2013
was an interesting year for metal. There were some great albums and
some not so great albums *cough* Turisas2013
*cough*. For me, it was a year of musical
second chances; all the bands on this list, with the exception of
Watain, are bands I've known about for years
but never been properly into. It's nice to actually listen to ”new”
bands for once. I love hearing stuff from the bands I already love,
but it can be come reptative. When I get into a band I really
get into them, and that has happened
with all the bands on this list because of the albums they've
released this year and I'm quite stoked about it.
1)
Blodsvept
by Finntroll
True
to form, Finntroll delivered another awesome Troll Metal album with
Blodsvept.
It hammers you from the beginning like the troll attacking Aragorn in
The Return of the King,
only Blodsvept actually
beats you to a pulp. The biggest thing for me when listening to an
album is that the songs flow together well; there can't be super
abrupt endings followed by long beginnings and vice versa. I like to
think of an album as a book, the chapters have got to flow to be able
to make sense and allow for a good story and I think that was
something Finntroll did very successfully with this album. The
cohesion of the album is even more successful because Im sure a lot
of their listeners don't speak any Swedish, myself included, so
obviously there isn't much that one can get out of the lyrics; the
band has to rely on their ability to musically tell the story that is
being talked about and I think they did a really good job in
accomplishing that with Blodsvept.
As
I mentioned earlier, I only seriously started to listen to Finntroll
this past year. I've known about them for years and of course knew
Trollhammeren, but had never been
properly into them until my good friend Caitlin informed me they were
playing in Toronto in August and we had
to go. Since I hadn't been listening to them much before, most of the
songs were new to me and the songs from Blodsvept translated to live
performance wonderfully. Seeing them live was also how I discovered
my favourite of this album, Mordminnen.
It has the dark carnival-esque feeling to it that the rest of the
album has, along with the usual trolly-folky Finntroll sound, and it
has so much extra energy when it's performed live. I definitely love
when I can go to a show and love the songs I've never heard before
more than the hit songs, which is definitely something
that happened with the songs on this album.
Finntroll is
number one of this list because it made me a much
bigger fan and I think the band was able to really blend their old
stuff with something new; I really enjoy their new take on the music
by introducing those steampunk/twisted carnival elements. The biggest
reason this album is number one is because it is absolutely stunning
when the songs are performed live; these songs, and the old ones they
played, made the Finntroll show I went to back in August one of my
top five concerts. They really breathed new life into their music
with Blodsvept and
I cannot wait to see what they do next!
2)
Valkyrja by Týr
I
think that Týr really hit the nail on the head with this album.
Before Valkyrja came
out I never paid that much attention to this band. I knew Hold
the Heathen Hammer High,and I didn't
dislike them, but everything was a bit too Power Metal for me. I'm
not sure exactly what it was but I know they didn't do anything for
me at the time. Then Valkyrja came
out and smacked me in the face for not giving Týr enough credit
before! Plain and simple, the album is just tight epicness from start
to finish.
Just
like with Blodsvept, Valkyrja plays
like an album rather than a playlist. This is probably because it is
a concept album; in short it is about a Viking warrior leaving his
woman to go to battle to win the favour of the godess Freya and he
Valkyries so as to get into Valhalla. While the album played really
well as a whole, I don't think it was the best of the list in terms
of transitions, some of the them are rough and I think the two cover
songs on this album are a bit out of place. I think they are great
covers, but considering this is a concept album, Cemetery
Gates and Where
Eagles Dare seem like
they were just thrown in there to make thirteen songs; I've listened
to the album via Spotify so maybe the covers are not actually
included on the regular physical release and therefore what I just
said is bullshit? If they aren't included, ignore that last part.
Transitions aside, what stands out about this album and get it on my
2013 list is that the songs aren't typical battle songs. I adore
Viking Metal, and which ever other sub-genres you want to add in
there, but hearing the same lyric themes like go to battle, slay
thine enemy, go home and drink mead then do it all over again, get a
bit repetative after awhile. My favourite song, Mare of My
Night, is definitly different from the tried and true battle
songs that made me not like Týr before. Lyrics aside, Mare of My
Night is just sexy sounding. It's got a groove to it that I
haven't heard in Týr songs before and definitely something that is
missing from Viking metal.
Valkyrja
definitely managed to get me to like Týr more and I couldn't be more
willing to become a more dedicated listener rather than a casual one.
Heri's vocals came
off as confidently powerful rather than being obnoxious and cocky and
the band sounded tight as fuck thoroughout the entire album. Valkyrja
really
shows that Týr is growing up and I am more than excited about it.
3)
The Wild Hunt
by Watain
I've recently started to get more into Black Metal, after a while of
being primarily interested in the culture of the genre rather than
the music itself. Since Satyricon's album came out in September, I've
been delving more into Black Metal. I came across Watain and The
Wild Hunt recently while wading through various Black Metal to
find some stuff that stuck with me like Satyricon does, and I cannot
say enough good things about this album. I haven't noticed if The
Wild Hunt is getting flack for ”straying” from the typical
Black Metal standards like Satyricon has, but it definitely
doesn't follow any of those pre-determined Black Metal ”standards”
that have caused me to stay away from the genre in the past. Watain
really showed their versitility and ability to grow as musicians with
this album. The obvious stand out song is They Rode On because
singer Erik Danielsson grants listeners with clean vocals. It seems
that ”ballads” are a bit of a trend for the albums on this list,
all of the albums except Blodsvept have them. While I like all
the ballads from three albums that feature them, I enjoy They Rode
On the most. Danielsson's sleep deprived, whiskey soaked clean
vocals, combined with Anna Norberg's mournful vocals, and the way the
rest of the band are able to slow everything down and mesh typical
Goth sounds with Black Metal atmosphere make this song perfect to
play on a cold winter's night, but I don't think it's the stand out
song on the record. Outlaw, which now has a claim to fame of
being the first song to be made into a music video for Watain, was
the stand out song for me since I first heard the album. Outlaw is
so full of primitive passion that it is very
hard to ignore. Outlaw
is definitely the
definitive song on The
Wild Hunt, and I could
even go far enough to say that it is the definitive song for Watain.
