Best Albums 2018

by Sami

I finally managed to increase the number of listened tracks per year after several years of downhill on this sector. In contrast, the number of records I bought in 2018 was lower than ever before. Let's see how this affects the listening of the records in the future when these chosen ones might not be as readily available as they are now. I guess that this is the future though and of course there are obvious benefits with the streamed albums. When choosing the best albums of the year, I noticed that there are clearly two categories that are really hard to compare to each other. Therefore I chose to select just the best album from the whole bunch of them and then evaluate the rest within their own genre.

The Best of All

Hamferð - Támsins Likam

Roaring seas, howling winds, serene coves, rocky mountains, seabirds, fresh air, violent storms, rough men, fighting against the elements, surviving. If this is how the Faroe Islands are like, Hamferd describes it perfectly in their music. The album is so full of feeling, and only six songs, you can only listen this one once a week (with headphones) or you will explode. It fills you, it makes you feel empty and longing, it makes you feel small, it makes you bigger than you were before. Not Icelanders this year, but Atlantic Islands rule again!

Metal 1 - 5 (not in particular order)

Bloodbath - The Arrow of Satan Is Drawn

Give me a speaker big enough and a Bloodbath album, and I shall move the world.

Amorphis - Queen of Time

Amorphis has combined styles from their different eras and has done it well.

Soulfly - Ritual

Max hasn't been anywhere far away, but now Max is back! You can either go out and pick a fight in your local mall (if you live in Eastern Helsinki) or you can listen this album, the result is the same, you'll feel victorious (and beaten).

Primordial - Exile Amongst the Ruins

Beautifully massive music. Pretty much all the songs begin with at least a minute long intro where the atmosphere is created and the rest then continues from these ruins.

The Crown - Cobra Speed Venom

A true wave of metal!

Metal 6 -> (not in particular order)

Barren Earth — A Complex of Cages

Tribulation — Down Below

High on Fire — Electric Messiah

The Best of Stoner/Rock/Psychedelic

Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions

Stoner that makes you move.

Stoner/Rock/Psychedelic 2 - 5 (not in particular order)

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog

The album speaks for itself.

Monster Magnet - Mindfucker

A real mindfucker, psychedelic rock, stoner and everything else that Monster Magnet is.

Orange Goblin - The Wolf Bites Back

After the first song, it is just pure bulldozing.

Black Label Society - Grimmest Hits

A hammock, six pack of beer and BLS album, what else?

Stoner/Rock/Psychedelic 6 -> (not in particular order)

Brant Bjork — Mankind Woman

Corrosion of Conformity — No Cross No Crown

Uncle Acid And the Deadbeats — Wasteland

The Best Gigs

Clutch, Tuska Festival
Body Count feat IceT, Tuska Festival

Uncle Acid And the Deadbeats, Tavastia