We’re now about to enter the final month of 2018, and that begins the final countdown to the end of the year (and the strengthening onslaught of the annual holiday season). In the world of metal, this month we’ll also start seeing more and more lists of the year’s best releases.
Back in 2009, when this site was just a few days old, I wrote a post about year-end lists and why people bother with them. The best reason still seems to be this: Reading someone else’s list of the albums they thought were best is a good way to discover music you missed and might like.
We don’t do an “official” NCS year-end “best albums” list. However, we publish the picks of each of our regular staff writers as well as a group of guest writers (which we’ll start doing in December).
Every year we also invite our readers to share their lists and we’re doing that again right here, right now.
If you’ve been pondering what you’ve heard this year and have made your own list of the albums, EPs, or splits released in 2018 that you think are the best of what you’ve heard, we invite you to share it with us in the Comments section to this post. And if you haven’t made a list yet but want to, there’s still plenty of time (read below).
We don’t have any hard-and-fast rules about year-end lists. Your list doesn’t have to be a specific number — it doesn’t have to be a “Top 10″ or “Top 20″ list, it could be a Top 2 list or a Top 15, or any other number.
And it doesn’t have to be a cross-genre list, i.e., the best of all metal you’ve heard this year. It could be the best death metal, or the best black metal, or the best grind, or the best crust or folk metal, and on and on — pretty much whatever you want to do and feel comfortable doing, as long as it fits your definition of metal.
Don’t be shy, and don’t worry about being judged — if you haven’t figured it out already, it ain’t our style or the style of our commenters to ridicule what someone else thinks is great metal.
And if you don’t have a list ready yet, no sweat, because you can come back to this post whenever you like and add your list later — or comment on the lists others have posted. I’ll put a link to this post at the top right side of every page so people can find it quickly — look for the link to 2018 NCS READERS’ YEAR-END LISTS. That will make the comments to this post a collection point for “Best of” readers’ lists. And that link will stay on our page from now through this same date in 2019.
So start thinking and start commenting (please, and thank you).
121 Responses to “LISTMANIA 2018: AN INVITATION FOR READERS’ LISTS OF THE YEAR’S BEST METAL”
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So basically fuck every album that’s coming out in December huh.
I used to have that same frustration, but I think ultimately it’s just how it’s going to be. Reviewers get advance copies of albums by weeks or even months, so people writing blogs, magazines, columns, etc. have already had time to review the December albums that haven’t yet been publicly released. More traditional publications have every incentive to publish lists before the end of the year to drive sales for the holiday season and cash in the general end-of-year hubbub. Everyone else, including blogs like NCS, I suspect follows suit so as to stay relevant. If they waited until mid-January to ask for reader lists, nobody would care anymore. Most people will have already been burned out on looking at lists for the past month and a half and will have already made their own mental lists if they were inclined to do so, anyway. I do wish more people would try to push it back because albums released around this time of the year definitely do have a tendency to fall through the cracks. At the very least, I think it would be cool to see something like “Most Underappreciated/Forgotten Albums from the Previous Year” lists to help highlight things that sometimes get released without immediate fanfare or take awhile for the general metal community to appreciate.
I would often have a “late to the party” pick in my year-end list – as in a release that came out earlier that I’d only just got around to discovering. There’s just so much good metal coming out these days that it’s hard to hear everything the year it comes out.
“And if you don’t have a list ready yet, no sweat, because you can come back to this post whenever you like and add your list later — or comment on the lists others have posted. I’ll put a link to this post at the top right side of every page so people can find it quickly — look for the link to 2018 NCS READERS’ YEAR-END LISTS.”
Lychgate – The Contagion In Nine Steps
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Kriegsmaschine – Apocalypticists
Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition)
Jeff Anderle – Branching Patterns
Scott Johnson – Mind Out of Matter
Yob – Our Raw Heart
Koenji Hyakkei – Dhorimviskha
Aphex Twin – Collapse
Love that Lychgate album. I wasn’t super into their previous release but something about the new one just clicks. “Republic” is a helluva weird, awesome song.
Still catching up but here goes…
10 Spectral Wound- Infernal Decadence
9 Evoken- Hypnagogia
8 The Body- Oh God who avenges…
7 Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers
6 Firtan- Okeanos
5 YOB- Our Raw Heart
4 LLNN- Deads
3 1914- The Blind Leading the Blind
2 Portrayal of Guilt- Let Pain be Your Guide
1 Infernal Coil- Within a World Forgotten
Thanks for Firtan–missed that one.
Also, in your quest of catching-up, based on your selections, I’d personally recommend the following:
Hands of Despair “Well Of The Disquieted”
Archemoron “Year of the Harvester”
Orcus Patera “Schattenmarsch”
Arthedain “Infernal Cadence of the Desolate”
Wolvhammer “The Monuments of Ash & Bone”
Embrace of Thorns “Scorn Aesthetics”
For me, 2018 has been THE year of Incantation-Worship so I’ve gotta big-up;
Drawn and Quartered – The One Who Lurks, Burial Invocation – Abiogenesis, Scorched – Ecliptic Butchery and Innumerable Forms – Punishment In Flesh.
Black-Metal-wise, I’ve loved Craft – White Noise and Black Metal and Carpe Noctem – Vitrun.
Hooded menace ossuarium silhouettes unhallowed
Outre hollow earth
Acherontas faustian ethos
Cult of occult antilife
Abigor hollenzwang
Altar of perversion intra naos
Mournful congregation the incubus of karma
I’m waiting for your list.
JK.
Yes, I am (with empathy) ridiculing your own refusal to engage in listing.
I have had to move towards top 10 labels (with examples) to be able to do this with any level of parsimony.
Like with the infectious songs lists, I can only recommend that which has enhamced my ability to perform on the next level of retro-philiaing my neurotransmitters with Toca3 and Quake4 this year.
Rivers of Nihil – Where owls know my nomenclature be progressive as fuckin sax.
Mesarthim – Density Parameter of the edges of metallic conception
Voivod – The Wake of dystopia
I’ll remember not to write in drunk again. My sincerest apologies for the above drivel^^^
Forgot to mention:
Esoctrilihum – Inhüma
Horrendous’ latest is a grower, albeit also a show-er
Bane that you guys just premiered here is fuckin sick
The Ocean, can’t wait for Part 2
Fuk, if we can’t write in drunk I’m gonna hav to shut the site down.
My Favorites:
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
House of Atreus – The Madness of Ixion
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
Vermilia – Katkyt
Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Also really great:
Morne – To the Night Unknown
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind
Shylmagoghnar – Transience
Gorod – Aethra
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands
Mutilation Rites – Chasm
Superstition – Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
LLNN – Deads
Ripped to Shreds – 埋葬
Cemetery Urn – Barbaric Retribution
Necrovortex – Outre-Tombe
Baest – Danse Macabre
Favorite EPs:
Chthe’ilist – Passage into the Xexanotth
Funeral Leach – The Funereality
Raider – Urge to Kill
Tomb Mold – Cerulean Salvation
Abhorrence – Megalohydrothalassophobic
I have a feeling we’re going to see big things from Funeral Leech next year. One of my new favorite live bands.
Great list(s)!!
I don’t know if anyone is still looking at this, but I’ve got to add Slaves BC – Lo, And I am Burning.
I don’t know how I missed this one, but wow. Really, WOW.
And I’m looking forward to the Sulphur Aeon release. Really high hopes for that one.
Thanks for Shylmagoghnar.
In no particular order:
Verheerer – Maltrér
Kriegsmaschine – Apocalipticists
Entropia – Vacuum
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Panphage – Jord
Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
Eternal Rot – Cadaverine
Kosmogyr – Eviternity
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
In Twilight’s Ebrace – Lawa
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burial Rituals Part II
Zeal and Ardor – Stranger Fruit
Also:
Sulphur Aeon – The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos
(which admitedly hasn’t come out yet, but based on the excellent single they’ve released a couple weeks ago I’m quite confident it will be at the very least a fun, thorougly enjoyable album.)
Some disappointing albums this year:
Akhenaten – Golden Serpent God
Hoth – Astral Necromancy
(while I’m a big fan of both of those bands and wish them all the success in the world, their new releases are simply inferior to their previous albums.)
With you on that Hoth and that Sulphur Aeon.
Hoth didn’t blow me away like the last did. Oh well. I still liked, it but it wasn’t the dark magic I was looking for.
Sulphur Aeon is bound to be on my list one way or another. Band is immense.
Too many to real off, so just gonna link to it. All in Bandcamp format.
http://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5421
That’s so much homework man, but seems so easy with all the bandcamp lind… Hating you righ now : )
Haha, well it’s useful but also a pain as the more it grows the longer it all takes to load, especially on a phone. It’s nice having all the art in one place though.
Also, that should be “reel” off, not “”real” off, erghh…
Hoooded menace ossuarium silhouhettes unhallowed
Altar of perversion intra naos
Abigor hollenzwang
Outre hollow earth
Mournful congregation the incubus of karma
Acherontas faustian ethos
LPs
1. Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
2. Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword
3. Hamferð – Támsins Likam
4. Convulsing – Grievous
5. Woundvac – Terrorizing the Storm
6. Sargeist – Unbound
7. Claret Ash – The Great Adjudication
8. Hecate – Une voix venue d’ailleurs
9. Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy
10. ESOCTRILIHUM – Inhüma
• Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
• Torri – A Judgement Devine
• Wallfahrer – Anthologie Der Abkehr
• Aseitas – Aseitas
• Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition)
• Tvær – Old Gods Whom Chaos Knew
• Autokrator – Hammer of Heretics
• Infestus – Thrypsis
• Horrendous – Idol
• The Body – I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer
• Kommandant – Blood Eel
• Lago – Sea of Duress
• Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
• Crawl – Rituals
• Warfuck – This Was Supposed To Be Fun
• Dead Moon Temple – Ænigmasólvoid
• Shylmagoghnar – Transience
• Antlers – beneath.below.behold
• Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury
• Malthusian – Across Deaths
• Convocation – Scars Across
• Jesus Ain’t In Poland – No Man’s Land
• UADA – Cult of a Dying Sun
• Atra Vetosus – Apricity
• Dysylumn – Occultation
• Ulthar – Cosmovore
• Outer Heavens – Realms of Eternal Decay
• Zealotry – At The Nexus Of All Stillborn Worlds
• Gevurah – Sulphur Soul
• Lifelost – Dialogues From Beyond
• Solium Fatalis – Genetically Engineered to Enslave
• BA’A/ Verfallen / Hyrgal – Split
• Marsh Dweller – Wanderer
• Outre – Hollow Earth
• Kriegsmachine – Apocalypticists
• Mallephyr – Womb of Worms
• Khragkh – ΓVΛΩ
• Det Eviga Leendet – Lenience
• Omnipotence – Paths to Oblivion
• Totenmesse – To
• Viscera/// – City of Dope and Violence
• Begotten – A Waning Silhouette
• Necrospell – Awakening of Tyrants
• Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure
• Gudveiki – Blodhunang
• 1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind
• Veilburner – A Sire to the Ghouls of Lunacy
• Korpsesoturi – Malus Corpus
Eps
• Teth-Nahash – Ι . Α . Ω
• Phrenelith – Ornamented Dead Eyes
• Elysian Blaze – The Virtue of Suffering
• Twilight – Trident Death Rattle
• Void Ritual – Death is Peace
• Chthe’ilist – Passage Into The Xexanotth
• Curse Upon A Prayer – The Three Woes
• Sentient Horror – The Crypts Below
• Jade – Smoking Mirror- MMXVIII
• Begotten – And the Wind Cries Death
Just FYI…Gevurah was an EP, not a full length
True, but it’s like 30 minutes long so I count it as an LP
Lol, awesome list. I too have a ton of albums that aren’t top 10, but are super albums I will keep coming back to forever.
Appreciate you for Hamferð, Wallfahrer, and Solium Fatalis (I especially don’t know how I have never heard of that first one). Awesome list overall. many of the releases included in my list as well or if not on my actual list, definitely in my listening repertoire for 2018.
My list isn’t a best-of, because I didn’t listen to every single album that was released this year and I’m sure there are some great ones I missed. This is just some of my favorites in no particular order. There’s also some of my own stuff, because I like my own music a lot (I wouldn’t spend all that time writing and recording it if I didn’t), and some non-metal stuff, because their damn good albums regardless of their genre. There’s also a link to the same list on my personal blog, if you’d like to see the album art.
Judas Priest – Firepower
Burn The Priest – Legion:XX
Six Feet Under – Unburied
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
Gruesome – Twisted Prayers
Krisiun – Scourge Of The Enthroned
Sevendust – All I See Is War
Metal Allegiance – Volume II – Power Drunk Majesty
Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence
Horrendous – Idol
Portal – Ion
Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits
Deicide – Overtures Of Blasphemy
Terrorizer – Caustic Attack
Bloodbath – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
Cryptopsy – The Book Of Suffering – Tome II
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands
Cancer – Shadow Gripped
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Pistol Annie’s – Interstate Gospel
Eric Church – Desperate Man
Whitey Morgan – Hard Times and White Lines
Cody Jinks – Lifers
Atomic Zombie Records – Metal To Wake The Dead Volume One
Godless Angel – Six Years Of Sin
https://metalhead.home.blog/2018/11/27/metalhead-year-end-list-2018/
As usual, in my haste I forgot some great albums. Hopefully this is my only addendum.
Ashley McBryde – Girl Going Nowhere
Brothers Osborne – Port Saint Joe
Ashley Monroe – Sparrow
Colter Wall – Songs Of The Plains
Old Crow Medicine Show – Volunteer
At last, someone else recognizes the magnificent comeback the almighty Monstrosity has had. I’m honestly flabbergasted at the lack of love for that release. True, it’s not necessarily anything unorthodox, they haven’t introduced any real new ideas to death metal, but the album is spectacular nonetheless, especially the superb guitar solos found in EVERY, SINGLE, SONG. Favorite: “The Hive”.
Hooded menace Ossuarium silhouettes unhallowed
Altar of perversion intra naos
Acherontas faustian ethos
Abigor hollenzwang
Dire omen formless fire embodied
Mournful congregation the incubus of karma
Hegemone we disappear
My list…
…is something you’ll all have to wait for 🙂
I am eagerly waiting for it.
I already have a long list of albums I still have yet to check out, but of the albums I’ve heard this year I would consider these the great ones (unordered, except Top 5):
1. Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury
2. Hamferð – Támsins likam
3. Slugdge – Esoteric Malocology
4. Khôrada – Salt
5. Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
Æpoch – Awakening Inception
Aklash – Where the Ocean Meets the Sky
Ataraxy – Where All Hope Fades
Behemoth – I Love You At Your Darkest
Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Constant
Holy Fawn – Death Spells
Horrendous – Idol
Huntsmen – American Scrap
Ihsahn – Àmr
Lychgate – The Contagion in Nine Steps
Møl – Jord
Wayfarer – World’s Blood
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit
Non-Metal:
Ulvesang – The Hunt
Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses
Oops, non-metal list didn’t get finished:
Carpenter Brut – Leather Teeth
Hollywood Burns – Invaders
Liz Cooper & the Stampede – Window Flowers
Soft Kill – Savior
Trampled By Turtles – Life Is Good on the Open Road
More or less in that order, with still A TON of album in the always growing waiting list:
Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want
Scorched – Ecliptic Butchery
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay
Galvanizer – Sanguine Vigil
Deszcz – III
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Outre-Tombe – Nécrovortex
Horrendous – Idol
Ulthar – Cosmovore
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics
Hyperdontia – Nexus of Teeth
Cabbage – Nihilistic Glamour Shots
Mutilation Rites – Chasm
Mammoth Grinder – Cosmic Crypt
Haken – Vector
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Street Sects – The Kicking Mule
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Noname – Room 25
Chaos Echœs – Mouvement
Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns
Ryan Porter – The Optimist
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
Mythic Sunship – Another Shape of Psychedelic Music
Pill – Soft Hell
Whispering Sons – Image
Damn another year and I feel like I’m drowning in the number of releases I still haven’t managed to listen to. I’m going to have to head to an abandoned island, with plenty of solar power, and become a hermit in order to catch up at this rate.
A few picks from what I have managed to hear:
Aegaeon – Age (so happy they finally released an album). Heavy and interspersed with truly atmospheric interludes. Such a fascinating listen.
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name. This and Monarchy have been on heavy rotation for me this year
Dimmu Borgir – Eonian. Say what you like, I love this album. Not super heavy or reinventing the wheel, but damn easy to leave on and listen all the way through.
Beyond Creation – Algorythm. I still haven’t given this enough time to absorb fully, in fact, I’ll put it on right now 😉
Order Ov Riven Cathedrals – Gobleki Tepe
Alien Weaponry – Tu. A little uneven and I think it does suffer from “first album syndrome” to some extent – where some tracks are obviously written earlier than others, where differences in song-writing and “finding their sound” show (probably more so than usual for this band due to their age). But other tracks are killer and I’m stoked for them to have pulled this off and look forward to see them grow.
Mordant Rapture – The Abnegation (EP)
Nice. Since you liked Aegaeon (which I thought the atmospheric incorporation was nice to listen to as well), try out: Exterminatus “Laniakea”. It’ll tie us over until Rings of Saturn is able to yank us into another black hole and ravish our flesh (hopefully sometime this year). Also, Sun Speaker “Ov Lustra”. (My recommendation for starters, begin with track 3: Felle).
Beyond Creation’s new release was good (good, as in Andy’s use of the term). “Earthborn Evolution” and “The Aura” were much more impressive releases. Again, “Algorythm” was not a bad release by any means, but I think the majority of Beyond Creation fans were expecting a bit more unorthodoxy and further expansion/layers of their already well-established elements. Maybe they’ll dislocate our frontal lobes with the next release. Wait for it…
On that note, if Beyond Creation didn’t bring you to full erection, give this one a listen: Spectral – “Neural Correlates of Hate”. Spectral have taken more than just a few pages from Beyond Creation’s book.
A few other miscellaneous recommendations:
Skogen “Skuggorna kallar”
Hands of Despair “Well Of The Disquieted”
Journal “Chrysalis Ordalias”
Archemoron “Year of the Harvester” (Just listen to that beauty of a solo in track 8: Crawling Plague”)
Kairos “Simulgression”
Enscelados – The Devouring God
Antlers – beneath.below.behold
Wallfahrer – Anthologie Der Abkehr
Sorcier Des Glaces – Sorcier Des Glaces
Negativa – 03
Cultus Profano – Sacramentum Obscurus
Hord – Parallels
Ultha – The Inextricable Wandering
Severoth – When the Night Falls
Ripped to Shreds – Mai- Zang
Props for Cultus Profano – glad to see it on someone else’s list.
Thanks my man. Great call on Cult of Extinction. That’s a powerful band.
(long winded)
I doubt I can pick one number one top favorite, but if Cultes des Ghoules and Chapel of Disease hadn’t released anything, Faustcoven would have taken it. As it is, I’m calling it a tie between these three.
