The Top 20 Albums of 2024 : 20 to 11

This year I have decided to expand what was once the Top 10 Albums of the Year to the Top 20. The Top 10  was a little limiting considering there are now 20 best-of-genre lists, so a Top 10 would leave off ten albums that captured the top spot for their respective genres.  In doing this it's expanded said list into two parts. This is the first part counting down from album 20 to 11.  These are the albums I listened to most. When you take into consideration the fact I listened to over 900 albums this year, it's impressive for these albums to have endured the influx of new music that hit My inbox every morning and made me want to hear them again and again. Yes, this is the culmination of all the other lists done up to this point for other blogs and was refined down to this master list of all genres.; So here ya go...

1-Iress -" Sleep Now, In Reverse" 

Taking the top spot is this beautiful wave of gloomy gazing from this  Los Angeles-based band.  It was a tough call between this album and Bleakheart, with the vocals of Michelle Malley being the tiebreaker as she delivers an emotionally stunning performance that creates a wonderful contrast to the storm clouds the band summons beneath her sublime melodies. The drumming gives this album a great deal of focused intention which in turn creates songwriting magic as they grow as songwriters. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/iress-sleep-now-in-reverse.html

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20-iRESS -

19-REZN - "Burden"

The new album from Chicago's Sonic Sorcerors found them expanding their minds and sound The dark groovin' drive that lurks as the heartbeat of this album, might not be metal, but it is aggressive enough to get the point across.  The plea of the vocals echoes out into the expansive place they have created here. It feels darker than the previous album, but darker in a more hazy moonlit manner. When it comes to making melancholy stoner rock that is heavy on the atmosphere this year these guys can not be beaten. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/rezn-burden.html

 

 18-Charli XCX -"BRAT" 

If you strip away the cultural marketing tactics that put her in the spotlight this year, she already has released an album of Strong Bangers, but she was not letting it just be a great album. It's the nature of the beast she is in the belly of, but that aside, these songs bump seriously, and I have been a fan of hers for some time now, so glad to see she is getting the recognition she deserves. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/charli-xcx-brat.html

17-Witnesses - "Joy" 

 Despite my preference for Kody Ternes as the vocalist, things changed, and  Bibby from Seventh Angel is handling the vocals this time around. He is more of a metal singer than Ternes, he does make melodic choices that think outside of the power metal box, some doom singers lean toward. His voice grew on me.  Not as dark as some of their previous work the album deals more with self -actualization. There is a highly emotive nature they invoke with the atmosphere. It is one of Greg Schwan's strengths as a songwriter. Things are very dynamic, with the vocals soaring above it all. They once again excelled, and if you are a doom fan who enjoys melody then this album is a must.  This band is onto something and it is one of the more original expressions of doom I have heard in a minute. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/november-is-doom-witnesses-joy.html

 

16-Crypt Sermon- "The Stygian Rose" 

Taking their  80s-flavored metal down its darker grittier path, not unlike Savatage or Metal Church, the songs benefit from more vocal colors going on this time around. The riffing carries more thrash, as they hit their stride as songwriters.  There are lots of tasteful guitar solos that relentlessly hit you with killer riffs. This album finds them coming into their own, and standing shoulder to shoulder with the albums these songs draw inspiration from.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/crypt-sermon-stygian-rose.html

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15-Planes Mistaken For Stars - "Do You Still Love Me ?" 

The late Gared O'Donnell recorded this album while undergoing Chemo, before succumbing to his chance at 44. They were always too gritty and real to break through to the mainstream. Their take on rock n roll still pounds the song into you. Unless you share in the inner darkness with which these songs were conceived you might not know what to make of the brooding. To my ears it's beautiful. Some brighter guitar tones on this album than in their previous work, it's clear he was ending things in a manner that still pushed their sound forward. Gared you are missed

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/planes-mistaken-for-stars-do-you-still.html

14-Chelsea Wolfe -"Unbound" 

 If She said the versions of these songs found on this EP were how they were originally written, before being re-mixed into what was presented on "She Reaches Out to, She Reaches Out to..." it would make perfect sense as this sounds more like who she is. This is emotionally powerful and feels like a true expression of who she is. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/chelsea-wolfe-unbound.html

 

13-Full of Hell-"Coagulated Bliss"

This album grew on me more than any other this year, partly due to catching these guys live where it all clicked. It's also a huge step of maturity in songwriting. From a production standpoint, it's more organic. They were not darker, but more punk than the sludge-tinged gnarliness that comprised their guitar tone on other albums. The guitarist claims that he learned how to serve the song during their sessions for the album with Nothing. Things here reflect that due to the fact it is angular and mathy, but not spastic. The vocals are more deliberate as well.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/full-of-hell-coagulated-bliss.html

