Top 10 Albums of 2024
I got a list, you got a list, we all have a list!
With such a crazy and unpredictable 2024, one constant luckily still remains, y’all: heavy music is alive and well. Folks are still plenty angry (thank God), and bands young and old alike are creating quality melodies, lyrics and art to scream along to. There’s almost too much good music right now, and it’s as accessible as ever.
Metal, specifically, offers a wide array of sights and sounds to tap into. You can plunge the depths of sorrow and isolation with black metal. You can feel visceral empowerment with heavy metal or power metal. You can explore the outer reaches of the mind with psychedelic-doom-infused-death metal – or simply opt for one of the three genres mentioned there. There’s something for everyone. A journey for all.
My top 10 albums of the year are all metal, save for one, and even that album toes the waters. It’s difficult to rank them among one another—on any other day, the order could easily shuffle—but I tried to choose something from each genre. It was also plenty hard to come with a Top 25 (also included) let alone a Top 10, but I did my damndest to explain why these records meant the most to me this year.
Enjoy!
10. ZAKU – WAR
I can’t recall when or where I heard about ZAKU’s 2024 debut LP ripper, War. In fact, I can’t tell you much about it at all, aside from it being the debut solo death metal project from a Canadian named Travis Hahn. The band has 24 followers on Instagram and there’s absolutely nothing on ZAKU’s Encyclopaedia Metallum page. The fact that it’s Gundam-based death metal which “seeks to explore the many facets of war and conflict, from the wills and worries of infantrymen to the heroism and horror of whole military forces,” was enough to endear this album to me as a fun gimmick. The fact that it’s actually 39 minutes’ worth of quality original, melodic, doomy and, dare I say, atmospheric death metal has made it a go-to album throughout the year. It’s expertly orchestrated. There’s Gundam samples built into it. It’s groovy enough to put on in any situation, supplying enough riffs and steady builds to have you boppin’ around while doing chores, working, driving, or just pondering the horrors of war. Much like solo black metal projects throughout the world that showcase what’s possible with minimal collaboration and barebones equipment, ZAKU shows what’s possible with decent enough musicianship and a healthy affection for anti-war big robot anime. I’ll be monitoring Travis Hahn’s future with great interest (musically of course—I’ve already discovered his “actual band,” and it’s fine).
Top tracks: “IKIMASU!” “Gundarium Tomb”
Similar to: Fulci, 200 Stab Wounds, Frozen Soul
9. Kontact – Full Contact
You’ll know within the first 30 seconds of Full Contact’s opener, “Emperor of Dreams,” whether you’re picking up what Kontact is putting down. There’s a heavy synthy punch, enveloping you in a wave of sound. The band whips into a thrashy frenzy while vocalist/bassist Ian Lemke’s strange stylings cut through the mix. “Strange stylings” may also be the best way to describe this Canadian trio’s style: they write batshit insane songs about dopplegangers, women with leather fetishes, space vampires, traveling the temporal void and more – all with the technical proficiency and swagger of a band that has been doing so for more than 20 years. It’s proggy, it’s thrashy, but I’d say it stays more in the hard rock/heavy metal soundscape. No matter how you classify it, Full Contact is uncompromisingly strange, and that’s why I love it. I can’t really think of anything like it other than maybe King Gizzard when they put on their metal hats, but this seems a bit more authentic and comfortable in its identity. Give this record a spin if you’re feeling adventurous and open minded… or if you’re down to take a strange, psychedelic trip.
Top tracks: “Doppleganger,” “Return of the Astral Vampire, “Spectral Fire”
Similar to: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
8. Tsuris – Black Magick Ecstasy
*Puts on Atlanta dad hat* Tsuris is an invigorating force in a city that’s plagued by convention. Armed with young, fresh perspectives, this six-piece tour-de-fource combines black metal with hardcore for a sharp-but-strange onslaught of the senses. Black Magick Ecstasy is an apt title, as it lures you into a very dark sound that’s incomprehensively full of life; the chords and melodies provided by Tsuris are triumphant—empowering, even. There’s equal parts soaring riffs and bombastic breakdowns. The rhythms aren’t there to beat you into submission as much as invigorate and inspire you. It shouldn’t make sense, but it does. If you’ve seen them live, you’ll know these youngins aren’t here to mince words or accept a small place in any scene. They’re here to knock down the gate, blow the door off the hinges—pick any metaphor you want—and announce themselves as true purveyors of hard and heavy rock and roll. In many ways, Black Magic Ecstasy is that announcement. It’s a near-30-minute EP that leaves listeners begging for more. Or maybe it’s just me. I’m begging for more. Listen to Tsuris, friends, then listen again. Then take a trip through everything they’ve put out. The kids are alright.
