It seems like every year is the better than the last and 2013 was no exception. From anticipated reunions like Gorguts and Carcass to the rise of so-called hipster metal in mainstream circles thanks to bands like Deafheaven, to grizzled veterans like Suffocation, every aspect and sub-genre of metal was firing on all cylinders. As usual, the TOTD staff had to be beaten into getting their lists submitted in time, and luckily, the many new staff members understood the imminent threat of physical violence.

This year we have even included a few ‘celebrity’ lists from some of the people responsible for making and releasing 2013’s great material, so be sure to check out the last page to see what folks like Kevin Quiron of Deicide voted as his favorite albums of 2013. As usual, thank you to all of YOU, the readers of this intimate little site, and stay tuned for more great metal in 2014.

Without further ado, we give you the 2013 Teethofthedivine.com staff picks:

Oceano, after previously going into hiatus due to singer, Adam, becoming a father (congratulations dude), have returned with their 3rd deathcore inspired album that is a pretty good listen, from this Chicago based band.  I love their debut album, Depths, which came out in 2009.  Super heavy and the bass bomb drops were the heaviest I […]

On Kauan’s previous album Kuu..  from few years back, the last track “Suora Liila Sydänkäyrä” ended the excellent album in a weighty fashion, closing up the album but hinting of unfinished business. Not surprisingly, with their newest album Pirut, the merry band from Chelyabinsk continues from pretty much where they left off (and one asteroid […]

Celeste, a member of the still-burgeoning French black metal scene delivers its fourth full-length album, a solid, double-disc offering. I first looked into it expecting something more uplifting (as the name Celeste suggested something more, I don’t know, celestial) and got a pleasantly unpleasant surprise. Apparently the band has roots in hardcore, but I would […]

Germany’s FDA Rekotz has unearthed yet another homegrown band playing the classic Stockholm sound to join country mates  Revel In Flesh, Slaughterday, Lifeless and Wound, by way of Harm and their debut, Cadaver Christi, a fun little romp through Dismember and Grave styled mid range goodness. All of of the above mentioned bands, Harm is the […]

With an upcoming full-length in the pipeline, I can only assume the young upstarts that comprise Ohio’s Dismemberment are doing some good old fashioned self-promotion by shooting their tidy sophomore EP, titled Denied Salvation and released last year, back into the promo portal. Whatever their motives, as a reviewer it’s always a nice feeling to […]

One of the best things about metal is the breadth of styles and genres available, and finding a band out of nowhere and being blown away by their style is something that will never get old for me.  The debut album by Oakland natives Secrets of the Sky is just that type of find.  Playing […]

Here is one of those reviews I hate writing. The debut from the UK’s Craven Idol has gotten a lot of buzz in media metal circles. Playing a form of black/thrash death and replete with band member names like ‘Scourger’ and ‘Immolator of Sadistic Wrath’, this British trio were the apparent second coming of Destroyer […]

Ok, here is a brief history of Pestilence & some out there may have similar viewpoints.  Their first 3 albums are legendary in my book, therefore pointless to comment on.  The 1993 release of their progressive, jazz-fusion hybrid death metal album, Spheres, polarized their fan base so much that fans dropped off the face of […]

The announcement of the Ghoul Tour was a very exciting moment for the american fans of Dir en Grey. With the Japan-based band’s last US Tour canceled due to the hospitalization of their vocalist Kyo, it had been been a decent number of years since the last US show. Famous for their on-stage self-mutilation, shocking performances, and otherkin-identifying fanbase. Dir en Grey would also be supported by Dagoba, a metal band from France, who had released their fifth full-length album, Post Mortem Nihil Est earlier in the month. It was clear that this event simply could not be missed. On the day of, I set off to attend the show with high expectations.

Dang it. I wanted to like this sooooo much more. Oblivion sees former All Shall Perish founder and guitarist Ben Orum reunite with buddies Nick Vasallo (vocals) and Luis Martinez (drums) from his pre ASP band, Antagony, a vastly under rated progressive deathcore act from a decade ago (seriously, go listen to the bands second […]

Graced with with one of 2013’s most striking artwork (courtesy of Paolo Girardi also responsible for Inquisition’s Obscure Verses for the Multiverse), the second release from San Francisco Vastum  is a simple, yet tense affair with lyrical themes based on Oedipal complexes, incest, child abuse and patricide. With former members of Acephalix, Vastum share  a similar crusty/death […]

