Well, here we are again. I said last year I wouldn’t do another list of honorable mentions because in the end it makes zero difference. I love every single album on this list, and you (or I) can easily swap out anything here with the ones that end up on my “official” (whatever that means) end of year list. It’s the celebration that matters, the joy in sharing what you loved and finding other discoveries that deepen your knowledge and appreciation of the form.

I used to limit this to 15 albums. That’s stupid. There’s so much I connected with this year when it comes to heavy music I want to share as much of it as I can with you¹. So enough talk. Let’s dig in, alphabetical order except for the first one, because this is the first year in forever I don’t have Boris in my Top 25 so let’s address that and then get all the other great records out of the way.

—

The Outer Circle

Honorable Mentions

It’s not that Boris had a quiet year; far from it. Besides the extensive tour in support of the 25th anniversary of Amplifier Worship, the golden trio of Takeski, Wata, and Atsuo released no less than FOUR FIVE records this year (don’t ask me why two of them aren’t embeddable). Another Noise is a compilation of all the bonus and extra tracks from 2014’s stellar Noise; and 2 Years Later is an archival live show from 1994 when the band was a quartet, Atsuo handling vocals with original member Nagata on drums. ア バオ ア ク -boris performing fade- is exactly what its title implies: the band doing last year’s Fade in its entirety. And finally Hello There, a split with Coaltar Of The Deepers (ed. I completely forgot about Twins of Evil, their incredible split with Melvins). It’s all fantastic; particularly Another Noise, but due to the absence of a full length (or even a collaborative album like last year’s with Uniform) I put them here, but make no mistake: Boris continue to be one of the best heavy things on the planet.

—

It’s been eight years and a lineup change but Anciients are back with a vengeance on third LP Beyond The Reach Of The Sun. If anything the intervening years have made the band more progressive and angular with their riffing, feeling like an amped up Mastodon sailing into unknown star systems with Opeth as their co-pilot. At least that’s what “Forbidden Sanctuary” puts in my mind. Songs like “Is It Your God” really lean into that modern progressive metal, while later tracks like “Celestial Tyrant” and “The Torch” bring the menace hard and heavy. This is a case where the time between albums really allowed Anciients to bring their best game, and damn if Beyond The Reach Of The Sun isn’t their best effort to date.

—

Has a label picked up Black Sites yet? With the release of The Promised Land? the trio continues the trend of dark, melodic trad metal with shades of doom, NWOBHM and their own unique signature sound. New drummer Brandon White hits the skins hard, and his presence is everywhere, from the opening moments of “Descent” to the pummeling that accents every killer riff on closer “Many Turn To None.” But like 2021’s incredible Untrue, the album belongs to singer/guitarist/writer/producer Mark Sugar, who has that perfect metal voice, capable of intense anthemic emotion and dark dread piled atop some wicked sweet guitar parts. On second thought, maybe labels should leave Black Sites alone; they’re incredible just as they are. (reviewed here)

—

You know there was no way I was going to leave out this slab of righteous old school fire from the end of year discussion, right? Especially when my beloved patron saint of all things METAL Fenriz sings lead on it? Coffin Storm is really the brainchild of Apollyon from Aura Noir, roping in his fellow bandmate from Lamented Souls Bestial Tormentor as well as Fenriz to bring the searing scream of 80s extreme metal. The Celtic Frost influence is readily evident throughout debut Arcana Rising, and the band has no patience for anything that sounds remotely modern: if it doesn’t have the filth and muck of at least 40 years ago, it ain’t worth incorporating into the sound of songs like “Over Frozen Moors” and “Clockwork Cult.” Of course I absolutely love it, and feverishly wait for another aural assault from them…as long as it doesn’t delay the forthcoming Darkthrone album, that is.

