(RANK’d) Albums Of The Year 2024
“It’s Been 84 Years….”
*coughs up dust*
Welcome back to my Annual Rank’d: Albums Of The Year for 2024!
I’ve had ZERO time to do any blog posts in the last year which kinda bums me out because i’d set out to use this as a platform for whatever the hell is on my mind and, well, it’s uh…been a year. BUT, I will ALWAYS find the time to do this. This is my baby. My favorite list to put together. And this time we’re gonna have a whopping 12 albums with 1 EP and 1 Single of the year to lighten up the top this time around.
WITH THAT BEING SAID
There is a bit of a preamble ramble I gotta get off the ol’ chest here:
PREAMBLE RAMBLE SEGMENT
(skip down if you DGAF)
Dude, it’s getting harder to put these together. Either my tastes have altered to where I don’t enjoy alot of new music(plausible) or most likely, the stuff just isn’t great.
Case and point:
We had Static X’s part 2 of Wayne’s last recordings that lacked the staying power of Part 1, Job For A Cowboy returned and thrilled the die hards(but not me), Darkest Hour dropped a dud, Erra SHAT the bed with their new Northlane sound, Northlane’s EP was a bummer, and really just a whole lotta nothing besides a couple that ended up on the list. That’s just till June.
2nd half of the year fared much better but man…it was DRY in them hills.
I typically leave every new album i listen to on a list then remove all the duds and re-order to form the actual AOTY list i use on the site and MAN there’s gonna be like 15% left once we’re done here.
“In the end, it doesn’t even matter.”
Now. I’m going to address the elephant in the room. Linkin Park. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?
Not on the list.
Why?
I like Emily. Alot. She fits the sound really well and as I made my way through From Zero, I quickly realized my problem with LP wasn’t going to be her, it was with LP. Chester is irreplaceable. But remember, the rest of the band are important too. And not one time on this entire record did i feel like LP were firing on all cylinders. Not one riff was memorable. The guitars sounded stale. Mr. Hahn’s beats lacked any kind of unique sound or a special something to grab on to. And Mike is just….there. The songwriting in general is just, mediocre. Emptiness Machine was a solid single to build off of. But i kept going on and on waiting for that one gem only to end up feeling deflated by the final track. No HEVY-ness that I heard so much about from others. Guitars are in the same tuning the entire record and sound exactly the same throughout, so Emily had to bring it herself and it’s not enough. I bet she could KILL Hit The Floor or even With You with the drop B guitars behind her.
LP just ain’t LP anymore. And they haven’t been in 20 years. Not even a new vocalist could change that and it sucks.
Rest In Peace Chester.
Rest In Peace LP 2000-2007.
Phew, ok I know that was alot. Needed that outta the way so we can focus on the goods. Here we go, Single Of The Year:
Single Of The Year
Whitechapel - A Visceral Retch
Genre: Ritualistic Demonic Hellspawn Noise, Deathcore
Listen If You Love: Filth
Phillip. Bozeman. The man is already THE undisputed greatest hell portal opener vocalist of all time. This just cements the status. From the opening “CONSUME”, forget it, contest over. The song itself is as disgustingly filthy as the lyrical content and the HEVY-est thing they’ve done in a decade. Boy howdy the album is gonna be something special if the rest sounds like this.
EP Of The Year
Gore. - A Bud That Never Blooms
Genre: Metalcore
Listen If You Love: Spiritbox-y djenty-core stuff. Cleans.
Another scream queen enters the scene, Haley Roughton. Gore. is another new unit to watch out for. They may take the Core crown from Spiritbox if their first EP is anything to go by. Fantastic cleans from Haley while also displaying some surprisingly great screams in the HEVY-er tracks. While it’s very top heavy for me, the last two tracks don’t quite hit for me, I ADORED the first 3 tracks. 2 HEVY BANGERS in Pray and Babylon and a somber ballad that puts Haley’s cleans at the forefront. Just an overall excellent start for Gore. and I cannot wait to see whats next.
Favorite Track: Babylon
Albums Of The Year
12. Enterprise Earth - Death: An Anthology
Genre: Deathcore
Listen If You Love: …..Deathcore
Much like their previous outing The Chosen, I mostly have it here for one song, King Of Ruination. The rest of the album is solid, but really, this was the main attraction for me. Basically Meshuggah if they did deathcore and had Ben Deurr do guest vocals and its fucking glorious. Just go listen to that and bob your head like you’re jamming to Haddaway.
