Top 11 Albums of the Year - D.M's List

As the years go by and I've been doing this list for some, oh, I don't know, decade and a half or whatever, it seems to me that each list may be increasingly influenced by where I am in my life - which is to say more accurately, what do I feel like hearing?  Which is to say, this comes with an admission: the list that follows may simply be my personal best albums list.  Okay, let me not insult you - it's obvious that this is my list, my name is on the damn thing.  What I mean is that this may be MY list - it may not be the best albums if we're judging on technical prowess or compositional acuity.  It may be simply a list of albums that I enjoyed the most this year.  And so be it.

Okay, a brief review of the rules:
- Must be an original studio composition in 2024
- No re-releases
- No Greatest Hits or compilations of any kind
- No live albums

Without further preamble - 

HONORABLE MENTION – While She Sleeps – Self Hell

I, for one, wasn’t sure rap metal would ever make a comeback.  Nor was I really sure that it should.  And maybe it still hasn’t.  But there’s a couple artists this year that tried to put a toe back in that formerly pristine but now dirtied and forgotten pool.  While She Sleeps was one of them. (Quick shout-out to Ihsahn’s self-titled album for narrowly missing out here.)

EP OF THE YEAR:  Alestorm – Voyage of the Dead Marauder EP

You know how some people are ‘small doses’ people?  I think Alestorm is a ‘small doses’ band for me.  And this was the perfect dose.  As ever with Alestorm, the comedy is acerbic and not for the faint of heart, but that does nothing to reduce its hilarity.  And the title track?  As legit a song as you can imagine.

11 – Reliqa – Secrets of the Future

Not all that dissimilar from While She Sleeps in concept, but this is the better execution.  The band is tight and in control and they know the sound they’re going for, even as it crosses several aesthetic and sonic boundaries.  

10 – Black Note Graffiti – Resist the Divide

Not a single song over 3:45, and punctuated by short, minimalist riffs.  There’s something about the mechanics of this album that’s kind of hypnotic.  Think Static-X, but dial way back on the gain and slow the tempo down to half speed.  But it’s similar in that the constructions are sparse, and I mean that as a compliment.  You can hear every part being played clearly, and no song overstays its welcome.  A better comparison – like a slightly   less-screamy, more deliberate Hellfreaks.

9 – Dungeon Crawl – Maze Controller

I kinda hate how much I like this album, because it is so unapologetically nerdy and based around late nights mainlining caffeine while you watch your graph-paper hero lose hit points because of a bad luck dice roll.  (And yes, I hate it because I’ve been there.)  When you strip that way, thought, there’s a really good, authentic thrash album underneath, and as I look back, I seem to have a place for that on my list every year (last year was Hellevate’s “The Purpose Is Cruelty” EP.)  The guitar work here is fun, the lyrics are appropriately absurd, the whole thing just feels right.

8 – Sundrifter – An Earlier Time

After Sundrifter released the very good “Visitations” back in whatever-the-hell year it was, I remember thinking to myself “damn, if those guys could just focus this a little and keep it within the margins, they’d really make something great.”  Well, now we have “An Earlier Time,” and it’s exactly the apex of Sundrifter could and should be.  It’s all the same cosmic wanderings of a wayward probe, but it’s snappier, more confident, and all around more listenable, while losing none of the signature fuzzy guitar tone.

7 – Dampf – No Angels Alive

Third year in a row.  Third year in a row that some electronic artist cracks my year end album list, by crossing over and blurring the line into metal.  Now, I’m giving myself a little grace here, because this is the second time that the artist has been Dampf, which means this is more than just a coincidence.  Dampf may not write the most technically challenging metal, but there is no question that there’s an understanding of what goes into composing a catchy hit.  There’s something about these songs that hooks you immediately.

6 – Powerwolf – Wake Up the Wicked

Color me a little surprised.  I’ve long been a Powerwolf partisan, but I freely admit that the band had a long run of making a great album followed by a mediocre one.  So imagine my shock when this album comes out comparatively on the heels of last year's “Interludium,” and still bangs with a new bunch of massive songs that only Powerwolf could have written.

5 – Powerman 5000 – Abandon Ship

Am I the only person in the world who has this as a top five album from 2024?  Probably.  And is some of that no doubt because of my personal nostalgia? Possibly.  But this is my list, so tough rocks.  I’m just going to come out and say it – PM5K will never again be the band that wrote “Tonight the Stars Revolt!” That age has passed.  But they also don’t have to be that band again.  After however many years wandering in the desert, the comeback that seemingly began with “Builders of the Future” some ten years ago is real and tangible and authentic.  And this album is a ton of fun.

4 – Dead Poet Society – Fission

One of the most unique bands going.  Minimalist beats, heavy rhythms, guitar tone not heard since Soundgarden’s “4th of July”…this is a heady mix of styles and colors, and it takes a steady hand to be able to balance all of those into music that’s even listenable, let alone good.  Extra props for “Hurt,” which is probably my Song of the Year…as someone who is also in a non-traditional career (yes, I have a job, and no, it’s not writing about music,) that tune hits close to home sometimes.

**It merits mention, there’s a gap here.  These albums are all great, but the next three were on a level all their own in 2024.**

3 – Transit Method – Othervoid

The sensibilities of Rush, but paired with the beats and rhythms of a punk band?  Hell yeah, sign me up for all of that.  It’s not every year that a band new to me crosses my (virtual) desk and absolutely pins my attention to the wall until I’ve heard the whole thing.  Can’t even remember who the last one would have been.  The Hawkins?  Red Eleven?  Doesn’t matter.  That’s how I felt listening to Transit Method.  And I hope you do, too.

2 – The Warning – Keep Me Fed

Ugh, I went back and forth on this a hundred and fifty times.  I even complained to my compatriot Chris about it.  I haven’t had this much trouble deciding between two albums for #1 since 2014, when I battled internally for a week over Red Eleven’s “Round II” and Destrage’s “Are You Kidding Me? No.” (I picked Red Eleven then, and I stand by it…about half the time.)  I can’t understand why the Warning haven’t conquered the world yet.  The talent, the songs, the aesthetic…this band has everything you want in a world-wide hero rock group.  It must only be the fallow period for rock fandom that we find ourselves in that prevents them from ascending.  Although, every time I see them, it’s in a slightly larger venue…In the meantime, this is certainly the album I spent the most time with this year, but it did ultimately fall short to…

1 – Combichrist – CMBCRST

Some years ago, Combichrist took flak from their fans for gradually moving away from a pure industrial style, incorporating more and more metal elements.  I personally think it’s the best decision the band ever made, as every album since that point (perhaps beginning with the DmC soundtrack?) has been better than the previous, culminating in this masterpiece of doom, gloom and as KMFDM coined the term, the ‘ultra-heavy beat.’  Some of the best riffs of the year were recorded for this album.  What puts it ahead of The Warning at #2?  The Warning, for all their greatness, worked with more professional songwriters.  And as Chris has so passionately explained on our very pages, there’s no sin in that, none at all.  But when you’re deciding between masterpieces, that extra little degree of authenticity for Combichrist matters.

Album Review: Sundrifter - "An Earlier Time"

It’s probably too much of a cheap cop-out if I just say that Sundrifter’s “An Earlier Time” is everything that worked on their previous full-length “Visitations,” but better, right?  That would be lazy?  Fine, let’s dig in.

Lazy or no, that’s the truth of it.  “Visitations” was a record steeped in stoner rock lore, modified with a space-y theme and packaged and shipped with chunky riffs and wandering vocal cadences and it was every part of beautiful and smoothy accomplished in its goal of creating a space where the listener could close their eyes and be carried away on a cosmic tide of distortion.

