What better way to start the new year than by looking backwards instead of forwards? 2018 was a fantastic year for music and I consumed a lot of great albums and great albums deserve to be shared. My purpose here is not to rank them in any particular order but just to share all my favourites with you lovely people out there so that you can (hopefully) appreciate them too. I have numbered each album on the list but they're not really in any order of preference; because that's too hard. The numbering is just so you know how far through the list you are; you're welcome. For your convenience and listening pleasure I've also pulled together an accompanying playlist which you can listen to here. It features a highlight track from each album in the order they appear on the list so grab yourself a decent set of headphones, your biscuit of choice and a cup of your favourite beverage and let's do this thing.

1. Turnstile - Time & Space

https://turnstilehardcore.com

If you listen to any kind of rock, metal or alternative music and you didn't hear the name Turnstile in 2018 then you either live in a cave or under the sea or have no ears (or maybe all three). For the lugless-sub-aquatic-cave-dwellers amongst you, Turnstile absolutely smashed 2018 and there's no sign of that momentum diminishing any time soon. Their sophomore album Time & Space is a masterpiece of punk and alt. rock infused hardcore combining succulent riffs and shouty vocals with singalong hooks and dance-able grooves. Time & Space was my Album of the Week back in March, which you can read here, but don't bother with that, just drop everything now and play the record; it's only 25 mins long. From start to finish it's just impossible not to move to. Impressively, every track on Time & Space is genius. There's the groove machine of Real Thing, the energetic explosion of Big Smile, the riff monster of Generator, the yells on I Don't Wanna Be Blind, the confident stomp of Can't Get Away and the anthemic Moon. I really had to stop myself naming every track. Easily one of the best albums released in 2018 or any year for that matter.

Turnstile are also fucking incredible live; I was lucky enough to catch them supporting Every Time I Die which you can read about here and you can check out the full set from their Glasgow show right here.

Essential Listen: Generator, Don't Wanna Be Blind, Can't Get Away

2. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

https://www.zealandardor.com

Zeal & Ardor came to the fore with their debut album Devil is Fine which was an intriguing demo for fusing black metal with music from the underground railroad. Stranger Fruit is the answer to the question, can the concept started on Devil is Fine become something other than what many wrote off as just a novelty? That answer is an unequivocally resounding YES. Stranger Fruit is full of so much cool shit that mere descriptions cannot do it justice. It's an album that combines poppy vocal hooks with scathing guitars, brooding spoken word chants with pounding drums and harpie screams with crushing riffs; you've never heard anything like this before. With an album head and shoulders above most of the releases this year and with a live show to die for Zeal & Ardor are a band that cannot be denied and Stranger Fruit is an album that cannot be ignored.

You can also check out their full show captured by Revolver at The Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn here.

Essential Listen: Don't You Dare, Gravedigger's Chant, Fire of Motion

3. Pagan - Black Wash

https://pagancult.bandcamp.com

Combining different styles and genres from the alternative music scene with astonishing results arrive Pagan with their debut album Black Wash. The record features hardcore vocals, punk rock guitars, huge fuck-off metal riffs, blast beats, gang vocals and much, much more. Throughout all of this each song still manages to remain coherent and dance-able AF. That Pagan can pull this off on their debut record is seriously impressive and the way that they fuse all of these different elements together in a way that it just feels right and doesn't feel forced is astonishing. On first listen I remember being disappointed that opening track Il Malocchio Si Apre ended quite abruptly, after an intense build up, before launching into the more bouncy Death Before Disco. Quite brilliantly though, the final track Il Malocchio Si Chiude gave me the closure I needed by completing the journey that the opening track had started. Black Wash is a wonderful album and one that I keep coming back to again and again and again. Pagan are a band full of promise and one to keep an eye on through 2019 and beyond.

Essential Listen: Death Before Disco, Blood Moon, Il Malocchio Si Chiude

4. Gouge Away - Burnt Sugar

https://gougeawayfl.bandcamp.com

My first experience of Gouge Away was their video for the song Ghost which immediately blew me away with its addictive rumbling bass and incredible screaming vocals. From that moment on I was hooked and just knew that Burnt Sugar was going to be something special. When it finally dropped it was inevitably my album of the week which you can read about here. From the poppy drumming of Only Friend, juxtaposed with serrated vocals, jangly bass and over-driven guitars, to the plodding, sombre bass of Raw Blood, via the explosive, frantic and bouncy Can't Relate, this is an album that barely lets up and is an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish. That Gouge Away are named after a Pixies song is just a nice little bonus.

Make sure to check out their live set on Audiotree here.

