As you probably know, lyrics and concepts have always been important on this website. I confess that, with my other writing endeavors, I don’t have as much time to analyze and muse over the lyrics in music nowadays, but some still strike me and stay with me. Here are my favorites.

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10. Edenya – Another Place

I connected with the lyrics on Edenya’s latest quite well. They are, after all, potent. The whole album seems to be about losing a loved one, and there are songs written from the perspective of the one who died, and also the one left behind.  It is an emotional record, and Clélia’s vocal performance really drives home the emotions in the words.

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9. Ophelia Sullivan

– Disposable Identity

Ophelia’s lyrics are thoughtful, personal, and often raw.  There is visceral imagery within them that depicts feelings of coldness, inner struggle, and even death.  There is a sense of longing to be known, for revealing what’s on the inside, and for celebrating life when the core emerges.  I really appreciate these ideas.

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8. Lord of Shadows – Echoes of Yore

Shadows Valentine is the brain behind the story and lyrics of Lord of Shadows. He is not in the band, per se, but wrote the words. And I think he did a wonderful job. His words are full of Gothic and Romantic imagery, steeped in darkness and fantasy. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but I like how somber and emotional it is.

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7. Silent Skies – Dormant

Tom is an underrated lyricist, and all three Silent Skies albums have shown this. Dormant may have the most potent lyrics of them all. Tom has tapped into the feelings we all have, feelings of greyness of flesh and fire of spirit that battle within us. Thus, the album can be sorrowful and desperate, but also aspiring and full of light. It is a catalyst for not only introspection, but also expression.

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6. Earthside – Let the Truth Speak

Earthside has a way with words, and I confess that I often find my own meanings with their lyrics. The entire album is a validating experience, begging us to let the truth should speak for itself.  There are moments on this album that feel like I could have written them.  The sincerity of the lyrics speaks to my heart; the encouragement to abandon fear and to stand in confidence hits me directly in the chest.  This is especially powerful for me on the track “Pattern of Rebirth” with lyrics written by AJ Channer, the guest vocalist. It fits perfectly within the framework of the album.

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5. Sleep Token

– Take Me Back to Eden

There’s just something about Sleep Token that has grabbed hold of me. I love their lyrical themes, as sacred and sexual and suspenseful as they are. There are strong emotions present, and also more casual ideas. I like how they mix highly figurative language with more pedestrian quips. It’s definitely a unique style.

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4. Bosco Sacro – Gem

Bosco Sacro had me musing over their lyrics pretty extensively last year. I’ll be the first to admit that, the band being from Italy, some of the English is a little suspect. But I don’t care. I like how they have written about healing and liberation, and how this is connected with nature and with music itself. I especially love the line “I’m not afraid to be dust”, something that has echoed within my mind since I first heard the album.

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3. Myrkur – Spine

Myrkur created some intensely human lyrics on her latest album. The visceral imagery of “spine” up against the beauty of the music and the experiential nature of the lyrics really spoke to me. Much of the album revolves around life during and after childbirth, and so it is full of love and elation, but also uncertainty and dark, organic flesh.  It is a human record, through and through, one that is trying to process change, the future, and the current confusion of two individuals existing in such intimate connection. It is a gorgeous celebration of one becoming two, down to the bone.

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2. Susanne Sundfør – blómi

I confess that Susanne’s latest album is not my favorite of hers musically speaking, but lyrically it is a treasure trove. It is a fable of love for parent, spouse, and child.  The lyrics tell a romance of love for all things and for the wondrous mothering processes of the earth and of human beings. It is refreshing in that way. There is something life-giving and full of blessing about this record.  The album is one of appreciation of ancestors, and bestowment of wisdom and love upon descendants.  It is about delving deeply within own minds, our own bodies, and our own quantum and cosmic makeup to find peace, calm, and existence.  It is an album about becoming, but through the most human ways possible because that is how things are.  It is about connecting the divine with the organic, linking the ways of the past with the ways of the future, and joining the universal song of coming and going, living and dying.  It is about finding beauty in everyday spaces because those places are anything but ordinary, anything but mundane.  It’s about finding the beauty in every crack, every wrinkle, every faded whisper.  It is about life as it is, and life how it could be.  And most of all, it is about appreciating life as it is without getting caught up in how it should be, yet understanding the responsibility and right we possess to shape tomorrow. As you can tell, I’ve thought long and hard about this one.

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**1. ISON – Stars and Embers**

For a year of uncertainty, ISON’s latest was a beacon of hope for me. The lyrics here are immeasurably healing and positively charged in their approach.  I have found Lisa’s writing to be moving, enlightening, peaceful, and hopeful, and those traits are then bestowed upon my mind as a result.  They flawlessly join past ISON albums in their subject matter of quantum and cosmic significance, and my primary response to them is one of thankfulness. This is, without a doubt, that album that meant the most to me lyrically in 2023.

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