rolling 2024 heavy metal and boutique blast beat thread

wimps and posers leave the hall!

Saguzar's Total Necro D-Beat Desecration sounds exactly like you think it will, but it's doing the job this morning.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1041989003_10.jpg

https://saguzar.bandcamp.com/album/total-necro-d-beat-desecration

lol i love albums that have their genre descriptions in the title

It won't make my playlist of great metal covers of non-metal songs because it's a metal song to begin with, obviously, but this Sershen&Zaritskaya version of "Rainbow In The Dark" is great.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6Wpuzey15pwj1mN0EBRw8s

This week’s post had the coloured vinyl reissues of Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. Haven’t spun the latter yet but the former sounds fantastic, far from the crackly experience that is the shitty pressing of From Enslavement to Obliteration that came out a few years ago (I can already hear unperson chastising me, vinyl is a sucker’s name, I know I know).

Also, RTL came with a download card but Puppets didn’t. Hmm. I’ve opened a ticket on the Metallica website and let’s see if that gets anywhere.

*weeks not years (that FETO reissue was in November I think?)

new (old) corrupted incoming. not my fave release but haven't listened to this "much darker" version yet...

Out 26 Jan: CORRUPTED 'Felicific Algorithm / Mushikeras' CD/Shirt

Corrupted is a mysterious Japanese doom metal band, formed in 1994. Immensely downtuned guitar and crushingly slow bass are shrouded under deep layers of feedback. They are rightly hailed as one of the heaviest and darkest doom metal bands of all time.

This is not a simple reissue of the 2018 multi-speed, vinyl-only release "Felicific Algorithim" (Cold Spring). Though the first two tracks were created using the same field recordings / source material captured in Amagasaki, Osaka, and Fukushima, the tracks have been carefully reworked into a much darker sound. The new track titles 'Felicific Algiorithm' and 'Felicific Aligorithm' reflect this; like a mind virus appearing the same at first glance.

The 27-minute track 'Mushikeras' was recorded 2022-23 as a four-piece line-up of Kaz Mike (howling guitar and bass), Rie Lambdoll (vocal and bass), Mark Y. (guitar and bass), and Chew (drum and high carbon steel). A self-released digital-only track in autumn '23, this is the first physical manifestation of this doom metal behemoth, full of loud sludge, funeral dirge, haunting whispers / howling harsh vocals, and atmospheric build-ups.

6-panel flood-printed digipak with striking photography by Rie Lambdoll, Mark Y, Chew, and collage by Hyng Hoian.

Also accompanything this release is a new Corrupted black t-shirt with white print.

Track listing:

1. Felicific Algiorithm (11:15)
2. Felicific Aligorithm (9:34)
3. Mushikeras (27:45)

https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/felicific-algorithm-mushikeras-csr333cd

There's a new Ministry album coming in March and it's...almost good? A lot of songs about needing to stamp out Nazis, a lot of samples of January 6 insurrectionists howling stupid shit into hot mikes, big thrash riffs with better production than he's had in several years...and it's pretty short (nine tracks, 42 minutes). On the other hand, Jello Biafra's on one song. Oh, and it's called HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES (all caps in original). So, a mixed bag.

lol, oh Al, never chamge.

ffs, autocorrect lets "chamge" go through?

Not a 2024 release, but just heard that Triumph of Death live album Tom G. Warrior did for the Hellhammer stuff, much better than I expected.

the live set I saw of them in 2019 was incredible. was cool to hear those songs live

just got tickets for the Sepultura farewell tour in.... November. so a way off, but still hyped that supports include Obituary and Jesus Piece.

half expect Ministry to just like do an album of industrial metal version of Beatles songs but just make them all about Trump.

I haven't listened to the three albums(!) he did ranting about GW Bush in at least 15 years, but I remember them being decent.

Lots of good new metal and related this week, but my favorites are the new Leaves' Eyes (symphonic), Vnreal (vaudevillian), Magnum (hard rock), Dead Crown (death metal that sounds like a Big Country b-side) and Dödsrit (black metal that sounds like a Big Country b-side).

Bow before Hoplites!

https://hoplites.bandcamp.com/album/--8

This is a Massive Breakthrough ftr

Here's a list of things I endeavor to listen to.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/419722320_10168737295070597_8711372815624815562_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=sCHcx2wOOecAX9RE7lI&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfAqkiZtyHIbQwxLdCYq59sQlY0rRI2-9JUxwXZ-IAyThw&oe=65A8B922

I blacked out the non-metal ones; you can guess what they are.
Not as trve or cult as other things here but I listen to those things as well.

anybody got a favorite site for researching older tour itineraries for indie/small-theater/club level artists? setlist.fm is very cool but it doesn’t include dates no one had a setlist for, and I need to play games with drive times and off-days

I'm not sure if there is a better resource than setlist.fm, I'd be curious to hear if anyone knows of anything. Undoubtedly there are probably some artist-specific tour sites that show old itineraries, but not sure if there's another collective place.

I have seen dates listed on setlist.fm for some bands, even if there are no setlists - for example this Boris show I saw at Empty Bottle back in 2008 is listed, but no setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/boris/2008/empty-bottle-chicago-il-3bd68c38.html

New Vemod is out. It's good!

It came out towards the end of last year, but I'm still finding new things to enjoy in this Baring Teeth album:
https://everythingisnoise.net/reviews/baring-teeth-the-path-narrows/

I was a huge fan of the progressive turn Lord Dying took with their last album and the new one continues in that vein, though it isn't quite as great. Got a whole new rhythm section, including Alyssa Maucere (Matt Pike's wife) on bass.

The new Vitriol album, Suffer & Become, is absolutely kicking my ass this Friday afternoon. Face-punching death metal of the Vader/Vital Remains/Hate Eternal school...totally merciless. Blast beats and roars and dissonant guitar squiggles and Tom G. Warrior-esque "URGH"s. Loving it.

One of the reasons this album kicks as much ass as it does is that Matt Kilner (aka Nithing) is on drums.

Yeah the drumming is incredible

Spun a few tracks from the Dissimulator debut Lower Form Resistance on 20 Buck Spin and I can dig it. It’s being sold as tech-thrash and I can tell what they’re going for with that description.

ok yeah this vitriol rips

its sort of a given here (mostly) but this thing really is heavy. esp when it slows down a little. also loving the solos and the parts where “i am the black wizards” keys pop up.

It's atmospheric as hell and there's an assload of stuff going on that's going to require several listens to fully appreciate.

Their riffs are so angular

I love the new Lucifer.

Hooky af and Johanna's vocals are still great as always.

Opening track seriously slaps

i checked out that vitriol album now i'm a fan.. i'm still pretty confused about what i'm hearing but it's definitely exciting me. plus the singer is hot.

Anybody who knows what the hell is going on in Spain, let me know, because all of a sudden I am waist-deep in totally rockin' power/trad/speed metal bands from Spain that sound like Accept, like Judas Priest circa 1979, like...everything good in life. This is Savaged:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0032148295_10.jpg

Their debut album Night Stealer has songs called "Tons of Leather," "Knights of Metal," "Stealing the Night" and "Running for Your Love (Tonight)." They rule.

https://savaged.bandcamp.com/album/night-stealer

I've also been listening to Iron Curtain's Savage Dawn, their fifth album (and first since 2019), and they do the same type of thing, but maybe even a little speedier, in an early Motörhead/Tank mode:

https://ironcurtainattack.bandcamp.com/album/savage-dawn

I need more of this stuff!

Anybody know how fashy Unaussprechlichen Kulten is or isn't? New one is the sorta of weird chewy death metal I like ... buuuuut it's on Iron Bonehead

and I feel like naming yrself after a Lovecraft thing is distinctly unhelpful, coz, y’know, you can been into the Mythos because tentacled horrors from beyond space are cool .... or because of what the dude named his cat 🙄

My big Bandcamp Friday splurge this month is the whole discography of Lady Beast, a Pittsburgh, PA trad/power metal band who've been around for like 15 years but I just discovered them tonight. I bought a compilation of their first two albums and an EP, their third and fourth albums, and another EP, all for about $20. If you're a fan of Crystal Viper, Christian Mistress, Huntress, and other trad/power metal bands with female singers, this will be your kind of thing.

https://ladybeast.bandcamp.com/

oooh a rainbow cover!

