Best Of 2024 – Top 10ish EPs & Demos

Hello and welcome back to yet another Last Rites List Season (copyright pending). Today we present our annual delve into our favorites of The Short Stuff: extended plays (that’s what EP stands for), 7-inch splits, demos, and the like. These are the snacks of the music world, but like so many fancy small bites, sometimes these are the tastiest things on the menu.

The reasons that such releases might provide something extra interesting are various, but a band’s various quirks often show up in EPs. Maybe there was an idea leftover from their last full album session that didn’t quite fit but they definitely wanted to get out there; maybe there’s a freak flag that needs flying; maybe they just had some new songs and didn’t feel like waiting until they had 40 minutes of material to get them into your earballs. Whatever the reason, we are blessed with the Mighty Mouse of the musical world: the EP. Then there’s the demos and splits. Demos are, quite typically, a band’s earliest forays into getting their music into public ears, and some labels (such as the almighty NEW STANDARD ELITE) specialize in them. Splits are fun. Don’t overthink them.

We mashed all these various forms of The Short Stuff into one big ranking exercise and came up with the list below. We hope you find a tasty new snack, and as always, share your favorites from 2024! [ZACH DUVALL]

10. ARCHAGATHUS / WHORESNATION – SPLIT

It only took about a decade, but the long-rumored split between these two grinding powerhouses finally materialized this year, and what an absolute basher it is. Named after the son of Agathocles, Archagathus takes that band’s raw mincecore as their baseline, adds a notable dash of goregrinding grossness, and here, they rip through six tracks in about four minutes, all lo-fi blasting and punkish riff and high-low guttural vocal attack. It’s a glorious cacophony, just pure mincing madness, and it’s another fine example of the wonderful sickness these Canadians bring to the grindcore party. On the literal flipside, Whoresnation occupies a figurative flipside from Archagathus’ rawness – these French fellows are more controlled and more tightly wound, more death-metal inf(l)ected, equally heavy and chaotic but sharper, less rough-around-the-edges. The Whoresnation side offers up four tracks in less than four minutes, each a prime example of the pure destructive power of this band’s grinding, each filled to the edges with snarling riffage and almost nonstop blasting and all beneath Pibe’s ripped-throat grunting. Splits are an integral part of the grindcore scene, and even as an avid collector of them, I will concede that oftentimes, they’re heavily weighted in favor of one band or the other – so when one lands that is perfectly balanced, one where both sides have their own character but also hold their own against the other… well, that’s when everything is coming up Milhouse. Eight minutes of mayhem, two great grindcore bands, one singular piece of vinyl… [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

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9. PEST CONTROL – YEAR OF THE PEST

My introduction to Leeds, UK’s Pest Control – last year’s Don’t Test The Pest full-length – was a barnburner of a thrash record, very heavily (and unabashedly) indebted to the classics and yet energetic and feral enough to still feel fresh and vibrant inside that decades-old aesthetic. This follow-up EP ticks all the same boxes, in all the right ways – blistering crossover riffs, relentless rhythmic thrashing, a general sense of moshpit-pleasing kinetic energy, and vocalist Leah’s gruff gravelly scream. Four eminently hooky, extremely pummeling ragers in one ten-minute burst, Year Of The Pest is just damned fun, from top to toe, with standouts in the crush-groove swing of “Good Grief” and the raging “Time Bomb.” Sure, these sounds have all been heard before in a style this well-trod, but these days, thrash is not often done with so much conviction and skill, so credit where it’s very much due to a young band throwing a fresh spark on the old wood pile. Can you.. hear it… the time bomb ticks… [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

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8. FOUL DEFORMITY – DISGUST

Disgust is indeed the appropriate title for Foul Deformity’s 2024 debut EP. Following the release of two demos, the brutal death metal outfit, by way of Las Vegas, Nevada, unleashed six tooth-grinding tunes created strictly for the slimiest of heavy music enjoyers. Now, I must admit, the Last Rites crew are notorious BDM enthusiasts, so it should come as no surprise that this repulsive palette was placed upon our mighty 2024 favorite EPs and demos list.

During its 19-minute runtime, Disgust is at its most deadly when Alex Udar breaks into the most inhuman blasts and fills behind the kit, particularly on “Behold, the Resurrectionist,” that mimic the sounds of an HGH-fueled Beelzebub continuously clanking the noggin of that insufferable, heartless Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. Nick PapaGeorgio’s human garbage disposal vocals are quite impressive, too. Fun stuff. Also, how Bruno Macias didn’t develop a severe case of carpal from sliding up and down the fretboard after the recording of this is beyond me.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are a few samples throughout that add an even darker layer to an already unsettling landscape. But it wouldn’t be brutal death metal without some horrifying voice recordings, right? Give it a spin, if you dare. [BLIZZARD OF JOZZSH]

• Bandcamp

7. DISENTOMB – NOTHING ABOVE

While they’re moving even farther away from their slammier traits, Disentomb continues to prove that brutal death metal-plus-Ulcerate is a winning formula. That’s especially true when they combine the slippery dissonance with the vocal talents of Jordan James, who happens to show quite a bit of nuance without losing the good gutturals. Their heroes from across the Tasman Sea could learn a thing or two from this approach. [ZACH DUVALL]