It’s their shortest record to date. They are treading less new ground. It’s less chaotic. It doesn’t quite strike the listener like Outre. Now that all of the things you’ve already read about Vexovoid have been reiterated, we can concentrate on just how mammoth of a record it really is.  If you’re not already familiar […]

It’s been a pretty down year for deathcore, with few good releases coming out that really struck a chord with me (Joe Deathcore Hater: dude there’s NEVER been a good year for deathcore!  Deathcore sucks!  Well, this review wasn’t written for you JDH, so pour some cold water down your pants and go fire up […]

I’ve had a hard time coming up with a review for this album. It’s so good–and its sound is immediately familiar, yet hard to pin down in words. Agrimonia takes so much influence from all over the metal map, but rolls it into one seamless, devastating package, that it is not only difficult to pinpoint […]

Outsiders often refer to our beloved genre as “scary music” or just “noise.” This jaded, 20+ year fan of extreme metal got a sense of how they feel the first time I listened to Omen Ex Simulacra, Ævangelist’s second full-length and first on Debemur Morti Productions (the most appropriate label for this band). Last year’s […]

I first saw Pyrexia live, at a small Long Island, NY club in 1992, called Sparks. Their demo, Liturgy of Impurity had just been released and they opened for Suffocation that night, Human Remains were also on the bill-it was insane, so was Immolation. Damn talk about a line-up! I was blown away by Pyrexia and picked up the demo and shirt. To this day this is one of my all time favorite demos and live the place went nuts and I was in the pit doing wind mills like a bastard! The band had a knack for creating brutal NYDM that was so catchy that the songs attached to your brain instantly upon hearing them for the first time. Back then, man I would sing the title track all the time, Virgin Mary violated, conceived you, a son of Satan, crucified for your denial, where is he who art in heaven? Then BOOM-it goes into that crucial slam part that you just wanted to punch holes in walls-live this part was one of the most vicious live experiences you would encounter.

I’ve always had a hard time reviewing material that involves people I ‘know’ whether in person or e-friends. Such is the case with Rae Amitay,  former co scribe from my Metalreview.com days. Luckily, she has given me so such reason to worry as displayed on Thrawsunbalt’s stunning 2013 release, Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings, […]

It’s been 6 long years since Pyrexia’s last album, Age of the Wicked, was released and what we have here folks is Feast of Iniquity, the fourth album in this legendary NYDM band’s repertoire and it’s a bulldozer of an album. WOW-Zeus mixed and mastered this bad boy at his Planet Z Studio and one […]

If crossover was the result of punk and metal’s liquor fueled party hook-up, surely sludge was the junk addicted offspring born during the dark times they spent shooting tar with rusty works in an abandoned building. Sludge’s early years were spent as the musical gutter child of the vitriol and speed of punk and the […]

My first exposure to Sweden’s Blood Mortized came by way of the 2012 EP Bestial, and subsequent album, The Key to A Black Heart , a solid but unspectacular addition to the Swedish death metal revival and . Since then  the band members have been busy with other projects including super group Just Before Dawn and […]

Boal is a brutal death metal band, hailing from The Netherlands, playing a really chunky style of death metal that is mostly U.S. influenced, with some European tinges.  Album opener “Deranged”, blasts right out of the starting gates and the vocals are exceptional, alternating between ultra low gutturals and some screams.  If you’re a fan […]

Last year Scott Kelly, founder of the highly influential experimental metal band Neurosis, stated that the supergroup he was involved in with several other metal luminaries, Shrinebuilder, would probably never convene again. Sad as I was at this, the subsequent announcement of his partaking in another side project, entitled Corrections House and containing Sanford Parker, […]

New York’s So Hideous is the kind of black metal band that purists love to hate. No spikes, no corpse pain, no Satanic lyrics or imagery. Just four dudes in flannel shirts and jeans. Throw in some gorgeous orchestration and you get the perfect storm of supposed pretentiousness that linked to the likes of Liturgy and Deafheaven. But, for those willing to look past all of that bullshit and actually listen to So Hideous and their recently self released full length debut, the result will be fulfilling.

Even after a name change from So Hideous….My Love, this New York post black metal act is still going to be labeled a ‘pretentious’ band and lumped in with the likes of Deafheaven, Liturgy and such, but personally I don’t give a fuck, as Last Poem/First Light improves upon the same taught, orchestration filled, post black metal […]