(For the 8th year in a row, we asked our old friend SurgicalBrute to weigh in with his year-end list of favorite albums and/or EPs. As expected, his list adds many names of some especially savage underground releases that haven’t appeared before in our 2018 Listmania series.)
I know you all have been waiting with bated breath, wondering when my list would arrive… because this is MY list we’re talking about, and why wouldn’t you? Unfortunately the delay just couldn’t be helped. Between going back to school, and an unusually busy Christmas season, there wasn’t a whole lot of spare time to go around this year for me to do any writing. Things have finally eased up a bit for me though, so it’s time to get this ball rolling.
Now I’d originally intended this to be a much longer list, as I have listened to a lot of music this year… and I mean a lot… but I was expressly asked not to for fear that I would make the other authors look bad. So being the kind and gracious person that I am, I took pity on everyone else, followed the rules…mostly… and still, without a doubt, created the most metal list of the year. So kick back, open your favorite beer, and turn the volume up as high as it will go, because it’s once again time to separate the casuals from the grim and kvlt…Enjoy the music \m/*
*Apologies to those of you who enjoy reading my little blurbs about each album. I chose to ditch them this year for the sake of getting this article written in time to still be relevant. Rest assured though: the death metal is still filthy, the black metal is still raw, and the blackened death is still blasphemous.
DEATH
Nekrovault – Obscure
Obliteration – Cenotaph Obscure
Orphanofkos – Arcane Worship
Siege Column – Inferno Deathpassion
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Thulsa Doom – Realms of Hatred
Vomitor – Pestilent Death
BLACK
Endarken – Tvoj je hram u srcu mom
Kommodus – One Thousand Years of The Wolf
Mopok – Carpathian Fullmoon Ritual
Mooncitadel – Moon Calls to Wander the Winter’s Majesty
Nahtrunar – Mysterium Tremendum
Nécropole – Solarité
Phlegein – Devotion
BLACK/DEATH
Archgoat – The Luciferian Crown
Embrace of Thorns – Scorn Aesthetics
Impure – Satan’s Eclipse Demo MMXVII
Germanic Iron – Harugaz
Ritual Necromancy – Disinterred Horror
Thy Feeble Saviour – And Darkness Fell
MISCELLANEOUS
Blackrat – Dread Reverence (Black/Thrash/Crust)
Sex Messiah – Eastern Cult of Sodomy (Black/Thrash/Crossover)
(Cvlt Nation has a full stream of this album, for anyone who wants to hear all of it)
Sacral Rage – Beyond Celestial Echoes (Heavy)
Satan – Cruel Magic (Heavy)
Transilvania – The Night of Nights (Black/Thrash)
20 Responses to “UNDERGROUND METAL FOR THE TRVE CURMUDGEON (BEST OF 2018 EDITION) BY SURGICALBRUTE”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Great! So glad someone got Kommodus and Black Rat on a list. Excellent stuff. On that note, Kommodus’s cover of War is A++.
Thanks for that!
Kommodus—by the looks of him, I consider(ed) this a joke band?
Seriously…based on my other picks, do I look like the kind of guy who listens to joke bands? The cover is kind of goofy, I agree…welcome to underground black metal…but the music is killer
Heyyyy ‘the thanks for that’ comment belongs w Conchobar’s recommendation.
But yes, I came across Kommodus some time ago, with 2017’s ‘The will to…’ release. He’s wearing a camouflage cape and a cap. That sort of made me not want to delve too deeply into the music and skip over the 2 releases that followed. But you’re right—the bm is quite serious and enjoyable!
Thanks man!
4 new albums in my Bandcamp
collection!
Nice…which ones did you end up digging?
The ones I added were
Endarken
Harugaz
Orphanofkos
and the earlier Impure albums (only because that one cannot be bought!)
Also ended up buying a couple of Aderlass roster stuff that I found thanks to the Nekrovault suggestion (Nekropulse and Carpathian Nightmare). Would love to get the Necropole, but NH are apparently too kvlt to have their shit on BC…that album reminds me of what I love about Suhnopfer and Aorlhac. Own most of the other albums which is why I delved so deeply into the stuff I didn’t!!
Nice…glad you found a few. I’ll have to check out those other two you found at Aderlass.
Necropole also released a killer demo this year through Résilience. I’d recommend tracking that down as well if you can..good stuff.
Couple of more I wanted to include, but ran out of room…Try Gestank, Hellevaerder, Mortuus Umbra, Nigrum Mortem, and Womb. If you haven’t heard of any of those, they all did top-notch releases this year as well
Seems as appropriate a place as any to make a plug for this gem as well:
https://werewolfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/morgal
Yes…that was such a great EP!
Trust me, if you’d seen the list I started with it was nuts. So many bands I listened to this year could have easily made the cut, including Morgal. Trying to narrow this down to just twenty five was not an easy task
If you knew how long it takes me to upload the album art, go to the Bandcamp pages to get the embed codes and install them, and get all the font and formatting nice and pretty, you’d understand why I have gotten so stingy on the lengths of the lists. 🙂
Hahaha…it’s all good. I can only imagine what kind of a pain in the ass it is to organize this thing every year, and honestly, I don’t like doing more than 25 on a single list anyway. I think once you go past 25, people’s eyes start to kind of glaze over and everything blends together
This was totally worth the wait, so much great music to check out. Thank you for this awesome list! \m/
Thanks man…hope you find some stuff you like
Already owned the Thy Feeble Savior release. Absolutely crushing!
Thanks for this, I will do check the others out!
Yeah..that album was massive!
..and you’re welcome. Glad you liked it
Wow – nice list – thanks for this! I think I only heard 8 of these this year, but if the rest are as good are better, I’m going to be here for a long time.
Glad to see Ritual Necromancy and Embrace of Thorns on here–those releases were savage!
Also, I was a bit hesitant on Obliteration. I had noticed it on several other lists, gave it a cursory examination, and moved on without further thought. I see it on your list… okay, I must be fucking up. Give it a more fair, lengthier listen. Loll and behold, it’s getting added to my collection. Lol.
Orphanofkos, Nekrovault, Mopok, and Mooncitadel were very nice introductions. Siege Column was quite filthy, too. If Morbid Angel is still wondering where the slime live, they should check that dude’s esophagus.