#10 DOLDREY Only Death Is Eternal
DOLDREY‘s Only Death Is Eternal out on Pulverised Records and Iron Lung Records is all that! I can’t fucking get enough of this band because their sound is un-fucking-real and they always brings the pain! Every second of this record is a dirged-out fucked-in-the-head raging party that will have you saying, damn, this band fucking rules! It’s a trip how they are able to take my favorite parts of Death Metal, Hardcore Punk, and Thrash put them into a sonic blender of filth to conjure up a sound that is truly their own! Once their death anthem All is Hell kicks in, you will realize that this is one of gnarliest releases of 2024! DOLDREY’s music is more than just a sound, they are able to come up with a sense of thrilling atmosphere that flows through all of their compositions! Underneath their layers of fury, there is this black river of angst that is dipped in the ooze of melodic nothingness and it gets under your skin. Musically, this band is on their A-Game — if you don’t believe me, just blast their title track “Only Death Is Eternal.” On the vocal tip, their singer spits thick fire flames that will burn the inside of your skull with each listen! Unholy hell yes, I swear that this band gets me so hyped that through this world of shit I can actually smell some hope! I want DOLDREY to know that Only Death Is Eternal, but my respect for them is also eternal!
#9 AXEFEAR Prophetic End
As a human exposed to politics via a Black Panther-adjacent mother, my mind was open at a very early age. As a young POC punk from the 80s, part of my political worldview was shaped by by Crass and the bands that circled their orbit during the 80s. My stance on truth and rights has never wavered, and if anything, I become even more steadfast in my beliefs as I age. Peace Punk in the 80s felt safe because of its Anti-Racist stance that made me feel seen as a Black Punk. So when I hear sick Stenchcore in 2024, I still get hyped just like in 1984. One band that is killing it right now is Seattle’s AXEFEAR and their album PROPHETIC END out via Archaic Records is all that and then some! The opening track starts with this haunting storm of empathy that becomes this passionate wall of sonic dirge — it almost feels like Apocalyptic Blues! A song like “EMBRACED IN GENOCIDE” is a vicious audio weapon aimed at those who want to uphold this fucked up shitstem that we are all living through. AXEFEAR has no fear in lacing their anthems of filth with cryptic melodic dirges that will have you headbanging for sure. PROPHETIC END reminds us that Punk is still a safe space for me and other POC. AXEFEAR, if y’all read this, just know that y’all killed it with this album — maximum Respect DUE!
#8 WARKRUSHER Armistice
Do our logical leaders ever stop squabbling? Do they ever tire of making us their little disposable pawns of war? As long as the weapons keep selling and the money keeps flowing, we the people will be crushed under foot and blitzed by drones. WARKRUSHER is full of the rage and bloodlust that flows through our veins whether we want it to or not. It’s an onslaught of chugging riffs and razing drums and vocals that sound like they’re being bellowed from the rotted-out throat of a corpse. Armistice is a revoltingly good record.
#7 THE DARK Sinking Into Madness
As we near the end of what has been an amazing year for music, I have to give some space to one of my favorite albums of 2024, a record that’s been getting so many plays on my turntable I may need to pick up another copy.
Compton’s THE DARK dropped one of the best LPs of the year with Sinking Into Madness this summer (even more impressive considering band members released albums in TOZCOS and PERSONAL DAMAGE respectively). An album as moody as it is heavy, Sinking Into Madness mixes 80’s metal and thrash with hardcore punk and dresses it all in head to toe deathrock black. And while there are endless sources of inspiration to pick apart here, the big two that continuously rear their heads to my ears are 80’s UK metal punk and metallic Japanese hardcore, the former showing in the galloping drums and riffs and the latter in the uniquely evil vocals and fiery guitar leads. Read the full review here.
#6 SAVAGE PLEASURE S/T
I rarely get into anything personal in my reviews, but I’m going to make a brief exception here. I’ve always considered my interest in the occult and the esoteric a direct result of my upbringing as a pastor’s son. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but a childhood spent fearing the concept of evil has led to an adulthood of seeking out the most evil shit I can find. From movies to books to music, nothing fascinates me as much as the Mephistophelian (thank you to the Thesaurus for that one).
