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Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/the-infernal-deceit-the-true-harmful-black-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Infernal Deceit – The True Harmful Black Review</a>By Alekhines Gun In a year that already looks to be filled with heady pomp and artistry, there’s something to be appreciated about some straightforwardness in back-to-basics. You don’t always need the ultra highbrow and thought-provoking violence – sometimes you just want to throw on an album and veg out. Such wants prompted my newest scourings of the promo pit for something more immediate, something to get fists pumping and bootie shaking with blackened frowns to be had by all. Answering this call is German duo The Infernal Deceit, a self-described black/death hybrid outfit who are dropping their sophomore effort The True Harmful Black this month. Sporting some admittedly cool artwork and an uncommonly legible logo, I dove in to see what harms await in the promised black.When The Infernal Deceit put their best foot forward, what results is a fun, riff-centric album with bounce and groove to be found in fair measure. The True Harmful Black slings some congenial black metal of the punky, catchy stylings ala Spectral Wound or Hulder with production pulled straight from the book of modern death metal. This gives moments like the “everybody clap your hands” buildup of “The Great Seducer, The Greatest Deceiver (Dethroned)” and the sprawling melodies of “The Primordial Maze and The Crawling Chaos” some real bop-to-the-nose force without losing the requisite trebly underpinnings. Songs wrapped around neck bobbing hooks demand attention and imply greatness ahead, with no genuine surprises to be found, instead opting for a handful of rote but well-implemented ingredients.Instead of targeting for all rage all day, The True Harmful Black opts for a melancholy approach as much as a riff-centric one. Vocalist “R” has a suitably gruff bark, straddling the overlap between a blackened shriek and a deathly growl without neatly falling into either category. His somewhat monotone delivery helps the musical presentation, as he sounds at home whether the music blasts or crawls. Multi-instrumentalist “C” offers up a platter of songs which alternate between the expected bpm pushing swipes at Necrophobic melodies while frequently bringing the tempo to a much more somber, mood-drenched drawl. This saves the album from becoming too homogenous despite a bit of an overly familiar palate of riffs and lead stylings. Clean acoustics also litter the album, both as extra instrumentation as well as interlude and closer, offering up a nice flow and easy listening.The Infernal Deceit peddle an enjoyable sound, but the album doesn’t seek to be much more than that. The constant changing of tempo eventually works against the band, particularly in the back half of the album. The True Harmful Black is at its strongest when bringing the pain (“In the Wilderness of Pernicious Black”), but its quest for atmospheric theatrics robs the riffs of much of their staying power. The clean acoustics are pretty when implemented as instrumental flourishes, but focusing on them robs the album of momentum. Combining that with the aforementioned frequent brake pumping leads to an album that doesn’t flow as much as it stutters. This is a bit disappointing because individual moments hint at some truly good stuff waiting to be unearthed; solos in particular rip and shred with delightful melodic prowess. An album with a filthier mix, more consistent strength in riffs, or some more extremity in the disparaging tempos would create a Deceit that could be Infernal indeed.The True Harmful Black is a pleasant album, just not a remarkable one. There’s nothing wrong with that; not every album needs to be an earth-heaving, forest-felling, giant slaying leviathan of artistic intent. The Infernal Deceit are a competent pair who can craft solid moments and good melodies, but are still on the prowl for that x factor which will launch them further to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers. I believe they have better in them, and will certainly check out what their next offering holds for us. For the moment, while certainly not challenging for any end-of-year placements, listeners on the quest for a quick black metal fix could do far worse, and might find some select moments of real harm waiting for them in the depicted black maze above. Rating: 2.5/5.0 DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3 Label: <a href="https://www.personal-records.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Personal Records</a> Websites: <a href="https://theinfernaldeceit.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Official Bandcamp</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theinfernaldeceitband" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Official Facebook </a> Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025<a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2-5/" target="_blank">#25</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2025/" target="_blank">#2025</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/apr25/" target="_blank">#Apr25</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/black-metal/" target="_blank">#BlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/death-metal/" target="_blank">#DeathMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/german-metal/" target="_blank">#GermanMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/hulder/" target="_blank">#Hulder</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/necrophobic/" target="_blank">#Necrophobic</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/personal-records/" target="_blank">#PersonalRecords</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/review/" target="_blank">#Review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/reviews/" target="_blank">#Reviews</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/spectral-wound/" target="_blank">#SpectralWound</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/the-infernal-deceit/" target="_blank">#TheInfernalDeceit</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/the-true-harmful-black/" target="_blank">#TheTrueHarmfulBlack</a>

Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wuldorgast-cold-light/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Wuldorgast – Cold Light Review</a>By Alekhines GunAs the tendrils of winter usher in good bourbon<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wuldorgast-cold-light/#fn-207529-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a>, unwanted family visits, and moon-bitten frost, the trvest of the black metallers come out to peddle their wares. Releasing anything so late in the year is a bold move, as list-mania seizes the hearts of authors across the blogosphere, making an uphill battle for bands from the first note. Here to try their luck today is two-man USBM outfit Wuldorgast, a band so young that at the time of this writing, they don’t even have a page on the Archives. Such youthful vigor is brimming with promise, and debut Cold Light arrives with admittedly dope artwork, seeking to leave its mark on my top ten(ish) and trigger a holly jolly shakeup. Does it stand a chance? Cold Light sports some of the most engaging production I’ve heard in a black metal album by a country mile, filtering the razor wire of Spectral Wound into a Blasted Heath echoing assault. This extra touch of the cavernous (rather than the merely lo-fi) helps the drums to thunder and riffs to ring out with space and clarity, aiding chug-heavy sections in “Natural Life is Eternal Battle” and the more blast-heavy sections of “Cold Light of Reason” in assaulting the listener from the onset. Leads are caustic and catchy, weaving blackened infectiousness from the first listen, with trusty double base incisions disguising simplistic riffing under howling, reverb-drenched trimming. Vocals yowl and shriek with organic bile, sounding like they’re emerging from the bottom of a well. All in all, Cold Light lashes out as engaging and pleasing to the ear. However, repeated listens slowly degrade infectiousness into replete repetition and overt simplicity. The first half of Cold Light sports riffs that sound like Judas Iscariot with improved production, but Wuldorgast forgot to include the proper stream-of-consciousness flow that comes with the style. Instead, the listener is treated with moments and melodies that are enjoyable at first blush, only for the band to insist that you don’t yet enjoy them as much as you ought. First song ” Obscured in Shadows” features exactly four riffs, run through twice. Other songs feature more riffs in quantity, but each sound like a minor tonal variant of the one that came before it until all the moments begin to blur together in a haze. The drumming is serviceable in such sections and leads are ear-worm bait, but are placed predictably and are played exhaustively, as if the band got too stoked on their own ideas and forgot how to self-edit.This is made more confounding by the matter of track sequencing. Wuldorgast manages to cram almost all their good ideas into the back half of the album. Cold Light ends with songs featuring actual time signature changes, riffs that consist of more than two to five notes<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wuldorgast-cold-light/#fn-207529-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a> and vocal style alterations. “Cipher to Eternity” is the easy highlight, with absolutely monster chug sections, punky riffs, nifty effects over the instruments, and leads that scream “mosh-fodder” after the first measure. Such a bizarre raise in quality (instead of the typical front-loading) does make Cold Light a unique listen, but the good songs don’t outweigh the front half’s collection of tediousness. Ultimately, this peculiar bisection of quality is Wuldorgast’s greatest stumbling block. Black metal this cavernous is a rare treat, and when Cold Light hits, it hits hard and with savagery. In tone, I enjoy it very much. It is unfortunate that it hits far too infrequently, with no tone able to disguise its weakness. An improved track sequencing and greater use of imagination across an album’s worth of songs will go far in helping them cultivate their sound. Otherwise, this is a curious end-of-year footnote. If you haven’t had your fill of winter black metal yet, harvest the b sides for a playlist, but otherwise, it seems year-end lists are destined to remain undisturbed. Rating: 2.0/5.0 DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3 Label: <a href="https://ironbonehead.de/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Iron Bonehead Productions </a> Website: <a href="https://wuldorgast.bandcamp.com/album/cold-light" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">wuldorgast.bandcamp.com/album/cold-light </a> Releases Worldwide: December 13th, 2024<a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/20/" target="_blank">#20</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/american-metal/" target="_blank">#AmericanMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/black-metal/" target="_blank">#BlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/blasted-heath/" target="_blank">#BlastedHeath</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/cold-light/" target="_blank">#ColdLight</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/dec24/" target="_blank">#Dec24</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/iron-bonehead/" target="_blank">#IronBonehead</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/judas-iscariot/" target="_blank">#JudasIscariot</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/review/" target="_blank">#Review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/reviews/" target="_blank">#Reviews</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/spectral-wound/" target="_blank">#SpectralWound</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/wuldorgast/" target="_blank">#Wuldorgast</a>

Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/heavy-moves-heavy-2024-amgs-ultimate-workout-playlist/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Heavy Moves Heavy 2024 – AMG’s Ultimate Workout Playlist</a>By FeroxBefore I was press-ganged into the Skull Pit, I, Ferox, began curating an exercise playlist named Heavy Moves Heavy. For a decade, I alone reaped the benefits of this creation–many were the hours spent preening aboard my Squat Yacht, mixing oils so that I could marvel at the glistening gainz unlocked by the List. My indentured servitude is your good fortune, because a new and improved version of the Heavy Moves Heavy playlist is now available to all readers of AMG in good standing.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/heavy-moves-heavy-2024-amgs-ultimate-workout-playlist/#fn-209277-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a> The lifters among us have spent countless hours in the Exercise Oubliette testing these songs for tensile strength and ideological purity. Enjoy–but don’t listen if you are being screened for PEDs in the near future. This music will cause your free testosterone levels to skyrocket even as it adds length and sheen to your back pelt.The AMG Iron Movers Collective is a man down this year, as the crush of Listurnalia duties prevented Steel Druhm from forging a third consecutive contribution. The four remaining protein ponies on staff (myself, Kenstrosity, Thus Spoke, and Holdeneye) dug deeper into our Codices of Suffering to bring you a list of sufficient girth. Here are the songs released in 2024 that dominated our respective workouts. The resulting playlist is appended to this article. Play it straight through or set it to shuffle; HMH is designed to work either way. From our oubliette to yours, may these battle-hardened tracks fuel your gains in the new year.There is also an intruder this time around, as Dolphin Whisperer drops by semi-invited to share his favorite tracks suitable for The Things That Dolph Does. That playlist, suitable for blood pressure-reducing pursuits off all kinds, is compiled separately. Ferox Snorts His Pre-Workout Powder :“Drill the Skull” // Necrot (Lifeless Birth) – Kicking things off with one of the year’s premiere bangers. The implied subject song title is a staple of my workout playlists, because it sounds like someone’s giving me orders. (You) “Drill the Skull”! I will! I will drill the skull.“God Slayer” // Vredehammer (God Slayer) – Stand tall. Stand proud. Stand strong. Wage war. Lots of implied subject goodness in this one. Vredehammer’s latest may have been a mild disappointment, but it did throw off the Workout Song o’the Year.“Numidian Knowledge” // Necrowretch (Swords of Daijal) – Numidian communities cultivated cereals such as wheat and barley, and legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils. There’s nothing inherently sinister about that body of knowledge, but this Necrowretch ripper will make you feel like you just consummated a black bargain in exchange for one final rep.“Into the Court of Yanluowang” // Ripped to Shreds (Sanshi) – The opener to this killer slab beats you up with five minutes of punk-inflected death metal before rewarding you with the Guitar Solo o’the Year.“The Way of Decay” // Sentient Horror (In Service of the Dead) – Dropping in some 3.0 Swedeath in honor of Absent Geezer Steel Druhm. I personally thought he underrated the new one from Jersey’s Sentient Horror, which kicks off with this scabby statement of purpose.“Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” // Spectral Wound (Songs of Blood and Mire) – Early Bathory remains a stalwart of the original Heavy Moves Heavy playlist. “A Fine Day to Die” is one of a dozen or so songs that have never rotated off the List in its twelve or so years of existence. Ferox Song o’the Year “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” succeeds bigly in carrying Quorthon’s torch into new battles.“Hordes of the Horned God” // Hellbutcher (Hellbutcher) – The saliva-flecked excretions of Nifelheim and Impaled Nazarene have likewise graced the original Heavy Moves Heavy time and again. I wish there was a song called “Hellbutcher” on Hellbutcher’s Hellbutcher, but this supergroup led by Nifelheim’s front man answers the bell in every other way on their debut.“Infernal Bust” // Demiser (Slave to the Scythe) – This song, near as I can tell, is about having it off with a demon. When you get swole, your opportunities to fuck demons, babadooks, and wendigos grow right along with your muscles–so this is included to goose you along.