Top 50 best releases 2018

As 2018 is racing to it’s end, it’s time to stand still and look back on 2018. There have been a lot of incredible releases, you could say it was a great year. But as always, there are a few albums that had more impact than others. I have gathered a list of releases that made a huge impression to me.

So yes, this is getting personal this time. All albums I have selected are based on my personal taste. And I kept it to a shortlist of 50 albums, which means I had to skip some albums. Eventhough I know that they should have been mentioned here as well. I didn’t want to make it a competition, because that’s just impossible. So I decided to present the list in chronological order by releasedate.

Like I said it is tough to make a top 50. To make it even harder for myself, I decided to even shorten this list into a personal top 10. You’ll find that one at the bottom of this list.

januari 12 | | Noorvik – Noorvik
januari 17 | | Last Of Us – Swarm
januari 23 | | The Sun Burns Bright – Through Dusk, Came The Light
februari 02 | | Long Distance Calling – Boundless
februari 02 | | Elvaan Ibanfure – Okami
maart 02 | | Locomotora – Vuodet, vuoret
maart 16 | | Man Mountain – Infinity Mirror
april 03 | | Aesthesys – Achromata
april 06 | | Degree of Arc – Raptures
april 06 | | Coldbones – Where it all began
april 07 | | This World Has Bees – Nearer
april 09 | | Il Giardino Degli Specchi – Oltremare
april 27 | | God Is An Astronaut – Epitaph
april 27 | | Toundra – Vortex
april 27 | | GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! – Memory Lame
mei 05 | | Not A Good Sign – Icebound
mei 07 | | Godaughter – Godaughter
mei 10 | | 1099 – Blindpassasjer
mei 16 | | Crows In The Rain – Ashes Of The Past
mei 24 | | Arcadian Waves – Above the Mountains, Beneath the Clouds
mei 25 | | Distant Dream – Your own story
mei 31 | | Spurv – Myra
juni 01 | | Old Seas / Young Mountains – Seasons
juni 10 | | The Outsider – Hyeon
juni 15 | | Baikonur – Nihil Per Saltum
juni 26 | | Whale Fall – Sondersongs
juli 06 | | Tangled Thoughts of Leaving – No Tether
augustus 03 | | Tides Of Man – Every Nothing
augustus 10 | | Pray for Sound – Waiting Room
september 14 | | Old Faith – Old Faith
september 14 | | Holy Fawn – Death spells
september 15 | | Leech – For Better or For Worse
september 21 | | The Clouds Will Clear – Recollection Of What Never Was
september 28 | | This Will Destroy You – New Others Part One
september 28 | | Wang Wen – Invisible City
oktober 05 | | Bear the Mammoth – Years Under Glass
oktober 05 | | Celestial Wolves – Call of the Void
oktober 16 | | This Will Destroy You – The New Others Part Two
oktober 31 | | Darker Shapes – Raven
november 02 | | The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
november 11 | | Halocraft – Chains for the sea
november 15 | | Jet Plane – Falls Feather
november 16 | | hazards of swimming naked – take great joy
november 26 | | Riah – Autumnalia
november 30 | | April Rain – To Whom It May Concern
november 30 | | In Lights – The Forgotten Bridge
december 05 | | The Further I Go – Every Morning Is An Afterlife
december 07 | | Hammock – Universalis
december 07 | | Legendary Skies – Navigation
december 14 | | Kerretta – Exiscense

My personal Post-Rock Album Top 10

And here is my personal top 10 list of best ‘post-rock and related’ albums from 2018:

1.) Long Distance Calling – Boundless

A great album by the German band; diverse, both versatile and heavy. Memorable songs that stick to your head. After their 2016 release called Trips they raised their bar managed to leap over it with ease. Favourite song: Like a river.

2.) Whale Fall – Sondersongs

The addition of the brass-instruments in Whale Fall’s songs drew my attention and stole my heart for this band. It took the LA-based band four years to release a follow-up for The Madrean, but the wait was all worth it. The songs are memorable, and it feels like the cornet and flügelhorn add a top-layer to their music, leaving their competition in awe. Favourite song: True places

Sondersongs by Whale Fall

3.) Halocraft – Chains for the sea

This Greek band only released Chains For The Sea in November, but already managed to become one of my favourite releases from 2018. The album wants to tell a story, and that’s stated clearly when you’re listening to this album. It might not be the story that the band wants you to hear, it could be your own story, but there definitely is pleasant cohesion between the songs on this record. Favourite song: Vertigo, the desire to fall

Chains For The Sea by Halocraft

4.) Leech – For Better or For Worse

Swiss masters Leech take their time when it comes to releasing a new album. The last one dates from 2012. With For Better Or For Worse they prove they belong in the top-league of post-rock bands. Their approach though, is slightly different; atmosphere with lots of spacey elements completing their sound. Everything you hear in their songs is placed there on purpose and with a purpose. Favourite song: Sure! Looks real.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE by Leech

5.) The Sun Burns Bright – Through Dusk, Came The Light

2018 only got started for a few weeks, when The Sun Burns Bright (aka Chris Garr) released a masterpiece. Imagine yourself camping by the lakeside when a rainstorm comes up, threatening your peaceful sunset. The Sun Burns Bright swells to climaxes with ambient parts building up slowly. It makes you want to stay in the rain, waiting for more to come. Favourite song: Forward we move, upward we climb

Through Dusk, Came The Light by The Sun Burns Bright

6.) Locomotora – Vuodet, vuoret

Locomotora released a comfortable dark record, combining both post-rock and post-metal. Their layered music grabs you and even forces you to listen more than once to fully understand all layers. Especially the longer songs are like suites on their own. The band uses a bass-trombone and trumpet on this album, which gave them extra points. Favourite song: Vuodet, vuoret

﻿Vuodet, vuoret by Locomotora

7.) Degree of Arc – Raptures

If you love a band like Caspian, you surely should check out Degree Of Arc. Not that they are a copy or clone, but their styles are very similar. Great guitarwork, combined with atmosphere and groovyness. Favourite song: Ascent

Raptures by Degree of Arc

8.) Baikonur – Nihil Per Saltum

Hailing from Santiago, Chile. This conceptalbum impressed me by the seemingly simplicity at the first listen. After deepening the songs, they proved to be more complicated then I heared the first time. That’s why Nihil Per Saltum is such an intriguing album. You’ll only find the diamond when you seek for it. Favourite song: Versus kaspárov

Nihil Per Saltum by Baikonur

9.) Noorvik – Noorvik

If someone asks you what post-rock is, just put on this record! It has everything; the atmosphere, the musical skills, the vibes, the grooves the swells and the climaxes. Great record by these four guys from Cologne, Germany. Favourite song: Denali

Noorvik by Noorvik

10.) Crows In The Rain – Ashes Of The Past

You can’t prohibit a bird from flying across borders. Despite the fact how the world looks at Iran, there’s a band with a great future laying ahead for them. In may the Tehran-based band released Ashes Of The Past, which clocks over 2 hours! This band breaks with unwritten rules about the length of an album. Crows In The Rain creates a sound that swell and fade like waves, but take their time to reach to a climax, eventually. Be patient and let the music take you there. Favourite song: Lights in front of a dead sea

Ashes of the Past by Crows in the rain

Final thoughts

I feel that this year has brought us a lot of new talent, and I’m sure that the bar has been raised for 2019. Which means it can only get better, right? Well…. if bands keep re-inventing themselves and developping their music by that, the genre will have a great future. Copying other bands styles will eventually lead to an overkill of bands who all sound the same, or at least simular. Uniqueness is key to succes. I am looking forward to next year’s list!

Cheerz,

Niels