Ask the Hellbound writers what the best albums of 2013 were and you get a wide-ranging list covering well over 100 records. It’s a sign of our diverse but discerning tastes. It’s also a powerful reminder of what a great year it’s been for metal.

ADRIEN BEGRAND

1. IN SOLITUDE – Sister (Metal Blade)
2. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
3. SHINING – One One One (Prosthetic)
4. ORANSSI PAZUZU – Valonielu (20 Buck Spin)
5. SUBROSA – More Constant Than the Gods (Profound Lore)
6. ATLANTEAN KODEX – The White Goddess (20 Buck Spin)
7. ALTAR OF PLAGUES – Teethed Glory and Injury (Profound Lore)
8. GHOST B.C. – Infestissumam (Loma Vista)
9. DARKTHRONE – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville)
10. UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS – Mind Control (Metal Blade)

LAINA DAWES

1. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
2. GORGUTS – Colored Sands (Season of Mist)
3. LESBIAN – Foresttelevision (Translation Loss)
4. WEEKEND NACHOS – Still (Relapse)
5. DARKTHRONE – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville Records)
6. WINDHAND – Soma (Relapse)
7. NAILS – Abandon All Life (Southern Lord)
8. CATHEDRAL- The Last Spire (Rise Above Records)
9. SUBROSA – More Constant Than the Gods (Profound Lore)
10. INTER ARMA – Sky Burial (Relapse)

JAY H. GORANIA

1. ALICE IN CHAINS – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (Capitol)
2. GORGUTS – Colored Sands (Season of Mist)
3. DRUGS OF FAITH – Architectural Failures (Malokul)
4. ENABLER – Files (The Compound)
5. ROTTEN SOUND – Species at War (Relapse)
6. ULCERATE – Vermis (Relapse)
7. KEN mode – Entrench (Season of Mist)
8. ANTIGAMA – Meteor (Selfmadegod)
9. IN SOLITUDE – Sister – (Metal Blade)
10. AUTHOR & PUNISHER – Women & Children (Seventh Rule)

DANIELLE GRISCTI

1. INQUISITION – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse (Season of Mist)
2. SUMMONING – Old Morning’s Dawn (Napalm Records)
3. ORANSSI PAZUZU – Valonielu (20 Buck Spin)
4. FALKENBACH – Asa (Prophecy)
5. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
6. THYRFING – De Ödeslösa (NoiseArt)
7. BLOOD CEREMONY – The Eldritch Dark (Rise Above)
8. SACRIPHYX – The Western Front (Nuclear War Now!)
9. VHOL – Vhol (Profound Lore)
10. GRIS – À l’âme enflammée, l’âme constellée… (Sepulchral)

GRUESOME GREG

1. CHURCH OF MISERY – Thy Kingdom Scum (Rise Above)
2. EARTHLESS – From the Ages
3. ATLANTEAN KODEX – The White Goddess (20 Buck Spin)
4. MOTHERSHIP – self-titled
5. PYRES – Year of Sleep (Granite House)
6. CORRECTIONS HOUSE – Last City Zero (Neurot Recordings)
7. BL’AST! – Blood (Southern Lord)
8. REVELATION – Inner Harbor (Shadow Kingdom Records)
9. KINGS DESTROY – A Time of Hunting (War Crime Recordings)
10. ARGUS – Beyond the Martyrs (Cruz Del Sur Music)

KYLE HARCOTT

1. THRALL – Aokigahara Jukai (Moribund)
2. ORANSSI PAZUZU – Valonielu (20 Buck Spin)
3. AOSOTH – IV: Arrow In Heart (Agonia)
4. MAGISTER TEMPLI – Lucifer Leviathan Logos (Cruz del Sur)
5. CHURCH OF MISERY – Thy Kingdom Scum (Rise Above)
6. DARKTHRONE – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville)
7. INQUISITION – Obscure Verses for the Multiverse (Season of Mist)
8. BEASTMILK – Climax (Svart)
9. OvO – Abisso (Supernatural Cat)
10. TRUE WIDOW – Circumambulation (Relapse)

CRAIG HAYES

1. ORANSSI PAZUZU – Valonielu (Svart)
2. LOCRIAN – Return to Annihilation (Relapse)
3. AGRIMONIA – Rites Of Separation
4. AOSOTH – IV: Arrow In Heart (Agonia)
5. THRALL – Aokigahara Jukai (Moribund)
6. LYCUS – Tempest
7. BEYOND – Fatal Power of Death
8. ULCERATE – Vermis (Relapse)
9. TRIBULATION – The Formulas of Death
10. LAKE OF BLOOD – Omnipotens Tyrannus

MATT HINCH

1. CLUTCH – Earth Rocker (Weathermaker)
2. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)
3. SUBROSA – More Constant Than the Gods (Profound Lore)
4. VHOL – VHOL (Profound Lore)
5. BATILLUS – Concrete Sustain (Seventh Rule)
6. JUCIFER – Beyond the Volga There is No Land (Nomadic Fortress)
7. CLOUD RAT – Moksha (Halo of Flies)
8. NOISEM – Agony Defined (A389)
9. WOE – Withdrawal (Candlelight)
10. WINDHAND – Soma (Relapse)

ROB HUGHES

1. STEVEN WILSON – The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories (Kscope)
2. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Seasons of Mist)
3. BLOOD CEREMONY – The Eldritch Dark (Rise Above)
4. PURSON – The Circle and the Blue Door (Rise Above)
5. UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS – Mind Control (Rise Above)
6. SCALE THE SUMMIT – The Migration (Prosthetic)
7. LOCRIAN – Return to Annihilation (Relapse)
8. GORGUTS – Coloured Sands (Season of Mist)
9. VOIVOD – Target Earth (Century Media)
10. SHOOTING GUNS – Brotherhood of the Ram (self-released)

