Most readers and subscribers do not have the January 2019 issue of Decibel yet. But every year, that doesn’t stop someone from obtaining an early copy of our year-end issue and posting our Top 40 Albums of the Year on a number of message boards, blogs and various social media platforms. So, every year, we’re forced to beat them to the punch.

So, if you’d prefer remaining in suspense until your copy arrives in the mail, please go here. The rest of you can venture on, but if you’d actually like to read editorial on these releases (for, you know, context), interviews with the artists who rank near and at the top of the list as well as dozens of entertaining contributor conceived year-end Top 5 lists, and a Hall of Fame on Watain‘s Casus Luciferi, you can grab a copy of the full issue here. It comes with a brand new Withered picture flexi disc, too! Anyway, get irrationally upset below:

40 Panopticon, The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness I and II, Bindrune

39 Hate Eternal, Upon Desolate Sands, Season of Mist

38 Cosmic Church, Tattymys, Self-released

37 KEN mode, Loved, Season of Mist

36 Monster Magnet, Mindfucker Napalm

35 Wake, Misery Rites, Translation Loss

34 Thou, Magus, Sacred Bones

33 Zeal and Ardor, Stranger Fruit, MVKA

32 Devouring Star, The Arteries of Heresy, Dark Descent

31 Corrosion of Conformity, No Cross No Crown, Nuclear Blast

30 Sepulcher, Panoptic Horror, Edged Circle Productions

29 Svalbard, It’s Hard To Have Hope, Translation Loss

28 Horrendous, Idol, Season of Mist

27 Abhorrence, Megalohydrothalassophobic, Svart

26 Visigoth, Conqueror’s Oath, Metal Blade

25 Mortuous, Through Wilderness, Tankcrimes

24 Portal, Ion, Profound Lore

23 Mournful Congregation, The Incubus of Karma, 20 Buck Spin

22 Sleep, The Sciences, Third Man

21 Funeral Mist, Hekatomb, Norma Evangelium Diaboli

20 Outer Heaven, Realms of Eternal Decay, Relapse

19 Varathron, Patriarchs of Evil, Agonia

18 The Atlas Moth, Coma Noir, Prosthetic

17 Tomb Mold, Manor of Infinite Forms, 20 Buck Spin

16 Satan, Cruel Magic, Metal Blade

15 Chapel of Disease, …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye, Ván

14 Deafheaven, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, Anti-

13 Voivod, The Wake, Century Media

12 Haunt, Burst Into Flames, Shadow Kingdom

11 At the Gates, To Drink from the Night Itself, Century Media

10 Pig Destroyer, Head Cage, Relapse

9 Khemmis, Desolation, 20 Buck Spin

8 Immortal, Northern Chaos Gods, Nuclear Blast

7 Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Wasteland, Rise Above

6 Skeletonwitch, Devouring Radiant Light, Prosthetic

5 Judas Priest, Firepower, Columbia

4 Evoken, Hypnagogia, Profound Lore

3 UADA, Cult of a Dying Sun, Eisenwald

2 Tribulation, Down Below, Century Media

1 YOB, Our Raw Heart, Relapse