2018 Music Albums

Unlike previous years, it looks like in 2018 I've listened to quite a few albums actually released this year. So I thought it might be fun to write a bit about them.

Albums I love

Godsmack - When legends rise

My relationship with Godsmack started in the late '90s, before YouTube and I think even the Internet. I was mesmerised by the video for “Voodoo” and would switch music TV channels just hoping I might catch it.

Time passed and I didn't follow the band closely, until a few years ago. Having been disconnected I did not realise that they had garnered some hate, just like all things late '90s seem to have. So I questioned my feelings and wanted to see if it was just skewed teenage perspective. Nope, turns out I still like the classics like “I stand alone”, “Awake” or “Keep away”, and I enjoy listening to anything from their discography. Yes, I can see why you might despise the attitude, but that's just on the surface, and music-wise Godsmack is a great band. I liked “The Oracle” and I especially liked “1000hp”. And finally, three years ago I got to cross them off the list of “absolutely have to see” bands and they totally kicked ass. Godsmack is a guaranteed energy-booster anytime.

And with that introduction, we get to their 2018 album. Before the release, Sully Erna, the band's front-man, stated that they are trying to basically dilute their sound in order to target a larger audience. All the negativity from the critics came to my mind and made me think they were right all along and Godsmack is just the kind of band that would sell-out if need be.

But then they released a video for “Bulletproof”. While the sound was indeed more accessible, I found the video to actually be a parody of the idea of selling out. Then the album came out and I was ashamed I ever doubted them. At less than 40 minutes, “When legends rise” is packed with intimacy and positivity. The lyrics are more personal and self-conscious. Sully is more emotional and his voice and melody work off each other for double the impact. Shannon Larkin is amazing as usual, his drumming being more like a second voice than just the backbone of the music.

The album was a great running companion, with energy-boosters like the title track or “Bulletproof”, the introspective “Someday” and even a ballad like I haven't heard in a long time, complete with violins (“Under your scars”).

Twenty one pilots - Trench

I had heard of Twenty one pilots before, but swiftly categorised them as “not my kind of music”. Then, a few years ago, being bored, I clicked on some “rock” hits playlist on Google's streaming service. And after a few songs I'm being served “Stressed out”, which doesn't sound like rock at all. But listening to it my thoughts were “I can relate to this”. Also, I think if I had been born 15 years later than I actually was and this was playing on MTV, it would actually be the kind of music I would listen to.

So, daringly, I started to listen to more Twenty one pilots and even reading more about them. I found songs like “Lane boy” or “Migraine” instantly fascinating. This wasn't rock music, but it also wasn't mainstream pop music. It had something to say. It had lots to say, in fact.

However, since this is not the kind of music I listen to normally, the first reaction to “Trench” was that maybe the album is also not for me. I was looking for another song as original and captivating as the ones I mentioned and did not find one at first. But on subsequent listens, I quickly fell in love with the album. It simply absorbed me. The deeper I immersed into it, the more fascinated I was. Twenty one pilots - or rather Tyler Joseph, the main man behind the duo - has created a rich and diverse musical and lyrical vocabulary to evoke the intricacies of the mind. From fast rapping, to angry screams, and a vast range of singing styles in between, Tyler shifts through genres with great ease. Even Josh Dun's drumming is more elaborated and interesting. And above all that, “Trench” has so much backstory that it would make a symphonic power metal band jealous. It sets a relentless introspective mood, that leaks with optimism should you listen carefully. It praises, but it also condemns.

Albums I was thrilled by

Dee Snider - For the love of metal

This came out of nowhere. Dee Snider is, of course, the front-man of Twisted Sister, a crazy band known especially for “We're not gonna take it” or “I wanna rock” - fun, blood-pumping songs, sung by a guy with curly blonde hair, who liked to dress like a woman and use lots of makeup.

