2024 struck me as a weird year and the music that saw the light of day mostly reflected that. Extreme metal seemed to dip into the cosmic horror aspect quite a bit while inroads were made in post-industrial, martial industrial, and pagan style rock/folk. Although my list here features several more straightforward goth/techno and post-punk/death rock releases I think many of them are quite outside more traditional genres and that’s something that I feel reflects a year that didn’t really know what it wanted to be.
So here it is: my top albums of 2024 ALL GENRES, IN ORDER.

24. Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod

[ FILE UNDER: PAGAN / MEDIEVAL FOLK ]

Magickal post-punk medieval spellcasting.

23. Nailah Hunter – Lovegaze

[ FILE UNDER: NEW AGE / AMBIENT ]

Through carefully woven melodies, does a haunted but peaceful atmosphere emerge on Nailah Hunter’s latest impressive ethereal offering combining elements of new age, and medieval music.

22. Nox Novacula – Feed The Fire

[ FILE UNDER: DEATH ROCK / GOTH ]

Newest dark blast from Seattle’s premiere death rock band. With a vocal style that somehow calls to mind both Siouxsie and Danzig backed by understated and catchy instrumentation Nox Novacula shows their talents.

21. TR/ST – Performance

[ FILE UNDER: TECHNO / COLDWAVE ]

Energetic but minimal techno from this lauded artist. TR/ST bends the line between genres of dance music but lets harmonic and melodic progression drive while feeling incredibly natural and unique.

20. Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God

[ FILE UNDER: DEATH METAL ]

Intricate and strangely harmonic death metal with an expansive sound. Ulcerate creates layers of cascading riffs that ebb and flow over one another almost endlessly.

19. Corpse D’alsace – Ortenau Misanthropy / Deutscher Herbst

[ FILE UNDER: NEOFOLK / SYNTH POP ]

An impressive full-length from this prolific neofolk act. Not afraid to dip into melodramatic and synth pop territory with songs that often feature a taste for the macabre.

18. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere

[ FILE UNDER: DEATH METAL / NEW AGE ]

Following up their cosmic ambient album with a merging of their two disparate styles Blood Incantation delivers the work that will clearly elevate them beyond their genre trappings. Absolute Elsewhere sees the brutality and technicality of the band’s death metal assaults collide with spaced-out krautrock progressions that build to billowing crescendos. A true journey beyond outer worlds.

18. To End It All – Of Blood and Memory

[ FILE UNDER: INDUSTRIAL / DOOM / NEOCLASSICAL ]

To End It All has struck gold again with an expansive palette of heavy industrial and classical elements. In a new twist they also have incorporated some elements of doom metal. The atmospheric and classical passages on Of Blood and Memory elevate the record to a level above many others.

16. Karl D’silva – Love is a Flame in the Dark

[ FILE UNDER: SYNTH POP ]

Drawing inspirations from 80s pop but with some subtle industrial and coldwave influences Karl D’silva’s new album has no right being as uplifting as it is. This album is like a breath of fresh air and certainly manages to turn my frown upside down.

15. Whispering Sons – The Great Calm

[ FILE UNDER: POST-PUNK ]

The Belgium-based post-punk band’s third full-length effort reaches the same heights as the first two which are exemplary. A great variation of sounds and moods with a steady beating heart.

14. Invulche – Atavismo

[ FILE UNDER: RAW BLACK METAL ]

Raw nativist black metal with influences of punk and cinematic overtones converging to create an especially expansive album. There is special attention paid to instrumentation here which vault the project above most other metal creating memorable moments and hooks while retaining an authentic sound.

13. Statiqbloom – Kain

[ FILE UNDER: EBM / TECHNO ]

Kain very clearly reflects the influence that relocating from NYC to Berlin has had on the work of Fade Kainer. That said, the style shift is welcome. With a much more polished and expansive sound palette Kain feels like an evolution for the project and a much welcomed one at that. Statiqbloom creates dancey industrial/techno with stellar production and sound design.

12. Civerous – Maze Envy

[ FILE UNDER: BLACKENED DEATH METAL / DOOM ]

Civerous’ “Maze Envy” is as labyrinthine as the title suggests with surprises lurking around every corner. Just when I thought I had this album figured out it twisted my expectations and raised the bar for what I thought possible in the death/doom metal genres.

11. The Nausea – Requiem

[ FILE UNDER: FOLK HORROR / NOISE ]

Anju Singh is an underrated musician hailing from Vancouver, BC who not only excels as the percussive mastermind behind Ceremonial Bloodbath but also creates sounds as varied as contemporary classical and coldwave. In Requiem she shows her skills on solo violin and experimental electronics but this isn’t some sort of free-jazz wank fest. You will find a collection of carefully curated tracks with a folk horror kind of atmosphere building in swirling miasmas of blistering noise and heavy martial industrial. A unique and exemplary effort.

