New Blood Red Fog is excellent Finnblack, still digging the new Ulvegr a lot for raw melodic bm, new Necros Christos is fun, they're always a unique listen, mid-paced ritualistic death metal.

The Black Sorcery - .​.​.​and the Beast Spake Death from Above
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjDUVyIXV6A (don't have a link for the full album)



if you like Archgoat then you should definitely check this out, I'm still on my 1st couple of listens but the 1st impression is that while some improvement is needed, for a debut they could've done worse

That Blood Red Fog album got released without even a whisper of its existence. I just noticed it a week or so ago and only had time to listen to 1 song real quick, need to get back to it. Also really loved that new Ulvegr album as well.

The Black Sorcery is another one I just saw a ton of people buying on BC and added to the top of my "need to listen" list.

Came here to say Djevel released a new album at the end of march that I just finally got. I only listened to for the first time this morning and it seemed a bit rougher / rawer than previous releases, and also a little more mid-paced. I'm super tired this morning and it felt like kind of a chill perfect thing to listen to at the time, where their previous albums tended to lean more towards speed and aggression. Kind of surprised this band hasn't gained more recognition, they've got some pretty well known Norwegian guys from multiple bands and release an awesome album about every year. They've been one of my favorite Norwegian bands of the past 5 years and they are one of the few who still make Trve Norvvegian Black Metal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f60FE9H0i2s&list=PLoQfGOW8iFnOxeHrkMsXgSK9WhQDIVavF

I haven't listened to too many releases so far this year, but out of the ones I've checked out two have stuck with me: Amorphis - Queen of Time & Alkaloid - Liquid Anatomy. I have spun both on repeat since I picked them up.

I liked Djevel's 2015 album a decent bit, nothing outstanding but solid.

Other stuff I'm digging (may have mentioned before in this thread):

Aorlhac - L'esprit des vents

nice melodic French bm

Harakiri for the Sky - Arson

not kvlt enough for some but I like their postmetal-ish melodic black style

Nocturnal Graves - Titan

fun punchy well-produced black/thrash

Panphage - Jord

excellent melodic raw Swedish bm

Rur - Rur

solid melancholic Norwegian bm, good listen for the style

Ungfell - Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz

sounds good so far, need to listen more, but they've got a unique style, melodic folky Swiss bm. Slightly less raw than last year's album.

Still need to listen to Cosmic Church, Ascension, Uada, Svrm, Wallfahrer, and the new Paysage d'Hiver song more.

Anyone else have both Varathon and Asphagor in their top 5 so far for 2018? What spectacular albums by both bands!

I think Arson was a good Harakiri album but it was kinda disappointing after the phenomenal Trauma. I do have to agree about Rur, though. Amazing album

I thought Trauma was boring. Arson is way better.

I had literally never even heard of Varathron until the new album came out (I know, shame on me). It's definitely one of the few albums from 2018 that I keep going back to.

Wow, this Varathron album is indeed incredible. I'm only halfway through but it's already one of my favorite things I've heard all year. How the hell do the Greeks keep making riffs in this exact style that seem to always feel new and unique?

Top 5 would have to be (in no order)

Rur
Asphagor
Varathon
Alkaloid
Amorphis


Still waiting for Sulphur Aeon, Obscura, Omnium Gatherum and a few others.

Arson is much more varied and dynamic. Trauma dragged on far too much, I think. It had some very good songs like Funeral Dreams or Calling the Rain but I struggle to remember a tune from the second half. Although Aokigahara is probably still their best.

My top 5 has shifted around a bit but Urfaust is still solidly AOTY. Very much looking forward to the new Hoth which might shake things up!

Urfaust
Necrophobic
Ihsahn
Varathron
Alkaloid/Drudkh tied. Drudkh has overall consistency and atmosphere, but Alkaloid has a 3-4 simply amazing tracks that really stick with you.

Yeah that Alkaloid album is top notch stuff like I think we all predicted, but I don't think it's better than the debut. It's still brilliant though.

Oh and I would implore all progressive rock fans to check out the new Arena album, Double Vision. Not metal, but beautifully made like always. I just got it, but after two listens it could easily find it's way into my top 5 this year and possibly top 3. This is top shelf, forward thinking, progressive rock with extremely mature song writing from scene legends Clive Nolan, Paul Manza and others. Their entire discography is brilliant, and their last album The Unquiet Sky was my number 1 from 2015.

Summoner's Circle - Tome

This is a weird one (in a good way). They're classified as Doom Metal on the archives, but there's a helluva lot more going on than straight up Doom Metal. The songs are all very different from one another but they also blend together as a cohesive album. There are elements of many different genres of Metal sprinkled in with other non-Metal genres. Sometimes something with this much variance between songs can come off as disjointed, but it really works here and I find myself appreciating something new every single time I listen to the album.

