Top Metal Albums

It's New Year's Eve. Time to celebrate the dawn of a new year that will hopefully bring good times and good music for all of us, regardless of how good or bad this past year has been. 2013 has been quite kind to Black Metal & Brews, with my visitor count finally passing the 50,000 mark earlier this month and with many great bands and labels making contact. With so many great albums I heard this year, perusing the lists of other competent writers and trusted musical resources, I see so much great looking stuff that I need to check out. While this list is by no means comprehensive, these 40 albums impressed themselves upon me in one way or another. I'm sure I missed a lot of great stuff that you guys know about, and I'm sure I'll even end up kicking myself for overlooking gems that I heard along the way and forgot while trying to write this list. Please feel free to leave your notes on great tunes I missed or anything you disagree with. I'm nothing without the input of my audience, after all.

Anyway, thanks for an incredible year guys. I'm raising a glass to this blog's success tonight and I hope you'll join me in listening to some of the best tunes of the year to celebrate an incredible year of metal and beer. While writing this post, I'm consuming a delicious bottle of Shmaltz Brewing's He'Brew Jewbelation Reborn. It's got seventeen percent alcohol by volume, paired with seventeen hops and seventeen malts to celebrate their seventeenth anniversary as a brewery. Slightly gimmicky, slightly sweet, and a little bit bitter, almost exactly like the whole ritual of making a year end list. If nothing else, it's potent enough to kick me straight into next year.

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical)
Arbre- "II" (my review)
Blood of the Moon- "MMXII" (my review)
Cloud Rat- "Moksha"
Echtra- "Sky Burial" (my review)
Empty Suits- "Empty Suits" (my review)
Fell Voices- "Regnum Saturni" (my review)
Jungbluth- "Part Ache"
Kjaddai/Vooram/Njiqahdda- "Split"
Lustre- "Wonder"
Lycus- "Tempest"
Oranssi Pazuzu- "Valonielu"
Situs Magus- "Le Grand Oeuvre"
Urzeit- "Urzeit"
Vanyar- "Triumph of Vanishing"
Wormlust- "The Feral Wisdom"

AND NOW, THE LIST:

25. Cara Neir- "Portals to a Better, Dead World" (Broken Limbs/Halo of Flies)
Blending more kinds of metal than you can shake a stick at usually results in a mediocre album. Apparently Cara Neir knows how to avoid this folly, because they put bits and pieces of punk, black metal, grindcore, doom, and even classic screamo into this intense full-length and they made it work so well it's painful. And beautiful. And you won't stop listening once you start. Read my review here.

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24. Vlk- "Unknown Totems" (Self-Released)
This brief CD release from a relatively unknown band was more impressive than half of the music I heard from established acts this year. This album was a stellar first effort and has been one of my most heavily played albums of the year. Read my review here.

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23. Total Negation- "Zur spaten Stunde | Zeitraume" (Temple of Torturous)
Unorthodox black metal seems to be my specialty/preference these days, and this album was among the most compelling examples of how much room is left in the genre. Read my review here.

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22. Raspberry Bulbs- "Deformed Worship" (Blackest Ever Black/Personnel)
In many ways, 2013 has been the year of the "grower." Many albums I had anticipated for a long time didn't fill the place I had imagined they would. Instead, most of these albums turned out to be just as great as I would have expected, but in different ways. Shedding some of the more overtly "blackened" aesthetics in favor of a disjointed post-punk inspired approach, Raspberry Bulbs' first album as a full band surprised and impressed me with its rabid approach. While it wasn't the black punk beast I had expected, it turned out to be so much more.

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21. Vulture Industries- "The Tower" (Season of Mist)
Vulture Industries have made a name for themselves with their truly unique take on heavy metal. While I really hate the term "progressive," as it does little to really explain the music within, these guys get the term thrown at them frequently. This album branches into more elements of rock than prior efforts, which turns out to be quite appropriate for these guys. With a sound that is equal parts Arcturus, Nick Cave, and Faith No More, "The Tower" surpassed my expectations of this already captivating band.

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20. Leucosis- "Leucosis" (Self-Released)
When Leucosis decided to make this monstrously heavy black metal cassette in an edition of only 30 copies, they were either selling themselves short or trying to create something for collectors to squabble over. Whatever their goal may have been, they released one of the heaviest, most impressive albums of the year. Truly crushing black doom that I feel quite fortunate to have in my collection.

