First, a brief statement. I reviewed over 600 albums this year as Editor-In-Chief, and music is the one thing that I could not live without in my life. I looked back on past lists and noticed one constant. Each year, I talk about how great a year it was for Metal music, and this year that is true once again. That tells me one thing…Metal is still alive and well, and pushing forward, knocking over and at times plowing through genre barriers. With that in mind, raise a mug, and join me in a toast of the best albums of 2024.

Number 25:

Band Name: Mother of Millions

Album Name: Magna Mater

Genre: Progressive Metal/Rock

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: ViciSolum

More Progressive Metal fans should be aware of this band, and this album especially, because as good as their previous albums were, this one tops them all. The album features illustrious melodies and a stand out vocal performance that is backed with a bottom end that is substantially intense, and what results is a balance that just hasn’t been reached this year.

Number 24:

Band Name: Hippotraktor

Album Name: Stasus

Genre: Progressive/Post Metal

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Pelagic Records

This is part of a new wave of Progressive music in my opinion. The album combines the best of what Metal has to offer: a heavy bottom end, melodies at the top, and a lot of tension and atmosphere. Each track showcases powerful riffs and deep bass lines that form a solid foundation, while soaring melodies add a contrasting layer of beauty and complexity. The music is infused with a palpable sense of tension, creating a gripping listening experience, and atmospheric elements enhance the overall mood, making the album a standout piece that masterfully blends heaviness, melody, and an evocative, brooding ambiance.

Number 23:

Band Name: Malconfort

Album Name: Humanism

Genre: Avant-garde

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

It’s hard to even draw a peer comparison to this band, but if I had to, I would say they are on the same planet as IHSAHN at least. But, they occupy half of the celestial body as their own, and live in the shadows. The songwriting and musicianship are outstanding. If you are in for something different, something with a lot of character, style, and substance, give “Humanism” your time. It has album of the year potential for sure.

Number 22:

Band Name: Swallow the Sun

Album Name: Shining

Genre: Melodic Doom/Death Metal

Year of Formation: 2000

Record Label: Century Media

This album shows that even as veterans, the band didn’t play it safe or rely on familiar formulas. Instead, they boldly mixed the raw bite of Metal and guttural vocals with moments of delicate piano and vulnerable, clean singing. It’s a striking contrast that shouldn’t work—but it does. The heaviness feels even more intense because of the tender, atmospheric sections, and the band demonstrates masterful control in balancing these elements. Each track flows with purpose, proving they’re still willing to take risks and evolve without losing their signature intensity.

Number 21:

 Band Name: Zetra

Album Name: Zetra

 Genre: Gothic Metal

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label:  Nuclear Blast

This album is a captivating fusion of retro 80’s nostalgia and contemporary intensity, where every track feels like a neon-lit ride through a dark cityscape. The music features a retroactive  aesthetic and anthemic choruses that echo the best of a bygone era. Beneath this nostalgic veneer lies a heavy and modern edge—a fierce undercurrent of powerful riffs and aggressive production that makes each song feel fresh electrifying. It successfully captures the spirit of rebellion and adventure that defined the 80’s, while pushing the boundaries of modern rock, and is filled with heart, hooks, and undeniable drive.

Number 20:

Band Name: Nightwraith

Album Name: Divergence

Genre: Black/Death/Doom/Progressive

Year of Formation: 2017

Record Label: What’s Left Records

This album stands out as one of the most unusual I've ever heard. It masterfully blends the raw intensity of fierce Black Metal with the soothing presence of smooth keyboards and intricate guitar harmonies. The contrast between the harsh vocals and the melodic, atmospheric layers creates a unique listening experience that feels both powerful and unexpectedly harmonious, pushing the boundaries of what music can offer.

Number 19:

Band Name: LizZard

Album Name: Mesh

Genre: Progressive/Experimental Rock

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Pelagic Records

Bands like LizZard are out there, but it takes a whole lot more digging to find them. I am very happy this passed over my hands. At its core, it’s a simple album, with many pleasing melodies, but it has so much thought behind the compositions. Perhaps most convincingly, I can’t easily put into words the way it made me feel, but the point is that it did.

Number 18:

Band Name: Evergrey

Album Name: Theories of Emptiness

Genre: Progressive Metal

Year of Formation: 1993

Record Label: Napalm

This album weaves together disparate emotions and themes into a compelling narrative. Melodies soar and dip, carrying listeners on a journey through a landscape of shifting moods. At times, the music is imbued with a sense of mystery, evoking a feeling of intrigue and curiosity that keeps listeners eager to uncover its secrets. Yet, woven into the fabric of each song is a subtle undercurrent of melancholy, a poignant reminder of the bittersweet beauty of life's fleeting moments.

