The Best Metal Albums of 2013: #10 – 1

10. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Mind Control (Metal Blade) Mind Control isn’t so much a faithful rendering of the first two albums as a careful expansion of Uncle Acid’s musical palette, sequenced first with the most familiar sounds to fans, but then quickly taking several turns that surprise, confuse, and enthrall. The seven-minute “Mt. […]

The Best Metal Albums of 2013: #20 – 11

20. Audrey Horne, Youngblood (Napalm) Instead of churning out yet another album of tepid modern hard rock, a band decides to change things up a little by writing the kind of music they used to listen to as kids, and whaddya know, not only does the end result sound far more genuine than anything they’ve […]

The Best Metal Albums of 2013: #30 – 21

30. Bölzer, Aura (Iron Bonehead) Swiss death metal duo Bölzer – that’s right, a death metal duo – is responsible for one of 2013’s best death releases in the “Aura” EP, and they hammered out a towering set that threw the full room into a frenzy, frontman KzR’s guitar tone so massive that everyone forgot […]

The Best Metal Albums of 2013: #40 – 31

40. KEN Mode, Entrench (Season of Mist) The Western Canadian band follows up the Juno Award-winning Venerable with a fifth album that continues the evolution of their distinct blend of AmRep noise, tense hardcore, and robust metal riffing. While Venerable was pleasing because the band’s songwriting had finally caught up to their incredible live energy, […]

The Best Metal Albums of 2013: #50 – 41

50. The Cult of Dom Keller, The Cult of Dom Keller (Mannequin) I first learned of this peculiar Nottingham band when they shared a split seven-inch single with Shooting Guns, and that track was enough to put them on my radar. And when they released their first proper full-length album, not only was I mighty […]

The Best Metal Albums of 2013: Introduction

I could not have gotten into heavy metal at a better time. In 1983-1984, a mere 13 years into its evolution as a proper musical genre, it shifted from its nascent period to full-blown maturity. It was a perfect storm of potential being realized, youth culture, and the zeitgeist, making for a period of musical […]

The 2013 Album of the Year

Paramore, Paramore Back in 2006 I volunteered to review that year’s Warped Tour compilation for PopMatters. Compilations like that were always fun, with loads of variety it was easy to put together 700+ words. Of all 51 tracks on the two disc comp was a song featuring a then-17 year-old mopped with red hair called “Emergency”, […]

The 2013 Single of the Year

Paramore, “Still Into You” The lead single from Paramore’s fourth album, the dark “Now”, was an odd choice, one that left many wondering if that was the best the new record had to offer. All fears were tossed aside as soon as the follow-up debuted in the weeks prior to the album’s release. Giddy, bouncy, […]

The Best Albums of 2013, #2

Chvrches, The Bones of What You Believe Glasgow trio Chvrches was the one band that got in my head, burrowed in and didn’t leave, for the entirety of 2013. I first learned about them when the BBC announced their Sound of 2013 nominees late last year, and starting with “The Mother We Share” right before […]

The Best Singles of 2013, #2

Chvrches, “Recover” I could have easily chosen any of Chvrches’ four 2013 singles for this spot on my list – they were all that good – but in the end I decided to go with the second song I ever heard them do, one that’s hung around and hung around all year long to the […]

The Best Albums of 2013, #3

In Solitude, Sister As strong as In Solitude’s critically acclaimed 2011 album The World. The Flesh. The Devil was, one thing people had to remember was this Swedish band is still a work in progress. Their devotion to classic heavy metal aesthetic was endearing on their first two records, but there was still plenty of […]

The Best Singles of 2013, #3

Katy B, “5 A.M.” The debut album by British singer-songwriter Kathleen Anne Brien remains one of my favourite pop albums of the last couple years, and judging by the several tracks that have surfaced in anticipation of her 2014 follow-up Little Red, the new record just might be even better. “5 A.M.” is the best […]

The Best Albums of 2013, #4

The Knife, Shaking the Habitual Every year it seems there’s one album so dark, weird, and impenetrable that it sticks with me throughout the entire year, where I might not even yet have a grasp on the music yet, but the way it reveals more of itself with every listen compels me to place it […]

The Best Singles of 2013, #4

Haim, “The Wire” It’s been so much fun seeing sisters Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim evolve from intriguing upstarts to a heavily-hyped band over the course of the last couple years. As good as their early songs were, “The Wire” saw the trio stepping up their game in a big way. Featuring a snappy little […]

The Best Albums of 2013, #5

Carcass, Surgical Steel I listened to somewhere between 500 and 600 metal albums in 2013, and for someone who hungers for diversity in a music collection, listening to nothing but extreme metal can get very monotonous, especially when the genre hasn’t experienced a decided sea change in the last 15 years or so. You start […]