As the year draws to a close we look back on yet another incredible year of music, as members of the Bring The Noise UK team share their favourite releases of 2023. Let us know who made it into your Top 10 lists by tweeting us @BringTheNoiseUK!
Hannah Gillicker – Editor
1. Enter Shikari – A Kiss For The Whole World
Once again Enter Shikari have topped my records of the year with A Kiss For The Whole World. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of this band and have been for a long time, so I was thrilled to see the album get to number 1 in the UK. I’m always so excited to delve into one of Shikari‘s records. I love their evolution and how they are always so imaginative and not afraid to think outside of the box (not just musically, but from all other perspectives too). A Kiss For The Whole World flows in such a seamless way, with some easter eggs thrown in from previous releases – a perfect addition for a long-time fan. This one will remain on repeat for the foreseeable future!
2. Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD – New Heart Designs EP
Turnstile‘s album GLOW ON was my number two in 2021. It was the album that grabbed my attention and made me the Turnstile fan I am today. Fast forward to 2023, after what has been an incredibly successful two years for the quartet, and Turnstile dropped their stunning three-track EP New Heart Designs – a collaboration with alt-jazz ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD, reimagining tracks from their critically acclaimed 2021 release. A celebration of sorts, New Heart Designs is a beautiful and alluring rework of Mystery, Alien Love Call and Underwater Boi, and for me an unexpected but very welcomed gem of 2023.
3. Slayyyter – STARF*CKER
I came across rising pop icon Slayyyter earlier this year and have been hooked ever since. One of my favourite discoveries of 2023, her new album STARFUCKER is pure pop gold and features some of my top songs of the year, including single Miss Belladonna which has one of the hookiest choruses I’ve heard in a long time. It’s a fun, sassy record that will no doubt remain a staple in my collection for years to come.
4. Holding Absence – The Noble Art Of Self Destruction
5. Creeper – Sanguivore
6. The Used – Toxic Positivity
7. happydaze – Full Free Radical
8. Sleep Token – Take Me Back To Eden
9. Fall Out Boy – So Much (For) Stardust
10. Beartooth – The Surface
Nicola Craig – Live Editor
1. Kids in Glass Houses – Smart Casual (Reissue)
When this album was initially released in 2008, it became of one my all time favourites and I fell in love all over again this year with the reissue. Remixed by Romesh Dodangoda, the whole album was taken to a new level and just sounds slick, superb and fresh, all whilst celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. Exploding into action with Fisticuffs, it sets the scene for the fun which is to follow through the likes of Good Boys Gone Rad and Raise Hell, but standout track Saturday will never fail to get me singing my heart out whatever the setting. Getting to hear this album live in full again this year on their ‘comeback’ tour was really special too, and I can’t wait for their new music to come in 2024!
2. The XCERTS – LEARNING HOW TO LIVE AND LET GO
This album was a huge step up for The XCERTS and personally I feel it cemented them as one of the strongest bands on the scene right now. Listening to this album, every time I find myself drawn further towards a different track thanks to the superb lyrics and music produced on this release. Whether its the short, snappy and most played track of the year for me ACHE or the beautiful, yet heartbreaking It Ain’t Easy, it’s hard to pinpoint a favourite track. The band explored their pop roots even further on this album, as anthemic Lovesick taught us all how to spell but also of the genre blending talents the trio have acquired during their careers. LEARNING HOW TO LIVE AND LET GO is an album of two halves, a celebration of the present but also a look to the future, learning how to live and let go of things which aren’t providing you anything good in life. It was definitely a challenge working out who to put as my album of the year, but this was a very close second.
3. Raye – My 21st Century Blues
Raye‘s debut album and also first major release as an independent artist was everything I was hoping for and more. My 21st Century Blues showcases everything Raye is about: heartbreaking story telling through Ice Cream Man or Hard Out Here; big sing-along choruses in Escapism; and the spine-tingling vocals of Oscar Winning Tears, where the sheer power of the songwriter is laid bare. Standout Environmental Anxiety might make things seem pretty bleak, but it’s a hard-hitting insight into the world we’ve helped produce. As an independent artist, Raye was able to make the album she wanted to make and this beautifully produced and presented record is the gift which keeps on giving. I’ve found myself absolutely hooked on this release in 2023, offering up something for every mood whilst still continuing to wow me like it did upon the first listen.
