50-31 | 30-11 | 10-1 | EP/Live/Compilation

50. Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties – In Lieu of Flowers

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

This could be Soupy’s best offering yet from any of his projects. –Slothcore Sam

“Dead Leaves” absolutely destroyed me. Campbell has continued to grow this thing into an absolute juggernaut. –MaySun91

49. Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

The word ‘supergroup’ tends to draw some worried glances when brought up in music discussions. It seems like, for every A Perfect Circle or Audioslave, there’s just as many where the individual talent of the group’s members never really adds up when brought together. How lucky we are, in that case, that Better Lovers, formed from former Every Time I Die members, vocalist Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan, and ultra-prolific guitarist and producer Will Putney, escapes the jaws of mediocrity to deliver one of the year’s finest metalcore efforts. Granted, the band had already proven themselves in 2023 with their debut EP, but holy crap does Highly Irresponsible ever live up to those grand expectations. Jagged riffs meet howled vocals that have somehow managed to match and even exceed the best of Puciato’s work with Dillinger. Whether it be the groovy, full-speed ahead riffs of “A White Horse Covered in Blood” or the shocking amounts of genuine emotion present in “At All Times”, there’s something here for all metalcore fans, and it promises a bright future for the new project. –AnimalForce1

48. Arab Strap – I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Late-career resurgences are a double-edged sword. In most instances, an aging band finds reinvigoration in a revamped sound, but only has the mileage to push one new creative high of an album out before falling back into the same rote game of rerecording the new past hits. In this sense, I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore is maybe a bit too constrained by the vision of As Days Go Dark, but, unlike so many other late career albums, what is rote here perfectly serves its thematic core. See, ITFWIDGAFA is a COVID album. I’m not going to wax on about COVID, only to say there is no better musical backdrop to engage it with than the antisocial cynicism Arab Strap have been known for their entire career, only accentuated with the internet-pilled stylings of As Days Go Dark. The trappings of ITFWIDGAFA somehow run deeper than the typical trappings of other established bands, letting the decaying creativity of ADGD personify the absurdities of the pandemic. There’s something frightened beneath ITFWIDGAFA’s complete unwillingness to step outside ADGD’s stylistic shadow that hyperfocuses Aidan Moffat’s deconstruction of the pandemic, a dynamic that works particularly by ITFWIDGAFA’s sharp attention to detail. None of these songs would hit quite like they do without that pop of the snare or the razor line Moffat’s spoken word rides between playful and sardonic or the warm background of sounds Arab Strap outfit their strip-backed indie rock style with. There’s something wonderfully fitting about a COVID album standing on its isolated pieces, a quality that enriches the countermovement to the sharp inhale of ADGD that is ITFWIDGAFA’s tense and measured exhale; the perfect sonic palate for processing two traumatic years that are still hardly past us. ITFWIDGAFA is the only musical eulogy COVID-19 will ever need, and I better not hear any more. –FowlKrietzsche

47. Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft

[Official Site] // [Spotify]

Billie Eilish is an artist with little to prove. If her meteoric debut When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? wasn’t enough to cement this fact, the follow-up Happier Than Ever truly did showcase how utterly on top of the pop world Eilish was, with carefully crafted hooks, emotional lyrics, and her signature whispery voice. As such, Hit Me Hard and Soft, on the surface, is less of a grand artistic statement compared to the genre shift caused by the debut, or the grand step in maturing that was her sophomore album. But don’t get it twisted, that does nothing to make it less catchy or engaging. If anything, Hit Me contains what might be some of Eilish and brother/producer FINNEAS’ best work to date, be it the seductive basslines of “Lunch”, the wistful proclamations of love throughout “Birds of a Feather”, or the new vocal ranges and styles that are explored on “Chihiro”. In an interview with Apple Music, Billie Eilish described the recording process of Hit Me Hard and Soft as her being comfortable with who she was. And that’s probably the best way you could sum the whole thing up: Billie Eilish at her most purely personal, and what a triumph it is to hear it. –AnimalForce1

46. Opeth – The Last Will and Testament

[Official Site] // [Spotify]