Essential Listen: Ghost, Only Friend, Slow Drown

5. Black Peaks - All That Divides

http://www.blackpeaks.com

Another pick for my album of the week when it was released, All That Divides, is an utterly masterful follow up to Black Peaks' debut Statues. Full of bellowing screams, monstrous riffs and deafening drums it's seriously impressive on every level. The album builds on the post-hardcore stylings of Statues and moves into more progressive metal territories. The songs are now full on journeys that build to stunning and skull crushing crescendos. There is also a tonne of beauty to behold on this album but the true genius is how its calmer, gentler side can so quickly turn into a thunderous, destructive beast. Whilst the band are exploring a proggier side they never disappear up their own arses with ludicrous solos or wanky vocals which is something that sometimes comes with the territory. All That Divides is a fucking great album by a fucking great band so slap on Aether and blow your fucking mind. Sorry for the swears. They're also brilliant live.

Essential Listen: Aether, Home, Fate I & II

6. Architects - Holy Hell

http://www.architectsofficial.com 

Before the release of Holy Hell I had heard, and obsessed over, Hereafter: an absolute monster track combining astral synths, punishing screams, some seriously sick riffs and jesus-those-drums-are-something-else drums. This is the song that got me salivating over the upcoming album and holy hell (see what I did there?) it did not disappoint. Those electronic synth sounds permeate the entire album and remind me of Arcane Roots' Melancholia Hymns (which if you haven't heard you should really check out), however, Holy Hell is a much heavier prospect. The spitting venomous vocals, the growl of the riffs, the mournful guitar licks, the prowling bass and the skull crushing drums are all undeniably powerful and they smack you in the face again and again. It's satisfyingly heavy, darkly brooding and at times utterly beautiful with plenty of melodic passages to break up the intensity. On Holy Hell, Architects are a band at the peak of their ability going through a period of mourning following the death of their guitarist and founding member Tom Searle and rather than give up and wallow in self pity they've decided to honour their friend and make an album he'd truly be proud of. In a word: spectacular.

Essential Listen: Hereafter, Mortal After All, The Seventh Circle

7. Chastity - Death Lust

https://chastitysongs.bandcamp.com

Death Lust is a bit of a throwback to alternative rock and post-hardcore of the early noughties but it still manages to sound fresh and new. It's all fuzzed up riffs, bending lead guitars and sultry vocals. Sometimes it's haunting and ethereal and other times it's crushing and uncompromising but it's always fucking brilliant. It's an album for kids brought up on The Pixies, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Pearl Jam, Placebo even, feeding the parts of your brain that just can't get enough of that quiet, loud, quiet, wall of noise, punky, grungy, ecstasy. Just listen to the intro of Suffer where the slow jangling guitars, almost out of tune, slowly build before the buzzing guitars hit for the chorus and the silky smooth vocals wash over you. I cant get enough of it. Or what about the droning, feedback heavy Negative Reason To Be or the creeping downtrodden build up towards those brutal screams on the chorus of Chains. Every instrument is made to sound as muddy and filthy and crushing as it possibly can and as a result Death Lust is a fucking crack pipe for my ears.

If you like what you hear then make sure you also check out their Audiotree set here.

Essential Listen: Chains, Suffer, Children

8. MØL- Jord

https://moeldk.bandcamp.com

Jord is a stunning album full of gorgeous sonic landscapes and devastatingly savage vocals. It's a quality that's immediately apparent from opener Storm which sounds like some kind of a Twin Peaks fever dream. At its heart it's black metal so conjures up images of frozen forests and biting ice storms but it's intertwined with some of the most beautifully warming clean guitars I've heard all year. It's something akin to being caught up in a terrible blizzard yet having a nice cosy tauntaun to crawl inside until it all blows over. The vocals may be harsh but that's offset by the beauty that surrounds them and I just cannot get over those guitar tones, the echoing drums and the ethereal atmosphere. For those who can't look past the vocals there's also an instrumental version available so there's really no excuse. Genuinely one of the best albums of the year and it's a debut no less.

Essential Listen: Storm, Penumbra, Bruma

9. Armand Hammer - Paraffin

https://armandhammer.bandcamp.com

I hate trap. I hate mumble rap. Let's get that out there. Paraffin is as far away from that boring diluted shit as you can get. It's densely layered with filthy guitars, crashing, echoing drums, brass and keys and blends elements of industrial, jazz, funk, and world music. At times Paraffin feels like it's set in a suffocating eternal darkness and yes that's an uncomfortable setting to reside in but there are so many fascinating instrumental loops alongside captivating lyrics combined with stunningly accomplished rapping that you cannot help but stay along for the ride. The staccato electronic organ and repeated chant of "you don't work, you don't eat" on No Days Off, the Mongolian throat singing and hazy saxophone on Hunter and the flute and tribal chanting on Sudden Death are just some of the unforgettable moments on one of 2018's most unforgettable albums.

