Your Favourite Releases of 2013

[Anguyen92]

1. Alter Bridge's Fortress
2. Skillet's Rise
3. Dream Theater's Dream Theater
4. Elton John's The Diving Board
5. James LaBrie's Impermanent Resonance

Other mentions would go to Queens of the Stone Age's ...Like Clockwork, Sound City's Reel to Real soundtrack, Paul McCartney's New, Stone Sour's House of Gold and Bones Part II, and Avenged Sevenfold's Hail to the King.

Are we also including Rush's remixing of Vapor Trails as well?  That was awesome.

The year is still not over for me in listening to new stuff.  I still got to check out Motorhead's Aftershock, and when it releases, DT's Live at Luna Park and Rush's Clockwork Angels dvd.

A good year for rock.  I got to listen to 11 rock studio albums in its entirety and there's five more albums planned in 2014 for me to listen to.  A good time, indeed.

[ReaperKK]

I'll do a proper write up later, but a huge standout that I doubt will get mentioned here is Settle by Disclosure. If you're at all an EDM fan, it's fucking fantastic.

I'm a huge EDM fan so I'm going to check this out right now!

[lonestar]

5. Odd Dimension- Last Embrace To Humanity
6. Masterplan- Novum Initium

Two very solid albums there.

[Delirious Nomad]

the new

Deep Purple
Pretty Maids
Daft Punk
Kee Marcello
Dream Theater
Fates Warning

[jjrock88]

1) Queensryche- s/t

2) Saxon- Sacrifice

3) Dream Theater- s/t

4) Circle II Circle- Seasons Will Fall

5) Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light

[PuffyPat]

I'll do a proper write up later, but a huge standout that I doubt will get mentioned here is Settle by Disclosure. If you're at all an EDM fan, it's fucking fantastic.

Listening to it as I read this. SO good.

[jingle.boy]

In order.  Most were in the 'great' category.  A few 'really, really good', and only a couple of turds.

AOTY
1 Magnus Karlsson's Freefall - s/t... clear runaway as album of the year for me.  Doubt anything is gonna change that

Fighting for 2nd place
2 Serenity - War of Ages... Thank you Nick for playing them on WPaPU.   All four albums are fantastic, this is some truly excellent symphonic metal
3 Avantasia - Mystery of Time... great return for Tobi.  And seeing them live didn't hurt my love for this album
4 DGM - Momentum.... Thanks to YtseBitsySpider for calling this album out earlier this year. 
5 Vandroya - One ... Brazillian, female fronted metal.  Killer album
6 Pretty Maids - Motherland... finally dove into Pretty Maids this year.  This is an amazing album from a 25 year old band
7 Mindmaze - Mask of Lies... debut release for this little act from PA.  Female fronted... they've opened locally for Saxon and Crue.  Great stuff.

Still great
8 Masterplan - Novum Initium.... Rick Altzi does a great job replacing Jorn here. 
9 Dream Theater - s/t... It could climb higher, but with only 5 weeks of listening power, this is where I'll put it for now.
10 Powerworld  - Cybersteria... really impressed with this album.  Not as good as their previous one, but replace Mac on vocals is no easy task.
11 Epysode - Fantasmagoria... only 3-4 spins so far since it's only been out a few weeks.  It will undoubtedly finish the year higher on the list.
12 Ayreon - The Theory of Everything.... same - only 1 complete listen, but I know it will finish as top 10 material
13 Heaven's Fire - Judgement Day.... little known melodic act from Toronto.  Darren Smith (Harem Scarem drummer) on vocals.  I've seen the live twice (opening for Harem).  Really good album.
14 Rush - Vapour Trails remix... it's like getting a whole new album!
15 Eden's Curse - Symphony of Sin.... only 1 listen so far, but I was incredibly impressed.
16 Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep.... Ted does a great job replacing Nick.  Haven't gone back to this album much since it dropped, but it's solid.

