Drowning World is like a nightmare I don’t want to wake up from. The LP arrived looking rough as hell—all four of the cover’s corners came deeply dog-eared—but as soon as the needle dropped I knew it was going to be in my top ten of 2018. If you tossed Swans, Destruction Unit, and Old Man Gloom in a blender I imagine you’d get something like this album. Conduit’s got the heaviest, most distorted and colossal hooks I’ve heard in a quick minute. If they’d had been around about two millennia ago, Drowning World would have made the perfect soundtrack for Jesus’ crucifixion. Fucking brutal, brother. –Simone Carter (Kitschy Spirit, [email protected], kitschyspirit.com)