The Top 10 Rock Albums of 2018

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t is that time again. Rock for the sake of this list is anything that is not truly metal, there are some hard rock albums on here, there are also albums that rock to hard to be indie rock The score from my reviews to help determine the ranking , but also how many times Last FM told me I listened to each album.An album can have all the critical acclaim in the world but if it does not inspire multiple listens then how good can it actually be ?

While the top ten lists for other genres leaned more heavily on the side of new some of these are the more well established acts who put out the greatest quality albums .  Rather than posting media of a track from each band I am leaving a link to the review, which will contain Bandcamp or Full Album Streams. Ok enough talking about it, the time has come to dig into the top 10 rock albums of 2018.

10- Black Foxxes -"Reidi"

  I really loved 2016's "I'm Not Well" so expectations are somewhat high. I want them to give me more emotive blues edged grunge. Their front man Mark Holley went to Iceland to write this album. The opener finds them remembering who they are but with a lusher sound that in it's androgyny reminds me more of Placebo than the last album did. It is suitably dynamic with smart melodies. Though it doesn't have the same raw urgency. There is more of a radio alternative rock feel. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/03/black-foxxes-reidi.html

9-Crippled Black Phoenix-"Great Escape"

 This project of Justin Greaves the drummer for Iron Monkey and Electric Wizard, typically embarks on a more psychedelic rock vein. Here it's in the 70s rock zip code. Melodic vocals and a bong laden mood, they coast with the relaxed Pink Floyd like vibe. Sometimes blending kraut rock with Queens of the Stoneage like grooves, they often works off of a space age tension.


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/12/crippled-black-phoenix-great-escape.html

8-Lizzy Borden- "My Midnight Things"

 His voice sounds great. Though I had too find what is really him by searching through layers of vocal overdubs. His vocal is little lower , perhaps with age but "Long May They Haunt Us" sounds like a more rock n roll version of who this band used to be. This might not measure up against the classics , but his voice is holding up and it's a better comeback than I could have hoped for.


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/06/lizzy-borden-my-midnight-things.html

7-Interpol- "Marauder" 

 These guys had to grow on me. When I first heard them I tried to write them off as a Joy Division knock off. I gave them a chance and heard differently. Now I find myself wishing for more Joy Division to be injected back into their sound as 2014's"El Pintor" was just not dark enough for me. I don't want these guys to be happy. Things do start off differently. The vocals are higher, floating without the sardonic starkness to their narrative. I am willing to compromise with the groove presented on the opener, but I don't want them to perk up much beyond this point.Over all it's a good return to form .

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/08/interpol-marauder.html

6-Black Salvation- "Uncertainty is Bliss" 

 Former In Solitude and Grave Pleasures drummer Uno Bruniusson. But each member of this trio is highly talented. The guitarist Paul Schlesier handles the vocals. He gives the band a darker sound with a croon not unlike that employed on In Solitude's "Sister" album though more Jim Morrison than King Diamond. It had been sitting in my in-box so I am glad the fact the In Solitude connection caught my eye. While these guys are not metal, fans of In Solitude will find enough common ground to enjoy this one. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/03/black-salvation-uncertainty-is-bliss.html

5-Clutch - "the Book of Bad Decisions"

 The bar was held pretty high after "Psychic Warfare" . It grooves in that way that is consistent with what the band does, there might be a little more atmosphere. I guess it feels like Fallon's delivery is not as urgent. When the songs are strong that are powerful like the funk of the albums best song "In Walks Barbarella" is hard to deny.Sometimes it feels like Fallon's hooks are just being dialed in a little and they are working more of a formula, but overall their formula works. The Drumming and guitar playing are so great they can easily carry this album.

4-Hopesfall- "Arbiter"

 Never really paid any attention to these guys , but a friend told me Hopesfall just put out a new Hum album. I can hear that in the guitars and eventually the apathetic sounding Hum like vocals come in. Sometimes the pace picks up and it gets more aggressive in a Helmet like fashion. The melodic sections ebb down into fall into place in a similar fashion as what the Deftones are known for though less dark and brooding.Since I only know these guys from when they were more of a Myspace sensation this seems like a mature step.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/07/hopesfall-arbiter.html

3-Scars on Broadway- "Dictator" 

 Much like his first solo album, this is more rock n roll and less nu-metal than System of a Down. I have always like Malakian's vocals with System of a Down , perhaps more than Serj's. This album touches on a great deal of the h darker tension to that recalls some of System's best moment. It seems like this song was probably written for the next System of a Down album that never happened, as his takes on a lower croon that has more in common with Serj's vocal style. It might not hit as hard as the first album but is really well done.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/07/scars-on-broadway-dictator.html

2-Alice in Chains - "Rainer Fog"

 This album finds them back closer "Black Gives Way..." with a few moments that are a little more upbeat , but not a miss step , just songs that had to grow on me. Often heavier with a huge crushing dark riffs and vocals slithering out of the shadows, which is everything I could want from this band.Not always shoulder to shoulder with the Layne albums, unless with are talking about the self titled one. It might be better than that one. Much Like "Black Gives Way" it's hard to tell where Cantrell's vocals begin and DuVall's end, so DuVall works better as a tribute singer than showing too much of his own personality in these songs. I am glad that they have taken a turn back to a darker direction

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/08/alice-in-chains-rainier-fog.html

1-Emma Ruth Rundle - "On Dark Horses" 

 It's not as dark and it's more of a straight up rock album. However over time this album grew on me. Sometime it made me think of Jimi Hendrix playing country music. In other words Dave Navarro. Loose jazzy jam quality, the vocals are a little moodier. I am open to her expanding her sound as I certainly didn't want her just to re-hash "Marked For Death". The least driving album on the list, but the most emotionally layered. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/09/emma-ruth-rundle-on-dark-horses.html

The Sound of Me Before You pt 2

This is the second part of a four part series I am doing, with a theme  of if you are sharing your life with someone  once of the most important things you can share is your music. It's the pieces of me that I don’t have words for as they are an amalgamation of my thoughts and emotions relating to sonic vibrations. Music can always take me back to a place in time. We are going through the angry teen years, which were also filled with drugs, but not the real hard stuff that comes in the next installment. It's interesting to imagine how two people might have interacted at different times in their life if they met under different circumstances. So this is a soundtrack to that.  I have organized it in terms of the year these songs are released . The story they tell is somewhat loose. This is me giving these songs as token to someone of what was inside me before they knew me. This is what my life sounded like before I met them. 

