Top 13 Releases of 2018

Top 13 Releases of 2018

13

Sleep – The Sciences

Sleep’s Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker are odd albums in my musical experience. My mind knows I’m meant to like them and everything is there to bring that response about, but they’ve never really grabbed me. In some ways, The Sciences is the same, but the parts that work really work. The guitar tone and overall sound are insanely good. Worth the price of admission alone. Just listen to the “Marijuanaut’s Theme” and the way the guitars swirl around each other. Like clouds of smoke spiralling in the air.

Try listening to: Sonic Titan

12

Will Haven - Muerte

As much as anything it’s reassuring that a band that started when I was a teenager, can pretty much disappear, re-form, make new music, and still cut it. Muerte does not strike out in to new territory, but it does what Will Haven did at their very best, and at times does it better. It’s bleak and abrasive like they were on El Diablo, WHVN, and Carpe Diem, but there is a lifting energy that underpins it all creating the feeling of a new beginning. From death, a rebirth.

Try listening to: The Son

11

Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite – No Mercy in this Land

Man, I always doubt Ben Harper, and he regularly proves me wrong. I always feel like I’ve heard all I want to hear of what he does, and he finds a vocal hook that I can’t resist. I always think that his collaborations will go places I’m not interested in, and then he pulls out something so full of heart that he could be working with a rock and I wouldn’t care. Luckily, Charlie Musselwhite’s harmonica sound has way more of both subtlety and power than a rock. And when combined with their shared dedication to the blues as an art form and a historical document, you are gifted beautiful music crafted from its own heritage.

Try listening to: No Mercy in this Land

10

Ghost – Prequelle

I don’t like Ghost. Which is a ridiculous thing to say, because this album is an absolute hoot. It’s the party I always wanted but could never have. It’s like watching a cheesy 80s action movie soundtracked by a bonkers metal band. The combination of that bizarrely insistent clean vocal, hard rock riffing and tempos, and the faux religious horror imagery really shouldn’t work for me, but it does. The transition from intro track “Ashes” to “Rats” is a delight. “See The Light” is the best sing-along tune I’ve heard in ages. It’s fucking fun. It’s good to be reminded that this stuff should be fun.

I still don’t like Ghost though.

Try listening to: See the Light

9

At The Gates – To Drink from the Night Itself

Something about the production on this and At The Gates’ previous album, At War with Reality, smooths the edges too much, takes away the kicks of all the explosive moments so many people loved from Slaughter of the Soul, but stick with it long enough, and make sure to see some of these songs played live, and it will jump up in your brain. These are vibrant, kick-ass metal songs. And while it doesn’t stray far from the band’s identifiable style, there are moments of ingenuity and creativity that will surprise long time and brand-new fans alike.

Try listening to: The Colours of the Beast      

8

Obscura - Diluvium

Ah crikey. This is tiring stuff. No time for rest as Obscura lurch and dive from one insane passage to another. Tech death with progressive elements, it sounds like Gorguts and Cynic got locked in a room and the only way out was to write an album. Obscura may actually work in this manner, because much of what they do sounds like the results of a group suffering from cabin fever. It’s unhinged musically, stylistically, and thematically, keeping the listener on their toes long after the album has finished.  

Try listening to: Convergence 

7

Yob – Our Raw Heart

In at number 7 is 7 mammoth tracks of emotional honesty. Fully embracing the fragility that makes Yob stand out from their peers, Our Raw Heart is a near spiritual journey through the dark and light of the human psyche. Mike Scheidt’s crystal clear clean vocal is fantastically forlorn. You could be on a crowded train on a Monday morning and as long as this was in your ears, you could be standing on a rock all alone looking out over the ocean. It’s a work of staggering beauty at times, and it would definitely be higher on this list if it weren’t for “The Screen” – a song that seems so unnecessary on this album, that I’m still sure it was a mistake at the CD pressing factory. Still an amazing album.

Try listening to: Beauty in Falling Leaves

6

Clutch – Book of Bad Decisions

Inevitably Clutch couldn’t continue the outstanding quality of the last two albums, Earth Rocker and Psychic Warfare. This is purely because you cannot make rock’n’roll better than those albums. It’s impossible. Clutch weren’t about to shy away from the challenge though. While things are a little stop-starty overall, and there are a couple of tracks nobody would miss if omitted, tracks like “Weird Times”, “Spirit of ‘76”, and “Lorelei” grab you by the ears and throw you in the air.