Favorite Track: King Of Ruination
11. Darko (US) - Starfire
Genre: I still haven’t figured it out…
Listen If You Love: Darko
I think it’s time guys. Slow down, take a year off. Give me time to miss you because, GOT DAMN it never ends(let’s not mention the recently released single). Darko is Darko, whatever that is. Nothing sounds like them. It’s alot to take in at times. Sheer velocity and a wall of noise that engages every sense in your body, then a ballad plays about a husband coping then dying after his wife dies and you sob like a fuckin’ baby. Starfire isn’t their best, but it’s more Darko and so far, it’s not a bad thing. The album unfortunately falls in the category of the “best songs are the singles” and you’re gonna hear that a lot more as we go along. But here the best is still Rampage for me, but Finding Love In A World Full Of Tragedy will absolutely break you. Especially if you heard the single Donna from their first album.
Favorite Track - Rampage
10. Body Count - Merciless
Genre: HEVY Hip Hop
Listen If You Love: Ice-T doin’ whatever the fuck he wants.
Just look at that artwork and you’ll know exactly what you’re in for, Ice-T killin’ muthafuckas. But also him getting his shit off on the world from politics to police to culture. Basically what he’s always done and its still a ton of fun. This time he brought in some HEVY hitters like Joe Bad from Fit For an Autopsy, fuckin CORPSEGRINDER, THE HoJo from Killswitch Engage and Light The Torch, Max Cavalera of Soulfly and Sepultura and the absolute legend himself in David Gilmour for a surprisingly good rendition of Comfortably Numb. Not as big a fan of this one as I was for Carnivore, kinda lacks that one go to track like Another Level was for me on there. But still a good time if you love your metal not take itself too seriously.
Favorite Track: Comfortably Numb
9. D.R.U.G.S. - Until God Shows
Genre: Metalcore
Listen If You Love: MODERN Craig Owens
Didn’t expect to see this so soon but here we are. And honestly, this album just SOUNDS better than the last despite not having the staying power like that one did. But as an aside: Craig, brother, the album names, we gotta talk. Anywho, yes this album rips, has that signature Craig Owens catch factor choruses but now has an evolved modern sound that really brings it to the standard that Metalcore has now. So basically it’s better than 98 percent of stuff out there now. But, unfortunately the best of the album released before the album…which was like HALF the album(ugh i hate modern release cadences, but I digress). Hunger Pangs stands out by far for me, very much an early DRUGS banger wrapped in a drop tuned package and its fantastic. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of those singles, they’re really great and make me feel like this should’ve been a LOADED EP. But hey, more Craig Owens in modern metal is awesome.
Favorite Track: Hunger Pangs
8. Cane Hill - a piece of me i never let you find
Genre: Sexy Swamp Metal
Listen If You Love: Pantera draped in a shoegaze-y blur
Ok, this might go long. Bear with me. This was album number one on my most anticipated, other than a Loathe record(still waiting). Cane Hill’s last record was 2018….2018! The EP’s have been a hellish drip feed of incredible sounds and I was desperate for more. More is here. And it’s at number 8, why? I’ve been thinking and honestly, it’s plain ol’ expectation vs. reality. Simple as that. That and unfortunately being another victim of the singles being better than the record, notably Permanence In Sleep. The only on record song that really hit for me was I Always Knew We Were Doomed.
I like the record, but I don’t love it. Again, another EP could have been spliced together and it would have fed me for 3 more years or whatever. But here it is. I love that it’s finally here. I have it on vinyl. I ADORE Cane Hill and their own style of metal and of course I want more. But this just didn’t reach my lofty expectations.
With that all being said, for this album, Permanence In Sleep is an all timer track from them for me, The Midnight Sun is a killer opener, and Fade(while repeated for some reason) will go down as a classic and will hopefully net them some more commercial love.
Favorite Track(by far): Permanence In Sleep
7. Capstan - Mosaic
Genre: Easy-core
Listen If You Love: Being inside the pit of an upbeat depressed pop punk band
From here on, this list got tough. I almost put Cane Hill here. But Capstan blew me away with this one, a staggering 18 tracks and few disappoint or get stale. With enough genre changes to cause insane whiplash. Seriously, listen to Moloch then What Can I Say? and come back to me. One moment we’re depressed about love or life then we fuck shit up in the pit but wait here’s a bop about fame and popularity that could easily hit Billboard. 18 songs is ALOT and after repeated listens….it really is. BUT it’s a fuckin joy to go through your first couple times. Hell I just recently went through it again for the first time since release and it hit like crack and kicked this one up to number 7. Total blast. If i had to pick a song, it’s the Turnstile-laden riffage that is Undertow, but man…Empire’s all timer riff is like RIGHT THERE for me.
Favorite Track: Undertow
6. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
Ah yes, THIS album. The metal nerds go to for the year. I HAD to see what all the fuckin hubub was, and to my surprise, yeah, it’s quite the experience. While there are quirky elements of production or tidbits of the HEVY stuff that didn’t click for me, this album really is something else. At a brisk FOURTY THREE MINUTE runtime for a whopping SIX songs, it’s an EPIC, but a moving one. The hype may have been overkill and the memes on it are plenty, but really, this one is special. At first, a death metal showcase of double kick drum with fast and furious riffage and Opeth-laden growls ensure. After some time, there comes a moment where you’re seemingly transported into space, and at that point, it’s magical. Just let it take you man, it’s fuckin great.
