Top 10 (11) Metal Albums of 2013

Creating this list was truly a labor for me, more so than in previous years.  2013 produced a lot of albums that were absolutely breathtaking.  Revocation and Fleshgod Apocalypse both released their best albums to date.  And for the love of God, Carcass is back (after nearly two decades since the release of their last album)!  I couldn't narrow it down to just ten.  It was down to a few albums at the end of my list, and I felt like it would be an injustice if I left any of them off.  So here are my top 10 (*cough* eleven) albums of 2013 C. E.

T-10. Persefone - Spiritual Migration

I didn't have it in my heart to leave this album off the list.  Spritual Migration is intricate, exciting, and sticks to the basics of melodic death metal while maintaining some unique ideas of its own.  Hell, it's just epic.  And epic flies well with me.

T-10. Arsis - Unwelcome

Arsis made a big comeback after their failed attempt to sell out with Starve for the Devil.  Sorry Arsis, only Metallica could pull off a proper sell out - and metalheads hate them now anyway.  Stick to the death metal.  It's better for you and us.

Unwelcome is in the vein of their earlier releases like A Celebration of Guilt.  There is lots of tremolo picking and interesting riffs.  This album presses the pedal to the (death) metal and doesn't let up.  Arsis will surely get your adrenaline pumping.  Check out their latest album, which is tied for the tenth spot in my top ten.

9. Kalmah - Seventh Swamphony

I still remember when I got my first taste of Kalmah.  I stumbled upon this band online and was so blown away that I ordered their record, The Black Waltz, from an international seller since I couldn't find it in the U.S. at the time.  Seventh Swamphony didn't have quite the same effect on me but it's still an amazing album and deserves a listen.  Check it out.

8. Gorguts - Colored Sands

Carcass wasn't the only band to make a big comeback in 2013.  Gorguts released their first album since From Wisdom to Hate (2001).  This Montreal death metal act was sorely missed when they broke up in 2005.  And their reformation is celebrated by the release of the intricately brutal Colored Sands.  Also, dig the album artwork.

7. Rivers of Nihil - The Conscious Seed of Light

This up-and-coming band from my home state of Pennsylvania dropped their full-length debut this year.  And it 'twas amazing.  They are starting to build up a reputation in the death metal scene as a result of their extensive touring and promotion, not to mention their amazing brutal sound.  The Conscious Seed of Light is one of the best releases of the year.

6. Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam

Suffocation's former drummer Mike Smith may not be satisfied with the direction this band is headed in, but I am loving it.  They are really embracing a modern technical death metal sound and they are well suited for it.  The genre has changed a lot since Effigy of the Forgotten was released in 1991.  And Suffocation is doing an excellent job of staying relevant with their latest release, Pinnacle of Bedlam.

5. Conducting from the Grave - Conducting from the Grave

This album got bogged down due to financial issues.  But there's nothing Kickstarter can't solve!  Conducting From the Grave raised almost twenty grand to help fund the release of their self-titled album, as well as some promotional materials like t-shirts and whatnot.  And it's a good thing they managed to pull that off, because Conducting From the Grave is easily their best release to date.

4. Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy

Kingdom of Conspiracy left me speechless.  It's easily one of the heaviest albums of 2013 and proves that Immolation is still very relevant after twenty years in the death metal scene.

3. Carcass - Surgical Steel

This album seriously owns your face.  Like Carcass put down a fifteen year mortgage on your face in 1998 and that shit is paid off now, deed in hand.  Now I'm just crossing my fingers for a new At the Gates record... which is honestly unlikely.  But I believe it was the great Justin Bieber who said "never say never."

2. Revocation - Revocation

Boston's best death metal act just keeps getting better.  I knew this album was going to be absolutely kick ass.  The Teratogenesis EP (2012) was a great indicator of the direction Revocation was headed in.  And that direction was towards some of the most balls-to-the-wall technical death metal on the market today.  Revocation is their best album yet, and if it weren't for Fleshgod Apocalypse it would have made it to number one on my list.

1. Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth

Fleshgod Apocalypse had some tight competition this year with releases from juggernauts like Carcass and Suffocation.  But these Italian virtuosos of a unique brand of symphonic technical brutal death metal produced their best effort yet.  I believe this is exactly the sound they've been trying to achieve for years.  They approached it with Agony, but they perfected it with Labyrinth.  This album is an absolute masterpiece that earns the honor of best metal album of 2013.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order...)

The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack

Megadeth - Super Collider

Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood

Hypocrisy - End of Disclosure

Defeated Sanity - Passages into Deformity

Blood Red Throne - Blood Red Throne

Dark Tranquillity - Construct

Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods

Man Must Die - Peace Was Never an Option

Finntroll - Blodsvept

Dream Theater - Dream Theater

Ulcerate - Vermis

Soilwork - The Living Infinite

Six Feet Under - Unborn

Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy

Autopsy - The Headless Ritual

Exhumed - Necrocracy

Born of Osiris - Tomorrow We Die Alive

Within Temptation - Paradise (What About Us?)

Deicide - In the Minds of Evil