My Best Of 2013

2013 was in my opinion a great year for metal. I am not going to do a list, but will highlight some of my favorite albums or songs from the year. So let me start by throwing out a couple of “best of” songs. First I would have to say “In Due Time” from Killswitch Engage’s new album Disarm the Descent was an amazing start to Killswitch’s new endeavor with their new, old singer Jesse Leech. The album as a whole was great. Very melodic, but had the aggression of classic albums. Jesse’s voice seamlessly went from growling to clean vocals bringing a new life to the band and songs. My next song pick, “Blood like Cream” off of Red Fang’s Whales and Leeches is so addictive and catchy that it could possibly be stuck in your head for most of 2014. From start to finish, the album delivered pure party hard rock and roll.

As far as albums go, this year saw quite a few thrash metal legends coming out with great live albums. Metallica had Through the Never which was a spectacular display of their live abilities and also acted as a soundtrack for their movie. The album spanned their whole career, which was great to hear classic songs like “Hit the Lights” with newer songs such as “Cyanide” and everything in between.  Metallica never missed a beat packing full blown metal in a 2 cd set. Kreator and Testament who are also both thrash metal legends in their own right both came out with live albums spanning their careers which made you feel like you were literally at the concert.

Some of my favorite albums this year all happened to be by classic death metal bands. I may be partial to death metal, but these albums kicked some serious butt. Where to start is hard, but we will start with Autopsy’s The Headless Ritual.  The songs were straight up death metal, with a hint of doom mixed in. Suffocation’s new album Pinnacle of Bedlam was so brutal, it left you breathless. I could listen to this album over and over. I also liked the fact that the album came with a making of DVD which was pretty cool to watch the process. Exhumed and Immolation both had great albums, so if you love death metal as much as me, they are defiantly worth a listen.

Okay, on to my pick for the “Best Album of 2013” and the winner is…. Alright it’s a two way tie. Both albums were by bands that haven’t put out an album in years and both came back with a vengeance. I loved both albums a lot, but for different reasons. Let’s start with Gorgut’s Colored Sands. Every song on the album was pure death metal, well with the exception of “The battle of chamdo” which is done by an orchestra. Luc Lemay, the mastermind behind the music, did not miss a beat bringing his style of technical death metal to each song. Every song is great and worth listening to over and over again. I really enjoyed “Forgotten Arrows” and the title track “Colored Sands” very much. It also helps that I saw them play live this year and met Luc Lemay. He was very cool and charismatic which added to the greatness of the album.  Now for my other pick, which if you’re a metal fan, most people will agree with. Carcass’s new album Surgical Steel was an amazing display of metal greatness. Again it is an album you can listen to straight through over and over again. Each song has structure that makes them individual metal hits.  One of my favorite songs on the album “The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills” has a chorus that you will find yourself singing over and over again. Not bad for a band who hasn’t made an album for quite a while. They are touring next year, so if you have a chance to see these songs played live, do it. I know I am sure going to try and see them. The best part of that too is Gorguts are also touring with them.

2014 list of albums that are supposed to come out will make next year’s “Best Of” really hard. So far, I heard Slayer, Napalm Death (the godfathers of grindcore), Tombs, Mastodon, Opeth, and Behemoth are coming out with new albums. I don’t know about you, but I’m very excited, especially for new Slayer and Napalm Death. That’s just a small list of bands who are releasing new music, I’m sure there will be many more great albums no one even knows about yet. So this concludes my 2013 blog and I’m looking forward to new albums and some great concerts to blab on about next year. Hope you enjoyed it and continue to follow my rants next year.