There will be 365 days in 2018. The mid-way point is therefore 182 1/2 days. Yesterday, July 1st, was the 182nd day of the year. And so we’re a bit early with this post, since the mid-way point won’t be reached until the end of the 12th hour today, but we’re not as early as some places have been.
With the year approximately half-gone, it’s a good time to take stock of what we’ve heard so far… and man, there’s been a lot of good stuff to hear. And by “what we’ve heard so far”, I don’t mean myself. If I really tried to make a list of the best releases from the first half of the year, I’d have to shut down the site for a week, and probably still couldn’t figure it out.
No, what I mean by “we” is “you”, because I’d much rather be entertained and educated by seeing the releases that have made the biggest impression on people who visit NCS than agonize over my own list. And I’m guessing other people will enjoy that too. In addition, collecting these lists always turn out to be an excellent resource for making new discoveries.
So, in the Comments to this post please leave us the names of the albums, EPs, or splits that you’ve enjoyed the most as of this near-half-way point of 2018. There’s no limit on the number, and no requirement that anything be ranked, although it’s fine if you want to do that.
Also, if you’re not ready to engage in this exercise right now, don’t worry. This post isn’t going anywhere. You can find it real fast by looking for the “LISTMANIA 2018” category link on the right side of every page from here on out.
Thanks in advance to anyone who shares their lists with the rest of us.
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It has indeed been a smashing year of good releases so far, and I’ve still got several albums that are out that I haven’t had time to give a good whirl yet. But here’s my list of considerations for my annual Top 20 list. In alphabetical order.
A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant
Amorphis – Queen of Time
The Antichrist Imperium – Vol. II: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan
Augury – Illusive Golden Age
Aura Noir – Aura Noire
Dimmu Borgir – Eonian
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Judas Priest – Firepower
Marduk – Viktoria
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
Pestilence – Hadeon
Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins
Sworn – Dark Stars and Eternity
The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
Thy Catafalque – Geometria
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
Cheers!
Adding:
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Glorior Belli – The Apostates
Ungfell- Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
Panphage- Jord
Vomitor- Pestilent Death
Sleep- Of Sciences
Portal- Ion
Of Feather and Bone- Bestial Hymns of Perversion
Spite- Antimoshiach
Mylingar- Döda Drömmar
Thy Feeble Saviour- And Darkness Fell
Necros Christos- Domedon Doxomedon
Altar of Perversion- Intra Naos
Ritual Necromancy- Disinterred Horror
Jyotiṣavedāṅga – Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum
Purity Renaissance
Knelt Rote- Alterity
Abhor- Occulta Religio
Hammr- Unholy Destruction
Disembowel- Plagues and Ancient Rites
Misticismo- terraria
Funeral Mist- Hekatomb
Acherontas- Faustian Ethos
Abigor- Hollenzwang
Goath- II: Opposition
Demonomantic- Grail
Adzalaan- Into Vermillion Mirrors
Dagger Lust- Siege Bondage Adverse to the Godhead
Serum Dreg- Lustful Vengeance
Nocturnal Graves- Titan
Tomb Mold
Torture Rack
Siege Column
Grave Upheaval
EPs/Demos:
Superstition- Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
Human Agony- Goring Christ
Attrition- Vengeance
Phosphore Blanc- Fascist Sludge
Caveman Cult- Supremacia Primordial
Spectral Voice/Vastum split
Blasphamagoatachrist- Black Metal Warfare
Subservient Perversity- BTK
Cemetery Lights- Lemuralia
Impure- Transfixed in Limbo
Deathwards- Towards Death
Cult of Extinction- Black Nuclear Magick Attack
Necroracle- MMXVIII
That Spite record sounds like Volahn playing some kind of heavy metal. Very cool.
I don’t know that these are technically “the best.” But they’re what I’ve listened to most this year. (Well, these and Dyscarnate’s album from last year, which has had remarkable staying power for me.)
