Saturday, December 8, 2018

My 40 Favorite Black Metal Records of 2018


As we come to the end of another year, let us reflect on the fact that nothing has really changed. The world is still dogshit, there are still very powerful people who are dedicated to keeping it that way, and all paths still lead to a lonely, desolate grave. Thus, it's been another great year for black metal, environmental decimation, and drug use.

The rules are, as always:
    1. Anything remotely black metal-adjacent will be considered eligible.
    2. There will be no download links. Interested parties should check Mortuus in Somnis.
    3. Feel free to disagree in the comments section, just don't be a wretched dumpster person.

Alrighty then, let's get this over with.





40.
Hellfire Deathcult
Black Death Terroristic Onslaught

Right off the bat I’m pissing you off. As the backlash against cavernous black/death continues, I’m doubling down. Black Death Terroristic Onslaught is probably as extreme as this microgenre can be taken before you just become a noise project like Skáphe. I can kinda hear some riffs almost, but it’s pretty much all blastbeats, gutturals, and a wall of guitar mud, all thickly coated in reverb.

Previously:
Hellfire Deathcult - Culto a la Muerte (2016)




39.
Provocator
Satan, Chaos, Blood and Terror


On a similar note, I don't know anyone else who got stoked on this record like I did. Thrashing, bestial black/death, with one of the best metal vocal performances of the year, which they make sure you notice by turning the vocals up waaay too high in the mix.

Previously:




38.
Lampir
The Alchemy of Cursed Blood

Exactly what I want from raw black metal: indecipherable guitars, muffled drums, and grim vocals hovering above it all like lost spirits.




37.
Autokrator
Hammer of the Heretics

Punishing industrial black/death with lightless, suffocating production.




36.
Purity Renaissance
Purity Renaissance

Raw, atmospheric beauty. Sounds like a band made up of ghosts who haven't quite come to terms with the fact that they're dead.




35.
Spectral Wound
Infernal Decadence

Ripping, frill-free black metal with crisp but dense production, played with a sense of abandon and visceral intensity. Or, in their words: “A recognition and celebration of the messy, degenerate and convoluted matter of our miserable existence. No essence, no transcendence, no Satan or chaos dragon or nature or nation will save you.”




34.
ION
A Path Unknown

Three cerebral, psychedelic monoliths of post-metal-infused chaos. Shrieking, harsh dissonance, valleys of layered, rumbling drone, waves of icy beauty, and blasting, lupine fury.

Previously:




33.
Reverorum ib Malacht
Im Ra Distare Summum Soveris Seris Vas Innoble

Utter cacophony. Relentlessly blasting drums, echoing growls, choral samples, droning keyboards, various SFX, and barely audible guitars. Turns out I have a high tolerance for this kinda thing, as there are plenty of people who couldn’t stand this record.




32.
Eigenlicht
Self-Annihilating Consciousness

Patient, doom-infused, atmospheric epics colored by hella organ, flute, and more. Members of Fauna and Skagos.




31.
Esoctrilihum
Inhüma

Beefy, cavernous, psychedelic black/death mastery. Inhüma is the second of two excellent albums put out by Esoctrilihum this year, and it looks and sounds like a sequel — but one of the rare sequels that manage to best the original by simply honing in on its strengths and cutting the fat. Like Evil Dead 2.




30.
Alrakis
Echoes from η Carinae

A just-under-53-minute cosmic journey through a cold, faraway star system. Long stretches of soothing dark ambient and majestic, mid-paced, gauzy BM.

Previously:




29.
Wolvennest
VOID

Hypnotic ritual psychedelia for exploring the inner and outer limits. I slept on their last album, and I'm not gonna let you do the same thing with this one.




28.
Carved Cross
The Yawning Abyss of Perdition

Raw DSBM, perfected. Two extended, droning excursions into despondency.

Previously:




27.
Cantique Lépreux
Paysages Polaires

Given the flawless nature of their previous album, Paysages Polaires was one of the surest bets of 2018. They know how to bring the crystalline, tremolo-picked beauty, but they also know the importance of bringing the riffs. Ethereal, mesmerizing, and consistently engaging.




26.
Craft
White Noise and Black Metal

A riff-fest to end all riff-fests, and a major return to form.




25.
Echtra
BardO

Ethereal, slo-mo, neofolk-infused beauty from one half of Fauna. Somehow, despite the Cascadian black metal gold rush that went down earlier this decade, both Echtra and Fauna — easily two of the scene’s best — got weirdly looked over.

Previously:




24.
Occelensbrigg
The Quest for the Star Mountain

Haunting, spectral, ugly, and raw. Honestly, should probably be higher on the list but I've been working on this shit for hours and can't be bothered to move it at this point. Fuck it, we'll do it live.




23.
Cor Scorpii
Ruin

Melodic, borderline symphonic Norwegian perfection. Soaring melodies, and some gorgeous choral and (synthesized) string arrangements.



22.
Immortal
Northern Chaos Gods

Their best since At the Heart of Winter. An openly nostalgic album of ass-kicking, frost-bitten riffage, with numerous overt musical and lyrical references to the band’s past glories, in particular Battles in the North.




21.
Pa Vesh En
Church of Bones

Unsettling, hermetic rawness.




20.
Abstracter
Cinerous Incarnate

One of the heaviest-sounding records I've ever had the pleasure of annoying my neighbors with. Crushing, doom-leaning sounds for an ongoing apocalypse.




19.
Severoth
When the Night Falls...

Severoth continues to amaze with some of the best atmospheric BM in the game. Lush, at times overwhelmingly beautiful odes to isolation, memory, and the natural world.




18.
Nahtrunar
Mysterium Tremendum

Epic, raging, and true. Starts off with a fairly traditional sound -- played with great enthusiasm and inspiration, of course -- that evolves and expands as the record continues. Plus, I love a big, sprawling closer, and "Im Flehen Aschener Zungen" is a worthy addition to the pantheon.




17.
Demonomancy
Poisoned Atonement

Brutal, meat-and-potatoes black/death annihilation, impeccably written and performed, with perfectly crushing production. Think of all the super-boring death metal that gets hyped to hell, while this motherfucking beast slips through the cracks? Way to go, world.




16.
Sigh
Heir to Despair

Total insanity from Japan's finest purveyors of avant-garde metal. Here at OPIUM HUM, we work exclusively in half-assed writing, so effectively describing such a complex record just isn't in the cards, sorry. You've probably already heard it anyway.




15.
Moenen of Xezbeth
Ancient Spells of Darkness...

Raw occult worship. Slightly out-of-tune guitars, ghostly keyboards, hoarse vocals, and grainy production.




14.
Summoning
With Doom We Come

Another keyboard-saturated, Lord of the Rings-themed masterpiece by Summoning. I refuse to pretend that a single one of you needs me to tell you what this record sounds like.

Previously:




13.
Slidhr
The Futile Fires of Man

Exquisitely composed orthodox BM. My hater card's gonna show yet again, but damn it, it's frustrating watching everyone pretend that the new Uada was anything but a complete letdown, while all but ignoring stuff like this knotty slice of perfection.




12.
Altar of Perversion
Intra Naos

A mind-blowing, sprawling double-album of intricate, majestically ugly aural dark magic. It’s been 12 years since their last record, and 17 since their last full-length, and they somehow made it worth the wait.

Previously:




11.
Carpe Noctem
Vitrun

Phenomenal, fluid guitar interplay, spacious yet dense production, and masterful pacing. Another thing that hasn’t changed since last year: the Icelandic scene has continued to lead orthodox black metal into freer, heavier, more psychedelic lands.

Previously:




10.
Mylingar
Döda Drömmar

T H I C C .

Previously:




9.
Cosmic Church
Täyttymys

Transfixing, melancholic, and haunting. Epic guitar work shrouded in ghostly synth and reverb.

Previously:




8.
Panphage
Jord

A breathtaking swansong for one of the great modern Swedish BM projects. Mournful, folk-y melodies channeled through a beautifully vicious sound.




7.
Svartidauði
Revelations of the Red Sword

Intricate guitar work, chaotic but tight compositions, killer performances all around. Iceland stays slaying.




6.
Ars Hmu
The Dawn of Black Pansophy

Eerie, mysterious, and ferocious. Drenched in darkness, sacrificial blood, and reverb. A listening experience not unlike one of those sections of a haunted house where you're just feeling your way through a seemingly endless, lightless, labyrinthine hallway.




5.
Iskandr
Euprosopon

In which Iskandr make the jump from lo-fi to spacious, widescreen production, and end up with what's easily their best record yet. Masterfully constructed songs hurtling through a towering, ethereal atmosphere.




4.
Mahr
Antelux

Thick, heavy guitars, reverb-soaked everything, a touch of dark psychedelia, and massive, enveloping production that makes you feel like you're being sucked into a black abyss of ice. A shoe-in for this list on first listen.

Previously:




3.
Cultes des Ghoules
Sinister, or Treading the Darker Paths

Ritualistic, doom-heavy sounds of the occult from the masters thereof.




2.
Imperial Triumphant
Vile Luxury

Gnarled and utterly discordant, with blasts of brass and saxophone to push it all the way into total chaos. People throw around the word “claustrophobic” a lot when discussing this style of BM, but Vile Luxury truly embodies that feeling: a dark, unstoppable force closing in all around you. Perhaps the record’s greatest achievement, though, is its seamless incorporation of film-noir jazz elements throughout. I know the idea sounds ridiculous, but it somehow make perfect sense in context. Honestly, had this been written tomorrow, Vile Luxury might have ended up at #1.




