Teeth of the Divine Staff Picks for 2018
The way we do the TOP 2018 list here at Teeth is that we’ve waited until the year was actually over. That way, we’re sure we didn’t miss giving proper credit to that one album that released a minute before midnight on the 31st. So just in case some metal band from Tonga got an idea, we were ready for it. Nonetheless, every year there’s more and more material out there for us to listen to and it’s pretty much impossible to cover it all. Yet, 2018 saw plenty of albums that deserve to be remembered next year — and some being which will stick around longer. Maybe you missed something? Maybe you have your own ideas what ruled in 2018 and what should never have been released in the first place? Check our lists out, see how our picks matched up, and let’s hope 2019 doesn’t prove to be worse.
Kevin E
- Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name (Metal Blade) A strange name for the album, but an awesome, all over the board genre-bender that was my most impressive album of the year.
- Depravity – Evil Upheaval (Transcending Obscurity) One of the best pure death metal albums of the year.
- Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands (Season Of Mist) Consistency and awesomeness are the two words that come to mind for this unstoppable force.
- Monotheist – Scourge (Prosthetic) Band that came out of nowhere to drop the most impressive tech-death album of the year.
- AHTME – Sewerborn (Unique Leader) Another surprising tech-death band on one my the best metal labels.
- Ingested – Level Above Human (Unique Leader) Triumphant return after a three year layoff for a band that was able to breathe some life back into the deathcore genre.
- Kataklysm – Meditations (Nuclear Blast) One of my favorite bands on the planet, and this album made up for a very average previous one and shows these old guys can still bring it.
- Aborted – TerrorVision (Century Media) Another one of my all time favorites that shows no signs of slowing down.
- Harm’s Way – Posthuman (Metal Blade) I was a bit worried with their signing to a new label, but this is still a hardcore band at the top of their game.
- Skinned – Shadow Syndicate (XenoKorp) Little known death metal band that is worth your time to seek out.
Most Disappointing Albums of the Year:
- Behemoth – I Loved You at Your Darkest (Unique Leader) Not necessarily disappointing, just not what I was expecting. I still haven’t figured out how I feel about this album.
- Pig Destroyer – Head Cage (Relapse) Another odd output for one of the most respected bands in metal. Jury is still out on this one for me too.
Best Brutal/Slam-Death Albums of the Year:
- Aborted Fetus – The Ancient Spirits Of Decay (Comatose)
- Posthuman Abomination – Transcending Embodiment (Comatose)
- Fixation of Suffering – Confined in Obscurity (Pathologically Explicit)
Most Anticipated Album of 2019:
- Misery Index – Rituals of Power (Season of Mist) Consistently awesome metal, and I’m hoping these guys can keep that steamroller of a band going strong.
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Some good stuff in here, lots I missed or haven’t got to yet. Checked out the Aepoch and regret not looking into it earlier.
Nice to see the Abysmal Torment mentioned a couple of times, it’s phenomenal for the genre but seems to be getting missed elsewhere.
For me:
Thrash AOTY (by a mile): Sabateur – Vicious Circle. Fun as hell thrash, charismatic vocals, plenty of ’80s twists, fantastic dual-guitar solos, and unlike some other late thrash albums that won’t be named, the songwriting doesn’t involve stretching 3 minute songs to 6+ minutes by spamming the chorus over and over again and re-playing build up sections. Every song is memorable and has its own character. Could be my AOTY as well, but there’s still a few things I need to check out before making that claim.
Proggy tech death AOTY: Exocrine – Molten Giant. This album worked its way into my head and has stuck with me better than the Obscura, Beyond Creation, or Gorod, for whatever reason. Hayato is an awesome track.
Best EP: Teleport – The Expansion. Vektor-twisted Blood Incantation-y death metal. Just got signed up with a label so interested to see what is coming up for them.
How the hell have I not listened to this yet: Deceased – Ghostly White. Loved the rest of their stuff and part of why I’m not ready to call the Sabateur my AOTY.
“I’m not yet sure how much I like this, but it intrigues me and I want more” award: Λ S T R Λ – (some Russian writing stuff, a pair of singles released this year). Weirdo atmospheric/avant/blackened death I guess? Their 2017 release is pretty cool too so I can listen to that while I wait.
Disappointment of the year: Chapel of Disease – ..And As We blah blah blah. Had never listened to them before, but it was an initial AOTY leader for me when I first heard it and after a few more listens while I was working/gaming etc. Then I finally gave it a few dedicated listens where I didn’t have something else distracting me, I fell out of love with it. Too much pointless repetition that left me wishing the song would move on or just end too many times. A disappointment from initial impression, rather than something that failed to deliver on expectations… but that counts.
Best single-musician release: Nott – The Wretched Sounds. Bleak, heavy stuff that I guess is sorta “deathcore” but that doesn’t seem quite fitting. (Honorable mention to Dysmorfectomy as well though, some good slam.)
Most irritating song: Exmortus – Strength and Honor. Obnoxious chorus that for some reason they felt needed to be repeated over and over for a solid minute instead of just ending the song. Irritating because it makes me get up and go to the CD player to skip track every playthrough. Yes, I’m a grouch.
on Jan 13th, 2019 at 07:58