—

Vaguely ridiculous cover aside (seriously…what is that thing on the left?) UK death metal outfit Cognizance traffic in exactly the kind of heavy, propulsive death metal I love: fast and technical without sacrificing the almighty pocket. Phantazein was released all the way back in January, making the odds of folks remembering it come end of year difficult, but I really gravitated to their attack on songs like “A Brain Dead Memoir” and the double-kick fury of “Broadcast Of The Gods.” A decade into their career and they keep getting better and better. Now if only we can get some covers that don’t make me laugh and feel uncomfortable at the same time… (reviewed here as a Second Circle)

—

Maybe it’s a trend with me, these incredible death metal albums that have hilarious and concerning cover art. I’ve been slowly amassing a cassette collection, and it’s almost exclusively filthy death metal…the kind Deceased have excelled at releasing since the early 90s. 35 years later and Children Of The Morgue sounds like it could have been released any time in the band’s career – they’ve always been remarkably consistent and tracks like the title track and “The Grave Digger” encapsulate everything the band excels in: long, punishing death metal that crosses at times into heavy trad, punk, and thrash. Add gargled vocals that sound like they’ve been scraped across a grimy sidewalk and plenty of quirks that stand out from the 1,001 run of the mill bands trying for the same vibe and you got a recipe for greatness. (reviewed here in the Aug 2024 catchup)

—

PowerNerd may have started as a lark, an homage to the hair-brained and uplifting party fun of 80s metal, but like everything Devin Townsend does, things have a way of twisting into different beasts and this lightweight lark transformed into one of Townsend’s most personal records. Informed by the pain of loss in its many forms, it’s a cry to remember that we can overcome our struggles. Hearing Devin scream out on “Falling Apart” lines like I love you / But God, I can’t deny I want to live is absolutely heartbreaking. There are still moments of sonically silly fun like “Knuckledragger” and the opening title track, but lyrically you can hear Townsend really working through the problems in his life. You can decide your own level of engagement with his music, but I for one love this very personal glimpse into the man, made even more transparent by the fantastic track by track commentary included with the album.

—

Dvne continue to hold a firm and steady place in my musical rotation, with Voidkind bringing more fury and dynamics than anything in the band’s discography. It’s heavier than Asheran and Etemen Ænkapeak combined, and its progressive elements are much more balanced and integrated into the music. Mid-period Mastodon is still a touchstone here, and the best tracks – “Eleonora,” “Reliquary,” “Sarmatae,” and the 1-2 epic punch of closers “Pl​ē​r​ō​ma” and “Cobalt Sun Necropolis” – take everything the Georgia giants do and put a sweeping, desert rock spin on it that speak of distant exotic lands not of this earth. You may have left the planet, but fortunately for you the language of great metal is universal. (reviewed here)

—

Here’s a dark, dirty secret: I’m getting increasingly tired of blackgaze. I think a lot of folks are, so if I’m going to dig into new stuff, it needs to stand out or incorporate new ideas. Or just do it really, really well. Like Envy do. Maybe it’s no surprise that Eunoia, the band’s first full length in over four years is so adept as blending punk, hardcore, and shoegaze (really, there’s nary a black metal element to be found so “blackgaze” seems less than adequate a descriptor) into something that is simultaneously aggressive and uplifting. “Imagination and Creation” is one for the ages, and “Whiteout” grabs emo and hardcore by the throat and throttles it into submission. It speaks volume (for me, anyway) that this is the first Envy album I went physical for, and it’s been lovely to sink into its sea of sound. (reviewed here)

—

When it comes to grind, I’m pretty particular. When your style of grind gets an endorsement from Barney Greenway? I stand up and take notice. Way back in the beginning of 2024 Escuela Grind put out their Ddeeaatthhmmeettaall EP featuring Greenway on “Meat Magnet” which was a hoot. But Dreams On Algorithms is something else: visceral and open, super locked in rhythmically but never afraid to explore beyond the confines of what constitutes a grindcore record. I love the chugging guitar attack on “Always Watching You” and Katerina Economou is a force of nature behind the microphone. At 30 minutes the 10 tracks never overstay their welcome; they get in quick, punch you in the face, and make their escape out the bedroom window, leaving you bloody but grinning toothless (or “Toothless”…c’mon, I had to do it) from ear to ear. (reviewed here)