Okay, that was a run-on sentence, but that works, because “Visitations” was, for its achievement and greatness, essentially a run-on sentence, loaded to the limit with droning intonations and the meanderings of unquiet but uniquely focused minds.  Which is to say, uniquely focused on the central tonality of the album at hand.

“An Earlier Time” is, by contrast, a less focused effort, and much better for the experience.  As rudimentary as it sounds to suggest, this album improves on what made the last album work by focusing on creating songs, and not necessarily just on pieces of music that allow the brain to disconnect and float away.

Let me rein in here, I’m not making any sense.  Go back to “Death March,” and now compare it to this new album’s “Space Exploration.”  The layman might not be able to discern the difference easily, but notice that the latter song has a more focused vocal performance, and that the song moves through stages while still maintaining the baseline theme of far-out space rock.  There’s a chorus and a verse and a bridge and all the transitions that make for superior songcraft.

That’s really the whole of the experience with “An Earlier Time.”  This is Sundrifter using more tools of the trade to make a brighter, more nimble experience that’s easier to digest in bite-sized pieces while still staying true to the roots of the band’s ideal self.  The development of songwriting on this record heightens everything that it contains, moving Sundrifter from being a novel, catchy experience to being a force within their chosen splinter genre.

Which is not to say that the album completely abandons how we got here.  “Begin Again” might be the best song on the record, and is also the longest.  The positively spritely guitar into eventually gives way to the kind of minimalist droning that so exemplifies Sundrifter through three albums now.  But it never gets lost within itself, never gives away completely to the reckless abandon of repetition.

We should also take a moment to recognize “Want You Home,” an airy space ballad that lives on the border of some of the more esoteric songs by Cream, which is meant as a compliment.  This kind of song has to have all the pieces fit just right to not become hackneyed, and the choral backing and major chord choruses provide the glue for what is as unique a song as any Sundrifter has produced to this point, or can be found in the genre.

“An Earlier Time” is a more mature and focused album by Sundrifter, a band who had already given us glimpses of their potential in years gone by.  There are certainly still some sequences that get a little long in the tooth, but if you weren’t expecting that in this style of music, you may be misguided in the first place.  Despite the name of the album, “An Earlier Time” is a revelatory step in space rock.

D.M's Top Ten Albums of 2018!

This is all pretty straightforward.  Nothing makes us happier as a society than an arbitrary list of a subjective medium, so here’s mine!

The rules, such as they are, remain the same as ever – must be an original stadium album.  No re-releases, no greatest hits, no live albums, no covers albums.  Got it?  Second rule – it goes to 11.

Moving on.

The list you see below, simply for informational purposes, was whittled down from approximately thirty semifinalists that ranged in genre, composition, production and release date.  Thirty candidates is probably fewer than I’m accustomed to compiling, but this may not be a reflection of the year in music, at least not anymore than it is a reflection in my personal and professional life and the diminished time I had to spend with new albums on the whole.  It is entirely possible that I missed something this year I would have really enjoyed, but I remain confident in the caliber and conviction of this list.

The one casualty of having less time, however, was my Little Album That Could award.  I just didn’t get exposed to much local or truly independent music this year, so I have decided not to award that honor, rather than award it in a lackluster, half-assed fashion.

First out of the gate, EP Of The Year – There can be no other choice, it has to be Red Eleven’s “Fueled By Fire.”  These guys are among the best bands working today, and their production is spotless for a group working with less than a full budget.  Their guitars are sharp, the harmonies soar, and the songs click with a combination of ‘90s rock sensibility and new age pomp and circumstance.


