Top Albums and EPs of 2018

Here are a few of the albums released in 2018 that I loved (in chronological order of release):

Underworld by Tonight Alive

So I first heard of Tonight Alive earlier this year when “World Away” came up on spotify. I checked out Underworld after that, and I love it. Temple is an amazing song, I relate so hard.

MANIA by Fall Out Boy

In January, (I honestly don’t remember why or how, maybe because of a tumblr post?) I realized that Fall Out Boy was about to drop a new album. I realized other than reputation by Taylor Swift, I hadn’t been paying much attention to music as of late. But I immediately went and listened to the entire album and the next day I had my own copy of Mania. Thanks to Mania (and reputation) I found my love of music again. Champion and Young and Menace are my running anthems, Wilson is such a fun song and I love Last of the Real Ones so much. I was so happy to see this album nominated for a Grammy, although it didn't ultimately win.

Sister Cities by The Wonder Years

Who wants to be sad?! Such a sad album, but Pyramids of Salt is one of my favorite songs of this year, it is just so good. There’s a lot of pain and raw emotion in this album and it's fantastic.

Attention Attention - Shinedown

My boyfriend’s top album of the year, and one of mine as well. Devil, Monsters, Creatures are all awesome rock songs. Get Up and Brilliant are amazing anthems that will knock some motivation into you, no matter what you have going on.

Sunnyland - Mayday Parade

I found this album at the store and was looking at the song titles and saw “It’s Hard To Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated By Bolts of Lightening” and was like “Ok, that’s the best song title I’ve ever seen, and I’m a Fall Out Boy fan." Intrigued, I listened to the album and decided I had to have it.

Living Proof - State Champs

When I knew I was gonna be seeing Fall Out Boy, I checked who the openers were gonna be and saw State Champs was one of them. That prompted me to check out their new album. It was an awesome choice because they are an awesome band! Thanks Fall Out Boy for bringing them to my attention!

Pray for the Wicked - Panic! At The Disco

I really like Pray for the Wicked. I know some people come down on it for the lyrics being not as deep as other albums, or for it being pop (which hello, they've always been pretty pop), but honestly, this album is just a fun album. I love Say Amen, Dancing’s Not A Crime, Dying In LA. There's a reason that High Hopes and Hey Look Ma, I Made It have been massive hits!

Lake Effect Kid EP - Fall Out Boy

Just when I thought the summer couldn’t get any better, Fall Out Boy drops this Chicago love-fest in our ears and it’s just so, so good. Lake Effect Kid is one of my top songs of 2018. City in a Garden brought us Soul Punk era Patrick Stump vocals and we are not worthy. Super Fade? Every time I listen to it, I’m think my dudes, you didn’t have to go this hard, and yet they did and I am so grateful.

Skinny Dipping - Stand Atlantic

Another spotify discovery, I love this band out of Australia. Lavender Bones and Skinny Dipping are two great tracks off this debut record.

Abendigo - John Nolan

I always feel like I need to promo this album every chance I get. John Nolan is the guitarist for Taking Back Sunday and he released this solo album that is a work of art. Smiling and Alive is one of those so beautiful it makes you cry songs. Outside of this Tragedy, Over Before It Began, and Do You Remember are amazing as well. I actually got to meet John and tell him that this was one of my favorite albums of the year, but that's a story for another post.

1981 Extended Play EP - I Don’t Know How But They Found Me

Another album I feel like I need to promo at every moment of every day. If you haven’t heard I Don’t Know How But They Found Me yet, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND RIGHT IN THE WORLD, LISTEN TO THIS EP!

When I got back into music earlier this year, I started hearing about IDKHow and I started reading up on them, what little I could find, watched the few videos that were on YouTube and I snagged the free download of No One Likes the Opening Band, and now I’m like fully obsessed with this duo.

(also in October 2018 I had a dream that something would happen with this band in May 2019, and on May 17, 2019 I saw them perform live twice and met them, but again, that's a story for another post)