The Razor's Edge - Album of the Year 2024
It's been one hell of a year for us here at The Razor's Edge. New music being released on record has gone from strength to strength again this year!
All of our staff have sat and listened to literally hundreds of albums, bringing you reviews of some of the best new music, and some maybe not so good releases too. But now the year is drawing to a close, we've all sat down and drawn up our lists of our own top five albums for 2024.
Cat Finch - Editor in Chief
1. Julie Christmas - Ridiculous and Full of Blood
2. Pest Control - Year of the Pest
3. Exodus - British Disaster: The Battle of '89 (Live at the Astoria)
4. Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition
5. Nails - Every Bridge Burning
It's ben another great year for music with the mesmerising Julie Christmas releasing 'Ridiculous and Full of Blood' and Pest Control releasing a fantastic EP and following it up with a stunning show at the Roundhouse at Desertfest. A great live album from Exodus' 1989 show at the Astoria in London; a nostalgic one for me as I was at the show. Gatecreeper made a welcome return with their third studio album 'Dark Superstition' and Nails released their first studio album since 2016, both of whom blew the roof off Damnation this year!
Tim Finch - Deputy Editor / Photographer
2. Orange Goblin - Science, Not Fiction
3. Lowen - Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran
4. earthtone9 - In Resonance Nexus
5. Bokassa - All Out Of Dreams
For the last few years the British metal scene has been showing just how strong it is, and 2024 was no different. Back in January Mountain Caller released the unbeatable 'Chronicle II: Hypergenesis', a new show of strength from the London based trio. Later in the year both Orange Goblin and Lowen released album of the year contenders too. But not to be outdone, earthone9 returned after a long hiatus with the barnstorming 'In Resonance Nexus' showing there's life in the old dog yet! Of course bands from outside of our shores also had strong showings with Bokassa releasing a genre defining album. 2024 has been yet another strong year, and 2025 promises to be even stronger.
Dan Barnes - Writer
1. Opeth – The Last Will and Testament
2. King 810 – Under the Black Rainbow
3. Rotting Christ – Pro Xristou
4. Body Count – Merciless
5. Cock Sparrer – Hand on Heart
My number one album of 2024 is Opeth’s The Last Will and Testament. One of my very favourite bands with what is one of their best records in years – that’s saying something – telling a story through dense music and airy passages. That Mikael’s growls are back are neither here nor there, what is most important is that this is the perfect melding of a band and its subject matter. Opeth’s fascination with Seventies Progressive Rock is as apparent here as on any of their last four albums; orchestral flourishes can be heard throughout, with additional harp on §4 and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull providing some flute. The scope of The Last Will and Testament is such that Europe screamer and Eighties legend, Joey Tempest, takes a turn at the microphone in §2 and the finale to the tale comes in the form of the folky A Story Never Told. It’s an album that will give up its secrets slowly and through repeated listening, the way great records should.
Tom Atkin - Photographer
1. Make Them Suffer - Make Them Suffer
2. Static X - Project Reanimation Volume 2
3. Bring Me The Horizon - Post Human: Nex Gen
4. Linkin Park - From Zero
5. Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses
There was so many great albums this year it was a bit of a struggle to decide, I left out compilation's as I felt this would be cheating a little bit. So Static X, Linkin Park and Ministry. These three are phenomenal albums in my opinion, And they hit the nostalgia spot for me. LP's reform whilst very controversial for some, is an amazing thing for myself, and the new album has that old Hybrid Theory/Meteora vibes. Ministry, Having rediscovered them around two years ago, I have been awaiting new material, and it did not disappoint! Static X will forever be one of my greatest musical loves, them continuing with a masked front man is in my opinion a perfect homage. BMTH, this blew me away, after seeing them in January ( I think ) the random dropping of the album was perfect. Finally, Make Them Suffer, Have you heard this album? Do I even need to explain why it's my number one?