HONORABLE MENTION– Fair number of bands just on the outside looking in this year, but honorable mentions still abound – The Browning followed up the excellent “Isolation” with “Geist,” and while this new record isn’t as groundbreaking or bombastic at its predecessor, it’s still an album of high merit.  I enjoyed the grunge throwback overtones of Kobra and the Lotus’ “Prevail II,” actually significantly more than I enjoyed the original “Prevail” last year.  Orange Goblin put out another Orange Goblin record, and I also found it was the year for ‘Black’ bands – Black Elephant, Black Royal and Black Wizard all held my attention for a moment.  I had my requisite hour of fun with Parasite, INC, and they flirted with the list for a moment before ultimately falling short.  The last album to be cut was Black Mirrors and their record “Look Into the Black Mirror.”  It was the 12th man on an 11 player roster.  So kudos to them in particular.

Without further ado –

#11 – KING WITCH – “Under the Mountain”

I spent a lot of time with this album when it first came out, and then as the year wore on, I found myself less and less attracted to it.  Some of that was an influx of new material, and I think some of it is that the album doesn’t have a lot of secrets to unravel – the first listen and the twentieth are much the same experience.  That said, this is as great a straight-ahead metal bulldozer as was released this year, and it should be treated as such.  There’s got to be something to be said for being in my personal rotation for five months.

#10 – WITCHSKULL – “Coven’s Will”

It was a great year for doomy, drone-y artists, and Witchskull was no exception.  Relative to the fine wines of high-end production and popular tastes, Witchskull goes down like grain alcohol, but that actually works in its favor.  It’s too easy to draw parallels between this and the grand Black Sabbath albums of old, but sometimes the easy way out is the best way out.  There’s a lot of bluesy dust covering every inch of this album, which makes it infectious.  It’s entirely too easy to just start nodding your head and bob along with the strangled rhythms.  Good stuff.

#9 – GHOST – “Prequelle”

Suck it, haters!  This is a fun record.  I know, I know, there’s a million papercuts of betrayal to all we thought Ghost or wasn’t, blah, blah, blah.  I don’t care about any of that crap.  Ghost has the right to do whatever they want.  Is this a pop album?  Yeah, maybe.  Is the single a sugar-coated affair that leans way over the line?  Sure is.  But the recognition of that fact doesn’t make it any less fun.  You do you, Ghost.

#8 – LORD OF THE LOST – “Thornstar”

I’ll admit it, this got by me on the first pass.  On my running list of music I take in over the course of the year, I marked it down, but didn’t make any special notations next to it.  On some whim in the late fall, I went combing through and tried it again, and that’s when it stuck.  Part industrial, part dark rock, part melodic singalong, “Thornstar” does a lot right, and deserves its place on this list for “Loreley” alone.  I say this through gritted teeth because I have such respect for the artist I’m about to impugn, but Lord of the Lost released the album that Emigrate should have released.

#7 – BLACK MOTH – “Anatomical Venus”

This album hit early and I just kept coming back to it.  The cover art is….well, blech.  But the album is freakin’ great.  I’m starting to think that any band with “Black” at the front of their title is using the word as a family name – it’s their honorific tie to Black Sabbath, a band they all hope to emulate in some form or fashion.  Black Moth takes that formula, injects some rock into it, and then combines the entire proceeding with a siren, hypnotic overlay.  There’s something about this music that’s difficult to describe, something with the tone that’s new and original and haunting.  Every couple months, this would work its way back into my ear.

#6 – SUNDRIFTER – “Visitations”

The desert rock is strong with this one.  Yet, it’s companion is doom, and so the combination of those elements makes for an unique experience.  “Visitations” isn’t solely colored by the red and yellow hues of a sunset among the sand, nor it is entirely given to a black, forested midnight, but lives at the twilight of both those images.  If Witchskull released an album that was easy to fall into the groove of, Sundrifter gave us all an opportunity to zone out entirely, a chance to separate from time itself and just be swept by the undulating wave of music.  This entire paragraph has been too dramatic in general, but it should illustrate the point.