Really, REALLY good
17 JLB - Impermanent Resonance.... what can I say about it that hasn't been said on a DT forum.
18 Queensryche - s/t... if it had 20 minutes of more content, and sounded cleaner, it would've ranked much higher.  Song-for-song, it's great... but unfortunately not competing with the 'heavy-weights' above.
19 Harem Scarem - Mood Swings II... it's a top 10 album of all-time for me, and the re-record is very well done.  The three new tracks are very good.
20 Thought Chamber - Psykerion.... crazy good prog here.  Only been out a month, so I've only listened 2-3 times
21 Revamp - Wild Card.... Love me my Floor, and she tones down the operatic style on this album.  Way, WAY better than their first album.  Growlie's are minimal, and done well.

Me likey, just haven't replayed them too much
22 Tellus Reqiuem - Invictus (11th Hour).... This struck me hard back at the beginning of the year, but I haven't gone back to it much
23 Pellek - Ocean of Opportunity... he's got an awesome voice, but the music is pretty standard symphonic rock, and kinda fluffy at times.
24 Karnya - Coverin Thoughts... wish I had the booklet so I could follow the story, but I only bought a digital copy.  Good stuff though!
25 Jorn - Traveller... far better than his last effort, but still not as good as stuff he does NOT under his own name.
26 Rage of Angels - Dreamworld... with vocalists like Harry Hess and Ralf Scheepers, how could I not check this out?  Solid
27 Lord - Digital Lies ... wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to inspire me to go back to it too often
28 Amaze Knight - The Key... forget who pimped this on the forum earlier this year, but with the description of "Italian prog-metal", it had my attention.  Pretty good stuff.
29 Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light... sorry for those ranking it at the top of their list.  It's just not doing much for me.  Not bad, but there's a lot that's I enjoyed much more.

Tripe
30 Factory of Dreams - Some Kind of Poetic Destruction... if not for Magali Luyten's appearance, I wouldn't have even picked this one up.  Fortunately, it was purchased from trl.net on one of their sales promotions for $3.
31 Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Land of New Hope... with the vocalists that Timo had, this should've been way better.  Without a doubt, my disappointment of the year.

[Bolsters]

No surprise Magnus Karlsson is atop your list. No arguments, either. I'd forgotten all about the Land of New Hope, too...that should definitely be my biggest disappointment instead of TTOE.

[Zydar]

There's a serious lack of Haken and Ghost there, jingle.

[jingle.boy]

There's a serious lack of Haken and Ghost there, jingle.

Haven't checked out Ghost.  Might do so later this morning.  As for Haken... I've tried the first two a couple of times each, and I'll continue to give them a go since I'll be seeing them on the cruise.  They just haven't clicked for me... yet (and I hope they do).

[lonestar]

Quite surprised not to see Haken there as well.


As to the Karnya story, it ain't much, more a telling of what men really think and how we mask the fucked up things our mind's spontaneously come up with. Kinda depressing how to the point it is to be honest 

[CharlieDominietzsche]

I loved David Bowie's new album. So glad he returned to making music, although like Lou Reed, I fear he might not be with us too much longer after a lifetime of substance abuse. Hoping he stays well.

[pain of occupation]

i can see lovin that Persefone album, though ive only given it a couple spins thus far.
if anything, I like the extreme vox on there but haven't fully warmed up to his clean stuff.

[emtee]

1) Tesseract
2) Fates Warning
3) Steven Wilson
4) DT
5) Sabbath

[The King in Crimson]

Best of the year material:
1) Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep - People are right when they say this doesn't sound that much like Spock's Beard, but this album is incredibly good and Ted sells every second of it. Every song is memorable, catchy and great.
2) Kylesa - Ultraviolet - Even better than Spiral Shadows. Kylesa know exactly how to perfectly mix sludge, psychedelia and punk and they know when to finish an album as Ultraviolet leaves you wanting more.
3) Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - Great album, maybe a little long with two overly repetitve tracks. Cut those two and the album would likely be the best of the year. Lots of great sounds on this album and a great mix of electronic elements and traditional instruments.
4) Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing - Unlike Grace For Drowning, which was way too long and trying way too hard to be a King Crimson album, Steven Wilson spreads his influences a bit more broadly evoking moments that sound like they belong in a King Crimson or Genesis song of old, but with never more than a mere passing familiarity.
5) Haken - The Mountain - Easily their best and most cohesive album. The wackiness remains but its much better integrated into the songs and, as a result, doesn't stick out as much. Ross does a great job and there's a good mix of prog and metal moments. A great album and one I wasn't expecting to like this much.