Eric Clifford - Writer
1. Ingurgitating Oblivion – Ontology of Nought
2. Adversarial – Solitude with the Eternal
3. Brodequin - Harbinger of Woe
4. Morgue Breath – Plaga Sin Rostro
5. Sonzai – El Caos Es La Escalera
It’s been a rough year. Around late August I found myself unable to handle it, and I wound up having a complete breakdown in a one-to-one with my manager and going off on long term sick leave. Too much. Too much pressure all the time, coming from everywhere, claustrophobic, smothering. I’m told that a lot of people have internal monologues, but I don’t. It’s more an amorphous bundle of vague sensations that would be easier to describe in colours. But by that point in August, there was nothing there any more beyond a blank, awful greyness. Things still aren’t perfect now; I’m getting better bit by bit though. Having a project like reviewing metal gave me something to focus on and an outlet for this relentless urge of mine to spurt berserk polysyallabic rants shot through with pointlessly esoteric verbiage about something that I’m deeply passionate about - severely pissed off music.
It’s been a good year for a blastbeat addict to slake his thirst. This list though was something of a nightmare to compile – there are albums I wish I could’ve included but that simply haven’t had the time to percolate yet, like the sumptuous prog-death of Bedsore, or the utterly mad Cryptopsy-jazz hybrid that is the new Hoplite release. I still haven’t listened to the new Defeated Sanity album yet, and Malignancy’s most recent spewings would likely be in here somewhere had I just given it enough spins. The new Concrete Winds? Aye, what superficial dabblings I’ve had with that one suggest it’s so far up my alley it’s damn near parked in my fucking living room. Alas, the line must be drawn somewhere. Still, there’s a gamut run here, from Sonzai answering the age-old question of what Converge might sound like if they were a grindcore band, to the bewildering technical brilliance of Ingurgitating Oblivion.
These albums represent the cream of the minute scintilla of the modern metal scene that I’ve been able to sample this year; reject the musty pseudo-wisdom of the old heads, mired as they are in the glories of yesteryear – the metal scene today is vibrant, alive, and essential. The quintessence of the genre, that iron heart within it, beats as strongly now as it ever has, with monumental releases flooding every subgenre that might strike your fancy. I can only hope my own meagre scribblings have piqued your interest in a release or two, but if not, well, I’m sure my ever-perspicacious cowriters have joys in abundance they’d recommend with frothing, unabated ardour. It’s a great time to be into metal. With that, as we wave the year out, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and all the best for 2025.
Martin Hingley - Photographer
1. Green Day - Saviours
2. Amaranthe - The Catalyst
3. Feuerschwanz - Warriors
4. Linkin Park - From Zero
5. Neck Deep - Neck Deep
Saviours was always destined to be in the running for my favourite album of the year as soon as it was announced last year. Green Day have always been the band that defines me musically, from being a 14-year-old discovering American Idiot to being in my 30s singing Look Ma, No Brains! in the car with my daughter.
This latest offering from the Bay Area trio is their best album in recent years. With its catchy singalong choruses and classic Green Day punk rock rhythms, Saviours is a perfect blend of everything the band has created throughout their lengthy tenure. Standout tracks for me are the very punk rock 1981 and the slightly slower Bobby Sox, which sounds even better live.
Nic Howells - Photographer
1. Knocked Loose - You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
2. Fever 333 - Darker White
3. Saxon - Hellfire & Damnation
4. Infected Rain - Time
5. Scene Queen - Hot Singles in Your Area
2024 has been a melting pot of a year. But without a doubt one of the units that’s at the forefront of a resurgence in metal in the mainstream has been Knocked Loose and their latest album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. The reasoning for it being my album of the year is because it blends technique, features, crushing breakdowns, and individuality so well. The inclusion of Fever 333’s Darker White was a *very* close second. The presence of the unit in the alternative/hardcore scene is essential because they have an incredible sense of self and artistry, whilst giving people a completely different perspective of what heavy music can be. On the other side of that coin is Saxon who represent everything great about the roots of heavy metal in Britain, it’s been done for 40 years but the lads are still doing it incredibly well. My top 5 finishes with two relatively new bands for me. Moldova’s Infected Rain have had a star making year alongside releasing new album TIME, including their own headline run of the UK and a stellar set at this years Bloodstock Festival. Finally is Scene Queen and their release Hot Singles In Your Area. The inclusion of country, pop and electronic elements means it has a lot to offer, as well as just being a fun album to listen to when a lot of the genre treats itself too seriously. If the inclusion of a no-prisoners album that calls out predators and bullshit behaviour in the industry annoys you, good.