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19. Fyrnask- "Eldir Nott" (Temple of Torturous)
This album is probably one of the most beautiful black metal albums released all year and was possibly the only release to recreate the thrill I felt when I first discovered some of the genre's classics in my more formative years. Read my review here.

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18. CAPA- "This is the Dead Land, This is Cactus Land" (Self-Released)
While this hasn't yet seen a physical release, this album serves as a proper ending to CAPA's conceptual trilogy, with songs that feel every bit as weathered and heavily traveled as the album's lyrical plot would have you believe. Read my review here.

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17. Xothist- "Xothist" (Fallen Empire)
The claustrophobic, mechanical horror created here on Xothist's full-length LP technically was not brand new in 2013, but due to its highly limited initial release, I'm considering this as the first opportunity most of us had to hear this brilliance. Enter at your own risk. Read my review here.

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16. Paramnesia- "Ce Que Dit La Bouche D'Ombre" (Self-Released)
This EP blindsided me. One of the members of this band sent me a message earlier this year and, as I always do when a band contacts me, I gave it at least one fair listen. That one fair listen became an obsession. The album itself sold out long ago, but you should go download it while you prepare for a full-length from this brilliant group. Read my review here.

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15. Ramlord- "Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom" (Hypaethral)
These northern crushers have long been beloved here on BM&B, so it was no surprise that this year's full-length was impressive. This is easily the best crust album I came across all year, if that's even an appropriate term for Ramlord's self-described "stenchcore." Read my review here.

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14. Ephemer- "Notre Honneur Immortel" (Spectre Sinistre)
This tape (along with a certain LP I'll be mentioning shortly) forced me to put this list on hold until the very end of the year. I've only had a listen five or six times now, but man am I ever blown away. If you enjoyed anything you heard on the first Ephemer release, this brief yet brilliant black metal assault will burrow its way deep into your heart. Had this come out earlier in the year, I'd probably have listened more and placed this even higher. Seriously though, this album is just about perfect.

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13. Paysage d'Hiver- "Das Tor" (Kunsthall Produktionen)
The word "dense" comes up often in my reviews. Perhaps my lack of experience producing or recording music is the reason. Or maybe it's because I'm drawn to thick sounds that could fill a room. Regardless of rationale, "Das Tor" is one of the densest black metal albums of the year, conjuring images of blizzards and mountains in my mind. Four songs clock in around seventy-five minutes, so get ready to sit with this one like you're surviving a storm. It will be your sole source of comfort.

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12. Recluse- "Recluse" (Graceless)
This vicious demo from Recluse caught me off guard. What seems to be the culmination of a friendship and shared love of Judas Iscariot has led to the birth of this duo, comprised of Cobalt's McSorley and Loss's Meacham. While I've enjoyed the output of each of their more notable projects, this demo is some of the freshest and most defiant black metal I've heard all year. Pure ferocity; take no prisoners. A full-length is currently in the works. I couldn't be more thrilled.

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11. Lluvia- "Premonicion de Guerra" (Fallen Empire)
This album was among the reasons I waited until the last day of the year to release this list. With so many truly wonderful December releases, I feel like many other sources might have missed this gem and a few others featured on this list. Read my review for more info.

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10. Yellow Eyes- "Hammer of Night" (Sibir Records)
I've followed the career of Yellow Eyes closely, watching them blossom from a trio with a promising demo tape to a four-piece with a respectable degree of attention and a decent following with this, their first LP release. Read my review here.

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9. Aosoth- "IV: An Arrow in Heart" (Agonia)
This album was high on my radar right from the start due to the band's history of excellence. This album did nothing to betray their legacy and seems to have garnered even greater attention for them. "IV: An Arrow in Heart" is aggressive, desolate, and impossible to wrap my mind around in all the best ways. Read my review for more info.

