2018 Year End Favorites
2 - Tongue Party - Looking For a Painful Death - Noise Rock
3 - Sleep - The Sciences - Stoner Doom
4 - Thou – Magus - Alternative Sludge
5- Jesus Piece - Only Self - Hardcore
6 - Cult Leader - A Patient Man - Metalcore
7 - High on Fire - Electric Messiah - Metal
8 - Kurokuma - Dope Rider –Psych Doom
9 - Graf Orlock - An Examination of Violent Cinema - Cinema Grindcore
10- Olten - Ambience - PostMetal
11 - Thou – EPS - Sludge
12 - Pig Destroyer - Head Cage - Grindcore
13 - Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance - Punk Rock
14 - Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms - Doomy Death Metal
15 - Funeral Chic - Superstition - Crusty Hardcore
16 - The Armed - Only Love - ElectroMathCore
17 - Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser - Sludge Grind
18 - Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology – Death Metal
19 - Warthog - Warthog - NYC Hardcore
20 - Mouth Breather - Doll Meat – Grindcore
My top 13, in no particular order, except for Yob as #1. These are the best of the best, for me. The ones that I spun the most. Another fantastic year in metal, I don’t see it slowing down in 2019. ~ KB
2. Boss Keloid - Melted on the Inch
3. Amorphis - Queen of Time
4. Judas Priest - Firepower
5. Bloodbath - The Arrow of Satan is Drawn
6. Krisiun - Scourge of the Enthroned
7. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
8. Behemoth - I Loved You at Your Darkest
9. Final Breath - Of Death and Sin
10. Evoken - Hypnagogia
11. The Skull - The Endless Road Turns Dark
12. Un - Sentiment
13. Akula - Akula
Joe Eldridge
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
Occult/Doom Rock
Crypt Trip - Rootstock
Graveyard - Peace
Merlin - The Wizard
The Skull - The Endless Road Turns Dark.
The Watchers - Black Abyss
Heavy/Stoner Rock
ASG - Survive Sunrise
Foghound - Awaken to Destroy
Fu Manchu - Clone of the Universe
The Sword - Used Future
Wolftooth - Wolftooth
Heavy Psych
All Them Witches - ATM
Black Elephant - Cosmic Blues
King Buffalo - Longing to be the Mountain
REZN - Calm Black Water
Seedy Jeezus - Polaris Oblique
Stoner/Doom/Sludge
Black Tusk - T.C.B.T.
Churchburn - None Shall Live...
Coffin Torture - Dismal Planet
Conjurer - Mire
Domkraft - Flood
Eagle Twin - The Thundering Heard
Forming the Void - Rift
Godmaker/Somnuri split
Sleep - The Sciences
Thou - Magus
Funeral/Slow Doom
CHRCH - Light Will Consume Us All
Dark Buddha Rising - II
Mournful Congregation - The Incubus of Karma
Shallow Grave - Threshold Between Worlds
UN - Sentiment
Post Metal
Boss Keloid - Melted on the Inch
Conan - Existential Void Guardian
Khorada - Salt
Orphans of Doom - Strange Worlds/Fierce Gods
Sumac - Love in Shadow
Trad/Dad Metal
Behemoth - I Loved Your at Your Darkest
Haunt - Burst into Flame
Judas Priest - Firepower
Khemmis - Desolation
Tribulation - Down Below
Southern/Groove Metal
CoC - No Cross, No Crown
Ektomorf - Fury
Havok - Conformicide
Soulfly - Ritual
Wasted Theory - Warlords of the New Electric
Thrash/Death
Gruesome - Twisted Prayers
Iron Reagan/Gatecreeper split
Mammoth Grinder - Cosmic Crypt
Skeletonwitch - Devouring Radiant Light
Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms
Tech/Prog Stuff
Grayceon - IV
Haken - Vektor
Horrendous - Idol
Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
Voivod - The Wake
Black/Blackened
Drudkh - They Often See Dreams…
Our Place of Worship Is Silence - With Inexorable Suffering
Portal - ION
Ragana/Thou split - Let Our Names Be Forgotten
Uada - Cult of a Dying Sun
Rob Hammer
Album of the Year: Conan - Existential Void Guardian
Great/most played:
