10 Best Metal Albums of 2013 – So Far

July 9, 2013

We’ve reached the halfway point. The heart of summer is upon us. So much music has been released thus far, and extreme music is no exception. Some of it was great, some of it was garbage. Sifting through it all, we’ve come up with the Ten Best Heavy Metal Records Of 2013…So Far. Wallow in the brutality.

Label: Death Wish Records

Sunbather, is an awesome collection of weird, trippy, and experimental shoe gaze coupled with harsh black metal. Deafheaven learned from their mistakes, turning out an album that will go toe to toe with any gaggle of corpse painted, Carpathian forest trudging, black metal warriors.

Label: Season Of Mist

Taking cues from southern rock, Slayer, Pink Floyd and even Cream, Kylesa assemble a group of songs that sound like an organized drug trip. Saturating their bold riffs with feedback, Kylesa ride a fine line between metal, doom, and drug laden psychedelic music. Great with good weed and perhaps a lava lamp.

Label: Nuclear Blast

Blast beats abound, thousand-mile-an-hour riffs fire at you like a hail of machine gun bullet, but Immolation always keep their songs crisp. They make no apologies, and don’t soften their delivery. Instead, Immolation take their incredibly brutal death metal and weave some solid songwriting into it. Imagine a really enjoyable kick to the nuts.

Label: Nuclear Blast

There is little mercy throughout Pinnacle Of Bedlam, just song after song of growling vocals, pummeling drums and jackhammer riffs. This record is for those who want their Death Metal delivered like a swift blow to the head backed by lightening fast guitar sweeps. The name of the album says it all. Pinnacle Of Bedlam, the absolute height of violent chaos. Yep, that’s Suffocation.

Label: Seasons Of Mist

I’ve always been a big Rotting Christ fan. Outside of the great name, the band always puts together something interesting. Kata ton Daimona Eaytoy is no different. Incorporating everything from bag pipes, to Incan and Mayan music, RC manages to keep the new work interesting, without losing their brutality. Black Metal must keep expanding to stay relevant. Rotting Christ understands this.

Iann Robinson started his career early writing for Sound Views magazine and spreading all the way to Japan Warp. In 1996 he created the wildly popular cable access show Monkey Butt Sex. In the four years it was on Robinson interviewed dozens of bands ranging from Sick Of It All to The Melvins as well as cementing his name in the underground music world. From Monkey Butt Sex, Robinson began MBS Productions, directing small budget videos for Hedpe, H20, Napalm Death, Sick Of It All, Warzone, and others. This led to the next big phase of Robinson’s career, MTV. In 2000 Iann Robinson became an on air news reporter and quickly attracted both bands and fans with his honest and often brutal opinions. After MTV Robinson began writing for Crave Online as well as starting his own small press comic shop Isolation Disorder Comics. Robinson also produced and starred in the on-line pop culture show Dude, That’s Awesome.