Durf's Töp 15 Albums and 5 EPs/Splits/Demos of 2018

2018 was a pretty momentous year for me personally, as the Durfette and I packed up and moved from Chicago, IL, our home for over a decade, and moved out west to Boise, Idaho.  It's been a great move, but owning a home and finding a new job have definitely brought with them their own challenges, as has the addition of the Durfling just a few short weeks ago.  Because of this most recent addition, my year end lists are a bit scaled down this year; I won't be listing my favorite concerts (Fire in the Mountains, not even close), non-metal albums (Panopticon's The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness, Part 2, similarly a Crimson Tide-level blowout), or songs (Marche Funébre's "Darkness" or Panopticon's "At the Foot of the Mountain"), because it's taking all of the limited time I have to put together this admittedly half-assed list of what I consider to be the best EPs/Splits/Demos and Metal Albums of the Year.  I hope that 2018 has been good to you and yours, and that big things are on the horizon for your 2019.  Let me know if you agree with my selections or think I missed something obvious in the comments, but don't fucking talk to me about Prequelle.  That record sucked and I'm pretty sure Ghost blew their load in two albums and is running on fumes.  Here are some albums that didn't make me want to bash my head in with a square hammer.

Eye of Solitude / Marche Funébre - Split

I used to not be too big on splits.  I think that 's because I thought I wasn't getting enough music; usually a track or two from each band adds up to around 20 minutes, and I tend to want more, because I am a greedy American.  Lately though, I've been coming around, helped by some longer splits; there was the fantastic CHRCH/Fister split from last year, in addition to this year's Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard/Slomatics release Totems.  Giving splits - or at least doomy splits - a chance was beginning to pay off!  So obviously when the new split from Eye of Solitude and Marche Funébre hit the ol' Töp inbox, I was going to check it out.