Top Ten Of 2024: Matthew Williams
It’s been another monumental year for new music being released, and one where I’ve really pushed my boundaries a little further in what I’ve listened to, reviewed and been to watch live.
The joy of listening to so much music is that it also causes problems when compiling an end-of-year list, and as I worked my way through forty possible contenders, I found myself shaking my head and shouting, ‘how can I leave that one out’.
The top five could have changed at any moment as each is worthy of the top spot, but it reflects where I’ve been personally at different points in my life this year. Like most people, mood dictates what I listen to and when you get a band making a comeback album that’s so damn good, it was worthy of the top spot.
10. Amigo The Devil ‘Yours Until The War Is Over’
The precursor to my gig of the year, with an album full of heartfelt joy and misery, as the talented songwriter Amigo The Devil, aka Danny Kiranos, captures moments like nobody else and had me laughing and crying in equal measure. With songs such as the classic Once Upon A Time At Texaco Pt.1 and It’s All Gone it opened to my eyes and ears to a different type of music and one that I’ve explored further this year. Yours Until The War Is Over is an album that has been played heavily throughout the year and always brings a smile to face when I play it.
Label: Liars Club Records
9. Unto Others ‘Never, Neverland’
The gothic rock/metallers from Portland, Oregon, have been touring heavily over the past few years and I’ve seen them three times, so this new music was an absolute treat as they continued where they left off with Strength. Their talents lie in taking that goth sound and mixing it with some cracking riffs and excellent lyrics taking the listener off into a spooky otherworld. Unto Others cemented their place for me with killer tracks like Butterfly and When The Kids Get Caught to produce an album that was different but oh so enjoyable.
Label: Century Media
8. Exhorder ‘Defectum Omnium’
From the first listen, I had this down as an AOTY contender, as it’s full of heaviness, aggression, venom, mystery and melody, what more can you want? For a band who have been going so long, this is only their fourth album, but it’s a brute from start to finish. The riffs are on point, and you get that NOLA swagger and groove mixed with that doom sound. Wrath Of Prophecies kicks things off in style and lays down a marker, but it’s their combination of punk, thrash and doom on songs like Sedition and Year Of The Goat that make this an exceptional record. It’s a rollercoaster of a ride with Kyle Thomas on top form vocally whilst Exhorder proves themselves with excellent composition and quality songs throughout.
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
7. Temple Of The Fuzz Witch ‘Apotheosis’
This was a bit of a surprise to me, but Detroit’s blackened doom trio Temple Of The Fuzz Witch served up an album that was quite simply, awe-inspiring. It’s full of heavy hitting Sabbathesque riffs that are dark, bleak and in parts feels like some sort of satanic ritual. With the blackened vocals from Noah Bruner, songs like A Call To Prey and Nephilim can’t fail to excite people as the album is bigger, darker and heavier than anything they’ve done before. Nightmarish evil runs amok across their sound, but its fresh and exciting, with catchy riffs placed neatly in the nooks and crannies, and ultimately, it worked for the trio as they have produced a phenomenal record.
Label: Ripple Music
6. Fu Manchu ‘The Return Of Tomorrow’
There’s not much that can be said about Fu Manchu that hasn’t been said before, and they returned this year with an album stacked with quality songs from start to finish. Kicking off with some instant classics, Dehumanize and Loch Ness Wrecking Machine, they set the bar pretty damn high and there’s no let up from there. The guitar playing is immaculate, the rhythm section of Brad Davis and Scott Reeder is as good as anything else about at the moment and that fuzzy tone which blasts out is a sound of pure pleasure. It once again highlights just how brilliant the band are and with their signature sound dominating the record, they still allow for a bit of experimentation with new sounds that add more to their explosive armoury.
Label: At The Dojo Records
5. Gnome ‘Vestiges Of Verumex Visidrome’
Gnome are another band that I only discovered this year, but they produced an album that made me smile as soon as I heard it. Adding more progressive sounds to their established stoner rock grooviness, the Belgian trio are a bit mad in parts, but that’s part of the charm for me. The brilliant Duke Of Disgrace is a song that I still find myself humming out of nowhere, as it’s simple and catchy with fuzzy brilliance. You get doom heaviness with The Ogre and tracks with saxophones, groove, rhythm and crazy vocal arrangements, but ultimately, it’s one that you very rarely turn off.
Label: Polder Records
4. Pijn ‘From Low Beams of Hope’
This blew my mind back in June, as the Manchester collective Pijn delivered an enchanting piece of post-rock music that was full of intensity and melancholy. I really loved the more classical instruments of violins and cellos being included as they add so much drama to the music. Throughout the forty-five minutes of music, they took my mind off to a different place and manage to capture so much emotion and feeling in their music that it’s hard not to be immersed in a different world when you listen to it. The only thing better than listening to it on record was hearing it live at Damnation Festival, which was a wonderful experience.
Label: Floodlit Recordings
3. Slomosa ‘Tundra Rock’
Having watched Slomosa support Elder last year, this was an eagerly anticipated release for me, and it didn’t disappoint. Armed with nine new songs, the Norwegian quartet gave the public notice of intent with the catchy as hell singles Cabin Fever and Battling Guns which added fuel to their impressive fire. The delivery is always excellent, and as well as that signature stoner sound, they have rolling grooves and haunting melodies that make you want to play their songs repeatedly. The tunes get stuck in your head and as this was an album released on my 50th birthday, it added to my celebrations.
Label: Stickman Records | MNRK Heavy
2. Midnight ‘Hellish Expectations’
This was an album that dominated the early part of the year for me, and it was like an explosion going off right in front of my face!! This is blackened speed/thrash at its finest, with the trio displaying an album that it just utter chaos and stacked full of catchy choruses like Dungeon Lust and Expect Total Hell. Yet, amongst the madness, Midnight have time for decent amounts of melody and razor-sharp solos that slice right through and help to deliver their finest album to date.
Label: Metal Blade Records
1. The Gates Of Slumber ‘The Gates Of Slumber’
The joy upon hearing those first few notes on the opening track Embrace The Lie was enough to tell me that The Gates Of Slumber were back and picking up from where they left off in 2011, delivering top class doom metal songs. Their absence has left a massive hole in the scene, but they’ve returned with one hell of an album that will sort out the many pretenders in the crowded doom scene. The six songs attack you from a multitude of angles as the slow, cumbersome, heaviness embeds itself inside your bones, and you soon understand that resistance is futile as the music takes over your body. It is an album of true quality and marks the return of one of doom metal’s finest bands.
Label: Svart Records
Honourable Mentions
In no particular order…
Mountain Caller ’Chronicle II: Hypergenesis’
Clouds Taste Satanic ‘79 A.E.’
Kungens Män ‘För Samtida Djur 1’
Tombstoner ‘Rot Stink Rip’
Amon Acid ‘Submerging’
Bunsenburner ‘Squall’
Scribed by: Matthew Williams
