BEST OF 2018 – THE BEST RELEASES OF THE YEAR

Here’s the result of our BEST OF 2018 readers poll (thanks again to all those of you who sent in their lists).
The 4 winners of the TOUGH RIFFS MAGAZINE have been informed directly already. Congratulations!

01. JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
02. TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
03. IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
04. DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
05. MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence
06. FUNERAL MIST – Hekatomb
07. HYPERDONTIA – Nexus Of Teeth
08. DECEASED – Ghostly White
09. NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
10. MARDUK – Viktoria

…and in case you’re curious to find out what the VOICES FROM THE DARKSIDE staff and a couple of musicians and label people enjoyed the most this year, check out the lists below…

Alfonso Perez
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
CHTHE’ILIST – Passage Into The Xexanotth
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence
PORTAL – Ion
ABYTHIC – Beneath Ancient Portals
UNANIMATED – Annihilation
IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
MORBID MESSIAH – Demoniac Paroxysm
OBLITERATION – Cenotaph Obscure
INNUMERABLE FORMS – Punishment In Flesh

Anders Peter Jørgensen
CLANDESTINE BLAZE – Tranquility Of Death
CRAFT – White Noise And Black Metal
DECEASED – Ghostly White
ECTOPLASMA – Cavern Of Foul Unbeings
HIGH ON FIRE – Electric Messiah
HOODED MENACE – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
MARDUK – Viktoria
MORTIFERUM – Altar Of Decay
WATAIN – Trident Wolf Eclipse

Dávid László
SYMPHONY OF SYMBOLS – Historiocriticism
SEAR BLISS – Letters From The Edge
SACRAL RAGE – Beyond Celestial Echoes
THE SKULL – The Endless Road Turns Dark
VERILUN – Through the Fire… In The Sun
HAMFERD – Támsins Likam
ANCESTOR – Lords Of Destiny
DEATHSTORM – Reaping What Is Left
VOIVOD – The Wake
PERFECT STRANGERS – No One Knows For Sure

David Simonton
SPECTRAL WOUND – Infernal Decadence
SARGEIST – Unbound
ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE – Promo MMXVIII
ARCHGOAT – The Luciferian Crown
CRUCIFIER – Thy Sulfur Throne On High
VOIDHANGER – Dark Days Of The Soul
HELLFIRE DEATHCULT – Black Death Terroristic Onslaught
DEICIDE – Overtures Of Blasphemy
IHSAHN – Àmr
YOB – Our Raw Heart

Frank Stöver
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
UNHOLY LUST – Humanity And Its End
ABHORRENCE – Megalohydrothalassophobic
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
DREADFUL FATE – Vengeance
CHAPEL OF DISEASE – … And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
MORBID MESSIAH – Demoniac Paroxysm
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
BURIAL INVOCATION – Abiogenesis
KRYPTS – Descending Era Of Putrefaction

Hacker
CIRITH UNGOL – Witch’s Game
CORPSESSED – Impetus Of Death
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
HYPERDONTIA – Nexus Of Teeth
KRYPTS – Descending Era Of Putrefaction
NECROVAULT – Obscure
PURGATORY / LIE IN RUINS – Split
SATAN – Cruel Magic
TAPHOS – Come Ethereal Somberness
VOIVOD – The Wake

Jaime Perez
UADA – Cult Of A Dying Sun
RITUAL NECORMANCY – Disinterred Horror
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
HERESIARCH – Death Ordinance
RUIN – Human Annihilation
CORPSESSED – Impetus Of Death
IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
BLOODBATH – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
HORRENDOUS – Idol

Jarne Brauns
IRON LAMB – Blue Haze
ESSENZ – Manes Impetus
DEATHRITE – Nightmares Reign
ARDITI – Imposing Elitism
KALMEN – Funeral Seas
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
WERIAN – adv. Album 2019
BONEHUNTER – Children of the Atom
NEW LIGHT CHOIR – Torchlight
VREID – Lifehunger

Jurij Pajk
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION – The Incubus Of Karma
MØRKETIDA – Panphage Mysticism
TELEPORT – The Expansion
ABIGOR – Höllenzwang (Chronicles Of Perdition)
HOODED MENACE – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
VOMITOR – Pestilent Death
MALTHUSIAN – Across Deaths
CULTES DES GHOULES – Sinister, Or Treading The Darker Paths
AORLHAC – L’espirit Des Vents
KRIEGSMASCHINE – Apocalypticists

Kat “Shevil” Gillham
HOODED MENACE – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
SLÆGT – The Wheel
RUNEMAGICK – Evoked From Abysmal Sleep
AT THE GATES – To Drink From The Night Itself
BLACK OATH – Behold The Abyss
DECEASED – Ghostly White
BLOODBATH – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
VANHELGD – Deimos Sanktuarium
DRUID LORD – Grotesque Offerings
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram

Marco Stebich
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
SCHIACH – Schiach
VOMITOR – Pestilent Death
WATAIN – Trident Wolf Eclipse
PHRENELITH – Ornamented Dead Eyes
ANCESTOR – Lords Of Destiny
DEATHSTORM – Reaping What Is Left
GUNPOWDER GRAY – Lethal Rock And Roll
DREADFUL FATE – Vengeance
EISENHAND – Demonstration Tape

Michael Kujawska
THE CROWN – Cobra Speed Venom
UNANIMATED – Annihilation
UADA – Cult Of A Dying Sun
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
DEICIDE – Overtures Of Blasphemy
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
CAST THE STONE – Empyrean Atrophy
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
CHAPEL OF DISEASE – …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
SKELETAL REMAINS – Devouring Mortality

Miguel Negrón
ATAVISMA – The Chthonic Rituals
CIST – The Frozen Casket
DUSK – Withdraw
ESKHATON – Omegalitheos
HOODED MENACE – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
MANACLE – No Fear To Persevere…
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION – The Incubus Of Karma
OBLITERATION – Cenotaph Obscure
OUTRE-TOMBE – Nécrovortex
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms

Mirco Szymyslik
ABORTED – TerrorVision
BURIAL INVOCATION – Abiogenesis
DEMONICAL – Chaos Manifesto
DEPRAVITY – Evil Upheaval
LIK – Carnage
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence
MORBID MESSIAH – Demoniac Paroxysm
NIGHT DEMON – Live Darkness
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
UADA – Cult Of A Dying Sun

Sined-Erriep Ohr
SLEGEST – Introvert
OBLITERATION – Cenotaph Obscure
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
DECAYING – To Cross The Line
FUNERAL MIST – Hekatomb
GRAVESTONE – Sickening
JUST BEFORE DAWN – Tides Of Blood
NAPALM DEATH – Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs
SODOM – Partisan
AGRESSOR – Symposium Of Rebirth

Randolph Whateley
HIGH ON FIRE – Electric Messiah
SLEEP – The Sciences
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
OBLITERATION – Cenotaph Obscure
EOSPHOROS – Eosphoros
CHTHE’ILIST – Passage Into The Xexanotth
SEPULCHER – Panoptic Horror
BLACK VIPER – Hellions Of Fire
BLACK MAGIC SS – Spectral Ecstasy
TAPHOS – Come Ethereal Somberness

Ricardo Campos
SATAN – Cruel Magic
OXYGEN DESTROYER – Bestial Manifestations Of Malevolence And Death
VARATHRON – Patriarchs Of Evil
SOLSTICE – White Horse Hill
MASTER – Vindictive Miscreant
HAUNT – Burst Into Flame
SACRAL RAGE – Beyond Celestial Echoes
MONGREL’S CROSS – Psalter Of The Royal Dragon Court
LEATHER – II
UNLEASHED – The Hunt For White Christ

Rick Peart
CANCER – Shadow Gripped
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
VARATHRON – Patriarchs Of Evil
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence
CREATE A KILL – Summoned To Rise
POSSESSED – Abandoned
GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers
CRUENTATOR – Ain’t War Hell?
AURA NOIR – Aura Noire

Rodrigo Jiménez
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
UNANIMATED – Annihilation
AURA NOIR – Aura Noire
IN THE WOODS… – Cease The Day
GALVANIZER – Sanguine Vigil
KHANUS – Flammarion
OUTLINE – Fire Whiplash
CRAFT – White Noise And Black Metal
LYDIA LAZKA – Ego Death
SEPULCHER – Panoptic Horror

