GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 2018

[Baroque]

I'll make the deadline March 27th.

Last day for this, anymore lists?

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

yeah i'm still putting mine together.

 

[CiG]

Last day for this, anymore lists?

Scratching that deadline anyway, forgot to put that in here but this game won't end until the 2018 mixtape game is done with.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

RIP top ten polls

 

[CiG]

RIP your brain because we're currently doing 2007 mate.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

RIP your brain because we're currently doing 2007 mate.

Yeah, last post there was 3 weeks ago. So current, genius.

 

[CiG]

Yeah, last post there was 3 weeks ago. So current, genius.

This still isn't the current game genius lmao.

 

[CiG]

Thinking about wrapping this up soonish, probably July.

 

[challenge_everything]

Coming in with a belated list before deadline.

1. Vargrav - Netherstorm
2. Varathron - Patriarchs of Evil
3. Entropy Created Consciousness - Impressions of the Morning Star
4. Sargeist - Unbound
5. Haken - Vector
6. Deceased - Ghostly White
7. Satan - Cruel Magic
8. Wulkanaz - Wulkanaz
9. Panphage - Jord
10. Spectral Wound - Infernal Decadence

Vargrav has really been growing on me lately - at first I thought it was derivative (and to an extent it is) but there are a lot of subtle shifts behind the seemingly repetitive riffs.

 

[Phylactery]

Yeah Netherstorm is really good. Their newest album is much more derivative imo, very indebted to In the Nightside Eclipse. I like it, but it’s not as good as Netherstorm imo.

 

[challenge_everything]

Damn - I haven't heard the new one yet.

 

[CiG]

1. Black Viper - Hellions of Fire
Speed, thrash, trad, USPM, Mercyful Fate, Agent Steel, Attacker, Iron Maiden, Medieval Steel, Jag Panzer etc, all thrown together into a barely-contained recipe of pure fucking heavy metal savagery, complete with some quite nice and engaging songwriting and a few lofty ideas that threaten the album's momentum but ultimately add to its charm imo. It's rough around the edges like good heavy metal should be, and a cold blue flame burns at its heart with no remorse.

2. Deathhammer - Chained to Hell
After the slight dip in quality with 2015's Evil Power (though tbf a dip was expected since it had to follow Onward to the Pits which was a masterpiece imo) Deathhammer raise the stakes with Chained to Hell, which for me has been a grower rather than an instant hit, but it's all the better for it I think. The title track steals the show!

3. Mordeth - The Unknown Knows
The only way to describe these strange fellows who have been doing their own thing with cool originality since the early 90's is space metal, in the truest sense of the "space" part as it relates to the space rock genre. Imagine you take a death metal band, strip away most of the genre cliches and replace them with heavy doses of Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and Voïvod, and you basically have Mordeth. The things they pull off on this album still blow my mind, not the least because they're things I never thought I'd find appealing in a metal band.

4. Kizin - Abstractions
Kizin are an underground death metal band on their own path, and unfortunately as of last month they totally vanished from social media. Their pages are gone, no warning, just vanished into the void.

5. Sacral Rage - Beyond Celestial Echoes
Screeching high velocity technical progressive power/speed/thrash warlocks! A surprising amount of people don't like this album, I dunno, I think it has some of the most fun songwriting on a metal album in many years. It bounces all over the place, with many sweet riffs and soaring sections that keep my attention.

6. Gruesome Stuff Relish - Cannibalized!
To get death/goregrind that sounds this sick and classic in #currentyear is surely a blessing from the cannibal gods!? The riffs and solos are sinister, the drumming enforces a relentless skull-bashing pace and everything else just falls in line. Sits at a cool 20 minutes (I guess it's considered a mini-LP by the band) and hits the spot with a spiked club.

7. Archgoat - The Luciferian Crown
It's interesting to hear an Archgoat album with a semi-"clean" production job, and surprisingly I think it fits them nicely and accentuates all the little intricacies of the instrumentation - the cymbals, the bass, the crispiness of the snare drum, and most of all the disgusting goregrind-styled vocals. Gotta say, probably my favourite by them these days. Can't get enough of the more dynamic "big" sound they have here.

8. Whipstriker - Merciless Artillery
Mastered by Joel Grind, cover art by Rok, introducing some melodic guitarwork, honing right in on what he does best - writing catchy as fuck Venom-esque songs that get right at the heart of rock & roll. Just a fukking bombastic slab of dirty black/speed/rock & roll punk metal that gets stuck in my head for days and days after I blast it. Also have to say this is the first Whipstriker album that feels like more than one person was involved in the writing process, all his other material while still killer feels like the stuff of a one-man band.

9. Voïvod - The Wake
This one has definitely been more of a grower for me. After I first heard it, I listened a couple times more and then put it on the backburner in favour of other more immediately exciting things, but as 2018 has started to wind down I've been finding myself more and more coming back to The Wake, I just love the infectious dissonant funkiness and the 80's hardcore punk drumming style, with the iconic vocals that weave everything together like a narrator in a post-apocalyptic movie. Not quite as good as the Post Society EP (probably a big part of that is due to length, shorter records tend to be more urgent and consumable) but 35 years after their debut demo tape Voïvod have proven that after a long career of massive changes in style and line-up, they're still one of the greatest bands of all time.

10. Vomitor - Pestilent Death
Just Vomitor doing what Vomitor does best, though not at their best here, that's not really saying much. Very few bands have a formula as acidic and vicious as these guys, locked down and always ready to be unleashed. Atomic riffs buzzing with violence, punishing drums and howls from a nuclear warzone!
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Many albums dropped out of rotation for me since I first made this thread, and these 10 left standing have comfortably secured a spot in my regular listening habits. Some HM's would be Oxygen Destroyer, Obliteration, The Skull, Exlimitir, Nekrofilth, Apokalyptic Raids, Aura Noir, Communion (At the Announcement), Hyperdontia, Galvanizer, Nachash, JT Ripper, Nocturnal Graves, Just Before Dawn, Abythic, Torture Rack, Deceased etc...

 

[CiG]

Who still needs time for this one?

 

[Krow]

I don’t think I made an 18 list so give me this weekend at least, please.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

ill try to put one together in the next few days.

 

[CiG]

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

The Silent Vigil by Memoriam is probably the worst album i've heard from this year.

 

[CiG]

Yeah, it's pretty cringe. The riffs are enjoyable but the vocals just diarrhea all over the whole thing.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Updated my list. Added Manacle, bumped Satan up a few positions. Months later, Sacral Rage is still a lock for #1.

 

[Sophii]

1.) Dir en Grey - Insulated World
2.) Archgoat - The Luciferian Crown
3.) Voivod - The Wake
4.) Mournful Congregation - Incubus of Karma
5.) Thou - Magus
6.) Sigh - Heir of Dispair
7.) Inferi - Revenant
8.) Ataraxy - Where All Hope Fades
9.) Alkaloid - Liquid Anatomy
10.) Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

HM:

Judas Priest - Firepower
Conjurer - Mire
Tribulation - Down Below
Altars of Grief - Iris