Top Ten Of 2024: Nessie Spencer
2024 was such a weird year that it will be immensely difficult to summarise using one word or adjective. Debt, job loss, a housemate from hell, seeing many close friends being thrown into the proverbial struggle bus after their long-term relationships ended, reflecting on my own celibacy and battling the worst bouts of trigeminal neuralgia of my life: it was rough. Trust me, I’d rather go back on dating apps or worse, to church, than undergo another lumbar puncture in my life.
But not everything in 2024 sucked: I saw my Roadburn buddies getting married in April, I got to work at the merch stand at ArcTanGent last August, I had a blast going to Supersonic Festival and visiting Birmingham for the first time, went to Bristol to see my friends from Torpor blasting riffs for the last time, and most importantly, I officially entered my Midlife Crisis era while blasting Midlife Crisis in July. It was a weird time to be alive, but at least, I got to do it listening to a lot of cool stuff… but because The Sleeping Shaman only allow us scribes to list ten albums, here’s what I loved listening to this year that wasn’t Kendrick Lamar or Chappell Roan (hey, don’t judge me!).
10. BIG|BRAVE ‘A Chaos Of Flowers’
I could not do this top 10 without mentioning BIG|BRAVE, which has become over the years, one of my ultimate favourite bands of all time, and this new album just proves once again that the Montrealer’s are versatile and magnetic. Some say it follows the minimalist ambiance from last year’s nature morte, others say it’s a follow-up to their 2021 collaboration with The Body, Leaving None But Small Birds, I would simply say it’s both. A spoonful of Americana, a dash of blues-folk and some sprinkles of Emily Dickinsonisms all baked with love, distortions and big drums. How to make minimalist noise-rock sound pleasantly discordant…
Label: Thrill Jockey Records
9. Knoll ‘As Spoken’
Let’s get one thing straight: Knoll does not remotely get the clout they should. I feel like they have been entirely dismissed because the world was too busy headbanging to Suffocate by Knocked Loose featuring Poppy – which is a fun, catchy song by the way. But their latest album, As Spoken, is unmistakably heavy as fuck. Heavier than most grind albums I’ve heard all year, doomier than many bands I’ve seen this year and harsher than anything I’ve personally encountered this year. Plus, their Brighton show alongside Bell Witch was devastating in the best possible way. If you haven’t listened to them, please please please do it after you finished reading this post.
Label: Total Dissonance Worship
8. Fange ‘Perdition’
Some people say that France dominated metal when Gojira played a modern rendition of a famous revolutionary anti-monarchist French song during the Olympic Games ceremony in my hometown, but I’d say that France also gave us one of the best albums of the year, sung entirely in my mother tongue, with Fange’s Perdition. I could go on about their astounding cover of La Haine by national treasure Bernard Lavilliers, or how thrilled I was to hear Pencey Sloe’s Diane Pellotieri on guest vocals in Désunion Sacrée, but I am just going to point out that Fange are angrier and wrathful than ever, which gives to their harsh sludge sound more to enjoy and cherish. Vive la république, vive le metal extrême à la française et Macron Démission!
Label: Throatruiner Records
7. Chat Pile ‘Cool World’
Err… haven’t you listened to the album? Have you? No? Well, you should. It would be redundant to just state what makes this album so memorable when everyone and their mothers have (rightfully so) included it onto their end-of-year lists, so I’m just going to say that if you loved God’s Country, you will absolutely dig Cool World and its sarcastic, yet realistic portrayal of rural America. Chat Pile is one of those bands that are hyped to death, and guess what, I’m more than happy to follow that hype, I don’t even care. That Roadburn show is going to be a hoot, I’m telling you peeps!
Label: The Flenser
6. Lowen ‘Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran’
Now, it’s time to delve into another album that HAD to be included on my AOTY list: Lowen’s sophomore album called Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran. And all it took me to get hooked on it, was to see the London-based band play it during this year’s Abyssal Festival in Southampton in September. It is near impossible not to feel compelled, intrigued or enthralled by Nina’s commanding presence and vocal prowess. This album is more than just a riff-laden tale taken from Persian mythology; it is a brave act of defiance towards the zealots in power who want history to be told according to their own deceptive standards. Speaking of riffs, they could have been easily taken from any Bolt Thrower album because they are that memorable – I know Shem will appreciate the nod. Who would have thought that Sumerian and Farsi could slap so hard? Huge shout-outs to Cal (drums), Rich (playing bass on live shows) and especially to cellist Ariana Mahsayeh for the soul-crushing banger that is May Your Ghosts Drink Pure Water.