Faustcoven (Nor) – In the Shadow of Doom
Malicious, evil, irresistible. meticulously crafted blackened doom. Brilliant from start to finish.
Cultes Des Ghoules (Pol) – Sinister, or Treading the Darker Paths
Bow to the masters. They never fail to make music that’s unfailingly interesting.
Chapel of Disease (Ger) – …And As We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
An exceptional death metal album. Lots of progressive and bluesy/rock touches.
I don’t know if I just listened to more music this year, or if I just needed more aural extremity in my life, or if there were just more amazing releases this year than in recent years (iwith several more expected in December), but whatever the reason, I couldn’t restrict myself to just a couple. So fuck it, I’m doing a top 20. My top picks are above. The rest (including demos, EPs, and splits) are below. This turned out to be a fine year for black metal, with exceptional blackened doom, blackened death, and blackened black metal. It was also apparently a good year for cults of various spellings.
Abysmal Lord / Crurifragium (USA) – (split)
I think my speakers just held me down and fucked me.
Chthe’ilist (Can) – Passage into the Xexanotth (EP)
Great, but only one original song and one cover.
Corpsessed (Fin) – Impetus of Death
Killer. My new obsession.
Cult of Extinction (Ger) – Black Nuclear Magick Attack (demo)
Terrifying war metal. Maybe it’s an EP. Too scared to decide.
Cultus Profano (USA) – Sacramentum Obscurus
Fantastic black metal. The unhinged vocals really sold me on this.
Dead Void (Den) – The Looming Spectre (demo)
This has an atmosphere so thick it feels like breathing solid cement. It’s hard to argue with Immortal Shadow Hydra, and that’s not even the best song.
Doomortalis (Mex) – Splendor…then Gloominess
Splendor indeed. Now gloominess that I’m waiting for more from them.
Eternal Rot (UK/Pol) – Cadaverine
This is the foulest, most rotten, stinking death metal from a hellish sewer I’ve heard all year. I love it.
Grave Dust (USA) – Pale Hand (EP)
Impressive debut for this death metal maelstrom.
Grave Upheaval (Oz) – (wtf?)
This is so heavy my balls finally dropped (really needed that after listening to Cult of Extinction).
Inisans (Swe) – Transitions
Perfect old school Swedish death metal for when you just need to break stuff.
Kingdom (Pol) – Putrescent Remains of the Dead Ground
Their best album yet.
Necros Christos (Ger) – Domedon Doxomedon
Starts with a whimper from Christ, ends 2 hours later with a headbanging. If this really is their last album, they did it right.
Profanatica (USA) – Altar of the Virgin Whore (EP)
Nothing less than the highest quality you’ve come to expect.
Tomb Mold (Can) – Manor of Infinite Forms
Really really good death metal.
Wargoat (Gre) / Black Ceremonial Kult (Chl) – Unapproachable laws of the abyss (split)
Damn amazing from both bands
Witch King (USA) – Voice of the Ossuary
Raw, bloody, WAR METAL! This will snap your neck in half.
Zorn (USA) – s/t (demo)
A far-too-short offering from these occult punk / death metal madmen from Philadelphia.
And honorable mention (because I can’t help myself) goes to:
Goat Sperm (Ukr) – Voice in the Womb (EP)
Open yourself to the experience and soak up all of this spunky band’s virgin release.
in no particular order:
Panphage
Ataraxy
Slugdge
Ails
Mortuous
Tomb Mold
Idle Hands
Scorched
Outer Heaven
Ghastly
Akitsa
Spite
Ungfell
Svederna
Antichrist (Peru)
Lingua Ignota
Khemmis
Runemagick
Innumerable Forms
Revocation
Faustcoven
Yob
Satan
Horrendous
Fluisteraars/ Turia
Sleep
… and many more than I’m forgetting/ haven’t fully digested yet
So happy to see Faustcoven on another list – it amazes me that that album hasn’t gotten more attention.
These are just my favorites from what I’ve managed to get my ever busy hands on this year. It’s a mix of albums and EPs in alphabetical order because ranking is just too much fuckin’ worry.
Ails – The Unraveling
Anticosmos – Waters of Dissolution
Behemoth – I Loved You at Your Darkest
Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits
Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
Deadbird – III: The Forest Within the Tree
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy
Ghost – Prequelle
High on Fire – Electric Messiah
Judas Priest – Firepower
Lucifer – Lucifer II
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
Skinless – Savagery
Sleep – The Sciences
Thou – Magus
Thou – Rhea Sylvia
Thou – Inconsolable
Thou – The House Primordial
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
Wolvhammer – The Monuments of Ash and Bone
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind
Avslut – Deceptis
Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Grá – Väsen
Outre – Hollow Earth
Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars
Sorcier des Glaces – Sorcier des glaces
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Valdur – Goat of Iniquity
Loved the Avslut and Sorcier des Glaces releases too!
Nice to see some love for Ov Shadows. That is a really good album, that might be on my final list. However, it has gotten very little attention
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials Part II
Paragon Impure – Sade
Urfaust – The Constellatory Practice
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
Taphos – Come Ethereal Somberness
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition)
Degial – Predator Reign
Svartidauði – Revelations of The Red Sword
Panphage – Jord
Acherontas – Faustian Ethos
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure
Ascension – Under Ether
Chaos Invocation – Reaping Season, Bloodshed Beyond
Aura Noir – Aura Noir
Clandestine Blaze – Tranquillity of Death
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics
Necros Christos – Domedon Doxomedon
Cultes des Ghoules – Sinister, Or Treading the Darker Paths
1. Judas Priest – Firepower
2. Revocation – The Outer Ones
3. Satan – Cruel Magic
4. At the Gates – To Drink From The Night Itself
5. Voivod – The Wake
6. Black Fast – Spectre Of Ruin
7. Deaf Heaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
8. Ihsahn – Ámr
9. Bad Wolves – Disobey
10. Omnium Gatherum – The Burning Cold
11. Obscura – Diluvium
12. Thy Catalfalque – Geometria
13. Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart
14. Between The Buried And Me – Automata
15. Vein – Errorzone
16. Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands
17. Behemoth – I Loved You At Your Darkest
18. Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns
19. The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaezoic
20. Azusa – Heavy Yoke
21. Gorod – Aethra
22. Ghost – Prequelle
23. Primal Fear – Apocalypse
24. U.D.O – Steel Factory
25. Boss Keloid – Melted On The Inch
26. Esben And The Witch – Nowhere
27. YOB – Our Raw Hearth
28. Arsis – Visitant
29. Corrosion Of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
30. Soulfly – Ritual
31. The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
32. Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog
33. Witch Mountain – Witch Mountain
34. Krisiun – Escourge Of The Enthroned
35. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
36. Beyond Creation – Algorythm
37. Howling Sycamore – Howling Sycamore
38. Nothing – Dance On The Black Top
39. Tribulation – Down Below
40. Sylvaine – Atoms Aligned, Coming, Undone
41. Ken Mode – Loved
42. Cryptopsy – The Book Of Suffering Tome II
43. Portal – Ion
44. Atrocity – OKKULT II
45. Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
46. Pig Destroyer – Head Cage
47. Internal Bleeding – Corrupting Influence
48. Light This City – Terminal Bloom
49. Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence
50. Khôrada – Salt
In no particular order :
Chapel of Disease – …And As We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy
Depravity – Evil Upheaval
Portal – Ion
Irreversible Mechanism – Immersion
Gutter Instinct – Heirs of Sisyphus
Noise Trail Immersion – Symbology Of Shelter
Outre-Tombe – Nécrovortex
Mutilation Rites – Chasm
Phantom – Death Epic
The Aftermath – Vermine
Deathstorm – The Unfathomable
Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury
Apophys – Devoratis
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart
Howling Sycamore – Howling Sycamore
Of Feather And Bone – Bestial Hymns of Perversion
This was a very good year.
Great list but tell me: what do you
Ike about Portal? I’ve tried so hard to like it cause it checks so many boxes for me but I just cant seem to enjoy the music.
1. Mire – Shed
2. Thy Catafalque – Geometria
3. Horrendous – Idol
4. Amarok – Devoured
5. Ihsahn – Amr
6. Conjurer – Mire
7. Ungfell – Mythen, Maren, Pestilenz
8. Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
9. Hamferd – Tamsins Likam
10. The Skull – The Endless Road Turns Dark
11. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
12. Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
13. Tribulation – Down Below
14. In Vain – Currents
15. Khemmis – Desolation
1. CONVULSING Grievous
2. TOMB MOLD Manor of Infinite Forms
3. CHAPEL OF DISEASE …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
4. PANOPTICON The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness Parts I & II
5. UN Sentiment
6. KHEMMIS Desolation
7. INFERNAL COIL Within A World Forgotten
8. OBLITERATION Cenotaph Obscure
9. YOB Our Raw Heart
10. VANHELGD Deimos Sanktuarium
11. IMMORTAL Northern Chaos Gods
12. KHORADA Salt
13. FUNERAL MIST Hekatomb
14. AGRIMONIA Awaken
15. HIGH ON FIRE Electric Messiah
16. SADISTIK FOREST Morbid Majesties
17. JUDAS PRIEST Firepower
18. INNUMERABLE FORMS Punishment In Flesh
19. PETRIFICATION Hollow of the Void
20. SEPULCHER Panoptic Horror
Funny how when thinking about a 2018 list I realize how much I listen to old albums…..
