What. A. Year. Musically. And otherwise, of course.
We dove headfirst into the ever-expanding soundscapes of Oranssi Pazuzu, Thy Catafalque, Ihsahn, and Blood Incantation. We retreated to our cozy corner where Sabbat, Judas Priest, Necrophobic, Darkthrone, and Riot V continued perfecting their aesthetic. And we were pleasantly surprised when that cozy corner was turned slightly upside down by a folkish turn in Korpituli. With all that was going on in the world, it was a familiar but indispensable therapy.
Where do we find time to listen to it all? We don’t. We can’t. So we skip paragraphs in year-end editorials like this to get straight to the list of those we trust. Hmmm … Blood Incantation. I don’t know, I am seeing a lot of that. Oh, but what’s this Coltre album? That sounds cool. It taps into our ego – craving validation. Our curiosity – craving consumption. Year-end lists are as core to our being as collecting patches for the denim vest I’ll never wear.
So pick two or three or four, or more, from the list below. These aren’t the best twenty albums in 2024 to anyone but me. I navigated the year in a way that led me here, and others navigated their year in a way that led them elsewhere. But chances are, you’ll find something to like. Or you won’t. Regardless, you’ll know soon enough.
NUMBERS 20-11
20. Riot V – Mean Streets
“Hail to the Warriors.” Riot V, as essential to American power as Manowar and Savatage. A band that can do no wrong. Variations of right, really. And Mean Streets – fun, adventurous, and satisfying as it is – is as good an entry point as any. So “Lean Into It” and “Feel the Fire” on these “Mean Streets.” (I couldn’t resist).
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19. OU – II: Frailty
“Frailty relies very little on the stereotypical flashy instrumental acrobatics that have come to define and ultimately hamstring so much prog metal. Rather the songwriting emphasis is very much on building a rhythmic and atmospheric framework in support of vocalist Lynn Wu.” Wise words from our own Lone Watie. OU is a fantastic band whose narrative, I think, has tended to overshadow their music. II is a continuation of OU’s burgeoning musical narrative.
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18. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
When Absolute Elsewhere hits, it hits hard. I appreciate the vibes. I do. The atmospherics are the calm before the storm. But I am here for the storm. And the riffs. The Trey Azagthoth-necromanced riffs, to quote our own Blizzard of Jozzsh. And I was not left wanting.
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17. Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All…….
What is there left to say about this very cool band that has been marching to the beat of its own drum since eternity? Plenty! Warmer production. Neolithic feel. Crafted with an incomparable confidence. New Darkthrone? Back to the well. Resources aplenty, apparently.
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16. Necrophobic – In the Twilight Grey
A beautiful record. Almost cinematic. Relentless, except when it’s not. It feels important. That’s the confidence speaking. And, as always, impeccable leads.
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15. Coltre – To Watch With Hands To Touch With Eyes
Therapeutic. Charming, even when clumsy. Not at all similar sonically – think Angel Witch/Witchfynde meets BOC – but the emotional impression is not unlike Firewood-era Witchcraft. Or the first two Burning Saviours.
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14. Mefitis – The Skorian / / The Greyleer
It doesn’t take long for the specialness of Mefitis to show itself here. Like the best album openers, “Vire’s Arc” is challenging, familiar, hypnotic, and noisy. It’s a lot of things. Most of all, though, it’s Mefitis.
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13. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
There’s an ageless life in Priest that is as wise as it is playful. Not unlike Halford, I imagine. Whether Invincible Shield bests Firepower is a debate worth having. But it seems superfluous here, in this moment. This same band released Sad Wings almost 50 years ago. We’re spoiled.
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12. Kontact – Full Contact
Voivod meets Sacred Blade meets Manilla Road. So pretty much developed in a Last Rites lab for Last Riters. Also, quite weird. Wonderfully so. But there’s no getting around it. Strange bunch. Embrace it. They did. They went … Full Contact.
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11. Sabbat – Sabbaticult
Sabbat pulled me into their strange little orbit about 20 odd years ago with Karmagmassacre. Times have changed. Fortunately, Sabbat – mostly, anyway – has not. They’re still uniquely Sabbat (JP). Still brimming with energy. And still great at strange orbiting people.
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TOP TEN
10. IHSAHN – IHSAHN
My relationship with Ihsahn’s catalogue was always spotty at best. The Adversary (2006). After (2010). Arktis (2016). All stellar records that felt a bit punchier.
