Top 15 Albums of 2018: The Two Months Late Edition

Oh shit is this thing late. Remember when I said I'd upload this shortly. Boy did that not happen. But hey finding down time to write is hard in between work and trying not to freaking just lose my entire bloody mind. But hey isn't music still fucking cool as hell. And better late then never, let me word at you about some albums what I liked in 2018. Also there are fifteen of them because I'm very indecisive. Here we go!

15) Birds in Row // We Already Lost the World

Boy does this album sound like it’s held together by scotch tape. Scotch tape and the sound of every member playing each song like it’s the last song they’ll ever play. Songs like We vs Us and 15-38 show a different side to the chaos of Birds in Row. A softer side, less abrasive but no less passionate. The latter having one of the biggest chants of the year. One that makes me long to be at a Birds in Row gig with 200+ other peeps all chanting along. HATE ME. LOVE ME. WE ALREADY LOST THE WORLD.

14) Basement // Beside Myself

Is this the best album to come out of Fuelled By Ramen since the self-titled Paramore album? The answer is yes. I listened to this album a few months ago at the recommendation of my partner and it didn’t click with me really until a week ago when Disconnect played in a shuffle and stopped me in my tracks (ayyyy music pun amiright). What a song. What an album. The most memorable Basement album in my opinion because it’s more than just a decent 90s throwback album. It’s a ripper of a modern alt-rock, pop punk, emo album.

13) The 1975 // A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

What the bloody hell is this doing here. Who is writing this and what have they done with the real James? Chill it is indeed me. I still think this band is pretentious as fuck. I still think that Love Me belongs on the Shrek sountrack. I still think that the EP version of Sex is better than the album version. But like, I get it now. I get this album. It makes sense to me in that I like all the songs a lot and the filler makes sense in the grand scheme of the bullshit filler wankery that is commonplace for the 1975. I really, really like this damn stupid album by this fukn stupid band. And fuck me what a closer!? I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)???? Like, an actual masterpiece??? Who knew that they had it in em to make a fan out of me. Good bloody job.

12) Behemoth // I Loved You At Your Darkest

I still have a big love-hate with metal. On the one hand, albums like this are fucking brilliant. On the other though, high school metal phase James was a bloody idiot sometimes and whenever I listen to a metal album I am reminded of that. Real talk though, remember that time fucking everyone lost their minds about The Satanist and it almost crossed over into the mainstream (as a blasphemous novelty more than anything)? Yeah, this album is better. The heavier songs are heavier, the evil, sinister sounding songs are more evil-sounding. And bloody hell how’s that drumming, good lord. This album should be far bigger than The Satanist, yet it doesn’t seem like it will be and that kills the man.

11) Architects // Holy Hell

I still do not know how to talk about albums like this, albums like Stage Four. These albums for me are very tragedy and time. Not at all in a comedic way, but in a learning how to deal with pain way. Not necessarily how to move on, but how to keep living in spite of tragedy. How to not let it rule your life. How to live a little bit easier with hurt. Holy Hell is another of James’ dealing with the death of a loved one albums. It's albums like this that remind me that I am human and still have feelings because I feel like it's easy to forget that sometimes in the rush of everyday life. Bands like Architects, bands like Touché, they're bloody important and I hope they stick around for a while.

10) Black Peaks // All That Divides

Have I air-guitared / hair-brush sang along with this album like an absolute dork? The answer is yes to both. All That Divides is a much more focussed and distilled Black Peaks. That being said, it did take me longer to get into than Statues. But the song that finally made my brain click and my eyes light up with all the YES THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT was Eternal Light. There’s just something about that passage section around four minutes that is so much bloody yes. And then Fate I & II ending the album good god damn. That song was one of my biggest hair-brush singalongs of 2018. Don’t go into this album thinking it’s immediate. It’s a lot more subtle than the primal scream of Statues, but you get so much more out of it when you start going back to it and re-listening.

