Favourite Album of 2013?

rob_simple

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Aug 8, 2010
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This year has been unusually good for me with new albums. I've been enjoying Vampire Weekend's new album, as well as Kavinksky's debut effort which I feel is being unfairly ignored in favour of Daft Punk's lacklustre return.

Most of all though, I was excited for my favourite band's first release in ten years, and even more excited that I got tickets to see them in October:

 

OmniscientOstrich

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Going from what I've heard thus far, I'd say the following have been my favourites for the year (in no particular order):

My Blood Valentine - m b v
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Black Sabbath - 13
Ghost - Infestissumam
Shining - One One One
Deafheaven - Sunbather

I also recently ordered I Blame You by Birth AD, so I'm waiting for that to arrive in the post so I can give it a full proper listen, but based on the tracks I've heard I'm thoroughly impressed. So provided the rest of the album holds up it very well may end up being my favourite pick of the year, which is kind of amazing considering how little I care for Punk on the whole.


At this point there's still a lot of albums I haven't checked out, but I've made kind of a 'to-do list' for me to get round to listening to at some point later in the year:

Autopsy ? The Headless Ritual
Exivious ? Liminal (Pre-ordered/kickstartered)
Darkthrone ? The Underground Resistance (did give it one listen but was underwhelmed, planning on giving it at least one more chance before the year is over)
Extol ? Extol
Fleshgod Apocalypse ? Labyrinth
Immolation ? Kingdom of Conspiracy
Control Denied ? When Man and Machine Collide (ostensibly being released this year)
Motorpsycho ? Still Life With Eggplant
Amon Amarth ? Deceiver of the Gods
Queens of the Stones Age ? Like Clockwork
Altar of Plagues ? Teethed Glory and Injury
Morgengrau ? Extrinsic Pathway
Anamanaguchi ? Endless Fantasy
Imprecation ? Satanae Tenebris Infinita
Kayo Dot ? Hubardo
Skagos ? Anarchic
Summoning ? Old Morning?s Dawn
Airbourne ? Black Dog Barking
Daft Punk ? Random Access Memories (didn't really care for Get Lucky when I first heard it and now that it's on the radio every 12 seconds I'm not sure if I've gotten used to it or hate it more than ever, but at any rate I'm holding out hope that the rest of the album will have better things to offer)
Leprous ? Coal
Palms ? Palms
The National ? Trouble Will Find Me
 
Apr 8, 2010
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Haven't actually bought an album released this year yet and have just occasionally listened to some newer releases by virtue of Spotify or Youtube - to bothered to look up various stuff that I can find no matter when it was released.

Still, here's a short rundown...

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing: Good prog metal, didn't really get to me yet but definitely has the potential to.

The Cat Empire - Steal the Light: I don't like it very much. Doesn't really have the flair of previous albums and seems to pop-y for my tastes. Had the same problem with what I heard of Cinema, but haven't really listened much to it either.

Shining - One One One: In Your Face. With a hammer made of a brutal mix of electronics, metal drumming, insane jazz segments and vocals like Clawfinger. Listened to it only once yet but I'm desperately hooked on "I won't forget" and despite its harshness I really dig this record.

Umbah - Astronomicon: even for Umbah a comparatively noisy and weird record. Kinda lacks the highlights from previous releases though, and just seems to scuttle along a path of labyrinthian electronic wub-wubs....have only listened to the album sparsely however.
Example: Icarus [http://umbah.bandcamp.com/track/icarus]


Looking forward to,

Kayo Dot - Hubardo: a supposedly 95 minute epic concept supposed to span across Kayo Dots discography. Given that Kayo Dot is by far the most fascinating band I know of and they already released a Teaser that blew me away.....I couldn't help but preorder.

Here's the Teaser [https://soundcloud.com/tobydriver/kayo-dot-hubardo-teaser].

Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything: Ayreon always tiptoes the line between prog that is too sappy and pure awesomeness. The latter part, however, always wins out after a time making me very much dig each record. Don't know why this shouldn't be the case here.

