#wormed

well now, here it goes.

I always tell people "I'll have my shit in February", and then end up posting at the very end of December or the very beginning of January . . .

so January 11th.

The year is already a lost fucking cause, and I need to distract myself somehow and it just so happens the list is fucking done!!!

first let's do it a little different. here is everything I thought was good last year.

you should be able to click and enlarge like an episode of CSI.

here go the top 20 EP/demos

Okay, here we go with the top 40 albums of 2024

2023 was grindcore year, 2024 was probably doom year honestly.

My Dying Bride dropped an album I listened to like twice and forgot it in the avalanche of other stuff that dropped. That wasn't bad at all though. Nor were my people Grey Skies Fallen. Keeping track of things was a bit rough, as I was between streaming services because Spotify changed a bunch of shit and fucked my method up.

These are the 40 I came back to pretty often.

40. Civerous - Maze Envy

39. Twin Tribes - Pendulum

38. Teeth - the Will of Hate

37. Suppression - spiritual sepsis

36. Planes Mistaken for Stars - do you still love me?

35. drive your plow over the bones of the dead - tragedy as catharsis

34. Iniquitous Savagery - Ediface of Vicissitudes

33. Oryx - Primordial Sky

32. Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

31. Pyrrhon - Exhaust

30. Dreamless Veil - Every Limb of the Flood

29. Prisoner - putrid | obsolete

28. Vulture - sentinels

27. Theurgy - Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence

26. Black Curse - Burning in Celestial Poison

25. Ceremony of SIlence - Hailos

24. Replicant - Infinite Mortality

23. Bloody Knives - Drowning in Light

22. Tzompantli - Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force

21. Shiverboard - Hacksaw Morissette

20. Locust Revival - THE NEW CURE ALBUM

19. Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds

18. Possessive - Rep Ipsa Loquitor

17. Mind Mold - Erosive

16. Shock WIthdrawal - the Dismal Advance

15. VR Sex - Hard Copy

14. Kvadrat - the Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion

13. Dipygus - Dipygus

12. Sick/Tired - Whip Hand Paranoia

11. Ploughshare - Second Wound

10. Chat Pile - Cool World

The only thing this band was missing all this time was a good punchy snare. They got it. You hear some Korn comparisons, because of the big "dumb" catchy riffs. Because their production is still so raw, the "nu" similarities just run right through you. You don't even hear them. You're like "there's no way. come on. don't put that on them.". It's there though . . . more than you realize. More than I realized . . . and they pull it off, so well. No moments like "grimace", but some of us may feel a gut punch from how much they relate to a song like "masc".

09. Theatre's Kiss - Marie/Chronicles of a Needful Being

The best goth/post punk full length release in 2024 if you ask me. It doesn't really sound like any of the other bands in that genre right now. They aren't going for an 80s sound, or any really obvious influence at all. Most importantly, while many of the post punk bands I became obsessed with in 2020 kinda dropped the ball in 2024, Theatre's Kiss did not. Maybe not as metal adjacent as Leidensmelodien, but still amazing.

08. Convulsing - Perdurance

You will find yourself asking "how does he play this stuff?" a few times. Really takes the Virus/Suffering Hour kind of thing and does even more mind blowing shit with it.

07. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

For those of us who just don't have time for Sunbather 2024 (note how that Blood Incantation album did not make ANY of the lists on this page. . . . ), don't worry, Spectral Voice got you. It was a decent year for doom, but I think SV were always gonna take it with four epic tracks of absolute bleakness and dISEMBOWELMENT post punk leads.

06. Contaminated - Celebratory Beheading

I been waiting a while for the follow up to Final Man, the true classic of the OSDM revival/caveman death metal year. This follow up is more than worthy. Every track is absolutely perfect for when you just want to hit someone with an unprotected chair shot or 6.

05. Cantique Leproux - Le Banissement

I don't even remember how I found this, but we got the best black metal release of 2024 already in March. For an album that isn't super raw, it's so interesting with it's concept and parts that remind me of Memoria Vetusta Blut Aus Nord and that song "rivieres rompues" and THE SOLO in "rivieres rompues". That guitarist just didn't need to go that hard, but he did.

04. Apparition - Disgraced Emanations From a Tranquil State

I can't believe this band has members of Nails in it. This death metal band with a little bit of prog and a LOT of doom . . and all kinds of doom. dISEMBOWELMENT post punk leads, a fucking Katatonia homage part that will have you rewinding like "did y'all mean to do that?".

03. Wormed - Omegon

Don't get me wrong, I love the entire discography of Wormed . . but man . . . it is so good to hear them with a real snare again. So good.

This is the best thing they have released since Quasineutrality. They're back combining that off kilter weirdness and blazing speed and when they get a little experimental on this one the ocuple times they do it that shit is so fucking cool. Literally, Cocteau Twins guitar tone, man. Are you serious? I"m know I'm bias as the guy that has a project combining shoegaze with grindcore but that is a stroke of genius. Also, I hope the new drummer sticks around a long time.

02. Cosmic Putrefaction - Emerald Fires Atop the Farewell Mountains

Simply a beautiful record. A lot of what other bands tried to do this year and failed at, Cosmic Putrefaction succeeded. Of course they succeeded. Cosmic Putrefaction top themselves every record. The right amount of proggy elements, the right amount of experimentation, even the right amount of clean vocals (they sure as hell did better than anyone elses number one album this year. . . ), it doesn't even overstay it's welcome like a few albums did.

01. Knoll - As Spoken

People, this came out in bloody January and was my number one since January.

what?!

I felt like Knoll had begun really combining the Portal sound and vibe with their grind/powerviolence back on Metempiric, but this one it's just become a whole new thing. It feels like something incredibly fucked up is going to happen the whole time you're listening. It fit the mood of the year, honestly and if you've read a lot of my lists you know I'm big on mood. I saw this band at the Subterranean Dissonance Fest in Philly last year, and they got the ONLY mosh pit of the night. The whole night. I'm talking scary violent pit. Car Bomb didn't even get one. It's not even a road rage record like that, but it just kinda captures that power keg vibe where any second something is just gonna burst. At least, that's the feeling it gave me . . . and that brought me back to it the entire year. over and over.

So yes, um. . . . . . . I don't even know how to close it. 2025 is garbage already, and it's even been kinda barren for album announcements.

I don't know how to end this.

Altarage | Worst Case Scenario | 2023

Spanish Death Metal