Anteater's 25 Favorite Albums of 2013

Anteater · 12-19-2013, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm sure I've listened to Fates Warning before, but I generally stay away from prog metal, so it was just kind of a whim to play "I Am". Fantastic. I just closed whatever the hell I was just listening to so I could play this album.

Yeah, the Fates have been around a lonnnng time: the few legit metalheads I met in college a few years back were familiar with some of their mid 80's stuff like Awaken The Guardian or The Spectre Within, but the band has always had trouble marketing outside of the prog demographic from the 90's onwards because of bands like Dream Theater casting such a big shadow.

But yeah, Darkness In A Different Light is about as good a jumping off point for 'em as anything they've ever done, so glad you like it.

dca · 12-19-2013, 11:04 AM

That Ed Motta stuff is very good, never heard of him before. if anything it's almost too steely dan-esque, perhaps needs to inject a bit more of his own style, but very impressive nonetheless. thanks!

Anteater · 12-19-2013, 06:09 PM

^ Yeah, Motta immersed himself so much into that late 70's L.A. rock aesthetic that its almost uncanny. He deserves a billion kudos just for being able to accomplish that in 2013 of all years though.

#13 is a rather curious one guys, so enjoy!

13. Subsignal - Paraiso

Genre: Progressive Pop, Art Rock, AOR

Sounds Like: Sieges Even, The Police, Savatage

When it comes time to review some band or another, its normally pretty easy to find a point of reference in 2013. "Oh, this group has a (insert more prominent artist) influence" or "Hey, this band does ___ genre and ___ genre together". When it comes to German outfit Subsignal though, the act of categorization seemed futile to me even back in 2009 when I had the pleasure of listening to their first record. Sure, there's a progressive metal connection to the former band the lead singer Arno Menses was in called Sieges Even, but the music that you hear on an album like Paraiso (their third LP) isn't really metal at all despite being technically complex and full of virtuosity. There's lots of dynamics and hooks and textures, so "progressive pop" or "art rock" fits, but even then it feels I'm trying to fit a skyscraper into a cardboard box.

Definitions aside, Paraiso was a musical journey I'd find myself tuning into when I couldn't be bothered to put on any country, hip-hop, industrial, prog-rock, jazz, etc. Everyone has those albums that hit some sort of crossover sweet spot and are pleasing to the ear when nothing else quite suits the mood, and this baby fit the bill for me. Great songs, of course, are in bountiful supply, with my top picks being the metallic title track, the choral (and vaguely haunting) 'A Giant Leap Of Faith' and the beautiful orchestral/acoustic led 'A Heartbeat Away'. There's something for everybody though...a drink for every occasion you might say!

Besides the great songwriting and diverse instrumentation which is utilized to excellent effect though, special attention needs to be given to the lyrics and overall atmosphere. The whole album burns with an elusive, yearning quality that sticks to your bones. Take, for instance, the chorus from the title track-

Quote:

I’m the world in which I walk
I am the compass to my own Paraiso.
Weight of mountains on my back,
but nothing stops me,
an impulse to rely on-

The wind is old, so is my heart
So young the dreams that stir my faint bravado.
Somewhere sometime, someplace else-
A distant promise lights my lost Paraiso

Paraiso, of course, means paradise. How many people since ancient times have lived and died seeking some external mythical destination where their happiness might be quantified? Such desire remains a pertinent and present part of human nature: many would rather wish for a promised land to appear before them instead of looking inside themselves for real solutions...and if that's not relevant I don't know what is.

So raise a toast to Subsignal for giving us one of the most human albums I've heard this year. Hell, buy 'em two rounds for making it catchy as hell to boot!

Graeme O'Neil · 12-19-2013, 06:51 PM

Nice list so far. Funny that you didn't mention my standout tracks on Monae's album (What An Experience, Primetime) or JT's album (Drink You Away, Blue Ocean Floor).

Anteater · 12-20-2013, 09:17 PM

^ Well, lots of good songs on both records. I'd actually find it kinda weird if we all liked the same songs from each, lol!

Anywho, met000000l for all! \m/

12. Carcass - Surgical Steel

Genre: Death Metal

Sounds Like: Themselves

So it's time for some snarlz, riffz and headbanging goodness: there's been enough spectacular death metal, black metal, grind, etc. this year to fill 15x AOTY lists and they still wouldn't be enough to cover everything (and I enjoyed a good many of them!). But for what it's worth, I think I picked the crown jewel of the lot for 2013. And yes, I do take travelers' checks.