I didn't expect the same guy would come out in his '60s with a straightforward heavy metal album, showing the young kids how it's done. The tracks are full of energy and in-your-face lyrics, with a dash of quirky '80s style humour: “I gave you yesterday / You can keep it / Because today is mine”. “For the love of metal” is exactly what it says: a tribute from one of the old ones, offered with love and passion. A great listen any moment of any day.

Ghost - Prequelle

Until now I just thought that Ghost is another one of those bands with makeup and masks that sing some sort of parody metal. I had the chance to see them live four or five years ago, but passed it due to this preconception.

Well, I don't know if they weren't as I described, but “Prequelle” shows a very serious and mature band. Sure, the whole shtick is putting occult lyrics and imagery over melodic pop metal, but they certainly don't take their job lightly. The song-writing is solid, with compositions that have a natural structure entwined with the musical and lyrical message.

“Rats” is a standout hit, and “Dance Macabre” could easily be played on radio and no one would find it strange. I'm just disappointed they didn't consider going to Eurovision with any one of these two. And there are two wonderful instrumentals on the album, just to enforce the idea that this is no funny business, while songs like “Pro Memoria” go into the philosophical. There's lots of texture in the music, but it is also easy to listen to and instantly contagious.

Judas Priest - Firepower

I admit. I'm not really a fan of Judas Priest, and “Firepower” is the first full album I've listened to from the band. It's exactly what it needs to be, straightforward heavy metal, from the grandfathers of the genre. You could say it's a textbook heavy metal album, but that would mean that any disciple band could copy it. And that's where the greatness comes from, that they make it all look so natural.

Thrawsunblat - Great Brunswick Forrest

Thrawsunblat is an offshoot of Canadian Juno Award winners Woods of Ypres. (one of my favourite bands, of which I have to talk at length some other time) They have combined black and doom metal with folk music to paint a naturalistic, mythical world, inspired by the vast landscapes of Canada. With “Great Brunswick Forrest” they have gone acoustic. Yet the Thrawsunblat visceral energy is still there, with signature guitars and drumming from Joel Violette and Rae Amitay, which have both been in Woods of Ypres for the legendary last album. The strange lyrics and vocals add to the eerie feel that distinguishes Thrawsunblat's music.

Haken - Vector

Though I've seen the “Affinity” album pop up here and there, I only gave the band attention this year, when I also got a chance to see them live at Artmania Festival.

I'm a big fan of King Crimson, so you could say I like progressive rock. Progressive metal? Not so much. I find that these kinds of bands usually focus too much on the technical side and forget to convey feeling. Haken, on the other hand, have deep roots in all things progressive, and assemble it in a thoroughly enjoyable package. It's fun, it's quirky, it's angry, it's full of energy.

But I needed a few listens to really get into “Vector”, which, even though it's three quarters of an hour long, with only 7 tracks, it's more of an EP for a band like Haken. The problem was that it felt a bit generic, and it fell into the technical trap I mentioned. I could listen to the melody, but not really get into it. But songs like “Puzzle Box”, “The Good Doctor” or “A cell divides”, eventually turn out to be very fun. I now think the real issue was that there are no obvious standouts like “The Architect” or “Cockroach King”.

Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

This is another band that I saw at Artmania Festival, but which I had heard nothing about before. They were totally mesmerising. And only afterwards I found out that they made quite a big hype at other festivals around the world.

The band is actually the project of Manuel Gagneux, and it started after he challenged 4chan to propose two musical genres two blend into a song. They unapologetically proposed “nigger music” (Manuel being half-Afro-American in descent) and black metal. The result is quite unique, and I would compare Zeal & Ardor to a modern Burzum: a raw take to music, picking up different influences and cutting them down to suit creative needs. Distorted black metal riffs, growls and screams, contrast with gospel choir-like chants and incantations, all creating an eerie atmosphere, full of occult symbolism and paying tribute to all the values that guided pioneers of said musical genres. Some songs even tend towards R&B, soul and blues - that is before the screaming and distortion kicks in.

