The Way's Top Ten of 2013 (in no particular order)

Bolzer - Aura

Haven't been this stoked about a death metal band in quite some time, really. I know the big cool way to describe evil sounding death metal these days is to call it "blackened" death (total fucking barf), but for my money this is straight up evil death metal. Everything from the morose and majestic tremolo picking throughout down to the Bolt Thrower-ish chug of 'Wolfshook', this album is a mind-blasting reminder of what could be.




Blut aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber III

I can only assume that this -ep- is one big giant FUCK YOU to the fags that threw a temper tantrum and pissed their diapers over the band's 777 trilogy because this motherfucker is pure evil! This is quite possibly the band's most vicious sounding material since The Work Which Transforms God. Great stuff and a reminder that this band has lost nothing.





Saturnalia Temple - Impossibilium

Nifty little two song -ep- of occult doom to hold you over until the next Electric Wizard comes barreling 'round the bend. That or album #2 from Saturnalia Temple themselves! At the rate we're going, don't hold your breath for either.







Psicomagia - Psicomagia

Stupidely delicious psych-prog from Astra's Brian Ellis. For me, this is far superior to his main band.










Vista Chino - Peace

Josh who? 











Holy Mount - Alpic

Picking up where 'We Fell From the Sky' left off, there isn't much "progression" from that album as 'Alpic' is more of a honing of skills. Fine by me. If you got a good thing goin' on, why fuck with the ingredients? 








Situs Magus - La Grand Oeuvre

Yet ANOTHER insanely awesome black metal band from France! What more needs to be said?










A.M.S.G. - Anti-Cosmic Tyranny

Weirdo "old style" black metal with jazz sections (?!) who are apparently "really into" Satanism. I couldn't give a fuck less. As long as the music jams... and it does!








Melt-Banana - Fetch

Who knew experimental grindcore with a healthy dollap of pop sensibilities would sound so fucking good? Well, I did! But that's only because Melt-Banana have been kicking my ass for well over a decade. Now if only C.S.S.O. would get off of their asses and make good on the promise of 'Diversion of Former Customary Trite Composition'!







SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods

I'll be honest with ya... this can be downright boring at times, but... when this shit gets good, prepare for your head to freeze, crack and explode!

SubRosa - No Help for the Mighty Ones (2011)

The majority of this album is absolutely fucking amazing! There are songs that I am helplessly compelled to listen to over and over and over again. Trust me, I'm not able to do that very often these days, even with the shit that I do enjoy. Unfortunately, there are a few songs that suffer from tremendously boring riffs, which make it all the more frustrating as I cannot just simply put this album on and let it ride straight through.

The guitar sound is definitely of the "stoner" variety, though probably the heaviest you'll find in that genre. The riffs themselves are more along the lines of mid-era Neurosis, although the band's insistence with revisiting the stoner vibe of the guitar sound itself emerges from time to time and that is where the problem lies. There is way too much potential here in other areas that I find the attempts at fitting in with the stoner crowd to be half-hearted and rather lame. I wish that they would focus on the more bizarre tendencies of songs such as 'Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes' or 'Beneath the Crown' rather than dumbing themselves down by timidly emulating the "tried and true" stoner formula. Believe me, there is NO fucking shortage in that genre and the potential that SubRosa has here is too precious and far too unique to be dwindled away in an attempt at being properly categorized.

Obviously the big lure here is the triple (!!) violin assault coupled with the vocals of Sarah Pendleton and Rebecca Vernon which all lend an ethereal yet completely bizarre and abstract quality to the music. I see a vast array of exciting possibilities for this band so long as they continue down their own path and ignore the mindless trappings along the way.