Top Albums of 2013

2013 has been another great year in the world of heavy metal and rock music. Here's a list of albums that I find noteworthy. Granted, there are a few bizarre and surprising choices but that's the whole point in doing these isn't it?

Artist - Album Title

Acranius - When Mutation Becomes Homicidal

After The Burial - Wolves Within

All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature

Altar of Plagues - Teeth, Glory & Injury

Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods

Amorphis - Circle

Antigama - Meteor

Arcane Roots - Blood & Chemistry

August Burns Red - Rescue & Restore

The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack

Bleed From Within - Uprising

Born of Osiris - Tomorrow We Die Alive

Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal (No. 1 Album)

Brotherhood of the Lake - Desperation is the English Way, Vol. 2

Carcass - Surgical Steel

The Catharsis - Romance

Chimaira - Crown of Phantoms

Circles - Infinitas

Clutch - Earth Rocker (No. 2 Album)

Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension

Counterparts - The Difference Between Hell and Home

Dance Gavin Dance - Acceptance Speech

A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy

Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire

Deafheaven - Sunbather (No. 4 Album)

Deicide - In The Minds of Evil

The Devil Wears Prada - 8:18

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer (No. 3 Album)

Dinosaur Pile-Up - Nature Nurture

Disfiguring The Goddess - Black Earth Child / Deprive (Double Album)

Dream Theater - Dream Theater

Erra - Augment

Evergreen Terrace - Dead Horses

Exivious - Liminal

False Tongues - In Which We Speak EP

Filter - The Sun Comes Out Tonight

Fit For An Autopsy - Hellbound

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth

Ghost B.C. - Infestissumam

Glass Cloud - Perfect War Forever EP

God is an Astronaut - Origins

Gorguts - Coloured Sands

Hacride - Back To Where You've Never Been

Hatebreed - The Divinity of Purpose

Heart of a Coward - Severance (No. 5 Album)

Heights - Old Lies For Young Lives

Howl - Bloodlines

I Killed Everyone - Necrospire

Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen

Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy

Impending Doom - Death Will Reign

In Vain - Aenigma

Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse

iwrestledabearonce - Late For Nothing

Jamie Lenman - Muscle Memory

Kanye West - Yeezus

Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent

Korn - The Paradigm Shift

Kvelertak - Meir

letlive. - The Blackest Beautiful

Liferuiner - Future Revisionists

Lord Dying - Summon the Faithless

Ludovico Einaudi - In a Time Lapse

Malevolence - Reign of Suffering

Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds

Ministry - From Beer to Eternity

Misery Signals - Absent Light

Nails - Abandon All Life

Norma Jean - Wrongdoers

Northlane - Singularity

Oathbreaker - Eros Anteros

The Ocean - Pelagial

Pelican - Forever Becoming

Pestilence - Obsideo

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals - Walk Through Exits Only

Plastic Mind Frequencies - Plastic Mind Frequencies

Pomegranate Tiger - Entities

Protest the Hero - Volition

Red - Release the Panic

The Resistance - Scars

Revocation - Revocation

Rotting Out - The Wrong Way

Russian Circles - Memorial

The Safety Fire - Mouth of Swords

Satyricon - Satyricon

Scale the Summit - The Migration

Seasick Steve - Hubcap Music

Seeker - Unloved

Sepultura - The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart

Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

Sodom - Epitome of Torture

Stone Sour - House of Gold & Bones, Part 2

The Story So Far - What You Don't See

Sub Focus - Torus

Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam

Svart Crown - Profane

TesseracT - Altered State

This Is Hell - The Enforcer EP

Thy Art Is Murder - Hate

Touche Amore - Is Survived By

Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry of Consciousness

Ulcerate - Vermis

Uneven Structure - 8 (Reissue)

Vanna - The Few and Far Between

Vastum - Patricidal Lust

vildhjarta - Thousands of Evils

Voivod - Target Earth

Watain - The Wild Hunt

Within the Ruins - Elite

The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation

Wormed - Exodromos

Wounds - Die Young


It's a very extensive list, but if you've made it this far I salute you! (And that's with forgetting a few) Hope you enjoyed, thanks.

Album Review - Common Courtesy by A Day To Remember

A Day To Remember are one of the more notoriously marmite-like bands on the current metal scene, you either love them or you hate them. They're also a tad schizophrenic leaping from pop-punk ballads to meaty metalcore barrages. But take away the ever so slight poser-boy image of the band and you have one of the hardest working groups today. Much like Bring Me The Horizon, they aren't taken anywhere near seriously enough and after their new release, Common Courtesy, recognition is more than deserved.

The hailing Florida post-harcore quintet have surprised many across the globe with their latest outing. From the largely adored Homesick and anthemic What Separates Me From You, where could they possibly go? Common Courtesy sees ADTR maturing, taking their musical experience and making it an expertise. The tightness of musicianship and flow of the album is just too incredible to ignore. City of Ocala seamlessly gliding through into Right Back At It Again is one of the best transitions to be heard on a record, not to mention the tracks are absolute bangers too.

Jeremy McKinnon's vocals, as usual, are perfect. From dirty wolf-like howls to soft harmonies he is vastly overlooked as a leading vocalist in the metal community. His lyrics are deep, personal and rhythmic. And more often than not, despite the instrumentals of the songs being very well executed, you'll find it's his voice that carries the melody. A true representation of what it means to sing.

Although labelled as being a post-hardcore group, A Day To Remember are just as genre-binding as say Enter Shikari. They do heavy well. They do pop-punk well. Even their intricate and sweet acoustic tracks alone are enough to make you well up. And yet, underneath all that overwhelming music, the production levels are spot on. With short spells of the band sharing jokes and smiles, even a dog barking in the studio, makes the whole experience filled with intimacy and surety that this band will not go lightly. They are the best of friends and you feel a part of that.

A Day To Remember are hugely under-rated despite being so big (massively due to screaming 15 year old scene girls). But don't that let put you off, and allow yourself to be open-minded to the genre-hopping. Common Courtesy is their best material thus far. A gathering of their perfected sound, maturation and intimacy. Engross yourself. They cater all moods. Brilliant.   9/10


Check Out: Right Back At It Again