Revolver's 30 Best Albums of 2018

On their second album, young hardcore heroes Turnstile slice, dice, and defy genres at every turn. Leadoff ripper \"Real Thing\" cranks a turbocharged riff against melodic backing vocals and a loungey piano outro, while \"Generator\" spins a Helmet-esque groove into a psych-grunge bridge and hyper-metallic guitar solo. Bassist Franz Lyons takes over for frontman Brendan Yates on the soaring staccato groove of \"Moon\" (which also features subtle backups from Sheer Mag\'s Tina Halladay) and \"Right to Be,\" which boasts spacey production from Diplo.

Sleep’s *The Sciences* begins with a three-minute warm-up of the same name. As though revving a long-dormant engine of feedback and distortion, it’s a fitting start to the legendary doom trio’s first album in almost two decades (released on 4/20, no less). Unlike their hour-plus stoner meditation, *Dopesmoker*, *The Sciences* is divided into six colossal tracks, anchored by the comforting familiarity of sludgy riffs and rumbling percussion. Throughout, you’ll find some of their greatest guitar solos (“Marijuanaut’s Theme”) and lyrics (“Giza Butler,” an homage to Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler), while stunning, reflective closer “The Botanist” is among the best songs in their genre-defining career.

‘Criminal’, The Soft Moon's fourth studio album, is a confessional work. Through the stark lens of shame and guilt that has followed Luis Vasquez since a violent childhood growing up within the humming ambient sprawl of 80s Mojave Desert, here he documents the gut-wrenching sound of going to war with himself. Battling with his own sanity, self-hatred, insecurity, self-entitlement and grappling with the risk of these things transforming him into a person he despises, Vasquez has laid his feelings bare with this: his confession and most self-reflective work to date. “Guilt is my biggest demon and has been following me since childhood. Everything I do strengthens the narrative that I am guilty” Vasquez reflects. “The concept of ‘Criminal’ is a desperate attempt to find relief by both confessing to my wrongdoings and by blaming others for their wrongdoings that have affected me.” ‘Criminal’ marks a striking and important chapter in his self-exploration, both artistically and emotionally. As a young musician living in Oakland, Vasquez began to try and process the narrative of his difficult upbringing veiled through musical exploration. Taking krautrock's motorik beats and Post-Punk deconstructions and honing them into a hushed percussive incantation, The Soft Moon's self-titled debut album took shape. The album was released in late 2010 by Captured Tracks and was praised by critics and emulated by contemporaries. In 2012 the apocalyptic conceptual work of Zeros emerged, shortly followed by Vasquez moving to Venice, Italy in 2013, acting as a catalyst for 2014’s release, Deeper. While previous albums were primarily instrumental records, where Vasquez’s voice was diffused amidst the music as another instrument, Deeper marked the beginning of a new musical direction where vocals and lyrics became something more than a mere presence. Deeper was a descent into the womb of childhood trauma, anxiety and fear, and although Vasquez survived this dark exploration of himself, he did not return alone. Working once more with Maurizio Baggio, who produced Deeper, at La Distilleria in Bassano Del Grappa, Italy, ‘Criminal’ sees Vasquez further explore putting his lyrics at the forefront and letting his raw emotions flow. The album begins with a confrontation with his true self through the torrid bass lines and searing vocals of “Burn”; a song evoking a loss of control akin to demonic possession, stating: "Eyes, reflecting the person that I am, and it burns". In this track Vasquez's guilt bores deeper and deeper into a condemnation that ultimately is: "Fire, hell is where I'll go to live, so I burn”. “Burn” is followed by the caustic bass, mechanized rhythms, and numbing emulsions of “Choke,” a song about the amplifying and anesthetizing effect of cocaine, a drug whose darker side Vasquez is not unfamiliar with. The next track “Give Something” is a subterranean love song from the deepest depths, with harrowingly despondent lyrics, seeking hope in a sea of shame. The album continues its thematic inner conflict in the Industrial/EBM percussion and distorted high attack bass of “Like a Father”, a song reflecting Vasquez's anger towards the father that abandoned him. “This head is a problem/You're the ghost of my problem/Something's got to give” pleads Vasquez as revving guitars invoke chainsaws before the song’s final lines search for closure: to kill the father within himself. The album closes with title track “Criminal”; a despondent resignation to guilt; bereft, broken, and bruised, with lyrics that confess: “It's the way I cross the line, it's the way I open, it's the way to my decline, it's the way I'm broken”. The song, like the album itself, is Vasquez's way of holding himself accountable and seeking redemption for the abuse he inflicts on himself, and acknowledges roots in the abuse which, inflicted upon him as a child, broke him.