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8. Portal- "Vexovoid" (Profound Lore)
I have often found Portal's music difficult to describe to the uninitiated. While some bands create such horrific sounds in a chaotic fashion, Portal always delivers a very methodical, controlled approach. While many bands attempt to recreate the flurries of notes or half-rasped, half-barked vocal style, these guys have always had the delicate precision of true professionals. With "Vexovoid," Portal's trademark sound has evolved into something nebulous and slightly more nuanced, without losing its classic ominous feeling. While this album initially felt like more of the same, a listen on a good sound system or with headphones in really yields elements of bleak noise and terrifying ambiance. If the sound isn't intense enough, I'll leave the only music video worth watching from 2013 below for your enjoyment.

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7. Aurvandil- "Thrones" (Psychic Violence/Eisenwald)
This one came as something of a late contender in my year, but instantly impressed me in a way few other tapes have done this year. A galloping and brilliant offering of black metal from this project that totally took me to another place as a listener. It's rare for a band I've never heard of to just come in and impress me in such a fashion, but that's exactly what happened here. Grab this tape while it's still available. It should have already sold out by now. If you miss the tape, look out for Eisenwald's vinyl release in early 2014.

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6. Morthylla- "Morthylla" (Schattenkult Produktionen)
This is probably the highest ranked release on this list that didn't get the widespread love it truly deserved. This violent and beautiful debut offering from Morthylla not only contained some of the most enjoyable black metal of the year, it also came in a gorgeous, super limited edition box directly from the artist. While that's long sold out, even the standard cassette available from the label is beautifully designed. Read my review for more information.

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5. The Ruins of Beverast- "Blood Vaults" (Van Records)
I'll admit that my love for The Ruins of Beverast can sometimes tread into near-obsessive territory. With a catalog of almost consistent perfection, it's really hard to fault this project, which is a full live band for the first time with "Blood Vaults." Still, my first listen left me baffled. There is a clarity on this record that really threw me for a loop. There have always been cleaner passages in The Ruins of Beverast's music, but the trudging beauty displayed on this album really shocked me. I was not pleased. Still, morbid curiosity and serious love forced me to listen again, and slowly the picture became clearer. This album is not intended to showcase the hazy ferocity of "Unlock the Shrine," nor the bleak violence of "Rain Upon the Impure." Instead, "Blood Vaults" stands alone as a monolithic slab of excellent metal that is neither black metal nor funeral doom, yet borrows heavily from each. This process yields something unique and wonderful. First time listeners may be confused, but I urge you to give this behemoth a fair listen. It will likely surprise you just as it surprised me.

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4. A Pregnant Light- "Stars Will Fall" & "Domination Harmony" (Colloquial Sound Recordings)
A Pregnant Light continued to dominate my playlists this year with a couple of solid releases. This project of the man identified only as Deathless Maranatha was slightly less prolific this year, possibly due to commitments with other projects such as electronic powerhouse Bodystocking (which graced my electronic/noise list). What Deathless Maranatha lacked in quantity has truly been made up for with quality. These two brief cassettes showcase a sense of harmony that was hinted at on prior offerings, yet was not fully realized to the degree presented here. A Pregnant Light's roots in hardcore punk have always been made clear to the listener, but on these tapes, especially "Stars Will Fall," it seems that all has been laid bare. These two sold out almost immediately, but are both available on the Colloquial Sound bandcamp page.

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3. Dressed in Streams- "The Search for Blood" (Colloquial Sound Recordings)
While it's no surprise that multiple Colloquial Sound releases are gracing my list this year, even I'm a bit surprised that Dressed in Streams has surpassed A Pregnant Light on my list with this monumental cassette. With a far more elegant and full formed approach than their prior releases, "The Search for Blood" shows Dressed in Streams properly merging electronic elements with dense black metal for a more complete sound. If this is the direction in which this project is headed, I can only hope for a full-length release of new material in 2014. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that somebody in the band or label is listening.

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2. Ash Borer- "Bloodlands" (Gilead Media/Psychic Violence)
While this album was technically an EP, it held within it a vastness and immensity so overpowering in its scope that it feels far more realized than most full-lengths I encountered this year. Read my review here.

