KERRANG! December 2018: TWENTY ONE PILOTS Mike Shinoda LINKIN PARK Oli Sykes

How many killer albums have there been over the past 12 months? Between returning legends, stunning debuts, enormous successes and sonic madness, it’s been a hell of a year for rock. We count down the 50 records that soundtracked your lives, and ruled 2018…

Your exclusive art print this week is top-secret for now – until you pick up the mag and find out who our Album Of The Year belongs to! Oooooh…

Elsewhere in this week’s issue, SWMRS take us inside the greatest album they’ve ever written – their upcoming second record, Berkeley’s On Fire – while Bury Tomorrow’s Dani Winter-Bates unveil the songs (and fake tattoos) that shaped his life. On top of that, as well as K!’s rundown of all the best music of the year, we ask 20 rockstars – from Mike Shinoda to Tyler Joseph – for their picks of 2018. We also put one-time Hole and Smashing Pumpkinsbassist Melissa Auf der Maur through our career-spanning Kerrang! Interview.

Over in the reviews section, Bring Me The Horizon feel the love at their massive Yorkshire return, A Perfect Circle sign off their latest chapter in fine – if underappreciated – style, and the punk-tastic Fireball Fuelling The Fire Tour brings a riotous party to London.

There’s a massive Gigs Of The Year poster special, too, featuring Foo Fighters, Architects, twenty one pilots, Biffy Clyro, Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden!