2018 has been a great year for metal music in general there have been many new albums pouring down week after another. Hence these releases were inclusive in terms of different musical genre from death metal and black metal. But frankly speaking the biggest surprise was from the black metal genre, and in my case it was really hard to mention all the albums which had an effect on me. And to sum all of my favorite albums in one list was impossible, although it took me some time to organize my list and put them all together in one ultimate list.  And while it’s difficult to specify my top list I thought of selecting different bands from different musical genres to make my list somewhat presentable but not satisfactory enough. So let’s take a look at my list below and if you have missed one or two albums then make sure you check these albums which you have overlooked!

6. Mortuous – Through Wilderness

Discovering newer old school death metal bands has always been an important task for many fans of death metal. Through Wilderness is considered fresh and different than most of the traditional death metal records. I never hesitated to add this album into my list of top albums, from the first listen I was totally blown away. Mortuous is a unique band and with this debut album they have made a name for themselves. I have seen many fans displaying this album in the social media and I know why!! So among the many worthy death metal albums which has been released this year this album is one of the biggest albums. If you are looking for some fresh sounding death metal band then I strongly recommend you to check this band out.

Read my full review here.

5. Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram

Cult black metal band Necrophobic made a stellar release this year, with the strongest line-up to date featuring their original vocalist “Anders Strokirk”. Necrophobic always played a big role in shaping up the Swedish underground scene, and I consider this album very organic. Mark of the Necrogram includes some great tracks like Odium Caecum, Tsar Bomba, Lamashtu and Pesta. Therefore this album made it into my list of favourite albums of 2018. There is a lot of quality beside the outstanding performance, and if I have to describe this album I’d say this a masterpiece of Scandinavian blackened metal. If you are looking for a modern black metal band with technical abilities and organic sound then Necrophobic should be your optimal selection.

Read my full review here.

4. Mare – Ebony Tower

Many bands claimed that they reflect the true sound of black metal music, some of these bands have a different definition to what black metal is. Bands like Mayhem, Samael, and Bathory were among the first to discover their musical potential in this sub-genre. With the new movement of what so called The Nidrosian black metal waves, many bands tent to bring back the glorious days of the true Norwegian black metal and Mare is one of these bands. Ebony Tower is the counterpart of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas from the frenzy chanting, screams, growls and the dark creepy ambience.

The album has a fundamental art to the 90’s black metal phenomena. Stylistically this may not be an original album, but the band has arranged a set of five unique tracks which will make you feel nostalgic. The music itself is very eccentric, ominous and alienated every song here is practically focused on the mid tempo mode. And this makes the album so varied emphasizing on slow churning guitar parts.

Read my full review here.