Top 10 albums of the year 2024

2025-01-07

Alright, we're back from Egypt, and it's time for the yearly Top 10. In 2023, there was a certain pattern of the artists often being +50 years of age. And while the same applies in 2024 (like several years before, really), a considerable portion of the best releases from 2024 are solo albums.

Top 10 albums 2024

Judas Priest – "Invincible Shield"

Armed with more than 50 years of experience in true, original heavy metal, the Metal Gods released another iron-heavy, fire-breathing slab of British steel that made everyone else seem inferior, no matter their genre. While not surpassing its predecesor, 2018's blinding "Firepower", The Priest's 19th studio album demonstrated that the venerable veterans are nowhere near done, only supporting what I said in 2022 about Rob Halford needing to get new body implants donated so he can keep on touring. Anyone looking into that yet?
Orden Ogan – "The Order of Fear"

The keyword for Orden Ogan is greatness. In terms of writing awe-inspiringly effective heavy metal that sticks with you forever after only a couple of spins, but also in terms of production. The soundscape is huge, and it shouldn't be any other way, the band's infectious melodies, meticulous precision and heavy axe chops collectively sounding like something that reverberates from mountaintops in magical kingdoms. Awesome magical kingdoms.
The Crown – "Crown of Thorns"

While The Crown may not exactly prioritize variation when it comes to their mode of sonic expression, their latest long-player demonstrated again that they sure as shit wouldn't need to, either. With the attitude of a pack of frenzying rottweilers and the energy of a minor army, "Crown of Thorns" is easily the most metal release of 2024.
Aborted – "Vault of Horrors"

Even more brutal and less varied than above-mentioned, Belgium's death metal pride did what no other band in their genre had done before – unlikely as that sounds – and released a concept album based on horror movies. Not that the horror element was very apparent apart from lyrically and album cover-wise, but as long as Aborted keep pummelling us with merciless brutality like this, metal lives.
Jerry Cantrell – "I Want Blood"

Combining desolate darkness with seemingly effortless classic hard rock, the Alice in Chains-guitarist and -vocalist once again showed the world that he is not only a creatively unique artist, but also that he still puts out material as convincing as that from his AiC heyday. "I Want Blood" is masterful enough to have been released by AiC during said heyday.
Dååth – "The Deceivers"

Ambitious, violent, progressive, and pushing boundaries for both the band and the quality-level that one might expect from comeback albums. "The Deceivers" is an impressive, versatile display of equal parts cryptic and infernal death-prog that makes both of that term's components seem inadequate. And you can say what you want about everything that came in the wake of groove metal; an album like this one shows that metal bands can groove without pandering for shit.
Sebastian Bach – "Child Within the Man"

I wrote in my notes as well as in my review about some of the material on the former Skid Row-vocalist's fourth solo album that it's the heaviest and harshest stuff he's ever put out. In hindsight, this wasn't just me being pleasantly susprised; Sebastian Bach really does seem to have been inspired by the metal gods themselves on this one. If the man would tour with songs like these and mix 'em up with a generous helping of bangers from his former outfit, we wouldn't need the twain to reunite anytime soon.
Riot V – "Mean Streets"

Similarly, as though channeling their inspiration from a source of the purest heavy metal itself, Riot V kicked it old-school with a release that makes their 3rd-rate status in the world of hard rock and metal seem even more unfair. "Mean Streets" may not go down in history, but it doesn't kick any less ass for that reason.
Ihsahn – "Ihsahn"

Sometimes melodic and pretty, sometimes infernal and ugly, sometimes progressive and even jazzy. The former Emperor-frontman and -mastermind once again composed an opus that, in an ideal world, would be considered awe-inspiring even by non-metalheads. Many people will not have the mental capacity and/or the necessary musical frames of reference to comprehend an album like this one, and an album like this one makes it a bit impossible not to feel a bit superior to those people.
Devin Townsend – "PowerNerd"

Every metalhead's favorite geek went even more self-aware on his solo album number even-he-has-lost-count-at-this-point. While perhaps featuring a bit fewer of those wacky elements that make him stand out, "PowerNerd" brims with a unique combination of irresistible melodic beauty and hard-hitting grandeur. – Which, by the way, also make him stand out.

