BravePicks 2018 – IHSAHN's Ámr #18
December 13, 2018, 6 years ago
Another gruelling year of heavy metal debauchery is almost over! Killing is our business ... and business is good! And this year the metal scene killed it with a myriad of heavy intrigue! So the votes are in and the compiling is complete! It's time to crown the winners and call out the the disappointments.
So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2018 each day in December! And our devout scribes killed it as well, putting their collective metal minds together to build the ultimate lists including 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. All will be showcased come the New Year!
'Tis the season to commence the good, bad and ugly of 2018! On with the cream of this year's crop!
BravePicks 2018
18) IHSAHN – Ámr (Candlelight / Spinefarm)
Ámr, a simple title for a progressive and powerful listen from the Emperor legend Ihsahn. As with all of his solo albums to date, Ámr possesses its own unique atmosphere; a palpable sense of tension and unease that infuses even the album’s most melodic moments with heightened drama and otherworldly menace. But despite its often claustrophobic feel, this is very much an album of beautifully crafted and shrewdly arranged songs. Although as dark and intense as anything he has conjured before, both the depth of sonic texture and the clarity of his overarching vision are more impressive than ever.
2018 brings the arrival of Ihsahn’s seventh solo album, Ámr. Another immersive and frequently disorientating eruption of refined and absorbing progressive extreme metal, it echoes the meticulous precision and structural simplicity of 2016’s widely acclaimed Arktis. Album while taking Ihsahn’s music somewhere entirely new, where the hiss and throb of old school analogue synths dominate and the atmosphere is airless and oppressive. Once again percussively propelled by long-time drummer Tobias Ørnes Andersen and with a blistering guest solo from Opeth’s Fredrik Akesson on Arcana Imperii, Ámr is another evolutionary leap from one of metal’s most remorselessly forward-thinking protagonists.
BravePicks 2018 Top 30
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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)
