Best Rock and Metal Albums of 2024: Must-Listen Picks

Straight out of Cambridge, the British band Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have decided to go big on their sixth studio album Nell' Ora Blu. Paying homage to Italian cinema from the 60s and 70s, the album sounds like a random meeting of Dario Argento and his characteristic giallo genre, with some Pink Floyd atmospheres. It is an album that transfers you to a film, with dialogue, suspense and top-notch music, a breath of fresh air in the face of all the doldrums we see in the music industry.

On their seventh album, Les Chants de l'Aurore, French duo Alcest once again shows why they are one of the most interesting and consistent bands on the scene today. I've been a huge fan of the band's new approach since the Shelter album and especially on Kodama, which flows completely into this latest, happier, sunnier and more golden Les Chants de l'Aurore is certainly one of the band's best albums of 2024.

Knocked Loose is a band less than 10 years old that is only growing with each passing year. Releasing their third studio album You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To, it's clear that the maturity and consolidation of the Kentucky quintet has arrived in a cohesive and planned manner. Blending hardcore, metalcore and beatdown with a lot of modernity and precision, this is a band that has reached the top and is unlikely to leave.

Here's another example of a band that's going through a great phase, or rather, I dare say it's at its peak! Theories of Emptiness, Evergrey's fourteenth album, puts the band where they deserve to be. Cohesive, mature, contemplative when it needs to be and brutal when it needs to be, this is yet another impeccable piece of work from a band that has been around for over thirty years and is still very much underrated in the metal scene. Check out also our live review of Evergrey.

When a band of Judas Priest's caliber releases a new album, every heavy metal lover must stop and listen to what these mythical gentlemen have to offer, and just the fact that a band with more than 50 years and more than 50 million albums sold is presenting us with new material would be enough, but Invincible Shield is much more than that, a spectacle in many ways, showing that Rob Halford and company are still in great shape!

As the name implies, the fifth album from the band that never misses a beat, you can bet that if there's a Lucifer album this year, it'll be on most of the best of the year lists, Johanna Sadonis, Nicke Andersson and co. always delivers!

Ihsahn?s self-titled, their eighth solo studio album, is a melting pot of experimentalism and creativity that deserves a standing ovation. It's certainly one of the Norwegian musician's best, if not the best. Maintaining his strong identity and inserting orchestral and soft moments, he has created a Disney-like encounter with darkness, making the album sound fresh and innovative, and worthy of applause.

Kerry King has assembled a heavyweight team to present From Hell I Rise, the debut album of his solo career. With vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), guitarist Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah) and drummer Paul Bostaph (ex-Slayer, ex-Forbidden), it was easy to release one of the best thrash metal albums of 2024! The guitarist's solo debut fits in well with Slayer's structure and manages to insert things that would never work on Slayer. Check out our live review of Kerry King.

The Belgian band, with a career spanning almost 30 years, has just released its twelfth studio album, which, although it retains its usual stoner style, manages to look forward spectacularly and bring a new breath of fresh air.
With several special guest appearances, the album is undoubtedly one of the best of the band's solid career and one of the best of 2024 as a result.

Myrath is one of the most interesting bands on the progressive metal scene today, managing to insert huge doses of their traditional Arabic music since the band has its roots in Tunisia. They define themselves as a band of ?flaming desert metal? and this definition is undoubtedly accurate. If you don't know Myrath yet or haven't paid much attention to them, their sixth album Karma could be a great opportunity and a memorable calling card.

After two decades of hard work, dedication and ten albums to their name, the Germans of Powerwolf have finally reached the summit of success. With their tenth album Wake Up the Wicked, the band has established itself as one of the leading names in power metal today, delivering devastating concerts and cohesive work.

The long-awaited fourth studio album from the Swedish band Blues Pills, Birthday presented a different sound from its predecessor Holy Moly! It's a mature, cohesive album full of emotion and reflection, and it's hard not to get attached to yet another beautiful piece of work from Elin Larsson and co. With one of the best songs of the year, ?Top of the Sky?, the Swedes once again present one of the best albums of 2024. Check out our latest live review from Blues Pills in London.

Still little known on the metal scene, Unto Others is a North American gothic rock and heavy metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 2017, the band has just released its fourth album, the sensational Never, Neverland, which takes us directly back to the 80s at the height of the gothic sound, although with doses of modernity that end up creating a huge and captivating identity.

Straight from Porto, in the north of Portugal, the black metal band Gaerea released their fourth album this year, Coma, which consolidates the band once and for all on the world metal scene. Blending melody and chaos in a dense atmosphere, this is undoubtedly the young band's best work to date. We can say that today Gaerea is the biggest Portuguese metal band, alongside the mythical Moonspell of course. Check out our live review of Gaerea in London.

After a long winter of 16 years, Robert Smith and The Cure released a new album this year, the impeccable ?Songs of a Lost World?, full of the romanticism and desolation that has been the Cure's hallmark for over 40 years. Modern and alternating doses of sadness, loneliness and contemplation, it's very easy to be captivated by eight simple tracks that manage to freeze our emotions. It may seem like the Cure's final farewell, if it is, it ends epically, if it isn't, we're fortunate to live on the same planet as The Cure.

Here's one of this year's favorites for the best album of 2024! Blood Incantation with their fourth album Absolute Elsewhere will certainly be on many lists this December. What's the reason? A daring mix of death metal and progressive rock, a meeting of Obituary and Pink Floyd on a dark street corner with a relentless result that takes extreme metal far beyond its possibilities.

Oh how good it is to have a fresh album from Ice-T, Ernie C and the unrivalled and fundamental Body Count, who released their eighth album ?Merciless? at the end of the year. As well as an album of unreleased material, we were treated to some epic, even historic guest appearances, such as David Gilmour, the legendary Pink Floyd guitarist, on a magnificent version of ?Comfortably Numb? There's still room for Max Cavalera in ?Drug Lords? or Corpseginder frontman of Cannibal Corpse in ?The Purge?, among other great guest appearances. Undoubtedly one of the wonders of 2024 and coming at the end of the year as a sort of Christmas present. Check out how Body Count was live at the O2 Kentish Town Forum.

Here's a band that, whenever it releases an album, will probably appear on our best of the year lists, such is our passion for the talent and daring of Manuel Gagneux, the leader and creative mind behind Zeal & Ardor. Greif, released this summer, maintains the essence of the band and goes from African-American spirituals to the guttural screams of extreme metal in an exquisite and extremely cohesive way. If you don't know Zeal & Ardor yet, there's still time, because it's never too late to discover something that makes an impact. Live gallery of their last concert in London.

Here's an extremely promising band that released their third album this year entitled ?Lifeless Birth?, we're talking about Necrot from Oakland, California. Their second album Mortal from 2020 had already impressed me, but this new work is undoubtedly the consolidation of the guys, more mature, cohesive and ruthless, Necrot today is one of the most interesting exponents of extreme metal worldwide and deserves greater flights.

Holy Agony is the translation of Hin Helga Kvöl, the eighth album by Icelandic cowboys Sólstafir, who gave us an impressive work of art this year. This is the band's most mature work, with many layers and a unique atmosphere, cold and gloomy as it should be, moving and somewhat sad as we've become accustomed to every time we play a new Sólstafir song. Here's an incredibly underrated band that deserves a lot more light than it gets. Check out our last live review of Sólstafir in London.