—

It doesn’t matter if you’re second-wave revivalists, Northwest mountain spiritualists or even bluegrass incorporating evolutionists – the best black black metal yields new secrets and nuances with each listen, bringing you deeper into its murky depths. Such has always been the case with Farsot, the mysterious German anonymous quintet who occasionally burst forth with an album that is unapologetic in its pursuit of the new. It’s been seven years since the success of FAIL​·​LURE and now they’re back with Life Promised Death, and if anything the progressive and psychedelic elements have moved further up to the front of the black metal bus. You still hear it struggling for precious air on bangers like “Buoyant Flames” and “Stray Dogs” but for my money the real gold of Farsot lie in their more experimental moments, like the ominous spaces that occupy “Chimera” or the winding lost avenues the band pursue on both the opener “Nausea” and epic closer “Lost Momentum.” Farsot have not lost an iota of momentum between stellar albums; I just hope I don’t have to wait another seven years before the next one. (discussed on the 2024 mid-year report podcast here and also reviewed here on the Feb 2024 catchup)

—

After 2021’s retro synth score Mannequins I was eager for Greek progressive/psychedelic black metal explorers Hail Spirit Noir to get back to what they do best: live up to that descriptor I just gave them. Well, Fossil Gardens does just that, even moving up a notch in aggression from their last proper full length, the very progressive and Enslaved indebted Eden In Reverse. The black metal is much more present (as are the growls), but the prog and psych elements are integrated in a way that doesn’t mirror their peers in Norway, but truly feel evolved from the band’s musical path. I’m still enthralled by “The Temple Of Curved Space” with its space-age synth effects and the incredible drumming, while the cryptic and eerie interlude “Ludwig In Orbit” is a great prelude to the swirling madness of the closing title track. (reviewed here in a Second Circle)

—

I wasn’t expecting anything from High On Fire at this point. I had my perfect trifecta of albums from them (Blessed Black Wings through Snakes For The Divine) and everything since felt loud and monotonous to the point I had given up. Dummy, never count Matt Pike and co. out, especially when newcomer Coady Willis utterly destroys the place with his drums on new album Cometh The Storm. Opener “Lambsbread” sounds like a cannon shot clear across the bow of metal pretenders, and Pike along with Jeff Matz have never sounded so filthy yet clear; those fuzz tones were handed down directly from the gods. The production form Kurt Ballou keeps everything from complete collapse, and when the band opt for something with a little breath, you get bangers like the leviathan stomp of “Burning Down,” the Middle Eastern tinged attack of “Karanlık Yol” and the 10-minute crawling chaos of closer “Darker Fleece.” (reviewed here in the Apr 2024 catchup)

—

There is truly no one like Ihsahn. I’d be hard pressed to name anyone who even tries to emulate one of the all-time greats, the progenitor (in my mind) of truly progressive black metal. After a move back from near Emperor symphonic black metal on his solo debut The Adversary to the more experimental, progressive post metal of albums like Das Seelenbrechen the man finally achieved true alchemy, so what better name than to simply make it self titled. Ihsahn takes everything the man has been working toward but also moves beyond when it comes to the classical elements; indeed, there’s an alternate orchestral version of the album. But I’ll take the original with its creepy twilight aggression on “A Taste Of The Ambrosia” which should have the guys in Imperial Triumphant squealing with delight. I say again: there is no one like Ihsahn, and there never will be. (reviewed here)

—

Don’t kid yourself…was there even the slightest chance I wasn’t going to include Judas Priest in my end of year list? That would be like not including Darkthrone, or Opeth (uh, you better believe they’re coming). There was a period of time where I couldn’t decide if Invincible Shield was just a little bit better or a little bit worse than the phenomenal Firepower. I think I’m leaning more toward the former: the up front sequence of “Panic Attack” to “The Serpent And The King” to the glorious title track might be the strongest up front the band have every produced, and the bangers keep coming from the 80s anthem of “Devil In Disguise” to the Richie Faulkner aping the immortal EVH on the intro to “Crown Of Horns” and the evil swing of “Escape From Reality” – my current fave on the album. To have a band this vital and alive 50 years into their career is a huge achievement, and Invincible Shield revels in that knowledge with every note of Halford’s distinctive wail. (reviewed here in a Second Circle)

