Just Fuck It

First things first: I hope that wherever this post finds you, you are alone (or with your significant other or family in your home), and that you are safe, and that you are healthy.  I can't remember a time like this; maybe it was my youth, but I don't remember such wide-sweeping panic happening after 9/11.

Durf's Töp 15 Albums and 5 EPs/Splits/Demos of 2018

2018 was a pretty momentous year for me personally, as the Durfette and I packed up and moved from Chicago, IL, our home for over a decade, and moved out west to Boise, Idaho.  It's been a great move, but owning a home and finding a new job have definitely brought with them their own challenges, as has the addition of the Durfling just a few short weeks ago.  Because of this most recent addition, my year end lists are a bit scaled down this year; I won't be listing my favorite concerts (Fire in the Mountains, not even close), non-metal albums (Panopticon's The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness, Part 2, similarly a Crimson Tide-level blowout), or songs (Marche Funébre's "Darkness" or Panopticon's "At the Foot of the Mountain"), because it's taking all of the limited time I have to put together this admittedly half-assed list of what I consider to be the best EPs/Splits/Demos and Metal Albums of the Year.  I hope that 2018 has been good to you and yours, and that big things are on the horizon for your 2019.  Let me know if you agree with my selections or think I missed something obvious in the comments, but don't fucking talk to me about Prequelle.  That record sucked and I'm pretty sure Ghost blew their load in two albums and is running on fumes.  Here are some albums that didn't make me want to bash my head in with a square hammer.

Dorthia Cottrell - Dorthia Cottrell

So I have a confession to make, a confession of the sort that doesn't really fit the vibe of what we do around these parts: I'm a huge Mumford and Sons fan.  Legitimately, too; they aren't just my favorite of the Durfette's favorite music (which is Sufjan Stevens, probably, as long as I'm confessing things); I enjoy the hell out of their music, and seeing them live at Bonnaroo in 2011 was just as exciting and fulfilling as seeing Opeth at the same festival (NOT a slight on Opeth).  They write fantastic pop songs, and that folky, heart-on-your-sleeve style gets me.  Before their second album was released, one of the members said in an interview that their sound was changing, that it was going to sound like their first album crossed with Black Sabbath, that it was going to be "doom folk."  In case I haven't overshared enough, after I read that, my erection didn't go away for a week.  Of course, later I learned it was a joke.  Babel was good enough, but I was promised (not really) a doom folk album, dammit, and I wanted it!  Well, evidently good things come to those who wait, because I finally have my doom folk album, not from Mumford and Sons, but from Dorthia Cottrell, frontwoman for Virginia doom crew Windhand, in the form of her self-titled debut solo album.

Jack's Top 15 Albums of 2013

Hey, remember when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this year? Yeah, that was pretty cool. Also of importance, particularly in relation to things this publication actually cares about as a collective, there were a staggering amount of fantastic albums in heavy music this year. I toiled with what to include in my Top 15 for quite awhile, but while there's plenty of excellent releases I've left off, this is the group of records I not only felt the most strongly about in a positive sense, but also that I feel deserve the most cred. On to the goods, children.

Oh, and it's good to be back.

Durf's Top 15 Albums of 2013

 

Hard to believe it's already December and time to look back on the past year, reflecting on the changes we've made, the adventures we've had, and most importantly, the albums we've listened to and really, really enjoyed.  Below are my Top 15 Albums of 2013; if you correctly guess which album is Number One before looking, I will mail you a cookie.  And don't forget to agree/disagree/tell me how full of shit I am in the comment section!