Very Good to Excellent:
6) Witherscape - The Inheritance - Almost makes the top 5. This is an incredibly solid album that came out of nowhere. The only thing holding it back is how insanely good the above five are.
7) Goreguts - Colored Sands - This dense slab of metal is absolutely beastly. Probably the best extreme metal album of the year (that I've listened to). Listening to Colored Sands is like being flayed alive in a sandstorm full of barbed wire and crushed glass. The production is especially impressive, sounding like its straight out of 1994, it's both low-fi and incredibly clear. Everything stands out. The album is heavy because it's fucking heavy and not because some douche at a mixing board overcranked the volume. This is how heavy should sound. Colored Sands might very well claw its way into the top 5, but I need to listen to it a bit more. Very good album.
8) Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods - Fun and catchy, you'll be croaking along to songs about Loki and Ragnarok until you swear you're in a mead hall.
9) Queensryche - Queensryche - A very good album that deserves a much better production job. If the live tracks weren't stupidly awesome I might complain about the length but screw it, everyone delivers and Todd is awesome.
10) The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer - Some absolutely killer tunes, but like most DEP albums, kinda inconsistent. It gets this spot because the good songs are really, really good.
11) Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury - This is pretty much a giant 180 from their previous albums, but Altar of Plagues tackles this new industrial, black metal sound with aplomb. Gone are the long, drawn out, atmospheric songs and instead the band delivers shorter bursts of pure relentless aggression. The vocals are a big improvement, sounding much more tortured and hateful than before, but the guitars give an impressive showing as well with some really meaty riffs here and there. While the album is not perfect, it was great enough that I was excited for how they might improve this new sound on their next album, but unfortunately, the band is no more and we are left with only what might've been.
12) Fanticide - The Fall of Grace - This is a pretty massive album full of some great music and some great vocal performances all of which are made even more impressive by the fact that it's made by Adami a debut. The vocals are especially good and there's quite a variety to the music while still remaining 'progressive' without falling into the trap of trying too hard to sound like Dream Theater.
13) Carcass - Surgical Steel - Pretty much every song on this album is insanely fun and full of sweet riffs and catchy chorus's, except for one song that is just shitty. It doesn't sink the album but it sits like a lead brick right in its middle.
14) Revocation - Revocation - If ever an album were to win a 'best collection of riffs' award, it would be Revocation. Not all of the songs are great but if you want to be absolutely destroyed by the tastiest riffs and solos of the year, get this, then get The Inheritance by Witherscape.  But get Revocation first because it is riff heaven.
15) The Knife - Shaking the Habitual - This is a very long album and one that took quite a few listens for me to pierce its dense veil of sound but it was very rewarding. Nothing else released this year is quite as creepy as 'Full of Fire' or as bizarre as 'Cherry On Top.' Not everything works (Fracking Fluid Injection sucks) and the album tends to be exhausting to listen to straight through but if you want to impress your friends and relatives with how you like 'challenging' media, put on this album and then start calling everything 'Kafka-esque.' You'll be the hero of the party in no time... or you'll be alone, so very alone.