Superstition – Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
Chthe’ilist – Passage into the Xexanotth (EP)
Shylmagoghnar – Transience
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
Euclidian – Quod Erat Faciendum
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Inferi – Revenant
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Aepoch – Awakening Inception
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
Genocide Pact – Order of Torment
Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
Hekatomb – Funeral Mist
Funeral Leach – The Funereality (EP)
Raider – Urge to Kill (EP)
Dopethrone – Transcanadian Anger
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Oxygen Destroyer – Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death
Vermilia – Katkyt
I am still waiting on my favorite releases to happen (Sulphur Aeon, Omnium Gatherum,Obscura and some others) but so far the Asphagor and Varathon and Slugdge and Rur albums are my favorite. Also, throw in Alkaloid (though I don’t like it quite as much as the debut) and Amorphis’ new album is awesome too. Sleeper would have to be the new Shylmagoghnar album Transience. The album is beautiful, with cascading, ethereal guitar melodies throughout. The title track of the record is easily the best song I’ve heard so far in 2018
Panopticon – the scars of man once…
Yob – Our raw heart
Sleep – the sciences
Rivers of Nihil – where owls know my name
Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death, Oxygen Destroyer
Iris, Altars of Grief
Manner of Infinite Forms, Tomb Mold
Corpse Fortress, Ilsa
Unsettling Whispers, Gaerea
It’s Hard to Have Hope, Svalbard
Támsins likam, Hamferd
Damnatio Memoriae, Grethor
Non-Metal
7, Beach House
Hollow Ground, Cut Worms
Dance Music, Mastersystem
Avslut – Deceptis
Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light – Volume One
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Grá – Väsen
Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars
Slaves BC – Lo, and I Am Burning
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Vargrav – Netherstorm
Wolvhammer – The Monuments of Ash & Bone
I like this, took the liberty to add to its vein: Rur, Alkymist, Arkthin, Synodic
Our Place of Worship is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering
This has been by far my favorite album of 2018 so far, but I also really liked the below:
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
Ellorsith – Orbhais
Dopethrone – Transcanadian Anger
Barren Altar – Entrenched in the Faults of the Earth
Craft – White Noise and Black Metal
Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms
50. Ghastly – Death Velour
49. Abyssal Vaccuum – MMXVII
48. Pneuma Hagion – Trinity
47. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
46. Hexeth – I
45. Weigedood – De Doden Heben Het Goed III
44. Stygian Obsession – Form Is Void
43. W.A.I.L – Wisdom Through Agony Into Illumination And Lunacy vol.2
42. Ellorsith – Orbhais
41. Dead Melodies – The Foundations Of Ruin
40. Replicant – Negative Life
39. Novae Militiae – Gash’kalah
38. Knelt Rote – Alternity
37. Aseitas – Aseitas
36. Of Feather And Bone – Bestial Hymns of Perversion
35. Ugasanie – Ice Breath Of Antarctica
34. Aetheria Conscientia – Tales From Hydhradh
33. Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
32. Kosmogyr – Eviternity
31. Autokrator – The Hammer Of The Heretics
30. Ager Sonus – Necropolis
29. Chaos Echoes – Mouvement
28. Exlimitir – It Weighed Itself In Silver
27. Your End – Ghost Architecture
26. Council Of Nine – Exit Earth
25. Vile Creature – Cast Of Shadow And Smoke
24. Panegyrist – Hierurgy
23. Closet Witch – Closet Witch
22. Sissy Spacek – Ways Of Confusion
21. Reptilian – Perennial Void Traverse
20. Atrium Carceri & Herbst9 – Ur Djupan Dal
19. Gridfailure – Irritum
18. Lingua Ignota – All Bitches Die*
17. Clawing – Spectral Estate
16. Dronny Darko – Black Hive
15. Death.Void.Terror – To The Great Monolith
14. Jyotisavedanga – Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum
13. Eximia – Visitors
12. Grave Upheaval – [untitled]
11. Body Void – I Live Inside A Burning House
10. Atrium Carceri, Cities Last Broadcast & God Body Disconnect – Miles To Midnight
9. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
8. Gnaw Their Tongues – Genocidal Majesty
7. The Body – I Have Fought Against It But I Can’t Any Longer
6. Desiderii Marginis – Vita Arkivet
5. Lesa Listvy – Way Home
4. ProtoU – The Edge Of Architecture
3. Inhuman Kind – Self-Extinction
2. Gatekeeper – East Of Sun
1. Portal – Ion
…. and breathe.
Went through everyone’s lists so far and skimmed all the stuff I hadn’t heard and that Abyssal Vaccuum record is definitely the take-away find. Just my kind of thing.
The Clawing record sounds like some nice, weighty ambient / death industrial stuff too.
Clawing was a random BC find for me too. Good to see I’m not alone in my enjoyment of it.