In no particular order (except A Forest of Stars):
A Forest of Stars – Grave mounds and grave mistakes
Rivers of Nihil – Where owls know my name
Subtype Zero – The astral awakening
Pagan – Black wash
Clandestine Blaza – Tranquility of death
Deathhammer – Chained to hell
A Pregnant Light – Lucky all my life
Marissa Nadler – For my crimes
Aborted – TerrorVision
Ævangelist – Heralds of NIghtmare descending
The Crown – Cobra speed venom
Lifelost – Dialogues from beyond
Kwade Droes – De duivel en zijn gore oude kankermoer (unintentionally the funniest title of the year)
Spearhead – Pacifism is cowardice (runner up for funniest title)
Anaal Nathrakh – A new kind of horror (pure gym magic)
Bloodshot Dawn – Reanimation
Skeletal Remains – Devouring mortality
In The Woods… – Cease the day
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold
Construct of Lethe – Exiler (before I forget, ha!)
Aeternus – Heathen
Beach House – 7
Deathstorm – Reaping what is left
Virulent Spectre – You will succumb to the hate you possess and your failures will destroy you
Venus Star – Nigredo Expulsion
Horror Vacui – New wave of fear
Signal of the Jackal – Breaking the spell (Class of 99!!!!!)
Kly – Szczerzenie
Iskandr – Euprosopon
Drudkh – They often see dreams about the spring
Black Space Riders – Amoretum vol 1
Agrimonia – Awaken
The Doppelgangaz – AAAAAAAAGGHH
Trampled by Turtles – Life is good on the open road
Void Meditation Cult – Utter the tongue of the dead
EPs
Solar Temple – Fertile crescent
Idle Hands – Dont waste your time
Aerith – s/t (ugh just found it this is Final Fantasy-themed, but oh, well)
High Command – The primodial void
Split
Fluisteraards / Thuria
Aha Void Meditation Cult wasnt from 2018; my bad!
Maybe substitute it with Rodentlord
Several good selections, but I’m pleased to finally see Kly’s name on someone’s list. It didn’t make my main list, but it nearly did. Can’t wait to find out what their future releases sound like.
Just finished mine up last week. Pretty solid on it.
1. Necropanther-Eyes of Blue Light
2. Vreid – Lifehunger
3. Wolftooth – S/T
4. Skeletonwitch-Devouring Radiant Light
5. Lucifer- Lucifer II
6. Haunt- Burst Into Flame
7. Tribulation-Down Below
8. Forming the Void-Rift
9. Slugdge-Esoteric Malacology
10. Deafheaven-Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
11. Necrophobic-Mark of the Necrogram
12. Temple Desecration-Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos
13. Khemmis-Desolation
14. Mantar- The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze
15. Watain-Trident Wolf Eclipse
16. Thron- Abysmal
17. Ails-The Unraveling
18. LLNN-Deads
19. Lik-Carnage
20. Gaerea-Unsettling Whispers
21. Svartkonst-Devil’s Blood
22. Agrimonia-Awaken
1. Infernal Coil – Within a World Forgotten
2. Our Place of Worship is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering
3. Hissing – Permanent Destitution
4. Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy
5. The Lion’s Daughter – Future Cult
6. Extremity – Coffin Birth
7. Convulsing – Grievous
8. Barús – Drowned
9. Ifernach – IV. Gaqtaqaiaq
10. Malthusian – Across Deaths
11. Wayfarer – World’s Blood
12. Slidhr – The Futile Fires of Man
13. Construct of Lethe – Exiler
14. Fórn – Rites of Despair
15. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
1/ Ocean Of Grief – Nightfall’s Lament
2/ Harakiri for the Sky – Arson
3/ Apophys – Devoratis
4/ Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram
5/ Sojourner – The Shadowed Road
6/ Ingested – The Level Above Human
7/ Dimmu Borgir – Eonian
8/ Obliterate – Impending Death
9/ Vargrav – Netherstorm
10/ Euphoreon – Ends Of The Earth
11/ Hinayana – Order Divine
12/ Depravity – Evil Upheaval
13/ Michael Romeo – War Of The Worlds , Pt. 1
14/ Black Fast – Spectre of Ruin
15/ Nekrokraft – Servants
16/ Genocide Pact – Order Of Torment
17/ Baest – Danse Macabre
18/ The Ugly – Thanatology
19/ AcoD – The Divine Triumph
20/ Krisiun – Scourge Of The Enthroned
21/ Carnation – Chapel Of Abhorrence
22/ Aborted – Terrorvision
23/ Atavisma – The Chthonic Rituals
24/ Wolfheart – Constellation Of The Black Light
25/ Thron – Abysmal
26/ Void Rot – Consumed By Oblivion (EP)
27/ Agrona – Realm Of The Fallen
28/ Forlorn Citadel – Songs Of Mourning (Demo)
29/ Weak Aside – Forward Into Darkness
30/ …
Slugdge is my clear #1; the rest in no particular order.
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Silence Lies Fear – Shadow of the Wasteland
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Parius – The Eldritch Realm
Horrendous – Idol
Tribulation – Down Below
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Night Verses – From The Gallery Of Sleep
Clavicus Vile – The Nightspirit’s Call
Blame – Almanac
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
Loosely ordered. Out of 207 albums listened.
Waiting to hear Cantique Lepreux, Svartidaudi and Sulphur Aeon before I finalize.
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials Part II
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen the Storm…
Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Slihouettes Unhallowed
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Irreversible Mechanism – Immersion
Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Condition
Glacial Tomb – Glacial Tomb
Un – Sentiment
Hamfer∂ – Tamsins likam
Windfaerer – Alma
Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Anicon – Entropy Mantra
Mutilated By Zombies – Scripts of Anguish
Agrimonia – Awaken
Totenmesse – To
夢遊病者 – 一期一会
Moonreich – Fugue
Khemmis – Desolation
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold
Elffor – Impious Battlefields
Best Non-Metal
Wild Nothing – Indigo
Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo
Tony Molina – Kill The Lights
Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
Beach House – 7
Landing – Bells In New Towns
Sangre de Muerdago – Noite
Iceage – Beyondless
Kurt Vile – Bottle It In
Weedpecker – III
Alphabetical order – too hard to choose at the moment – both Black and Death:
Avslut – Deceptis
Blood of Serpents – Sulphur Sovereign
Burial Invocation – Abiogenesis
Cainan Dawn – FOHAT
Cist – The Frozen Casket
Drudkh – They Often See Dreams About the Spring
Ectoplasma – Cryogenically Revived
Gra – Vasen
Human Compost – Exhumations of Death and Horror
Hyperdontia – Nexus of Teeth
Khandra – There Is No Division Outside Existence
Magoth – Zeitgeist
Oceans of Grief – Nightfall’s Lament
Raven Throne – I Miortum Snicca Zolak
Sadistik Forest – Morbid Majesties
Skeletel Remains – Devouring Mortality
The Grotesquery – The Lupine Anathema
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Ulthar – Cosmovore
Vultur – Entangled in the Webs of Fear
Wombbath – The Great Desolation
2018 Top 50 Metal
1. Slugdge- Esoteric Malacology
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb
Alkaloid- Liquid Anatomy
Antiverse- Under The Regolith
Psycroptic- As the Kingdom Drowns
A Forest Of Stars- Grave Mounds And Grave Mistakes
Horrendous- Idol
Gorod- Aethra
Wild Hunt- Afterdream of the Reveller
Rivers of Nihil- Where Owls Know My Name
11. Barús- Drowned
Ascension- Under Ether
Revocation- The Outer Ones
Skeletal Remains- Ripperology
Imperialist- Cipher
Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers
Craft- White Noise and Black Metal
Depravity- Evil Upheaval
Augury- Illusive Golden Age
Construct Of Lethe – Exiler
21. Verheerer-Maltrér
Convulsing- Grievous
Anicon- Entropy Mantra
HAGO- HAGO
Tomb Mold- Manor Of Infinite Forms
Usurpress – Interregnum
Sear Bliss- Letters From The Edge
Wolfheart- Constellation Of The Black Light
Noorvik- Noorvik
Serocs- The Phobos
31. Kauan- Live 13
Infuriate- Infuriate
Aepoch- Awakening Inception
Morne- To the Night
Deus Vermin- Monument To Decay
Monotheist- Scourge
Pound – Pound
Duskburn- Serpentide
ION- A Path Unknown
Obscura- Diluvium
41. Sylff- Inner Devastation – Outer Serenity
KHôRADA- Salt
Altars of Grief- Altars of Grief
Irreversible Mechanism- Irreversible Mechanism
Existem- Mantle
Oceans of Slumber- The Banished Heart
Marduk- Viktoria
Akhenaten- Akhenaten – Golden Serpen
Skyglow- Thousand Years of Terror
Spires- A Parting Gift
Mentions:
Michael Romeo, Immortal, Skeletonwitch, Burrows, Yob, Hinayana, Jinjer, Psychotomy, Crypteria, Cult Leader, Aethereus, ASG, Dopethrone, Jonathan Anderson, Kontinuum, Myelin Sheath, Wallfahrer, The Ocean, Orator, Potmos Hetoimos
EPs:
Fall of the Albatross- Abscission
Quantum Hierarchy- Neutron Breed
Lifelost- Dialogues From Beyond
Aeviterne- Sireless
Dead Void- The Looming Spectre
At The Graves- Lower
Engulf- Gold and Rust
Phrenelith- Ornamented Dead Eyes
Potion- Women of the Wand
Tomb Mold- Cerulean Salvation
Soldat Hans- Es Taut
Empress/Piece Split
Protonaut- Spectral EP
Samakaras- Lithification
Harper Mattraw- The Crow and the Serpent
Modern Sunlight- Enigma
Bongripper- Terminal
Black Tomb/Crud Split
Beastmaker- Ep. 7
Armed for the Apocalypse- Palm Reader EP
Not Metal:
Blue Dream- Volume Blue
Cloudyspace- Limits of the Mind
Evan Marien- Live at the Musicmaker 2018
In Dreamview- In Dreamview
Jen Cloher- B-sides and Rarities
Kontinuum- No Need To Reason (One of my favorite bands!)
