Nov 292018
 

 

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”

  1. 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.”

  2. 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.

  3. 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”

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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.

  9. 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…

  10. Hoooded menace ossuarium silhouhettes unhallowed

    Altar of perversion intra naos

    Abigor hollenzwang

    Outre hollow earth

    Mournful congregation the incubus of karma

    Acherontas faustian ethos

  11. 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

    • 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.

  12. 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”.

  13. 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

  14. My list…

    …is something you’ll all have to wait for 🙂

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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”

  18. 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

  19. (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.

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. 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

  24. 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

  25. 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.

  26. 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

  27. 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

  28. 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.

  29. 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

  30. 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

  31. 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/ …

  32. 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

  33. 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

  34. 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

  35. 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

  36. 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

  37. 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.

  38. 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

  39. my list is invisible…it is so accurate it is typed in invisible text

  40. 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

  41. 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

  42. 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

  43. 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.

  44. 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

  45. 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

  46. 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

  47. 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)

  48. 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.

  49. 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

  50. 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.

  51. 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.

  52. 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?

  53. 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 😉

  54. 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

  55. 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

  56. 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.

  57. 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.

  58. 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

  59. 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

  60. Greetings, fellows! Listen to my year-end– in descending order– top ten 2018 releases, here: https://bandcamp.com/mkcerati. The favorite tracks are accurate.

  61. 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.

  62. 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

  63. 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.

  64. High Tension – Rise

  65. 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)

  66. An absolutely monster year for extreme metal!

  67. 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

  68. 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…

  69. 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”

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