Me so far:
1. Watain-Trident Wolf Eclipse
2. Tribulation-Down Below
3. Agrimonia-Awaken
4. Necrophobic-Mark of the Necrogram
5. Slugdge-Esoteric Malacology
6. Necropanther-Eyes of Blue Light
7. Ails-The Unraveling
8. LLNN-Deads
9. Khemmis-Desolation
I forgot:
10. Lik-Carnage
11. Gaerea-Unsettling Whispers
Uada- Cult of a dying sun
Cavern- Eater
Spaceslug- Eye the tide (only released 20th July but they have 2 songs available on bandcamp so far and it’s plaguey)
Gaerea- Unsettling whispers
Kosmogyr – Eviternity
Mahr – Antelux
Шишкин Лес – Универс
Plaguestorm – Eternal Throne
Malicious Intent – Under The Shine Of The Ripping Sickle
Void Eater – II
Boss Keloid – Melted On The Inch
Sectioned – Annihilated
UADA – Cult Of A Dying Sun
Owl – Orion Fenix
Chaos Echoes – Mouvement
Agrimonia – Awaken
Abraham – Look, Here Comes The Dark
Meadow Vole – Extempore
Phil Anselmo And The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue
Enscelados – The Unbeknownst Tyrant
Argonavis – Passing the Igneous Maw
Mire – Shed
Wolvennest – VOID
Mask – Concrete Reflections and Rust Showers
Still waiting for a killer death metal record this year.
And some future potentials depending on how much I listen to them.
夢遊病者 – 一期一会
Nightmarer – Cacophony of Terror
Ommadon – End Times
Wesenwille – I : Wesenwille
Ripped To Shreds – 埋葬
Altar of Perversion – Intra Naos
Ancient Moon – Split
Sanguinary Trance – Wine, Song and Sacrifice
Abythic – Beneath Ancient Portals
Pale – EP
Ungfell – Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
Bedlam and Squalor – The Misery of Flesh & Blood
Second To Sun – The Black
Sinira – Dawnless Twilight
Drug Cult – Drug Cult
Pharaoh Overlord – Zero
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Sentient Horror – The Crypts Below (EP) (2018)
Orphaned Land – Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs (2018)
Night Verses – Copper Wasp (2018)
Cist – The Frozen Casket (EP) (2018)
Horizon Ablaze – The Weight Of A Thousand Suns (2018)
Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath (2018)
Demonical – Chaos Manifesto (2018)
Wyrmwoods: Earth Made Flesh
Hegemone: We Disappear
Pestilence: Hadeon
Depravity: Evil Upheaval
Alkaloid: Liquid Anatomy
Undersave: Sadistic Iterations… Tale of Mental Rearrangement
Usurpress: Interregnum
Pharaoh Overlord: Zero
Bong: Though and Existence
Breeders All Nerve
White Hills, Der Blutharsch & the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand: Desire
Lots more still needs investigating.
In no particular order…
Swarrrm- Beginning to Break
Ling Tosite Sigure- #5
Judas Priest- Firepower
Portal- Ion
Human Serpent- For I, the Misanthropist
Knelt Rote- Alterity
Necrophobic- Mark of the Necrogram
Uada- Cult of a Dying Sun
Judicator- The Last Emperor
Chaos Invocation- Reaping Season- Bloodshed Beyond
Most anticipated releases for this year: Immortal, Into Eternity, Nile
Avslut – Deceptis
Cist – The Frozen Casket
Drudkh – They Often See Dreams About the Spring
Gra – Vasen
Horrocious – Obscure Dominance of Nothingness
Lik – Carnage
Ocean of Grief – Nighfall’s Lament
Raven Throne – I Miortvym Snicca Zolak
Revolting – Monolith of Madness
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
Supreme Carnage – Morbid Ways to Die
The Grotesquery – The Lupine Anathema
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Wombbath – The Great Desolation
Zombie Riot – Reign of Rotten Flesh
Djevel – Blant Sorte Graner
Wiegedood – De Doeden Hebben Het Goed III
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Ováte – Ováte
Glorior Belli – The Apostates
Afsky – Sorg
Weedpecker – III
Basalte – Vertige
Vilkacis – Beyond the Mortal Gate
Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
Hænesy – Katruzsa
Wayfarer – World’s Blood
Wesenwille – I: Wesenwille
Adzalaan – Into Vermillion Mirrors
Slidhr – The Futile Fires of Man
Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Changeling – II
Anicon – Entropy Mantra
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
Sadistik Forest – Morbid Majesties
Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
Unravel – Eras Of Forfeit
Yob – Our Raw Heart
Nordligblast – True Paradise
Golgothan Remains – Perverse Offerings To The Void
Evil Warriors – Fall From Reality
Chthe’ilist – Passage Into The Xexanotth
Wombripper – From the Depths of Flesh
Vargrav – Netherstorm
Endarken – Tvoj je hram u srcu mom
Wyrms – Altuus Kronhorr
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Arthedain – Infernal Cadence of the Desolate
Mortis Mutilati – The Stench of Death
Necros Christos – Domedon Doxomedon
Ritual Necromancy – Disinterred Horror
