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.