10s: The Top 10 Albums of 2013 [6-10]

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6.  POLICA - Shulamith

                There is an ethereal yet neon soaked world where the sophisticated electro lounge groove of Shulamith envelopes all sonicscapes.  It tells the stories of such a world with beaming highs like "Chain my Name, "Trippin" or "Spilling Lines" and soulfully dark lows like "Smug" or "Vegas".  POLICA knows a key to their success is their brilliant use of percussion.  With that said, it's certainly notable here as the songs have a refined depth due to the effective use of layering.  Let the smooth reverberations flow through you - here's the video for "Warrior Lord"

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7.  Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance

                The Underground Resistance is a cornucopia of metal and proto-metal; an album entirely unheard of from the likes of the mighty Norwegian duo - Nocturno Culto and Fenriz.  While the production is as raw as ever (okay, maybe not Under the Funeral Moon raw but raw nonetheless) the songs are lengthy, sometimes melodic and sometimes speed thrash or NWOBHM-esque.  Even more interesting is the introduction of some kind of imperfect power metal vocal lines that, at times, seem to echo Mercyful Fate.  Anyway, here’s a rocker

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8.  Portugal. The Man – Evil Friends

                Here’s an eclectic alt-rock album that gleams with as much interesting instrumentation as it does catchy hooks.  Part of being this eclectic in its layering and structuring can be the ever so present pitfall of sounding overly busy and even worse being so without good reason.  However, I feel as though Evil Friends is catchy enough to make even the lightest listen comfortable.  Give it a listen; particularly the tracks, “Creep in a T-Shirt”, “Plastic Soldiers” and this sing-along strummer…

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9.  Sleigh Bells – Bitter Rivals

Here’s a duo that has contemporary (aggressive) pop figured out.   Sleigh Bells marches into the studio donning athletic apparel, cameo and denim with a drum machine and an 80s zebra print guitar cranking all inputs to 11 just to distort the hell out of a fashionably rhythmic assault.  Some may say they’ve gone repetitious but they have only begun to really expand on their song writing.  Whereas the simplistic nature of their debut, Treats benefited their sound the modern slightly more complex song structuring is allowing them to become more dynamic.  That might leave some begging for the more Treats but I say let the spider spin the web – its intricacy is beautiful.   

Though I prefer the tracks “Love Sick”, “Sugarcane” and “Young Legends” here’s the video for the title track…

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10. Glorior Belli - Gators Rumble, Chaos Unfurls

                This French black metal group dredges out of some Deep South bayou to present a near perfect combination of extreme black metal and southern rock.  Glorior Belli has been struggling to get the blend this graceful since their first foray into the south in 2009 with the masterful, Meet Us At The Southern Sign.  Though the production takes a bigger piece of the black metal pie than I’d like it’s anything but detrimental to the album.  The songs are both demonic and rocking with groovy riffing worthy of any 70s rock band or perhaps late era Satyricon.

Here’s the whole album on youtube…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k59XMjFZAo

1-5 to come.

-b