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1. Cultes Des Ghoules- "Henbane" (Under the Sign of Garazel/Hells Headbangers/Of Crawling Shadows)
I'm not even sure how I can use my words to properly describe the true evil conjured by Cultes Des Ghoules on this year's finest release.  "Henbane" is primarily a mid-paced affair, with even the shortest of its five tracks stretching to just around the nine-minute mark. I personally own the cassette edition of this release, which is beautifully assembled with string holding the whole thing together. Some folks have commented that the vocals on this release are relatively off-putting and unpleasant. While I'll admit that the varied groans and howls can take some getting used to, the popularity of bands like Mayhem and Inquisition leads me to believe that strange vocals aren't too much of an obstacle. The guitars are jagged and vicious in all the best ways, and there's actually a heavy presence of low-end here that really rounds out the music. While many musicians seem to take on esoteric beliefs as a sort of posturing, Cultes Des Ghoules have me pretty convinced that they live a life reflected by their music. Easily the strongest album of the year, and I'm happy to share it here.

Year End Extravaganza: The Most Beautifully Packaged Tapes of 2012 (According to Jon from The Inarguable)

This post marks a Black Metal and Brews first: a guest writer. Today's guest writer is Jon from The Inarguable, a blog that is well worth your time. In addition to being a stellar blog (with more frequent updates than mine), The Inarguable is actually one of the reasons I decided to start a blog of my own, so it's only fitting that the first guest post is shared with its creator. Without further rambling on my part, here's Jon's list of the most beautifully packaged tapes of 2012.

As a music enthusiast and critic, on average I run into a metric ton of tapes at any given time. A cheaper analog format than its foot-long cousin, the cassette tape has made its resurgence within the past few years, with tape-centered labels like Colloquial Sound Recordings and Brave Mysteries absolutely dominating the blogosphere and endorsements from the high profile (and hopefully slightly resuscitated) Hydra Head Records. Of course, while J-card artwork can gain lots of favor, it's when labels and artists go the extra mile via extended packaging that really champions the return of the tape.

Organized alphabetically. If I have it, chances are I like it, so no need to organize by favoritism. Most of these are sold out, but you should definitely find them.

Aerugo - "Aerugo" (Special Edition of 30) [Sanctum Abyss]

This is some sick stuff, half second wave black metal, half crawling doom, and 100% raw & tortured. As a fan of insane voice sounds, vocalist X's high pitched shrieks are so jagged they manage to pierce through the harsh, lo-fi distortion. Whoa. But this list isn't about the music, so let's talk packaging! The standard edition is pro-printed and housed in a jewel case, but I managed to snag the last copy of the limited-to-30 special edition, which has the jewel case wrapped up inside a piece of screenprinted cheesecloth, then tied up with twine. The fibrous nature of the cheesecloth turns the already ominous cover art into a nightmarish, warped horror. Awesome.

Battle Path - "Empiric" (Special Edition of 30) [Sanctum Abyss]

Oh look, another Sanctum Abyss release! Yes, these guys do a "special edition" of all their releases, and the creativity just keeps building. Battle Path's Weakling-school of black metal met with angry, melodic sludge fits perfectly with the special edition's screen-printed bag of cow's teeth. I hear the label was looking for human teeth, but I imagine that would involve some hefty legal stuff.

Dressed in Streams - "Azad Hind" (Artbook Edition) [Colloquial Sound Recordings]

Colloquial Sound really went above and beyond with a few of their Fall releases, but this Dressed in Streams tape shows them really going above and beyond their already excellent track record. The tape, sans jewel case, is housed with a cone of incense inside a hand-sewn bag. If that wasn't enough, Azad Hind comes with a special art zine which depicts the faces of the British Raj. Funny story about this one, I guess the incense cone managed to make our entire batch of mail smell great. My mom was convinced a package from TotalRust, a label based out of Jerusalem, was the source of the smell due to its Middle Eastern origin. Silly mom, but you were half right, I guess. Oh yeah, and Dressed in Streams's massive, atmospheric black metal is excellent, to boot. If you are not familiar with CSR, you should. Keep an eye out for more special handmade editions, because I hear there will be more.

Fister - "Violence" [Pissfork]

Fister really came out of the blue, but I'm glad I was able to find them before this ridiculously packaged tape sold out. The tape itself is housed in a laser-etched black polycase, which is placed inside a screen-printed reel-to-reel box with a screenprinted artbook. The ink used in the artbook and on the box was mixed with three vials of the band members' blood. Brutal, and all-too-fitting for Fister's brand of extraordinarily heavy sludge/doom metal. Though this box is sold out (I appear to have grabbed the last one), the band will be re-releasingViolence on vinyl, and I hear there are loads of color choices.

