You’ve seen the Kerrang! albums of 2024. Now check out what the staff were all listening to this year…
As is becoming tradition, the past 12 months have been an absolute banger for rock and alternative music. We’ve seen sensational returns, explosive debuts, wondrous returns to form and some of the very best firmly remaining at the very top of their game.
We’ve already counted down Kerrang!’s top 50 albums of 2024, but a lot of people come together to make up the big K!, and our individual tastes stretch from symphonic to grindcore to pop-punk to experimental noise. All are welcome here and it quite often leads to some, shall we say, lively debates. And so here they are! This is what the Kerrang! team have had on repeat since January and will no doubt be clogging up our playlists for years to come…
10. Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell
9. Speed – ONLY ONE MODE
8. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
7. Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
6. Poppy – Negative Spaces
5. Kid Kapichi – There Goes The Neighbourhood
4. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
3. Sprints – Letter To Self
2. High Vis – Guided Tour
1. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
I love Knocked Loose. It’s that perfect mix of crushing heaviness, maniacal vocals and purposeful punishment that I just can’t resist, and their latest LP stands as their greatest achievement yet. Much has been said about hardcore currently having its moment in the sun, which is indeed true, but Knocked Loose are in a league of their own right now, accelerating away from any perceived expectations onto primetime American television and into some of the biggest rooms in the UK next spring – hello Brixton Academy. All thanks to one of the most spiteful and savage albums of the year, which doesn’t pull any punches but also isn’t a directionless maelstrom – there’s groove, there’s hooks, there’s brutalistic breakdowns that burst with limitless energy and excitement that just keep me coming back for more. That UK tour and subsequent Outbreak sets are going to be absolute insanity and I cannot wait.
10. The Linda Lindas – No Obligation
9. Twin Atlantic – Meltdown
8. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
7. EKKSTACY – EKKSTACY
6. Poppy – Negative Spaces
5. Linkin Park – From Zero
4. Neck Deep – Neck Deep
3. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
2. Green Day – Saviors
1. twenty one pilots – Clancy
Genuinely, from the moment I pressed play on the video for lead single Overcompensate back in February (very specifically, it premiered right as I was walking in the pouring rain to see The Callous Daoboys in The K! Pit, and I had to shelter under some random east London shop front to watch it), I instantly knew this was going to be a golden twenty one pilots era. From dance-rock banger Navigating to the brilliant indie-pop of Midwest Indigo and the playful attitude of Lavish, Clancy is everything Tyler and Josh do best, and I can’t wait to see them bring it all to the UK next year. I’m yet to listen to the Oldies Station bridge without blubbing, though, so apologies in advance for that…
10. Poppy – Negative Spaces
9. Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell
8. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
7. The Gates Of Slumber – The Gates Of Slumber
6. Friends Of Hell – God Damned You To Hell
5. Mimi Barks – THIS IS DOOM TRAP
4. Hellbutcher – Hellbutcher
3. Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
2. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
1. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
After the intimate acoustics of 2019's Birth Of Violence, Chelsea Wolfe's return was marked by something rather louder, heavier and sonically complex. Weaving her usual atmospherics through imposing sheets of fuzz was one thing, but there was also a cunning, oddly emotive use of electronics and sound manipulation, causing the songs to build and tumble apart as they went, or get carried along on a hypnotic, Nine Inch Nails-ish digital beat. Atop this, Chelsea's haunting, mysterious voice reflected on themes of endings, moving on, catharsis, in a manner that was both strikingly bleak and curiously comforting. Even for an artist with as good a scorecard as she, Chelsea Wolfe delivered something peerlessly perfect here.
