Label: Peaceville
The Underground Resistance is another slab of sound that moves back and forth from punk and thrash, returning to Black Metal as a home base. Darkthrone are all over the map, even with their vocals. At times clean and epic, sounding like a Game Of Thrones cry to war. Then, on a dime, we’re immersed in screeching gutter vocals. Riffs that are as (gasp) catchy as they are brutal, Darkthrone do what they want, and that always pays off.
Label: Last Hurrah Records
The Guilt Of, another group featuring Eyehategod troubled genius Mike Williams, is right off the reservation. Part noise project, part break-beat explosion, part avant garde metal band, and part screaming mental collapse, The Guilt Of is a smash mouth bit of extreme music. It won’t please everyone, it may even annoy the hell out of some, but for me, this is what happens when a man who has already pushed extreme music out of its comfort zone, continues his mission.
Label: Metal Blade Records
Deceiver Of The Gods finds Amon Amarth switching things up a bit. A new recording location and a new producer seem to have shaken some of the rust off. Deceiver Of The Gods is still within the fist-pumping, head-banging, anthem oriented choruses that AA are known for, but with a bit more swagger, as if they’ve found a new confidence in their songwriting.
Label: Translation Loss
Probably the most polarizing album of 2013. Some folks fully embrace the insanity of Dawning, while others hate it from the start. I hated it. The clean vocals ruined the entire album for me. Musically, I was fascinated with the record. Soaring open chords, crushing doom, experimental feedback and drones, Dawning is infectious simply by how ambitious it is. The growls are fine, the clean vocals are hard to take. When they do click, Dawning becomes genius. If they don’t, it’s maddening to listen to. That level of dedication to conflict alone makes Dawning worth checking out.
Label: Southern Lord
Nails don’t want to dazzle you with their intricate song structures, or impress you with their ripping solos. They want to bash your skull in with an audio ballpeen hammer. Imagine Nails as Leatherface, their music that damn hammer, and you the innocent teenager who wandered into the wrong fucking house. Abandon All Life pulverizes your skull and then hangs you on a meat hook until the last note. Why this record isn’t on more top lists is beyond me. It’s absolutely my favorite extreme record of 2013.
That’s it for now. There is a lot more coming out over the next six months, including the much anticipated new solo album from Phil Anselmo. It’ll be interesting to see how this list changes come December.
