Angry Metal Guy’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Angry Metal Guy

Starting 2025 with a bang was always important, and I elected the “being 26 days late with your Record o’ the Year post” as the best possible way to give everyone that patented Angry Metal Guy feeling of waiting and waiting only to be smacked in the face with 5000 words that you disagree with entirely. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Executive Dysfunction! Let’s make a list!1

Fifteen years of Angry Metal Guy and year 15 will be remembered as a genuinely good year for metal. There were several excellent releases I was genuinely excited about and as the year went on, things got even better. For the first time in a while, I felt like I had a glut of options and felt guilty about what was and wasn’t making the list. In terms of total performance, year 15 at AMG stayed roughly on par with 2023. We wrote 691 posts (mostly reviews), which, in terms of raw numbers, dropped to lower than 2023 and was once again the lowest since 2015. We made up for it in girth, however, with the average post sporting a whopping 955 words! This might be a case of the self-fulfilling prophecy biting me in the ass for consistently yelling at everyone for being overwriters at which point they see themselves as overwriters and begin to overwrite. Or, maybe it’s because we had fewer reviews to balance out the longer posts. Regardless, we finished with a “big-boned” 660,024 total words in 2024. We averaged 38,617 views a day, leading us to our second-highest annual readership numbers ever at 14,129,320 total page views; a tick down from last year, but that’s not surprising when we’re writing fewer posts.

The readership of AMG is as global as ever, but the USA, UK, and Canada retained their spots as 1, 2, and 3 on our Top 10(ish) Biggest Readerships. Germans continued to flock here in droves, maintaining their position at number 4 on our list with Australia coming in at healthy 5. I’m a bit surprised at Australia for not taking umbrage at getting beat by the Germans last year, but when you live in constant fear of your absolutely frightening environs, I guess that’s the least of your worries.2 Spots 6-9 are the same as last year with Netherlands, Sweden, France, and Spain. But coming in at number 10 was Finland! Our strategy of lauding Finnish bands is finally paying off. “How” you ask? Well, if I can get to celebrity status in Finland, I intend to go there so I can be awkwardly ignored in social situations by an entirely new population of Scandinavians. I was happy to see Poland sneak up to the coveted “ish” spot on the list, but that means Brazil dropped out of the Top 10(ish) and that sucks.3 We were once again visited a single time by a mysterious robed reader from the Vatican City and I want to extend a warm Angry Metal Guy welcome to the lone citizen of Micronesia who found their way to our sacred halls.

The biggest, coolest thing that happened in 2024 (following one of the shittiest things to happen in 2024) was, of course, helping Kenstrosity deal with the catastrophe that was his life following Hurricane Helene. It was so cool and gratifying to see just how generous and amazing the fans of AMG were and we’ll never forget your generosity. We also added n00bs—welcoming Alekhines Gun, Tyme, and Killjoy as new blood for the Bloodgod (with more coming, we promise)—and saw the return of the illustrious Mark Z. We lost—at least for the time being—Ferox at the end of the year and that sucks for all of us. But losing him to a burgeoning career as a showrunner and movie director seems like the kind of thing that isn’t such a bitter pill to swallow. Personally, alas, 2024 was pretty much the worst year of my life. The reason I equivocate is because every time I think something like that I can only think of Homer Simpson saying: “So far! The worst year of your life so far!” But 2024 was marred by a breakup I did not want and struggles with both my physical health and the obvious consequences thereof. I re-read my Top 10(ish) of 2023 and was amused in that “oh, sweet summer child” kind of way when I read:

On a personal note, this year [2023] was supposed to be one of the best of my life. It has been an unmitigated pile of shit, with only a few bright spots. As usual, I’ll try to make 2024 a better year, where I am Angry Metal Guy in practice, not just in spirit. A new year always brings unreasonable and unrealistic goals that get broken in shame by April, doesn’t it? Well, that’s mine.

Alas, that ended up being quite a bit more prescient than I could’ve anticipated given that it was the 31st of March when the Behind the Music voiceover guy had to step in: “Then tragedy struck…”

So, 2024 turned out to be significantly worse for me than 2023. That said, I did, in fact, work a lot more on AMG than I have in previous years and it’s helped me to create a map of how that’s possible for the future. Furthermore, I’m finally starting to understand the things at the root of my BS—beyond unfortunate and frustrating life circumstances or the fact that I’m a big worthless loser4—and I hope that results in some real progress. Because, when all is said and done, Angry Metal Guy has stood the test of time for a reason and I’m proud of it and want to be involved in it. I like the music, I like most of the people, I like hazing n00bs, and I like arguing incessantly about opinions. Even if I feel a little out of lockstep with metal trends in recent years, I still think that my voice is important here and I want to have it here. And it’s thanks to everyone here, particularly Steel Druhm, Dr. Grier, and the other helpers, as well as the writers and of course, the readers, who have kept this all afloat while I am trying to solve the mystery that is my brain.

To moderate expectations for 2025! Here’s the Top 10(ish) of 2024.

#ish 2: Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay [August 24th | Liminal Dread Productions | Bandcamp] — I’m relatively certain that if you had polled the writers and readers of AngryMetalGuy.com and asked them to predict this list, Dawn Treader’s Bloom & Decay would not have come even remotely close to placing on my Top 10(ish). And it makes sense. Dawn Treader traffics in a genre of black metal that I rail on at every chance. At this point, my personality is basically constructed of jokes about how calling something atmospheric just means they use a lot of reverb. And yeah, Bloom & Decay uses inordinate amounts of reverb, I can’t deny it. But better, Ross Connell subverts the ‘one-man black metal project’ tropes by being good, actually. The record is emotionally poignant, musically rich, and laden with pathos—causing that aching bloom in my chest while listening to what feels at times like sad songs playing in major keys. If there’s one reason I haven’t been back to this album as much as other things, it’s because it’s hard to listen to at times. The messages contained here and the way they are delivered can be challenging at times; long discursive samples that are hard to have repeated back at you time and again in a time of a lot of despair. Still, that’s hardly a knock against Dawn Treader’s work, there are a lot of people who would suggest that it’s exactly that which makes Bloom & Decay art. And there’s no question in my mind that Bloom & Decay is a work of art.

#ish 1: Verikalpa // Tuomio [April 19th, 2024 | Scarlet Records | Bandcamp] — But then again, who needs serious emotionally poignant works of art when you can listen to Finnish guys writing amazing blackened melodeath that heavily features faux accordion and lyrics, presumably, about drinking? I feel a bit guilty that these guys have yet to make a number on the list—having previously been relegated to an -ish—but they are getting better and better and Tuomio has been a joy to listen to in a year where almost nothing else brought me joy. In a way, Verikalpa’s sound is a form of nostalgiacore for me—with its 2004 production, its 2004 riffs, and my 2004 urge to drink beer and headbang. But, as Steel Druhm would argue out of pure self-interest, some things are timeless and change is bad, so this isn’t a critique. And while the metal-listening public lost its taste for folk metal after the glut that was released in the late 2000s, I find Verikalpa avoids the pitfalls of the sound, delivering only the highest quality riffs and blasts. Loaded with groove and chunky riffs, Verikalpa knows how to write solid, speedy, fun, and brutal metal that will make you want to drink a beer and lift some weights. And again, what more can we truly ask of any metal band? If you aren’t listening to and loving Verikalpa by now, you’re missing out. Of all the Finnish releases with dated sounds this year, Tuomio is the best.

#10: Grendel’s Sÿster // Katabasis into the Abaton [August 30th, 2024 | Sur Del Cruz Music | Bandcamp] — If there was a major “I did not see that coming” moment in 2024, it was that Grendel’s Sÿster never left my playlist once I heard it for the first time. An addictive record, I summed it up best when I wrote that “this German four-piece drops metal that reeks of patchouli and ‘Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!‘ to surprising effect. The core of Grendel’s Sÿster’s sound is the combination of fuzzy guitars, bubbly p-bass, and boxy drums into something that will undoubtedly call to mind the ’70s hard rock of your choice: Wishbone Ash, Jethro Tull, Thin Lizzy or nostalgia merchants like Gygax.” And that sound—not a sound that I spend my free time chasing down—could be directly shot into my veins and I couldn’t be happier. There’s something pure and honest and beautiful about this music. It is both poppy and niche, both pretentious and utterly not; it breaks down binaries and exists in the interstices. And goddammit, it’s what one roadie for Porcupine Tree once said of Blaze’s first three records, “it’s good, honest heavy metal.” And that’s it. The cream rises to the top; good songwriting always wins. And Katabasis into the Abaton is loaded with great songs, fun ideas, and idiosyncratic vocals. It’s surprising in all the right ways.

#9: Oceans of Slumber // Where Gods Fear to Speak [September 13th, 2024 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — Some experiences are unforgettable, and getting to see Oceans of Slumber in the summer of 2024 and really hear Cammie Beverly live was one such experience. There are few people in the world who truly have a Voice with a capital V and Cammie is one of them. The band’s performance was entrancing and her presence was commanding. It was literal goosebumps. I had been enjoying Where Gods Fear to Speak for a few weeks at that point, but seeing Oceans of Slumber live transformed my entire understanding of the unique strengths contained herein. Between her voice, genuinely progressive—and at times challenging—songwriting, and the fantastic performances, Where Gods Fear to Speak sounds like the culmination of the band’s career. Having learned from the past and meshed it all, listeners are left with something transcendent, beautiful, and the perfect balance of heavy and delicate. If there’s one knock on this record, it’s that people may struggle with a flowing relationship to song structure and hooks. But for the sophisticated listener, each song on Where Gods Fear to Speak is a beautiful step on an unforgettable journey.

#8: Iotunn // Kinship [October 25th, 2024 | Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp] — Hard truth time: I was never super enamored in Access All Worlds. While the blog and the commentariat were busy heaping praise upon the best band to come out of Denmark since Mercyful Fate, I held my tongue and gave them the spotlight they deserved because I was in a definite minority. But the record never inspired me. So, I approached Kinship with skepticism. I love Jón’s voice—this is no secret—but at 68 minutes long with 10-minute songs and one record in the bag I hadn’t felt… you know how it goes. I was happily surprised when Kinship hooked me hard. Jón’s voice brings everything together, but the blackened undercurrent spicing up the melodeath riffing (pretty sure Amon Amarth called their lawyers about a couple of the riffs in “The Anguished Ethereal”) matched with an epic scope that could be carried only by someone with the brass timbre and Grondesque vocal power of Aldará. I have been back to this again and again since I broke down and dropped it on the proverbial turntable. It is deep enough to keep me coming back, it’s hooky enough to kick that dopamine into high gear, and it’s beautiful and well-crafted with that aching Scandy melancholy that I crave. Bravo, Iotunn, this is a real first step towards me forgiving your spelling of ‘jotun’ and the Stockholm Bloodbath.

#7: Fellowship // The Skies above Eternity [November 22nd, 2024 | Scarlet Records | Bandcamp] — I am hardly the first person to note that it’s difficult to follow a beloved record. I think it’s even harder to follow a beloved debut. And I doubt there’s an album that’s been released in recent years that is as beloved as Fellowship’s debut, The Saberlight Chronicles. Putting the hopes and fate of the Europower scene in the hands of these tiny pastoral persons and sending them off to Mordor was never a good idea. But surprise, surprise, they survived!5 And they’re back with an album that has inspired the kind of dedication that only the rare band ever gets close to, landing super high on people’s lists despite being a late November release. And you can hear why. The Skies above Eternity is yet another 45ish minutes of fantastic, guitar-driven melodic power metal that simultaneously rules and takes itself seriously enough to have good, interesting, relatable, and at times inspiring lyrics while also embracing the fun and natural, inherent silliness of power metal. That’s a hard balance to strike and Fellowship nails it with aplomb. They say you don’t want to be the guy who follows The Guy, you want to be the guy who follows the guy who follows The Guy. I suspect The Skies above Eternity will always be slightly underrated because it isn’t The Saberlight Chronicles. But fuck me if it isn’t excellent.