Behemoth’s 11th album doesn’t blast open with a gust of thunderous drums or shredding guitars. Instead, something far more terrifying: a children’s choir. Innocent voices, possessed, chant: “Elohim! I shall not forgive!/Adonai! I shall not forgive!/Living God! I shall not forgive!/Jesus Christ! I forgive thee not!” The unholy mantra sets a nightmarish scene for the Polish blackened death metal band’s most accessible—but no less diabolical—album yet. Flipping a middle finger at their nemesis, Christianity, Behemoth relish flaying and twisting hymns, Bible references, and prayers into infernal noise. The trembling “Havohej Pantocrator” revises the Lord’s Prayer: “Our father, who art in hell/Unhallowed be Thy name/Thy legions come/Thy enemies begone/On Earth as it is in the Netherworld.” Like 2014’s masterpiece *The Satanist*, *I Loved You at Your Darkest* pushes far beyond the extreme sound that they\'ve perfected for more than 20 years: Rock rhythms, acoustic guitars, and atmospheric melodies slice through pounding riffs and brutal howls in ways that, surprisingly, make this journey even *more* intense and exhilarating than ever.

Gouge Away are a hardcore punk band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Burnt Sugar” is their latest album, mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) and produced by Jeremy Bolm of Touche Amore. With “Burnt Sugar” Gouge Away dive into personal and social political subject matter without getting the bends on their way back to surface. Carrying an emotional vulnerability and honesty that few bands own in today’s music world.

Maynard James Keenan’s rock supergroup has seriously grown up in the 14 years since their last album. The Tool frontman’s band is still angry—they’ve just found new, different ways to express it. The gargantuan riffs of APC’s past now make room for strings, piano, and post-rock builds. *Eat the Elephant* is thoughtful and brooding, but still heavy as ever (tracks like “TalkTalk” would fit right in on *Thirteenth Step*). Harps and horns make slow-burning “The Contrarian” frighteningly ominous, and “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish” sounds so uplifting it’s unsettling—but its lyrics reveal a sardonic ode to modern life, while lamenting the loss of David Bowie and other legends.

Cult Leader is a chaotic band from Salt Lake City, Utah. “A Patient Man” was recorded and engineered by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios (Converge, Nails, High On Fire). From the first hits of opener “I Am Healed” Cult Leader take listeners on a sonic rollercoaster ride. Much of the album follows this blueprint. Songs like “Curse of Satisfaction”, “Craft of Mourning”, and “Share My Pain” are driven by a weave work of unorthodox metallic riffing and fueled by hyper-aggressive percussion. While the tech- nical proficiency is impressive, it’s in their use of dynamics where they truly shine. The album contains four beautifully brooding epics; “To: Achlys”, “A World of Joy”, title track “A Patient Man”, and “The Broken Right Hand of God”. Each one of them carries a maturation and sense of melody that few “extreme” bands have within their arsenal. Proving that aggressive music still has much to offer the world in terms of originality, creativity, and emotion.

The word tends to get abused, but the California metal innovators’ fourth album exists largely to make sure “epic” won’t lose its proper meaning—and not just because four of the seven tracks clock in at over 10 minutes, although that doesn’t hurt. It’s the familiar squall of guitars, rapid-fire drums, and George Clarke’s curdled screaming, combined with more mannered flourishes like piano, spoken word, and Chelsea Wolfe’s guest vocals (“Night People”) that feels huge and relentless and wholly unique, surpassing the scope of even 2013’s instant classic *Sunbather*.

