December 2024: The Shape of AOTY To Come
The big 2024 Album of the Year list is here, and it damn near killed me
Sophomore Slump, or Albums of the Year
Look, a Top 50 album list is frankly ridiculous. Last year’s list was basically “everything I listened to in 2023”, which was helped by the fact that everything I listened to in 2023 was very good. Things got a little out of hand this year, and I ended up with a spreadsheet of over 100 albums. It probably doesn’t help that I have zero genre discipline or rules. If anyone knows how to compare the merits of an ambient album with a progressive black metal record, please let me know.
Anyway, these are “objectively” the best 50 albums of 2024. Well, close enough. There’s quite a lot that probably would be on here if I’d gotten around to listening to it (Nick Cave, English Teacher), might be here if I’d had more time with it (Opeth), probably should be on here but didn’t quite resonate with me (Knocked Loose, Sugar Horse), and those that narrowly missed out (Slift, Mountainscape).
As always, the sampler playlist is at the end, or you can follow the links here to Spotify | TIDAL. Tracks there are in order from 1 to 50, so spoilers beware. There are also album-specific links for the top 36 (blame email size limits for the arbitrary cutoff). And let me know what else I missed or got wrong (or right) in the comments!
50. Ætheria Conscientia - The Blossoming
If you’re looking for something that throws the kitchen sink in their record, along with most of the rest of the kitchen, then Ætheria Conscientia is a great starting point. You name it - blast beats, growls, angelic female vocals, jazzy saxophone, riffs - it’s got it in spades.
49. standards - Fruit Galaxy
“It’s OK babe, the hench space pineapple on the cover of Fruit Galaxy can’t hurt you”. The spatial scaling of standards fruit-themed math-rock albums ramps up exponentially, going 3D in both art and a more curated sound. It lacks some of the vitality of 2022’s Fruit Town (and the IV-V-vi harmonic box of FACGCE is a little overworn), but few guitarists in the business do it better.
48. Bicurious - Your Life Is Over Now…
The Irish duo made a name for themselves with a fun math-rock sound, all blistering guitar talent and occasional chant-alongs. On their second album, they’ve gone a little more alternative rock serious, switching the And So I Watch You From Afar bouncing party shred-hero vibes for latter-day Jamie Lenman heft. Vocals and lyrics are in the foreground in a much more mature record.
47. Johnny Foreigner - How To Be Hopeful
It’s a triumphant comeback for the criminally underrated Johnny Foreigner - the frenetic sound of hope and promise, of the path not taken in British rock music circa 2010 when we went the route of Ed Sheeran and Sam Fender instead and lost this sort of maximalist, chaotic glory. They’re much older now, and the songwriting maturity has risen accordingly, but with all the energy of Grace And The Bigger Picture preserved. Has it really been 15 years? God damn.
46. Desperate Journalist - No Hero
Desperate Journalist remain something of a curio - massive doses of The Smiths and the early punk attitude of The Cure served under Jo Bevan’s powerhouse vocals and lyricism. They’re great if you like that sound, but when they hit upon a perfect synthesis of hooks and emotion, they’re unstoppable. This fifth album varies a bit, at times striving to replicate the experimental bits of Radiohead, but it has at least two certified bangers to put it up there with In Search Of The Miraculous.
45. Jaguwar - 1984
The under-appreciated German shoegaze outfit are back with enough signal processing to send the Pedalboards Of Doom Facebook group into paroxysms of envy. The ear for melody, well-timed heaviness and the vocal combinations continue to be the winning formula here.
44. Wheel - Charismatic Leaders
Three albums in, the TOOL influence on Wheel is still ever-present, but the band continue to craft their distinct voice. Charismatic Leaders is their heaviest and proggiest effort to date, with visceral vocals to match.
43. Master Boot Record - HARDWAREZ
SPREAD THE CODE. If your favourite kind of music is “E1M1 from the videogame Doom (1994)”, then you’re in good hands with Master Boot Record. Think Yngwie Malmsteen trapped inside a vintage 56K modem. HARDWAREZ overindexes on the metal part of computer metal, losing some of the melodic brilliance of their previous albums, but it’s still got a few bangers.
42. The Omnific - The Law of Augmenting Returns
If your band plays heavy instrumental music that foregrounds guitar virtuosity, it helps to realise that, by definition, you are incredibly cheesy. Doubly so if that’s a twin assault of bass guitars. The Omnific are self-aware enough to recognise this and commit fully to the bit, including some humorous vocal harmony skits and saccharine instrumental anthems. More bass guitar, please!
