Willie
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Reviews 328
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Album Edits 5,786

Album Ratings 13342
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Last Active 01-10-23 4:00 pm
Joined 07-09-07

Review Comments 20,212

 Lists
07.13.23 Willie's Five Star Songs 10.09.22 Willie Needs Some 2022 Recs
06.30.20 Willie's 2020 So Far 01.01.20 Willie's Most Listened - 2019
01.06.19 Willie's 2018 12.23.18 Most Listened to Albums of 2018
02.06.18 Most Listened to Albums of 201709.17.17 Willie's 2017 So Far
07.13.17 Willie Turns 10 10.06.16 3 Quarters -- What's Missing?
11.29.15 Willie's Final 2015 11.26.13 Top 50 Of 2013
11.09.11 Top 50 Of 2011 07.09.11 Willie Turns 4
01.21.11 Users' Best Of The Decade12.13.10 2010 - Finalized
09.09.10 Underrated Albums 07.09.10 Willie Turns 3
More »

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.
50Conjurer
Mire


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Post Metal, Black Metal -- RIYL: Gorguts, Ulcerate
49Elderwind
The Colder The Night


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Post Black Metal -- RIYL: Harakiri For The Sky, Mesarthim
48Primordial
Exile Amongst the Ruins


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Black Metal, Folk, Metal -- RIYL: Amorphis, Enslaved
47Amaranthe
Helix


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Power Metal, Pop, Metalcore -- RIYL: Nightwish, Soilwork, Evanescence
46Pennywise
Never Gonna Die


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Punk -- RIYL: Bad Religion, Satanic Surfers
45Acrid (NL)
Wonderland


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Medeia, Pestilence
44Alkaloid
Liquid Anatomy


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Progressive Death Metal -- RIYL: Opeth, Amorphis, Tool
43Satanic Surfers
Back From Hell


Rating: 3.3 -- Genre: Punk -- RIYL: Pennywise, NoFx
42The Lion's Daughter
Future Cult


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Sludge, Doom, Hardcore -- RIYL: Can't think of any...
41Necrophobic
Mark of the Necrogram


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Death Metal -- RIYL: Sacramentum, Dissection
40In Vain
Currents


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive, Doom -- RIYL: Katatonia, Draconian, Daylight Dies
39Bloodshot Dawn
Reanimation


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal -- RIYL: Aethereus, Born of Osiris
38Agrona
Realm of the Fallen


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Old Man's Child, Naglfar
37The Ocean
Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Post Metal -- RIYL: At The Soundawn, Isis
36Hypno5e
Alba - Les Hombres Errantes


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Acoustic Post Metal -- RIYL: The Ocean, At the Soundawn
35Architects
Holy Hell


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Metalcore -- RIYL: Underoath, August Burns Red
34Marissa Nadler
For My Crimes


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Indie Pop -- RIYL: Chelsea Wolfe, Love Spirals Downwards
33The Pineapple Thief
Dissolution


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive Rock -- RIYL: Porcupine Tree, Kingcrow
32Wolfheart
Constellation of the Black Light


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Folk -- RIYL: Amon Amarth, Insomnium
31As Oceans
Still Miles To Go


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Progressive, Metalcore -- RIYL: Rivers of Nihil, Architects
30Art of Deception
Path of Trees


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: Mors Principium Est, Amon Amarth
29Dimmu Borgir
Eonian


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Symphonic Black Metal -- RIYL: Graveworm, Old Man's Child
28Tonight Alive
Underworld


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Pop, Indie Pop -- RIYL: Versaemerge, Against The Current
27Flamorn
Intersection


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: Insomnium, Mors Principium Est, Heaven Shall Burn
26Inexorum
Lore of the Lakes


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Dissection, Anorexia Nervosa
25Underoath
Erase Me


Rating: 3.4 -- Genre: Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Architects, The Used
24Erra
Neon


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Modern Prog -- RIYL: Periphery, August Burns Red
23Oceans of Slumber
The Banished Heart


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Doom, Post Metal, Prog -- RIYL: My Dying Bride, Draconian
22Project Pitchfork
Akkretion


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Electro/Industrial -- RIYL: Skinny Puppy, Kevorkian Death Cycle
21Thrice
Palms


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Alt Rock, Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Deftones, Brand New
20Warrel Dane
Shadow Work


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Traditional Metal, Prog, Thrash -- RIYL: Nevermore
19Senses Fail
If There Is Light, It Will Find You


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Post Hardcore -- RIYL: Funeral For a Friend, A Static Lullaby
18McCafferty
Yarn


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Pop Punk, Post Hardcore -- RIYL: The Front Bottoms, Say Anything
17Between the Buried and Me
Automata II


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Progressive Metalcore -- RIYL: Dream Theater, Protest the Hero, Carcass
16Avslut
Deceptis


Rating: 3.5 -- Genre: Black Metal -- RIYL: Emperor, Mayhem
15Augury
Illusive Golden Age


Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Technical Death Metal -- RIYL: Beyond Creation, Obscura
14Behemoth
I Loved You at Your Darkest


Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Death/Black Metal -- RIYL: Zyklon, ABBATH
13Night in Gales
The Last Sunsets


Rating: 3.6 -- Genre: Melodic Death Metal -- RIYL: classic In Flames
12Monuments
Phronesis


Rating: 3.8 -- Genre: Technical Metalcore -- RIYL: Periphery, Tesseract
11Midas Fall
Evaporate


Rating: 3.8 -- Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Post Rock -- RIYL: Marissa Nadler meets Eisley meets Post Rock
10Gorod
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.
9Sick 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.
8At 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.
7Meg 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.
6Kingcrow
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.
5Slugdge
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.
4Haken
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.
3Voivod
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.
2Antimatter
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).
1Amorphis
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.
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