Deltron Event II: Only found out about those guys a few months ago and they made me get my first Rap record. Suffice to say their first record is awesome and I'm looking forward to their second album which is bound to be released later this year.

OmniscientOstrich said:
Kayo Dot ? Hubardo
Glad to see btw that you are going to give Kayos new one a try now :D
 

MisterGobbles

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Man, you guys have some damn good tastes in music. Seriously, more than one mentions of Deafheaven. That's awesome.

Anyway, it's way too hard for me to decide something like that, but here are some of my favorites from this year:

Extol - Extol
Save Us From The Archon - Some Things We Carry, Always
The Ocean - Pelagial
I The Mighty - Satori
Anamanaguchi - Endless Fantasy
TesseracT - Altered State
TTNG - 13.0.0.0.0
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

 

OmniscientOstrich

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Chromatic Aberration said:
Glad to see btw that you are going to give Kayos new one a try now :D
Yeah, I really got into Choirs of the Eye and Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue, though I wasn't too keen on Blue Lambency or Coyote but based on the teaser for Hubardo things are shaping up pretty nicely. Will be looking forward to seeing what Ayreon cook up too, I didn't know he had a title for the thing yet, but I'm guessing no samples for the time being? I'll have to give that Deltron track a listen as well once my laptop decides it wants to play nice with youtube.
 

Sehnsucht Engel

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Apr 18, 2009
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I've actually not heard many good albums from this year. A lot of the music I've been listening to has been from earlier years. Also, the year isn't over yet.

Still, I'd chose The Hands That Thieve by Streetlight Manifesto as the best album this year so far. I thought they were an okay band before this album. They had a few good songs, but others could sound really annoying at times. However, I think all of the songs on The Hands That Thieve are good, with several that I'd say are great.

This is my favourite song on the album.

Also, Steal The Light by Cat Empire is a great album. I don't care what others say, I love it. They're one of my favourite bands, so picking just one song isn't easy, but I suppose I'll go with the title song.

 

suitepee7

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Dec 6, 2010
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for me its 2 fairly recent releases, Chthonic's Bu-Tik, and Amon Amarth's deceiver of the gods. both albums are incredible, and perked me up a bit after the disappointment i felt from new sabbath and megadeth (not saying 13 was a bad album, i think i just had too high expectations and was a bit let down, my own fault really)


 

leviathanmisha

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Jun 21, 2009
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I'm going to say Fall Out Boy's Save Rock and Roll, because the only other album in my head at the moment is Three Days Grace's Transit of Venus and as much as I don't want to admit it, that's a 2012 album.

Here, have a wacky music video from Save Rock and Roll:

 

Total LOLige

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Only albums I've really properly listened to so far are:
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories(Awesome name) and
Beady Eye - BE
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Specter at the Feast

BE is probably my favourite and Specter at the Feast next in line
 

smithy_2045

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British India - Controller

By far my favourite album so far this year. It's just a fantastic album, great alt rock.

Honourable mentions to
Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Sound City Players - Real To Reel

And I'm extremely enthusiastic about Karnivool's upcoming album.
 

deathzero021

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so far Everblack by Black Dahlia Murder is the only thing that comes to my mind. i haven't gotten a whole lot of new releases recently.

Also the album Uentitled by RainbowDragonEyes is awesome and was released in April.
 

Troublesome Lagomorph

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May 26, 2009
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The only album I can think of that came out this year that I liked was Modern Times by Neat's. Never heard of em before, but randomly stubled onto the album and quite liked it.
Edit: Scrolling through, I'm surprised to see a handful bands I like on there. Shows how much I keep up with music.
 

FrozenCones

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Dec 31, 2009
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Stone Sour do an incredible job on this album. The "holy trilogy" of Blue Smoke -> Do me a favor -> The Conflagration is some of the best rock/metal ive heard in a long time.
 

SquidVicious

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Apr 20, 2011
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I've enjoyed a lot of stuff from this year, but there have really only been three albums that have really stuck with me enough to burn them on a CD for the car.

