Intro: The 2020’s have been a turbulent decade so far. Defined largely by wars, a pandemic, ever increasing living costs and a rise in extreme right-wing ideology, it’s certainly a period in time where catharsis through music is needed more than ever, especially in the wake of so many grassroots venues in the UK struggling to make ends meet.
Thankfully, amidst all of this chaos there have been some superb releases in the calendar year 2024. The following 20 albums are the ones that stood out to me within the broad spectrum of alternative music.
20. Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night
Is it wrong to include an album on this year-end list when half of it was technically released last year? Maybe, but this latest Night Verses album was too good to emit from this list. After losing their vocalist in 2017, Night Verses decided to continue as an instrumental trio and it paid off, with their third album From the Gallery of Sleep being the strongest release of their career. This album is simply a continuation, with the band moving from strength to strength, once again demonstrating that they can hold their own without a vocalist and still create engaging prog metal. This album even has a few curveballs thrown in, with some great features such as Tool bassist Justin Chancellor and Industrial powerhouse Author & Punisher. There is even the brief reappearance of vocals with Incubus singer Brandon Boyd and Circa Survive singer Anthony Green appearing on two tracks respectively towards the tail-end of the record. These brief vocal appearances help to diversify this record and help it to stand out on its own from its predecessor.
19. Iotunn – Kinship
Is it wise to start an album with a song more than 13 minutes long? Probably not, but that’s what Danish prog metallers Iotunn decided to do on their second album Kinship and it pays off so well. Like many prog albums, this album is a grower and demands multiple listens, but the songwriting and musicianship on display is excellent. Instrumentally it sits somewhere between progressive and melodic death metal, drawing comparisons to bands like Insomnium, but the vocals are primarily soaring operatic cleans, coupled with death growls to compensate the heavier sections. This focus on power metal-style vocals helps to set Iotunn out from their contemporaries, and they are definitely a name to keep an eye on in the future.
18. Amiensus – Reclamation Part I & II
Although these were two separate albums released during different parts of this year, I’m counting them as a double album. This progressive black metal project really outdid themselves with this release; whilst their previous records were no slouches these two albums really feel like a step up for this band. Fans of bands like Enslaved will feel right at home with Amiensus, as their sound is equal parts black metal and equal parts prog metal worship. Despite an obviously long run-time, both of the Reclamation albums remain engaging throughout. This band seems to have flown under the radar for a lot of people this year too, so definitely give these albums a listen.
17. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
I generally try and avoid filling my year-end lists with legacy acts, partially because if you want a list of the best year-end albums by popular bands you can just go to Loudwire for that but mostly because I like to give the spotlight to bands that you may not have heard of before. However, every now and again a legacy act releases something that really is worth mentioning and Judas Priest have done just that with Invincible Shield. Following on from their already impressive 2018 album Firepower, Invincible Shield sees these metal grandads go from strength to strength, essentially using the aforementioned Firepower as a foundation to build an even stronger album on top of. Rob Halford’s vocals sound amazing as per usual, the rhythm section is as strong as ever and Glenn Tipton still shows he can write a shredding solo in spite of his health difficulties.
16. Opeth – Last Will and Testament
After a long period of absence, Opeth mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt has brought death growls back into his music, so this album was bound to be on this list right? Well, it’s not quite as simple as that. Opeth has shown in the past they can make fantastic progressive rock with albums like Damnation, but their foray into progressive rock since 2011 has been hit and miss mostly as it seems to lack that signature Opeth melancholy. However, thankfully 2019’s In Cauda Venenum recaptured some of that spirit, and Last Will and Testament further builds upon that and combining it well with the retro prog worship Opeth have been doing recently. The reintroduction of harsh vocals is the icing on the cake, and makes this album the best Opeth album in quite a long time.
15. Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Including a chamber pop album on a list like this may raise some eyebrows, but the first solo album from Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons should be something that a lot of rock and metal fans will really appreciate. Portishead as a band have always appealed to me personally as a trip-hop/electronic group that really capture a similar sense of melancholy that you get from a lot of the darker metal styles, and the lo-fi production on their debut album in particular really scratches the same itch for me musically as a lot of black metal does. Lives Outgrown very much continues with that same sense of melancholy, although it abandons almost all of the electronic elements from Portishead, but it’s definitely one of the strongest non-metal albums of 2024 and one that I think deserves a spot here.
