ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

Unless this is a cruel fakeout, this means that I voted for both the #1 track AND the #1 album. That has definitely never ever happened before. Fuck.

Thank you, pollrunners. Thoroughly enjoyable and well-executed rollout!

blurb for kacey yes ? xp

Yeah!

emil.y your ILM-embroidered jacket should arrive in the next 2-6 weeks

also thanks very much Moka, forks, and seandalai !!!

Low's last one finished relatively....low...compared to this. Ones and Sixes was at #43.

Yes! Low my #1. Kinda knew it would win but didn't want to jinx it. 1440 points is, like, all-time high though, isn't it? Which I did not expect.

I think that's a fair discrepancy. this one felt like the fully-fleshed-out version of that one. xp

https://www.twitter.com/BruceLevenstein/status/1075876452887916544

Thanks Moka! ulysses! seandadata! Standards maintained, and arguably surpassed this year.

45 votes has to be close to a record

                                                                    /
                                                                    'great choice for #1, in my opinion'

That Low album pwns. It's perfect for headphones.

DAMMIT

also thanks very much Moka, forks, and seandalai !!!

― budo jeru

^^^

hahaha yess!

Low's great! if they ever tour anywhere near you, go

still feel weird about the time I saw side project Retribution Gospel Choir and there were about a dozen people in the audience but they still completely went all-out

Kendrick scored 62 votes for To Pimp a Butterfly, don't know if that was the record though.

One more week to vote in the 2018 ILX metal poll! Don't forget to cast a ballot!

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! NEW EXTENDED DEADLINE! Ballots due by Friday, February 15th 11.59pm PST

To the people who organized this, thank you very much, this is the best list and ILM is the best community.

thank you poll-runners and ILXors :)

Great job running this, folks.

thx to the poll-runners!

onward to metal

great poll moka, forks, seandalai. well chuffed with that #1

I listened to the Low album once maybe a couple of months ago and it did not make much of an impression, I should give it a more focused listen I guess.

I sneakily suspect Low could win because it was my #1 and I've never been a Low stan. There must be others like me.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, February 6, 2019 2:51 PM

I'm a genius.

thank you to the pollrunners, and thank you to all the other people who helped place a whole bunch of albums i loved onto this list

Low was my #1. I kind of wanted to give one of my more idiosyncratic favorites the top spot, but this was just too good in every way imaginable. Low is a band I always admired, but never loved. The couple times I saw them live were brilliant, but I never had the patience for their recordings. Did not expect they'd put out an album that would instantly hook me. This is the perfect example of a traditional guitar/bass/drums band using modern technology to its fullest to create something new and unusual, completely avoiding the kids let loose in a room full of toys mentality of so many rock bands turned tech neophytes. These songs have weight and alien timbers, mystery and drama, and are unmistakably Low to the core. The album flows so well from song to song, and manages to feel brief despite their signature glacial pace. Perfect.

how many ballots total were there?

it did not make much of an impression, I should give it a more focused listen I guess.

― silverfish, Thursday, February 7, 2019 2:13 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol i feel like this about maybe 15 or 20 albums on this list

usually I find the album list is a bit snoozy compared to the tracks list in terms of diversity and placement, but I had a blast with it this year

yeah, great list

booming post moodles

sorry i went overboard with the holter slagging, i get carried away at the sharp end of an eoy. will re-check everything i've heard and discover everything i haven't

I voted for my 10 favorite albums, and I think only two of them placed? I get why many of the rest wouldn’t be widespread faves, but the absence of Brandi Carlile does surprise me. Did you guys just not hear that LP? (It’s not even quite in my “wheelhouse,” yet it’s so objectively great I had to vote for it!)

most surprising absence imo: pistol annies

a bit surprised the Pistol Annies didn't place, it was probably just outside the 77. Brandi Carlile was my guess for the other country album to show up.

I also voted for Brandi xps

Thanks poll runners! Just caught up. Happy with that as a winner. Confusion hath made its masterpiece.

LOW

!!!!!!!!!!

i love ilm, personally

Country music is not really a thing here, so I've never heard of those artists. Wouldn't know who Kacey Musgraves is either, if it wasn't for ILM.

wow, Robyn made the top 3. Ah well. Low #1 though! So good! ILMFTW

wrt Low, it's crazy to me that a band managed to put out their best album 25 years in. makes me kind of hopeful.

Great poll!

Moka, tell us: who bears the onus of 78?

wait, people are saying the new one is the *best* Low album? I've got to get back to it to relisten

Good winner, pretty great 77.

Thankig u Moka, Forks and Seandalai! <3

it is def a contender for best Low album, though Trust is my sentimental fave

As someone who's gone between indifference and mild delight re: Low since the 90s, this is the only one that makes my jaw drop.