An album cover says a lot more than you might initially assume. In an era where fans want to digest as much as possible, grabbing someone's attention is more difficult than it's ever been — at least for bands contending with hundreds of releases each year. The big ones, like Judas Priest, will get the attention regardless, but the fresh ones or underground artists have a tougher battle. A striking album cover can be the difference between a casual gloss over and the inspiration a headbanger needs to check it out.

We'll be honest, there's a couple entries here that we learned about while scouring the web for this year's most awesome album covers and, in turn, have a couple more records to put in our regular listening rotation. Consider the point above proven.

Forever living the adage of "I may not know art, but I know what I like," we present 30 Totally Sick Metal Album Covers From 2018.

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