“Wormridden Torso” // Stenched (Purulence Gushing from the Grave) – Adrian from Stenched has crafted a guitar tone most unpleasant and motivating. Finish your set so you’re closer to the end of the song and you can get it out of your earholes.“Disattachment of a Prophylactic in the Brain” // Undeath (More Insane) – Here’s a jolt of caffeine to get you through the muddy middle of your workout. This track gambols madly about, slapping you in the face to wake you from your Stenched-coma.“Second Demon” // Void Witch (Horripilating Presence) – The Void Witch sound fires on all cylinders here, and so will you as you listen to this track. The grunge-descended guitar solo toward the end of track is one of 2024’s great moments.“Mammoth’s Hand” // The Black Dahlia Murder (Servitude) – This cut from the The Black Dahlia Murder’s worthy new effort gives me those classic Deflorate-era vibes. I listened to that album while doing my strength training for a martial arts tournament, and “Mammoth’s Hand” feels like it could slide in between “Black Valor” and “Necropolis.” Kenstrosity Bursts Through His Own Workout Gear:“Pain Enduring” // Replicant (Infinite Mortality) – They say “no pain, no gain.” Or at least they used to. Some assert this to be a debunked myth, but regardless, I live to feel the gainz. This absolute blunderbuss of groove and riff mastery by Replicant ensures progressive overload and personal bests from every movement. <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/heavy-moves-heavy-2024-amgs-ultimate-workout-playlist/#fn-209277-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a>“Xetinal Artifice” // Karst (Eclipsed Beneath Umbral Divine) – You know your workout is going to leave you a trembling puddle on the ground when your trainer walks you into the crustiest, rustiest facility imaginable. Thusly, Karst’s “Xetinal Artifice” leaves me a trembling puddle on the ground after a brutal session of crusty death metal riffs.“Pure Adrenaline Hard-On” // Scumbag (Homicide Cult) – Some people rely on preworkout and supplements to energize them before a hard workout. I don’t need that. I have the hyper-effective hype machine that is Scumbag’s “Pure Adrenaline Hard-On.” Everything you need is right in the name!“Sturmtrupp” // Kanonenfieber (Die Urkatastrophe) – One day per week (sometimes two if I’m feeling frisky), I engage in high-intensity or high-endurance cardio training. That means speed. That means form. That means rhythm. That means something to keep me motivated and focused. Nothing beats Kanonenfieber’s “Sturptrupp” for that exact regimen.“Leviathan” // Keres (Homo Homini Lupus) – Sometimes the only way to get me through my workout is to find my inner animal and let it rampage through the last few sets. The earth-shattering stomp of Keres’ “Leviathan” is the perfect elixir to entice that inner beast into meatspace.“Paths of Visceral Fears” // Noxis (Violence Inherent in the System) – Fear is the enemy of gainz. However, the only way past fear is through fear. That’s where Noxis’ “Paths of Visceral Fears” and its multitudinous motivating riffs come into play. How can you be scared of that crazy heavy lift when you’ve got Noxis spotting you?“Devil in the Basement” // Unhallowed Deliverance (Of Spectres and Strife) – The sheer heft of this track alone makes all of my personal bests look like warmups. That gives me something to strive for! Between immense grooves, crushing riffs, and a relentless pace, Unhallowed Deliverance’s “Devil in the Basement” urges me to my peak form.“Lust for the Severed Head” // Fit for an Autopsy (The Nothing That Is) – Deathcore is always a great source of meatheaded riffs. Fit for an Autopsy pull a rare card, however, with “Lust for the Severed Head.” Seamlessly blending muscular grooves with a technical prowess rarefied, “Lust for the Severed Head” inspires me to push that final rep past failure every time.“Of Pillars and Trees” // Brodequin (Harbinger of Woe) – You’d think material like this would be too dense to serve gym hours well. However, Brodequin’s “Of Pillars and Trees” swaggers so confidently into the land of steel and sweat that one can’t help but follow it directly to the bench.“In Your Guts” // Glassbone (Deaf to Suffering) – Slam is probably the best vehicle for pacing and focus in the weight room. Nothing gives me a better metronome to maximize my breathing, and perfect my form. The insanely gritty, nasty, hardcore-twisted ways of Glassbone’s “In Your Guts” ensures that I don’t deviate from the ideal path to GAINZ.“Mucus, Phlegm and Bile” // Stenched (Prurulence Gushing from the Coffin) – When you’re lifting heavy, the more viscous and vile the tunes, the greater the gainz. Enter Stenched’s “Mucus, Phlegm and Bile.” Boasting marvellously heavy tones and spans of d-beat expulsions perfect for high intensity training, Stenched will help you shatter your PRs every time.“Plant-Based Anatomy” // Flaaghra (Plant-Based Anatomy) – In my lifelong journey towards tree-trunk legs, it pays to have tunes that embody the stalwart strength of the mighty sequoia to keep me motivated. And so, when leg day #2 comes around in my weekly routine, I jam “Plant-Based Anatomy,” Flaaghra’s brutal slam stomping set at a perfect pace for brutal leg routines. Holdeneye Practices Radical Body Acceptance:“Brotherhood of Sleep” // Aborted (Vault of Horrors) – Nothing, I repeat nothing, is more important to long-term gainz development than sleep. I don’t know what this universe-crushing song is actually about, but I like to imagine it promoting a fraternity of people who value getting to bed at a decent hour.“We Slither” // Unhallowed Deliverance (Of Spectres and Strife) – The proper tunage is essential if you’re going to transform your garter snake arms into pythons, and this particular track never fails to engorge each and every one of my serpentine members.“Berserkir” // Brothers of Metal (Fimbulvinter) – Ah, the obligatory inclusion of a song about Vikings going ape-shit. Songs about raging Norsepeople always add +1 to my Strength saving throws, and this one has had me on a roll lately.“Fall of the Leaf” // Brodequin (Harbinger of Woe) – Don’t forget to grow those glutes! The cover model on Harbinger of Fate is demonstrating just how brutal the abductor machine can be (notice the ropes for added resistance!), but having a superior posterior is always worth the effort.“Shadows of the Brightest Night” // Necrophobic (In the Twilight Grey) – Groove is the secret to just about every great gym song, and this might be Necrophobic’s grooviest tune yet. Its shadows have been brightening the darkest corners of my garage gym all year long.“La Chiave Del Mio Amor” // Keygen Church (Nel Name Del Codice) – Organ music sets my organ juices to flowing, and lifting to this Bachian banger always leaves my body feeling Baroque-en in the best way possible.“The Temple Fires” // Pneuma Hagion (From Beyond) – I’d like to think that I treat my body like a temple, but I routinely offer more calories unto my inner altar than its fires can consume. Perma-bulking isn’t a choice, it’s a lifestyle!“Weaponized Loss” // Vitriol (Suffer & Become) – But, if I am ever going to end my perma-bulk, it will take an enormous amount of motivation, and this militant beatdown might be just what I need to brave the no man’s land that is caloric deficit.“Monsterslayer” // Nemedian Chronicles (The Savage Sword) – There’s not a person on Earth who hasn’t imagined themselves to be Conan the Barbarian while attempting to build thick muscles and sinews in the gym, and this little tune recounts the Cimmerian’s physical attributes while laying down a magnificent, martial metal march. I can’t tell if this song makes me feel more like a monster or a monster slayer, but either way, I win.“I Am the Path” // Hell:on (Shaman) – Fitness is a multi-faceted discipline, and we each have our own strengths and stumbling blocks. It might take help from a trainer, a medical doctor, a psychological professional, a training partner, or a support group, but remember that you are the path to your own health, and there is no shame in taking steps to get the help you need to be successful. You are worth it!“Shadow of Evil” // Oxygen Destroyer (Guardian of the Universe) – As I walk around my garage gym between sets while nursing an enormous pump, I like to picture myself as a gigantic monster, laying waste to all that is in my path. Lord Kaiju and Co. lay down a performance here that makes me feel downright radioactive.“Sword of a Thousand Truths” // Ironflame (Kingdom Torn Asunder) – This isn’t the first plodding Ironflame chugfest to grace one of my Heavy Moves Heavy playlists, and I sure hope it’s not the last. Bonus points for the #glutegoals on the cover. Thus Spoke and the Smiting of the Half-Depth Heretics:“Dragon” // Exocrine (Legend) – The lead melody in this just does something to me—the way it fades in at the beginning, the way it comes back, the way it plays off the speedy, techy goodness of the rest of the track. Yes.“A Body for a Body” // To the Grave, Connor Dickson, Siantell Johns (Everyone’s A Murderer) – Forced to choose on a record I could have filled this list with, this one came out on top. Furious, groovy, face-meltingly heavy, irresistible; “A body for a body for a body, MOTHERFUCKKERRR!”“Suffocate (feat. Poppy)” // Knocked Loose, Poppy (You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To) – Everything about this is just perfect in the gym. Disagree? “SHUT YOUR LYING MOUTH!” Thank you, Poppy.“Solus” // Devenial Verdict (Blessing of Despair) – One of my favourite songs of the year in general, this one got me through many, many sets. Just, like, on repeat. Particularly the last part. Ugh.“Beneath Ashen Skies” // Vale of Pnath (Between the World’s of Life and Death) – I discovered in the latter half of the year that I severely underrated this album, because I realised I’d been sticking it on again and again in the gym, automatically, and it was working brilliantly. The little dancy circular melodies in this are *chef’s kiss*.“Der Maulwurf” // Kanonenfieber (Die Urkatastrophe) – Works equally well for voluntarily moving heavy shit as it does for digging trenches. With its steady rhythm and big anthemic chorus in your ears, nothing can stand in your way.“Shiver” // Teeth (The Will of Hate) – Already having the ideal underlying tempo, sounding so insidiously mean and creepy takes this song beyond a stomp and into anabolic territory. Also, fantastic name.“Voidwomb” // Glacial Tomb (Lightless Expanse) – Kind of slow and menacing (a good thing) for the majority, its slide into the best and agonisingly shortest guitar solo of the year is a pure jolt of adrenaline. Another one that gets put on repeat.“Matricide 8.21” // Fleshgod Apocalypse (Opera) – Yeah, I know, ‘what the fuck(?!),’ I’m not even a fan of these guys, but seriously, this thing is motivating as hell. Just give it a chance.“To See Death Just Once // Ulcerate (Cutting the Throat of God) – Not exactly what you’d traditionally expect to see on one of these, but I love it so much I don’t care. And the same applies while actually in the gym: if you lift to what you love, things will (usually) go well.“Twelve Moons in Hell” // Spectral Wound (Songs of Blood and Mire) – Long and short: this is just a banger. The day I realised that new-second-wave black metal was great for lifting was a good day and I’d like to share this with you.“Concrete Crypt” // Resin Tomb (Cerebral Purgatory) – A concrete crypt is now what I’m definitely going to call the thing where you totally bin yourself by going a bit too hard on one lift—”I’m in the concrete crypt now.” Ok obviously, I’m absolutely not going to do that, but it is some great alliteration, and a stomp to boot. Dolph is… fucking meditating? Who let this piece in???“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/389931177/u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Rose</a>” // Kashiwa Daisuke (<a href="https://virginbabylonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/titan" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">TITAN</a>) – As the engorged fibers feel the tickle of contraction scamper in backflow,<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/heavy-moves-heavy-2024-amgs-ultimate-workout-playlist/#fn-209277-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">3</a> glitching, bass-loaded synth throbs arrive massage the ears and spread a parasympathetic wave up the spine. From root we rise, in pulse we are grounded. In our growing safety we inhale the chiming of dancing piano above it all. Allow Kashiwa Daisuke’s vibrancy help to shake away the growing lactic waste in your weary body.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/342193710?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Floating</a>” // Maria Chiara Argirò (<a href="https://mariachiaramusic.bandcamp.com/album/closer" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Closer</a>) – Moving from a place of rest to a place of gentle movement, a heartbeat steady kick thumps against an ethereal call to the flow of water. Though cool to the touch and electronic in construction, an analog warmth and hum bustles under the surface erupting in a solo trumpet’s cry. Sing with it, reach your arms high. Your voice has power.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/343222773?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">衍生 Capture and Elongate (Serenity)</a>” // OU (<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ou-%e8%98%87%e9%86%92-ii-frailty-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">蘇醒 II: Frailty</a>) – Your power in calm grows—and with growth we seek order. But order is hard to find in the shifting rhythms of OU’s poly-play. Follow the voice, maybe with your own. Feel it resonate in your chest as you again find deeper inhales in the space of serenity, powerful exhales in its crashing volume swells.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/367883433?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">WHO KNOWS ?</a>” // toe (<a href="https://toe-music.bandcamp.com/album/now-i-see-the-light" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">NOW I SEE THE LIGHT</a>) – The kindling of your gentleness catches fire—a brilliant light—as toe serves increasingly bright guitar patterns and fragile vocal harmonies to sweep your worries away. It can be uneasy standing proudly beside beauty like this. Embrace it. You are worthy. Spread your arms wide and expand alongside airy post rock crescendos.“<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/07om39S2yG8TCKYARvpaEo?si=4d83da04eba2435e" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">あなたのそばで (Beside You)</a>” // Yunowa (<a href="https://yunowa.bandcamp.com/album/phantom" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Phantom</a>) – Every light exists with a shadow. Yunowa has a shadow too, a dream like a sinking ship. But struggle, heartache—acceptance of and living through—these are all part of life. Rub your hands together. Place one hand over your heart, and the other over that hand. Close your eyes and rest your shoulders as a languished guitar solo screams catharsis.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/365132941?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Raat Ki Rani</a>” // Arooj Aftab (<a href="https://shop.aroojaftabmusic.com/products/night-reign-digital-album" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Night Reign</a>) – A heart that has wanted and waited will bloom like raat ki rani, the jasmine of the night. Only in the hiding sun can you filled your lungs with its wonder. Breathe deeply as Arooj Aftab’s sultry, modulated croon carries you like a hidden fragrance with gentleness of a healing love.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/338186517?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Eg Veit I Himmelrik Ei Borg</a>” // Sylvaine (<a href="https://sylvainemusic.bandcamp.com/album/eg-er-framand" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Eg Er Framand</a>) The night remains ominous despite its treasures. But the dark cannot exist without the light. Let Sylvaine’s ode to the comfort of this duality, her siren salutation against plaintive guitar lines and horn-call synths, find the peace of the moment. Reach your chin high with relaxed shoulders to feel it’s spacious and resonant vibrations travel from ear to mind.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/365268197?