5 years later, a retrospective of 2018

Old Tarbeaux goes back to his first year on the vortex to sort all of his overrates

Ah 2018, the year I joined a cesspool of bad taste, bad faith, goat lovers linked to Angry Metal Guy known as Metal-Fi. For those unfamiliar with this hellish place, it was a forum where two factions would fight in an endless war of baiting and mocking each other’s tastes. You would have the goat crew that would swear only by the filthiest black metal and would scream in agony the moment they had to listen with something that wasn’t written in 4/4. Against them was the avant garde militia that would swear only by dissodeath, weird experimental metal and technicaloprogressivo bullshit. You would also have some outsiders that like doom or hardcore but for the sake of simplification I will stop here. 

At the time I had a different, more retarded name, was relatively new to metal and my noob ass didn’t pick a side, so I would highly rate some average black metal as well as nonsensical experimental albums. This resulted in an absurd and painstakingly high number of albums rated as 7 or more. In total I had 98 greens out of 292 albums, which is impossible; there can’t be almost a hundred good albums in a year right?  This was probably caused by my inability to rate fairly and accurately because I was skewed by the chronic overrates of the metal reviews I was reading at the time. Often, an average album would get a 7, so I would give albums that I thought were alright this same rate while they should have probably been a 6 or a 5, in particular if I didn’t come back to them.  

So to make amends for my past mistakes, I decided to relisten to all the albums I’ve rated 7 and above during 2018, and see if I was completely off the mark back then. I listened to them all, and started to hate my AltarbA alter-ego from the time, that fucker just gave so many average albums a green score -  it was ridiculous. So out of those 98 “good” albums, only 29 managed to keep a rate of 7 or above. Even worse, I had 34 5/10 and 4/10. You might say the years made me sour and resentful and that I hate music now (which might be true) but this doesn’t excuse giving Rytmigeneraattor - Ikiliikkuja - a fucking didgeridoo instrumental album - a 7. I also listened to some of the 6s I gave and that were highly placed on the sheet to give me a bit of perspective and see if I did not miss anything. 

Finally, it also shows that the albums I really preferred back then still remain on top, and my top ten didn’t move that much. I even had two albums ending up with a higher rate than the one I gave them in 2018. As a reminder this was my top 2018 top 10:

1. Satan - Cruel Magic
2. Sigh - Heir to Despair
3. Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
4. Wombripper - From the Depths of Flesh
5. Yob - Our Raw Heart
6. Dream Tröll - The Witch’s Curse
7. Mass Hysteria - Maniac
8. Usurpress - Interregnum
9. Dopethrone - Transcanadian Anger
10. Boss Keloid - Melted on the Inch

Check here for the 2018 sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18SjPH_m9oO49TR-hfJKbpCCN4XKDNQv-MJREPA7rqbE/edit

And now, time for the new 2018 top 10.

10) Messa - Feast for Water - 7/10

Probably the best doom metal with female vox band of the whole scene, their 2018 album is still their best so far, with amazing songs to start the album like Snakeskin Drape or Leah,   even if those lose a bit of steam towards the end. Ultimately you get an album with a great mood that I enjoy more now than in 2018. I must also give a shout-out to Kriegsmachine which is the only 6 that I upgraded to a 7 and that could have made the cut. 

9) Mass Hysteria - Maniac - 8/10

Ah yes, who doesn’t need some French Alternative Metal… no one ? Well I do, especially when it’s full of riffs and groove like this album. It’s short, doesn’t wait before hitting you with a massive production, which is very modern yet very balanced and not too brickwalled. Compared to their latest opus, Mass Hysteria wasn’t in the full conspiratorial rabbit hole yet, which makes the lyrics enjoyably cringe, while their latest one makes you anxious that they will sing about George Soros at some point. Overall a bit of a guilty pleasure, but fairness and accuracy dictate that I mustput it in the top 10. 

8) Usurpress - Interregnum - 8/10

I don’t think I listened to this album for 5 years before I started the retrospective, and I must say it was a mistake. I could describe it as chill avant garde death metal, with a cabaret noir vibe, which is very obvious on a track like In Books Without Page. All the experimentations are tastefully done and there is always a catchy moment or twist in all those tracks, but I have a soft spot for Late in the 11th Hour and Ships of Black Glass

7) Hollywood Burns - 8/10

Another controversial take I guess, but this is one of the best synthwave albums ever released. It’s got everything you want from the genre: groove, speed, aggression, funky guitar lead, and generally over the top songs. And this one adds theremin to the mix for an extraterrestrial theme. This is the soundtrack from a B-Movie where Aliens invade Miami in 1984 driving Testarossa and Countach-inspired spacecraft, get addicted to coke and smuggle drugs back to their original world. Holywood Burns just displays great skills in the transitions and the layering of his music, switching back and forth between different themes, lead melody and bass groove for an overall super fun listen. 