Best album credits of 2024 so far:

L.B. - Six Strings of Doomed Dementia
B.P. - Six More Strings of Delirium, Choir of Madness
L.V.L. - 4 Chthonic Vibrations of the Earth, Blower of the Blossoming Horn, Choir of Blasphemy
T.H. - Beater of Skins from the Depths of Hades to the Heights of Olympus
N.C. - Invocator of the Primordial Fire and Spells of Enchantment

From Dionysiaque's Diogonos, out next month on I, Voidhanger (of course).

I'd been off and on trying to fill a countries-of-the-world bingo card with music and movies to listen/watch, and this thread has been pretty great -- what's the most obscure country or region where you've found metal gems?

sorry this is not exactly within the focus of this thread, but i'm not sure where else to post it. i've been really into that vitriol album, and wanting to know what else sounds like it, i asked my partner's metalhead nephew what else i should check out. i had never heard and now really like hate eternal. i'd never heard gorguts. i like it ("colored sands") but i think i should probably try an earlier record.

he told me he hadn't really listened to them but that he keeps hearing about deathspell omega. so i copped "the last defeat" and oh my fucking GOD it's completely blowing me away. it's just the best thing ever.

I liked some of Deathspell Omega's earlier stuff - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice and Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum - but vocalist Mikko Aspa is both a Nazi and a pedophile, so...

ah shit

xpost - unperson, have you heard that Dionusiaque album yet? was considering ordering it with some other stuff from I, Voidhanger but was wondering if it was worth it.

I haven't listened to the whole thing, but the two tracks streaming on Bandcamp are pretty good — I like the prominence of the bass.

Cool, thanks. I liked those two, was just curious if the whole thing held up like that. Usually try to bundle a few things when I order from them since shipping is pretty high.

If there's one thing everyone in the music industry knows, it's Do Not Tempt The Wrath Of Sharon Fucking Osbourne. I almost feel sorry for Kanye West.

. @kanyewest ASKED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE A SECTION OF A 1983 LIVE PERFORMANCE OF “WAR PIG” FROM THE US FESTIVAL WITHOUT VOCALS & WAS REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY. HE WENT AHEAD AND USED THE SAMPLE ANYWAY AT HIS ALBUM…

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) February 9, 2024

In case the tweet doesn't populate:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:izxpomdyri45gzhppiiyattq/bafkreigvbgkxbklnjpotts5phxt3zrklo43fgowdsscyi2etulmqmpvgwy@jpeg

Was it Iron Maiden that she had people throw eggs at because they outplayed Ozzy at one of his festivals? She should start that up again.

There's a new Chapel of Disease album out today:

https://chapelofdisease.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-of-light

I liked their last one (...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye, released in 2018) a lot, so this was an instant purchase for me.

got the apartment to myself (well, myself and some sleepy cats), so taking the opportunity to loudly try out the new spectral voice (along with the new kali malone, which is metal adjacent and quite good). i love their demos comp and some of their splits, liked the first full-length tho thought it dragged a bit, and am pretty on board with the new one midway thru. currently at the big payoff moment in “sinew censer” 😈

they def lean more into the disembowelment sound than most of their contemporaries in the very crowded death doom field, which i enjoy

is this band really hyped or something? blood incantation connection? a quick glance at the bandcamp and rym comments is showing more negativity than expected from - i’m guessing - young skeptic types

I need to hear the new Kali Malone before I buy it. I like her organ stuff but this one seems like it might be a little too...active?

i had the same concern looking at the (long-ish) tracklist but the shorter choir pieces work as interludes for me and compliment the longer, slower organ drone tracks well imo

New Coffins album March 29! The first song is so gross (in the best way). I swear their guitar tone gives me literal chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6FS5br7MYY

omfg i'm really liking this fellowship album and uhh those boys are cute

the first power metal thing i've heard that i like, i think? the earnestness is a+

are they xtian? they sound like the could be lol

yes map yes. come over to the power metal side

I really liked Fellowship's album from 2022. The 'power metal' and 'power pop' tags on Bandcamp were part of what piqued my curiosity - that combination makes a lot of sense on "Scars and Shrapnel Wounds."