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Reflections of God</a>” // Jaubi (<a href="https://jaubi.bandcamp.com/album/a-sound-heart" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A Sound Heart</a>) – Stepping away from darkness requires travel still through more darkness, a journey which requires devotion. Jaubi expresses their devotion, an assurance that the now leads to a better place, through relentless piano harmonies, sighing sarangi calls, and a continual march toward resolution. Visualizing the destination will slowly reveal its path. You must walk it. Keep breathing.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/357750068?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">We Can’t See It, but It’s There</a>” // Pat Metheny (<a href="https://patmetheny.lnk.to/PMMoonDialAlbum" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Moondial</a>) For as long as Pat Metheny has been questing in delicate guitar harmony, he has not yet either reached the end. I know it’s there. You know it’s there. He knows it’s there. One day, waiting for all of us, it’s there. But in these minutes we spend with Mr. Metheny, in these minutes you spend in repetitious quests for solace, the answer remains there. Somewhere. With practice, a trialed body and mind, we’ll find it. Keep searching.“<a href="https://tidal.com/browse/track/369951507?u" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Hytta</a>” // Kalandra (<a href="https://kalandra.bandcamp.com/album/a-frame-of-mind" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A Frame of Mind</a>) – All roads lead us home. “Hytta” is not just a home but a state, a vision of comfort, of opening doors, of settling dishes, of chirping birds—a stream trickles in the distance. “Hytta” is the destination revealed through the honing of physical faculties and the unifying of your wandering thoughts. Today you are here. Your sculpted being, your gentle breath, you’ve unlocked the gates. Enjoy it in this moment because you may not be here tomorrow. And that’s ok.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/heavy-moves-heavy-2024-amgs-ultimate-workout-playlist/#fn-209277-4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">4</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/aborted/" target="_blank">#Aborted</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/arooj-aftab/" target="_blank">#AroojAftab</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/brodequin/" target="_blank">#Brodequin</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/brothers-of-metal/" target="_blank">#BrothersOfMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" 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Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Carcharodon and Cherd’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024</a>By CarcharodonCarcharodonI’ve been writing here since 2018. This has been the hardest year to date. I feel like I say this every year right around this time but, for whatever reason, I’ve really struggled this year to find the motivation and inspiration to write. Indeed, I’ve often felt that I lacked the passion for the music. Rather than exploring the murkier depths of Bandcamp, I was often to be found in the company of old, non-metal friends like Nick Cave, 16 Horsepower and Tom Waits.Despite my disappointment with the world, most of which is on literal or metaphorical fire, and my disillusionment with people, whose choices have caused most of that, there were bright glimmers. The phenomenal response to our <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/kenstrosity-needs-our-help-after-losing-home-in-hurricane-helene-related-flooding/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Gondor-esque call for aid</a>, when Kenstrosity‘s life was ripped apart by Hurricane Helene, reassured me there are still a few good people out there, a good number of whom read this blog.Still, I managed to turn out a few reviews this year, including my first ever 5.0—more of which below—which was worth it for the Steel Ire it evoked alone. And there was the <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/category/blog-posts/amg-turns-15/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Fifteenalia</a>, a celebration the like of which we will not see again (for obvious reasons), which I had the honour of steering from questionable inception to creaky delivery.Ironically, despite my struggles on the writing front, This Place has played a significant part in keeping me sane. It’s been tolerable to welcome a few new staffers—some even raised up from the awful Place Below—to our serried ranks, while the older hands feel almost like family at this point, with everything that that entails. As ever, particular thanks go to Steel Druhm for his tireless intimidation, which just about keeps us honest, while Dolph, Dear Hollow, El Cuervo, Grier, Maddog, Sentynel and Thus Spoke, among others, have proved adequate companions for banter and gigs.And with that, I wish you all the happiest of Listurnalias. #ish. Pillar of Light // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/pillar-of-light-caldera-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Caldera</a> – A very late entry to this list, Pillar of Light should be a cautionary tale to bands and labels: release your shit earlier! With more time, the stunning Amenra-meets-Cult of Luna post-misery of Caldera could easily have placed in the top half of this list. While I know this is an album I will come to love and fully expect to regret not placing it higher here, the reality is that other entries have had longer to sink their hooks into me. I will just say that, for me, the apparently divisive vocals are a perfect fit for Pillar of Light’s style.#10. Seth // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/seth-la-france-des-maudits-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">La France des Maudits</a> – Way back when,<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-207473-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a> French black metallers Seth snuck onto my list of Honorable Mentions with La Morsure du Christ, a fantastic return to form after a lengthy absence. After a short gap, they’re back and this year’s La France des Maudits has cracked the list proper. Melodic, bordering on symphonic with the keys and choral arrangements, but also visceral and feral, Seth dropped an absolute banger. It doesn’t hurt that, as Thus Spoke pointed out in her review, it’s “downright impressive how rich and dynamic this sounds.”#9. The Vision Bleak // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/the-vision-bleak-weird-tales-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Weird Tales</a> – The Vision Bleak is not, to paraphrase Dr Grier, a band that has ever ‘got’ me. Or perhaps, I’ve never got them. But Weird Tales resonated with me enormously. And perhaps that’s because it’s not really like anything The Vision Bleak has done before. Structuring their gothic black metal (or should that be blackened goth metal?) into a single, flowing song (albeit one broken into parts) got my attention. But they held my attention because they actually managed to pull off this very-hard-to-execute vision. Weird Tales’ Type O Negative / Moonspell-inspired blackened sound clicked into place almost instantly for me and now I need to go back to TVB’s discography with newly-opened eyes.#8. Necrowretch // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/necrowretch-swords-of-dajjal-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Swords of Dajjal</a> – The first 4.0 I delivered in an alarmingly high-scoring year, Necrowretch’s black-death fusion is something that I have returned to again. Hiding beneath the vicious, downright nasty surface of Swords of Dajjal, is a surprisingly subtle and well-crafted concept album. As I said in my review, there is zero bloat or filler on this record, which blazes with intensity, driven as much by the scything, razor-sharp riffs as the rasping, sepulchral vocals. The range of influences cited, both by me and by impressed commenters, shows how many different aspects there are to this killer record.#7. Panzerfaust // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/panzerfaust-the-suns-of-perdition-chapter-iv-to-shadow-zion-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion</a> – After Chapter III: The Astral Drain, I was worried that Panzerfaust were running out of steam and inspiration to close out The Suns of Perdition saga. Thankfully, my concerns were misplaced. To Shadow Zion reeks of doom and destiny. Huge, brooding and intense, it is a captivating listen, with the stunning “The Damascene Conversions” sitting at its heart. From the sulfuric vocals to the masterful drumming, this was a worthy final chapter for The Suns of Perdition, which must go down as one of the best executed, most consistent multi-album concept pieces in metal.#6. Spectral Wound // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/spectral-wound-songs-of-blood-and-mire-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songs of Blood and Mire</a> – Spectral Wound just can’t miss. For a band that, superficially at least, plays fairly old school black metal, songwriting chops paired with brilliant execution mean these guys are anything but derivative. My favourite album of theirs to date, Songs of Blood and Mire is just tons of wicked, nasty fun. It’s hard to say exactly why, but I feel like everything Spectral Wound does has a slight knowing wink to it, which suggests that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously. For me, this is a huge positive, as a lot of black metal is so tediously earnest, where this is unflinchingly harsh, surprisingly melodic and drowning in swaggering groove. Great stuff.#5. Mother of Graves // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mother-of-graves-the-periapt-of-absence-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Periapt of Absence</a> – I’m a sucker for death doom. And The Periapt of Absence is some fucking great death doom. Mother of Graves were unknown to me before I stumbled across this album but their blending of old school Opeth (think somewhere between Morningrise and Orchid) with early Katatonia and Paradise Lost, plus a sprinkling of Clouds is stunning. All wrapped up in a pleasingly tight package, Mother of Graves smother the listener in unflinching, heartwrenching misery. And I love every minute of it. It’s that Peaceville Three sound we love, but feeling fresh, vibrant and vital.#4. Devenial Verdict // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/devenial-verdict-blessing-of-despair-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Blessing of Despair</a> – Me and death metal don’t always see eye to eye, and the last Devenial Verdict left only a passing impression. But Thus Spoke‘s tireless <del>tongue-bathing</del> promotion of Blessing of Despair convinced me to give it a chance. While I enjoy the stomping thuggery of Devenial Verdict’s dissonant death well enough, it’s the sudden mood swings into what TS described as “lethally graceful restraint” that really hooked me. Although worlds apart stylistically, on Blessing of Despair DV achieved what Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean did on Obsession Destruction: knowing precisely how far to push the suffocating, claustrophobic heaviness, before taking their foot off your throat for a minute. Then stamping on it again.#3. Julie Christmas // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/julie-christmas-ridiculous-and-full-of-blood-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ridiculous and Full of Blood</a> – Maddog predicted that I would lambast him as an underrating bastard for the 3.5 he deigned to award Ms Christmas. And he was quite correct. He’s a charlatan of the highest order. However, even I’m surprised by how high Ridiculous and Full of Blood has landed here. But, as someone not given to overly emotional reactions to music, I’m continually stunned by the reactions Julie—Can I call you Julie? No? Ok—extracts from me. I’m often on the edge of tears by the end of “The Lighthouse,” just like that cad Maddog, while the likes of “Not Enough” and “End of the World” (the latter with CoL’s Johannes Persson) have a scary edge to them, with Christmas at her maniacal, crooning, possessed, unpredictable best.#2. A Swarm of the Sun // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/a-swarm-of-the-sun-an-empire-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">An Empire</a> – Speaking of emotional responses, A Swarm of the Sun’s stripped back melancholy is right up there. If I say that An Empire is brighter and more uplifting than previous efforts The Rifts and The Woods, understand that this is a very relative statement. An Empire is drowning in sorrow and misery, and yet there is just a hint of brightness that shimmers and hovers around the edges, like a lunar halo. Slow and deliberate, haunting and cathartic, A Swarm of the Sun’s latest outing is just beautiful. End of. No discussion.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-207473-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a>#1. Kanonenfieber // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/kanonenfieber-die-urkatastrophe-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Die Urkatastrophe</a> – Y’all know I dropped a 5.0 on Die Urkatastophe, so it’s no surprise to find it here, sitting pretty, atop my list. There’s not much more praise that I can heap on Kanonenfieber’s sophomore record than I already did in my review. For me, it has everything and is more than I dared hope for as a follow up to my beloved Menschenmühle (my album of the year for <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/thekenwords-and-carcharodons-top-tenish-of-2021/#:~:text=%231.%20Kanonenfieber,is%20a%20masterpiece." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2021</a>). It is brutal and vicious (“Panzerhenker” and “Ausblutingsschlacht”), anthemic (“Der Maulwurf” and “Menschenmühle”) and more. Crafted—and yes, that is the correct word—with huge skill and attention to detail, it is the storytelling, based on original source materials, that elevates this record to the next level for me. And if you don’t speak German, or are simply not into narrative in your metal, just go bang your fucking head to “Gott mit der Kavallerie”!Honorable mentions In alphabetical order by band:<ul><li>40 Watt Sun // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/40-watt-sun-little-weight-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Little Weight</a> – Little Weight actually carries a lot of emotional weight. Melancholic, beautiful post-doom and shoegaze, rife with a rough honesty.</li><li>Anciients // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/anciients-beyond-the-reach-of-the-sun-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Beyond the Reach of the Sun</a> – Long-form (arguably too-long-form in some respects) progressive death, which is wonderfully ambitious and overblown in its scale and delivery.</li><li>Crypt Sermon // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/crypt-sermon-the-stygian-rose-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Stygian Rose</a> – Fantastic trad doom, channeling heavy doses of Candlemass. Early in the year, I thought this was top-5 material but it’s uneven, with the back half much stronger than the front, and I’ve cooled on it a touch.</li><li>Nyktophobia // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/nyktophobia-to-the-stars-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">To the Stars</a> – Just great, stomping melodeath. As I said in my review, it’s not massively original but it’s tight and well written, and easy to just kick back to. Sometimes, I don’t need more.</li><li>Silhouette //<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/silhouette-les-dires-de-lame-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> Les Dires de l’Âme</a> – This fantastic post-black album had a place on the list proper until Pillar of Light bulldozed its way in there very late in the day. Haunting, harrowing and beautiful, Silhouette’s debut is Great!</li><li>Sumac // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/sumac-the-healer-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Healer</a> – Nothing about The Healer makes it an easy listen but Sumac’s fifth record is curiously beautiful for all its wandering, free-form abrasiveness.</li><li>Vorga // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/vorga-beyond-the-palest-star-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Beyond the Palest Star</a> – While it’s hard to disagree with Kenstrosity‘s criticism of the production on Beyond the Palest Star, what can I say? I still love it. It’s chunky, well written, well paced and powerful.