I was listening to Summoner's Circle this morning and it felt more like doomy black metal than an outright doom album. Pretty decent though.

My top 5 albums in loose order so far would be:

Shining - X Varg Utan Flock
Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
Aura Noir - Aura Noire
King Goat - Debt of Aeons
Autokrator - Hammer of the Heretics

with an honourable mention to Amorphis' Queen of Time, which is ever growing on me.

The first side of The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness by Panopticon is pretty damn good, but the whole thing falls apart entirely on the second album.

had no idea urfaust had a new one! I loved Empty Space Meditation, hopefully this one is just as enjoyable.

Skeletal Remains - Devouring Mortality is my album of the year so far, fucking insanely huge monster of an album. It's so damn good.

That Slugdge album rules hard.

I found that Skeletal Remains album to be a bit too safe, in my opinion, but it's still pretty good. Definitely nowhere near AOTY for me, though.

I can't remember if I mentioned Fallow by Morrow, not exactly purely metal, more like crust with some post metal leanings. It has that same vibe that Fall of Efrafa had on Owsla before they pretty much fully slowed down, maybe a bit more melodic. Fucking amazing shit, though, this stands toe to toe with that FoE release as far as I'm concerned, which is my gold standard

I found it downright dangerous and have been blasting it nonstop. Hard to think anything will top it for me this year.

I haven't been following new releases that closely, but some I have tried which I have found more memorable.

Abysmal Grief - Blasphema Secta
Domedag - Nu Nalkas Domedagen
Lychgate - The Contagion in Nine Steps

The Lychgate release in specific took me by surprise with their unique and demented black/doom style.

I got a hard on from reading your words, only to realize that there's no CD version...

Aparia - Beyond The Walls Of Man
https://aparia.bandcamp.com/

Holy fuck. This is instant AOTY material right here. Do yourself a favor and check this album out.

Silly question, but do you only listen to bands that start with A?

holy shit

LOL

Then I have another one for you right here: Athme - Sewerborn



Quite alright DM with a nice, dry production.

That's as far as my brain gets.

I actually noticed that and laughed to myself, but was hoping no one would notice. Guess at some point it became too obvious.

To the above poster: I have the Athma album on my radar and listened to a couple of songs already but I'm on vacation this month and my listening time has decreased drasticaly.

This new Tad Morose is sounding good. This is the most like their old albums they've sounded in years. Slightly more generic than Modus Vivendi and whatnot, but a nice workout of epic, crunchy power metal. It hits the spot.

Is it fast or mainly mid tempo?

It's got plenty of fast and midtempo stuff both, just like Modus Vivendi did. It alternates between them... and their last album did, too, if you never heard that. Both are way better than what breed has been doing lately, funny enough.

Cool, but I wonder when we'll get finally re-issues of Modus Vivendi and those.

I'd be down for that... I still don't own copies of Undead or Matters of the Dark.

Mylingar - Döda Drömmar This is probably the best album I've ever heard like this. It's completely cavernous, raw and dense, but unlike a lot of this kind of stuff it is actually produced very well. More importantly the music matches the production perfectly and has lots of fast parts. I was expecting it to be more slow doom and gloom like a lot of this kind of stuff usually is, but it's actually quite aggressive, sick twisted awesome stuff.
https://mylingar.bandcamp.com/

top 5 so far

Summoning
Aorlhac
HFTS
Varathron
Wallachia

I've actually been spending more and more time away from metal, which is definitely not the norm for me: Ulvesang, Nytt Land, and Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik have each taken up significant amounts of my listening time as of late.

That Skeletal Remains album is indeed absolutely savage. It was difficult to leave that and Slugdge off my top 5 list so far, but shit changes and both of those albums could easily find their way on the list by December. They'll for sure be in my top 10.

Sick find. Thanks.

It's just an EP but The Frozen Casket by Cist is some pretty great death metal with LOTS of shades of old school Death, the vocalist is a dead ringer for Chuck. Speaking of which, the new Gruesome is also a pretty fun romp, but I think the quality of the fewer songs on the Cist EP make it a better release.

Burial in the Sky - Creatio et Hominus
https://burialintheskytheband.bandcamp.com/

Another Prog/Tech MeloDeath album that can be worth your time. While I would not consider this album as good as others that already came out this year, it's undeniable there's some quality to this release.

I don't see it taking many spins for now, but that isn't a reflection on the album overall quality and more the fact that there's other music that appeals more to me right now. Maybe someone else will find it more appealing.

Best description is that it sounds kind of inbetween the Augury and Inferi ones.