Why mention any of this? Well NYC’s SAVAGE PLEASURE just dropped one of the gnarliest and evil sounding records I’ve heard in a minute. The self-titled debut is an impressively cinematic listen start to finish that doesn’t even require you to spin it backwards. Opening with a desolate synth like something from the soundtrack of an 80’s horror movie, things shift into a dungeon-y acoustic guitar intro before going full on thrash-y crust on second track “The Sickening Fear”. Sonically I can’t think of a better comparison than the ones I’ve already heard floating around: a 50/50 mix of CELTIC FROST and AMEBIX. From the riffs on riffs on riffs to the blistering drums to the gnarled vocals that sound like Captain Howdy speaking via Reagan, I can’t get enough of this album. Its difficult to choose a favorite track but if I had to I’d probably go with closer “Chasms of Distant Dreams”, a riff-laden onslaught that starts with the same lone acoustic guitar that we began with. It even has some creepy spoken word moments that sound like the band attempting to summon some nefarious spirits. You get the picture, if you need a soundtrack to your next Ouija Board session, I‘d have to recommend SAVAGE PLEASURE.
Written by Eric.
#5 ALEMENT BANISHED SPHERE
Right off the bat, the eerie hiss that opens ALEMENT’s record Banished Sphere had me hooked, and then I read that the record “conjures a quarrel with forces of nature and the metaphysical realm” and I knew this was a record I was gonna get down with. As someone who’s kind of obsessed with what I can’t see or hear but feel is real, I love music that explores the intangible, the irrational, the unprovable. Humans are so fucking smug, asserting their dominance and intelligence generation after generation only to have it discredited a few generations later. This is a soundtrack to nature putting us in our place, to the cosmos showing us its might. Crashing, crushing, whirling, devastating, decimating!
#4 NEGATIVE PRAYER SELF//WOUND
WTF this NEGATIVE PRAYER record is so fucking sick I became hooked instantly!!! This band manifests some of the most rad Stenchcore-infused Crust on the planet! SELF//WOUND is the soundtrack to our destruction and I can’t get enough. I say this with my chest: it’s time to destroy all downpressors and blast NEGATIVE PRAYER while we do it!!!
#3 OBSOLETION S/T
I like my punk with a healthy dose of rock ‘n roll and Obsoletion’s self-titled record is a fucking smorgasboard of righteous riffs and absolutely filthy vocals and tsunami-like percussion! In other words, I’m happy this band decided to get together and desecrate mics and amps with this sleazy, powerful collection of razor-sharp anthems! Released by Sentient Ruin, this record has everything you need for a post-apocalyptic celebration of survival!
#2 FUTURE OF DESPAIR S/T
Static like lava is pouring in my ears and demonic vocals are rattling around my skull! Am I possessed? No, I’m just listening to FUTURE OF DESPAIR’s self-titled record out on 1753 Recordings. Although by the time second track “Remnants” starts pounding my skull I might just be ready to sell my soul to whatever devil gave this band so much crust-laden fury! FUTURE OF DESPAIR is bringing the noise to their punk and I’m here for it. Its vicious savagery has me by the throat and I don’t want it to let go! If you can listen to this without wanting to bronco kick a boss then you need to get your soul checked.
#1 LIFELESS DARK Forces of Nature’s Transformation
As soon as I hit play on LIFELESS DARK’s record Forces of Nature’s Transformation I knew I was in for a heavy ride! And as soon as those drums kicked in I felt the bass oozing down my spine! Those guitar riffs are here to sharpshoot our oppressors. Forces of Nature’s Transformation feels like a triumph over evil, and if I’ve ever heard a record that could be the soundtrack to violent revolution against the vile it’s this one. Unrelenting percussion, vicious riffs, vocals that are a rallying cry to the dispossessed, and basslines that could cause an earthquake. This record came at us like a guillotine to the neck last week and immediately shot to the top of this list. No gods, no masters, only Forces of Nature’s Transformation!