41. Sungazer - Against The Fall Of Night
Speaking of bass: The most cited musician on this blog, Adam Neely, is back with his jazz fusion project Sungazer for a second album. Guest spots from Jared Yee, Plini, Button Masher and others add a lot of fun variation, but the main reason you’re here is for the nested polyrhythms that only a drummer as mad as Shawn Crowder could come up with. Remember - everything is in 4/4, unless you count like a nerd.
40. OU - II: Frailty
I promise this is the only Mandarin-language progressive metal band on this list. This is a shame because it’s a great combination - think the NieR: Automata soundtrack combined with Sarah Longfield’s experimentalism. Devin Townsend guests on a song and is behind the mixing board to lend his trademark wall of sound, but the nested and overlayed vocals from Lynn Wu are what makes this a unique delight.
39. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
This one has made some waves in the heavy music press, and rightly so. Ostensibly a death metal band, Blood Incantation have gone down the progressive rabbit hole on Absolute Elsewhere with two three-movement songs, occasional stoner vibes and plenty of neo-prog for good measure. Hell, Tangerine Dream even show up on one track. If the freneticism of Between The Buried And Me is your thing, but maybe more death metal, this is for you.
38. A Burial At Sea - Close To Home
There’s a pleasing amount of variation from the standard post-rock formulae on A Burial At Sea’s second album - sure, you’ve got your closing cathartic dynamics on NEW old, but the pacier movements of tor head and GORSE BUSH ON FIRE show this band isn’t content to sit in a single lane.
37. Ihsahn - IHSAHN
Maximalist, orchestral, proggy black metal served up by the former Emperor guitarist and vocalist. All the big dramatic twists and turns of an avant-garde musical but with some growls and blast beats to keep you on your toes. Fabulous.
36. Cultdreams - Love Won’t Let Me Go & Death Consumes Me
This album almost didn’t come to pass; issues with the mixing and securing the recorded stems led the punk/shoegaze band into painful financial difficulties. Support from merch sales and the folks at record label Big Scary Monsters helped get it over the line, to all our benefit. Led by Nervus bassist Luce Livingston, the album features light and dark sides, showcasing queer punk attitude and vulnerability. It is a late release that would probably keep moving up this list, given some extra time. Listen here
35. Kamasi Washington - Fearless Movement
The king of virtuoso maximalist jazz is back with... Restraint? Only a double album this time around, and many more collaborations and guest spots, including some André 3000 flute and rapping from the Austin twins from Coast Contra. Its latter songs capture some of the wild excesses of Heaven & Earth and The Epic. And you won’t hear a better jazz song than Prologue this year. Listen here
34. Frost* - Life In The Wires
A throwback neo-prog supergroup wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024, but the new Frost* album does enough in fusing its showoff virtuosity and cheesy prog with some decent hooks and conceptual glue to leave me quietly impressed. Best known for their 2006 debut Milliontown, this latest effort may not be reinventing the wheel, but it’s a lot more interesting than Steven Wilson dicking around with AI lyrics to make a Christmas song. Listen here
33. Dance With The Dead - Dark Matter
Crunchy 80s slasher movie synthwave, anyone? This sort of thing is increasingly popular, with the charge led by Carpenter Brut and Perturbator over the past few years. This mini-album features a range of guest vocalists and the band’s best distillation of their instrumental sound in closer Rust. It’s tons of fun, so long as you’re the Final Girl. Listen here
32. One Step Closer - All You Embrace
The concept of the guilty pleasure is archaic, so the inclusion on this list of straight-edge melodic hardcore that sounds like a heavier Saosin is obviously legitimate. It’s the sort of thing to yell along to and pretend you’re still 17, as opposed to a larger number that factorises into 17. Listen here
31. Interlaker - Interlaker
Drumming talent Jack Wrench, whose CV is a who’s who of my favourite 2010s artists (InDynamics, Arcane Roots, Jamie Lenman), has teamed up with former Lonely The Brave vocalist David Jakes for an album of jangly 90s guitars and vast anthems. It’s a pairing that works well; the choruses, in particular, are as good as you’ll hear in mainstream rock this year. Read my album review for Distorted Sound here | Listen here
30. Porter Robinson - SMILE! :D
Internet subculture darling Porter Robinson is back; the writer’s block that slowed his second album shaken off with aplomb. The musically moody introspection of 2021’s Nurture gets a glow-up, replaced with a succession of clever electronic pop bangers, without losing any of the chronically online emotional heft. You might get weird looks if you put this on at the party. Screw what everyone else thinks, though. Smile! :D Listen here
