TOP METAL ALBUMS 2018 - Massive list from Cyprus' Metal Scene Members


TOP METAL ALBUMS 2018 LIST BANNER IMAGE LOGO COVERS

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow metalheads through the lands and fires of hell.

As 2018 comes to an end, it's that time of the year again when we run back in time to review the past twelve months. It's that time of the year when people like you and me are going through their annual playlists to create their list of their TOP (10?) (20?) (100?) favorite releases of the year. And damn, 2018 was a fuckin blast!

To make it easier for you (or actually screw your mind - more than it is, yes) Cy-Metal.com asked more than 20 people involved in the Cyprus Metal Scene for their lists of TOP-10 releases of the year. We tried to have a variety of people representing the huge majority of metal genres. Some people for their own reasons (mostly lack of time) couldn't provide us with a list, but the majority thankfully did (even though I had to be "prixtis" for many of them). The result was 19 responses (+2 from us as bonuses) and a total of 116 different releases presented!! 

First our demographics: 

21 people in total, 20 male and one female (Hail to the Queen Nikoletta).
These people are/were heavily involved in the Cyprus Metal Scene, either as musicians, promoters, record-label owners, studio owners, etc. 
Bands represented among others were Arrayan Path, Blynd, Crusifire, Dark Poetry, Diphtheria, Dragonbreath, Hardraw, Kidius Shredius Maximus, Mortem Atra, R.U.S.T.X, Solitary Sabred, Stainlesz, Stormcast, Temple of Evil, Vomitile, Winters Verge.
Labels represented: Pitch Black Records and Deathhammer Records. 

It is worth-mentioning that this was not a poll! We didn't provided the titles ourselves, each person provided their own list independently.

The statistics:

Releases:
As mentioned before, 116 different releases in total made it to the final cut (nearly all of the full-albums, except from a handful of occasions where an EP or a Single was provided in the list).

Countries:
24 Countries made it to the selection (see Figure 1) , with the majority of the bands hailing from USA (30), United Kingdom (14), Greece (12) and Sweden (10).

Figure 1: Number of bands mentioned per country of origin

Genres: 
"Labeling" all these bands into categories can be a pain in the ass, debatable, controversial, non-political-correct, etc. However, to get a general idea, our statistics show that the predominant genres fall into the Heavy/Power/Speed categories (35). Runner-up comes the Black Metal genre (21), followed by Rock/Prog-Rock (18) selections and Death Metal -traditional, technical and melodic- (15). But not limited to the above categories we had gothic, stoner, avant-garde, etc. We even had the genre "Nintendocore" popping up in the lists!

Results: 
Figure 2: Results for the TOP Metal Albums of 2018



It goes without saying that Judas Priest's incredible "Firepower" would be the ultimate album of 2018! As you can see in Figure 2, the Metal Gods made it to 15 out of 21 lists! No surprises here since the album is considered by a number of fans as their second Painkiller. 

Second to the top, with just one vote more from its runner ups come the Greek speeders Sacral Rage with their second work "Beyond Celestial Echoes". Extraterrestrial sounds, outstanding vocals and sci-fi concepts comprise their recipe of success (7 Votes). 

Next in line, we had a draw between Amorphis - "Queen of Time", our own Arrayan Path - "Archegonoi" and the comeback album of Heir Apparent - "The View From Below", each getting 6 votes.

Another comeback, after a 20-year hiatus, that made it to the next spot in the list was Fifth Angel - "The Third Secret". The album received five (5) votes, alongside with Ghost - "Prequelle" and Riot V - "Armor of Light"

The fight to make it to the TOP 10 of Cy-Metal.com brought the three following albums in a draw each receiving four (4) recommendations: Behemoth's newest opus "I Loved You at Your Darkest", Canadian Manacle's debut album entitled "No Fear to Persevere" and Saxon's "Thunderbolt"

The list is expanding to a TOP-17 with the six additional releases receiving three (3) recommendations each. These are: Ashbury - "Eye of the Stygian Witches", Kamelot - "The Shadow Theory", Kriegsmaschine - "Apocalipticists", Primordial - "Exile Amongst the Ruins", Tesseract - "Sonder" and Urfaust - "The Constellatory Practice"

An additional 26 releases received two (2) recommendations each, and another 73 releases were mentioned once. A complete list of all the releases mentioned alongside their home-countries and the number of mentions can be found at the bottom of this post.

Now take a look on what each individual person voted, and update your lists as you go through. We would like to hear your recommendations and comments so, please, FIRE AT WILL!!
*(Please note that all the lists in this post are in alphabetical order and not in order of preference!)

