Jul 022018
 

 

There will be 365 days in 2018. The mid-way point is therefore 182 1/2 days. Yesterday, July 1st, was the 182nd day of the year. And so we’re a bit early with this post, since the mid-way point won’t be reached until the end of the 12th hour today, but we’re not as early as some places have been.

With the year approximately half-gone, it’s a good time to take stock of what we’ve heard so far… and man, there’s been a lot of good stuff to hear. And by “what we’ve heard so far”, I don’t mean myself. If I really tried to make a list of the best releases from the first half of the year, I’d have to shut down the site for a week, and probably still couldn’t figure it out.

No, what I mean by “we” is “you”, because I’d much rather be entertained and educated by seeing the releases that have made the biggest impression on people who visit NCS than agonize over my own list. And I’m guessing other people will enjoy that too. In addition, collecting these lists always turn out to be an excellent resource for making new discoveries.

 

So, in the Comments to this post please leave us the names of the albums, EPs, or splits that you’ve enjoyed the most as of this near-half-way point of 2018. There’s no limit on the number, and no requirement that anything be ranked, although it’s fine if you want to do that.

Also, if you’re not ready to engage in this exercise right now, don’t worry. This post isn’t going anywhere. You can find it real fast by looking for the “LISTMANIA 2018” category link on the right side of every page from here on out.

Thanks in advance to anyone who shares their lists with the rest of us.

  40 Responses to “LISTMANIA 2018: AN INVITATION TO OUR READERS FOR “BEST OF THE HALF-YEAR” LISTS”

  1. It has indeed been a smashing year of good releases so far, and I’ve still got several albums that are out that I haven’t had time to give a good whirl yet. But here’s my list of considerations for my annual Top 20 list. In alphabetical order.

    A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant
    Amorphis – Queen of Time
    The Antichrist Imperium – Vol. II: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan
    Augury – Illusive Golden Age
    Aura Noir – Aura Noire
    Dimmu Borgir – Eonian
    Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
    Judas Priest – Firepower
    Marduk – Viktoria
    Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
    Pestilence – Hadeon
    Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins
    Sworn – Dark Stars and Eternity
    The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
    Thy Catafalque – Geometria
    Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
    Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse

    Cheers!

  2. Ungfell- Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
    Panphage- Jord
    Vomitor- Pestilent Death
    Sleep- Of Sciences
    Portal- Ion
    Of Feather and Bone- Bestial Hymns of Perversion
    Spite- Antimoshiach
    Mylingar- Döda Drömmar
    Thy Feeble Saviour- And Darkness Fell
    Necros Christos- Domedon Doxomedon
    Altar of Perversion- Intra Naos
    Ritual Necromancy- Disinterred Horror
    Jyotiṣavedāṅga ‎– Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum
    Purity Renaissance
    Knelt Rote- Alterity
    Abhor- Occulta Religio
    Hammr- Unholy Destruction
    Disembowel- Plagues and Ancient Rites
    Misticismo- terraria
    Funeral Mist- Hekatomb
    Acherontas- Faustian Ethos
    Abigor- Hollenzwang
    Goath- II: Opposition
    Demonomantic- Grail
    Adzalaan- Into Vermillion Mirrors
    Dagger Lust- Siege Bondage Adverse to the Godhead
    Serum Dreg- Lustful Vengeance
    Nocturnal Graves- Titan
    Tomb Mold
    Torture Rack
    Siege Column
    Grave Upheaval

    EPs/Demos:
    Superstition- Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
    Human Agony- Goring Christ
    Attrition- Vengeance
    Phosphore Blanc- Fascist Sludge
    Caveman Cult- Supremacia Primordial
    Spectral Voice/Vastum split
    Blasphamagoatachrist- Black Metal Warfare
    Subservient Perversity- BTK
    Cemetery Lights- Lemuralia
    Impure- Transfixed in Limbo
    Deathwards- Towards Death
    Cult of Extinction- Black Nuclear Magick Attack
    Necroracle- MMXVIII

  3. I don’t know that these are technically “the best.” But they’re what I’ve listened to most this year. (Well, these and Dyscarnate’s album from last year, which has had remarkable staying power for me.)