Theurgy's Emanations Of Unconscious Luminescence is absolutely blowing my mind this morning — it's a bunch of brutal death metal dudes (including the guy behind Anal Stabwound) paying tribute to Cynic, Decrepit Birth and that whole school of cosmic/psychedelic death metal, while still keeping it broooootal. Plus, amid all the squiggly prog-fusion guitar solos and insane riff-storms, they throw in a cover of Devourment's "Molesting the Decapitated" just for laughs. Seriously, this album rules.

https://newstandardelite.bandcamp.com/album/theurgy-emanations-of-unconscious-luminescence

well, that’s a must hear in my book. thanks for passing the rec along!

yeah, this is the good stuff. some of those sharp little micro riff bits even reminded me of gridlink!

Big co-sign on the Theurgy album! Fave brutal/slam album of this year by far.

Hey, sorry I haven't been around much. I hope everyone had a good metal year!

Really liking Theurgy too!

The Judas Priest album made The Wire's year-end list, which suggests that I wasn't the only one of their writers to vote for it!

Is it just me, or has this been a particularly strong year for metal?

I always hesitate to compare years (there's so much out there; my metal interests are always changing), but yeah, I've found tons of great stuff.

I'm loving the new Bedsore. Proggy/psychedelic death metal with a dark, luxuriant, cinematic quality out of Italian prog of the 70s.

I've been avoiding them even though every time I read a description of their music it sounds like it would totally be for me, because their name is Bedsore. But I'm gonna listen to that album today. Hopefully I'll like it as much as I used to like, say, Ephel Duath.

Is it just me, or has this been a particularly strong year for metal?

All I know is the quality of the good stuff this year has been a) higher than the best albums in recent years, and b) in greater number than usual. Just a wallopingly fun year for metal.

I've been avoiding them even though every time I read a description of their music it sounds like it would totally be for me, because their name is Bedsore

i’m glad i'm not the only one!

same here. I'm going to, though! Maybe tomorrow..

Yeah, me too...

Yeah, the Bedsore is phenomenal, I love it. Not that I'm 100% on board with the idea (since I do also love the Blood Incantation), but I can understand those saying Bedsore does a better job of integrating the prog elements more naturally into their metal sound, instead of "this is the death metal section, this is the '70s psych solo, this is the keyboard noodly part".

Speaking of Blood Incantation, went to see them last night, they sounded fantastic. Because of my gout flare, I didn't want to spend more time on my feet than necessary, so I got there with a couple songs left in Midwife's set and it was so packed I couldn't see shit. They played incredibly well though.

I listened to about half the Bedsore record yesterday, and it's really good. Part Opeth, part Ephel Duath, part Goblin. Really into it.

Excited.

I was at Blood Incantation last night, too. Sounded pretty good. I got there early enough to get a good spot but lost it when I got a beer. Which was for the best, because those super cool rune-covered stage obelisks blocked the entire drumset, so I watched the last third from near the stairs, where I could see everything.

The three of us there were in agreement with Midwife, btw. We were all sympathetic to what she was doing and started out on board, but she lost us after a couple of songs.

Midwife lost me, only because I was so amped for Absolute Elsewhere. Her album's nice, though. The cool thing about the Montréal show, though, was how warmly received she was. All the chuds and chodes were probably at the sketchy black metal fest on the other side of the city.

I still can't get over how great Blood Incantation were. And although drum solos often bore me, give me an extended gong solo any day. That ruled.

also the frontman looks like Gallagher

lol the last time I saw Swans live, I want to sayThor started the show with a 20-minute gong solo.

Huh, this Bedsore album is not what I expected. And it's pretty fucking weird, too! Kinda ... goth Van der Graaf Generator vibes?

Finally had time to finish the whole Bedsore album and this is so absolutely my shit. I fucking love this record. So prog, and my favorite kind of prog, too: dark, operatic, not at all nerdy or corny.

Glad you liked it! I think it's fantastic and I actually kind of like how their are three big prog metal albums this year (Bedsore, Blood Incantation, Opeth) that are all terrific and proggy in such wildly varying ways.

I'm all about Bedsore being what the term "progressive metal" refers to and not, fuckin', Dream Theater.

Wonderbox 2024 metal list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kgAby8nqthbLeHDWW252d

Pretty sure I've never even heard of their #1: Civerous Maze Envy.