Just Good:
16) Anciients - Heart of Oak
17) Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
18) Sigur Ros - Kveikur
19) Voivod - Target Earth
20) Dream Theater - Dream Theater
21) Leprous - Coal
22) Cult of Luna - Vertikal
23) Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth
24) Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
25) James LaBrie - Impermanent Resonance
26) Coheed and Cambria - The Aftermath: Descension
27) Ghost - Infestissumam
28) Intronaut - Habitual Levitations
29) Amorphis - Circle
30) My Bloody Valentine - m b v
31) Clutch - Earth Rocker
32) The Ocean - Pelagial
33) Wisdom of Crowds - Wisdom of Crowds

Okay:
34) Soilwork - The Living Infinite
35) Orphaned Land - All Is One

Meh Worthy:
36) Black Sabbath - 13
37) Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
38) Andy Winter - Incomprehensible
39) How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
40) Kvelertak - Meir
41) The Dear Hunter - Migrant

Needs More Listens:
Omnium Gatherum - Beyond
Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork
Red Fang - Whales and Leeches
Russian Circles - Memorial
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen
Skinny Puppy - Weapon
Ulver - Messe

[lonestar]

Hmmmm. gonna hold out on doing a ranking until the end of the year, never know what surprises will show up, and still waiting on Royal Hunt and Boston as well. But, in no particular order....

DT-DT
SW- Raven
SB- Brief Nocturnes
Riverside- Shrine
Haken- The Mountain
Karnya- Coverin Thoughts
Maestrick- Unpuzzle*
Tesseract- Altered States
Lalu- Atomic Ark
Kingcrow- In Crescendo
The Omega Experiment- The Omega Experiment

Very, very late from last year.....

Speaking to Stones- Elements
Absolute Priority- Hunter


Will probably make the list, but haven't quite absorbed yet....

Aryeon- The Theory of Everything
Epysode- Fantasmagoria

Forgot to add one, 81db- A Blind Man's Dream

[Heretic]

Absolutely outstanding albums:

Haken - The Mountain
Protest the Hero - Volition
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
August Burns Red - Rescue and Restore
Alter Bridge - Fortress
Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
Biffy Clyro - Opposites
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing

Fantastic albums:

Touche Amore - Is Surived By
Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart
Volcano Choir - Repave
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Cloudkicker - Subsume
Karnivool - Asymmetry

Very good albums:

Sigur Ros - Kveikur
Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Scale the Summit - The Migration
Laura Stevenson - The Wheel
Misery Signals - Absent Light
Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
The Safety Fire - Mouth of Swords
Shai Halud - Reach Beyond the Sun
Amarionette - Amarionette
Vali - Skogslandskap
Locktender - Kafka
Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve

Great albums:

Captain, We're Sinking - The Future is Cancelled
Gorguts - Colored Sands
Palms - Palms
Kvelertak - Meir
The Dear Hunter - Migrant
The Circle Ends Here - The Division Ahead
Kayo Dot - Hubardo
Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe
Local Natives - Hummingbird

Disappointing albums:

Dream Theater - Dream Theater
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail to the King
Foals - Holy Fire
Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves

[wolfking]

In order.  Most were in the 'great' category.  A few 'really, really good', and only a couple of turds.

AOTY
1 Magnus Karlsson's Freefall - s/t... clear runaway as album of the year for me.  Doubt anything is gonna change that


6 Pretty Maids - Motherland... finally dove into Pretty Maids this year.  This is an amazing album from a 25 year old band

31 Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Land of New Hope... with the vocalists that Timo had, this should've been way better.  Without a doubt, my disappointment of the year.

I keep coming back to Freefall, it's just perfect.

Great to see some love finally from you with PM, great band and great album.  Check Pandamonium if you haven't already.

And yes, Timo's Avalon is by far my worst album of the year, fucking terrible.

[krieger]

Dream Theater - Dream Theater
Judy Dyble - Flow and Change
Bill Nelson - Albion Dream Vortex
Paul McCartney - New
Johnny Marr - The Messenger

[jingle.boy]

Great to see some love finally from you with PM, great band and great album.  Check Pandamonium if you haven't already.

Yup... that, Wake Up to the Real World, and Future World based on DTF recommendations.  All good stuff.

[SystematicThought]

1) Ghost- Infestissumam (The staying power this album has makes it top choice for me. I'm excited for August when they go back into studio.)

