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The Year In Review – Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2018

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“Chasing a dream as I go higher
Playing it mean, my heart’s on fire
Living my life, ain’t no pretender
Ready to fight with no surrender.” – No Surrender, by Judas Priest

Another year goes by and, as usual, we lost a lot of good people, including family and friends. In heavy music, 2018 was the year several amazing musicians passed away, such as Dave Holland (former drummer of Judas Priest), Ralph Santolla (former guitarist of Iced Earth, Deicide, Death and Obituary), Vinnie Paul (the talented drummer of Hellyeah, Pantera and Damageplan), Jill Janus (the stunning vocalist of Huntress), and “Fast” Eddie Clarke, one of the meanest guitarists in history and the last of Motörhead’s “Three Amigos”, signaling the definitive end of Motörhead’s classic lineup. Not only that, we also saw the one and only Glenn Tipton, the iconic lead guitarist for Heavy Metal giants Judas Priest and one of the most influential guitar players in the history of metal, opening up about his ongoing fight against Parkinson’s disease and, as a consequence, having to pull out of the 2018 tour due to his health issues. However, as the Metal Gods themselves sing in their new ass-kicking song No Surrender, we can’t surrender and should keep on fighting with our heads high, always listening to our good old Heavy Metal to inspire us to face our daily struggles.

Enough said already, how about we show the world that we metalheads are still here, always ready for a fight, and that metal music is alive and kicking with The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2018, excluding EP’s, best of’s and live albums? From classic bands like Judas Priest, Behemoth and Immortal, to underground bands from all four corners of the earth like Ukraine’s 1914, Australia’s Rise of Avernus and Canada’s Altars of Grief, we can say that 2018 was a damn good year for our beloved Heavy Metal, pointing to a promising future for all its genres and subgenres and proving once again that metal unites us all it doesn’t matter where we live, our culture, language, race or religion. So, get ready to raise your horns and bang your heads nonstop to our selection of best metal albums of the year, and always remember… NO SURRENDER!

1. Judas Priest – Firepower (REVIEW)
The Metal Gods are firing on all cylinders with their majestic new album of pure and highly inspired Heavy Metal.
Best song of the album: Firepower

2. Blaze Bayley – The Redemption of William Black (REVIEW)
What does the future hold for Mr. William Christopher Black? Enjoy the dramatic conclusion to Blaze’s stunning Infinite Entanglement Trilogy.
Best song of the album: The Dark Side of Black

3. Behemoth – I Loved You at Your Darkest (REVIEW)
Poland’s most blasphemous metal institution returns after four years with a much more melodic and dynamic approach than before.
Best song of the album: Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica

4. Dragonlord – Dominion (REVIEW)
Exploring themes of darkness, here comes Eric Peterson’s Symphonic Black and Thrash Metal project with their first album in 13 years.
Best song of the album: Northlanders

5. Primal Fear – Apocalypse (REVIEW)
The Teutonic eagles of Power Metal return with another sensational opus showcasing the perfect amount of creativity and melody.
Best song of the album: The Ritual

6. Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods (REVIEW)
The Gates of Blashyrkh have finally opened again to the sound of the pulverizing new album by the Northern Chaos Gods of Black Metal.
Best song of the album: Mighty Ravendark

7. 1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind (REVIEW)
It’s time to head into the battlefields of the Great War together with these Ukrainian Blackened Death and Doom Metal infantrymen.
Best song of the album: Passchenhell

8. Rise of Avernus – Eigengrau (REVIEW)
Here come Australia’s own Rise of Avernus with their most symphonic, heaviest and darkest opus thus far.
Best song of the album: Eigenlicht

9. Altars of Grief – Iris (REVIEW)
A superb album of Canadian Blackened Doom narrating a tragic story of a deeply flawed man and his dying daughter.
Best song of the album: Broken Hymns

10. Marduk – Viktoria (REVIEW)
A furious and aggressive fusion of Marduk’s classic Black Metal with their more contemporary warlike sound.
Best song of the album: Viktoria

And here we have the runner-ups, completing the top 20 for the year:

11. Stormzone – Lucifer’s Factory (REVIEW)
12. Motorjesus – Race to Resurrection (REVIEW)
13. Borgne – [∞] (REVIEW)
14. SynlakrosS – Malice Murder (REVIEW)
15. Xenoblight – Procreation (REVIEW)
16. Kaoteon – Damnatio Memoriae (REVIEW)
17. Tamerlan Empire – Age of Ascendancy (REVIEW)
18. Coiled Around Thy Spine – Shades (REVIEW)
19. Chthonic – Battlefields of Asura (REVIEW)
20. NovaReign – Legends (REVIEW)

In addition, how about another round of awesome albums released this year, this time presenting to you our Top 10 EP’s of 2018? Those shorter-than-a-regular-album but still heavier-than-hell releases are like going to a fancy restaurant, where you might not get a humongous amount of food, but what’s served on your plate is more than enough to please your palate (or your ears, in this case). And, of course, you leave the place eager for more of that tasty and exquisite metal music.