However, this being the first full-length album of the band, after an EP released in 2017, it has a rough quality to it, a feeling that with more maturity it can evolve to something actually brilliant, rather than just a shocking novelty. Because novelty has the characteristic that it runs out eventually.

Albums I enjoyed, but was not impressed by

Beyond the Black - Heart of the Hurricane

Nightwish was one of the first bands I liked when I started listening to music. But since then, it was the only female-fronted symphonic metal band that I really liked. I did not care for Within Temptation, Epica and not even post-Tarja Nightwish. Until last year when I was captivated by just such a band at the Artmania Festival. Beyond the Black sounded fresh and Jennifer Haben's voice was not only great, but it had a certain unique slight crispiness to it, that set it out from all the sopranos in the genre.

After listening to their discography (just two albums at that time) it was hard to get songs like “In the shadows”, “Lost in forever” or “Forget my name” out of my head. With 2018's release I think they tried to be more ambitious while also reaching for a larger audience. This included having the second male voice be cleaner, which sounds pretty irritating. The problem actually is that there are no hits and I can't say that any of the 15 songs (no "bonus tracks" or covers) standout like the titles I just mentioned. No moments to give Jennifer a chance to really shine - except maybe the mellow “Breeze”.

But on subsequent listens, the album got under my skin with the band's natural force lurking in the details. I found the same freshness in the song writing, the music being richer then ever, with meandering symphonies, powerful choirs and all that.

Khemmis - Desolation

I stumbled over this band while randomly listening to stuff on Google's music streaming service. Originally starting as a doom metal band, they blend melodic metal harmonies into their music, creating a distinctive sound of their own. Their third album, released this year, is even further departed from doom. “Isolation” has a very catchy tune and it is clearly made for a larger audience, but it is quite different from the rest of the album. While still pretty solid, I liked ”Hunted”, their previous release, more.

Powerwolf - Sacrament of Sin

I simply ignored Powerwolf until I saw them on Wacken live stream in 2017. Mid-day, in front of a full house, the atmosphere they created was simply electrifying. You could just see the energy running through the whole crowd.

But listening to their studio recordings, I couldn't feel the energy as much. “Sacrament of sin” is just another incarnation of Powerwolf's clerical choir-like power metal, with amusing, satirical lyrics. They are at a point where the compositions come out naturally, but are all basically interchangeable. Fun to listen at anytime, though.

Nanowar of Steel - Stairway to Valhalla

Being a Manowar fan, I have become immune to all the jokes made about the band. The jokers just don't get it and never will, and I don't care. Therefore, I completely scoffed at Nanowar (before Steel) some 10-15 years ago. I didn't find them funny at all, and it didn't seem like they could even play their instruments properly.

Well, I don't know what they did in the meantime, but “Stairway to Valhalla” sounds quite good actually. So good, that at some points you wouldn't know it's a parody. Well, partly to blame is the Italian accent which doesn't make the lyrics very understandable, which is crucial when you tell a joke.

But there are times where I found myself unable to resist laughing, on songs like “The call of Ctulhu” (an actual telephone call, where the dial tone resembles cartoonish gargle noises of a would-be Lovecraftian creature), “Hail to Lichtenstein”, or “The Quest for Carrefour”. Also, while parodying power metal bands, you get the feel that they actually understand the genre, and are not just blindly mocking it.

Therapy? - Cleave

Fun collection of songs. Didn't listen to it much. Doubt it will make a deeper impression. But wouldn't mind listening to it once in a while.

Disappointments

Riot V - Armor of light

I've been quite oblivious of the legendary American outfit called Riot. I've only heard of them after the death of the band's founder and leader, Mark Reale. For some reason the members decided to continue under the name Riot V, with the amazing voice of Todd Michael Hall. “Unleash the Fire” was the first album they released in this formation and it was well received. I liked it, too. It had a great feel and emotion to it, and I could even sense the great musical tribute they payed to Mark Reale's legacy, without having known anything about him or the band's history.