Absent, Grajo, Bismark, Haunted, Deathbell, Wytch Goat, MWWB- Slomatics split, Famyne, Morpholith, Klandestin, Pressor, Sleep, Potion, Alastor
Good/Very good:
Aztakea, Talbot, Green Druid, Greengo, CHRCH, Gena, Chronobot, Lowen, Void Frontier, REZN
Sludge/Crushing/Heavy as fuck:
AOTY in this area: Religious Observance - Utter Discomfort
Occluth, Leechfeast, Ommadon, Demon Goat, Secret Cutter, Saltbuck, Kurokuma, Body Void, Coughdust, Forn, Pillars, Welcome to Holyland, Okwaho, Goblinsmoker
Instrumental:
AOTY in this area: Thallmoth - Anvrf
Sludge Terror, Craters, Organ, Exidia, Bongripper, Belzebong
Good:
Blood Spell, Muon, Matote, Taser, Borgonaut, Shepherds's Crook, Empress, LLNN, Throneless, Hell Obelisco, Heron, Strays, Wolf Blood, Sixes, Coffin Torture, Baphomaster, Shrooms Circle, Horzdun, Shibboleth, Flex Bison, Witchsorrow, Ancient Altar, Jambattista, Thuum, Slother, Gaupa, Drought, Dopethrone, Windhand, Kaiser, Druglord, Frayle, Demoniah, Fister, Greenthumb, Southaven, Huata, Silent Snare, Cosmic Relic, Skeleton Bong, Satori Junk, Clegane, Domkraft, Dark Buddha Rising, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Clegane/Father Merrin split, Skooma
Psych: Mythic Sunship, Black Rainbows, Tombstones in the Sky, Lee Van Cleef, Venus Negra, Deep Space Destructors, Red Valley, Heavy Moon
Stone: Drive By Wire, Black Elephant
Noteworthy releases:
Boss Keloid, Indica Blues, YOB, Alice in Chains, Sunnata, Forming the Void, High on Fire, Slow Green Thing
Andrei Moose
Really tried to shorten this shit down as much as I could, but obviously failed. So, here's a TOP 60 of my most favorite albums of 2018!
2. Conan - Existential Void Guardian
3. All Them Witches - ATW
4. Dopethrone - Trancanadian Anger
5. Cult Of Occult - Antilife
6. LLNN - Deads
7. Moloch - A Bad Place
8. Shallow Grave - Treshold Between World
9. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
10. The Armed - Only Love
11. Domkraft - Flood
12. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - King of Cowards
13. Huata - Lux Initiatrix Terrae
14. Belzebong - Light the Dankness
15. Forming the Void - RIFT
16. REZN - Calm Black Water
17. Holy Monitor - II
18. Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser
19. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard & Slomatics - Totems
20. Farflung - This Capsule
21. HAAN - Grace of Blood and Guts
22. Throat - Bareback
23. Bismarck - Urkraft
24. Sumac - Love In Shadow
25. COFFIN TORTURE - DISMAL PLANET
26. Eagle Twin - The Thundering Heard
27. Black Rainbows - Pandaemonium
28. Black Elephant - Cosmic Blues
29. Morag Tong - Last Knell of Om
30. Wrong - Feel Great
31. Earth Ship - Resonant Sun
32. Mouthbreather - Dollmeat
33. Old Man Lizard - True Misery
34. Bast - Nanoångström
35. Kaiser - 1st Sound
36. Deathbell - With The Beyond
37. Orphans Of Doom - Strange Worlds/Fierce Gods
38. KILLER BOOGIE - Acid Cream
39. Wedge - Killing Tongue
40. Weedpecker - III
41. Only Sons - Love, Drugs, Treachery and Deceit
42. Leeched - You Took The Sun When You Left
43. Witch Ripper - Homestead
44. Void Commander - Void Commander
45. Saint Karloff - All Heed the Black God
46. Stone Titan - Stone Titan
47. Hell Obelisco - Swamp Wizard Rises
48. Melting Hand - Faces Of Earth
49. Under - Stop Being Naive
50. Ommadon - End Times
51. KEN mode - Loved
52. Oryx - Stolen Absolution
53. Hidden Haze - Worms to Feed
54. Bridge Farmers - Bridge Farmers
55. Irk - Recipes from the Bible
56. Shine - Moon Wedding
57. Bleeth - Geomancer
58. Thunder Horse - Thunder Horse
59. Hell To Pay - Bliss
60. Swamp Corpse - Bone Mill
Paul Peiler
Here's my top 30 albums (and a few EP's) of 2018, followed by 20 songs (in no particular order) I really like but aren't on an album that made my album list.
02. Foehammer - Second Sight
03. Shallow Grave - Threshold Between Worlds
04. Slave Hands - World Rid of all Living
05. Rezn - Calm Black Water
06. Sleep - The Sciences
07. Huata - Lux Initiatrix Terrae
08. Sixes - Methistopheles
09. Conan - Existential Void Guardian
10. Coilguns - Millenials
11. Monolith - Two Wolves
12. Armed for Apocalypse - Palm Reader (EP, 4 songs)
13. Hexendrone - Heavy Drugs Smashed Amps
14. MouthBreather - Dollmeat (EP, 7 songs)
15. ...Under a Full Moon - Lurking in the Abysmal Darkness
16. Domkraft - Flood
17. Dopethrone - Transcanadian Anger
18. Thou - Magus
19. Druglord - New Day Dying
20. Nest - Metempsychosis
21. Body Void - I Live Inside a Burning House
22. Pyraweed - Green Jinn
23. Boru - Inertia
24. Bongripper - Terminal
25. Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - I Carry My Awareness of Defeat like a Banner (EP, 3 songs)
26. Sores - Suppressed
27. Birmani - EP (EP, 5 songs)
28. Bible Black Tyrant - Regret Beyond Death
29. Welcome to Holyland - Welcome to Holyland
30. Skincarver - Shades of a Shallow Grave
* Chrome Ghost - The Whip (from Shallows EP)
* Deathbell - Emerald Eyes Shine (from With The Beyond)
* Destroyer of Light - Nyx (from Hopeless EP)
* Godmaker - Over (Portishead cover, from split with Somnuri)
* Lesser Glow - Vacant Throne (from Ruined)
* Owlcrusher - Shinobi (EHG)
* Pillars - Pale Horse Rider (from Onward to Nothingness)
* Plague of Carcosa - Rats in the Wall
* Radien - Kaiken Kato (from Syvyys)
* Regress - In Shackles (from MMXVIII Demo)
* Ritual Service - Great Degradator (from Robustfellow Sampler 2018)
* Secret Cutter - Oblivion (from Quantum Eraser)
* SOL - Spheres (from Before we Disappear)
* Tekarra - Black Limbs (from Tekarra)
* The Great Machine - Doom Machine (from Respect)
* Tiger Nest - Raven/Ligeia (from Death Rattle)
* Ungraven - Targetted (from The Language of Longing (Demos))
* Windhand - Three Sisters (from split with Satan's Satyrs)
* Wytchgoat - Astral Orgy (from Kult of the Wytch Goat)
* Yob - The Screen (from Our Raw Heart)
Jetro Suo
Not a ranking list, but more like which releases I listened to the most through the year list.
1. Conjurer - Mire (hardcore/doom/black metal)
Best written album as a whole i've heard in a long time.
2. Baest - Danse Macabre ([old school] death metal)
Death metal at its best, no noodling, just pure death metal riffs.
3. Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser (sludge)
Crushing, maybe slightly repeative but works with the right state of mind.
4. Cult Leader - A Patient Man (hardcore)
Loved that they brought more their slower and easier side on this record.
5. Belzebong - Light the Dankness (stoner doom)
Grand masters of groove.
6. Wake - Misery Rites (blackened grind)
Harsh but still accessible.
7. Baptists - Beacon of Faith (hardcore punk)
Not as 'punky' as i was expecting, but still loved it. Nick Yacyshyn is one of the best drummers out there right now.
8. Hebosagil - Kevät EP (noise-/indie rock)
Mind state of a Finnish person in spring, expressed in form of music.
9. Jon Armon-Jones - Starting Today (jazz-dub)
Great music to chill to, or do basically anything.
10. The Secret - Lux Tenebris EP (black metal/experimental)
Disappointed little bit on this one actually. The Secret needs a full lenght to really express the full emotional scale, that i need to get into their work. But still, they are one of the best bands to create this kind of haunting and dark atmosphere.
Clint Willis
Bast - Nanoangstrom
Belzebong - Light in the Dankness
Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef
CHRCH - Light Will Consume Us All
Churchburn - None Shall Live...
Conan - Existential Void Guardian
Conjurer - Mire
Dirge - Lost Empyrean
Dopethrone - Transcanadian Anger
Drug Cult - Drug Cult
Forn - Rites of Despair
Garganua - Through the Void
Goblinsmoker - Toad King
High on Fire - Electric Mesiah
Hooded Menace - Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
Huata - Lux Initiatrix Terrae
ILSA - Corpse Fortress
Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows - Hymns
Jamestown Pagans - Grimoire Vol 1
Kaiser - First Sound
Leechfest - Neon Crosses
Lucifungus - Akuma Kin
Messa - Feat for Water
Moloch - A Bad Place
Morne - To the Night Unknown
Okwaho - Okwaho
Olmeg - Maladies
Radien - Syvyys
Religion Observance - Utter Discomfort
Scientist - Barbelith
Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser
Shallow Grave - Threshold Between Worlds
Shibboleth - Lairoscuro
Sleep - The Sciences
Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
Sumeru - Summon Destroyer
Talbot - Magnetismt
Thou - Magus
Un - Sentiment
Windhand - Eternal Return
Witchskull - Covens Will
YOB - Our Raw Heart
Clint's contribution courtesy of Hand of Doom radio.
facebook.com/pg/handof.doomradio
tunein.com/radio/Hand-of-Doom-Radio-s187722
Sue Wright
My list...it's not exhaustive, but I have filtered it down to this! And not in any particular order!
All Them Witches - ATW
BAST- Nanoångström
Birnam Wood - Wicked Worlds
Bismarck - Urkraft
Bismuth - The slow dying of the Great Barrier reef
Black Elephant - Cosmic Blues
Body Void - I live inside a burning house
Bongripper - Terminal
Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters - Come & Chutney
Coffin Torture - Dismal Planet
Conan - Existential Void Guardian
Demon Goat - Bred with Contempt
Domkraft - Flood
Dopethrone - Transcanadian Anger
Goblinsmoker - Toad King
Haunted - Dayburner
Hundred Year Old Man - Breaching
Hush - Untitled II
Kurokuma - Doperider
Lord Vapour - Semuta
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard/Slomatics - Totems
OHHMS - Exist
Old Man Lizard - True Misery
Pigs,pigs, pigs,pigs,pigs,pigs,pigs - King of Cowards
Rezn - Calm Black Water
Saltbuck - Cityslicker
Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser
Shallow Grave - Threshold Between Worlds
Sleep - The Sciences
Sumac - Love in Shadow
TONS - Filthy Flowers of Doom
Tuskar - The tide, beneath, the wall
Under - Stop being naive
Void Frontier - Sinner
Windhand - Eternal Return
Here's to a brilliant 2019 for music!