2013: Metal in Review

ThePitGoddess' 2013 via Metal

I am notoriously bad at keeping up with new releases.  Ugh.  It makes no sense since I write for TWO metal sites how I can be so bad at following, obtaining and listening to new music.  I know, I even did an interview about it..  This year was insane for me, personally  But looking back at my life's intersections with music, there's plenty of rad shit that happened.  So here goes, The PitGoddess' 2013, in metal.

Inquisition!  And my cool-girl crew shirt

This was not my year to travel overseas and do big fests, but I did work on my second heavy metal cruise! (The first was 2012's Barge to Hell.)  Most people I told thought that working on 70,000 Tons of Metal is insanely GLAMOROUS, and maybe it was for the bikini girls, but I worked my ass off!  Long days, not enough food or sleep...hell, I lost 10 lbs in a week from walking seven miles a day- just doing merch.  On the plus side, I got to meet a ton of wonderful people from all over the world, watch the embarass themselves doing karoke and see some great bands!  Immolation and Inquisition blew me out of the water with their music, live energy and their easy-goingness.  I plan to be on the boat for 2014, working again, and I really am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful folks I met last year.  I said it as an attendee/roadie and I'll say it as a merch lady, but the cruise is a really unique experience.

I moved to Maryland.  This was one of the most difficult decisions of my life, personally.  Musically, it was kind of a no-brainer.  Pretty much every tour comes through this region.  Even small, DIY tours play here, which has allowed me to spend a couple hours with my punk friends.  I'm right in between Baltimore and Springfield, home of Jaxx/Empire.  As a result, I get to see tons of my friends who tour for a living, sometimes two or three times!  I've become close with people I never thought I would because I saw them so many times in a year.  I went to a ton of shows and met a bunch of really great people.

I can't even count of number of shows/bands I saw this year, just from living in Maryland.  Some of my favorites were:

• Possessor and Lich King at Sergio's Diner.  This night was wild, and the first show I went to in MD.  I immediately fell in love with the people up here and for the most part, they welcomed me.
• Metal Alliance with Exodus, Anthrax and Municipal Waste at Fillmore SS
• 100 Minutes of Absu at The Wind Up Space
• The five times I've seen Exhumed this year, once with Death to All, which turned into the most silly and fun night I may have had in 2013
• Gorguts at Empire, which turned out way more people than I expected!
• Pig Destroyer at GwarBQ, a huge party I've always wanted to attend!
• Dax Riggs at Rock n Roll Hotel, my favorite artist everrrrrr, performing a mostly covers set
• Bonnie Prince Billy with my friend Keegan at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue.  A truly one of a kind artist in the more beautiful space for an artist like him
• Slayer, the week of my birthday, at Fillmore SS.  One of the most friendly violent shows I've ever been to
• Cannibal Corpse and Immolation road trip to Philly with my friend Zach
• Delaware DeathFest, I can't wait to see how that grows
• the mighty Esoteric, a band I never dreamed I'd see, at Metro Gallery

Not to mention a bunch of kick ass sets at Maryland Deathfest.  The older I get, the more bands I see and friends I make, the more shows sometimes become a background for booze slamming silliness and conversations.  That said, some bands blew me away!

Definitely a high fangirl point! 

• Infest at MDF.  Such violence.  Much blood. Wow.
• Cobalt!  Erik Wunder is one of my favorite musicians and it was insanely rad to see him play and drink some beers together.  (Also found out I was thanked on the latest Man's Gin album, presumably in part for this interview.  So cool!)
• Speedwolf, twice.  I saw these dudes on their first US tour and I have really enjoyed watching their fanbase grow.
• Kommandant.  Black metal live aesthetics done right.  It should feel like you could die, even if the sun is shining.
• Ihsahn!  Because I met his manager on the boat, I got to meet Ihsahn, making all my teen girl dreams come true.  Oh and I got to watch his set from in front of the barricades.  And get a signed setlist.  Be jelly.

That said, there were quite a few albums I enjoyed this year.  Of all the music I *did* listen to, these are the albums that, when I sat down and thought about it, immediately jumped to mind.

• All Pigs Must Die- Nothing Violates this Nature
• Inquisition- Obscure Verses for the Multiverse  
• Man's Gin- Rebellion Hymns
• Immolation- Kingdom of Conspiracy
• Ihsahn- Das Seelenbrechen  Is this metal anymore?  Probably not.  Do I care?  Nope, I had an adventure listening to this album, damn it, and I liked it.
• Carcass- Surgical Steel
• Hexvessel- No Holier Temple
• Exhumed- Nercocracy 
• Ulcerate- Vermis
• Gorguts- Colored Sands
• Bong- Idle Days on the Yann.  I'm not usually into drone, but when I just need some awesome noise, this is it.

So, there it is.  My year in music.  2013 was tumultuous but if I look through the lens of music, it was a pretty damn good year.