Aosoth
IV: An Arrow In Heart
Agonia (2013)
Aosoth is another example of how great the current black metal scene in France actually is. With their latest full length, they definitely claim their place next to great bands like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord. Formed by members of black metal titans Antaeus you get an idea of the quality of the music here.The cold, eerie atmosphere kicks in straight away from the … Read more
Apocynthion
Sidereus Nuncius
Pest Productions (2013)
Well, when it came time to pick the newest fad in metal music, I certainly wasn't expecting post-black metal* to become a genre. And yet, so many bands have been affected by Alcest's sublime, beautiful interpretation of black metal and post-rock that it's really not too surprising to see others taking the genre in a new direction. Cue the debut from … Read more
Arckanum
Fenris Kindir
Season of Mist (2013)
Swedish black metal entity Arckanum - led by Shamaatae – have been a constant presence on the chaos-driven scene since the band’s early 90s inception and their material is as prolific as it is devastatingly weird and wonderful. Arckanum have always been a little, well, bonkers, and Fenris Kindir is no exception to that rule. From the career highlight of ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ to the strange … Read more
Arctic Monkeys
AM
Domino (2013)
By the end of their erogenous fifth LP, the Arctic Monkeys have asked three questions: "Do I Wanna Know?", "R U Mine?" and "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?". All three tracks were released as singles, with each begging the carnal fury pulsing in their latest record, AM. Remarkably, each of the three tracks signify distinct stylistic nuances, fluent throughout … Read more
Arsis
Unwelcome
Nuclear Blast (2013)
Arsis have gotten a lot of flack recently--many folks haven't liked their turn away from the frantically technical towards the heavily melodic. And while I personally liked Starve for the Devil, there's no denying that substantial change has occurred in Arsis's sound, and despite a few bright moments here and there, it has generally been for the worse. Unfortunately, their recent … Read more
Ash Borer
Bloodlands
Gilead Media / Psychic Violence (2013)
Do you love tossing on a record that is just crushing from start to finish? I mean regardless of dynamics where even the quiet parts make you feel that the heaviness could simply collapse in around your ear drums while the record spins because Bloodlands is definitely one of those records, and with it, Ash Borer is certainly staking their claim as a force … Read more
Atoms For Peace
Amok
XL Recordings (2013)
Every so often an unusual group of veteran musicians gather to form what was coined in the late ‘60s as a supergroup. There have been exceptional creative ventures, from the early Crosby, Stills & Nash, to the more recent Them Crooked Vultures and various Jack White endeavors, while others were better left to inebriated jam sessions at rock star house … Read more
Audacity
Butter Knife
Suicide Squeeze (2013)
It didn’t take long for Mellow Cruisers to appeal. Butter Knives, the follow-up from California’s Audacity, though, seems to be more of a grower.A band quick-summed-up as power-pop (though that description lacks), the new record seems to miss that one-two punch, earworm aspect. Instead, the songs are a bit more complex, less predictable, and more varied from starter “Couldn’t Hold a Candle” through … Read more
Author & Punisher
Women & Children
Seventh Rule (2013)
The enigmatic figure of Tristan Shone, a mechanical engineer/metal sculptor, is the driving force behind the Author & Punisher project. By developing custom machines, controllers and speakers (named Drone/Dub Machines) in order to produce an impressive array of different sounds, merging together doom and industrial music, Tristan Shone tried and succeeded in building his own Frankenstein’s monster.The sound of the band … Read more
Autistic Youth
Nonage
Dirtnap (2013)
I nearly died one night in the kitchen of Mexican restaurant I was cooking at. When it came time to clean up the floors at the end of my closing shift, I erroneously (read: stupidly) mixed ammonia and bleach in a mop bucket full of steaming hot water. One breath of that potent mixture and I was seeing stars and … Read more
Avantasia
The Mystery of Time
Nuclear Blast (2013)
Between being the vocalist for heavy metal band Edguy and the creative force for the rock opera project Avantasia, Tobias Sammet is a really busy guy. And though I've never really been able to follow the overarching structure to Avantasia's operas, apparently the last two releases (The Wicked Symphony and The Angel of Babylon, released simultaneously in 2010) wrapped up the current story arc. That … Read more
Avenged Sevenfold
Hail To The King
Warner Bros. (2013)
Look on the interweb and you'll find love for Avenged Sevenfold and you'll find hate. A lot of hate. I understand the love, but I don't quite understand the hate. The hate brigade's consensus would maintain that they're poseurs. Wannabes. Clowns in the metal circus. This is dismissive. I've always viewed them as a group of kids who don't quite know what they … Read more
Azure Emote
The Gravity of Impermanence
Selfmadegod (2013)
I truly think that the word “progressive” has lost its actual meaning for quite some time now. Instead of meaning something new, innovative, and daring it is reserved for bands that are being just technical. Well Azure Emote is a true progressive death metal band, doing something quite new in the extreme side of metal. Keeping a death metal base, the band led … Read more
Ævangelist
Omen Ex Simulacra
Debemur Morti Productions (2013)
Omen Ex Simulacra is a difficult record - one that twists and forms new shapes as it progresses, one that falls into an unfathomable abyss and crawls back out again. It’s dark, overwhelming and grossly pregnant with malevolence and the base duo of Ævangelist are masters of noise control, giving their record a cacophony of sounds to work with and creating … Read more
Bad Sports
Bras
Dirtnap (2013)
Bad Sports want you to turn it up. They play loud rock, rooted in the elements, but not tied to rollicking times or anti-authority volume, but taking that foundation and blending it with a fundamental structure that pulls from The Ramones and draws melodic ideas from the genres forefathers in the 1960s. It’s got that Ramones-y repetition/simplicity (“Let Me In”), the lovelorn … Read more
Bangers
Crazy Fucking Dreams
Beach Community (2013)
Bangers are a punk band from Cornwall, but they don’t play to expectations in their second full-length Crazy Fucking Dreams. Instead, the record starts with the mid-to-slow tempo “A Curious Mix,” with speak-sing vocals and a trumpet. Singer Roo Pescod’s voice remains confrontational and direct, and that’s the most “punk rock” thing about “A Curious Mix.” From there, of course, the … Read more
Baptists
Bushcraft
Southern Lord (2013)
Crusty hardcore is making a sort of renaissance as of late. With more and more bands playing the basics and still more adding the style to their more broad repertoire it can make it harder and harder to pick a truly great example of the genre as opposed to a band that merely does it well.2 years ago Vancouvers' Baptists … Read more
Batillus
Concrete Sustain
Seventh Rule (2013)
The issue that I had with Furnace, the 2011 debut album from Brooklyn's doom metal band Batillus was that it kept losing my interest after the first two songs. Don't get me wrong, I love those first couple tracks and the overall chilling atmosphere of that album, but I just found myself getting sidetracked every time I tried to listen … Read more