1.
Entropy Created Consciousness
Impressions of the Morning Star

Every moment of this record is stunning. From my writeup: "Phenomenal black metal from parts unknown. A chill-inducing, forward-thinking masterpiece that cuts through the suffocating density that one might expect from modern black metal with a shimmering, sorrowful sense of beauty." Without hyperbole, Impressions of the Morning Star truly feels like a step forward for black metal as a whole.

Previously:

27 comments:

  1. Excellent list man. I didnt dig as deep into black metal this years as I did the past several after seeing this list I think i should have. Just curious, what's your thought on gaerea? It was the only black metal record that made my list. I honestly thought I'd see that on more year end lists. So good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I pretty much just slept on it. I read some rave reviews, downloaded it, but never really gave it a close listen. Glad you reminded me about it, though, will make sure to check it out.

      Delete
  2. Nice list, that Entropy Created Consciousness album sure is great. As with previous years, I've greatly appreciated your efforts to share some rad music. So much stuff I would likely never have found. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You should listen to Dakhma - Hamkar Atonement.
    Best Blackened death I've heard this year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great list, gotcher #1 from BC on yer recommendation. Think I'll do a few bowls and see if any of these albums appear on my streaming service. Thanks a ton!

    ReplyDelete
  5. tight list, as always.
    any thoughts on the new AKITSA?
    i can't stop bumping it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haven't gotten around to listening yet, 100% sure it would've been on here if I'd had the chance

      Delete
  6. D_S I'm especially psyched to check out Sigh (also, nice atypical album cover, reminds me of the work of a certain Japanese realist painter whose name escapes me right now) as well as Vile Luxury. Stellar list, brother!! As always.

    Regards

    Tz

    ReplyDelete
  7. i look forward to the posting of this list each year. been getting excited about this edition for the last couple of weeks. thank you for sharing so much good stuff i would've otherwise never encountered!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I cannot understand how any human being can enjoy this type of 'music' so, maybe you're not human but an alienigen? Cheers and long live the Grateful Dead!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The grateful dead are a CIA plant band

      Delete
  9. Thanks for all your efforts. This year's been a real winner and that Entropy Created Conciousness album absolutely crushes. Looking forward to checkin' out the rest of the list

    ReplyDelete
  10. Any chance of getting top picks for any of the other genres you post? I love me some black/doom metal but would be great to get your take on everything else, since all these year end lists getting posted now are more or less the same thing...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just posted: http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-40-favorite-albums-of-2018-not-black.html

      Delete
  11. Yeah my experience of Vile Luxury was "well this shouldn't work at all" right away to "man this totally fucking works!" Know it's not your genre as much, but any chance of a mini-best death metal of 2018 list?

    ReplyDelete
  12. http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2018/09/altar-of-perversion-from-dead-temples.html?m=1
    But Altar of Perversion’s
    Intra Naos ended up at number 12, so I guess 2018 was “the greatest year for black metal since 1994”.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Top list!
    There's no point asking "why didnt you list this" etc, because you probably haven't gotten around to it, or maybe it didn't interest you. But I'm surprised the Funeral Mist didn't make it. Also, I thought Purity Renaissance should be a little higher :)
    Rites of Thy Degringolade also put out a stellar release.
    Anyway, there's a bunch on here I myself haven't heard yet, so cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gotta say, I was less into both the Funeral Mist and ROTD records than I'd hoped. Maybe they'll grow on me. And Purity Renaissance might have ended up higher on the list if I'd had more time with it.

      Delete
  14. A lot of music to discover on this list. Pa Vesh En and Moenen of Xezbeth are among my favourites too. Un saludo.

    ReplyDelete
  15. https://helterskelterproductions.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-wild

    Just thought I'd link you this, as it was just released and you might have missed it. What an album! Along the lines of Dissection and Watain.

    Will post my own list here later on.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great list! Thought I followed 2018 releases closely but there's a bunch of stuff I missed in here. Thanks! Excited to sniff Wolvennest.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Providing a list of my own.

    Aura Mortis - Proclamation of the Sardonic Flame mcd
    Brahdr'uhz - Land of Darkness
    Candelabrum - Portals
    Carpe Noctem - Vitrun
    Degredo - A Noite dos Tempos
    Djevel - Blant Svarte Graner
    Funeral Mist - Hekatomb
    Holocausto Em Chamas - לָשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ
    Mare - Ebony Tower
    Obskuritatem - Na Tronu Smrti
    Pnakotic Vision - Herald of Madness
    Sargeist - Unbound
    Talmas - Four Chapters of Talmas
    Tezcatlipoca - Tlayohualtlapelani
    Voodus - Into the Wild

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for turning me on to Mortuus In Somnis. It's been a good year but now that they've gone private I'll have only your yearly round-up to look forward-to. I wouldn't know who to ask for an invite. Any advice?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Aaaand, they're back. That's hopeful. This time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah that happens periodically, probably a reaction to copyright complaints. I hope to have some year-end lists going sometime next week, probably nowhere near as extensive as previous years tho

      Delete