OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONG: THE COMPLETE LIST

 

Last Friday I ended the roll-out of our annual list of Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. It was an arbitrary halt, because I could have kept going, but it seems like by March we really should be looking forward all the time instead of continuing to reflect on the past.

Although many more songs could easily still be added, I do think the list, as it is, provides a decent snapshot of both the quality and the diversity of metal in 2018. And I think that’s true even though I only focused on the most “infectious” songs (some of the best songs and albums released in 2018 weren’t really “infectious”, as I’ve defined it, but were stunning listening experiences nonetheless).

Of course, the list is almost entirely a reflection of my own tastes, though I did try to cover a broad spectrum of genres and sub-genres, and I actually did defer to Andy Synn for the last two installment of the list because it was easier than continuing to torture myself over the final selections. As we always do around here, I also made sure that lesser-known underground bands were represented along with the higher-profile groups. But of course I didn’t listen to every album released last year, or even to all of the more than 600 songs that were recommended by our readers (though I listened to the majority of them).

Below is a list of all the songs on this year’s list —- 99 of them — which compares to 78 last year and 71 the year before that. Next year’s list won’t be longer that 99, and will be quite a bit shorter if I can control myself.

The songs below are listed in the order in which I rolled them out and are hyperlinked to the original posts where you can listen to the music. I know it would have been nicer if I had included all the streams right here in one place, but that would have taken more time than you probably realize. However, one of our supporters did take the time to make a Spotify playlist of  all the songs on the list, which you can find here (thank you Matt!).

I’m grateful to everyone who suggested songs for this list, to everyone who read the installments, and especially to all the bands. And by all means, in the Comments feel free to punch me in the neck for failing to include something I should have included.

 

PART 1
Necrophobic – Tsar Bomba
Slugdge – The Spectral Burrows

PART 2
Conan – Volt Thrower
Black Royal – The Chosen

PART 3
Elysian Blaze – The Virtue of Suffering
Depths Above – The Descent

PART 4
Bloodbath – Bloodicide
Baest – Crosswhore

PART 5
Dödsrit – Spirit Crusher
Hinayana – Order Divine
Homselvareg – Rivelazione

PART 6
Harakiri For The Sky – You Are The Scars
Ails – The Echoes Waned

PART 7
Funeral Mist – Cockatrice
1914 – Arrival: The Meuse-Argonne

PART 8
Gaerea – Absent
All My Sins – Zov iz Magle
In Twilight’s Embrace – Pelen czerni

PART 9
The Crown – In the Name of Death
Chapel of Disease – Oblivious-Obnoxious-Defiant

PART 10
Immortal – Mighty Ravendark
Uada – Cult of a Dying Sun
Skeletonwitch – Fen of Shadows

PART 11
Horizon Ablaze – Insidious
Hoth – Vengeance
House of Atreus – The Madness of Ixion

PART 12
Alkaloid – Kernel Panic
The Ocean – Permian: The Great Dying
Monolithe – Burst In the Event Horizon

PART 13
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Witch Ripper – Swarm
Author And Punisher – Nihil Strength

PART 14
LLNN – Armada
Lair of the Minotaur – Kunsult the Bones
SVNEATR – The Hunt

PART 15
Imperial Triumphant – Swarming Opulence
Kriegsmaschine – Residual Blight

PART 16
Sargeist – Unbound
Deitus – Via Dolorosa
Hegemone – PI

PART 17
Born To Murder The World – Genesis Misconception
Anaal Nathrakh – Are We Fit For Glory Yet (The War To End Nothing)

PART 18
Morgengrau – Wolves of Thirteen
Abyssus – Operation Ranch Hand
Supreme Carnage – Morbid Ways To Die
Fervent Hate – Evil Twins

PART 19
Svalbard – Unpaid Intern
Viscera/// – Marauders

PART 20
Wolfheart – Breakwater
Sarasvati – Released To Aion

PART 21
Mire – Lightless
Omnium Gatherum – Gods Go First

PART 22
Sulphur Aeon – Lungs Into Gills
Windswept – Your Bitter Bread

PART 23
Pig Destroyer – Army of Dead Cops
Mantar – Age of the Absurd

PART 24
Khemmis – Isolation
Amorphis – Amongst Stars

PART 25
Panopticon – Snow Burdened Branches
Kvalvaag – Mare
Wayfarer – Animal Crown
Neverending Winter – Сеногной

PART 26
Majestic Downfall – Veins
Altars Of Grief – Desolation

PART 27
Obscura – Emergent Evolution
Soreption – Children Of The Automaton

PART 28
Heads For the Dead – Deep Below
The Absence – A Gift For the Obsessed
Scorched – Exhibits of Torture

PART 29
Witching Hour – As I Walk Among Sepulchral Ruins
In the Woods – Cloud Seeder
Aorlhac – Infâme Saurimonde

PART 30
Soul Dissolution – Far Above the Boiling Sea of Life
Fredag Den 13:e – Fängslad Mentalt
Vargrav – Netherstorm

PART 31
Allfather – Citadels
Apophys – Deadlock
Irreversible Mechanism – Existence II: Collision

PART 32
Antlers – Metempsychosis
Rebel Wizard – Drunk on the wizdom of unicorn semen
Barús – Dissever

PART 33
Behemoth – Bartzabel
Volkolun – Zmora
Sear Bliss – The Main Divide

PART 34
Construct of Lethe – The Clot
Demonical – A Void Most Obscure
Cist – Antiseptic

PART 35
Aborted – Terrorvision
Afgrund – Crossfire Agent
Wake – Rot

PART 36
Gorod – The Sentry
Marsh Dweller – Wander I
Abraham – Dead Cities

PART 37
Black Tongue – The Eternal Return To Ruin
Hundred Year Old Man – Long Wall
Leeched – By the Factories

PART 38
The Agony Scene – Serpent’s Tongue
Outer Heaven – Putrid Dwelling
Rites of Thy Degringolade – The Blade Philosophical