Halfway Retrospective - the 10 Best Albums of 2013 (So Far)

          So a few weeks ago, Metalsucks debuted a few editorial pieces about each of their writers' picks for the top 10 best albums of 2013. It goes without saying that this has been an impressive year for metal and punk - metalcore's heavy hitters (August Burns Red, Bring Me the Horizon, etc.) have all released albums, following their 2-year schedule. But that's only part of the fun - 2013 is, without a doubt, a prog year. Bands like Scale the Summit and the Ocean have released game-changers in that field, and insane tours have been appearing out of the woodwork.
           To that end, I decided to compose my own list. Without further ado, here are my 10 best albums of 2013 so far. I'll conclude the section with five more albums I'm looking forward to.

       

1.  Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

      Genre: Progressive

            Intronaut's fourth album Habitual Levitations is a light-headed yet paradoxically heavy trek through a beautiful blend of sludge-prog. This fusion allows the band to toy with the entire feel of the album, giving it a decidedly unique texture that will haunt your ears from the first few thick chords of 'Killing Birds with Stones' to the last feedback screeches of 'The Way Down'. Habitual Levitations is a decidedly mellow
album, but it's within its melancholy passages that the band manages to weave complex atmospheres as the melodic vocals of frontman Sacha Dunable (who completely eschewed uncleans for the album) wrap themselves around you. As with previous releases, the instrumentals are the album's high point - virtuosos Joe Lester (bass) and Danny Walker (drums) will make any musician jealous as their rhythmic complexities lend themselves to the melancholic atmosphere of the record.

     2. Stomach Earth - Stomach Earth

Genre: Doom

      Some of you may remember seminal deathcore band the Red Chord – who were most famously remembered for the hilarious stage antics of frontman Guy Kozowyk – inventor of a hardcore dancing move dubbed the ‘Panteradactyl’ – and for their heavy-hitting machine of a record Fed Through the Teeth Machine. Unfortunately, the rise of Suicide Silence silenced (see what I did there) the Red Chord, who went on hiatus in 2009. This year, Kozowyk joined the New Hampshire police force, effectively reducing the likelihood of a new Red Chord album from nil to less than nil. In the meantime, however, former guitarist Mike “Gunface” McKenzie released his funeral doom project Stomach Earth’s first record and christ is it something. Echoing the unrelenting, methodical assault of doom acts like Ahab or the Abominable Iron Sloth, Stomach Earth is pure audible punishment, delivered in a torturously slow dosage. ‘Heavy’ is an understatement, ‘crushing’ more accurate, and as McKenzie roars 'I am the one they fear!' on the track of the same name, you'll find yourself trembling at the sheer badassery. McKenzie proves to us with Stomach Earth that one-man doom is not a dead art.

     3.  Nails - Abandon All Life

     Genre: Hardcore

     Starkly unapologetic and brutally quick in its delivery, Nails' second album (after their first audible beating Unsilent Death) is potentially one of the most unmelodic, punishing hardcore records of the year. The band, which features ex-Terror guitarist Todd Young, had its second record produced by Converge's legendary Kurt Ballou, whose oversight really shines through on tracks like 'Tyrant' or 'Suum Critique' (the longest track at 5 minutes) - where you could mistake Young's shrieked chant for Jacob Bannon. Clocking in at a devastatingly brief 17 minutes, Abandon All Life echoes 90s heavy hitters like Converge and Napalm Death as the band masterfully blends hardcore and grindcore into a devastating mess of sound that you can't quite tear yourself away from. As is, the record is potentially one of the most unapproachable albums of the year, coming across as more noise than music at times, but that's what makes it just so endearing. Additionally, if you don't find yourself nodding along to the medieval break in the title track, you have no soul.

