Written by: The Administrator
This one admittedly came down to the wire, but we still got this one in before 2026 begins so all is well. If you've missed out on my long-winded justifications for why my Favorites lists habitually run a year late, you can find an explanation here. Long story short, this year-behind approach allows releases to outlast a narrow moment in time. I enjoy the process of reflection, and I like to think a shoutout 18 months later or whatever is nice for the bands involved. So! These are 24 albums from 2024 that are, in significant hindsight, still very much my favorite albums of 2024. In terms of format, this list follows my established convention, i.e. alphabetical and unranked. Genres are primarily metal and hip hop adjacent--someday I may split the list into different genre categories for the sake of covering more releases, but today is not that day. If you are at all interested, you can check out my Favorite EPs of 2024 here, and my Favorite Album Artwork of 2024 here. The trilogy is complete. Regardless of whether or not you check out anything appearing in these lists, I hope you're inspired to revisit a favorite or two from yesteryear. To the readers: thank you for reading! It means a lot and I am very grateful that you've chosen to spend time checking out what some random internet guy thinks is cool. To the artists: thank you for making music that is cool. I have very much enjoyed listening and writing. Let's dive in, shall we?
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Written by: The Administrator
Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to yet another premiere! We're stepping it up today with a full album, courtesy of Baltimore's Born of Plagues. The mighty Dead Endings is their sophomore release, and if you're on the hunt for something as crushingly gloomy as it is crushingly heavy, I suspect you'll find this one quite worth your while. Born of Plagues play an intriguing brand of death-doom that feels as funereal and moody as it is brawny and sludgy. I'm immediately drawn to anything that seeks to combine the tenets of death and doom; like many of the great duos of history, the genre conglomerate succeeds because it is greater than the sum of its component parts. I'm obviously a massive fan of both on their own, but when the sheer aggression of death metal meets the morose melancholy of doom, something borderline magical is liable to occur. By virtue of comparison, the doomy elements seem doomier, and the deathy moments seem, y'know. Deathier? On Dead Endings, the doom elements do feel more overtly prominent across the breadth, but the death-adjacent inclusions serve well to elevate the project. There's a notable sense of dynamics at play, and the juxtaposition of a stygian gloom with well-placed bloody-knuckled pugilism helps maintain interest and intrigue. A good death-doom project will often demonstrate a strong sense of push and pull, ebb and flow, give and take. Dead Endings fulfills this quality quite handily. Prior to its official release tomorrow, November 21st, we're pleased to present Dead Endings in its entirety. Check it out below! Do it quickly, lest I bore you with more pontification on the many merits of death and doom's unholy union. As always, we'll meet again on the far side!
In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish short(er) reviews at a greater frequency, thereby shining our very small spotlight on more cool music. Without further ado, here's a new track with some thick riffage.
Written by: The Administrator
Based solely on their moniker, what genre would you ascribe to Austria's own TarLung? Let me give you three guesses. No, wait--that's far too generous. One guess is almost certainly enough. This is very clearly a band that revels in the simple pleasures: massive doom riffs, beast-like sludge roars, and the crushing embrace of fuzz. TarLung recently signed to the venerable Argonauta Records, and to A. celebrate said signing, and B. incite a little excitement for the forthcoming Axis Mundi, they've dropped a stellar single. "Static Noise" leans heavily into heft, with an emphasis on engaging riffage and a generally oppressive presence. The track bursts out of the gate with a rousing start-stop riff that establishes itself firmly and remains an anchor throughout the track's runtime. Philipp Seiler's vocals, when they eventually kick in, are as sludgy and swampy as you might imagine--he sounds like a amphibious beast recently risen from the mire, coated in algae and hacking mud from his gills. I'm a sucker for this kind of delivery: nasty and utterly Brobdingnagian. If you are familiar with TarLung's work on 2021's excellent "Architect," I'm pleased to report that they have upped the ante in terms of intensity. And while many a promo promises that an album is the band's "heaviest to date," I'm pretty sure that's a truthful assessment in this particular case. "Static Noise" is verifiably heavy as hell. It feels massive and looming and borderline gargantuan, and that's all I've got to say about that. "Static Noise" serves as a harbinger of TarLung's Axis Mundi, which sees release via Argonauta Records on Jan. 30th, 2026. Give heed, etc. etc. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
