The best of 2013 – my subjective list of 6 favourites

Another year went flying past and I found myself in possession of a bunch of new records. Looking closely, I found out a whole lot of them had come out in 2013, a lot more than I'd feel like putting on a list, so eliminations would have to be made. This proved to be quite the task, took me the better part of 3 weeks to get there, but I made it, and here's my favourite 6 albums from 2013, in no particular order, however, since I can't be arsed to take 3 more weeks to decide the exact order.

Domovoyd: Oh Sensibility
We played a gig with these guys in January, and I liked what I heard back then. Shortly afterwards, they were rising fast, with a confirmed gig at Ilosaarirock, one of the biggest rock festivals of the Finnish summer, and a deal with Svart Records, who put out this, their debut album. Upon listening to the album, I liked what I heard even better. This is a great debut effort and one of the 4 albums I had no doubt about putting on the list.
http://domovoyd.bandcamp.com/

Moss: Horrible Night
Sounding like Electric Wizard's depressed little brother, Moss's latest was released bu Rise Above Records, who put out quite a few good albums last year. Of those, this was the best, in my humble opinion. Unabashedly slow and plodding, with riffs that flow through you like glaciers on acid. I can see why someone might think this is boring stuff, but to me it's the opposite: it's trance-inducing in the best way imaginable. Also, having previously only heard the Tombs of the Blind Drugged and Eternal Return EPs, I was surprised to hear clean vocals from Olly, but they work.
http://mossdoom.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-night

The Body: Christs, Redeemers
For me, as a fan of Thou and Khanate, this kind of sublime mix of ugliness and eerie beauty works wonders. I saw the video for the track "An Altar or a Grave" and nearly lost my shit then and there. Unforgiving, unrelenting, not an easy album to listen to, but tickles my fancy for the grimier things in life.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/the-body/334047229514

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats: Mind Control
You may remember me gushing about Uncle Acid's sophomore album, Blood Lust, some years ago. That in mind, I was a bit reserved about this one prior to hearing it. The album, however, met my expectations and surpassed them. The band kicked into doom gear and proceeded to pour honey into my ears. With an air of matter-of-fact seriousness, this is just a well thought-out whole.
https://www.facebook.com/uncleacid

Oranssi Pazuzu: Valonielu
From the first note of Oranssi Pazuzu's debut album, Muukalainen Puhuu, I've loved them, and, album by album, they've kept on one-upping themselves, evolving very naturally. Valonielu, their third effort, is no exception. Here's a hulking behemoth of aggression coupled with psychedelia to once again spirit me to another level of being.
http://www.oranssipazuzu.com/

Risto Juhani: Pimeä Saari
And to prevent you from thinking I'm some kind of a doom goblin entirely, here's something on a softer note (though not that much lighter, as this, too, is some pretty melancholy stuff). I heard like 2 songs on the radio last year that I actually liked, and one of them was from this album. As the rest of the album was on par with that one track, which I really liked, it was quite the easy decision to include this on the list.
https://soundcloud.com/ristojuhani

In addition, I'd like to briefly mention some other albums that I quite liked that didn't make the list proper:
Deafheaven: Sunbather
Hebosagil: Lähtö
Cult of Luna: Vertikal
KEN mode: Entrench
Church of Misery: Thy Kingdom Scum
High Priest of Saturn: High Priest of Saturn
Ghost: Infestissumam

And on top of that, two albums that came out in 2011 and 2012 respectively, but that I only heard last year and think are worth a mention, are Mars Red Sky by Mars Red Sky (http://marsredsky.bandcamp.com/album/mars-red-sky-debut-album) and Sorrow and Extinction by Pallbearer (http://pallbearer.bandcamp.com/album/sorrow-and-extinction), so check 'em out.

To conclude, as I've been getting into Spotify lately, I've created playlists of these here records:
Best of 2013
Runners-up 2013 (missing Hebosagil and Church of Misery due to their unavailability)