Essential Listen: No Days Off, Fuhrman Tapes, Ecomog

10. Drug Church - Cheer

https://drugchurch.bandcamp.com

Cheer is how I like my guitars to sound. Fuzzy, distorted and with the clean parts just slightly out of tune. Cheer is how I like my lyrics to sound. Angry, poignant and thoughtful. It's an album that pulls together elements of all the music I loved when I was growing up but builds upon them in such a satisfying way. The gruff vocals remind me of Rival Schools and Quiksand though I even hear a bit of Brand New on Avoidarama and Feeder (good Feeder) on Dollar Story. The riffs go off in completely unexpected directions, the lyrics are catchy, wry, witty and oh so satisfying to join in with. Throw on Unlicensed Guidance Councillor and try not to roar along with "push your sister's boyfriend down the stairs" or how about "there's a guy with a search history deeper than a sea trench, telling you how to live" on Unlicensed Hall Monitor. Did I mention those riffs? That one where Weed Pin kicks in rivals Turnstile's Generator for my favourite riff this year. Blows me away every time. What I'm trying to say amid all this rambling is that Drug Church have absolutely knocked it out of the park with Cheer. Irresistible. 

Don't forget their Audiotree live set here.

Essential Listen: Weed Pin, Unlicensed Guidance Councillor, Unlicensed Hall Monitor

11. Between The Buried And Me - Automata I & II

http://www.betweentheburiedandme.com

For some reason, BTBAM decided to release Automata in two parts: the first released in March with the second part arriving in July. Part one was my album of the week in April and unfortunately I didn't get round to reviewing part two but in my opinion they should be consumed as one delicious progressive metal whole. For some, their previous release, Coma Ecliptic, wasn't heavy enough but Automata corrects this by bringing back those crushingly heavy moments while maintaining the weird astral sci-fi electronica they do so well. Condemned to the Gallows as an opening track is a real statement of intent with its uncompromising brutality but Between the Buried and Me don't just deal in brutality, they dish up gentle instrumentals, bizarre jazz explosions, sudden changes of pace and direction, mind-blowing riffs and solos and ear worm vocal harmonies. Absolutely not for everyone but if you like your heavy music to be exciting, unpredictable and surprising then Automata is absolutely worth a shot.

Also worth checking out are the band's live session videos on youtube where they perform entire songs (which are very lengthy) live in their studio. Here's one of my favourite songs from my favourite BTBAM record: The Parallax II.

Essential Listen: Yellow Eyes, Blot, Voice of Trespass

12. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

https://www.young-fathers.com/

What on earth is this? A reaction I love when listening to music. Young Fathers' Cocoa Sugar is a massive WTF but I mean that in the most respectful way possible. It's hip-hop I suppose but there's also aspects of chill-out, jazz, soul, gospel, dance, electronica, R n' B and probably a whole lot more. Each song is so tremendously different to the next and made up from so many disparate parts that shouldn't fit together that it's hard to comprehend how each track was assembled let alone how the album became a cohesive whole. But a cohesive whole it is. In particular, the three track run of Fee Fi followed by In My View into Turn is captivating. Fee Fi shambles into view, dishevelled, dragging its feet with its two sticks knocked together beat and varied vocals culminating in a muted chant and jazz piano. In My View is an urban underground anthem with pounding drums, a dreamy and smoky electronic melody and vocal hooks all over the place. Turn ups the weirdness ante with augmented spoken word vocals and a delirious "na na na na na na" melody permeating its rhythm. Cocoa Sugar is a beguiling record that will leave you astounded, confounded but most of all delighted to be alive during a period of such insanely creative music.

Essential Listen: In My View, Fee Fi, Turn

13. Culture Abuse - Bay Dream

https://cultureabuse.bandcamp.com

Culture Abuse's Bay Dream was the soundtrack to my summer. It's a full of poppy, bouncy, happy-go-lucky tunes that are built to turn that frown into an upside down frown (aka a smile). The vocals get right into your soul and worm their way into your ears and you'll find yourself humming the melodies and singing along to instant classics like Dip and Bee Kind to The Bugs in no time. The lead vocalist is definitely channelling Joey Ramone and that breeds a certain comforting familiarity with each song feeling like your favourite cosy blanket. The lead guitar licks in Bay Dream are also to die for. They buzz along like a bee on a morning breeze over chugging riffs, punchy bass lines and toe-tapping drums. Just trust me on this, Bay Dream is a delight and your ears will crave it like your brain craves sugar.

