Justin’s 2024 in Review

Wow, it’s New Year’s Eve already! I can’t believe 2024 is about to end.

Back in December 2023, I made the decision to start HarshVocals.com as both a written review site, and a podcast. I had many years of experience podcasting, and writing for various movie review sites, but I had never had my own platform for talking about my one true lifelong passion, which is of course, Metal. My idea was to create a site where anyone who wanted to share their passion for Metal would be able to contribute and write about their love of music through reviews and articles as well. I never expected that idea to draw such a talented and great group of writers to join us.

It did, however, and as of December 2024, we have a staff of 10, and have published more than sixty written articles in our first year. That’s so much more than I expected when I started this. I owe a massive thank you to Anna, Didi, Bri, Cary, Makalia, Doc, Simon, and especially Moldy, since he was the first to join up, and has been with us since near the beginning. I couldn’t have built this without you all, and I’m really excited to see what great articles you bring to the site in 2025. Of course, we are always open to new writers too, so if you’re reading this and want to contribute, please reach out!

I owe an even bigger debt of gratitude to my cohost on the podcast, and the other main editor for the site, Christian Renner. It’s crazy that we were both guests on a podcast a few years ago, bonded over an obscure extreme metal album, and became such good friends. I’m so glad you decided to join me on the journey of building Harsh Vocals, and I couldn’t ask for a better cohost and partner in the podcast and site. You’ve picked up my slack many times this year, and always bring great ideas to the table. I’m very proud of what we’ve built, and I can’t wait to see where we can take this in the future!

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all the bands that took the time to come on the podcast and gab with us about their incredible albums. Thanks to Johnar Haland from In Vain, Splatterpvnk from Saidan, P.G. from Groza, Jim and Todd from Amiensus, Kyle Chapman from Blighted Eye, and Blake from Ophidian Memory! We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you all, and we absolutely love all of your music.

Thanks to all the PR companies that have added us to their press lists, and have sent us tons of promos and concert review opportunities! I’m hoping next year we can double the amount of articles we write!

I believe that’s everyone I need to thank, so lets move on to what you came here for… My top 100 albums from 2024.

I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, where I listen to nearly every album that gets released within the extreme metal genres, and then working through the year to pair it down to a top 25 or top 30 list. It’s always a challenge, but a fun one.

This year was more fun than ever, but also considerably more challenging. 2024 is easily the best year for extreme metal in the past three decades. There was an overflowing abundance of exceptional albums, and out of the total 3,000+ that I heard throughout the year, my initial “Best-of” playlist was 632 albums long.

I should note that I only consider LPs for my end of year list.

I use a point system to rank albums. I consider production quality, songwriting, musicality, vocals (harsh and otherwise), and bloat. Anything that made it into that 632 albums scored a 3.5/5 or better. For some perspective, 2023 had 343 albums in that list, and 2022 had 312, so this year had about double the amount of quality albums that were released.

After I have my end of year 3.5 or better list, I re-listen and re-value every album. Throughout the year, I hear so much music, that unless an album is exceptional, it sometimes doesn’t get as much replay as other releases. For this reason, I like to make sure that my initial rating is re-evaluated at the end.

After two rounds of re-listens, I had the list paired down to 165 albums that were 4.2/5 or better. At this point, sorting out the top 10 and top30 isn’t too difficult. I know what albums I listened to the most, and while there are a few more re-listens that have to occur to figure out what albums get those last few critical spots (28-30) since they’re all rated the same, it’s honestly the easiest part of the process for me.

Typically, I don’t do a top100 list, and I just stop at top30. I feel like that would be unfair to 2024 though, since it gave me so many amazing albums. This year (and maybe ONLY this year), I’m doing a top 100. Every single album on this list is excellent, and if you missed ANY of them this year, I highly recommend checking them out. You’re almost guaranteed to find something you’ll love. Without any further ado, here is my top 100 albums of 2024:

100. Ov Shadows – Heresiarch
99. Houle – Ciel Cendre et Misere Noire
98. Karkosa – Esoterrorcult
97. Hauntologist – Hollow
96. Entomophthora – Instinctual Disease
95. Isolert – Wounds of Desolation
94. Generation of Vipers – Guilt Shrine
93. Torrefy – Necronomisongs
92. Vicious Blade – Relentless Force
91. Living Gate – Suffer as One
90. Cistvein – At Light’s Demise
89. Blasphemous – To Lay Siege and Conquer
88. The Spirit – Songs Against Humanity
87. Vomit Forth – Terrified of God
86. Undeath – More Insane
85. Typhonian – The Gate of the Veiled Beyond
84. Ophidian Memory – Carrion Lord
83. Koldbrann – Ingen Skansel
82. Darkness Everywhere – To Conquer Eternal Damnation
81. In Aphelion – ReaperDawn
80. Uprising – III
79. Crypric Hatred – Internal Torment
78. Apes – Penitance
77. Walg – IV
76. Nihilo Machina – The Black River
75. Graufar – Scordalus
74. Verwoed – The Mother
73. Aborted – Vault of Horrors
72. Keres – Homo Homini Lupus
71. Feral – To Usurp the Thrones
70. Blacklist – With Murderous Intent
69. Horn – Daudswiark
68. Kalt Vindur – Magma Mater
67. Forgotten Tomb – Nightfloating
66. Asarhaddon – Era
65. Ignominous – Dawn with No Light
64. Servant – Death Devil Magick
63. Agrypnie – Erg
62. Seth – La France des Maudits
61. Jours Pales – Dissoluition
60. DVNE – Voidkind
59. Kvadrat – The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion
58. Austere – Beneath the Threshold
57. Nightrage – Remains of a Dead World
56. Dark Affliction – The Five Stages of Grief
55. Bipolar Architecture – Metaphysicize
54. Hoplites – MM
53. Firtan – Ethos
52. Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God
51. Hail Spirit Noir – Fossil Gardens
50. Carved Memories – The Moirai
49. Oxygen Destroyer – Guardian of the Universe
48. Wynterfylleth – The Imperious Horizon
47. Exuvial – The Hive Mind Chronicles Part 1: Parasitica
46. Burial Oath – Cycles of Suffering
45. Modern Rites – Endless
44. Immorium – Rose Water Black
43. Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition
42. Groza – Nadir
41. Anoxide – Morals and Dogma
40. 200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures
39. Turin – The Unforgiving Reality in Nothing
38. Ihsahn – Ihsahn
37. Borknagar – Fall
36. Necrophobic – In the Twilight Gray
35. Kanonenfieber – Die Urkastrophe
34. Upon Stone – Dead Mother Moon
33. Dark Tranquility – Endtime Signals
32. Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions
31. Nyktophobia – To the Stars
30. Krvna – The Rythmus of Death Eternal
29. Alcest – Les Chants de l’Aurore
28. Oak, Ash And Thorn – Our Grief is Thus
27. Yoth Iria – Blazing Inferno
26. Together to the Stars – The Fragile Silence
25. Vimur – The Timeless Everpresent
24. Labyrinthus Stellarum – Vortex of the Worlds
23. Aara – Eiger
22. Wormwitch – Wormwitch
21. Pestilent Hex – Sorceries of Sanguine and Shadow
20. Kvaen – The Formless Fires
19. Taur-Im-Duinath – Verso Casa
18. Immortal Bird – Sin Querencia
17. Cave Sermon – Divine Laughter
16. Vorga – Beyond the Palest Star
15. Griffon – De Republica
14. Inherits the Void – Scars of Yesteryears
13. Oubliette – Eternity Whispers
12. Vale of Pnath – Between the Worlds of Life and Death
11. Wormwood – The Star
10. Einvigi – Monokroma
9. Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire
8. Knoll – As Spoken
7. Saidan – Visual Kill
6. Dodsrit – Nocturnal Will
5. Eternal Storm – A Giant Bound to Fall
4. Blighted Eye – Agony’s Bespoke
3. Amiensus – Reclamation I&II
2. In Vain – Solemn
1. Gaerea – Coma

We discussed our top30 in detail on the latest episode of the Harsh Vocals Podcast. You can listen to it here:

I’ve also created a spotify playlist of my top 30, so you can easily enjoy that as well:

I hope you all have a wonderful new year, and I’m looking forward to everything in 2025! Thank you for supporting HarshVocals.com!