My top 10 heavy metal albums for 2024

December, a month of celebration, contemplation and some much deserved time off work.

I'm a bit early with one bit of the contemplation, namely which heavy metal albums I consider my favorites of 2024. I lean towards death/black and doom metal, so don't expect Amaranthe and Nightwish kind of bands on this list.

10 - Devenial Verdict - Blessing of Despair

Let's kick it off with an album that the average Nightwish enjoyer will recoil from within 60 seconds. This is death metal with a dissonance to it that makes it "weird", if you're not used to this kind of stuff. Yet, this band shows that they can combine the dissonance with beautiful melodies and restraint. The variety in this music is what draws me to it.

My favorite song from the album: Cold Lantern

9 - Anciients - Beyond The Reach of the Sun

Masters of layering and story telling in progressive metal, I was so glad Anciients came out with a new album. We only had to wait EIGHT years since Voice of the Void.

This band is much more melodic compared to number 10, so give this a go if Devenial Verdict was too much for you. There are harsh vocals, but also plenty of clean singing to go around.

My favorite song from the album is Despoiled.

8 - My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding

I just have a weak spot for this band. You could critique this doom metal album by saying "it's not ground-breaking", and you'd be right. But, like most MDB releases, it just hits the spot for me. Especially on days when I feel moody and gloomy.

Simplistic compositions are an MDB trademark (example song: The Cry of Mankind), and what you might find repetitive, I find meditative.

Case in point:

7 - The Vision Bleak - Weird Tales

To continue (or even intensify) the gothic vibes, we'll go to my number 7: The Vision Bleak's Weird Tales. This album is best listened to in its entirety, as each song fluidly continues into the next.

I can only describe this album with one word: delightful.

This is a musical journey that will show you a lot of the different faces of metal. You'll experience gloomy piano solo's, some grunts but mostly clean vocals, rock, riffs, and overall: awesome gothic vibes. Some people call this "horror metal", and I get what they mean, but to me this is more "cozy metal". Maybe I'm weird, idk.

My favorite song, but it's better if you organically get there:

6 - Ihsahn - IHSAHN

This one is on the list because I have listened to it a lot. As someone who plays in an orchestra, I just love it when extreme metal is combined with classical music. That's why my gateway into heavy metal was Nightwish and Therion. I no longer listen to Nightwish, but Therion is still in my rotation.

I do love black metal (an acquired taste), and I love that the orchestra got such a prominent role on this record. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the grunts of mister Ihsahn (a bit too raspy, not deep), but I can stomach it.

Absolute highlight is without a doubt:

Time to go over my top 5!

5 - Opeth - The Last Will and Testament

It's a pity this one came out so close to December, as I'm quite sure it would have been my most played album of 2024 otherwise. I had not kept up with Opeth for quite some albums because they got too proggy and soft for me. But, the old style is at least back a bit! The grunts of Mikael are THE BEST in the scene.

I think this album will please fans of older Opeth and newer Opeth alike. And I don't think they compromised on anything, the compositions are top-notch.

I made one mistake with this album and played it non-stop for 2 days. That was too much, lol.

Fav song is the opener:

4 - Vredehammer - God Slayer

Alright, now for something completely different. This is what non-metal listeners think all metal sounds like, I'm afraid. This album is unforgiving, brutal and just goes hard almost all the time.

To me, it's been highly addictive and excellent deadlift fuel. I mostly listened to this album in the gym! I think this one is going to be my most played album for this year, let's see what Spotify says on the end of year review.

Let there be no doubt: this is extreme death metal. Yet, it's so....catchy?

I have deadlifted 172,5kg x 2 on this song, just saying:

3 - Pantheïst - Kings Must Die

This band is too obscure and deserves more love. Like, waaaaaay more love. Under 2k monthly listeners on Spotify is an insult, really.

This album is more like an EP, but the title song is 15 minutes long and excellent. It's a journey, let me tell you.

You could ask if this is still metal, and it's like....yeah....kinda? It's a bit of funeral doom metal, combined with classical music, neo-folk and ambient. (my god, look at me throwing all these subgenres around like I know what I'm talking about?)

There's just one thing for you to do, and that is to take 15 minutes out of your day to listen to this brilliant piece of music:

2 - Hamfer∂ - Men Gu∂s hond er sterk

We're getting close to my number one pick for this year, and let me tell you that it was a close competition. This album is already close to perfection for me (I only always skip the last spoken word track). This is doom metal that takes you for a journey. Not that I can understand a word of it, but thankfully translations were provided with the record I bought.

The singer of this band is so good. His cleans are so angelic and his grunts so deep. It's hard to imagine one person can make both these sounds! The guitar work, riffs and drums are so incredibly good on this album.

Doom metal is apparently my most listened subgenre in heavy metal, I guess mostly because the vibe best matches my gloomy personality. However, besides gloom, there's also so much beauty to be found in most doom metal and this album illustrates it perfectly. My favorite track is the opener, Ábær, but to illustrate my point, please listen to Marrusorg. It starts with a crushing riff, only to morph into something gentle (and back).

1 - Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

I have not been this excited by heavy metal in a long time. This feels like a paradigm shift, to me. It's boundary breaking. This is like Pink Floyd and death metal made a baby. Yet, it's even more than that... It's so trippy, it's so tight, it's so old school, it's so futuristic, it's mind-blowing!

Listening to this really takes me away from my daily worries. There are six songs on the album, but actually there are only 2 songs on the album. The Stargate is divided in three "songs", but it doesn't make sense to just listen to the second "song". You could divide a listening session by listening to the three Stargate songs, and then stop. Or you choose to listen to the three "songs" of The Message.

I also love how hilariously deep the text goes:

All life is suffering that basks in nothingness
All life is temporary, what lasts is consciousness

Bonus points if you can read "Blood Incantation" in that yellow blob of text.

That was it, my top 10 for 2024!

I'm not even going to ask you whether you agree with my picks, as this is MY LIST and "just my opinion, man".

If you want to share your favorite metal albums of this year, please do so!