2018 Metal & Hard Rock Albums

At the Gates' sixth album, from May 2018: the first without co-founder Anders Björler, built on Peter Weiss's novel The Aesthetics of Resistance.

Voivod's fourteenth studio album, a concept record from September 2018 that reached number 26 in Germany and won a Juno award.

Ghost's fourth studio album, from June 2018, built on the Black Death and the Middle Ages; it entered the Billboard 200 at number three.

Dir En Grey's tenth album, released on 26 September 2018, recorded at Studio Sunshine.

Saxon's twenty-second album, released on 2 February 2018. "They Played Rock and Roll" is for Motorhead; the album reached five in Germany.

The sixteenth album, a trio record with Chad Smith and Glenn Hughes, released on 12 January 2018.

Ministry's fourteenth album, out on 9 March 2018, and one of the records their own biography names.

The second album by The Struts of Derby, from October 2018: 1970s glam rock made with today's production.

Sleep's fourth album, released without warning on 20 April 2018, fifteen years after Dopesmoker.

The debut by Los Angeles's Twin Temple, from 2018: Satanism sung as 1950s doo-wop.

Onmyo-za's twelfth album, from June 2018, the harder half of a pair released on the same day.

Breaking Benjamin's sixth album, from April 2018, produced by Benjamin Burnley himself.

Greta Van Fleet's debut album, released on 19 October 2018: ten songs written by all four members, produced by Marlon Young, Al Sutton and Herschel Boone and recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville and Rustbelt Studios in Michigan. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 3. The Japanese edition (UICU-1298) adds the four songs of the Black Smoke Rising EP.

Gus G.'s third solo album, recorded as a trio with Dennis Ward on vocals, bass and keyboards and Will Hunt on drums, and produced by Ward and Gus G. together. It includes a cover of Mark Knopfler's "Money for Nothing". The Japanese edition (KICP-1908) runs to fifteen tracks, two of them recorded live in 2017.

The second full album, in national distribution from 19 September 2018. Thirteen tracks: the two songs of the March EP CADAVER / REVADAC, plus re-recordings of the 2015 single "Wings" and of "Kyobo no Koibito" from the 2014 debut affected. Music videos were made for "Knight of Sword" and "Kizasi", the latter released in both a flat and a VR version.

An EP put into national distribution on 28 March 2018. The band's own release list describes it as the EP where reading the score of "CADAVER" backwards gives you "REVADAC" — the two title tracks are one piece of music read in both directions. The third track is a live recording from 14 September 2017.

The sixth Bullet for My Valentine album, released worldwide by Spinefarm on 29 June 2018. It brings programming and keyboards well forward and is the first record made with Jason Bowld as a full member. The Japanese edition adds seven tracks — piano versions and a live recording among them — for eighteen.

The eleventh Praying Mantis studio album. King Records released the Japanese edition on 9 May 2018, two days before Frontiers issued it elsewhere on the 11th; the Japanese CD adds an alternate mix of "The Last Summer" for twelve tracks.

Rise to Glory -8118- is the twenty-seventh Loudness album, released simultaneously worldwide on 26 January 2018 — through Ward Records in Japan and earMUSIC in the US and Europe. It was their first American release since On the Prowl in 1991.

A two-song single: the title track, written as an anime theme, backed with "Screaming".

A four-song, 21-minute mini-album built on the idea of fighting the fate one is handed, including a pair of songs drawn from Rachmaninoff.

The sixth album, their first German top ten at number 7, and the year they were named Best German Band at the Metal Hammer Awards. Avalon issued the Japanese edition as MICP-11427 with one bonus track.

The debut album by CoreLeoni, the band Gotthard guitarist Leo Leoni started in 2017. It re-records early Gotthard songs the parent band had stopped playing, with Rainbow's Ronnie Romero singing. The international edition arrived on 23 February 2018; Ward Records had put the Japanese edition out nine days earlier, on 14 February.

The second album for Ranka Kustannus. It did not appear on the official Finnish album chart until August 2021, when it entered at number 30.

A studio album released in 2018.

Seven songs opening on an instrumental title track, made in the years when the band's reputation in Europe was hardening.

The sixth album and the last with Iuri Sanson — released weeks after the mass departure was announced, and so the closing chapter of the band's first era.

The seventh album, produced by Jens Bogren and a German No. 1 — the turning point that produced “Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend.”

An early six-track EP that captures teenage urgency, envy, time pressure, ghosts and a return to zero through raw metalcore and fresh melody.

An early release that documents the origin of BAND-MAID’s maid concept and rock-band direction.

A decisive hard-rock statement whose title mirrors BAND-MAID’s ambition to reach audiences beyond Japan.

Victim of the New Disease shifts All That Remains back toward a heavier metalcore center after the broader reach of Madness.

Helix sharpens Amaranthe’s meeting point of modern metal, electronic rock and pop.

Queen of Time expands Amorphis’s blend of melodic death metal, progressive shape and Finnish shadow into its most cinematic scale to date.

Ømni gathers Angra’s fast metal, Brazilian rhythmic identity, classical harmony and progressive construction inside a science-fiction narrative.

In Our Wake retains Atreyu’s sharp riffs and breakdowns while putting the force of the choruses in clear view.

Monster Hero delivers Axxis’ long-running melodic hard-rock pleasure with direct energy.

Despite its title, Grimmest Hits is not a compilation but Black Label Society’s tenth studio record, packed with the band’s heaviest strengths.

Reach for the Sky turns Blindman’s live-bred unity as a newer lineup into a precise tenth studio album.

Origins moves Dark Moor away from the science-fiction focus of its predecessor toward Celtic lore and images of nature.

Evolution keeps Disturbed’s hard-edged riffs and David Draiman’s commanding voice intact while giving more space to inward-looking, melodic material.

Firesign brings Dynazty’s neoclassical guitar work, speed and extremely catchy melody into a modern, high-impact production.

And Justice for None puts Five Finger Death Punch’s heavy groove and radio-sized choruses in especially direct form.

Atomic Generation joins FM’s polished British melodic-rock identity to a blues-tinted hard-rock feel with effortless confidence.

The Fallen King presents Frozen Crown’s speed, twin-guitar drive and fantasy atmosphere in vivid form from the start.

When Legends Rise builds on Sully Erna’s low, powerful voice and Godsmack’s heavy riffs while expanding the melodic range of the band’s seventh album.

Groundbreaker is a melodic-rock project built around Steve Overland’s voice, with Robert Säll and Alessandro Del Vecchio among the key creative figures.

You Can’t Kill My Rock ’n Roll makes Hardcore Superstar’s streetwise hard rock sound even tougher.

Firepower reignites the heavy-metal language Judas Priest established over decades with a muscular, contemporary sound.

The Shadow Theory combines Kamelot’s symphonic scale with modern guitar hardness around themes of fear and inner duality.

Fourteen gently draws on the warmth and touch of melancholy that Last Autumn’s Dream do so well in Scandinavian melodic rock.

Secret Treasures is a useful way to hear LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM from a different angle within the 2018 catalogue.

Clockwork Immortality expands the speed-metal and power-metal strengths Lovebites showed on their debut into a larger scale.

Catharsis gathers Machine Head’s anger, social gaze and personal feeling in its most expansive form.

Damned If You Do shows the stability of Metal Church in the Mike Howe reunion era through traditional heavy-metal form.

Second Coming connects Pretty Maids singer Ronnie Atkins’ powerful voice with Eclipse frontman Erik Mårtensson’s modern writing and production instincts.

All Rise shows Perfect Plan’s deep love for eighties-style melodic rock with the weight of modern production.

Apocalypse pursues the pleasures of traditional power metal with complete commitment around Ralf Scheepers’ fierce high voice and Mat Sinner’s heavy bass.

Armor of Light finds Riot V making the Riot legacy of speed metal, twin guitars and melody even more secure after the loss of Mark Reale.

Cast in Stone gathers Royal Hunt’s symphonic keyboards, progressive movement and powerful choruses into a focused fourteenth album.

Attention Attention shapes Shinedown’s heavy rock into a concept record about moving from self-destruction and isolation toward recovery.

Living the Dream deepens Slash’s bond with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators through open, riff-led hard rock.

Play to Win brings Striker’s speed-metal attack and eighties hard-rock chorus sense into one of the band’s most buoyant balances.

The Road to Hell places Joe Lynn Turner’s convincing vocal at the center of Sunstorm’s move into heavier guitar territory.

Prisma adds a little shadow and modern texture to the bright melodic rock The Poodles do so well.

XIII introduces TNT with new vocalist Baol Bardot Bulsara and shows the outline of a fresh lineup around Ronni Le Tekrø’s distinctive guitar.

Tunguska turns the scale suggested by the 1908 Tunguska event into Treat’s own high-energy melodic hard rock.

Steelfactory finds U.D.O. returning to direct, heavy metal with a strong sense of performing unity.

Reidolized (The Soundtrack to the Crimson Idol) revisits the songs of W.A.S.P.'s classic The Crimson Idol with the current band and modern production.

Earthrage joins the identities of Jeff Scott Soto, Erik Mårtensson and Robert Säll in a heavier, more polished third W.E.T.