Lead Into Gold- The Sun Behind Sun
Marbin- 200’000 Likes
Smash the Crash- JazzMetal
Obviously its Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality, not Ripperology!?! Error!
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
Beyond Creation – Algorythm
Binah – Phobiate
Cattle Decapitation – Medium Rareties
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burial Rituals Part II
Ghost – Prequelle
The Konsortium – Rogaland
Master’s Hammer – Fascinator
Nechochwen – The Ancient Rites
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I – Palaeozoic
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness I and II
Progenie Terrestre Pura – StarCross
Sear Bliss – Letters from the Edge
Sigh – Heir to Despair
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Sulphur Aeon – The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos
Thy Catafalque – Geometria
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Tribulation – Down Below
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit
So far,
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology 11
Horrendous- Idol 8
Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers 6
Rivers of Nihil- Where Owls Know My Name 6
Tomb Mold- Manor Of Infinite Forms 6
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have 5
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb 5
Khemmis – Desolation 5
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality 5
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light 5
Yob – Our Raw Heart 5
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind 4
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition) 4
Agrimonia – Awaken 4
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold 4
Convulsing- Grievous 4
Hamferd – Tamsins Likam 4
Judas Priest – Firepower 4
Khôrada – Salt 4
Tribulation – Down Below 4
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun 4
Akhenaten- Akhenaten – Golden Serpen 3
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy 3
Behemoth – I Love You At Your Darkest 3
Construct Of Lethe – Exiler 3
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials 3
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy 3
Depravity – Evil Upheaval 3
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy 3
Gorod- Aethra 3
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands 3
Ihsahn – Amr 3
Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury 3
Infernal Coil- Within a World Forgotten 3
Irreversible Mechanism- Immersion 3
Kriegsmachine – Apocalypticists 3
Krisiun – Escourge Of The Enthroned 3
LLNN- Deads 3
Mutilation Rites – Chasm 3
Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram 3
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure 3
Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart 3
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay 3
Outre – Hollow Earth 3
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once 3
Portal – Ion 3
Psycroptic- As the Kingdom Drowns 3
Revocation- The Outer Ones 3
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence 3
Ulthar – Cosmovore 3
Cool – thanks for tallying these – it’s interesting to see everyone’s lists but then get a total like this.
I’ll add my thanks for this too. (As you requested, I also deleted the duplicative post. There’s some problem we’ve been unable to diagnose that results in a lag in comments appearing, which has caused some people to repeat their comments.)
I think the lag is connected to people using their phones. I posted just fine off of my desktop, but my phone lagged like crazy
Our IT guru is on vacation, and I’m not going to mess it up by bugging him to see if he can sort this out now. But as soon as he’s back in Seattle, I’ll light him up.
Top picks for 2018 so far with the top 6 being more or less in order
Krumkač – Honar I Kroŭ
Grá – Väsen
Hegemone – We Disappear
Makrofagi – Makrofagi
Paara – Riitti
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
DVNE – Asheran
All My Sins – Pra Sila – Vukov Totem
Mourning Dawn – The Dead Years
Skogen – Skuggorna Kallar
Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III
Djevel – Blant Svarte Graner
Ezkaton – Plague For The Empires: Time
Make A Change… Kill Yourself – IV
The Nightly Disease – Smell Of Burning Wood
Skyborne Reveries – Winter Lights
Yob – Our Raw Heart
my list is invisible…it is so accurate it is typed in invisible text
All My Sins – Zov iz Magle
Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III
Paara – Riitti
Whoredom Rife – Nid: Hymner av Hat
Djevel – Blant Sorte Graner
Glorior Belli – The Apostates
Kjeld – Banier fan Frisia
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy
Orkan – Element
Svartmálm – Svartmálm
Yhdarl – Loss
just playing…here it is…
1. Moondweller-The Search
2. Mare-Ebony Tower
3. Vargrav–Netherstorm
4. Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword
5. Carpe Noctern — Vitrun
6. Adaestuo–Krew Za Kru
7. Mahr–Antelex
8. Psicosfera-Beta
9. Death Void Terror-To the great Monolith
10. Depths Above-Ex Nihilio
11. Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy
12. Hate Eternal -Upon desolate Sands
13. Autokrator-Hammer of the heretics
14-Convulsing -Grievous
15-Adversvm-Aion Sitra Ahra
16-Kriegsmaschine-Apocalypticists
17-Acherontas-Faustian Ethos
18-Aevangelist-Aeon Death Knell
19-Borgne (infinity symbol)
20-Ascension-Under Aether
21-Slidhr-the Futile fires of man
ep’s
1. Ancient Moon/Prosternatur
2. Malepest/Dysylumn
3. Elysian Blaze
4. Tomb Mold
9.Evoken – Hypnagogia
8.Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
7.Dimmu Borgir – Eonian
6.Aborted – TerrorVision
5.Gorod – Aethra
4.Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
3.Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate…
2.Immortal – Northern Chaos…
1.Behemoth – ILYAD
The quality this year is phenomenal. There is a progressive experimental quality to metal this year, as it becomes even more technical and virtuosic. Tech Death, OSDM, Black Metal, Post Hardcore are really tremendous genres this year.
As of ^
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology 12
Horrendous- Idol 8
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb 7
Tomb Mold- Manor Of Infinite Forms 7
Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers 6
Rivers of Nihil- Where Owls Know My Name 6
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality 6
Yob – Our Raw Heart 6
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen 5
Convulsing- Grievous 5
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy 5
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands 5
Khemmis – Desolation 5
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light 5
Tribulation – Down Below 5
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun 5
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind 4
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition) 4
Agrimonia – Awaken 4
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy 4
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold 4
Behemoth – I Love You At Your Darkest 4
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials Part II 4
Gorod- Aethra 4
Hamferd – Tamsins Likam 4
Judas Priest – Firepower 4
Khôrada – Salt 4
Kriegsmachine – Apocalypticists 4
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness 4
Aborted – TerrorVision 3
Acherontas – Faustian Ethos 3
Akhenaten- Akhenaten – Golden Serpen 3
Ascension – Under Ether 3
Avslut – Deceptis 3
Beyond Creation – Algorythm 3
Carpe Noctem – Vitrun 3
Construct Of Lethe – Exiler 3
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy 3
Depravity – Evil Upheaval 3
Dimmu Borgir – Eonian 3
Ghost – Prequelle 3
Gra – Vasen 3
Ihsahn – Amr 3
Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury 3
Infernal Coil- Within a World Forgotten 3
Irreversible Mechanism- Immersion 3
Krisiun – Escourge Of The Enthroned 3
LLNN- Deads 3
Mutilation Rites – Chasm 3
Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram 3
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure 3
Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart 3
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay 3
Outre – Hollow Earth 3
Panphage – Jord 3
Portal – Ion 3
Psycroptic- As the Kingdom Drowns 3
Revocation- The Outer Ones 3
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence 3
Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword 3
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic 3
Thy Catafalque – Geometria 3
Ulthar – Cosmovore 3
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse 3
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit 3
Man, Slugdge is kicking ass.
That album played far more than anything, ALL YEAR and never faded a bit! It’s perfection.
Whoredom Rife- Nid: Hymner Av Hat ( best of 2018 )
Avslut- Deceptis
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb
Marduk- Viktoria
Craft- White Noise And Black Metal
Trollheims Grott- Aligned With True Death
Drawn and Quartered- The One Who Lurks
Outre-Tombre- Necro-Vortex
Outer Heaven- Realms of Eternal Decay
Innumerable Forms- Punishment in Flesh
Top Ten Favorites of 2018:
Deus Vermin – Monument to Decay
Mylingar – Döda Drömmar
Convulsing – Grievous
Eagle Twin – The Thundering Heard
Outre – Hollow Earth
Hissing – Permanent Destitution
Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword
Vessel of Iniquity – Vessel of Iniquity
Cult of Erinyes – Veneer
Born to Murder the World – The Infinite Mirror of Millennial Narcissism (2018)
Rebel Wizard – Voluptuous Worship of Rapture and Response (2018)
Painted Doll – Painted Doll (2018)
Lik – Carnage (2018)
Light This City – Terminal Bloom (2018)
Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods (2018)
Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath (2018)
Demonical – Chaos Manifesto (2018)
Cist – The Frozen Casket (2018)
Sentient Horror – The Crypts Below (2018)
Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs (2018)
Sepulcher-Panoptic Horror (2018)
Sylvaine – Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone (2018)
Holy shit. I forgot Demonical even released an album. That thing must have made zero impression on me
I forgot Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns
I often feel like a surface dweller posting these lists, a skater whose scared of the black ice. But, as we’re here, and the riffs keep guiding me, blindly:
10. Aborted – TerrorVision
9. Haunt – Burst Into Flame
8. Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns
7. Antisoph – self-titled
6. The Atlas Moth – Coma Noir
5. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
4. Obscura – Diluvium
3. Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands
2. Entropia – Vacuum
1. Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
*who’s
And, I still see myself as a stoner doom kind of guy, so there’s a dune somewhere I’ve lost myself:
10. Drug Cult – self-titled
9. Brant Bjork – Mankind Woman
8. The Necromancers – Of Blood and Wine
7. Gozu – Equilibrium
6. Eagle Twin – The Thundering Heard
5. Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want
4. Sleep – The Sciences
3. Conan – Existential Void Guardian
2. Grayceon – IV
1. Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch
There’s a Top 20 list from another, much larger site, that I’m posting tomorrow, and Boss Keloid figures prominently in theirs too, as does Daughters (and Sleep). Seeing Boss Keloid at No. 1 on your list cinches my resolution to check it out.