1. Violent Life Violent Death – Come, Heavy Breath (REVIEW)
2. Strangle Wire – The Dark Triad (REVIEW)
3. Godless – Swarm (REVIEW)
4. The Black Swamp – Witches (REVIEW)
5. Progenie Terrestre Pura – starCross (REVIEW)
6. Lebowskii – Liquidators (REVIEW)
7. Geisterwald – Geisterwald (REVIEW)
8. Soul Dissolution – Nowhere (REVIEW)
9. Dark Archive – Cultivate Our Blood in Aeon (REVIEW)
10. Forte Ruin – Rebuilding the Machinery (REVIEW)

Do you agree with our list? What are your top 10 albums of 2018? Once again don’t forget to check Antichrst Magazine’s Top 10 Albums of 2018 (Editorial Staff), tune in to Timão Metal every Tuesday on Rádio Coringão for a sensational fusion of metal and soccer, and to The Headbanging Moose Show every Thursday on Midnight Madness Metal e-Radio for the best of the underground and independent metal scene!

Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2019!

And last but not least, if you want to support Glenn Tipton and everyone else on their personal battles against Parkinson’s, you can purchase the official Glenn Tipton Parkinson’s Foundation Charity T-shirt by clicking HERE or make a direct donation following the instructions found HERE. You can always help your family, friends and fellow metalheads, as simple as that, and who knows, maybe we can make this world a better place to live.

Album Review – Geisterwald / Geisterwald EP (2018)

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From the haunted woods of the Swiss city of Geneva, here comes an infernal masked duo armed with their mechanized and uproarious Industrial Metal.

Formed in 2017 in Geneva, a city in Switzerland that lies at the southern tip of Lac Léman, Industrial Metal masked duo Geisterwald is unleashing upon humanity this year their self-titled debut EP, channeling all their passion for heavy music and their musical backgrounds into their newborn spawn. Comprised of Harald Wolken on vocals, guitars and synths and Gaëlle Blumer on drums, and with all of the songs from the album being entirely sung in their mother tongue German, Geisterwald are ready to make an uproarious impact on the underground Industrial Metal scene, with the music found in their debut EP being a fantastic taste of what those two Swiss metallers are capable of when armed with their gas masks and their metallic instruments.

The EP kicks off with an ominous intro sounding as if a beast is rising from a dark and tenebrous pit in the mechanized Alte Körper (which should translate as “old body” if I’m not mistaken), where Gaëlle crushes her drums while Harald alternates between deep, primeval growls and eerie clean vocals, resulting in a heavier-than-hell display of Industrial Metal infused with Neue Deutsche Härte. Just as insane and piercing, Kreuz (or “cross”) presents the duo building an industrialized atmosphere with their menacing sounds, with Gaëlle delivering both traditional metal beats and more factory-like sounds while Harald brings a touch of delicacy and lunacy to the overall music with his synths.

Then get ready for a dark and demented Neue Deutsche Härte extravaganza titled Wolf, sounding and feeling intense, macabre and demented all at once, with its somber guitars and the howl of a wolf being the details that make it so compelling and vibrant. Furthermore, Harald’s vocals feel truly demonic amidst the thunderous sound of the drums by Gaëlle, showcasing the amazing synchronicity between them. And the last blast of modern metal music by this infernal duo of masked marauders comes in the form of old school Industrial Metal the likes of Ministry and Rammstein, titled Schlag Stärker (which means something like “hit harder”). Simply bang your head nonstop to such heavy tune, where we’re able to enjoy a merciless Gaëlle on drums while Harald does what he knows best, which is growling deeply and in the most enraged way possible.

Whatever comes next for this talented duo is probably going to be even more insane and destructive than their debut EP, and while we wait for more top-tier Industrial Metal made in Switzerland let’s all go check what Geisterwald (which by the way is a wordplay in German for “ghost forest” or “haunted woods”) are up to on Facebook, including the dates for their wicked live performances, listen to their music on SoundCloud, and purchase a copy of their debut EP from BandCamp, from Big Cartel or from Amazon. As a matter of fact, I guess you wouldn’t mind getting lost in the haunted woods of Geneva and face the industrialized roars by Geisterwald, would you?

Best moments of the album: Schlag Stärker.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2018 Independent

Track listing
1. Intro 1:01
2. Alte Körper 3:20
3. Kreuz 3:33
4. Wolf 3:21
5. Schlag Stärker 4:20

Band members
Harald Wolken – vocals, synths
Gaëlle Blumer – drums