LIST: TOP 50 METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

It’s that time of year, where I face a legitimate heavy metal Sophie’s Choice and somehow narrow all of the releases I’ve enjoyed this year down to 50. A lot of truly solid albums are not listed here, and honestly, my rankings have fluctuated nearly every day for the past two months, when I handed in my initial Top 40 list to the editors at Decibel Magazine. I have no doubt that if I look at this list in another year or decade, hell, even another week, the rankings could shift and shuffle depending on my mood, the cereal I eat, how crowded the subway is that morning, etc. Feel free to inform me of how lousy my selections are, how overrated band A is, how album B is obviously the top selection of the year, and how I’ve terribly under-represented genre C.

2013 Top 50 Metal Albums of the Year

1.       Church of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum

2.       Carcass – Surgical Steel

3.       Gorguts – Colored Sands

4.       Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse

5.       Ramming Speed – Doomed to Destroy, Destined to Die

6.       Anciients – Heart of Oak

7.       Nails – Abandon All Life

8.       Baptists – Bushcraft

9.       Shroud Eater – Dead Ends

10.   Lesbian – ForesTeleVision

11.   Serpent Eater – Hyena

12.   Tribulation - The Formulas of Death

13.   Obelyskkh - Hymn to Pan

14.   I Exist – From Darkness

15.   Noisem – Agony Defined

16.   KEN Mode – Entrench

17.   Usnea – Usnea

18.   Skeletonwitch – Serpents Unleashed

19.   Naam – Vow

20.   Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control  

21.   Deafheaven – Sunbather

22.   Olde Growth – Owl EP

23.   Mammoth Grinder – Underworlds

24.   Exhumed – Necrocracy

25.   Koresh – Chump

26.   Serpent Throne – Brother Lucifer

27.   No Fealty – In the Shadow of the Monolith

28.   Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry of Consciousness

29.   Full of Hell – Rudiments of Mutilation

30.   Lycus - Tempest

31.   In Solitude – Sister

32.   Mount Salem – Endless

33.   Bone Sickness – Alone in the Grave

34.   Noctum – Final Sacrifice

35.   Weekend Nachos - Still

36.   Blood Red Throne - Blood Red Throne

37.   Red Fang – Whales and Leeches

38.   King of Pigs - Drown Out the Sound of Widows Grief

39.   Cokegoat – Vessel

40.   Obliteration – Black Death Horizon

41.   Revocation – Revocation

42.   Lumbar – The First and Last Days of Unwelcome

43.   Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam

44.   Autopsy - The Headless Ritual

45.   Watain - The Wild Hunt

46.   Pyrexia - Feast of Iniquity

47.   Deeds of Flesh - Portals to Canaan

48.   Occultist – Death Sigils

49.   Great Falls – Accidents Grotesque

50.   Deuil – Acceptance/Rebuild

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go buy the new issue of Decibel Magazine, where the whole staff helps to select the Top 40 Extreme Albums of the Year. Check out all the other lists popping up around this time also and feel free to send Tweets about my questionable metal taste over to @MisterGrowl.

REVIEW: GURT / LIMB - SPLIT ROAST

I don’t always review albums song by song, but when I do, it’s usually a Witch Hunter Records release. The newest album from the DIY label based in the UK is a truly collaborative effort from two filthy sludge bands with varying approaches to the subgenre. On this split EP, both bands include, in order, one new original song, a cover of their choosing, and a cover of a song by the other band sharing the split. I absolutely love this approach, as it invites some playful competition and camaraderie as well. Here are my thoughts on each song:

GURT

1) Sophisticate - Gurt start the hunting party with a throbbing rhythm and a thick, mucky sound that invokes Slabdragger and the bluesy flourishes and brawny chugging of late-career Pantera. Take old Chicago electric blues, channel it through an Orange amp, then dip it in hot tar and vulture feathers. The vocals from Growth/Gareth Kelly sound like the crusty howls of a swampland degenerate from a Cormac McCarthy novel.

2) Psycho Killer - Yep, a Talking Heads cover. There’s the initial, beard-growing bass tone from Spice/David Blakemore, then the novelty of hearing David Byrne’s voice replaced by the caustic roar of a gutter demon. Parts of the song feel a bit rigid (the fa-fa-fas don’t work quite as well as the ay-ay-ays, for those  familiar with the moments of non-lyrical vocals), but the last minute of sprawling, trippy rock is totally inspired, and Gurt own this song and make it their own monster.

3) Gift of the Sun - Covering the title track of the last Limb EP, Gurt extend the psychedelic rock with shades of Church of Misery’s quietest moments, and then rips a hole in the earth’s crust with a riff that could summon Cthulhu for its turn at the hookah. This song is seriously, supernaturally heavy.

LIMB

1) Plaguedoctor - Groovy sludge that’s closer to stoner metal with its hallucinogenic bounce, like Electric Wizard without the occult, just a perpetually loaded bong and a bathtub full of homemade swill. Great song, catchy as hell is hot. Rob Hoey’s vocals remind me of LG Petrov from Entombed, if his throat was shredded from acid tab paper cuts.

2) Son and Daughter - Covering a supremely heavy Queen song from their debut album, Limb explore gender roles with a strong, Sabbath stomp. I was expecting some harmonica to join the fray, as this song feels like it’s dressed up in a denim jacket with fringe. They cut the hacky synth effects that plague the original and trim it down to basics, resulting in awesome throwback heavy rock with raw-doggin’ attitude.

3) Soapfeast - Choosing a Gurt song from another split, the shared EP with Dopefight, Limb soak in the joys of profanity and all its unexpected combinations, as the vocals are the most diseased on the EP as they chant the mantra “you really don’t give a cunting fuck.” The song itself has a surprisingly low-key, smoke-a-spliff-in-the-van’s-back-seat energy, apart from one dangerously bombastic release of fury.

In summary, I had a blast with this entire release. Sludge is often considered one of the more misanthropic genres, riddled with tales of addiction and hatred and self-loathing. But on Split Roast, Gurt and Limb both scoop their sloppy, delicious gruel onto the listener’s plate and growl with a grin, “Eat up, you cunting fuck.” And that’s music to my ears.

Listen to Gurt and Limb over here, where Witch Hunter Records always makes the albums available as a “Name your price” download. Then buy the CD, which is made with a completely DIY mentality, and features artwork from the bands:  http://witchhunterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-roast

Add Gurt here on Facebook, and follow their swampy reign:  https://www.facebook.com/GURTsludge

And do the same for Limb, while convincing them to record the Queen epic “The Prophet’s Song” in the future:  https://www.facebook.com/LimbTheBand