Number 17:

Band Name: Suldusk

Album Name: Anthesis

Genre: Atmospheric Progressive Post Black Metal

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Napalm

Growth can be accompanied by challenges, setbacks, and even pain. It's a reminder that amidst the beauty of transformation, there may be moments of struggle and difficulty. Growth often requires perseverance, resilience, and the ability to weather storms along the way. It also serves as a reminder that growth can be an ultimately rewarding, process. “Anthesis” is a testament to the strength and resilience inherent in both nature and ourselves.

Number 16:

Band Name: Firtan

Album Name: Ethos

Genre: Black Metal

Year of Formation: 2010

Record Label: AOP Records

This album is a visceral journey into the depths of despair, an exploration that resonates with cavernous soundscapes and primal aggression. The tortured screams that echo throughout feel like cries from the abyss, each one pulling you deeper into the dark undercurrents of the music. The songwriting is intricate, weaving deep webs of melody and dissonance. This is an album that doesn’t just play—it engulfs, overwhelms, and leaves you feeling as though you’ve experienced something raw and profoundly unsettling.

Number 15:

Band Name: Doedmaghird

Album Name: Omniverse Consciousness

Genre: Progressive Black Metal

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Peaceville

It's a twisted abomination of sound—blackened at the roots but sprawling into nightmarish hybrids. Drums blast away relentlessly, but underneath, synths ooze like an alien presence, shifting the mood from raw aggression to something more unsettling and unnatural. The use of orchestration adds a perverse grandeur to the violence, like a symphony of decay. The result is an album that transcends black metal tropes, turning into an abomination of genres, styles, and emotions, both monstrous and mesmerizing.

Number 14:

Band Name: Trelldom

Album Name: …By The Shadows

Genre: Avant-Garde Black Metal

Year of Formation: 1992

Record Label: Prophecy Productions

The album is dark, a place where melodies twist and turn through corridors of haunting echoes and sudden, sharp dissonance, creating a wall of sound that is both crushing and exhilarating. Vocals emerge from the depths like tortured whispers, and rhythms pulse erratically, at times lulling you into a trance-like state. There’s a feeling that something is always lurking just out of sight, something that haunts the spaces between the sounds. It’s like being trapped in a fevered dream that teeters on the brink of nightmare, compelling you to keep listening, even as it pulls you deeper into its embrace.

Number 13:

Band Name: Anciients

Album Name: Beyond the Reach of the Sun

Genre: Extreme Progressive Metal

Year of Formation: 2009

Record Label: Season of Mist

Overall, what strikes me most about the album, besides the fantastic musicianship, is the band’s sense of unwavering confidence. Every note seems calculated, and each track interconnected, but yet the album breathes, and deeply. This is indeed a new pinnacle of Progressive Metal, and the band carries that flag high.

Number 12:

Band Name: Allt

Album Name: From the New World

Genre: Progressive Metalcore

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Ripcord

This is a new breed of music that goes far beyond the breaking point of most listeners. Refusing to conform to traditional conventions, its sound is bold and unrelenting, with jagged rhythms and abrasive textures. Amidst the bruising intensity, there are brief snippets of melody that emerge like fleeting breaths of air. These melodic fragments don’t soften the blow but instead highlight the emotional tension, making the contrast even more poignant. It’s a record that thrives in its extremes, and is as punishing as it is captivating, reminding you that even within chaos, there’s a pulse of life.

Number 11:

Band Name: Million Moons

Album Name: I May Be Some Time

Genre: Instrumental Progressive Metal

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Independent

The moon's phases represent the passage of time and cycles, and can symbolize the natural ebb and flow of life. Sometimes your life is difficult, and other times pleasant, and I’d like to think that the pleasant times outweigh the difficult ones. Through seven instrumental songs, you can experience this all of the natural flow of life and much more with a few listens to “I May Be Some Time” by MILLION MOONS.

Number 10:

Band Name: Blood Incantation

Album Name: Absolute Elsewhere

Genre: Progressive Death Metal

Year of Formation: 2011

Record Label: Century Media

The album delivers a stunning display of balance—an artful contrast of light and dark, chaos and control, both musical and existential. It masterfully balances aggression with melody, showcasing a rare ability to create harmonies that soar over deep, guttural growls and blistering guitar work, a testament to the band's technical prowess and deep understanding of composition. The pacing of the album is impeccable, transitioning seamlessly from relentless assaults to reflective, constantly in motion. With each listen, this balance becomes more profound, revealing layers of complexity and nuance that make it one of the most compelling metal releases of the year.

Number 9:

Band Name: Wintersun

Album Name: Time II

Genre: Symphonic Melodic Death Metal

Year of Formation: 2003

Record Label: Nuclear Blast

Every superlative one can think of can be accurately used to describe the album. It intermixes a sense of grandeur with intimate emotional layers, and the listening experience is vast and transcendent. Time can be defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole,” a concept that is difficult to grasp in its totality. That is what the album represents to me, something that is boundless and enduring.