D.C. grindcore titans Pig Destroyer—like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, the enigmatic troupe with whom they’ve shared multiple members over the years—have always excelled at finding beauty in brutality. *Head Cage*, their multilayered, ambitious sixth album, keeps in that vein—J.R. Hayes’ dark lyrics, set against aggressive, off-kilter riffs and thunderous blast beats, use poetry as a weapon. This LP is also a more of a collaborative effort than usual: ANb bassist John Jarvis makes his recorded debut with the band (resulting in the first bass to feature on a Pig Destroyer album), and significantly thickens the overall sound. Additionally, ANb vocalists Richard Johnson and Kat Katz show up (on the pummeling hardcore anthem “Army of Cops” and the short, nasty blast “Terminal Itch,” respectively), while Jason Hodges (Suppression, Brown Piss, Bermuda Triangles) joins in on the thrashy, self-explanatory “The Adventures of Jason and Jr.”

After six long, harsh years of absence, the mighty PIG DESTROYER have reassembled to eradicate eardrums and split skulls with their highly anticipated sixth full-length opus, entitled Head Cage (named after a grisly medieval torture device). A visceral vortex of animalistic rage and extreme sonic brilliance, Head Cage is a true work of extreme metal art, that with the addition of a bass player, is hands down their most dynamic and heaviest recording to date. Across twelve tracks, PIG DESTROYER weave together harrowing tales of philosophical dualities, touching on mortality and depression, fear and violence, and the darkest complexities of the human condition, all told through the distorted lens of delightfully transgressive vocalist/lyricist JR Hayes. Musically, the band continues to push the boundaries of metal, grindcore, noise and punk, ramping up the intensity and leaving you bludgeoned in a state of utter shock, all in less than 33 minutes. Head Cage was recorded by guitarist Scott Hull at Visceral Sound Studios, mixed and mastered by Will Putney (Exhumed, Every Time I Die, Body Count) and features striking artwork by Mark McCoy (Full of Hell, Nothing) along with guest vocal appearances by Agoraphobic Nosebleed's Richard Johnson and Kat Katz plus Full Of Hell's Dylan Walker. PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME!

Icelandic trio Kælan Mikla returns for the group’s third album, Nótt eftir nótt. Topping a year that catapulted the band onto stages shared with the likes of The Cure and Placebo, Nótt eftir nótt is Kælan Mikla at their most confident, and their most deadly. It’s been five years since Margrét Rósa, Laufey Soffia, and Sólveig Matthildur formed the band in Reykjavik, and after several tours and high-profiles stages, as well as two critically-acclaimed albums, Kælan Mikla has truly brought their A-game. Starting off quietly with a creepy, gothed-out and ethereal intro, Nótt eftir nótt erupts with post-punk brilliance and synthlines that harken back to the bad old days of the Batcave, big hair, and Egyptian-inspired eye-liner. Tracks like the melancholy “Hvernig kemst ég upp?” are wonderfully delightful, while the band goes for the big goth dance number on “Skuggadans,” succeeding with glorious ease. Near the end of Nótt eftir nótt, when you’ve already ingested a healthy dose of Diamanda Galas meets The Birthday Party, the title track, produced by popular Icelandic electronic wizard Bang Gang, is basically perfect. Hot on the heels of shows at Roadburn, Meltdown, and The Cure’s 40th Anniversary, as well as a Fall tour supporting King Dude, Kælan Mikla are set to take their place as one of darkest aural poets on the world stage. Toronto-based Artoffact Records will release Nótt eftir nótt on CD, vinyl, and digital formats this Fall.

When Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister was still alive, Matt Pike—singer/guitarist in High On Fire and the iconic stoner-metal band Sleep—often found himself compared to the late legend. Once, he even dreamed that Lemmy got mad at him about it. So, three years after the legendary frontman died of cancer, Pike’s Oakland-based sludge trio released a tribute album in his honor. It’s their most diverse—and maybe best—record yet. The riffs are loud, the rhythms are dizzying, and the Motörhead influence is obvious, but it’s still very much a High On Fire album. Land speed record contenders such as “Spewn From the Earth” and “God of the Godless” sit alongside more than 10 minutes of crushing doom in “Sanctioned Annihilation.” The title track, directly inspired by Pike’s dream, pays homage to the late, great Ace of Spades himself. Loud, brutal, nostalgic: *Electric Messiah* is proof that 20 years in, High On Fire is only getting better.

“I had a dream about Lemmy,” says Matt Pike, explaining the inspiration behind the title of High on Fire’s triumphant eighth album Electric Messiah. “When Lemmy was still alive I always got compared to Lemmy,” the gravelly-voiced guitarist elaborates, “so I had this dream where he got pissed at me. He gave me a bunch of shit, basically, and was hazing me. Not that he didn’t approve of me, but like I was being hazed. The song is me telling the world that I could never fill Lemmy’s shoes, because Lemmy’s Lemmy. I wanted to pay homage to him in a great way. And it turned out to be such a good title that the guys said we should call the album Electric Messiah. Although at first the working title was ‘Insect Workout With Lemmy’,” he adds with a big laugh. Electric Messiah, the best and most diverse of the band’s three albums with Ballou, and a record Pike cannot stop gushing about. Justifiably, too. There’s more speed than ever before (the aforementioned title track, the raucous opener “Spewn From the Earth”, and the thrashy, Sir Francis Drake-inspired “Freebooter”) but the dynamics of Electric Messiah hold the listener riveted. Of note is the nine-minute Sumerian historical epic “Steps of the Ziggurat/House of Enlil”, which Pike proudly calls his own “rock opera”. “The song is the creation story of the Sumerians, the weird dichotomy of two gods fighting over power. I put it into two parts because it’s my Sumerian rock opera. At the end I play three different characters: I play the two brothers that clash, and I play Isis, and there’s a high, medium, and low part. It’s very theatrical. I felt like Meat Loaf doing it, but at the same time Bryan Sours at the studio went, ‘I don’t know what you just did, but that’s fucking cool, just keep doing that!” For all the dream visions and historical epics, the state of the real world permeates Pike’s writing on Electric Messiah as well, none more blatantly than on the bluesy closing track “Drowning Dog”. “That one is about the media and the tomfoolery that’s going on,” Pike explains. “You’re either left or right. Do you see how they’ve divided us through the media? I’m basically saying, ‘Do you see how stupid we are?’ Someone’s gotta speak out and say shit like that, or we’re going to continue to be worse slaves over time. They set this shit up so they can keep us under wraps. What they’re afraid of is us ascending and evolving and understanding our past for real. That was the point of a lot of this last album. People not reading the writing on the wall.”

NOTHING’s third full-length recording, Dance On The Blacktop, is the next chapter in the band’s tumultuous story and like its predecessors, pulls from all corners of life with a focus on the bleak and despairing. Captured by renowned producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile) at Dreamland Studio in Woodstock, NY, Dance On The Blacktop is a stirring collection of songs accentuating the band’s love for all sounds 90s from both sides of the pond; from alternative rock and shoegaze to the realms of pop and post-punk. Across the course of 45 minutes, NOTHING weave together nine tales of heightened confusion, anxiety, paranoia, depression and chronic pain juxtaposed against angelic yet apocalyptic, reverberating walls of shimmering sound. Dance On The Black Top is a fervent, emotional tour-de-force, the sound of a band at the peak of their individuality.

