(Contributions from Chad Childers, Joe DiVita, Jon Wiederhorn and Chad Bowar)

As the year winds down, it's time to reflect on all of the great music that was issued over the past year.

2018 was a year that saw the continuation of excellence for a number of rock radio staples, with Halestorm, Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack, Alice in Chains, Disturbed, Slash, Shinedown, Five Finger Death Punch and more represented within this year's list of the best hard rock albums.

We also saw the return of the long dormant A Perfect Circle, a solid return to form by a mostly reunited Smashing Pumpkins and intriguing solo artistic statements from Alter Bridge members Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti.

The rock genre also remained healthy with the promise of such up-and-coming bands as Greta Van Fleet, The Fever 333 and Turnstile among others.

So let's reflect on the year that was and scroll through the gallery below as we count down the 30 Best Hard Rock Albums of 2018.