2013 Wrap-Up Part 1

Darlings,

I am slowly wrapping up this year – with Part 2 on its eventual way. This year, the ups were really high and the lows were really low, but music-wise – it was quite amazing. So, this then is my own personal view of 2013 (click on the band's name to get to its post).

Yours Truly

December (2012) goes to the mysterious entity called NINE COVENS. True, their ‘On The Dawning Of Light’ came out in November 2012 in Europe, and in January 2013 in North America, but, listening to it again right now, I think they deserve their month; therefore they get December. Next, I would recommend DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT three-track, 40-minutes long ‘Widowmaker’, MORS PRINCIPIUM EST's comeback album ‘…And Death Said Live’, DESOLATE SHRINE's ‘The Sanctum Of Human Darkness’, NIDINGR's ‘Greatest Of Deceivers’ and MAVETH's ‘Coils Of The Black Earth’.

Free albums from: XUL: ‘Malignance’ and DAMNATION DEFACED: ‘Slaughter Race’ EP

Videos from: MY DYING BRIDE, SYLOSIS, XERATH, KHORS, GOD SEED, GOTTHARD, FALLSTAF, KRISIUN, NEUROSIS, DESTINY, DESCENDING, RAMMSTEIN, HOUR OF 13, LOUDRAGE, RIVAL SONS, SAVAGE MESSIAH 

As far as I’m concerned, CULT OF LUNA and their album ‘Vertical’ get January. If it was up to me, I would award VOIVOD's ‘Target Earth’ with second place and I would force HATEBREED, HOLY GRAIL, LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH and KOLDBRANN to share the third spot for their respective efforts: ‘The Divinity Of Purpose’, ‘Ride The Void’, ‘Baphometic Chaosium’ and ‘Vertigo’. Next, I recommend NECROWRETCH (‘Putrid Death Sorcery’), NIGHTFALL (‘Casiopea’), ROTTEN SOUND (‘Species At War’), DENOUNCMENT PYRE (‘Almighty Arcanum’), ALPHA TIGER (‘Beneath The Surface’), WALLACHIA (‘Shunya’), DANTE (‘November Red’), MUTINY WITHIN (‘Synchronicity’) and CHARIOTS OF THE GODS (‘Tides Of War’).

Videos from: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, MY DYING BRIDE, SCUM OF THE EARTH, LOATHE, FUCK THE FACTS, ROYAL THUNDER, PUTERAEON, ILLDISPOSED, HATESPHERE, WINTERHORDE, DYING FETUS, WEAPON, AVATAR

In February I went a bit piraty (with ‘Son Of Rouges Gallery’) and then all hell broke loose; but that aside, I finally made my peace with DARKTHRONE on account of their ‘Underground Resistance’. Second place goes to HELEN MONEY for ‘Arriving Angels’ and to EIGHT BELLS for ‘Captain's Daughter’ and not only for their excellent contributions to this otherwise male-dominated sort of music (taking nothing away from their male partners in crime) and of course to the mighty KONGH (‘Sole Creation’), while the bronze spot goes jointly to ANCIENT VVISDOM for ‘Deathlike’, SUFFOCATION for ‘Pinnacle Of Bedlam’, HATE for ‘Alchemy Of Blood’ and SPEKTR for ‘Cypher’. Next, I listened to DEATH WOLF's ‘II: Black Armoured Death’, SHAI HULUD's ‘Reach Beyond The Sun’, BUCKCHERRY's ‘Confessions’, OMNIUM GATHERUM's ‘Beyond’, PORTAL's ‘Vexovoid’, VREID's ‘Welcome Farewell’, MISERY INDEX's live album, AS THEY BURN ‘Will, Love, Life’ and to CNOC AN TURSA's ‘The Giants Of Auld’, to KING CROW's ‘In Crescendo’, to DISPERSE's ‘Living Mirrors’, to ENFORCER's ‘Death By Fire’, to DEVOURMENT's ‘Conceived In Sewage’, to WITHIN THE RUINS' ‘Elite’, to BYZANTINE's self-titled album, and to CROSSFAITH's ‘Zion’. And let us not forget the reissued ‘Desert Northern Hell’ by TSJUDER and ‘In The Streams Of Inferno’ by MYSTICUM.

Free albums: THE GATES OF SLUMBER's ‘Stormcrow’ and SLASHER's ‘Pray For The Dead’

