My favorites of 2013 - Tentatively just a list, full explanations coming soon (CHANGED 3/9/14)

'Lo. With 2013 almost over and a good amount of great metal having been released this year, I figured now would be a good time to post a revised list of my favorite albums of 2013. Note that all of this, like most of what I post, is just my opinion. I anticipate that some albums will grow on me as I listen to them more, but as of the year's end this is how I feel about the year in rock and metal. Originally I was going to list favorite songs as well, but honestly I've really been into these albums as wholes, and found it too hard to pick individual songs from them.

** I just finished a final exam and would like to get to just listening and gaming, so for now I will simply post a list, and will update it with details of how I feel about each album soon **

MY Top 8 Metal(/hard rock?) Albums of 2013 SO FAR

I've been enjoying a good amount of metal and some hard rock that's come out this year so far, so I'm going to share MY OPINION of the top 8 metal (and a few hard rock) albums of the year so far. Ideally I would have listed 10, but to be honest I couldn't really pick two additional albums that I found as memorable as these. Of course there are some exciting upcoming albums as well, and I might post a revised list towards the end of the year, but this is just based on what I've heard so far.

Recent listening (a lot of songs linked)

'Lo. Been liking some recent music discoveries, so decided to share. I'm going to link a bunch of songs in between my rantings, and I wouldn't expect anyone to listen to all of them, but if you have any passing interest in any of these artists, I hope you can enjoy some of these songs.

Another silence-breaking update

'Lo. Stopped writing here for a while but my recent discoveries have driven me to vent about them. Thus, another pointless update! Basically going to go through my recent metal exploration.

Update to break the silence/Taking a break from album reviewing

'Lo. Been a while - over a month - but I've been occupied with PC gaming and spending time with friends who have recently gone away to college (I commute to my college from home). I also just haven't really felt like doing album reviews. I think the track-by-track approach may not be the best, and if I pick up album reviewing again, which I probably will at some point, I will instead focus on each album as a whole. I feel bad about not completing the Katatonia and Testament discography reviews in time for their newest albums, but if I pick up album reviewing again I will resume those, since Katatonia and Testament are two of my favorite bands anyway. All that said, I have, of course, still been exploring a good amount of metal and some rock, so here I am to share some of that.

Concert Review - System of a Down at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ 8/4/2012

As I said in my introduction post, System of a Down were one of the first, if not the very first, band my friend and I ever got into. As I grew into other types of metal, SoaD were the only band from that period that I held onto and still listened to, if only occasionally. I thought it was really cool that they got back together somewhat recently, and when I saw that they were going to tour the States (with Deftones), I thought it would definitely be really cool to see them. My aforementioned friend and my main concert-buddy was more than willing to see to go to this concert with me, and another friend joined us as well.

NEW Album Review: Testament - Dark Roots of Earth (track-by-track including bonus covers and overview)

My CD of Testament's "Dark Roots of Earth" came today, so I decided to review it today after a couple of listens rather than wait until I've done the rest of Testament's discography. I will still finish Testament's discography reviews as tribute to pretty much my favorite band.

Testament had a nine-year break between albums after 1999's thrash masterpiece "The Gathering", but came back in 2008 with "The Formation of Damnation", which I still believe to be one of the greatest metal comeback albums ever. With one of their strongest line-ups they've ever had, Testament have been going strong since "Formation", and the time had finally come for them to follow up that album. Could they continue the momentum they had from "Formation" with their new album "Dark Roots of Earth"?