Tune Of The Day: Best Of 2018

As always in December we get into the tedious task of listing our favourite albums of the year.

You have seen them all now, a total summary can be read below. So that you know it was really hard to make that final list, the bands have changed the position more than once, but hey “a man gotta do what a man gotta do”. I know I have excluded many good releases, as far as I can see is that the box with Vinyls with unplayed records are more than full, shame on me.

It’s also the time for me to do a little retrospective of this year for me and Tune Of The Day.

We reached 476 followers on Facebook, kinda cool but hey I wish it would be more, so hit like for god's sake. We have made a little over 4400 posts, that's a pretty much, but it's since the start in 2007 I guess it's pretty valid. 1230537 hits on the site, cruel! Have added 2091 tunes to the Tune Of The Day playlist on Spotify, that means 161 hrs 37 min play time, haha. And yes I have been pretty lazy to update Spotify with the latest tune, will fix it soon, I promise.

2018 have been a pretty decent year work-wise, a few longer projects have been done, a bunch of concerts, festivals, travels, hotels, cars, buses, trains etc. To many to be listed here, but the photo below will tell some at-least.

My aim for 2018 is to work less and charge more, well I guess that is wishful thinking, but that is something I would like to do. Mostly to be able to spend more time with the family that I mistreated for so long all these years with work. There are a few things that are already set for next year, something that I already am looking forward to.

Some thoughts about the Top 50 album list. First of all, I have to say that a physical copy of the album is a requirement for joining the list, no record no place on the list. And as I only play Vinyl can make things hard for some band to even get a position, but these days most bands release their creations on the only format.

2017’s lineup is very strong in its own. Many great releases, from successful bands to new discoveries on the musical map. Here is the full lineup. 17 of them are Swedish :)

Tune Of The Day - Top 50 - 2018

50. Magnum - Lost On The Road To Eternity

49. The Watchers - Black Abyss

48. Earthless - Black Heaven

47. Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog
46. Hällas - Excerpts From A Future Past

45. Conan - Existential Void Guardian

44. Vanhelgd - Deimos Sanktuarium

43. Amorphis - Queen Of Time

42. Black Moth - Anatomical Venus

41. DeWolff - Thrust

40. Palace Of The King - Get Right With Your Maker

39. At The Gates - To Drink From The Night Itself

38. Dead Quiet - Grand Rites

37. Lydia Laska - Ego Death

36. Kingnomad - The Great Nothing

35. Saxon - Thunderbolt

34. Fire Down Below - Hymn Of The Cosmic Man

33. JIRM - Surge Ex Monumentis

32. Orphaned Land - Unsung Prophets And Dead Messiahs

31. Graveyard - Peace

30. Judas Priest - Firepower

29. The Night Flight Orchestra - Sometimes The World Ain't Enough

28. Domkraft - Flood

27. Windhand - Eternal Return

26. V**gra Boys - Street Worms

25. Tempel - Tempel

24. Ghost - Prequelle

23. Church Of The Cosmic Skull - Science Fiction

22. Sleep - The Sciences

21. Mantar - The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze

20. Visigoth - Conqueror's Oath

19. A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant

18. Primordial - Exile Amongst The Ruins

17. Necrophobic - Mark Of The Necrogram

16. Khemmis - Desolation

15. Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

14. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

13. Strängen - Rock På Svenska

12. Greenleaf - Hear The Rivers

11. Slægt ‎– The Wheel

10. High On Fire - Electric Messiah

9. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

8. Lucifer - Lucifer II

7. Greta Van Fleet - Anthem of the Peaceful Army

6. Skeletonwitch - Devouring Radiant Light

5. Harakiri For The Sky - Arson

4. Alastor – Slave to the Grave

3. Clutch - Book Of Bad Decisions

2. Lik - Carnage

1. Tribulation - Down Below

Honourable mentions:

Nekromant - The Nekromant Lives, Rivers Of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name,

Smashing Pumpkins - Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1: No Past. No Future. No Sun,

Red Sun Atacama - Licancabur, Odcult - Into The Earth, Dunbarrow - II, The Skull - The Endless Road Turns Dark, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators - Living the Dream, Dopethrone - Transcanadian Anger, King Buffalo - Longing To Be The Mountain,

Chapel Of Disease - ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye,

Walking Papers - WP2, Vexes - Ancient Geometry, Thou - Magus, Bloodbath - The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn, Thunderpussy - Thunderpussy, Forming The Void - Rift, The Temperance Movement - A Deeper Cut, Jonathan Davis - Black Labyrinth, Coheed and Cambria - Vaxis, Act 1: The Unheavenly Creatures, Beartooth - Disease, Black Stone Cherry - Family Tree, Tempelheks - Midnight Mirror, Holy Grove - II, Weedpecker - III, Ancestors - Suspended In Reflections, Ursa - Abyss Between The Stars, Mammoth Grinder - Cosmic Crypt, Horrendous - Idol, Black Elephant - Cosmic Blues, Blackwater Holylight - Blackwater Holylight, Miles Kennedy - Year Of The Tiger, All Them Witches - ATW, Turbonegro - Rock 'n' Roll Machine, Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots, Monster Magnet - Mindfucker, Jack White - Boarding House Reach, Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods, Watain - Trident Wolf Eclipse, Dimmu Borgir - Eonian, Craft - White Noise And Black Metal, Hank Von Hell - Egomania, Warrel Dane - Shadow Work, Bullet - Dust To Gold, Vojd - The Outer Ocean, Riot V - Armor Of Light, Riverside - Wasteland, Hardcore Superstar - You Can't Kill My Rock 'n Roll, Mustach - Silent Killer, Uriah Heep - Living The Dream, Treat - Tunguska, Spiders - Killin Machine, The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Paleozoic, Brant Björk - Mankind Woman, YOB - Our Raw Heart, Svvamp - Svvamp 2, Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows - Hymns, Haunt - Burst Into Flame, Holy Grove - Aurora, Thee Oh Sees - Smote Reverser, Nekormant - The Nekromant Lives, Second Sun - Eländes Elände, Besvärjelsen - Vallmo, Hypnos - Set Fire To The Sky, Fu Manchu - Clone Of The Universe, Flight - A Leap Through Matter, Hamferd - Tamsins Likam, Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, Svartkonst - Devils Blood

Haha that was a long list of Honours…but these are good ones that never got enough attention or even got the chance to get played and still stands on high heels in the box on the floor and waits for the opportunity to be played, sorry guys. Regarding albums, yes, I am still using the best tool for my records "Discogs", I just love it!! But hey, it's pretty dangerous surfing around, always end with a new purchased record. Even if my best friend "Discogs" is around, I still have bought a few records twice, bah! And this year I will not even look how much records that have entered my home during 2018. We keep it as a secret, I think that's the best way to do it as I know deep inside that I have burned my budget more than once already :)

Ok, let's look on what's was best during 2018.

112 339 minutes with Spotify, haha spend more time with Spotify than my wife and Beck is my best pal. That overruns the Vinyl spins a lot. But hey, music is my life.

Here is the list of my top tunes 2018, check it up.

Best Swedish Metal Album

TRIBULATION - Down Below

Best Swedish Death/Black Metal Album

LIK – Carnage

Best Swedish Rock

LUCIFER – Lucifer II

Best Swedish Rock in Swedish

STRÄNGEN - Rock På Svenska

Best Swedish Stoner/Sludge/Heavy Rock Album

GREENLEAF - Hear The Rivers

Best Swedish Doom

ALASTOR – Slave to the Grave

Best Metal Album

HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY - Arson

Best Black/Core/Death Metal Album

BEHEMOTH - I Loved You At Your Darkest

Best Rock Album

CLUTCH - Book Of Bad Decisions

Best Hard Rock/Prog Rock Album

GRETA VAN FLEET - Anthem of the Peaceful Army

Best Stoner/Sludge/Heavy Rock Album

UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS - Wasteland

Best Doom Album

KHEMMIS - Desolation

Best Thrash Album

SKELETONWITCH - Devouring Radiant Light

Best Live Album

OPETH - Garden of the Titans (Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre)

Best Mixed Style Album

ZEAL & ARDOR - Stranger Fruit

Best Tune 2018

LUCIFER - Dreamer

Best Cover Tune

”Run Like Hell” - PALLBEARER

Best Debut Album

TEMPEL - Tempel

Best Surprise Album 2018

HORRENDOUS - Idol

A modern and kick ass album that came to my knowledge too late to grab

a place on the top 50 album list.

Worst Album 2018

MACHINE HEAD - Catharsis

Wtf happend here????

Best Festival 2018

Sweden Rock Festival

Best Live Show - 2018

SLAYER - Hovet

Best Cover Art

MAGNUM - Lost On The Road To Eternity

Art by Rodney Matthews

Best Tour Poster - Mastodon

Live in Houston - Poster by Kyler Sharp

Best Art - Hieronymus Röhrig

Check out that Tattoo, amazing!

Borrowed my buddy Linus picture.

Best T-Shirt 2018 - Strängen - Rock På Svenska

Best Movie - 2018 - Black Panther

Best Whiskey - Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2018

Best Beer - Daura Damm Lager

A great low-gluten option, Daura Damm Lager is a Spanish brew that is smooth, balanced, and light. While it may not have the most exciting flavour profile, it's still super easy to drink for a low-gluten beer.

Best Musical Blog/Site - Doomcharts

An excellent site to some new and fresh doom.

This Year's most active concert-goer: LG-Petrov (Same procedure as last year)

Best Musical Country 2018 - Austria,

The highly mountainous territory of Austria, lying within the Alps, gave birth to many musical talents! A lot of famous classical composers were born in Austria: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Johann Strauss I and II... Such well-known pop artists as FALCO and JOY. But the bands I had in mind was, of course, HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY along with SERENITY, DREAMS OF SANITY, DARKWELL, MOTHER'S CAKE, PUNGENT STENCH, ABIGOR, BELPHEGOR and SUMMONING are from Austria too.