#6: Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair [October 4th | Transcending Obscurity Records | Bandcamp] — I knew that these kids from Finland were alright when I jokingly called them “Morbid Angelcore” on Instagram and they took it with grace.6 Honestly, of all the stuff that the “No Fun, Only Reverb and Feels!” flank of AMG has dredged up and dumped hyperbolic praise on, Devenial Verdict is one of the bands to which I feel the most grateful to have been exposed. Often sold as either “dissodeath” or “atmospheric death metal,” because they’re both wildly popular subgenres of death metal, both feel like misnomers. Rather, Blessing of Despair is an album loaded with memorable moments and melodies, and while it does, indeed, employ a lot of “atmosphere,”7 I was not prepared for the elite-level Azagthoth-on-LSD riffs that litter Blessing of Despair. I wouldn’t say that Blessing of Despair is OSDM, but the riffing evokes the masters in ways both direct and subtle and it gives the record an impeccable vibe. Devenial Verdict has wrought a brilliant death metal album where riffs abound, the atmosphere is set on the “Cathedral” setting, and every song is better than the last. Maybe the best word to use to describe their x factor is gravitas. But whatever it is, Devenial Verdict’s got it in spades.

#5: Octoploid // Beyond the Aeons [July 5th, 2024 | Reigning Phoenix Music | Bandcamp] — The amount of love that Beyond the Aeons isn’t receiving is one of the scandals of 2024, in my opinion. This started with our own positive—but tepid, if I’m honest—review of Beyond the Aeons and has continued through Listurnalia. As a passive, but legitimate, autocrat of Angry Metal Guy, I have half a mind to shut this place down over this deep disrespect for Amorphiscore. Honestly, it pains me not to make Beyond the Aeons the #1 album,8 because I have listened to these 33 minutes of extreme metal—occasionally tremmy and black, but mostly just solid melodeath—more than almost anything else this year. Tracks like “Coast of the Drowned Sailors” feed my need for new Amorphis and my secret wish that they were heavier. And that’s one thing I’ll give Octoploid, unlike Barren Earth, Beyond the Aeons doesn’t dwell too long on anything. It kicks off and speeds along, hitting you with catchy leads in the key of Moomin and doubled with synth—as one does. Don’t sleep on Octoploid. Beyond the Aeons is energetic, fun, catchy, and worth at least a couple of spins a week six months after it was released.

#4: Opeth // The Last Will and Testament [November 22nd, 2024 | Moderbolaget] — What Opeth has accomplished on The Last Will and Testament is remarkable. Unlike so many bands, Opeth’s reimaginations of its sound still speak to me. The Last Will and Testament is a smart, coherent, and melodramatic record that does Mikael Åkerfeldt and crew credit. The reason that this record elevates itself above the ceiling that most Newpeth lived under, however, is that they are finally able to turn the music up to 11 again compositionally. After more than a decade without the emotional and compositional peak (and release) of a guttural growl released from the diaphragm over a particularly chunky riff or heavy drums, The Last Will and Testament continues the band’s development but gives them a release valve—”§4″ being the highlight for me, where they transition from Opethro Tull—a jazz flute solo—to Deathro Tull with some operatic, but dour, death metal. And it simply feels good to hear them doing both of these things simultaneously. Having gone through and relistened to the discography at length, it is striking how Opeth circa 2024 sounds very little like the band I fell in love with in the late-’90s/early aughts. To be able to both be markedly different and feel like the same band is a deeply underrated trait. This could have been higher if I’d had longer with it.

#3: Fleshgod Apocalypse // Opera [August 23rd, 2024 | Nuclear Blast Records | Bandcamp] — I knew almost immediately that Opera was going to be a controversial record. I was not prepared for the hyperbolic pushback that Opera garnered from fans of Italy’s death metal answer to [Luca (Turilli / Lione)’s] Rhapsody [of Fire] for being, as I wrote myself, “undeniably poppy.” Sometimes I think that we fans of the extreme metal scene have lost sight of what pop music really is. The fact that people have been heaping scorn on Fleshgod Apocalypse for writing operatic death metal because Veronica Bordacchini doesn’t only sing using proper operatic technique and the band simplified some of its compositional tendencies is, to put it lightly, patently absurd. Opera is fun! It’s energetic and well-crafted, and it has a better excuse for writing more palatable and less grandiose music that uses more traditional pop and rock compositional structures than Nightwish ever had,9 and it literally has dramatic choirs arpeggiating in Latin behind grinding blast beats and death metal growls as I’m writing this blurb! Fucking get over yourselves. Go enjoy the shit out of Opera. No one sounds like Fleshgod Apocalypse and when they hit, they fucking hit. And Opera hits! It is thematically interesting, deeply personal, and cohesive in the way that the best albums are while featuring a diverse and excellent performance from Bordacchini. Easily one of the best records of 2024.

#2: Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe [September 20th, 2024 | Century Media | Bandcamp] — One of the things that makes the work at Angry Metal Guy interesting after 15 years is editing other writers’ work. It’s a pleasure to get to talk to, work with, and help guide the brilliant writers that we have working here. And because I want to hear what I’m reading about at the same time, I listen to a lot of music I would not necessarily have chosen to listen to myself. Noise’s work—such as 2023’s #5 record Leiþa—has come to my attention because of the work that Carcharodon has done in covering his projects. So, when I went to edit Die Urkatastrophe, well aware of the impending 5.0, I was edified to read a well-argued analysis that highlighted for me exactly what it was that appealed to me so much about Kanonenfieber’s critically acclaimed10 platter. Die Urkatastrophe is a powerful album that walks the line between black and death metal, with surprisingly polished and smooth production and artfully crafted songs. Like so many of the best albums, it is both thematically coherent and full of standout moments. Arresting moments like the gunshot at the end of “Der Maulwurf,” the best-placed samples since Velvet Darkness They Fear, and a superb flow make Die Urkatastrophe a triumph that we’ll return to for years.

#1: Hamferð // Men Guðs hond er sterk [March 22nd, 2024 | Metal Blade Records | Bandcamp] — The best album of 2024 was an undeniably easy choice this year. Released the day after my life started falling to pieces, Hamferð’s third masterpiece is a tale of tragedy (with a smidgen of hope), driven by strong songwriting and stronger performances. There are plenty of things that one can point to that help to differentiate Men Guðs hond er sterk from the field this year: the band’s sound is expertly crafted, and with pristine production, and the band—who apparently records without a click track?!—carries the emotional weight of their music perfectly despite the largely opaque language in which it’s presented.11 Furthermore, enough cannot be said about the powerhouse of a vocalist that Hamferð is fortunate enough to have. Jón Aldará’s vocals carry the day with a brassy baritone that evokes the mourning that all doom peddlers are chasing but so few nail. Men Guðs hond er sterk is tight, it’s heavy—though not as heavy as its predecessor, which I missed—but more importantly it’s complete and brilliant and my Record o’ the Year for 2024.

Honorable Mentions:

In Vain // Solemn [April 19th, 2024 | Indie Recordings | Bandcamp] — Having been released when I was in the moment of absolute denial and despair as my life fell apart, you’ll forgive me for not having heard this album until the last couple months of 2024. And I suspect that if I had been able to spend more time with it, it would have worked its way onto the list proper (though, man, it’s hard to know what would go). Once again, In Vain does such an outstanding job of balancing all the different sounds and influences, and I will never get sick of any clean vocals from the brothers Nedland (RIP Solefald). These guys are great and Solemn keeps them batting 1.000.

Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God [June 14th | Debemur Morti Productions | Bandcamp] — Another album that should’ve been higher on my list (but where would I have put Verikalpa then, guys!?). Ulcerate has been awesome and it’s almost unremarkable that they continue to be awesome in new and different ways. The thing that I keep coming back to Cutting the Throat of God for is the fact that these are probably the band’s most addictive and hypnotic riffs. Their sound has always had a fluidity that made them unique, but there are times when I feel like a snake being charmed as I’m listening to Ulcerate pump out fascinating, liquid riffs that seem to morph in scope and feel without ever breaking stride. Another record that is getting the shaft on this list.

Sonata Arctica // Clear Cold Beyond [March 8th, 2024 | Atomic Fire Records] — I started out skeptical about Clear Cold Beyond, and then I ended up loving it. The problem is that this was another record caught up in the Great Dumping o’ 2024 and got lost in the mix. This album has the benefit of having some really fun “we’re sorry we wrote Talviyö and then released two fucking acoustic cover records in a row” moments, but it’s not just an apology tour.12 The strength of Clear Cold Beyond is watching Kakko do the things he’s best at: write about creepy dudes with seriously bad boundaries (“Dark Empath”); write awkward lyrics about social topics that are kind of funny but also maybe not (“California”); and most importantly is his transformation into Dad Rocker (“The Best Things”). This record didn’t ever threaten to be Top 10, but it also deserves a nod for bringing me a ton of joy, even if I can’t listen to “The Best Things” without getting choked up.

Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun [August 30th, 2024 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — I have been a little back and forth with Anciients, but Beyond the Reach of the Sun was an absolute banger that got snubbed for a Record o’ the Month spot, despite receiving an excellently written, laudatory review from Saunders. And perpetual self-editing complaints aside, Anciients is one of those bands whose ability to craft Riffs is unmatched. Every single song on this album has one of those Riffs—not just riffs, gotta capitalize that R so everyone knows that we’re talking about iconic stuff here—and I am, frankly, jealous of the feel and groove that these guys seem to have as second nature. This album clicked for me when I put it in the cans on a flight and just sat and listened to it and man, we are spoiled with an absolute embarrassment of riches in metal. These guys are an honorable mention? It’s unfair.

Caligula’s Horse // Charcoal Grace [January 26th, 2024 | InsideOut Records | Bandcamp] — After it was summarily 3.0’d by the guy who brought you the Angra list everyone thought was absolute crap, I feel like everyone just forgot about Charcoal Grace. But I’m going to be honest with you, this record deserved a lot better than it got at the hands of the traitorous reviewer who poo-poohed it and then, allegedly, went on to kick his dog and demand his wife make him a sandwich. This is a more subtle Caligula’s Horse, I admit. How they seem to be swapping places with Haken becomes more manifest with every release. But this record is a true headphones album that deserves a hi-def version of the release, serious cans, and a dark room. It’s loaded with great riffs and fantastic songs and has a particularly poignant and powerful closing. Also, the level of detail here is unreal. Appreciate what you have while they are still putting out amazing albums.

Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System [June 28th, 2024 | Rotted Life Records | Bandcamp] — One of the surprises of the year is an album named after one of the funniest jabs at the anarchosyndicalists in our lives. Noxis’ brand of frantic, technical death metal—complete with my favorite snare of the year—has swept through the Angry Metal Guy staff for a reason. The reason? It’s fucking great. At 45 minutes, Violence Inherent in the System is a record with the energy and addictiveness of Gorod, even if the songwriting chops aren’t quite on that level yet. But you don’t have to be Gorod-good to be good and Noxis is good. I’m looking forward to their sophomore release Scimitars Thrown in Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies, due Q4 2025/Q1 2026.

