Best Albums 2024: 20 to 16
Part 2 of my best albums of 2024. If you missed Part 1 you can read it here.
#20 - Coma by Gaerea
Black Metal from Portugal
Fantastic black metal with melancholy and emotion. I’m not one that usually pays much attention to lyrics but with some albums they really speak to me. This is one of those albums. This one gets even better when reading the lyrics while listening to it.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
#19 - Cannibals Anonymous by Carrion Vael
Technical Melodic Death Metal from Indiana
4th album from American melodeath band. Picking up some The Black Dahlia Murder vibes with the melodies in this release. Adding in some clean vocal in this album, which was unexpected, but they are done well. I discovered this band with their previous release, Abhorrent Obsessions, and have been a fan since. The previous album is slightly better in my mind but this one is still incredible.
With this release the band took inspiration from the minds of famous cannibals throughout history.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
#18 - Kapitola III by Arawn
Melodic Death Metal from Czechia
Really great melodeath. Early Arch Enemy vibes in the guitars which is not a bad thing for me because the Amott brothers are great and the melodies here do not disappoint.
#17 - Steel for Flesh by Dawn of Decline
Technical Death Metal from France
One of the best tech death albums to come out in a long time. Insanely tight band technically. Somehow I missed this when it first released and caught up with it later. This is the first release from these guys and with as good as this one is, I can’t wait to see what they come up with in the future.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
#16 - Under the Reviled Throne by Summoning the Lich
Melodic / Technical Death Metal from the United States
Fantasy themed death metal with melodic and technical influences. This is the second album from this band and both of them are fantastic. The vocalist is doing some new things in this album and it works really well.
From the band: “Intended as a death metal equivalent to The Empire Strikes Back in scope, the group set their sights on raising the stakes in both story and songwriting.
Summoning the Lich took the considered approach of eschewing superfluous technicality in favor of a leaner and more streamlined focus on song structure. Each of the tracks on Under the Reviled Throne were written with the purpose of guiding the listener through the eponymous Lich’s descent into misanthropy and tyranny, without sacrificing their idiosyncratic sound.”
The Gaerea album is great. I'll be seeing them live next week.