29. Everything Everything - Mountainhead
The oddball indie rockers are back with their best album since 2017’s A Fever Dream, each song here possessing a memorable identity. Jonathan Higgs returns to the dynamic excitement of his unique voice, with occasional outbreaks of ferocity and relentless speed (c.f. The Mad Stone). It’s a much better fit for the group than the AI lyric generation experiment of 2022’s Raw Data Feel. Listen here
28. Múr - Múr
The fresh-faced five-piece from musical hotbed Iceland are here to inflict existential devastation upon us through the icy tundra, whether in the glacial post-rock of Eldhaf or the death metal assault of Frelsari. Oh, and there’s a sick-looking keytar as well. Those synths are devastating and ominous. Expect to see much more from this group. Read my album review for Distorted Sound here | Listen here
27. DVNE - Voidkind
I’m unsure if DVNE deliberately schedule their release years to coincide with the Dune movies, but getting two intensely maximal treats in a year is nice. Muscular and clever in its Mastodon-esque metal, for me it doesn’t hit quite as hard as 2021’s Etemen Ænka, but that is a ridiculously high bar. Listen here
26. Slow Dancing Society - Do We Become Sky?
As is undoubtedly clear by now, I don’t do background or dinner party music. But occasionally, an ambient record will make it into my rotation and end up being my most heavily played album for a good month. Last year, it was Carbon Based Lifeforms; this year, despite two records from Hammock (including a very odd Yellowcard collaboration, which probably deserves its own column), Washington’s Slow Dancing Society took this place. Soothing and never dull. Listen here
25. Frail Body - Artificial Bouquet
Brutal and relentless post-hardcore/screamo from the US. Look, if you’re here for the post-rock twinkling and are mildly discomforted by screams and distortion, this will do absolutely nothing for you. For those with their ear in for this sort of thing, this is a tidal wave of unmatched energy and aggression that will leave you blinking in shock at its conclusion. Listen here
24. SPEED - ONLY ONE MODE
A hardcore album clocking in at under 24 minutes? Speed. Crowdkiller breakdowns signalled with a flute? Speed! Using your band’s name as a mosh call-out at every possible opportunity? SPEED! Listen here
23. Intervals - memory palace
We need to develop a genre name for virtuoso guitar-focused instrumental metal, because that’s a ridiculous mouthful. Shred-core? Geek metal? Anyway, Intervals are very good at it, particularly in adding chiptune and electronic elements to separate them from the pack. Listen here
22. Caligula’s Horse - Charcoal Grace
What else could it be with a name like that but cheesy progressive metal? The Aussie outfit’s effort this year is, however, very good - equally at home with clever harmony as with crushing heavies. Its four-track centrepiece movement (did I mention this was a prog album?) is thrilling, and the standalone songs hardly slouch. Listen here
21. Public Service Broadcasting - The Last Flight
A fifth studio album from your favourite history lesson dressed as indie band purveyors. This time around, it’s a prequel to the Star Trek: Voyager episode The 37’s the story of Amelia Earhart and her aviation adventures. Lots of guest spots for female vocalists, including This Is The Kit and EERA, are melded with a welcome return of voice samples. PSB tend to work best when the synchronicity between the subject matter and the music thrills, which is where 2021’s Bright Magic faltered; there are no such issues this time. Listen here
20. Touché Amoré - Spiral In A Straight Line
It took me a minute to get my head into Spiral In A Straight Line. Lament was my #1 album of 2020, and on the first couple of listens, this didn’t hit the same notes with me. But every subsequent listen has seen it rise about ten places on this list. Something about Jeremy Bolm’s raspy vocals and the band’s deft control of emotional hardcore makes them irresistible. Listen here
19. Hidden Mothers - Erosion / Avulsion
It’s been a long wait for new music from the highly popular Hidden Mothers, who have managed to parlay several festival opening spots and tours to high acclaim since their 2020 EP. Their debut is a tour de force, combining the aggressive screamo / black metal they started on with many more technical variations and some raspy sadboi vocals that pack an emotional gut punch. Read my album review for Distorted Sound here | Listen here
18. Outlander - Acts of Harm
Shoegaze, with emphasis on the ‘gaze - Acts of Harm is the sort of record you can put on and just bliss out to. Vocal contributions are kept sparse, and there’s a heavy focus on the craft of the sound. The soundtrack to a long walk home, drunk, late at night, in full introspection mode. Listen here
