Our Top 20 of 2018
Happy New Year freaks! Looks like we are going to kick off 2019 by being the last people to share our favorites of 2018. It was an interesting year, and we didn’t have any clear idea of what the list would look like, so you’ll probably be as surprised as we were.
To repeat what we share in this show, we will now be doing episodes every other week. Life has just gotten in the way a little and we can’t keep up with a weekly pace at this time. With this change, we hope to give more time to the albums we listen to and keep giving you quality reviews. Thank you for listening and keeping us going!
- Greyhaven – Empty Black
- Amorphis – Queen of Time
- Revocation – The Outer Ones
- Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns
- Soulfly – Ritual
- Circles – The Last One
- Obscura – Diluvium
- Skeletonwitch – Devouring Radiant Light
- Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
- Khemmis – Desolation
- Bloodshot Dawn – Reanimation
- Frontierer – Unloved
- Ingested – The Level Above Human
- Gyre – Shared Vision
- ASG – Survive Sunrise
- Mouthbreather – Dollmeat
- Gorod – Aethra
- The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
- The Aftermath – Vermine
- Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
The Sideshow Podcast 
As we get older, we realize it becomes cliched to say things such as “where does the time go?” or “it seemed like yesterday”. But in the case of this podcast and your streak of 378 consecutive weeks releasing an episode, I can’t help but fall back on cliche and say that I can’t believe it was really 2011 when the podcast started and that the calendar has now just turned to 2019. So it is with mixed feelings to hear that the podcast will be scaling back in 2019, because on the one hand the weekly episodes have been almost as much a part of my life for these past years as they have been a part of yours, but on the other hand I can completely relate to the needs of life and work taking precedence.
With that, 2018 has been another great year for new music. You’ve put together a great year end list, as we agree on what the best tech death has been (with the exception of Beyond Creation which I loved). As for what you missed? I wouldn’t recommend anything I know you won’t like such as BTBAM. So I’ll stick with things that I’m not entirely sure where you’d stand because you haven’t reviewed them before. I realize I’ve probably mentioned Sleep about a dozen times, so let’s make it a baker’s dozen. Similar to that, I’d give YOB a try. It was Decibel’s number 1 album and my number 20. There are parts and songs on it that are good, but it could benefit from trimming of some fat. And then finally there is Immortal. I know you guys aren’t black metal fans, but Northern Chaos Gods is worth your time.
Thanks for the feedback dude. The decision was a very hard one to make and we are both of two minds about it as well. My work schedule and extracurriculars have just gotten so busy that I don’t have as much time to be spinning new albums as I have in the past. I was able to make it work all this past year, but there were many weeks that I felt like I was giving reviews that weren’t as fully informed or in depth as they have been in the past. I pretty much never had time to actually go check out back-catalog albums or brush up on anything besides what we were reviewing for the week. Never mind finding time to go back to albums I enjoyed or discover things not covered on the show! Hopefully a more spaced out schedule will help reinvigorate things a bit!
This will surprise you, but I did actually go listen to Sleep! (Probably somewhere around the 6th time you recommend it). One of my coworkers ranked it as his #2 of the year so we threw it on in factory. You are correct – it is much more accessible and enjoyable for someone like me than “Dopesmoker” was, however I still didn’t have the same reaction to it that the rest of the world seems to. There’s just a lack of knowledge and barrier to entry with such a legendary band that I’m having a hard time getting through. I’ll give it another listen, but I have a feeling we won’t be covering it. I don’t imagine Brian will like it much!
My new years resolution will be to try YOB and Immortal this week. Not sure we’ll cover them, but I’ll give them both a try!
Thanks again dude!
-N