2) Dream Theater- Dream Theater

3) Kvelertak- Meir

4) Steven Wilson- The Raven That Refused To Sing

Overall, I haven't had the much to time to listen to new stuff, the list might change by the end of the year

[Perpetual Change]

Woah, the new Protest the Hero is awesome. Definitely is going to have to crack my top 10 now.

[Nekov]

I don't see anything in the release calendar going forward that really interests me. So give me a week to absorb the albums that came out this week and I'll make a list.

[lonestar]

Woah, the new Protest the Hero is awesome. Definitely is going to have to crack my top 10 now.

Oh shit, thanks for reminding me, need to buy that today.

[Sycsa]

So many great releases this year, my head starts to spin just thinking about it. Some of the highlights are:

Deep Purple - Now What?!
They've been working on this album for over half a decade and it shows. Every single song is strong, they all have something that grabs you on the first listen and grows on subsequent listenings. It's all well thought out and executed, without a single filler. Everybody hit a peak level. They brought out the maximum of Gillan's voice (or what's left of it), Steve Morse has never played so tasteful on a Deep Purple record, Airey's organ tone is vicious and powerful (good synths too). They wrote a beautiful and worthy tribute song to Jon Lord...all in all, their best album since...shit, Made in Japan.

Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep
Has a bunch of Hammond, classic, refined prog. I'm sold!

Virgil Donati - In this Life
This human being (?) is probably the most fascinating and interesting drummer to listen to. The songwriting and production is great as well. The intro to Trinity is rhythmically the most amazing thing I've ever heard. Tight stuff!

Alessandro Bertoni - Keystone
Short and sweet, keyboard aficionados will love it. Produced by Derek Sherinian and the great Virgil on drums once again. It could go undercover as a Planet X album.

Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
Mariusz Duda has to be my all-time favorite non-native Englishman singer. They will never be able to top Anno Domini, but this is as close as anyone can get. The opening song and Escalator Shrine are the highlights. Celebrity Touch is commercial single done right.

Dream Theater
Truly worthy of being a self-titled album. That says it all.

Niacin - Krush
Besides DT12, the most anticipated album release of 2013 for me. An incredible fusion trio (Billy Sheehan, Dennis Chambers, John Novello), one of the best Hammond organ tones you can imagine (besides Emerson's Tarkus). If only they'd tour...

[Prog Snob]

As of today:

Dream Theater - Dream Theater
Subsignals - Paraiso
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing
Fates Warning - Darkness In A Different Light
The Tangent - Le Sacre Du Travail
Haken - The Mountain
Comedy of Errors - Fanfare & Fantasy

I'm waiting for the new Flower Kings to arrive.  I'm sure that will be on the list once I hear it.  I listened to the new Spock's Beard and while it had some good moments, I wasn't completely impressed with it.  Maybe I'll check it out a couple of more times. 

[kirksnosehair]

5. Odd Dimension- Last Embrace To Humanity
6. Masterplan- Novum Initium

Two very solid albums there.

You're fucking killing me, dude 


 

[lonestar]

 


Might as well add this to the list Barry... 81db- A Blind Man's Dream

[FiberglassMoon]

Not an order, so much as the stuff I've liked most this year:

Moon Safari-Himlabacken Vol 1.
Big Big Train-English Electric Part 2
Dream Theater-self-titled
Caladan Brood-Echoes of Battle
Volbeat-Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies
Ghost-Infestissumam

Those are the keepers. Moon Safari is running neck in neck with Caladan Brood (epic fantasy themed black metal, fucking amazing album) for the one I've played the most this year, with DT12 a hair behind those two.

Soooooooooo glad someone else here has listened to Caladan Brood's album.  Absolutely stunning album from start to finish....ludicrously epic.  And it's made even more epic for me because I've read the Malazan Book of the Fallen.  Good looks! 

[WDADU]

Dream Theater - Dream Theater
Ghost - Infestissumam

Two great records by two favourite bands of mine. Dream Theater released, in my opinion, probably their best record since either Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence or Train of Thought (still can't decide), and Ghost was able to surpass Opus Eponymous, which is just a great record. "Year Zero" is one of the most rockin' songs I've ever heard.