Me Against the World




infinite dreams




Sleepless Nights


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Dead Skin Mask

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Girls of Porn




Kindergarten





Prison Sex


-

Reptile


-

How it Would Be


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In Praise of Bacchus


 

Lizzy Borden : "My Midnight Things"

Ok lets get one thing out of the way first. Why the fuck is there a cover of 'Silent Night" on here? There is no excuse for that and the first thought I had been I heard it was "I can't delete this fast enough. Now on a more positive note. His voice sounds great. Though I am trying to find what is really him  by searching through layers of vocal overdubs. By "Obsessed With You" the Queensryche influence is more prevalent. His vocal is little lower , perhaps with age but "Long May They Haunt Us" sounds like a more rock n roll version of who this band used to be. "the Scar Across My Heart " is a little too happy, a little too rock n roll and a little less metal than I want it to be. I am using "Visual Lies" as the album I am measuring these songs against. They do the best job of bringing a new modern sound to what they are doing while maintaining their classic identity on a song like "A Stranger to Love".

I don't mind the effects on his voice at the beginning of "Perfect Poison". I am trying to be ok with the gratuitous use of synths  here. The guitar is trying to hold tension as they decide if they want this to be a power ballad or not. Not the album's best song, but it doesn't suck either. They commit to a ballad for better or worse on "Run Away With Me". When they try to shift dynamics and go into a rock section it sounds like Styx's cheesier moments. "Our Love is God" actually rocks so this album runs hot and cold. The chug of the guitar sits well against the vocals. The reprise of the title that opened the album is more ballad like take on the song. His voice doesn't sound half bad, and while I would be prefer to hear a harder rock take on the song, this stripped down version is good for what it is.

The vocals continue to have Queen like layers of harmonies on "We Belong In Shadows". Despite the song's title this is not that dark in fact it might be a little too happy for me. The keyboards sound like 80s new wave, but the vocals are too Aldo Nova, oh...right some of you are too young to know who that is , well you did not miss much. The there is another reprise this time it's "Long My They Haunt Us". it's beginning to sound like a musical. Once again this could be worse, it's not the direction I would prefer to hear them go in, but they pull it off. The album closes with an updated version of " Waiting in the Wings " from "Master of Disguise" which is the album Lizzy and I parted ways on because it was such a departure from metal. Here the song works in this context and they did a great job bringing it into today. It sounds a little like Alice Cooper's new wave years. I'll round this up to an 8.5 as it might not measure up against the classics , but his voice is holding up and it's a better comeback than I could have hoped for.

Top Ten Metal Love Songs

Some of these might straddle the fence between metal and hard rock, but love songs are always more sensitive, which is why there are so few in real metal, and the harder the song the broader the definition of romance.

 10 - Starry Eyes- by Motley Crue
 9 - Flesh Eater by- Lizzy Borden


8 - Thrills in the Night -by Kiss
 
 7 - 120 Days by Genitorturers


 6 - Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria

 5 - Magdalena by A Perfect Circle

 4- Soul on Fire- Danzig


 3 -"Sleeping in the Fire" by Wasp


2 - Love You to Death by Type O negative


 1 - Here Come the Tears- Judas Priest

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums - 100 to 91

Ok here's the first installment , I worte this for another blog I write for but it seems a shame not to post it for you guys here.I only chose one album by each band, side projects don't count. Last Fm did most of the heavy lifting, in terms of sorting these out, but things like how these album have stood the test of time factors in.



100- Accept-Balls to the Wall

This one is almost just an honorable mention, as the last time I listened to this 1983 album was on cassette not long after it came out. Despite the homo erotic elements  of this German band  they are harder than most hair metal, even if at their core they are a poor man's Judas Priest.



99 - Incantation -Onward to Galgotha

This band brought a darker rawer sound to death metal with their 1992 full length.



98- My Dying Bride -Turn Loose the Swans

As you will see from this list the 90's were a better decade for metal than we often admit, this album set the stage for what would latter be called funeral doom.



97- Lizzy Borden - Love You To Pieces

An underrated band who faded into the Sunset Strip scene of the 80's .



96- Fear Factory - Demanufacture

They eventually became mall metal, but this album was pretty well written and brought the more melodic and industrial elements to the forefront.



95- Down - Nola

Phil's first of many side projects after "Far Beyond Driven" he slowed things down with bong water drenched Sabbath riffs.



94 -Tiamat - Wildhoney

This album was way ahead of it's time, they were adding Pink Floyd like elements to death metal.



93- Skid Row -Slave to the Grind

This album is more metal than your average Gorguts fan would care to admit, and set the band apart from their more poppy hair metal debut.

 92 - Overkill - Under the Influence

These East coast thrashers had an ear for writing catchy songs with a lot of drive to them.



91- Kampfar - Mare

This folk tinged black metal band from Norway, created an album that grows more interesting with each listen.