Madder Mortem // Old Eyes, New Heart [January 26th, 2024 | Dark Essence Records | Bandcamp] — In my Record o’ the Month blurb for Old Eyes, New Heart, I wrote “What Old Eyes, New Heart does is show Madder Mortem as alive and creative as ever, showcasing a more vulnerable, introspective side of themselves. Tracks like ‘Here and Now’ and ‘Cold Hard Rain’ weep with power and raw emotion, giving fans all the feelz they yearn for, and there’s simmering anger girding the material as well. As GardensTale noted, regarding the very personal, intense feeling of the new music: ‘Old Eyes, New Heart will stand as one of the most intimate and therapeutic albums we’re bound to get this year.’ And who isn’t going to need a little bit of therapy in 2024?” Yeah, I found myself listening to this album a lot this year because it expresses what I couldn’t. Again, prescient.

Blood Incantation // Absolute Elsewhere [October 4th, 2024 | Century Media Records | Bandcamp] — Yeah, it’s fine I guess. A little overhyped in the comment section, though. Remember that time when it got released and everyone who hadn’t heard it yet was like “RECORD OF THE YEAR!!!!!!1!” five minutes later? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

Top 10(ish) Songs o’ the Year:

#ish: Karol G // “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” — Fuck you.

#10: Sonata Arctica // “The Best Things” — Fans of the band and this album are going to laugh, but this song kills me. Dad rock. I love it.

#9: Wintersun // “Storm” — When I saw everyone sporting “Silver Leaves” as the highlight of Time II, I had to do a double-take. As I covered at length in my review, the one song that I felt lived up to Jaari’s potential as a player and composer was “Storm,” and this track is a fucking doozy. This track perfectly executes both the blend of blackened death metal and power metal that makes Wintersun’s inability to produce something truly epic frustrating. If I had only heard “Ominous Clouds” and “Storm,” Time II would’ve gotten a 4.5. This is the only memorable thing he wrote on the entire album.

#8: Oceans of Slumber // “Wish” — It’s weird the tracks that call to you on an album. I love this whole record for a bunch of different reasons, but on “Wish” there are little melodic things that Cammie does here that make my heart ache. The lyrics, too. I feel ’em. Deeply underrated record.

#7: Fellowship // “Victim” — “I swear, I won’t always feel like a victim! I won’t always fight on my own! So, forgive me these transgressions as I live a life of lessons and I grow to overshadow darker thrones! This king is king alone!”

#6: Opeth // “§4” — No more perfect encapsulation of why Opeth is impressive than how hard they nailed this song. Love the porn beat with the Ian Anderson flute solo (Deathro Tull, lol) that gives way to stadium rock that gives way to grindy death metal. Just inject that fucking shit straight into my fucking veins. Unff.

#5: Grendel’s Sÿster // “Cosmogony” — This song is metal as fuck. I love the fun little extra beat they drop in to make it feel like a slightly lopsided wheel rolling along. But there’s nothing about this that doesn’t live up to what I wrote above: good, honest heavy metal. Catchy, riffy, and fun to listen to. Top it off with a bass-heavy section and a gallop carried on the guitar and you’ve got yourself a recipe for an epic, addictive track. More of this, plz.

#4: Fleshgod Apocalypse // “Morphine Waltz” — This song fucking rules. From the opening strains with the horn section in the orchestra to the 3/4 time signature (y’know, ’cause it’s actually a waltz), to the raw, punky performance from Bordacchini. Extra points for the fucking balls to the wall bridge with the huge choirs before the guitar solo. Like, how do you fucking people not think this is one of the best albums of the year? JFC.

#3: Caligula’s Horse // “Mute” — One of Caligula’s Horse’s strongest traits is their ability to write epic conclusions to their albums. “Mute” is up there with “Graves” in terms of the sheer weightiness of the whole thing—though this time it’s more delicate. Beautiful.

#2: Anciients // “Despoiled” — Riff of the year at 3:57. Gives me involuntary metal face. Love the vocal melodies, too. Great stuff.

#1: Madder Mortem // “Things I’ll Never Do” — This song fucking kills me. Has anyone checked on their lyricist recently?

#2024 #Anciients #AngryMetalGuy #AngryMetalGuySRecordSOTheYear #AngryMetalGuySTop10Ish_ #BeyondTheAeons #BlessingOfDespair #BloodIncantation #BloomDecay #CaligulaSHorse #DawnTreader #DevenialVerdict #DieUrkatastrophe #Fellowship #FleshgodApocalypse #GrendelSSÿster #Hamferð #InVain #Iotunn #Kanonenfieber #KarolG #KatabasisIntoTheAbaton #Kinship #Listurnalia2024 #MadderMortem #MenGuðsHondErSterk #Noxis #OceansOfSlumber #Octoploid #Opera #Opeth #SonataArctica #TheLastWillAndTestament #TheSkiesAboveEternity #TimeII #Tuomio #Ulcerate #Verikalpa #WhereGodsFearToSpeak #Wintersun

GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2024

By GardensTale

Man, I am getting later and later with these each year. I’ve already spoken at length about my writing woes lately, so I won’t go into all of that, but I’ve also come to realize that a late delivery on this piece really is not a big issue. Case in point: it allowed me to include a piece from a TYMHM article that otherwise might not have made the cut. It’s not executive dysfunction, it’s functional laziness!

I feel that it’s been an overall good year for album art. There’s still tons of diversity in style and subject and medium, and also tons of big monsters looming over small people. That just seems to be a never-ending thing in metal. The only big name missing this year was Eliran Kantor, who has been in the top 10 every year and usually with multiple nominations (he and Adam Burke are the chief reasons for the ‘one entry per artist’ rule). Can anyone do a wellness check on Kantor? See if he’s doing alright?

If you have kept up with these in the past (and if you wanna catch up, here are the last six editions!) you might notice a new section to this article. Whilst last year I merely decried a rule against AI covers, I now shall battle actively against this most heinous trend, this lazy cheap cop-out that betrays a disregard for art as a whole. View this section as worse than the worst, because the worst at least put some effort into it. Though the AI Hall of Shame entries aren’t the only ones using machines to piss in the pool, they are the most blatant, soulless, and unimaginative AI monstrosities that got vomited from a generator onto a metal album this year.

As for the rules that haven’t been elevated into a full-blown public stoning, they remain by and large the same:

• Only albums we’ve reviewed will be considered
• One entry per artist, to keep diversity high
• No public domain art (Avernus had a very good one this year, though!)

AI HALL OF SHAME

#3. Tyraels Ascension // Hell Walker — It’s a new band and they also released an entire videogame to go with the album, so some leeway can be granted, but not much. The intricate logo is pretty cool, the border is tasteful, but the utterly generic-looking demon thing is just a load of washed-out bleh.

#2. The Nidra // Destination Locked — This one is just baffling to me. Am I to read this as an underwater mutated skeleton dance-off? Most of the bones are disconnected and the longer you look at it, the less sense the skeletons make. The glossy AI filter really makes it feel like a first-pass effort, too. The only thing I use AI image generators for is NPC’s for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and I put more care into those than these guys do. And PAPYRUS? Fuck off.

#1. Deicide // Banished By Sin — The other two entries, at least, are debuts. Struggling artists without much cash to speak of, I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t be angry. Deicide, on the other hand, are top of the food chain. Seeing a band of their stature use AI so brazenly makes my blood boil. Overtures of Blasphemy had pretty sweet art: hit whoever made that up, get a new piece from them, and pay your fucking artists! This is low even for Glen Benton. And the result just looks bad even at a glance, a monochrome mess of random shapes and details tacked together without vision because a machine doesn’t have vision, it just has an infinite grab bag of things to stick together. I’d say go to hell, but it’s Deicide, so that was probably already the plan.

THE WORST

#3. Tommy Concrete // Unrelapsed — Enough with the straight-up anger, time for some laughs! I’m not sure whether a grade school kid actually drew this or whether it just looks like it, but the daisy chain of spoon-toothed spines with one wing and one leg, going round to end up on a hysterical were-rat… It’s bad, even awful, but it does make me laugh. Perhaps if there were more of that and fewer random crayon colors for a background, I’d not judge this as harshly.

#2. Oscillotron // Oblivion— This is less than nothing. An entirely black cover with just the words on it would have been better than this. Is there some deeper meaning behind it? I don’t know, and I don’t care, it’s static in a box and it’s bad.

#1. Jeris Johnson // Dragonborn — But not as hilariously awful as this collage of 1999 gaming screenshots, cut from a frumpled magazine with imprecise kitchen shears and stuck together lazily for an arts and crafts project at school. The album is fucking awful and the cover does a great job of warning people to stay away. Good job, Jeris, here’s a gold banana sticker, now fuck off.

THE BEST

#(ish). Sidewinder // Talons (artist: Sophia Dainty) — I had to resort to asking the band directly who created this cover art, and I can’t really find other art from Ms. Dainty, which is a shame, as her talent is undeniable. The illustration uses techniques that evoke woodcutting, befitting the druidic nature of the imagery. An unusual but evocative image.

#10. Sunburst // Manifesto (artist: Vasilis Georgiou) — Mr. Georgiou is both the artist and the artist, as he leads Sunburst on vocals and created this dynamic, colorful cover art. The enigmatic figure dissolving into color as if snapped by a hippie version of Thanos makes for a striking bit of contrast, and I love the way the band logo has been incorporated into this artwork.

#9. Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectres and Strife (artist: Kaja Kumor) — Color and contrast are also the strong suits of Kaja Kumor’s burning cathedral that graces Unhallowed Deliverance’s album. The angelic blue overhead clashes beautifully with the fire. It matches the gradient of the subject matter: peace up above, growing into chaos and violence below. The two watching figures and the departing planes really add to the story depicted, too, rounding the piece off on multiple levels.

#8. Iotunn // Kinship (artist: Saprophial) — Saprophial’s art of Kinship is an unusual piece. The focus is off-center, not even in a golden ratio kind of way. The figure’s anatomy is strange and vague, largely hidden in the shadows. There’s something graphic novel-like about its contours, and a kind of roundabout anonymity usually reserved for the late Lewandowski. But zoom in and you see a highly intricate piece of sublime texture, perfecting the art of hatching in different styles to make the picture feel like you can touch it and feel the lines under your fingers.

#7. Vredehammer // God Slayer (artist: Simon Bossert as S. Bossert Art) — Though both seem to be drawn on a dark canvas and leave a fair amount of space beside their subjects, God Slayer is in every other way almost an antithesis to Kinship above, which reflects in the music of both bands. No mystery here: this is colossal, epic and violent, imagery that gets your heart racing immediately. What strikes me the most about this cover is the framing, the fish-eye lensing of the sea that seems to pulls the ship and serpent together, drawing the eye back to the center. One of the better monster pieces of the last few years.

#6. Vitriol // Suffer & Become (artist: Dylan Humphries) — If I had a nickel for every ‘stuff winding through a skeletal ribcage’ cover this year, I’d have two nickels. One of the earliest contenders, Humphries’ art for Vitriol is of the immediate eye-catching variety. The large and detailed skeleton and the vivid coloration of the snakes ensure the image grabs your attention. But a longer look gives a more forlorn feeling. The turned away pose, the approaching storm, the distant castle, the warrior’s items in the skeleton’s lap. All attributed to a sense of failure, a sense that something has gone wrong. I do love an image whose emotional response evolves as you study it.

#5. Feind // Ambulante Hirnamputation (artist: Jasper Swerts as Infested Art) — This year’s best black and white art without a doubt. Infested Art lives up to its name with this grueling piece of body horror, of which the emotional evolution goes from ‘nope’ to ‘NOPE’ to ‘FUCK NO.’ The linework here is sublime, with crisp contours and dotwork shading working together to create a highly precise account of all the horrifying things happening to the central torso. There are as many fresh horrors in this picture as there are details. We can leave it at ‘too many to count.’