14. Múr – Self-titled
This album is a bit of a deceptive one; from looking at the cover you’d assume them to be some sort of Eurovision-ready pop act, but what you actually have is an excellent debut album from these Icelandic post-metal newcomers. Fans of Cult of Luna and The Ocean will feel right at home here with lots of dense synth sections coupled with pummelling sludge riffs, and whilst it does get a little repetitive at times, it’s still a captivating and very solid album, and this band is definitely a name to watch in the future.
13. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Chelsea Wolfe has had a busy past few years. After having an incredibly strong album streak from 2011s Apokalypsis through to 2017’s Hiss Spun, she followed up with the enjoyable if slightly underwhelming Birth of Violence before doing a slew of collaborative projects, including a song with Emma Ruth Rundle, a full-length album with metalcore stalwarts Converge and featuring on the Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. After a few quiet years she has returned with her 7th full-length She Reaches Out… This album sees Wolfe returning somewhat to the darkwave sound present on her albums Pain is Beauty and Abyss and is another shining example of Wolfe’s ability to blend abrasive walls of sound with her incredibly delicate and sombre vocals. This album is absolutely a must-listen for anyone needing a dose of mopey electronic goth music.
12. Alcest – Les Chants de L’Aurore
There’s something so uniquely blissful about listening to Alcest’s music that no other metal band can quite replicate, even other blackgaze contemporaries such as Deafheaven, and that is very much the case with their latest album. After wading into darker lyrical territory on the past two records, Alcest mastermind Neige expressed a desire to return to the band’s roots as such, with dreamier topics and a less riff-oriented approach. The result is an album that sits somewhere in between the band’s earlier outputs and Shelter, their purely dream-pop album. This was the soundtrack to my summer this year, no less as it was released on the summer solstice, which seemed so apt I refuse to believe it was a coincidence.
11. Fit for an Autopsy – The Nothing That Is
I’ve really grown to despise modern deathcore, largely due to the fact that most of the bands aren’t really interested in writing music, but instead churning out YouTube reaction-ready slop with the most over-the-top breakdowns imaginable. Thankfully, Fit for an Autopsy stand out as an anomaly in this regard, being a deathcore band that actually focuses on writing good songs. They have been going from strength to strength since 2017’s The Great Collapse, and The Nothing That Is is a continuation of that, with a lot of crushingly heavy riffs reminiscent of bands like Revocation and Gojira coupled with breakdowns that actually compliment the songs rather than overshadow them.
10. Orgone – Pleroma
Undoubtedly one of the wildest albums included on this list, Pennsylvania death metallers Orgone have been at it for a while with their name largely going unnoticed. Pleroma is their third album and their first in 10 years, and my personal introduction to them. Their music is very diverse, ranging from dissonant death metal you’d expect on an Ulcerate or Gorguts album, all the way through to soft folky acoustic sections. Of course, a lot of progressive death metal bands combine soft passages with big riffs but never before have the contrasts been quite as extreme as they are here, and despite that, this album is incredibly well put-together and flows exceptionally well.
9. Ihsahn – Self-titled
Ihsahn has come a long way over the years. From his days in legendary black metal band Emperor throughout his solo work, his evolution as an artist has been a real treat to observe and experience when listening to his discography. His self-titled release feels like a celebration of that evolution, as it combines some of the best elements of all of his past releases into one. Far and beyond the most symphonic release he’s done since Emperor, the extra orchestral parts compliment this album fantastically, giving it an almost Devin Townsend-esque sense of grandiose.
8. Job for a Cowboy – Moon Healer
Job for a Cowboy were one of my favourite bands back during the Myspace era, and following the evolution of the band was a real treat, that culminated with their 2014 release Sun Eater, a progressive death metal beast of an album that was equal parts memorable and very technically proficient. Despite waiting 10 years for the follow-up album, Moon Healer doesn’t miss a beat and sees the band build on Sun Eater. The vocals and bass are the standouts for me on this record, but really the musicianship on this album in general is so impressive. Hopefully we won’t be waiting another 10 years for the next release!
