The comforting cacophony of metal rang throughout 2018, featuring standout albums from Thou, YOB, and Voivod, as well as the long-awaited return of stoner icons Sleep.
Between the Buried and Me
Automata II
Released four months after its predecessor, this sequel not only completes the narrative story concept, but moves beyond it musically and lyrically.
Converge
Beautiful Ruin
Clocking in at just under seven minutes, these four relentless songs were recorded in the same sessions that yielded 2017 album The Dusk in Us.
Deafheaven
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
After a three years, the California quintet sounds refreshed and renewed on their most musically ambitious release to date.
Dimmu Borgir
Eonian
Eonian traces the sonic footsteps of 2010's Abrahadabra, delivering epic metal that leans harder on the choral and orchestral end of the spectrum.
Ghost
Prequelle
After a tumultuous 2017, the Swedish ghouls emerge with new personnel, a new fictional frontman, and the best music of their career thus far.
High on Fire
Electric Messiah
Back for another round of bludgeoning stoner thrash, High on Fire unleash a brass-knuckled haymaker on their eighth studio effort.
Ice Nine Kills
The Silver Scream
Horror-loving Boston-area metalcore group takes inspiration from classic scary movies on this concept album.
Ihsahn
Ámr
Black metal's musical conceptualist continues to evolve and transform his sound on this excellent sequel to 2016's Arktis.
Immortal
Northern Chaos Gods
After a nine-year absence from recording, these sons of northern darkness re-emerge leaner and meaner than ever before.
Jonathan Davis
Black Labyrinth
Incubating for a decade, the Korn frontman's solo debut surprises with unexpected genre influences and instrumentation.
Parkway Drive
Reverence
In finding the thin line between pageantry and purpose, Parkway Drive have delivered their most crucial outing to date.
Sleep
The Sciences
The first album in decades from the stoner rock pioneers is a heavyweight dose of gargantuan riffs and righteous weed.
The Body
I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer.
Incorporating more electronics and orchestral instruments, the Body have produced perhaps their most emotionally heavy work to date.
The Sword
Used Future
A controlled blaze of '70s hard rock riffage, fuzzed-out desert blues, and jammy progressive metal in search of a new spark.
Therion
Beloved Antichrist
Already known for theatrical and musical excess, this Swedish metal outfit revels in indulgence with a brilliant fully orchestrated three-hour rock opera.
Thou
Magus
Doom/sludge metal group Thou challenge concepts of ego and identity on their most sonically focused full-length to date.
Underoath
Erase Me
On their first LP in eight years, the Florida post-hardcore outfit makes a radical shift in sound and outlook.
Voivod
The Wake
Five years after their last studio album, the Canadian progressive thrash metal outfit prove they still have plenty of creativity and power to offer.
Windhand
Eternal Return
The Richmond, Virginia-based doom metallers' fifth full-length effort delivers a nuanced and ethereal take on the style.
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
Dirt
The third effort from the Canadian-Asian collective whips myth and sci-fi with psych and prog metal in a thrilling sonic squall.
YOB
Our Raw Heart
After guitarist Mike Scheidt suffered a life-threatening illness and surgery, YOB emerged with the most innovative, poetic album in their career.
