Best New Music of 2018

Well as 2017 draws to a close I can look back and honestly say this has been a fantastic year for new music. Can’t remember a year where I’ve bought so many new albums and enjoyed pretty much all of them. Here are my faves:

Paradise Lost - Medusa. Brilliant album just brilliant. The return to a more heavy death/doom style has been very welcome. I’m glad Nick still sings in a clean voice as well as growl as I think he has a superb singing voice. This band consistently write fantastic music and I don’t think I could name any other band that have changed styles so much over the years yet still kept me interested. Been a fan since gothic was released so I’ve seen a lot of stylistic changes.

Iced earth - incorruptible. Best album since Stu arrived on vocals.

Steve Wilson - to the bone. Great album and I’m loving the shift to a more pop orientated sound combined with the progressive leaning. Can’t wait to see him live next March.

Obituary - self titled. Business as usual for these death metal legends......and business is good, very good indeed.

Deep purple - infinite. If this turns out to the swan song album then it’s Avery fitting way to go out. Brilliant.

Alice Cooper - Paranormal. Another slice of brilliance from the Coop and great to have a couple of tracks by the original band.

Arch enemy - will to power. A fine release. Not much has changed from the previous album although I like the clean vocals they used, albeit very sparingly. Hope this is something they explore further on future releases.

Sons of Apollo - Psychotic symphony. One of my faves from this year. Utterly superb album with every member displaying why they are revered in the industry.

Mastodon - emperor of sand. Finally the album the made me click with this band. Being listening to them for a while and while I have enjoyed their music over the years I never quite got how they were so loved by others. This is a cracking album and has made me dig out my previous albums and discover a whole new level of appreciation for their talent.


There’s a few more but these were the highlights.

Roll on 2018 with new releases from Saxon, Priest, megadeth and many more great bands.
 
I haven't listened to a ton of new music this year, but this my top 5(6) right now of what I've listened to:

1. Ayreon - The Source. Clear-cut top spot. I don't see anything else from this year taking over this spot.
2. Alestrom - No Grave But the Sea. Like all of Alestorm's albums, just pure fun all around.
3. Steven Wilson - To the Bone. Only listened to it once, but I found it to be enjoyable. This one is subject to rise or fall after more listens.
4.(5) Sons of Apollo - Psychotic Symphony. I wasn't in love with it immediately, but it's steadily growing on me each time I listen to it. I'm looking forward to future outputs from this band.
5.(6) Blaze Bayley - Endure and Survive. Solid, but not among the best of Blaze's work.

EDIT: I Forgot about In the Passing Light of Day from Pain of Salvation. I'll slot this in at #4, moving Sons of Apollo and Blaze down a spot.
 
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Lampwick 43 said:
I haven't listened to a ton of new music this year, but this my top 5(6) right now of what I've listened to:

1. Ayreon - The Source. Clear-cut top spot. I don't see anything else from this year taking over this spot.
2. Alestrom - No Grave But the Sea. Like all of Alestorm's albums, just pure fun all around.
3. Steven Wilson - To the Bone. Only listened to it once, but I found it to be enjoyable. This one is subject to rise or fall after more listens.
4.(5) Sons of Apollo - Psychotic Symphony. I wasn't in love with it immediately, but it's steadily growing on me each time I listen to it. I'm looking forward to future outputs from this band.
5.(6) Blaze Bayley - Endure and Survive. Solid, but not among the best of Blaze's work.

EDIT: I Forgot about In the Passing Light of Day from Pain of Salvation. I'll slot this in at #4, moving Sons of Apollo and Blaze down a spot.
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That's my kinda bloke :ok: <3
 
List for 2017. Favourite albums of the year.

1. Crazy Lixx - Ruff Justice

Just a perfect 80's esque glam metal/hard rock album. Best track? If you like AOR: "Walk the Wire". If you want more typical 80's metal: "Wild Child".


2. Sweet & Lynch - Unified

The first one was a pleasant surprise - supergroups usually aren't that great. This one is maybe even more surprising, because it shows that it wasn't just luck. Genuinely good album, building on their strengths. Apart from George Lynch and Michael Sweet on guitar and vocals, James LoMenzo and Brian Tichy returns making this into a formidable band once again. Best track: "Unified".


3. Blaze Bayley - Endure and Survive (Infinite Entanglement Pt. II)

Improves on the first album in this trilogy in every possible way, but most notably production. Recalls the best moments on Blaze's first two sci-fi themed offerings, both musically and lyrically. Best track: (Do I have to choose?) "Eating Lies".


4. Inglorious - II

Brilliant second offering, finally in tune with the hype surrounding them. Into 70's rock? Listen to: "No Good for You"


5. The Darkness - Pinewood Smile

Not quite as good as Last of our Kind from 2015, but good enough to make this list. Best track: "Solid Gold".

 
metal...I think...
1. Trivium- the sin and the sentence
2. Ne Obliviscaris- urn
3. Mastodon- emperor of the sand
4. Code Orange- forever
 
I'll briefly go over the albums I listened to this year and then give a 'Best Of' ranking. I don't have the time to give a detailed review of each album like I did last year.

