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.

Riverside SONGS

The as always fantastic Polish prog band Riverside recently released their fifth studio album Shrine of New Generation Slaves. The artwork for this album, as with all their previous albums, was done by Travis Smith. For anyone who may have been slightly disappointed in their last album Anno Domini High Definition, this completely blows that out of the water.* With each listen to S.O.N.G.S. it grows on me, and I love it even more. I wouldn't be surprised if this remains one of my favorite albums of 2013.

*I enjoyed their last album, but I have read that there were a decent amount of people who were disappointed when comparing it to the Reality Dream Trilogy that was their first three albums (Out of Myself, Second Life Syndrome, and Rapid Eye Movement). Yes that is a tough thing to follow, but Anno Domini High Definition is still a really good album. Riverside can do no wrong for me. /rant

The album consists of eight tracks; "New Generation Slave", "The Depth of Self-Delusion", "Celebrity Touch", "We Got Used to Us", "Feel Like Falling", "Deprived (Irretrievably Lost Imagination)", "Escalator Shrine", and "Coda". Also included on the two disc and vinyl editions were "Night Sessions" parts one and two. From this there has been one single off of the album, "Celebrity Touch" (seen below at the bottom of the review), which the video was directed by Mateusz Winkiel.

As far as the whole concept of the album, Mariusz Duda describes that as follows (x);

The lyrics on the new album deal with different situations we face in our modern times and how we sometimes become enslaved by them and by the style of life they dictate. For instance, we are dominated and bombarded by increasingly stupefying media. The media, in turn, is dominated by more and more people who are known for their well-knownness - Celebrities, the modern representatives of a need which lies deep within us all and is rarely satisfied - the feeling of importance. This feeling, and some of the dilemmas and complications connected with it, is the subject of our newest single - "Celebrity Touch". Musically, we still try to extend the bridge to connect the new music to the old. In this track I think we achieved some kind of original mixture and I hope you will enjoy this piece of new album.

Now this makes me want to draw similarities between S.O.N.G.S. and Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet and Nill Recurring as far as lyrical themes, but musically they are completely different (both absolutely fantastic none the less though).

The first song that starts off the album is "New Generation Slave" bringing to the listener some of the themes that will be presented throughout the album. The lyric "The truth is, I am a free man, / but I can't enjoy my life" really goes with the concept of how the current generation is so dependent on social media outlets that while they're free they can not really enjoy the life that they could be having out in the 'real world'.

"The Depth of Self-Delusion" reminds me most of the Reality Dream Trilogy era, both lyrically and the construction of the song. This is one of my favorite songs off the album, just the atmosphere and combining of all the parts to this song with the lyrics are just beautiful. "I could be foreign forever / To your otherland / I could be foreign forevermore / To your promiseland"

"Celebrity Touch" is probably one of the 'heavier' songs on the album, that has a memorable riff in both the bass and guitar. It is really nice, and a solid song for a single filled with the elements that allow the listener to loose themselves in the music.

"We Got Used to Us" is another one of my favorites off of the album, between the lyrics, instrumentation, and the overall mood of the song it just really gets to me every time I listen to it. The repeated chorus that to me connects with how easily people can fall into a life style that they may not light but can't seem to get themselves out of. But with the final lyric "So walk away with me" giving a hope to get out of this cycle of a life.

I know we got used to new us,
and I don't want to be there
I don't want to be there where we are
I know we got used to new life,
and I don't want to be there
No, I don't want to be there where we are

"Feel Like Falling" has a similar sound to "Celebrity Touch" and what was on Anno Domini High Definition, but definitely in a way which has grown and developed since that album. "Deprived" features a soprano sax solo by Marcin Odyniec which really adds a nice jazz element on top of the groove of the song. This song also has Mariusz Duda singing in falsetto which is a nice change as he does does not often do that within Riverside (or what I have heard of Lunatic Soul's albums and his guest vocals in Indukti's S.U.S.A.R.).

"Escalator Shrine" is the longest song on the album (with a time of 12:41), and you can hear how it draws influence from many other prog bands while still maintaining the tone of the album and Riverside's core sound. "Coda" is a simple but excellent way to end the album and all that's happened within it. It leaves Shrine of New Generation Slaves to end with the lyric "I won't collapse / I am set to rise".

"Night Sessions (Part One)" takes on more of an electronic feel than some of Riverside's other songs, in a way which creates an interesting atmosphere one can just relax to. "Night Sessions (Part Two)" features Marcin Odyniec once again, but this time on alto sax. Bringing back the jazz elements with his solo that work so well when combined with Riverside's sound. This song does include some vocals, but they are without lyrics focusing more on using the voice as another texture in the sound. Once again creating a wonderful atmosphere to just listen to, reminding me more of Lunatic Soul than Riverside, but still proving to be an excellent addition to go along with S.O.N.G.S.. Overall this was an excellent album, and I hope to be able to see them live on their mini North American tour.