#5 – FEAR OF DOMINATION – “Metanoia”

Many years ago, I reviewed an album by a duo called Alien Vampires, and I think at one point I think I said something like “grab your many-buckled leather pants, colored dreadlock extenders and gas masks, we’re going dancin’!”  I feel the same about this album.  I remain eminently fascinated by the revival of industrial metal that seems to be hand in hand with the rise of EDM, and the fact that those train tracks are colliding with increasing frequency has led to the creation of something entirely new – Alien Vampires, The Browning, Kontrust and 6:33 have all toyed with varying aspects of the idea, but Fear of Domination seems to have found the most complete synthesis of the metal and the electronic.  “Metanoia” also feels the most like a recording of a live experience of any album on this list.  “Sick and Beautiful” might be my favorite song of 2018, and also might be the most fun metal song of the year.

#4 – ALIEN WEAPONRY – “Tu”

We’re getting into the big hitters now.  This is the separation point, where the albums before now were one caliber and this one and on are the gems of the season.  When I first heard this band described as a bunch of teenagers making metal, I shuddered involuntarily as horrible, uninvited memories of the hype machine surrounding Black Tide came swarming back into my brain.  So it was with considerable caution that I hit play on “Tu”…and was instantly taken by it.  Make no mistake, these kids have a lot of work to do, because the music rough around the edges at the best of times, but the core is a diamond.  There’s one album every year that cracks my list just because it’s so impossibly heavy, and this is it this year.  “Tu” is a straight-ahead banger, a wrecking ball of noise and chanting.  The incorporation of the Maori verses and heritage works to give the band a novel feeling in much the same way as culture works in favor of Tengger Cavalry.  Musically, there’s not a lot new here, but the accents make it feel different and unique.

#3 – GRAVEYARD – “Peace”

I feel a little bad about this, only because as late as October, I was really convinced this was finally going to be the Graveyard album that made it to #1 for me.  This is one of the three or four best bands active in modern music, regardless of genre, and I really felt good giving them the top spot….but then as time went by, two albums edged ahead.  Graveyard, if you’re reading this, I am sorry.  I am out of superlatives to describe this band – they’ve never disappointed me, and every song on this album, and the three albums before it, gives us another piece of an amazing puzzle yet to be completed.  Graveyard does everything right, and reaches across a hundred aisles to attract fans from all walks of music.  “Peace” is a masterpiece, but then, four of the band’s five albums are (and the first one is still good, but not as iconic as the others.)  If you’re not a Graveyard fan yet, I don’t know what to tell you at this point.  Get on the bandwagon, damn it!

#2 – CLUTCH – “Book of Bad Decisions”

Clutch is still teaching masters classes on how to write music.  For a few years there, I was leaving them for dead (my full apology can be found in my formal review of this album,) but now here they are, having hit a double with “Earth Rocker,” and two home runs with “Psychic Warfare” and “Book of Bad Decisions.”  While different in craft and sound, this is some of the band’s best work since “Blast Tyrant,” and Clutch’s impact and command of the genre can’t be undersold.  These boys from Maryland are still a force to be reckoned with and they’re not done yet.

#1 – CANCER BATS – “The Spark That Moves”

What strikes me the most about this album is that Cancer Bats appear to have dropped all pretense of anything else and have gotten back to having fun.  “Searching for Zero” was a fine album, but it lacked a certain human quality that made “Dead Set on Living” such an instant classic.  “The Spark That Moves” is just that, full as ever of piss and vinegar, but also grinning from ear to ear, punching out a combination of styles that still remain harmonious and catchy.  It’s a difficult niche to live in – the speed and simple hooks of punk, the abrasiveness of hardcore and the edgy gravitas of metal must exist in their proper balance, and more bands that we care to recount have tried and failed, or at their best only managed to carry two of the three.  Cancer Bats, by contrast, have found the secret formula.  Much like “Sick and Beautiful” mentioned above (though for wildly different reasons,) if you can’t get up and feel your pulse quicken for “We Run Free,” then you’re abusing the privilege of music.  Every song on this album feels much the same, leaving us with a glorious album that rolls and rumbles with power and conviction.  Find it.  Buy it.  Then buy it for a friend.