      4. Thy Art is Murder - Hate

       Genre: Deathcore

      Australia always seems to do things better than us Yanks, and this is exactly the case with Sydney's Thy Art is Murder. At first glance, deathcore doesn't seem like a particularly technical genre - the odd exceptions being djent bands like Born of Osiris or Structures, who play with polyrythms and time signatures - but TAIM manage to bring all sorts of technicality to the table without resorting to Axe FX. As the band growls 'I am hell!" with the opening track, it's clear exactly what you're in for. As with more traditional deathcore albums, the pace doesn't quite let up, but the difference between TAIM and, say, Whitechapel lies in the drumwork of Lee Stanton. While he won't be competing with Intronaut's Danny Walker, Stanton's precision and power allow him to amp up the intensity without losing rythm, and when you consider that deathcore is a genre founded on being catchy and rythmic, this is where the band shines. That's saying nothing of the other instrumentals. Guitar solos - a rarity in any sort of -core genre - abound, tying songs together and getting you just that much more pissed off. Hate is already being considered a classic, despite being out less than six months.

5. Silverstein - This is How the Wind Shifts

Genre: Post-hardcore/Emo rock

    And now for something completely different.
Silverstein have quietly been a part of the emo rock/post-hardcore scene for years since their 2003 release of When Broken Easily Fixed. Since then, it's been only uphill as the band has continuously matured with each release. March's This is How the Wind Shifts is actually their second take at a concept album - after the 2009 melodramatic A Shipwreck in the Sand was heralded as their best album so far. This is How the Wind Shifts follows two characters as they make vastly different decisions, ultimately culminating in two very different endings. It's a unique idea that's executed professionally and emotionally, and is overall a far better record than 2011's lukewarm and profoundly uninteresting Rescue. Lyrics are at an all time high, and new guitarist Paul-Marc Rousseau's riffwork gives the album a mystifying feel - including the ambient, powerful  post-rock-tinged ballad 'In a Place of Solace', which steals the rest of the album. This is How the Wind Shifts has been on my playlist almost continuously for the past five months. It's, to say the very least, a truly stellar record.

 6. Cult of Luna - Vertikal

Genre: Progressive

        Swedish progressive band Cult of Luna take a unique perspective on progressive metal, one that isn't clouded by worship for their compatriots Opeth or by the multitude of excellent melodeath bands the cold north has produced. Instead, Cult of Luna's unique strain of metal focuses on a mixture of electronics and atmospherics, supported by guitar and traditional metal accoutrements in a way that creates one of the more unique sounds on the market. The bizarre reliance on electronics might seem like a bit of a gimmick, or detract from the heaviness Vertikal has to offer, but in fact it's quite the opposite. The band has gone on record stating that they used electronics to fill the holes organic sound left, and for the most part it's definitely the case. Vertikal is as airy and lilting as it is still a metal album. In this way, Vertikal is similar to Habitual Levitations (see previous) in its simultaneous lightness and heaviness, but in the case of Cult of Luna the entire album enjoys a grandiose presence, with both electronic and instrumental bass providing the soothing, baritone undertow for the numerous layers of instruments and effects to masterfully pile atop of, to an utterly hypnotic effect.

7. Aosoth - IV: An Arrow in Heart

Genre: Black Metal

France's Aosoth comprise a small pocket of traditionalist BM amidst a sea of bands like Year of No Light or Alcest that have looked beyond the BM of the past and molded with genres like post-rock in a strange, controversial new wave of music dubbed 'blackgaze'. Yet despite their countrymen's direction, Aosoth's influences remain firmly ensconced in the giants of the 90s - Gorgoroth, Carpathian Forest, Watain, etc. While Aosoth's work (down to the eerie cover art) in the past has been criticized as unabashed Deathspell Omega worship, An Arrow in Heart has the band standing on their own two feet with sweeping, blasphemous aural landscapes. An Arrow in Heart is as black metal a record as can be - complete with blast beats and tremolo'd chords, but the album's strongest suite is the pervasive element of darkness that infiltrates each and every piece. 'Under Nails and Fingertips' conjures up images of heretical, candle-lit rituals in its awe-inspiring majesty and dreadful hints of melody that lurk beyond crushing riffs. 'Broken Dialogue, Pt. 1' is a black march through staccato gloom that couldn't be more different. To recapitulate An Arrow in Heart is a triumphant sequel to Aosoth's splendid first record, a wonderful recovery from their lukewarm second, and definitely the BM album of the year so far.

8. Baroness - Yellow & Green

Genre: I haven't the faintest clue.

If ever there was a textbook definition of genre fusion, Georgia's Baroness would be first on the list. Since their 2007 debut (Red Album), the band has been famous for their masterful blend of progressive metal, sludge, stoner metal and a healthy serving of melody into their bizarre sound. 2013's Yellow & Green, the band's latest endeavor, is a continuation of the bizarre sound the band has made its own. At once familiar, with Baroness' signature heavy-but-not-too-heavy ballads ('Take My Bones Away', 'Little Things') contrasted with soulfully quiet songs ('Twinkler', 'Cocainium'). While Yellow & Green's risks often work beautifully, I personally think it falls short of Red Album in terms of scope. Yellow & Green sees the empty spaces on Red Album filled in with atmospheric bass and rhythm guitar, but it was that abrasiveness - the perfect contrast between melody and heaviness - that made Red Album so awesome. That's not so say Yellow & Green doesn't kick your ass, but as a whole it flows a lot more than the stacatto rush of, say, 'Isak'. To some, this is a wonderful development, but I personally feel as though there ought to be more room.

 9. Anciients - Heart of Oak 

Genre: Progressive

  

Anciients are total newcomers to metal, having released their first EP only two years ago. But even so, they've learned quickly and skillfully, and their debut album Heart of Oak is certainly indicative of talent we can expect from them in the future. As I said before, 2013 is a prog year, and Anciients' unique take on the genre might seem close to Cult of Luna, but the Vancouver act's reliance on clean vocals, as well as its methodical, head-bobbing drumwork, distinguish them from the Swedes. Heart of Oak features more melody than it does abrasion - the intro to 'Falling in Line' and 'Raise the Sun' are most indicative of this - but this melody doesn't put the album on the same level of semi-heaviness that other bands on the list like Intronaut have been perfecting (although that style is certainly awesome). Instead, Anciients play up technicality, offering solos and musical prowess to weave a progressive, atavistic portrait filled with complex riffs and head-nodding noodling (damn that was fun to write). As said before, if this album will be indicative of their later work, we have some good times to expect from these Canadians.

          

 10. Kylesa - Ultraviolet

Genre: Sludge

Kylesa and Baroness collectively represent the amazing Georgian sludge scene, but while their countrymen in Baroness busied themselves more with progressive elements, Kylesa have stayed true to the more hardcore-influenced side of sludge. The band's brooding, yet vitriolic psychadelic punk ballads have been in a constant state of refinement since their inception. Ultraviolet, May's latest achievement by the band, is as much a continuation as it as an experiment. The previous two albums by the band were clearly influenced by progressive rock bands like Yes, as they combined psychadelic ramblings with the power of Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope's twin guitars. Ultraviolet, however, furthers this influence. While the introductory track 'Exhale' conjures up memories of their first album, the omnipresent echo pedal adds a distinct linger to the sound, in that its punk-y attack lingers in your ears after the last chord is strummed. Songs like 'Vulture's Landing' or 'Unspoken', which feature Pleasants' cleans prominently amidst wailing, psychadelic solos, are perhaps the most striking developments in the band's discography, nailing Ultraviolet as one of the year's best.

       And now for my five most anticipated albums of the fall and beyond!

1. Watain - The Wild Hunt
2. The Devil Wears Prada - 8:18 
3. Trivium - Vengeance Falls 
4. Thou - Heathen
5. Alcest - Shelter