Top Albums of 2018
Ranking | Band | Release | Genre | Label |
#1 | Amorphis | Queen of Time | Melodic | Nuclear Blast |
#2 | The Ocean | Phanerozoic I | EXP | Metal Blade |
#3 | Between the Buried and Me | Automata Part 2 | Prog Core | Sumerian |
#4 | VoiVod | The Wake | EXP | Century Media |
#5 | Dir En Grey | The Isulated World | EXP | Okami |
#6 | Andrew W.K. | You're Not Alone | Alt | Bee & El |
#7 | The Atlas Moth | Coma Noir | Atmo Doom | Prosthetic |
#8 | Sigh | Heir to Despair | EXP | Spinefarm |
#9 | Alkaloid | Liquid Anatomy | Prog Extreme | Season of Mist |
#10 | Rivers of Nihil | Where Owls Know My Name | Tech Melodic Death | Metal Blade |
Top Albums of 2017
Ranking | Band | Release | Genre | Label |
#1 | Ne Obliviscaris | Urn | Melodic | Season of Mist |
#2 | The Faceless | Of Becoming A Ghost | Melodic Death | Sumerian |
#3 | Pain of Salvation | In the Passing Light of Day | Prog | Inside Out |
#4 | Vintersorg | Till fjalls, del II | Folk | Napalm |
#5 | Akercocke | Renaissance in Extremis | Melodic Extreme | Peaceville |
#6 | Igorrr | Savage Sinusoid | Exp | Metal Blade |
#7 | Buckethead | Pike 273 Guillotine Furnace | Inst Prog | Bucketheadland |
#8 | Enslaved | E | Melodic | Nuclear Blast |
#9 | Converge | The Dusk is In | Core | Epitaph |
#10 | Rings of Saturn | Ultu Ulla | Tech Death | Nuclear Blast |
#11 | Pyramaze | Contingent | Power | Inner Wound |
#12 | Leprous | Malina | Prog Core | Inside Out |
#13 | Cannibal Corpse | Red Before Black | Gore | Metal Blade |
#14 | Soen | Lykaia | Melodic | |
#15 | Next to None | Phases | Prog Core | Inside Out |
Top 100 albums of 2016
Ranking | Band | Release | Genre | Label |
#1 | The Devin Townsend Project | Transendence | Prog | Inside Out |
2 | Opeth | Sorceress | Prog | Moderbolaget |
3 | Ihsahn | Arktis. | Melodic Prog | Mnemosyne |
4 | Gojira | Magma | Melodic Prog | Roadrunner |
5 | Witherscape | The Northern Sanctuary | Melodic | Century Media |
6 | Testament | Brotherhood Of the Snake | Thrash | Nuclear Blast |
7 | Obscura | Akroasis | Prog Death | Relapse |
8 | Vektor | Terminal Rudux | Prog Thrash | Earache |
9 | The Dillinger Escape Plan | Dissociation | Prog Core | Party Smasher |
#10 | Haken | Affinity | Prog | Inside Out |
11 | Lizzard Professor | Prog | ||
12 | Jeff Hughell | Inst Prog | ||
13 | Braindrill | Tech Death | ||
14 | An Endless Sporadic | Inst Prog | ||
15 | Gorguts | |||
16 | Alcest | Melodic | ||
17 | Katatonia | Melodic | ||
18 | Bethlehem | Black | ||
19 | Maschine | Prog | ||
20 | Solution.45 | Melodic Thrash | ||
21 | Falujah | Tech Death | ||
22 | AnimalS As Leaders | Intrumental | ||
23 | Protest The Hero | Prog core | ||
24 | Anthrax | Tharsh | ||
25 | Hammer's of Misfortune | Exp Doom | ||
26 | Vader | Death Tharsh |
2015
Ranking | Band | Album | Genre | Label |
1 | Native Constuct | Quiet World | Prog | Metal Blade |
2 | Gorod | A Maze Of Rececyled Creeds | Tech Death | |
3 | Psycroptic | Psycroptic | Extreme | Prostheric |
4 | Dodheimsgard | In Umbra Omega | Exp | |
5 | Loch Vostok | From These Waters | Melodic Thrash | Vicisolum |
6 | Enslaved | In Times | Melodic Viking | Nuclear Blast |
7 | Solefald | World Metal, Kosmopolis Sud | Avant Garde Folk | Indie |
8 | Symphony X | Underworld | Prog Metal | Nuclear Blast |
9 | Intervals | A Voice Within | Inst Prog | |
10 | Between the Buried and Me | Coma Ecliptic | Prog Core | Metal Blade |
11 | Baroness | Retro | ||
12 | Royal Thunder | Retro | ||
13 | Death Dealer | Power | ||
14 | Swallow the Sun | Melodic | ||
15 | Hate Eternal | Infernus | Death | |
16 | Periphery | Omega | Prog Core | |
17 | Kingcrow | Prog | ||
18 | Ghost | Meloria | Retro | |
19 | Cattle Decapitation | Death | ||
20 | Miss May I | |||
21 | Finsterforst | Mach Dich Frei | Pagan Folk | Napalm |
22 | Enterprise Earth | Patient 0 | Stay Sick | |
23 | Sigh | Graveworn | Exp | |
24 | Caligulas Horse | Bloom | Prog | |
25 | Napalm Death | |||
26 | Veld | Daemonic The Art of Dantalian | Death | |
27 | Scale the Summit | V | Inst | |
28 | George Kollias | Death | ||
29 | Drudkh | |||
30 | Sirenia | The Seventh Life Path | Sym Gothic | Napalm |
31 | Soilwork | Melodic Thrash | ||
32 | Carach Angren | This is not a Fairytale | Black | Season of Mist |
33 | Ensiferum | |||
34 | The Project Hate | Exp | ||
35 | Iron Maiden | Power | ||
36 | Haste the Day | |||
37 | Moonspell | Melodic | ||
38 | Battlecross | Thrash | ||
39 | Arcturus | Arcturian | Avant Prog | Prophecy |
40 | Alkaloid | |||
41 | Amorphis | Melodic | ||
42 | Nile | Death | ||
43 | Sadist | Prog Thrash | ||
44 | Soufly | |||
45 | Lamb Of God | |||
46 | Veil of Maya | |||
47 | Leprous | Prog Core | ||
48 | Six Feet Under | Gore | ||
49 | Black Dahlia Murder | Death | ||
50 | Ahab | The Boat of the Glen Kerrig | Doom | Napalm |
51 | Dealey Plaza | |||
52 | Cage | Ancient Evil | Power | |
53 | Children Of Bodom | Melodic Thrash | ||
54 | Elitist | |||
55 | Paradise Lost |
2014
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2013
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The Soulstalker’s Reviews:
‘The Satanist’ by Behemoth
2014 is sure to be chocked full of bone-splitting Metal releases from many of the [Metal] community’s heavyweights. Just a month into the New Year and the bar is being raised and set by artists spanning all veins of the genre’s lifeforce.
