It’s the start of July already. We’re already over halfway through 2013. Jeez time really does fly. The amount of metal of the highest quality that has hit the stores already is astounding. We’ve been doing our best to keep up with all the notable releases of the year and I think we’ve been doing a pretty decent job. Not too much has flown under the radar and I’ve personally had time to digest mostly everything I was excited for at the beginning of the year. I’ve been surprised by a lot of the music I’ve really been enjoying, some of which is a lot lighter than I ever would have predicted. Without further ado, here are the Best Of lists and some song highlights from our four main writers starting with my own (albums in no particular order). If you’ve missed any of these, definitely check em out.

Trisolino’s List

Albums

Intronaut – “Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)” [LISTEN HERE]

Coheed and Cambria – “The Afterman: Descension” [LISTEN HERE]

Wormed – “Exodromos” [LISTEN HERE]

Anciients – “Heart of Oak” [LISTEN HERE]

Leprous – “Coal” [LISTEN HERE]

Arsis – “Unwelcome” [LISTEN HERE]

Heaven Shall Burn – “VETO” [LISTEN HERE]

The Ocean – “Pelagial” [LISTEN HERE]

The Monolith Deathcult – “Tetragrammaton” [LISTEN HERE]

A Pale Horse Named Death – “Lay My Soul to Waste” [LISTEN HERE]

Tesseract – “Altered State” [LISTEN HERE]

The Black Dahlia Murder – “Everblack” [LISTEN HERE]

Scale the Summit – “The Migration” [LISTEN HERE]

August Burns Red – “Rescue & Restore” [LISTEN HERE]

Palms – “Palms” [LISTEN HERE]

EPs

Fallujah “Nomadic” [LISTEN HERE]

Mike Thall’s List

Albums

Pomegranate Tiger – “Entities” [LISTEN HERE]

Oblivion – “Called To Rise” [LISTEN HERE]

Arsis – “Unwelcome” [LISTEN HERE]

Scale The Summit – “The Migration” [LISTEN HERE]

Intronaut – “Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)” [LISTEN HERE]

Tesseract – “Altered State” [LISTEN HERE]

Ade – “Spartacus” [LISTEN HERE]

Means End – “The Didact” [LISTEN HERE]

The Dillinger Escape Plan – “One Of Us Is The Killer” [LISTEN HERE]

Immolation – “Kingdom Of Conspiracy” [LISTEN HERE]

August Burns Red – “Rescue & Restore” [LISTEN HERE]

Disperse – “Living Mirrors” [LISTEN HERE]

The Black Dahlia Murder – “Everblack” [LISTEN HERE]

Killswitch Engage – “Disarm The Descent” [LISTEN HERE]

The Schoenberg Automaton – “Vela” [LISTEN HERE]

Nemertines – “Death, My Love” [LISTEN HERE]

Amon Amarth – “Deceiver Of The Gods” [LISTEN HERE]

Northlane – “Singularity” [LISTEN HERE]

No Consequence – “IO” [LISTEN HERE]

Within The Ruins – “Elite” [LISTEN HERE]

The Bridal Procession – “Descent Into Arcologies” [LISTEN HERE]

Anup Sastry – “Ghost” [LISTEN HERE]

EPs

Fallujah – “Nomadic” [LISTEN HERE]

Uneven Structure – “8” [LISTEN HERE]

Plini – “Other Things” [LISTEN HERE]

Polyphia – “Inspire” [LISTEN HERE]

CHON – “Newborn Sun” [LISTEN HERE]

Auras – “Panacea” [LISTEN HERE]

Mattia’s List

Albums

Coheed And Cambria – “The Afterman: Descension” [LISTEN HERE]

The Holy Guile – “FSU” [LISTEN HERE]

Dreamshade – “The Gift Of Life” [LISTEN HERE]

Soilwork – “The Living Infinite” [LISTEN HERE]

Within The Ruins – “Elite” [LISTEN HERE]

Atlantis Chronicles – “Ten Miles Underwater” [LISTEN HERE]

Anup Sastry – “Ghost” [LISTEN HERE]

Nemertines – “Death, My Love” [LISTEN HERE]

The Ocean – “Pelagial” [LISTEN HERE]

Northlane – “Singularity” [LISTEN HERE]

Benea Reach – “The Possession” [LISTEN HERE]

No Consequence – “IO” [LISTEN HERE]

Tesseract – “Altered States” [LISTEN HERE]

Lifeforms – “Multidimensional” [LISTEN HERE]

Liferuiner – “Future Rvisionist” [LISTEN HERE]

Damned Spring Fragrantia – “Divergences” [LISTEN HERE]

Letlive – “The Blackest Beautiful” [LISTEN HERE]

EPs

Bend The Sky – “Observatory” [LISTEN HERE]

Sylar – “Deadbeat” [LISTEN HERE]

Mask Of Judas – “Axis” [LISTEN HERE]

After The Burial – “This Life Is All We Have” [LISTEN HERE]

Tyler’s List

Albums

Disperse – “Living Mirrors” [LISTEN HERE]

No Consequence – “IO” [LISTEN HERE]

Scale The Summit – “The Migration” [LISTEN HERE]

Warp Prism – “Infinite II” [LISTEN HERE]

The Schoenberg Automation – “Vela” [LISTEN HERE]

Intronaut – “Habitual Leviatations” [LISTEN HERE]

Killswitch Engage – “Disarm The Descent” [LISTEN HERE]

Northlane – “Singularity” [LISTEN HERE]

Of Glaciers – “Heart Museum” [LISTEN HERE]

Tesseract – “Altered State” [LISTEN HERE]

Within The Ruins – “Elite” [LISTEN HERE]

EPs

The Obelisk – “Microcosm” [LISTEN HERE]

The Northern – “Imperium” [LISTEN HERE]

Auras – “Panacea” [LISTEN HERE]

Entities – “Aether” [LISTEN HERE]

Save Us From The Archon – “some things…..” [LISTEN HERE]

Mega Beardo – “Ledjent of Zelda” [LISTEN HERE]

Plini – “Other Things” [LISTEN HERE]

Fallujah – “Nomadic” [LISTEN HERE]

Sectioned “Outlier” [LISTEN HERE]

The Korea – “Saturnus” [LISTEN HERE]

Polyphia – “Inspire” [LISTEN HERE]

Bend They Sky – “Observatory” [LISTEN HERE]