Anthrax - Leftoverthrax EP These are the B-sides from last year's awesome 'For All Kings' album. There are only three songs on it so it's barely even an EP. 'Vice of the People' was originally a Japanese bonus track and it's a decent song, but doesn't add anything that the rest of 'For All Kings' didn't already have. 'Carry on Wayward Son' is a cover of the Kansas song and is pretty cool, and 'Black Math' is originally a White Stripes song. There's nothing awesome on this and it's only likely to excite the most dedicated Anthrax fan, which I am not.

Cellar Darling - This is the Sound I checked this album out because they supported Delain in Autumn despite being unconvinced by Folk Metal. After a few listens I realized that this album is damn good! 'Starcrusher' is my favourite, particularly the line "and poisons our LIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIVES!". The special edition of the album also has an awesome cover of 'The Prophet's Song' which you can find on Youtube.

Edguy - Monuments This is mostly a 'Best Of' double album but there are five new songs included so I'll consider it to be an EP for the "new music" aspect of this thread. They're all fun, catchy songs. Basically what you'd expect from Edguy. None of them stand out particularly but none of them are bad either.

Epica - The Solace System EP Another release of B-sides from the previous year's album, 'The Holographic Principle'. Epica decided to release all these together after complaints from fans that they needed to have two or three different versions of each album to have all the bonus tracks. Simone Simons even said she sometimes has to go on Youtube to find some songs, but I highly doubt she doesn't own a physical or digital copy of her own songs. They're all good songs but none are better than what ended up on 'The Holographic Principle' ('Immortal Melancholy' is one of the bonus tracks on Spotify though) but 'Architect of Light' is a highlight for me.

Firewind - Immortals This album came out quite early in the year and as I can't be bothered listening to it the whole way through I can't remember it too well. 'Immortals' is a concept album about Ancient Greece, perhaps specifically about the Persian invasion as there's a song called 'Ode to Leonidas'. I do recall it being very listenable but nothing amazing. I think I prefer some of the older Firewind material I've heard.

Halestorm - ReAniMate 3.0: The CoVeRs eP The title really does have random capital letters. I have no idea why! Halestorm really can make some awesome cover versions. On this EP the first three are all top quality, particularly 'I Hate Myself For Loving You', but the final three are quite average such as an uninteresting 'Ride the Lightning'.

The Haunted - Strength in Numbers The Haunted are not a band I'm terribly familiar with but I listened to this album out of interest. It's grown on me with every listen but I haven't quite figured out what my favourite song is yet, mainly because I've been listening on my phone when I can't look at the titles. ::)


I can't be bothered to review any more albums at the moment but will continue my reviews before the end of the year.
 
Here is part 2 of my brief overview of 2017 music.

Iced Earth - Incorruptible This is definitely one of the best albums of 2017. I like both of the two other Iced Earth albums with Stu Block on vocals but in terms of overall consistency this is a step forward. I was looking forward to this album since 'Raven Wing' was released (but I think we heard about half the album before the whole thing was released!) and there are some other top quality songs on 'Incorruptible' too, such as 'Black Flag', 'The Veil' and the masterpiece 'Clear the Way'. We could certainly do without another rehashing of 'Violate' though ('Seven Headed Whore'). Iced Earth seem to be on top form with this album, and by that I mean Jon's song writing and Stu's vocals (the rest don't matter!). Hopefully this line-up doesn't change too much for some time.

Kreator - Gods of Violence Another top quality album. It's really impressive that Kreator can still produce awesome music after thirty years, particularly when many other Thrash bands are repeating the same crap over and over again (I'm looking at you, Slayer). 'Gods of Violence' starts out at breakneck speed with 'World War Now' and then gets evil with 'Satan Is Real' with the rest of the album covering their usual themes (class warfare, proper warfare, monsters) with their usual intensity.

Sepultura - Machine Messiah I don't see Sepultura ever writing anything close to 'Beneath the Remains' ever again (nor can I see Max Cavalera doing so) but their most recent albums have been pretty good and sound a lot more like Sepultura than 'Roots' ever did. 'Machine Messiah' is probably a step up from the previous album (the snappily titled 'The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart' - really rolls of the tongue doesn't it?) which I didn't find particularly memorable. Overall it's a solid album a couple of highlights in 'Phantom Self' and 'Resistent Parasites', and even some experimenting with clean vocals on the title track which, if they were a bigger band, would lead to accusations of selling out.

Skarlett Riot - Regenerate This band are super-poppy for a Rock band, kind of like Paramore trying to be Halestorm. I got into them when they supported Hammerfall a couple of years ago. I prefer their earlier stuff to this album (their second full length release) which is pretty dull mainly.

Sumo Cyco - Opus Mar This was a bit of a random one for me to get into. I saw Sumo Cyco support Devilskin back in March and really enjoyed their set so I listened to the album and was really impressed! They're a Punk/Metal band (with a bit of Hip-Hop in there) from Canada and their singer, Skye Sweetnam, used to be the discount version of Avril Lavinge. 'Opus Mar' is a really cool album with a lot of attitude.

