For all the albums piled up for your listening enjoyment, go to the Spotify playlist I created as an Xmas present to all my musical besties:
http://open.spotify.com/user/jon.satterley/playlist/4WzjjudfaKZx6jcY7XDdLk
Another big year of tuneage....with even a few non metal records getting a guernsey..to my surprise! As always, I went back to my Last.FM scrobbling list to see what I actually listened to, not what I think was the best records. The charts didn't lie, and the records delivered Nietzschean solace and sublime happiness to me throughout the year.
http://www.ranker.com/list/jonny-satts_s-top-10-albums-of-2013-/jonsatterley,
Chthonic - Bu-Tik
Taiwanese technical death metal. Fast, weird, brutal. That's about all I need to say about this one.....
Be'lakor - of Breath and Bone
The finest Australian metal band I have heard in 10+ years. And even though this came out in 2012, I feel compelled to add it as I can't bear the fact that it passed me by last year!! This is world class shit right here, with a level of skill, musicianship and epic nature to take the band to the highest echelons of international metaldom. Kind of like a cross between Machine Head (latter period) and Euro viking metal, Be'lakor deliver circuitous riffs with brutal aplomb. I flogged this album over and over, finding new stuff to like with every listen.
Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent
Despite irritating the hell out of me with those stupid, pseudo Christian "no regrets" type lyrics, I was amazed by the incredible spirit and ferocity of this Killswitch "comeback" album.Tying up the best of their melodic, harmonic, sweet choruses, with brutal deep dive riffage, to create an album as good as the original classic, 'Alive Or Just Breathing'. 3 songs from Disarm The Descent have entered the hallowed halls of my Spotify "Starred" playlist....
Kadavar - Abra Kadavar
I'd never heard of these dudes before this album was released, but one look at the cover, and I was ready to get on board. Looking like the lovechildren of Tony Iommi circa 1970 and the Yeti, the retro(grade) throwback tuneage that hails to the classic Masters Of Reality era period of Sabbath themselves delivers time and time again. The song "Fire" is probably my pick of the bunch, with a throbbing, repetitious chorus that I failed to shake from my brain for..well, the entire year pretty much.
Amaranthe - the Nexus
Bubblegum, Euro pop metal, to be sure, but incredible fun. This album is kind of like Within Temptation crossed with Fear Factory - clinical riffing in a metal/industrial vein, but with big, female-fronted hooks and choruses that sound great blasting in the car (with the kids singing along in the car). In fact, "Afterlife" is probably my 8-year old son's favourite song!
Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods
Wow, there's a surprise. Amon Amarth release a new album, Jon Satterley awards it "Album Of The Year". The numbers don't lie: I listened to this record more than any others throughout 2013, punching many a bag to the fury of "As Loke Falls" and "Under Siege". Towering examples of the purest form of melo-viking-death, I can think of no other band, apart from perhaps Manowar, who embody everything that I love about the greatest genre of music...metal.
Spiritual Beggars - Earth Blues
What do you get when you add Lizzy and Purple into a pot, sprinkle in some Sabbath dust and mix together vigorously with a foot in the ass? This incredible album from a band that I thought had gone off the boil in recent years. Spiritual Beggars are probably the best 70s/retro hard rock exponents, and you only need to listen to the opening song, "Wise As A Serpent" to know that this album knows how to blast out the past. I particularly love the bursts of Hammond organ throughout, as if Jon Lord's spirit was somehow looking over their shoulders during recording...
Hellsongs - Lounge / Pieces of Heaven, a Glimpse of Hell
How good are Hellsongs? If you want your metal to be mellowed out for that dinner party, or want to sing along to all the classics, but in ways that won't offend the missus, just chuck on any Hellsongs album and you'll be good to go. This was in fact a re-issue of two older Hellsongs albums (2-for-1) which delivered some of their best material. Just listen to the sweetness (even epic you might say) rendition of War Pigs...
Queensryche - Queensryche
Ridding themselves of the TAINT of mediocrity, Todd La Torre fronted 'Ryche managed to do what few fans believed possible: rehabilitate a once pristine brand to a level of quality touching on the august heyday of the early to mid-eighties. In case there was any doubt that Geoff Taint was responsible for the smears of excrement they had been releasing as "albums" over the past 20 years or so, this self-titled record brought things back to the basics of classic Queensryche. Kind of like musical Jiff, used to clean up the prior mess. I reckon they'll get even better on album #2.
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones Season 3
Like probably 98% of the Western World, and probably a few alien colonies to boot, I am obsessed with GoT (and can at least claim to have read all the books!) Having this record handy for a bit of non-metal downtime was always welcome throughout the year - highlight probably being the grim, swollen piece: "A Lannister Always Pays His Debts".