Blog: 13 Th1rt3ens

With Megadeth releasing brilliant new album ‘Th1rt3en’ on Monday, we thought we’d run down 13 other examples of metal invoking the unlucky number. Expect tenuous connections.

1. Six Feet Under – ’13′

Chris Barnes’ unflushable death metal act continued to stagger on with album number six, and was predictably about as much fun as haemorrhoids. Not so much unlucky for some in this case – more like business as usual, really – but hardly the herald of a new dawn either.

2. Cold – ’13 Wats To Bleed On Stage’

Just as this entire era of “metal” to forget was about to be buried (finally), Cold came along with this, and ironically the “13″ proved lucky. In that in a career of uninspired shite, it was at least vaguely listenable. Sort of. If you hadn’t discovered better music yet.

3. The Crown – ‘Possessed 13′

The final studio album (not counting the ‘Crowned Unholy’ rerecords) before the Swedish thrashers disappeared for a few years, perhaps using that number was unlucky for The Crown. They finally returned to the fold last year with tasty new album ‘Doomsday King’, and hopefully won’t be hexing themselves again any time soon.

4. Primal Fear – ‘Colony 13′

If you’ve caned every Judas Priest album so hard you’re bored with them (which probably isn’t possible, really) and want the next best thing, Primal Fear are your men. Although they too appear to have been rather unlucky, as this song is less than what they’re capable of and the album it featured on is far from their best. Maybe they should have called the song ‘Colony 12′. Anyway, new album coming in January. Ace.

5. Candlemass – ‘From The 13th Sun’

While there was certainly nothing wrong with Candlemass’ sixth album, it did seem to herald the wheels coming off for the second time. Shortly after this was released, the band revived a previous line-up, toured some more but didn’t record anything for six years, during which time they split up and reformed again. Their “final” album is currently in the works.

6. Anvil – ‘This Is Thirteen’

The album whose genesis was explored in the brilliant film ‘Anvil – The Story Of Anvil’ should, in a fair world, have been the springboard for Anvil to get the recognition they deserve. It all seemed to be going so well when they were announced as third stage headliners at Download 2009. At least until it turned out they would clash with Slipknot and The Prodigy…

7. 1349

The Norwegian black metallers looked to have been cursed following the release of less than adequate fourth album ‘Revelations Of The Black Flame’, only to roar back into life with the career-peaking, atmospheric ‘Demonoir’. Suffered further bad luck when playing Bloodstock – someone had carelessly placed them playing during daylight. Never a good idea for a corpsepainted band.

8. Danzig – ‘Thirteen’

Originally written by the Evil Elvis for Johnny Cash, ‘Thirteen’ on the surface of things appears to be jinx-free – it’s ace, and it’s on a good album. Until you remember Glenn hasn’t done much that’s good since and his voice has sounded completely shot when appearing live recently. That, and the song was used in laugh-an-hour non-comedy ‘The Hangover’.

9. Premonition 13 – ’13′

Wino’s new band (yes, yet another one) seem determined to tempt fate as hard as humanly possible by not only naming their album ’13′, but including the number in the band as well.  With Wino involved, this was really never going to stink – the only question is how long the band lasts before yet another project comes along.

10. Type O Negative – ‘Thir13teen’

This one firmly bucks the trend. Calling the opening track that seemed to bless the album rather than curse it – Pete Steele and co. turned in one of their very best. We still miss you, Pete.

11. Lordi – ’13′

This ambient track at the end of the Finnish monsters’ debut album appears to actually have been good luck. At least if you consider winning the Eurovision Song Contest a good thing. We’re only disappointed Norwegian black metallers Keep Of Kalessin’s attempt to follow in their footsteps was unsuccessful.

12. Absu – ’13 Globes’

Taken from the self-titled album that saw the US black metallers return after a long absence, the fine form they showed on this and its follow up suggest no bad luck. That is until you consider that their latest batch of band photos make them look like a black metal ‘Flashdance’.

13. Bathory – ’13 Candles’

No bad luck here. Amazing song from one of the greatest black metal records ever written. Although maybe the ‘Quorthorn’ solo album was a kind of luck karma…