7. Chat Pile – Cool World
I opened this piece by outlining some issues that the 2020s have been plagued with so far, and Oklahoma noise metal band Chat Pile have no qualms about tackling these topics head-on with their music. Continuing where their previous album God’s Country left off, Cool World offers listeners with their signature blend of noise rock, sludge metal and industrial metal and frontman Raygun Busch snarls and yells about how much the world sucks, and unfortunately I am inclined to agree with him. It’s a bleak and grimy listen, but it’s impossible to deny the catharsis this album offers, and the raw production makes the whole thing really sound like it was recorded in a garage in the 1990s, but in the best way possible.
6. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood
Anyone who has even a surface-level interest in heavy music should already be aware of Jerry Cantrell and his contributions throughout the years, obviously most notably with grunge legends Alice in Chains. His solo career started in the late 90s during his band’s hiatus which would ultimately lead to the tragic death of the beloved Layne Staley. After two solo albums, Cantrell seemingly retired his solo work and reformed Alice in Chains, but he brought his solo material back in 2021 with Brighten, an enjoyable but ultimately flawed listen. I Want Blood, however, shows Cantrell back on top form and firing on all cylinders. Although a relatively short affair for his standards, not a single minute is wasted on this 9-track album which is easily the strongest work Cantrell has put out since Alice In Chains released Black Gives Way to Blue. Joined by plenty of familiar names that he has worked with before, Jerry Cantrell brings in the riffs aplenty on this album, going back into the darker musical territory he is known for. This album may not rock the boat too much, but it is a fantastic display of Jerry’s strong songwriting skills and is an essential listen for fans old and new.
5. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
In recent years I have all but given up on most metalcore bands. Gone are the days when bands would bother to pull you in with hard-as-feck riffs, the Gothenburg rip-off bands that popularised the genre, or even the over-the-top scenecore of the late aughts, and instead most modern metalcore bands seem to be more interested in churning out generic butt-rock or djent riffs, brickwalled production that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Imagine Dragons album and vocals so over-processed that any remaining humanity left in the music is completely squeezed out. However, one name in the most popular echelon stood out to me, that being Kentucky band Knocked Loose. Uninterested with sanitising their sound at all, their traction is the antithesis of practically all of their contemporaries, and this has only continued to work in their favour. On You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To that really pays off, and despite being such an ear-splittingly heavy listen it is a surprisingly dynamic work with each song having its own identy and the entire album flowing seamlessly like some sort of beatdown musical suite. Their career should really serve as an example that you can experience a growth in popularity without sanitising your sound, and this was perhaps best showcased when the band played Suffocate live on Jimmy Kimmel, to the dismay of pearl-clutching conservatives aplenty.
4. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Blood Incantation have been on my radar for a few years now and I’ve definitely been interested in their somewhat unique approach to death metal, even if I haven’t revisited their past material that frequently. However with Absolute Elsewhere they have finally won me over, and the way they did that was by adding fantastic keyboard and synth arrangements to their signature death metal sound. Absolute Elsewhere is a masterclass in progressive death metal; the entire album consisting of two songs both split into three separate movement (or tablets) that move between death metal brutality and serene proggy space rock almost effortlessly. Don’t mistake this album for an Opeth clone though; despite clearly sharing similar influences to the Swedish heavyweights, Blood Incantation have a much spacier, sci-fi themed approach to their sound, thanks to the vast array of synthesizers they accumulated for this album’s composition. The end result is very Pink Floyd-esque, and to top it all off there’s a Tangerine Dream feature on here too.
3. Crippling Alcoholism – With Love from a Padded Room
Yes you’re reading that right; a band called Crippling Alcoholism is on my year-end list of 2024. Before the band name leaves you running for the hills, let me explain why this band has ended up so high on my list in the first place. With Love from a Padded Room is the sophomore release from this Boston gothic/noise rock project, and it delves into some truly dark and depraved musical and lyrical territories during its 61 minute runtime. Anyone who is a fan of aforementioned noise metal stars Chat Pile or the disgraced former heavyweights in this style, Daughters, should feel right at home with this record, although even then With Love from a Padded Room truly stands out from their contemporaries, combining wailing noise rock swells and leads with downright creepy synth passages and goth rock macabre. Despite all of that, this album is absolutely littered with earworms and before you know it you too will be humming along to vocalist Tony Castrato’s Mark Lanegan-esque croons, in spite of how fucked up the lyrical content is. To top it all off the album sounds amazing, with some of the best production you’ll hear this year.
