Hails and welcome to my first entry in album of the year season! This is the first time I’ve done a dedicated honorable mentions list, in past years relegating these to a small section in my main AOTY list. But since I discovered a ton of great new artists this year — huge shoutout to the folks at Deathcult International, through which I learned about a number of these — I’ve decided not to just simply list the albums that would sequentially follow my top albums of the year. Instead I’m showcasing debut releases or otherwise up-and-coming artists that made some sort of impression on me this year. Let’s dive in and see what sort of mark these nine acts made on me in 2024.

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Rarely would I describe a black metal album as warm and cozy, but the debut demo from Argentina’s Altar Nocturno — Solitude of Eternal Night — is hard to describe as anything else. Existing in a twilight realm between atmospheric and symphonic black metal, this album combines hypnotic repetition with lush keyboards; piano serves as the primary driver of melody on tracks like “Beyond Spectal Woodland” in a way not too dissimilar from Arcturus’ classic debut Aspera Hiems Symfonia. The very 90’s-inspired production — fairly raw, but with enough sense to give the listener an opportunity to hear everything going on, a la In Times Before the Light — hits that sweet nostalgia spot just right, without feeling like a blatant clone of any classic kvlt band. There’s enough black metal for the biting cold of winter to last a lifetime; this is for a warm summer’s night, without losing any of the genre’s core darkness and nocturnal nature in the process.

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If Cutting the Throat of God left you itching for more dissonant, oppressive metal — or perhaps something in the black metal realm and more “straightforward” is your preference — then Greek one-man act Kvadrat has you covered with debut full-length The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion. This cavernous powerhouse combines layered chords of blackened dissonance with death metal intensity, blast beats that don’t let up, and some infectious groovier riffs (as opener “Υπόγειος λαβύρινθος” expertly displays); all of this complemented with a truly monstrous vocal performance from the deepest bowels of the earth. If the atmosphere on the aforementioned Ulcerate album depicts an apocalypse-ridden hellscape, then Horrible Dissonance is the survivors living out the remainder of their miserable lives in the deepest caves, with little hope in sight… yet closer “Ολική Αποσύνθεση” may just offer the slightest ray of hope.

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I’ve said this numerous times before, but Predatory Light’s 2022 album Death and the Twilight Hours (shoutout to Vince for turning me on to it) made such impact on how I view black metal — specifically the not-quite-heavy metal influences, and the way melody is incorporated without turning into what we normally think of as “melodic black metal” — that I’ve been feverishly anticipating another album that hits anywhere close the aforementioned masterpiece. The debut EP(?) Lamentations of Supernatural Revelation from Balinese solo act Sovereign of Conquest is the closest thing I’ve heard so far, featuring many of the same traits that make Twilight Hours great. Lilting guitar riffs (that would be the leads in many other acts) feeling like a corrupted version of heavy metal classics on top of chunky black metal that slows things down for some more doom-inspired sinister psychedelia, replete with gloomy synths and ominous bells. Mastermind Sprntrl says it best: “Don’t fallen by this weird music.”

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Of all the albums on this list, this is the one I’m most sorry about relegating to the honorable mentions. Finnish solo act Silent Millenia came across my radar due to a split with castle metal countryman Kaikkavaltias that is a tremendous effort from both bands, leading me to wonder how Silent Millenia fares on its own with a longer release. And hoo boy, is Starlit Tapestry an album tailor-made for me. Raw, spacey symphonic black metal with heaping doses of arpeggiated guitar melodies throughout — just listen to opener “Starlight Millenia” for a taste of what’s showcased here — this is just the type of guitar theatrics that I wish had been present on classic symphonic black metal albums such as Odium’s The Sad Realm of the Stars. As with a number of other recent favorite discoveries of mine, Silent Millenia take the baseline sound of classic 90’s black metal and juice it up with a fearless adventurousness that I love. Does it stick the landing 100% of the time? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it’s a hell of a fun ride either way.