</li></ul>Surprises o’ the Year Ordered by most astounding first:<ul><li>Opeth // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/opeth-the-last-will-and-testament-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Last Will and Testament</a> – It’s been a long time since I was last genuinely interested in an Opeth album (2005’s Ghost Reveries, in case you were wondering). But, wouldn’t you just know it, Mikael Åkerfeldt and co are back (roars and all). I’m not ready to commit to a score for The Last Will (though I think El Cuervo‘s was possibly a smidge high) as I’ve not been able to spend enough time with it. But the fact I want to spend more time with it is, after 19 years of having no interest in Opeth’s output, a surprise. And a welcome one.</li><li>Grand Magus // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/grand-magus-sunraven-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sunraven</a> – Another Swedish favourite of old, which I’d all but given up on, Grand Magus roared back this year with Sunraven. As an equally surprised Steel Druhm said in his review, this was the album he “feverishly hoped to get from Grand Magus … a grand return to prime form with the fire firmly back in the Balrog … the best Magus outing since 2012’s The Hunt”.</li></ul>Disappointment o’ the Year Limited to a single musical disappointment, to avoid submitting a lengthy thesis:<ul><li>Zeal & Ardor // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/zeal-ardor-greif-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">GREIF</a> – I’m not angry, or even very surprised, just disappointed.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-207473-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">3</a> While I accept that this is the album of a band in transition, there’s no getting away from the fact that it was a hugely disappointing album from a band that has abandoned the sound that made it what it was. And for what? They have not transitioned to something new and exciting, but with kinks to be worked out. Rather, on this record, Zeal & Ardor became something so pedestrian that any number of post-rock bands could’ve written it and, probably, done a better job. I may have overrated it.</li></ul>Songs o’ the Year <ol><li>Julie Christmas – “The Lighthouse”</li><li>Kanonenfieber – “Der Maulwurf”</li><li>Selbst – “The Stench of a Dead Spirit”</li><li>Panzerfaust – “The Damascene Conversions”</li><li>Kanonenfieber – “Gott mit der Kavallerie”</li><li>Devenial Verdict – “Garden of Eyes”</li><li>Spectral Wound – “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal”</li><li>Silhouette – “Les Dires de l’Âme”</li><li>Blue Heron – “Everything Fades”</li><li>Zeal & Ardor – “Hide in Shade”</li><li>Glare of the Sun – “Rain”</li></ol> CherdTwenty-twenty-four was certainly a year that followed previous years and will precede still others. When I look back, I’ll likely remember it as the year I discovered the wonders of ADHD medication after decades of non-treatment, the difficult transition my poor Cherdlet experienced from kindergarten to first grade, and the incredible bucket list trip my wife and I took to Toronto to watch our favorite TV franchise filming new content courtesy of my very important Hollywood connections. No, not Robert Downey Jr. Much more important and better-looking. Hmm? Margot Robbie? She wishes. I also had the pleasure of meeting several of my fellow writers in person, and they are all much homelier than they let on with the exception of Madam X, who is a goddamned ray of sunshine.On the musical front, I was able to check two bands off my “need to see live” list in Judas Priest and Archspire, whereby I discovered that Halford does exactly zero audience banter, and Archspire do nothing but. Fun shows, both. I didn’t listen to as much new music by volume this year than I have in previous years when I’d log between 200 and 400 releases, and that was largely due to my kid’s age and the level of interaction he needs. I have a feeling, however, that 2025 will see an uptick thanks to the new Heavys headphones I got for Christmas this year. As always, I want to thank the editors, particularly Steel Druhm and Doc Grier, for not sending me a mailbomb after all the late reviews I turned in (I’ll work on that in 2025), and the man himself, AMG, for building this community and for agreeing that Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek show.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-207473-4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">4</a> (ish) Chat Pile // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/chat-pile-cool-world-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Cool World</a> – This is what it sounds like when Chat Pile make a “mature” record. As I noted in my October review, some of the most glaring weirdness and black humor the band is known for is missing in Cool World, which is why it’s here on my list instead of matching the lofty heights of my 2022 AOTY<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/chat-pile-gods-country-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> God’s Country</a>. That said, this is consistently bleak in a way I like, and it boasts what are in my opinion the two best–if not most memorable–songs the band have written to date in “New World” and “Masc.” I’m a sucker for these Oklahomans and look forward to how their sound evolves from here.#10. Glacial Tomb // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/glacial-tomb-lightless-expanse-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Lightless Expanse</a> – I’ve had an up and <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/contrite-metal-guy-its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-wrongness-volume-the-first/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">down</a> journey with Glacial Tomb’s sophomore record, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still view this as one of the best things I’ve listened to this year. To consider a record this closely means you have to listen to it a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I logged more hours with Lightless Expanse than with any other album. I’ve made a big deal about the one-three punch of “Voidwomb/Enshrined in Concrete/Abyssal Host”, but it bears repeating since it’s my favorite consecutive stretch of death metal in 2024.#9. Replicant // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/replicant-infinite-mortality-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Infinite Mortality</a> – If you peel back the veneer of disso-death and blackened blasts on Infinite Mortality, you’ll find a pounding hardcore heart comprised of equal parts beatdown and Converge. As technical as this music gets, and there is a lot going on here, Replicant never forget their primary duty as a metal band: snapping necks. On their third album, they’ve exquisitely composed a missive to unbridled aggression. I completely missed their previous albums, so I’m glad our Kenfren wouldn’t shut his excitable yap about this one.#8. Spectral Voice // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/spectral-voice-spargamos-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sparagmos</a> – “Alright skaters! This is the end of our free skate period. We’d like to once again thank you for spending your Saturday with us here at Family Fun Roller Rink and Arcade. It’s time to slow things down, down, way down, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s couples’ skate. So, find that special someone you want to be interred on a cold stone slab with, gaze into each other’s empty eye sockets, and make your way around the rink as wave after wave of Spectral Voice’s death/funeral doom forcefully separates you from any light, hope, or happiness this wretched world might have accidentally given you. Remember, those who survive the next 45 minutes of tectonic plates colliding will get the chance to compete in roller limbo!”#7. Crypt Sermon // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/crypt-sermon-the-stygian-rose-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Stygian Rose</a> – Despite being one of the biggest doom apologists on this site, Crypt Sermon failed to grab me with their highly acclaimed debut nearly ten years ago. I chalk this up to my unfamiliarity with the traditional doom style at the time. In recent years, I’ve binged large amounts of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Solitude Aeturnus et al., so I finally have the frame of reference to see just how well Crypt Sermon’s third LP captures the swagger, majesty, and grit of a style few contemporary bands seem interested in playing. After the growing pains displayed on The Ruins of Fading Light, these Philly natives have worked out the kinks and delivered an air-tight slab of doomy goodness.#6. Full of Hell // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/full-of-hell-coagulated-bliss-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Coagulated Bliss</a> – I regret waiving my seniority claim to Full of Hell releases, thus allowing Dolph to snap up review duties for Coagulated Bliss. It’s not that he did a bad job of reviewing the prolific experimental grind outfit’s latest. He did great, and he awarded it a deserved 4.0. But then he had the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity, and the gumption to incorrectly <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/contrite-metal-guy-its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-wrongness-volume-the-second/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">lower his score</a>. To make matters worse, it appeared nowhere on his year-end list. Not even a goll dern honorable mention. I’ve told him to his cetacean face that he’s wrong and I’m likely to do so again because this is Full of Hell’s best work since Trumpeting Ecstasy. In fact, it might be better.#5. Ulcerate // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ulcerate-cutting-the-throat-of-god-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Cutting the Throat of God</a> – For most of their existence, Ulcerate was a highly acclaimed band that I just couldn’t get into. That changed four years ago with the release of Stare into Death and Be Still. Little changed in their intricate approach to dissonant death metal, but there was something warmer and more human to what I had previously considered a rather detached style. That trend continues with Cutting the Throat of God. I find this record best when taken as a whole, letting the experience unfold over the full runtime, like dream-walking through a hedge maze or being trapped in a velvet sack and discovering it’s much larger on the inside.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-207473-5" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">5</a>#4. Thou // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/thou-umbilical-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Umbilical</a> – I waited a long time for a chance to review a new record by Thou, and when it finally came, they did not disappoint. As I said in my June review, “Like their chimerical American metal brethren Inter Arma, it doesn’t matter how many influences the band stuff into one album. They are all unified in sound under Thou’s banner. Bryan Funck’s acid-bit vocals are unmistakable and apparently unchangeable after 20 throat-shredding years. Also unchangeable? Thou’s ability to craft the most metallic-sounding guitar tone out there. As the standard bearer for…hell, as the entire sum of the second generation of Louisiana sludge, the sound they’ve forged isn’t the kind of sloppy muck you may associate with the term. It’s certainly thick, but it has a quality like two enormous steel I-beams violently striking each other.” If that doesn’t sell Umbilical for you, then here is where our paths diverge.#3. Devenial Verdict // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/devenial-verdict-blessing-of-despair-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Blessing of Despair</a> – I didn’t listen to Blessing of Despair for several weeks after it came out in October despite the fact Devenial Verdict’s previous record, Ash Blind, made my year-end list in 2022. When I finally got around to it earlier in December, it threatened to blow the doors right off my still nebulous list, climbing fast and high until ultimately landing here at number three. There is more immediacy than on Ash Blind, which took me a while to warm up to. That doesn’t mean the band skimps on the kind of thoughtful transitions and atmospherics they’ve come to be known for. It’s just that Blessing of Despair HAZ THE RIFFS, including my favorite death metal riff of the year in “Solus.”#2. Void Witch // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/void-witch-horripilating-presence-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Horripilating Presence</a> – When I revisited Horripilating Presence with the purpose of sorting out this list’s pecking order, I expected death-doomers Void Witch to fall mid-to-late top 10. Obviously, the opposite happened. For the life of me I don’t understand how this album didn’t gain more traction amongst the other writers and you, the unwashed commentariat. As I said back in July, “…the material on Horripilating Presence is Mohamed Ali levels of confident. The editing of ideas in each song and across the album’s taut 39 minutes is masterful, especially for a debut. No song hews too closely to any of the others, but all are of a piece, locking comfortably into place like an intricate puzzle box, and Void Witch have such sights to show you.”#1. Inter Arma // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/inter-arma-new-heaven-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">New Heaven</a> – Inter Arma never miss. Aside from being one of the best live acts in metal, every album they’ve released going back to 2013’s Sky Burial has been one successful evolution after another. As a very wise reviewer once said, “They’re the same shaggy beast as ever, but beneath that matted, coarse coat is a rippling form mid-shape shift, stretching, pulling, and crossing back on itself constantly over the course of New Heaven’s shockingly concise 42 minutes…If being all over the musical map sounds like a negative, you’ve probably never heard an Inter Arma record before. It seems whatever they throw at the wall sticks, and the listening experience across their (usually much longer) records never feels uneven. This is because they play everything with the same smoldering intensity and volatile mean streak.” What a record.Honorable Mentions:<ul><li>Convulsing // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/convulsing-perdurance-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Perdurance</a> – I like this quote from Dear Hollow‘s review, so I’ll let him do the talking: “…Convulsing explores every nook and twist of a rhythm and melody until its inevitable conclusion is happened upon in tragic and fatal fashion.”</li><li>Spectral Wound // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/spectral-wound-songs-of-blood-and-mire-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songs of Blood and Mire</a> – Pound for pound, Spectral Wound are probably the most consistent no-frills black metal band currently in operation. Songs of Blood and Mire is another rager that’s as melodic as it is acidic.</li><li>Lord Buffalo // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lord-buffalo-holus-bolus-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Holus Bolus</a> – This record was one redundant instrumental away from landing higher on this list. Looking forward to where these gothic country rockers go next.