Most readers and subscribers do not have the January 2018 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 and blogs. So, we figured we’d beat them to the punch.

Anyway, 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 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 Monster Magnet‘s Spine of God, you can grab a copy of the full issue here. Oh, yeah, it comes with a brand new Goatwhore flexi, too!

40. The Lurking Fear, Out of the Voiceless Grave, Century Media

39. Woe, Hope Attrition, Vendetta

38. Pyrrhon, What Passes for Survival, Willowtip

37. Power Trip, Nightmare Logic, Daymare

36. Ufomammut, 8, Neurot

35. Disharmony, Goddamn the Sun, Iron Bonehead

34. Wormwitch, Strike Mortal Coil, Prosthetic

33. Propagandhi, Victory Lap, Epitaph

32. Farsot, Fail-Lure, Lupus Lounge

31. Napalm Raid, Wheel of War, Self-Released

30. Oxbow, Thin Black Duke, Hydra Head

29. Loss, Horizonless, Profound Lore

28. Lock Up, Demonization, Listenable

27. With the Dead, Love from With the Dead, Rise Above

26. Dreadnought, Awake in Sacred Waves, Sailor

25. Cannibal Corpse, Red Before Black, Metal Blade

24. Wampyrinacht, We Will Be Watching. Les Cultes de Satan et Les Mysterères de la Mort, Zazen Sounds

23. Midnight, Sweet Death and Ecstasy, Hells Headbangers

22. Pagan Altar, The Room of Shadows, Temple of Mystery

21. Artificial Brain, Infrared Horizon, Profound Lore

20. Cloak, To Venomous Depths, Season of Mist

19. Akercocke, Renaissance in Extremis, Peaceville

18. Enslaved, E, Nuclear Blast

17. Cormorant, Diaspora, Self-Released

16. Myrkur, Mareridt, Relapse

15. Dodecahedron, Kwintessens, Season of Mist

14. Obituary, Obituary, Relapse

13. Craven Idol, The Shackles of Mammon, Dark Descent

12. Kreator, Gods of Violence, Nuclear Blast

11. Bell Witch, Mirror Reaper, Profound Lore

10. Converge, The Dusk in Us, Epitaph

9. Wolves in the Throne Room, Thrice Woven, Artemisia

8. Full of Hell, Trumpeting Ecstasy, Profound Lore

7. Immolation, Atonement, Nuclear Blast

6. Spectral Voice, Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, Dark Descent

5. Integrity, Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume, Relapse

4. Necrot, Blood Offerings, Tankcrimes

3. Pallbearer, Heartless, Profound Lore

2. Spirit Adrift, Curse of Conception, 20 Buck Spin

1. Paradise Lost, Medusa, Nuclear Blast