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12-Death Killer -"Total Destruction of the Entire Universe" 

Here is the kind of industrial album I was waiting for. It is both pissed and heavy as hell with a fair dose of chaos in its veins. There is a great balance of instrumentation and programming/ electronic elements. It is not industrial music to dance to it is industrial music that is going to kick your face. Not unlike Ministry's "Filth Pig" album in that regard though this is heavier. It blasts at you like a jackhammer, as it sonically fucks your brains out right from the first song

 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-death-killer.html

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11-Nails - "Every Bridge Burning" 

It's been 8 years since the last album from this California-based hard-core band. They are just as angry as they were on "You Will Never Be One of Us".  The grind-core influence on the band has them spitting out minute-and-a-half songs propelled by an unrelenting momentum. The faster moments that create a frenzied wall of sound are balanced out by the intentional songwriting masterstrokes delivered here, and find this album to be worth the wait and put the band on the top of the hard-core heap. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/nails-every-bridge-burning.html

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The top 10 Shoegaze albums of 2024

Shoe-gaze continues its come back though as a genre it branches out into dream pop and post-rock so both of those are included in this list, it just makes for an easier title rather than the Top 10, Shoe gaze, dream pop, drugged-out indie rock, and hipster post-rock albums of 2024, which is a lot. These are not the coolest, but the best, fuck what other blogs say, After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2024 The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Shoe Gaze albums of 2024

10-Midas Fall-"Cold Waves Divide Us" 

Elizabeth Heaton's vocals are powerfully emotive. The Scottish band falls somewhere between post-rock and progressive rock. Unlike what most commonly gets depicted as a progressive rock there is not an abundance of odd time signatures or guitar solos.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/midas-fall-cold-waves-divide-us.html

                 

9-Pallbearer- "Mind Burns Alive" 

 The fifth album by a band who was once one of my favorite doom bands. Each album has been a gradual progression away from doom into what has culminated into the opening track of their new album. Campbell is using a great deal of restraint and taking a more vulnerable approach to his singing.This puts metal behind them, and while I would normally be more resistant to this kind of change it is hard to argue against something this effective

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/pallbearer-mind-burns-alive.html

 

8-Alcest -"Les Chants de l'Aurore"  

 This French does not need an introduction here as given their blending of black metal and shoe-gaze we have covered every album no matter where they were in their musical journey. Some have felt more inspired than others. There always seems to be a balance they need to keep in order not to drift too far in becoming the Yes of Black Metal. They have come to an effective balance of rock drive and fairy wonderment.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/alcest-les-chants-de-laurore.html

 

7-Blushing - "Sugarcoat" 

 The band's sound lives up to the album's title by draping sugary sweet pop over the shoegazing ambiance. Dream pop is the first handy label to throw on this Texas-based band,  but they do seem more serious about rocking out than most dream pop bands. They at times remind me of a shoegazing version of Veruca Salt, with how the vocals harmonize and entwined. Things swirl around you so it can be hard to tell who is doing what.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/blushing-sugarcoat.html

 

6-LEAVS -"Natura Universal" 

This dream poppy-shoegazing band from Spain, gets the classic sound right, without just being a slave to tradition. The woozy guitars are jangling, and the swathes of sonic melodies being squeezed from delay pedals are in place, along with androgynous airy vocals. They are not out to make an accessible record and that is fine, the mood is dense and I like it. The emotions feel honest to me and that goes a long way. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/12/leavs-natura-universal.html

5- trauma ray -"Chameleon" 

This Texas band has a 90's grunged out clanging to their guitar sound. The vocals float in the background with an androgynous croon, as the drummer stomps into their kick drum with the needed angst. They care about songwriting as dynamics work with the atmosphere, and while they certainly have this sound dialed in to capture the mood of the era, they still have something to say.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/trauma-ray-chameleon.html

4-Ride - "Interplay" 

I really liked "Weather Diaries" the first album of their comeback. This album is both more surreal and more optimistic. I am sure with the last album I mentioned these guys occupying a similar sonic zip code as Stone Roses. Though it sounds like they are smoking more pot than Stone Roses on this album as it carries an alluring swirl. It is wonderfully mixed, though I am giving it the initial listen very loudly through a pair of headphones which is the recommended manner in which this album is best ingested. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/ride-interplay.html

