Dead Rhetoric.com Top 5 of 2013…So Far
Wednesday, 19th June 2013
We’re over the halfway mark of 2013, a year that has been peppered with big happenings and bad news (see: Jeff Hanneman). Par for the course in metal? Yeah, probably, yet somewhere in between a rash of top-notch releases have graced our eardrums, which is the impetus for the individual staff top 5 lists below. Expect some of these to change once we get to December, for the banzai fall release schedule is right around the corner. Read on…
David E. Gehlke
1. Fen – Dustwalker
2. Omnium Gatherum – Beyond
3. Deafheaven – Sunbather
4. October Tide – Tunnel of No Light
5. Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance
Fen outpaces OG right now, in one of those win-win top slots where there’s really no true lead dog. Maybe we’ll do a 1A and 1B when the year wraps…we’ll see. Reveling in Dustwalker is an easy thing to do, especially when “Spectre” get its hooks in you as arguably one of black metal’s finest departure tracks in memory. Don’t sleep on Deafheaven’s Sunbather either, which is yet another one of those now-valued post-black, post-metal albums. No real complaints from this scribe all around; just happy the site has launched, my dog doesn’t get mad when I hide his yummy bone, and my beloved Cleveland Browns decided to pull the plug on a Bon Jovi concert at the stadium. Cleveland is supposed to rock, right?
Matt Coe
1. Omnium Gatherum – Beyond
2. Eloa Vadaath – Dead End Proclama
3. Voivod – Target Earth
4. Voodoo Circle – More Than One Way Home
5. U.D.O. – Steelhammer
The first six months of 2013 for metal have certainly been fruitful in terms of releases – it seems like there are 10-20 albums coming out a week depending on your tastes, a tough premise for the consumer to fully contain (and the marketplace to sustain). Combine that with a penchant for consistently desiring new releases to feed my metal mind and soul, and the outcome can be one of excitement and disappointment like the see-saw of life. Highlights for me include a road trip to Poughkeepsie, NY in April to see the mighty U.D.O. live bringing the goods with his new lineup, as well as seeing my oldest daughter graduate high school (a proud father moment as you watch your child grow into adulthood). The above are my top 5 albums of the first six months, the ones to keep my spirits soaring and belief in the genre resolute.
Kenneth Gallant
1. Saxon – Sacrifice
2. Anthrax – Anthems
3. Stryper – Second Coming
4. Black Star Riders – All Hell Breaks Loose
5. Lost Society – Fast Loud Death
It’s not the end of the year yet, but we’ve been asked to come up with a list of the top 5 albums so far. I’ve chosen Saxon’s Sacrifice as my top pick and these NWOBHM stalwarts just keep on coming and get better with age. Anthrax proves that an EP of covers can really rock out and 80’s Christian metalheads Stryper re-records some classics that get the fists pumping. The remaining members of Thin Lizzy return under a new name and some Finnish teenagers prove that thrash isn’t dead yet.
Matthew Bowling
1. Deafheaven – Sunbather
2. Ghost (B.C.) – Infestissumam
3. Altar of Plagues – Teethed Injury And Glory
4. PRIMITIVE MAN – Scorn
5. Shining – One One One
An absurdly high quality year thus far, filled with new surprises (PRIMITIVE MAN), triumphant executions (Deafheaven) and releases that surpassed even the highest lines of anticipation I could’ve hoped to assign them (Ghost). The year isn’t even half over and it’s already been enough to crush many lesser years, it’s shaping up to look as though 2013 will match and surpass the fantastic outlandishness that 2011 was so rife with. Deafheaven is the soaring song of the summer, something glowing and ridiculous, and likely my AOTY when the year comes to an end.
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