2023 Metal & Hard Rock Albums

Overkill's twentieth album, released in April 2023 after the longest gap of their career, and recorded by each member on his own during the pandemic.

Queens of the Stone Age's eighth album, out on 16 June 2023: self-produced, and the record that closes the trilogy they made for Matador.

Nine songs from across the band's history re-recorded by the current line-up for their fortieth anniversary, plus a new title song and one cover.

Saxon's second covers album, released on 24 March 2023, with songs by ten acts including the Animals, Alice Cooper, the Who and Cream.

Cattle Decapitation's eighth studio album, from May 2023, recorded in the weeks after a founding member's death.

Sleep Token's third studio album, from May 2023, and Spotify's most streamed metal album of that year.

Tomb Mold's fourth studio album, from September 2023, announced only four days before it appeared.

An album recorded in 1991 and shelved for over thirty years after its singer died. Out 27 January 2023.

Greta Van Fleet's third album, released on 21 July 2023: ten songs made with producer Dave Cobb at RCA Studios in Nashville, where the band used the big recording room to catch the energy of their concerts. It reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 66th Grammy Awards. The Japanese edition is UICU-1357.

A one-track digital single issued on 1 April 2023. The song had been written for the singer Tokoyami Towa under sponsorship by Nissin's Yakisoba U.F.O.; this is Unlucky Morpheus playing it themselves, the band whose Shiren composed it and whose Fuki wrote the words.

A Japan-only CD single for "Perhaps", the song Guns N' Roses released without warning in August 2023, pressed as an SHM-CD. The other new song, "The General", is the coupling. It comes in a paper sleeve with a written commentary and translated lyrics.

The fourteenth L.A. Guns studio album, released by Frontiers Music on 14 April 2023. Marquee Incorporated issued the Japanese edition the same day as MICP-11777 with one bonus track. Eleven songs.

Pride of Lions' seventh studio album, released on 16 June 2023. Its ten songs make it the band's shortest record, and the Japanese edition appeared the same day as MICP-11795 through Marquee Avalon.

Crimson & Jet Black is Anthem's seventeenth studio album, released on 21 April 2023. It is their first album of new material in about six years, sung entirely in English and released worldwide on the same day, and it reached No. 14 on the Japanese weekly chart.

The first of two 10th-anniversary compilations: fourteen songs, mostly single A-sides, running from "Thrill" through to "Different".

The second 10th-anniversary compilation: eleven songs drawn from album tracks and B-sides rather than the singles.

CoreLeoni's first live album, drawn from the Rock Generation Tour of 2022 — the first tour with Eugent Bushpepa — and specifically the show in Spiez, Switzerland on 25 March 2022. Metalville Records released it on 27 October 2023.

The thirteenth studio album, released by Mighty Music on 5 May 2023 as PMZ390CD. Ten songs run from "Edge of the World" to "Making All The Rules", among them "A New Heartbeat", which had already given the previous year's EP its title.

The third digital single, closing the band's first year; its video passed 110,000 plays within a fortnight of going up.

A three-song second digital single arriving six months after the band started; all three songs went on to later records.

A three-song first digital single put out barely two months after the band began playing; the free headline show that month drew over a hundred people.

The fifteenth studio album, recorded at drummer Mike Heller's own studio in Los Angeles and released by Silver Lining Music on 30 June 2023.

A live album from the band's London show — and the record whose release moved their Japanese home to IYT RECORDS.

A second EP arriving barely five months after the first, its five songs — from “Inside” to “My Breath” — each issued in turn as official audio.

The self-released debut EP — the first five songs put out by a band that had already been invited to a festival in India before it had any recordings at all.

A ninth album that gathers new songs and unreleased material as a bridge to the next chapter, with a covers disc by befriended bands on the deluxe editions.

A tense digital single that turns the decision to end a damaging cycle into heavy rock momentum and emotionally direct vocals.

A melodic digital single that holds onto a shared sense of “blue” and future possibility while the band moves through change.

A five-track EP that turns the act of pulling a dream into reality into loud-rock force, bright melody and future-facing momentum.

STMLT’s six-track debut EP, joining the group’s accessible video-creator identity with heavy loud-rock and metal arrangements built for the live stage.

