce Records)
22. Flesher – Tales of Grotesque Demise (Redefining Darkness Records)
23. The Crawling – All of This for Nothing (Self-Released)

Songs of the year:

1. Sylosis – “A Sign of Things to Come.”
2. Persekutor – “Suck City.”
3. Cattle Decapitation – “Just Another Body.”
4. Entheos – “I Am the Void.”
5. Frozen Soul – “Morbid Effigy.”
6. The Zenith Passage – “The Axiom of Error.”
7. The Crawling- “Another Vulture.”
8. Decembré Noir – “Dead End: May.”
9. Enforced – “Hanged by My Hand.”
10. Fuming Mouth – “Last Day of Sun.”

Death Metal:

1. Kruelty – Untopia (Profound Lore Records)
2. Suffocation – Hymns from the Apocrypha (Nuclear Blast Records)
3. Afterbirth – In But Not Of (Willowtip Records)
4. Dying Fetus – Make Them Beg for Death (Relapse Records)
5. Putrascension – Forever Below (Horror Pain Gore Death)

Deathcore:

1. Mental Cruelty – Zwielicht (Century Media Records)
2. Suicide Silence – Remember… You Must Die (Nuclear Blast Records)
3. To the Grave – Director’s Cuts (Unique Leader Records)

Doom:

1. Dream Unending & Worm – Starpath (20 Buck Spin)
2. Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper (Metal Blade Records)
3. Vadiat – Spear of Creation (Redefining Darkness Records)

Pittsburgh, PA Bands to Check Out (since this is my hometown “scene”)

1. Lady Beast
2. Vicious Blade
3. Ancient Torture
4. Riparian
5. Úzkost

Best Live Bands:

1. Unleash The Archers
2. Escuela Grind
3. Sevendust
4. Wednesday 13
5. Nekrogoblikon