Khemmis - Desolation

2018

Khemmis put out their first album, Absolution, in 2015. That was one of my very favorite releases from that year. They put out Hunted a year later. Most people considered it better than the first. Now their third album, Desolation. It sounds like Khemmis. If you're not familiar with Khemmis you should check them out.

Worshipper - Mirage Daze

2018

Worshipper put out a great album, I think in 2016. I think this was recorded at the same time. This is a 4 song ep of covers they do, The Who, The Oath, Pink Floyd and Uriah Heap. This is a killer rock and roll band with one of my very favorite singers going today. They rock well and have awesome guitar solos that really hit the spot. They work perfectly. Worshipper is an awesome band. I'm really looking forward to new stuff from these guys. I think they're from Massachusetts. 

Stone Deaf - The Bobby Peru EP

2018

This is a three song ep of covers. It for sure sounds more like Stone Deaf than the bands they are covering. Stone Deaf have a really tight in the pocket sound. Stone Deaf don't sound like your usual Stoner Rock band.

Pseudo Mind Hive - From Elsewhere

2018

Eerie Sci Fi Psychedelia fuzz rock. The production is weird on this, but I think it's supposed to be. It add to a claustrophobic outer space vibe. These guys are from Australia.   

Nograves - Abbadon

2018

Slow and heavy Post Rocky Doom with growly vocals. There's screamy vocaly too, they also pick up the pace sometimes. This is a two song ep that runs almost 20 minutes. I'm looking forward to more from these guys. They're from the PNW.

Seedy Jesus - Polaris Oblique

2018

There's a 70's rock thing going on here for sure, but there's something more. It's like a progressive twist but it seems like they're straight forward banging them out. They're rocking out in 70's style but it's fresh, not a rehash of old riffs. They are the bridge between Pink Floyd and Ted Nugent. There is much guitar rock out here. These guys are from Australia and this is one of the best records of 2018.

Hidden Haze - Worms To Feed

2018

Stoner Doom Metal from Warsaw Poland. This must be a best of or at least an honorable mention for 2018.

Ripis - Shadow Dies In Morning Light

2018

Really good somber atmospheric Doom from Texas.

Pretty Please - Fur Model

2018

Nirvana meets the Cherubs. These guys are from Atlanta.

Modok - Evil/Seabeast

2018

Killer Doom Metal from Finland. Big production 2 song e.p.

Beastmaker - EP's 1 - 8

2018

Beastmaker is a horror Doom band, but their songs are really concise and to the point. Like three minute pop doom songs. Good songwriting and ripping guitar always. From Fresno California.

Fire Down Below - Hymn of the Cosmic Man

2018

Stoner Rock like Kyuss. Really good production. This album sounds really good. These guys are from Belgium.

Drug Cult (2018) Drug Cult

2018

Awesome doom from Australia.  For fans of early Electric Wizard. One of my favorite releases of 2018.

Bubak - Bubak's Revenge

2018

Bottom heavy rockin'. Like a more Stoner rock Unsane. These guys are from Michigan. 

Mystic Sons - Mystic Sons

2018

Really accessible Stoner rock/Bluesy Classic rock. Led Zeppelin meets Kyuss.

Abstracter - Cinereous Incarnate

2018

Black Metal.

Child Child - Bong Colony

2018

Amped  up rock and roll. Like Motorhead/Ramones.

Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows - Hymns

2018

This is really good. Similar to All Them Witches where it pretty rockin' but not so obnoxious that it's off putting. Pretty accessible and rocks! Plenty heavy, plenty rockin' enough psyche and wetstern vibe to mix things up. One of my favorite from 2018. These guys are from Australia.

Battleroar - Codex Epicus

2018

Epic Metal like Manilla Road.

Alien Mustangs - Alienation

2018

Psychedelic rock like Spacemen 3. Wooden Shijips.

Us As Caravan - Built

2018

Bluesy Stoner rockin' with vocals similar in style to the Deftones if I'm not mistaken.

