My Favorite Music of 2013 (video)

#music #bestof2013 #favorites #rockfile

Each year, compiling the list of my favorite albums is one of the hardest blogs to create. This year, I started with the largest list of possibles ever and wound up with 49. Since I did not really want to rank them, I used the amount of times I listened to each artist/album this year to determine the order for the top 20, the rest are in no particular order. Albums released later in the year and the ones with fewer tracks (especially EPs) have a harder time ranking high this way but in my opinion all of these are worth adding to your music collection.

While I may feel some albums are "better" than others, the truest telling is what I actually listened to the most. I have used Last.fm to track my personal spins since 2006. The vast majority of my listening is either lossless files on iPhone/iPod through audiophile headphones or lossless files through my PC with iTunes and Klipsch THX certified monitors. 

Enjoy

(I apologize if the page loads slow, there are 20 videos.)

Gemini Syndrome - "Lux"

Haken - "The Mountain"

Karnivool - "Asymmetry"

Steven Wilson - "The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)"

 

 Heaven's Basement - "Filthy Empire"

 

Dead Letter Circus - "The Catalyst Fire"

Bruce Soord With Jonas Renkse - "Wisdom Of Crowds"

Caligula's Horse - "The Tide, The Thief & River's End"

The Mars Chronicles - "The Mars Chronicles EP"

 

Letlive. - "The Blackest Beautiful"

 

Katatonia - "Dethroned & Uncrowned"
 

Sound Of Contact - "Dimensionaut"

Riverside - "Shrine Of New Generation Slaves"

 

Queensryche - "Queensryche"

Nothing More - "Nothing More"

Leprous - "Coal"

TesseracT - "Altered State"

Jolly - "The Audio Guide To Happiness (Part 2)"

 

Thought Chamber - "Psykerion"

 

Fates Warning - "Darkness In A Different Light"

Byzantine - "Byzantine"
Intronaut - "Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)"
Aeon Zen - "Enigma"
Daybreak Embrace - "Mercury EP"
Boil - "aXiom"
Monster Truck - "Furiosity"
Big Wreck - "Albatross"
Protest The Hero - "Clarity"
Anubis Gate - "Sheep EP"
Dream Theater - "Dream Theater"
Spock's Beard - "Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep"
The Winery Dogs - "The Winery Dogs"
Serenity - "War Of Ages"
Sevendust - "Black Out The Sun"
Pearl Jam - "Lightning Bolt"
Nine Inch Nails - "Hesitation Marks"
AEtherfallen - "Revelation's Eternal"
Ra - "Critical Mass"
Korn - "The Pardigm Shift"
ASG - "Blood Drive"
The Flower Kings - "Desolation Rose"
Red Line Chemistry - "Tug Of War"
A Pale Horse Named Death - "Lay My Soul To Waste"
Long Distance Calling - "The Flood Inside"
Alter Bridge - "Fortress"
Avenged Sevenfold - "Hail To The King"
Black Sabbath - "13"
Alice In Chains - "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here"

Aeon Zen - "Self Portrait EP"



Live Albums

Muse - "Live At Rome Olympic Stadium" & Blu-Ray
Anathema - "Universal" & Blu-ray
Rush - "Clockwork Angels Tour" & Blu-Ray

Metallica - "Through The Never Soundtrack"
Flying Colors - "Live In Europe" & Blu-Ray
Devin Townsend Project - "The Retinal Circus" & Blu-Ray
Iced Earth - "Live In Ancient Kourion" & Blu-ray


Special Mention

Rush - "Vapor Trails (Remixed)" - This album needed remixing badly and this new version is the best we are going to get. Much improved over the original mix.



Blu-ray/DVD Audio Audio

Universal just released a whole new line of Blu-Ray Audio titles but I have not had a chance to hear them. 

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing - The deluxe edition of his stellar third solo album set a new bar for sonic clarity in hidef audio on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Yes - Close To The Edge - Steven Wilson's remix makes the work sound fresh. One of my all-time favorites. DVD and Blu-Ray

Steven Wilson - Drive Home - A video EP about an hour long is better than most full releases from other artists. Blu-Ray

 

Van Morrison - Moondance DVD Audio

Jethro Tull - Benefit DVD Audio

Dream Theater - Dream Theater DVD Audio

(-']