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So it’s Wednesday at 3:43 AM the week these year-end retrospective lists are being published and I’m scrambling to edit my fellow writers’ contributions when I’ve barely even started mine. To be honest it hasn’t even quite settled in that 2012 is just about over. As I’m writing this, there’s about a week and a half left of the year, and it puzzles me. It feels like just a couple of months ago that I was doing this exact same thing for 2011, only this time I seem to be much busier and everything looks different. The site, wordpress, and even my staff group have all changed.

We’ve picked up a number of fresh faces this year that you’ve already seen these past few days, but you may have also noticed that a couple of people from last year are no longer with us. A lot of people have come and gone over these past three and a half years that I’ve been doing this Heavy Blog thing, and most of them sort of float around and hang out when they can. The most important ones that come to mind right now are Dan (Dormition) and Chris (Disinformasiya), both of whom were very instrumental and valuable in the growth of this site, and it was sad to see them part ways with us. Without them (Chris in particular), I might have not kept this thing going this far. I love both of those guys dearly, and you can keep up with them at The Monolith, which you should bookmark if you haven’t already. Ya jerk.

Like I’ve said, this year has been busy. I don’t talk about my personal life much here despite the fact that it’s my blog, but what better time to get all personal than a year-end retrospective? As you may have noticed, I’ve been a bit more of a hands-off editor and the scheduling of posts have been a bit less rigid and frequent than they used to be. I’m at the tail end of my college career and I’m currently in and out of internships which have kept me busy and often away from Heavy Blog. Between classes, internships, my “actual” job, and this website, my hands are pretty full. You (and I, for sure) can thank Evan (Juular) for his help with editing since Chris’ departure as well as Damien, Noyan, Gunnar (DeusExMachina), Cody (Tentaclesworth), Spencer (Inhumed), Anthony (Alucard), Greg (Red Bruschetta), Atif (Dr. Killjoy), David (Riptide), Ridge (Deadite), Colin (Momento Mori), and Geoff (Denisovich) for sticking with me and making sure there’s enough content each week and that this site keeps going strong. Also a strong word up to Ben Robson who took over Heavy Blog recently and decided to stick around with us behind the scenes and Chris Collins, our resident photographer. These guys are awesome, and they manage to put a smile on my face every single day.

2013 promises to be even busier with my next internship, impending graduation, and career, but hopefully that doesn’t stop this site from growing and providing daily content that helps to promote and further our favorite genre of music. Thank all of you for sticking with us!

So with all these feels out of the way, here’s what most of you care about, my albums of the year:

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When the online metal community is asked what their favorite albums of the year are thus far, one wouldn’t expect a hip-hop album to pop up anywhere. I, however, boast a current list of favorites that includes hip-hop artist Aesop Rock‘s latest opus Skelethon in the top five. As strange as it is, Aesop Rock is quite an outlier in my music library; he’s the only rapper that I consider myself an avid fan of, having jumped on the bandwagon as soon as I heard his previous effort in 2007′s None Shall Pass, one of my favorite non-metal albums ever.

Skelethon seems to do the impossible and improves on an already excellent foundation. What makes Aesop Rock stand out from his peers is his excellent vocabulary and complicated flow and wordplay. I know a lot of people (metal fans especially, it seems) write off the entire genre as ignorant and boastful, but Aesop Rock isn’t one to write songs about “hoes and rims” or whatever one would stereotypically expect from a mainstream/modern hip-hop album. Here’s a breakdown of some of the subject matter one would experience when listening to Skelethon:

  • A humorous guide to mummifying your dead cat on ‘Homemade Mummy’
  • An ode to Aesop’s favorite donut shop on ‘Fryerstarter’
  • A poem about a dog saving a drowning infant on ‘Ruby ’81′
  • Getting an awesome haircut and a lesson in motivation in ‘Racing Stripes’
  • A clever telling of a child’s refusal to eat his vegetables on ‘Grace’

See, Skelethon finally reaches an apex in Aesop Rock’s writing ability. His out-there verbosity meets legitimate storytelling, possibly a direct response to the criticism Aesop received, being accused of stringing together serial non-sequiters. While he has always spoken out against these criticisms of his enigmatic lyrics, there’s no denying that Skelethon makes a larger effort to take a narrative approach.

Open minded metal fans may find something of interest in Skelethon. At the very least, you might end up with a newfound appreciation for the possibilities of a genre you may have wholly discarded long ago.

Aesop Rock’s Skelethon is available now on Rhymesayers/Fifth Element. Give it a shot!

- JR

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