20 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2018 (So Far)

Emerging as if from nowhere in March 2018, in a ball of hype and seemingly unfulfillable promise, they arrived: Conjurer. The sludgy quartet landed with fire and fury, with reviewers all over the land raving about these brand new Brits and their debut, Mire, left, right and centre. “The best metal debut in ages!” proclaimed some. “Album of the year!” yelled others. “There’s nothing out there like it!” others still bellowed out proudly.

Surely, you think to yourself, Conjurer can’t be that good, right?

And then you hear Mire. And then you realise that, for once, all of that hype was worth it.

You press “Play” and the first thing that blesses your earholes is the riff to opening track “Choke”, and from thereon out – as you experience what sounds like Neurosis and Gojira continuously smashing their faces into one another – you know everything is going to be OK.

For the next 44 minutes of your life, that metallic insanity only gets better and better and, by the time you’re done, you know what the fuss was all about. From that first listen, Conjurer have made you an addict and you will be scrambling to get your fix of Mire again and again for months to come.