2018 was a great year for music.  So much so, that I struggled condensing all those tasty new tunes into a top ten – and I’m still not sure I’ve got it right.  There are several other albums that could have featured in an annual top ten, but for reason or other didn’t make the cut.

Anyway, those cool folks at Ever Metal asked me to put together a list of my ten favourite rock and metal releases for the year.  I did so, Ever Metal posted it, and I thought I’d share with my Virtual Hot tub readers too.

So here we go, in reverse order:

1. Ghost – “Prequelle”
2. Gama Bomb – “Speed Between the Lines”
3. Orange Goblin – “The Wolf Bites Back”
4. Earthless – “Black Heaven”
5. 1968 – “Ballads of the Godless”
6. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – “Wasteland”
7. Monster Magnet – “Mindfucker”
8. Corrosion of Conformity – “No Cross No Crown”
9. Fu Manchu – “Clone of the Universe”
10. Clutch – “Book of Bad Decisions”

Hope you did a Smashy and Nicey voice in your head whilst you counted that down.

Some classic albums there, in my opinion at least.  Honorable mentions are due for Sleep, High on Fire and Satan’s Satyrs (amongst others) who just missed out.  Who knows, next week I might have changed my mind.

Finally, a big thanks to the Ever Metal team for having me on board.  It’s a real honour to be part of the team, and writing for the site has been one of my highlights of last year. Here’s to contributing more in 2019.  Cheers!

Visit the Ever Metal site here and check out some cool music!