Bought 38 new albums this year so far, so I've clearly liked a fair amount (about double that in older/non-2018 albums... seems about general to me).

For this year, there was definitely some new bands that really impressed me. Of older bands, not a lot were stand-out but many were quite solid, delivering expected quality.

My favourites in no real order:

Firtan - Okeanos: German melodic black metal. Amazing album; the band sounds a bit like Mondstille, another firm favourite of mine. Definitely worth a listen.

Summoning - With Doom We Come: a continuation of Old Mornings Dawn, and everything I've hoped for. Top-tier Summoning.

Sinistro - Sangue Cassia: Sort of gothy doom metal, I've been keeping my eye on them since Semente. Amazing vocals and I'm sure they're gonna do great things.

Messa - Feast For Water: jazzy doom metal with great vocals. Another band I'm keeping my eye on.

Prag 83 - Fragments of Silence: kinda dark folk / neo-folk? Not really metal but it's a great, fairly unknown band. Smooth music and effortless vocals. I've listened to this probably more than anything else this year.

Witch Mountain - Witch Mountain: Man... I didn't expect this, but this one might be my favourite album of theirs yet. Loved the band with Uta, and I'm loving it with Kayla. Proper old school bluesy doom.

Elvellon - Until Dawn: surprisingly good power metal.. they sound a bit like old-school Nightwish and that's not a bad thing.