A longer record that uses an extremely clean atmosphere, described as “gothic” doom metal; talk about a one way ticket for me to hate something. Except, it turns out that there are exceptions to even this rule. The Canadian outfit Tribunal seems to be one of those, considering their second record titled In Penitence And Ruin managed to worm its way into my ear for more than one visit. Perhaps the intriguing album artwork made me more interested in lending my attention. If my little metaphor didn’t make this clear, Tribunal’s style takes some growing. At first glance, it’s built on the doom template that leans towards the epic end, dropping extremely dense guitar passages that draw out their momentum, topped by powerful vocals, all cleaned up for maximum clarity. The “gothic” elements arrive in the form of piano and string passages, rather than synths, and I might say that this is part of what sold me. Hell, maybe an electric keyboard is used for all of that, but the execution is convincing enough to not matter. They’re ultimately a background trait that add spice to an otherwise typical dish, but this choice alone is enough to invoke interest. Breaks like the middle of “Angel Of Mercy” are where they thrive the most, borrowing the forefront every now and then. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Some bands have a long history of EPs and demos that bring them to a full-length, others seem to hit the ground running immediately. Finnish doom metallers Bell Of Mimir fall in the latter category, with nothing on record before the year of our lord 2025, and only singles to lead up to the thunderous Nocturne. Brought to me by a most trusted doom metal source, they work within the traditional realm, avoiding any tacky fuzz or over the top stonerisms, sticking close to roots that err on the hinges of being epic. However, it may just be easier to say it’s a little louder in execution and a little sadder in vibe. Despite having such a huge sound, Bell Of Mimir manages to keep things rather compact, staying within the framework of only six tracks on the longer side, but only one (barely) crossing the seven minute mark. The cloudy delivery works as a gradient of gloom, built on crawling riffs that rumble on slower melodies, absent of any sharp edges helped by the ever present bass. This can come off as overwhelming at times, but the howling cleanliness of the vocals that exude layers of hopelessness manage to sound as if it’s being welcomed, or even conjured. Yes, it’s admittedly one-sided across the board, but the brief runtime I’ve mentioned makes that digestible. 
Written by: The Administrator
Here's an established fact: I like WARPSTORMER. Back in 2022, their debut EP Here Comes Hell made quite a mark--as I said back then, said EP "unleashes riffs with the confidence of a seasoned act and the haste of a band excited to parade their entire arsenal in a single 20 minutes span." Needless to say, the promise of a full length was exciting. Their self-titled debut LP came out last November, and, in classic fashion, it's taken me a very long time to actually write about it. Apologies for tardiness, etc. etc. WARPSTORMER plays a potent blend of stoner doom and thrash, a combination that feels simultaneously vigorous and sludgy. While the doomier stoner elements do frequently take center stage--the thrash is often more apparent in the roaring bombast than shredding speed per se--this album is notably forceful. WARPSTORMER feel like the bastard lovechild of High on Fire, The Sword, five gallons of diesel, and some high-octane guzzoline. And, while big punishing riffs often lead the charge, there are enough progressive and (dare I say?) cosmically inclined psych moments to lend the songwriting an expansive quality. With the exception of some very nice cleans that shine in the back half, the vocal delivery, which is raspy and striking in equal measure, fondly reminds me of the punchiness of Black Royal. While never unhinged, very little here feels overly restrained. WARPSTORMER is a powerful band, and isn't afraid to show it. 
Written by: The Administrator
If you are a purveyor of music review sites, you've undoubtedly learned to skip over the fluff that constitutes AOTY intros. The pointlessness of writing this isn't lost on me, let alone the fact that this is a list for, erm, the wrong year. In the music industry churn, an album released last year might as well be a million years old. Obsolete. Irrelevant. Forgotten. So: why 2023? Why not 2024, like unto a proper music review website? What's the rationale behind publishing this list a whole damn year late? There are two reasons. The first is that I think demonstrable longevity is an important aspect of music appreciation, and the ability of an album to outlast a narrow moment in time is a testament to its particular excellence. The second (and real) reason is that I am a profoundly lazy and frequently overwhelmed person, and compiling this list last December was a very large task that seemed, frankly, insurmountable. So here we are. These are 23 albums from 2023 that are, in significant hindsight, still very much my favorite albums of 2023. In terms of format, this list is alphabetical and purely unranked. The generally arbitrary structure of counting down to #1 simply doesn't demonstrate the way I enjoy music, nor is it an effective or accurate way to make recommendations. I'm also completely unconcerned about genre, as I listen to a lot of different stuff. If I'm writing a list, it should probably reflect the reality of listening habits instead of projecting a false image of metal exclusivity. Be prepared for eclecticism. I hope there's something lurking herein that catches your ear. A massive thank you to every artist who contributed to the releases below. And, dear reader, thank you for your readership and support of artists! You're the best. Yes, you. 
