The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2023 (Part Four)

This is part four of four. If you haven’t read part three yet, check it out here. 

In 2023, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2023, in no particular order.

The Acacia Strain

Album: Step Into The Light (Rise)

Release Date: 5/12

Bostonian heavy gods The Acacia Strain are bringing the brutality to 2023. Coming mid-May, Step Into The Light is composed of ten songs produced by Randy Leboeuf (Chamber, Every Time I Die, Left Behind) that’ll be sure to kick you on your ass. And if you’re wondering how heavy this record is, check out the song “Fresh Bones,” which Metal Injection bluntly says, it “rips.” Fuck us up, TAS.

nothing,nowhere.

Album: VOID EXTERNAL (Fueled By Ramen)

Release Date: 3/31

Vermont sadboy nothing,nowhere.’s follow-up to 2021’s Trauma Factory is so close, you can almost feel it. Containing various guests like Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, Underoath, Static Dress, Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos, and SeeYouSpaceCowboy, VOID EXTERNAL is destined to be n,n.’s busiest (and most aggressive) album to date. Working with producer Taylor Morgan (guardin, Sickboyrari, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal,) and inviting only a few people into the studio like ex-Counterparts guitarist Blake Hartman, engineer Brody McKeegan, and some personal friends, nothing,nowhere. aka Joe Mulherin wanted this to be an inspirational album. “I want to be what bands like Linkin Park were to me,” Mulherin said. “I want to provide that level of inspiration and comfort and I want to be a safe haven to a kid who is struggling. I made it exactly how I wanted to with zero outside influence. This is the purest expression I could put down in audio form. This is the music that made me, and I want to return the favor.”

Jesus Piece

Album: …So Unknown (Century Media)

Release Date: 4/14

Philly metalcore outfit Jesus Piece are reaching new heights in their career. After spending the first half of their career with LA label Southern Lord (All Pigs Must Die, High Command, Xibalba,) Jesus Piece signed with Century Media Records (3Teeth, Electric Callboy, Lamb Of God) in December, kicking off not only the next chapter of the band’s career, but also their new album cycle. Coming out next month is their long-awaited second LP …So Unknown. Drummer Luis Aponte told BrooklynVegan, “The making of the record was nothing short of all-consuming. It was an intense and challenging process. The record reflects a lot of confusion, but also, evolution. There was a lot of uncertainty and emotion during the pandemic– we all changed and grew so much. So if there is a single thought or concept to the record, it’s constant metamorphosis. That’s also how we operated as a band on this LP– spending a lot of time songwriting and fleshing things out as a unit, and then upping our game from there. It’s definitely a reflection of us as more mature, playing the best we’ve ever played and feeling like a real band for the first time. A big goal on …So Unknown, outside of songwriting and technical goals, was to capture the same energy on record that we have live – for people to get that sense of urgency and danger.”

The Used

Album: Toxic Positivity (Big Noise)

Release Date: 5/19

Just days before taking the stage at last year’s When We Were Young, influential post-hardcore outfit The Used dropped a fiery new track called “Fuck You,” which will appear on their ninth album Toxic Positivity coming out mid-May via Big Noise Music Group (BOXBOY, Escape The Fate, The Veronicas). Months later, they dropped another banger, “People Are Vomit.” Alternative Press had a first look on the new track, calling it “venomous” and that The Used were returning “to their heavier roots in full force, offering a timely critique of the state of the world and the divisive times we are living in.” The album was produced by longtime collaborator John Feldmann (Avril Lavigne, Jasiah, The Word Alive.)

Closure In Moscow

Album: Soft Hell (Self-Released)

Release Date: 5/30

I have had a massive soft spot for Closure In Moscow for many years at this point. The Australian progressive rock act have been keeping themselves kinda quiet since dropping their second album Pink Lemonade in 2014. But now, a new album is on the horizon. Their third album Soft Hell drops May 30. The album has “the last 9 years distilled down to 50 minutes.” CIM says in a statement, “Getting comfortable with chronic discomfort caused by the choices that fears and trauma lead you to make. This is life in a soft hell. There are enough distractions to stave off facing up to it, you can keep yourself in denial to avoid it, and things can just keep ticking along. Life becomes a fever dream of creature comforts and time killers, floating further into a lake of fire. People come along to pull you out, but they too get burned when you feel too stuck to climb with them.”

The Maine

Album: TBA (Photo Finish/8123)

Release Date: TBA

While nothing has been confirmed yet, Arizona’s finest The Maine have been busy putting stuff out. Last year, they dropped the massive collab with Taking Back Sunday and Charlotte Sands “Loved You A Little” and an acoustic ballad called “Box In A Heart” with Canadian bedroom pop artist renforshort. Could these songs appear on a new album? Possibly. Their last record was 2021’s XOXO: From Love And Anxiety In Real Time, which I put as one of the most anticipated albums of 2021.