So, just to be clear - I'm not gonna be a complete elitist tard and tell you I completely despised this band's previous (and until this year, final) release Swansong: I didn't even listen to that album til nearly twelve years after it fell flat commercially back in 1996. I personally thought it was so-so, but for the hardcore fans who loved these death metal pioneers from their illustrious start all the way up to 1993's groundbreaking Heartwork I'm sure people felt it was a sonic betrayal of the worst kind....oh well, shit happens and people move on. Bands do too, and I don't think anyone ever thought these guys would ever record another album. But hey, miracles do happen...and Surgical Steel is one baddass motherf-in miracle if there ever was one. A masterpiece even: the sort of record that only comes about when some fanatic at the soundboard decided to have the band listen to all the classic early 80's Judas Priest vinyls on repeat for a week while keeping some Roid Rage'd asshole on staff outside to hose down Jeff Walker and Bill Steer every time they didn't blast the producer out of the next room (though I'm sure Colin Richardson is used to it by now if his time with Cannibal Corpse taught him anything). I'll bet there was bourbon too. Lots of it!

So is this the best ball busting, throat scarring, shredtastic sorta-melodic death metal album of all time? Who knows, but its got 2013 in its pocket and laughing about it all the way to the bank. And if you doubt my words, one whiff of opening instrumental '1985' or the gravity defying 'Noncompliance To ASTM F 899-12 Standard' should pulverize that skepticism into bonemeal.

Quite eerie when you think about it though. Seventeen years after releasing their worst record + vanishing off the face of the Earth to join a bunch of smaller-time groups, they suddenly rise from the dead, kill all their competitors and worshipers in one fell swoop...and created a new classic in the process. Almost makes you want to believe in God. Or maybe the Devil.

The Batlord · 12-21-2013, 09:34 AM

I still need to go out and buy that. Brilliant ****ing album. If he has a brain in his head Michael Amott should be kicking himself for sticking with Arch Enemy cause that album just made them even more irrelevant than they already were. Why would anyone want to listen to Rise of the Tyrants when they could just put this on instead?

Anteater · 12-21-2013, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

...Why would anyone want to listen to Rise of the Tyrants when they could just put this on instead?

Because some people don't care about good muzak my batty broseph.

So...onward to numbah 11!

11. Brother Ape - Force Majeure

Genre: Indie-prog, Swedish Power Pop, Math Rock, Electronic Rock

Sounds Like: Blur, Rush, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Yes, Mew, The Outfield

Criminally underrated and obscure to the point of incredulity, I can't think of a band I've ever run across who deserve a wider audience more than Swedish prog rock power trio Brother Ape. Their albums are vital, hungry sounding things with more than a touch of melancholy and wide-eyed hope, and 2013's Force Majeure is no exception. Riddle me this: is it possible to be musically life affirming whilst simultaneously making you feel like you've been standing in the middle of a wide open field as an ice cold wind blows by? Through a marriage of beautiful inconsistencies, this band somehow does the trick. They're way beyond "prog" or whatever people like to peg them as: they're simply masters of good music, period.

The songs throughout this little odyssey work on many levels: some are deliberately crafted to have some of the most inspired verse-to-chorus hook progressions this side of 90's Brit-pop ('The Mirror', 'Doing Just Fine', 'Life') while other songs will go out of their way to challenge you with extended instrumental sections and stylistic fragmentations ('Distinction', 'A Hundred Voices'). What constant elements there are consist of the languid, soaring vocals + guitar fretwork of Stefan Damicolas, the fluid drum intricacies of Max Bergman and some massive basslines courtesy of Gunnar Maxén...and dayum son, that's a helluva chemistry.

Six albums in now and I never see these guys get talked about, even in the hardcore prog circles. Hopefully this magnificent little record will start to turn that trend around, but hey...sometimes its not a bad thing to have all the best bands to yourself. Happy to share in any case!

Anteater · 12-22-2013, 10:15 PM

10. Projected Twin - Earth Vs. World

Genre: Ambient Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-Rock

Sounds Like: Karnivool, Pink Floyd, Anathema, Matthew Good Band

A lot of impressive recordings came out of Australia's proggier rock scene this year. We had new offerings from Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Caligula's Horse, and many others...and in all honesty, there's nary a bad song between the lot of them. And yet the Australian artist who ended up crafting the best rock/metal LP came under the radar this year before any of these bigger players, letting loose upon us the second chapter in a story about the end of life on Earth as we know it. That artist is musical DIY entrepreneur Shaun Holton under the moniker Projected Twin, and the record in question is Earth Vs. World. To put it mildly, it is the geocentric apocalypse brought to life as a pure sonic spectacle...and it is majesty incarnate.

