2018 was a great year for both good and bad music. And because I have zero room to work with for 25 albums, I better get right to it. Keep in mind, this isn't really a ranked list, these are just albums I particularly enjoyed. The last 5 though will be ranked. The first 5: 25. Architects - Holy Hell Kicking this list off right is Architect's 2018 follow up to All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us. This album came out of grief for their friend and guitar player, Tom Searle, who died in 2017 to skin cancer. The UK progressive metalcore outfit came back strong with Holy Hell, in honor of Tom. 24. The Amity Affliction - Misery The Australian melodic metalcore band decided to do something a little different and add more electronic elements to their 2018 album, Misery. I enjoyed this album and it's short film style music videos. This was a really fun album to listen to for me. Really shows how a band can change their sound after many years of doing the same thing over and over again. 23. Senses Fail - If There Is A Light, It Will Find You (According to Wikipedia) The New Jersey pop-punk band Senses Fail returned in 2018 with their album If There Is A Light, It Will Find You, which is characterized as Screamo and Pop Punk. This album is fantastic and upholds a lovely message in the title track. With 12 songs, there is nothing that can stop this album from warming your heart and kicking your face in. 22. Dance Gavin Dance - Artificial Selection The California progressive post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance followed up their critically acclaimed album, Mothership, with their 2018 album, Artificial Selection. This album has an impressive 14 songs, and it is nothing but constant hits. This new DGD album is fantastic. 21. Silent Planet - When The End Began The California christian ambient post-rock metalcore thing outfit Silent Planet came out with this 14 song behemoth this year and it is yet another amazing record under their belt. Silent Planet are known for the song Depths II with the memorable misheard lyrics "I WOULD BRING YOU, LEMONADE!" and they are also reputable for their highly political music, dealing with like wars and stuff or something.
20. Shinedown - ATTENTION ATTENTION A fan told the band to make a heavy album. They did. With 14 DAMN SONGS, this topples whatever other material this band has made. This is their best since Sound Of Madness. Devil, Black Soul, Pyro, Get Up mixed with Special, just back to back amazing songs all over. 19. Jack White - Boarding House Reach THIS ALBUM IS FREAKING WEIRD. The "Willy Wonka" of the rock industry returned with his weird 2018 release, Boarding House Reach. This isn't THE GREATEST record I've heard all year but it was an interesting listen. The song Over and Over and Over is my absolute favorite on this record, Corporation is another good track. This is a good blues rock disc. 18. Trash Boat - Crown Shyness Take some pop punk, add hardcore and thrash, and a dash of St. Albans, and you got Trash Boat. This album is probably the heaviest pop punk I've heard in a while. The title track is a hard-hitting acoustic track that caught me completely off guard when I first heard it. Old Soul has this amazing chorus that describes my life in school with the lyric "WHAT IS THIS PLACE IN HELL" which is slow but also heavy. Great listen. Couldn't find an album stream so have a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPpfIFxFLUY 17. Erra - Neon This was a tad unexpected because when I saw them live, I didn't know a new album was coming, and then the announcement came and yeah. Erra are perfecting the progressive metalcore genre, which is great. This album isn't Drift, their 2016, but this is definitely a great listen if you want to hear melodic shredding or monotone screams. 16. Vein - Errorzone I was kinda steered away from this release because of the slightly disturbing artwork on it. But i cracked and it was love at first listen. This Nu-Metalcore, Hardcore Punk release from the Boston band Vein. At an absolutely WHOPPING 27 minutes, this record will be sure to set the pit on fire.