#4. Uncomfortable Knowledge // Lifeline (artist: Reuben Bhattacharya as Visual Amnesia) — It’s a shame that Uncomfortable Knowledge doesn’t seem to be getting off the ground musically, because I love the concept they are going for with Visual Amnesia’s excellent art, continuing the tale of the Black Queen from the band’s debut. What would otherwise be a somewhat picturesque scene in the early 1900s is made disquieting with the skull robot masks and impossible day-night reflection, creating a sort of downplayed nightmare scenario. Subtle, elegant, and haunting in hushed tones.

#3. Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun (artist: Adam Burke) — Adam Burke is a mainstay here, and it seems he is branching out of pure space pictures more and more. Though this striking scene is still largely on-brand, unlike the Burke runner-up for Hideous Divinity, it gets points for its sprawling surreal cosmic horror. It can be difficult to depict a figure larger than mountains that actually feels larger than mountains in 2D art, but this piece succeeds, and it wins Burke the coveted ‘big thing looming over small people of the year’ award.

#2. Pyrrhon // Exhaust (artist: Caroline Harrison) — Ms. Harrison and Pyrrhon have become fast friends, as few can depict ugliness as beautifully as either in their respective media. The art for Exhaust is a harsh and tragic depiction of death and the self-inflicted destruction of our environment, yet surrounded by the holographic rainbow of the oil spills that wash away in the rain, there is a strange sense of beauty here as well. The visceral and realistic horror is front and center, however, and it’s confrontational in a way few bands or visual artists dare to be.

#1. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay (artist: Francisco Abril and Nuria Velasco as WelderWings) — The duo known as WelderWings make some astounding surreal art that is beginning to be noticed by the metal community. Witnesses used another beautiful piece from their studio, but when I saw Dawn Treader’s, I knew it would be nigh impossible to top. The meadow is rendered in beautiful soft tones. Blur is applied with artistic precision, which makes the details on the focused elements pop better. But the way the skeletal figures contrast with this peaceful scenery is what truly makes this cover. It makes the quietude feel false, a decoy for something terrible. This is all the more effective with the absence of skulls or limbs, suggesting a kind of body horror we can only hope will remain as far in the past as the bones suggest. Endless imagination and pure artistry resulted in a gorgeous yet perfectly unsettling masterpiece, more than deserving of the title of AMG Artwork of the Year.

#2024 #Anciients #Avernus #DawnTreader #Deicide #Feind #GardensTaleSTopTenIshAlbumArtOf2024 #Iotunn #JerisJohnson #Oscillotron #Pyrrhon #Sidewinder #Sunburst #TheNidra #TommyConcrete #TyraelsAscension #UncomfortableKnowledge #UnhallowedDeliverance #Vitriol #Vredehammer

Saunders and Felagund’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Dr. A.N. Grier

Saunders

Rather than delve into the not-so-good parts of a rollercoaster 2024, which had its share of rough circumstances, I’m using this rare soapbox moment to focus on the positives of another action-packed year of metal. Celebrating ten years of writing at Angry Metal Guy was an achievement that crept up. All these years later I remain beyond stoked and privileged to still be contributing in a small way as the blog has snowballed into the juggernaut it is today.

Unfortunately, I haven’t quite fulfilled my writing productivity goals in 2024. However, even when motivation slips, it still gives me great satisfaction to have a platform to share my thoughts and opinions on the music I love. I cannot match the writing chops or word smithery of our most esteemed scribes. However, honing my craft within my own abilities and drawing inspiration from the excellence of my fellow writers continues to motivate me and hopefully steer listeners toward some great music.

While it may not compete with some of the top-shelf individual years over the past decade, 2024 featured a lot of top-shelf stuff across a multitude of genres sprawled over the heavy spectrum. As per usual, the plethora of releases was overwhelming and again I stumble into the end-of-year chaos with a hefty list of stuff I need to check out or spend more time with. Nevertheless, from the numerous albums, I spent quality time with throughout the year, I eventually arrived at the releases that mattered the most to me, with many gems to no doubt uncover in the end-of-year wash-up. This is probably one of the more eclectic lists I’ve cultivated during my time here. Not sure exactly why that was the case, but a year of fluctuating, uneasy shifts on personal and professional fronts perhaps contributed to the more diverse listening rotation.

To wrap up, a heartfelt thank you to our beloved readership for making this all worthwhile and to all my colleagues/writing buddies and general crew of awesome people comprising the ever-expanding blog. Also shout-out to my list buddy Felagund, here’s hoping our combined powers partially align or otherwise complement and provide some listening inspiration. Lastly, a special heads-up to Angry Metal Guy, Steel Druhm, and the rest of the AMG editors and brains trust for whipping us all into order and doing the behind-the-scenes heavy lifting to keep this great thing chugging along. Cheers.

#ish: Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun – Personal dramas, line-up shuffles, and an extended stint away from the studio failed to hamper the triumphant return of Canada’s progressive-stoner-sludge heavyweights Anciients. Beyond the Reach of the Sun marks a strong return that expands the band’s songwriting vision through a standout collection of ambitious, heavily prog-leaning cuts. Loaded with dazzling guitar work and gripping songwriting, Beyond the Reach of the Sun finds the band recalibrating and hitting their songwriting straps without compromising the genre-splicing traits and character they formed across their first couple of albums. It is not a perfect album by any means, with some niggling elements rearing their head, mostly via the way of some bloat, sequencing issues, and a flat production job. But with songs of the outstanding quality of “Despoiled,” “Is it Your God,” and “The Torch” leading the way, the album’s issues fail to extinguish my overall enthusiasm.

#10. Madder Mortem // Old Eyes New Heart – I came to veteran Norwegian progressive metal outfit Madder Mortem late in the game, just as they appeared to be hitting modern-era career peaks via Red in Tooth and Claw, and most recent album, 2018’s Marrow. Six long years in the wilderness and Madder Mortem return without missing a beat, continuing to pump out expressive, powerfully composed jams of their trademark mix of Goth-tinged progressive/alt metal. Although I enjoyed the album from the outset, if anything it has grown in stature since its early year release. The album’s subtleties and bevy of emotion-charged hooks bury deeper into the brain upon repeat doses. The tough period the band endured prior to the unleashing of Old Eyes New Heart is reflected in the album’s raw, potent swell of emotions and overall depth. This is further reflected in the diverse nature of the colorful songwriting, swinging from bluesy, melancholic restraint (“Cold Hard Rain”), pop-infected prog (‘Here and Now”) to urgent, dramatic, and infectious rock powerhouses (“The Head That Wears the Crown,” “Towers”).

#9. Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – As a longtime Opeth fanboy, it is a cool feeling to be genuinely enthused about a new LP, nearly three decades since their underrated Orchid debut. All the pre-release buzz centered on the return of Åkerfeldt’s famed death growls. While certainly a cool and unexpected touch, the fourteenth album The Last Will and Testament is not merely a nostalgic throwback to the band’s glory days. Instead, Opeth fuses those quirky, vintage prog tools from their modern-era material and fuses them into an intricate concept album that is a significant step up from the past couple of uneven efforts and easily their best work since at least 2014’s Pale Communion. Dazzling musicianship, jazzy licks, and inventively crafted, yet notably more focused and concise writing marked an album that features better production and tighter, punchier songs than the band has written in a while. It is also Opeth’s heaviest, most riff-centric release in many moons. Despite the trademark melancholic moods and darker shades, it also sounds as if the band is having real fun, reinforced by the abundance of bouncy, infectious riffs, shreddy solos, and boisterous grooves littering the album. Likely would have earned higher honors with time, as I still feel there is much more to discover.

#8. Oceans of Slumber // Where Gods Fear to Speak – Previously enjoyed the idea of Texan progressive metal powerhouse Oceans of Slumber, more than the execution and finished product. In particular, 2016’s Winter has grown in stature over the years. Yet for much of their career, it has felt like a case of incredible talent and potential not fully realized. That changed on Where Gods Fear to Speak, arguably the band’s most complete, consistent, and hook-laden release. When I felt the prog itch throughout 2024, Where Gods Fear to Speak was often the go-to. An album of lush, moody, drama-filled compositions, deftly contrasting soaring melodies, and skyscraping hooks with muscular riffage and heftier bouts of aggression, the writing is tighter and more compelling than previous efforts. Cammie Beverly’s scene-stealing vocals may take center stage, but this is very much a complete effort, where the rich soundscapes, brooding atmospheres, and technical musicianship shine brightly. Loaded with killer jams, including stirring highlights, “Don’t Come Back from Hell Empty Handed,” “Wish,” and “Poem of Ecstasy,” Where Gods Fear to Speak finally finds Oceans of Slumber firing on all cylinders.

#7. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – In theory, Pyrrhon should be one of my favorite bands. I used to eat up all manner of skronky, dissonant, and abrasive extreme metal. Perhaps my thirst for the weirder, experimental forms of death metal and dissonance has softened over the years. However, while largely enjoying Pyrrhon’s career up to this point, Exhaust feels like the album I have been waiting for the band to deliver. Exhaust dropped unexpectedly and that element of surprise flowed through another oddball, deranged platter of wildly inventive, chaotic, yet oddly accessible (in Pyrrhon terms) extreme metal. From cautious, challenging early listens, I found myself increasingly compelled to revisit Exhaust on a regular basis, marveling at its flexible, fractured songwriting, nimble musicianship, and raw hardcore punk edge infiltrating the dissonant, experimental death metal at the core of the Pyrrhon experience. Gritty production, perfectly unhinged vocal performance from Doug Moore, and occasional burst of groove and shred of accessibility punctuating the chaos (“First as Tragedy, Then as Farce,” “Strange Pains,” “Stress Fractures”) lend the album a refreshingly addictive edge to counterbalance its abrasive, challenging angles.

#6. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – New Jersey’s Replicant previously exhibited their brawny, yet brainy mix of gnarled dissonance, technicality, and knuckle-dragging street grooves to powerful effect. However, third album Infinite Mortality levelled the playing field as the band upped their game to elite levels of controlled chaos, while the writing remained challenging yet strangely accessible and memorable. In spirit, the ugly mix of harshness, discordance, and headbangable blockbuster grooves reminds me of the great Ion Dissonance. Meanwhile, the contrasting blend of unorthodox melody, jagged dissonance, and stuttering, complex song structures come together with cohesion and blunt force, punctuated by the occasional warped solo. Like a harsh, harrowing soundtrack to a bleak dystopian future, Infinite Mortality is a mean, chunky, technical, and deliciously primal slab of advanced disso-tech-death excellence.

#5. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – Notably death metal in 2024 was dominated by brutal, dissonant varieties, designed to scramble brains and challenge minds while battering the listener into submission. Refreshingly, unheralded surprise packet Noxis unloaded a killer debut LP to savor. Drawing from an array of old-school influences and ’90s touchstones without ever aping one particular band or style, Noxis unleashed a nostalgic yet unique death metal platter. Managing to at once sound raw and unclean, technical and brutal, thrashy and proggy, sharp and refined, Noxis blaze their way craftily through memorable, riff-infested wastelands with unbridled aggression, speed, and finesse, rubber-stamped by some exceptional bass work. Remnants of the classic Floridian scene mingle with powerful influences, including early Cryptopsy, later-era Death, Atheist, and Cannibal Corpse, resulting in a finished product that sounds fresh and vital, while containing an endearing, workmanlike old-school charm. It works a treat, and the top-notch and frequently inventive writing reveals impressive depth and character that rewards repeat listens.