Well, boys, it’s 2024 and Opeth is back… AND SO ARE THE GROWLS!!! That’s the main storyline regarding prog metal’s posterchildren. The Last Will and Testament is a glorious mixture of Opeth both new and old. The symphonic prog sound is not even close to gone as a lot of this is just as quirky and experimental as much of their previous 4 albums. But there are certainly glimmers of the glory days when Opeth were considered THE titans of progressive death metal. You’ll find yourself harkening back to some of the sounds of albums like Watershed or Ghost Reveries right off the bat as you’re hit with Mikael’s (still) insanely powerful growls behind a barrage of funkily heavy and groovy riffs. “§7” is a personal highlight, acting as a sort of climax moment for the entire album and the commencement of an even NEW era of Opeth. You can take the new with the old and have just as massive of a result. The Last Will and Testament is that achievement. And while some think this is just Opeth trying to please their fans, many think that this progression can very much work. –Hawks

45. Julie Christmas – Ridiculous and Full of Blood

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

I waited literally 14 years for this album like some kind of Tool fan except I wasn’t disappointed. –ThyCrossAwaits

44. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood

[Official Site] // [Spotify]

While Jerry doesn’t necessarily pull any new tricks out from his sleeve, he once again demonstrates his great songwriting abilities, and that alone makes this a necessary listen to any fan of his. –bananatossing

43. Cave Sermon – Divine Laughter

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

An AOTY in January? This is state of the art tech/prog disso death, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is your average 1000th disso death band. The sludgy guitar tone, the sick drumming, and combination of black metal to -core elements make this album stands on its own for all the good reasons. –Frost15

Relentless and forceful, Divine Laughter just oozes heaviness and brutal energy. Each drum hit, guitar chord and vocal passage just feels like it weighs 2000 pounds and comes with the swing of a hammer. While a lot of the record is uptempo and intense, Cave Sermon do well to throw in breaks here and there so it isn’t just a continuous, monotonous wall of heavy. They do well to pace these moments and combine them with good tempo changes so that when the next heavy section is queued up, you are ready and waiting for it. The opening track “Beyond Recognition” showcases this effect very well and is a great stepping off point for the album. –cjbizzlebizzle

42. Nilüfer Yanya – My Method Actor

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Mellow in the best way possible, Nilüfer Yanya’s been on constant repeat this fall with her gorgeous grooves and honeyed vocals. What is surely her breakout record, Yanya sounds wisened up to the lessons life teaches someone throughout their 20s. This is not to say there isn’t hurt, anger, confusion and tenderness involved in the making: every song on My Method Actor is lyrically acute on emotional cuts and bruises, particularly album highlight “Binding”. But on the album, Nilüfer sounds cool and relaxed, knowing about the processes of feeling blue in a way that isn’t at all precocious. And yeah, save for some killer aggro riffs early on, it’s a straightforward record: serenely dealing with the hardships of love and negotiating relationships. Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find a similarly self-assured, highly listenable and acoustically rich record from 2024. –hamid95

My Method Actor is a testament to Yanya’s skill at capturing a state of mind in song. At times the album sounds like a soundtrack for moving through a city while engaged in people watching, all bouncing steps and tightly worn headphones. By adding and subtracting layers over a signature percussive personality, it evokes the feeling of trying to outrun inundation. The flipside is almost pure distilled romance, Yanya playing acoustic patterns to serenade reaching basslines and fleeting, overhanging elements. However, her cryptic lyrics defy definitive interpretation — perhaps it’s just a romance with confusion and transition. The final essence is Yanya’s voice, like steam from steeped burnt tea. This album may draw comparisons to Sade, but whereas Sade evokes the mystery of love, Yanya often feels more preoccupied with memory, change and the secrets of conflicted internal monologue.