On their fourth album, metallic hardcore heavyweights Harms Way deliver a vitriolic screed on the dangers of technological obsession, overpopulation, and the cosmic insignificance of the human race. Led by the raw-throated roar of frontman James Pligge, the Chicago five-piece pepper their bellicose blasts with industrial interludes, beefy drum breaks, and squealing whammy bar dive-bombs on \"Last Man,\" \"Call My Name,\" and \"Human Carrying Capacity.\" The rumbling bass riptide of \"Temptation\" and dissonant guitar refrain of \"Dissect Me\" only compound their capacity for sonic terror.

With a sound that splits the difference between the thudding nu-metal of Korn and the squealing power grooves of Pantera, Louisiana\'s Cane Hill carve off a hard-hitting second album. Opener \"Too Far Gone\" sets the aggressive tone with jackhammer riffs and a tale of lysergic overindulgence, while the infectious chorus of \"Lord of Flies\" recalls classic Alice in Chains. Later, vocalist Elijah Witt invokes an R&B-style falsetto on the stormy \"Why?\" and announces the band\'s anti-neo-Nazi stance on the chaotic \"Scumbag.\"

From tragedy to triumph, YOB’s incredible 8th full-length recording was conceived amidst dire circumstances that nearly left frontman Mike Scheidt dead. Suffering from an extremely painful and potentially fatal intestinal disease, Scheidt miraculously recovered and reinvigorated the Oregon trio with a new sense of purpose for Our Raw Heart, an album informed by the will to survive. More exposed than ever both physically and emotionally, YOB bleed out seven riveting tracks of enormous volume and pensive, transcendental beauty across 75 minutes of ultimate doom. A brilliant musical progression in the YOB continuum, Our Raw Heart is the band at their most aggressive, impassioned and eclectic. The riffs are massive, the vocals captivating and the songwriting sublime. Existing in its own organic universe, Our Raw Heart is truly the band’s finest work to date and the apex achievement of what heavy music can accomplish. Our Raw Heart was co-produced by the band and longtime collaborator Billy Barnett at Gung Ho Studio in Eugene, Ore., with mastering handled by Heba Kadry (The Mars Volta, Diamanda Galas, Slowdive).

HORRENDOUS explode out of the underground with their incredible new album 'Idol'. Drawing inspiration from both personal and national crises, 'Idol's' music is a methodical and unapologetic take on dynamic, progressive death metal. The highly anticipated new album sees HORRENDOUS at the highest echelon of their musical creativity to date. Thematically, the ambitious new album is an exploration of defeat, of the gods we build in our minds to escape the responsibility of action and change as we relinquish our agency. The music in 'Idol' mimics this act of deity building, with sprawling compositions that are imposing in scope and mirror the great turmoil of our times. Tracks such as "Soothsayer", "Golgothan Tongues" and the monumental "Obolus" position the band in a league of their own, as one of the death metal's leading new entities.

On their fourth album, Swedish goth metallurgists Tribulation explore the underworld with their most thrilling and cohesive package yet. Picking up where 2015\'s *The Children of the Night* left off, songs like \"The Lament,\" \"Nightbound,\" and \"Lady Death\" combine soaring guitars, vintage horror-movie ambience, and frontman Johannes Andersson\'s ghostly death-metal growl with postmortem themes to create something truly awe-inspiring. Meanwhile, \"The World\" and epic closer \"Here Be Dragons\" deliver rich cinematic triumph via strings, darkly elegant guitars, and chilling glockenspiel melodies.

“Take me to the darkness/Hang me out to dry,” implores Underoath vocalist Spencer Chamberlain over the chiming keys and propulsive beat of “Rapture,” a particularly infectious track from the band’s first album in eight years. Embracing their shadow selves after disbanding in 2013, *Erase Me* finds the Floridian post-hardcore outfit reemerging with a kinetic set of pulsing pop anthems (“Wake Me,” “In Motion”), torrid industrial grooves (“Hold Your Breath,” “On My Teeth”), and soaring power ballads (“Ihateit,” “I Gave Up”), each amplified by expertly wielded electronics.

This is our new album. It is a time capsule. Locked inside are people, ideas, times, places, and memories. Please take care of them all. We can't wait for you to add your own to them.