Best/Most Disappointing of 2013

[Haws Bah Gawd]

What did all of you enjoy or feel let down by this year?

Video samples in spoiler tags to keep the page from taking eternity to load

My personal top albums of 2013:

1 - "War of Ages" by Serenity

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2QH9L42OY0

2 - "Symphonies of the Night" - Leaves Eyes

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPs7rFNGP4

3 - "Showtime. Storytime" - Nightwish

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz_7OCCQlXs

4 - "Fortress" - Alter Bride

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAYrAu-jnMY

5 - "Traveller" - Jorn

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9T_KfkDyI

Honorable Mention:
"Deceiver of the Gods" - Amon Amarth

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3spJ_z3Es

"Paradigm Shift" - KoRn

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=851NxKsneFk

Biggest Disappointments of the Year

1 - "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" - Alice in Chains
Not terrible by any stretch. It just didn't live up to my own expectations. It felt like tracks that were cut from "Black Gives Way to Blue" and just slapped together to create another album. I really tried hard to like this more.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KmYFY5oOvM

2 - "Retrospect" - Epica
Lead vocalist Simone Simmons' voice is almost shot and it really shows at this Ten-Year Anniversary show. The fact that she was several months pregnant did her no favors either. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic THREE HOUR set, but this was a huge letdown and nowhere near as solid as 2009's "Classical Conspiracy". Backup grunter, Mark Jansen, is his usual awesome self, however.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWJZfIvmnF0

Best live show I saw this year

Easily Kamelot in Atlanta on September 28th. I've never had so much fun or been so sore after a show before. Well worth it!

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeVxpLGrMNk

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I only bought two new albums this year, I think. Random Access Memories (which I really, really enjoy and might already be my favorite Daft Punk album) and the new Mayer Hawthorne album, which was so-so. I listened to Yeezus too and a few other things I'm forgetting on Spotify. I still buy music once a month or so but it's all old stuff and usually used/cheap.

I did go to a few shows. Best was KISS at Meadowbrook Farms in Gilford, NH (IE middle of nowhere, near Lake Winnepausake and the legendary Funspot Arcade, of King of Kong mild fame) in August. This was my second time seeing them, first time was two years ago in Manchester, NH (why do I always see them in New Hampshire?). For some reason, this time was way better. Might have been the setlist. This show featured songs from their entire forty year history, not just the typical "here's 12 to 15 songs of ours from the original lineup era and two songs from the new album." I mean, the original lineup is best but sometimes I want to hear "War Machine" dammit.

 

[Red Baron]

The only albums I bought this year was Random Access Memories and Lightning Bolt. Daft Punk probably released one of the best albums of the year according to many, and while I enjoyed Lightning Bolt the first time around, I haven't listened to it ever since.

Three concerts I went to was Muse, Ghost and Trivium. Muse and Ghost were excellent shows, but I did not care for Trivium at all.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Trivium is shit. They're the pinnacle of "why the fuck did people listen to this" of their time. They have one decent song, "Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr," and even that is only half good (namely everything but the parts with vocals). It doesn't help that the members are pompous twats when they have no right to be.

Favorite album of 2013:
The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack
It's like the band took everything that made them a quality standout from the metalcore/deathcore scene (which I never really grouped them with since the hardcore influence is minimal), focused on songwriting following how well-received Nocturnal, Deflorate, and Ritual were, and then gave us one of the best metal albums of the past decade. There's a lot of atmosphere here along with the usual Black Dahlia style, and they save the more Gothenburg-y riffs for when they'll stand out the most. 9/10

"Why did I buy this?":
Gorguts - Colored Sands
After hearing about how great this album was, and how great this band was, I'm lumping them in with Necrophagist and Opeth in the "wow, wicked fucking overrated" camp. This whole "post-black/death" movement just annoys me. I can appreciate the atmosphere and the musicianship and arrangement, sure, but I expect metal when I listen to a metal album. Take away the vocals and this is basically Godspeed! You Black Emperor with occasionally frantic drumming. A big pile of meh.

Best show:
Dying Fetus, Exhumed, Dysentery, Rivers of Nihil, Totality on Halloween
Also known as "the night that Laz realized he's getting too old for the pit," brought on when I was about to jump into a circle pit during Exhumed and caught a headbutt to the side of my head, then spent most of Dying Fetus sitting down and trying to decide if I was just drunk, had been knocked goofy, or had a concussion.

Spoiler

Drunk. I was very, very drunk.

Worst show:
Slayer, Gojira, and 4ARM
Luckily, I missed 4ARM and Gojira. 4ARM is a shyte pseudo-metalcore band and Gojira's always annoyed me more than anything. They remind me of High on Fire, for some reason, and High on Fire is awful. This wasn't even a bad show, really, because they stuck to the old classics, threw in an Exodus cover in honor of Gary Holt's first tour as an official member of the band, and a huge HANNEMAN banner dropped at the end that only made the chanting of his name increase (as it was going on throughout much of their set). There were just so few shows I actually went to in 2013 (the only other I can immediately recall is Gwar from early November, and IT'S FUCKING GWAR), and this was just the weakest of the three.

Best personal musical moment:
Joining a new band and learning the entire set within a month, geared up for the first gig in January (it went pretty damn well, by the way)

Worst personal musical moment:
Leaving the band I was in prior because we weren't going anywhere, despite nothing but positive reception from the people that had heard our sole recorded song