Author: dev88

So my dearest brother got himself happily married last weekend and asked if I could supply a Metal Tuesday for him. I, of course, agreed. To mark such a momentous occasion, I decided to go with a momentous song: Winter’s Gate by Insomnium.

The album Winter’s Gate is a single, 40-minute song (though if you look at it on iTunes or Spotify or where-ever it is frequently broken up into “tracks”).

Based on a short story written by vocalist Niilo Sevänen, Winter’s Gate tells the story of a group of Vikings who set out to find a fabled island west of Ireland, despite the treacherous winter drawing near. The song/album wanders through multiple styles, from soothing, Anathema-like passages to raging black-metal-style riffs and drumming; but always with an Insomnium sensibility and style.

Winter’s Gate, despite being the band’s seventh album, may be their best work.

Editor’s Comments:

For this week’s Metal Tuesday, The Brother asked if he could write up his favorite albums of 2018. Although his tastes run a bit differently than mine, he knows his music.

I have so much music for y’all. This year I decided to do two versions of my Top Albums list; one without any death metal and one with the heavy stuff. I’m considerate like that. For each album, I list the general genre and links to Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube (some sources more official than others on YouTube).

I also call out a couple of EPs that I really liked and at the end are a list of honorable mentions (in no particular order).

The Heavy Stuff

1. Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name – Technical Death Metal: or or
2. Omnium Gatherum – The Burning Cold – Melodic Death Metal: or or
3. Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns – Technical Death Metal: or or
4. Amorphis – Queen of Time – Metal: or or
5. Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology – Death Metal: or or

No Death!

Now, I also understand that a lot of people are not, shall we say, fans of death metal. This is for y’all.

1. Clutch – Book of Bad Decisions – Rock: or or
2. Good Tiger – We Will All Be Gone – Rock: or or
3. Andy James – Arrival – Instrumental Rock: or or
4. Paul Wardingham – Electromancer – Instrumental Rock: or or
5. Set and Setting – Tabula Rasa – Post Rock: or or

The EPs

I also want to call out a couple of EPs that came out this year that I though were really good.

• Hespera – In Absence – Melodic Death Metal: or or
• Plini – Sunhead – Instrumental Rock: or or

Honorable Mentions

These are the albums that were in the running for the other lists but did not make it. These are still really good albums, but the lists have to be capped somewhere.

• Alkaloid – Liquid Anatomy – Death Metal: or or
• Beyond Creation – Algorythm – Technical Death Metal: or or
• Harakiri for the Sky – Arson – Metal: or or
• Moonshade – Sun Dethroned – Melodic Death Metal: or or
• Nita Strauss – Controlled Chaos – Instrumental Rock: or or
• The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic – Post Rock: or or
• The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (Instrumental Version) – Post Rock: or or
• Parasite, Inc. – Dead and Alive – Metal: or or
• Zeal & Ardor – Stranger Fruit – Metal/Soul/Experimental: or or