CVLT Nation’s Top 6
Canadian Releases of 2013

NOTE: According to Encyclopaedia Metallum there are nearly 1500 active metal bands in Canada and over 200 of them released a full-length album this year. TWO. HUNDRED. That said, this list is by no means representative of the full breadth of Canuck metal in 2013 (undoubtedly, several dozen of you will take issue with at least one of these selections anyway, for one reason or another), so I invite you all to leave your own suggestions in the comments below. HOWEVER: I will only listen to recommended albums for which actual reasons are given why a particular album is awesome (just saying, “it’s awesome!” doesn’t count.)

These albums are listed in no particular order:

Gorguts – Colored Sands* (Season of Mist)

Let’s get this one out of the way first, since we’ve all heard it and love it and everything that should be said about it has already been said. Album of the year, period.

* my one criticism is the spelling of the title – c’mon, guys, show your colours!

Fuck the Facts – Amer EP (Independent)

Yes, it’s an EP, not a full-length album. As a band that has been writing and touring virtually nonstop for 13 years, FTF is a prolific, omnipresent creative force in extreme music and one that is perpetually evolving. After the smouldering, dark character of 2011’s companion releases Die Miserable and Misery, the long wait for new material makes Amer‘s modest 16 minutes and 38 seconds exceptionally noteworthy – its intensity and the stunning calibre of both songwriting and musicianship is grind, groove, and growl par excellence. Title track “Amère” is epic.

Anciients – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)

Another album for which there has been no shortage of well-deserved praise since its release, this debut from the wizards of the West Coast elicits plenty of warm, fuzzy feelings almost certain to be followed by serious munchies; and is hereby nominated “Most Likely to Find Itself in Heavy Rotation” on your playlists. Lush, heavy-psych groove, blackened bridges and elated vocals – album opener “Raise the Sun” is sonic ecstasy.

Panzerfaust – Jehovah-Jireh: The Divine Anti-logos (Boonsdale Records)

Not sure why this was released in April (Easter apocalypse?); black metal is by definition best experienced in the desolate winter months, when nights are long and cold winds blow. Jehovah-Jireh has all the hallmarks of a solid black metal album: blasphemy, dissonance, and profane shredding guitar (the Mortician-like b movie samples are icing on the infernal cake.) What sets it apart is its ambiance: from start to finish, this is the sound of ineffable malevolence, damnation, and conflagration – a perfect anti-soundtrack for the holiday season. Highlights: “Spear of Famine” and “The Apple of Infinite Knowledge”.

Biipiigwan – Something for Everyone; Nothing for Anyone (Independent)

I don’t know what they’re putting in the drinking water out there, but between Fuck the Facts and Biipiigwan there is a disproportionate amount of great extreme music coming out of Ottawa this year. Something for Everyone’s sludge is as relentless as it is well-crafted – every riff lasts just long enough to leave one wanting more before lurching further into the sonic maelstrom. No chance to catch your breath, though – once you’re in, grind on. Check: “Democrazy and Syphilization” (favourite song title of the year) and “Serf USA”.

Voivod – Target Earth (Century Media)

Honestly, do I need to say anything? No place on Earth but Canada could have spawned the abstract Frankensteinian rock of Voivod. We don’t mind sharing them with the world, but damn, are we proud to call them one of ours.