ROB KACHLUBA

1. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
2. TOXIC HOLOCAUST – Chemistry of Consciousness (Relapse)
3. CYNTHESIS – Reevolution (Sensory)
4. DEATH ANGEL – The Dreams Calls for Blood (Nuclear Blast)
5. AUTOPSY – The Headless Ritual (Peaceville)
6. EXHUMED – Necromancy (Relapse)
7. GORGUTS – Colored Sands (Season of Mist)
8. NOISEM – Agony Defined (A389)
9. PROCESSION – To Reap Heavens Apart (Doomentia)
10. VORUM – Poisoned Void

OLA MAZZUCA

1. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
2. NERO DI MARTE – Nero Di Marte (Prosthetic)
3. PHILIP H. ANSELMO AND THE ILLEGALS – Walk Through Exits Only (Housecore)
4. TOMAHAWK – Oddfellows (Ipecac)
5. ANVIL – Hope In Hell (The End Records)
6. DARKTHRONE – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville)
7. IHSAHN – Das Seelenbrechen (Candlelight)
8. SOILWORK – The Living Infinite (Nuclear Blast)
9. HYPOCRISY – End of Disclosure (Nuclear Blast)
10. KATAKLYSM – Waiting For The End To Come (Nuclear Blast)

SEAN PALMERSTON

1. PENTAGRAM CHILE – The Malefice (Cyclone Empire/Metal Blade)
2. GORGUTS – Colored Sands (Season Of Mist)
3. SATAN – Life Sentence (Listenable)
4. VOIVOD – Target Earth (Century Media)
5. MOTORHEAD – Aftershock (UDR)
6. CLUTCH – Earth Rocker (Weathermaker Music)
7. VHOL – Vhol (Profound Lore)
8. FATES WARNING – Darkness In A Different Light (Inside Out)
9. EXHUMED – Necrocracy (Relapse)
10. BLACK SABBATH – 13 (Vertigo/Universal)

JON SMITH

1. PAYSAGE D’HIVER – Das Tor (Kunsthall Produktionen)
2. LEILA ABDUL-RAUF – Cold and Cloud (Pesanta Urfolk)
3. FELL VOICES – Regnum Saturni (Vendetta Records)
4. HUNTRESS – Starbound (Napalm Records)
5. ULVER – Messe I.X – VI.X (Jester Records)
6. VASTUM – Patricidal Lust (20 Buck Spin)
7. NHOR – Within The Darkness Between the Starlight (Prophecy Productions)
8. LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE – Antiadore (Napalm Records)
9 SUMMONING – Old Mornings Dawn (Napalm Records)
10. ALTAR OF PLAGUES – Teethed Glory and Injury (Profound Lore)

KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

1. MELT-BANANA – Fetch (A-Zap)
2. BEATEN TO DEATH – Dødsfest! (Mas-Kina)
3. VHOL – VHOL (Profound Lore)
4. KVELERTAK – Meir (Roadrunner)
5. SKELETONWITCH – Serpents Unleashed (Prosthetic)
6. UNKIND – Pelon Juuret (Relapse)
7. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
8. EXHUMED – Necrocracy (Relapse)
9. KEN MODE – Entrench (Season of Mist)
10. INTER ARMA – Sky Burial (Relapse)

RENEE TROTIER

1. SKELETONWITCH – Serpents Unleashed (Prosthetic)
2. CLUTCH – Earth Rocker (Weathermaker)
3. MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT – Dawning (Relapse)
4. KVELERTAK – Meir (Roadrunner)
5. FINNTROLL – Blodsvept (Century Media)
6. THRAWSUNBLAT – Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings (Self Released)
7. PORTAL – Vexovoid (Profound Lore)
8. BLOOD CEREMONY – The Eldritch Dark (Metal Blade)
9. INTRONAUT – Habitual Levitations (Century Media)
10. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)

Jason Wellwood

JASON WELLWOOD

1. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)
2. HELL – Curse and Chapter (Nuclear Blast)
3. UNTIMELY DEMISE – Systematic Eradication (Punishment 18)
4. PYRES – Year of Sleep (Granite House)
5. THRAWSUNBLAT – Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings (Self Released)
6. PURSON – The Circle and the Blue Door (Rise Above)
7. ORCHIDS CURSE – Words (Diminished Fifth)
8. KEN MODE – Entrench (Season of Mist)
9. BLOOD CEREMONY – The Eldritch Dark (Rise Above)
10. UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS – Mind Control (Rise Above)

LAURA WIEBE

1. WITHERSCAPE – The Inheritance (Century Media)
2. OCTOBER TIDE – Tunnel of No Light (Pulverised)
3. LONG DISTANCE CALLING – The Flood Inside (Superball)
4. AUDREY HORNE – Youngblood (Napalm)
5. THE MOTH GATHERER – A Bright Celestial Light (Agonia)
6. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)
7. SUBROSA – More Constant Than the Gods (Profound Lore)
8. ALTAR OF PLAGUES – Teethed Glory and Injury (Profound Lore)
9. LEPROUS – Coal (InsideOut)
10. AMON AMARTH – Deceiver of the Gods (Metal Blade)

ADAM WILLS

1. DEAFHEAVEN – Sunbather (Deathwish)
2. SUBROSA – More Constant Than The Gods (Profound Lore)
3. ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak (Season of Mist)
4. GHOST B.C. – Infestissumam (Loma Vista)
5. CARCASS – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast)
6. AUDREY HORNE – Youngblood (Napalm)
7. GORGUTS – Colored Sands (Season of Mist)
8. VAURA – The Missing (Profound Lore)
9. LEPROUS – Coal (Inside Out)
10. MAN’S GIN – Rebellion Hymns (Profound Lore)