6) Yob - Our Raw Heart - 8/10

It’s surely cliché to say that an album with a sob story must be full of emotions and that the artists poured their hearts into it, but that would describe Yob’s latest opus to date perfectly. A song like Beauty in Falling Leaves is so touching it showcases the best of what this album can do. The balance between the contemplative moments and the crushing doom guitars is spot on but the best part of this album is Mike Scheidt’s voice. He manages to go between melancholic highs and low guttural grunts to match perfectly the different moods of the instrumentals. I must also say I saw Yob in concert and that they were amazing. A great cathartic experience that I can relive when I listen to this album. 

5) Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology - 8/10

I wonder why Slugdge didn’t release another album after this masterpiece. Fear of not being able to live up to the hype ? No inspirations for new riffs ? Who knows, but what they gave us in 2018 with Esoteric Malacology is a way more serious tech death album than you can expect from a band obsessed with space slugs. Thankfully the slimy sluggy theme is only for the lyrics, and does not affect those hard riffs and fast techy leads. This goes hard for almost an hour, but it never feels that long thanks to good pacing, nice groove, varied vocals and an underlying catchiness that helps on subsequent relistens. Give me songs like Slave Goo World or The Spectral Burrows all day.  

4) Wombripper - From the Depths of Flesh - 8/10

Did I ever mention that I like riffs? I never told Wombripper and yet they decided to write a shit load of them, slapped an HM-2 pedal on top of that and released an album just for me. Perhaps. Anyways, this goes suitably hard, the drums make tonk noises at appropriate times and even the growls are good. And those fuckers can write song that are stupidly groovy too, like Suicidal Recreation - if suicide was that fun, a lot more people would do it. Somewhere between Bolt Thrower and Dissection, Wombripper released one of the best traditional death metal albums of the past five years.  

3) Satan - Cruel Magic - 8/10

It is weird that the top 3 of 2018 are all heavy metal (or heavy metal adjacent)? This genre was my entry to the metal world, and is still one of my favorites, but there aren’t many heavy metal albums being good past 2018, so that year must be an anomaly. And speaking of anomalies, Satan is another one, because rarely you see the reunion of a famous 80’s act releasing better albums than their classics. They managed to release a string of very good albums since 2013, and Cruel Magic again showcases great classic riffs, memorable hooks, good solos and an agreeable production that really place this album between tradition and modernity you know. It was also recorded in a ‘’live’’ configuration where all musicians played at the same time and not separately. Does that make it more raw and organic? I’m not sure, but it’s still pretty cool. 

2) Sigh - Heir to Despair - 8/10

This one is not strictly heavy metal, it’s more avant-garde Japanese folk black heavy metal. As always Sigh is throwing everything at the wall, and as always it works… most of the time. Sure, it’s sometimes awkward, and some of the electronic bits go on for too long, but overall this is just so enjoyable. This is the first album entirely written in Japanese by Mirai Kawashima, and also the one that features way more prominently traditional Japanese instruments - the flute is often the lead instrument and is very noticeable. You add that with traditional black metal vox and heavy metal riffage and you got songs like Homo Homini Lupus or Hunters Not Horned, that are some of the best Sigh ever written. 

1) Dream Tröll - The Witch’s Curse - 9/10

No I’m not trolling, Dream Tröll - The Witch’s Curse is really the best album of 2018. I already wrote a love letter to them in my 2021 review of Realm of the Tormentor, so I will just say that they are the best recent heavy metal band at the moment. They have a specific and unique sound that I never heard before while still pursuing the usual trope of the genre. And so far, I think that they peaked on this 26 minutes long EP, boasting three absolute bangers. It’s also a concept album that will leave you full of questions and theories. Who is the witch ? Why is Cyrian stuck in a loop? Will he ever free Isabella? We might never know the answers, but what I know is that I love the songwriting, the riffs, the solos and the emotional vox with this special delivery. It’s not flawless, but listening to this album makes me happy everytime and that is worth a lot. Thanks for reading and long live Rock N Troll.