4. You Me At Six – Truth Decay
5. Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS
6. SNAYX – Weaponized Youth: Part 1
7. Niall Horan – The Show
8. Holly Humberstone – Paint My Bedroom Black
9. Superlove – follow:noise
10. Sleep Token – Take Me Back To Eden
Richard Webb – Features Editor
1. Drain – Living Proof
Living Proof is everything I look for in music. The riffs are heavy and well crafted, the grooves are undeniable and the band seem to have a tremendous amount of fun with everything that they do. Drain have found a perfect way of blending hardcore punk, groove and thrash metal together in a way that is as enjoyable as it is devastatingly heavy and unhinged – and after all, that’s all we want isn’t it? To escape into a little chaos and away from the monotony.
2. In Flames – Foregone
As a longstanding In Flames fan, it has to be said that the output of the band over the past decade or so has been weak in comparison to their heyday in the early 00s. The band has lost core, founding members and as a result, their identity. However, with the release of Foregone they have shaken off the malaise and dusted themselves off, firing on all cylinders and releasing an album that would not only sit amongst the highest points of their back catalogue, but crush some of them. This is a heavy riffing, melodic death metal album that shows the Swedes climbing back to the top of the melodic metal pile.
3. Urne – A Feast For Sorrow
When Urne released their debut album Serpent & Spirit they made the underground metal community pay close attention. The potential dripped from every pore and the world waited for the sophomore effort with baited breath. A Feast For Sorrow certainly did not disappoint. The band took the potential that was shown on their debut and excelled all previous assumptions. The album is a melancholic, grandiose metallic journey that feels as fresh and invigorating as it does tragic and aggressive, with as many progressive elements as devastating riffs and a seamless delivery that far surpasses the band’s years.
4. Green Lung – This Heathen Land
5. Sylosis – A Sign Of Things To Come
6. Pest Control – Don’t Test The Pest EP
7. Spanish Love Songs – No Joy
8. Enter Shikari – A Kiss For The Whole World
9. Better Lovers – God Made Me An Animal
10. Dead Heat – Torment EP
Jo Lisney – Contributing Writer
1. Nothing But Thieves – Death Club City
Admittedly, I was not the band’s biggest fan before they dropped this album. However, my partner adores them; honestly, this album from start to finish is well thought out. Not only do I know all the words to Overcome and Tomorrow is Closed, but I was at the front of their Reading Festival set this year. They are from the same place I’m from; it gives me pride that they created an album full of wonder. I hope 2024 brings them nothing but continuing success.
2. Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS
I loved her 2021 album Sour, so GUTS appears in my list. Olivia Rodrigo has learned what the music industry really is like, and boy, this album told us! With more rock elements and darker themes, she knows how to write a track and will take over the world, one album at a time.
3. You Me At Six – Truth Decay
You Me At Six always appears in my Spotify Wrapped and deservingly so. I did enjoy their 2021 album Suckapunch, but Truth Decay was the album that returned to their roots. With clever lines and hooks, there is so much going on. The band continue their sleek sound and writing skills, even if they aren’t for everyone. I’ve loved them since I was eleven years old, and I will always support their music.
4. Honey Revenge – Retrovision
5. Paramore – This Is Why
6. Waterparks – Intellectual Property
7. Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation
8. Boy Destroy – Pink Cloud
9. Foo Fighters – Here We Are
10. Wargasm – Venom
Louis Tsangarides – Contributing Writer
1. Code Orange – The Above
As much I as don’t wish to call myself a simp, or stan, for a band, deep down I knew I had reached that point with Code Orange about six and a half years ago, when Forever materialised in my life like some kind of golden god. It completely altered my perception of hardcore, from “blokes in vests shouting about unity and occasionally strength” to something that could encompass so many of the things I love, whilst still sounding like being bricked by your angry neighbour. The Above continues the unending streak of quality, reducing me to a pile of childlike giddy tears every time I hear the bass intro to Take Shape, or the moment in Mirror where the chorus hits for the first time like the best MTV hit of 1995. If you see me walking down the street listening to this album, which is a lot, you would see a grown man making aggressively screwed up faces whenever Grooming My Replacement kicks off, or singing Splinter The Soul at the top of my voice in an empty corridor inside my work building. Code Orange is basically every band I ever wanted to be in all at once on this record, and they make me feel like an excitable teenager in a way that I don’t even think I felt when I was one.