In the same way that some of the great bands in metal out there (such as Opeth or Porcupine Tree) take great care when making use of contrast in their sound, Mr. Holton takes a slightly different twist to the idea: he turns on a dime between acoustic guitar ripostes and a more melodic, cinematic take on doom metal, walking the thin line of coherency with his powerful voice as the guiding light to unite seemingly opposite dynamics. Lots of lyrically striking moments to derive as well...but I suppose when you are detailing Mother Earth's violent rejection of humanity on a song-by-song basis, its hard not to get drawn in by the sheer power of it all.

Key tracks for me include opening cut 'You Threw The Stone', Armageddon monsterpiece 'The Ritual' and the catchy 'Grab On Please', but there's no missteps to be had no matter which songs end up finding a place in your soul to stick to. I'm still in awe of it even now...

Anteater · 12-23-2013, 09:54 PM

9. Haken - The Mountain

Genre: Ear-friendly-mind-bending rock/metal

Sounds Like: Gentle Giant, Queen, Elbow, Dream Theater

When people think of progression in terms of rock & metal, its often said that we've already seen everything under the sun. How much stylistic deviation and off-the-wall dynamism can you actually put into a recording before it ceases being interesting on an accessible level, fated to become yet another Rock In Opposition album nobody will ever listen to?

If there's one band in 2013 that prove the validity of honest-to-God evolution in rock music, it would be the U.K.'s Haken. The Mountain marks their 3rd full length effort: the album cover looks almost like a custom Tarot card, the closet living metaphor for a human life as you'll ever find. And sonically, they've never been richer: lead singer Ross Jennings gives Freddie Mercury a run for his money in sheer versatility, but between all the great guitar work, piano playing, keyboards, drums and bass...well, it's a damn fine ensemble with enough jazzy, propulsive interplay and ideas to keep even the most ADD among us entertained for an hour or more.

The songs here cross pollinate some really intriguing ideas about the human condition: for example, lead single 'Atlas Stone' contemplates perseverance as we struggle to succeed against adversity, 'Cockroach King' gives us a jazzy, polyphonic insight into celebrity idealization with lots of awesome counterpoint vox, and even when things slow down with 'Because It's There', your drawn into something resembling a Gregorian ballad. And that's not even detailing the first half of the album completely: the journey up the mountain is a bizarre yet beautiful one in equal measure.

This is an album about being alive, the struggles & joys that arise from being such complicated, self-aware creatures in an indifferent world that defies our understanding. Seeking truth and certainty but constantly being pulled astray by pareidolic falsehoods throughout our respective journeys. Stuff like this is a big pill to swallow no matter what style of music you call your home, but this band pulls it off with flying colors, hooks and plenty of musicianship. Get it if you know what's good for you!

Anteater · 12-24-2013, 09:58 PM

8. Ramage Inc. - Feel The Waves

Genre: Ambient Metal, Industrial, Djent, Post-Grunge

Sounds Like: Fear Factory, Soundgarden, Deftones, Klone, Devin Townsend

So I'm not going to have to explain the whole "djent" metal thing here am I? Good. If you know what the machine-gun, super sleek guitar work of bands like Meshuggah sounds like, you've probably got an idea of the general sound. One band a few years back that had a promising start in the so called "djent" movement was a thrashy little bunch called CILICE. And they weren't too bad at all, but didn't last beyond their monstrous debut LP Deranged Headtrip back in 2009. Fast forward a few years later here to 2013, and the single best element of that particular group (lead vocalist Bryan Ramage) decides to form his own band and release a record...

...and it is a maniacal masterstroke! Feel The Waves is not only ball-crushingly heavy, but it's got enough atmospheric layers of melody to make the universe's most delectable cosmic onion. Think a more blistering, thicker and less operatic Devin Townsend. Or maybe a more guitar-driven Deftones bar the "nu-metal" BS. Ramage howls his goddamn soul out over tectonic shifting guitar tapestries, sludge squirming bass and swampwater drums that crash like thunder off a midnight storm. And strike me dead if it ain't the very definition of a good time eh?

So say hello to melodic heavy metal's underdog of 2013, because he's got one helluva bite. Fans of the previously mentioned Devin Townsend, Deftones, other artists in the genre preface, etc....yeah, here's your new drug courtesy of your favorite ant-munching dealer. Merry XXX!

12-19-2013, 11:04 AM	#2 (permalink)
dca Music Addict Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 69	That Ed Motta stuff is very good, never heard of him before. if anything it's almost too steely dan-esque, perhaps needs to inject a bit more of his own style, but very impressive nonetheless. thanks!

12-19-2013, 06:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
Graeme O'Neil Groupie Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 10	Nice list so far. Funny that you didn't mention my standout tracks on Monae's album (What An Experience, Primetime) or JT's album (Drink You Away, Blue Ocean Floor).