</li></ul>Songs o’ the Year:In alphabetical order by band: <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/40-watt-sun/" target="_blank">#40WattSun</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/a-swarm-of-the-sun/" target="_blank">#ASwarmOfTheSun</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/anciients/" target="_blank">#Anciients</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/blog-posts/" target="_blank">#BlogPosts</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/blue-heron/" target="_blank">#BlueHeron</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/carcharodon-and-cherds-top-tenish-of-2024/" target="_blank">#CarcharodonAndCherdSTopTenIshOf2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/chat-pile/" target="_blank">#ChatPile</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/convulsing/" target="_blank">#Convulsing</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/crypt-sermon/" target="_blank">#CryptSermon</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/devenial-verdict/" target="_blank">#DevenialVerdict</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/full-of-hell/" target="_blank">#FullOfHell</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/glare-of-the-sun/" target="_blank">#GlareOfTheSun</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/grand-magus/" target="_blank">#GrandMagus</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/inter-arma/" target="_blank">#InterArma</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/julie-christmas/" target="_blank">#JulieChristmas</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/kanonenfieber/" target="_blank">#Kanonenfieber</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/listurnalia/" target="_blank">#Listurnalia</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/lord-buffalo/" target="_blank">#LordBuffalo</a> <a rel="nofollow 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Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Doom_et_Al’s and Dear Hollow’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024</a>By Doom_et_AlDoom_et_Al2024 was the year my reviewing fell off a cliff.I had plenty of good excuses. An infant son (Grayskull) who totally rocks my world but who gobbles up free time and good sleep habits like Pacman on a tear. A new role at the hospital, for which I was initially out of my depth, and that required enormous effort to stay afloat. An exhausting book tour for a memoir I published earlier this year. These are all incredible things for which I am extremely grateful. I just found that at the end of every day, when I should have been critically assessing music, all I wanted to do was sleep.This significant reduction in free time has forced me to reassess my relationship with metal. In the beforetimes, I would inhale it. I was not picky; the more the merrier. Now, I have to be judicious with what I listen to. I have a lower tolerance for bad music, and less inclination to listen to it multiple times. I sometimes yearned for a time when I could focus on music I wanted to listen to, not music I was being asked to critique. This caused me to wonder if I had any business reviewing music at all.I can’t tell you if 2024 was a good year for metal or not, because the free time I had was focused on music that brought comfort. I therefore spun fewer albums, but those I did spin got a lot of earball time. I do know that despite everything, metal continued to bring me enormous joy and happiness. Part of this is thanks to the incredible AMG team, and AMG Himself, who have created, without question, the best metal site on the planet. Special thanks to the Steely One, who could have fired me many times, but didn’t for some reason. I’d also like to thank my fellow writers who are good, kind, supportive people whose only flaw is their collective questionable taste.Returning to the question of why I’m still here: a few weeks ago, I was playing Gaerea softly on the stereo. Grayskull crawled in, heard the music, stood up, and with the biggest grin on his face, began growling and gesticulating. He was loving it, and his unbridled joy reminded me of how glorious good metal can be. It inspired me to try to review more next year. I hope some of that rubs off on you and that you have a beautiful, prosperous and happy 2025 #10. Sgáile // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/sgaile-traverse-the-bealach-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Traverse the Bealach</a> – This type of noodly prog isn’t usually my thing. But Sgáile’s Traverse the Bealach is so damn catchy and epic that it transcends the usual pitfalls of the sub-genre. Importantly, it captures the essence and majesty of the Scottish Highlands (albeit in post-apocalyptic form) in a way matched only, perhaps, by countryman Saor. It’s also an album that improves the longer you listen to it. An unexpected delight.#9. Misotheist // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/misotheist-vessels-by-which-the-devil-is-made-flesh-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh</a> – A band that hasn’t forgotten that black metal is supposed to feel ugly and dangerous, Vessels picks up where For the Glory of Your Redeemer left off, and is just as remorseless, claustrophobic and scary as its predecessors. Misotheist do their usual thing and knock out 3 dissonant bangers in under 40 minutes. When people complain that black metal has gone soft, point them in the direction of Misotheist#8. Dissimulator // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/dissimulator-lower-form-resistance-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Lower Form Resistance </a>– Thrash so tasty, even non-thrash fans like myself had to take notice. Complex, technical, ferocious… the only thing I don’t love is the vocals, and those I can get past because the rest is so good. Loaded with killer riffs from start to finish, this should appease the cave-man in you, while tickling those neurones as well. This one stayed in rotation for me all year. Thrash never does that. Which should tell you all you need to know.#7. Spectral Wound // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/spectral-wound-songs-of-blood-and-mire-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songs of Blood and Mire</a> – Although not as immediately spectacular as its predecessor, Songs of Blood and Mire is still a ferocious collection of vital and vivid black metal. Melding melodicism with fury, Spectral Wound create music as monstrous as it is catchy. Perhaps because it lacks the outright bangers of A Diabolic Thirst, perhaps because it is even more caustic, this one flew under many a radar. Don’t let it fly under yours.#6. Kanonenfieber // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/kanonenfieber-die-urkatastrophe-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Die Urkatastrophe</a> – Building on the promise exhibited in earlier albums and EPs, Kanonenfieber realize their full potential with Die Urkatastrophe. So aggressive, so confident, so accomplished that I knew after one listen that it would list. The notion that “war is hell” is patently clichéd, yet Kanonenfieber subvert the usual trappings by cleverly mixing the faux-sunniness of war propaganda with the brutality of black metal. It works brilliantly.#5. Selbst // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/selbst-despondency-chord-progressions-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Despondency Chord Progressions</a> – Don’t let the hideous AI art turn you off. Selbst have come out of nowhere to create the year’s most chaotic, yet compelling, collection of tracks. Channelling Suffering Hour, this is music that finds the beauty in the messiness of its composition. Miraculously, the insanity never becomes wearying, only more interesting. By the time the final chords fade, you’ll want to throw yourself in all over again.#4. Dawn Treader // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/dawn-treader-bloom-decay-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Bloom & Decay</a> – File under “surprise of the year.” I nearly snapped this one up from the promo sump, and then, like an idiot, passed it by. Joke’s on me. Capturing the warm, fuzzy side of black metal (a la Deafheaven, or a good version of Ghost Bath), Dawn Treader manages to pack a deep emotional punch despite all the prettiness on display. Alcest’s effort this year was fine… but when I wanted that transcendent experience only good black metal can provide, it was to Bloom & Decay that I kept returning.#3. Gaerea // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/gaerea-coma-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Coma</a> – Gaerea have always been absolute masters of catharsis. The ability to take music that is baseline intense, and ratchet it up even further, is a rare gift. With Coma, Gaerea dial things back. Their tenderest, most intimate collection benefits from adding a gentler emotional core. This makes Coma less immediate than, say, Mirage,but ultimately more varied. And when it hits, the highs are some of the best of Gaerea’s rock-solid career.#2. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – Arguably the best band in metal release another absolute barnstormer. Using every trick learned over the previous albums, Ulcerate deploy a devastating assault of dissonant death metal that captivates as it overwhelms. Insane drumming, complex time shifts, forceful melodies, thematic cohesion… Cutting the Throat of God has it all.#1. Iotunnn // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/iotunn-kinship-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Kinship</a> – First things first. Kinship not Access All Worlds Part 2. It’s more ambitious. It’s more sprawling. It’s shaggier and looser. And truthfully, on my first few listens, I thought it was a bit bloated and ill-disciplined. A 4.5 hiding in a 3.0, if you will. But a weird thing happened. I kept coming back. And every time I came back, I discovered something new. The incredible cymbal work on the chorus of “Mistland,” the gorgeous ending of “The Anguished Eternal.” Soon I realized Kinship, and its songs, are exactly as long as they need to be. Jon Aldara’s amazing vocal work elevates the stellar material even further, adding emotional complexity and yearning to the spell-binding complexity. The result is ethereal, complex, spiritually satisfying prog-death. It’s the best album of the year.Disappointment o’ the Year:Zeal & Ardor // <a href="http://www.angrymetalguy.com/zeal-ardor-greif-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Greif</a> – I love the band. The live show still rocks. But this is a disappointing misfire.Songs o’ the Year<ul><li>“Silver Leaves” – Wintersun</li><li> “Mistland” – Iotunn</li><li>“A Mercy Fall” – Counting Hours</li><li>“Withering Flower” – Gaerea</li><li>“Neuronal Fire” – Dark Tranquillity</li><li>“Matricide 8:21” – Fleshgod Apocalypse</li></ul> Dear HollowWelcome to the end of 2024! We at AMG hope the year has been kind to you – that your lives are filled with love, your hearts with joy, and our world with peace. I hope that you have found your people, and have those you can lean on. If we have ever given you a voice, a platform, or just love and support when you need it, then we have done our jobs.2024 has been a roller coaster for the Hollow household. Our toddler is now a three-year-old encroaching on kidhood, with all the sass and sick burns she can muster.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208990-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a> Fun news: we will be welcoming another kiddo into the world come summer of 2025! I also finally graduated with my master’s in secondary education this past year (mainly for the pay raise). While I’m unsure how much I will use from those classes, I have stepped up my class offerings to science fiction, true crime, and archaeology, alongside myriad others.My metal reviewing has found a bit of a crossroads in 2024. At the end of 2023, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression with potential ADHD, with a ton of childhood patterns and religious trauma rooted in my upbringing. As I unpack my need for productivity, I have had to take some steps back and see where my values actually lie as I’ve acclimated to medication, counseling, and just trying to rewire my brain. I’ve been reading and relaxing more, instead of cranking out reviews as religiously as I have. I’m trying to live without religion – of any kind.Special shout-outs to those who have been instrumental in my journey this year: the ineffable and tireless Steel Druhm, the genre-confusing Dolphin Whisperer, and those who have been supportive all year (Thus Spoke, Maddog, Carcharadon, Holdeneye, and Mystikus Hugebeard). Couldn’t have done it without y’all.On to the metal! #ish. Sumac // <a href="https://angrymetalguy.com/sumac-the-healer-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Healer</a> – The amorphous and fluid nature of The Healer is exactly what I’ve wanted out of post-metal. Its organicity is its greatest asset, accomplishing rich and trembling tones across its mammoth 76-minute runtime. Improvised material largely fails due to its lack of direction, but direction was never a focus for Sumac; rather, it dwells in its own devastation – the warhead and the fallout. Electronics simmer, noise erupts, sludge riffs hit with the weight of a thousand suns, and vocals command the attack with vitriol and mania alike. The Healer wounds and heals.#10. Sidewinder // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/sidewinder-talons-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Talon</a> – I never thought a stoner-inclined album would make it to my list, but here we are. I scoffed, but then the first riff of “Guardians” hit, and collided with vocalist Jem Tupe’s formidable and rich belts, the pleasure was so immense I threw a table over. The full-bodied, fuzzed-out blues riffs continue into jam seshes that keep me coming back for more, with them bluesy vocals floating like a weed-piloted spaceship atop the seas of psychedelia. The New Zealand act boasts range, zeniths in the low and slow, and cuts loose with southern fried riffage. I haven’t been able to shake the riff from “Prisoner” for months.#9. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-of-the-last-human-being-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Of the Last Human Being</a> – As a recent convert to 2004’s Of Natural History, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum scratches the itch I didn’t know I had. In essence, an art rock and jazz foray, Of the Last Human Being goes from snappy blasts of UneXpect-style metal meltdowns, multilayered vocal attacks, wonky and hypnotizing dream sequences,<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208990-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a> to brass drawls, anachronistic industrial electronic, to art-funk, and more! Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is confidently locked into its own stylistic fluidity – Of the Last Being picks up as if seventeen years haven’t passed since its predecessor.#8. Mamaleek // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mamaleek-vida-blue-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vida Blue</a> – Taking what made predecessor Diner Coffee so great and blowing it up with a palpable pomp, Vida Blue simultaneously pays homage to member Eric Livingston and the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. Mamaleek establishes these tracks upon much shiftier sands, free jazz at its core, while jazz- and blues rock, post-punk, prog-rock, and pure experimentalisms are glossed over progressions rotten to the core. From flute and brass explosions to anarchic punk driving, you’d be hard-pressed to find an album as bewildering – and as utterly brilliant – as Vida Blue. Home run or whatever.#7. Thou // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/thou-umbilical-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Umbilical</a> – While Thou has always been excellent, Umbilical foregoes the post-metal sensibilities that populated Heathen and Summit in favor of a cutthroat hardcore influence. Blessedly, while it feels harsher than much of their previous material, it doesn’t change the core that defines this Baton Rouge collective. Doom and sludge still dominate the pain and smothering that Umbilical represents, with the thick riffs reeking with the putridity of swamp water and vocals haunting with the vitriol of the bayou’s ghosts dominating the ears aplenty, with a vicious hardcore urgency biting through the humidity.#6. Ataraxie // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ataraxie-le-declin-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Le Déclin</a> – The bleak edge of funeral doom has never felt so appealing. Recalling Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in its audio and existential weight, the French collective balances the heft of funeral doom with the punishment of death metal – without the bells and whistles of modern atmospherics. Leads dominate the melodic portions with mobility and competence, death metal collapses regularly imminent, tension and bleakness hanging high in an empty sky. Four tracks of patient starkness greet the ears with overwhelming weight and tortured meditations on devastation.