Top 10 of 2013

This past year had many fantastic releases, where as a result making it hard to pick only ten of them. If you have been following my tumblr account, you may have noticed a list I made of some albums which I was highly considering for my favorite releases of the year. Now to follow my last years Top 10 of 2012, here are my top 10 albums of 2013.  

10. Cult of Luna - Vertikal

A band like Cult of Luna never seems to disappoint, and always bring forth something new to their music.
Following this release there was the EP continuing the album's atmosphere and themes, Vertikal II.

9. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

Naturally, this album had a lot hype for myself, considering that it's Nine Inch Nails. This album brings together elements of NIN's earlier music, but in a whole different perspective. This entire album can be listened to again and again with ease, and the whole thing just grooves so well together.

8. Persefone - Spiritual Migration

There are parts of this album that seem like they could be coming right out of a fantasy video game soundtrack, which I say this keeping in mind some of the fantastic soundtracks that have been created. (I can imagine "Outro" fitting perfectly in a scene from a series such as The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy.) The whole album is an extremely enjoyable listen, filled with a multitude of little details that add up to it's fantastic end product.

7. Dark Tranquility - Construct 

Overall a really enjoyable album, with the construction of the songs each being heavy and with a strong foundation. The mix of clean and harsh vocals on top of the atmosphere they've created which for me mirrors that of the cold winter, matched wonderfully.

6. Deafheaven - Sunbather

As observations shows in quite a number of top album lists of the year, this one has made it's way over here as well. I apologize if you are sick of seeing it everywhere and calling it "hipster metal", but I find this to be a very enjoyable work that I can listen to again and again.

What I really love about this album is the overall atmosphere that is created and expanded upon, being very similar to that of Alcest's work (now I am a huge fan of Alcest, so I absolutely love that); they even have Neige providing spoken word vocals on "Please Remember".

5. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty 

This is certainly a gorgeous album; from the overall atmosphere, song structures, instrumentation, and sound of her voice. It's as if a listen through were like crushing pretty big on the music she makes.





 

4. Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves

In this album, Riverside has managed to pay tribute to 70's prog while maintaining their core sound and creating a work which is on par with their Reality Dream Trilogy. This takes a lot of ideas and influences, and brings them forward with their own unique twist.

3. Vaura - The Missing

A fantastic genre-melding experience which can easily be listened to on repeat again and again. The atmosphere of this album is leaving off where their last album Selenelion left off, which is a very unique blend of soundscapes and both clean and harsh vocals. I highly recommend listening to this and experiencing the wonderful sounds this band has created.

2. Kayo Dot - Hubardo 
 
A massive work, spanning over 100 minutes of avant-garde beauty. This is truly an immense album which takes several listens to fully absorb, but it is worth every moment of it.

In addition to the amazing music of this album, the way it released was fantastic. I ended up getting the deluxe edition, triple-vinyl (swirl) signed by the band, hand-bound The Sword of Satan multi-chapter poem, that also came with a shirt, sticker, and pick. Beautifully packaged and worth every penny, it is overall a fantastic way to present this music.

1. Sigur Rós - Kveikur

Their darkest and heaviest album, where they now explore new and more metallic sounds. I'm actually really surprised as to how I haven't really seen this album on too many "top 10" lists, but here we are of it reaching the top of mine.

I love everything about this album, from the new turn of direction that they are going in, to their use of the brass and strings layered inside of their sound, an the overall structure of each song. This album keeps their core sound, but has a much heavier, darker, with a more metallic and percussive sound to it.

Several of these I had previously done album reviews of if you are interested, and there are still a few from here that I intend to do reviews of (in addition to what's been released so far of 2014 albums).
I was originally going to include (as I had last year), the list of albums that I had listened to in addition to my top choices so you can get a reference point from where I am choosing these. However since this past year was rather long, which is great because that means I got to listen to a ton of new music this year, it's just going to take up a ton of space where I don't think anyone would be going through it. Instead here are some runner up albums (these making the list really a top 15), as well as a few other runner ups.

15. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
14. Gris - À l’Âme Enflammée, l’Äme Constellée…
13. Optic - Iris In
12. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing
11. Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen
Other albums to note:
Atoms for Peace - Amok | Beastmilk – Climax | Carcass - Surgical Steel | CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe | Ghost - Infestissumam | Gorguts - Colored Sands | Tim Hecker - Virgins | Karnivool - Asymmerty | Leafblade - The Kiss of Spirit and Fles | Leprous - Coal | LowCityRain - LowCityRain | Rosetta - The Anaesthete | Tomahawk - Oddfellows | Ulver - Messe I.X - VI.X 

There were so many fantastic albums released in 2013, and so far there have been several amazing ones released in 2014. I know this was a bit late of a post for a "top 10" list considering it's already July, but whatever.

Jan/Feb '13: AMOK | Vertikal

Here we have the albums I heard from January's and February's releases, and my reviews of them. Now as far as other releases that I am aware of, I still need to listen to Coheed and Cambria's The Afterman: Descension and write about Tomahawk's Oddfellows with how their concert was. Of course there is also the new Riverside album Shrine of New Generation Slaves released, but that got it's own post for a review which can be read here, and the review on Steven Wilson's The Raven that Refused to Sing here. I had intended to originally get this sooner, like a few months ago, but procrastination(/classes) got the better of me.

Atoms for Peace - AMOK
Super-group from Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco give a fantastic electronic album in the nature of Yorke's solo album The Eraser, but honestly in my opinion even surpassing. Before the album was officially released, it was made available for a time to stream in its entirety on the band's official website. Wile it appears to not be up for streaming any more, you can navigate through the site to gain access to a free download of the "Default" b-side "What The Eyeballs Did".

After I first listened to this album from the stream, I immediately had to pre-order a copy of it. The whole flow of this album is fantastic, where I find part of myself wanting to dance to it (in the same sort of way Thom Yorke dances of course; see the video for "Lotus Flower" or any live video for "Idioteque").

"Before Your Very Eyes.." starts off the album with it's electronic sound that will continue on throughout the following songs.

"Default" has a rather distinct groove and "Ingenue" (with a video as seen on the right, also has a dancing Thom), where both released as singles to the album, and are good examples of the sort of sound to expect. These are then followed by the song "Dropped".

"Unless" is next, which is also one of my favorite tracks off the album.

Following that "Stuck Together Pieces", "Judge, Jury and Executioner", "Reverse Running", and the title track "Amok" continue the remainder of the album. All of these combined add up to a really fantastic album, and one that can be listened to again and again with still finding a bunch of new stuff (though what else is expected from Thom Yorke). So, I really love the album and can not wait to see them perform live in the fall.

 Cult of Luna - Vertikal
Their first album since 2008, Cult of Luna return with a concept album bringing forth some of the themes presented Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis (x). With Vertikal, they bring their notable post-metal soundscapes to listen to while also adding some unexpected elements that work well none the less.

"The One" introduces the album in a calm way, and leads into the following song "I: The Weapon".

The massive "Vicarious Redemption", with a run-time of 18:51 is like the centerpiece for the album. It has a gradual buildup throughout the whole song, that once it reaches the climax of it all it's really a fantastic experience.

"The Sweep", "Synchronicity", "Disharmonia", "Mute Departure", and "In Awe Of" all continue with the powerful and intense, yet still I find emotional atmosphere they have created.

The album closes with "Passing Through", which is my favorite song from the album. While this song is not as heavy as the rest of the album, it is a perfect way to close it. It's really emotional, adding a really solemn quality to the album as a whole.

For the limited edition of the album there was bonus track, "The Flow Reversed". Overall Vertikal is a dark album, but that is to be expected, and it's presented as such in a way that Cult of Luna pulls off great. This album is another example of one that the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me, it is really a fantastic work.


All in all, both of these albums are really fantastic and continue to grow on me with each listen. I would highly recommend listening to them both, as you really would be missing out on some amazing music if you don't.