15. Chelsea Grin - Eternal Nightmare I was a skeptic when the last original member of the band left, being the vocalist and all, but SOMEHOW, the Lorna Shore vocalist, Tom Barber, seemed to do an amazing job with vocals on this disc. The Utah deathcore band with literally no original members Chelsea Grin have released one of their best records. 14. As It Is - The Great Depression An album that describes my life. Neat. I have actually met these guys both at warped tour and at a local record store. Cool dudes. This record though is great. It is a departure from their pop-punk roots, going for a more alternative and emo style, and they have shown maturity in their 3rd album. It's a great release. The Stigma is probably the best one on the record right next to The Reaper and The End. 13. Blessthefall - Hard Feelings As much as they hate the label, The Christian Metalcore band from Arizona has come out with this really good disc. Sleepless In Phoenix is melodic and is fantastic, while Cutthroat and Wishful Sinking are stupidly heavy and yet so melodic. Great release from a classic band. 12. Cane Hill - Too Far Gone I met these guys sometime in October, and they were super cool guys. The Louisiana Nu-Metalcore band Cane Hill came out with Too Far Gone at the beginning of the year. This album is great. It's only ten songs too! Too Far Gone, Lord Of Flies, Singing In The Swamp, 10 Cents, it is just constant hits, and it's great. 11. Ray LaMontagne - Part Of The Light I didn't expect to like this release, but I did. Thanks Mom. Anyway, the folk/rock/indie singer-songwriter fresh from New Hampshire came out with Part Of The Light, featuring the song Such A Simple Thing. This is a great, mellow record for a ride home.
10. This Wild Life - Petaluma I am madly in love with this album. It is THE GO-TO for the summertime. The California acoustic duo, This Wild Life (who I met 1/2 of at warped tour), The intro track is fantastic and sets the mood for the whole album. The album doesn't drag, it has a good flow to it, and it is such a good record to put on with the windows down in the summetime on the way to the beach with a dog by your side. Give this bad boy a listen, will ya? 9. Mike Shinoda - Post-Traumatic Never expected I'd lack a rap record so much. The Linkin Park rapper/guitarist/singer Mike Shinoda came out with his debut solo album appropriately titled Post-Traumatic. What follows is a 16 song, 53 minute alternative hip-hop record fueled by grief, sadness, anger, and reflection. Chino's vocals on Lift Off are amazing, and and most songs on here just yell Chester from a distance. 8. Tesseract - Sonder The English Progressive Metal\Djent band came out with Sonder on 4/20 day, probably to mess with the stoners about to be impacted by this release. At 36 minutes long, it gets in and out with the music. The album is great, the opening track is beautiful, the singer's cleans are just pure gold. Good disc. 7. Mayday Parade - Sunnyland I don't know how Mayday Parade did it, but they topped their debut in my eyes. The pop-punk/emo has come out with an emotional and hard hitting record, with almost half the songs being acoustic and most of the songs that are remotely rock hit hard with the drums and guitars and Derek's vocals. I met these guys at warped tour, and I lost their signed poster. It still hurts. The last track, Sunnyland, is a fantastic end to a fantastic album. 6. Tonight Alive - Underworld The Australian Pop-punk/alt-rock/pop rock band Tonight Alive came out with Underworld at the beginning of the year. I have actually met the band at my local record store and met Jenna again at warped tour. Jenna's vocals on all of these songs are great. The last two tracks are emotionally destroying. They also somehow got COREY MF TAYLOR to guest on the last track, and it is the most crisp thing you will hear in your life. This is a solid release, and I love it. Couldn't find an album stream so have a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkiniO5COl8 Now I do have an honorable mention before I get into the ranked stuff. The debut EP by the band IDKHow. The members is former touring bassist and vocalist of Panic! At The disco and former Falling In Reverse drummer Ryan Seamen (pronounced exactly how it's spelt, I know). This EP is actually surprisingly excellent. I enjoyed this release and be on the watch for the album.