Runners-up

Honorable mentions

Every year sees at least a coupla releases about which I simply wouldn't have enough interesting things to say to fill out a whole album review. In 2024, Borknagar released one such. I listened to "Fall" over and over, and I liked it, but I couldn't fill out an entire, coherent review with relevant observations. The same thing went for "Winterstorm" by Ensiferum: It's solid folk metal; a little on the goofy side, but still packing enough of a punch to be enjoyable. And that's about it. I also listened to Rotting Christ's "Pro Xristou" album a whole buncha times, but I got way too far behind in reviewing it because I was busy making a mess of my life. It's a fine album, but four months after the release date, the review train has long left the station.

With other albums, you can hear right away that the material, while solid, doesn't merit enough comment for a review to make sense. The new High on Fire album was one such, full of fiery-energetic, sludgy stoner metal that speaks perfectly fine for itself without me or anyone else getting clever about it. Same thing went for a couple of releases in the more extreme end from Suidakra and, incidentally, my own countrymen in Panzerchrist. Also Massacre put out a lovely slab of old-school, more-than-Lovecraft-inspired death metal that you should check out if you'd be into that sorta thang.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Blood Incantation's "Absolute Elsewhere", and for many a good reason. First time around, I let it be after one spin, having expected something way different. But then the hype came, and I gave it a coupla spins more. However creative and original, alas, I can't say much more about it than that it's an enjoyable and interesting combination of death metal and classic, progressive space rock.

Then there were a coupla releases from former metal bands which, while great in their own merit, still wouldn't merit (yeah, sorry) a review on a metal site. With "Sub Rosa In Aeturnum", Tribulation put out a more-than-convincing display of dark, gothic rock. And with "Liminal Animals", Ulver put out a godddamn synthpop album, making me long for those glory days when it was still possible for mainstream pop music to carry not only a certain level of dignity, but even fucking class.

Finally, like the year before, the Cavalera brothers re-recorded one of their former band's earliest outputs, their 1987 sophomore LP "Schizophrenia". While not as welcome of a re-recording as the ones of the first two horridly produced Sepultura releases, and while unfortunately still using too much reverb on the vocals, the revisit remains a nice one, reminding us of that golden age of the crystallization of thrash metal itself.

The ones I listened to, but…

Then there are the albums that I didn't listen to enough to get properly into. Either because they're not bringing anything new to the table, and/or because they're just not that exciting. In much the same category as the above mentioned, the new releases from Master, Blood Red Throne, Deicide, Black Dahlia Murder, and Six Feet Under all simply sounded like death metal. Not bad; still not very interesting. In the black metal category, the same thing went for 1349.

Staying in the black metal category, while not having played 2nd-gen. black metal for years, Darkthrone put out an album that sounded more like a Celtic Frost tribute than anything else. Also speaks for itself much better than I could speak on its behalf. And while I actually dug the newest release from Nachtmystium, never having checked out the band before, it turns out it's just this one guy who's apparently scammed a lot of people out of their money through his former label and webshop. And having dealt with a scammer myself recently, I am not honoring anything out of any person like that with a review. In fact, I shouldn't even be mentioning the name on my website; this'll be the first and last time.

At this point in history, and as much as I lament that veteran bands have to throw in the towel, there's a distinct category of old guys who may as well just call it quits. And while Mr. Big did do so with a farewell tour, they also released a farewell album which presented as much run-of-the-mill songwriting as musical talent. In the far end of the veteran scale and to absolutely nobody's excitement, Deep Purple put out a new album of anonymous songs which even a musically conservative like yours truly would label "dad rock".

Also Sweet (a.k.a. Andy Scott and whoever he's playing with) released a swan song LP, which had some strong tunes on it, but still wasn't very interesting overall. Same thing went for my countrymen in Fate, although they kinda did the opposite, because they reunited. Still an okay album, though. And then there was a goddamn MC5 studio album, even featuring some of the band's members, and also a bunch of directionless jams that they should've just kicked out altogether. (Do you see what I fucking did there??)

In the world of doom metal, My Dying Bride sounded like themselves and nothing more. There seemed to be some hype about the new Pallbearer release, and while I dug it, that's pretty much it. Staying in the slow end of things, Fu Manchu also sounded like themselves and nothing more. And then I finally managed to check out Orange Goblin, who put out a blinding new album. But then midway, their lyrics went into anti-vaxxing and other conspiracy drivel. So going forward, I will grant them the same amount of space on my website as scammers. Tinfoilers making it easy for me.