#5. Ingurgitating Oblivion // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ingurgitating-oblivion-ontology-of-nought-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ontology of Nought</a> – Easily my most returned-to album of 2024, the German duo creates a death metal album that embodies the outer extremes of the style. It’s dissonant beyond what many consider dissonant, punishing beyond what’s considered punishing, and easily one of the most exploratory albums of the year. Five long-form tracks showcase labyrinthine songwriting, experimental melodic structures, mind-flaying technicality, and a strange sense of catchiness radiating from deep within. Perhaps the most puzzling release of the year that requires and demands your full attention, the unearthed rewards are plenty.#4. Orgone // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/orgone-pleroma-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Pleroma</a> – Stephen Jarrett emerges from a ten-year hiatus of Orgone for a definitive piece of metal that defies explanation. Featuring a technicality that exists in a league of its own with an adventurousness and organicity that aligns its vast range of influences neatly, with its core landing somewhere among technical death metal and post-hardcore a la Amia Venera Landscape. Riffs and sweeps maintain a certain unhinged and intensely calculated tedium, while stylistic wilderness is explored in real-time. Post-metal, death metal, post-hardcore, and jazz are all tied together with crescendos and organic breadth that sway from lush harmony to scathing dissonance seamlessly. Orgone returns with an opus and pilgrimage of beauty, adventure, and pain.#3. Ulcerate // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ulcerate-cutting-the-throat-of-god-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Cutting the Throat of God</a> – I was this close to writing off Ulcerate’s newest as too accessible and too forward, lacking the atmospheric prowess of The Destroyers of All or Stare Into Death and Be Still. Then I let Cutting the Throat of God whisper and breath. In between these stormy blusters came the answer, and a sentience emerged. It wasn’t about a broad showcase of dissonance and technical prowess, but a holistic cohesion that stitches the music together with the nuance and sinews of being. The vicious and the ethereal blended into unspoken horror, with meditations ranging from the frantic to the morbid. Cutting the Throat of God is the most human of its releases but in the tragedy it becomes and the metamorphosis it undergoes – the murder of God.#2. Aborted // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/aborted-vault-of-horrors-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vault of Horrors</a> – I’ve never been terribly keen on the Belgian deathgrind legends, but Vault of Horrors curb-stomped a special place in me – namely because it sounds like deathcore. I’m not willing to banter about that specificity, but all I know is that Vault of Horrors kicks serious ass. Ripping tempos, bludgeoning riffs, and an unhinged technicality align for an album deserving of the act’s reputation, bolstered by a legion of guests.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208990-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">3</a> Highlight after highlight rolls by with reckless abandon and pulverizing intensity, until your body is so bruised and beaten you have nothing else to offer. I don’t care if it’s deathcore; it’s brutal, bouncy, and wicked, and I’m just happy to have my skull caved in.#1. Convulsing // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/convulsing-perdurance-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Perdurance </a>– Thinking of the meteoric trajectory of Australian one-man project Convulsing and its albums, it’s no wonder that Perdurance has lasting success. Dissonant death metal has a high standard this year with established juggernauts Ulcerate, Gigan, Mitochondrion, Devenial Verdict, Pyrrhon, Replicant, and Ingurgitating Oblivion releasing scathing blight upon the world in monolithic and ruthless fashion. In this way, Perdurance takes the world in a whisper. Encapsulating a sound that is both unforgivingly dense and painfully claustrophobic, while also starkly and lushly atmospheric in its layered crescendos and exploratory songwriting, few artists profess the level of songwriting the way sole member Brendan Sloan utilizes: intricate and gradual evolution of riffs and melodies, achieving a level of organicity and sentience seen by few. Twisting convention with a knife firmly planted in devastation, Perdurance achieves a truly iconic and transcendent voice in the best album of the year.Honorable Mentions:<ul><li>Paysage d’Hiver // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/paysage-dhiver-die-berge-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Die Berge</a> – It might not best Im Wald, but it’s a damn good conclusion to the Wanderer’s journeys, scathing black metal and frigid ambiance conjuring the majesty of mountains.</li><li>Stenched // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/stenched-purulence-gushing-from-the-coffin-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Purulence Gushing from the Coffin</a> – I’ve never quite gotten what Steel Druhm has been on about with filthy, putrid death metal, but now I get it. Ugh, I need to take a shower.</li><li>Defeated Sanity // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-chronicles-of-lunacy-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Chronicles of Lunacy</a> – Brutal death metal darlings don’t hesitate to bring the ouchy, but armed with enough technicality and insanity to keep us guessing, it’s a tough album to beat.</li><li>Apes // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/apes-penitence-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Penitence</a> – What appeared to be a total Nails ripoff turned out to be a much more atmospheric and thoughtful affair, the Quebecois group still managing to cave my skull in.</li><li>Pillar of Light // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/pillar-of-light-caldera-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Caldera</a> – With a pulverizing yet restrained palette aimed at evocation through sludge and post-metal, this Detroit collective scratches the itch that only Amenra could have.</li><li>Charli XCX // Brat – Well, color me Brat green and call me 2012 The Hobbit’s portrayal of the Misty Mountains. It’s a pop album that caught me by surprise. Hooks and experimental sensibilities align with a deceptively bare-bones album with a strong and palpable theme coursing through. I have not been able to get “Sympathy is a Knife” out of my head.</li></ul>Biggest Surprises:<ul><li>Everyone and their Kitchen Sink // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/kilter-andromeda-anarchia-growlers-choir-sevensuns-la-suspendida-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">La Suspendida</a> – What. The. Fuck.</li><li>Jeris Johnson // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/jeris-johnson-dragonborn-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Dragonborn</a> – “Siren’s Song” is a perfect holiday track, as it interpolates the central melody of “What Child is This?”!!! Merry fucking Christmas. God.</li><li>Two La Torture des Ténèbres albums in one year – I like it raw, boys.</li><li>Three Monolith records in one year: blackened hardcore, doom/deathcore, and aquatic atmoblack. Impressive, fellas.</li><li>How crucial darkwave bands Lazerpunk, Perturbator, and Sleepless Droids were to finishing my master’s. Thanks for the recommendations, Mystikus!</li></ul>Songs o’ the Year:<ul><li>Assemble the Chariots – “Evermurk”</li><li>Firtan – “Hrenga”</li><li>Melvins – “Pain Equals Funny”</li><li>Shiverboard – “Vitamins of Darkness”</li><li>Convulsing – “Endurance”</li><li>Charli XCX – “Sympathy is a Knife”</li></ul><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/aborted/" target="_blank">#Aborted</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/apes/" target="_blank">#Apes</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/ataraxie/" target="_blank">#Ataraxie</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/charli-xcx/" target="_blank">#CharliXCX</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/convulsing/" target="_blank">#Convulsing</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/dawn-treader/" target="_blank">#DawnTreader</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/defeated-sanity/" target="_blank">#DefeatedSanity</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/dissimulator/" target="_blank">#Dissimulator</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2024/" target="_blank">#DoomEtAlSAndDearHollowSTopTenIshOf2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/gaerea/" target="_blank">#Gaerea</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/ingurgitating-oblivion/" target="_blank">#IngurgitatingOblivion</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/iotunn/" target="_blank">#Iotunn</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/kanonenfieber/" target="_blank">#Kanonenfieber</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/mamaleek/" target="_blank">#Mamaleek</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/misotheist/" target="_blank">#Misotheist</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/orgone/" target="_blank">#Orgone</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/paysage-dhiver/" target="_blank">#PaysageDHiver</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/pillar-of-light/" target="_blank">#PillarOfLight</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/selbst/" target="_blank">#Selbst</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/sgaile/" target="_blank">#Sgaile</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/sidewinder/" target="_blank">#Sidewinder</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/sleepytime-gorilla-museum/" target="_blank">#SleepytimeGorillaMuseum</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/spectral-wound/" target="_blank">#SpectralWound</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/stenched/" target="_blank">#Stenched</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/sumac/" target="_blank">#Sumac</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/thou/" target="_blank">#Thou</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/ulcerate/" target="_blank">#Ulcerate</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/zeal-and-ardor/" target="_blank">#ZealAndArdor</a>

Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Dolphin Whisperer’s and Ferox’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024</a>By Dolphin Whisperer Dolphin WhispererEvery year, its end becomes more shocking and swift. Once, some guy told me, simply, “it only gets worse.” Not life though—attributing a better or worse or any sort of constant determination of our passage leaves a lot of room for falling into a void of enjoyment—life is, after all, a constant until its not. But time, or our sense of being in its too ever-present stream, flows at a rate that changes in ways to which we never quite catch up.As such, there’s a comfort in knowing how much time an album, particularly one you enjoy will take. For the ten-to-twenty minutes it takes for grindcore proper to slap me silly or the forty-to-eighty minutes that it takes for my deepest progressive loves to wring out a moaning confession, I know where my attention lies, even if it’s only half there and half on a task at hand. Time and tasks, day to night, play to stop, music makes my world a better place. And entering my now third year at Angry Metal Guy, an institution that has been a fixture of my musical journey for even longer, I continue to hold a profound gratitude and excitement for another year of discovery.2024 has had its challenges professionally and personally. 2025 will be no doubt the same, even if some trials we can see forming in the distance. But you want to know about the music, right? On that end, 2024 has yielded a heaping trove of great albums. Heck, even a <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/amgs-unsigned-band-rodeo-save-this-utility-%e4%ba%a1%e5%a4%b1-deprivation/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Rodeö pick</a> scratched at the rungs of an honorable mention. The below list barely scratches the surface of the breadth that the year has offered. Further down you will see Ferox‘s list, which captures a different collection equally rooted in joy. He might be more right than I am. But that matters little. Celebrate with us, your favorite collective of writers on the world wide web! Come hang with some of us on <a href="https://discord.gg/ZvDvua9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Discord</a> too if you’d like. Most of the people there are certified flea-free. And don’t be too upset if 2025 doesn’t hit you the same at first. It’s just another year, and it’ll be over before you know it. #ish. Kalandra // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/kalandra-a-frame-of-mind-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A Frame of Mind</a> – At my core, I consider myself a Norwegian sad girl. Usually, this manifests in some sort of weepy, melancholy prog, the likes of Age of Silence or <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/madder-mortem-old-eyes-new-heart-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Madder Mortem</a>.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1</a> But Kalandra’s enfolkened an impassioned take on an artsy, progressive collection of empowering tunes hit me square in my aching heart from the moment I heard it. Most importantly, though, Kalandra knows that suffering is just a step on the path of growth and happiness, which is a message that inspires me every day.#10. Dawnwalker // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dawnwalker-the-unknowing-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Unknowing</a> – The power to dream and envision a world driven by mysticism has an allure that’s hard to ignore. And while we know that more determinable laws guide the happenings of our daily lives, a glimpse of the unknown will always find its way into sequence. Dawnwalker putting this esoteric but ever-present concept into an atmospheric, genre-warped, playfully progressive package hardly surprises me, though. The British troupe has had my number since their unsung classic <a href="https://ampwall.com/a/dawnwalker/album/in-rooms" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">In Rooms</a>,<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">2</a> so I’m doing my last in continuing to love them despite Twelve‘s best efforts to underrate them.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">3</a>#9. Lizzard // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lizzard-mesh-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Mesh</a> – Lizzard’s 2021 opus <a href="https://lizzardband.bandcamp.com/album/eroded" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Eroded</a> is my favorite album of this decade so far. The French trio’s ability to warp deep, rhythm-tricky layers into driving and emotional rock songs his me at the core of my musical desire for cathartic hope expressed in an unassuming and lush framework. Mesh doesn’t present any differently in that regard. But its wrinkles on Lizzard’s timeless yet ’90s alternative-rooted oeuvre fuel Mesh’s inherent melancholy with a hope that’s jubilant, like a cracked smile on an overcast day.#8. Dissimulator // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dissimulator-lower-form-resistance-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Lower Form Resistance</a> – [INCOMING TRANSMISSION.] “My name is Clyde, and I arrive from beyond with wonderful news. My good friend Ferox has survived this timeline after all, having learned to navigate the Lower Form Resistance assault of fast-twitch rhythms and slow-twitch death metal punctuation. His head, fully intact, sways wildly in its hairless glory—big dives for big skanking breaks, snappy rolls for whiplash accelerations. He may not be as rhythmically gifted in pit-galloping cadence as the virtuoso drum and bass duo that provides life to Dissimulator’s effortless strides, but Ferox is my everything nonetheless.” [END TRANSMISSION.]#7. Mamaleek // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mamaleek-vida-blue-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vida Blue</a> – I couldn’t begin to tell you what has never landed about Mamaleek’s works before with a weird precision. As an act dedicated to sounding only like Mamaleek, their singular expression of tortured black(ish) metal warped by jazzy and slogging attitudes has manifested quite the take-it-or-leave-it musical experience. And while you, dear reader, may assume this is firmly up my alley, it has not been. At least not until Vida Blue served a bottom of the ninth heart-shaker as an ode to a departed friend.