Spitzl
RITES OF THY DEGRINGOLADE – The Blade Philosophical
SUPERSTITION – Surging Throng Of Evil´s Might
ANTLERS – Beneath.Below.Behold
LINGUA IGNOTA – All Bitches Die
INNUMERABLE FORMS – Punishment In Flesh
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
SPECTRAL WOUND – Infernal Decadence
BLOOD PRESSURE – Surrounded
TAPHOS – Come Ethereal Somberness
KWADE DROES – De Duivel En Zijn Gore Oude Kankermoe

Steven Willems
WHISPERING SONS – Image
KAELAN MIKLA – Nótt Eftir Nótt
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
HOLYGRAM – Modern Cults
CHAPEL OF DISEASE – …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
ABYTHIC – Beneath Ancient Portals
SYLVAINE – Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence

Thomas Georg
DJEVEL – Blant Svarte Graner
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
FUNERAL MIST – Hekatomb
INCONCESSUS LUX LUCIS – The Crowning Quietus
LUCIFER’S CHILD – The Order
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
SPITE – Antimoshiach
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
TAPHOS – Come Ehtereal Somberness
VANHELGD – Deimos Sanktuarium

Thomas Meyer
BÂ’A / VERFALLEN / HYRGAL – Split
CARPE NOCTEM – Vitrun
CHAPEL OF DISEASE – …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Embraced The Eye
DRAWN AND QUARTERED – The One Who Lurks
MISOTHEIST – Misotheist
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
SULPHUR AEON – The Scythe Of Cosmic Chaos
ULTHA – The Inextricable Wandering
URFAUST – The Constellatory Practice
VERHEERER – Maltrér

Thomas Reitmayer
MARID –  ٧ ٧ ٧ ٧ ٧ ٧ ٧
INTEGRITY / KRIEG – Split
ABIGOR – Höllenzwang (Chronicles Of Perdition)
MOENEN OF XEZBETH – Forever Rotting Winter
SPECTRAL WOUND – Infernal Decadence
MARE – Ebony Tower
NAHTRUNAR – Mysterium Tremendum
LORD OF SOLITUDE / THRONEHAMMER – Split
CRAWL / LEVIATHAN – Split
ANTHROPOMANCY – Demo MCMXCII

Terry Butler (OBITUARY)
GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers
HAUNT – Burst Into Flames
URIAH HEEP – Living The Dream
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existance
EXMORTUS- The Sound Of Steel
GHOST – Prequel
ALICE IN CHAINS – Rainier Fog
SAXON – Thunderbolt
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
SATAN – Cruel Magic

Mille Petrozza (KREATOR)
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
DEAD CAN DANCE – Dionysisus
BURNING WITCHES – Burning Witches
ISOLATION BERLIN – Vergifte Dich
TOCOTRONIC – Die Unendlichkeit
SAM VANCE-LAW – Homotopia
DAGOBERT – Welt Ohne Zeit (Advance)
IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
ELEMENT OF CRIME – Schafe, Monster Und Mäuse
SHANNON SHAW – Shannon In Nashvile

Darragh O’Laoghaire (VIRCOLAC / Invictus Productions)
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
VOMITOR – Pestilent Death
PRIMORDIAL – Exile Amongst The Ruins
TRIBULATION – Down Below
WATAIN – Trident Wolf Eclipse
PORTAL – Ion
CULTES DES GHOULES – Sinister, Or Treading The Darker Paths
ONE TAIL, ONE HEAD – Worlds Open, Worlds Collide
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
FUNERAL MIST – Hekatomb

Pete Slate (DRUID LORD)
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
SULPHUROUS – Dolorous Death Knell
VANHELGD – Deimos Sanktuarium
HOODED MENACE – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
BURIAL INVOCATION – Abiogenesis
DEVOURING STAR – Arteries Of Heresy
DRUGLORD – New Day Dying
CULTES DES GHOULES – Sinister, Or Treading The Darker Paths
SCROCS – The Phobos / Deimos Suite
CIRITH UNGOL – Witch’s Game

Evo Evans (WARFARE)
RAMONES – It’s Alive
ADVERTS – Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts
MOTÖRHEAD – Inferno
THE BLOOD – False Gestures For A Devious Public
ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE – Pig Iron
WARFARE – Metal Anarchy
THE SWEET – Desolation Boulevard
ANVIL – Forged In Fire
COCK SPARRER – Shock Troops
JUDAS PRIEST – British Steel

