Reggie’s Top 15 Albums of 2013

Initially, I was going to limit my best of 2013 list to just my top 10.  My reasoning was to make my list as tight as I could only highlighting the very best of what moved me during the year.  After looking back at how many albums I listened to or was exposed to, that number hovered around 270 albums.  So, I decided to expand my list to the same standard as previous years. Despite increasing my list to 15, it still only highlights about 5% of all the albums that graced my ear drums this year.  So, what I present to you for the year 2013 my top 15, plus five more honorable mentions that will be posted in the vicinity of this list.

Concert Review: Death Angel, 3 Inches of Blood, Battlecross, Revocation, Diamond Plate

It’s been a very long time since I had the opportunity to catch Death Angel in the splendor of a live setting.  If my memory serves me, it was August 19, 1990. Seven of us piled into some type of small white hatchback never meant for seven people and made our way an hour down the road to Boston, MA to this little dive called The Channel.  I am not sure if this place it still exists and there was nothing particularly exciting about the joint other than Death Angel was playing there.  They were in support of their Act III album and in tow were Forbidden along with two local bands called Cardinal Sin and Candy Striper Death Orgy…the latter was as entertaining as their name, I promise you that.  I believe this may have been the place where I got my first taste of the pit…because, well there wasn’t anywhere else to go; the entire place was a pit.  I also bought my favorite concert tee from that show and had that thing until it fell apart 10 years later.  The only things that remain from that evening are fond memories and a ticket stub which was hand-written from a local music store called Strawberries Records and Tapes.  Yeah, they are out of business now.  All in all, it was highly memorable for many reasons.  So, to see them again after more than two decades was highly anticipated to say the least.  To make the evening even better were some quality opening acts; 3 Inches of Blood, Battlecross, Revocation, Diamond Plate, and local band Artemesis.  Here is my story.

Album Review: Death Angel – The Dream Calls For Blood

Since I first caught their debut album, The Ultra-Violence (1987) back in my young impressionable years I have been pretty much hooked on Death Angel.  I certainly appreciated the rawness of Frolic Through the Park (1988), and their Act III (1990) album is my favorite from them even though they embedded a certain funkiness into that one.  Of all the bands that disappear for one reason or another, Death Angel is the one I wanted to come back more than any that I can think of.  And, they did just in a different form called The Organization which took shape after Death Angel’s bus accident and eventual break up.  The Organization didn’t live up to my expectations, but it was cool to see four of the five guys (minus Mark) back together again under the new name, but it wasn’t the same and it ended in 1995.  When I got wind of the Death Angel reunion and ensuing album The Art of Dying (2004), I couldn’t have been more elated.  But, for now, let’s talk about the present.