December 2018 resumé
This has been a busy month. So busy that I didn't even hear my usual hundred and ninety records or whatever. Score guide: 10/9 - 5; 8 - 4.5; 7 - 4; 6 - 3.5/3; 5 - 2.5; 4 - 2; 3 - 1.5; 2/1 - 1 |
| 1 |  | Svartidaudi
Revelations Of The Red Sword
Atmosphere over song-writing, but will I be damned if this isn't juicy. 7/10
Sol Ascending, The Howling Cynocephali, Wolves of a Red Sun |
| 2 |  | Hammock
Universalis
Hammock are back... and the fact that they have a new album is about the most interesting aspect of it. 5/10 |
| 3 |  | Bay Faction
Florida Guilt
This is a surprise release, but a real surprise here is that each song is a half-assed draft. It all goes nowhere and any semblance of song-writing is thrown out of the window absolutely unexplored. 4/10 |
| 4 |  | Zealotry
At the Nexus of All Stillborn Worlds
Zealotry are back with another bashful of tunes that are heavy, instrumentally vibrant and grandiose, but so overbearing you will be tired after listening. 6/10 |
| 5 |  | Nonn
XVII
By the numbers darkwave. Listen if you want to, it's not awful. 6/10
Clear, When, Reach |
| 6 |  | Guild Of Lore
Winterstead
manosg called this 'one of the best ambient albums [he] heard this year' and considering the fact that I bailed on my mission to find likeable ambient this year, I listened. It certainly sounds like it is trying to be the best one. For an ambient record it feels very grandiose. The overwhelming instrumentation does its job. Can't say I am enchanted by it, even though I would love to hear it as a soundtrack to some wintery fantasy film. 7/10 |
| 7 |  | Currents
I Let The Devil In
Yeah, pretty much the usual stuff. Nothing much sticking out, nothing much impressive, but still decent while it lasts. 6/10 |
| 8 |  | Deitus
Via Dolorosa
From all the black metal records this year, this certainly is the most welcome throwback, but what it wins at with instrumentation and production it loses with lukewarm forgettable song-writing. 6/10
Malaise, Salvifici Doloris |
| 9 |  | Kerretta
Exiscens
I just cannot find anything to hold on to here. It's a lot of heaviness and some riffs here and there, but it's just flat and forgettable. Appreciate the instrumentation, but do not care for anything else. 6/10 |
| 10 |  | Helfro
Helfro
Barely bringing anything remotely innovative into the genre of blackened death metal, but it is still filled with pleasant surprises. 6/10 |
| 11 |  | Count to Altek
The Rain Gods
I don't get it. 5/10 |
| 12 |  | Deth Crux
Mutant Flesh
Cool instrumentation and decent atmosphere, but I didn't care for the song-writing and the production. Also, the vocals are horrid. 5/10 |
| 13 |  | Goatspell
Ascension of the Drakonian Beast
Fairly straightforward metal with little to no outstanding highlights to it. Then again, it's a short EP. It'll hardly have what it takes to wow people. Good for what it is. 6/10 |
| 14 |  | Valleyheart
Everyone I've Ever Loved
The usual suspects of a middle-of-the-road emo album: sappy lyrics and kinda trite song-writing. 6/10 |
| 15 |  | Palisades
Erase the Pain
Like I didn't see this coming. A bloated post-hardcore metalcore. Yeah. 5/10 |
| 16 |  | Acathexis
Acathexis
This was supposed to be atmospheric and grandiose, but much of the heaviness and production buried the epic song-writing I can catch glimpses of underneath. Surely gargantuan, but not really outstanding, mostly due to the fact that that very production, by making the heaviness overshadow the song-writing, turned it a little too samey and all that overwhelming atmosphere in the end was left underutilised. 6/10
Veins Hollowed, Stillborn // Isolate |
| 17 |  | Sulphur Aeon
The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
Nothing much to say here, just get your butts ready to be torn open, fuckers. 7/10
Yuggothian Spell, The Summoning of Nyarlathotep, Sinister Sea Sabbath, Lungs Into Grills |
| 18 |  | Odious Devotion
Odious Devotion
It's raw black metal, but done with precision and care, so it's not just Burzum-ic wall of noise, but actual song-writing. 7/10 |
| 19 |  | Nazrak
Cantiques Funèbres
Decent black metal, don't like the production. 6/10 |
| 20 |  | Nachteule
Bergdorf
Decent black metal, don't like the production even more. 6/10 |
| 21 |  | Croc Noir
Mort
Okay black metal, okay production. 6/10 |
| 22 |  | Nyctophilia
Ad Mortem et Tenebrae
A great enough black metal record (yeah, there's a lot of these this month). 7/10 |
| 23 |  | Bladee
Icedancer
I all 100% open clear unashamed honesty, this is not as godawful as Redlight, which I guess means it is good by Bladee standards. 3/10 |
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