—

I don’t know if I can say anything better about UK hardcore hybrid outfit Mastiff than how I opened their entry in the March 2024 catchup, in that when it comes to metal bands tend to be either extreme or heavy. Mastiff sit so squarely on the heavy side it toppled over and crushed a small city under its weight. Deprecipice is a huge swing the band didn’t need to take; had they continued the course on 2021’s excellent Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth they would have been fine. But there’s an anguish present on colossal tracks like “Everything Is Ending” and the towering “Void” that you feel much more intently. Maybe it’s the shift to a more hardcore bedrock rather than death metal, but the chainsaw attack of the guitars, the way the drums bludgeon your head, and vocalist Jim Hodges terrifying roar all equate to limb-severing metal classic. (reviewed here in the Mar 2024 catchup)

—

I am 11 years old. The guitars scream, the drums lay it all out, and the vocals call to the heart and the soul, commanding me to raise my fist in righteous rock allegiance. I am 51 years old, and I find out about Mean Mistreater, an Austin, TX band who deal in some of the best sounding retro hard rock I’ve heard in ages. I put my headphones on and listen to their debut Razor Wire, and songs like “Forget It,” “Waiting To Die” and the title track rip the wrinkles right out of my face. It is 2025 and I see that almost exactly one year since the release of Razor Wire Mean Mistreater have their sophomore album Do Or Die ready to go. I pre-order the vinyl, and realize time is a circle and a merry go round and it’s all about to happen again, isn’t it? (reviewed here in the Feb 2024 catchup)

—

I’m going to keep this one short. You know why? I realized I have NINE MORE ALBUMS TO WRITE ABOUT on this Honorable Mentions list, and also I spoke about Melt-Banana at length on our August Album Of The Month podcast, where 3+5, the duo’s first album in 11 years took home the coveted crown. So why, I hear you ask, is this not in the “official” list?! Two reasons: 1) I already told you all these lists are bullshit and any one album can be swapped out for another, and 2) despite the previous reason, I still decided to as much as possible make the “official” list more traditionally what folks would consider metal. But dang do I love this album. (discussed and crowned the AOTM for August here)

—

What exactly is Ryujin? Besides awesome, I mean. Dan and I were considering adding the Japanese metal band’s self-titled third LP in our annual power metal wrap up, and I can certainly hear strains of power metal. But I can also hear a distinct Cradle of Filth black metal flamboyance on “Gekokujo” just as much as I can hear Dragonforce levels of over-the-top melody. Hell, is that a spark of Alestorm-style pirate metal? That’s my point: Ryujin contains a little bit of everything, and therein lies its charm. Matt Heafy of Trivium not only guests on three tracks but also recorded and produced the album, and his contributions really push this into a place I adore. The band bring a bit of Japan into their melodies on “Raijin & Fujin” and “Kuunecup” has drama to spare. “Scream Of The Dragon” has enough modern melodic death metal to spare and the whole album is an utter delight of fist pumping riffs that suddenly explode into anthemic choruses that leave me eager to dig into their back catalog. (discussed on the 2024 mid-year report podcast here)

—

Chilean one-man-black metal band Selbst sounds nothing like your typical bedroom black metal dude, and that’s a very good thing. Despondency Chord Progressions was my introduction to the mysterious N.’s music (not so mysterious – he’s listed in metal archives), and it’s a discordant, angular mass of vile black and death metal with sweet gorgeous moments to break the shroud of menace. I was not expecting a straight up blues solo to kick off “When True Loneliness Is Experienced” and damn if it isn’t great. Dude can play, is what I’m saying. Those craving a more traditional approach will definitely get it on tracks like “Third World Wretchedness” and the furious opener “La Encarnación de Todos los Miedos” while those looking for more of the weirdness will find that as well as more moments of beauty on the delicate opening of “Between Seclusion And Obsession” and the fantastic “The Stench Of A Dead Spirit.”