This Oxygen Destroyer album is on Bandcamp's year-end metal list. Blistering thrash that reminds me of Hypnosia:

https://oxygen-destroyer.bandcamp.com/album/guardian-of-the-universe

this infernalivm (um, sure, whatever) ep is a nice little shot of morbid angel-ey fun

Yeah, that Oxygen Destroyer album is a lot of fun.

if you're like me and you like your black metal songs to just be one slow, distorted bassline repeated for 10+ mins, then this new one from finland’s flail might be your black metal record of the year too

https://flail666.bandcamp.com/album/within-the-firths-of-futility

Kari Rueslatten is back with The 3rd & The Mortal and they’re going to tour: https://www.facebook.com/61570829874525/posts/122099606546694329/

Master of the Games by Demon Bitch is pretty awesome. High-energy, theatrical 80s heavy metal, like a fantasy-themed Mercyful Fate, with a ridiculous singer doing his best cartoon power metal voice the whole time.

Also, thanks to everyone for all the great recommendations in 2024!

FYI, here are all the metal or metal-adjacent records I included on my two-part list (the first part was published in July, the second today) for Burning Ambulance:

Aluk Todolo, Lux (The Ajna Offensive)
Attic, Return of the Witchfinder (Ván)
Bedsore, Dreaming The Strife For Love (20 Buck Spin)
Blood Incantation, Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)
Buñuel, Mansuetude (Skin Graft)
Chapel of Disease, Echoes of Light (Ván)
Coffins, Sinister Oath (20 Buck Spin)
The Crown, Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
Defeated Sanity, Chronicles Of Lunacy (Season of Mist)
Deicide, Banished By Sin (Reigning Phoenix)
Demiser, Slave To The Scythe (Metal Blade)
Final, What We Don’t See (Room40)
Grand Magus, Sunraven (Nuclear Blast)
High On Fire, Cometh The Storm (MNRK)
High Rise, Disturbance Trip (Black Editions)
Ingurgitating Oblivion, Ontology Of Nought (Willowtip)
Iron Curtain, Savage Dawn (Dying Victims Productions)
Judas Priest, Invincible Shield (Sony)
Lord Spikeheart, The Adept (HAEKALU)
Malignancy, Discontinued (Willowtip)
Mean Mistreater, Razor Wire (self-released)
Necrot, Lifeless Birth (Tankcrimes)
Opeth, The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Phenocryst, Cremation Pyre (Blood Harvest)
Replicant, Infinite Mortality (Transcending Obscurity)
Slift, Ilion (Sub Pop)
Sunbomb, Light Up The Sky (Frontiers)
Theurgy, Emanations Of Unconscious Luminescence (New Standard Elite)
Ulcerate, Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
Vitriol, Suffer & Become (Century Media)
Wolfbrigade, Life Knife Death (Metal Blade)
Wormed, Omegon (Season of Mist)

If you like metal covers, I highly recommend both of these albums:

Crippled Black Phoenix: https://open.spotify.com/album/6oR81v3JiT1QWZHzgcwgGi
Tulip: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Ph0DGT5l7aOydaSTyLXEc

Here's Chuck Eddy's top 20 "rock" albums of 2024 (mostly of the metal or punk persuasion):

Chapel of Disease (Cologne progressive death metal with gorgeous classic rock guitar interplay)
Kahfa (Noir Désir-like heavy Swiss graveyard blooze)
Wet Dip (Spanglish two-girl/one-boy neo-no wave Austinites)
Kontact (Alberta’s sci-fried answer to Voivod)
King Stingray (gleefully digeridooed indigenous Australians)
Tarot (Tasmanian prog-folk metal)
Bedsore (prog-death-metal from Rome)
Cumgirl8 (sex-positive four-woman NY post-post-punks)
Opeth (Stockholm stalwarts — and okay I guess prog-death metal did have a decent year)
Gates of Slumber (Indianapolis doom-metal)
Kill The Thrill (Marseille industrial metal)
Bewitcher (Portland, Oregon black-thrash with a rhythm that rolls)
Penza Penza (Estonian instrumental fuzz-surf garage)
Neptune Power Federation (Sydney AC/DC rock fronted by woman in elaborate ocean-goddess headgear)
Grand Magus (Stockholm power doom)
Träume (off-kilter Warsaw hardcore brats)
Satan’s Satyrs (Virginia biker metal’n’roll)
Sheepdogs (Saskatoon Southern boogie)
Hands of Goro (old-school San Francisco power-trio metal rookies)
Dolmen Gate (epic metal from Lisbon)

May as well add my own metal list in alphabetical order...

