It's already looking like 2023 will be an absolute doozy for heavy music. Several of the genre's biggest bands will be dropping long-awaited new albums and/or playing highly anticipated live shows, and just below the surface, there're countless fast-rising acts who are vying to make a lasting impression in the coming calendar year. With so many major events coming down the pike, we asked our readers who they'd most like to see grace the cover of Revolver in 2023. The top five vote-getters are ranked accordingly below.
5. Bad Omens
Bad Omens are going to be hard to ignore in 2023. In 2022, they racked up year-end accolades for their excellent The Death of Peace of Mind LP — an alluring twist of of dark, Weeknd-esque pop and industrialized metalcore — and also toured incredibly hard, from opening for A Day to Remember to selling out their first-ever headlining U.S. trek. Oh, they also went viral on TikTok. Clearly, Bad Omens have a story to tell.
4. 3TEETH
3TEETH's long-awaited new album is one of our most anticipated of 2023. Just like it was in 2022. And in 2021. We've been tapping our watches waiting for industrial-metal insurgent Alexis Mincolla to emerge from his bunker and unveil his next musical opus, and when that finally does happen, we'll be prepared to prod him with questions about his guns, his apocalypse preparedness and, yes, whatever crazy shit he got up to on this next record.
3. Metallica
Metallica are no strangers to the cover story, and they've appeared on the front of Revolver mag many times over the years. But, shit, when the biggest band in metal comes down from Mt. Olympus with a 77-minute new album, the people want to know what the gods have been up to. Especially when the lead single is as finger-lickin' fast, ferocious and familiar (in a warm, nostalgic way) as the thrashin' "Lux Æterna." They have 72 Seasons, and we have 72 questions.
2. Avenged Sevenfold
In some ways, the impending arrival of Avenged Sevenfold's new record is an even more thrilling than Metallica's new joint — and that's saying something. The O.C. metal titans will finally be dropping their first album since 2016's The Stage, and also returning to the literal stage this year for their first shows since 2018. A7X have been hibernating for what feels like an eon's worth of rock history, and when a band goes out of the limelight for that long, it makes their eventual return all the more exciting.
1. Pantera
Think back to one year ago in early 2022: Was the possibility of Pantera playing shows again a thought that ever, even for a second, crossed your mind? We certainly weren't holding our breaths — and then it happened. And in 2023 it'll be happening again — and again, and again, as they'll be touring all over the world, including playing their first round of U.S. shows in over 22 years, some opening for fucking Metallica. This Pantera celebration run is a cataclysmic event in metal history, one the fans would clearly love to see immortalized in print.