3-Softcult-"Heaven"

This is the kind of dream pop you might expect, with well-layered vocals. This band cares about songs more than just conjuring up these surreal sounds. There is almost a 90s alt-rock sound. The guitars ring out into the lonely sunsets of Canadian winters. , the grunge spirit of things is this album's strength and cements its unique place in the genre. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/softcult-heaven.html

2-Bleakheart - "Silver Pulse" 

This band wanders off into a melancholic brand of dreamy shoe-gaze that moves at the speed of doom. At times taking on a heavier throb before wandering off into something more dreampop. It is a pretty sweet blend of sonic intensity and atmosphere. The vocals draw you in and earn repeat listens.If you are looking for some dark atmospheric dom-gaze or wish the Cocteau Twins did less acid and were more into metal then this is the album for you. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/bleakheart-silver-pulse.html

 

1-Iress -" Sleep Now, In Reverse" 

Taking the top spot is this beautiful wave of gloomy gazing from this  Los Angeles-based band.  It was a tough call between this album and Bleakheart, with the vocals of Michelle Malley being the tiebreaker as she delivers an emotionally stunning performance that creates a wonderful contrast to the storm clouds the band summons beneath her sublime melodies. The drumming gives this album a great deal of focused intention which in turn creates songwriting magic as they grow as songwriters. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/iress-sleep-now-in-reverse.html

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July's Top 10 Albums

It's time for July's top 10 albums. Staying abreast on the month's highlights might help casual readers see what they missed and check these artists out. I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. I'll use this to organize my lists for the end of the year, by listing the genre of music the album falls under. This does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most, I have albums in my in-box that are not coming out til October so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of what I have listened to the most. This month there is a wide variety from Country to Black Metal so you may find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for July 2024.

10-the Decemberists -"As it Ever Was, So it Will Be Again"  

Indie Folk

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-decemberists-as-it-ever-was-so-it.html

9-Abrams - "Blue City" 

Grunge 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/abrams-blue-city.html

8-Hell is Other People - "Moirae" 

Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/hell-is-other-people-moirae.html

7-the Raveonettes - "The Raveonettes Sing…"

Garage Rock

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-raveonettes-raveonettes-sing.html

6-Svoid-"Neptunian" 

Black Metal

 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/svoid-neptunian.html

5- SeeYouSpaceCowboy -"Coup De Gr​á​ce" 

Experimental Pop Punk

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/seeyouspacecowboy-coup-de-grace.html

4-Johnny Blue Skies ( Sturgill Simpson) - "Passage Du Desir" 

Country

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/johnny-blue-skies-passage-du-desir.html

3-Softcult- "Heaven" 

Dream-pop 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/softcult-heaven.html

2-Crypt Sermon- "The Stygian Rose" 

Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/crypt-sermon-stygian-rose.html

1-Iress - "Sleep now In Reverse" 

Doom-gaze

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/iress-sleep-now-in-reverse.html

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Iress : "Sleep Now, In Reverse"

 

We are being blessed with another wave of beautiful doom-gaze from Iress. The Los Angeles-based band fronted by Michelle Malley, drifts between darker ominous tones that are emotionally heavy to lighter breezy speculation on songs like "Ever Under" which soar into the sunset from the haunted places among the Hollywood Hills. Dynamically once again everything is perfect. Her vocals lurk around the corner of grunge-influenced riffage that sometimes recalls bands like Curve or Lush They find an almost more conventional place in the mix, as they are less of a moaning sonic texture, and the lyrics are phrased in a more articulated fashion, though emoted with equal conviction as past releases.

There is a dreamier haze to "Mercy" which is pulled together by Malley putting lung power to the chorus. This song is more atmosphere and driven with less rock intention, though still delivering more punch than some of their sonic peers like Emma Ruth Rundle who venture into genres like folk. It plays to the band's favor to stick to their guns as it creates a more melancholic longing. The drums find an almost Police influenced groove on "Leviathan".  If you had to pin a decade to them it would be the 90s, but they are not trying to recreate a particular sound, and while things sound quite delightful here they are more committed to songwriting. However, the soft-to-loud dynamic that bands like Deftones continue to carry the torch for, is also celebrated here. The key is that this is executed unpredictably rather than a set formula, which many bands default to.  