[Elite]

Top 10 from this year:

1. Haken - The Mountain
2. Karnivool - Asymmetry
3. Protest the Hero - Volition
4. Leprous - Coal
5. James LaBrie - Impermanent Resonance
5. Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes & Dreamless Sleep
6. The Ocean - Pelagial
7. Kanye West - Yeezus
8. Dream Theater - Dream Theater
9. Steven Wilson - The Raven Who Refused to Sing
10. Deafheaven - Sunbather

I've heard around 20-25 albums this year and there's still some I need to check out (new Ayreon for instance), but so far and at this exact moment, that's my top 10.

[Obfuscation]

I won't rank them as of now(and probably won't be able to anyway)but here mine.

Dream Theater - s/t
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Haken - The Mountain
James LaBrie - Impermanent Resonance
TesseracT - Altered State
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Gorguts - Colored Sands

I'll add some more later on. Also hope Cynic manages to release their album by the end of this year at least.

[adace]

Not an order, so much as the stuff I've liked most this year:

Moon Safari-Himlabacken Vol 1.
Big Big Train-English Electric Part 2
Dream Theater-self-titled
Caladan Brood-Echoes of Battle
Volbeat-Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies
Ghost-Infestissumam

Those are the keepers. Moon Safari is running neck in neck with Caladan Brood (epic fantasy themed black metal, fucking amazing album) for the one I've played the most this year, with DT12 a hair behind those two.

Soooooooooo glad someone else here has listened to Caladan Brood's album.  Absolutely stunning album from start to finish....ludicrously epic.  And it's made even more epic for me because I've read the Malazan Book of the Fallen.  Good looks! 

I'll vouch for that one too. It's a phenomenal album.

[Lowdz]

1. Dream Theater- Dream Theater

2. Queensryche- Queensryche (shame about the mix/mastering though, and a few songs short) First QR album in 20 years I can say is good.


3. Avantasia- The Mystery Of Time - Toby does it again.
4. MindMaze- Mask of Lies - cheers for the rec Chad
5. Magnus Karlsson- FreeFall. Marcus is a songwriting machine but who knew he had a very good voice too. Not overshadowed by some awesome guest vocalists
6. Winery Dogs - ST - first post DT MP project I've liked and it's a cracker. Kotzen is the star though.
7. Saints n Sinners- ST - awesome melodic metal from Turkey. Don't let that put you off
8. Vandroya- One- female fronted band from Brazil. Proggy metal. Singer makes me go 
9. MorningStarlet- S/T female fronted symphonic metal with operatic vocals (and a metalized version of a Mozart aria from Magic Flute)
10. Masterplan- Novum Initium- better than I expected

11. Megadeth- Super Collider- not the biggest Megadeth fan but I liked this. That's probaby why.
12. Pink Cream 69- Ceremonial- they'll never top Thunderdome for me but this was decent. David Redman is a great singer.
13. Pretty Maids- Motherland- last 3 albums have been very special
14. Serenity- War Of Ages- excellent symphonic metal.
15. Avenged Sevenfold- Hail To The King - not a patch on Nightmare and drums are very pedestrian.
16. Stryper- 2nd coming - rerecorded best of done very well. Not familiar witht  the foorst couple of albums but some great metal on here (new album due anytime too which sounds good)
17. Lingua Mortis Orchestra (ft Rage)- ST- excellent orchestral metal  in the vein of Rage's Lingua Mortis album
18. Alter Bridge- Fortress- never been a fan but some very good tracks on here. Opener is awesome.
19- Adriangale- Suckerpunch- loved their Re:prorgamme album from a few years ago. This is good but something is missing- some variation in the sounds? keyboards? production? Good songs though
20. Tyr- Valkyria- never heard them before but I like this album.

[kirksnosehair]

Might as well add this to the list Barry... 81db- A Blind Man's Dream

It's a good thing I closed on my old house yesterday, I'ma needs me some greenbacks