BravePicks 2018 – BEHEMOTH's I Loved You At Your Darkest #1!
January 1, 2019, 5 years ago
Another gruelling year of heavy metal debauchery is over and its time to unveil the BravePick of 2018! Polish masters of the dark arts Behemoth roared back this past year with the cross-burning triumph, I Loved You At Your Darkest, which dominated the BraveWords collective with epic black metal majesty!
But the heavy metal fun has just begun! Stay tuned for the BraveWords scribes commentary on the year past and what we have in store for 2019. Coming up are the individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2018? and Metal Predictions For 2019.
Happy headbanging New Year!
BravePicks 2018
1) BEHEMOTH – I Loved You At Your Darkest (Metal Blade)
And in the darkest hour came a masterpiece soaring to #1 – Behemoth’s I Loved You At Your Darkest. Taking the sacrilege to the extreme by using a Bible quote to set the stage for more blasphemous rhymes, mainman Nergal has woven a opus filled with black metal beats, death metal madness, and even some rock ‘n’ roll rhythms. Their previous, The Satanist, was top notch quality too, but the Polish unit has upped the bar again with 46 minutes of Satanic hymns. Developing their sound further and not afraid to take any chances, this is a must listen and must own album and effectively cements Behemoth as thee premiere heavy metal act of 2018.
A crushing salvo of black metal majesty replete with hellish riffs, thundering drum cannonades and soaring liturgical choirs reminiscent of classic horror cinema, I Loved You At Your Darkest is the group's most dynamic record yet: extreme and radical on one hand, but also more rock-oriented than any other Behemoth release.
The album was produced by the band themselves, with drum co-production by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames), mixing by Matt Hyde (Slayer, Children Of Bodom) mastering by Tom Baker (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), and a 17-piece Polish orchestra arranged by Jan Stoklosa.
"It doesn't get more blasphemous than this," declares Behemoth mastermind Nergal. "It's a verse from the Bible," he reveals. "It's actually a quote from Jesus Christ himself. For Behemoth to use it as the basis of our record, it's sacrilege to the extreme."
BravePicks 2018 Top 30
1) BEHEMOTH - I Loved You At Your Darkest (Metal Blade)
2) JUDAS PRIEST - Firepower (Epic)
3) AT THE GATES - To Drink From The Night Itself (Century Media)
4) STRIKER - Play To Win (Record Breaking)
5) GHOST - Prequelle (Loma Vista)
6) CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - No Cross No Crown (Nuclear Blast)
7) VOIVOD - The Wake (Century Media)
8) WARREL DANE - Shadow Work (Century Media)
9) SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS - Living The Dream (Snakepit / Roadrunner)
10) SLEEP - The Sciences (Third Man)
11) BULLET - Dust To Gold (Steamhammer / SPV)
12) DEAFHEAVEN - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (Anti-)
13) RIVERS OF NIHIL - Where Owls Know My Name (Metal Blade)
14) IMMORTAL - Northern Chaos Gods (Nuclear Blast)
15) BLOODBATH - The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn (Peaceville)
16) AMORPHIS - Queen Of Time (Nuclear Blast)
17) BLACK LABEL SOCIETY – Grimmest Hits (eOne)
18) IHSAHN – Ámr (Candlelight / Spinefarm)
19) THE DEAD DAISIES - Burn It Down (Spitfire / SPV)
20) MELIAH RAGE - Idol Hands (Metal On Metal)
21) ALICE IN CHAINS - Rainier Fog (BMG)
22) HIGH ON FIRE - Electric Messiah (eOne)
23) MAMMOTH GRINDER - Cosmic Crypt (Relapse)
24) ICARUS WITCH - Goodbye Cruel World (Cleopatra)
25) UNLEASHED - The Hunt For White Christ (Napalm)
26) SATAN - Cruel Magic (Metal Blade)
27) GRAHAM BONNET BAND - Meanwhile, Back In The Garage (Frontiers)
28) MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence (Metal Blade)
29) GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers (Relapse)
30) DIMMU BORGIR - Eonian (Nuclear Blast)