Akhlys - House of the Black Geminus (Debemur Morti Productions)
Alcest - Les Chants de L'Aurore (Nuclear Blast)
Aluk Todolo - Lux (NoEvDiA)
Aseethe - The Cost (Thrill Jockey Records)
Axioma - Live Totality (Stained Glass Torments)
Black Tusk - The Way Forward (Season of Mist)
Blasphemous - To Lay Siege and Conquer (Adirondack Black Mass)
Blitzkrieg - Blitzkrieg (Mighty Music)
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media Records)
The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)
The Body - The Crying Out of Things (Thrill Jockey Records)
Buñuel - Mansuetude (Skin Graft Records)
Bütcher - On Fowl of Tyrant Wing (Osmose Productions)
Category 7 - Category 7 (Metal Blade Records)
Chat Pile - Cool World (The Flesner)
Julie Christmas - Ridiculous and Full Of Blood (Red Crk Recordings)
The Clamps - Megamouth (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Corrupted - Felicific Algorithm / Mushikeras (Cold Spring)
Couch Slut - You Could Do It Tonight (Brutal Panda Records)
Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose (Dark Descent Records)
Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All (Peaceville Records)
Deadyellow - What Was Left of Them (Pile Of Heads Productions)
Deceased - Children of the Morgue (Hells Headbangers)
A Deer A Horse - Texas Math (Rookie Records)
Demiser - Slave to the Scythe (Metal Blade Records)
Desolus - System Shock (Hells Headbangers)
Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project (Duellist Holdings/BMG)
Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will (Wolves of Hades)
Early Moods - A Sinner's Past (RidingEasy Records)
Enforced - A Leap Into the Dark [EP] (Century Media Records)
Escuela Grind - Ddeeaatthhmmeettaall [EP] (MNRK Records)
Escuela Grind - Dreams on Algorithms (MNRK Records)
Exhorder - Defectum Omnium (Nuclear Blast)
Flight of the Sleipnir - Nature's Cadence (Eisenwald)
Full of Hell - Coagulated Bliss (Closed Casket Activities)
Full of Hell with Andrew Nolan - Scraping the Divine (Closed Casket Activities)
Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition (Nuclear Blast Records)
The Gates of Slumber - The Gates of Slumber (Svart Records)
Ghoul - Noxious Concoctions [EP] (Tankcrimes)
God Bullies - As Above, So Below (Reptilian Records)
God Mother - Sinneseld [EP] (Self-Release)
Hands of Goro - Hands of Goro (Self-Release)
Hashtronaut - No Return (Blues Funeral Recordings)
Haunt - Dreamers (Iron Grip Metal)
Heavy Temple - Garden of Heathens (Magnetic Eye Records)
Hellbutcher - Hellbutcher (Metal Blade Records)
High on Fire - Cometh the Storm (MNRK Records)
High Reeper - Renewed by Death (Heavy Psych Records)
Houkago Grind Time - Koncertos of Kawaiiness (Obliteration Records)
Hulder - Verses in Oath (20 Buck Spin)
Insect Ark - Raw Blood Singing (Debemur Morti Productions)
Inter Arma - New Heaven (Relapse Records)
The Jesus Lizard - Rack (Ipecac Records)
Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (Sony Records)
