Listmania: Metal Noise Top #5 Disappointing Albums of 2018!

Episode #3 of Listmania Season and it’s time to run down 5 really disappointing albums that were released in 2018. We’re not ones for negativity so this list is of albums which… we had pencilled in for a review and upon several listens we were like… “Meh. This is not good. We’ll pass. Next!”

1. “Ex Machina” by Crossfaith

Oh dear. What happened to Crossfaith? Having seen them live in support of Bury Tomorrow a couple of years ago and having been stunned by how good their live show was and loving 2015’s “Xeno”, we expected so much more. Even their Linkin Park cover has minimal change from the original when they did so well with “Omen” from Prodigy. This is a career threatening album with one or two tracks of saving grace at best.

2. “Disease” by Beartooth

After a highly impressive start to their career, Beartooth seem to want to transcend hot summers on Vans Warped Tour and got Arena Rock. Which is frankly a travesty given how good their prior material is, especially “Aggressive” which is glorious. The decision to release something close to 7 songs prior to the albums drop may have been a sign of things to come and maybe the number of lineup changes has taken away some of the original sound that make them awesome. Only time will tell.

3. “Reverence” By Parkway Drive

Unlike the rest of this this one actually did get a review and got a 6/10 which translates as “Something is missing”. Which is true. It’s a Marmite release among fans and has, for us, a large number of cringe worthy moments in amongst some of the risks they’ve taken. There are so many occasions when you wonder what’s going on that it’s painful. Given how good their prior work is and how much we love “Ire”, that’s a real shame.

4. “When Legends Rise” by Godsmack

We loved the “Awake” era Godsmack sound however with this seventh studio album they has announced they were going to move into more of a Hard Rock than Heavy Metal sound. Not that that is a bad thing in principle, if it’s done well. Which, you’ve guessed it, it isn’t. This would be better titled “When Legends Fall”. There was the usual commentary from the band about not wanting to be pigeon holed and “growing as writers” which it has to be said are usually the warning signs of a significant style shift and something that fans might not like so much.

5. “Evolution” by Disturbed

2015’s “Immortalized” was a huge success with not only the bands return from hiatus but also the quality of the material on show. As with Godsmack, this is the bands seventh studio effort and there appears to be a curse here. Or maybe it’s just that the success of their cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic “Sound of Silence” went to their heads? Either way, there is a group of softer tunes which would have been better suited to the band releasing an acoustic album with a handful of reworked older tracks beside some heavier stuff that just appears to have been thrown in to appease older fans. Avoid.

An honourable mention here goes to Bring Me The Horizon. Their first 3 albums are really good, album 4 is decent enough but it’s all gone down hill since and the new singles are laughable in our opinion. If that’s what they want to do, then great, all power to you. Just stay out of Metal publications as you’re no longer representing the genre.