We jump back in to our countdown today with albums 20-11. Check back in over the next few days as we unveil our list until we get to the #1 heavy music album of 2013, as chosen by the staff of Ghost Cult Magazine.
20. Leprous – Coal (Inside Out/Century Media)
Melodic, progressive metal that established Leprous as more than just Ihsahn’s backing band.
Issue 9: “These young Norwegian visionaries display purposeful progression. Having set and surmounted daunting bars, serious exploration must be in store”. Read the full review
19. Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer (Party Smasher)
Most accessible release to date from mathcore legends.
Issue 8: MAY ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Shall we start by getting the superlatives out of the way first? One Of Us Is The Killer is the finest record that The Dillinger Escape Plan have released. Period. It is a record so good you keep pinching yourself that this isn’t just some kind of weird extreme music dream where everything you love about this type of music arrives all at once and in beautifully realised fashion.” Read the full review
18. Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory & Injury (Profound Lore)
Much vaunted farewell from acclaimed Irish post-Black metal trio.
Shorter songs led to a greater diversity and focus of intensity in a dense and punishing album that moved away from AoP’s trademark sound to great, claustrophobic effect. Post-Black metal, but not as we know it.
17. Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Descent (Roadrunner)
Vibrant comeback for the metalcore kings
Completely revitalised by the return of Jesse Leach, who turns in his best vocal performance to date, with the energy of a band just starting out rather than a seasoned veteran. Repeated short-sharp-shock treatment of the best order.
16. Soilwork – The Living Infinite (Nuclear Blast)
Double-album of melodeath and pounding metal
Issue 6: “A whopping two album assault on the neural system, the band’s most accomplished and ambitious work to date…Diversity and memorable songs are the two defining elements which make (this) truly captivating”
15. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (Kscope)
Exquisite, melancholic prog from the mind of Porcupine Tree mainman
Issue 6: MARCH ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Enigmatic, multi-layered and breathtakingly ambitious, unusual soundscapes, there is a brooding darkness in the light, definite grit in the oyster… Wilson is raging very brightly indeed.”
14. Wardruna – Runaljod – Yggdrasil (Indie)
Mesmerizing Norwegian ambient folk
“The songs of Wardruna will provide insight into Norse mysticism and a peaceful respite from the pace of urban living. The band’s approach to their beliefs and ideas runs much deeper than the vast majority of other acts that share the same genre and it is because of this that the music holds such mesmerising power.” Read the full review
13. Corrections House – Last City Zero (Neurot)
Post-metal “supergroup” create something super
Issue 14: NOVEMBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH Not only are these men masters of their own individual sounds, they have managed to create something together that is bigger than themselves. Like their main bands, there is no relegating this music to the background. It is so insidious, stark and sure of itself that it righteously demands your full attention. Read the full review
12. Deafheaven – Sunbather (Deathwish)
Transcending black metal with unbridled optimistic swells battle blastbeats and beauty
Issue 10: (We may have got this one wrong at the time, but still managed to say…) “Something mystical and transcendent, warm and alluring… upwardly spiralling melodies…. Captivating, intertwining lines weaving a seductive web” Read the full review
11. Beastmilk – Climax (Svart)
80’s influenced death rock captures the imagination
Climax takes you back to the glory days of Joy Division, Killing Joke, Morrisey et al, with jagged and dreamy guitar lines. And songs. Proper ones, of the apocalyptic post-punk variety with rumbling bass, Danzig-ian vocals.
See Part I with our list of albums 50-21 here.
Compiled and written by Steve Tovey