Sarah And The Safe Word

Album: The Book Of Broken Glass (Take This To Heart)

Release Date: 4/7

One of Atlanta’s most fascinating acts is putting out new material next month. The goth cabaret sextet Sarah And The Safe Word recently announced their next album The Book Of Broken Glass, scheduled to come out April 7 via Take This To Heart (The Higher, Marigold, Thanks! I Hate It.) The album is a story (or a book, per se) dealing with a family’s secret and the ghosts who are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it stays one. Produced by Jim Wirt (Hoobastank, Jack’s Mannequin, The Rocket Summer,) the album is packed with features, starring rapper Jamee Cornelia, queercore act Dog Park Dissidents, and Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba. According to Chorus.fm, Sarah And The Safe Word “embrace the strange and the quirky head on an album that is filled with several twists and turns. Much like the title implies, this book is sure to keep your interest as much as it challenges you to grow with the band.” Also check out the video for “Ruby Off The Rails” which features actual furries.

Avenged Sevenfold

Album: TBA (Warner)

Release Date: TBA

Oh it’s happening people. A7X will drop their long awaited eighth album sometime this year. The album which they began working on in 2018 is finished, according to drummer Brooks Wackerman on his Instagram last September. They have been teasing fans about the record, even telling them to “touch grass” and launched a cryptic scavenger hunt online courtesy of an entity named Libad5343. Guess we can only wait for an official announcement. Time to go outside, I suppose.

Code Orange

Album: TBA (Blue Grape)

Release Date: TBA

While no word has been made on a new record, Pittsburgh industrial metalcore troupe Code Orange have been seen in the studio working with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. While we wait for that work to come out, the band did drop What Is Really Underneath?, a remixed/re-imagined take on their last record, 2020’s Underneath, along with a 14-minute short film of the same name and an alternate reality game on whatisreallyunderneath.com. An MTV Unplugged-style record called Under The Skin, was released in 2020. This was their final release with Roadrunner Records (Angel Du$t, Motionless In White, Turnstile) before signing with Blue Grape Music, a new label created by Roadrunner founder Cees Wessels and Roadrunner’s former head of A&R David Rath.

Mayday Parade

Album: TBA (Rise)

Release Date: TBA

Late 2000’s pop-punk icons Mayday Parade are currently in the studio right now working on new material. The band posted on social media last month that “new tunes” are being created with longtime producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount (Chapel, Go Radio, The Ready Set.) Two songs came out last year, “Thunder” and “Losing My Mind.” Mayday Parade have a busy summer this year, touring alongside All Time Low and Yellowcard, as well as playing the Hawaii Is For Lovers festival with Hawthorne Heights, Emery and Saosin.

Don Broco, Motion City Soundtrack, Issues, More To Play Slam Dunk Festival 2020

Here we go.

The first wave of acts for the first Slam Dunk Festival of the decade was announced today. Headlining next year’s festival is the British rock outfit Don Broco, who’ve played the festival before. Others playing include Four Year Strong, Issues, Mayday Parade, Hands Like Houses, and the return of Motion City Soundtrack, who broke up in 2016. Check out the first wave below.

Super early bird tickets go on sale Friday, September 27, at 11 a.m. GMT on the festival’s website. Slam Dunk Festival 2020 takes place on Saturday, May 23, at Temple Newsam in Leeds, and Sunday, May 24, in Hatfield Park in Hatfield.

Slam Dunk Festival first started in 2006 and has featured bands like Thursday, Reel Big Fish, Valencia, Cobra Starship, The Rocket Summer, 3OH!3, Say Anything, Man Overboard, The All-American Rejects, Comeback Kid, Yellowcard, With Confidence, Good Charlotte, and NOFX.  

Oh God, Here’s 20 More Of The Weirdest Covers Ever Recorded (Part One)

I never planned on making this. There was never supposed to be a third list, but here we are. I stumbled onto a cover that mewithoutYou did and then I fell into a rabbit hole of bizarre covers, and here we are again.

Pray that I don’t make a fourth list.

As I mentioned prior in my other lists, “I have to inform you that the songs on this list are covers that were recorded for a compilation, an album, or as a single. There will be no live covers on this list.” Who knows if I’ll ever do a list for strange live covers.

Before I start, I would like to thank the people in Midwest Emoposting on Facebook for helping me find some songs to put on this list.

Well, here we go. This is part one.

1. mewithoutYou – In Bloom (Originally by Nirvana)

Nirvana are one of the most influential bands from the 90s. With that being said, numerous artists have covered their songs. Case in point, “In Bloom” from their sophomore record Nevermind. That track has been covered by several artists and bands such as Four Year Strong, Torche, Sturgill Simpson, Hooverphonic, and So They Say. But when mewithoutYou covered it for Come As You Are: A 20th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, every other cover got blown out of the water. The simplistic take by mewithoutYou features an acoustic guitar, a kick drum, an accordion, an electric guitar, and Aaron Weiss’s haunting vocals. It just doesn’t sound like how you would expect “In Bloom” to sound like. mewithoutYou were able to transform this song into one of their own, and that’s impressive. Also this album features covers done by Civil Twilight, Hawthorne Heights, Story Of The Year, Finger Eleven, and Anthony Raneri of Bayside.

