Ye Olde Year End List - 2024 "better late than never" edition

Holy guacamole it's been a good one

Welp, I've never actually done this before because every year I think I get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff out there and just rely on everyone else's lists to see what I missed. This year though, this year was something special and I really feel blessed to have had so many awesome releases come my way and also had some great discoveries through blindly going to shows. Also it could have something to do with being sober and finally being able to remember things more clearly? Question mark?

Anyway I won't blather on too much as I'm already pretty late with this thing, even though I'm tempted to do writeups for just about every release on this list - but, the bandcamp players here lend themselves to some great embedded listening, so click through and mix away. Oh and if you haven’t already, you better subscribe so you’ll get notified when I do decide to blather on about things :

I've grouped these picks into some very rough categories, keeping entries somewhat similar to each other in case you're going through for a blind listen. (Somewhat, okay? I said somewhat) Starting off with weirdo black metal and/or black metal adjacent, then big thick death metal with a high incidence of OUGHs, moving on to screamo/hardcore and otherwise riff-heavy picks, then some dancey ones and finally a wind-down of ambient, experimental releases.

Okay I know that's a weird mix of things but you know what, that's why you're here isn't it? I thought so. Maybe you should share the post with your weird friends :

It's not a coincidence that I start off with ALCEST and ORANSSI PAZUZU, these two were my most anticipated releases of the year and they did not disappoint. Both are some of the most standout, bizarre acts in the black metal world - most would argue that categorization and call them "post" black metal - and each approach things from a completely different lens. With both though the result is overwhelming, Alcest in their signature shoegazey way that can bring you to tears and then when the screamed vocals come in your whole body just explodes. Oranssi Pazuzu is getting more into noise territory - heavy, heavy heavy just pummelling you in the face and brain with savagely wild crushing energy, and then *just a bit* of a psychedelic peppering-in, breaking the intensity, giving a sigh of relief and readying for the next barrage. I am equally obsessed with both so let's call those my overall favourites of the year. Oh and I thought about making a separate list for Canadian bands, maybe I will, for now they are marked with a double asterisk like so**, okay? Have fun!!

ALCEST - Les Chants de l'Aurore - ethereal, explosive dreamscapes from another world

ORANSSI PAZUZU - Muuntautuja - I already said it but bizarre, intense, psychedelic trippiness from the beyond

NACHTLICH** - Exaltation of Evil - raspy, withering, ritualistic drinking-blood-under-the-full-moon shit, Toronto

CONIFERE** - L'Impôt du Sang - cold crisp, ough-adjacent perfection, Montreal

OBSIDIAN TONGUE - The Stone Heart - forest dwelling black metal, Maine

SPECTRAL WOUND** - Songs of Blood and Mire - Montreal black n’ roll

Warning: you are now entering the section of filthy death metal with an abnormally high incidence of OUGHS

SEDIMENTUM** - Derrière les Portes d'une Arcane Transcendante - Quebec

APPARITION - Disgraced Emanations from a Tranquil State - filthy death metal, LA

FUNERAL LEECH - The Illusion of Time - filthy death metal, NYC

BESOTTEN/FUNERELIC - Abyssal Synodality - death metal split of Portland filth

SPECTRAL VOICE - Sparagmos - an all-encompassing cloud of heaviness from Denver

KRUELTY - Profane Usurpation - dirty, dirty hardcore, Tokyo

STENCHED - Purulence Gushing from the Coffin - the filthiest OUGH you've ever heard in your life, Mexico

SOVEREIGN - Altered Realities - death thrash, Norway

DISSIMULATOR** - Lower Form Resistance - cybernetic death thrash, Montreal

TERRY GREEN** - Provisional Living - Toronto/Peel Region fan favourite skramz-n-roll

SUNDOWNER** - Asbestos Tiles - noisy fuzzy hardcore, Toronto

THE POX** - Graveyards I Have Robbed - ghoul punk from Montreal

INFLUX** - Work to Rule - skramz-adjacent hardcore from Toronto

JUNTA - s/t - NYC hardcore

TERMINATOR** - demo - watch out for the spinkicks hardcore, Niagara

SOAP EATER** - Execution Fixation - no fucks withheld punk from Toronto

CASTLE RAT - Into the Realm - glorious doom/trad from Brooklyn

DERMABRASION** - Pain Behaviour - industrial kinetic gothiness, can’t get tired of seeing them live, Toronto

MVTANT - Electronic Body Horror - hyperseductive goth/industrial, a standout live experience for me this year, come back soon please!

MOLCHAT DOMA - Belaya Polosa - is it post punk, is it 80’s worshipping club bangers, we don’t know we just gotta dance to everyone’s favourite Belarusians

TWIN TRIBES - Pendulum - vampiric post punk, Texas

STILLWAVES** - Undiagnosed - dance-party post punk from Toronto

DOROTHEA PAAS** - Think of Mist - ethereal easy listening, Toronto

KEYS TO ONEIRIA - Relics Abound - dreamy dungeonsynth

ARDENTE - La Nuit Eternelle - dungeonsynth from France

JE EST UN AUTRE - Flatworm Mysticism - spacey dark ambient from the mind of Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch)

UNCAUGHT (IN PROMISE)** - Revenge Fantasy - dreamy, dark, irresistible Toronto sweethearts

CHELSEA WOLFE - She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She / Undone EP / Unbound EP (full-length & remix album & acoustic album) - a little bit dancey a little bit rock n roll then a little bit acoustic/flavours for many moods

BIG|BRAVE** - A Chaos of Flowers - doomy, droney wall of sound from Montreal

LEILA ABDUL-RAUF - Calls From a Seething Edge - uncategorizable, experimental, strange beauty

DERRICK VELLA** - I Hardly Knew Me - string serenades from a Toronto scene stalwart

And of course we had new OPETH with The Last Will and Testament - it's Opeth, it's death-adjacent but doesn't belong in the filth section, and it's not on bandcamp so here it is on youtube -

Lastly we had some standout singles, mostly from the "dance your gothy little heart out" category :

SHE PAST AWAY - Inziva

PIXEL GRIP - Stamina - has an excellent club edit as well

SLASH NEED** - Worm

LA SECURITE - Detour

RAPHAEL WEINROTH-BROWNE - Idle Blood (Katatonia cover)

Phewf, alright that's it that's all! I hope you find something you may have missed and end up being totally batshit crazy about. If you have something you think I missed, let me know in the comments! Happy New Year.