No favorite track here, only moments. Your first trek into space is by far a highlight, a spacey synth filled soundscape and then that first solo….man. My favorite moment, though, is towards the middle of the first tablet of The Message and the epic solo kicks in, right there, solidified the spot on the list for me. It’s a tough recommendation in terms of picking a song, because really you HAVE to listen to the whole thing. Even if death metal isn’t your go to(it isn’t mine), it’s far worth the moments of what I can only call Floydian Space Odysseys. And for me, it’s the closest thing i’ve heard since Blackwater Park that took me on such a epic journey.
And yes, I know Opeth put out a record too.
Sorry, it’s not here.
5. Within The Ruins - Phenomena II
Genre: Technical Deathcore/Comicore
Listen If You Love: Instrumental music, but with vocals about X-Men.
Ok, right off the bat. This album committed the most heinous, most cardinal sin of a WTR record…..the instrumentals aren’t better than the vocal led tracks….I KNOW. BLASPHEMY. A whopping THREE instrumentals and only Enigma II is even remotely in the conversation and it’s not as memorable as the first one. (REAL SHITTY JOE.)
Anywho, rant over. This album surprised me in a way that I went in expecting, of course, Joe Cocchi to fucking kill it(and he does) and that’s it…but only on the tracks WITH vocals. And EVERY SINGLE ONE is great. A very fitting sequel to arguably their best record, with a familiar sound from back then as well(check out Chaos Reigns). Some songs skew from the traditional WTR formula like The Last Son(I totally hear Maroon 5) or some go HEVY as hell like Eater Of Worlds(dude, the ending). I’ve really come around to Steve’s vocal work. Tim wasn’t a top tier vocalist by any stretch but he fit well with the rest of the band but Steve? KILLS IT here. Dare I say better than Tim could do. My favorite song though is the ripper Demon Killer. I LOVE the chorus with Joe’s epic lead behind Steve’s melodic growls and a VERY tasty breakdown to lead us into a near sexual level solo at the end that just fades us away. Fuckin’ great man.
I never thought in a million years i’d say i enjoy the non instrumentals of a WTR album more, but dude, it’s true. I was floored throughout the whole record. It’s not that the instrumentals were bad, they’re NEVER bad…just unremarkable compared to the legion of hits Joe has under his belt. (BUT SERIOUSLY NO ATAXIA WTF JOE.)
Favorite Track: Demon Killer
4. Make Them Suffer - Make Them Suffer
Genre: Modern Metalcore, the good kind.
Listen If You Love: Electronic beatdown music and catchy choruses
Another surprising record. MTS have gone through hell to get this one out and with the BS surrounding their former keyboardist/vocalist, i’m surprised this even exists. They picked up vocalist Alex Reade and she’s friggin sweet here, powerful in her cleans when the big choruses hit but with tasty growls in there too when she’s needed. Very versatile especially with the keys laid in too. Excellent get for them.
As for the record, pretty much every song hits. The catchy clean melodic EPIC choruses of the singles are what you come in for but dude, the HEVYs here are CRUSHING. Mana God blew me away when i first heard it, and yes, another case of single-itis but dammit this hits me so damn hard every time the verse comes in(deep breath….dead). The rest of the bunch were great as well, particularly the closer Small Town Syndrome. Catchy as all hell and with a bouncy bangin’ riff. LOVE the chorus here. Overall a really great record from start to finish that doesn’t do anything super innovative but MTS’s sound is unmistakable and they’re the best at what they do, arguably the best in Modern Metalcore right now.
Favorite Track: Mana God (seriously, deep breath)
3. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
Genre: Heavy Fuckin Metal
Listen If You Love: Leather, Gay Icons, Guitar Solos.
Rob Halford is timeless. The legend is still destroying minds FIFTY FUCKING YEARS later. I don’t know how he does it, like he can still do those SCREECHING howls of Painkiller or those melodic runs like Victim Of Changes. This time he brings us what I now consider the best Priest record since Painkiller, full stop. Every single track is a certified classic. We go from the faster 80s era stuff to more hard hitting stuff from later records, a similar strategy Metallica used recently. A “best of” Priest album but every song is new. The guitar work, my GOD Glenn and Ritchie are amazing here. The solos here, rival some of the best stuff KK did back in the day. Just listen to Devil In Disguise or Crown of Horns and TRY and tell me they aren’t incredible. And of course Rob’s vocals, what is there to say? He hasn’t aged AT ALL. Every chorus here is just so good, so many dig their hooks in deep. Always stuck in my head are a toss between Escape From Reality or The Lodger(vengeance is mine).