10. These Wicked Rivers – Force Of Nature
9. Lucifer – Lucifer V
8. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood
7. Cassyette – This World Fucking Sucks
6. Dead Pony – Ignore This
5. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
4. Crossfaith – Ark
3. Poppy – Negative Spaces
2. Linkin Park – From Zero
1. Nightwish – Yesterwynde
If there's one thing to love about Nightwish – and there isn't, there's a hundred things – it's that they make you realise your very existence is a fantastically unlikely miracle. All too often life feels like the opposite. On this remarkable coming together of talent and positive energy, Nightwish incorporated the epic soundscapes that have defined their career, threw in folk and progressive influences, and of course wrapped it all up with the emotive mastery that pretty much elevates anything they do to untouchable levels. You have rock’s best composer (Tuomas Holopainen) and rock’s best singer (Floor Jansen) in one band. All that you don’t have is tour dates, the absence of which will just make their eventual return all the more magical.
10. RedHook – Mutation
9. Boston Manor – Sundiver
8. Yours Truly – Toxic
7. twenty one pilots – Clancy
6. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
5. The Linda Lindas – No Obligation
4. Sløtface – Film Buff
3. Poppy – Negative Spaces
2. Stand Atlantic – WAS HERE
1. Bob Vylan – Humble As The Sun
I’ve had the lines 'Got a message for the thieves in palace / We want our jewels back,' from Bob Vylan’s Reign stuck in my head for the better part of the year. The sheer number of iconic lyrics on that track alone is enough to put all of Humble As The Sun into a hall of fame. (See also: 'I was a victim of one crime / Was it gun crime / Nah, Bob Vylan got robbed for the Mercury!') Across the album, the grime-punk duo hold nothing back as they tackle topics including toxic masculinity, the economic crisis, colonialism and the music industry. Humble As The Sun ranges from outrage, optimism and humour – all of it warranted and none of it out of place.
10. The Warning – Keep Me Fed
9. The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Mei
8. Scene Queen – Hot Singles In Your Area
7. Linkin Park – From Zero
6. LØLØ – falling for robots & wishing i was one
5. Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope
4. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
3. Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project
2. The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
1. Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
Dark Matter starts with a recording of Sean Penn playing pool (no, seriously) before launching into the brash, crunching chords of Scared Of Fear. The record ends with Eddie Vedder singing ‘Let us not fade’ on Setting Sun, sounding like a man processing every memory he’s ever made simultaneously. In between these brilliant bookends, Pearl Jam deliver one of their most exciting, moving and vibrant releases to date. Next year will mark the 35th anniversary of their formation, but on instant classics like Wreckage and Waiting For Stevie, the Seattle legends somehow sound like they’re only just getting started.
10. The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Mei
9. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
8. Melvins – Tarantula Heart
7. High On Fire – Cometh The Storm
6. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
5. Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
4. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood
3. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
2. Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible
1. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
When you write an album review, you do so with the hope that it will reach at least one person who, struck by your description of the record in question, will take the plunge and have a listen. I did just that after reading K! Senior Commissioning Editor Nick Ruskell’s appraisal of Blood Incantation’s fourth album. Though I’d heard some of the Denver bruiser’s music before, I wasn't overly familiar with them. But when I read that this latest opus was ‘essentially a 1970s prog album with death metal bits’ and that there are sections ‘that could have been written by Pink Floyd at their most cosmic,’ its tractor beams had me and I was drawn in.
I’ve long been a fan of albums made up of seemingly disparate elements, where you marvel at the deftness with which they’re blended. In that regard, and countless others, Absolute Elsewhere is a masterpiece. Proggy without being pompous, world-building without being wanky, it is the musical equivalent of Rutger Hauer’s speech at the end of Blade Runner. Ever wondered how to soundtrack the sight of attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, or C-beams glittering in the dark near Tannhäuser Gate? Well, wonder no more.