#4. Dissimulator // Lower Form Resistance – There are some serviceable, enjoyable thrash-aligned albums in 2024, but one stood head and shoulders above the competition. Comprised of a grizzled bunch of underground Canadian musicians hellbent on fusing advanced technical thrash assaults with sick old-school death-thrash, a fuckton of killer riffs, quirky vocoder action, and razor-sharp hooks, Lower Form Resistance has consistently provided an adrenaline-filled shot of thrash when needing that specific fix. Dissimulator rewires thrash in intricate and intriguing ways, giving me the same giddy rush as past experiences with the likes of Capharnaum, Vhol, and Revocation. Excited to hear what these dudes conjure up next. In the meantime, Lower Form Resistance will continue to keep my thrash cogs oiled through potent bangers like “Warped,” “Automoil & Robotoil,” and “Hyperline Underflow.”

#3. Huntsmen // The Dry Land – After somehow sleeping on 2018 debut American Scrap and subsequently their apparent sophomore slumping second album, I finally righted my wrongs by delving into the strange and wildly unique woodlands of Chicago metal troupe Huntsmen and their phenomenal third LP, The Dry Land. A raw, rustic, and emotionally striking explosion of genre-bending excellence, where blackened sludge, doom, post, prog, folk, and Americana influences coalesce into an intoxicating and frequently thrilling musical formula, rich in detail and emotion. The skilled genre mashing is cohesive and genuine, loaded with surprises, structural twists, dramatic ebbs and flows, deep burrowing hooks, and contrasting vocal trade-offs to seal the deal on a remarkable album. Despite only a small handful of songs comprising the album (six in total), Huntsmen make every moment count, from blazing longer numbers with stunning contrasts and peaks (“This, Our Gospel,” “In Time, All things”) to plaintive folk dusted rock (“Lean Times”), through to the stunningly moving, compact power of “Rain.” Huntsmen occupy a unique space in the metalverse.

#2. Borknagar // Fall – I have a slightly odd history with Norwegian legends Borknagar. I recall being taken by their excellent 2012 album Urd, yet oddly enough I didn’t extend my listening beyond that isolated release. Things changed with 2019’s True North, a typically solid offering that inspired my explorations of portions of their vast and consistently engaging catalog. The twelfth album Fall marks their first album since True North and again features an outstanding line-up of talents, including founding mastermind Øystein Brun, multi-talented keyboardist/clean vocalist Lars Nedland, and ace up their sleeve bass/vocal powerhouse ICS Vortex. Fall smacks of a veteran band not merely content to coast on their laurels but rather carve freshly creative trajectories for their now signature blend of epic prog, triumphant Viking, and icy black metal to thrive. An extra shot of old-school blackened aggression and fuller production boosted an album of consistently high quality. Fall became a true all-occasions album in 2024; often uplifting me when I felt down or giving me a punchy charge when the need arose. Wall-to-wall prime cuts feature, headlined by the storming “Summits,” moody earworm, “The Wild Lingers”, and the striking, epic shimmer of “Moon.” Stalwarts still operating at the top of their game.

#1. Counting Hours // The Wishing Tomb – Not since Fvneral Fvkk’s remarkable Carnal Confessions debut has a doom album struck as hard as the second platter of sadboi misery perpetrated by Finland’s excellent Counting Hours. While doom and its death-doom companion may not always dominate my listening habits, when an album does hit that sweet spot, it usually leaves a profound impact. Few forms of metal generate the emotional resonance of quality doom and Counting Hours tears at the heartstrings through a riveting collection of gorgeously played and executed death-doom ditties, spearheaded by former members of the hugely underrated Rapture. Ilpo Paasela backs up the stellar musicianship, superb guitar work, and tight, addictive songwriting with a stunning mix of emotively raw, stately cleans and rugged death growls. The whole package packs an emotional wallop, yet its soulful edge and hopelessly addictive hooks and sing-along moments prevent a drop too deeply into depressive waters, as such earwormy gems as “Timeless Ones,” “All That Blooms (Needs to Die),” and “Starlit / Lifeless” attest. The Wishing Tomb is an epic album to lose yourself in.

Honorable Mentions:

• Blood Incantation // Absolute Elsewhere – Did I overrate Absolute Elsewhere? Possibly. Is it overhyped? Absolutely. Yet Blood Incantation remains a brave, adventurous band and Absolute Elsewhere represents a welcome return to form from these gifted, star-gazing space cadets. A flawed but effective fusing of their death metal roots with an increased focus on ’70s-inspired progressive rock and trippy psych flourishes.
• 200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures – I barely took notice of Cleveland’s 200 Stab Wounds debut LP, but sophomore album Manual Manic Procedures provided one of the real surprise packets in 2024. It very nearly cracked the main list sheerly through heavy rotation. A meaty, adrenaline-charged shot of muscular death into the veins.
• Ripped to Shreds // Sanshi – Another reliably awesome slab of old-school death from Andrew Lee and co. Increasingly shreddy, extravagant solo work and a grindier edge powered one of their best albums yet.
• Nails // Every Bridge Burning – Nails is back and that is a great thing. New line-up, the same mode of short, sharp, blast-your-skin-off aggression, head-caving grooves, and hate-filled energy.
• Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectre and Strife – A pleasant surprise and one of the best debut albums in 2024. German tech-slam-brutal death juggernaut Unhallowed Deliverance knocked it out of the park with limited subtlety but a heap of talent, creativity, and songwriting smarts.
• Wormed // Omegon – With Ulcerate’s latest release not quite hitting me on the intense level of others, and having run out of time to properly digest and rank the obvious high-quality new Defeated Sanity, Wormed’s long-awaited return gave me my fix of calculated brutality via futuristic, slammy, technical brutal death executed in typically warped, mind-blowing fashion.
• Khirki // Κυκεώνας – Following up an impressive, well-received debut LP is no easy feat. Kenstrosity steered many of us from the AMG community onto Greek band Khirki’s Κτηνωδία debut in 2021, so I eagerly anticipated Khirki’s return for the second go around. The resulting album met expectations through a fiery, passionate, and eclectic mix of metal, rock, and traditional Greek folk.
• Sergeant Thunderhoof // The Ghost of Badon Hill – A late-year list shaker, underappreciated UK psych-prog-stoner outfit Sergeant Thunderhoof unleased a more restrained, psych-enhanced, and introspective album, showing signs of being a genuine grower since its November release, despite not quite hitting the irresistible highs of 2022’s This Sceptred Veil.

Disappointments o’ the Year:

• Several highly anticipated albums did not quite land the killer blows I was hoping for. Respectable to very good albums, but I expected better from Vola (admittedly a grower), Caligula’s Horse, Ihsahn, and especially Zeal and Ardor.

Non-Metal Picks:

• St Vincent, SIR, Michael Kiwanuka, Allie X, MGMT

Song ‘o the Year:

• Counting Hours – “Timeless Ones”

There were any number of standouts and potential Song o’ the Year candidates that could have nabbed top honors, including several counterparts from Counting Hours’ spectacular sophomore album. In the end, I settled on the (proper) album opener of my album of the year, as the tune that really hooked me initially from an album that captivated my soul. A rich, emotive piece of dark, melodic death-doom with superlative guitar melodies and a chorus for the ages. Honorable mention to Huntsmen’s “Rain.”

Felgund

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of living in interesting times. But as that wizened sage, Gandalf so wisely reminds us: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

So what have I been doing with the time that has been given? A fair amount, as it turns out. 2024 has certainly been a tumultuous year for our small family. On the one hand, the business that I launched in 2023 has been chugging along for well over a year and a half now, and I think I’m far enough along in the process that I feel (at least somewhat) comfortable calling it a success. The baby that we brought home from the hospital is now, inexplicably, a whip-smart 7-year-old. My wife’s career continues to blossom as she continues to moonlight as my business manager. Things are good.

And yet 2024 also proved to be harder than I’d ever imagined. My dad died back in April, an experience that remains both devastating and surreal. He’d had multiple sclerosis for well over a decade, and as I’m sure many of you know, MS is a grasping, grinding petty little disease. But for as much as it stole, it proved incapable of taking away who my father was; it couldn’t quite make off with what made him him. He was my best friend before his diagnosis, and he remained my best friend up until that impossible evening in a hospital room in early April. Truth be told, he’s still my best friend, only now he’s free to walk wherever I see fit to imagine him.

Despite my best efforts, I realized pretty quickly you can’t capture a life in a few paragraphs. I couldn’t do it in his eulogy, and I certainly won’t attempt to do so on a heavy metal blog. But I will share this:

My dad was a carpenter by trade and an artist by choice; he was a fisherman and a cook; he was a handyman, a builder, a designer, and a writer; he taught himself how to play guitar, and he’s perhaps the singular reason why I’m writing for this website today. Because while he wasn’t a fan of metal himself, he instilled in me not only a love for music, but an interest in the process; in the people who create it, the minds that shape it, and the passion that births it.

He played in countless bands in his youth, and I can think of no better way to honor his memory than by sharing some of his music with you all. With Steel’s blessing, I’m embedding a two-song demo (“A Place in Time” and “Street Legal”) ripped from a cassette my old man recorded in the late 80s, so apologies in advance for the questionable quality. He composed both the music and lyrics, played guitar and bass, and sang on both tracks, which were devised when he was perhaps at his Rush fanboy peak. It’s been a delight and a balm hearing his voice again, captured as it was in a moment when he was young, vibrant, and doing what he loved.

So here we are. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, I managed to consume a fair amount of metal this year. And while I was far less productive as a writer than I’d hoped and I wasn’t able to listen to as much as I originally planned, I discovered a plethora of new music here on AMG that soothed what Neil Peart once referred to as his “baby soul.” And surprisingly, I found much of that solace in the discordant, the dissonant, and the off-kilter, as the list below probably reflects. But more importantly, I found compassion, support, and understanding amongst the writing staff here. And while they may not know it, I will be forever thankful for the folks who showed me such boundless kindness during a year that felt decidedly unkind. Thank you, my friends.

Now let’s get to to it. Here are my top ten(ish) albums of 2024.

#(ish). Beaten to Death // Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis – It almost feels like cheating to place an 18-minute album in my Top 10(ish), but here we are. 2024 proved to be a year where my interest in grind and grind-adjacent acts expanded, and this “ish” is the result. While I wasn’t aware of Beaten to Death prior to this release, I was quickly swept away by Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis’ ability to bludgeon its idiosyncratic way into my brain and coil there like the most glorious of infections. Beaten to Death has delivered a concise helping of grinding goodness, with crispy prog edges and a schmear of off-kilter humor. Back catalog, here I come!

#10. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // Of the Last Human Being – Gardenstale’s gushing review of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s fourth album Of the Last Human Being was a tough endorsement to ignore, as was an invocation of Diablo Swing Orchestra. So I threw caution to the wind and leaped headlong into this experimental maelstrom. And I’m so happy I did. Don’t let the runtime dissuade you; Of the Last Human Being doesn’t feel nearly as long as it is, and over that relatively brief timespan, you’re provided with a front-row seat to the aural equivalent of perhaps the most fun kind of performance art. Hard-edged riffs, off-kilter instrumentation, ominous theatrics interlaced with beautiful, sparse melodies, and all capped off by the deranged croons of chief carnival barker Nils Frykdahl. If I’d spent more time with this record it may have placed higher, but as it is, I’m happy it’s making an appearance at the number 10 spot.

