However, it speaks to its quality and remarkable impact that three of its four electors ranked the record in their top two, including the #1 pick by AMGHimself, rendering Támsins likam the de facto Record o’ the Year for. Hamferð // Támsins likam – – With the slightly dubious honor of reaching the fewest lists in this aggregation, Támsins likam by Hamferð was dragged across the line at the eleventh hour by the AMGlist and its top-billing there. Riffs, dissonance, ambient lulls and apocalyptic levels of aggression it’s all here, and for once it feels like it’s moving forward.” Do not miss this as a fan of black metal.Ĩ. The Muppet‘s velvety tongue spun some nice words so he can round this one out: “With the nightmarish atmospheric sensibilities of Celtic Frost, the pummeling violence of Deathspell Omega, the sheer evil of Gorgoroth and a Behemoth ear for headbanging, Gaerea have gathered the souls of black metals most hallowed ov icons and given them somewhere they can finally move on to in Unsettling Whispers. Gaerea // Unsettling Whispers – – Boasting five hits on lists proper (no honorable mentions) and three top fives, Unsettling Whispers by Portugal’s Gaerea proved quite the blackened hit in its singular fusion of various black metal sounds. This is a clearly a band with an acute awareness of the gravity of their subject matter, and the result feels appropriately larger than life.”ĩ. 1914’s mammoth death metal riffs, soaked in dark, doomy melodies, perfectly encapsulate an atmosphere born from countless generations’ worth of war horror stories. The Blind Leading the Blind is anything but. Wvrm notes that it “encapsulates the annihilation of the era, in all its wanton carnage and misery, with an hour of the finest meat-grinding riffs and percussive destruction that black and death metal have to offer.” Given the justified sensitivity in the subject matter, Eldritch Elitist acknowledges that it “had the potential to feel rushed and pretentious. 1914 // The Blind Leading the Blind – – 2018 saw the First World War Centenary and 1914 marked this milestone of distance from the atrocious horrors of that war with their affecting sophomore full-length entitled The Blind Leading the Blind.

I am intrigued and entertained to observe which records which rise to the top of the heap and am delighted to honor our collective favorite records from 2018.

This not only goes some way to dispel any notion that metal is dead but also illustrates that the Angry Metal Hall is now shockingly crowded despite Steel Druhm‘s frequent and violent ejections. In all, despite our best efforts to bemoan the quality of metal in 2018, 221 unique releases have made their way into our compiled lists which span the entire heavy spectrum. We have finally reached the conclusion to 2018’s list season: the Meta List.

Best metal albums 2018