10. Cult Of The Lamb – Hymns Of The Unholy
9. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
8. Twin Atlantic – Meltdown
7. Fucked Up – Another Day
6. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
5. Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell
4. Nails – Every Bridge Burning
3. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
2. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
1. Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell
Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell delivered on the intense promise Heriot had been showing us over the past couple of years. Their debut is a stunning showcase of modern metal, blending relentless energy with haunting atmospheres. It’s a solid dose of visceral rage, irking a reaction that makes you see the world for what it is: a bleak sphere of hopelessness. From start to finish, it’s crafted in a way to make you feel this sense of pure rage, it’ll make you want to crush a watermelon with your bare hands. It’s unpleasantly heavy, but herein lies the beauty of what Heriot do – it is unashamedly brutal. The foundation they’ve laid here sets them up to take their sound to unimaginable places and stake their claim as one of heavy music’s most exciting prospects.
10. Mimi Barks – THIS IS DOOM TRAP
9. Zetra – Zetra
8. Speed – ONLY ONE MODE
7. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
6. Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
5. Kid Kapichi – There Goes The Neighbourhood
4. Lowen – Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran
3. Touché Amoré – Spiral In A Straight Line
2. Kneecap – Fine Art
1. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
Violent music is in ridiculously rude health at the end of 2024, but no-one led the way and drove extreme sounds into the heart of the mainstream quite like Knocked Loose. Where awesome 2021 EP A Tear In The Fabric Of Life felt like it might have been the Kentucky crew venting their fury before plotting their shot at the big time, You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is the sound of Knocked Loose embracing and emphasising the genuine emotional turmoil, the yappy idiosyncrasies and the uncompromising darknesses that have always been at the centre of their sound. Not just a glorious crowning moment for one of the best bands in modern heavy music, but exhilarating proof that the ceiling on how far you can go with songs this severe is only as low as their players believe it to be.
10. Spaced – This Is All We Ever Get
9. The Hope Conspiracy – Tools of Oppression/Rule by Deception
8. Hot Water Music – Vows
7. Grieving – Everything Goes Right, All At Once
6. Regional Justice Center – Freedom Sweet Freedom
5. Drug Church – Prude
4. Planes Mistaken For Stars – Do You Still Love Me?
3. Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs
2. Balance And Composure – With You In Spirit
1. Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath
Do not avert your (black)gaze – Fredericksburg, Virginia quintet Infant Island have re-emerged from the underground sounding more beautifully unhinged than ever. Obsidian Wreath opens a portal to a darker, more confusing world right on schedule and in a chat with K! earlier this year they confirmed that they’re willing to literally bleed for this.
10. Night Verses – Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night
9. Fucked Up – Another Day
8. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
7. Chubby And The Gang – And Then There Was…
6. Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs
5. Speed – ONLY ONE MODE
4. Bad Nerves – Still Nervous
3. FIDLAR – Surviving The Dream
2. Linkin Park – From Zero
1. Hardy – Quit!!
Country’s cool again. And, believe me, no-one’s more shocked about it than those of us who lived through the Achy Breaky Heart-fuelled, line-dancing epidemic of the early- mid-’90s. Yet, in a year where everyone from Post Malone to Beyoncé released country records, one rock star stood tall: Hardy. Taking its name (and album art) from a note he was slipped by a less-than-impressed audience member during his early days playing in bars, Quit!! sees Hardy arrive as rock royalty, with everyone from Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, to legendary Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst lining up to lend a hand. Yes, the tropes of driving trucks and drinking whiskey are here in abundance, but they’ve never sounded heavier, harder or more self-aware.
10. Crows – Reason Enough
9. Kid Bookie – Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead
8. MakeWar – A Paradoxical Theory Of Change
7. Cold Years – A Different Life
6. Casey – How To Disappear
5. FEVER 333 – Darker White
4. SeeYouSpaceCowboy – Coup De Grace
3. JPEGMAFIA – I Lay Down My Life For You
2. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
1. SOFT PLAY – Heavy Jelly
After a particularly gruelling and difficult few years for Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman, SOFT PLAY returned with a new mindset, a new band name and even less fucks to give about, well, everything. The result is a truly spectacular record that picks up from where their former incarnation left off in 2018 with third record Acts Of Fear And Love (as SLAVES), while also completely reinventing who they are. That’s nowhere more obvious than on the final track Everything And Nothing. It’s a song that The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon told me is “my favourite song of anyone I know”, and it really is that good. If you don’t burst into tears the first time you hear it, there’s a good chance you aren’t actually human.
