The Top 20 of 2018 Year-End Poll is Now Open!
This is my favorite post of the year, every year. Welcome to the year-end poll. Cast your votes now for your favorite releases from 2018.
If you don’t have 20 albums to list? Doesn’t matter. Have 40? Awesome. Pick 20 of them. Want to list your own band 20 times? That’s cool too. Glad you dig your own stuff.
You probably know the system by now, but here it is: Raw votes are counted and as always, there’s a weighted tally whereby a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one. Results from both are posted New Year’s Day, along with all the lists.
Last year’s participation was awesome, and with so many excellent records out in 2018, I’m dying to see what comes out first. There are picks that seem obvious to me, but it’s always fascinating to see what albums different people are super-passionate about, where people connect and where they differ.
To that end, please note one more time that all the lists are posted when the results go up. We’re talking hundreds of entries. If you’ve missed anything throughout the year, it’s great resource, and I know I’ve used it before not only in constructing my own lists, but just in checking out records I may not have had the chance to hear at the time. I continue to go back to past years and find new stuff.
Posterity aside, however, the point here is to have fun, so please do that first and foremost. I know sometimes lists come in with bands spelled wrong and albums all wonky. It’s fine. Yeah, everything is culled together, but the point here is to stand up for music you’re into, so the rest will work out. Enjoyment is the thing, so enjoy it. No stress.
Thanks as always to Slevin, without whose patience, time and technical expertise this site would simply not exist.
Tags: Readers Poll, The Obelisk, The Obelisk The Top 20 of 2018 Year-End Poll, The Top 20 of 2018 Year-End Poll
One of my favorite discoveries of 2018 is Fire Down Below – Hymn of the Cosmic Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QhZmwh_qOk ). If anyone has some more underground suggestions, I’d like to hear
Guru – El Arroyo
Church of the Cosmic Skull – Science Fiction
Mountain Dust – Seven Storms
Hashteroid – Hashteroid
Sleep – The Sciences / Leagues Beneath
YOB – Our Raw Heart
Melvins – Pinkus Abortion Technician
Orange Goblin – The Wolf Bites Back
Monster Magnet – Mindfucker
Corrosion of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
The Sword – Used Future
Graveyard – Peace
Earthless – Black Heaven
Green Druid – Ashen Blood
Eagle Twin – The Thundering Heard
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard/Slomatics – Totems
Merlin – The Wizard
Sundrifter – Visitations
Green Lung – Free the Witch
Hazemaze – Hazemaze
Black Rainbow – Pandaemonium
Lonely Kamel – Death’s Head Hawkmoth
Gozu – Equilibrium
Freedom Hawk – Beast Remains
Mos Generator – Shadowlands
Crypt Trip – Rootstock
SVVAMP – SVVAMP 2
The Death Wheelers – I Tread On Your Grave
Here Lies Man – You Will Know Nothing
Lowburn – Sleeping Giant
Huntsmen – American Scrap
Blackwulf – Sinister Sides
Clamfight – III
Naxatras – III
Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
Fu Manchu – Clone of the Universe
Messa – Feast for Water
Pyraweed – Green Jinn
Killer Boogie – Acid Cream
River Cult – Halcyon Daze
Deathbell – With the Beyond
Orphans of Doom – Strange Worlds/Fierce Gods
Destroyer of Light – Hopeless
Tunguska Mammoth – Breathless
Green Desert Water – Solar Plexus
Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant
Thou – Magus
Stoned Jesus – Pilgrims
Clutch – Book of Bad Decisions
Pig Destroyer – Head Cage
Suicidal Tendencies – Get Your Fight On!
Witch Mountain – Witch Mountain
Ancestors – Suspended in Reflections
Black Tusk – TCBT
Conan – Existential Void Guardian
Black Wizard – Livin’ Oblivion
Forming the Void – Rift
The Necromancers – Of Blood and Wine
The Hazytones – The Hazytones II: Monarchs of Oblivion
Behemoth – I Loved You at Your Darkest
Windhand – Eternal Return
High On Fire – Electric Messiah
Eggnogg – The Future of Humanity and What You Can Do About It, As Told by an Extraterrestrial Source
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats – Wasteland
Domkraft – Flood
Nekrogoblikon – Welcome to Bonkers
The Vintage Caravan – Gateways
Sumac – Love In Shadow
A Storm of Light – Anthroscene
Beastmaker – Windows of Evil
We Hunt Buffalo – Head Smashed In
Belzebong – Light the Dankness
Blue Dream – Volume Blue
Electric Octopus – Pipe Dream Train
Witchthroat Serpent – Swallow the Venom
Black Label Society – Grimmest Hits
Slow Green Thing – III
Demonauta – Part 2: Temaukel, the Spirit Before Time
Tombtoker – Coffin Texts
Cloud – Deus Ex Machina
Morag Tong – Last Knell of Om
Domadora – Lacuna
Astrodome – II
The Machine – Faceshift
The Re-Stoned – Ram’s Head
Ruff Majik – Seasons
Holy Mushroom – Moon / Blood and Soul
Saturno Grooves – Solar Hawk
Dune Pilot – Lucy
The Great Machine – Respect
Cosmic Fall – In Search of Outer Space
REZN – Calm Black Water
Toke – Toke
1968 – Ballads of the Godless
Craneium – The Narrow Line
Captain Caravan – Shun the Sun
Black Elephant – Cosmic Blues
Holy Grove – Holy Grove II
Rifflord – 7 Cremation Ground / Meditaion
Nekromant – The Nekromant Lives
Foghound – Awaken To Destroy
Full Tone Generator – Valley of the Universe
Disrule – Sleep in Your Honour
Thunder Horse – Thunder Horse
Brimstone Coven – What Was and What Shall Be
Greenleaf – Hear the Rivers
Dopethrone – Transcanadian Anger
Iah – II
Space Slug – Eye the Tide
Haunted – Dayburner
Turnip – Haunted Stereo
Bongripper – Terminal
Khemmis – Desolation
Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Hymns
Wasted Theory – Warlords of the New Electric
All Them Witches – ATW
GWAR – The Blood of Gods
Legend of the Seagullmen – Legend of the Seagullmen
No THOU in site, they had amazing releases all summer, very much surprised they are no where to be found on the year end list
Magus is in the honorable mentions.
cheers on that brother!
I totally forgot to somehow wedge Rhea Sylvia into my list.
great stuff on that one, “unfortunate times” is so killer, and they slayed on the crowbar cover!!!
I forgot to list the Record Store Day release of the Blue Cheer demos and the stereo/mono SACD format reissue of Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold As Love
Hmm, my list ended up heavily doom-weighted. Guess that’s what happens when you pick favourites in December. Didn’t make any distinction for ‘proper albums’ and short releases and I stand by that. Totems deserves to stand in the Main List for sure.
Of course realised I missed Deadbird after hitting the button!
Looking at your list JJ there’s a couple of things I missed that I mean to go back on, never got round to hearing that Spaceslug album for instance.
Xmas Day session with Moloch was most festive heheh
Damn near impossible to narrow this year down to just 20. I had my Top 10, then there is virtually no distinction between 11-50 it seems. Still several releases that I just haven’t gotten around to listening to yet.