Sam Jones - Writer
1. Bedsore - Dreaming The Strife For Love
2. Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
3. Morbid Saint - Swallowed By Hell
4. Trog - Horrors Beyond
5. Skeletal Remains - Fragments Of The Ageless
It’s time to reflect on the past year and my personal top records of the year. At #5 we have the thunderous Skeletal Remains and their Fragments Of The Ageless, an album that just stomped its way into our psyche and refused to budge; the band do not know how to disappoint. At #4 we’re brought over to Trog, and what a way to kickstart a career in death metal, as they released their first full length work, Horrors Beyond, with little fanfare. This was one record picked up by chance and I’m grateful I checked it out. It really is stellar death metal. Now we’re in the top three and at #3 we have Morbid Saint’s triumphant return, Swallowed By Hell. A thrash record by arguably one of the greatest names never to break it big back in the day, Swallowed By Hell feels like a direct continuation of Spectrum Of Death; it’s great to see these guys back in action. At #2 we have a record that for a long time held the Number One spot for most of the year, that being Slimelord’s first full length record, the deliciously titled Chytridiomycosis Relinquished. I remember practically hobbling out of my bedroom after listening and reviewing this piece; truly a formidable hour for British death metal. But the top #1 spot, only recently acquired, goes to Bedsore’s second album, released November 29th, titled Dreaming The Strife For Love. Released through 20 Buck Spin, the band have absolutely transformed yet again from Hynagogic Hallucinations, bringing forth an ethereal dreamscape cloaked in forlorn death and ruin. Absolutely deserving of Album Of The Year for 2024. This year has been once again stellar for releases and I can only wait with glee for what 2025 brings us.
Patrick O'Reilly - Writer
1. Spawned From Hate – Elective Amputation
2. Hyperdontia – Harvest of Malevolence
3. Fulci – Duck Face Killings
4. Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All
5. Amorphis – Tales From the Thousand Lakes (Live at Tavastia)
A splendid year of death metal in my opinion saw strong entries in various subgenres. From the brutality and technicality of Spawned From Hate, the old school vibes of Hyperdontia, the streetwise grimy Fulci offering, Nile’s ultra polished worship of ancient Egyptian culture and the melodic hooks of Amorphis playing an iconic album Live, they all gave me immense pleasure and enjoyment.
Richard Oliver - Writer
1. Leprous - Melodies Of Atonement
2. Evergrey - Theories Of Emptiness
3. VOLA - Friend Of A Phantom
4. Striker - Ultrapower
5. Lowen - Do Not Go To War WIth The Demons of Mazandaran
I keep somehow trying to convince myself that my tastes are regressing and becoming more traditional and old school but when it comes to compiling a list of my favourite albums of the year I find it is usually the complete opposite and I have been drawn to bands who are pushing the boundaries of heavy music and have a very contemporary sound. Grabbing the top spot for me this year were Norwegian progressive band Leprous who wowed with new album 'Melodies Of Atonement' which returned to a bit of a harder sound for the band but with all the luscious art rock and progressive elements the band are lauded for. Evergrey similarly wowed with new album 'Theories Of Emptiness' which is another in a ridiculously strong run of albums which mixes the band’s classic progressive power metal sound with plenty of contemporary metal elements and some excellent songwriting. Talking of contemporary metal, VOLA also wowed with their 'Friend Of A Phantom' album which saw the band push their established sound further with greater use of electronics and a deeper delve in their progressive side. For the sheer fun of their album 'Ultrapower', Striker had to make the list. This album was a total heavy metal party with insanely catchy tunes, a big sense of humour and even a dabbling into synthwave. Last but not least was British progressive doom band Lowen with their second album 'Do Not Go To War WIth The Demons of Mazandaran' which saw the band take a huge leap forward pushing their sound into a more epic and grandiose direction with Middle Eastern folk elements and dabblings into a more extreme metal sound. There are many other albums that could have made this list but these five are the ones which made the biggest impression this year. 2024 has been an extremely strong year for heavy music.