Top tracks: “Black Magick Ecstasy,” “Séance”
Similar to: Vimur, Spirit Possession
7. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Nell’ Ora Blu
What happens when a psychedelic/stoner rock band decides to make an hour-and-20-minute ode to Giallo movies? Perfection, y’all. Pure perfection. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats take listeners on a neon light lit journey through the streets of cosmopolitan Italy by way of moody synths, steel guitar, falsetto vocals, jazzy saxophone, orchestral strings and every other instrument utilized by your favorite movie studio. You’ll be hunting a knife-wielding killer alongside shady detectives or alongside a shady killer, depending on the track. It’s surreal cinematic music you can either dance or brood to. I do my best contemplating/trudging/long walkin’ while shooting Nell’ Ora Blu into my ears, as its soundscapes strike all the way down to both my cerebral and emotional core. I’m sure there’s a great (and bloody) crime story beneath the textures woven by sound, but I can’t be bothered with it yet—the music is just too good. As a fan of horror movies, it’s refreshing to see a band just really go for the overall Giallo concept and absolutely nail it. The genius is that Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats don’t sacrifice their own dreamy style in any way – they expertly integrate it. Spin this one to transform your humdrum life into an over-the-top Giallo movie.
Top tracks: “La Vipera,” “Il Tesero di Sardegna” “Il Ritorno Del Chiamante Silenzioso + Solo La Morte Ti Ammanetta”
Similar to: Goblin, Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd
6. Midnight – Hellish Expectations
Cleveland’s Midnight—the solo black/speed metal project of multi-instrumentalist Jamie Walters, aka Athenar—has been a favorite of mine for some time now. The raw, punk rock energy that Midnight leads with, combined with irreverent lyrics about sex, nuclear war, and good ol’ fashioned devilin’, wins me over every album. Hellish Expectations is no exception. Lots of Midnight-heads (Midnighters? Midnight riders? Ridewraiths? Idiots?) saw Athenar’s previous effort, Let There Be Witchery, as somewhat feckless due to its catchiness, with many even suggesting the masked menace had somehow lost his edge. This album seems to be a giant middle finger to those naysayers, with hellblazing tracks (most under three minutes) that waste no time in pummeling the listener with Midnight’s signature blend of speed. In fact, only two tracks—“Dungeon Lust” and “Mercyless Slaughtor”—truly shy away from Midnight’s honed style. The well-crafted and certainly intended catchiness from Szex Witchery is still there to appease its fans, with rebellious rallying cries found in “Expect Total Hell,” “Nuclear Savior” and “F.O.A.L.” My bias is likely showing with this pick—playing Midnight on bass for over a year will do that to you—but I do think it’s a very strong showing from Athenar, our favorite sex-obsessed speed metal master.
Top tracks: “Expect Total Hell,” “Nuclear Savior,” “F.O.A.L.”
Similar to: Motorhead, BAT, Wolfbrigade
5. Brodequin – Harbinger of Woe
Looking to scratch that brutal death itch, but don’t want it too techy, death-core-y or sanitized? Our bro-down broheim death metal masters from Knoxville, Brodequin, have you taken care of. Harbinger of Woe is a sheer assault on listeners, offering fat riff after fat riff alongside blast beats straight out of a warzone. Vocalist/bassist Jamie Bailey gurgles to perfection, seeming to spur on the brutality and invite listeners to join the fray. Brodequin elevates an otherwise overdone genre by never leaning too far into technical wankery; each song builds, lives and dies with the trio (crazy this is three people) working in complete unison; if one aspect is off even slightly, none of this would work as well as it does. The riffs and distorted melodies come at you like a single tank or bomb blast instead of a barrage, offering a wave of sound that will knock you on your ass if you aren’t ready for it. It’s a wild ride, and one that gives me the same adrenaline-filled smile as bands like Immolation, Cryptopsy and Nile as well as Nithing, Septage and Miasmatic Necrosis. It’s not quite grind, but it’s flirting with the idea. Whatever you want to call it, it’s well-crafted brutal metal babyyyyyyyyyquin.
