An ongoing ranking and rating of my favorite albums of 2018. Items in bold are part of my personal CD collection.
THE TOP TEN
1. Shiraz Lane ~ Carnival Days (10.8)
2. Vertical Horizon ~ The Lost Mile (10.4)
3. Ghost ~ Prequelle (9.8)
4. The Decemberists ~ I’ll Be Your Girl (9.6)
5. Judas Priest ~ Firepower (9.6)
6. Tiffany ~ Pieces Of Me (9.4)
7. Stone Temple Pilots ~ Stone Temple Pilots (9.3)
8. Brandi Carlile ~ By The Way, I Forgive You (9.2)
9. A Perfect Circle ~ Eat The Elephant (8.9)
10. Dorothy ~ 28 Days In The Valley (8.9)
THE REST: ALPHABETICAL BY RATING
Blackberry Smoke ~ Find A Light (8.8)
Long Distance Calling ~ Boundless (8.8)
Rick Springfield ~ The Snake King (8.8)
The Sword ~ Used Future (8.8)
Thirty Seconds To Mars ~ America (8.8)
Devil’s Hand ~ Devil’s Hand (8.6)
Clif Magness ~ Lucky Dog (8.5)
FM ~ Atomic Generation (8.5)
Magnum ~ Lost On The Road To Eternity (8.5)
W.E.T. ~ Earthrage (8.5)
Doomsday Outlaw ~ Hard Times (8.2)
Amorphis ~ Queen Of Time (8)
Borealis ~ The Offering (8.0)
Clutch ~ Book Of Bad Decisions (8)
Coheed And Cambria ~ Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures (8)
Daughtry ~ Cage To Rattle (8)
Dawes ~ Passwords (8)
Firewild ~ One (8)
Greta Van Fleet ~ Anthem Of The Peaceful Army (8)
Groundbreaker ~ Groundbreaker (8)
Icarus Witch ~ Goodbye Cruel World (8)
Joe Satriani ~ What Happens Next (8.0)
Meliah Rage ~ Idol Hands (8)
Myles Kennedy ~ Year Of The Tiger (8.0)
The Night Flight Orchestra ~ Sometimes The World Ain’t Enough (8)
The Pineapple Thief ~ Dissolution (8)
The Record Company ~ All Of This Life (8)
Red Dragon Cartel ~ Patina (8)
Red Sun Rising ~ Thread (8.0)
The Struts ~ Young & Dangerous (8)
Ted Poley ~ Modern Art (8)
Ten ~ Illuminati (8)
Treat ~ Tunguska (8)
Tremonti ~ A Dying Machine (8)
Maverick ~ Cold Star Dancer (8.0)
Airrace ~ Untold Stories (7.9)
State Of Salazar ~ Superhero (7.9)
Animal Drive ~ Bite! (7.8)
Axel Rudi Pell ~ Knights Call (7.8)
The Dead Daisies ~ Burn It Down (7.8)
Jeffrey Gaines ~ Alright (7.8)
Angra ~ Ømni (7.3)
Jaded Heart ~ Devil’s Gift (7.3)
Perfect Plan ~ All Rise (7.3)
The Sheepdogs ~ Changing Colours (7.3)
StoneLake ~ Thunder And Rain (7.3)
Magic Dance ~ New Eyes (7.2)
Blue October ~ I Hope You’re Happy (7)
Cowboy Junkies ~ All That Reckoning (7)
Dynazty ~ Firesign (7)
Electric Boys ~ The Ghost Ward Diaries (7)
Elle King ~ Shake The Spirit (7.0)
Fifth Angel ~ The Third Secret (7)
Five Finger Death Punch ~ And Justice For None (7)
Godsmack ~ When Legends Rise (7)
Hardcore Superstar ~ You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘N Roll (7)
Helion Prime ~ Terror Of The Cybernetic Space Monster (7)
Joe Bonamassa ~ Redemption (7)
King Company ~ Queen Of Hearts (7)
Metal Church ~ Damned If You Do (7)
Mumford & Sons ~ Delta (7)
Panic! At The Disco ~ Pray For The Wicked (7)
Powerwolf ~ The Sacrament Of Sin (7)
Refuge ~ Solitary Men (7)
Royal Hunt ~ Cast In Stone (7.0)
Saliva ~ 10 Lives (7)
The Sea Within ~ The Sea Within (7)
Shinedown ~ Attention Attention (7)
SoulHealer ~ Up From The Ashes (7)
Steve Perry ~ Traces (7)
Ted Nugent ~ The Music Made Me Do It (7)
Tony Mitchell ~ Beggars Gold (7)
Ultraphonix ~ Original Human Music (7)
The Vintage Caravan ~ Gateways (7)
You Me At Six ~ VI (7)
*various artists* ~ A Star Is Born [soundtrack] (7)
Alex Beyrodt’s Voodoo Circle ~ Raised On Rock (6.8)
CoreLeoni ~ The Greatest Hits – Part 1 – (6.8)
Saxon ~ Thunderbolt (6.8)
Walking Papers ~ WP2 (6.8)
Stryper ~ God Damn Evil (6.7)
Cryonic Temple ~ Deliverance (8) (6.6)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ~ Wrong Creatures (6.5)
Black Stone Cherry ~ Family Tree (6.5)
Bonfire ~ Temple Of Lies (6.5)
Breaking Benjamin ~ Ember (6.5)
James Christian ~ Craving (6.5)