2. State Faults – Children of the Moon
In a very short period of time this Northern California band have become one of my favourite contemporary names within post-hardcore. On previous albums such as Clairvoyant they proved to me that they have a real knack for effortlessly fusing post-hardcore with a variety of other styles of music such as screamo, black metal, shoegaze, post-rock and more. However, nothing could have prepared me for their fourth release, Children of the Moon. A miraculous release in and of itself given some financial and personal difficulties the band have struggled with in recent years, this 63 minute mammoth album is a culmination of everything that is great about post-hardcore in general and then some. Throat-shredding screams, incredibly heartfelt and relatable lyrics and melodic hooks galore, State Faults also use this long runtime to reach into the aforementioned genres, such as the 10 minute long No Gospel which gives their sound a progressive edge, or the Underoath-tinged Distant Omen or the blackgaze-inspired Nazar. Despite such a broad range of influences on display, nothing ever feels out of place or forced, and the songwriting and musical talent on display is nothing short of astounding. This is a genre-defining record for post-hardcore and should not be missed by anyone remotely interested in any of the genres mentioned.
1. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
As I reach the end of my 20s I have been looking back and reflecting on the last decade of my life. As far as musical discoveries go, no band have had quite as profound an impact on me this decade as The Cure have, and hearing they had a new album coming out was obviously a cause for celebration for me and every other mopey goth out there. It truly is a testament to The Cure’s level of talent that they return after a 16 year album gap with not only a great album, but the best release since their seminal 1989 album Disintegration. This is one of Robert Smith’s most emotionally raw performances, staring his own mortality in the face and reflecting on the death of loved ones, and the spacey instrumentation surrounding these sombre topics fits perfectly, with extended instrumental passages supplementing Smith’s vocals in a way that fantastically encapsulates what this band is all about. Comeback albums after over a decade of musical inactivity are rarely good, and ones like this are a needle in a haystack. This album is a masterpiece, an absolutely essential listen, not just for the aforementioned mopey goths like myself, but music fans in general.
20. Night Verses - Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night
Is it wrong to include an album on this year-end list when half of it was technically released last year? Maybe, but this latest Night Verses album was too good to emit from this list. After losing their vocalist in 2017, Night Verses decided to continue as an instrumental trio and it paid off, with their third album From the Gallery of Sleep being the strongest release of their career. This album is simply a continuation, with the band moving from strength to strength, once again demonstrating that they can hold their own without a vocalist and still create engaging prog metal. This album even has a few curveballs thrown in, with some great features such as Tool bassist Justin Chancellor and Industrial powerhouse Author & Punisher. There is even the brief reappearance of vocals with Incubus singer Brandon Boyd and Circa Survive singer Anthony Green appearing on two tracks respectively towards the tail-end of the record. These brief vocal appearances help to diversify this record and help it to stand out on its own from its predecessor.
19. Iotunn – Kinship
Is it wise to start an album with a song more than 13 minutes long? Probably not, but that’s what Danish prog metallers Iotunn decided to do on their second album Kinship and it pays off so well. Like many prog albums, this album is a grower and demands multiple listens, but the songwriting and musicianship on display is excellent. Instrumentally it sits somewhere between progressive and melodic death metal, drawing comparisons to bands like Insomnium, but the vocals are primarily soaring operatic cleans, coupled with death growls to compensate the heavier sections. This focus on power metal-style vocals helps to set Iotunn out from their contemporaries, and they are definitely a name to keep an eye on in the future.
18. Amiensus – Reclamation Part I & II
Although these were two separate albums released during different parts of this year, I’m counting them as a double album. This progressive black metal project really outdid themselves with this release; whilst their previous records were no slouches these two albums really feel like a step up for this band. Fans of bands like Enslaved will feel right at home with Amiensus, as their sound is equal parts black metal and equal parts prog metal worship. Despite an obviously long run-time, both of the Reclamation albums remain engaging throughout. This band seems to have flown under the radar for a lot of people this year too, so definitely give these albums a listen.
17. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
I generally try and avoid filling my year-end lists with legacy acts, partially because if you want a list of the best year-end albums by popular bands you can just go to Loudwire for that but mostly because I like to give the spotlight to bands that you may not have heard of before. However, every now and again a legacy act releases something that really is worth mentioning and Judas Priest have done just that with Invincible Shield. Following on from their already impressive 2018 album Firepower, Invincible Shield sees these metal grandads go from strength to strength, essentially using the aforementioned Firepower as a foundation to build an even stronger album on top of. Rob Halford’s vocals sound amazing as per usual, the rhythm section is as strong as ever and Glenn Tipton still shows he can write a shredding solo in spite of his health difficulties.
16. Opeth – Last Will and Testament
After a long period of absence, Opeth mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt has brought death growls back into his music, so this album was bound to be on this list right? Well, it’s not quite as simple as that. Opeth has shown in the past they can make fantastic progressive rock with albums like Damnation, but their foray into progressive rock since 2011 has been hit and miss mostly as it seems to lack that signature Opeth melancholy. However, thankfully 2019’s In Cauda Venenum recaptured some of that spirit, and Last Will and Testament further builds upon that and combining it well with the retro prog worship Opeth have been doing recently. The reintroduction of harsh vocals is the icing on the cake, and makes this album the best Opeth album in quite a long time.
15. Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Including a chamber pop album on a list like this may raise some eyebrows, but the first solo album from Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons should be something that a lot of rock and metal fans will really appreciate. Portishead as a band have always appealed to me personally as a trip-hop/electronic group that really capture a similar sense of melancholy that you get from a lot of the darker metal styles, and the lo-fi production on their debut album in particular really scratches the same itch for me musically as a lot of black metal does. Lives Outgrown very much continues with that same sense of melancholy, although it abandons almost all of the electronic elements from Portishead, but it’s definitely one of the strongest non-metal albums of 2024 and one that I think deserves a spot here.
14. Múr – Self-titled
This album is a bit of a deceptive one; from looking at the cover you’d assume them to be some sort of Eurovision-ready pop act, but what you actually have is an excellent debut album from these Icelandic post-metal newcomers. Fans of Cult of Luna and The Ocean will feel right at home here with lots of dense synth sections coupled with pummelling sludge riffs, and whilst it does get a little repetitive at times, it’s still a captivating and very solid album, and this band is definitely a name to watch in the future.
13. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Chelsea Wolfe has had a busy past few years. After having an incredibly strong album streak from 2011s Apokalypsis through to 2017’s Hiss Spun, she followed up with the enjoyable if slightly underwhelming Birth of Violence before doing a slew of collaborative projects, including a song with Emma Ruth Rundle, a full-length album with metalcore stalwarts Converge and featuring on the Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. After a few quiet years she has returned with her 7th full-length She Reaches Out… This album sees Wolfe returning somewhat to the darkwave sound present on her albums Pain is Beauty and Abyss and is another shining example of Wolfe’s ability to blend abrasive walls of sound with her incredibly delicate and sombre vocals. This album is absolutely a must-listen for anyone needing a dose of mopey electronic goth music.
12. Alcest – Les Chants de L’Aurore
There’s something so uniquely blissful about listening to Alcest’s music that no other metal band can quite replicate, even other blackgaze contemporaries such as Deafheaven, and that is very much the case with their latest album. After wading into darker lyrical territory on the past two records, Alcest mastermind Neige expressed a desire to return to the band’s roots as such, with dreamier topics and a less riff-oriented approach. The result is an album that sits somewhere in between the band’s earlier outputs and Shelter, their purely dream-pop album. This was the soundtrack to my summer this year, no less as it was released on the summer solstice, which seemed so apt I refuse to believe it was a coincidence.
11. Fit for an Autopsy – The Nothing That Is
I’ve really grown to despise modern deathcore, largely due to the fact that most of the bands aren’t really interested in writing music, but instead churning out YouTube reaction-ready slop with the most over-the-top breakdowns imaginable. Thankfully, Fit for an Autopsy stand out as an anomaly in this regard, being a deathcore band that actually focuses on writing good songs. They have been going from strength to strength since 2017’s The Great Collapse, and The Nothing That Is is a continuation of that, with a lot of crushingly heavy riffs reminiscent of bands like Revocation and Gojira coupled with breakdowns that actually compliment the songs rather than overshadow them.