Threshold - Legends of the Shires Threshold are not a band I'm hugely familiar with but I gave this album a go and I like it a lot, even after only a couple of listens. I can't say a whole lot about it yet but 'Trust the Process' has a cracking chorus!

Vandroya - Beyond the Human Mind Vandroya are a Brazilian band I got into as their singer, Dasia Munhoz, was on that Soulspell cover of Helloween's 'We Got the Right'. She's a fantastic singer and sounds great on this album but I feel that overall it plods along a bit. There's definitely some potential here but it lacks something that I can't quite put my finger on. Their previous (and debut) album 'One' was more memorable.

Vuur - In This Moment We Are Free (Cities) This is Anneke van Giersbergen's latest band where she'll focus on heavier music. I have to confess that I wasn't aware of her until this year and probably didn't know the difference between her an ex-Xandria singer Diane van Giersbergen. However, since I first heard Vuur I've sort of become obsessed with her. The album has some concept where every song is loosely based around a well known city from somewhere around the world. There are videos on Vuur's Facebook page where Anneke explains the themes behind some of the songs. The album title also appears in some form in all but two of the songs. It's definitely one of the best albums of 2017 and I think my favourite song is 'The Martyr and the Saint (Beirut)'.


I think that's all the albums I listened to this year. The only one I know I didn't include was the new Cavalera Conspiracy album but I listened to that once and it was shit. I can't recall any other new albums I paid attention to this year other than live albums, but they're not new music so I haven't included any.


Here are the countdowns:

1. Vuur - In This Moment We Are Free (Cities)
2. Kreator - Gods of Violence
3. Iced Earth - Incorruptible
4. Cellar Darling - This is the Sound
5. Sumo Cyco - Opus Mar

The Vuur album was an easy choice for number one. Kreator and Iced Earth were quite close and the Cellar Darling album was a bit 'best of the rest'. Sumo Cyco were a bit of a wildcard as I haven't listened to a lot of great albums this year.

1. Vuur - The Martyr and the Saint (Beirut)
2. Cellar Darling - Starcrusher
3. Iced Earth - The Veil
4. Halestorm - I Hate Myself For Loving You
5. Kreator - Death Becomes My Light

Favourite songs are always harder to pick than albums as an album can often be consistently high quality without stand-out tracks, but a lesser album can have one or two awesome tracks.
 
Anyone listen to Nightmare Logic by Power Trip? I’ve got it on now and it’s some really awesome 80s sounding thrash metal. :shred:
 
Mosh said:
Anyone listen to Nightmare Logic by Power Trip? I’ve got it on now and it’s some really awesome 80s sounding thrash metal. :shred:
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Yeap. I love the crossover thrash they are doing. Check out Evil Invaders and their album from last year too. They're got more of a traditional thrash/speed metal sound going on but very competent. I dropped a song of theirs in the now playing thread recently.
 
The Magpie Salute. OK, so their 2017 debut album had only one original song on it, but Rich Robinson's post-Black-Crowes group has got promise. Rich was always the better songwriter between himself and his brother; and he's got Marc Fuckin' Ford (from the Crowes' best albums) on guitar with him again, and Sven on bass. The rest of the lineup, including the new singer, are solid, and I look forward to more from them.

 
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Mosh said:
Anyone listen to Nightmare Logic by Power Trip? I’ve got it on now and it’s some really awesome 80s sounding thrash metal. :shred:
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If you like PT you should check out Red Death: Formidable Darkness. Very similar thrash-hardcore feel. They have toured with Power Trip and the whole album is a quick 22 minutes.
 
Pain of salvation - In the passing light of day was definetly my favorite of 2017! Had not listened to Pos for almost ten years since Scarsick, so upon revisiting The perfect element pt 1 one day made me hooked on Pos again, took a chance by buying In the passing light of day, and now it is one of my favorite albums.

Other good ones from 2017:
Ayreon - The Source
Steven Wilson - To the bone
Battle beast - Bringer of pain
Wintersun - The forest seasons
Foo fighters - Concrete and gold
John Mayer - The search of everything
 
It's now June, so makes sense for people to start posting their favorite new music of the year (so far) here!

I'll start with some obvious choices:
Judas Priest - Firepower
Ghost - Prequelle
 
I agree with both. Firepower, especially, really surprised me and I listened to it almost exclusively for about two weeks. I wish Priest had played more of it on the show.
 
Ghost is a strong contender for the album of the year for me. But then not much is coming out (at least nothing that piques my interest).
 
I don't think anything has come close to Firepower so far this year. Prequelle has its moments, but overall seems to have lost some of the pseudo-gothic stylings that make Ghost so memorable IMO.

Just as an aside, I've been wondering if a new Blind Guardian album could be on the cards later this year (given their total inactivity as of late)?
 
God Damn Evil by Stryper is my favourite album of the year so far. This Christian glam metal band has gone from very good to fantastic in recent years, but unlike Fallen (2015) which easily could be said to be one of their absolute best efforts (together with classics Soldiers Under Command and To Hell With the Devil from the mid-80's), this one isn't as direct so time will have to tell.

 
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