Julian Pepper - Writer
1. Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive
2. Lowen – Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran
3. Delving – All Paths Diverge
4. Bongripper – Empty
5. Mountain Caller – Chronicle II: Hypergenesis
From doom and post rock to proggy instrumental and death metal, 2024 has been another great year for all genres of the heavy music universe that we love! My tastes are reasonably eclectic, so picking a top 5 this year was very difficult and took a great deal of thought and relistening to albums! Those who released great albums this year and almost made the cut were the likes of Bossk, Old Horn Tooth, Gatecreeper, God Is an Astronaut, Kurokuma, Slomosa, Elephant Tree/Lowrider and Tides from Nebula. That shows you how strong the top 5 must be, as the albums by all these bands have been on constant rotation throughout the year. However, my top 5 albums of 2024 are as above.
Daniel Phipps - Writer
1. Malignancy - …Discontinued
2. Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy
3. Vitriol - Suffer & Become
4. Brodequin - Harbinger of Woe
5. Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere
My top five can be summed up as such, some of the OG’s showing that old age has not mellowed them. The new blood continues to give the OG’s a run for their money and then there is the reliable band that can't let you down. Let's start with the new blood. Blood Incantation produced an absolute phenomenal slab of material with Absolute Everywhere. Vitriol followed one of the most furious death metal albums of recent years with an astonishing display that set 2024 up as a great year for death metal with Suffer & Become. Let's move on to old reliable and that is Defeated Sanity, yet again they release a record that will gain legendary status because Chronicles of Lunacy is another legendary release. It's time to give the OG’s their flowers starting with Brodequin. It took them 20 plus years to drop a new full length and Harbinger of Woe was everything you want out of a new release from the Tennessee band. Now the first four bands mentioned can flip flop within the 2-5 position but the number 1 is reserved for Yonkers legends Malignancy who released possibly their best album to date, which is definitely saying something for a band who have been together for 32 years.
Gareth Pugh - Writer
1. Opeth - The Last Will & Testament
2. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
3. Deceased - Children of the Morgue
4. Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation
5. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
Chris Taylor - Writer
1. Suldusk - Anthesis
2. Ou - Frailty
3. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
4. Opeth - The Last Will and Testament
5. Ankor - Shoganai
Ankor have been steadily releasing Shoganai over the last couple of years, culminating in its final track in October this year. A satisfying narrative from start to finish and a tantalisingly drawn out release schedule that kept me more invested than most Metalcore bands. Huge Opeth fan here, and The Last Will and Testament feels like a culmination of an era. All of Opeth’s music both old and new is melded together flawlessly in their most ambitious album to date. Pink Floyd but extreme is the short and sweet review of Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere. A sonic experience unmatched by any other extreme metal band probably of the last few years. Produced by the legendary Devin Townsend, it should be no surprise Ou sound massive on Frailty. An album full of dynamics and hypnotising vocals, it’s one where you can get completely lost in its beauty. Epic black metal from Australia of all places, Suldusk created the most arresting album of the year with Anthesis. Both parts heavy but also mournful, the album will crush your skull but make you weep in equal measure. Very few bands can juggle such extremes this skillfully and I have going back to the album repeatedly across the year.
Matthew Williams - Writer
1. The Gates of Slumber - The Gates of Slumber
2. Midnight - Hellish Expectations
3. Slomosa - Tundra Rock
4. Pijn - From Low Beams of Hope
5. Gnome - Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome
It has been another incredible year of new music, with so much music being released. These lists are always subjective, and I’ve had to whittle this down over the past few weeks from a list of around 40. The hardest part is that any of the top 5 could have been at number 1, as they have all been on heavy rotation, except for one that was only recently released, but it blew me away, so had to be there!!! So here goes….
The joy of seeing The Gates of Slumber back after such a long time away, filled my blackened heart with such joy. Indiana’s finest returned with an absolute stonker of an album, that has taken even their legendary doom status to another level of heaviness. It’s like a slow, slumbering beast tracking its prey and then it just attacks you. They have cemented their place as one of the finest doom metal bands that have ever existed with a gargantuan sound and with songs such as “Embrace The Lie” and “At Dawn”, they have delivered a timely reminder of just how brilliant the trio are.
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