Try listening to: Emily Dickinson  

5

Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross No Crown

No Cross No Crown was the album I was hungering for the most in 2018. That fact probably goes some way to explaining why I struggled to enjoy it as much as I thought I would. After waiting 13 years from Pepper Keenan’s apocalyptically good last work with the band, and my favourite C0C album, there was an inevitable period of disappointment. Now that I’ve worked through those complex emotions, I’ve found an album with delicate textures, warmth, density, and great song writing. The production doesn’t have the punch that I needed when I first listened, but it lends itself to more personal and intimate listening sessions, just you and those big overhead earphones that you really shouldn’t wear outdoors. Combining the hook-laden America’s Volume Dealer with the sonic intensity of In The Arms of God, COC’s latest has life well beyond the first listen.

Try listening to: Nothing Left to Say

4

High on Fire – Electric Messiah

This album scared the hell out of me for about a week before I managed to find a way in. I absolutely adore High on Fire, but on the first eight listens it was overwhelmingly heavy. I accept this is a good and necessary thing every now and again though - need to test those boundaries and expand into new territory. After recalibrating, I fully enjoyed being dragged behind the runaway horse that is “Spewn from the Earth” or getting my bones smashed by Des Kensel’s cudgels on the slower “Steps of the Ziggurat/House of Enlil”. But it’s “The Pallid Mask”, bringing back memories of the brilliant “Carcosa” from the previous album, that kickstarts a furious riff-fest that dumps you at the “Snakes of the Divine”-esque closer, “Drowning Dog”. Matt Pike is my electric messiah.

Try listening to: The Pallid Mask  

3

Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology

There is nothing more fun in metal right now than saying “Slugdge” over and over again. I also enjoy correcting people for not pronouncing it properly. But this is not your average metal-band-with-a-funny-name. Textured, vital, and challenging; their progressive, melodic, techy death metal takes formal chances in songs with titles that never stray far from the band’s slug-based theme. Four albums in and hardly anyone speaks about how brilliant they are. Maybe that name, while I love it, wasn’t the best idea they ever had.

Try listening to: Slave Goo World

2

OHHMS – Exist

Listening to OHHMS is personally challenging. There is no softening of their beliefs to make their lyrics more palatable for potential listeners. There is no room for interpretation of the issues and themes presented. This is an album that tells you it’s wrong to kill or mistreat another animal. It’s up to you how you react. If you are willing to accept the challenge or change your views on meat, the album is a stomper. Dominated by the 23-minute contemplation of humans’ treatment of animals that is opener “Subjects”, Exist has a dynamism that allows OHHMS to be equal parts esoteric and catchy beyond belief.  

Try listening to: Subjects

1

Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch

I love Boss Keloid. A unique sound, a unique approach to heavy music, and a uniquely inspirational madness. The epic, heavy, oddball theatricality of their music somehow brings you closer to the quietly touching personal truths at its heart. Every track displays a willingness to take unexpected turns, but every decision the band makes brings elation to my ears and soul. I feel like I’m being lifted, weightless, above all the unnecessary nonsense around me and in my mind. Alex Hurst’s soaring and beautiful voice is a huge part of that, but every aspect of Boss Keloid’s sound pushes you towards peaks of emotion that will stay with you long after you stop listening. And then, of course, you’ll come back for more.

Try listening to: THE WHOLE DAMN THING. Any track. Any time. Any where.


[Honourable mentions to Emma Ruth Rundle, Alice In Chains, and Pig Destroyer]

52 Albums That Shaped My Life - #42

High On Fire – De Vermiis Mysteriis

(EOne, 2012)

Buy the album here

A friend once described listening to High On Fire as being like “interrupting Lemmy and Tony Iommi having an edifying conversation about H.P. Lovecraft's influence on modern metal and horror, only for both of them to punch you square in the face”. Well, actually, I don't have any friends. But if I did I'd sure like it if they said things like this. Especially about High On Fire, the band most adept at proving how stupid I am. I didn't like them when I first heard them. Terms like “samey” and “over-rated” were thrown around by some sort of unimpressed know-it-all. Nobody was listening to me, obviously, but my feelings on High On Fire were clear to me at least. Not. For. Me.

