[Tori Pederson is a staff reviewer at Punknews.org.]
2013 was a weird one. Metal albums had pink and purple covers, with titles like Sunbather and Ultraviolet. Bands I worshipped as a youth put out records I listened to once and forgot about entirely *cough* Alkaline Trio *cough* AFI * cough*. Carcass put out their first album in seventeen years, and their first good record in twenty years. Kanye West put out a chaotic, noisy, aggressive album, while the noisiest, most chaotic band in the land, the Dillinger Escape Plan, mellowed out a bit, and Nine Inch Nails got back together, making me regret the $100+ I dropped on their "farewell" tour a mere half-decade ago. As in the last two years, I have been attending college in Moscow, ID, and didn't attend a single punk show all year. Kind of a drag, but it gave me a lot of time to listen to (and write about) music. These were my favorites.
Full-Lengths

20
Off With Their Heads: Home
Epitaph

19
Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt
Don Giovanni

18
The Men: New Moon
Sacred Bones

17
Kvelertak: Meir
Indie Recordings

16
Crusades: Perhaps You Deliver This Judgment with Greater Fear Than I Receive It
No Idea Records

15
Frank Turner: Tape Deck Heart
Interscope

14
Beastmilk: Climax
Svart
Ignore the ridiculous band name. Imagine Morrissey and Danzig had a lovechild that went on to front a band that listened to a lot of Ghost BC and you're halfway there. Beastmilk combine all these disparate influences into something uniquely their own, and ended up making one of the coolest, weirdest, most unclassifiable records in recent memory.

13
Queens of the Stone Age: ...Like Clockwork
Matador

12
Kylesa: Ultraviolet
Season of Mist

11
A Wilhelm Scream: Partycrasher
No Idea

10
In Solitude: Sister
Metal Blade
Imagine Mercyful Fate had a jam session with the Sisters of Mercy. Actually don't, that makes it sound dorky – it isn't. Sister is one of the strongest metal releases in one of the best years the genre has seen in some time. The hooks take some time to grab hold, but once they do, they refuse to let go.

9
RVIVR: The Beauty Between
Rumbletowne

8
Wavves: Afraid of Heights
Mom + Pop Records

7
Blood Ceremony: The Eldritch Dark
Metal Blade
Blood Ceremony are my favorite new discovery of 2013. They sound a bit like Vol. 4/Sabotage-era Sabbath with a female wailer who can hit Ozzy's high notes better than he has in decades, with the expansive instrumentation of a group like the Decemberists. Flutes, organs and strings abound. There's songs about witches, black magic and evil sisters, and the Wicker Man. If you're into heavy music at all, I cannot stress enough how cool this record is.

6
Dillinger Escape Plan: One of Us is the Killer
Sumerian Records/Party Smasher

5
Arctic Monkeys: AM
Domino
I never paid much attention to the Arctic Monkeys before this year. I had heard a few singles and like them well enough, but never enough to seek out more. I randomly stumbled upon "Do I Wanna Know?" from AM and instantly fell in love. This record takes the funky-yet-sludgy sound of bands like the Black Keys and Queens of the Stone Age and makes them look like chumps. It's surprisingly diverse, too. There's hip-hop beats, disco-like backing vocals and blatant Sabbath riff ripoffs. I love this album so much that it made me investigate the group's entire back catalog and now I am enamored with all of it. Each Arctic Monkeys release is different and awesome in its own way and this is one of their best.

4
The Front Bottoms: Talon of the Hawk
Bar/None Records

3
Portugal. The Man: Evil Friends
Atlantic

2
Kanye West: Yeezus
Def Jam

1
Deafheaven: Sunbather
Deathwish Inc.
EPs

5.
Paint It Black: Invisible [EP]
No Idea

4
The Bouncing Souls / The Menzingers : Split [7-inch]
Chunksaah
The covers are well and good, but "The Shakes" has me drooling in anticipation for the next Menzingers full-length.

3
Chumped: Chumped [EP]
Anchorless
Simple, female-fronted pop-punk done right. One of the most promising new bands I've heard in some time. I can't wait to see where they go from here.

2
Against Me!: True Trans [EP]
Total Treble

1
Best Coast: Fade Away
Jewel City
These seven songs are perhaps the strongest seven songs we've heard from the band to date. They've never sounded this confident, nor this tuneful. One of the finest releases of 2013 regardless of format.
The "It's Actually Pretty Good, Stop Shitting All Over It" Award

Polar Bear Club: Death Chorus
Rise Records
Polar Bear Club have always been a band who write albums with three or four songs I absolutely love and adore, and a bunch of songs that I eventually forget about. That's what I've come to expect from them and that's exactly what they delivered here. Sure, the vocals sound different, but who cares? The choruses of "Blood Balloon" and "For Show" are perfect.
The "Brian Fallon âYo, Punknews. It Ain't That Great' Award"