Essential Listen: Dip, Bee Kind to the Bugs, Calm E

14. Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

https://deafheaven.com

Deafheaven tend to be described as blackgaze a mash-up of black metal and shoegaze (a description often given also to MØL) but on Ordinary Human Corrupt Love I feel that these songs have more in common with classic rock and alternative rock than they do shoegaze or black metal (other than those vocals). The guitar solos are unstoppable and gorgeous, the riffs are chunky when they need to be and the drumming, oh my God the drumming, is straight out of an air drummer's wet dream. Where black metal conjures up cold harsh landscapes Deafheaven's music evokes lush forests where beams of light burst through the foliage and into the haze below the dense canopy. In You Without End you'll be hard pushed to find a more beautiful opening track to any album of 2018. It's full of stunning lead guitar lines, twinkling piano keys and spoken word juxtaposed with harsh yet understated vocal snarls. It leads straight in to the harder edged but no less beautiful Honeycomb and this pair of opening tracks are a stunning example of what's to come (both in content and length - many of these songs break the 10 min mark) over the album's 60 min run time. Yes the songs are long, the album is long and the vocals aren't for everyone but ultimately Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is one of the most rewarding listens of the year.

Essential Listen: Honeycomb, You Without End, Glint

15. The Dirty Nil - Master Volume

https://thedirtynil.com

Master Volume by three-piece The Dirty Nil is an album bursting full of good old fashioned alt. rock bangers best listened to as loud as possible. Massive distorted riffs, chunky bass lines and thundering drums combine with huge verses and choruses built for singing along to after a few too many adult soft drinks. If that lead guitar intro to Bathed in Light doesn't hook you in then, do you even like music? Leading into an absolutely massive and infectious chorus it's one of my favourite anthems of the year. That chorus, however, is still rivalled by the massive "fuck you" of Auf Wiedersehen which is rivalled by the fuzzed up guitars of I Don't Want That Phone Call. You see every song on Master Volume has the audacity to compete for the accolade of your favourite track and the best thing about it is you don't have to choose; they're all great. The final track is even a cover of Metallica's Hit the Lights for goodness sake. There aren't many bands out there still making music like this and even fewer to the standard that The Dirty Nil can and that's a crying shame. 

Make sure you check out their incredible Indie 88 live session here.

Essential Listen: Bathed in Light, Auf Wiedersehn, That's What Heaven Feels Like

16. Dr. Octagon - Moosebumps: an exploration into modern day horripilation

https://droctagon.shop.musictoday.com/store/

The brain child of rapper Kool Keith, Dr Octagon is an "extraterrestrial time-travelling gynaecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter" and Moosebumps is a darkly comic and bafflingly dexterous album with themes of horror and science fiction. When you get down to it though, it's just an endlessly fun and listenable hip-hop album full of heavy bass and dirty soundscapes. Opener Octagon Octagon is a stream of consciousness flow where everything is Octagon, Black Hole Son is brooding and otherworldly then there's Operation Zero which sounds like it should be played on the dance-floor of a spooky Scooby Doo themed club night. Wait, what? I think listening to this album has warped my brain. Why not let it warp yours too?

Essential Listen: Octagon Octagon, Area 54, Power of the World (S Curls)

17. Fantastic Negrito - Please Don't Be Dead

https://fantasticnegrito.com

Picked for my album of the week in July, Please Don't Be Dead by Fantastic Negrito is, for want of a better word, superb. There's so much to love about this album: the swaggering intro to Plastic Hamburgers, the haunting chant on A Boy Named Andrew, the waspish slide guitar on Transgender Biscuits or the measured stomp of A Cold November Street oh and how can I fail to mention the impossibly catchy Bullshit Anthem or The Duffler, HOLY SHIT, THE DUFFLER!? There's jazz, there's funk, there's soul and there's rock and roll all carefully merged and expertly crafted into an essential package. Often, finding great music is about taking a chance on something you might otherwise cast aside because you don’t like the cover or the name sounds like something you'd hate. Albums like How Not To Be Dead are the ultimate reward for digging through new releases and persisting until something sticks.

There's now a deluxe version of How Not To Be Dead which includes some excellent acoustic versions of some of the album tracks.

Essential Listen: The Duffler, Transgender Biscuits, A Boy Named Andrew

18. Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams

https://fuckedup.bandcamp.com

Fucked up are a hardcore punk band. A hardcore punk band have no business releasing an album like Dose Your Dreams. This is not a hardcore album, it's a concept album. A double album. A progressive rock album. With saxophone. With strings. With hardcore vocals. With clean vocals. With gorgeous harmonies. With choirs and keys and electronics. It sounds like Pink Floyd, it sounds like The Stone Roses, it sounds like The Who, it sounds like Justice, it sounds like Bryan Adams, it sounds like Bob Dylan it even sounds like Iron Maiden (keep your ears peeled for that one) but most of all it sounds like nothing else you've heard before and everything you've heard before. A fist pumpin', rock 'n' rollin' eighties soundtrack with the spirit of punk and hardcore kept alive with gruff vocals peppered throughout. Dose Your Dreams is an incredibly varied, astonishing journey and at 82 mins a very long journey at that. When an album is as captivating as this, though, 82 mins doesn't feel too long and you'll never feel bored. Dose Your Dreams is genuinely a modern masterpiece and demands you listen to it, you live it, you dose your dreams with it.

