Staff
Reviews 328 Soundoffs 1,214 News Articles 396 Band Edits + Tags 4,275 Album Edits 5,791
Album Ratings 13350 Objectivity 88%
Last Active 01-10-23 4:00 pm Joined 07-09-07
Review Comments 20,213
| Willie's 2018
My final 2018 list. This was probably one of the more underwhelming years for me, musically speaking, but here it is. Compare my list to some of the other 'metal' staff and you can see how we all chose different things from the same genre and essentially cancelled each other out for the year-end list. | 50 | | Conjurer Mire
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Post Metal, Black Metal -- RIYL: Gorguts, Ulcerate | 49 | | Elderwind The Colder The Night
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Post Black Metal -- RIYL: Harakiri For The Sky, Mesarthim | 48 | | Primordial Exile Amongst the Ruins
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Black Metal, Folk, Metal -- RIYL: Amorphis, Enslaved | 47 | | Amaranthe Helix
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Power Metal, Pop, Metalcore -- RIYL: Nightwish, Soilwork, Evanescence | 46 | | Pennywise Never Gonna Die
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Punk -- RIYL: Bad Religion, Satanic Surfers | 45 | | Acrid (NL) Wonderland
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Medeia, Pestilence | 44 | | Alkaloid Liquid Anatomy
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Progressive Death Metal -- RIYL: Opeth, Amorphis, Tool | 43 | | Satanic Surfers Back From Hell
Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Punk -- RIYL: Pennywise, NoFx | 42 | | The Lion's Daughter Future Cult
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Sludge, Doom, Hardcore -- RIYL: Can't think of any... | 41 | | Necrophobic Mark of the Necrogram
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Death Metal -- RIYL: Sacramentum, Dissection | 40 | | In Vain Currents
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive, Doom -- RIYL: Katatonia, Draconian, Daylight Dies | 39 | | Bloodshot Dawn Reanimation
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal -- RIYL: Aethereus, Born of Osiris | 38 | | Agrona Realm of the Fallen
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Old Man's Child, Naglfar | 37 | | The Ocean Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Post Metal -- RIYL: At The Soundawn, Isis | 36 | | Hypno5e Alba - Les Hombres Errantes
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Acoustic Post Metal -- RIYL: The Ocean, At the Soundawn | 35 | | Architects Holy Hell
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Metalcore -- RIYL: Underoath, August Burns Red | 34 | | Marissa Nadler For My Crimes
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Indie Pop -- RIYL: Chelsea Wolfe, Love Spirals Downwards | 33 | | The Pineapple Thief Dissolution
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Rock -- RIYL: Porcupine Tree, Kingcrow | 32 | | Wolfheart Constellation of the Black Light
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Folk -- RIYL: Amon Amarth, Insomnium | 31 | | As Oceans Still Miles To Go
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive, Metalcore -- RIYL: Rivers of Nihil, Architects | 30 | | Art of Deception Path of Trees
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: Mors Principium Est, Amon Amarth | 29 | | Dimmu Borgir Eonian
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Symphonic Black Metal -- RIYL: Graveworm, Old Man's Child | 28 | | Tonight Alive Underworld
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Pop, Indie Pop -- RIYL: Versaemerge, Against The Current | 27 | | Flamorn Intersection
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: Insomnium, Mors Principium Est, Heaven Shall Burn | 26 | | Inexorum Lore of the Lakes
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Dissection, Anorexia Nervosa | 25 | | Underoath Erase Me
Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Architects, The Used | 24 | | Erra Neon
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Modern Prog -- RIYL: Periphery, August Burns Red | 23 | | Oceans of Slumber The Banished Heart
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Doom, Post Metal, Prog -- RIYL: My Dying Bride, Draconian | 22 | | Project Pitchfork Akkretion
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Electro/Industrial -- RIYL: Skinny Puppy, Kevorkian Death Cycle | 21 | | Thrice Palms
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Alt Rock, Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Deftones, Brand New | 20 | | Warrel Dane Shadow Work
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Traditional Metal, Prog, Thrash -- RIYL: Nevermore | 19 | | Senses Fail If There Is Light, It Will Find You
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Funeral For a Friend, A Static Lullaby | 18 | | McCafferty Yarn
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Pop Punk, Post Hardcore -- RIYL: The Front Bottoms, Say Anything | 17 | | Between the Buried and Me Automata II
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Progressive Metalcore -- RIYL: Dream Theater, Protest the Hero, Carcass | 16 | | Avslut Deceptis
Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Emperor, Mayhem | 15 | | Augury Illusive Golden Age
Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Beyond Creation, Obscura | 14 | | Behemoth I Loved You at Your Darkest
Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Death/Black Metal -- RIYL: Zyklon, ABBATH | 13 | | Night in Gales The Last Sunsets
Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: classic In Flames | 12 | | Monuments Phronesis
Rating: 3.8 -- Genre: Technical Metalcore -- RIYL: Periphery, Tesseract | 11 | | Midas Fall Evaporate
Rating: 3.8 -- Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Post Rock -- RIYL: Marissa Nadler meets Eisley meets Post Rock | 10 | | Gorod Aethra
Rating: 4.0 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Obscura, Augury, Within The Ruins
There aren't really any surprises here. It's your standard modern technical death metal sound. It's chaotic and crammed full of riffs and leads. The thing that redeems this release is that they also manage to make it memorable with just enough 'calm' in the form of memorable melody and riffs to make it stand apart. | 9 | | Sick of It All Wake The Sleeping Dragon!