Number 8:

Band Name: Gaerea

Album Name: Coma

Genre: Black Metal

Year of Formation: 2016

Record Label: Season of Mist

This was a fantastic album, combining traditional Black Metal elements with tones of sadness and despair. Subtle melody lines run throughout the album, adding depth and contrast to the intense and atmospheric sound, while the theme of hope hangs in the balance. GAEREA are back and ready to conquer the world.

Number 7:

Band Name: Vale of Pnath

Album Name: Between the Worlds of Life and Death

Genre: Blackened Technical Death Metal

Year of Formation: 2006

Record Label: Willowtip

What truly sets this album apart is its uncompromising commitment to pushing the boundaries of extreme music. With blistering guitar rhythms, bone-crushing drums, and vocals that range from deep gutturals to primal screams, it's a masterclass in musical aggression. Get ready to dive headfirst into the abyss.

Number 6:

Band Name: Caligula’s Horse

Album Name: Charcoal Grace

Genre: Progressive Metal/Rock

Year of Formation: 2010

Record Label:  Inside Out Music

For me, this is a landmark album for the band. They have always existed in the outer recesses of Progressive Metal in the past. But here, they put it all together into a synergistic whole of outstanding musicianship and wondrous melodies that encapsulate the listener. This is an early contender for album of the year for sure.

Number 5:

Band Name: Amiensus

Album Name: Reclamation: Part 1

Genre: Progressive Black Metal

Year of Formation: 2010

Record Label: M-Theory Audio

This is an auditory journey like no other—a fusion of raging, intense black metal with glorious melodies that will ignite your soul. It's a sonic tempest, a whirlwind of ferocity and beauty that will leave you breathless and exhilarated. You'll be engulfed in the raw power of black metal, with blistering riffs and thunderous drums. Yet within, melodies soar and cascade, weaving a tapestry of beauty and emotion that transcends the brutality of the music.

Number 4:

Band Name: Oranssi Pazuzu

Album Name: Muuntautija

Genre: Psychedelic Black Metal

Year of Formation: 2007

Record Label: Nuclear Blast

Your first question should be, what do you call this music? Take a look at the album cover for your first clue. There are dark and twisted shades of black, grey, and white, and if you look at them from just the right angle, you can make out some distinct forms, or can you? It’s amorphous, just like the music. Part Black Metal, part Industrial and Psychedelic, part Experimental, and even part Progressive, but wholly original and unique, it expands the boundaries of music into bold and brave territory.

Number 3:

Band Name: VOLA

Album Name: Friend of a Phantom

Genre: Progressive Metal/Djent

Year of Formation: Unknown

Record Label: Mascot Label Group

At its core, the album finds a way to bridge the gap between the progressive intensity of Djent and the captivating accessibility of melody, making it a journey where technical prowess meets emotional resonance. The production captures tension beautifully, allowing the guitars to bite and groove while the melodies remain airy, almost ethereal, creating a soundscape that feels textured and dimensional. This combination of heaviness and harmony serves as a perfect example of how force and finesse, in the right hands, can elevate metal into an art form that speaks as much to the heart as it does to the head.

Number 2:

Band Name: Alcest

Album Name: Le Chants de l’Aurore  

Genre: Post Black/Shoegaze

Year of Formation: 1990

Record Label: Nuclear Blast

“Les Chants de l'Aurore” explores the delicate balance between light and darkness, villains and heroes, beauty and beastly. Each track masterfully navigates these contrasting themes, and the music captures the constant interplay between opposing forces, offering moments of uplifting melodies intertwined with darker, more intense passages. This balance causes a sense of tension and resolution, mirroring the complexities of the human experience. There are some utterly breathtaking moments.

Number 1:

Band Name: Opeth

Album Name: The Last Will and Testament

Genre: Progressive Death Metal/Progressive Rock

Year of Formation: 1990

Record Label: Reigning Phoenix Records

This album strikes a rare balance between Progressive intricacy, dark storytelling, and glimmers of light that struggle to break through its somber and angry tones. These stories unfold over a meticulously crafted backdrop of shifting time signatures, complex layers, and atmospheric transitions that leave each track feeling like an unfolding chapter in a larger, haunting novel. Each song feels carefully plotted, its emotional intensity mounting steadily, only to shift directions unexpectedly—a trademark of great Progressive music. This album stands as a masterful blend of Progressive ambition and lyrical poignancy, immersing the listener in a carefully crafted sonic landscape. For anyone who seeks music that is as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally resonant, a powerful journey not to be missed, and their best album in many years.