The 17 Most Anticipated Metal Albums of 2013

I'm almost a little bummed that the world didn't end on December 21. No War of the Worlds or 2012 scenes became a reality, although I was so sure that the only reason gas prices were down was because all the rich people were holed up in their submarines, burrowed into the Alps like a goddamn modern-day Noah's Ark, forgoing their gas profits for the sole sake of pitying the rest of us miscreants for not knowing about our demise. There was no rioting, no apocalypse, no alien takeover.

But then the New Year came around, and I made some major life decisions for 2013. Highlights? I decided to leave my stable job as an editor at a travel magazine and start Metal Mistressing full-time. I vowed to improve at snowboarding to make it all the way down a mountain while blasting Slayer's Reign in Blood. I decided to upgrade from Jameson to Glenfiddich (although the only place I'll be able to afford it is Coach House, since we seem to be on some sort of shots-of-whiskey-for-baked-goods barter system).

In light of keeping with New Years resolutions, something else to look forward to in 2013 (and hold the bands accountable for) are the array of kickass records scheduled to be released by so many legendary bands. I'm talking Rob Zombie, Dream Theatre, Tool, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Rigor Mortis, and so, so many more that already have me headbanging in excitement.

See also:
Black Sabbath: Music For the End of the World
The Year in Heavy Metal: 2012
The Full Metal Monday Archives

So toast to the New Year, and get ready to fucking rock in 2013 with my list of most anticipated metal albums, ranging from mainstream metal to death metal to British metal -- the latter of which I'm convinced is making a huge resurgence, and you're about to read why.

There are some famously heavy acts in the spotlight today releasing 2013 albums, beloved by a wide demographic range.

robzombie.com

Rob Zombie
Title: TBA (Although in an interview we had in fall 2012 he suggested he could be named something like The Final Act)
Release Date: Spring
Rob Zombie is the man this year; he's not only releasing his much-anticipated film Lords of Salem in April, he's also projecting his fifth solo album for release sometime in June, describing it as weird, dark, and heavy.

Rob Zombie's last release, Mondo Sex Head

And in our interview, he said: "There's something cool about creatively trying to push yourself harder, rather than just throw in the towel. And that's hard to do. And I think this record has done that, which is why I'm so excited."

Jim Louvau

Korn
Title: TBA
Release Date: TBA
The members of Korn always seem to have a hundred side projects at once, but this only fuels the fire under Korn as an entity. But when New Times spoke with Munky last year, he assured us that Korn already has a whole arsenal of material for their 11th studio album that shys away from dubstep and touches back on old-school Korn heaviness.

Korn performing at Veteran's Memorial Coliseum on October 27, 2012 (See our slideshow from the concert.)