Essential Listen: Normal People, I Don't Wanna Live In This World Anymore, Mechanical Bull

19. Grave Lines - Fed Into The Nihilist Engine

https://gravelinesuk.bandcamp.com

Fed Into The Nihilist Engine is a dark, gloomy, creeping, filthy, slithering animal of a record. It's smoky and choking but groovy and gets right underneath your skin. It can be haunting and beautiful but it can also be devastatingly heavy and a brutal attack on the senses. The vocals are clean, smooth and booming one moment, gravelly, biting and scathing the next but always enthralling and addictive. Many of the songs are long and the album opens and closes with rasping distorted monsters Failed Skin and The Nihilist Engine, both over 10 mins, but these are broken up with shorter, less sonically intense tracks. The Nihilist Engine in particular is one of my favourite tracks of the year. This is an album to really sink your teeth into and get into the groove with. It's extremely bleak, extremely heavy, contains riffs and leads to die for, the drumming is spectacular and all feels like your in an endless tunnel with a tiny chink of light at the end that you can never quite reach. What a great album.

Essential Listen: The Nihilist Engine, Failed Skin, Loathe/Displace

20. Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo

https://khruangbin.bandcamp.com/

Con Todo El Mundo is the perfect chill-out album. Full of rolling funky bass lines, clean, echoing guitars, addictive drumbeats and middle eastern and Asian inspired vibes. It's music to throw on for a long bus or train journey, stare longingly out of the window and dream of some fantastical adventure. It's an album to put on while you're doing the dishes, zone out and dream of some fantastical adventure. It's an album to sit back relax and well you get the idea. It's mostly instrumental but there is casual occasion for vocals, however subtle, on a number of tracks, Evan Finds the Third Room for example. It's an album that is best enjoyed in one long flow but in Maria Tambien, Khruangbin have written one of the year's coolest and funkiest tracks and the main guitar thread that runs through it is impossible to ignore. Brilliant stuff.

Essential Listen: Maria Tambien, Evan Finds the Third Room, Rules

21. Mantar - The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze

https://www.mantarband.com/

Have a listen to The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze then tell me if you believe me when I say Mantar is a two-piece. For just two guys, this band make a hell of a lot of noise. It's heavy as hell, the riffs are thick, the vocals rough and shouted, the lead guitars whiny and satisfying and the drums punishing. It can be slow and sludgy, it can be pacy and thrashy but always loud and evil. The lead guitar throughout Age of the Absurd is one of the most addictive sounds I've heard all year and even that may be topped by the licks that follow in Seek + Forget. It's a tough call. The whole album is a stomping, pounding, prowling beast to make any road trip seem like a journey into the deepest, darkest depths of hell. Of course I mean that in the very best way.

Essential Listen: Seek + Forget, Age of the Absurd, Teeth of the Sea

22. A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant

https://www.aperfectcircle.com/

A Perfect Circle are not a band I've ever really bothered with before. The announcement of a new album alongside the release of the song Disillusioned only really piqued my interest due to that song's quality and the length of time since their last album had been released. I really had no idea what to expect from Eat The Elephant but from the moment I pressed play on the title track to the final seconds of Get The Lead Out I was completely mesmerised. It's an album absolutely full of genius musicianship. Gentle pianos, rolling, punctuating drums, buzzing guitars (used sparingly) and an incredibly varied vocal performance. It's hard to pinpoint highlight tracks because they are all so bloody good. There's the open, spacious and downright beautiful soundscape on Disillusioned, the creeping plucking intro and pounding drums of The Contrarian, the drums (holy shit those drums) and triumphant guitars of The Doomed, the pure joy and stomp of So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish, the massive crescendo of TalkTalk...I could go on and on and on. It's a whole album of cresting waves crashing into dark caverns and valleys. It's a whole album of utterly brilliant, fascinating and captivating songs. Eat The Elephant is a masterpiece. Ok so the cover art is a bit naff but don't let that put you off.

Essential Listen: The Doomed, So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish, Hourglass

23. Restorations - LP5000

https://restorations.bandcamp.com

LP5000 is very short at only 24 mins. Despite that it's a wonderful alternative rock album that is more affecting, inspiring and thrilling than many albums twice or even three times it's length. The vocals are gravelly yet still gentle and beautifully emotive, the bass has a satisfying boom to it and the guitars are lush but fuzzed up creating a truly addictive wall of sound. Each and every song is anthemic with incredible hooks and guitar leads that you'll be unable to stop humming. Just try not to sing along on Nonbeliever or play air guitar on Remains or have your heart melt on the Sigur Ros channelling and appropriately named Melt. You'll struggle to avoid doing all of these things on practically any song on LP5000 and like many of the albums on this list it just gets deep under your skin and once it's over you might just want to put it on again straight away. 

Essential Listen: The Red Door, Melt, Eye

24. Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It

http://rolotomassiband.com

I wish I could say I'd been in on Rolo Tomassi from the start, telling everyone how great and consistent a band they are instead of jumping on the bandwagon and fawning over this album like everyone else, but I can't. What I wish I could say doesn't really matter because Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It by Rolo Tomassi speaks for itself. It's one of the best albums released in 2018 and that's a stone cold fact. It's an album full of long periods of serenity followed by explosions of savagery, beauty followed by horror and my God that's a sensational combination. It takes a few minutes to warm up with roughly 10 mins before the first vocal snarl appears but when it does it's really something. It's all ethereal soundscapes and gorgeous melodies until the third track Rituals starts to rough things up with huge riffs, relentless drumming and serrated screams. This harder edge is followed by the seven and a half minute opus The Hollow Hour with it's slow burn intro leading into harsh screams and jagged, stabbing riffs. There's still a good deal of clean singing present and these passages cleanse some of the build up of filth and grime before the intensity and savagery resume. There are a number of these longer songs that turn, twist, morph, soar, punish and above all, astound. They Will Die And Love Will Bury it is an album that demands not just to be listened to but to be paid attention to and experienced. Elegant, raw and destructive.

Essential Listen: The Hollow Hour, A Flood Of Light, Risen

25. Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz

http://www.spanishlovesongs.com

Despite the band and album names there are no castanets, maracas, flamenco or crooning lotharios to be found on Spanish Love Songs' Schmaltz. This is a good old fashioned self deprecating emotional punk rock album. You know the type. Where the songs are somehow both upbeat and miserable. The lyrics defeatist yet inspirational. I can't get enough of it. Schmaltz reminds me of bands such as Bayside and Alkaline Trio but it's a much more engaging listen than any of the more recent output from either of those bands. Every verse is full of crashing riffs, rumbling bass lines and infectious lead guitars and every chorus is full of amazing hooks and lyrics you can sing along to for days. It's sad, depressing and heartbreaking yet relatable, uplifting and fun. Yes, fun. If you want to laugh and cry and dance and laugh and cry some more then Schmaltz is for you.

Check out their Bridge City sessions here & here. 

Essential Listen: Sequels, Remakes & Adaptations, The Boy Considers His Haircut, It's Not Interesting

26. The Voidz - Virtue

http://juliancasablancas.com/main/

The moment I heard the song Qyurryus I was curious. Curious as to how a song like this ever got written. Baffled by the combination of 80s synth, eastern inspired guitars and nonsensical lyrics yet delighted by its existence. The rest of Virtue is nothing like Qyurryus musically but it has the same spirit in that it follows no rules or expectations. There's indie rock, urban soul, hard rock, funk and a lot more to be heard on this record and as a result it was my album of the week. You can check out my reactions and thoughts on each track here. I feel that telling you that this band is the brainchild of Julian Casablancas, front man of The Strokes, is detrimental to the appeal of the album. Other than the first song, which itself is probably a troll move by Casablancas, Virtue sounds nothing like anything The Strokes have ever released and The Voidz are as far away from that scene as you can get. If you want to be surprised, baffled, confused and delighted by your music then this is an album you should be checking out right away. Despite sounding like it was recorded by aliens on LSD in outer space, Virtue is an instant classic that I worry won't get the recognition it deserves.

Essential Listen: All Wordz Are Made Up, Qyurryus, Wink

27. Marmozets - Knowing What You Know Now

http://www.marmozets.co.uk

Marmozets follow up to their excellent debut The Weird and Wonderful... takes the lightning in a bottle energy present on that record, sands off the rough edges, applies a little polish and proceeds to blow you away with some proper raucous dance-floor bangers. Get carried away with the high energy riffs and hand claps on Habits, keep it together whilst trying to emulate those falsetto yelps on Major System Error and bemoan your creation on Lost In Translation. The musicianship and effects on Knowing What You Know Now are deliriously good with massive air guitar riffs and leads, growling bass lines and drums that burst through the speakers. Above all though are the incredible lead vocals which switch from low and earthy to vast, soaring and bellowing to fragile and touching. The vocals on Insomnia have proved divisive for fans but for me it just showcases the range on offer here and it's one of my favourite moments on the album. However, closing track Run With The Rhythm is probably my favourite track with a beautiful build to an enormously satisfying and cathartic chorus. Knowing What You Know Now is a wonderful album from a band who deserve to be one of the most popular acts in the country.

If you want to know more you can check out my in depth thoughts on each track alongside a cheeky wee live review here.

Essential Listen: Major System Error, Lost in Translation, Run With The Rythm

28. Conjurer - Mire

https://conjureruk.bandcamp.com

It would have been impossible to compile this list without including Mire. It's an incredibly impressive album in terms of musicianship and songwriting but it also has that extra bit of magic that makes it unmissable and an album that will be talked about for years to come. From the moment you hit play on opening track Choke you get a feel for what this album is: a sludgy, filthy, crawling beast that pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. It's not just pure punishment though as you'll find out on tracks like Hollow where there are moments of real contemplation and clarity amongst the grime and grit; like reaching the crest of a hill and staring out over a desolate wasteland before tumbling head over heels back into the muck and slime and carnage. And there's plenty of that. Surging riffs, staccato drums, guttural roars and seething screams but also a real sense of groove that you can really lock into and vibe with. Sometimes heavy albums can really grind you down with their intensity but Conjurer avoid that by the use of cleverly placed melodic sections, odd timing and varied vocals. Mire is a fucking brilliant album and it's a debut which begs the question what are Conjurer going to do next? The answer is likely to be something very exciting indeed.

Essential Listen: Hollow, Retch, Hadal

29. Tusky - Rated Gnar

https://www.tusky.nl

This is fuck yeah rock n' roll, this is fuck yeah punk rock this is Rated Gnar by Tusky. Fuck yeah. And that's all that I can think when listening to Tusky. Giant, meaty riffs, squealing, jagged lead guitar licks and a rhythm section that powers along like an unstoppable machine. They even throw in the occasional blast beat and beat-down for good measure. The songs are raw and energetic with delicious vocal hooks that go in surprising directions guaranteed to put a smile on your face and get you shouting along. This usually includes a variety of band members throwing in lines, contributing to harmonies or bursting into gang vocals. Every song here is a tonne of fun to listen to and join in with and that makes for a fantastic album. There's White Dress with its roar of "I'm not a boy" and whirlwind riffing, Beacheater with its raking guitars and driving beat and the rollicking, rolling, surging banger Smack Me With Your Bible Belt. Tusky are one to keep an eye on.

Essential Listen: White Dress, Beacheater, Smack Me With Your Bible Belt

30. Vein - Errorzone

https://www.veintv.net/

Vein, aren't they that band who are trying to bring back nu-metal? Said the guy who only actually listened to the first track on Errorzone. No they're not. They are in fact a hardcore band producing new and exciting music in a similar vein (see what I did there?) to what Code Orange did on their ground breaking album Forever. This means the fusion of many styles and sounds, strange electronic interludes, punishing beat downs, knife to the throat aggression, sandpaper screams, death metal growls and emotional bursts of post hardcore. There's the inclusion of the amen break in the opening seconds of Virus://Vibrance, a not so subtle ode to nu-metal bounce but it's so so satisfying. Then there's Old Data In A Dead Machine which is as brutal as they come with ghostly reminders of Slipknot in the execution. Rebirth Protocol bounces, surges, grinds, grooves and crushes and Doomtech is a stop-start monster full of weird timings and complex drums. Errorzone is a fantastically heavy, varied and engaging listen.

Essential Listen: Rebirth Protocol, Virus://Vibrance, Errorzone

31. Rebel Wizard - Voluptuous Worship of Rapture and Response

https://rebelwizard.bandcamp.com

Rebel Wizard combine elements of thrash, heavy metal, speed metal and classic rock to devastating effect. If that isn't enough they also throw in the nails-down-a-chalkboard vocals and blast beats of black metal and the sonic punishment of death metal. They call it Wizard Metal and yes it may just put a spell on you (sorry). It's often hard to figure out extreme metal lyrics at the best of times but Rebel Wizard extend that even further to the point of being utterly indecipherable. That's fine though, despite their incongruous nature, the vocals just act as an additional instrument, an extra layer of savage melody. The guitar solos on offer are of the sumptuous, over the top, lightning speed, guitar hero fare and the riffs are gritty, raw and razor edged. Throw on Drunk on the Wizdom of Unicorn Semen (best song title ever?) and you'll be belted with solo after solo after solo but luckily they're all fucking great. This is pretty much all you get from Voluptuous Worship of Rapture and Response: solos, riffs and screeches but that's really not a bad thing when it's presented with such passion and such quality.

Essential Listen: Drunk on the Wizdom of Unicorn Semen, Exhaustive Glory, High Mastery of the Woeful Arts

32. Black Dresses - WASTEISOLATION

https://blackdresses.bandcamp.com

Apparently Black Dresses are noise pop. What the heck is noise pop?  Well it's a convenient way of describing a sound that is difficult to define. It's both noisy and poppy so there you go; noise pop. WASTEISOLATION is much more than that though, it's creepy, it's disturbing, it's demented but it's also bloody catchy and quite brilliant. Take ETERNAL NAUSEA for example. It's a dance-floor filler for the mentally deranged. Full of spasming electronics, battering drums and the repeated mantra of depression "I feel sick". Or there's IN MY MOUTH, a twisted wet dream of filth and confusing emotion with an incredible bouncing electronic bass-line and clapping percussion. Every song is dark and nightmarish with wry, moody, sarcastic and depressing lyrics. Despite being bouncy and poppy the dark lyrics and violent electronics make WASTEISOLATION a heavy listen but heavy in a way that's irresistible; check out those savage and damning vocals on LEGACY. There are enough pop hooks on songs like WIGGLE to appeal to those who want to dance and enough devastating sounds (also on songs like WIGGLE) to appeal to those who want to brood in their own hardened shell of self deprecation. 

