Your WORST albums of 2013

ultmetal wrote:

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

As for the albums that suck:
Sacred Warrior - Waiting in Darkness. Completly characterless. It is not bad, its mediocre all the way through. And that is even worse, since you hope for something good to happen, a song to grab you, but no, just 50 minutes of 3-rd rate background musical nonsense you cant turn off beacuse there is (was) a potential in the band.

Well, it won't make my Top 20 list for the year either but I didn't think it was "3rd rate background musical nonsense" either. I think I was mostly disappointed because it just doesn't sound like Sacred Warrior musically or vocally.

Disagree w/both of you, this is easily in my top ten!   

Bloodgood....Dangerously Close

brokentulsa wrote:

Bloodgood....Dangerously Close

Really? I have not heard it but I am seeing claims of "album of the year" from people on Facebook.

I had a few disappointing albums this year. None that are terrible, unlistenable or flat-out suck, but just didn't live up to the expectations I had for them.

Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Boring. All the songs are the same tempo. Every song blends into the next. They just need to vary-up the speed now & then. They can still be grungy and sludgy, but mix it up some.

Scorpion Child - s/t
I got caught up in the pre-release hype these guys were getting in mags and on-line. The album just didn't deliver. There were far better "70's retro-rock" albums released this year. Maybe next time, guys.

Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies
A turning point in their career. This album will pin-point the exact moment when they buffed off their metallic roots and went for a more polished, mainstream hard rock approach. Some folks would call this their sell-out moment. But I'm not gonna play that card. They just took a different path than I wanted and therefore the album disappointed me.

Cathedral - The Last Spire
After their previous 2 albums toned down the slow doom in favour of some 70's prog elements, I was expecting their swan song to follow in the same direction. Sadly it did not and thus the disappointment. Time may change that opinion though.

Ghost - Infestissuiam (or whatever the hell it was called)
The very definition of sophomore slump. Try again, fellas.

The Winery Dogs - s/t
Another one that failed to live up to both the pre-release hype and the sum of the parts. The Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen album was a far superior listen in the category of "super-group power-trios".

Given a little time and some distance, my opinion on some or all of these albums may change, but for a year-end wrap-up, these will be forever be tainted with the stigma of "The Disappointments of 2013".

The new album is what made me really listen to Volbeat and I like it.

I have almost no expectations of these super group combos so was surprised at The Winery Dogs.

Dark Horseman wrote:

I have almost no expectations of these super group combos so was surprised at The Winery Dogs.

I've owned a hand full of Ritchie Kotzen albums (mostly cdrs from a fan-boy friend of mine) in the past and never really cared for them. I don't know why I thought this album would be any different. It just kinda falls flat.

On the other hand, I've been pretty vocal about my "I don't get King's X" stance, and didn't care much for Doug's (or dUg) solo work, but love that Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen album. Go figure.   

MetalGuy71 wrote:

On the other hand, I've been pretty vocal about my "I don't get King's X" stance, and didn't care much for Doug's (or dUg) solo work, but love that Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen album. Go figure.   

Did you ever get that Supershine album that Dug did with Bruce Franklin from Trouble?

S.D. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

On the other hand, I've been pretty vocal about my "I don't get King's X" stance, and didn't care much for Doug's (or dUg) solo work, but love that Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen album. Go figure.   

Did you ever get that Supershine album that Dug did with Bruce Franklin from Trouble?  

Yea, that's the one exception. I like that album. And I like all of Ty's solos stuff I've heard and his other side projects too. King's X just never clicked with me. I've tried a few times.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Yea, that's the one exception. I like that album. And I like all of Ty's solos stuff I've heard and his other side projects too. King's X just never clicked with me. I've tried a few times.

That's cool, that Supershine disc is a lot of fun. I hung out with Bruce at a King's X gig in Chicago back in 2005, he told me they would love to have done a followup release but their schedules never synced up again.

ultmetal wrote:

brokentulsa wrote:

Bloodgood....Dangerously Close

Really? I have not heard it but I am seeing claims of "album of the year" from people on Facebook.

Certainly in contention, love it!   

S.D. wrote:

That's cool, that Supershine disc is a lot of fun...  

Was hoping to hear more from that project!