Cheers, 
Michalis and Andreas Benakis
www.Cy-Metal.com
December 2018























The complete list of the TOP 116 releases presented follows:
Album Country
1 Achelous - Macedon Greece
2 Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog USA
3 Alien Weaponry - Tu New Zealand
4 Amorphis - Queen Of Time Finland
5 Arcane Roots - Landslide UK
6 Arrayan Path - Archegonoi Cyprus
7 Ashbury - Eye of the stygian witches USA
8 At The Gates - To Drink from the Night Itself Sweden
9 Attacker - Armor of the Gods USA
10 Audrey Horne - Blackout Norway
11 Automaton - Talos Greece
12 Battleroar - Codex Epicus Greece
13 Behemoth - I loved you at your darkest Poland
14 Beyond Creation - Algorythm Canada
15 Black Label Society - Grimmest Hits USA
16 Burial Hordes - Θάνατος Αιώνιος (The Termination Thesis) Greece
17 Burning Witches - Hexenhammer Switzerland
18 Carnation - Chapel of Abhorrence Belgium
19 Cauldron - New Gods Canada
20 Cirith Ungol - Witch's Game USA
21 Craft - White Noise and Black Metal Sweden
22 Creye - Creye Sweden
23 Cultes des Ghoules - Sinister, or Treading the Darker Paths Poland
24 Derdian - DNA Italy
25 Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine Canada
26 Dimmu Borgir - Eonian Norway
27 Disturbed - Evolution USA
28 Embrace of Thorns - Scorn Aesthetics Greece
29 Fallen Angel - Cast Out Of Heaven USA
30 Fifth Angel - The Third Secret USA
31 FM - Atomic Generation Canada
32 Funeral Mist - Hekatomb Sweden
33 Gang - All For One France
34 Ghost - Prequelle Sweden
35 Gorod - Aethra France
36 Haken - Vector UK
37 Hate Eternal - Upon Desolated Sands USA
38 Heir Apparent - The View From Below USA
39 Howling Sycamore - Howling Sycamore USA
40 Hypnosinosis - ῾Υπνωσίνοσις Chile
41 Impelliteri - The nature of the beast USA
42 Iskandr - Euprosopon Netherlands
43 Joakem - Mind Matter Cyprus
44 Judas Priest - Firepower UK
45 Jungle Rot - Jungle Rot USA
46 Kamelot - The Shadow Theory USA
47 Kataklysm - Meditations Canada
48 King Goat - Debt of Aeons UK
49 Kobra and the Lotus - Prevail II Canada
50 Kriegsmaschine - Apocalypticists Poland
51 Krisiun - Scourge of the Enthroned Brazil
52 Lord Vigo - Six Must Die Germany
53 Madball - For the Cause USA
54 Magoth – Zeitgeist : Dystopia Germany
55 Manacle - No Fear to Persevere Canada
56 Marduk - Viktoria Sweden
57 Mare - Ebony Tower Norway
58 Mass Culture - Primal | Ephemeral Greece
59 Ministry - Amerikkkant USA
60 Monstrosity - The Passage of Existence USA
61 Necrophobic - Mark of The Necrogram Sweden
62 Necros Christos - Domedon Doxomedon Germany
63 Obliteration - Cenotaph Obscure Norway
64 Obscura - Diluvium Germany
65 Omnium Gatherum - The Burning Cold Finland
66 Opeth - Garden of the Titans Sweden
67 Orphaned Land - Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs Israel
68 Powerglove - Continue?  USA
69 Powerwolf - Sacrament Of Sin Germany
70 Primal Fear - Apocalypse Germany
71 Primordial - Exile Amongst the Ruins Ireland
72 Purgatory - Purgatory USA
73 Riot V - Armor of light USA
74 Riverside - Wasteland Poland
75 Saboter - Architects of Evil Greece
76 Sacral Rage - Beyond Celestial Echoes Greece
77 Sadhus "The Smoking Community" - Big Fish Greece
78 Satan - Cruel Magic UK
79 Saxon - Thunderbolt UK
80 Scars on Broadway - Dictator  USA
81 Serpent Lord - Towards the Damned Greece
82 ShadowKeep - ShadowKeep UK
83 Sigh - Heir To Despair Japan
84 Sirenia - Arcane Astral Aeons Norway
85 Skeletal Remains - Devouring Mortality  USA
86 Skull Fist - Way of the Road Canada
87 Sleep - The Sciences USA
88 Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology UK
89 Soulfly - Ritual USA
90 Stryper - God Damn Evil USA
91 Stygian Oath - Stygian Oath Greece
92 Summoning - With Doom We Come Austria
93 Svartidaudi - Revelations Of The Red Sword Iceland
94 Tales of Autumn - In Madness We Trust UK
95 Ten - Illuminati UK
96 Tesseract - Sonder UK
97 The Ocean - Phanerozoic Germany
98 The Pineapple Thief - Dissolution UK
99 The Sword - Used Future USA
100 Toska - Fire by the Silos UK
101 Tremonti - A Dying Machine USA
102 Tribulation - Down Below Sweden
103 U.D.O. - SteelFactory Germany
104 Urfaust - The Constellatory Practice Netherlands
105 Varathron - Patriarchs of Evil Greece
106 Veonity - Legend Of The Starborn Sweden
107 Voivod - The Wake Canada
108 Vomitile - Pure Eternal Hate  Cyprus
109 WarKings - Reborn International
110 Warrel Dane - Shadow Work USA
111 Witherfall - A Prelude to Sorrow USA
112 Wolfheart - Constellation of the Black Light Finland
113 Wolvennest - VOID Belgium
114 Wytch Hazel - II:Sojourn UK
115 YOB - Our Raw Heart USA
116 Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit Switzerland

Comments

  1. We are honored to be a part of this list. Thank you for your support! We will see you in Greece as soon as possible! \m/

    ReplyDelete
  2. ...or maybe Cyprus if we are lucky. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment