At midnight tonight, the earth will continue another circle around our star.

And while it might be a pretty arbitrary marker of time, it’s a great way to group music together to quantify it. And since I am an amateur music critic, I’m obligated to create my own year-end lists.

2018 was a banner year for music—not just because of the relentless onslaught of incredible new albums, but I also saw more shows than ever and discovered a fair amount of music that I missed. And in this article, I’m counting them all down.

Top 10 Albums of 2018

mewithoutYou – [Untitled]/[untitled] e.p.

With the tour de force of Pale Horses, mewithoutYou showed that they still had plenty in the tank. This year, they delivered with two releases: the apocalyptic [Untitled] and the delicate and gorgeous [untitled] e.p.

Across the two releases, the band creates its most superlative work, from their most introspective to most frantic to heaviest to bleakest. And across 19 tracks, there’s not a bad one in the bunch. Instead, they drop a whole lot of career highlights into a career that a lot of fans (and the band) expected to be winding down.

Thrice – Palms

Even though they’re years past their Warped Tour-era peak popularity, Thrice is still going strong. And while I loved 2016’s To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, I admit that there’s some validity to the criticism that it is a bit safe, aiming more for Middle of the Road Radio Rock than the boldly experimental post-hardcore they made a career on.

Palms might not knock The Alchemy Index out of my top spot, but it finds the group experimenting again. From the synth-heavy opener “Only Us” to the gorgeous soundscapes of “Everything Belongs” to the complex interplay of “Just Breathe” and the cascading “Blood On Blood,” Palms is the best Thrice record since 2009’s Beggars.

Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

My love for Sunbather is no secret. That record expanded my understanding of what metal could be and opened the door to some of my absolute favorite bands.

And while I enjoyed New Bermuda, it traded shoegaze textures and post rock structures for more traditional metal tropes—which is not why anyone listens to Deafheaven.

This year’s Ordinary Corrupt Human Love did a hard about-face and returned to the cathartic, emotional blackgaze of their earlier work. This is hardly a Sunbather retread though. Rather, it’s another great album by a band who has demonstrated time and time again that they are here to stretch the boundaries of metal past the elitists’ narrow parameters.

Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses

Speaking of redefining metal, Red Sparowes guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle created one of the best records of the metal scene without engaging in many metal archetypes at all.

While On Dark Horses features plenty of doom metal gravitas (a la Chelsea Wolfe and King Woman), the record is far more delicate and far less gloomy than any of her contemporaries. Rather, On Dark Horses borrows a lot from country artists like Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. I even joked that this record sounded like Emmylou and Elder melted together on my shelf.

Oh, and that’s her voice on Thrice’s”Just Breathe.”

Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit

If you’ve spent any time following this blog, you know I’m a big fan of bands that create heavy metal that subverts metal tropes. Zeal & Ardor hit that nail right on the head this year.

Allegedly founded after a 4chan troll bet the Swiss-African frontman that he couldn’t mix black music and “black music” (the troll used a different term), Zeal & Ardor blends traditional black metal textures with  Slave spirituals, gospel music, and rhythm & blues.

But even after the novelty wears off, the record is still richly rewarding.Stranger Fruit is a massive statement, exploring racism and religion through 48 minutes of the strangest genre fusion you could think of.

Lume – Wrung Out

Thick, atmospheric walls of heavy guitar noise is the way to my heart. Southwest-Michigan doomgaze acolytes Lume offered up the best scratch for that itch this year with Wrung Out, their incredible sophomore record.

Wrung Out gets its strength from bonerattling basslines, cascading washes of guitar fuzz, and pounding drums. It’s dark and heavy with a melodic heart that just doesn’t quit. It’s almost as if someone looked at my wishlist for a great album and built to suit.

Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog

I’ve only been tangentially aware of this girl-fronted emo pop outfit, but I was addicted to Bark Your Head Off, Dog from the first listen.

It’s clever, smartly-written, and catchy as hell. If I was driving anywhere with the windows open (which is likely—our air-conditioning went out), it’s very likely that this album was blasting through the speakers.

Slow Crush – Aurora

I’m an absolute sucker for a good My Bloody Valentine soundalike. And while there’s no shortage of bands trying to remake Loveless, finding a band that actually pulls it off is a Herculean task.

This Belgian shoegaze outfit’s debut full-length delivers on all fronts, with gentle cooing female vocals, thick reverbs, and crushing guitar fuzz.

Silent Planet – When the End Began

I haven’t cared much about metalcore in a while. But 2016’s Everything was Sound was an absolute revolution, punctuating their breakdowns and riffs with epic post rock catharsis and atmospheric electronics as Garrett Russell delivered the densest lyrics this side of mewithoutYou.

At first listen, When the End Began didn’t seem to offer anything new, but as soon as it ended, it was stuck firmly in my frontal lobe. The sonic palette is even more sophisticated, and Russell’s lyrics ramble with the fury of an Old Testament prophet, pouring out the wrath of God upon racism, imperialism, the wage gap, and any other type of hypocrisy. It’s one of the heaviest albums of the year—both sonically and thematically.

TesseracT – Sonder

I’ve often joked that I like my metal like Ben Carson: black, not-progressive, and a little sleepy. Prog metal is typically too abrasive, self-indulgent, and pointlessly experimental for my tastes.

But somehow, I was convinced to listen to TesseracT’s newest album, and it has absolutely none of the tropes that have kept me from progressive metal.

Rather, it’s beautifully melodic, intricately composed, and relatively trim. It’s only 36 minutes long, but it packs plenty of heft into that time.  Huge, djenty riffs, relentless drum chaos, and the occasional slapped bassline mix with stunning atmospheres to make a scene for Daniel Tompkins’ soaring voice. Very few records got more play time from me this year than this one.

Honorable Mentions

Beach House – 7
Cursive – Vitriola
Dawes – Passwords
Teenage Wrist – Chrome Neon Jesus
God Is An Astronaut – Epitaph
Iceage – Beyondless
Pianos Become the Teeth – Wait For Love
Chastity – Death Lust
Collections of Colonies of Bees – Hawaii
Weathered – Stranger Here
Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

Best Discoveries of 2018

As closely as I try to watch new releases, there’s always some stuff that I miss until years later. But their age doesn’t dull the brunt of their impact at all.

Here are the older records that blew my mind this year.

Spotlights – Tidals, Seismic

I’m an absolute sucker for pairing thick atmospheres, bone-crushing heaviness, and gentle melodies. And when I discovered this “dream sludge” outfit out of Brooklyn, I was immediately hooked.

Within a few listens, I was quickly scouring the internet for vinyl copies of both of their full-lengths (I may have bought the only available copy of Tidals). Both of these records have gotten plenty of time on my turntable, and have got me geeked for the rumors of their third in 2019.

Cave In – Jupiter, Tides of Tomorrow, Antenna, Perfect Pitch Black

I was first made aware of Cave In a few years ago when I picked up White Silence in a lot on eBay. I didn’t like it.

So when a friend recommended Antenna and described them as a more space rock version of Deftones, I was a bit taken aback. I listened to Antenna and poured through the rest of their discography like a rabid dog through the trash can of a butchershop.

I’m still iffy on their more metalcore releases, but their midcareer can’t be beat. I bought four albums in the space of a week, and I still can’t get over them.

O’Brother – Garden Window, Endless Light

Mixing crushing sludge metal with Local Natives-esque melodic sensibilities is a simple enough formula, but I never realized how much I needed it until I heard O’Brother this year.

The Pennsylvania six-piece mixes influences as diverse as The Melvins to Muse to create something that’s equal parts heavy and gorgeous. Just listen to “Easy Talk (Open Your Mouth)” if you need some convincing.

HUM – You’d Prefer An Astronaut

Few bands are as influential as 90s space rock stalwarts HUM. They’ve been name-dropped by everyone from Deftones to Smashing Pumpkins to Cloakroom.

And yet, I’ve somehow managed to escape 1995’s You’d Prefer An Astronaut until this year. But not, I’ll be ready for the vinyl reissue of Downward Is Heavenward that they’ve been teasing for forever.

Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me, Bug

Few bands are as influential as HUM. One of those bands is Dinosaur Jr. Their influence is so ubiquitous across indie rock that I’ve felt like I’ve been a fan for decades—even though I never listened to them until this year.

But 2018 was the year that I finally rectified this wrong, adding You’re Living All Over Me and Bug to my collection.

Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun

If the Emma Ruth Rundle record in my top ten wasn’t enough of a tip, I’m a sucker for metal-tinged female singer-songwriters.

And Chelsea Wolfe’s Hiss Spun is the perfect example of that ethos. Depressingly dark, numbingly heavy, and achingly gorgeous.

Shows of 2018

At some point this year, I remembered that tons of great bands come through Chicago (an hour and a half drive from me), and I decided I wanted to see all of them.

Radiohead

I’ve been a Radiohead fan for around fifteen years, but I’ve never been able to see them live. Not for a lack of trying—I had tickets in 2012, but had to sell them when I ended up moving into my house the same weekend.

This July, I finally righted that wrong and caught a massive, career-spanning set complete with a hypnotic light show that made generous use of experimental video. We were about as far from the stage as you could be, but it was still a sight to behold.

And for a band famous for studio trickery, they managed to recreate these songs with note-for-note perfection.

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine bandleader Kevin Shields entire ethos is the hypothesis that when subjected to high-enough volumes, your body goes into a trance-like state (which explains the hypnotic nature of their songs).

Having tested that hypothesis in person, I can assure that it is sound (so loud that I forgot to take a picture while they were actually playing). This is the loudest show I have ever experienced, and it was pure bliss. It also served to remind me how unfamiliar I am with their discography—their twenty-song setlist pulled generously from their numerous EPs that pad out the space between their full-lengths.

Thrice

Thrice has been one of my favorite bands since The Artist in the Ambulance came out in 2003. But somehow, every time I’ve tried to see them live, my efforts were thwarted.

But this year, I decided that enough was enough.  While they had just released Palms a few weeks earlier, their twenty-one song setlist drew generously from their nine-album catalog—which brought back a bit more youthful nostalgia than I anticipated.

And Thrice’s light show could stand toe-to-toe against Radiohead’s—and it might even come ahead. There wasn’t a static moment in the night—every second was kinetic and interacted with the lyrics—bringing up the house lights for the singalong moments.

Alcest

There’s been a massive revolution within metal over the last few years—and a lot of that momentum is due to French blackgaze pioneers Alcest.

Halloween 2018, I witnessed the French four-piece play through their masterpiece Kodama. And live, it was just as blissful and devastating as you could imagine.

After playing Kodama, they basically played another setlist filled with songs from the rest of their discography. And as I said on my review of Ecailles de lune,  that show opened up the rest of their discography. Even their older songs felt as heart-rending and powerful as anything on Kodama.

Russian Circles

I was iffy on this show, but a friend of mine bought my ticket just so I could see Bongripper. And while Bongripper was ultimately a bit underwhelming (two minutes of bass feedback between every song—why?), Russian Circles lived up to their reputation as the best post metal act in the game today.

But an hour and a half of wordless post metal is a bit to take in all at once—especially with Bongripper playing their brand of slow, slow, slow metal before that. It was a great show, but a bit exhausting.

mewithoutYou

mewithoutYou has been my favorite band since 2004, and in that time I’ve seen them six times. Sadly, four of those shows were within a year, and I had a huge drought between Brother, Sister and last year’s [A–>B] Live tour.

I made it a point to catch them on the [Untitled] tour, and barring some technical difficulties, the band was as strong as I’ve ever seen them. Their twenty-song setlist drew from every album but [A–>B] (they must have had enough last year). Even it’s all crazy! had a strong showing.

And even though they’re almost fifteen years older than they were the first time I saw them, their live show is just as frantically energetic and engaging as that first set in a dingy Detroit bar. There was even a mosh pit—through some of the newer songs, even. Unfortunately, I had to have some strong words with a very drunk fan who thought he was in the mosh pit, but that was hardly enough to ruin the show. Of the six times I’ve seen them, this may have been the most impressive.