This year, we have added a new Top 6 Albums feature – Artists’ Choice. We got 25 bands to submit their top albums of 2013 and why, and while there was a huge variety in what they chose, below are the most frequently chosen albums. In alphabetical order:
Beastmilk – Climax (Svart Records)
Laura Pleasants – Kylesa:
I have to admit that I like to refer to this band as Breastmilk. Even so, this is a great new release that I found out about just the other day while pondering my year end list and realizing that I didn’t really LIKE a lot of the extreme metal stuff of 2013. Although Beastmilk are not reinventing the gothic rock wheel, it’s a smooth ride I really enjoy (admittedly, I am a sucker for good death rock and a chorus pedal). The songs are well crafted here and done with taste and I keep coming back for more of that Peter Murphy haunt. I look forward to hearing more from these guys in the the future.
J. Bennett – Ides of Gemini:
Soaring stentorian goth anthems for the new era. All gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. Piloted by the Englishman who brought you Hexvessel, this Finnish quartet know how milk that beast and make you beg for more.
Deafheaven – Sunbather (Deathwish Inc.)
AJ – Sannhet:
Deafheaven needs no more nods in their direction, I’m sure everyone will have them on their list. So this comment is purely symbolic as I believe credit is due. While there where obvious derivatives & ostentatious impositions, they are certainly forgiven or perhaps even necessary as Deafheaven achieved a reaction that all creatives hope to achieve: that moment when you say, “of course!, I wish I thought of that.” Truly zeitgeist.
NAILS – Abandon All Life (Southern Lord)
Michael Bertoldini – The Secret:
Nails wrote the angriest album of the year and it’s simply awesome. In this very moment for music, I wish more bands sounded like this. Nails bring back the aggression of their previous album and add some Death Metal riffing to it. The result is crushing. Pure hatred and violence.
Burning Ghats:
When we abandon this planet for not heeding Todd’s warnings, the new moonbased human world will need a soundtrack. Thank WALL-E, the future of hardcore is here early just in time for the apocalypse. Nothing beats Ballou’s production blowing your rocket’s speakers while the sun fizzles out in your rear view.
Oranssi Pazuzu – Valonielu (Svart Records/20 Buck Spin)
Panos – Dephosphorus:
A phenomenal opus of psychedelic noise rock heaviness with superb, vintage-sounding analog production!
Mike Hill – Tombs:
This is the future of black metal.
Ulcerate – Vermis (Relapse Records)
Andrei Mikhailovich – Whip Hand, Public Confession, Mistraal, Cult of Melancholia:
“Technical death metal” is a bullshit term that doesn’t mean anything. I’d like to take this space to really say how absurd that term is. It conjures up all these ideas of nerdy fret board warriors, YouTube comments, and a world I feel more alienated from than I can express. Ulcerate is just good, fast metal done really, really, really well. This band is a juggernaut that endures and ages well. “Technical” implies some sort of arms race of proficiency which really doesn’t mean shit if you can’t take that skill and make something meaningful with it. Know when to let less do more, even when it sounds like every canon is firing. Many bands of this skill level just automatically get on year end of lists because magazines don’t dig deep to see what came out till there’s enough traffic on their ever-shrinking radar and a PR budget to ensure someone writes about it without thinking too hard. Ulcerate earned this spot.
Vaura – The Missing (Profound Lore)
Terence Hannum – Locrian:
I did the artwork for this, but before I did the artwork I had to listen to the album – and this is seriously a great rock record with interesting metal flourishes. Brooding and hook-laden, it carries its gothic charms. Vaura were criminally ignored for many year-end lists last go around, so I want to remedy it now.
New Comments