Rating: 4.0 -- Genre: Metallic Hardcore -- RIYL: Agnostic Front, Traditional NYC Hardcore
These guys have never released a bad album or even an album that feels tired or bored, but this is still a surprise. It sounds totally refreshed and has more of a fun 'punky' vibe than they've had since their Fat Wreck Chords days. These guys have to be in their 50s, but you'd never know it. | 8 | | At The Gates To Drink from the Night Itself
Rating: 4.0 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: (early) In Flames, (early) Dark Tranquillity
At The Gates suffered from some undue criticism when they released At War With Reality because it was directly compared with an album that had grown into an uncontrollable monster built on equal parts hype, nostalgia, and actual quality. To Drink From the Night Itself shouldn’t have that problem because people can now temper their fantasies of unending Slaughter of the Soul rehashes with realistic expectations of a band that always had more to offer than that one release. To Drink From the Night Itself returns to the peak of At The Gates’ creative side by delving into a more moody, nuanced and diverse set of songs that shares more in common with their first few releases than the one everybody seems to remember. In the process, they very well may have released the best album in their history. | 7 | | Meg Myers Take Me To The Disco
Rating: 4.0 -- Genre: Pop/Indie Pop -- RIYL: I honestly Don't know...
I don't get where all the hate is coming from. Maybe it's because this album isn't nearly as energetic or overtly pop as her previous release. Personally, I like the fact this album is more of a quiet, moody, release that kind of trades a bit of sass for introspection. | 6 | | Kingcrow The Persistence
Rating: 4.0 -- Genre: Atmospheric Progressive Metal -- RIYL: Katatonia, Anathema, Riverside
This was my first Kingcrow release, and it was definitely a surprise. I like how it blends the moodiness of bands like (modern) Katatonia with the subdued prog of bands like Porcupine Tree, but with a bit of Anathema thrown in as well. | 5 | | Slugdge Esoteric Malacology
Rating: 4.2 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Beyond Creation, Medeia, Bloodshot Dawn
Really solid and original progressive death metal. I didn't take to this as quickly as some other people did, but eventually it did grow on me. The thing that finally brought me around was the awesome riffs. | 4 | | Haken Vector
Rating: 4.3 -- Genre: Progressive Rock/Metal -- RIYL: Riverside, The Pineapple Thief, Pain of Salvation
I'm not really too familiar with these guys, but I like this one. Excellent blend of traditional prog and the more modern stuff. There are moments of prog wank, but the band always keep the 'song' in mind. | 3 | | Voivod The Wake
Rating: 4.5 -- Genre: Progressive Metal/Technical Thrash -- RIYL: Anacrusis, Vektor, Coroner
Seamless blend of Dimension: Hatross and The Outer Limits with random moments of Nothingface. I hear very little modern Voivod in this, and that's just fine with me. | 2 | | Antimatter Black Market Enlightenment
Rating: 4.5 -- Genre: Atmospheric Rock/Progressive Rock -- RIYL: Katatonia, Anathema
This is the definitive Antimatter album. They finally bring everything that has been good about this band. The electronics of the earlier stuff is here, the super morose atmospheres that were most well done on the mid-era stuff is here, the rock/metal sound of the latest stuff is still here, and it is all done so damn well. This might have been a number 1 for me if I had more 2018 time with it (I didn't find it until December). | 1 | | Amorphis Queen of Time
Rating: 4.5 -- Genre: Progressive Metal/Progressive Death -- RIYL: Opeth
What can I say? This album sounds like what Tuonela might have sounded like if Amorphis had kept the death metal vocals and totally upped the intensity. What I'm saying is that this is probably their most aggressive, yet progressive, album yet. Somehow, though, the melodies are probably as good as they've ever been and the songs themselves are some of the band's catchiest and most creative. | |
Willie
01.06.19 | I didn't really have time to do a full-blown list with altered artwork and descriptions this year. It wasn't that great a year for music I liked anyway... | Hawks
01.06.19 | 19 and 25 are god awful but sweet list overall as always. m/ | Willie
01.06.19 | Ha ha. I'm surprised you even bothered to listen to those two. They don't seem like anything you'd even think about trying. | Gnocchi
01.06.19 | I was beginning to think you only rated 3.3 exclusively. | Hawks
01.06.19 | I love Senses Fail and Underoath overall but those albums are sooooooo bad. | Deez
01.06.19 | New At the gates sucks just not as hard as the last At the gates so thats some kind of progress when your hitting late 40s i guess. | Willie
01.06.19 | --I was beginning to think you only rated 3.3 exclusively.--
Ha ha. There's a lot of times I'm listening to new albums and thinking this isn't great, but it's pretty good....
