Seems like every website out there does a Top Albums end of the year type deal…it’s been a long time since I did one. 2013 was a pretty good year for music. I didn’t quite make it to 10 albums that I really dug this year, but then I only bought 15 new ones this year. So, what follows are a few of my favorites from this year (in no particular order) and what made them stand out to me:
1. Death Angel – The Dream Calls for Blood
D.A. turn in another solid album on their 4-album winning streak since reuniting in the early 2000’s. If you wish Slayer and Metallica were still Killing us All and Showing Us no Mercy, you will find some great moments on this one…all without sounding dated and cheesy. Well played, D.A.
2. Sepultura – The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must be the Heart
On Sepultura’s ridiculously long titled new album, we find the band yet again with something to prove. This time, it’s Drummer Who Is Not Igor Cavalera #2: 20 year-old Eloy Casagrande. Much like when they debuted Eloy’s predecessor Jean Dolabella, the Seps waste no time in showing off Eloy’s considerable skills within the first minute or so of the album.
A reunion with Roots era producer Ross Robinson, The Mediator… benefits from his aggressive and natural production style and the band continues to tune their guitars to a key sludgier than the resin in a life-long Sabbath fan’s bong. The sheer brutality of this record is a stark contrast to the almost commercial nature of 2011’s Kairos, but there’s a lot here for the listener who takes the time to check it out.
3. Carcass – Surgical Steel
17 years since their last album, Swan Song, severely disappointed fans due to the fact that it was recorded by a band who had split up before even entering the studio, Carcass come back with a vengeance. Classic members Jeff Walker (Vocals/Bass) and Bill Steer (Vocals/Guitar) steer this ship in a strategic territorial path that goes to all the best places in 1994’s Heartwork and 1992’s Necroticism. This is the album that Carcass fans hoped and prayed and quite honestly never believed the band would make. A must have.
4. Scar The Martyr – Scar The Martyr
With all the “Slipknot will record again/Slipknot WON’T record again” drama that has played out between drummer/songwriter Joey Jordison and frontman/Stone Sour mainman Corey Taylor alone, it’s no surprise that 2013 ended with the announcement of Jordison’s departure from the ‘Knot.
The surprise is this Scar The Martyr record. Sounding like Jordison worked very hard to take material he intended for Slipknot and finding a very talented band to record, he did just that. While there are plenty of Slipknot moments on the album, there are also elements of Faith No More and even some Depeche Mode thrown in. Riding the line somewhere between the heaviness of Slipknot, the catchiness of Stone Sour, and the weirdness of Faith No More, Scar The Martyr is a band to keep an eye on, especially now that they are Jordison’s main gig.
5. Killswitch Engage – Disarming the Descent
After the dramatic departure of Howard Jones, the vocalist for KSE’s “golden years” of hits, many fans balked at the return of “one album wonder” Jesse Leach. This album proves that not only is Leach more than capable of fronting the mighty KSE again but that they maybe should have made the singer switch a little sooner. Leach’s performance contains elements of his classic sound, but it is clear he has grown. From the experience of filling-in for Jones here and there in the past and because he has the job of singing many of the man’s hits live every night, Leach has wisely incorporated much of the best parts of Jones’ voice and style into his own. Combine that with Leach’s “light in the dark” positive lyrics and the band’s always stellar instrumental performances and songwriting, and you have a top notch KSE record that should make all the band’s fans happy.
6. Coheed and Cambria – The Afterman: Descension
The sequel to 2012’s The Afterman: Ascension is an even better romp through all the parts and pieces that make C&C great. Fantastic hooks, heartfelt ballads, left of center musicianship, and Claudio Sanchez’s knack of making an ongoing sci-fi storyline completely relatable to the average listener who has no clue that the guy is singing about cyborgs, spaceships, and keys that destroy the universe.
7. Black Sabbath – 13
I didn’t want to like this album. The Bill Ward drama was too much to take for anyone who has ever been considered “just the drummer” in a band and thus treated personally and financially like a hired gun…much the way Ward was. In the end, the question still lingers: did Ward have the chops to do the record? I guess we may never know.
While the thought alone is blasphemy, Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk does a fantastic job of emulating a “What Would Ward Do?” style throughout an album of Tony, Ozzy, and Geezer doing what they do best: riffing and rocking. Is it the best Sabbath album? No. But it IS miles ahead of 90% of the material on the last couple albums the band did with Ozzy back in the late 70s.
8. Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
In the band’s 2nd album in their current incarnation, they don’t quite hit the mark of greatness that came through on this line-up’s debut, Black Gives Way to Blue. But The Devil Put… has plenty of great vocals, choruses, and heavy, nasty, sludgy riffs.
Ramblings of a Retired Rockstar 