#9. Sur Austru // Datura Strǎhiarelor – Despite Twelve underrating this album, I suppose I should commend him for introducing me to Sur Austru in the first place. This Romanian outfit’s third full-length Datura Strǎhiarelor is a potent blend of rumbling, blackened fury, and melodic folk metal, with plenty of flute work, orchestration, choral elements, and plaintive keys thrown in. And, while the gruff, chanting growls might rub some listeners the wrong way, it was this aspect more than any other that first grabbed my attention, and proceeded to keep it. And while I haven’t a clue what the vocalists are shouting at me, the tone and placement in the mix feels just right, especially for this brand of folk-infused black metal. Such is the strength of Sur Austru that this album began as my “ish” before eventually working its way to ninth. Mightly bold of them.

#8. Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – Some of the entries on this list were either late discoveries or took some time before they got their dirty little hooks in me. Necrowretch’s Swords of Dajjal was not one of them. As soon as I spun it back in February, it was love at first listen. Swords of Dajjal focuses on the greater deceiver in Islamic mythology, and explores that tradition through the use of ferocious blackened death metal (with perhaps a dollop or two of thrash thrown in). Although, as Carcharodon rightly pointed out in his review, the “blackened” part is doing most of the heavy lifting here. And that’s not a bad thing, as Necrowretch is more than adept at crafting memorable hooks and an engaging atmosphere without sacrificing heft or freneticism. Swords of Dajjal is an unmitigated success, and my only real gripe is that Necrowretch dropped a new platter so early in the year that it may go overlooked on too many end-of-year lists.

#7. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – Grier and I may not see eye to eye on music, but what can I say? The man knows his way around gothic metal. So when he awarded a 4.0 to Weird Tales back in April, what was I to do? If you said wait several months before bothering to press play, you’re correct. But folks, I may have been late to the party, but it’s a rager nonetheless. The Vision Bleak has produced an emotive, memorable, downright heart-wrenching concept album; one that is both lush and harsh, both achingly melodic and morosely heavy. Weird Tales isn’t my usual cup of tea, but The Vision Bleak has rejected my assertion by doing what many similar acts appear incapable of doing: cohesively balancing “gothic” and “metal” without lessening the impact of either. A well-earned addition, indeed.

#6. Stenched // Purulence Gushing from the Coffin – While Rots-giving may have been tarnished by a less-than-stellar release from Rotpit back in November, I’ve moved on since then, and am now proudly celebrating Stenched-mas. The Manly n’ Mighty Steel reviewed this one-man grimy death outfit last month, and even though I was still smarting from my failed attempt to poach Purulence Gushing from the Coffin for myself, I can’t in good conscience deny how hard this globular mass of funerary muck rips. From the first track to the last, you’ll be rocking a near-permanent stank face, and you can’t blame that solely on the fungal miasma wafting from your speakers. The truth is, Stenched has delivered a masterclass in riff-heavy, moss-encrusted death metal; the kind that’s perfect to drag your knuckles to. Purulence Gushing from the Coffin is the exact kind of no-frills, all-guts death metal I needed in 2024, and that’s why it’s sitting pretty at 6.

#5. Aklash // Reincarnation – How are we already at the Top Five? And what better way to kick off this most treasured of positions than with the melodic black metal stylings of Aklash on their fourth album Reincarnation? Aklash received a solid write-up in June’s Stuck in the Filter by our very own Kenstrosity, and their most recent outing has continued to climb higher and higher on my list the more I’ve spun it. Part black metal, part progressive metal, part trad metal (epic choruses included), Reincarnation packs a wallop in just a short 37 minutes. overflowing with varied instrumentation and keen lyrical chops, grandiose in scope and medieval in tone, yet more personal than it has any right to be, Aklash is firing on all cylinders here, and, as such, is perfectly suited for anyone’s top 5.

#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – And, just like that, more death metal rears its ugly head. I’m still surprised at how high up Devenial Verdict’s sophomore album landed on my list, primarily because their 2022 debut Ash Blind failed to connect. But Blessing of Despair seems to have arrived just in time for my increasing flirtation with the cruel mistress that is dissodeath. As such, I found myself utterly taken with Devenial Verdict’s latest, overflowing as it is with equally heavy doses of discordant ferocity and mournful melodicism. And while Blessing of Despair is an undeniably heavy record, it makes sure to leave plenty of room for quieter moments, where slower sections and sparse instrumentation have room to bloom and breathe. This approach not only results in a wonderfully balanced album but ensures the bludgeoning that’s sure to follow is all the more impactful. Consider me reformed.

#3. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’m fairly certain that any death metal fan worth their salt is legally required to include the latest Aborted release on their end-of-year list. Over 25 years and 12 albums into their carnal career, these death metal titans need no introduction. Blood-drenched, gore-soaked, and happily grindy, Aborted are in a league all their own, and it shows on Vault of Horrors. The music remains tight and explosive, building a menacing atmosphere that pervades only the stickiest of grindhouse theaters. Besides, with songs dedicated to classics like Return of the Living Dead, Hellraiser, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, how could I do anything other than include this gem of an album in my top 3? I for one welcome our horror-themed overlords.

#2. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – What began as a random pick from the promo sump by one Kenstrosity quickly rose to become a favorite of the death metal maniacs (those with good taste, anyway) on the AMG staff. Now, more importantly, it’s nabbed the second-highest honor on my year-end list. Noxis’ first full-length album Violence Inherent in the System sounds like the product of a much more experienced band. The songwriting is top-notch, the performances are big and bold without being overwrought, and the sticky riffs stay wedged in your mind long after the album ends. And yet for all of its bombast, Noxis is still able to infuse their debut with oodles of atmosphere, not to mention a level of balance between death metal orthodoxy and fresh bells and whistles (and horns) that would make even Thanos grimace in jealousy. Special attention must also be paid to Joe Lowrie’s snare tone and Dave Kirsch’s godlike bass performance.

#1. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I suppose I was always destined to end up here, I just didn’t know it right away. Pyrrhon’s fifth full-length Exhaust didn’t initially grab me the way some of my other entries did. However, on repeat spins, I found myself falling deeper and deeper into its frenetic, dissonant embrace, discovering both nuances and subtleties amidst the proggy cacophony. On an album that thoroughly explores the universal theme of exhaustion, be it physical, mental, social, or economic, Pyrrhon’s brand of noise-tinged death metal feels like the ideal tool with which to scrawl their livid manifesto. But what truly sets Exhaust apart is its unrelenting groove, stoked by Pyrrhon’s inventive capacity to not only feature but to uplift its unique brand of melodicism amidst the unrelenting maelstrom. It’s hard to overstate just how critical this aspect is to Exhaust’s success, especially since it would have been so easy to excise. But Exhaust’s manic ferocity, which swerves jerks, hops, and heaves, is all the better for it. And while its charms were initially lost on me, I found it easier and easier to finally succumb to its tremulous tendrils. Any record with that kind of staying power (not to mention a theme so applicable to my own experiences this past year) has more than earned my top spot for 2024.

Honorable Mentions:

• Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Defeated Sanity is a brutal tech death stalwart at this point, and now seven albums in, Chronicles of Lunacy only further cements that status. Chronicles of Lunacy provides the listener with track after aggressively intricate track exploring lunacy in its many forms, but the real treat here is Lille Gruber’s masterful performance on the drums.
• Full of Hell // Coagulated Bliss – while I don’t think I’ve become a complete grind convert, albums like Full of Hell’s Coagulated Bliss and Beaten to Death’s Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis certainly set me on the path to one day become a proud proselytizer. You can’t deny Coagulated Bliss’ infectious groove and whirlwind pace, although I agree with the Dolphin’s rating adjustment.
• Undeath // More Insane – no, it’s not as good as It’s Time…to Rise from the Grave, and there’s no reason to pretend that it is. Nor does it need to be. While More Insane may not reach the lofty heights of its predecessor, it still showcases an Undeath doing what it does best, while also hinting at an undeniable ability to evolve into an even sharper, more fetid OSDM beast.
• 200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures – while I wasn’t entirely kind in my review of 200 Stab Wounds’ debut, Mark Z suggested I take their follow-up Manual Manic Procedures for a spin, and I’m glad I did. It’s clear they’ve grown as artists, and their sophomore effort reflects that heightened maturity. Keep stabbing on, your crazy diamonds!
• Mamaleek // Vida Blue – I’m confident this album captures what it would sound like if Tom Waits listened to too much Ashenspire before leaving for the recording studio. Long, difficult, and bold, I found myself returning again and again to Vida Blue no matter how challenging I found the experience. While this album didn’t make my top 10, I’m convinced a future Mamaleek release will.

Song o’ the Year:

• Noxis – ”Skullcrushing Defilement”

This song goes hard. Exceptionally hard. In truth, there are any number of tunes from Violence Inherent in the System that fit the “Song o’ the Year” bill, but I had to give the edge to “Skullcrushing Defilement.” Not only does it begin with an absolutely searing bass solo, but it sets the stage for the four-string onslaught that’s to come. There’s a noticeable Cannibal Corpse influence that I can’t help but love here, alongside heaping doses of maniacal melodicism, turbocharged technicality, and an earworm chorus to boot. Abandon all cervical spines, ye who enter here.

#200StabWounds #2024 #Aborted #Aklash #AllieX #Anciients #Archspire #Atheist #BeatenToDeath #BlogPosts #BloodIncantation #Borknagar #CaligulaSHorse #CannibalCorpse #Capharnaum #CountingHours #Crytopsy #Death #DefeatedSanity #DevenialVerdict #DiabloSwingOrchestra #Dissimulator #Dissonance #FullOfHell #FvneralFvkk #Huntsmen #Ihsahn #Khirki #Lists #MadderMortem #Mamaleek #MGMT #MichaelKiwanuka #Nails #Necrowretch #Noxis #OceansOfSlumber #Opeth #Pyrrhon #Rapture #Replicant #Revocation #RippedToShreds #Rotpit #SaundersAndFelagundSTopTenIshOf2024 #SergeantThunderfoot #SIR #SleepytimeGorillaMuseum #StVincent #Stenched #SurAustru #TheVisionBleak #TomWaits #Ulcerate #Undeath #UnhallowedDeliverance #Vhöl #Wormed #ZealAndArdor

Carcharodon and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Carcharodon

Carcharodon

I’ve been writing here since 2018. This has been the hardest year to date. I feel like I say this every year right around this time but, for whatever reason, I’ve really struggled this year to find the motivation and inspiration to write. Indeed, I’ve often felt that I lacked the passion for the music. Rather than exploring the murkier depths of Bandcamp, I was often to be found in the company of old, non-metal friends like Nick Cave, 16 Horsepower and Tom Waits.

Despite my disappointment with the world, most of which is on literal or metaphorical fire, and my disillusionment with people, whose choices have caused most of that, there were bright glimmers. The phenomenal response to our Gondor-esque call for aid, when Kenstrosity‘s life was ripped apart by Hurricane Helene, reassured me there are still a few good people out there, a good number of whom read this blog.

Still, I managed to turn out a few reviews this year, including my first ever 5.0—more of which below—which was worth it for the Steel Ire it evoked alone. And there was the Fifteenalia, a celebration the like of which we will not see again (for obvious reasons), which I had the honour of steering from questionable inception to creaky delivery.

Ironically, despite my struggles on the writing front, This Place has played a significant part in keeping me sane. It’s been tolerable to welcome a few new staffers—some even raised up from the awful Place Below—to our serried ranks, while the older hands feel almost like family at this point, with everything that that entails. As ever, particular thanks go to Steel Druhm for his tireless intimidation, which just about keeps us honest, while Dolph, Dear Hollow, El Cuervo, Grier, Maddog, Sentynel and Thus Spoke, among others, have proved adequate companions for banter and gigs.

And with that, I wish you all the happiest of Listurnalias.