Blood Worship – Death’s Omnipotence
Engulf – Gold And Rust
Raven Throne – I miortvym snicca zolak
Superstition – Surging Throng of Evil’s Might
Convocation – Scars Across
Chaos Invocation – Reaping Season, Bloodshed Beyond
Avslut – Deceptis
Ataraxy – Where All Hope Fades
LIK – Carnage
Craft – White Noise and Black Metal
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Revolting – Monolith of Madness
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil
Gutter Instinct – Heirs of Sisyphus
Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
Hænesy – Katruzsa
Basalte – Vertige
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
Weedpecker – II
Wayfarer – World’s Blood
Wesenwille – I: Wesenwille
Changeling – II
Vilkacis – Beyond the Mortal Gate
Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
Múspellzheimr – Raukn
Adzalaan – Into Vermillion Mirrors
Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
Voight Kampff – Substance Rêve
Anicon – Entropy Mantra
*Weedpecker – III
Surprised to see two mentions of Lik’s Carnage on here, as someone who has been slowly hammering away at a review for it.
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits
Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue
Anticosmos – Waters of Dissolution
Panopticon – The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
Trenches – Trenches
Ails – The Unraveling
Sleep – The Sciences
Judas Priest – Firepower
Thou – The House Primordial
Thou – Inconsolable
Condone – No Room/No Place
Wolvhammer – Monuments of Ash and Bone
Ghost – Prequelle
1. Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
2. Rome in Monochrome – Away from Light
3. Thy Catafalque – Geometria
4. Hamferd – Tamsins Likam
5. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
6. In Vain – Currents
7. Tribulation – Down Below
8. Deathwhite – For a Black Tomorrow
9. Dautha – Brethren of the Black Soil
10. Demon Incarnate – Key of Solomon
Man, I’m amazed all over again at what good taste the people have who emerge when we put out requests like this, and equally amazed at how much I’ve missed or haven’t paid enough attention to,
Album of the year so far Deadly Carnage – Through the Void Above the Sun
A close second Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
How the hell has that Vargrav album been mentioned twice only ?
Long Distance Calling – Boundless
Panphage – Jord
The Atlas Moth – Coma Noir
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Huntsmen – American Scrap
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins
Ungfell – Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz
Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III
Veiled – Omniscient Veil
Hegemone – We Disappear
Green Druid – Ashen Blood
Soliloquium – Contemplations
Amarok – Devoured
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
Marduk – Viktoria
Agathos – Nihil Est
Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Some pretty good stuff. And then there is my To Do list which has another 50+ hours waiting for me.
In no particular order:
Marduk – Viktoria
Chaos Invocation – Reaping seasons, bloodshed beyond
Watain – Trident Wolf Eclipse
Necrophobic – Mark of the Nekrogram
Blasphamagoatachrist- Black Metal Warfare
Goat Disciple – Wolf Cult Domination ep
Rotted – Pestilent Tomb
Mortuous – Through Wilderness
Funeral Mist – Hekatomb
next…
Aborted – TerrorVision
Benighted – new ep
Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy
Aseitas – Aseitas
Conjurer – Mire
Crow Black Sky – Sidereal Light: Volume One
DDENT – TORO
Extremities – Gaia
Humiliation – Karnaval Genosida
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Spectral – Neural Correlates of Hate
Unreal Overflows – Latent
Vnrest – II
Aosoth – L’esprit des vents (black metal)
Grafvitnir – Keys to the Mysteries Beyond (black metal)
Tyrants Blood – Into the Kingdom of Graves (death metal)
Deus Vermin – Monument to Decay (death metal)
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram (melodic black metal)
Trna – Earthcult (blackgaze)
UNGFELL- Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz (black metal)
Construct of Lethe – Exiler (death metal)
Our Place of Worship Is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering (death metal)
Depravity – Evil Upheaval (death metal)
AKSUMITE – Vinegar Perimeter (black metal/punk)
Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence (black metal)
Molested Divinity – Desolated Realms Through Iniquity (brutal death metal)
Tyrants Blood’s album had been released in 2013, but I knew them this year and it really kills!