Khold - Du dømmes til død (Soulseller Records)
Knoll - As Spoken (Self-Release)
Korpiklaani - Rankarumpu (Nuclear Blast Records)
Krallice - Inorganic Rites (P2)
Legions of Doom - The Skull 3 (Tee Pee Records)
Locrian - End Terrain (Profound Lore)
Lucifer - V (Nuclear Blast)
Melted Bodies - The Inevitable Fork (Self-Released)
Melvins - Tarantula Heart (Ipecac Recordings)
Mesarthim - Anthropic Bias / Departure (Avantgarde Music)
Midnight - Hellish Expectations (Metal Blade Records)
Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses (Nuclear Blast)
Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse Records)
The Neptune Power Federation - Goodnight My Children (Cruz Del Sur Music)
Night Fever - Dead End (Svart Records)
No Gods - Counterfeit // Noose Wound (Heavy and Fast Records)
Nòtt - Ruinous Divinity (Self-Release)
The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow (Ripple Music)
Orange Goblin - Science, Not Fiction (Peaceville Records)
Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja (Nuclear Blast)
Pallbearer - Mind Burns Alive (Nuclear Blast Records)
Paysage D'Hiver - Die Berge (Kunsthall Produktionen)
Planes Mistaken for Stars - Do You Still Love Me? (Deathwish, Inc.)
Pyrrhon - Exhaust (Willowtip Records)
Riot V - Mean Streets (Atomic Fire Records)
Ripped to Shreds - Sanshi (Relapse Records)
Rotting Christ - Pro Xristou (Season of Mist)
Satan - Songs In Crimson (Metal Blade Records)
Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation (Silver Lining Music)
Scarcity - The Promise of Rain (The Flesner)
Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless (Century Media Records)
Slift - Ilion (Sub Pop Records)
Solar Temple & Dead Neanderthals - Embers Beget The Divine (Consouling Sounds)
Sólstafir - Hin helga kvöl (Century Media Records)
Spectral Voice - Sparagmos (Dark Descent Records)
Spectral Wound - Songs of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore)
Spiter - Enter the Gates of Fucking Hell (Hells Headbangers)
Suicidal Angels - Profane Prayer (Nuclear Blast)
Sumac - The Healer (Thrill Jockey Records)
Swans - Live Rope (Young God Records)
Thou - Umbilical (Sacred Bones Records)
Thy Catafalque - XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek (Season of Mist)
Tribulation - Sub Rosa in Æternum (Century Media Records)
Týr - Battle Ballads (Metal Blade Records)
Ufomammut - Hidden (Neurot Recordings)
Undeath - More Insane (Prosthetic Records)
Unholy Altar - Veil of Death! Shroud of Nite (Liminal Dread Productions)
Uniform - American Standard (Sacred Bones Records)
Vicious Blade - Relentless Force (Redefining Darkness)
Whores. - War. (The Ghost Is Clear Records)
Witchtrap - Hungry as the Beast (Hells Headbangers)
Chelsea Wolfe - Unbound [EP] (Loma Vista Recordings)
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (Loma Vista Recordings)
Yoth Iria - Blazing Inferno (Edged Circle Productions)
Youth Death Club - Demo [EP] (Self-Release)
Zeal & Ardor - Greif (Redacted)