<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">4</a> With a soulful swing, a tortured connection, and an exit velocity powered by equal parts loss and love, Mamaleek has clinched a campaign for my attention.#6. Defeated Sanity // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-chronicles-of-lunacy-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Chronicles of Lunacy</a> – As an apex predator in the brutal death metal world, Defeated Sanity’s appearance arouses not questions of competency but rather calculations of the carnage wrought. Chronicles of Lunacy does not mark a turning point or novel twist in the Defeated Sanity timeline—its finely tuned lashings hit as inescapable all the same. When neither a beast’s reach, nor mass, nor attack speed goes contested, an exhibition of its might will flash with morbid glee. As such, Defeated Sanity need not surprise to strike mortal wound. Chronicles’ fangs glisten with an aged-imbrued tarnish, tearing at my flesh in every way I would expect. And I want more.#5. Orgone // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/orgone-pleroma-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Pleroma</a> – Meticulous and constructed as a master-work, Pleroma’s opening notes signal a trance. Acoustic twang and chamber instrument-fueled swoon build an atmosphere of wonder against a fervent and languished march of post-genre swells and death-fueled crescendos. Cycling through its many shades feels less like a fever dream and more of a trial-filled journey. Wielding a demure grandeur, Pleroma’s effortless realization of Orgone’s peerless vision never feels like the epic journey its runtime suggests. Were my time truly infinite, Pleroma would be even harder to rip away from the queue.#4. Julie Christmas // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/julie-christmas-ridiculous-and-full-of-blood-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ridiculous and Full of Blood</a> – A lady screaming bloody murder shouldn’t go down this smooth, but that’s always been the promise and success of Julie Christmas. Few vocalists leave me slack-jawed and ear-shaken in the wake of piercing cries, raw-throated shrieks, and impassioned lyrical slather. Yet, Ridiculous and Full of Blood cuts track after track out of sonic patterns that do exactly that, all while empowering a full band expression of alternative-laced grooves, post-informed climbs, and punk-tied sneer. The Christmas season sums a flurry of inspired performances under the banner of a madwoman. And I stand at the ready to fray my vocal cords in attempt to crack with the same battle-tested precision that Ms. Christmas has earned from a life hard-worn.#3. Ingurgitating Oblivion // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ingurgitating-oblivion-ontology-of-nought-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ontology of Nought</a> – Though born of minds unrelated, Ontology of Nought exists as an esoteric companion to the Pleroma embodiment. Orgone is the twin that went to conservatory, graduated with honors, and holds an honorable performing chair, all while remembering its young love for death metal. Ingurgitating Oblivion, on the other hand, dropped out, spiraled into entheogenic dissociation, earns a living gigging at jazz clubs—also maintains its youthful lust for the clamoring riff and hammering blast. Maximalism oozes a frothing wonder in the hiss of distorted chatter and rhythmic mastery. An imperfect and breathing construction rises and falls in ethereal inhales and vision-spinning mantras. Ontology of Nought deserves each of its over-budget minutes. Invest time in the freedom that it promises… “and cease to be.”#2. OU // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ou-%e8%98%87%e9%86%92-ii-frailty-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">蘇醒 II: Frailty</a> – The casualness of OU’s inception belies its profound leap into my necessary rotation. No incumbent love ever has a defined position in the halls of end-of-year accolades,<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-5" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">5</a> and even more so when the act’s very presence rang suspicious in its finely-tuned invasion to my critical wiles. But, as I noted when I first blew my love for 蘇醒 II: Frailty over the pages of Angry Metal Guy, it’s OU’s “idiosyncratic atmosphere” that pulls from a “polyrhythmic hypnosis” and masterful “energetic flow” that continues to chart them deservedly high in the annals of ’20s progressive music. And while this collision of classically-minded, <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/vvon-dogma-i-the-kvlt-of-glitch-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">synth-addicted</a> madness slowly expands its universe one OU release at a time, I’m content to sit here and yell their praises at anyone who will listen.#1. Pyrrhon // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/pyrrhon-exhaust-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Exhaust</a> – You know you’re getting old when an album about modern burnout and the pains of traffic resonates with you all the way from frozen shoulder to radiating lower back to cold-groaning knee. But when Pyrrhon stealth-bombed my aging metalhead mind with a tech-dial riff barrage of noisy and shouting proportions, I had no choice but to surrender. Exhaust demands attention from its initial irony-laced lift-off to its closing brutalist clock-out, swinging skronk-enabled splatters and ache-addled vituperation around every faded line and pothole in its death metal architecture. Though Pyrrhon uses simpler blocks, their construction here defies convention at every step. One fine commenter summed up Exhaust in the most succinct manner in that regard: “<del>Death Metal, Hardcore, Noise Rock, Technical Death Metal</del>. It’s just mathcore.” Except they took away the wrong message from that distillation. The verdict, in fact, is fuck you.Honorable Mentions:<ul><li><ul><li>Inner Strength // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/inner-strength-daydreaming-in-moonlight-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Daydreaming in Moonlight</a> – Another way you know you’re getting old is that you love an album that sounds like it should have released in 1995. Alas, here we are.</li><li>Dysrhythmia // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dysrhythmia-coffin-of-conviction-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Coffin of Conviction</a> – Instrumental progressive music should be as exciting as Dysrhythmia. Comes for the Martyr riffs. Stay for the Metheny floating.</li><li>Beaten to Death // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/beaten-to-death-sunrise-over-rigor-mortis-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis</a> – Beaten to Death is still the best grindcore band on the planet. They probably won’t ever release a better album than <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/beaten-to-death-dodsfest-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Dødsfest!</a>, but that’s OK. Their discography is now about two hours total. Go listen to it if you haven’t.</li><li>Stygian Crown // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/stygian-crown-funeral-for-a-king-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Funeral for a King</a> – Doom should always have a guitar tone that feels equally powered by swords and beer alongside vocals that feel soft like bar-stained leather stools.</li><li>Kollapse // <a href="https://kollapse.bandcamp.com/album/ar" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">AR</a> – I didn’t know KEN mode had a Danish doppelgänger with a frightening, large pink face. But they do, and boy does Kollapse know how to yell and riff.</li><li>Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-of-the-last-human-being-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">of the Last Human Being</a> – Had I infinitely more listening time, I may have been able to parse better this deeply cinematic and wacky slab of no wave emboldened prog. Most don’t actually earn the avant-garde tag the way SGT does.</li><li>Defying // <a href="https://defying.bandcamp.com/album/wadera" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Wadera</a> – Hour-long albums based on old Polish werewolf stories and horror movies shouldn’t be this easy to repeat, but I find myself often falling into Wadera’s unbreakable spell.</li><li>Arthouse Fatso // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/arthouse-fatso-sycophantic-seizures-a-double-feature-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sycophantic Seizures: A Double Feature</a> – I didn’t have radically-minded industrial deathgrind about the frustrated escapades of a fictional Orson Welles life on my 2024 bingo, but here I am telling you to listen to it anyway.</li><li>Concrete Winds // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/concrete-winds-concrete-winds-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Concrete Winds</a> – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If7f6wO20yY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Just this</a>. And shitloads of riffs.</li></ul></li></ul>Disappointments o’ the Year:<ul><li>Myrath // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/myrath-karma-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Karma</a> – I love Shehili so much. My love for power metal isn’t what it used to be, but Myrath’s exuberance while staying rooted in both the trickier waters of prog and the anthemic cries of power metal gave me hope both that I’d continue to latch on to the kind of playful love it can offer. But the arrangements on Karma, despite Myrath’s still life-affirming messages, do absolutely nothing to bolster that same joy for me. Karma sinks my listening brain. And that hurts.</li><li>Pallbearer // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/pallbearer-mind-burns-alive-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Mind Burns Alive</a> – The continued non-success of Pallbearer and their sleepy-toned take on creaky prog rock hurts the Dolph who fell in love with their weepy doom classic (and still controversial to true doomsters) Heartless. And yet the general blogging population seems to praise them for trying to reinvent sadboi roots rock with worse lyrics. And, for my money, Pallbearer is sounding increasingly thin live. If a return to glory is in store for Pallbearer, it will begin with them finally playing a riff again.</li><li>Polterguts // Nobody Likes You – Okay, this EP actually rips because <a href="https://polterguts.bandcamp.com/album/gods-over-broken-people" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Polterguts</a> rips. Hard. But, Polterguts, if you’re reading this, please put it on Bandcamp so I can link the shit out of it and give you money. I am disappointed that I have no way to contribute currency to your cause. “Ricky Has a Knife2” is worth the price of admission alone.</li></ul>Songs o’ the Year: Why give you one when I can give you twenty-seven? Why twenty-seven? That’s my secret. Now, I’ve talked enough, go out there and enjoy some music, friends. And enjoy this photo of my dogs. Coconut (left), Kiwi (right) in a stylish Adidog sweater. FeroxI worked way too much in 2024. I can’t complain; it was meaningful work that I chose to take on, and it got me that much closer to not having to work at all if I don’t want to. Still, that’s what I’ll think of when I think of 2024: lots and lots of work. That had a knock-on effect, especially when it comes to hobbies like lifting, getting out to national parks, and writing here. I did very little of any of that. I kept up with metal as best I could, and embarked on a big end-of-year listening push to have an accurate picture of what came out in 2024. I’m grateful that I got to do a list at all this year, so I took the responsibility seriously… but I’d be lying if I said I was buried in the scene all year.One of the highlights of my 2024 was meeting a whole slew of staffers in person. I traveled a bunch this year, both for work and for my daughter’s ballet pursuits, and with that came the chance to hang with some of the people who make this place go. My body count of staffers met this year: Steel Druhm, Madam X, Cherd, Twelve, Dr. Wyrm, Thus Spoke, El Cuervo, Doom et al, and Holdeneye. It was a veritable orgy of almost entirely chaste fellowship, and only one (1) bad hang among the lot!<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-6" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">6</a>I’m grateful to Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy for indulging my schedule, and for the real leadership they provide at my fake job. I found this unique community because it had the best music writing on the internet, and that remains true today thanks to the talented people who contribute their time and enthusiasm to keeping the machinery humming. I’m lucky to be a small part of it, and hopeful that 2025 will give me more time to spend in the Hall. #ish. Mother of Graves // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mother-of-graves-the-periapt-of-absence-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Periapt of Absence</a> – My “-ish” spot typically goes to an album that might have listed if I just had more time with it. That holds true of the sophomore effort from Indianapolis’s Mother of Graves, which landed on my radar by way of Carcharadon‘s excellent TYHMHM piece. This slab of classic sadboi death doom transcends any tribcore concerns through sheer quality of execution. From opener “Gallows” through final track “Like Darkness to a Dying Flame,” The Periapt of Absence guides the listener through the stages of grief with varied compositions that maintain a consistent mood throughout. Classic death doom is alive and well.#10. Wormed // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wormed-omegon-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Omegon</a> – Maddog‘s compelling rave for Omegon is my personal Review o’ the Year; fortunately, the prose was well spent on this efficient and brutal riff delivery system. Wormed has been creating slam-adjacent otherworldly death metal for a good while now, and Omegon is a distillation of everything the band has learned over the past two decades. 2024 is the year I realized I’ve been a brutal death metal guy all along. With songs like “Pareidolia Robotica” and “Virtual Teratogenesis,” Wormed took me by the hand and guided me through this journey of self-discovery… all while the people in the offices around me called in noise complaints.#9. Ripped to Shreds // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/ripped-to-shreds-sanshi-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sanshi</a> – The already impressive Ripped to Shreds leveled up with Sanshi, a blast of aggressive but technically adept death metal that never left my rotation after its release. The guitar hero shredding plays like a release valve to the vicious and punky energy that Andrew Lee injects into his compositions. This cycle of tension and release makes for an addictive listen that feels like it ends mere moments after you hit play. The thrash elements of the R2S sounds are more prevalent on Sanshi, meaning the band now scratches the same itch for me that <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/horrendous-ontological-mysterium-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Horrendous</a> did with their last killer slab.#8. Scumbag // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/scumbag-homicide-cult-things-you-might-have-missed-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Homicide Cult</a> – Scumbag! SCUUUMMMMBAGGGG. This nasty bit of business, with its deathgrind touches and morbid sense of humor (“Pure Adrenaline Hard-On,” “The Meating”), was tailor-made for the Ferox sensibility. Herein lie twenty-eight minutes of death metal that never slams but still walks the same line that <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wormhole-almost-human-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Wormhole</a> managed to last year: brutal but somehow cheerful, and stoopid without being remotely dumb. Dylan Cruz, of this band and Noxis, came out of nowhere to occupy a huge chunk of my limited listening time this year.