So I much anticipated the next Riot V release, which came in 2018. Unfortunately, “Armor of light” is lacking all that I liked about “Unleash the Fire”. I gave it a few listens throughout the year, but the songs just would not stick. It's just a generic metal album, with nothing to give.

Grave Digger - The Living Dead

Grave Digger is an old German heavy metal band, with one of the weirdest voices in the genre. I'm sure that anybody with Chris Boltendahl's voice would not even consider a singing career. Yet he did. In any case, the band puts out material with great frequency, about an album every two years. Some of it is great, some not. “The Living Dead“ is not. In fact it's one of their blandest in recent years. Usually they would have at least a couple of standout songs. But there are none on this album. They tried something with the polka metal style of “Zombie Dance”, but I've seen much better parodies than this. (see Nanowar of Steel above)

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog

First listen: sounds good, will have to give it some more listens.

Time passes.

Second listen: sounds good, will have to give it some more listens.

More and more time passed. Gave it some more listens. While at that moment I liked parts of the album, at this moment I can barely remember anything about it.

At one point, while listening to random stuff, a song from “Black gives way to blue” kicked in and it immediately grabbed by attention. And that is not really an amazing album. I like it, but it's not something I listen to often. “Rainier Fog” seems like something I forget the instant I finish it.

Romanian albums

Sanctuar - Simfonia Îngerilor

Sanctuar is a local band that was just getting started when I started going to metal concerts. I'm quite fond of them. They don't release music very often, and they are just on their third album, despite their over 15 years of history. After a great first album, came a second not so great one, and this third one is... also not that good, unfortunately. It seems the current band members are not as skilled as the original ones, and “Simfonia Îngerilor” is not only generic heavy metal, but also quite boring with only few interesting moments.

Trooper - Ștefan cel Mare - Poemele Moldovei

This is the second attempt at an epic story album from one of the most successful metal/hard-rock Romanian bands to be formed after 1989. They didn't repeat the more egregious mistakes they made with “Poemele Valahiei”, but “Poemele Moldovei” is still not great. Most of the songs seem to try too hard to just be a narrative, with only a couple of them able to be outright good songs on their own. There's just nothing that exciting for me there.

Luna Amară - Nord

The “Pietre în alb” album received excellent feedback, coming on top of an already well established discography. Their subsequent release, “Aproape” - more of an EP really - took a sideways step, being a collection of acoustic songs, complete with a string quartet, so a more regular album was to be expected.

I didn't find “Nord” up to par with their previous albums. I don't see a clear direction for the band's music, other than maybe going for a larger audience with a more digestible sound, and all songs being sung in Romanian. To me it just feels like an album from a relatively new band, not from one that has reached the peak of its creative output.

I found it hard to be excited, especially when a song like “Focuri” sounds like an amateurish venture into hip-hop, and one of the singles, “Nu știu, nu iau, nu sunt” has a generic filler quality to it, rather than being a standout on the album.

However, repeated listens have revealed a deeper emotion of the material, with more heartfelt - though not really subtle - lyrics, the most explicit examples being “Respiră un început” or “Om”. Songs like “Insomnii” and “Tăcerea” have interesting, catchy melodies. All in all, “Nord” feels like a small, unpolished gem. Maybe my expectations were a bit higher.

Albums I missed

Obviously, I don't listen to even a fraction of music that an actual critic listens, too. So I've noted some albums that I saw recommended by credible sources:

• Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
• 1914 - The blind leading the blind
• Suede - The Blue Hour
• Altars of Grief - Iris

Looking forward to 2019

Two bands I follow should release new albums in the first months of 2019, and have already released a single each, which have gotten me very excited.

Myrath promises to thrill with some more overly intricate symphonic Arabian metal, and, it seems, with a story behind the album:

Tobias Sammet is a maniac composer, who seems to never tire from putting out great epic music, making well established vocalists shine once more. Avantasia, which originally seemed a one-time project, is now on the eighth album, and it promises to be at least just as amazing as the previous ones:

Also, in Romania, Methadone Skies should also be releasing a new album and I'm very curious what they have been cooking up.