LOOKING BACK...
For me at least, 2013 didn't begin until Cult of Luna released their newest album, Vertikal. It was their first release in 5 years, since 2008's Somewhere Along the Highway. The album was said to be inspired by Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, and honestly, I think the only way to truly experience and understand Vertikal is to see this movie first. It puts the album into an entirely different context. I feel like fans who bought the album expecting SAtH2 were unjustifiably disappointed.
Was anyone expecting the latest album from The Ocean to be that good?! The sort-of-self-titled album, Pelagial, is the follow up the -Centric brothers, which fans were sort of on the fence about. But the band returned and were firing with all cylinders for this one. The concept of drifting closer and closer to the ocean floor while the music gets heavier and heavier is both smart and easy to grasp. The concepts on previous Ocean albums were, well, a little too high-brow. A critique on religion from two different philosophic points of view? Earth's geologic history? Nah, just gimme something I can latch onto -- and this is coming from a philosophy minor who loves high-brow things. Just not so much in my lyrics, I guess.
A band who I thought completely broke up, Rosetta, came out of nowhere with a free download of their latest album, The Anaesthete. I haven't had much time to really enjoy it, but what I've heard so far has been phenomenal -- far heavier than their previous effort for sure. Also, did Rosetta change their logo to a vagina?
Above is a diagram of a human vagina, below is
Rosetta's new logo. See it? You see it.
I don't think anyone expected the newest album from Deafheaven to be nearly this successful. The year is not even through yet, but so many publications are already calling it the album of the year. Hell, it's currently the number one album on Metacritic. Sunbather was just such an honest album lyrically and adventurous album sonically that it was hard not to fall in love with. Unfortunately, it was the most popular example of mixing black metal with shoegaze, and many people erroneously referred to it as the first example. Naturally, the blackgaze purists bashed it because, well, fame. Hipsters will be hipsters.
Fans of Isis were in for quite the treat when three members formed Palms with Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. I personally found it to be like a really dry, forgettable lullaby, but I see a lot of potential there. Plus, if nothing else, it was great to see the guys from Isis continuing to make music together.
On the lighter end of the spectrum, Sigur Ros released the first album I could actually listen to from start to finish. I've been dying to get into these guys and Kveikur, much to my surprise, didn't put me to sleep AND I really enjoyed what I was hearing. Two other post-rock icons, Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, coincidentally both released soundtracks this year -- the former for a French TV show about zombies, the latter for a Paul Rudd movie no one has ever heard of.
And everything else... I have yet to sit down and listen to the new Scale the Summit album, The Migration, but I have heard nothing but phenomenal things about it. I've always been kind of on the fence about True Widow, and I still feel that same way while listening to their new album Circumambulation. It's okay, but I'm just not seeing why it's so loved by critics. The new album from And So I Watch You from Afar, All Hail Bright Futures, was off to a really bright and uplifting start, but then went flat after the first few songs. Bummer.
LOOKING FORWARD...
I am kind of mixed about the upcoming Pelican album, Forever Becoming. On one hand the group lost one of its founding members and guitarists, but on the other hand, both songs I've heard so far have been pretty great.
Though a new album from Cloudkicker hasn't been officially confirmed, the one-man band has been posting clips and samples and demos on Soundcloud all year. Plus, this guy has released at least one thing every year since the project started, and so far nothing major has come from the CK camp this year, save for a single song back in January. Fingers crossed, some of these samples are sounding real good! The one below is very Beacons-esque.
I think the release I'm most looking forward to for the remainder of 2013, regardless of genre, is the new album from Russian Circles. These guys never disappoint and their last album Empros is still in my constant rotation. So far the only track released from the new album, Memorial, is "Deficit" -- by far the band's heaviest, doomiest song to date. It doesn't even really sound like RC until mid-way through the song. So they're treading new waters, but still feel like RC in essence -- a welcome change, I feel. Hopefully the title isn't a playful suggestion that this is their last album...
And everything else... Word on street says Jakob could be releasing a new album before year's end, making this their first album in seven years! Cult of Luna are releasing a sequel to Vertikal, an EP dubbed Vertikal II. I'm hoping they actually went into the studio and recorded new tracks instead of just dishing out some leftover B-sides. And East of the Wall broke their new-album-every-year cycle for the first time since their inception, and will be releasing Redaction Artifacts later this year. Was the extra time between releases spent crafting a MORE awesome album? Time will tell.
COMMENTS...
What do you think? Is this the best year for this genre (or this collective group of similar genres)? What do you think was a better one? Is my list missing anything major and obvious (probably)?
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