I don't want to derail the thread too much, but since King's X came-up:

I used to hate this band. I bought Faith, Hope, Love a while ago and couldn't understand what the fuss was about. At all.

Now, on a whim, I decided to listen to Gretchen. This thing SMOKES. Apparently, I wrote these guys off too quickly. Did I perhaps start with the wrong album in FHL?

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

Now, on a whim, I decided to listen to Gretchen. This thing SMOKES. Apparently, I wrote these guys off too quickly. Did I perhaps start with the wrong album in FHL?

No you didn't, listen to Gretchen for awhile and then go back and revisit FHL, it should "click" eventually. FHL is a little over-polished and over-produced but there is great material on there.

S.D. wrote:

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

Now, on a whim, I decided to listen to Gretchen. This thing SMOKES. Apparently, I wrote these guys off too quickly. Did I perhaps start with the wrong album in FHL?

No you didn't, listen to Gretchen for awhile and then go back and revisit FHL, it should "click" eventually.  FHL is a little over-polished and over-produced but there is great material on there.

Thanks!

I'm the other way around when it comes to King's X. I dig faith, hope, love (and Dogman) but those are their only records that did anything for me. I've tried several others but they never clicked, even Gretchen, their supposed masterpiece.

S.D. wrote:

Didn't really hear anything "bad" this year.  I will say I was disappointed in the new Trouble album, not because it was bad or anything, I just really don't like the vocalist and don't think he fits the group at all.

Some people won't accept anyone other than Eric Wagner fronting Trouble.  But I think Kyle did a great job. Most definitely a lot better than Kory.

 Any of you guys who hate the new Trouble CD, you can send it to me if you'd like.

ultmetal wrote:

 Any of you guys who hate the new Trouble CD, you can send it to me if you'd like.

Same here. I only heard it once on Spotify but it kicked my ass. Heavy stuff.

corplhicks wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

 Any of you guys who hate the new Trouble CD, you can send it to me if you'd like.

Same here. I only heard it once on Spotify but it kicked my ass. Heavy stuff.

Good thinking. I'm sure you would give it a much better home.  

I didn't say I hated it, but I disliked the vocalist enough to keep me from buying it. It's not that he's terrible or anything, I just don't like his particular style within the context of Trouble. He's better than Kory Clarke to be sure, but it still doesn't work for me.

S.D. wrote:

I didn't say I hated it, but I disliked the vocalist enough to keep me from buying it.  It's not that he's terrible or anything, I just don't like his particular style within the context of Trouble.  He's better than Kory Clarke to be sure, but it still doesn't work for me.

That is exactly how I felt..... He just doesn't work for Trouble.

This isn't just metal but here is a few that were down right awful:

Boston - Life, Love & Hope
Seven Witches - Rebirth
Diamond Plate - Pulse
Queensryche - Frequency Unknown
Queensryche - Queensryche
Newsted - Heavy Metal Music
Megadeth - Super Collider

I've come around 180 on King's X over the years. I think initially I bought too much of the "future of metal" hype they were getting in the 80's - so when I finally heard them it just didn't meet my perception of a band that was going to "save metal". Today I love all their stuff and the side releases too.

I'm hoping it was more of a mood thing, but the new Tyr didn't do much for me. Just felt very run of the mill and lacking a certain dynamic.

Lurideath wrote:

This isn't just metal but here is a few that were down right awful:

Boston - Life, Love & Hope
Seven Witches - Rebirth
Diamond Plate - Pulse
Queensryche - Frequency Unknown
Queensryche - Queensryche
Newsted - Heavy Metal Music
Megadeth - Super Collider

Boston seems a bit mundance. Diamond Plate did little for me. Frequency Unknown had a song or two I thought were ok but it too was mundane.

I like Queensryche - s/t and Megadeth. I really enjoyed Newsted; simple, straight-forward heavy metal, has a Motorhead meets NWOBHM approach.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies
A turning point in their career. This album will pin-point the exact moment when they buffed off their metallic roots and went for a more polished, mainstream hard rock approach. Some folks would call this their sell-out moment. But I'm not gonna play that card. They just took a different path than I wanted and therefore the album disappointed me.

Well said. I respect that. Refreshing to hear an opinion rather than an attack.