2013 huh? It’s been……it’s not been great to tell the truth. It’s been tough. It’s been wonderful at times, that’s for sure but I’m pretty glad that it’s over and I’m hoping that 2014 brings something more than “fuck, what do I do now?” to the table.

I’ve done some really cool stuff this year. I covered my first big outdoor metal festival for Metal Hammer which was such fun and really great to experience. I’ve done a few smaller events and seen a lot of my favourite bands and made new connections with new faces and if you’d have told me even two years ago that this is what I’d be doing now, I would have punched you square in the jaw. I’ve come out of myself a lot these last few years and gained a lot of confidence in dealing with new and unfamiliar situations. It sounds silly, but I can walk into a pub alone and not be frightened that I don’t know anyone or I can’t find anyone and it’s because of dealing with so many new things that my brain can handle that.

Bleak Metal has gone on to new ventures and that’s incredible. I put on a rock show here and there and although it’s something I’ve always been interested in doing, I never thought that it’s something I could pull off. Huge thanks goes to Zac of Oblivionized for answering all my questions and letting me see how these things work and helping in more ways than I can put into words. The first show of 2014 is booked and I have plans for a lot of cool things in the coming twelve months, fingers crossed they can be organised.

I started to manage a band. What? We’re still not sure how it really works but Caïna is doing really well right now and for that reason I couldn’t include the incredible Litanies of Abjection.

Thank you to anyone who has let me write for them this year. Some relationships have come to and end and some have began and I’m grateful that people like what I do enough to ask me aboard their teams.

Thank you to anyone who has read my work and said they liked it. It’s truly lovely to hear that someone has put the time in and gained something from it and although I’m still learning a lot and (hopefully) improving my style, it’s wonderful to know that some of you appreciate the words.

Like I said, 2013 has had some great moments and I’m not ungrateful for these in the slightest. Unfortunately personal situations have overshadowed what could have been a brilliant year and standing on the brink of losing my job four times, losing relationships and friendships, giving up on someone who should have been there for me until the end and actually knowing my job will no longer be something I can go to in three weeks time kind of blurs all the happiness that has occurred.

Still, let’s not get bogged down in negativity because metal will always be there and will always pull me back and 2013 had some brilliant releases that I will now list. If you’re interested in my favourite UK full-lengths of this year then you can see them on CVLT Nation and as usual, Scene Point Blank will have my Top 25 soon. I’ve also made a few other smaller lists over there which will be up in a little while.

Here’s a picture of Fenriz ‘cos it all got a bit serious there.

So, without any further ado, here’s a list of metal full-length albums that I liked a lot this year. If I missed something really obvious, it’s probably because I didn’t actually hear it (or I thought it was bollocks). Links are included if you can see a review somewhere on the internet. Fun.

AFI – Burials (Republic)
Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory and Injury (Candlelight Records/Profound Lore Records)
Amorphis – Circle (Nuclear Blast)
An Autumn For Crippled Children – Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love (Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum)
Aosoth – IV: An Arrow In Heart (Agonia Records)
Beastmilk – Climax (Svart Records)
Botanist – IV: Mandragora (The Flenser)
Castevet – Obsian (Profound Lore Records)
Cult of Fire – मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (Iron Bonehead Productions
Cult of Luna – Vertikal (Indie Recordings)
Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville)
Deafheaven – Sunbather (Deathwish Records)
Falkenbach – Asa (Prophecy Productions)
Fell Voices – Regnum Saturni (Gilead Media)
Germ – Grief (Eisenwald)
Ihsahn – Das Seelenbrechen (Candlelight Records)
Imperium Dekadenz – Meadows of Nostalgia (Season Of Mist)
In Solitude – Sister (Metal Blade Records)
Inquisition – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse (Season Of Mist)
Kylesa – Ultraviolet (Season Of Mist)
Lake of Blood – Omnipotens Tyrannus (Cult of Melancholia)
Light Bearer – Silver Tongue (Halo Of Flies)
Locrian – Return To Annihilation (Relapse Records)
Lychgate – Lychgate (Gilead Media)
Lycus – The Tempest (20 Buck Spin)
October Falls – The Plague of a Coming Age (Debemur Morti Productions)
Oranssi Pazuzu – Valonielu (20 Buck Spin/Svart Records)
Pelican – Forever Becoming (Southern Lord)
Pinkish Black – Razed To The Ground (Century Media)
Portal – Vexovoid (Profound Lore Records)
Ruin Lust – Ruin Lust (Psychic Violence Records)
Sadhaka – Terma (Pest Productions)
Saor – Roots (Darker Than Black Records)
Soror Dolorosa – No More Heroes (Northern Silence/Beneath Grey Skies)
Stomach Earth – Stomach Earth (Black Market Activities)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Mind Control (Rise Above)
Voices – From the Human Forest Create a Fugue of Imaginary Rain (Candlelight Records)
Woe – Withdrawal (Candlelight Records)
Year Of No Light – Tocsin (Debemur Morti Productions)
Yellow Eyes – Hammer of Night (Sibir Records)

To finish things off, here’s a picture of Inquisition because just look at it.