2. Paramore – This Is Why
This is the turnaround I never thought would happen. When I was young, I found Paramore intensely annoying. Their songs didn’t speak to me or what I wanted from music at that time at all. Well, a funny thing happened in the intervening years, and that’s both myself and Paramore growing and heading to similar places in things we like. My word, what a different world I live in now. Whilst I throughugjly enjoyed 2017’s After Laughter, this album is a massive step up. Musically, this album is a joy, hitting influences from Bloc Party to little bits of Talking Heads, and don’t tell me there’s not a bit of stuff like the songwriting of a Burt Bacharach. Running Out Of Time is a particular highlight, and Liar is one of the most gorgeous songs you’ll hear. Whilst some old school fans don’t gel with where the band are now, I am fully on the train marked “the last two albums” and cannot wait to see where they go next.
3. Fucked Up – One Day
Following up a prog-punk epic like Dose Your Dreams is a fools errand, so its a good thing that Fucked Up decided to strip away the prog and write a really, by their standards, concise and straightforward album. Every member wrote their parts within individuals 24 hour periods. Cicada is a song that just pops into my head over and over again whilst I am hoovering or washing a dish. I Think I Might Be Weird is also an earworm, and Falling Right Under has a chorus that lives both rent and tax free in my head. The most underappreciated band from Canada not named The Tragically Hip continue to do interesting and thoroughly charming things with punk-rock.
4. PONY – Velveteen
5. HEALTH – RAT WARS
6. Voyager – Fearless In Love
7. Chappell Roan – The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
8. Godflesh – Purge
9. Grave Pleasures – Plagueboys
10. Nuovo Testamento – Love Lines
Izzy Morris – Contributing Writer
1. The Go! Team – Get Up Sequences Pt. 2
Not many bands make it to album seven, but it’s clear to see that the The Go! Team have still got the recipe for success. This kaleidoscopic sequel to Get Up Sequences Pt. 1 has energy coursing through its veins, with trumpets, steel pans and even recorders galore. This is an album for the whimsy chasers, musical experimentalists and all those in great need of ‘the best school band money can buy’, as a man so eloquently put it, stood next to me at one of their shows earlier this year. The sunshine-fuelled sextet charm with the deliciously light But We Keep on Trying and unleash the full force of their vibrancy through high-octane tracks like Divebomb and Whammy-O. It’s a much welcomed dose of feel-good, groovy energy that opened the musical year with a bang way back in February.
2. Calva Louise – Over The Threshold
Calva Louise have ventured further into the heavier side of life this year, and their mixtape Over The Threshold shows the fruits of their rage-fuelled labours. Third Class Citizen and Oportunista particularly stand out as vociferous demands for respect, human decency and consideration, set in a cleverly constructed, abstract sci-fi world where the band are threatened by what front woman Jess has referred to as “energy predators’’. Calva Louise are more than just masterful performers; they’re world builders, with their own unique voice, both sonically and through language as their lyrics move between English and Spanish, to reflect Jess’ Venezuelan heritage. As album three approaches, there’s a lot to be excited for.
3. Joey Valence & Brae – PUNK TACTICS
Joey Valence & Brae are new kids on the block but are bringing a blast from the past with their 90s hip-hop meets hardcore punk sound. As their titular track suggests, the album truly does ‘’hit ya with the punk tactics’’, with boisterous beats, high octane vocals and a major roster of samples, record-scratches and pop culture references; the duo name drop and sample Obi Wan Kenobi, Spongebob and even Monty Python. This is the perfect album for swaggering down the street to add some bounce to your day, with tracks like STARTAFIGHT and TEEN TITAN combining their infectious confidence with unrelentingly energetic production. It’s not an album that’s going to change lives, but not every album needs to be like that – this album is pure, unadulterated fun, and perfectly captures the spirit of two pals in a bedroom having a blast and making music.
4. Paramore – This Is Why
5. FIZZ – The Secret to Life
6. Be Your Own Pet – Mommy
7. Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall
8. Dream Wife – Social Lubrication
9. Speedy Ortiz – Rabbit Rabbit
10. BC Camplight – The Last Rotation of Earth
