Domingo 12 Jan 2014, 14h:40
Well, one more fantastic year in music has passed. Surely 2014 also won't disappoint because you know what? Every year in music is fantastic as long as you want to explore and constantly look for new stuff. And that's precisely what I did in constant quest for broadened horizons, so don't give me that crap about how bad 2013 was. So yeah, last year, when I rated 250 albums, I solemnly vowed to myself that it won't happen again, that it's just too much music to listen and rate properly. As you can see, that totally worked out, as I have only 325 albums in this year's list. All right, without further ado - here it is, the only 2013 summary you should pay attention to!
1/10:
The Browning - Hypernova
The Worst Album of the Year
Falling In Reverse - Alone
(single)
2/10:
Blessthefall - Hollow Bodies
Bullet for My Valentine - Temper Temper
Christopher Lee -
Charlemagne: The Omens of Death
Queensrÿche - Frequency Unknown
3/10:
Amaranthe - The Nexus
Skrillex - Leaving EP
Tank - Breath of the Pit
3.5/10:
Crystal Fighters - Cave Rave
4/10:
Alpha Tiger - Beneath the Surface
Castevet - Obsian
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Dream Theater - Dream Theater
The Disappointment of the Year
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Vienna Teng - Aims
4.5/10:
Clipping - Midcity
Damned Creed - Choose a Side
Ten Typ Mes - Ten Typ Mes i Lepsze Żbiki
5/10:
Abyssal - Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius
After the Burial - Wolves Within
Annihilator - Feast
Armory - Empyrean Realms
Born of Osiris - Tomorrow We Die ∆live
Dysmorphic - A Notion of Causality
Hatriot - Heroes of Origin
In Death It Ends - Occvlt Machine
Jorn - Traveller
Kodaline - The High Hopes EP
Metal Church - Generation Nothing
Power Trip - Manifest Decimation
Rosetta - The Anaesthete
Soilwork - The Living Infinite
Tarja - Colours in the Dark
5.5/10:
Airbourne - Black Dog Barking
Bleed From Within - Uprising
Cloud Rat - Moksha
Mielzky - 1.5
Orchid - The Mouths of Madness
Red Line Chemistry - Tug of War
Andrew Stockdale - Keep Moving
6/10:
Arsis - Unwelcome
Autopsy - The Headless Ritual
Black Sabbath - 13
Blood Red Throne - Blood Red Throne
The Body - Christs, Redeemers
Bonobo - The North Borders
The Catharsis - Romance
Circles - Infinitas
CocoRosie - Tales of a GrassWidow
Corrections House - Last City Zero
Counterparts - The Difference Between Hell and Home
Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity
The Devil Wears Prada - 8:18
Entrails - Raging Death
For the Imperium - Hail the Monsters
God Is an Astronaut - Origins
Haim - Days Are Gone
Heart in Hand - Almost There
Howl - Bloodlines
Huntress - Starbound Beast
Karnivool - Asymmetry
Malefice - Five
My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Naked Brown - Not So Bad
Neaera - Ours Is the Storm
Rhapsody of Fire - Dark Wings of Steel
Sepultura - The Mediator Between the Head and Hands Must Be the Heart
Sodom - Epitome of Torture
Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam
Terra Tenebrosa - The Purging
U.D.O. - Steelhammer
VHÖL - VHÖL
Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
6.5/10:
A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP
Alice In Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Animators - Magic.Madness.Memphis
Anti Tank Nun - Fire Follow Me
Caladan Brood - Echoes of Battle
Denouncement Pyre - Almighty Arcanum
The Devil's Blood - III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars
Disperse - Living Mirrors
Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent
Masterplan - Novum Initium
Palms - Palms
Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor
Saxon - Sacrifice
Seth - The Howling Spirit
Tristania - Darkest White
Vandroya - One
Warbringer - IV: Empires Collapse
Wisdom of Crowds - Wisdom of Crowds
7/10:
1926 - Bury the Ghost
EP
1926 - Orphans
EP
Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals - Walk Through Exits Only
Antigama - Meteor
Armed for Apocalypse - The Road Will End
Avatarium - Avatarium
Bastille - Bad Blood
Blut aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber III
Coffins - Fleshland
Jamie N Commons - Rumble and Sway
EP
Dante - November Red
Dark Moor - Ars Musica
Dreadnought - Lifewoven
Dreamshade - The Gift of Life
Essence - Last Night of Solace
Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Saivon lapsi
Evergreen Terrace - Dead Horses
Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum
Hacride - Back to Where You've Never Been
Haken - The Mountain
Havok - Unnatural Selection
Hessian - Manegarmr
Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy
Inter Arma - Sky Burial
KEN Mode - Entrench
Lingua Mortis Orchestra - LMO
Long Distance Calling - The Flood Inside
Misery Signals - Absent Light
Modern Life Is War - Fever Hunting
Monster Magnet - Last Patrol
Newsted - Heavy Metal Music
O.S.T.R. & Hades - HAOS
Orphaned Land - All Is One
Patrons of the Rotting Gate - The Rose Coil
Pessimist - Death From Above
Portal - Vexovoid
Pretty Maids - Motherland
Svart Crown - Profane
Thaw - Thaw
Thrawsunblat - Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings
Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
Toner Low - III
Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown - Wild Child
Vattnet Viskar - Sky Swallower
Vista Chino - Peace
Voivod - Target Earth
Von Hertzen Brothers - Nine Lives
Wormed - Exodromos
7.5/10:
Arckanum - Fenris Kindir
The Aristocrats - Culture Clash
Author & Punisher - Women & Children
Darkside - Psychic
Demonical - Darkness Unbound
Disfiguring the Goddess - Black Earth Child
Disfiguring the Goddess - Deprive
Evile - Skull
Fire! - (Without Noticing)
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth
Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
Gorguts - Colored Sands
Hate - Solarflesh: A Gospel of Radiant Divinity
Hierophant - Great Mother: Holy Monster
Jungbluth - Part Ache
Leash Eye - Hard Truckin' Rock
MasseMord - A Life-Giving Power of Devastation
The Nihilistic Front - Procession to Annihilation
Obliteration - Black Death Horizon
Pariso - Consanguinity
The Psyke Project - Guillotine
Purson - The Circle and the Blue Door
Seeds of Iblis - Anti Quran Rituals
SHXCXCHCXSH - STRGHTS
Sons of Aeon - Sons of Aeon
Tatvamasi - Parts of the Entirety
Tesseract - Altered State
Truth Corroded - The Saviours Slain
Uncle Acid - Mind Control
Vorum - Poisoned Void
Year of No Light - Tocsin
W.E.N.A. - Nowa Ziemia
Witherscape - The Inheritance
8/10:
Aborym - Dirty
Alameda 3 - Późne królestwo
All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature
Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
Artillery - Legions
Avantasia - The Mystery of Time
Birds and Buildings - Multipurpose Trap
The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack
Carcass - Surgical Steel
Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
Coldspell - Frozen Paradise
Colleen - The Weighing of the Heart
Cult of Luna - Vertikal II EP
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Deep Purple - Now What?!
Earthless - From the Ages
Endstille - Kapitulation 2013
Exhumed - Necrocracy
Exivious - Liminal
Falkenbach - Asa
Fallujah - Nomadic
EP
Fen - Dustwalker
Forest Swords - Engravings
Glorior Belli - Gators Rumble, Chaos Unfurls
Hail of Bullets - III: The Rommel Chronicles
The Haxan Cloak - Excavation
Heaven Shall Burn - Veto
Helloween - Straight out of Hell
Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
iwrestledabearonce - Late for Nothing
Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise
Koldbrann - Vertigo
Kvelertak - Meir
Kylesa - Ultraviolet
Lòdz - Something in Us Died
Moderat - II
MyGrain - Planetary Breathing
Mystic Prophecy - Killhammer
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
New Keepers of the Water Towers - Cosmic Child
No Consequence - IO
Norma Jean - Wrongdoers
Oathbreaker - Eros|Anteros
Obelyskkh - Hymn to Pan
Oceans of Slumber - Aetherial
Omnium Gatherum - Beyond
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
Pelican - Forever Becoming
Peste Noire - Peste Noire
Plaga - Magia gwiezdnej entropii
Pretty Lights - A Color Map of the Sun
Queensrÿche - Queensrÿche
Red Fang - Whales and Leeches
Rorcal - Vilagvege
A Sound of Thunder - Time's Arrow
Spektr - Cypher
Stray From the Path - Anonymous
Sulphur Aeon - Swallowed by the Ocean's Tide
Torture Division - The Sacrifice
EP
TRC - Nation
Tribulation - The Formulas of Death
Twilight of the Gods - Fire on the Mountain
Vulture Industries - The Tower
Wardruna - Runaljod - Yggdrasil
Kanye West - Yeezus
Woe - Withdrawal
8.5/10:
Alter Bridge - Fortress
Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods
Ampacity - Encounter One
Austra - Olympia
Ayreon - The Theory of Everything
Bardo Pond - Peace on Venus
Boards of Canada - Tommorow's Harvest
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
Chimaira - Crown of Phantoms
CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
Clutch - Earth Rocker
Daughter - If You Leave
Death Grips - Government Plates
Deus Mortem - Emanations of the Black Light
Entropia - Vesper
Esben and the Witch - Wash the Sins Not Only the Face
Gris - À l'âme enflammée, l'äme constellée...
