Our year-end LISTMANIA series usually consists of a mix of lists compiled by cross-genre sites and zines much larger than our own, and year-end favorites assembled by our own staff and guests. This next list, however, doesn’t really fall into either category, but I thought it was well worth including.
Bandcamp, of course, has become a vital platform for the digital release of music of all stripes (and eventually physical merchandise as well) since its founding in 2008. Bandcamp hasn’t yet released its annual compilation of performance statistics for 2018, but their 2017 “Year In Review” reported that 3,500 independent labels were participating on the platform, that more than 600,000 artists had then sold something through the site, and that all-time payments to artists through Bandcamp had reached $270 million.
Metal, of course, is only one of hundreds of music genres represented on Bandcamp, but has become a sufficiently important aspect of the business that Bandcamp Daily now publishes a list of the best metal albums of the year. I believe they began doing so last year, but I somehow overlooked it. Thanks to a message from NCS contributor Conchobar, I’ve now discovered Bandcamp Daily‘s list of “The Best Metal Albums of 2018“.
Arranged alphabetically, the list includes 15 albums, and by my lights it’s a very good list indeed, which includes hyperlinks to the album streams themselves that I’ve pasted below. To read the descriptions of the albums that accompany each one on the list, go HERE.
Ails
The Unraveling
Evoken
Hypnagogia
Fister
No Spirit Within
Haunt
Burst Into Flame
Horrendous
Idol
Judicator
The Last Emperor
Mournful Congregation
The Incubus of Karma
Panegyrist
Hierurgy
Panopticon
The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness Pt. I and II
Portal
ION
Summoning
With Doom We Come
Tomb Mold
Manor of Infinite Forms
Varathron
Patriarchs of Evil
Visigoth
Conqueror’s Oath
Windhand
Eternal Return
4 Responses to “LISTMANIA: BANDCAMP DAILY’S “BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2018””
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Unbelievable that NO LIST have included
Iris by Altars of Grief: the best DOOM of 2018
and
Bestial Manifestations of Death by Oxygen Destroyer which is the FILTHIEST OTY
Thanks for Oxygen Destroyer, I’m really digging this!
Yep, “Iris” was indeed a very great, melancholic masterpiece (I believe it landed somewhere in my top twenty-five on my 100-entry list in the NCS Readers post). You should also check out Dawn of Winter’s new release, “Pray For Doom”. I’m not surprised no one has really brought it up since it released on December 7th.
Never got the appeal of Windhand. Always thought they were a bit over rated.