• Bandcamp

6. REPUGNANCY –
VILE ANCIENT TRANSFIGURATION

“…Grind-speed, hammering, technical, and pretty wickedly great brutal death metal that feels like a total tease at only five minutes. Everything goes by in the flashiest of flashes. Riffs pop in and out without even saying hello; solos last all of about three seconds; drums pound with all the heft of the riffs while having those “artsy” ping blasts; vocals growl and scream and rant and almost lead the catchy moments before another weapon comes in destroys everything in sight.” [ZACH DUVALL]

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5. XANATHAR – THUNDERS OVER WATERDEEP

If ever the dictum of good things coming in small packages were true, Italy’s Xanathar has mote it be. Thunders Over Waterdeep is a single 10-minute song, but over its span it covers an impressively large amount of ground and fires the imagination at the thought of what such exploration might blossom into it if Xanathar continues in this vein for a full LP. Xanathar’s earlier EPs are much rawer black metal/dungeon synth fare, but here the songwriting and production has exploded into multicolor. Thunders features epic doom in the mold of Solstice with an extra Viking flavor by way of Ereb Altor, merged with a bit of Beverast-flavored blackened doom and a touch of the atmospheric black metal of Summoning or Caladan Brood. Subtle keys, a hugely powerful stomping main riff, barrel-chested clean vocals, and some searing guitar leads fill out a song that might feel overstuffed if the pacing and execution weren’t so beautifully done. Don’t sleep on this. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

• Bandcamp

4. ACERO LETAL – LEGIONES

It seems that in any locale with a particularly noteworthy death or thrash metal movement, a burgeoning heavy or speed metal resurgence is sure to follow. Whether it be long term fans of capital-H Heavy Metal rediscovering their roots, or younger, newer fans working backwards from the less niche extreme metal (crazy how that’s been flipped on its head since the 80s!), the spark to step back and discover the magic at the soul of the genre. Even better when there’s a cultural connection–see also Sweden’s crop of bands paying tribute to the styles of lesser-known acts from their home country beloved by the underground to forge their own steel.

While Chile’s Acero Letal aren’t exactly a new group, it’s taken seventeen years to finally release something beyond the demo stage. Understandable, as its members are in a plethora of bands, and all sharing contribution to the Valparaíso institution that is the satanic speed machine Miserycore. At long last, following a series of compilations, the band presented Legiones, a twenty-six minute burner that cuts the bullshit and hits with the fury of true Latin American steel. Melodic, catchy riffs that pair with street-smart songwriting and lyrics that rally the hordes to see beyond the chaos around them and find strength to believe in a better tomorrow taps directly into the soul of classic South American capital-H Heavy Metal. Acero Letal carry the torch with pride and present it for a new generation with their own temper to the conjoining of mighty iron and filthy carbon. It may take a while for them to release material, but you’d better believe they’re bringing nothing short of the real deal. No filler, no bullshit: solo acero! [RYAN TYSINGER]

• Bandcamp

3. WRITHEN HILT – THE IRON SPARROW
& ANCIENT SWORD CULT

At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, the music that Germany’s Writhen Hilt has summoned this year across the Ancient Sword Cult EP and Iron Sparrow demo is the stuff that the Keep It True Festival’s wet dreams are made of. These four Braunschweigers summon a triumphant yet slightly mystical trad metal ruckus that calls to mind such underground luminaries as Warlord, Pagan Altar, Cirith Ungol, and Manilla Road, plus newer old-sounders like Atlantean Kodex, Visigoth, or Tanith. Dual guitar leads, beautiful ear-worm choruses (seriously, just try to get the paired vocal-and-guitar chorus melody of “Death Undone” out of your head), some truly kingly riffs, and powerful, epic-leaning songwriting already mark Writhen Hilt as a band to watch, but perhaps best of all is the overall atmosphere. There’s a blessedly musty character across these songs, a thin but burnished gold in the production like shafts of light piercing a long-sealed secret chamber for the first time in centuries. Outstanding. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

• Bandcamp

2. KRYATJURR OF DESERT AHD –
UNFORGIVING HEATWAVES OF PSYCHOSIS AND DEFORESTATION

This Australian trio is terrified of climate change (aren’t we all?), and they’re putting out material at such a rate you’d think they expect society to fall any moment now (don’t we all?). This EP sees them further refining the ambient side of their black metal mix, adding extra sounds and textures to the Leviathan-meets-Paysage d’Hiver atmosphere. In barely 20 minutes it rises from pretty escapism to fully-blown black metal terror and back, a fitting soundtrack for the daily ride our emotions go on when confronted with the horrific reality of our situation. [ZACH DUVALL]

• Bandcamp

1. OWL – GHOSTS OF SUMMER

“Their latest EP Ghosts of Summer falls on the heavy side of the Owl sound—the ludicrously heavy side, it must be said. Here Owl drops a good amount of the doom from their death/doom, instead opting for a lot of hyperblasting material spliced in with moments of rather infectious monolithic riffage… …For established fans of Owl or the wider Zeitgeister family, Ghosts of Summer is a no-brainer, but it also deserves an ear for fans that appreciate a somewhat off-kilter take on multidisciplinary extreme metal and/or just like their riffs with more pull than Jupiter’s gravity well.”

(As if claiming the top spot on this list with Ghosts of Summer wasn’t enough, Owl also just dropped another killer EP in Ivory Eye. Go get them both at that Bandcamp link below.) [ZACH DUVALL]

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