BravePicks 2018 - The Scribes Speak!
Nick Balazs

Top 20 of 2018
1) AMORPHIS – Queen Of Time (Nuclear Blast)
2) MAD HATTER – Mad Hatter (Art Gates)
3) SATAN – Cruel Magic (Century Media)
4) STRIKER – Play To Win (Record Breaking)
5) TRIBULATION – Down Below (Century Media)
6) CAULDRON – New Gods (Dissonance Productions)
7) AXEL RUDI PELL – Knight’s Call (SPV)
8) GRAVE DIGGER – The Living Dead (Napalm)
9) GHOST – Prequelle (Loma Vista)
10) ACE FREHLEY – Spaceman (eOne)
11) HAUNT – Burst Into Flame (Shadow Kingdom)
12) JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower (Sony)
13) POWERWOLF – The Sacrament Of Sin (Napalm)
14) LUCIFER – Lucifer II (Century Media)
15) LIZZY BORDEN – My Midnight Things (Metal Blade)
16) HORRENDOUS – Idol (Season Of Mist)
17) CHAPEL OF DISEASE – And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye (Van)
18) GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers (Relapse)
19) SEVENTH WONDER – Tiara (Frontiers)
20) NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram (Century Media)

Top 3 Concerts
HELLOWEEN – Concord Music Hall – Chicago, IL
NIGHTWISH – Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH
STEEL PANTHER – House Of Blues – Cleveland, OH

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments
MACHINE HEAD – Catharsis (Nuclear Blast) – This record was so bad, half the band quit. That says it all right there.

VIRGIN STEELE – Seven Devils Moonshine (SPV) – Three records worth of new material and barely anything memorable. Extremely disappointing.

MINISTRY - AmeriKKKant (Nuclear Blast) – A try hard album from a band that should have ended years ago.

MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST – Resurrection (Nuclear Blast) – Awesome to hear all of the axman’s former singers on this record, unfortunately the music isn’t that awesome.

KAMELOT – Shadow Theory (Napalm) – They need to be inspired again. They are capable of so much more.

What / Who Needs To Stop In 2019
Overpricing vinyl records and RATT. The ongoing circus of a once great band is embarrassing and they’re crapping on their legacy.

Thoughts On 2018
This was the year of Ghost. Following them since their 2010 debut and now on their fourth album, it’s remarkable how they’ve achieved arena headline status and have gone beyond just the metal media as mainstream outlets are covering them and they’ve earned two Grammy nominations. And just like that, the stream of criticism has been aimed at them; just take a look at the amount of crap we took on the BW social pages for having Prequelle has the fifth best album of the year. Ghost knows exactly what they are doing and are doing it well. I’ve enjoyed each of their releases and while some are better than others, it’s nice seeing them gain notoriety for it. Whether people like it or not; Ghost is just what the metal and rock community needed. They have character, they are interesting, and most importantly, they have great songs. There certainly could be much worse artists garnering these accolades. Special shout out to Metal Church’s Damned If You Do, which was released too late to make it the top 20 list, but they’ve continued their momentum from XI. Great album!

Metal Predictions For 2019
Mini-controversy will ensue when it’s found out / confirmed that Paul Stanley is lip-synching on this “farewell” tour for KISS. The Knights are my favorite band of all-time, but let’s face it; Paul can barely sing anymore so there’s probably going to be some “enhancements” and some negative publicity will come out of it and it’s going to suck having to read and write about it.

Check out our BravePicks 2018 countdown where Behemoth took the top spot here.

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