If I would say anything about that Boss Keloid, is that it’s really smart, really well done, something that consistently surprises.
Surface dweller or not (and you’re really not), it’s always nice to see your name again.
Thanks man. As much as I wander away, I can’t help but keep coming back. It’s in them bones now.
No particular order:
Watain – TRIDENT WOLF ECLIPSE
Khemmis – Desolation
Hamferð – Támsins Likam
Slaegt – The Wheel
Panopticon – The Scare of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
Ghost – Prequelle
Wayfarer – World’s Blood
Zeal & Ardor – Strange Fruit
Windhand – Eternal Return
Behemoth – I Loved You at Your Darkest
Late to the party, but here goes:
1. Sigh – Heir to Despair (how this isn’t on EVERY year-end “Best of ” list is beyond me)
2. Ghost – Prequelle
3. Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit
4. Khemmis – Desolation
5. Tribulation – Down Below
6. Behemoth – I Loved You At Your Darkest
7. The Ocean – Phanerozic I
8. Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Constant
9. Anaal Nathrakh – A New Kind of Horror
10. Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Disappointment of the year: Khorada – Salt. After Pillorian’s mostly ‘meh’ initial effort, I was hoping that Khorada would be the band to capture the Agalloch magic. No such luck.
Top 10 2018
1. Black Peaks – All That Divides
2. Turnstile – Time & Space
3. Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
4. Architects – Holy Hell
5. Idles – Joy as an Act of Resistance
6. Depravity – Evil Upheaval
7. Bleed From Within – Era
8. Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
9. Cult Leader – A Patient Man
10. Black Fast – Spectre of Ruin
Top 5 new to me in 2018 from previous years
1. The Prestige – Amer (2015)
2. Eisbrecher – Sturmfahrt (2017)
3. Dyscarnate – With All Their Might (2017)
4. Violator – Chemical Assault (2006)
5. Polaris – The Mortal Coil (2017)
These lists aren’t just ‘Metal’ but everything I listened to. Started the year on a DM kick, come spring went on a big thrash streak, mostly old school smaller stuff that I missed the first time around. Then ended the last half of the year leaning hard on more hardcore influenced stuff.
Late to the party…Top albums 2018
Sorcier des Glases – Sorcier des glases
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
Sear Bliss – Letters from the Edge
Abysmal Torment – The Misanthrope
Hinayana – Order Divine
Revocation – The Outer Ones
Monstrosity – The Passage of Existence
Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Constant
Sargeist –Unbound
EPs
Void Rot – Consumed by Oblivion
Honorable mention
Gra – Vasen
Encircling Sea – Hearken
Brood of Hatred – Identity Disorder
Paara – Riitti
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Extremity – Coffin Birth
Bloodtruth – Martyrium
It was much harder to choose top albums this year than past years. I think this is because, although there was lots of good metal, there was little that truly stood out from the rest. It was a like huge pool of good metal, but with a featureless placid surface over which one spot looked like any other. Anyone else have this problem?
1. Eternal Helcaraxe – In Times of Desperation (Naturmacht Productions)
2. Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram (Century Media)
3. Realm Of Wolves – Oblivion (Self Released)
4.Hinayana – Order Divine (Black Lion Records)
5. Aborted – TerrorVision (Century Media)
6. Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light (Prosthetic Records)
7. Tribulation – Down Below (Century Media)
8. Wolfheart – Constellation of the Black Light (Napalm Records)
9. Bloodbath – The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (Peaceville)
10. Evoken – Valorous Consternation (Profound Lore)
11. Giant of the Mountain – Natures Wrath (Self Released)
12. Soul Dissolution – Stardust (Black Lion Records)
13. Valdur – Goat of Iniquity (Bloody Mountain Records)
14. Thou – Magus (Sacred Bones Records)
15. Night Demon – Live Darkness (Century Media)
and of course Krigsgrav-Leave No Path to Follow 😉
As of 12/11 8:49p
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology 13
Tomb Mold- Manor Of Infinite Forms 9
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb 8
Horrendous- Idol 8
Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers 7
Khemmis – Desolation 7
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality 7
Tribulation – Down Below 7
Aborted – TerrorVision 6
Convulsing- Grievous 6
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands 6
Rivers of Nihil- Where Owls Know My Name 6
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light 6
Yob – Our Raw Heart 6
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy 5
Behemoth – I Love You At Your Darkest 5
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen 5
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy 5
Hamferd – Tamsins Likam 5
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness 5
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun 5
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit 5
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind 4
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition) 4
Agrimonia – Awaken 4
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold 4
Avslut – Deceptis 4
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials Part II 4
Depravity – Evil Upheaval 4
Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Condition 4
Ghost – Prequelle 4
Gorod- Aethra 4
Gra – Vasen 4
Judas Priest – Firepower 4
Khôrada – Salt 4
Kriegsmachine – Apocalypticists 4
Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram 4
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay 4
Outre – Hollow Earth 4
Revocation- The Outer Ones 4
Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword 4
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic 4
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse 4
Acherontas – Faustian Ethos 3
Akhenaten- Akhenaten – Golden Serpen 3
Ascension – Under Ether 3
Beyond Creation – Algorythm 3
Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch 3
Carpe Noctem – Vitrun 3
Cist – The Frozen Casket 3
Construct Of Lethe – Exiler 3
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy 3
Dimmu Borgir – Eonian 3
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics 3
Evoken- Hypnagogia 3
Haunt- Burst Into Flame 3
Hinayana – Order Divine 3
Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns 3
Ihsahn – Amr 3
Immortal- Northern Chaos Gods 3
Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury 3
Infernal Coil- Within a World Forgotten 3
Innumerable Forms- Punishment In Flesh 3
Irreversible Mechanism- Immersion 3
Krisiun – Escourge Of The Enthroned 3
LLNN- Deads 3
Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence 3
Mutilation Rites – Chasm 3
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure 3
Obscura – Diluvium 3
Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart 3
Paara – Riitti 3
Panphage – Jord 3
Portal – Ion 3
Psycroptic- As the Kingdom Drowns 3
Sear Bliss- Letters From The Edge 3
Sleep – The Sciences 3
Sorcier Des Glaces – Sorcier Des Glaces 3
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence 3
Thy Catafalque – Geometria 3
Ulthar – Cosmovore 3
Wayfarer – World’s Blood 3
Wolfheart- Constellation Of The Black Light 3
So many excellent ones I’ve missed this year, I’m realizing as I’m writing up this list. So here goes my fragmented view on last year’s metal top 20.
1 The Ocean – Phanerozoic I : Paleozoic
2 Enferens – The Bleakness of Our Constant
3 Heretoir – The Circle
4 Agrypnie – Grenzgaenger
5 Anaal Nathrakh – A New Kind Of Horror
6 Bonjour Tristesse – Your Ultimate Urban Nightmare
7 Shylmagoghnar – Transience
8 Funeral Mists – Hekatomb
9 Omnium Gatherum – The Burning Cold
10 In Vain – Currents
11 Amorphis – Queen of Time
12 Encircling Sea – Hearken
13 Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
14 In Chasms Deep -The Realm Between
15 Hegemone – We Disappear
16 Hundred Year Old Man – Breaching
17 Crone – Godspeed
18 Soliloquiem – Contemplations
19 Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods
20 Stealing Axion – Eternities
Here are the records that made the most lasting impression on me in 2018. Each stands on its own as a fully original, focused and powerful statement. Slugdge is not in there, not because I don’t like it, but because it does not feel fully focused, to me it’s a great synthesis of many sounds, but not completely integrated, which I find distracting. It almost feels like a playlist with Anaal Nathrakh, Mastodon, Emperor, Gojira and Nevermore taking turns, often in the same song. It’s appealing but I don’t find it ultimately satisfying. That said, I do have one record in my list, Mire’s Shed, that could be blamed for the same “sin”, yet got a pass because I’ve been spinning it so much… Shed did manage to totally transcend the tech-death straightjacket, whilst making “melodic” great again (man, those vocals!).
As a longtime DM fan, I’m surprised at the number of BM records that made my final list. In retrospect, DM has been looking back a little too much, and while Tomb Mold and many others really came up with the goods this year, none opened up new worlds, in a way for example Panegyrist did with Hierurgy, which stands as one of the most interesting takes on BM of the year.
Two records in my list have not been mentioned a lot elsewhere if at all. It’s a pity, as Baring Teeth came up with a flawless record, that hopefully will be recognized as such in the future. Despite its apparent abrasiveness, it really is chock full of fantastic riffs and melodies that once heard and recognized just don’t go away. Nightmarer’s Cacophony of Terror is a highlight of 2018, in the way it transcends its deathcore origins, to evolve into a heavy variant of Ulcerate-core that totally scratches my DM itch in a way none of the more obvious proponents of the genre managed to do this year. Anicon is in my lsit because I find its post-Krallician approach to BM is both emotionnally and intellectually satisfying. I initially thought of putting Imperial Triumphant there, but I wanted to stay honest with myself and Vile Luxury is a record I respect more than I actually enjoy.
Anyway, my top 3 here are three records that push the envelope in a way that is almost scary, with all three striving to reach an elusive essence of metal or of something both beautiful and evil, transcending tastes, genre and musical conventions, and anything else we know and cherish… Simply put, they don’t give a fvck about whether or not we’re going to like it, they evolve in a different plane of existence and that’s what makes them invaluable.