    Superstition – Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
    Chthe’ilist – Passage into the Xexanotth (EP)
    Shylmagoghnar – Transience
    Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
    Euclidian – Quod Erat Faciendum
    Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
    Inferi – Revenant
    Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
    Aepoch – Awakening Inception
    Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
    The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
    Genocide Pact – Order of Torment
    Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
    Hekatomb – Funeral Mist
    Funeral Leach – The Funereality (EP)
    Raider – Urge to Kill (EP)
    Dopethrone – Transcanadian Anger
    Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
    Oxygen Destroyer – Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death
    Vermilia – Katkyt

  4. I am still waiting on my favorite releases to happen (Sulphur Aeon, Omnium Gatherum,Obscura and some others) but so far the Asphagor and Varathon and Slugdge and Rur albums are my favorite. Also, throw in Alkaloid (though I don’t like it quite as much as the debut) and Amorphis’ new album is awesome too. Sleeper would have to be the new Shylmagoghnar album Transience. The album is beautiful, with cascading, ethereal guitar melodies throughout. The title track of the record is easily the best song I’ve heard so far in 2018

  5. Panopticon – the scars of man once…
    Yob – Our raw heart
    Sleep – the sciences
    Rivers of Nihil – where owls know my name

  6. Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death, Oxygen Destroyer
    Iris, Altars of Grief
    Manner of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold
    Corpse Fortress, Ilsa
    Unsettling Whispers, Gaerea
    It’s Hard to Have Hope, Svalbard
    Támsins likam, Hamferd
    Damnatio Memoriae, Grethor

    Non-Metal
    7, Beach House
    Hollow Ground, Cut Worms
    Dance Music, Mastersystem

  7. Avslut – Deceptis
    Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light – Volume One
    Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
    Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
    Grá – Väsen
    Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars
    Slaves BC – Lo, and I Am Burning
    Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
    Vargrav – Netherstorm
    Wolvhammer – The Monuments of Ash & Bone

  8. Our Place of Worship is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering

    This has been by far my favorite album of 2018 so far, but I also really liked the below:

    Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
    Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
    Ellorsith – Orbhais
    Dopethrone – Transcanadian Anger
    Barren Altar – Entrenched in the Faults of the Earth
    Craft – White Noise and Black Metal
    Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms

  9. 50. Ghastly – Death Velour
    49. Abyssal Vaccuum – MMXVII
    48. Pneuma Hagion – Trinity
    47. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
    46. Hexeth – I
    45. Weigedood – De Doden Heben Het Goed III
    44. Stygian Obsession – Form Is Void
    43. W.A.I.L – Wisdom Through Agony Into Illumination And Lunacy vol.2
    42. Ellorsith – Orbhais
    41. Dead Melodies – The Foundations Of Ruin
    40. Replicant – Negative Life
    39. Novae Militiae – Gash’kalah
    38. Knelt Rote – Alternity
    37. Aseitas – Aseitas
    36. Of Feather And Bone – Bestial Hymns of Perversion
    35. Ugasanie – Ice Breath Of Antarctica
    34. Aetheria Conscientia – Tales From Hydhradh
    33. Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
    32. Kosmogyr – Eviternity
    31. Autokrator – The Hammer Of The Heretics
    30. Ager Sonus – Necropolis
    29. Chaos Echoes – Mouvement
    28. Exlimitir – It Weighed Itself In Silver
    27. Your End – Ghost Architecture
    26. Council Of Nine – Exit Earth
    25. Vile Creature – Cast Of Shadow And Smoke
    24. Panegyrist – Hierurgy
    23. Closet Witch – Closet Witch
    22. Sissy Spacek – Ways Of Confusion
    21. Reptilian – Perennial Void Traverse
    20. Atrium Carceri & Herbst9 – Ur Djupan Dal
    19. Gridfailure – Irritum
    18. Lingua Ignota – All Bitches Die*
    17. Clawing – Spectral Estate
    16. Dronny Darko – Black Hive
    15. Death.Void.Terror – To The Great Monolith
    14. Jyotisavedanga – Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum
    13. Eximia – Visitors
    12. Grave Upheaval – [untitled]
    11. Body Void – I Live Inside A Burning House
    10. Atrium Carceri, Cities Last Broadcast & God Body Disconnect – Miles To Midnight
    9. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
    8. Gnaw Their Tongues – Genocidal Majesty
    7. The Body – I Have Fought Against It But I Can’t Any Longer
    6. Desiderii Marginis – Vita Arkivet
    5. Lesa Listvy – Way Home
    4. ProtoU – The Edge Of Architecture
    3. Inhuman Kind – Self-Extinction
    2. Gatekeeper – East Of Sun
    1. Portal – Ion

    …. and breathe.

    • Went through everyone’s lists so far and skimmed all the stuff I hadn’t heard and that Abyssal Vaccuum record is definitely the take-away find. Just my kind of thing.

      The Clawing record sounds like some nice, weighty ambient / death industrial stuff too.

