Best of 2013

Arabianhazard said:
Would this be a different discussion if the album cover wasn't pink?
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Well it's like I said - I think the band is wholly unoriginal and does nothing new, but sold itself rather successfully on its image. The actual artwork is pretty nifty and cool, and it's caught on with a ton of people, including Apple - enough to use it at their press conference. My thing, and what Zod and DC I suppose are also of the opinion of is that we're not talking about "most successful" band of 2013, but rather the best albums of 2013. I'm not saying that people aren't allowed to enjoy Sunbather because everyone has different opinions and music is subjective and all that of course. Nothing I or anyone else says can take away the fact that people like the record and thus there's merit to that. But on the other hand, I do wonder if the same crowd really listened to all of the emergent bands from 2005-2008 that did ostensibly the same thing and (IMO) much better at that.
 
AeonicSlumber said:
Well it's like I said - I think the band is wholly unoriginal and does nothing new, but sold itself rather successfully on its image.
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It's funny because I feel like this same argument could be made for Ghost, or the any number of bands who are quite plainly ripping off Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. Don't get me wrong, I dig the Ghost albums a lot, but it's nothing new. And they were on top of everyone's lists a few years ago.
 
I love Ghost but I agree that much of that band's success lies in both its image and its mystique. However, I also argue that Ghost is actually musically unique. Their singer might resemble King (sometimes), but they sound pretty much nothing like MF and I do challenge you to find a riff of theirs that stands out as something off a Fate album. While Ghost WAS late to the party to that retro 70's occult rock rejuvenation that's been going on - popularized by bands like Graveyard and Witchcraft - none of those bands sound anything like Ghost. Neither do those bands sound anything like each other. IMO, Deafheaven is literally interchangeable with many of their peers who came out before them.
 
You don't need to be groundbreaking to write good songs or make an album of the year.

The difference between Deafheaven and Ghost is that everyone, including people who don't listen to or follow Metal and would have no way of knowing what's breaking ground in Metal anyway, is hailing Deafheaven as new, innovative, genre-blending geniuses -- when the truth is that what they are doing has already been done.

Ghost, on the other hand, has received nothing but Mercyful Fate comparisons from the start and that's not even really a fair comparison. High-pitched vox, Satanic lyrics, and over the top theatrics to not make you a King clone...
 
dcowboys311 said:
You don't need to be groundbreaking to write good songs or make an album of the year.

The difference between Deafheaven and Ghost is that everyone, including people who don't listen to or follow Metal and would have no way of knowing what's breaking ground in Metal anyway, is hailing Deafheaven as new, innovative, genre-blending geniuses -- when the truth is that what they are doing has already been done.

Ghost, on the other hand, has received nothing but Mercyful Fate comparisons from the start and that's not even really a fair comparison. High-pitched vox, Satanic lyrics, and over the top theatrics to not make you a King clone...
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This. 99% of the music praised in here, regardless of sub-genre, is not praised because it's groundbreaking, just because it's enjoyable.
 
dcowboys311 said:
You don't need to be groundbreaking to write good songs or make an album of the year.

The difference between Deafheaven and Ghost is that everyone, including people who don't listen to or follow Metal and would have no way of knowing what's breaking ground in Metal anyway, is hailing Deafheaven as new, innovative, genre-blending geniuses -- when the truth is that what they are doing has already been done.

Ghost, on the other hand, has received nothing but Mercyful Fate comparisons from the start and that's not even really a fair comparison. High-pitched vox, Satanic lyrics, and over the top theatrics to not make you a King clone...
Click to expand...

This completely. You can have a completely solid and album of the year contender without it being new. Let's face it; there's very few "new" things that can be done.

And as far as comparisons to Ghost, they're much more in tune with Blue Oyster Cult than Mercyful Fate. I've never understood that comparison.
 