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My search this year for black metal that manages to thread the needle and also hit a power metal sweet spot finally got me to appreciate the almighty cheese of Bal-Sagoth; this in turn led to the discovery of Portland’s Old Machines and debut demo Backwards Through Space. Like the UK legends they play epic, bombastic, keyboard-led sci-fi symphonic black metal replete with grand narratives of cosmic death and destruction, on appropriately titled songs like “Extinguishing the Light of the Preludian Empire (Upon the Apex of their Glory)” — told through spoken word just as often as blackened croaks — and similarly their music is hard to classify as simply “symphonic black metal”; the end result is perhaps more akin to early technical death metal than anything else. There’s a lot of movement, punchiness, and constant variation in these riffs that makes for a very exciting 15 minutes… that ascending riff throughout “Crescendo of Carnage – Warsong of the Singing Swarm (Swarm Wars I)” has been an earworm of mine for quite some time now. Whatever you would classify Backwards Through Space as, it fucking rocks. And this is but an 15-minute tease! I’m eagerly anticipating whatever comes next. All hail the new overlords of epic, galactic metal.

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There’s more and more blackened heavy metal bands popping up these days (or I’ve just recently started beginning to take notice, at least), but more often than not it seems like the ‘blackened’ descriptor is relegated to vocal stylings (and not much else). Another album that almost made my AOTY list, UK’s Magnetar has come onto the scene with debut There Will Be No Peace in My Valley to actually put the black in blackened heavy metal. Blistering trem-picked riffs and furious blast beats alternate with twin-guitar leads, anthemic heavy metal riffs, and shredfest solos on standouts like the title track, and throughout the entire album; the whole package is tied together with a fantastic mastering job from Arthur Rizk. More in line with my own songwriting tastes, a majority of tracks are a bit longer than what you’d expect of a blackened speed metal band, for instance — this gives songs such as the closing epics “Of Ulm” and “Adorned in Flame” time to breathe and develop. One of the best and biggest surprises I encountered this year, I hope this band starts getting their due respect within the genre.

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While not a first release by this band, this EP heralds a change in style that I’m really excited to hear the future of. Minneapolis-based Morke was previously an atmospheric black metal act in the vein of Agalloch and Panopticon, but with Forged in Steel and Love the solo act of Eric Wing has raised the righteous banner of “castle metal” a la Obsequiae and Weald & Woe. Two original tracks and a cover of Agalloch’s “Falling Snow” — a track very compatible melodically with castle metal on its own, but perhaps included as a farewell to/transition from the earlier style — this EP is but a tease of what’s to come, yet is a great showcase of melodic beauty and gentle hails all on its own. Accentuated with a fantastic performance from session drummer CJ Yacoub of Canis Dirus and Vulning, the future of Morke is not to be missed.

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No, this is not a Dimmu Borgir “return to roots” album, but something much more fun; this is Dark Medieval Hash, the sophomore album from Norwegian duo Dimmu Bongir. Continuing the dank deeds that began with 2023 debut Hvis pipen tar oss, this album is a direct throwback to second wave symphonic black metal with bombastic, twinkling keys and a wonderful impression of ICS Vortex’s clean vocals on such appropriately titled tracks as “Deathkush”, “I troldskogen fyrer Weed (In the troll forest, Weed fires)”, and “A Witch is Stoned” (whose music video is currently at a whopping 300k views at the time of writing). The biggest difference between this album and its forebears in the genre is slower tempos and an overall production that’s more… chill and relaxed, if you catch my drift. If your life has suffered from the absence of an album about weed-smoking witches, blunt-rolling trolls, and lighting bongs for the glory of Satan, then you are in for a real treat.

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I saw Dissection of Faith, the debut album from Spain’s Everlasting Torment, described as Death and the Twilight Hours but Swedish — i.e. bastardized heavy metal leads meets melodic trem-picking — so needless to say my interest was quite piqued at what this album had to offer. That’s a decent starting point for describing this album but doesn’t account for how crunchy this album sounds. Not exactly the most kvlt descriptor out there, but it’s the most appropriate one I can think of for the hefty doses of palm muted riffs, punchy drums, and dark heavy metal-isms interspersed between the more traditional Swedish riffing. Three tracks all hovering around the 9-10 minute might sound tedious in this style, but there’s so much contained within each track — with a constant forward momentum throughout — that the entire runtime of each flies by. A late, great contender in a year of great debut releases.

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And there we have it, nine (oops! all black) metal albums that were worthy of being brought up at this time of reflection on all that has come out this year. Discovering new acts is what makes writing for Nine Circles so great, and I’m grateful to have just a small part in helping this new music reach others. Stay safe, have a good Holiday season, and keep checking back for more honorable mentions and staff lists in the coming weeks!

— Colin