Essential Listen: ETERNAL NAUSEA, LEGACY, IN MY MOUTH

33. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want

https://daughters.bandcamp.com

Never have I listened to an album and wanted to turn it off as many times as I have You Wont Get What You Want but all the while being unable to bring myself to do it. Some will call this album unlistenable. Others will call it a masterpiece of nerve shredding tension and it's difficult to dispel either of those points of view. Think Black Dresses with all the poppy hooky parts thrown on a fire. Think Nine Inch Nails with only the gloomy and industrial parts left in. If you can make it through the buzzing static, dull heartbeat, creaking machinery and anti-rhythm of City Song you'll be rewarded with the industrial slasher horror-scape of Long Road, No Turns. It's not until Satan in the Wait that a guitar shows up, growling like an idling monster truck but serving only as a backdrop to the demented keys and drums surrounding it. Listen on and you'll continue to be battered and alarmed but never bored with songs like Less Sex and the absolute belter that is The Reason They Hate Me. Once the album is over you might just feel the need to listen to it again, probably after a long shower, but then again and again after that. It's on these repeat listens that You Wont get What You Want starts to dig its greasy fingernails into your very being. It's not an easy listen, nowhere near it but once it grabs you you'll have a hard time forgetting about it. 

Essential Listen: The Reason They Hate Me, Less Sex, Long Road, No Turns

34. Joyce Manor - Million Dollars to Kill Me

https://joyce-manor.com/

When Million Dollars to Kill Me was released I was still under the spell of Restorations' LP5000 and at the time didn't give it much of a chance, simply casting it aside as generic, happy go lucky pop punk. That initial knee jerk reaction was unfair, unwarranted and just plain wrong. Million Dollars to Kill Me is full to the brim with upbeat ear-worm vocal hooks with fantastically gloomy lyrics about wasted life, depression and heartbreak all set over a bouncy, groovy, anthemic rock backdrop. Each and every song on the record is so catchy it's really quite remarkable and every song is distinct enough to remain unique and memorable. Check out Friends We Met Online, Think I'm Still In Love With You and Big Lie. Even when straying into the dreaded acoustic ballad territory on I'm Not The One, it's executed with such an unbearable beauty, style and panache that many other bands just aren't capable of. At only 22 mins it's a very short album and most of the songs barely break the 2 min mark but as a result they never outstay their welcome. You'll have more fun listening to Million Dollars to Kill Me three times in a row than you will with many other albums released in 2018.

Essential Listen: Friends We Met Online, I'm Not The One, Big Lie

35. Marlowe - Self Titled

https://lorange360.bandcamp.com/album/marlowe

A hip hop album released in 2018 with an interesting musical soundscape and no mumbling to heard anywhere? Surely not! Marlowe, a collaboration between producer L'Orange and rapper Solemn Brigham is a sample fuelled, jazz, soul and blues melting pot perfect for lovers of old school hip hop. On the first real song Lost Arts you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an Avalanches track based on the intro, which would be no bad thing, but then the beat gels and the raps flow in, silky smooth, buttery and delicious. Throughout the remaining 30 minutes or so the duo takes care of business by rapping over delicate piano keys, trumpets, saxophones and twanging guitars whilst throwing in weird sample heavy interludes regularly. Just listen to Not So Paranoid After All, a journey to nowhere through a hole in a wall told simply through spoken word samples, bubbling drums and jazzy trumpets. It all leads perfectly into The Basement, one of the album's standout tracks, filled with staccato raps, eccentric double bass and lamenting piano. An album well worth your time.

Essential Listen: Lost Arts, The Basement, Palm Readers

Well that's it, 35 of my favourite albums from 2018, not ranked, just listed for your listening pleasure. 

You may have noticed a running theme with many genre bending acts featuring on the list. For me this is one of the most exciting parts of listening to music; discovering the new ways that artists are taking old ideas and fusing them together in a way that makes something new and unique and wonderful. 2019 could be a very exciting year. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and listening along to the playlist. Please let me know your thoughts on any of the acts/albums on this list or tell me about your own favourite albums in the comments below.

Peace.

A number of these artists turned up on my Songs of the Summer: Spotify vs The Head Scratcher feature which you can check out here.

Some of the albums on this list featured on my Album of The Week: Get Your Act Together edition which can read here: Part 1, Part 2.