Nocte's 2/12 2018
Here's what I've been listening to so far this year. Some of these may not be (strictly speaking) out yet so as much as it's a listen to, it's also a listen when you can list.
Recs welcome. |
| 1 |  | Tribulation
Down Below
Gothic vibes on one of the earliest quality releases of the year. Down Below has lifted the game since their last effort. |
| 2 |  | Sinistro
Sangue Cassia
Doom, somewhat hypnotic allowing a sense of minimalism to permeate through their atmospheric post tendencies. The vocal melodies weave in and out of the trudging riff work. |
| 3 |  | Horizon Ablaze
The Weight Of A Thousand Suns
I tagged this as "Emperor meets Gojira" and as bad as name-dropping like that gets it makes a whole lot of sense. For those hesitant about the combination the black metal takes precedence. |
| 4 |  | Erdve
Vaitojimas
An early contender for those 'Best of' lists. Not bad since this Lithuanian sludge group dropped this the start of Feb. Most who've heard it have picked it up and not put it down. |
| 5 |  | The Atlas Moth
Coma Noir
Some find the vocals off-putting at best but The Atlas Moth's latest is beautiful in an anguished kind of way. |
| 6 |  | Long Distance Calling
Boundless
Instrumental post rock done right. |
| 7 |  | Shepherds Crook
Black Lake
Left of field black metal. Broods, hits and returns |
| 8 |  | Agrimonia
Awaken
Blackened Post-Sludge. Not as straight-forward as simply genre-tagging would imply. |
| 9 |  | Saxon
Thunderbolt
Saxon is as Saxon does and have done for the last (almost) four decades. |
| 10 |  | Yhdarl
Loss
Misanthropic, chaotic, emotive. I can pretty much guarantee this a place on my end of year list. |
| 11 |  | Locktender
Friedrich
Took a while longer than their last to get into, definitely worth the extra patience. |
| 12 |  | Portal
Ion
While Portal managed to strip away a little of themselves in the recording of the new album they surely didn't abuse the natural progression of their signature death metal sound |
| 13 |  | Senses Fail
If There Is Light, It Will Find You
Definitely wasn't sold on this as a first listen. If There Is Light, It Will Find You is anything it's a sure grower. The second half of the album hits harder with every repeated listen. |
| 14 |  | Mournful Congregation
The Incubus of Karma
Australian funeral doomsters have done it again. From strength to strength, each track is weightless in sound but heavy in feeling. |
| 15 |  | Archspire
Relentless Mutation
Cutting away all the filler from their last record has done these guys the world of good. Not just an instrumental "wank-fest". They can actually write songs too. |
| 16 |  | Greber
Cemetery Preston
More blackened sludge. There's nothing pretty about this release. |
| 17 |  | Orphaned Land
Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs
When the cheese is good... Eat it. Such a huge bounce back in terms of quality. Almost Mabool-like... |
| 18 |  | Chaos Echoes
Mouvement
Tying together minimalist ambient into excellent composition, tracks blend and meld into conscious. These guys are starting to get scary good. |
| 19 | | Hecate
Une Voix Venue D'ailleurs
Beautiful French black metal. It's still growing on me. Highly atmospheric, ritualistic in places and worthy of multiple listens. |
| 20 | | Coram Lethe
In Absence
Death metal, blending modern and cavernous into an almost progressive sense. The abrasiveness of the vocal lines really works into the melodic dissonant grooves. |
| 21 | | Eigenlicht
Self-Annihilating Consciousness
More beautiful black, post, atmospheric metal. Lengthy tracks, patience is required for complete enjoy-ability. |
| 22 |  | Arkona (RUS)
Khram
Pagan black metal that doesn’t reek of cheese. The black metal really shines throughout. |
| 23 |  | Summoning
With Doom We Come
If only someone had enough brains to fix the production on this we might be looking at another premier Summoning album. |
| 24 |  | Watain
Trident Wolf Eclipse
They’ve done a lot these past few years to actually make a solid, believable record away from hyperbole. It actually happened. |
| 25 |  | Ataraxy
Where All Hope Fades
We need more albums like this |
| 26 |  | Monolithe
Nebula Septem
None of the majestic compositions found on their numbered albums. Instead shorted tracks presenting a more accessible, straight-forward doom. If you loved the earlier releases, you'll be underwhelmed by an album full of 7's. |
| 27 |  | Cabal (DK)
Mark Of Rot
Despite claiming a new take on some pretty generic sounds Denmark’s Cabal defines themselves as a band that blends influence and style without too much thought |
| 28 | | Lumnos
Ancient Shadows of Saturn
Spacey black metal that overbears slightly. Solid listening. |
| 29 |  | Destroyer 666
Call of the Wild
Dare I say it? Fun blackened thrash. |
| 30 |  | Deathwhite
For a Black Tomorrow
Gothic in nature, For A Black Tomorrow works well in bringing solid song-writing and atmosphere into a strong album for 2018 |
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