Top 15 Albums of 2013

I'm a bit later on this article than I wanted to be, but January has been a lot more hectic for me than I had anticipated. 2013 was a great year for new music, but a bit of a rough year for disbandments. 2013 saw the ending of numerous bands including Underoath, Bleeding Through, God Forbid, Nachtmystium, Inhale-Exhale, Static-X, Gaza, and a personal favorite of mine The Chariot. Rough list for sure. I am excited to see where former Chariot front man Josh Scogin goes with his new hard rock band '68. I'm sure they'll be some great music there.

But to bring this back to the point, lets celebrate the great music we got this year. If you missed my Top 5 EPs list, feel free to check it out now or after.

Band Of The Week: Ovid's Withering

It's a gutsy move to have your Debut LP be longer than most bands first two albums combined. It's tough for many bands to keep things interesting when tackling an album that's over 70 minutes long, without getting really repetitive, but Ovid's Withering use that time to the fullest and blend multiple genres into a delicious musical stew.

Humanity's Last Breath Post 'Human Swarm' Lyric Video!

Humanity's Last Breath are one of the best up and coming deathcore acts out there in my opinion. Their self titled album is incredibly strong and filled to the brim with memorable riffs and fantastic grooves. The band has released a lyric video for the song 'Human Swarm', and while some may bat an eye at 'lyric video' and move on, you'd be doing yourself a disservice in this case. If there were to be a standard for the level of quality lyric videos should strive for, this video (more over Igor Omodei of Uneven Structure) sets the bar.

Possible Haste The Day Reunion Tour?

This is purely speculative at this point, but Haste The Day, who broke up back in late 2011, much to the dismay of many of us fans, posted a picture on their Facebook page with a setlist, although the date on the board says 1/20/2014, a date which now has past obviously, but there was no text to accompany the picture, so no explanation has come as of yet. It would be amazing if the band were to tour again, and would be even better if they just got back together and made music again.

Incognosci - Trapped in Spontaneous Disintegration

Back in November I got to review an album by the band Gutted Souls, who are a raw sounding old school death metal band with a ton of promise in their sound. Frontman Iron Francisco isn't limiting himself to to just one band. He's got a side project under the name Incognosci that plays brutal death metal more in the style of Dying Fetus and Aborted, with a good heaping of technical death metal influence.

New Music From The Haunted!

The Haunted had a bit of a falling out back in 2012 with the loss of Pete Dolving, Anders Björler, and Per Jensen, it seemed like there was a huge chance the band was done for, however they persevered, held vocalist auditions, but then ultimately decided to bring back two former members, drummer Adrian Erlandsson and vocalist Marco Aro, as well as a brand new member Ola Englund who has also played for Six Feet Under. New, but familiar life was breahted back into the band and today we get a premiere of one track from a three track EP (pseudo single of sorts) called 'The Eye Of The Storm'!

Band Of The Week: Miseration

Miseration is one of a few bands fronted by vocalist Christian Älvestam, who's probably most famous for his time with Scar Symmetry (on their first three albums, which includes arguably their most famous LP Holographic Universe). Älvestam has also been a part of Solution .45, Solar Dawn, Torchbearer, and more as well as his own solo works. The point is the guy is incredibly busy and clearly loves this genre of music. Miseration is a personal favorite of mine, and their three albums are all great listens.

Check Out The Live Video Of Phil Bozeman w/ Suicide Silence!

It's crazy to think it's been more than a year since Mitch Lucker's untimely death, and it's also more than a year since the big memorial show the rest of the band put on for him. In that time a lot has happened with the band and fans have been patiently waiting to get their hands the Video/Live Album of the memorial show. We have  a date finally of Feburary 10th. For now though there is a video out of the song 'Unanswered' featuring Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel on vocals, which is epic.

Band Of The Week: Elegist

Elegist are a pretty new band from Sydney Australia, who got started back in 2012. That hasn't given them much time to really put themselves out there and they've only got one EP (and one single from last year) released at the moment, but it's a strong EP and I'm really excited to see what these guys develop into. Australia has a great track record with producing solid metalcore bands, so hopefully Elegist can live up to this.

Top EP's Of 2013

Well another year is over, and tons and tons of new music got released. I'm gonna be totally honest and say that I didn't get to listen to nearly as many EPs this year as I should have but that partially because there were too many great LPs coming out for me to keep focus. That's not to discredit these EPs though, they are fantastic and well worth your time.

Band Of The Week: Depths

It's the first full Band Of The Week of 2014! Depths are a deathcore outfit from New Zealand, who fit right in with bands like Legend, Oceano, Thy Art Is Murder, and Fit for An Autopsy. With a heavy focus on dark atmosphere, and crushing riffs. The bands debut album is about a year old now, but it's got great staying power and is worth your time if you are a fan of any of the above listed bands.