GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 2018

Like there is enough black metal albums worthy of making a top10 last year :p
 
Image error. I presume it's some gif telling me how much you agree with me :)
 
Like there is enough black metal albums worthy of making a top10 last year :p

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Gtfo.
 
Image error. I presume it's some gif telling me how much you agree with me :)

I would never pretend to be a black metal connoisseur or anything. I don't think a single black metal album rose to my personal upper echelon (albums between 8.5 and 10/10) for 2018 releases.

My favourite black metal release from last year was probably Nachash's debut (and even then, I agree with everybody else that it was a step down from their insanely good 2015 EP):

 
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I need to check out those Communion albums too. Unfortunately black metal is a lower priority and I didn't get around to hearing even some of the highlights of the genre.
 
I can't see you not enjoying those Communion albums and I am surprised you haven't listened to them!


I find it difficult to believe you can be into extreme metal and not like any black metal. Even HamburgerBoy likes at least 20 black metal albums.
 
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Found these on YouTube.

Death metal:



Black metal:



Some of you might find some interesting stuff from them. Rather obscure and underground picks. The Panphage Mysticism might be my favourite from these on a cursory listen.

Be sure to check out the Ancient Spells of Darkness if you've ever wanted to hear A Blaze in the Northern Sky with keyboards. It's filthy, but unfortunately lacks the sheer riffing power and primal energy of A Blaze... for me.


also these:




kinda hit and miss as these things always are, but they can be useful
 
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Hello. I apologize for not participating more in Ultimate Metal threads anymore. I used to be a reviewer here. Now I write reviews for Metal Bite and Heavy Music HQ. You can view my reviewes there under the names Adam M. and Adam McAuley respectively. Here is my list:

1. The Ocean - Phanerozoic 1: Palaeozoic
2. Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name
3. Voices - Frightened
4. Agrimonia - Awaken
5. Oceans of Slumber - The Banished Heart
6. Skyharbor - Sunshine Dust
7. Barren Earth - A Complex of Cages
8. Conjurer - Mire
9. At the Gates - To Drink From the Night Itself
10. Howling Sycamore - Howling Sycamore
11. Boss Keloid - Melted on the Inch
12. Alkaloid - Liquid Anatomy
13. Sinistro - Sangue Cassia
14. Hooded Menace - Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
15. Riverside - Wasteland
16. Omnium Gatherum - The Burning Cold
17. The Skull - The Endless Road Turns Dark
18. Sear Bliss - Letters From the Edge
19. Auri - Auri
20. Amorphis - Queen of Time
 
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1. Mooncitadel - Moon Calls to Wander the Winter's Majesty
2. Panphage - Jord
3. Vargrav - Netherstorm
4. Communion - At the Announcement
5. Satan - Cruel Magic
6. Sorcier des Glaces - Sorcier des Glaces
7. Uruk - Nihilistic Warfare in Inhuman Realms
8. Desolation Realm - Desolation Realm
9. Nachash - Phantasmal Triunity
10. Taphos - Come Ethereal Sombreness

I wouldn't rank most of these had TechBarb not changed the rules, so it's kinda arbitrary, but the top 5 are definitely better.

And now a bunch of stuff that either didn't quite make the cut, or that I only listened to once or twice and don't have a fully formed opinion on:

Akantha - Apocalyptic Psalms
Apognosis - Cult of Human Sacrifice
Aorlhac - L'esprit des vents
Azath - Demo
Chaotian - Where Gods Excarnate
Chevalier - Chapitre II
Deathly Scythe - Celestial Darkness
Deathwards - Towards Death
Disburial - Dawn of Ancient Horrors
Draghar - The Endless Howling Abyss
Druid Lord - Grotesque Offerings
Garotted - Of Damnation and Abyssal Terrors
Ifernach - Gagtaqaiaq
Invocation - The Mastery of the Unseen
Invocation Spells - Spread Cruelty in the Abyss
Mørketida - Panphage Mysticism
Nachtfrost - Spectral Domains of Dusk
Necromaniac - Subterranean Death Rising
Phrenalith - Ornamented Dead Eyes
Ripped to Shreds - 埋葬
Sepulcher - Panoptic Horror
Spectrum Mortis - קדוש a better Necros Christos album than what they actually put out this year, and it's like a quarter of the length!


Stuff I didn't like but might be of interest to some people here:

Moenen of Xezbeth - Ancient Spells of Darkness - Ever wondered what A Blaze in the Northern Sky would sound like with keyboards? These guys have.
Infernal Execrator - Obsolete Ordinance - Savage black/death from Singapore but didn't grab me.
Occelensbrigg - The Quest for the Star Mountain - Ultra raw atmospheric black metal. Production is very rough!
Phantom - Death Epic - Like a black metal Candlemass.
 
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