#7. Black Curse // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/black-curse-burning-in-celestial-poison-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Burning in Celestial Poison</a> – With Burning in Celestial Poison, Black Curse stages a forty-five-minute takeover of your central nervous system. Eldritch Elitist captured the elemental power of these five compositions better than I ever could, but this album gave me exactly what I needed in a 2024 that was characterized by an extreme lack of work-life balance. Metal can provide a safe outlet for less-than-savory feelings, and Black Curse expressed a lot of things for me that I couldn’t express myself and stay employed. Lose yourself in these five tracks and emerge scoured but smarter.#6. Spectral Wound // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/black-curse-burning-in-celestial-poison-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songs of Blood and Mire</a> – The hot streak continues; Songs of Blood and Mire, Spectral Wound’s fourth album, is their best effort yet. Carcharadon capably cataloged crisp new cross-currents in the band’s sound, but the song quality remains the same. Tracks like “At Wine-Dark Midnight in the Mouldering Halls” and Song o’ the Year “Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” showcase the band’s gift for coupling aggression with sweeping melody. In this way, Spectral Wound recalls Watain without so much distracting ooga-booga. Songs of Blood and Mire finds them continuing to refine their sound and grow in confidence.#5. Endonomos // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/endonomos-endonomos-ii-enlightenment-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Endonomos II – Enlightenment</a> – Endonomos carried the torch for doom in 2024. Enlightenment is a stately procession, its six long tracks blending influences from all across the doom spectrum. This is music that soars as it plods. Steel Druhm noted similarities to both Khemmis and Fvneral Fvkk. Those comps are perfect; not since Carnal Confessions has a doom album so effectively cut through the clutter of genre tropes to evoke genuine emotion.#4. Pyrrhon // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/pyrrhon-exhaust-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Exhaust</a> – I hate it when the promotional push for an album ties a record too strongly to the narrative of its creation. It’s like the record company is trying to force a reaction that the album itself might or might not evoke. So when Exhaust arrived with heavy-handed descriptions of process and what Pyrrhon went through trying to make the album happen, I bristled and stopped reading. Fortunately, the music on Exhaust speaks for itself. This is a bitter and blistering record that finds the band raging against their rage’s inability to change even a single thing. I’ve always appreciated Pyrrhon, but I’ve never connected with their music as immediately as I did on Exhaust.#3. Defeated Sanity // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-chronicles-of-lunacy-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Chronicles of Lunacy</a> – Defeated Sanity has had quite the AMG journey. They’ve gone from being <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-passages-into-deformity-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">brushed aside</a> by a n00b named Potato Jim to being on the receiving end of a <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-chronicles-of-lunacy-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">double-4.0 fellating</a> from the tenured likes of Dolphin Whisperer and Maddog. Chronicles of Lunacy finds Defeated Sanity extending the Colin Marston-enabled peak that they hit on 2020’s <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/defeated-sanity-the-sanguinary-impetus-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Sanguinary Impetus</a>. It takes extreme skill to weaponize the base and the stoopid this effectively. Defeated Sanity is more than up for the job.#2. Inter Arma // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/inter-arma-new-heaven-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">New Heaven</a> – Here’s another band that could be wrestling with The Law of Diminishing Recordings by now, but instead persists with quality release after quality release. Inter Arma never repeats themselves, but each of their albums could only come from them. Hot take: Sky Funeral has remained my favorite Inter Arma album even as they’ve racked up an epic run of excellence. New Heaven makes a run at unseating it. This is a slab that rewards the many repeated listens I gave it in 2024; it sat in my top slot for much of the year until a late-breaking favorite pushed it aside.#1. Noxis // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/noxis-violence-inherent-in-the-system-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Violence Inherent in the System</a> – This is my third time publishing a list at AMG; each previous year, I had clear Album o’the Year winners in Immolation’s Acts of God and Afterbirth’s In But Not Of. 2024 marked the first Listurnalia that began with an opening for my top slot. But as I weeded through my favorite music of the year, I realized: Noxis drew me in with the bass flourish at the beginning of album opener “Skullcrushing Defilement,” and they still haven’t let go. The Pittsburgher in me hates to credit anything from Cleveland, but Noxis weeded out that deeply rooted prejudice with their inventive and fresh take on death metal. Every track on Violence Inherent in the System is a wild ride that alternately crushes, challenges, and tickles. The only break from the madcap pace comes on mid-album interlude “Excursion,” but that just prepares you for the utter barking lunacy of “Horns Echo Over Chorazim.” That song incorporates strange arrangements that include various woodwind instruments, and somehow they do it with zero pretension and abundant commitment to brutality. Listurnalia may have begun with a blank space atop my list, but it ended with Noxis firmly entrenched as the winner of 2024.Honorable Mentions:<ul><li><ul><li><ul><li>Stenched // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/stenched-purulence-gushing-from-the-coffin-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Purulence Gushing from the Coffin</a> – This one-man outfit captured that elusive filthy magic and spewed out the annum’s premiere filthy wallow.</li><li>Aborted // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/aborted-vault-of-horrors-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vault of Horrors</a> – These Belgian veterans, long under-appreciated in the Hall, finally found their champion in Grier. They hooked themselves up to the juvenation machine by leaning into the melodeath that has been creeping into their sound, and cranked out their best set in years.</li><li>Vitriol // <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/vitriol-suffer-become-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Suffer and Become</a> – Here’s a mean and heavy slab that seemed to fade from the general consciousness as the year wore on, but remains worthy of note.</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul>Disappointment o’the Year:Ferox! I just didn’t have time to make a meaningful contribution here this year. It has been a pleasure to watch other members of my n00b class like Dolph and Maddog and Thus become AMG institutions, even as I mostly watch from the sidelines and come out to play when I can.Song o’the Year:Imagine being asked to name your favorite song of the year, and responding with a twenty-seven song playlist!<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dolphin-whisperers-and-feroxs-top-tenish-of-2024/#fn-208005-7" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">7</a><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/a-frame-of-mind/" target="_blank">#AFrameOfMind</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/aborted/" target="_blank">#Aborted</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/ar/" 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Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/spectral-wound-songs-of-blood-and-mire-review/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire Review</a>By Carcharodon2021 seems a long time ago. So long, in fact, that I had utterly forgotten half of my year-end List. Imagine my surprise then, to discover, while checking for previous references on our auguste site, that I had <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/thekenwords-and-carcharodons-top-tenish-of-2021/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">listed</a> Spectral Wound’s last outing, A Diabolic Thirst. That was as nothing, however, compared to my shock when I discovered that, not only had Deafheaven-groupie Doom_et_Al <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/doom_et_als-and-dear-hollows-top-tenish-of-2021/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">awarded</a> it a list spot, so <a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/gardenstales-and-ferrous-beullers-top-tenish-of-2021/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">had</a> avowed BM skeptic Ferrous Beuller. Perhaps this spread says something about what Spectral Wound achieved with its third record, its brand of vicious, semi-raw black metal appealing to both the ravening death metal machine Ferrous and Sunbather-apologist Doom, as well as yours truly, normally to be found luxuriating at the atmo-end of the BMverse. Can this Canadian five-piece achieve the same lightning-in-a-bottle effect with fourth record, Songs of Blood and Mire?Pressing play the first time, I was briefly non-plussed, as I appeared to have unwittingly put on a sludge record, the first distorted notes of opener “Fevers and Suffering,” drowning in feedback, recalling nothing more than Charger. This effect lasts only moments but is, nevertheless, disarming. Then Spectral Wound rips you a new one with an altogether more familiar sound. Searing tremolos shed hoar frost in their frozen wake, as Illusory’s artillery-like percussion slams into the listener again and again. As ever, Jonah’s rasping shrieks cut like shards of glass blown upon an arctic gale, slicing into your flesh and your mind. So far, so Spectral Wound. However, there is a subtle, but marked, maturing to the band’s sound on Songs of Blood and Mire. Without losing any of the furious, visceral dark magic that tainted their previous outings, Spectral Wound now weave in, by turns, a really nasty groove, reminiscent of early Bathory (“Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal”), as well as a Scandinavian epicness, a la Windir (“Twelve Moons in Hell”).In some ways, Songs of Blood of Mire reminds me of what Miasmata captured on their debut, Unlight: Songs of Earth and Atrophy, as it serves up unflinchingly harsh, yet strangely melodic, black metal, channeling the likes of Dissection and Watain, as much as it does Windir and others. Raw and brutal in places, Spectral Wound are only too happy to kick down your front door, before setting fire to the splintered remnants and pissing on your doormat for good measure (“At Wine-Dark Midnight in the Mouldering Halls”). But that tells only half the story. Once inside, the band stalks your house, shambling from room to room, experimenting with different ways of smashing up your stuff. Debauched, seething, and frenetic, sometimes it feels like Spectral Wound are content to take their time, the groove of Sam’s bass giving the rest of the band space to lay leisurely waste to everything (“Less and Less Human, O Savage Spirit” and the back end of “A Coin Upon the Tongue”). At others, the band is a raging tempest, blasting through walls without hesitation, no shits given (“Fevers and Suffering” and “The Horn Marauding”).Across its tight, 43-minute run, Songs of Blood and Mire is every bit the equal of Spectral Wound’s previous efforts. At its absolute best (“Aristocratic Suicidal Black Metal” and closer, “Twelve Moons in Hell”), it’s probably the strongest material the band has put out to date. Slightly less raw than previous efforts, there is something here of the transition made by Lamp of Murmuur between its debut and third outing, 2023’s Saturnian Bloodstorm. Whether it’s that deep seam of groove that’s now woven more firmly into Spectral Wound’s sound or little adornments, like the super fun solo dropped (either by Patrick or A.A.) around the halfway mark of “A Coin upon the Tongue,” this feels like a band confident in its songwriting, comfortable with its sound. The excellent production, which retains an organic rawness but emphasizes the details, like the keening, melodic edge to the guitars, hurts not at all.Clearly written by the same band that conjured Infernal Decadence and A Diabolic Thirst, Songs of Blood and Mire has just a few more tricks up its ragged sleeve. Although it’s Spectral Wound’s longest outing yet (edging A Diabolic Thirst by a couple of minutes), there’s zero filler or bloat here, and the whole thing feels vital and packed with barely contained energy. My favorite Spectral Wound to date, I’m afraid that score counter is in trouble. Again. Rating: 4.0/5.0 DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3 Label: <a href="https://profoundlorerecords.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Profound Lore</a> Websites: <a href="http://spectralwound.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">spectralwound.bandcamp.com</a> | <a href="http://facebook.com/spectralwoundcontramundi" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">facebook.com/spectralwoundcontramundi</a> Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024<a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2024/" target="_blank">#2024</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/40/" target="_blank">#40</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/aug24/" target="_blank">#Aug24</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/bathory/" target="_blank">#Bathory</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/black-metal/" target="_blank">#BlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/canadian-metal/" target="_blank">#CanadianMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/dissection/" target="_blank">#Dissection</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/lamp-of-murmuur/" target="_blank">#LampOfMurmuur</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/melodic-black-metal/" target="_blank">#MelodicBlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/miasmata/" target="_blank">#Miasmata</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/profound-lore/" target="_blank">#ProfoundLore</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/raw-black-metal/" target="_blank">#RawBlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/review/" target="_blank">#Review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/reviews/" target="_blank">#Reviews</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/songs-of-blood-and-mire/" target="_blank">#SongsOfBloodAndMire</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/spectral-wound/" target="_blank">#SpectralWound</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/watain/" target="_blank">#Watain</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/windir/" target="_blank">#Windir</a>

Rapha :damnified:<a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/nowPlaying" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#nowPlaying</a>Spectral Wound - Frigid and Spellbound <a href="https://youtu.be/1Ff3fHS13FU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/1Ff3fHS13FU</a><a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/SpectralWound" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SpectralWound</a> <a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/FrigidAndSpellbound" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#FrigidAndSpellbound</a> <a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/BlackMetal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#BlackMetal</a> <a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/Montreal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Montreal</a> <a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/ADiabolicThirst" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ADiabolicThirst</a> <a href="https://metalhead.club/tags/ProfoundLoreRecords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ProfoundLoreRecords</a>

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