I don't remember the exact moment I realised I was an idiot, but it could have been hearing “Frost Hammer” from Snakes of the Divine, noticing the unrelenting genius of “Death is this Communion” from the album of the same name, or being torn in half by “Anointing of Seer” from Blessed Black Wings. This is how insane I was.... there are endless songs that prove how good this band are, and however my opinion shift occurred, I'm glad I finally got there. Selecting a High On Fire album to appear on this list was inevitable, even if the album I happened to choose would depend on which one had most recently caved my skull in, commandeered my lifeless body, and transported it to a volcano in order to forge me a more metal head in the swirling lava within.

That album today is De Vermis Mysteriis, named after Robert Bloch and H.P. Lovecraft's grimoire, and produced by the undeniably talented Kurt Ballou of Converge. It's like Motorhead for a new generation. A seemingly monolithic metal prophet tearing his throat to deliver madness and magic to your ears over rampant guitars and a rhythm section so powerful it suggests giants are playing the instruments. It is music to smash your enemies. Music to make you lose your mind. Music to summon ferocious demons while you stomp around the pit. High On Fire's sixth album is everything I want from metal: constantly on the verge of pushing it too far, hurtling towards whatever rest might exist at the end of the riff, smashing all hell out of their instruments, and stacked with amazing riffs.

“Serums of Liao” begins with Des Kensel going absolutely mental at his drum kit. Matt Pike's vicious riff and ripping vocals grab you by the ears and drag you, kicking and screaming, in to the story of Liao. In this loose concept album he's Jesus' dead twin brother who became a time traveller or something.... it matters not the story though because this album's main purpose is to throw you off all the walls, turn you upside down so sweat and blood pour in to your eyes and mouth, and to somehow leave you begging for more. “Bloody Knuckles” does all of this. A killer mid-paced riff gives way to the hard chug of the verse with Pike screaming, “Knuckles thrash their way to find a skull that just can't hide”. Head scans in later life will reveal that I couldn't hide from “Bloody Knuckles”: George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher Neck, fractured spine, and brain damage are all risks of listening to this music.

In “Fertile Green” our time travelling hero seems to discover weed and sex. All we discover is a cool drum intro and another Pike riff designed to remove skin from bodies. Body-shaking bass and unhinged soloing take us to a groovy bridge section which gives us time to contemplate the all-out war taking place within these songs. The opening three songs haven't provided a moment for breath, but maybe Liao smoked too much pot because everything goes a little Sleep over the next two tracks. “Madness of an Architect” is a groove-laden, slow-to-rise, but pissed off beast. “Samsara” has the coolest bass line since Kyuss, and winding solos that turn you inside out and back again on the album's only instrumental.

Regular service is restored on “Spiritual Rites” where an incredible cascading verse riff, furious chorus, and superhuman drumming fire up a storm again. Title track “De Vermis Mysteriis” is hard as nails; tight riffing and drumming seem to keep this song from letting loose until Pike's strained yet somehow soaring chorus vocal lifts us. My neck hates “Romulus and Remus” for its mid-paced, thumping drums and huge riffs. It is an irresistible song with a chorus that is equal parts war cry and pleading to the gods, which sets us up for the album's final assault. “Warhorn” is one of the album's highlights. Its skill in usurping the album's previous norm of full-on attack to slowly build anticipation pays off massively with Pike's gravelly yet melodic chorus and a riff that will stay with you for days.

Yet it's “King of Days” that cements this album as my choice for High On Fire's entry on this list. In taking their foot off the pedal, they have provided us with a burning, floating, beguiling, doom epic replete with spine-tingling bluesy riffs, earth-shifting drums and bass, beautiful solos, and mad, mad crooning. It is the epic tribute song to High On Fire I would write, if I could, and if they hadn't already gone and done it themselves.

I know some of you will still be wondering when you will have your High On Fire moment. Don't worry it'll hit you soon.