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels

El-P and Killer Mike's albums from last year were easily my two favorite hip hop releases and really made up for the massive disappointment that was Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city so when I heard they were collaborating on a new project I was pretty excited. I figured it would be more of a throwaway album, something released to keep their albums relevant within their respective circles and maybe score a few guest spots on other artists upcoming albums. I really did not expect the album to blow me away as much as it did, and while it's not really a step above or backwards from their 2012 albums, it really does define the idea of a "summer album". It's the perfect length for what it is and will be on a pretty heavy rotation in my cars CD player.

Queens of the Stone Age - ... Like Clockwork

Another album I was anticipating, but not expecting it to be as good as it was. I was never really fully onboard with Era Vulgaris and while Lullabies to Paralyze had some decent tracks it really didn't produce the same feelings that Rated R and Songs For the Deaf did for me back in the day. A great amount of variety and some really solid song writing, another album that works well at the gym, in the car, or just chilling at my computer with headphones. Definitely their best work since Songs For the Deaf.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

I've had a love affair with Nick Cave ever since I was a teenager and finally found something that spoke to my darker inclinations while remaining witty and lively (something I felt The Smiths always lacked). While this album really lacks any standout hits, it really does work as a cohesive unit, meant to be listened to in one go, demanding your full attention at all times, and since it's only a 40 minute album it's not that hard to do. It's also nice to see a sadder side of Nick Cave, not that I revel in seeing people sad, but it's kind of nice to see people I really admire display emotions other than the ones that attracted me to them in the first place.

As I said, I've enjoyed other albums from the year, but these three are really the only ones that really make me want to go back and listen to them again for reasons beyond "well maybe I'll like it more this time". I've found it's been an overall kind of disappointing year for metal though, and even the albums I have enjoyed sometimes have me wondering if I really liked it, or I am making it seem better then it actually is because I feel some kind of loyalty to the band.
 

Blackdoom

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My album of the year so far probably has to be Aenigma by In Vain. Followed by Mier by Kvelertak, Vertikal by Cult of Luna, The Quietest Place on Earth by We Lost the Sea and the Underground Resistance by Dark Throne.
If it comes out in time the new Ne Obliviscaris album may take the winning position after hearing the new songs on the weekend.
 

silentNate

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Apr 1, 2013
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leviathanmisha said:
I'm going to say Fall Out Boy's Save Rock and Roll, because the only other album in my head at the moment is Three Days Grace's Transit of Venus and as much as I don't want to admit it, that's a 2012 album.

Here, have a wacky music video from Save Rock and Roll:

Any year that FOB release an album is a great year for music ;)
 

repeating integers

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Wow, I'm surprised. Usually I avoid Escapist music threads like the plague (because you're all bloody PLEBS :p) but actual expansive taste is being displayed here. Mentions for Killer Mike & El-P's album are particularly nice to see.
 
Apr 8, 2010
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OmniscientOstrich said:
Chromatic Aberration said:
Glad to see btw that you are going to give Kayos new one a try now :D
Yeah, I really got into Choirs of the Eye and Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue, though I wasn't too keen on Blue Lambency or Coyote but based on the teaser for Hubardo things are shaping up pretty nicely. Will be looking forward to seeing what Ayreon cook up too, I didn't know he had a title for the thing yet, but I'm guessing no samples for the time being? I'll have to give that Deltron track a listen as well once my laptop decides it wants to play nice with youtube.
Well Copper Tongue & Gamma Knife are pretty much the only albums I didn't get too much into yet - most notably because I have yet to devote an evening to closely listen to them. As for Ayreon, not as far as I know though I have only looked around sparsely. Also got to skim through your list there - there's many a name I do not know yet ;)
 

Flamezdudes

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I loved The Flaming Lip's' new album, The Terror. Probably my favourite release of this year so far. But Sigur Ros, Daft Punk and Deafheaven have all been pretty good too. I still need to listen to the new QOTSA album however.