17. Owen - The Falls Of Sioux
He may be best known for his work with seminal Midwest emo band American Football, but under the Owen moniker, Mike Kinsella has built up a vast discography that seems to get better with each release. There’s a lush beauty to the arrangements on the likes of Beaucoup, as well as his trademark self-deprecatory and introspective lyrics that straddle the line between amusement, devastation and crassness. Listen here
16. Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4
It’s been 11 years since the “modern-day Mozart” went viral on YouTube with his microtonality reharmonisation covers and was picked up by Quincy Jones. The prodigy is now 30 and concludes his Djesse series with a vast album that touches on world music, funk and even metal breakdowns, augmented with his famed audience choir sampled from his live shows. But he’s most interested in writing pop songs - and despite the “technical exercise” naysayers (jealousy?), there’s some genuine quality here, not least on the charming Little Blue and propulsive She Put Sunshine. Listen here
15. Sans Froid - Hello, Boil Brain
This is a hidden gem - oddball experimental rock, all minor keys and surreal weirdness. The combination of siren female vocals (like Björk in unhinged mode), time signature change-ups and piano-driven songs that dare to lean on that instrument for heaviness over the guitars mark this as something unique and special. Listen here
14. envy - Eunoia
The Japanese band have been around for over three decades, initially plying their trade with post-hardcore and screamo but increasingly dabbling with post-rock. I’ve never invested the time before, but Eunoia is magnificent. Spoken word Japanese vocals that increase in intensity over thriving cathartic soundscapes. Again, this is a very late-in-the-year release that probably deserves to be in the top 10. Listen here
13. Casey - How To Disappear
A most welcome return from Casey after a three-year hiatus. Their gut-wrenching brand of emo is alive and well, with some technicolour illumination amidst the pained misery. A reminder that the mid-2000s era of whiny American kids dominating the genre was a severe waste of potential. Read the full review here | Listen here
12. Kelly Lee Owens - Dreamstate
Kelly Lee Owens continues to be an enigma. 2020’s Inner Song was a fascinating slice of electronica in the vein of Jon Hopkins but possessed of its own character; the follow-up LP.8 was damn near impenetrable. Dreamstate manages to take the character of her intricately calibrated sonics and deploy it in the service of dancefloor bangers. It’s accessible, fun, and in a different era and season would be the sound of the summer. Listen here
11. Bipolar Architecture - Metaphysicize
If screamed vocals aren’t your thing, then Bipolar Architecture present a high barrier to entry - it’s a raspy sandpaper affectation throughout. It’s worth the investment, though - pummelling black metal of the finest order. The relentless kicks of Death Of The Architect might be up there for the heaviest moment of the year. Listen here
10. Origami Angel - Feeling Not Found
After the saccharine Disney glow of last year’s The Brightest Days and the hardcore cosplay of 2022’s DEPART, Origami Angel return to stunning form on Feeling Not Found. The pop-punk hits are as good as anything they’ve done before, married to the same creative energy and sonic variety of GAMI GANG. Some of those hardcore breakdowns frankly rival Turnstile. A top effort. Listen here
9. Gaerea - Coma
It’s a modern band that plays loud metal music whilst wearing masks etched with symbols, so you should tell your kids this is Sleep Token. There’s none of that band’s weirdly sexual syrup here, thankfully. It’s a special formula they’ve hit on - the Portuguese outfit serving up black metal at once both bloodcurdling and touchingly atmospheric. Listen here
8. Hippotraktor - Stasis
Genre definitions in metal are increasingly a fool’s errand - what is sludge, blackened, or post-? The best bands take a synthesis approach of the best elements of all modern metal and add their signature qualities to it. Enter: Hippotraktor and their second album, Stasis. This has everything - djent syncopation, post-metal soundscapes, intense riffage, and a seriously visceral scream mix that slams into your face at maximum velocity. Their first album was very good; this is truly excellent. Listen here
7. Lowen - Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran
If your preferred aesthetic is “desert planet warfare”, you will get on well with Lowen. Thunderous prog metal from the get-go, anchored by the melismatic vocals of Nina Saeidi, almost alien-like at times (like the opening titles to Farscape, but good). There are plenty of attention-deficit change-ups, but it doesn’t outstay its welcome at a tight 36 minutes. Apologies in advance if I rave to you about this record in person, but forget how to say Mazandaran. Listen here