In Vain - Ænigma
Kayo Dot - Hubardo
The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
Krimh - Explore
Monkey3 - The 5th Sun
Mord'A'Stigmata - Ansia
Onslaught - VI
Paramore - Paramore
Progenie Terrestre Pura - U.M.A.
Revocation - Revocation
Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels
Shining - One One One
Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed
Spiritual Beggars - Earth Blues
Stara Rzeka - Cień chmury nad ukrytym polem
T'ien Lai - Da'at
The Thing - Boot!
Trauma - Karma Obscura
9/10, entering the territory of awesome:
Amorphis - Circle
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Àrsaidh - Roots
Asgard - Outworld
Ataraxie - L'être et la nausée
Audrey Horne - Youngblood
August Burns Red - Rescue & Restore
Babooshki - Vesna
Benea Reach - Possession
Beneficjenci Splendoru - Bóg, Honor, Mam Talent
Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal
Celeste - Animale(s)
Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
Dark Tranquillity - Construct
Dawn of Midi - Dysnomia
Death Angel - The Dream Calls for Blood
Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light
Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
Hatchet - Dawn of the End
Hatebreed - The Divinity of Purpose
Hell - Curse & Chapter
Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen
Jucifer - за волгой для нас земли нет
L.U.C & Motion Trio - Nic się nie stało
Leprous - Coal
Merzbow, Mats Gustafsson and Balázs Pándi - Cuts
Nails - Abandon All Life
The Ocean - Pelagial
Satan - Life Sentence
Stonehenge - Bunch of Bisons
Thunderbaum - Night of the Lizards
Trivium - Vengeance Falls
White Wizzard - The Devils Cut
9.5/10, beyond awesome:
Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark
Bölzer - Aura
EP
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer
Fire! Orchestra - Exit!
Hammerforce - Access Denied
Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother
Persefone - Spiritual Migration
Protest the Hero - Volition
Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
Subrosa - More Constant Than the Gods
10/10, transcendence:
Blindead - Absence
A change in style is always a tricky thing, but these guys pulled it off so easily as if it were no more difficult than eating your morning's croissant. That the sounds became lighter and not so sludge-influenced doesn't mean that the music is less crushing and enticing. Until Behemoth releases the new album - hands down the best Polish metal band.
Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn
Considered cheesy by some, for me Summoning's music is equivalent to reading best fantasy books. Driven not by guitars but by synthesizers, it evokes the image of a warrior sounding his horn while standing over the Falls of Rauros. In a word: beyond epic.
Ulcerate - Vermis
The best death metal band in the world, they were compared to Gorguts ca. million times. Frankly, they surpassed this threshold long ago and are in a league of their own. Having who may be the best drummer in heavy metal world, they play their hellish, dissonant music like it were the soundtrack to the end of everything.
667/10 and the title of The Album of the Year:
Cult of Luna - Vertikal
http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/col-vertikal.jpg
Cinematic in the best possible sense of the word, "Vertikal" bursts through the speakers not only with sheer power but - first and foremost - with pure emotions. Even if you're not into this type of music, just sit down and listen for a bit. You will discover that harsh vocals and walls of riffs and synths are a perfect vehicle to tell the story of despair, solitude and love. This album moves me in a way that only the greatest sounds can - I can cry to it while I headbang furiously. Also, try to see them playing this stuff live - unforgettable is a silly understatement.
Total amount of albums rated: 325
Average: 7.26 (thought it was lower, actually)
Here's to exciting 2014! See you in more or less a year. Now - comment. Bash, flame, whatever - every kind of publicity is a good one.