This self-titled record feels similarly punchy. Might even have ranked this higher were it not for recency bias. It’s got the more recent cinematic, Sigh-like chaos thing going on. But not unlike The Adversary it’s also got a slight case of Mercyful Fate, too. The tricky part is translating all that into a language the listener can understand. And I am not sure there’s a person more qualified to do that than Ihsahn, who certainly does that, and more, here.
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9. DEPARTURE CHANDELIER – SATAN SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
If you accept, for a second, the inherent ridiculousness of the Departure Chandelier mythos – mostly just good fun, really – there’s room for the music. And Satan Soldier of Fortune is good music.
Despite my own biases, which heavily disfavor incorporating noise into … anything, really, it’s the “uber-melodic but somewhat raw black metal played by musicians with noise rock backgrounds” thing that give this music its form. If you peered into the blender I am sure you’d find some similarity to Vehemence, perhaps. But there’s also something distinct about the imprint Departure Chandelier leaves on the listener. Not quite as amorphous as a “vibe.”
The appeal is in the melody, certainly, and the swing in the music. It shapes the songs themselves, of course, which are as punchy and raw as they are melodic and memorable. Grandiose and grounding in equal measure, too. Basically, everything that drew listeners to Antichrist Rise to Power is here, distilled. For those like me, who couldn’t escape it on Bandcamp in 2019 and eventually succumbed to its allure, that’s good news.
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8. THY CATAFALQUE – XII: A GYONYORU ALMOK EZUTAN JONNEK
Whether it’s fair, I don’t know, but I can’t help but receive new Thy Catafalque in the same way I do Ihsahn. I am excited. I am grateful. And I put my game face on before I hit play, imminent whiplash acknowledged.
Since 2020’s Naiv, at least, Thy Catafalque has been in a bit of a Renaissance period. Tamás Kátai is on a roll. And, long story short, he continues rolling here.
XII: A gyonyoru almok ezutan jonnek is, principally, a Thy Catafalque record. Which is to say it is an event. The way you and I pull it apart will be different. The sheer diversity means that what we latch onto in the maelstrom could be night and day. Since Naiv, though, I tend to find the aggressive, more forceful elements of Thy Catafalque most appealing. Fortunately, in large part, anyway, each song offers the full spectrum of the band’s sound. So whatever our proclivities, XII continues Thy Catafalque’s legacy.
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7. ORANSSI PAZUZU – MUUNTAUTUJA
At this point I can’t tell whether the trepidation I feel before listening to new Oranssi Pazuzu is my own psychoses or real. A band that warrants no expectations, really. Yet somehow messes with them more than most. Sometimes in the best way. As they do on Muuntautuja.
The expectation here was perhaps a movement away from the dark. But they seem to have embraced it. Muuntautuja is more and less at once. More darkness. More dance. More rock. More noise. More deceptively orchestrated jam. But the shorter song lengths and run time, generally, mean that these elements require tempering. And they do get tempered here, to great effect.
Where lesser bands would collapse from the lift all this requires, Oranssi Pazuzu perseveres. As our own scribe Zach Duvall scribed, this is a band that has “placed an extra level of faith in their fans[.]” Much like 2020’s Mestarin kynsi, Muuntautuja is further proof of that confidence. I think this is the better record, though, because it sounds even more like a band in sync.
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6. DEFEATED SANITY – CHRONICLES OF LUNACY
Were it not for Last Rites, there’s little chance I’d listen to more than ten minutes of Chronicles of Lunacy, Defeated Sanity’s seventh full length.
I hopped onto the train somewhere around 2013’s Passages into Deformity, largely, if not entirely, due to FOMO. Technical brutal death metal requires a patience and a persistence that asks … entirely too much of me in the personal sphere. But my toxic impulses gave way and I committed to making sense of these Germans’ language.
Fast forward 11 years later and I feel fluent enough that listening to Chronicles of Lunacy is uniquely cathartic. A precise and layered brutality that demands some giving in. I don’t do that easily. But like a lot of bands on this list, a new release is an event. I appreciate the feeling of living on that high for a while. And as others here have already noted, this particular high means being treated to every aspect of Defeated Sanity that makes them special.
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5. NEW HORIZON – CONQUERORS
Somehow I knew I’d end up here, gushing about New Horizon, Jonah Tee’s (H.E.A.T.) tribute to power metal. Mostly because I did the same in 2022, when the band released its debut album, Gate of the Gods.