--I love Senses Fail and Underoath overall but those albums are sooooooo bad.--
Really? This is my favorite 'traditional' Senses Fail album since Still Searching. Also, Underoath's last three albums are all better than their new one, but this is still better than their other poppy post hardcore releases.
--New At the gates sucks just not as hard as the last At the gates so thats some kind of progress when your hitting late 40s i guess.--
Ha ha. Totally disagree... | budgie
01.06.19 | i'm going to have to give TMTTD another try some day | Willie
01.06.19 | --Sounds like I need to check 6 as well.--
6 would almost definitely be your thing. Let me know if you check it out.
--i'm going to have to give TMTTD another try some day--
I think people should. It's might not be what they expected or wanted from her second album, but it's definitely really good. | Deez
01.06.19 | Im kinda sad I didnt even know SOIA had a new record like back in the day I saw them about 15 times. They were such an important band for me but I dont care at all when they release stuff now but youve inspired me to check that one for old times sake | Willie
01.06.19 | It's worth a listen. I've always liked all their stuff, but I haven't been instantly impressed with them like this since Scratch The Surface. | Lord(e)Po)))ts
01.06.19 | ~Obligatory potsy shit-post~
But actually Numb by Meg Myers rips. Dont like the rest of the alb as much but still 5/5 | Deez
01.06.19 | It's worth a listen. I've always liked all their stuff, but I haven't been instantly impressed with them like this since Scratch The Surface.'
Same. | Dewinged
01.07.19 | Nice touch on including similar bands Willie, great list. Happy to see bands like Tonight Alive and Hypno5e up there. And didn't know In Vain had a new one this year, I was about to jam Mantra now. | BerryGarlicia
01.07.19 | 3 is literally garbage | Dewinged
01.07.19 | And no Black Fast huh, unacceptable. | BallsToTheWall
01.07.19 | What up dawg! Nice list. | 0GuyMan0
01.07.19 | I really, really need to set aside some time for #1. The previous was my AOTY 2015. | Voivod
01.07.19 | Great list, need to listen 6 (I used to be big on the band), and 2. | Coast
01.07.19 | Great list. Amorphis album grew into a gem. Pretty much equal top for me. Probably their catchiest and love the homage to Tuonela. I rate the Primordial and Necrophobic albums much higher than you and sput. Adding 6 and 7 to my listening. | Gyromania
01.07.19 | looks like you missed out on a lot of great music this year | insomniac15
01.07.19 | How come The Ocean are so low? | Toondude10
01.08.19 | I approve of your #1 | Willie
01.08.19 | --And no Black Fast huh, unacceptable.--
It was in my Top 100 for sure, but I can't remember exactly how far off the Top 50 it was... I keep a running excel sheet ever since I started participating in these end of year things.
--I really, really need to set aside some time for #1. The previous was my AOTY 2015.--
I'm surprised you haven't really bothered with it if their previous album ranked so high for you.
--Great list, need to listen 6 (I used to be big on the band)--
I've checked their previous releases now, and I like the one before this one but didn't really get into any of their earlier releases.
--Great list. Amorphis album grew into a gem. Pretty much equal top for me. Probably their catchiest and love the homage to Tuonela. I rate the Primordial and Necrophobic albums much higher than you and sput. Adding 6 and 7 to my listening.--
Tuonela is one of my favorite Amorphis releases, so I really liked the influence it seemed to have over their new album. 6 was definitely a surprise since I had never heard them before. It's still growing on me.
--looks like you missed out on a lot of great music this year --
Very likely. Are you going to throw out any examples?
--How come The Ocean are so low?--
I'm not huge on post metal, so I can only seem to get so far into it most of the time.
--I approve of your #1--
Thanks. Ha ha. | zakalwe
01.08.19 | There’s a surprising amount of dross on here | AlexKzillion
01.10.19 | Was not expecting to see 7 here at all | WatchItExplode
01.11.19 | This has given me a few more 2018 releases to check out. Good on ya' | Hawks
01.14.19 | I gotta hear 16, 26 and 38 asap.
Lots of great stuff here too as always. m/ | TheNotrap
01.20.19 | List has nice jams, as expected. Queen of Time is also my 2018 fav |
|