9) Hellions // Rue

In 2018 we're all about one thing. Music being fucking fun. Rue is a fun fucking album. A theatrical album. Catchy hooks all over the place; the bounce in the verses; all the little bells and whistles in the instrumentals. There’s a lot going on here. There’s some obvious pop punk influence. There’s some UNFD-core influence, there’s almost some rap influence showing through in some of the vocal delivery in the verses in certain songs. I didn’t think I’d be hype on a UNFD album again, but this one really hooked me. It's just bloody fun, catchy rock music.

8) Palm Reader // Braille

What really gets me about this album is the warmth of it. The first two albums—Bad Weather and Beside the Ones We Love—were so intense and bleak and cold (see: Whites of Our Eyes, I Watched the Fire Chase My Tongue). Braille shows moments of warmth, moments of tenderness. Something I didn’t know I needed from Palm Reader but now want so much more of.

7) Pianos Become the Teeth // Wait for Love

Speaking of albums that are warm and tender, Wait for Love. I was really excited for this album after the first single, Charisma, last year. And the following singles, Bitter Red and Love on Repeat, only served to increase that hype infinitely. And wow. Just wow. If the phrase heart of gold applied to the sound of albums, this would be the textbook definition. If you like albums that make your heart feel all the bittersweet, light, and heavy in the world, Wait for Love may just be for you.

6) Trophy Eyes // The American Dream

God the melodies on this record just set like cement in your brain. It’s essentially alternative rock via The Lion King—an album I listened to exclusively for an entire three weeks. There’s also not a single album this year that I have caught myself singing / humming along to more. And it helps that the album is also banger after motherfucking banger (except for the acoustic tracks). Lesser mortals may consider the album front-loaded, but lesser mortals clearly aren’t listening to Lavender Bay or Miming in the Choir—the former of which is one of the best songs on the album fight me. If you like any kind of guitar music please good god do yourself a favour and listen to this album because it is brilliant.

5) Chvrches // Love is Dead

In stark contrast to an album we'll talk about a little later, we have Chvrches over here claiming that love is in fact, dead. That seems a little fake though given how much I love this album. It’s just good, fun, not-2BPM pop music. The best kind of pop music. Written by the best pop band (fight me). This album is everything pop should be striving towards. Fun, colourful sounds and instrumentals, hooks huger than the sky tree, and the appeal of being, well, poppy and upbeat as fuck.

4) Turnstile // Time & Space

What do Chvrches and Turnstile have in common? If you said not a lot, you'd be mostly right. Except for the fact that both of them are Hayley Williams approved. And boy howdy if that isn't a massive fukn seal of quality I don't know what is. Running theme of this list though, just fuckin fun music. Fun hardcore with big fukn riffs and big fukn crowd shout-alongs? What's not to love!

3) Spanish Love Songs // Schmaltz

Maybe you’re longing for a perfect middle ground between The Menzingers, The Wonder Years, and Sink or Swim era Gaslight. Maybe you wanna be the one, know when you’re loved, and hold it together. Or hey, maybe you’re just looking for a haircut that hasn’t been co-opted by Nazis. Whatever it is you’re looking for, this album probably doesn’t have it, but god damn does it make you feel like you’re not searching alone.

2) The Wonder Years // Sister Cities

2018. The year a 30 second teaser of a song (The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me) made me cry for ten minutes straight. The year of the wildly under-appreciated deep cut, Heaven’s Gate. The year The Wonder Years validated my obsession with blue and orange on tracks nine and ten (if you know you know). Yes folks, 2018 was indeed the year of peak Wonder Years. And what a glorious, earnest, emo peak it was.

1) Rolo Tomassi // Time Will Die & Love Will Bury It

All the proof of music as art you’ll ever need. A wild, beautiful, crushing, fragile, intense, gorgeous, uplifting masterpiece of an album. There is so much push and pull here, and the dynamic range is just huge. Alma Mater vs Risen on the same album and both as brilliant as the other. This album just makes my heart feel all of the things all at once every single time I listen to it. Flawless in every sense of the word.