Persistence in Mourning - "Absent God/Sleeping Giant" [Black Horizons]

Andy Lippoldt's pet project Persistence in Mourning has gone through an interesting evolution, growing from his roots in traditional funeral doom to an eclectic entity, taking influence and collaborating with the weird and unsettling. If you recall my review of Confessions of an American Cult, Lippoldt concentrates on abstract sounds to put forth his heavy hymns through the medium of harsh electronics and bizarre industrial sounds and Absent God/Sleeping Giant is a further continuation of Lippoldt's adventurous spirit. Black Horizons says this tape "[c]omes packaged in a double OBI with a two panel insert as is becoming the new Black Horizons style. Printed offset with silver ink on moss metallic card stock. Also includes a silver ink on black fabric patch. Silver labels." Let me tell you, I was afraid to open this tape, because everything was so snugly put together I knew I would mess it up somehow. I did, but only at first. Everything fits together like a puzzle with this one, and, yes, that goes beyond the packaging.

SIGE RECORDS tapes 2012

I wanted to at the very least mention the way SIGE, Aaron Turner and Faith Coloccia's imprint, so carefully packages their tapes. Again with the reel-to-reel boxes, SIGE seals them with heavy foil strips and includes hand-sewn artbooks. It's great, and so far their tape output has been nothing but excellent. 2012 brought about SIGE releases of Locrian and Mamiffer's Bless Them That Curse You, Circle guitarist Jussi Letisahlo's Interludes For Prepared Beast, the excellent Pyramids/Mamiffer split, and the Jodis Secret House/Black Curtain 2xCS box, all of which were expertly planned, packaged, and performed. SIGE deserves all the recognition they get.

Velvet Robe - "De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium" [Self-released]

This one I bought on a whim. I'd seen Velvet Robe's full-length floating around the doom download blogs and I wasn't too sure about it, so I just sort of brushed them over and moved on. When I saw the De incertitudine... tape for sale, I honestly didn't even listen to it before clicking the "buy" button. The entire package (a tape, candle, pin, and envelope with photos and instructions) is held inside a drawstring bag. The tape tape, which is labeled with an old fashioned labelmaker, is housed inside a heavy paper box with the cover artwork sloppily xeroxed and affixed with glue. Normally I would say "amateur hour," but the hasty, sloppy approach taken with this one makes it all the more sinister. This tape is intended for you to crossfade each side into one big, horrifying ambient/noise track, ridden with incantations and old movie samples. Pretty different than Velvet Rope's usual heavy drone/funeral doom, but these guys definitely flexed their creative muscles with this one. I like the old Sears catalog which came with it, too, for some odd reason.

Witch In Her Tomb - "Witch In Her Tomb" [Crippled Sound Recordings]

Another surprise, and from my home state of Illinois, Witch In Her Tomb unleashed a scathing EP of wretched, incredible black metal a la Peste Noire's early material.Man, when this style of black metal is done right, it is done right, and Witch In Her Tomb spare no extravagance. Violins, grand pianos, and acoustic guitars in black metal without losing any power? Sounds pretty good to me. This one's packaging isn't extravagant, but the simplicity was refreshing. A tape housed in a polybag which was then crammed into a lightweight paper O-card. Again, not extravagant, but it's nice to see labels foregoing the usual jewel case packaging for something a little more memorable. 

Yellow Eyes/Monument split [Sol y Nieve Records]

I gushed about this one's packaging in a recent review on my own website, and I'll gush about it again! Though Coleman normally takes the "special edition of x amount" route, the entire edition of 100 tapes was graced with his boundless creativity. I stumbled when I attempted to describe this one, so I'll quote the label: "Pro-dubbed, pro-printed clear c42 cassettes in soft polybox with hand-numbered insert and vellum/construction paper o-card. Limited edition of 100." Unfortunately this one is all gone, but you should keep looking. Sol y Nieve also expertly packaged the Yellow Eyes demo earlier this year, wrapping the jewel case in a Yellow Eyes patch, and the first ten copies of the Dead Dragon Mountain album were housed in a plaster box. Noah knows what's up.

-Jon