Year End 2018: Top 10 Albums That I Discovered/ Rediscovered This Year

Throughout 2018, I listened to plenty of music that wasn't released during the year, and discovered new (to me) tunes or rediscovered gems that had been in my life for a while. In order to highlight these recordings, I am here to present a top 10 list of albums that I happened to discover or rediscover last year.


Cannibal Corpse- Tomb of the Mutilated
I've never been a huge death metal guy, but to my surprise, I found myself coming back to this record a lot this year. This band's sound is ridiculously heavy and aggressive, and the rhythm section of Alex Webster and Paul Mazurkiewicz is able to change tempo on a dime. I feel like if a lot of other bands tried to keep up with their breakneck pace, they'd fall apart. I love the really off kilter, thrashy style to their playing. It's almost like the entire song could go off the rails at any point, and that unpredictability and intensity is what kept me coming back.



The Clancy Brothers- Come Fill Your Glass With Us
Through an Ancestry test as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago, I found out that I'm a lot more Irish than I knew. So, in a search for a bit of that unknown culture in my life, I began soaking up a lot more Irish music. This is a pretty fantastic record of traditional Irish drinking songs, and Irish melodies have a certain quality that's hard to describe, but you definitely know when you hear it. It definitely gets me wishing I could live there for a while in a nice farming village. Alas, I'll have to settle for central Pennsylvania.





Fugazi- 13 Songs
I went through a pretty lengthy post hardcore kick this summer, and I listened to this record a lot. I really enjoy the vastly different vocal approaches that Ian Mackaye and Guy Picciotto bring to the table. They're also catchy as all hell. I had most of the songs from this compilation stuck in my head at one time or another, but 'Burning Too' burrowed into my brain unlike another song for quite a while. It's kind of amazing that a band so forward thinking, boundary pushing, and politically aware could make songs that still have verses and choruses that almost force you to shout along.



Van Morrison- Moondance
A continuation of my survey of Irish culture, Van Morrison inevitably came up. Likely Northern Ireland's greatest export, Van Morrison's take on blue eyed soul is all his own, and while people might sneer at his delivery, I find it emotional and impactful. This is probably his most cohesive collection of songs, and is one of those records that is special for it's pretty consistent tone, and is perfect for vibing out too, though obviously engaged listening is great as well. Plus, 'Into the Mystic' is an undisputed, stone cold classic.





Overcast-  Only Death is Smiling
Deep into my post hardcore kick, I started looking into a lot of bands with ties to the start of early metalcore. Overcast came up a lot, and conveniently enough, their entire discography is available as a 3 cd set. Overcast is very heavy and chunky hardcore, with slightly melodic, though still yelled, vocals. The guitars are so heavy, they almost border on a death metal timbre, and their output was pretty instrumental in the sound of metalcore. After Overcast's demise, the members went on to join future successful bands Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall.




Primordial- Imrama
As I was looking through a lot of Irish music, I thought to myself: there are plenty of black metal albums about Norse mythology. Are there any that reference Irish and Celtic mythology? Turns out, there are a pretty huge amount of bands that tackle that sound, though Primordial are probably one of my personal favorites. I really enjoy the mix of black metal with some traditional Irish instrumentation, and I really enjoy that folk metal is being experimented with outside of Scandinavia and America. Plus, their lyrics can help me learn a bit of Irish, which is pretty cool.



Chalino Sanchez- 15 Exitos
I briefly became interested in narcocorridos during the year, and I thought of starting my listening experience off with arguably the godfather of the modern narcocorrido genre, Chalino Sanchez. For the uninitiated, narcocorrido is Spanish for drug ballad, and over a polka beat, the singer will regale you with a festive take on the drug trade and bloody violence. Unless you spoke Spanish (Yo hablo un poquito), you would have no idea that the sunny, happy music is really about Mexican drug dealers and their families getting gunned down in the street. Apparently, the Mexican government hates them, but it really is a voice that exposes the reality of a lot of people in the country to this day.


Sleaford Mods- English Tapas
In my opinion, Sleaford Mods are one of the more innovative groups to come out of the UK in the past decade or so. They're more what I'd like to hear from English rap, rather than what I do. Essentially, their sound is boiled to the most bare bones, with a vocalist just pouring out pure English slang and stream of consciousness filth through a thick East Midlands accent over sparse drum machines and bass loops. I've always found British accents very endearing (my grandmother was fresh off the boat from Holborn), and I've always wanted to go there and experience my British heritage.



Swans- Soundtracks for the Blind
As previously stated in an earlier post, I picked up the recent vinyl release of Soundtracks and had some time to really sit with it and listen to the whole scope of what the album has to offer. It really is an amazingly ambitious undertaking, and I completely understand why Michael Gira took a break from Swans after exorcising this project from he and Jarboe's collective artistic consciousness. This album is a perfect distillation of everything Swans had done, from dreamy and ethereal to intense and disturbing. Though it is quite a task to listen to in one sitting, I feel like it's the best way, as it really pulls you in and hypnotizes you for the full two plus hours.



Tangerine Dream- Electronic Meditation
Since I've already talked about my Irish and English blood, why not talk about the remaining country that contributes to my genetic makeup. A German band, Tangerine Dream makes a type of electronic music that is a lot more texturally based and atmospheric than most, and a lot more synth driven and less rhythmic than the Krautrock bands they're commonly (and incorrectly) lumped in with. This was their first full length, and it's a little more dissonant than their later records, and it features members that would leave soon after to form their own unique sounds: Conrad Schniztler of Kluster and Klaus Schulze. Edgar Froese's full vision would have to be explored in later albums, though this album's growing pains are quite intriguing to listen to.


So, those are so albums that I really got into in 2018. At long last,in the next post, it's time to take a look at my favorite albums that actually came out in 2018.


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