Alvaro Sancen (UNHOLY LUST)
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
MARDUK – Viktoria
SODOM – Partisan
ARCHGOAT – The Luciferian Crown
AT THE GATES – To Drink From The Night Itself
WATAIN – Trident Wolf Eclipse
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
NECROS CHRISTOS – Domedon Doxomedon
BEHEMOTH – I Loved You At Your Darkest
BILLY F GIBBONS – The Big Bad Blues

Bill Venner (DISMA)
IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
GRIM FATE – Emerging From The Crypt
EVOKEN – Hypnagogia
AXEL RUDI PELL – Knights Call
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
CHTHE’ILIST – Passage Into The Xexanotth
DECEASED – Ghostly White
DR. SHRINKER – Live Assembly Of The Disinhumed
DARKNESS – First Class Violence
SODOM – Partisan

John McEntee (INCANTATION)
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
AT THE GATES – To Drink From The Night Itself
CANDLEMASS – House Of Doom
MARDUK – Viktoria
VOIVOD – The Wake
VIOLATION WOUND – Man In Charge
SHED THE SKIN – We Of Scorn
FAITHXTRACTOR – Proverbial Lambs To The Ultimate Slaughter
FAITHEXTRACTOR / CARDIAC ARREST – Split EP
VIOLATION WOUND / SURGIKILL – Split EP

Scott Watts (SACRIFICE)
VOIVOD – The Wake
NERVOSA – Downfall Of Mankind
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
HIGH ON FIRE – Electric Messiah
BLOOD FEAST – Chopped, Sliced And Diced

Tom Zorn (WEAK ASIDE)
DEICIDE – Overtures Of Blasphemy
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
TERRORIZER – Caustic Attack
GHOST – Prequelle
THE CROWN – Cobra Speed Venom
OBSCENITY – Summoning The Circle

Phil Rind (SACRED REICH)
A PERFECT CIRCLE – Eat The Elephant
TURNSTILE – Time & Space
HIGH ON FIRE – Electric Messiah
SOULFLY – Ritual
POWER TRIP – Nightmare Logic
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
SLEEP – The Sciences
BLACK TUSK – T.C.B.T.
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY – Psychosis
ORANGE GOBLIN – The Wolf Bites Back

Stephan Gebédi (THANATOS)
SHINING – X-Varg Utan Flock
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
WATAIN – Trident Wolf Eclipse
IMMORTAL – Northern Chaos Gods
AUTOPSY – Puncturing The Grotesque
KRISIUN – Scourge Of The Enthroned
BLOODBATH – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
MARDUK – Viktoria
MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence

Mem Von Stein (EXUMER)
SLEEP – The Sciences
JUDAS PRIEST – Firepower
WINDHAND – Eternal Return
UNCLE ACID & THE DEAD BEATS – Wasteland
TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
SWAMP – Swamp 2
WAYFARER – World’s Blood
PAINTED DOLL – Painted Doll
YOB – Our Raw Heart
JOHN CARPENTER / CODY CARPENTER & DANIEL DAVIS – Halloween OST

Stefan “Husky” Hüskens (SODOM / ASPHYX)
GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers
KRISIUN – Scource Of The Enthroned
VISIGOTH – Conqueror’s Oath
NIGHT DEMON – Live Darkness
BULLET – Dust To Gold
BRAINSTORM – Midnight Ghost
LIK – Carnage
ORGANIC – Carved In Flesh
THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA – Sometimes The World Ain’t Enough
PRIMORDIAL – Exile Amongst The Ruins

Raúl Sampedro (Memento Mori)
ASSUMPTION – Absconditus
BONE SICKNESS – Theater Of Morbidity
DRUID LORD – Grotesque Offerings
HYPERDONTIA – Nexus Of Teeth
INNUMERABLE FORMS – Punishment In Flesh
MORTUOUS – Through Wilderness
RIPPED TO SHREDS – 埋葬
SCORCHED – Ecliptic Butchery
SKELETAL REMAINS – Devouring Mortality
TORTURE RACK – Malefic Humiliation

Andy Tan (Konqueror Records)
SODOM – Partisan
CANCER – Shadow Gripped
DECEASED – Ghostly White
DEICIDE – Overtures Of Blasphemy
KRISIUN – Scourge Of The Enthroned
DREADFUL FATE – Vengeance
SEIGE OF POWER – Warning Blast
NECROPHOBIC – Mark Of The Necrogram
ERODED – Necropath
SATHANAS – Necrohymns