10. The Early November – The Early November
9. Drug Church – Prude
8. Pale Waves – Smitten
7. Twin Atlantic – Meltdown
6. Scene Queen – Hot Singles In Your Area
5. Cold Years – A Different Life
4. Casey – How To Disappear
3. The Requiem – A Cure To Poison The World
2. Uzumaki – waded
1. Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
It might sound really bleeding obvious, but for me, the reason Bring Me The Horizon’s latest LP stands out most amongst the year’s other releases is the sheer amount of bloody brilliant songs there are on it. At least half have enough infectious songwriting and mahoosive choruses to be lead single material, and yet, the venomous bite of cuts like liMOusine (feat. AURORA) and a bulleT w/ my namE On are more than enough evidence to counter any accusation that Oli Sykes and co. have gone soft. A record that simultaneously throws things back to the ’00s emo heyday (LosT) while also pushing rock forwards into new territory (AmEN!), NeX GEn is up there with some of Bring Me’s best work. Great job, lads, even though your song titles are an aBs0LuTE pAIn to type out.
10. Sløtface – Film Buff
9. Cassyette – This World Fucking Sucks
8. Void Of Vision – What I’ll Leave Behind
7. Poppy – Negative Spaces
6. SOFT PLAY – Heavy Jelly
5. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
4. Bob Vylan – Humble As The Sun
3. Delilah Bon – Evil, Hate Filled Female
2. Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell
1. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
This album bookmarked a new desire in me for punk music that felt equally as sexy as it did venomous. It also made me want to frolic around semi-naked with a pet pig as my accomplice. I’d been a casual listener of Mannequin Pussy since 2019’s Patience, but this record established the Philly four-piece as bigger, classier players in the game. It served as a reminder on how punk can actually be all kinds of gorgeous and delicious, yet still crackling with rage. I felt all kinds of alive upon hearing it for the first time, and still do with every play. When a friend asks me for a band to check out, I Got Heaven is where I point them to.
10. Linkin Park – From Zero
9. Joey Valence & Brae – NO HANDS
8. Knocked Loose – You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
7. Bob Vylan – Humble As The Sun
6. Speed – ONLY ONE MODE
5. While She Sleeps – SELF HELL
4. Sprints – Letter To Self
3. Kneecap – Fine Art
2. Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
1. Poppy – Negative Spaces
I've always been a casual fan of Poppy's work, but Negative Spaces floored me from start to finish. The riffs are unbelievably addictive and the production is consistent – it truly feels like Jordan Fish and Stephen Harrison helped her unlock another level. Vocally, the way she's levelled up her screams on the center’s falling out and they’re all around us is breathtaking, but not overdone. The album retains its unpredictability, weaving between familiar alt.pop and nu-metal sounds which are balanced excellently by the interludes, and then the banging vital could have easily been on Avril Lavigne's Greatest Hits. It's almost a shame that, knowing Poppy, she'll never make another record like this again.
10. Kerry King – From Hell I Rise
9. Darkest Hour – Perpetual | Terminal
8. Aborted – Vault Of Horrors
7. Primal Code – Opaque Fixation
6. Nails – Every Bridge Burning
5. Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
4. Nile – This Underworld Awaits Us All
3. Iron Monkey – Spleen & Goad
2. High On Fire – Cometh The Storm
1. Ulcerate – Cutting The Throat Of God
This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but with the sound of Ulcerate's seventh full-length. Having been nothing less than amazing since the day they dropped their first release, Cutting The Throat Of God sees the New Zealand trio once again ascend to the next level, and in doing so conjuring music that can only be destined to soundtrack the apocalypse. Imaginative, unforgiving, technically insane, and emotionally chilling to the core, everything about the record demands that the listener understands that death metal can not only still tread new ground but exist at the forefront of all extreme music.