Label: Church Road Records
5. Couch Slut ‘You Could Do It Tonight’
My favourite sludge release of the year should have been Kollaps/e or Knoll, but after thinking about it for about as long as it takes to do The Hustle by Van McCoy, I had to admit that it couldn’t be anyone else than Couch Slut. I mean, listening to You Could Do It Tonight on its release day as they played it at Roadburn this year was insane but having it on repeat after the festival, it hit me right in the feels. This album is even darker and visceral than ever as the drug-induced spoken words, shreds and bleakness go up a few notches. I’ll admit it, some of the lyrics and subjects discussed on this album are not for the faint of heart, but if you already go through some form of complex trauma, this serves as an efficient form of catharsis to shake off that dirt off you. Highly recommended if you missed it.
Label: Brutal Panda Records
4. Zolle ‘Rosa’
I know, I know, I talked about this album a few months ago, but I liked it so much that I’m going to briefly talk about it again. Without repeating myself, Zolle has been going on for a while, making unconventional noise in a very math-rock and sludgy way that always tickled my fancy. Rosa, their fifth full-length album is as crazy cuckoo as the cover suggests. It’s an incredibly fun and bonkers album that will take you on a ride you won’t forget that easily. ‘Bright and boisterous’ were the words I used to describe them six months ago, and I still stand by those words… when I’m not mumbling the lyrics of Fiocco occasionally at work.
Label: Subsound Records
3. Bobbie Dazzle ‘Fandabidozi’
Siân Greenaway might have recently left Alunah after seven years, but thank Lemmy for her new project, Bobbie Dazzle, a band that oozes pure joy. It’s the old-school rock ’n’ roll bangers you listen to at house parties or put on during a road trip. It’s Abba, Slade, Blood Ceremony and Roger Glover & The Butterfly Ball all bundled in a sequinned catsuit, a fluffy set of sideburns and some vintage pairs of denim bell-bottomed trousers. Merry-Go-Round is an infectious earworm, Flowers On Mars is a certified banger and I want It’s Electric to be included in the official soundtrack of the movie adaptation of the autobiography I haven’t written yet. If you haven’t seen Bobbie Dazzle, have no fear, because they’ll be playing near you next year!
Label: Rise Above Records
2. Hamferð ‘Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk’
There are not enough words in the English dictionary to explain to you, foolish heathens, how amazing Hamferð is, but I’m going to try. This funeral doom sextet from the Faroe Islands released six years ago an album, Támsins Likam, that completely blew me away. Last March, they strolled back with Men Guðs Hond Er Sterk (But God’s Hand Is Strong, according to Google Translate), a concept album inspired by a real-life tragedy that occurred in 1915 in the village of Sandvik. The despair, the trauma and the pain the survivors went through are palpable throughout the entire record and sublimed by Jón Aldará’s jaw-dropping vocals. It’s quintessential funeral doom at its finest, pure and simple.
Label: Metal Blade Records
1. Julie Christmas ‘Ridiculous And Full of Blood’
Anyone who knows me knows how excited I was when I first heard Julie Christmas’ Not Enough at Roadburn 2023. And boy oh boy, she did not disappoint. From start to finish, this album is so powerful and grappling, that you get to experience the five stages of grief all at once, and you’re asking for more. But it would be remiss not to mention her excellent bandmates, notably drummer Chris Enriquez from the massively underrated band Spotlights, guitarist John LaMacchia (Candiria, Spylacopa), keyboardist Tom Tierney, bassist Andrew Schneider (who previously worked with Unsane and KEN mode) and guitarist/singer Johannes Persson (from that small unknown indie band called Cult Of Luna), who made this album sound even more compelling live, and that’s quite the feat. Ridiculous And Full Of Blood is by far MY album from the past twelve months.
Label: Red Crk Recordings
Honourable Mentions
2024 will always be for me the year that got me back into death metal thanks to Blood Incantation’s Absolute Everywhere, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Servitude and Skeletal Remains’ Fragments Of The Ageless. But there were also hidden gems that have been played on repeat during my many journeys across Sussex for either work, concerts, hikes or job interviews like Chronicle II: Hypergenesis by the excellent London stoner-rock trio Mountain Caller, Ar by Kollaps/e and the super catchy Satan Etc. by Gurt.
What to expect in 2025? More gigs, more concerts to shoot, more festivals to cover and a long-overdue trip to my ancestors’ country for the 50th anniversary of Cape Verde’s independence from the fascist Portuguese military dictatorship… and plenty of reviews for The Sleeping Shaman that I can send on time.
Scribed by: Nessie Spencer
