Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Friday The 2013th


Well January 2014 is almost over so I guess now is as good a time as any to bend your ear about what I think were the best albums released in 2013. I must confess that I started this list at the beginning of December 2013 but then found out I had a bunch of cramming to do after I didn't recognize much of what was on the best of 2013 lists from the major metal blogs and magazines. In stead of rushing it, I decided to take my time with a few of the late comers to my list. Excuses, etc. 2013 was a fun year for extreme heavy music. There were some new albums from bands that defined their own sub genres like Deeds Of Flesh, Gorguts, and Carcass. There were some rookies releasing their first albums like Rivers Of Nihil, Anciients, and Dysmorphic. And there were bands that found the prime of their career by diving deeply into their established sound like Defeated Sanity, Intronaut, and Skeletonwitch. 

2012 was my personal awakening for grind core. The grind swept me off my feet then proceeded to loosen my asshole and force large objects therein. It was lovely. 2013 did not have any specific awakening for me. I did however check out many new bands. Almost half of the albums on my list were from bands that I was not listening to before the start of 2013. Well enough bullshit, here is the list. Enjoy.

25. Carcass - Surgical Steel. Carcass was before my time so I never bothered, but this is some pretty badass melodic death metal. 
24. Wormed - Exodromos. An album almost 10 years in the making from Spain, viva la muerte. 
23. Misery Signals - Absent Light. I never really gave this band a chance until I found out the current Pig Destroyer drummer, Adam Jarvis, started out with Misery Signals. Good stuff.
22. Mumakill - Flies Will Starve. It sounds like the noises one would make while being anally ravaged by a mammoth tusk.
21. Portal - Vexovoid. This is what I like to call bed time music if you enjoy nightmares.
20. Stomach Earth - Stomach Earth. This is the first release from the one man doom band of Mike 'Gunface' McKenzie of The Red Chord fame. Slow jam of the year.
19. Revocation - Revocation. This album sounds like Revocation but it is definitely a little bit different for them. 
18. Devourment - Conceived In Sewage. This album sounds as disgusting as its title would lead you to believe and I like it.
17. Inter Arma - Sky Burial. Black, droning, dark, blast beats, yes please.
16. Nightkin - Nox Aeterna. This band has some guys who played with The Black Dahlia Murder and Mike McKenzie on vocals. A very different take on the blend of black metal and melodic death metal.
15. Fit For An Autopsy - Hellbound. This band does everything, but the breakdowns on this album are elegant. 
14. Guttural Secrete - Nourishing The Spoil. So many squely's. Brutal, brutal death metal.
13. Unbirth - Deracinated Celestial Oligarchy. Modern technical death metal. This stuff is tight.
12. Euphoric Defilement - Ascending To The Worms. This is the first release from this new brutal death metal band. In the elk of Inherit Disease and Putridity.
11. The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack. This was not what I was expecting as the follow up to Ritual, but this album kicks ass. 
10. Gigan - Multi-Dimensional Fractal-Sorcery And Super Science. Definitely my favorite album title of 2013. These guys are doing some really fucking weird, awesome things.
9. Dysmorphic - A Notion Of Causality. This is the first release from this band on Unique Leader. I can't help but hear some Obscura and Spawn Of Possession in what they're doing. I'm very excited for their next album.
8. Anciients - Heart Of Oak. Another first release. Full disclosure, I only checked out this album because of how great the cover art is. I'm glad I did because this is what Mastodon should have become.
7. Ulcerate - Vermis. There really aren't any other bands doing what this band is doing. I loose myself in this album trying to figure out what is going on and then it smacks me over the head with something brutal and beautiful.
6. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed. This is my favorite album from the 'witch since Beyond The Permafrost. There's something blissfully satanic about the sound they've found.
5. Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones). Intronaut continue to evolve with every album and this was definitely the butterfly stage. Progressive but somehow catchy.
4. Gorguts - Colored Sands. Finally Luc Lemay found some people just as weird as him to play with again. This album is intense. Every song is like some sort of classical movement.
3. Deeds Of Flesh - Portals To Canaan. One of the bands I consider to be among the founding fathers of modern technical death metal returned with a punishing release that blew me away. 
2. Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity. The musicianship on this album is other-worldly. On top of the base layer of the music being brutal, all three entities operate separately creating a brutal aurora. 
1. Rivers Of Nihil - The Conscious Seed Of Light. This is by far my favorite release since Incurso from Spawn Of Possession in 2012. It has everything I want to hear. This is only Rivers Of Nihil's first full length album. They have two earlier EP's which are fantastic but I'm really excited for what this band does in the future. 

References
Carcass - Unfit For Human Consumption http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKYJD09qCk
Misery Signals - Reborn (An Execution) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqoeGuP0678
Mumakil - Death From Below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzy-wb86Fxg
Stomach Earth - Prolong The Death Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eitNNvCiBc
Revocation - The Gift You Gave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRFHsReWLSw
Devourment - Conceived In Sewage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfNdTKj_tI
Inter Arma -The Long Road Home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RarLHOzJiLg
Fit For An Autopsy - Do You See Him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBTDGbigifw
Guttural Secrete - Deadened Prior To Coitus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZCb8X5T_E0
Euphoric Defilement - Abolishing The Divine Structure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU3mKE8ftFM
The Black Dahlia Murder - In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgbChRLC9CQ
Gigan - Electro-Stimulated Hallucinatory Response http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=94182
Dysmorphic - Underlying Reality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=robBjuGkAPQ
Ulcerate - Clutching Revulsion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGE9DH68xI
Skeletonwitch - I Am Of Death (Hell Has Arrived) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPPPGMGNg8I
Gorguts - Forgotten Arrows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk7nb-idmdI
Deeds Of Flesh - Amidst The Ruins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqNG8QYsBw
Rivers Of Nihil - Rain Eater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Eya-2JfoU
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