Joe Perry ~ Sweetzerland Manifesto (6.5)
Kamelot ~ The Shadow Theory (6.5)
Metal Allegiance ~ Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty (6.5)
Michael Schenker Fest ~ Resurrection (6.5)
Monster Magnet ~ Mindfucker (6.5)
The Poodles ~ Prisma (6.5)
Pop Evil ~ Pop Evil (6.5)
ReVertigo ~ ReVertigo (6.5)
Three Days Grace ~ Outsider (6.5)
BulletBoys ~ From Out Of The Skies (6.4)
3.2 ~ The Rules Have Changed (6)
Ace Frehley ~ Spaceman (6)
Against The Current ~ Past Lives (6)
Alice In Chains ~ Rainier Fog (6)
All That Remains ~ Victim Of The New Disease (6)
Corrosion Of Conformity ~ No Cross No Crown (6.0)
Death Cab For Cutie ~ Thank You For Today (6)
Dee Snider ~ For The Love Of Metal (6)
Disturbed ~ Evolution (6)
Dream Child ~ Until Death Do We Meet Again (6)
Gioeli * Castronovo ~ Set The World On Fire (6)
Haken ~ Vector (6)
Halestorm ~ Vicious (6)
Hartmann ~ Hands On The Wheel (6)
Hoobastank ~ Push Pull (6)
Kissin’ Dynamite ~ Ecstasy (6)
Lee Aaron ~ Diamond Baby Blues (6)
Lenny Kravitz ~ Raise Vibration (6)
The Longshot ~ Love Is For Losers (6)
Lords Of Black ~ Icons Of The New Days (6)
Manimal ~ Purgatorio (6)
Mark Knopfler ~ Down The Road Wherever (6)
Monster Truck ~ True Rockers (6)
Muse ~ Simulation Theory (6)
Nazareth ~ Tattooed On My Brain (6)
No Hot Ashes ~ No Hot Ashes (6.0)
Nordic Union ~ Second Coming (6)
Northward ~ Northward (6)
Outloud ~ Virtual Hero Society (6)
P.O.D. ~ Circles (6)
Praying Mantis ~ Gravity (6)
Ross The Boss ~ By Blood Sworn (6.0)
The Screaming Jets ~ Gotcha Covered (6)
The Smashing Pumpkins ~ Shiny And Oh So Bright – Vol. 1 / LP – No Past. No Future. No Sun (6)
Stephen Pearcy ~ A View To A Thrill (6)
Amanda Somerville’s Trillium ~ Tectonic (6)
Uriah Heep ~ Living The Dream (6)
Vega ~ Only Human (6)
Voivod ~ The Wake (6)
Warrel Dane ~ Shadow Work (6)
Nitrate ~ Real World (5.7)
The Aces ~ When My Heart Felt Volcanic (5.8)
Creye ~ Creye (5.8)
Enuff Z’Nuff ~ Diamond Boy (5.7)
Fall Out Boy ~ Mania (5.5)
A Dying Planet ~ Facing The Incurable (5.3)
Aldo Nova ~ 2.0 (5)
Alex Skolnick Trio ~ Conundrum (5)
Ann Wilson ~ Immortal (5)
Arion ~ Life Is Not Beautiful (5)
City Of Thieves ~ Beast Reality (5)
Diemonds ~ Diemonds (5)
Doro ~ Forever United (5)
Doro ~ Forever Warriors (5)
Fu Manchu ~ Clone Of The Universe (5.0)
Johnny Gioeli ~ One Voice (5)
Lizzy Borden ~ My Midnight Things (5)
Massive Wagons ~ Full Nelson (5)
Michael Romeo ~ War Of The Worlds // Pt. I (5)
Mob Rules ~ Beast Reborn (5)
Primal Fear ~ Apocalypse (5)
The Radio Sun ~ Beautiful Strange (5)
Riot V ~ Armor Of Light (5)
Sevendust ~ All I See Is War (5)
Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators ~ Living The Dream (5)
Snakes In Paradise ~ Step Into The Light (5)
Sunstorm ~ The Road To Hell (5)
Thunder Mother ~ Thunder Mother (5)
TNT ~ XIII (5)
Two Of A Kind ~ Rise (5)
U.D.O. ~ Steelfactory (5)
Issa ~ Run With The Pack (4.5)
Chris Caffrey ~ Jester’s Court (4)
Jizzy Pearl ~ All You Need Is Soul (4)
Tad Morose ~ Chapter X (4)
CURRENTLY UNRATED
The 1975 ~ A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Artillety ~ The Face Of Fear
Bad Wolves ~ Disobey
Beyond The Black ~ Heart Of The Hurricane
Brainstorm ~ Midnight Ghost
Diamante ~ Coming In Hot
Graveyard ~ Peace
The Guess Who ~ The Future Is What It Used To Be
Guild Of Ages ~ Rise
Imagine Dragons ~ Origins
Mike LePond’s Silent Assasins ~ Pawn And Prophecy
Palace ~ Binary Music
Paul Gilbert ~ Behold Electric Guitar
Peacemaker ~ Concrete And Terror
Riverside ~ Wasteland
Skindred ~ Big Tings
Southern Empire ~ Civilisation
Stormwitch ~ Bound To The Witch
Striker ~ Play To Win
Terra Nova ~ Raise Your Voice
Tesseract ~ Sonder
The Trews ~ Civilianaires
[Last updated: 2020.12.28]
ROCK IN A HARD PLACE 