10. Molchat Doma – Belaya Polosa

[ FILE UNDER: POST-SOVIET COLDWAVE ]

Finding a way to break from their hugely successful style Molchat Doma has upped their game with Belaya Polosa. The new album expands their sound into a new era with subtle elements of glitzy 80s funk mixed with their more token coldwave approach.

9. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

[ FILE UNDER: GOTHIC / DARK ROCK ]

With She Reaches out to She… Chelsea Wolfe returns to the sound that made her a household name from her seminal album Abyss. I felt like her last few records were more straight-forward rock but in this latest effort she returns to using more electronic and sound design elements, more interesting production techniques to place hooks and memorable fragments among her already incredible songwriting.

8. Kontravoid – Detachment

[ FILE UNDER: EBM / TECHNO ]

A throbbing, layered and very danceable record from one of the heavy hitters on today’s industrial/dance scene. Kontravoid stands an inch above his peers by featuring a great dose of memorable melodies and harmony without falling into the failings of the genre with contrived beats and uninspired synth patches. The dark energy is palpable.

7. Sophia – Age of the Narcissist

[ FILE UNDER: MARTIAL INDUSTRIAL ]

Dark and brooding martial industrial from the barren lands of Sweden. Sounding like an enormous clock, 10 stories high ticking each second away and echoing into the freezing night Sophia’s “Age of the Narcissist” is a diatribe against modern day culture with plenty of not-so-subtle views voiced in ardent protest.

6. Hvile I Kaos – Lower Order Manifestations

[ FILE UNDER: GOTHIC CHAMBER MUSIC / DARK ORCHESTRAL ]

Sadly sunsetting this project, Hvile I Kaos’ final effort Lower Order Manifestations is not just a huge leap forward for the band but also a testament to how far they’ve come. Exemplary composed string pieces featuring amazing musicianship, techniques and mood. Perfect for a moonlit night.

5. Theologian – All The Tyranny in the World Won’t Put a God in the Heavens

[ FILE UNDER: INDUSTRIAL / NOISE ]

Featuring a plethora of guest artists, Theologian’s “All The Tyranny in the World Won’t Put a God in the Heavens” is a mammoth work of unfathomable bleakness. With carefully layered minimal textures and clanging, repetitive industrial rhythms the album paints an image of a colorless future of grime and grit. One where the humans make way for echoing passages of machine laden landscapes. The level of detail and tact put into the compositions are incredible, it’s a true feast for the ears, the perfect soundtrack for the next four years.

4. Society of the Silver Cross – Festival of Invocations

[ FILE UNDER: PAGAN FOLK ROCK ]

Although the genre of Society of the Silver Cross might be tough to nail down, the mood and atmosphere is as locked in as ever. Expansive and cinematic but at the same time familiar and memorable the band seems to encapsulate emotions ranging from such inspirations as Neurosis to King Dude with an orchestral feel to their compositions. An incredibly produced record that is ideal listening in front of a firelit hearth on a howling cold night.

3. Leila Abdul-Rauf – Calls from a Seething Edge

[ FILE UNDER: GOTHIC / POST-INDUSTRIAL ]

The color and instrumentation of Abdul-Rauf’s Calls From a Seething Edge are unparalleled. Sounding simply otherworldly but at the same time seemingly drawing inspiration from various cultures the album is a fantastic display of sonic wizardry. Not to mention the ability to delve deep into layers of mystery, melancholy, romance and strife. On first listen I never once was able to predict the next direction of the record but once complete it felt as familiar as a road I had tread my whole life.

2. NZNZN – ‘ﻼ

[ FILE UNDER: RITUAL POST-INDUSTRIAL ]

‘ﻼ finds itself as the second runner up not just due to its uncompromising vision but also to it’s uniqueness in cultivating a sound much less explored. It also happens to pull from a slew of niche influences that I find particularly profound. Sometimes calling for the ritual dark ambient aspects of Aghast, at other times the more driving energy of old school era Swans, or noisier elements of such projects as MZ.412. NZNZN has created an esoteric journey into oft unexplored aural territories. An incredibly sculpted venture into worlds unknown.

1. Oranssi Pazazu – Muuntautuja

[ FILE UNDER: BLACKENED DEATH METAL / NOISE ROCK ]

I described Oranssi Pazazzu’s previous record as what Philip Glass and Fabio Frizzi would write if they were forced to create a black metal album. Imagine it is now year 3001 and we have studied the black arts in order to harness the essence of those once thought long lost, so 40 years ago we resurrected Stanly Kubric and his sequel to 2001 comes out today. The soundtrack of which is Oranssi Pazazu’s Muuntautuja. Now vaulted into the cosmos the band has created an ungodly horror of perfectly tuned blackened noise rock and cinematic atmospheres that fits only this fantastic scenario. Although cosmic horror in metal seemed to be a thing that was explored more than once in 2024 no band came close to doing so with such focused vision, aesthetic, and breadth as did these Finnish masters of nightmares.