AeonicSlumber said:
I love Ghost but I agree that much of that band's success lies in both its image and its mystique. However, I also argue that Ghost is actually musically unique. Their singer might resemble King (sometimes), but they sound pretty much nothing like MF and I do challenge you to find a riff of theirs that stands out as something off a Fate album. While Ghost WAS late to the party to that retro 70's occult rock rejuvenation that's been going on - popularized by bands like Graveyard and Witchcraft - none of those bands sound anything like Ghost. Neither do those bands sound anything like each other. IMO, Deafheaven is literally interchangeable with many of their peers who came out before them.
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Looking forward to you posting your 2013 list.
 
Sure, I made it a while ago actually:

Top 10:
Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent
A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy
Iron & Wine - Ghost on Ghost
Kavinsky - Outrun
Kvellertak - Mier
Tesseract - Altered State
Disperse - Living Mirrors
Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire
Carcass - Surgical Steel
My Bloody Valentine - mbv

nomisofsiman said:
This completely. You can have a completely solid and album of the year contender without it being new. Let's face it; there's very few "new" things that can be done.

And as far as comparisons to Ghost, they're much more in tune with Blue Oyster Cult than Mercyful Fate. I've never understood that comparison.
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It depends on how you define "new" imo since we're talking about music, and you could easily say there's no such thing as "new" music if we're talking about vibrations in the air that all get certain emotional responses out of. But largely speaking, I PERSONALLY, base all my favorite albums on which bands put out the most cutting edge and unique records (to my ears). "Good songs" are a bonus, but it has to be more than that for me. I have to really feel like I can't hear this song anywhere else for me to be inspired enough to listen to it on repeat and then ultimately say "this is one of my favorite albums of the year".
 
AeonicSlumber said:
Sure, I made it a while ago actually:

Top 10:
Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent
A Day To Remember - Common Courtesy
Iron & Wine - Ghost on Ghost
Kavinsky - Outrun
Kvellertak - Mier
Tesseract - Altered State
Disperse - Living Mirrors
Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire
Carcass - Surgical Steel
My Bloody Valentine - mbv
Click to expand...

How good is that ADTR record? I've listened to some snippets and it sounds okay. And I'm tempted to buy it simply because of the story behind it, and to help support their fight. And what did you pay for the new MBV?
 
If you like What Seperates' production and poppier songwriting but missed the heaviness of Homesick, CC is definitely a must listen. I forgot how much I paid for mbv. I think $15 or $20? I got the digital version.
 
Hi everyone. My first serious post on the forum. I hope I can make it to the festival in 2014!
shit, it looks like I miss a lot of bands this year. What the hell I was doing? Trying to get hold of a few albums i've seen in list that it looks like matches my taste.

Albums that I really loved this year:
Carcass - Surgical Steel
DGM - Momentum
Haken - The Mountain
Withem - The point of You
Scale the Summit - The Migration
Jardin de la Croix - 187 Steps to cross the universe

Those 6 are the ones that I would put above the rest for me.
Then I have enjoyed:
Dream Theater - s/t
Persefone - Spiritual Migration
Royal Hunt - A life to die for
Carving Colours - No way but forwards
Artillery - Legions
Sorcery - Legacy of blood
Protest the Hero - Volition
Saxon - Sacrifice
Jeff Loomis - Requiem for the living (ep)
Death Mechanism - 21st Century
Exhumed - Necrocracy
F.K.Ü - Rise of the mosh mongers
Graveyard - The Sea Grave
Sorcery - Arrival at Six
Violator - Scenarios of Brutality

Just ok:
Gama Bomb - The Terror Tapes
Queensryche - Queensryche
The Flower Kings - Desolation Rose
Epysode - Fantasmagoria
Revocation - Revocation
Darkthrone - The Undergrone Resistance (except Leave no cross unturned which I love it!)
Artlantica - Across the seven seas


Still need to spin it properly:
Hell - Curse and Chapter
Satan's Host - Virgn Sails
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth
Attacker - Giants of Canaan
Death Angel - the Dreams call for blood
Thought Chamber - Psykerion
Hybrid - Angst
Metal Church - Generation Nothing
Mortillery - Origin of exctiontion

Dissapointed:
Warbringer - IV Empires Collapse
Tad Morose - Revenant
Havok - Unnatural Selection
Animations - Private Ghetto
Ashes of Ares - s/t

Happy 2014 to everyone.
 
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