2018 no. 1: Phideaux

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 1
Phideaux - Infernal

Where'd Phideaux go? It was an oft-repeated question for the last seven years. Whereas Phideaux Xavier and his band once released a new album every year (most of which are still very good), after 2011's acclaimed Snowtorch the man vanished off the face of the Earth. Well, music Earth, anyway. Turns out, he was busy winning Emmy awards for his work on General Hospital, or something. How dare he!

2018 no. 2: Roine Stolt

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 2
Roine Stolt  - Manifesto Of An Alchemist
The Flower Kings - Manifesto Of An Alchemist
Roine Stolt's The Flower King - Manifesto Of An Alchemist

Hooray! It's a new Flower Kings album! Except not really. Except... maybe?

Roine Stolt doesn't really care what he works on, as long as he works. Which is how you get things like The Sea Within, a supergroup that probably wasn't as big a sensation as everyone had hoped. The Sea Within's eponymous album appreared pretty much dead in the water, doomed by the news that Daniël Gildenlöw, the most irreplacable man in prog, had already left the band; but even moreso by the news that Roine had got a new touring lineup together for The Flower Kings. And, suddenly, the world knew exactly what it wanted from Roine Stolt, and it wasn't some underachieving supergroup.

2018 no. 3: Rob Reed

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 3
Robert Reed - Sanctuary III

"Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things"
- Terry Pratchett

Speaking of gimmicks: Rob Reed's first Sanctuary album was a clever excersise in deliberate plagiarism and musical archaeology. With utmost precision, Reed reverse-engineered a full-blown early Mike Oldfield album into existence, and a good one, too. It was a neat party trick, but when the sequel was announced, I was skeptical. Do we really need another one? Isn't he stretching the point a bit? But, it turned out, the second one was even better than the first and ended up at my #2 spot of that year. I was ready for a third one.

2018 no. 4: Ghost

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 4
Ghost - Prequelle

The game is up. The masquerade is over. Whether he dresses up as a pope or a cardinal: we know who is behind the once-mysterious phenomenon of Ghost, that lovable pretend-Satanic retro metal outfit. There's no more pretense that this band is anything but the gimmicky brainchild of one Tobias Foge and a host of replacable - and, indeed, replaced - ghouls. There's also no pretense that Ghost wants to be anything but a slightly louder version of ABBA, which is what I believe all Swedish bands secretly want to be in the first place.

2018 no. 5: Koenji Hyakkei

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 5
Koenji Hyakkei - Dhorimvishka

Like Rob Reed's Sanctuary project, Koenji Hyakkei makes an entire career out of copying the style of only one artist. Only, in this case, that artist is Magma and the style is Zeuhl, hyperkinetic operatic free-jazz in gobbledigook, designed to sound like it came from another planet. It's the ultimate acquired taste, but there's a certain beauty to it. Magma's K.A. (2004) still frequently finds its way into my MP3 player.

2018 no. 6: Riccardo Romano Land

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 6
Riccardo Romano Land - B612

Yes, even when there's no Marillion album on the horizon, I will find a way to get them into my top 10. Riccardo Romano is the keyboard player of both Italian proggers RanestRane and the Steve Rothery band, and he's got both of Marillion's Steves to play on his solo debut - a concept album about The Little Prince. You might recognize that as an idea Genesis once had for a concept album...

2018 no. 7: Tiger Moth Tales

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 7
Tiger Moth Tales - Story Tellers Part Two

We don't deserve Peter Jones. He spent most of 2018 as Andy Latimer's hypercompetent sidekick at Camel, but he still made time to record a sequel to 2015's jaw-dropping Story Tellers Part 1. Jaw-dropping, not just because of how good it was, but how incredibly strange it was. I still can't quite believe it exists.

2018 no. 8: The Tangent

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 8
The Tangent - Proxy

Hello again, Andy! Glad you're well. It's been... not very long. 2017's The Slow Rust Of Forgotten Machinery occupied last year's number two spot, and this year's Proxy is very much in the same vein. Andy is still Angry and we've got another collection of righteously vitriolic outbursts on our hands. This time, the "proxy wars" in the Middle-East, the rise of alternative facts and the commercialization of rock music are targets. It's not for everybody, but I sure feel this.

2018 no. 9: Haken

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 9
Haken - Vector

Is there anywhere left to go for Haken, once the most exciting band in the world? They rose fast with their first two albums, peaked with 2013's The Mountain (my no. 1 album of that year) and are now everybody's second favourite prog metal outfit, but there hasn't been all that much musical growth since then. Things move fast in the world of heavier prog, and a young but top-class band like Haken needs to constantly re-affirm their notoiriety. They promised the new album would be "darker". They weren't kidding.

2018 no. 10: The Decemberists

My Favourite Albums of 2018 - Number 10
The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl

Portland's most insufferable bunch of hipsters deliver once again. The Decemberists accidentally went through a bit of a proggy phase in the 2000's, which was of course when I liked them best. The last few albums have been more poppy and straightforward and kind of bland, but I feel that I'll Be Your Girl has mostly put them back in my good graces. The reason? Ironic, post-meta eighties references!