Top tracks: “Harbinger of Woe,” “Maleficium”
Similar to: Cryptopsy, Nithing, Nile
4. Saidan – Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity
Many metalheads classify black metal as either first/second wave (Bathory, Mayhem, Venom, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon, Gorgoroth, Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Mercyful Fate)… or simply non-existent. Which is a shame, considering the United States has been pumping out a lot of great melodic black metal over the past few years, with Nashville’s Saidan among them. This album takes the term melodic to “near symphonic” or “triumphant,” with a heavy emphasis on emotional orchestration over sheer brutality. Each song is an engrossing journey that tugs at your heart strings while also providing pummeling blast beats, operatic tremolo picking and chord progressions, as well as high-pitched vocal stylings. For a lot of trve kvlt edgelords, this album may come off as a bit too catchy or accessible, as Saidan does waver into near-power-metal territory from time to time. But that’s half the appeal for me. What separates Saidan is how expertly engaging each song is. It’s easy to recreate, worship or revel in one genre’s distinct sound (especially black metal), it’s quite another to force it forward and make it evolve without sacrificing its essence. For a band as young (or at least young-looking) as Saidan, they sure have the chops of a much more seasoned band, and I welcome what they’re offering. Their (seemingly) youthful vigor has led to three full-length rippers in the past four years that stay true to their own identity, with Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity standing as the most fully realized yet. The kids are indeed alright.
Top tracks: “Genocidal Bloodfiend,” “Veins of the Wicked”
Similar to: Spectral Wound, Hulder, Moonlight Sorcery
3. Knoll – As Spoken
As Spoken doesn’t make sense, man. It’s a tour-de-force of dissonance that utilizes one of the best vocalists in the game, while also incorporating filthy dissonance, trumpets distortion and discord. These crazy kids from Memphis decided to put it all in a blender and create some of the most dense and nightmare-inducing music imaginable. Call it blackened grindcore or deathgrind or whatever you want, bands like Knoll are at the forefront of blending several genres into, well, the soundtrack for your next mental breakdown (complimentary)! Knoll’s music is a series of snapshots; each measure provides an old, grimy photograph or dusty, heavily distorted painting to gaze into. The moment you start to make out what each image may be, Knoll knocks you upside the head with the next, demanding you gaze into more abyssal tones and chaotic textures. The band’s overall imagery—from the album cover’s menacing mirror to song titles like “Portrait,” and “Unto Viewing,”—seems to suggest I’m on the right track, but with a band as intelligently dense as Knoll, there’s no real way to tell. How this band memorizes such infernal hymns is beyond me, but anyone whose seen them live (I’ve been lucky enough a few times now) knows these guys absolutely crush it, from aesthetics to execution. Holy Knoll-y. Did I mention the kids are alright?
Top tracks: “Revile of Light,” “Portrait”
Similar to: Full of Hell, Thou, Thantifaxath
2. Gigan – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
Raw, unflinching, dissonant, clinical, textured and unwavering are all descriptors I’d use for Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus, Gigan’s fifth foray into technical disso-death. Gigan utilizes instruments like guitar, drums and bass, as well as theremin, synthesizers, otomatone and xylophone to take listeners on a cosmic whirlwind of a head trip. Vocalist Jerry Kavouriaris isn’t there to guide you as much as interpret Lovecraftian messages from the beyond, mimicking the hooded wizard that lingers on every Gigan album cover with gutteral chants. Thre other band members traverse the inner workings of the mind through dissonance, with the overt technical prowess acting as a guide. The instrumentation, structure and overall complication is nerdy, sure, but very intentional in spurring reactions like “I’m confused,” or “I’m anxious,” or “Hell yeah, brother.” The cerebral calamity is part of the art itself—Gigan wants you to bask in the headiness of it all, acknowledge its complication and hold onto what you can amid the journey. Maybe that’s a jazzy drum fill. Maybe it’s a barely audible guitar line amid samples of wind. Maybe it's that final breakdown that finally brings back riffs within riffs, a familiar melody or a less terrifying rhythm. Focus on what you can, take notes, and ensure you milk every ounce of enjoyment out of this space-wizard-alien-sights-and-sounds tour—it’s one of the best we got.