10. Feeder – Black/Red
9. Bon Jovi – Forever
8. Linkin Park – From Zero
7. Frank Turner – Undefeated
6. beabadoobee – This Is How Tomorrow Moves
5. Kid Kapichi – There Goes The Neighbourhood
4. The Chisel – What A Fucking Nightmare
3. Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
2. Lauran Hibberd – Girlfriend Material
1. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
You know when a band’s time has come. And while Amyl And The Sniffers have been tearing up the live scene for a while now, 2024 was the year when Amy Taylor – already the finest frontperson of a generation – and the lads took a great leap forward and wrote a fistful of gigantic anthems to match their feral live sound. The end result is an album that anyone who likes their rock music loud, proud and foul-mouthed will be listening to for a very long time to come.
10. Shellac – To All Trains
9. Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive
8. High On Fire – Cometh The Storm
7. Kurokuma – Of Amber And Sand
6. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead
5. Thou – Umbilical
4. Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
3. Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced
2. Bad Breeding – Contempt
1. Chat Pile – Cool World
2024 frequently looked and felt like a hellscape. Thanks to records on this list and beyond, it often sounded like one too. Fans of underground noise were ludicrously well catered for, but amongst the many contenders, it was Oklahoma City weirdos Chat Pile who made the biggest impression on this listener. Their second full-length Cool World offered an impressionistic appraisal of global society in decay. Broadening their sound from 2022’s God’s Country, they gave us rumbling post-punk on Shame, catchy despair on Masc, and a mash-up of industrial and nu-metal on Frownland and Funny Man. An ability to wield black humour and vulnerability alongside speaker-rattling rage made this a potent, unignorable soundtrack for the mid-section of this dark decade.
10. Touché Amoré – Spiral In A Straight Line
9. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
8. Boston Manor – Sundiver
7. Hidden Mothers – Erosion/Avulsion
6. High Vis – Guided Tour
5. Sprints – Letter To Self
4. Lowen – Do Not Go To War With The Demons of Manzandaran
3. Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out She Reaches Out To She
2. Heriot – Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell
1. Knocked Loose – You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
Let's be honest: 2024 belonged to Knocked Loose. In a time where hardcore has never felt so potent, or has been so celebrated, they’ve stormed their way to the head of the pack – and scared some unsuspecting middle Americans on Jimmy Kimmel. Better still, they’re brushing the mainstream with zero compromise. In fact, on album three, they’ve doubled down on their blazing ferocity. Right from the earth-shaking scream that opens Thirst, they’re out to make jaws drop and bowels loosen, and they deserve bonus points for harnessing the underrated trick of using a drum that sounds like a bin, Clown from Slipknot style. Throw in the almighty reggaeton-spliced Suffocate – where guest Poppy unleashes a new, lethal side to herself – and you have a true counter-cultural moment. Give them the GRAMMY!
10. Green Day – Saviors
9. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
8. Judas Priest – Invisible Shield
7. The Offspring – Supercharged
6. High Vis – Guided Tour
5. Jack White – No Name
4. The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
3. Goldie Lookin Chain – Country Lookin Chain
2. MC5 – Heavy Lifting
1. X – Smoke & Fiction
The final album from Los Angeles punk rock founding mothers and fathers X provides a thrilling and emotionally substantive closing chapter to a fascinating and under-appreciated career. With LA itself a character in the band’s music, as ever, the warning is not to be fooled by the sunshine and celebrity ’cause these streets have teeth. 'The days change at night, change in an instant' they sang on the song Los Angeles, from 44 years ago. Today, it’s still true. You better watch your step.
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