Any year that kicks off with a ripping new Judas Priest song in its first quarter and winds down with a surprise Slipknot single in Q4 is a pretty decent fucking year in heavy music. Both those cuts were but the tip of the proverbial iceberg in 2018, with a host of other big names and worthy up-and-comers, across metal, hardcore, punk, industrial, hip-hop, goth and beyond, dropping captivating songs that helped get us through another strange and often challenging year. Here are 75 of our favorites, conveniently curated in a Spotify playlist for your blasting pleasure.
75 Best Songs of 2018
Deafheaven, Slipknot, HEALTH x Youth Code, Jesus Piece and more
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Killswitch Engage: Inside Jesse Leach's Return, Making of 'Disarm the Descent'
Leach: "Being in Killswitch today is worlds apart from what it was 10 years ago"
Pantera Look Back on 'Reinventing the Steel,' Breakup and Beyond
Phil, Rex and Vinnie shared stories from Texas firebrands' final years in classic interview
Killswitch Engage 'Incarnate': Metalcore Rebels Face Dark Side, Fight Inner War
Singer Jesse Leach: "This album literally drove me crazy"
Rob Zombie Interviews Alice Cooper: "Enjoy the Bloody, Dirty Stage. Next."
Rock superbeasts talk Groucho, why grunge was "boring," joys of "offending everybody"