Of course, there is great anticipation of new At the Gates material and Jazz/Prog-Death fans rejoice with a new Cynic album dropping worldwide in the next week. But taking the eyes of the road for a moment; the kings of extreme, Behemoth, have just dropped a bomb on the entire years’ playing field for Metal music.
Returning triumphantly after more than one illness in the organization that is Behemoth, the band has offered up a nine track opus [on Metal Blade Records in the US] that is sure to earn you a trip to your local confessional (Just Kidding). But in all seriousness, this album is as up front as it gets. All of the songs are appropriate in length and they still managed to retain the bombastic nature of emotion displayed in the more recent Behemoth releases.
Aside from the sheer catchiness of ‘The Satanist’, the re-visitation to old school black metal beats [at points] and “ode to shred guitar legend” riffs will undoubtedly keep this record in the 2014 rotation.
Track Rundown:
1) Blow Your Trumpets
Gabriel:
Initiate desolation and godlessness. This track (and first single) sets an eerie tone that can be followed throughout most of the album. ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ is a warning shot for
what’s about to come your way.
2) Furor Divinus:
For the second song on the album, ‘Furor Divinus’ holds war waging drum beats with venom spit straight from the serpent’s mouth. Three minutes of intensity and peril.
3) Messe Noir:
Warning…This track is a fucking slaughter.
4) Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer:
Some of the best hooks from ‘The Satanist’ are packed into this track, right in the middle of the album…And there’s that Goddamn Gabriel blowing his Trumpets, again!
5) Amen:
This song, for most listeners, will be the realization that it is 2014 but this album is completely KVLT.
6) The Satanist:
To display a waltz down a left-hand path is to write a song so extreme that it endorses this polished “old” Blues Rock sound in the form of a killer solo…And is that more trumpeting?!
7) Ben Sahar:
Signature Behemoth elitism speaks for itself, here.
8) In the Absence of Light
This track is a lesson in black metal blasting, footwork and proper use of sustain.
9) O Father O Satan O Sun!:
An epic end to ‘The Satanist’ concept. Starting beautifully, it ends up leaving this resonant resistance [to things kept sacred] in the back of the mind.
What do you do when your band’s front-man beats leukemia and your band’s world class drummer doesn’t die from appendicitis? Well, clearly this material is that of their best work, spanning the past five years (or close to it). So you flip-off the sky and release the beast that is, ‘The Satanist’.
Soulstalker, out
10.5 | Perfect |
10 | almost perfect |
9.5 | Killer |
9 | great |
8.5 | good |
8 | Above Av |
Anything lower is a waste of time |
2013 Album Track Reviews
2012 Album Reviews
Manowar
At first I didn't think that the latest album "The Lord of Steel" from the Kings of Metal (Manowar) was as good as their last two L.P's, however, this album gets better with every spin. Even some of the more lower rated tracks are as catchy as hell and will get stuck in your head with multiple plays. I have tracks like Manowarriors, Touch the Sky, El Gringo and Annihilation down as perfect tracks, and about four others close to perfect. A couple of things that really stand out on this album are the bass tone, Eric's killer voice, the lyrics, and the drumming.
The Lord of Steel was released in 2012 on Magic Circle Entertainment.
If you are a true Manowarrior you will love this album.
Heaven's Cry
Prosthetic Records knows they're Prog big-time, so when they signed Heaven's Cry (from Canada) I figured that they had to be a good Prog band. Well, I was wrong. They found a killer gem in Heaven's Cry. They are capable of writting catchy top notch Progressive Metal, and they are very talented. Come to find out, Heaven's Cry has two previous albums out that Prosthetic just re-released. In 2003 if I would have known about their 2003 release Primal Power Addiction, I would of put in my top 20. Their 1996 Debut is a top 50 album of that paticular year. Heaven's Cry's 2012 release Wheels of Impermanence is hands down a top 20 Prog release for 2012. I think if this band puts out a couple of albums they could really become contenders.
Moonloop
Moonloop's new album Deeply from the Earth (out on listenable records) is highly recomended for Melodic Metalheads. This album has all the great elements that helped early Opeth become one of the best Metal band's ever. There is a couple of blast beats on this L.P., so to call it Meoldic Death Metal wouldn't be out of bounds. But it might scare some people away!