10. Orgone – Pleroma
Undoubtedly one of the wildest albums included on this list, Pennsylvania death metallers Orgone have been at it for a while with their name largely going unnoticed. Pleroma is their third album and their first in 10 years, and my personal introduction to them. Their music is very diverse, ranging from dissonant death metal you’d expect on an Ulcerate or Gorguts album, all the way through to soft folky acoustic sections. Of course, a lot of progressive death metal bands combine soft passages with big riffs but never before have the contrasts been quite as extreme as they are here, and despite that, this album is incredibly well put-together and flows exceptionally well.
9. Ihsahn – Self-titled
Ihsahn has come a long way over the years. From his days in legendary black metal band Emperor throughout his solo work, his evolution as an artist has been a real treat to observe and experience when listening to his discography. His self-titled release feels like a celebration of that evolution, as it combines some of the best elements of all of his past releases into one. Far and beyond the most symphonic release he’s done since Emperor, the extra orchestral parts compliment this album fantastically, giving it an almost Devin Townsend-esque sense of grandiose.
8. Job for a Cowboy – Moon Healer
Job for a Cowboy were one of my favourite bands back during the Myspace era, and following the evolution of the band was a real treat, that culminated with their 2014 release Sun Eater, a progressive death metal beast of an album that was equal parts memorable and very technically proficient. Despite waiting 10 years for the follow-up album, Moon Healer doesn’t miss a beat and sees the band build on Sun Eater. The vocals and bass are the standouts for me on this record, but really the musicianship on this album in general is so impressive. Hopefully we won’t be waiting another 10 years for the next release!
7. Chat Pile – Cool World
I opened this piece by outlining some issues that the 2020s have been plagued with so far, and Oklahoma noise metal band Chat Pile have no qualms about tackling these topics head-on with their music. Continuing where their previous album God’s Country left off, Cool World offers listeners with their signature blend of noise rock, sludge metal and industrial metal and frontman Raygun Busch snarls and yells about how much the world sucks, and unfortunately I am inclined to agree with him. It’s a bleak and grimy listen, but it’s impossible to deny the catharsis this album offers, and the raw production makes the whole thing really sound like it was recorded in a garage in the 1990s, but in the best way possible.
6. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood
Anyone who has even a surface-level interest in heavy music should already be aware of Jerry Cantrell and his contributions throughout the years, obviously most notably with grunge legends Alice in Chains. His solo career started in the late 90s during his band’s hiatus which would ultimately lead to the tragic death of the beloved Layne Staley. After two solo albums, Cantrell seemingly retired his solo work and reformed Alice in Chains, but he brought his solo material back in 2021 with Brighten, an enjoyable but ultimately flawed listen. I Want Blood, however, shows Cantrell back on top form and firing on all cylinders. Although a relatively short affair for his standards, not a single minute is wasted on this 9-track album which is easily the strongest work Cantrell has put out since Alice In Chains released Black Gives Way to Blue. Joined by plenty of familiar names that he has worked with before, Jerry Cantrell brings in the riffs aplenty on this album, going back into the darker musical territory he is known for. This album may not rock the boat too much, but it is a fantastic display of Jerry’s strong songwriting skills and is an essential listen for fans old and new.
5. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
In recent years I have all but given up on most metalcore bands. Gone are the days when bands would bother to pull you in with hard-as-feck riffs, the Gothenburg rip-off bands that popularised the genre, or even the over-the-top scenecore of the late aughts, and instead most modern metalcore bands seem to be more interested in churning out generic butt-rock or djent riffs, brickwalled production that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Imagine Dragons album and vocals so over-processed that any remaining humanity left in the music is completely squeezed out. However, one name in the most popular echelon stood out to me, that being Kentucky band Knocked Loose. Uninterested with sanitising their sound at all, their traction is the antithesis of practically all of their contemporaries, and this has only continued to work in their favour. On You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To that really pays off, and despite being such an ear-splittingly heavy listen it is a surprisingly dynamic work with each song having its own identy and the entire album flowing seamlessly like some sort of beatdown musical suite. Their career should really serve as an example that you can experience a growth in popularity without sanitising your sound, and this was perhaps best showcased when the band played Suffocate live on Jimmy Kimmel, to the dismay of pearl-clutching conservatives aplenty.
4. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Blood Incantation have been on my radar for a few years now and I’ve definitely been interested in their somewhat unique approach to death metal, even if I haven’t revisited their past material that frequently. However with Absolute Elsewhere they have finally won me over, and the way they did that was by adding fantastic keyboard and synth arrangements to their signature death metal sound. Absolute Elsewhere is a masterclass in progressive death metal; the entire album consisting of two songs both split into three separate movement (or tablets) that move between death metal brutality and serene proggy space rock almost effortlessly. Don’t mistake this album for an Opeth clone though; despite clearly sharing similar influences to the Swedish heavyweights, Blood Incantation have a much spacier, sci-fi themed approach to their sound, thanks to the vast array of synthesizers they accumulated for this album’s composition. The end result is very Pink Floyd-esque, and to top it all off there’s a Tangerine Dream feature on here too.
3. Crippling Alcoholism – With Love from a Padded Room
Yes you’re reading that right; a band called Crippling Alcoholism is on my year-end list of 2024. Before the band name leaves you running for the hills, let me explain why this band has ended up so high on my list in the first place. With Love from a Padded Room is the sophomore release from this Boston gothic/noise rock project, and it delves into some truly dark and depraved musical and lyrical territories during its 61 minute runtime. Anyone who is a fan of aforementioned noise metal stars Chat Pile or the disgraced former heavyweights in this style, Daughters, should feel right at home with this record, although even then With Love from a Padded Room truly stands out from their contemporaries, combining wailing noise rock swells and leads with downright creepy synth passages and goth rock macabre. Despite all of that, this album is absolutely littered with earworms and before you know it you too will be humming along to vocalist Tony Castrato’s Mark Lanegan-esque croons, in spite of how fucked up the lyrical content is. To top it all off the album sounds amazing, with some of the best production you’ll hear this year.
2. State Faults – Children of the Moon
In a very short period of time this Northern California band have become one of my favourite contemporary names within post-hardcore. On previous albums such as Clairvoyant they proved to me that they have a real knack for effortlessly fusing post-hardcore with a variety of other styles of music such as screamo, black metal, shoegaze, post-rock and more. However, nothing could have prepared me for their fourth release, Children of the Moon. A miraculous release in and of itself given some financial and personal difficulties the band have struggled with in recent years, this 63 minute mammoth album is a culmination of everything that is great about post-hardcore in general and then some. Throat-shredding screams, incredibly heartfelt and relatable lyrics and melodic hooks galore, State Faults also use this long runtime to reach into the aforementioned genres, such as the 10 minute long No Gospel which gives their sound a progressive edge, or the Underoath-tinged Distant Omen or the blackgaze-inspired Nazar. Despite such a broad range of influences on display, nothing ever feels out of place or forced, and the songwriting and musical talent on display is nothing short of astounding. This is a genre-defining record for post-hardcore and should not be missed by anyone remotely interested in any of the genres mentioned.
1. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
As I reach the end of my 20s I have been looking back and reflecting on the last decade of my life. As far as musical discoveries go, no band have had quite as profound an impact on me this decade as The Cure have, and hearing they had a new album coming out was obviously a cause for celebration for me and every other mopey goth out there. It truly is a testament to The Cure’s level of talent that they return after a 16 year album gap with not only a great album, but the best release since their seminal 1989 album Disintegration. This is one of Robert Smith’s most emotionally raw performances, staring his own mortality in the face and reflecting on the death of loved ones, and the spacey instrumentation surrounding these sombre topics fits perfectly, with extended instrumental passages supplementing Smith’s vocals in a way that fantastically encapsulates what this band is all about. Comeback albums after over a decade of musical inactivity are rarely good, and ones like this are a needle in a haystack. This album is a masterpiece, an absolutely essential listen, not just for the aforementioned mopey goths like myself, but music fans in general.
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