5. Beartooth - Disease This release isn't their debut, Disgusting, but this record is really good and really heavy. Sure the lyrics can be a bit cringeworthy but honestly I love this release. The opener draws you in with an acoustic riff and then it forces you to turn down your volume because it then kicks into the song which by the way is fantastic. Disease is an emotional song, You Never Know is a great song, Afterall is fantastic, Used and Abused is the heaviest song on the record in my opinion, and Clever is the best song on the record because it is somehow more emotional than Disease. This is a great listen. 4. Breaking Benjamin - Ember One of my most highly anticipated releases of the year, this album doesn't disappoint. What is disappointing is the amount of singles that were released. The album is 12 track, 2 interludes (both intro and outro) so that makes 10 songs. 5 songs were made singles, either lead or promotional. 5 SINGLES. OUT OF 10. THAT'S HALF THE ALBUM. Well, either way, this album is heavy, with the exception of The Dark Of You, which is a great softer side of the album. Torn In Two, Tourniquet, Feed The Wolf, Save Yourself, and others on the album are very heavy. And It's Breaking Benjamin, how can you deny freaking BREAKING BENJAMIN? 3. Ghost - Prequelle I died when Papa did. With new lead singer Cardinal Copia (Really Tobias Forge), Ghost lead on with Prequelle. This album is a bit of a difference from Meliora which was Doom Metal and Progressive Rock. This album is Arena Rock, Pop Rock, with hints of Hard Rock and Progressive. The intro, Ashes, is absolutely creepy, and the lead single of Rats is fantastic with the opening drum beat. Faith is stupidly heavy, and then we get to See The Light. See The Light is an obvious homage to the former band members that sued Tobias Forge for a variety of things. Miasma is an instrumental track with a saxophone solo provided by Papa Nihil, and then we jet right into Dance Macabre which has such 80's influences slapped on it. Pro Memoria is the most memorable because of it's slow pace and stuff. A cut deeper than an emo kid at school is Witch Image, which I have grown a liking to. Helvetesfönster is the second to last track, and it is also instrumental. Then Life Eternal, which, admittedly, the album could have done without. This album is fantastic. I love it. It isn't that long, it doesn't drag at all. 2. Ice Nine Kills - The Silver Scream Forget all other albums in your life besides my number 1 pick. In the dictionary, there is a picture of this album right next to "masterpiece". This is the best metal album I have heard in my life. This entire album is based around horror movies, particularly slasher films. At 13 songs and 49 minutes, The Silver Scream is full of variety. Notable picks are The American Nightmare, Thank God It's Friday, Stabbing In The Dark, A Grave Mistake, Merry Axe-mas (Probably the heaviest on the album), and IT Is The End. Check this out, this album will blow you away and melt your face off. And check out Merry Axe-mas. 1. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships Yo, Punisher, Where u at? Any time I am walking to or from school, I just put this on. I am madly in love with this album. No understatement there. The opening track I didn't like at first but it has grown on me. Give Yourself A Try got a lot of heat but I find myself enjoying it. TooTime Cubed also got a lot of heat because of its generic sound but to be honest, I love this song and i don't know why. How To Draw/Petrichor is definitely a cut here. I like Petrichor with that glitch ambient stuff, I enjoy that. Being mostly conservative (I am a centrist but I lean to that) I didn't expect to like Love It If We Made It, but it is one of the best on the album. After that is a tear-jerking song. Be My Mistake is great to listen to when in a depressive mood and you're walking down the road at night and you're under an orange street light. That's happened to me many times. After that is Sincerity Is Scary, which is a hip-hoppish jazz piece which is great for dancing to. I Like America is pretty cool though i'm not the biggest fan of it. The Man Who Married A Robot has an interesting story about some dude in love with the internet or something. Inside Your Mind has deep vocals from Matty and sounds like something from a movie score from the 80's. Speaking of the 80's we got It's Not Worth Living which is depression masked as optimism. This is definitely one of the best on the album. Surrounded by Heads and Bodies is a good acoustic track to listen to during fall/winter times. And the last three track are amazing. Mine is a good jazz tune to listen to, personally, I love it. I Couldn't Be More In Love continues with the 80's theme and the vocals on here are amazing. And then the final track is I Always Wanna Die. But sometimes. This is the best on the album. It is like ABIIOR's "Sex". The Japenese bonus track 102 is a pretty sad track that I can compare to Be My Mistake. I like it. Give this record a listen. I can't wait for Notes On A Conditional Form. And this concludes my top 25 albums of the year, saving the best 5 for last. I'm tired. Bye!