Written by: The Administrator
In the spirit of today's band in question, let's keep this intro short, shall we? Officers Down is a lean and mean two-track release from Revered and Reviled Above All Others, a historically lung-crushing doomviolence band. Over the past few years, I have personally found their intense and unique combination of suffocating brevity and overt fuck-the-police messaging to be quite alluring. If you're unfamiliar with (the henceforth abbreviated) RRAAO, the title of this double single should tell you all you need to know. If, however, you're approaching this review with a degree of familiarity, please note that their latest is a little less crushing and a little more incendiary than prior releases. Of course, that's all quite subjective--this is still an exceptionally sludgy experience. Both tracks feature a muscular tone that can only be compared to the sensation of snorkeling in concrete. The percussion is a little more industrially militant, giving "Buried Evidence" in particular an invigorating presence. One could most certainly throw down to this song. One could, perhaps, sling a variety of blunt and/or flammable objects, if one were so inclined. The vocals represent another evolution in the direction of immediacy. On "Bones of Anthropocene" in particular, they are more outwardly shouty and less like the all-consuming swallowed howls you could find dominating SWINEVOID or Toppling the Rotten Pillar. As a result, the lyrics are a tad easier to decipher. Somehow the fury is more palpable. Of the two tracks here, I do prefer the aforementioned "Buried Evidence" for its more urgent motion. "Bones of Anthropocene" is a little more plodding and lacks a true climactic moment--the track ends fairly unexpectedly. It does act as a nice foil to the kinetic approach of Side A. All told, Officers Down is a very fine addition to the RRAAO body of work, and serves as a compelling teaser for whatever comes next. Check it out here! Revered and Reviled Above All Others - Officers Down was released June 22nd, 2024
Revered and Reviled Above All Others can be found:
Bandcamp 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Philadelphia's very own Crypt Sermon aren’t really anything new these days, and with only three albums stretched across nearly ten years, you can tell a lot went into all of them. While the band has always been something I’ve acknowledged as pretty solid, they never did anything exponential for me. That is, until now. The Ruins Of Fading Light took the doom metal world by storm five years ago, but The Stygian Rose took me by storm this year. Formulaically speaking, the band hasn’t undergone any serious changes between records, putting emphasis on the “epic” in epic doom metal for years. Our latest outing stays pretty true to this label, however this is the one that absolutely finished off what I previously acknowledged as kinda cool into something truly immaculate. The themes around religion and medieval occult haven’t gone away, either. So what’s the big deal? Perhaps I’m biased, but I think it boils down to a few things. I think that The Stygian Rose put more force behind the vocal passages, sped up more of the innards, and offered some tonal expressions that assault the listener in a way that previous records didn’t do to me. Certain guitar passages feel like they could fit into a speed metal song despite their crushing doom metal weight, and the way it flows so naturally is beautiful. Moreover, there’s a clearer aura to the vocals that remain clean, mostly avoiding anything harsh save for some rasp, yet they carry more conviction than what I find in a lot of extreme metal. Packing this into six long tunes makes for a muscular narrative that would almost feel overwhelming if things weren’t placed so wonderfully. 
Written by: Blackie Skulless
Considering how much I loved the debut album by Indianapolis’s very own Vexing Hex, you can imagine my excitement upon hearing they’ve finally cooked up a follow up. Haunt was very much a spooky doom metal-meets-psychedelic/classic rock outing that often finds itself compared to the likes of Ghost. Now we get Solve Et Coagula hitting the surface several years later. The same stylistic grounding is very much present, but I’m glad to say it’s also derivative. Mainly, the slower, doom-cladded riffing is a little more relaxed here in exchange for more blatant rock ‘n roll numbers that have a poppy front. Layers upon layers of synth and effect make themselves even more known, without compromising the tight riffs the band has long since built itself on. Moreover, the bass is more present than ever, enforcing an aggressive bottom as well as playing an important role in the rhythm itself. The outcome is quite literally a mix of songs that almost feel metal oriented, and straight up radio tunes. |
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