The autopilots

The category of just-plain-running-out-of-ideas, sadly, saw a couple of otherwise great bands, Zeal & Ardor and Alcest. I might also place the new Fleshgod Apocalypse album there, seeing as how it just seemed polished and predictable. Man, remember that "Agony" album (2011)? Seemed like such a sweet fucking album.

Also Powerwolf were as polished and predictable as ever – probably shouldn’t count on anything worthwhile from these guys in the first place. Also the new stuff from Pain sounded as polished and unsurprising as they’ve always sounded. While the new Sólstafir LP showed the band from their classic, atmospheric side, the only things that stood out were some weird features of plain classic rock that were too out-of-character. And then my old puberty soundtrack heroes in Smashing Pumpkins put out a new LP, but somehow completely forgot how to come up with memorable riffs, melodies, or anything, and ending their songs on seemingly random counts, making for an album that sounded like an AI-generated version of the band rather than anything else.

In power metal, also Freedom Call and Rhapsody (of Fire) put out albums that sounded like the band’s genre, but devoid of any interesting ideas. Also the new Evergrey album sounded nice, but not very exciting. Same thing for the reunion album from earthtone9. The new Paragon album was German standard heavy metal at its most standard. And, to nobody’s surprise, still nothing interesting from Dark Tranquillity, either, even though they’ve begun to up the metal a bit more.

The Melvins is a band that I’d never properly checked out, and I heard the first 20-minute song from their new LP. It’s slow and heavy as fuck, but also random and directionless as fuck, so I didn’t bother with the rest. I also finally got around to checking out Grand Magus by way of their new release; their straight-up heavy metal sounds like they’re having fun playing it, but like none of them exactly spend a whole lot of hours weekly practicing their respective instruments.

I hadn’t checked out Swallow The Sun until 2024, either, but I cannot for the life of me recall how their stuff sounded. Probably okay-ish, but also maybe not. And finally, Body Count put out a new album. It had some cool Slayer-style riffs on it, and you’d have to admire Ice-T – now fucking 66 years old – for sticking to it. But, I mean… it’s Body Count.

The bad ones

More bands that I finally got around to checking out for the first time in 2024: Wind Rose and Brothers of Metal both released some of that unbearably silly and self-aware folky-end-of-power-metal with which I started to get so thoroughly fed up on the year's Epic Fest and with the latest release from Dragonforce. Same thing went for Astral Doors, although they possibly set the stupidity bar lower than anyone else. That album was so dumb it downright pissed me off.

The new releases by The Rods and Praying Mantis were not only uninspired, but sounded like the group members needed support stands to be able to record them in an upright position. Anvil released a mess of an LP – dumb, forgettable songs and almost randomly sounding mixing levels. I think I'm done serving my part in rocking out to their live shows by now. Also the newest Blaze Bayley release was unfocused and badly mixed – not that I was expecting a masterpiece or anything.

In the category of just-plain-sounds-like-shit, someone put out a Necrophagia compilation that should henceforth stand as the example of how not to mix an album. Xasthur released another sloppy cacophony of random noise, but I suppose people are expecting that by now. Dopethrone is another band I hadn't checked out either; their production is also pretty much just one big mess.

The new Korpiklaani and Týr albums sounded like folk metal, but with zero ideas, and possibly also Auto-Tune, so I'll put that in the shit category just to be on the safe side. The new album from my countrymen in Vola sounded like plastic pop with 8-string guitars and most definitely Auto-Tune, so most definitely fuck you. And some of my other countrymen in Konkhra (a.k.a. vocalist/guitarist Anders Lundemark and whoever he's currently got onboard) put out an album that was just plain drudging and uninspired.

In the seriously shitty end of things, the new Amaranthe sounded like everything that's wrong with not only metal, but music today: Poppy, polished, plastic-y, and compressed into joylessness. Their new album, and possibly every other, could serve as side-by-side examples with vinyl records from the likes of, say, Queen, Dire Straits, and Pink Floyd – examples of exactly how music production is degenerating into death by digital pandering to the most ignorant of music consumers. This shit makes me wanna invent a time machine just so I could go back and do things that might get me into legal trouble if I wrote them here.

