As every year, we arrived at the moment that we put the musical taste of every member of our team together to compile what we want to put forward as some of the best releases of the year. It gives us a list with a nice diversity in genres and bands (from “big ones” to “underground”) and hopefully covers most of the releases that are worth spending some time on listening to. So without further-ado… here is GRIMM’s list of albums of the year 2018!

10. YOB – Our Raw Heart

After undergoing quite invasive surgery, YOB‘s main man Mike Scheidt clearly experienced something life-altering. Because their latest release Our Raw Heart takes you on an almost transcendental experience, using the words of our reporter writing about the release. If you’re up for letting yourself envelop by the doomy yet beautiful music, you’ll be in for a trip! Read the full review here: https://www.grimmgent.com/yob-our-raw-heart/

9. Our editorial team has been steadily growing. And more people means more opinions. This mounted up in the first time ever having several releases in the top 10 having an equal amount of points after votes from the team. Since we didn’t want to put an order in these at random, we decided to just give them the exact same shared spot instead:

Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword

Iceland has been praised for quite a while now on their black metal scene. One of the most prolific, blasphemous, raw and brute outfits in that scene is clearly Svartidauði. With their debut release Flesh Cathedral they already convinced some of the most picky black metal purists and with the follow-up Revelations of the Red Sword they only confirm their strength despite the slightly altered formula. Read our full review here: https://www.grimmgent.com/svartidaudi-revelations-of-the-red-sword/

A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant

While everyone is waiting with baited breath for the possibility of a new Tool album, Maynard James Keenan still gives us beautiful and thoughtful music. A Perfect Circle supplied us with a release full of thought-provoking and intricate pieces of art on Eat the Elephant.

Amorphis – Queen of Time

Finnish Amorphis has been growing from a straightforward death metal act into a progressive and melancholic metal top act. Every single release they know to surprise with a couple of true gems in the heavy music world. Their latest release Queen of Time does much the same: it has choirs, orchestration, deep grunts, beautiful clean vocals,… Also vocalist queen of the metal scene Anneke van Giersbergen makes a guest appearance on the record, adding that special touch. For those who would like to see those songs live, we urge you to visit Finland next Summer when Anneke will join Amorphis on stage for 2 dates to play the Queen of Time album in its integrity…

8. Sylvaine – Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone

A lot of people call Sylvaine‘s music “Alcest with female vocals”, but despite the similarities being quite obvious, we think that she really found her sound and groove on this latest release. It’s hauntingly beautiful, deceptively harsh and it is simply astonishing what you can find in her musical creations…

7. Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III

One of Belgium’s black metal prides, Wiegedood, return with the 3rd release in the De Doden Hebben Het Goed series. Their music is a prime example of how to make your music sound bleak, desolate and extreme. Or like we read in a Youtube comment of a music fan: “What is this? Vocals are black, riffing is death and tone is grind. Brootal.” Wiegedood isn’t a band you easily can stick into one category, we just know one thing: they’re killing it at the moment! Read the full review here: https://www.grimmgent.com/wiegedood-de-doden-hebben-het-goed-iii/

6. Harakiri For The Sky – Arson

Austrian post-black band Harakiri For The Sky has actually graced the stage at our events a couple of times. We know these guys and they always deliver some of the most tormented and beautiful post-black metal music there is. On Arson they bring more of the same: atmospheric and harsh music based in black metal and suicidal feelings. Read the full review here: https://www.grimmgent.com/harakiri-sky-arson/

5. Anaal Nathrakh – A New Kind of Horror

Anaal Nathrakh are still pushing the boundaries of extreme music to limits we had no idea could possibly be reached. The dynamic duo from Birmingham, UK have done so with each new release, and this time’s no different. And they don’t seem to be showing any sign of ever intending to stop. A New Kind of Horror is a brutal, melodic, insane masterpiece with well-rounded concepts and a clear message. This glorious PTSD-episode of an album will have you on the edge of your seat for the entirety of its duration. Read the full review here: https://www.grimmgent.com/anaal-nathrakh-a-new-kind-of-horror/

4. Alien Weaponry – Tū

Out of New Zealand a band arose that really grabbed us by the balls and surprised us. Alien Weaponry is a 3-piece band formed by 2 brothers with Māori roots and that’s where they found the theme for their band. The groovy thrash metal outfit brings songs handling historical stories of the indigenous people of New Zealand combined with some modern society topics, sang in a mix of English and te reo Māori. They’ve been convincing people all around the world with high quality music released through Napalm Records and performances at festivals and on stages all over the globe. Small detail: these guys are still teenagers. If they are able to continue delivering this kind of music while they grow up, they really will be the future for the metal genre!