20 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2018 (So Far)
16. Bleeding Gods – Dodekathlon
Spoiler alert: this list will have a lot of black metal on it. Not an intentional choice but, hey, the subgenre has done amazingly well over the course of the past few months, creating muscular masterpiece after masterpiece, with emotive tones ranging from ambient to serial-killer.
Commencing our journey into this dark, dark territory are Bleeding Gods, the Dutch titans whose music has the immense strength of the Greek gods, and lyrics to match. The group’s new sophomore album, Dodekathlon, is a full-blown concept record with twelve fiery tracks, each of which is dedicated to one of Hercules’s trials to become immortal.
Dodekathlon is a disc dedicated to one of Greece’s most famous and powerful deities, and its tunes are more than epic and boisterous enough to do its subject matter justice. Bleeding Gods provide a guttural ride that fuses the symphonic bombast of SepticFlesh with the unhallowed, blackened death metal of Behemoth.
Hearing an army of cellos dance and wail over primal drumming, emphatic guitars and harsh vocals is beyond invigorating, resulting in an extreme juggernaut that is both fascinating and kick-ass at the same time.