Likely a death metal aoty for me. 11 songs, and just no filler at all which is mighty impressive. Do check it out

Jesus... THE RIFFS KEEP COMING! Excellent stuff so far.

It was added to Spotify 13 december 2023. But hey, I’m all for a bit of flexibility and wouldn’t mind counting this as a 2024 release in a poll as well.

I was already clicking play at "Norway" and "death metal" but holy hell I wasn't ready for this. Insane in the best possible way. That major-key shift in "We Prescribe" felt -- fittingly -- like a benzo kicking in. And the song with Bjorn Strid, oh man, now I want a whole album of THAT.

This rules.

Not on the archives, but this is Car Bomb worship of the highest order

https://westonsupermaim.bandcamp.com/al ... orrow-baby

This is bananas, holy fuck dude...!!
Sweet find, thanks for sharing.

Just in case anyone was waiting with bated breath for Dale Earnhardt-themed heavy metal in the year 2024, I am happy to announce that your wish has been granted and it’s bad ass.

I am the Intimidator

https://iamtheintimidator.bandcamp.com/ ... ntimidator

No problem, likely an aoty for me...if only MA allowed mathcore

Merrimack - Of Grace and Gravity
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Merrimack/7714
Very solid french black metal. Apart from Inquisition probably the best black metal album I've heard this year so far.

We really can have it all, can't we? What the actual fuck is this thing, even?? I'll tell you what it is - it's a 10 out of 10 and AOTY contender right there! Good God, this rips so hard.

Right? It shouldn't be this good, but it really is. Some of it kinda reminds me of a mix of Judas Priest and King Gizzard's metal albums

This rips so fucking hard, raise hell praise Dale

Brodequin - Harbinger of Woe

Maybe the album of the year. It sounds great.

These are the 2024 metal albums I like.

Bruce Dickinson - Mandrake Project

Sonata Artica - Cold Clear Beyond

David Reece - Baptized by Fire

Savage Oath - Divine Battle

Myrath - Karma

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield

Whom Gods Destroy - Insanium

The new Critical Defiance (Chile death/thrash) is a total banger, as expected. While less chaotic and all-over-the-place than the previous album, it's still suitably savage while injecting a fair bit of variety into the songwriting:

https://unspeakableaxerecords.bandcamp. ... -wont-fall

And speaking of variety, the new Necrowretch (France death/black) is by far their most varied and 'interesting' release yet. The first couple of albums are great but very samey, ie if you've heard one track, you've heard them all. 'Swords of Dajjal' shows them trying out new ideas that work splendidly:

https://necrowretch.bandcamp.com/album/swords-of-dajjal

Then, of course, we have Necrophobic. There is already a thread about it, but goddamn are these guys fucking good at what they do:

https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album ... t-hd-audio

Goddammit! Is it just me or this year already leaves 2023 in a dust...and we’re not even full 3 months in yet mind you! I can barely keep up with quality releases so far this year. Already would be sad if any of my faves thus far miss top 10 of the year... in March mind you, and we haven’t heard yet from Ulcerate, Witch Vomit and Mgla. I mean, even new Borknagar is a killer, the band that I’ve never gave a chance before. At the end of 2023 I barely came up with top 10 for our poll and thanks to old dogs Cryptopsy, Autopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Obituary who salvaged my voting process.

So far this year I feel like Vitriol is leading the pack of excellence! So here’s my quarterly go-to albums in no order:

Vitriol
Necrowretch
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Skeletal Remains
Hoplites
Aborted
Borknagar
Chainsword
Departure Chandelier

Anxiously awaiting for new Ulcerate, Mgla, Witch Vomit, Engulfed and Critical Defiance to drop! What a year!!!

This is actually amazing, the test-fueled album for pumping iron we’ve all been waiting for.

I'LL GRAB A SLAB OF CONCRETE AND I'LL COOK IT UP AND EAT IT LIKE A REAL MAN

I've gotten a lot of 7/10 stuff this year but not much in the higher registers, with most of the stuff I've mentioned in the thread so far mostly sitting around what would have been 50-100 for me last year. I have gotten a few albums which would be top 20 for that period this month though so hopefully a sign stuff is working up. Definitely as we get more heavy hitters on the way.

A bunch of acts I really like have put out very strong to great work, and then I've also found some new stuff like Ponte del Diavolo, Chelsea Wolfe, Necrot, Skeletal Remains and Unaussprechlichen Kulten - a really rich year and I still got a list of shit to go and try.

Yeah, this year has already had some bangers. Brodequin, Skeletal Remains, Slimelord, Hideous Divinity, Borknagar, Necrophobic, Job for a Cowboy, Knoll, Dissimulator, Sovereign, Vitriol, and Upon Stone all came in hot, and that's just off the top of my head.

Hands of Goro's also a pretty good one. Bassist of Slough Feg does some Slough Feg stuff. It's more straight-up than Slough Feg themselves have been for the past 10 or so years, and even more in-your-face than New Organon was. Nevertheless, it's got the chops to fight the fight.

March 22 releases:

Hideous Divinity - Unextinct
Civerous - Maze Envy
Brodequin - Harbinger of Woe
Omnivide - A Tale of Fire
Aberration - Refracture
Critical Defiance - The Search Won't Fall
Fractures in the Sky - Monolith of Avarice
Atrexial - The Serpent Abomination

What a stacked day of killer releases.

