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.

Pillorian - Obsidian Arc

By now, all metal fans know the story: Agalloch broke up last year, due to a schism between singer/guitarist John Haughm and the rest of the band.  Don Anderson, Jason Walton, and Aesop Dekker joined up with Aaron John Gregory (of the late, great Giant Squid) to form Khôrada.  Jon Haughm teamed with drummer Trevor Matthews and guitarist Stephen Parker to create Pillorian - an adjective defined as "of, or relating to, scorn and condemnation."  Good thing there's nothing to read too deeply into there.  It isn't - well, shouldn't be - a competition between the two bands, but it's naive to think that if one band succeeds while the other flounders, the successful band will be hailed as the victors of the Agalloch break up.  While that is a silly way to look at it, we can finally start the actual conversation: Pillorian's debut album Obsidian Arc was released last Friday.  Is it a worthy follow up to one of the most acclaimed American black metal bands of the 21st Century?  Or is it merely a celestial effigy of what once was?