Dude just go listen to the whole thing and pay respects to the living legend Rob Halford.
Favorite Track: (If I had to pick) Escape From Reality
2. Fit For An Autopsy - The Nothing That Is
Genre: Environmentally friendly Deathcore, Nu-Deathcore(as per Will Putney)
Listen If You Love: The Planet, Gojira
Listen If You Hate: People
As much as I would love to say the last 2 entries are a toss up, it’s not. This album is incredible, but not as incredible as Number 1.
Fit For An Autopsy are now my favorite Deathcore band, period. They don’t release awful music, they don’t release meaningless music. Every album, every song, has something to say. While also having some the best got damn riffage in the game today. Will BY GOD Putney wrote some absolute monsters(or beasts) here. The only thing that even remotely holds this album back is, you guessed it, single-itis. But it’s VERY close. The last(but really they should have just waited) single was Red Horizon, and almost topped as my favorite of the record. Very poignant track for the situation in the east, with a stark, repeating line of “The bodies burned so bright, that god closed his eyes.” Many songs on the record have lines that hit as hard as that one. My pick is the beast of a track Lower Purpose. While others have much more powerful meaning, sometimes man, you take shit, get shit on, and need something to make you feel better, this is it. “He can take his licks till he can’t, and then you’ll know his fucking rage….I’ll never bow to the fucking, BEAST.”
The album may not be my favorite of theirs, but it’s hard to improve upon perfection, this one came close.
Fit For An Autopsy aren’t just a band you need to listen to, they’re a band you need to LISTEN to.
Favorite Track: Lower Purpose
No.1:
Knocked Loose - You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
Genre: Hardcore, Junt, Kimmel-core
Listen If You Love: Making Adolescents Cry, Therapy
No surprises here.
(The Grammy Award Nominated)Knocked Loose are my favorite band right now.
Without question my most repeated listens for the year. Pure therapeutic BLISS. Especially since i’ve taken up drumming more seriously this year. I’ve played this album front to back many times and boy does it feel good.
I understand while others can’t take to this level of aggression and “noise” and Bryan’s squirrel-like vocals.
IDGAF. They’re mainstream now. And they still fucking destroy EVERYTHING. I LOVE IT.
From start to finish, bangers. Singles, great. Rest? Better. No Single-itis here.
Thirst is the first onslaught of blast beat-laden riffage that sets the tone of the rest of the album. Piece By Piece follows that up and keeps the intensity while adding a stomper of a breakdown at the end. Speaking of stompers, Suffocate is the big one, the one that’s taking them mainstream thanks to the help from Poppy. She fits surprisingly well with her wails and screams. They do get tiring after 100s of listens, but this track isn’t my favorite anyway. The breakdown though? An EPIC, reggaeton STOMPER of a beatdown. Don’t Reach For Me, though, is by far my favorite of the singles. Some of the best riffing they’ve ever done, especially in the chorus. Absolutely crushing stuff. Moss Covers All is a short little tease with NASTY vocal work from guitarist Isaac. His lows, when he sprinkles them in, are god-tier excellent. Take Me Home is very transitional feeling, nothing too crazy here, bridges into Slaughterhouse 2 nicely. Now it’s probably the cheesiest thing they’ve done, but I like it. Chris Motionless in here is great and, while it is a re-tread of the first, it’s much more KL this go round. Now, for MY favorite track, The Calm That Keeps You Awake. This GOT DAMN song, is a blast to play on drums. It features 2 of the most destructive breakdowns i’ve ever heard. Again Isaac’s lows add to this in spades. The stomping is through the earth, it hits like a fucking freight train, the level of brutality feeds families. Blinding Faith was the first look we got and boy howdy did it deliver, still does. Has that signature punk drumming with the blistering riffage and of course the big drop at the end with the sickening pig squeal *chefs kiss*. The last one Sit & Mourn almost topped the favs for me. Knocked Loose up to this point have a real talent for album closers. Permanent from their last EP is an all time favorite of mine and has such a brutal, haunting riff, that fades slowly as the EP ends, it’s fucking brilliant. Sit & Mourn does a similar thing but has the added atmospheric clean guitars behind it and god it’s so good. Brooding and moody tone throughout while maintaining the HEVY, then that ending riff hits and takes us to the end. Such a fitting closer for such an unrelenting album.
The feeling of grief was a new thing for me this year and this album really, REALLY helped in many ways, I appreciate it so much.
Ehh, don’t wanna drag another list down with my BS again, so i’ll end it there lol.
Thank You, Bryan, Issac, Nicko, Kevin and Pac. You made a fucking great record.
Favorite Track: The Calm That Keeps You Awake
In Closing…
You made it! Thank you so much for reading. If you haven’t seen the other lists, go check em out! I love this shit, such a blast to put together. Hopefully I’ll find time to do more for the blog next year. Until then, thanks again!