1. Baring Teeth – Transitive savagery
2. Infernal Coil – Within a World Forgotten
3. Kriegsmaschine – Apocalypticists
4. Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
5. Convulsing – Grievous
6. Mire – Shed
7. Nightmarer – Cacophony of terror
8. Horizon Ablaze – The weight of a thousand suns
9. Anicon – Entropy mantra
10. Panegyrist – Hierurgy
Great list and comments. Caught my eye as I’ve been spinning Infernal Coil and really digging it. My tastes skew to technical brutal and brutal DM however. I want to say that Baring Teeth is from my neck of the woods too, so definitely gonna check this album out. Wasn’t a fan of their debut so to speak, kinda how you felt about IT.
Thanks man, I strived to focus and therefore have left quite a lot aside as you can well imagine. Lots of great brutal/technical stuff in 2018, right now I’m spinning Exlimitir and loving every minute of it. Definitely AOTY in the Demilich worship category. I feel Baring Teeth takes the cake in the technical/progressive death category because of how so unique they are and how diverse the new record is, from grindy to doomy and all shades in between. If you don’t mind a splash of core in your BDM, try the latest Stillbirth. Cheers.
Kriegsmaschine slays.
I made a Imgur album thing compiling my favourite 2018 Metal albums here: https://imgur.com/a/BnRvZMr
Not sure if it’s better or worse than leaving it as text in the comments. I suspect mine will be 90% to Austin Weber’s. A lot of technical/prog stuff.
Love that list of yours. Chock full with stuff I truly enjoyed this year. I will check out what I’m unfamiliar with, with great chances to find gems.
Thanks. Your list is decent too. I completely missed out on all of Anicon’s output for the past two years, so it was cool to see they’ve improved.
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Hyperdontia – Nexus of Teeth
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
Tomb of Finland – Frozen Beneath
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay
Gruesome – Twisted Prayers
Corpsessed – Impetus of Death
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy
Aborted – Terrorvision
Innumerable forms – Punishment of Flesh
Krisiun – Scourge of the Enthroned
YOB – Our Raw Heart
Sargeist – Unbound
Evoken – Hypnagogia
Forest of Shadows – Among the Dormant Watchers
Mournful Congregation – The Incubus of Karma
Deiquisitor – Downfall of the Apostates
Cardiac Arrest – A Parallel Dimension of Despair
Lord of Pagathorn – Daimono Philia
Svartkonst – Devil’s Blood
Pestilence – Hadeon
Djevel – Blant Svarte Graner
Best Metal of 2018
1914 – The Blind Leading The Blind
Baptist – Beacon Of Faith
Birds In Row – We Already Lost The World
Candy – Good To Feel
Chapel Of Faith – …And as We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced
Conjurer – Mire
Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Devil Master – Manifestations
Dodsit – Spirit Crusher
Evoken – Hypnagogia
Extremity – Coffin Birth
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Genocide Pact – Order Of Torment
A God or Another – Chaotic Symbiosis
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands
Hissing – Permanent Destitution
Ilsa – Corpse Fortress
Infernal Coil – Within A World Forgotten
Integrity – Split
Karg – Dornenvogel
LLNN – Deads
Mammoth Grinder – Cosmic Crypt
Marduk – Viktoria
Nag – Nagged To Death
NyreDolk – Demo
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure
Of Feather And Bone – Bestial Hymns Of Perversion
Outer Heaven – Realms Of Eternal Decay
Portrayal Of Guilt – Let Pain Be Your Guide
Primal Rite- Dirge Of Escapism
Primitive Weapons – Surrender Yourself
Ragana – Let Our Names Be Forgotten
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Scorched – Ecliptic Butchery
Second To Sun – The Black
Sectioned – Annihilated
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Thou – Inconsolable
Thou-Magus
Thou-Rhea Sylvia
Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
Tragedy – Fury
Vein – Errorzone
Warthog – ST
Windhand – Eternal Return
Wolvhammer – The Monuments Of Ash & Bone
Yob – Our Raw Heart
Greetings, fellows! Listen to my year-end– in descending order– top ten 2018 releases, here: https://bandcamp.com/mkcerati. The favorite tracks are accurate.
Obscura – amazes me on every listen. Perfection to my ears.
….
Rivers of Nihil, Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa – Metal with some sax (seeing as Shining let me down on that front)
Skeletonwitch – wasn’t prepared for it to be so different, yet excellent.
Oddzoo, Holywood Burns, 3.2 – my year of synth
Manticora, Parius – scratching the melodic itch
Gorod – More proggy tech death
Shining – Pop that I wasn’t expecting, didn’t want, can’t help but like
Ghost Ship Octavius – Edge of Time battles the entire Obscura album for my song of the year
Haven’t spent enough time with Ihsahn, Alkaloid, Between the buried and me
Glad that the Warrel Dane album was released, a fitting tribute.
10. Panphage – Jord.
9. Lampir – Alchemy of Cursed Blood
8. Coldworld – Nostalgia
7. Drudkh – They Often See Dreams About the Spring
6. Norrhem- Vaienneet Voittajat
5. Blyh – Transparant to the world
4. Wolfsschrei – Rise Dead Ember
3. Wallfahrer – Anthologie der Abkehr
2. Aorlhac – L’esprit des Vents
1. Lutomisl – Ecce Homo
Greetings. My favorite/best metal albums will follow. There are 100 entries on the actual list itself and then I also have ten favorite EP’s and an array of honorable recognitions. I’ve listened to approximately 400 albums this year. This has been the most horrible year in my life that I can remember, so metal was there through and through and oftentimes was the only aspect I looked forward to waking up to. I’ve witnessed on various blogs and related sites individuals shaming others for the length of their year-end list–fuck ’em. The more the better, in my opinion. Just about all these bands deserve every single mention, praise, encouragement, and manifestation possible (because they’re surely not producing the art they do for monetary benefit). Without further ado:
1. Alterbeast “Feast”
2. Obscura “Diluvium”
3. Monstrosity “The Passage of Existence”
4. Micawber “Beyond The Reach of Flame”
5. Hate Eternal “Upon Desolate Sands”
6. Inferi “Revenant”
7. Alkaloid “Liquid Anatomy”
8. Rivers of Nihil “Where Owls Know My Name”
9. Sulphur Aeon “The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos”
10. Beyond Creation “Algorythm”
11. Augury “Illusive Golden Age”
12. Internal Bleeding “Corrupting Influence”
13. Harakiri for the sky “Arson”
14. Gorod “Aethra”
15. Spectral “Neural Correlates of Hate”
16. Hands of Despair “Well Of The Disquieted”
17. Skogen “Skuggorna kallar”
18. The Ocean “Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic”
19. Stortregn “Emptiness Fills The Void”
20. Amorphis “Queen of Time”
21. Journal “Chrysalis Ordalias”
22. Khemmis “Desolation”
23. Slugdge “Esoteric Malacology”
24. Archemoron “Year of the Harvester”
25. Æpoch “Awakening Inception”
26. Imperial Triumphant “Vile Luxury”
27. Arsis “Visitant”
28. Vallendusk “Fortress of Primal Grace”
29. Orcus Patera “Schattenmarsch”
30. Xenosis “Devour and Birth”
31. Deicide “Overtures Of Blasphemy”
32. Soreption “Monument Of The End”
33. Dysmorphic “An Illusive Progress”
34. Altars Of Grief “Iris”
35. Gruesome “Twisted Prayers”
36. Skeletal Remains “Devouring Mortality”
37. Lago “Sea of Duress”
38. Hooded Menace “Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed”
39. Scorched “Ecliptic Butchery”
40. Bearing Teeth “Transitive Savagery”
41. Krisiun “Scourge Of The Enthroned”
42. Varathron “Patriarchs Of Evil”
43. Kataklysm “Meditations”
44. The Afterimage “Eve”
45. Exmortus “The Sound of Steel”
46. Bloodshot Dawn “Reanimation”
47. Sun Speaker “Ov Lustra”
48. Ingested “The Level Above Human”
49. Irreversible Mechanism “Immersion”
50. Celtachor “Fiannaíocht”
51. Maladie “…of Harm and Salvation”
52. Convictive “Schemen”
53. Revocation “The Outer Ones”
54. Krigsgrav “Leave No Path to Follow”
55. Outre “Hollow Earth”
56. Arthedain “Infernal Cadence of the Desolate”
57. Aborted “Terrorvision”
58. Kroda “Selbstwelt”
59. Glorior Belli “The Apostates”
60. Marduk “Victoria”
61. Sargeist “Unbound”
62. Dawn of Winter “Pray For Doom”
63. Oceans of Slumber “The Banished Heart”
64. Omnium Gatherum “The Burning Cold”
65. Exterminatus “Laniakea”
66. Panopticon “The Scars Of Man On The Once Nameless Wilderness”
67. Burial In The Sky “Creatio Et Hominus”
68. Fragments of Unbecoming “Perdition Portal”
69. Aethereus “Absentia”
70. Replicant “Negative Life”
71. Zealotry “At The Nexus Of All Stillborn Worlds”
72. Moonreich “Fugue”
73. Horrendous “Idol”
74. Pestilent Reign “Pyres”
75. Kenos “Pest”
76. Funeral Mist “Hekatomb”
77. Behemoth “I Loved You at Your Darkest”
78. Wolfheart “Constellation of the Black Light”
79. Eye of Solitude “Slaves Of Solitude”
80. Aorlhac “L’esprit des vents”
81. From The Vastland “Daevayasna”
82. Vature “In Agony”
83. Shining “X – Varg utan flock”
84. Uada “Cult Of A Dying Sun”
85. Acherontas “Faustian Ethos”
86. Abigor “Höllenzwang – Chronicles Of Perdition”
87. Napoleon “Epiphany”
88. Stormcast “The Ghost Eater”
89. Cognitive “Matricide”
90. Moss Upon The Skull “In Vengeful Reverence”
91. Deafheaven “Ordinary Corrupt Human Love”
92. A Forest of Stars “Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes”
93. Kairos “Simulgression”
94. Décembre Noir “Autumn Kings”
95. Wolvhammer “The Monuments of Ash & Bone”
96. Nightmarer “Cacophony of Terror”
97. Anaal Nathrakh “A New Kind of Horror”
98. Pure Wrath “Sempiternal Wisdom”
99. Apophys “Devoratis”
100. Kosmogyr “Eviternity”
EP’s (was too lazy to write the titles, lol):
Rotten Sound
Cryptopsy
Deadwood Lake
Marche Funèbre
Geryon
Quantum Hierarchy
The Odious Construct
Claret Ash
Acrania
Depths of Hatred
Honorable Recognitions (not the full list of them):
Abolishment of Flesh, Abysmal Torment, Acheronte, Agrypnie, Barren Altar, Drawn and Quartered, Embrace of Thorns, Fractal Gates, Harm’s Way, Horizon Ablaze, Hvíldarlauss Dauðr, Immortal, Kill Everything, Lichtblick, Nocturnal Graves, Ritual Necromancy, Rites of Thy Degringolade, Spires, Unbirth, Vein, Venom, Watain, Whoretopsy, and Wilt.