That Critical Defiance album is fantastic.

Ooooh, this sounds exciting!

It's pretty enjoyable

Severoth - By the Way of Light | Шляхом світла (atmospheric black metal)


Serpents Oath - Revelation (black metal)

Bump for more appreciation. The DIY music videos make this the complete NASCAR metal experience I never knew I wanted or needed.

BETTER PUMP THE GASOLINE MOTHERFUCKER

Edit... the "I am the Intimidator" thing is fucking awesome, hell yes. Great brash, wild card music for weirdos.

https://anubis10.bandcamp.com/album/dark-paradise

Found this randomly through a review on this site... pretty cool, darker power thrash stuff. You don't get a lot like this anymore. Might have to buy it based on those singles.

The new Horrifying album goes hard; certainly recommended to fans of Incantation and similar bands. Chile does it again!

https://veinsprods.bandcamp.com/album/d ... parasomnia

The new Dodsrit album is the best thing I’ve heard this year

Another strong release day. New albums, all ranging from very good to great, by Verberis, Verwoed, Above Aurora, Cantique Lépreux, Coffins and Mütiilation. Just need to check out Coffin Storm for a complete experience.

It's not on MA, but damn it, I reckon it qualifies.

Kolga - Black Tides



Would you like some blackened surf rock? Kolga's got you covered!

https://kolga.bandcamp.com/album/black-tides

BETTER PUMP THE GASOLINE MOTHERFUCKER

Didn't hit up quite as much in March as in the first two months of the year, and I've got a few heavy hitters on that didn't get around to list, but despite that I did start filling out that "top end" in March. Still nothing I'd say is a real contender for AotY for me or anything, or maybe even top 10, but definitely some stuff that'll be in that "here's the next thirty which I really don't think should be slept on" tier.

The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile Heaven
This isn't metal but The Body is on MA so in the year end charts it's viable so I'll put it on this one. This is like harrowing death industrial with a pretty sounding singer of which there is a little bit of already, but mixed with The Body's willingness to push into absolutely massive droning noisy climaxes with boiling kettle vocals. It's a style I enjoy already and giving it an extra level of extremity to dip into at the big moments elevates it higher again.

Dionysiaque - Diogonos
Trad/epic doom made by extreme metal dudes, so it's got extra dynamics of being willing to drop into some evil trem or harsher sonic spaces. A bit like Fvneral Fvkk in that sense, but a lot more rocking and down to earth than that.

Defect Designer - Chitin
After Suppression in 2022 and Conjureth last year it appears we're getting a yearly entry into OSDM played with tech death skillsets and for the third time in a row I really like it. Dirty and grounded enough to get away with how flashy and creative a lot of the ideas are.

Brodequin - Harbinger of Woe
Yeah it's too clean and there is a criminal lack of ping, but man, they don't make them like Brodequin anymore. It's just so fast and blasty and in an era where BDM is all about the slams or arty transgressions into noisy chaos it's just neat to remember you can just be really, really, really fast too. The cleanliness does hold it under last year's Torsofuck in terms of "hey remember what BDM used to do" releases, but it's good.

Convulsing - Perdurance
Fairly darn gorked dissodeath. I think they had better stuff in the past, but it's still fairly neat stuff which isn't 80% jangly arpeggios like most of the shit in the genre these days.

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
I dunno how much of my appreciation for this is just being in awe of how enthused and how good it sounds from a band of geriatrics, but hey, I appreciate it nonetheless. I'm not even a JP fan but I'm impressed.

Aberration - Refracture
A disso'd up caverncore-y thing along the lines of early Abyssal and Portal which utilizes very long songs to both kinda meander around a bit in the murk but also reach peaks of chaotic catharsis that make the wait worthwhile. Exceptionally great climax to the album which makes it good enough for a mention on its own.

Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
Fucky occasionally doomy death metal with interesting cover art, dunno if it's just the colour scheme there but maybe gave me some hints of Weeping Sores discordant jangling but nowhere near as demented as that. Enjoyable if not particularly notable.

If you guys are into Portal and experimental extreme weird shit, try this album, is oddly relaxing.

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
Spectral Voice - Sparagmos
Motherwood - A Fading Elegy
My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding
Hauntologist - Hollow
Chapel of Disease - Echoes of Light
Khold - Du dømmes til Død
Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
Hamferð - Men Guðs hond er sterk
Sovereign - Altered Realities
Cosmic Void - Subterranean Rivers
Necrophobic - In the Twilight Grey
Madder Mortem - Old Eyes, New Heart
Borknagar - Fall

Updating my last post with albums i've listened to recently. Already including MDB's album, which actually grew on me a lot lately.

I AM THE INTIMIDATOR is actual art, holy shit. I am in awe.



Seconding this one as well. Super cool doom with heavy bass, extreme elements, and some proggy parts with chords reminiscent of Voivod at points (at least to my ears). The vocals are quite bold but I got acclimated to them before long.

I'm resisting listening to this because as a chemistry nerd "hydrolysated" isn't a word.

It's exactly how humor should be handled in metal for my tastes anyway... raw, goofy, but the music is still fucking badass. Then he even lapses into what seems like pretty serious themes at times too. The music is just flawless trad metal.