A few that I enjoyed:

Abhorration - Demonolatry
Bedsore - Dreaming the Strife for Love
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
Devenial Verdict - Blessing of Despair
Hideous Divinity - Unextinct
Huntsmen - The Dry Land
Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
Oxygen Destroyer - Guardian of the Universe
Recidivist - Madness Malformed
200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures

In no particular order mine are: Judas Priest, Ulcerate, Transit Method, Crypt Sermon, Blood Incantation, Bedsore, Oranssi Pazuzu, Couch Slut, and Chat Pile. There are so many on these lists I haven't listened to! The first few months of a new year are always busy times listening to the previous year's best.

Anybody on here heard Ploughshare from Canberra, Oz yet?
Really good fretless-bass tech-ish/proggy blackened death with a nicely higher-pitched vocal that reminds me in a great way of the likes of Mefitis (whose own album from last year was a relative disappointment to these ears comp. to prev album Offscourings, but still) or Stargazer (esp the latter w/r/t integration of creative fretless playing): https://ploughshare.bandcamp.com/album/second-wound

My 2024 metal(/-ish) list:

Nightwish: Yesterwynde
Imperia: Dark Paradise
Unleash The Archers: Phantoma
Caligula's Horse: Charcoal Grace
Elvellon: Ascending in Synergy
The Neptune Power Federation: Goodnight My Children
Botanist: Paleobotany
Madder Mortem: Old Eyes, New Heart
Leprous: Melodies Of Atonement
DGM: Endless
Thy Catafalque: XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek
Schammasch: The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean
Reverorum ib Malacht: Aya Shi Karahn
Reverorum ib Malacht: Martyrium Matrimonii : Sacrificium Christi
Exit Eden: Femmes Fatales
Krallice: Inorganic Rites
Blood Stain Child: METALIA
Sinistro: Vértice
Yoth Iria: Blazing Inferno
Teramaze: Eli: A Wonderful Fall from Grace
Issa: Another World
Panzerfaust: The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion
Exist: Hijacking The Zeitgeist
Bonjour Tristesse: The World Without Us
Fellwarden: Legend
Vnreal: From Beyond
Grimgotts: The Time of the Wolfrider
Ante-Inferno: Death’s Soliloquy
Öxxö Xööx: +
Ulcerate: Cutting the Throat of God
Leaves' Eyes: Myths of Fate
The Mist From The Mountains: Portal - The Gathering of Storms
Silhouette: Les Dires de l'Âme
BAND-MAID: Epic Narratives
Massive Scar Era: ASSYAD
Déhà: Averses III
Frozen Crown: War Hearts
E-An-Na: Nomad
Akhlys: House of the Black Geminus
Mitochondrion: Vitriseptome
Starchaser: Into The Great Unknown
Hermóðr: Mountain Winds
Eivør: Enn
Dragony: Hic Svnt Dracones
Secret Sphere: Blackened Heartbeat (Deluxe)
Funeral: Gospel of Bones
Winterfylleth: The Imperious Horizon
Caelestra: Bastion
VOLA: Friend Of A Phantom
Vredehammer: God Slayer
Fleesh: Dreamension
Alunah: Fever Dream
Raat: Enchantment
Нуки: Терапия
Houle: Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire
Ingurgitating Oblivion: Ontology of Nought
Anomalie: Riverchild
Boris / Coaltar Of The Deepers: "hello there"
Horna: Nyx - Hymnejä Yölle
Synlakross: Mental Parasites
Veilburner: The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom
Charlotte Wessels: The Obsession
Poppy: Negative Spaces
Gigan: Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
Metalite: Expedition One
Wormwitch: Wormwitch
Grand Magus: Sunraven
Bossk: .4
HammerFall: Avenge The Fallen
Frost*: Life In The Wires
Sear Bliss: Heavenly Down
Al-Namrood: Al Aqrab
Biesy: Golem
Botanist: VII: Beast of Arpocalyx
Ghostheart Nebula: Blackshift
Brothers of Metal: Fimbulvinter
Paysage D'Hiver: Die Berge
FÓRN: Repercussions of the Self
Devin Townsend: PowerNerd
Rotting Christ: Pro Xristou
Monolithe: Black Hole District
Asenblut: Entfesselt
Firtan: Ethos
Inter Arma: New Heaven
Glare Of The Sun: TAL
Xandria: Universal Tales
Fellowship: The Skies Above Eternity
Crippled Black Phoenix: The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature
Forgotten Tomb: Nightfloating
Dödsrit: Nocturnal Will
Äera: Phantast
Agrypnie: Erg
Hiraes: Dormant
Dream Evil: Metal Gods
Dwell in Doom: Ruins of the Divine
IOTUNN: Kinship
Ensiferum: Winter Storm
dArtagnan: Herzblut
Aran: Maahan Laskettu

Yow, that was a good year.

New Christian Mistress album coming out in March! It's called Children Of The Earth and it's on Cruz Del Sur.

!

Between that news and your Fushitsusha post, you are really making my day here!

Timings and venues are out for Incineration Festival.

Wish there was more time for Blood Incantation as this is the only UK date this year, but I guess they are playing the album and the album is 50 mins....

I know no other bands apart form Minami Deutsch, so would appreciate some early day recommendations.

you're in last year's thread but no matter. Coffin Mulch and Blackbraid is a sad time clash; both rule but i will have to hit Blackbraid as i've seen Coffin Mulch 3 times...
Spectral Wound are killer live - a shame they clash with Gorgon Vomit (London based rasta-death metal). also excited for Bedsore and Triptykon.

i hear good things about Lamp Of Murmuur live show too; not that familiar with recorded material tho

I would absolutely suggest seeing Bedsore, that new album is tremendous and I can see it translating well to a live show.

but you should also take some time to hit those classic Celtic Frost LPs because the Triptykon set should be a great end of fest closer