Grin - Revenant

2018

Starts of sounding a lot like Om. As the album progresses it sounds less and less like Om and turns into a lot of Bass and drum jamming. Minimal vocals.

Foehammer - Second Sight

2018

Super slow, heavy with cookie monster slow growls.

The Lion's Daughter - Future Cult

2018

John Carpenter meets Black Metal with supercharged Phil Anselmo type vocals. I didn't care for it first time listening, but I've returned and I'm liking it! These guys are from St. Louis. 

Crazy Bull - The Past Is Today

2018

70's Retro rock Dixie Witch type vocal with the occasional slide guitar and sometimes Thin Lizzy guitars and a lot of Witchcraft and a little bit of Joe Walsh. Good stuff! These guys are from Philadelphia.  

Type O Negative - Slow Deep and Hard

1991

I've always known this band existed and assumed they were a heavyish Gothic band and Peter Steele was their whole thing. I've never heard any Type O Negative album. This has got hardcore and it bounces around in styles and has synths the first song I thought they kept going into covers or riffs/melodies of other songs then they would get back to the chorus and I would realize they were still on the same song. These songs are interesting. Don't know if I'm gonna be coming back to this one. It might help if I was an angry 14 year old who was really frustrated by girls.

Red Sun Atacama - Licancabur

2018

Big heavy full steam ahead rockin' along the lines of Orange Goblin. They have spacey psychedelic parts too. They're from Paris, France.

Potion - Woman of the Wand

2018

Big chug riffing like Electric Wizard meets High on Fire. What's not to like about that? These guys and girl are from Australia. Only two songs here, but it's really good stuff. 

Death - Symbolic

1995

This is their most engaging. It more dynamic than the previous couple where they were an onslaught of technical awesomeness. This one breathes more and is more dynamic. The production is really good. The albums prior to this, you gotta really be in the zone and want to hear/listen to that heavy technical death metal...I think this album is more enjoyable to listen to. I think the dynamics, the song writing, the production it's all really very good, the vocals...This might be where to start if you we're introducing somebody to Death for the first time. It's not so extreme and it IS at the same time. It's a more enjoyable listening experience.

Cult of Occult - Anti Life

2018

Excruciatingly slow and heavy with screaming.

Death - Human

1991

     The difference between this and the previous record is night and day. We're talkin' Ram it Down to Painkiller type transformation. The new drummer in both situations really take things to the outer stratosphere. Something missing from the first three Death albums was the lack of a quality drummer. Just think if Lombardo or Gene Hoglan played on those! This record, everything moves up several levels. The technicality, the vocals, the production...everything about this record is better than the previous ones. I liked those. This is just so much more impressive.

     The production is sterile but works well with the technicality of the music. 

Grave Lines - Fed Into The Nihilist Engine

2018

Sometimes big metal sometimes melancholic sadness. Vocals sometimes screaming, sometimes 80's sounding like Joy Division. Very good. I really like this one.

Thou - The House Primordial

2018

Quiet atmospheric parts that build into a cacophony of heavy crushingness. Screaming screechy vocal. Really diggin this one. Good stuff!

Wayfarer - World's Blood

2018

Progressive Black Metal. Long songs.

Wolvennest - Void

2018

Tasty soaring atmospheric Black Metal. Very good.

Stone Deaf - Royal Burnout

2018

Quirky catchy rockin like Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down. 

Purple Kong - EP II (Crowned in Ouija)

2018

Big riffs like Sleep with laid back vocals. Really good stoner rockin! 

Lord Vigo - Six Must Die

2018

Their Bandcamp page says they're Epic Metal. I'm hearing Traditional Doom and Occult sounds but the epicness of bands like Iron Maiden is in there for sure. This rocks out for sure, I like it quite a bit. Rock from Germany.

Harmala - Mapbeo

2018

Instrumental Space rock from Russia. Raw live sounding recording that serves the music well.

Winterfylleth - The Hallowing of Heirdom

2018

Medieval folk music from the U.K.  

Strays - Ritual

2018

Some blasted out lo fi recordings that serve the music well. Drums and bottom end are really pounding on this. Sabbath inspired high energy rocking. Occult stoner doom from Texas. No vocals, but there's some evil samples.

Speedclaw - Beast in the Mist

2018

Speedy Metal that seems very inspired by 80's metal like early Dokken and Iron Maiden. I'm diggin' it. They get thrashy too like early Metallica.

Death - Spiritual Healing

1990

 The third Death album.This one is sharper and more concise than the previous two. The production and band are a lot tighter. There is insane guitar shred solos. Everything is going really fast most of the time. The vocals have settle into the overall sound. The drums are better than the previous album, but can fall into some boring repetitive patterns sometimes. The drums are probably the weakest link here. but they're not bad at all. I assume someone is playing bass, but it's really hard to pick out. The sound is really tight and when it gets to the solos they just explode out of the mix. You can understand the vocals most of the time. The overall sound of the album has a technical vibe but there's still a thrashy element.

This is a transitional album for the band and generally considered their weakest and is still very good.

Phantom Winter - Into Dark Science

2018

Blackened Post Metal.

Nest - Metempsychosis

2018

Blackened Sludge Doom. Good stuff!

Marijiannah - Till Marijiannah

2018

Big heavy riffs like High on Fire, but melodic. Good stuff! They have some backing harmonies. This is thick. Relentless uptempo rocking and dual leads!

Verheerer - Maltrer

2018

Black Metal with lots of sick riffs.

Death - Leprosy

1988

The second album from Death. I like this one more than the first one. This is more focused and has better production.. The drums are sounding a bit monotonous by the end of the album. I like that one guitar player does sick notey solos and the other guy does all these whammy dive bomb Kerry King type solos. Sick riffs throughout. They create nice atmospheres that Death metal now a day...is mostly a wall of harsh. This is from 1988, so, you know, it breathes.

Thin Lizzy - Albums Ranked

1.      Johnny The Fox

2.      Jailbreak

3.      Vagabonds of the Western World

4.      Fighting

5.      Night Life

6.      Chinatown

7.      Bad Reputation

8.      Black Rose

9.      Thin Lizzy

10.   Thunder and Lightning

11.   Renegade  

12.   Shades of a Blue Orphanage

Johnny the Fox and Jailbreak could probably switch positions on any given day. Night Life and Fighting could probably be switched on any given day. Night Life is hard to compare to other albums. Just depends on your mood. Bad Reputation could even be moved up…4,5, and 6 positions are pretty much interchangeable. Shades of a Blue Orphanage needs more listens by me to really find a proper spot, but as it stands…I’m not the biggest fan of Black Rose but it’s got some great songs, alone probably puts it above Orphanage. Those great songs are probably enough to put Black Rose above Night Life, but again Night Life is unique and hard to compare to the other albums in the discography

Bad Reputation and Black Rose are two of Thin Lizzy's most popular albums and have some of their best songs on them.

Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning

1983

This album starts off at a break neck pace. We're talking Motorhead here, then it gets to the guitar solo and it's so over the top in its super speedy shred fest it's almost comical. It quickly calms down from there. Immediately starts sounding more "commercial". The third song, don't listen while you're driving, it could be dangerous. It might put you to sleep. That's when the Sun Goes Down complete with a pretty over the top guitar solo. I mean it seems pretty extreme in relation to the song. I like it and synthesizers are creeping in. I haven't really noticed any dual guitar leads after the first three songs. Fourth song starts with a pretty terrible drum sound. Trashcan. Side two starts off with Cold Sweat it's got a pretty sick riff and there's pinch squeals and toatal shred fest guitar solo followed by another solo! This a killer metal song right up there with Priest or wherever Metal was at in 1983. Then they get more melodic with a driving tune. This time it will keep you awake and the dual guitars are more prevalent before the shred solo. Then a song that seems to go on forever with lots of guitar wailing. Rest of the album is pretty non descript beside a bunch of guitar. This is the first time I've listened to this. It has good stuff like every Thin Lizzy album. I'll return for more listens. I would put this in the bottom half of my favorite Thin Lizzy albums. This one is unique and due to all the guitar shred.