What makes this follow-up different, though, is the addition of Nils Molin (Dynazty, Amaranthe) on vocals and a cover tune. Somehow, these two (and drummer George Egg, also of Dynazty) found the courage to cover “Alexander the Great (356 – 323 B.C.).” And nailed it!
Conquerors is thematic (guess the theme) but it’s also surprisingly grounded. Sure, there are some softer moments, such as the song with the Elize Ryd (Amaranthe) feature (“Before the Dawn”). Yet this is mostly, like the debut, power metal through and through, even with the AOR pedigree.
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4. KORPITULI – POHJOLA
As a lesser writer here once wrote, Pohjola represents a seismic shift for Korpituli, a once excellent second wave black metal band that is now diving headfirst into folkish black metal. And the truth is, I never had a chance to miss that once excellent second wave black metal band. The shift here is so sharp and convincing that, as much as one could appreciate Korpituli’s first two releases, what we’re left with is something objectively more meaningful and fulfilling.
The more obvious shift here is the shift to a more complete band. The addition of a live drummer makes all the difference you think it would. The live feel suits the sound and gives the band a dynamic that was missing on The Ancient Spells of the Past and As Infinite Shadows of the Nightsky.
That Korpituli took this folk/pagan turn isn’t entirely unexpected. The subject matter was there. But this is no subtle shift. Isengard. Storm. Moonsorrow. Finntroll. All there as influences, to varying degrees. And I don’t know that I would have thought of one of those bands before. This one deserves your ears, whether it had them before or not.
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3. YOTH IRIA – BLAZING INFERNO
Blazing Inferno could not have happened at a more opportune time. I was at the tail end of a Rotting Christ binge. Craving some bite. And as uber-melodic as Blazing Inferno is, it hit the spot.
Not that its presence here is that simple. But it largely is. By background and execution, Yoth Iria plays undeniably Hellenic black metal. They play it well. With that biting melody I was looking for.
Of the more recent albums on this list, Blazing Inferno was the one I played the most. No coincidence. The last few months have felt particularly dark, and as our own word-giver Spencer Hotz once word-gave, there are moments here on Blazing Inferno that feel quite … triumphant. Whether that’s what I was really looking for, I don’t know. But this second album from Yoth Iria, as punchy as it is melodic, was what I needed.
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2. TRIUMPHER – SPIRIT INVICTUS
If powerful heavy metal was your thing in 2023, and how was it not, Triumpher’s Storming the Walls spoke to you. Its language was not unlike, and may have even been a strain of, early Manowar. That was a feature. Not a bug. And we adored it, here and elsewhere.
This new one, Spirit Invictus, didn’t have the benefit of surprise. Yet it delivers on the promise, or want, of a slightly more dynamic sound, all things being relative.
For one, there’s a pinch of Bathory here and there. Mostly in the closer, “Hall of a Thousand Storms.” There’s also a maturity in the twin-guitar attack and melody of Christopher Tsakiropoulos and newcomer Marios Petropoulos. Again, this isn’t a remove and replace so much as a moderate renovation. And it may have been by design, but it could also be, simply, time; a band finding a firmer footing.
Even if I were hearing Spirit Invictus differently, at bottom, I can confidently say that most who appreciated the Manowarisms of the debut will find much to like here. The era of inspiration may be different, but the muscle and vigor is largely the same.
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1. IN APHELION – REAPERDAWN
2024 was the year a Necrophobic side project/curiosity eclipsed the main event. Not that In the Twilight Grey isn’t something to celebrate – it’s on this list, after all – but In Aphelion’s Reaperdawn is a statement album, without the aide of history.
Though my memory is fuzzy, I enjoyed In Aphelion’s debut, Morbibund. And since the release of Reaperdawn, I’ve gone back and enjoyed it a lot more. There are enough similarities in sound and quality that, in hindsight, I would have ranked Moribund had I just … listened to it more.
Similarities aside, Reaperdawn is a world building venture as much as it is more of the same. The “more” is so vast that this feels equal parts Dissection, Bathory, Necrophobic (unavoidable), and Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. The biggest achievement here is managing to develop a singular sound from that vastness. Whatever vortex In Aphelion have created with Reaperdawn, they’re either in it alone, or with very few peers. Here’s hoping more take notice.
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