The major-label breakthrough that expands Harajuku-core through space, games, escape, everyday anxiety and rebirth, establishing HANABIE. on an international scale.

East Of Eden’s debut EP, placing violin and heavy rock on equal footing while introducing the five musicians’ technique, melody and international ambition.

The first Eriksplanations album documents the YouTube cover work that grew during recovery through eight songs associated with Dio, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, KISS and more.

A concept album announcing BABYMETAL’s return through ten parallel worlds of reflection, loss and renewal.

A cover EP that rebuilds songs by Metallica, System of a Down, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit through NEMOPHILA’s own attack.

Cycles of Pain turns ANGRA’s Brazilian color, progressive construction and power-metal lift into one extended drama.

The Beautiful Dark of Life collects ATREYU’s three 2023 EPs and adds new songs to complete a larger statement.

Life Is But a Dream... pushes AVENGED SEVENFOLD far beyond a simple metal framework and into an intensely experimental, existential space.

OUTBURST condenses new songs and re-recordings into a five-track mini album that captures BLINDMAN’s place during its twenty-fifth-anniversary era.

Vol. 10 delivers BUCKCHERRY’s straight-ahead rock-and-roll instincts with no unnecessary detours.

Operation Phoenix brings together CROWNE’s polished AOR and melodic-rock instincts with the forward charge of power metal.

Eleven years after its previous studio record, Heaven Comes Down returns to the shades of melody and guitar lyricism that define DOKKEN.

Megalomanium packs the kind of rock songs ECLIPSE does best: short, sharp and instantly memorable.

After a fifteen-year studio gap, Six makes it clear that EXTREME has always been far more than a one-hit story.

Face Your Fears places Harry Hess’s warm, soaring voice at the center of a carefully shaped AOR and melodic-rock record.

Call of the North puts FROZEN CROWN’s bright twin-guitar harmonies and relentless speed at the front of an epic power-metal charge.

Between Dread and Valor compresses new songs, instrumentals and a re-recording into a special GALNERYUS release with the density of a short, sharp statement.

Lighting Up the Sky gathers GODSMACK’s muscular riffs, dry groove and large melodies into a well-balanced record.

Foregone reconnects IN FLAMES with the melodic-death-metal atmosphere associated with Gothenburg while combining it with modern weight and direct song construction.

Firestar reignites IRON SAVIOR’s blend of cosmic narrative and straight-ahead German power metal.

The Awakening is KAMELOT’s first studio record in five years and brings its symphonic shadows, progressive construction and dramatic melodies into especially clear focus.

Judgement Day introduces LOVEBITES with Fami in the lineup and drives forward with speed, precise ensemble playing and big melodic payoff.

Mammoth II is the second MAMMOTH WVH record built around Wolfgang Van Halen’s all-instrument performance and songwriting.

After a decade away, Soundtrack for the End Times reunites MERCENARY’s melodic death metal, power metal and progressive metal instincts in one large return.

Congregation of Annihilation by METAL CHURCH: track list, Spotify player and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

72 Seasons looks back at the formative first eighteen years of life while using Metallica’s familiar language of heavy riffs and long-form construction to probe inward.

Hellriot connects MYSTIC PROPHECY’s heavy rhythmic chug directly to fist-raising choruses.

The Dio Album is Paul Gilbert’s instrumental tribute to Ronnie James Dio’s catalog across Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio.

Skalds of Metal connects Norse-mythic and warrior imagery to Peyton Parrish’s modern rock and metal drive.

The Most Magical Album on Earth rebuilds songs from Disney films through Peyton Parrish’s rock and metal sensibility.

Code Red lines up PRIMAL FEAR’s tank-like riffs with Ralf Scheepers’ soaring high voice and refuses to compromise either element.

Eagle Flight shows the new REVOLUTION SAINTS lineup carrying forward the project’s essential melodic-hard-rock lift.

On the Prowl treats every glamour-metal cliché as both a punchline and a declaration of love.

Touchdown polishes the classic heavy-metal feel U.D.O. has defended for decades.

Sin puts Adrian Vandenberg’s melodic instinct and weighty riff craft in the foreground.

Seven reunites WINGER’s precision as players with its instinct for enormous melodies.

Bleed Out overlays WITHIN TEMPTATION’s symphonic beauty with modern-metal weight and electronic tension.