Sonically, Yanya has eschewed the more dynamic elements of her previous effort for a concentrated insularity (choosing to work in an isolation of two with producer Wilma Archer). Most of the songs are guitar patterns and vibe, but unlike many contemporary records that can sound like snippets of mood coming at you from various focus points with acres of space between, there’s a continuous groove that draws you into the orbit, like a pulsing, collapsing star. My Method Actor has intense eye contact, but it’s in no rush to introduce itself to you or change-up its form of communication. Why speak now? You know you’ll see each other again. –fogza

41. Mount Eerie – Night Palace

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

The Mount Eerie-ist of all of the Mount Eerie albums? Love you, Phil. –juiceviaorange

As alluded to in an interview about this album, Night Palace was first constructed as poems, with music later composed around the poetry’s structure. This album, like Now Only and Microphones in 2020, is more readily enjoyed when listened to as poetry with musical backing. Luckily for me, these albums tend to be my favorite works from Phil. I find his Zen-influenced poems quite beautiful, and the often experimental noisy folk-scapes he accompanies them with are quite provocative and appropriate, in spite of (and at times empowered by) his lo-fi production. The combination of eclectic songwriting with the more recurrent themes and atmosphere on this album make for a long, winding, and yet somehow cohesive record. –Tb1114

40. Ceres – MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1996 – 2022)

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

‘Emo’ means different things to different people — its practicality as an umbrella term constantly butts heads with its disparate offshoots — but in my eyes, regardless of the locale or era that spawned it, its finest stuff endeavors to generate catharsis from mundane shows of humanity. Magic Mountain (1996-2022) ought to go down as an all-time great in that regard: its 25 tracks — all of them expedient — explode with passion or soothe like lullabies, hammering out larger-than-life power pop earworms and fields of blissful ambience in cyclical, restless balance. Wildfires, a miscarriage, and strenuous romance ensue, ping-ponging between jubilee and despair. After one spin, you’ll feel like you’ve crested the highs and plunged into the lows of its vignettes directly alongside Ceres. After several more, the album takes on a life of its own, encapsulating the whiplash of being alive. Perhaps that’s not what you value in your emo, but Magic Mountain confirms one thing: it’s sure as hell my fix. –ashcrash9

39. Jack White – No Name

[Label Site] // [Spotify]

Not a single bad track. Fun and full of great riffs. –bremer

Minimal and maximal. That’s been Jack White’s talent from day one. Stripped back garage rock big enough to fill a stadium. And this fantastic album brings that but its real triumph is the style: the serpentine, eyebrow-cocked grooves where the guitar is dancing in and out of the beat rather than riding the wave. –lz41

38. Brodequin – Harbinger of Woe

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

After 20 years, brutal death metal veterans Brodequin have risen from the grave and delivered Harbinger of Woe, one of 2024’s best albums. A few things have changed, mainly with the cleaner and more modern production sound here, but it’s the same old onslaught of blast beats, apocalyptic riffage and gutturals that sound like the dark lord spewing out his dinner. While the main trend in death metal is dissodeath and experimenting with different sounds, Brodequin have kept the same brutal death formula that has made them successful. And all these years later, they still know how to bring it to an even higher level than before. –Hawks

37. Pyrrhon – Exhaust

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

This my was first introduction to this band, and I am impressed. Technical death metal skills mixed together with Converge/Dillinger Escape Plan. Hard hitting and dissonant, and while still a very chaotic, noisy album, I found it easy to digest and easy to enjoy. –ferretmusic

36. Jessica Pratt – Here in the Pitch

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Jessica Pratt has, at times, railed against the rote classification of freak folk assigned to her by corners of the music press. Coming in cold to her work, I’d never have imagined that would be where the needle would end up based on Here In the Pitch. An album concerned with endings, Pratt utilises a ghostly ’60s pop sound, warm but sparse Bossa Nova, and a touch of psychedelia as her modus operandi. These are dangerous styles that could put the album in a nostalgic dinner party doom loop, but there’s an unsettling edge gained from the placement of the vocals and instrumentation — it’s not easy to ignore the record, as there’s often the faintest hint of separation between the two elements that keep you reaching out to it.

