10 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Songs Of 2018
From extreme prog to bruising hardcore, this year’s metal has given us some BELTERS.
In heavy metal, it’s often easy to overlook the power of the individual song. When the end of each year arrives, many a publication eagerly busts out their greatest albums list (including us in the coming weeks – stay tuned), but rarely catalogue the best tracks and singles of the past twelve months.
And you can’t blame them when you consider the sheer volume of metal tracks being released. Hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of metal songs have been unveiled on Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube and so on in 2018; who would be stupid enough to wade through all of that and chisel it down to only ten?
Us. We are stupid enough to wade through all of that and chisel it down to only ten.
Anything new, unique and, most importantly, heavy is up for contention, with the end goal of creating a fine-tuned list of fun and game-changing tracks for your audial pleasure.
Consider this your one-stop playlist of this year’s best heavy hits, starring everything from whirring hardcore to grandiose prog to soul-crushing doom.
10. A Pale Horse Named Death – “Love The Ones You Hate”
“Love the Ones You Hate” is a pop hit masquerading as a doom metal anthem. And it is bloody brilliant!
Released on 16th November via A Pale Horse Named Death’s new home, Long Branch Records, the punchy track is the band’s first new song in nearly six years. Their comeback may have been delayed by frontman Sal Abruscato’s stint in the reformed Life of Agony, but “Love the Ones You Hate” suggests the wait was worthwhile.
Evoking the work of Paradise Lost, Type O Negative and even early Ghost, “Love the Ones You Hate” is pure melancholy condensed into a surprisingly catchy four-minute chunk. Down-tuned guitar chords give way to mid-paced percussion and then Sal’s low, clean-sung vocals. “Every time you said you loved me, / You loved yourself,” the singer solemnly hums out, introducing a subject matter that is simultaneously dark yet relatable.
The accessibility only ups with the arrival of the first chorus. The guitar chords and percussion receive a shot in the arm as despondent hooks sink in and refuse to let go. To conclude the ever-increasing adrenaline, at the song’s end, a monstrous guitar solo rips through, wrapping up on a grimly energetic high.