Heavy Metal Textbooks

2018 Top Twenty Stoner Rock Albums (#10-1)

#20-11 was here if you missed it, but the following are my top ten stoner rock albums of 2018., starting with #10 and finishing with #1.  The video contains one tune from each, and all of them deserve to be played loud.  The track info is given for the first 20 seconds of each tune.

#10: "Blood's Thicker Than Love" by Blood of the Sun

          

          This kind of rock holds up in any era.  
           Flawless Victory.

#9: "Dunbarrow II" by Dunbarrow

        Reminiscent of the first few Witchcraft 
        albums, and just as good 

        

#8:  "Beyond The Sky" by La Chinga

        On first listen, I classified this as really good 
         but not that special, but I could not have 
         been more wrong.  Each successive listen 
         makes me appreciate this album more.  It's 
         like everything that was awesome about late 
         80's hair metal, without the cheesy parts.  

#7: "Radio Free Conspiracy Theory" by Mississippi Bones

        Mississippi Bones has done nothing but tear 
        it up since their debut album in 2010.  This 
        latest release has a dramatic/tongue-in-
        cheek humorous intro to each and every 
        song, and loving this album like I do, I feel 
        it's necessary to include the intro  with the 
        tune.  They go together.

#6: "Indecipher" by Spacelord

        Back to back years in my top 10, these guys 
        have great musical ideas, and you can smell 
        the sincerity on Spacelord from a mile away.

#5:  "Eye The Tide" by Spaceslug

        Spaceslug is the other band to make my top 
        10 albums list twice in a row.  Spaceslug has 
        produced four must-own albums in three 
        years.  Wish I could see them open up 

        for TOOL.  Breathtaking cover art too.

#4:  "III" by Weedpecker

         My top five albums are 40% Polish.  More 
         importantly, this album is transcendent, and 
         as important as a new Led Zeppelin album 
         used to be.  Every tune is great.

#3:  "Ranier Fog" by Alice In Chains

        Stoner rock?  Not even a question for me.  
        This is a high quality release from an all-
        time great rock band.

#2:  "Rootstock" by Crypt Trip

        Sheer perfection in a throwback rock album.  

        

#1:  "Book Of Bad Decisions" by Clutch

        How does a band stay this fresh and 
        aggressive after so many albums, and 
        so many years?  
        (PS: Tim Sult has morphed to the next level)

        An all-time classic album, from a
        legendary band

ALTERNATE ENDING:  

"The Wall (Redux)" by Various Artists: 
Probably deserves album of the year (pretty sure I've listened to it as many times as I've listened to Book of Bad Decisions)










Noteworthy: 15% of my top 20 albums are from a Vancouver area band (Death Wheelers, Hashteroid & La Chinga)
20% of my top 10 albums are in my top 10 for the second consecutive year (Spacelord & Spaceslug)
20% of my top 10 are from a Polish band (Spaceslug & Weedpecker)

Stay safe tonight, and make sure rock music is played really loud as you welcome in 2019.

Happy New Year, Over and Out 

-ULTRA