Inspired by the end of the hippie era and the duality of California glamour and its darker undercurrents, Here In the Pitch works in that it could bend to a particular mood. I’d imagine this album would sound appropriate regardless of the weather or your circumstances. Pratt finds the core of ephemerality, and there’s a suggestion that when things fade, there’s an inevitable fear of exposure. The final song rings out with a note of soft acoustic triumph, as if the album has outrun the closing curtain, secrets intact. If you’re a fan of magic, it’s a hell of an escape act. –fogza

35. Alora Crucible – Oak Lace Apparition

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Though I may personally like the more guitar driven approach of Thymiamatascension, it’s completely clear that this new album is just on another level with its songwriting, production and cohesiveness. –ShadowOfTheCitadel

This seems to completely change my state of mind and being as soon as I put it on. –Djang0

34. Iglooghost – Tidal Memory Exo

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

While I’ve pretty much digested every other release I’m writing about, I still feel as if I have a lot to learn about Tidal Memory Exo. I might blame this on only first spinning it in December, but I’ve listened to Tidal Memory Exo at least 25 times now, and really all that’s changed about my grasp on it is how much more enthusiastic I am about how good it is. Iglooghost’s production is second to none, meticulously attenuated to detail, and raucous as hell. These qualities have been consistent with Iglooghost’s identity since his 2017 breakthrough LP Neo Wax Bloom, but where that release was zany, colorful and lacked an attention span, Tidal Memory Exo‘s energy runs more frenzied — its palate limited to the subtle shades of blue and grey contained where the sky and the sea become the horizon — and it matures a frenetic temperament by structuring the songs to service the album. As a full experience, Tidal Memory Exo is not too different from being stranded at sea, floating aimlessly as your mind hallucinates familiarity into the waves of bass pitching your frail body through an experience so disorienting that the only way to appreciate the details vividly is to subject yourself to it again upon reaching shore. If finding the nuances in nearly drowning sounds like your thing, then let the putrid seawater beatz of “Spawn01” or “Nemat0de” fill your lungs until your brain forgets the taste of oxygen and the only sounds left are Iglooghost and the quickening thump of nirvana between your ears. –FowlKrietzsche

33. Dvne – Voidkind

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Voidkind is a hypnotic maelstrom, a swarming storm of sand that whips with immense fury but dances across the great desert vistas with utmost grace. Dvne, for as phat as their riffs may be and for as menacing as their gritty vocals may come, are surprisingly adept at stringing everything together with great fluidity. Both “Summa Blasphemia” and “Abode of the Perfect Soul” have incredibly nuanced guitar work, plentiful tribal drum beats and an ability to weave in and out of varying intensities, and they do so in a way that is never jarring, yet never quite expected. It’s a bit hard to pin on the nose exactly what Dvne is, but I’d place them somewhere in the realm of “Tool but if they rocked way, WAY harder”, and if ya dig waking up your third and fourth and even fifth eyes (do we have that many??) while being locked into beautiful grooves and choirs that are both fiery as hell and saccharine as could be (as “Pleroma”‘s angelic soars enter the chat), then sweet baby Jesus, this is for you. –Dedes

32. Los Campesinos! – All Hell

[Bandcamp] // [Spotify]

Great record, just wish we didn’t have to wait 7 whole years to get it. Had to travel all day and sleep at an airport just to see them live this past weekend, but boy was it worth it. Insane energy, almost two solid hours of songs from pretty much every record, with the entire crowd singing along and bouncing like crazy. –pajolero

Great record — No Blues is still my favorite from them but I’m really digging this. –heyadam

31. Skee Mask – Resort

[Official Site] // [Bandcamp]

Exquisite. The precision and the detail in the breakbeat/techno parts are mind-boggling, and the ambient passages are absolute bliss. Like, even better than a lot of artists who work with ambient exclusively. And describing it in terms of techno + ambient is just to give you an idea of what you’re in for. When you hear the album, I promise you’ll find much more than that cut-and-dried description. Skee Mask has reached an echelon where he’s able to weave any sort of electronic inclination together into a cohesive, yet unpredictable whole, without giving an impression of ‘genre-blending/genre-hopping.’ It all just sounds so natural, like it’s writing itself as it goes. And when you know a thing or two about how meticulous it is to compose and produce electronic music, it’s really something to behold. Sleeping on Skee Mask is a disservice to yourself. –cylinder

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