6. Polinski - Meet Me By The Panamax Barricades
Another year, another Polinski album set in the VHS-core aesthetic MIDI City that waltzes into the sixth spot. I can’t really top my review statement from earlier in the year: “I’m not sure if I should be off my face in an abandoned warehouse or off my face typing madly into a POSIX shell.” Read the full review here | Listen here
5. Geordie Greep - The New Sound
RIP, black midi - your thrilling avant-garde weirdness was consistently brilliant for the past five years. Hello, Geordie Greep the solo artist; who, on the evidence of The New Sound, has not lost anything from his separation from his bandmates, but instead feels like he’s been let loose to create what he wanted to all along. (It doesn’t hurt that Morgan Simpson returns on drums here.) That said, I’d hate to spend time inside that head and its hyperfixation on the horrors of weird incel masculinity. Read the full review here | Listen here
4. The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World
I had a great discussion earlier this year about what qualifies as a 10/10 album, and the first prominent example I could think of was Disintegration by The Cure. Sixteen years after their last effort, Robert Smith and co are back with an album that unexpectedly rivals that classic. It’s dark, moody, gothic - and no bass guitar has ever sounded as good as Simon Gallup’s here. It’s indulgent in its instrumental sections and devastating in its lyrics, which speak to the loss of his parents and brother. Bands aren’t supposed to be this good after such a long break between records. Listen here
3. Alcest - Les Chants de L'Aurore
Is it blackgaze, or dream metal? Definitions aside, Les Chants de L’Aurore shows the true potential of the sound Alcest have been refining over the past twenty years. The salt of occasional drumming blast beats and rapidly picked guitar riffs somehow elevates the atmospheric and melodic beauty of the songs that would otherwise be a (very good) M83 clone. Read the full review here | Listen here
2. Tigran Hamasyan - Bird of a Thousand Voices
As is doubtless traditional by now, the #2 spot in the AOTY list goes to a jazz act. Though frankly, the mad heaviness of Tigran Hamasyan has more in common with prog metal than jazz fusion. His most ambitious effort yet is a 92-minute epic retelling of a classic Armenian folk tale. The music is technically only one part of a vast multimedia project that takes in (among other things) a live theatre production and a videogame tie-in. But it’s the beating heart of the project - that classic piano-driven sound, punching through mad polyrhythms - that evokes boss fights, treasure reveals and moments of grandeur and beauty. As with Yussef Dayes last year, there’s very little keeping this out of the #1 spot. Read the full review here | Listen here
1. Overhead, The Albatross - I Leave You This
We can get all technical about what should constitute the year’s best album. Is it what you listened to most? Raved most about? Is it the one with the best musicianship, the best individual songs, the most cohesiveness? The one that makes you look the coolest? The one that you reckon will still be relevant 20 years later?
Alternatively, you can go with the one that damn near makes you cry every time you listen to it. I’m not sure anyone I’ve shared this with has had quite the same reaction to it as I have. Still, this ambitious second album from Irish post-rockers Overhead, The Albatross (yes, it’s a Pink Floyd reference) leaves me freshly devastated and elated each time. Its songs are cinematic masterpieces, sharing that definitional nous of We Lost The Sea in telling a story. Its variation is thrilling, lurching from post-hardcore angst to club classic vibes, all upon a post-rock scaffold. Its subject matter is at once honest and personal - covering the grief of losing a close friend and the celebration of their life.
Many post-rock albums can feel a little samey after a time - you find yourself liking them for the familiarity of a sound rather than for their inherent creativity. This is fine and not a problem (else this blog would not exist!). But it’s nice to be reminded occasionally that something genuinely fascinating and creative can be found in the genre.
Read my album review for Distorted Sound here | Listen here
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to subscribe or read anything I’ve written here in 2024. Having this blog outlet and regular readers has been something I’ve greatly enjoyed, even as I’ve opened up new fronts writing in an album club and working with the Distorted Sound team. I wish you all a fantastic Christmas and New Year, in which I will be free of worrying about album placement or qualifying conditions in a spreadsheet at least until the second week of January. And then, we go again!