Christian Metal Album & EP Of the Year for 2023 - RESULTS!

Obviously as no surprise who won, but the rest of the list I think is pretty cool. ServIMG won't let me post all the pictures I made.

But I digress, here's your top 10 lists

The complete exhaustive list of all the votes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CVbWIDpt60Ibaifsj-hdDaPKtiA_quWrzuMd1uBYUXo/edit?usp=sharing

Album of the Year:

Theocracy (Mosaic)                                 147
Disciple (Skeleton Psalms)                         85
War of Ages : (Dominion)                         56
Testimony of Apocalypse (The Offering) 56
Martin Simson's DESTROYER OF DEATH (Eternal Reign) 44
HolyName (HolyName)                                 39
Applehead (The Light Side Of The Apple) 39
Zahna (Stronger Than Death)                 37
Signum Regis (Undivided)                         35
Wytch Hazel (IV: Sacrament)                    34


EP of the Year: 


Impending Doom (Last Days) 39
Magdalene Rose (The Prelude) 37
Deny the Fallen (Echo Chamber) 32
Crimson Moonlight (Abbadon) 26
Relent (World War Me)                 25
Jimmy P Brown II (Novella 2) 21
(UN)WORTHY (Where Light Divides) 17
The Way of Cain (John 17:3)         12
DIRE (Crush The Head)                 9
Vials of Wrath (Ataraxia I&II) 9


Song of the Year (100+ songs were mentioned, so voting looks really low)

Red Sea - Theocracy 20
Bow Down - Disciple 12
Mosaic - Theocracy   10
Watchman - Testimony of Apocalypse 8
Bad Words - Disciple 5
Dominus - War of Ages 5
Return to Dust - Theocracy 5
GHOST - Testimony of Apocalypse 4
Master of All - Martin Simson's Destroyer of Death 4
Metatropolis - Project 86 4

Theocracy was no surprise…but where is Bride? I thought their new album is among their best. I guess not good enough among their peers. Maybe people are feeling a little Dale fatigue? Are You Awake is my second for AOTY.

Ammocas wrote:Theocracy was no surprise…but where is Bride? I thought their new album is among their best. I guess not good enough among their peers. Maybe people are feeling a little Dale fatigue? Are You Awake is my second for AOTY.

They were #16 on the list.

I’m really surprised to see Disciple get #2. Also I’ve never heard of Zahna before

I had Bride first, then Theocracy, then Disciple.  Disciple, whilst not being classic metal, I find rather compeling to listen to.  Some of the tracks on Skeleton Psalms are incredible.

And Ammocas is right, Bride's album is their best for an age.

Fundy wrote:I had Bride first, then Theocracy, then Disciple.  Disciple, whilst not being classic metal, I find rather compeling to listen to.  Some of the tracks on Skeleton Psalms are incredible.

And Ammocas is right, Bride's album is their best for an age.

Nah that would be Skin for Skin

I loved the new Disciple, but my runner-up didn’t even make the top 10 (Narnia).

seth wrote:

Fundy wrote:I had Bride first, then Theocracy, then Disciple.  Disciple, whilst not being classic metal, I find rather compeling to listen to.  Some of the tracks on Skeleton Psalms are incredible.

And Ammocas is right, Bride's album is their best for an age.

Nah that would be Skin for Skin

That was great too.

Skin for Skin is a great album…but I was talking about albums that were released this year…I said it was among their best.

Narnia should’ve been listed in the AOTY…that was surprisingly not mentioned.

Ammocas wrote:Skin for Skin is a great album…but I was talking about albums that were released this year…I said it was among their best.

Narnia should’ve been listed in the AOTY…that was surprisingly not mentioned.

I only posted the top 10 here. Its #11 with 31 votes, just behind Wytch Hazel. Albums 11-61 are at the URL I gave in the first link, along with all other EPs and Songs of the year that got recorded votes.

Dreamer: Full Metal Racket

Glad to see that 3 other people voted for Trébuchet with me!

If I were voting primarily on lyrics Trebuchet SDG might’ve been #1.

I’m curious as to how Kerrick voted since Stryper didn’t release an album this year.

Pethead wrote:If I were voting primarily on lyrics Trebuchet SDG might’ve been #1.

I’m curious as to how Kerrick voted since Stryper didn’t release an album this year.

Someone did a mail-in vote for Stryper this year so...

Yeah, that must’ve been Kerrick.

Me smugly knowing Sacrificium had the best release this year. Peasants.

I’m glad Applehead made it into the list, would have been my third pick after Adorned Graves and Theocracy

Black Rider wrote:Me smugly knowing Sacrificium had the best release this year. Peasants.

It’s the best Christian DM this year.

Pethead wrote:I loved the new Disciple, but my runner-up didn’t even make the top 10 (Narnia).

Yeah, I was disappointed to see that as well. Narnia was my #1. Even though I really liked Undivided (my 3rd), I thought Narnia was better than theirs. Perhaps there's a benefit (for these lists) to release later in the year.

I feel like a lot of people underrate Ghost Town. It’s consistently excellent.

The question is who will make it to my #1? Stay tuned to my youtube channel Soldier777. There are more 2023 releases I need to get before I rank them.

Pethead wrote:I feel like a lot of people underrate Ghost Town. It’s consistently excellent.

Musically it's great but something about his vocals keeps me from really liking his stuff.

I felt that way about older Narnia albums, but I thought he had enough grit on GT.

For my money, the songwriting on Ghost Town is much stronger than on Destroyer of Death, although it’s hard to beat Rob Rock vocally.

I haven't listened to all of Narnia's back catalogue like most of you have, so I can't compare it. All I can say is that 1) I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, 2) the lyrics have drawn me to Jesus, 3) I really like the progressive elements of their music.