#ish. Pillar of Light // Caldera – A very late entry to this list, Pillar of Light should be a cautionary tale to bands and labels: release your shit earlier! With more time, the stunning Amenra-meets-Cult of Luna post-misery of Caldera could easily have placed in the top half of this list. While I know this is an album I will come to love and fully expect to regret not placing it higher here, the reality is that other entries have had longer to sink their hooks into me. I will just say that, for me, the apparently divisive vocals are a perfect fit for Pillar of Light’s style.

#10. Seth // La France des Maudits – Way back when,1 French black metallers Seth snuck onto my list of Honorable Mentions with La Morsure du Christ, a fantastic return to form after a lengthy absence. After a short gap, they’re back and this year’s La France des Maudits has cracked the list proper. Melodic, bordering on symphonic with the keys and choral arrangements, but also visceral and feral, Seth dropped an absolute banger. It doesn’t hurt that, as Thus Spoke pointed out in her review, it’s “downright impressive how rich and dynamic this sounds.”

#9. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – The Vision Bleak is not, to paraphrase Dr Grier, a band that has ever ‘got’ me. Or perhaps, I’ve never got them. But Weird Tales resonated with me enormously. And perhaps that’s because it’s not really like anything The Vision Bleak has done before. Structuring their gothic black metal (or should that be blackened goth metal?) into a single, flowing song (albeit one broken into parts) got my attention. But they held my attention because they actually managed to pull off this very-hard-to-execute vision. Weird Tales’ Type O Negative / Moonspell-inspired blackened sound clicked into place almost instantly for me and now I need to go back to TVB’s discography with newly-opened eyes.

#8. Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – The first 4.0 I delivered in an alarmingly high-scoring year, Necrowretch’s black-death fusion is something that I have returned to again. Hiding beneath the vicious, downright nasty surface of Swords of Dajjal, is a surprisingly subtle and well-crafted concept album. As I said in my review, there is zero bloat or filler on this record, which blazes with intensity, driven as much by the scything, razor-sharp riffs as the rasping, sepulchral vocals. The range of influences cited, both by me and by impressed commenters, shows how many different aspects there are to this killer record.

#7. Panzerfaust // The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion – After Chapter III: The Astral Drain, I was worried that Panzerfaust were running out of steam and inspiration to close out The Suns of Perdition saga. Thankfully, my concerns were misplaced. To Shadow Zion reeks of doom and destiny. Huge, brooding and intense, it is a captivating listen, with the stunning “The Damascene Conversions” sitting at its heart. From the sulfuric vocals to the masterful drumming, this was a worthy final chapter for The Suns of Perdition, which must go down as one of the best executed, most consistent multi-album concept pieces in metal.

#6. Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – Spectral Wound just can’t miss. For a band that, superficially at least, plays fairly old school black metal, songwriting chops paired with brilliant execution mean these guys are anything but derivative. My favourite album of theirs to date, Songs of Blood and Mire is just tons of wicked, nasty fun. It’s hard to say exactly why, but I feel like everything Spectral Wound does has a slight knowing wink to it, which suggests that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously. For me, this is a huge positive, as a lot of black metal is so tediously earnest, where this is unflinchingly harsh, surprisingly melodic and drowning in swaggering groove. Great stuff.

#5. Mother of Graves // The Periapt of Absence – I’m a sucker for death doom. And The Periapt of Absence is some fucking great death doom. Mother of Graves were unknown to me before I stumbled across this album but their blending of old school Opeth (think somewhere between Morningrise and Orchid) with early Katatonia and Paradise Lost, plus a sprinkling of Clouds is stunning. All wrapped up in a pleasingly tight package, Mother of Graves smother the listener in unflinching, heartwrenching misery. And I love every minute of it. It’s that Peaceville Three sound we love, but feeling fresh, vibrant and vital.

#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – Me and death metal don’t always see eye to eye, and the last Devenial Verdict left only a passing impression. But Thus Spoke‘s tireless tongue-bathing promotion of Blessing of Despair convinced me to give it a chance. While I enjoy the stomping thuggery of Devenial Verdict’s dissonant death well enough, it’s the sudden mood swings into what TS described as “lethally graceful restraint” that really hooked me. Although worlds apart stylistically, on Blessing of Despair DV achieved what Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean did on Obsession Destruction: knowing precisely how far to push the suffocating, claustrophobic heaviness, before taking their foot off your throat for a minute. Then stamping on it again.

#3. Julie Christmas // Ridiculous and Full of Blood – Maddog predicted that I would lambast him as an underrating bastard for the 3.5 he deigned to award Ms Christmas. And he was quite correct. He’s a charlatan of the highest order. However, even I’m surprised by how high Ridiculous and Full of Blood has landed here. But, as someone not given to overly emotional reactions to music, I’m continually stunned by the reactions Julie—Can I call you Julie? No? Ok—extracts from me. I’m often on the edge of tears by the end of “The Lighthouse,” just like that cad Maddog, while the likes of “Not Enough” and “End of the World” (the latter with CoL’s Johannes Persson) have a scary edge to them, with Christmas at her maniacal, crooning, possessed, unpredictable best.

#2. A Swarm of the Sun // An Empire – Speaking of emotional responses, A Swarm of the Sun’s stripped back melancholy is right up there. If I say that An Empire is brighter and more uplifting than previous efforts The Rifts and The Woods, understand that this is a very relative statement. An Empire is drowning in sorrow and misery, and yet there is just a hint of brightness that shimmers and hovers around the edges, like a lunar halo. Slow and deliberate, haunting and cathartic, A Swarm of the Sun’s latest outing is just beautiful. End of. No discussion.2

#1. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Y’all know I dropped a 5.0 on Die Urkatastophe, so it’s no surprise to find it here, sitting pretty, atop my list. There’s not much more praise that I can heap on Kanonenfieber’s sophomore record than I already did in my review. For me, it has everything and is more than I dared hope for as a follow up to my beloved Menschenmühle (my album of the year for 2021). It is brutal and vicious (“Panzerhenker” and “Ausblutingsschlacht”), anthemic (“Der Maulwurf” and “Menschenmühle”) and more. Crafted—and yes, that is the correct word—with huge skill and attention to detail, it is the storytelling, based on original source materials, that elevates this record to the next level for me. And if you don’t speak German, or are simply not into narrative in your metal, just go bang your fucking head to “Gott mit der Kavallerie”!

Honorable mentions In alphabetical order by band:

• 40 Watt Sun // Little Weight – Little Weight actually carries a lot of emotional weight. Melancholic, beautiful post-doom and shoegaze, rife with a rough honesty.
• Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun – Long-form (arguably too-long-form in some respects) progressive death, which is wonderfully ambitious and overblown in its scale and delivery.
• Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose – Fantastic trad doom, channeling heavy doses of Candlemass. Early in the year, I thought this was top-5 material but it’s uneven, with the back half much stronger than the front, and I’ve cooled on it a touch.
• Nyktophobia // To the Stars – Just great, stomping melodeath. As I said in my review, it’s not massively original but it’s tight and well written, and easy to just kick back to. Sometimes, I don’t need more.
• Silhouette // Les Dires de l’​Â​me – This fantastic post-black album had a place on the list proper until Pillar of Light bulldozed its way in there very late in the day. Haunting, harrowing and beautiful, Silhouette’s debut is Great!
• Sumac // The Healer – Nothing about The Healer makes it an easy listen but Sumac’s fifth record is curiously beautiful for all its wandering, free-form abrasiveness.
• Vorga // Beyond the Palest Star – While it’s hard to disagree with Kenstrosity‘s criticism of the production on Beyond the Palest Star, what can I say? I still love it. It’s chunky, well written, well paced and powerful.

Surprises o’ the Year Ordered by most astounding first:

• Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – It’s been a long time since I was last genuinely interested in an Opeth album (2005’s Ghost Reveries, in case you were wondering). But, wouldn’t you just know it, Mikael Åkerfeldt and co are back (roars and all). I’m not ready to commit to a score for The Last Will (though I think El Cuervo‘s was possibly a smidge high) as I’ve not been able to spend enough time with it. But the fact I want to spend more time with it is, after 19 years of having no interest in Opeth’s output, a surprise. And a welcome one.
• Grand Magus // Sunraven – Another Swedish favourite of old, which I’d all but given up on, Grand Magus roared back this year with Sunraven. As an equally surprised Steel Druhm said in his review, this was the album he “feverishly hoped to get from Grand Magus … a grand return to prime form with the fire firmly back in the Balrog … the best Magus outing since 2012’s The Hunt”.

Disappointment o’ the Year Limited to a single musical disappointment, to avoid submitting a lengthy thesis:

• Zeal & Ardor // GREIF – I’m not angry, or even very surprised, just disappointed.3 While I accept that this is the album of a band in transition, there’s no getting away from the fact that it was a hugely disappointing album from a band that has abandoned the sound that made it what it was. And for what? They have not transitioned to something new and exciting, but with kinks to be worked out. Rather, on this record, Zeal & Ardor became something so pedestrian that any number of post-rock bands could’ve written it and, probably, done a better job. I may have overrated it.

Songs o’ the Year

1. Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”
2. Kanonenfieber – “Der Maulwurf”
3. Selbst – “The Stench of a Dead Spirit”
4. Panzerfaust – “The Damascene Conversions”
5. Kanonenfieber – “Gott mit der Kavallerie”
6. Devenial Verdict – “Garden of Eyes”
7. Spectral Wound – “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal”
8. Silhouette – “Les Dires de l’​Â​me”
9. Blue Heron – “Everything Fades”
10. Zeal & Ardor – “Hide in Shade”
11. Glare of the Sun – “Rain”

Cherd

Twenty-twenty-four was certainly a year that followed previous years and will precede still others. When I look back, I’ll likely remember it as the year I discovered the wonders of ADHD medication after decades of non-treatment, the difficult transition my poor Cherdlet experienced from kindergarten to first grade, and the incredible bucket list trip my wife and I took to Toronto to watch our favorite TV franchise filming new content courtesy of my very important Hollywood connections. No, not Robert Downey Jr. Much more important and better-looking. Hmm? Margot Robbie? She wishes. I also had the pleasure of meeting several of my fellow writers in person, and they are all much homelier than they let on with the exception of Madam X, who is a goddamned ray of sunshine.

On the musical front, I was able to check two bands off my “need to see live” list in Judas Priest and Archspire, whereby I discovered that Halford does exactly zero audience banter, and Archspire do nothing but. Fun shows, both. I didn’t listen to as much new music by volume this year than I have in previous years when I’d log between 200 and 400 releases, and that was largely due to my kid’s age and the level of interaction he needs. I have a feeling, however, that 2025 will see an uptick thanks to the new Heavys headphones I got for Christmas this year. As always, I want to thank the editors, particularly Steel Druhm and Doc Grier, for not sending me a mailbomb after all the late reviews I turned in (I’ll work on that in 2025), and the man himself, AMG, for building this community and for agreeing that Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek show.4

(ish) Chat Pile // Cool World – This is what it sounds like when Chat Pile make a “mature” record. As I noted in my October review, some of the most glaring weirdness and black humor the band is known for is missing in Cool World, which is why it’s here on my list instead of matching the lofty heights of my 2022 AOTY God’s Country. That said, this is consistently bleak in a way I like, and it boasts what are in my opinion the two best–if not most memorable–songs the band have written to date in “New World” and “Masc.” I’m a sucker for these Oklahomans and look forward to how their sound evolves from here.

#10. Glacial Tomb // Lightless Expanse – I’ve had an up and down journey with Glacial Tomb’s sophomore record, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still view this as one of the best things I’ve listened to this year. To consider a record this closely means you have to listen to it a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I logged more hours with Lightless Expanse than with any other album. I’ve made a big deal about the one-three punch of “Voidwomb/Enshrined in Concrete/Abyssal Host”, but it bears repeating since it’s my favorite consecutive stretch of death metal in 2024.

#9. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – If you peel back the veneer of disso-death and blackened blasts on Infinite Mortality, you’ll find a pounding hardcore heart comprised of equal parts beatdown and Converge. As technical as this music gets, and there is a lot going on here, Replicant never forget their primary duty as a metal band: snapping necks. On their third album, they’ve exquisitely composed a missive to unbridled aggression. I completely missed their previous albums, so I’m glad our Kenfren wouldn’t shut his excitable yap about this one.

#8. Spectral Voice // Sparagmos – “Alright skaters! This is the end of our free skate period. We’d like to once again thank you for spending your Saturday with us here at Family Fun Roller Rink and Arcade. It’s time to slow things down, down, way down, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s couples’ skate. So, find that special someone you want to be interred on a cold stone slab with, gaze into each other’s empty eye sockets, and make your way around the rink as wave after wave of Spectral Voice’s death/funeral doom forcefully separates you from any light, hope, or happiness this wretched world might have accidentally given you. Remember, those who survive the next 45 minutes of tectonic plates colliding will get the chance to compete in roller limbo!”

#7. Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose – Despite being one of the biggest doom apologists on this site, Crypt Sermon failed to grab me with their highly acclaimed debut nearly ten years ago. I chalk this up to my unfamiliarity with the traditional doom style at the time. In recent years, I’ve binged large amounts of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Solitude Aeturnus et al., so I finally have the frame of reference to see just how well Crypt Sermon’s third LP captures the swagger, majesty, and grit of a style few contemporary bands seem interested in playing. After the growing pains displayed on The Ruins of Fading Light, these Philly natives have worked out the kinks and delivered an air-tight slab of doomy goodness.

#6. Full of Hell // Coagulated Bliss – I regret waiving my seniority claim to Full of Hell releases, thus allowing Dolph to snap up review duties for Coagulated Bliss. It’s not that he did a bad job of reviewing the prolific experimental grind outfit’s latest. He did great, and he awarded it a deserved 4.0. But then he had the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity, and the gumption to incorrectly lower his score. To make matters worse, it appeared nowhere on his year-end list. Not even a goll dern honorable mention. I’ve told him to his cetacean face that he’s wrong and I’m likely to do so again because this is Full of Hell’s best work since Trumpeting Ecstasy. In fact, it might be better.

#5. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – For most of their existence, Ulcerate was a highly acclaimed band that I just couldn’t get into. That changed four years ago with the release of Stare into Death and Be Still. Little changed in their intricate approach to dissonant death metal, but there was something warmer and more human to what I had previously considered a rather detached style. That trend continues with Cutting the Throat of God. I find this record best when taken as a whole, letting the experience unfold over the full runtime, like dream-walking through a hedge maze or being trapped in a velvet sack and discovering it’s much larger on the inside.5

#4. Thou // Umbilical – I waited a long time for a chance to review a new record by Thou, and when it finally came, they did not disappoint. As I said in my June review, “Like their chimerical American metal brethren Inter Arma, it doesn’t matter how many influences the band stuff into one album. They are all unified in sound under Thou’s banner. Bryan Funck’s acid-bit vocals are unmistakable and apparently unchangeable after 20 throat-shredding years. Also unchangeable? Thou’s ability to craft the most metallic-sounding guitar tone out there. As the standard bearer for…hell, as the entire sum of the second generation of Louisiana sludge, the sound they’ve forged isn’t the kind of sloppy muck you may associate with the term. It’s certainly thick, but it has a quality like two enormous steel I-beams violently striking each other.” If that doesn’t sell Umbilical for you, then here is where our paths diverge.

#3. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – I didn’t listen to Blessing of Despair for several weeks after it came out in October despite the fact Devenial Verdict’s previous record, Ash Blind, made my year-end list in 2022. When I finally got around to it earlier in December, it threatened to blow the doors right off my still nebulous list, climbing fast and high until ultimately landing here at number three. There is more immediacy than on Ash Blind, which took me a while to warm up to. That doesn’t mean the band skimps on the kind of thoughtful transitions and atmospherics they’ve come to be known for. It’s just that Blessing of Despair HAZ THE RIFFS, including my favorite death metal riff of the year in “Solus.”

#2. Void Witch // Horripilating Presence – When I revisited Horripilating Presence with the purpose of sorting out this list’s pecking order, I expected death-doomers Void Witch to fall mid-to-late top 10. Obviously, the opposite happened. For the life of me I don’t understand how this album didn’t gain more traction amongst the other writers and you, the unwashed commentariat. As I said back in July, “…the material on Horripilating Presence is Mohamed Ali levels of confident. The editing of ideas in each song and across the album’s taut 39 minutes is masterful, especially for a debut. No song hews too closely to any of the others, but all are of a piece, locking comfortably into place like an intricate puzzle box, and Void Witch have such sights to show you.”

#1. Inter Arma // New Heaven – Inter Arma never miss. Aside from being one of the best live acts in metal, every album they’ve released going back to 2013’s Sky Burial has been one successful evolution after another. As a very wise reviewer once said, “They’re the same shaggy beast as ever, but beneath that matted, coarse coat is a rippling form mid-shape shift, stretching, pulling, and crossing back on itself constantly over the course of New Heaven’s shockingly concise 42 minutes…If being all over the musical map sounds like a negative, you’ve probably never heard an Inter Arma record before. It seems whatever they throw at the wall sticks, and the listening experience across their (usually much longer) records never feels uneven. This is because they play everything with the same smoldering intensity and volatile mean streak.” What a record.

Honorable Mentions:

• Convulsing // Perdurance – I like this quote from Dear Hollow‘s review, so I’ll let him do the talking: “…Convulsing explores every nook and twist of a rhythm and melody until its inevitable conclusion is happened upon in tragic and fatal fashion.”
• Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – Pound for pound, Spectral Wound are probably the most consistent no-frills black metal band currently in operation. Songs of Blood and Mire is another rager that’s as melodic as it is acidic.
• Lord Buffalo // Holus Bolus – This record was one redundant instrumental away from landing higher on this list. Looking forward to where these gothic country rockers go next.

Songs o’ the Year:

In alphabetical order by band:

#2024 #40WattSun #ASwarmOfTheSun #Anciients #BlogPosts #BlueHeron #CarcharodonAndCherdSTopTenIshOf2024 #ChatPile #Convulsing #CryptSermon #DevenialVerdict #FullOfHell #GlareOfTheSun #GrandMagus #InterArma #JulieChristmas #Kanonenfieber #Listurnalia #LordBuffalo #MotherOfGraves #Necrowretch #Nyktophobia #Opeth #Panzerfaust #PillarOfLight #Replicant #Selbst #Seth #Silhouette #SpectralVoice #SpectralWound #Sumac #TheVisionBleak #Thou #Ulcerate #VoidWitch #Vorga #ZealArdor

Anciients – Beyond the Reach of the Sun Review

By Saunders

Canada’s Anciients made an explosive impact on a pair of ambitious albums, courtesy of 2013’s promising Heart of Oak debut, and 2016’s flawed though frequently great sophomore opus Voice of the Void. Displaying a fresh penchant for chunky, intricate progressive metal featuring sludge, stoner and psychedelic elements, Anciients displayed influences like early Mastodon, Intronaut and Opeth as touchstones to a vibrant sound they could call their own. Then shit went dark as a series of personal events and line-up changes halted momentum. News of a long-awaited return filtered through, resulting in the release of their eagerly awaited third album Beyond the Reach of the Sun, featuring striking Adam Burke cover art. Hardships and the passage of time perhaps places question marks on whether Anciients can expand upon their formula to achieve prime career results.

Beyond the Reach of the Sun exhibits trademark songwriting characteristics and fresh ideas, whipped into an ambitious prog opus, carrying familiar traits from its predecessors, while forging its own path. Heart of Oak and Voice of the Void have grown in stature over the years; however, I have been patiently waiting for Anciients to deliver a knockout album to fulfill their enormous potential. Beyond the Reach of the Sun features a gloomy, melancholic undertone contrasting against a vibrant and adventurous songwriting framework that doubles down on the prog without neglecting the other multi-genre hues, including shades of hard rock, sludge, folk, psych, and death. Parting ways with guitarist/co-vocalist Chris Dyck, mastermind Kenny Cook (vocals/guitars) and drummer Mike Hannay are joined by new members Brock MacInnes (guitars) and Rory O’Brien (bass). Cook handles all vocal duties, with his smoother, emotive croons complimented by beefy, Åkerfeldt-esque death growls for extra punch.

Beyond the Reach of the Sun sounds like a blockbuster culmination of the band’s career to date, rejuvenated after the preceding tumultuous years. The exuberant, technical flourishes and proggy indulgences are ever present, while shreddy, groovy guitar work forms a gripping center point. Like many a grand prog album, Beyond the Reach of the Sun operates best in its entirety. The slightly odd single choices (“Melt the Crown,” “Cloak of the Vast and Black,” and “In the Absence of Wisdom”) fit fluidly in full album context, fine examples of their intricate, psych-enhanced prog metal and hooky songcraft. Soaring melodies, gripping musicianship and mellower musings collide with more full-blooded riff and vocal assaults. Longer form cut “Forbidden Sanctuary” is a curious opening selection. Its slow build heightens tension before unfurling into an effectively moody, progressive sludge rocker. Cook’s excellent clean vocal melodies worm their way into your brain as sparkling guitar harmonies and noodling jams give way to an all-guns-blazing climax, where death roars and frantic blasts take hold.

More concise heavier songs color the album’s varied palette and progressive overtones. “Despoiled” boasts serious fucking teeth to match its groovier prog rock swagger, enlivened by beefed-up riffs, irresistible hooks, and an intense, headbangable closing gallop. Meanwhile, “The Torch” is another stellar, memorable example of Anciients digging into their heavier roots, unleashing one of many sizzling guitar solos rippling through the album. Beyond the Reach of the Sun is an epic guitar album, with Cook and MacInnes the stars of the show. Exuding confidence, technicality and style, the duo stuff the album full of gorgeous melodies and harmonies, psychedelic touches, and burly sludge rock meets prog-death riffage. Cook also nails his increased vocal responsibilities. His cleans are constantly gripping, sounding more confident and assured, while expressing the fragile emotional journey that led to the album’s eventual conception. Vocal highlights are aplenty, however, the mournful, yet hopeful turn on doom-laced epic “Is it Your God” hits with particularly wrenching impact. Meanwhile, the regularly deployed death growls land some killer blows, lending a punch of heaviness to proceedings.

Not all is peachy. Although Anciients most concise and consistent album, self-editing could still use improvement. While the album doesn’t lag or stall as such, a few meandering moments suggest careful trimming of the fattier bits may have reaped benefits. The solid production lacks dynamics, and a warmer, breathable master would have done wonders, while the meatier guitar sections could stand to pack more weight and horsepower. Song sequencing could use a subtle tweak as well. Overall, these are relatively minor quibbles in the big scheme of things and fail to significantly hinder a superbly written and performed album, marking a welcome return and striking evolution of the Anciients sound and wondrous progressive metal showcase.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6| Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: anciients.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/ANCIIENTSRIFFS
Releases Worldwide: August 30th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Anciients #BeyondTheReachOfTheSun #CanadianMetal #Intronaut #Mastodon #Opeth #ProgRock #ProgressiveDeath #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMistRecords #SludgeRock