2. Roses & Revolutions – Sugar, We’re Goin Down (Originally by Fall Out Boy)

I found out about this cover from an unlikely source: my mom. She showed me this cover that apparently played on her Sirius XM radio and I had to look it up. Glad I did. This haunting acoustic version from this indie duo from Rochester is beautiful and bizarre at the same team. Alyssa Coco’s vocals are soft and fit well with guitarist Matt Merritt’s equally soft strumming, turning this pop-punk classic into something you’d hear in a Starbucks.

3. New Breed – Raise Your Glass (Originally by P!nk)

I’ve talked about the Japanese Punk Goes Pop albums before, and they’re either hits or misses. Mostly misses. This is one of those misses. The Japanese screamo act New Breed butcher the fuck out of P!nk’s party jam “Raise Your Glass”. There has to be a rule for having way too much blast beats in your song. It’s just a messy cover that never seems to calm down and needs some adderall to relax. Overall it’s a hot mess. Dear lord.

4. Clivillés & Cole – Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Originally by U2)

Oh fuck. I’ve dreaded talking about this cover. Clivillés & Cole, who would later become C+C Music Factory (you know, these guys), covered this song by U2 for the movie Gladiator (no, not the Russell Crowe film, this one). It’s a horrible techno version that stretches out the track from the original 3:48 minutes to nearly eight minutes. That’s almost double the original version. For your safety, avoid this track like the plague.

5. Everclear – I Will Follow You Into The Dark (Originally by Death Cab For Cutie)

Why? On their greatest hits album, 90s punk rock band Everclear ruined the sacred acoustic song “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” by Death Cab For Cutie by making it a punk track. No, fucking no. Oh, and that’s not the only cover on that album. They also did “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. Also, I’ve been meaning to put this cover on the previous lists but I kept forgetting. Or maybe it was subconscious trying to save me from making the world remember this cover.

6. Wind Rose – Diggy Diggy Hole (Originally by Yogscast)

To quote iiZach Gaming, “From a Minecraft clip… to a fan made song… to an official song… to a metal version of the song. Wow.” “Diggy Diggy Hole” originated as a joke from Yogscast, then it became a song made by a fan, then a real song by Yogscast, and then redone by a fucking metal band. Many were shocked when Italian folk metal group Wind Rose made their own version of this song. The band explained why they did this, saying, “Mining is one of the most important activities for a Dwarf, naturally Wind Rose needed a theme song for this great honor of collecting these jewels from the soil, so sing with us with pride!!” I honestly have no idea what to say. Dig on.

7. Act As If – Pathetic (Originally by Blink-182)

What if Coldplay wrote “Pathetic” instead of Blink-182? That’s what indie pop group Act As If answered back in 2011 with their lovely rendition. The fast punk track gets redone as a beautiful, heartfelt pop song. Peter Verdell’s vocals are so soothing while backed over a gentle guitar strumming, Sara Lindsay’s voice, and a xylophone. It even got Mark Hoppus’s seal of approval when he shared it on his Facebook page.

8. Hidden In Plain View – Mr. Jones (Originally by Counting Crows)

In 2004, indie label Vinyl Summer Recordings released a tribute album called Dead And Dreaming: An Indie Tribute To Counting Crows. On it, bands like The Rocket Summer, Between The Buried And Me, Punchline, Houston Calls, and The Junior Varsity, covered their favorite songs by Counting Crows. The odd one that takes the cake has to be Hidden In Plain View’s rendition of “Mr. Jones”. The emo act add electronic elements and some autotune into their version. It would be a good cover if it weren’t for the autotune. And if you’re wanting to buy this album, it’s incredibly rare. You can purchase it here.

9. Biffy Clyro – Modern Love (Originally by David Bowie)

One listen to this cover and you’ll say, “That’s supposed to be a Bowie song?” When Howard Stern recruited several musicians for his tribute called The Howard Stern Tribute to David Bowie. It featured 25 musicians like Greta Van Fleet, The Struts, Car Seat Headrest, Lisa Loeb, and Garbage, paying tribute to the legendary British musician. Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro go all out on their take of “Modern Love”, making it sound unrecognizable. The screams, jangly guitar parts, and heaviness of the cover are eyeopening, and it’s a beautiful tribute to the late Bowie.

10. Skip The Foreplay – Champagne Showers (Originally by LMFAO)

Remember when every metalcore band covered a pop song? I do. Back in 2011, Quebec based trancecore group Skip The Foreplay covered LMFAO’s “Champagne Showers”, being a minor hit for the group. It had over a million views on YouTube and was included on their only album Nightlife, which Epitaph Records (The All-American Rejects, Mannequin Pussy, Quicksand) released. Oh, and this cover was the reason they got to tour with Lamb Of God, We Came As Romans, blessthefall, Falling In Reverse, and Abandon All Ships, plus an appearance on the 2012 Vans Warped Tour with Tonight Alive, Hostage Calm, and Impending Doom. If you’re curious about where they are now, they went defunct in 2014 and renamed themselves Now And On Earth. They went defunct again in 2015.

Part two will be posted later.