Sábado 28 Dic 2013, 9:58

Best albums of the 2013

It’s listing time folks. This year turned to be a fine year after all (although I bought much less albums than in previous years). One may wonder why, but simply because I wanted to concentrate more to the music instead of collecting madly more albums. Interestingly, I was quite sure that my list would have been filled with metal and I kept saying that throughout the year. Now that I have listed everything, the selection appears to be quite versatile. I hope someone may find this list at least a bit interesting…

Carcass – Surgical Steel
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This is perhaps the best album of the year and one of the strongest return albums I’ve heard. Death metal with melodic twist, just the way I like it. Maybe mixing ended up a bit clinical, but it is not bad in any way.

Annihilator – Feast
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Judged by how much fun I’ve gained from this album, the album of the year would belong to this, but in fact the biggest fun came from the bonus disc which contained many remastered old classics. Feast itself is a great album and deserves this position.

Alice In Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
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The sophomore album of the new AIC is not, in my opinion, as good as the “Black Gives Way to Blue”, but still strong release and many killer tracks.

Soulfly – Savages
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Soulfly is getting heavier with every release. “Savages” became of my favorite SF albums and contains absolutely craziest song name of the year: Ayatollah of Rock ‘n Rolla featuring Clutch singer Neal Fallon.

Megadeth – Super Collider
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This is much better record than credited for. Period. MD had a small “lump” (that’s the th1rt3en), but Super Collider climbed back to the “at least decent” level. This is very versatile record (I find that to be only a good thing) containing faster tracks and slower ones, but in addition to that, the tempo within the songs also varies. This is the thing in this album. OK, some of the most dedicated (and idiotic) fans must have hated it, but guess what. Screw you : )

Cult of Luna – Vertikal
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Vertikal is amazing sonic trip into the world of Blade Runner from these Swedish post metal masters. Definitively not the easiest album to listen to and needs a certain mood to be fully appreciated but I still rank this album very high.

Autopsy – The Headless Ritual
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A perfect example of how old school death metal is supposed to be: dirty, filthy, gore-filled musical abuse.

Goldfrapp – Tales of Us
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This is my personal favorite chill-out album of the year. I liked the Felt Mountain a lot, and this is pretty much similar without dance pop elements. Works also well as a background music.

Jex Thoth – Blood Moon Rise
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Hipsters didn’t like this album. Well, for me that’s one more reason to like it! Other reason is that Blood Moon Rise is just great: epic, beautiful, and Jex. I think I need to see JT live gig again if they tour the area.

Nick Cave and the bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away
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This is another mood album for those late evenings or darker thoughts. Nick plays slow and beautifully, but continues thematically in the darker side of the life.

Amorphis – Circle
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Domestic metal masters made once again a fine album. This is somewhat a synthesis of Tomi Joutsen era, but at the same time, introducing many new elements (e.g. black metal). Clean vocals are also emphasized more than before, which gives nice contrast to growling parts.

Audrey Horne – Youngblood
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This band deserves more attention, I insist (and we want another gig in Helsinki)! AH has always been writing songs about human relationships and in their stories usually things are not so well. Youngblood continues the tradition, but musically this is more energetic than Le Fol ever was. Shortly put: very good and interesting hard rock, but awfully unknown.

Dark Tranquillity – Construct
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When one of my favorite bands releases a new album, it is always a pleasure. Construct was, I think, a right album to for them to do in this point. They still continued to evolve, but more importantly, they maintained their distinct “DT” sound. Just get a new base player ASAP and future will be bright for you.

Vista Chino – Peace
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It is a bit difficult to ignore an album with Brant Bjork and John Garcia calling the shots. I somehow managed to do so, until this December so this is a last minute arrival. Great desert rock record.

Endless Boogie – Long Island
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One of the biggest surprises of the year 2013. I knew nothing about them until I read a review of Long Island. A trip to a strange world where people just jam and boogie goes on forever.

Monster Magnet – Last Patrol
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I really don’t know if this belongs to this list, I haven’t listened this enough to say it. But, what else a fan boy could to but to add this. Time will tell my final opinion, but so far it is OK.

Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance
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This must be the strangest album I’ve heard for a while, but I oddly like it a lot. Darkthrone continues to explore the frontiers of metal music and does that with skill and style. Their song writing capabilities are more than evident after this record.

Hypocrisy – End of Disclosure
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Another fan boy statement. A better Hypocrisy album, nothing new here, just good metal.

Best gig of the 2013 -title goes to Annihilator. Their live performance were second to none: intensity, skill, speed and most of all the vocals were just unbelievable.