From now on, anytime I'd want to show people this band, I'd make sure
they listened to Outlaw
first. It is so full
of primitive passion and makes me think of Alice falling down the
rabbit hole in the 1951 Disney version...except this rabbit hole
consists of every demon and general bad thing in the unvierse and
Alice is never going
to get home again.
Overall, the songs on this
record live up to the record title the best out of anything I've
heard in a long time; I'm always a little let down when albums don't
live up to their title. But The
Wild Hunt really
managed to pull of a wonderful astmosphere, especially with Outlaw
and The Child Must Die
, you feel like you are
on a sort of wild hunt while listening to this album and I am more
than eager to get people to join the ride of insanity.
4) Satyricon by Satyricon
Out of all the albums on this list, I think Satyricon pulled off
making an album sound genuinely cohesive rather than a playlist out
of all four on this list. Maybe it's because I saw them live recently
so Im still in the post concert mode of ”everything they do is
wonderful!”, but I've really grown to enjoy Satyricon thanks to
this album. Just like with all the other bands on this list,
Satyricon is the album that really got me into this band and
has made Satyricon my overall band of 2013. I'd known about them for
years but being at a different musical stage in my life, I'd
never given them a good listen. I think I heard Phoenix when
the album had just come out because of everyone talking about it and
how it was so far away from black metal that the album shouldn't be
”allowed” to be considered black metal; I don't think people were
listening to the rest of the album which has all the trappings of
traditional Satyricon with a wonderfully grim atmosphere.
Just like Blodsvept, this album is just awesome live. Voice
of Shadows and Natt are both perfect to open and close the
album, and I was so pleased that they used the same songs to open and
close the concert. All the songs they played from the album, which is
quite a few compared to other bands I've seen live, fit perfectly in
with the old favourites like K.I.N.G, The Pentagram Burns,
and Mother North; the crowd didn't miss a beat even if they
didn't recognize a song like Walker upon the Wind straight
away.
I've heard frontman Satyr say that The Infinity of Time and Space
is the definitive song on this album, and it's a great song, but I
think the most Satyricon sounding song on this self titled album is
Nekrohaven. Other than the super kvlt name, this song just
sums Satyricon up for me; it's melodic and dirty with the catchy
riffs that have made Satyricon one of my new favourite bands. Maybe a
few people will scratch their head about this choice cause Nekrohaven
isn't anything super special, but I really like the simplicity of it.
I know a lot of people haven't liked this album that much because
they can't seem to get their heads out of their asses about Phoenix,
and I have read a couple reviewers say that it was recorded
horribly (I question how well those reviewers know Black Metal if
they think Satyricon isn't recorded well). I applaud the band
for taking the analog route and I can't wait to be able to hear this
album on proper speakers. If you haven't given Satyricon a listen
before, definitely check this album out; you won't regret it.
Basically, all the best albums this year, at least the best ones in
my opinion, had a few basic similarities. Almost all had ballad type
songs (which is strange since I'm not really into ballads), they
actually sounded like cohesive albums and not playlists (which is the
biggest thing for me), they all had awesome artwork (which was
something I didn't discuss but The Wild Hunt and Valkyrja
being my favourite cover work), and at least half of them sound great
live (this is a bit of a unformed opinion since I haven't seen Týr
or Watain play live). Maybe this list comes off as me hopping on the
trend, because Watain is getting much more attention since they've
signed with Century Media, and both Watain and Satyricon have both
made albums that are less traditional Black Metal sounding and
therefore less kvlt, but I truly think that all the albums on
this list were incredibly well done and will continue to be some of
my favourites far into the future.
I may have had four top albums that I could talk about at length, but
there are some runners up for best albums of 2013! Which basically
just means I really liked these albums but didn't listen to
them enough to love them and therefore justify my reasoning
for picking them. In no particular order:
Venomous
Rat Regeneration Vendor by Rob
Zombie
Horns
and Halos by Michael Monroe
Circle
by Amorphis
Bu-Tik
by Chthonic. I just saw them
open for Satyricon and they are awesome live!
There should be some awesome albums
coming next year but these are some I'm looking forward to!
Untitled
new Zico Chain album. If you haven't heard this band GET OFF YOUR
BUTT AND GO LISTEN
The
Satanist by Behemoth
Time
II by Wintersun
I
haven't posted in awhile because school has been mega busy! I'm
spending Christmas in Helsinki with my mum and I'll hopefully bust
out some blog posts over holidays. Besides school stuff, I have also
been able to update the crap outta my Flickr with photos from the
Satyricon concert as well as past photos, and I've created a Deviantart account as well. I also just got a new phone and have
Instagram once more! You can follow me there as well as on my Tumblr
and my new Twitter account! ALL THE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS!
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