Thanks for reading. Now, I’m excited to scan everybody else’s lists. I always find a gold mine of stuff I missed or didn’t know about despite the high number of albums I personally listen to.
High Tension – Rise
Voidescent – Eleven Into Nox (EP)
Devathorn – Inferno – Zos Vel Thagirion (Split Album)
Urfaust – The Constellatory Practice
svabhavat – Black Mirror Reflection
Svartidauði – Revelations of The Red Sword
Spearhead – Pacifism Is Cowardice
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure
Ascension – Under Ether
Ævangelist – Matricide In The Temple Of Omega
Baise Ma Hache – F.E.R.T
Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
Fatum Semitar – Идея Плоти и Корней
Empty – Vacío
Ultha – The Inextricable Wandering
Misanthropic Rage – Igne Natura Renovatur Integra
Dead Moon Temple – Ænigmasólvoid
Det eviga leendet – Lenience
Asagraum – Potestas Magicum Diaboli (late 2017)
An absolutely monster year for extreme metal!
I did a lot of listening the last week or so of December, both of new releases and of things I had missed from earlier in 2018. I finally was able to complete my personal favorites list, which is as follows (quick note, I showed Metal Archives some Facebook posts by Werewolf Records, which clearly establish that Netherstorm was not available until January 2018, so MA lists the album as a 2018 release):
1. Vargrav – Netherstorm
2. Hecate – Une voix venue d’ailleurs
3. Alghazanth – Eight Coffin Nails
4. Drudkh – They Often See Dreams About the Spring
5. Windswept – Visionaire
6. Wyrms – Altuus Kronhorr
7. Deletere – De Horae Leprae
8. Sargeist – Unbound
9. Dødsferd – Diseased Remnants of a Dying World
10. Blood Red Fog – Thanatotic Supremacy
11. Aethyrick – Praxis
12. Utstøt – Járnviðr
13. Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
14. Elffor – Impious Battlefields
15. Cantique Lepreux – Paysages Polaires
16. Asgrauw – Gronspech
17. Pagan Reign – Once Again
18. Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
19. Aorlhac – L’espirit des vents
20. Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars
21. Frostland – Winterkult
22. Daagh – Daagh
23. Svartidauði – Revelatons of the Red Sword
24. Nachash – Phantasmal Triunity
25. Sarkrista – Under Sentence of Death
26. Summoning – With Doom We Come
27. Drowning the Light – Cursed Below the Waves
28. Helrunar – Vanitas Vanitatvm
29. Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
30. Azaghal – Valo Pohjoisesta
Honorable Mentions:
Halphas – Dawn of Crimson Empire (December 2017 release I only heard in 2018)
Shelob’s Lair – Nightfall in Heaven (2018 reissue of a 2001 demo)
Kyprian’s Circle – Noitatulen vartija (2018 reissue of a 1999 EP)
Song of the year: Windswept – Your Bitter Bread
As of Jan 5
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology 16
Tomb Mold- Manor Of Infinite Forms 12
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb 11
Horrendous- Idol 10
Rivers of Nihil- Where Owls Know My Name 9
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality 9
Aborted – TerrorVision 8
Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands 8
Khemmis – Desolation 8
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light 8
Yob – Our Raw Heart 8
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy 7
Convulsing- Grievous 7
Gaerea- Unsettling Whispers 7
Tribulation – Down Below 7
Behemoth – I Love You At Your Darkest 6
Carpe Noctem – Vitrun 6
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen 6
Gorod- Aethra 6
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure 6
Outer Heaven – Realms of Eternal Decay 6
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness 6
Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword 6
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic 6
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun 6
1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind 5
Abigor – Höllenzwang (Chronicles of Perdition) 5
Deicide – Overtures of Blasphemy 5
Devouring Star – The Arteries of Heresy 5
Eneferens – The Bleakness of Our Condition 5
Evoken- Hypnagogia 5
Hamferd – Tamsins Likam 5
Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury 5
Infernal Coil- Within a World Forgotten 5
Kriegsmachine – Apocalypticists 5
Krisiun – Escourge Of The Enthroned 5
Obscura – Diluvium 5
Outre – Hollow Earth 5
Revocation- The Outer Ones 5
Sargeist – Unbound 5
Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit 5
Acherontas – Faustian Ethos 4
Agrimonia – Awaken 4
Anaal Nathrakh – A new kind of horror 4
Antlers – Beneath.Below.Behold 4
Ascension – Under Ether 4
Avslut – Deceptis 4
Beyond Creation – Algorythm 4
Deafheaven-Ordinary Corrupt Human Love 4
Death Karma – The History of Death & Burials Part II 4
Depravity – Evil Upheaval 4
Drudkh – They often see dreams about the spring 4
Gra – Vasen 4
Gruesome – Twisted Prayers 4
Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns 4
Ihsahn – Amr 4
Immortal- Northern Chaos Gods 4
Innumerable Forms- Punishment In Flesh 4
Irreversible Mechanism- Immersion 4
Judas Priest – Firepower 4
Khôrada – Salt 4
LLNN- Deads 4
Marduk- Viktoria 4
Monstrosity – The Passage Of Existence 4
Necrophobic – Mark Of The Necrogram 4
Oceans Of Slumber – The Banished Heart 4
Panphage – Jord 4
Portal – Ion 4
Scorched – Ecliptic Butchery 4
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence 4
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil 4
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse 4
Wolfheart- Constellation Of The Black Light 4
A Forest Of Stars- Grave Mounds And Grave Mistakes 3
Æpoch – Awakening Inception 3
Ævangelist – Heralds of NIghtmare descending 3
Akhenaten- Akhenaten – Golden Serpen 3
Anicon- Entropy Mantra 3
Aorlhac 3
Apophys – Devoratis 3
Baring Teeth 3
Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch 3
Cist – The Frozen Casket 3
Construct Of Lethe – Exiler 3
Dimmu Borgir – Eonian 3
Djevel – Blant Svarte Graner 3
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics 3
Extremity – Coffin Birth 3
Haunt- Burst Into Flame 3
Hinayana – Order Divine 3
Hissing – Permanent Destitution 3
Hooded Menace- Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed 3
Hyperdontia – Nexus of Teeth 3
Kosmogyr – Eviternity 3
Mutilation Rites – Chasm 3
Omnium Gatherum – The Burning Cold 3
Paara – Riitti 3
Psycroptic- As the Kingdom Drowns 3
Sear Bliss- Letters From The Edge 3
Shylmagoghnar – Transience 3
Sleep – The Sciences 3
Sorcier Des Glaces – Sorcier Des Glaces 3
Thy Catafalque – Geometria 3
Ulthar – Cosmovore 3
Vargrav – Netherstorm 3
Wallfahrer – Anthologie Der Abkehr 3
Wayfarer – World’s Blood 3
Wolvhammer – The Monuments of Ash and Bone 3
Zealotry – At The Nexus Of All Stillborn Worlds 3
581 Bands mentioned. Sorry all album titles not included…
Here in the Black Lodge we planned how to destroy Twin Peaks with these obscure weapons (we just listed the top 25, but our list of great horrific stuff was much longer…).
1914, “The Blind Leading the Blind”
Acherontas, “Faustian Ethos”
Author & Punisher, “Beastland”
Barus, “Drowned”
Behemoth, “I Loved You At Your Darkest”
Borgne, “[∞]”
Carpe Noctem, “Vitrun”
Chaos Echoes, “Mouvement”
Convulsing, “Grievous”
Cultes des Ghoules, “Sinister, or Treading the Darker Paths”
Czort, “Czarna Ewangelia”
Depths Above, “Ex Nihilo”
Entropia, “Vacuum”
Gaerea, “Unsettling Whispers”
Grave Upheaval, “Untitled”
Guðveiki, “Vængför”
Kriegsmaschine, “Apocalypticists”
Obliteration, “Cenotaph Obscure”
Outre, “Hollow Earth”
P.H.O.B.O.S., “Phlogiston Catharsis”
Shining, “X – Varg Utan Flock”
Slugdge, “Esoteric Malacology”
Sulphur Aeon, “The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos”
Varathron, “Patriarchs of Evil”
Veilburner, “A Sire to the Ghouls of Lunacy”
Great List.