Kinda the same thing goes for Mushroomhead, although their one gigantic flaw is that they seem to be one big, construed facade. Yes, you have some cool masks; no, that does not mean that your feigned badass attitudes and jock riffs amount to anything less poser-y than Limp Bizkit. (And yes, this is coming from a man who still enjoys going to Slipknot shows.)

Finally, I heard the first 11 seconds of the new album by Offspring. That band was among my aforementioned puberty soundtrack heroes in the '90s; going forward, I will not be writing about them again. I would rather listen to that Taylor Swift-thingy.

The ones I didn't hear at all

Apart from all of the above, 2024 – as any other year before it going back to the mid-sixties – saw way too many releases which I still haven't listened to. Of course, two of them – coming from Slash and Blue Öyster Cult, respectively – were cover albums, so those don't count anyway. There were also new solo albums from Ace Frehley and Mick Mars (and Thor!), but I'm expecting so little from either that I couldn't be bothered. Someone also decided to make a solo album by that Kat Von D chick for some reason.

I didn't have the patience to get into the newest ~1 hour Rage album. Couldn't even find the new Dream Evil album on YouTube. New Nightwish also; they're probably still polished and boring. And then there's that "Nanowar Of Steel" band, but I took a look at their titles and album covers and decided that the less said about an outfit like that, the better. Goddammit, stop pissing all over metal's heritage and start taking yourselves and your genre seriously.

Apart from that, new releases by Firewind, Iron Monkey, Blitzkrieg, God Dethroned, Flotsam and Jetsam, Satan, Subway To Sally, Victory, Winterfylleth, and Vended. Never checked out more than half of these groups, by the way. Also, new albums from Solbrud and Illdisposed who I will put in the same, ending sentence since they happen to be my countrymen.

Moving forward…

With as much quality as did get put out in 2024, the above is an indication of what we already kinda knew: The quality releases from veteran bands are getting fewer and farther between because veteran bands are getting fewer and fewer. Therefore, quality releases are coming from gradually more random artists. It’ll only keep going in this direction as metal becomes more and more watered-down. And yes, I’m bitter, but I’m also right, which is exactly why I’m bitter, you fuck.

So, while 2025 already does have new albums lined up from the fine likes of Dream Theater, Avantasia, Lordi, Thundermother, Destruction, Arch Enemy, Night Flight Orchestra, and Primal Fear, it’s still a sober conclusion that only few of these are exactly A-listers in their respective subgenres. Not really sure what to conclude except for what I’ve already concluded, so I’ll leave it at that for now.

On a personal level, and as some of you know, 2024 featured the most horrific period in my life following a disastrous life-decision. My trust in other people suffered a huge blow, as did my mood and mental health, as well as basic physical conditions that we normally take for granted. The chest pains and increased heart rate seem to have passed, but I’m still dealing with insomnia to a certain extent.

But we can’t let other people’s deceit and destructive behavior get the best of us. And no matter how dreadful situations we end up in, chances are, millions of others are way worse off than we are. Whoever’s reading this, I’m guessing you have a roof over your head; that you’re at least fairly healthy; that you have immediate access to basic necessities like food and water, and that you don’t have to fear persecution or violence on a daily basis. I’m guessing you might even have the opportunity to get a job or take an education. Perhaps you’ve even done either, or both.

By going through an extreme amount of distress and discomfort this fall, I’ve come to the realization that we need to help each other. You’ve probably heard of people having that insight after similar experiences; well, apparently now it’s my turn. I’ve mentioned adding a downright charity section to Global Metal Blog; that’ll happen in 2025. I’ll also be doing a bunch of volunteer work, and I might be reporting on it in here as well. First and foremost, though, I’ll be prioritizing action and donations over words.

Whatever pain or discomfort you may be going through right now, be aware that it will necessarily end at some point for whatever reason. However powerless you feel, you do have a certain amount of agency – if nothing else, then simply in the attitude you choose toward your situation. Acknowledge your responsibility; don’t be afraid of reaching out to others, and whatever you do, keep on keeping on.

Think global, act metal.
– Andy