—

Every Touché Amoré album is a cause for celebration. After the cathartic explosion of Stage Four and the more exploratory progression of Lament, Spiral In A Straight Line finds the LA post-hardcore band returning to the heaviness that defined their earlier classics (jesus the double shot of Parting the Sea… and Is Survived By) and the more ambitious later albums. Opener “Nobody’s” immediately brings the fight to the listener, and Jeremy Bolm has never sounded better. I love the heavier moments, but truth be told it’s the more pop-inflected moments like “Hal Ashby” and the naked emotion of “Force Of Habit” that keep me coming back to the album again and again. Extra bonus points for the heavy stacking of insane guests near the album’s end, including Lou Barlow of Dinosaur, jr. and Sebadoh on “Subversion (Brand New Love)” and multi-threat Julien Baker of boygenius on closer “Goodbye For Now.”

—

Quite possibly the best melodic prog death album this year by a band whose name starts with a vowel. Or second best – either way Ubiquity seemingly came out of nowhere with their debut full length The Ascendant Travels Among The Stars and knocked it out of the (Blackwater) park. I think folks wanted that other band to get back to something a little more primal, a ferociousness Ubiquity clearly have mastered, but I love that we have two different bands doing two very different things. The organ that permeates massive epics like “Tree Of Pain” and “The Traveler” is sublime, and dare I say the vocals of Anthony Deneyer are up there with the great Åkerfeldt himself? (reviewed here in the Sep 2024 catchup)

—

Jesus Christ the guitars on this album…they just tear chunks of your brain out. Umbra Vitae felt like a side gig for Jacob Bannon, a chance to break out for a smoke after tearing the walls down with Converge, but with Light Of Death the band have seriously upped every aspect of their game and became an entity that’s completely out of the spotlight of Bannon’s other band, holding their own as a terrifying sonic force. “Leave Of Absence” tears all the skin off your flesh, leaving the raw nerves exposed for the remaining 14 tracks to rewire your psyche and set you to mosh around your house, causing the lights to flicker and your wife to seriously contemplate medicating you so she can get some peace. Or maybe that’s just at my house? Literally at the moment I’m writing this (9:44am on 12/23) “Anti-Spirit Machine” just came on and I had to pause to air guitar and bang my head. What more can you ask for? (reviewed here in the Jun 2024 catchup)

—

You know those little blurbs about the albums that occasionally pop up on Apple Music? This time they got it 100% right with regards to the latest from Undeath: The Rochester, NY death-metal group’s ambitious title says it all. Yeah, that’s pretty much More Insane in a nutshell. Being from the NW tip of New York the Cannibal Corpse vibes are certainly there, but songs like “Dead From Beyond,” “Disputatious Malignancy” and the incredibly titled “Disattachment Of A Prophylactic In The Brain” swing and swerve with a technicality that the godfathers of the genre tend to lose in favor of their punishing wall of sound. I love that More Insane is clear enough to hear all the insanity the band have cooked up, and it proudly sits in my growing collection of gnarly death metal cassettes. Sorry, Apple Music, but I refuse to put the hyphen between “death” and “metal” like you do. (reviewed here)

—

Talk about bands I have waited forever to get new music from. Finally, the mighty Whores (period removed to avoid confusion) have returned after eight years with War. Do I put another period after the period? I don’t know, we’ll leave it as is. What we won’t leave is my effusive praise for this trio, who gets a fuzzed out bass and guitar sound like no one else. I even bought their signature pedal and it mocks me when I use it. Which is as it should be, because no one has cracked this kind of noise rock quite like Christian Lembach and company. “Quitters Fight Song” is glorious, and there’s not a track that doesn’t whiz by, kick you in the balls, and laugh as it makes its escape. Lyrically the band is as enraged as ever, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

—

We’re over 4,000 words here. Is that enough? I have to sleep, and there are still 25 more incredible albums to write about before I close 2024 for good.

— Chris

---

¹ And I still didn’t find time or room (it may have just been old memory) for albums from the likes of Dissimulator, Laceration, or Ripped To Shreds. Or brand new discoveries for me like Aquilus, Dawn Treader, and Noxis. Or Morgul Blade! Dammit! Or Inherits The Void! It goes ever on…