  10. Me so far:

    1. Watain-Trident Wolf Eclipse
    2. Tribulation-Down Below
    3. Agrimonia-Awaken
    4. Necrophobic-Mark of the Necrogram
    5. Slugdge-Esoteric Malacology
    6. Necropanther-Eyes of Blue Light
    7. Ails-The Unraveling
    8. LLNN-Deads
    9. Khemmis-Desolation

  11. Uada- Cult of a dying sun
    Cavern- Eater
    Spaceslug- Eye the tide (only released 20th July but they have 2 songs available on bandcamp so far and it’s plaguey)
    Gaerea- Unsettling whispers

  12. Kosmogyr – Eviternity
    Mahr – Antelux
    Шишкин Лес – Универс
    Plaguestorm – Eternal Throne
    Malicious Intent – Under The Shine Of The Ripping Sickle
    Void Eater – II
    Boss Keloid – Melted On The Inch
    Sectioned – Annihilated
    UADA – Cult Of A Dying Sun
    Owl – Orion Fenix
    Chaos Echoes – Mouvement
    Agrimonia – Awaken
    Abraham – Look, Here Comes The Dark
    Meadow Vole – Extempore
    Phil Anselmo And The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue
    Enscelados – The Unbeknownst Tyrant
    Argonavis – Passing the Igneous Maw
    Mire – Shed
    Wolvennest – VOID
    Mask – Concrete Reflections and Rust Showers

    Still waiting for a killer death metal record this year.

    • And some future potentials depending on how much I listen to them.

      夢遊病者 – 一期一会
      Nightmarer – Cacophony of Terror
      Ommadon – End Times
      Wesenwille – I : Wesenwille
      Ripped To Shreds – 埋葬
      Altar of Perversion – Intra Naos
      Ancient Moon – Split
      Sanguinary Trance – Wine, Song and Sacrifice
      Abythic – Beneath Ancient Portals
      Pale – EP
      Ungfell – Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
      Bedlam and Squalor – The Misery of Flesh & Blood
      Second To Sun – The Black
      Sinira – Dawnless Twilight
      Drug Cult – Drug Cult
      Pharaoh Overlord – Zero
      Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence

  13. Sentient Horror – The Crypts Below (EP) (2018)
    Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs (2018)
    Night Verses – Copper Wasp (2018)
    Cist – The Frozen Casket (EP) (2018)
    Horizon Ablaze – The Weight Of A Thousand Suns (2018)
    Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath (2018)
    Demonical – Chaos Manifesto (2018)

  14. Wyrmwoods: Earth Made Flesh
    Hegemone: We Disappear
    Pestilence: Hadeon
    Depravity: Evil Upheaval
    Alkaloid: Liquid Anatomy
    Undersave: Sadistic Iterations… Tale of Mental Rearrangement
    Usurpress: Interregnum
    Pharaoh Overlord: Zero
    Bong: Though and Existence
    Breeders All Nerve
    White Hills, Der Blutharsch & the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand: Desire

    Lots more still needs investigating.

  15. In no particular order…

    Swarrrm- Beginning to Break
    Ling Tosite Sigure- #5
    Judas Priest- Firepower
    Portal- Ion
    Human Serpent- For I, the Misanthropist
    Knelt Rote- Alterity
    Necrophobic- Mark of the Necrogram
    Uada- Cult of a Dying Sun
    Judicator- The Last Emperor
    Chaos Invocation- Reaping Season- Bloodshed Beyond

    Most anticipated releases for this year: Immortal, Into Eternity, Nile

  16. Avslut – Deceptis
    Cist – The Frozen Casket
    Drudkh – They Often See Dreams About the Spring
    Gra – Vasen
    Horrocious – Obscure Dominance of Nothingness
    Lik – Carnage
    Ocean of Grief – Nighfall’s Lament
    Raven Throne – I Miortvym Snicca Zolak
    Revolting – Monolith of Madness
    Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
    Supreme Carnage – Morbid Ways to Die
    The Grotesquery – The Lupine Anathema
    Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
    Wombbath – The Great Desolation
    Zombie Riot – Reign of Rotten Flesh

  17. Djevel – Blant Sorte Graner
    Wiegedood – De Doeden Hebben Het Goed III
    Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
    Ováte – Ováte
    Glorior Belli – The Apostates
    Afsky – Sorg

  18. Weedpecker – III
    Basalte – Vertige
    Vilkacis – Beyond the Mortal Gate
    Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
    Hænesy – Katruzsa
    Wayfarer – World’s Blood
    Wesenwille – I: Wesenwille
    Adzalaan – Into Vermillion Mirrors
    Slidhr – The Futile Fires of Man
    Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
    Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
    Changeling – II

  19. Anicon – Entropy Mantra
    Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
    Sadistik Forest – Morbid Majesties
    Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
    Unravel – Eras Of Forfeit
    Yob – Our Raw Heart
    Nordligblast – True Paradise
    Golgothan Remains – Perverse Offerings To The Void
    Evil Warriors – Fall From Reality
    Chthe’ilist – Passage Into The Xexanotth
    Wombripper – From the Depths of Flesh
    Vargrav – Netherstorm
    Endarken – Tvoj je hram u srcu mom
    Wyrms – Altuus Kronhorr