Top tracks: “Emerging Sects of Dagonic Acolytes,” “Erratic Pulsivity and Horror”
Similar to: Artificial Brain, Defacement, Sunless
1. Ingurgitating Oblivion – Ontology of Nought
If there ever was a soundtrack to the end of the world, it would sound a lot like this one-hour-and-thirteen-minute monster. This is the only album I listened to this year to suffocate me in a chaotically dense tapestry and rescue me time and time again (often in the same song, multiple times, no less). Made up of five epic songs comprised of three movements each, Ontology of Nought is an assault on the senses via dissonant waves of distorted guitar, clean guitar, horns, samples, harsh vocals, clean vocals, orchestral strings and more. It alternates between nightmare-fuel dissonance and surreal jazz, challenging listeners to endure its labyrinthian structure and dissect its haunting message. A true accomplishment in every sense of the word, this album is not one you can read about or hear described to you—it’s one you must experience for yourself. How musicians can think of such eldritch and genuinely powerful music is simply beyond me; it’s cerebral yet emotionally eviscerating and devestating, heady yet primal. It’s is a trip into the darkest corners of our beloved genre, where even the most beautiful and illuminating moments can be found for those seeking hard enough. Picture yourself searching through a pitch black haunted house or graveyard armed only with a very cagey flashlight; in some corners you find a treasure chest filled with riches, a beautiful portrait or a mesmerizing statue—in others you find only unimaginable horrors. That’s just a sliver of what this album offers. But don’t take my word for it, take Ingurgitating Oblivion’s advice per “The Blossoms of Tomorrow Shall Unfold in My Heart”:
Give way to dizziness and grant your eyes this benign vision
Let them rove over visions of white
Mighty waves of your inner ocean unroll and tear the pall of life's insalubrious demons
Did you get all that?
Similar to: Thantifaxath, Imperial Triumphant, Mitochondrian
Top tracks: One does not simply choose a top Ingurgitating Oblivion track.
Here’s a top 25 I’ve maintained throughout the year, with the albums ranked from least accessible (dissonant, dense) to most accessible (melodic, catchy):
Honorable mentions:
- Striker – Ultrapower – This may be the cheesiest pop-metal ode to ‘80s hair metal I’ve ever heard but damn if it isn’t catchy. Entire album is on my workout playlist AND my ‘80s mega list and never fails to get the blood pumping.
- Gravenchalice – Echelon – Gravenchalice is a very doomy-deathy-sludgy-death-infused black metal project from Florida with themes around orthodox Christian mythology. Technically, Gravenchalice is a Christian metal band. What makes it amazing is its very cerebral (near-erudite) examination of the Bible’s major plot points, characters, motivations and psyches—this includes St. John the Baptist, Satan, angels, Jesus, and even God himself. The lyrical writing is phenomenal, and you can tell some smart cookies are behind this amazing project. Almost made it into the Top 10.
- I Am the Intimidator – I Am the Intimidator – A solo heavy metal project about the last day of Dale Earnhardt may sound dumb and gimmicky. And it is. But it’s also well-crafted music and one of this year’s standout projects. Hope to see more!
- Death Racer – From Gravel to Grave – Austrian speed metal project based on how metal racing can be. The speed metal / European version of I Am the Intimidator. Very fun and very good, a bit more serious and brutal than our guy here in the states. If you want more, there’s a third (Restrictor Plate’s Slamtona 500 EP) if slam is more your thing.
- Aara – Eiger – Atmospheric black metal that’s so good that Katie (my smoking hot non-metal-listening wife) even remarked, “Oooh, I like this.” Truly emotionally epic stuff. Almost made it into the Top 10.
- Deceased – Children of the Morgue – I’ve already made my feelings about this record well-known. It’s truly a gift to have a 40 year-old band still making this kind of quality OG death metal.
If you liked this AOTY list—good news! I did something similar last year. Check it out.