Videos from: CARACH ANGREN, ABORTED, KATATONIA

No matter how appealing to my senses HYPOCRISY (‘End Of Disclosure’) mainman's facial hair or his outlandish conspiracy theories is/are, or how in vogue HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS (‘Welcome Oblivion’) and KVELERTAK (‘Meir’) are, or how glad I was to see SUICIDAL TENDENCIES (‘13’) back, or how entertained I was by FINNTROLL (‘Blodsvept’), LOST SOCIETY (‘Fast Loud Death’) or HARDCORE SUPERSTAR (‘C’mon Take On Me’) or THE NEW BLACK (‘III: Cut Loose’), and how awed I was by WARDRUNA's (‘Runaljod – Yggdrasil’), OCTOBER FALLS (‘The Plague Of A Coming Age’), IMPERIUM DEKADENZ (‘Meadows Of Nostalgia’) and SIX FEET UNDER (‘Unborn’) dedication to their respective causes, or how “lifted” I was by INTRONAUT (‘Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)’, or how “horrified” I was by MOSS (‘Horrible Night’) – it was really between ROTTING CHRIST's ‘Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy’ and INTER ARMA's ‘Sky Burial’ for me in March. And on the end, ROTTING CHRIST appealed to the tribalist in me, I guess. Furthermore, I listened to CALL OF THE VOID's  ‘Dragged Down A Dead End Path’, SOILWORK's ‘The Living Infinite’, to KEN MODE's ‘Entrenched’, to JUNGLE ROT's ‘Terror Regime’, to SAXON's ‘Sacrifice’, to NEAERA's ‘Ours Is The Storm’, to NAILS's  ‘Abandon All Life’, to AMENTA's ‘Flesh Is Heir’, to NERO DI MARTE's self-titled album, to TOMBSTONE's ‘Ruralizer’, to ESSENCE's ‘Last Night Of Solace’, to MILKING THE GOATMACHINE's ‘Stallzeit’, to DAMNATION PLAN's ‘The Wakening’ and to PERSEPHONE's ‘Spiritual Migration’. Also, we should all remember THE EYE has risen anew in March (‘Supremacy’).

Videos from: WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH, DUNDERBEIST, THE CASUALTIES, EKTOMORF, MEDICATED

Well, yes I know, I am predictable. I have fought them long and hard but on the end they’ve won April, GHOST (B.C.) and their ‘Infestissumam’ I mean. April was the month during which we all went a bit native (and a little crazy): VHÖL with their self-titled debut, BEASTWARS with ‘Blood Becomes Fire’, SHINING with ‘One One One’, ALTAR OF PLAGUES with ‘Teethed Glory And Injury’, ORCHID with ‘The Mouth Of Madness’, AMORPHIS with ‘Circle’, AOSOTH with ‘IV: An Arrow In Heart’, THE OCEAN with ‘Pelagial’ and PURSON with ‘The Circle And The Blue Door’. I have really enjoyed BRING ME THE HORIZON's ‘Sempiternal’ too – they’ve grown up some. CATHEDRAL (‘The Last Spire’), KILLSWITCH ENGAGE (‘Disarm The Descent’) and STONE SOUR (‘House Of Gold & Bones Part 2’) are hopefully quite mature as well. Not something GAMA BOMB (‘The Terror Tapes’) worry about. Next, I recommend KADAVAR's ‘Abra Kadavar’, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS' ‘Earth Blues’, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM's ‘Ugly Noise’, SATAN's ‘Life Sentence’, WARBEAST's ‘Destroy’, SODOM's ‘Epitome Of Torture’, PYRITHION's ‘The Burden Of Sorrow’, NEGATOR's ‘Gates To The Pantheon’, WOE's ‘Withdrawal’, HEAVEN SHALL BURN's ‘Veto’,  THE MOTH GATHERER's ‘A Bright Celestial Light’, HOWL's ‘Bloodlines’, THIS MISERY GARDEN's ‘Cornerstone’,  COUGH/WINDHAND's ‘Reflection Of The Negative’, F.K.Ü's ‘4: Rise Of The Mosh Mongers’, ANCIIENTS's ‘Heart Of Oak’,  DROWNING POOL's ‘Resilience’, DARK SERMON's ‘In Tongues’ and EYECONOCLAST's ‘Drones Of The Awakening’. Phew! And let’s not forget ROB ZOMBIE's ‘Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor’.

Videos from: MESHUGGAH, SLAVES ON DOPE

If not for CHAOSTAR's ‘Anomima’, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN would win May with ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’, SLIDHR with ‘Deluge’, KYLESA with ‘Ultraviolet’, ASG with ‘Blood Drive’, TESSERACT with ‘Altered State’, ARCKANUM with ‘Fenris Kindir’, SADGIQACEA with ‘False Prism’, BLACK STAR RIDERS with ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, IMMOLATION with ‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’, EVILE with ‘Skull’, UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS with ‘Mind Control’, ALICE IN CHAINS with ‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here’, A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH with ‘Lay My Soul To Waste’, ANVIL with ‘Hope In Hell’, DARK TRANQUILLITY with ‘Construct’, DEW-SCENTED with ‘Insurgent’, THE QUILL with ‘Tiger Blood’, BLACK SHEEP WALL with ‘It Begins Again’,  ELDKRAFT with ‘Shaman’, CHURCH OF MISERY with ‘Thy Kingdom Scum’, SVARTSYN with ‘Black Testament’, GEVURAH with ‘Necheshirion’, ENTRAILS with ‘Raging Death’, MONOLITH DEATHCULT with ‘Tetragrammaton’ and MORMANT DE SNAGOV with ‘Derisive Philosophy’. Yes, in this particular order as far as I am concerned.

Videos from: ANTROPOMORPHIA, THE SWORD, PARKWAY DRIVE, THE INIQUITY DESCENT