  20. Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
    Arthedain – Infernal Cadence of the Desolate
    Mortis Mutilati – The Stench of Death
    Necros Christos – Domedon Doxomedon
    Ritual Necromancy – Disinterred Horror
    Blood Worship – Death’s Omnipotence
    Engulf – Gold And Rust
    Raven Throne – I miortvym snicca zolak
    Superstition – Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
    Convocation – Scars Across
    Chaos Invocation – Reaping Season, Bloodshed Beyond
    Avslut – Deceptis
    Ataraxy – Where All Hope Fades
    LIK – Carnage
    Craft – White Noise and Black Metal
    Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
    Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
    Revolting – Monolith of Madness
    Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
    Gutter Instinct – Heirs of Sisyphus
    Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed

  21. Hænesy – Katruzsa
    Basalte – Vertige
    Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
    Weedpecker – II
    Wayfarer – World’s Blood
    Wesenwille – I: Wesenwille
    Changeling – II
    Vilkacis – Beyond the Mortal Gate
    Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
    Múspellzheimr – Raukn
    Adzalaan – Into Vermillion Mirrors
    Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
    Voight Kampff – Substance Rêve
    Anicon – Entropy Mantra

  22. Surprised to see two mentions of Lik’s Carnage on here, as someone who has been slowly hammering away at a review for it.

  23. Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It

  24. Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
    Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
    Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits
    Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue
    Anticosmos – Waters of Dissolution
    Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
    Trenches – Trenches
    Ails – The Unraveling
    Sleep – The Sciences
    Judas Priest – Firepower
    Thou – The House Primordial
    Thou – Inconsolable
    Condone – No Room/No Place
    Wolvhammer – Monuments of Ash and Bone
    Ghost – Prequelle

  25. 1. Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
    2. Rome in Monochrome – Away from Light
    3. Thy Catafalque – Geometria
    4. Hamferd – Tamsins Likam
    5. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
    6. In Vain – Currents
    7. Tribulation – Down Below
    8. Deathwhite – For a Black Tomorrow
    9. Dautha – Brethren of the Black Soil
    10. Demon Incarnate – Key of Solomon

  26. Man, I’m amazed all over again at what good taste the people have who emerge when we put out requests like this, and equally amazed at how much I’ve missed or haven’t paid enough attention to,

  27. Album of the year so far Deadly Carnage – Through the Void Above the Sun
    A close second Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy

  28. How the hell has that Vargrav album been mentioned twice only ?

  29. Long Distance Calling – Boundless
    Panphage – Jord
    The Atlas Moth – Coma Noir
    Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
    Huntsmen – American Scrap
    Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
    Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins
    Ungfell – Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
    Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III
    Veiled – Omniscient Veil
    Hegemone – We Disappear
    Green Druid – Ashen Blood
    Soliloquium – Contemplations
    Amarok – Devoured
    Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
    Marduk – Viktoria
    Agathos – Nihil Est
    Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers

    Some pretty good stuff. And then there is my To Do list which has another 50+ hours waiting for me.

  30. In no particular order:

    Marduk – Viktoria
    Chaos Invocation – Reaping seasons, bloodshed beyond
    Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
    Necrophobic – Mark of the Nekrogram
    Blasphamagoatachrist- Black Metal Warfare
    Goat Disciple – Wolf Cult Domination ep
    Rotted – Pestilent Tomb
    Mortuous – Through Wilderness
    Funeral Mist – Hekatomb

    next…
    Aborted – TerrorVision
    Benighted – new ep

  31. Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
    Aseitas – Aseitas
    Conjurer – Mire
    Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light: Volume One
    DDENT – TORO
    Extremities – Gaia
    Humiliation – Karnaval Genosida
    Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
    Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
    Spectral – Neural Correlates of Hate
    Unreal Overflows – Latent
    Vnrest – II

  32. Aosoth – L’esprit des vents (black metal)
    Grafvitnir – Keys to the Mysteries Beyond (black metal)
    Tyrants Blood – Into the Kingdom of Graves (death metal)
    Deus Vermin – Monument to Decay (death metal)
    Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram (melodic black metal)
    Trna – Earthcult (blackgaze)
    UNGFELL- Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz (black metal)
    Construct of Lethe – Exiler (death metal)
    Our Place of Worship Is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering (death metal)
    Depravity – Evil Upheaval (death metal)
    AKSUMITE – Vinegar Perimeter (black metal/punk)
    Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence (black metal)
    Molested Divinity – Desolated Realms Through Iniquity (brutal death metal)

    Tyrants Blood’s album had been released in 2013, but I knew them this year and it really kills!

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