The pace picks up enough to add new vibes to "Lovely ( Forget Me Not ). Malley's hushed alto proves to be quite supple, as her voice reaches into new melodic corners.  This album might be another step away from metal, but it does balance a depressive atmosphere that translates into something more sonically heavy with the vocals as a counterpoint to that. The finesse of their drummer gives her plenty of catchy grooves to layer her beguiling melodies over that sometimes erupt in a more cathartic fashion. The drummer does lay into the cymbals when it's time to get serious. "Knell Mera" certainly opens in a way that is intentionally metal, though they take you on a journey with impressive dynamic breadth with it  The vocal harmonies that crop up are very effective. 

Things take a different turn in the last two songs with the brooding tension of "Sanctuary" working off the droning throb of a distant storm inching closer to the storm as the dusk settles. Her is the rain that falls when they give you the dynamic release  The last song is more of a lingering minimalist pulse that never finds a groove and is more like an experimental outro. It might make for an odd goodbye to the album, but I suppose it works well enough for the overall feel of the album so I will go ahead and round this up to a 10, as it feels like a step forward for the band as songwriters. This drops on Church Road Records on July 26th 

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the Top 10 Shoe Gaze Albums of 2023

 

Shoe-gaze has seen a comeback this year, though as a genre it branches out into dream pop and post-rock so both of those are included in this list, it just makes for an easier title rather than the Top 10, Shoe gaze, dream pop, drugged out indie rock, and hipster post-rock albums of 2023, which is a lot. These are not the coolest, but the best, fuck what other blogs say,.   After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2023. The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Shoe gaze albums of 2023.

10- Slowdive - "Everything is Alive" 

The British Shoe - gaze icons are releasing a new album and they packed their synths. Not to be bound by the rules of the sub-genre they help create. Only makes sense that Slowdive should see a groundswell of popularity with the resurgence of shoe-gaze, the facts being they are pound-for-pound a better band than My Bloody Valentine when it comes to just playing their damn instruments. It would be easy to assume that they would go straight to the top of the list , instead of getting what is more of an honorable mention spot, but that is where we are this year, some comebacks work more of hype that the rest of music media buys into. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/slowdive-everything-is-alive.html

9- A Horrible Death to a Horrible Man- "Days Gone By" 

It was my second listen to this album I put on the headphones to ingest all that they have going on. Some of this is more in your face than others. I would not say comparisons to Deafheaven are unfounded. They capture a similar static buzz. The downtrodden vocals have more in common with Interpol. This detached croon sits back in the mix. This also serves as a case for when the unique nature of the swirl they hit you with takes you into it's arms before you question the cause of the hypnosis.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-horrible-death-to-horrible-man-days.html

8-Iress - "Solace" 

I was a big fan of the band's 2020 album "Flaw".  This ep carries the kind of raw empty longing that the album did but finds them drifting in a more shoe-gazing direction. The guitar lays back rather than really attacking. Which I am fine with if it is giving Michelle Malley more room to flex her pipes. The best band you are likely not aware of. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/gothtober-iress-solace.html

 7- Explosions in the Sky - "End" 

 The Texas post-rock band's 8th album proves that to have had such a lasting career as an instrumental band they must be doing something right,. I listen to most music for vocals so it is normally hard to sell me on something like this. I came aboard as a fan in 2007 thanks to their album "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone" which has enough melancholy and longing in the guitars that it won me over. That same feeling is hinted at in this album while branching out into more expansive sounds. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/explosions-in-sky-end.html

6-Mad Honey - "Satellite Aphrodite" 

Oklahoma is not my first guess for where Shoe Gaze is going to be coming from, but it is as good of a place as any. There is a hazy web of effects and dense dreamy layers of guitar that recalls the early 90s soaking the rest of the album. Some verses are allowed to breathe amongst soft to louder dynamics in play. Vocalist Tiff Sutcliffe has plaintive coo that cuts through the layers of guitars swirling around her voice most of the time.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/09/mad-honey-satellite-aphrodite.html

  5- Hotline TNT - "Cartwheel" 

Here is a band that leans into the noise side of shoegaze that owes equal amounts to My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. Stone Roses is also a fair reference point regarding how the more prominent vocal melodies are handled. In many cases bands replicating this era of music focus more on capturing this sound and less on the song itself, which is not the case here,.This album solidified them as one of the major players in the current shoe-gaze revival today. Just cause they are hipsters from the Brooklyn scene doesn't mean there is no substance here.   

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/hotline-tnt-cartwheel.html

  4-Helga - "Wrapped In Mist" 

The first song from this Swedish band hits you with a lot. It takes what artists like Myrkur and to a lesser extent Chelsea Wolfe does and runs it through a filter of progressive metal. Thus bringing closer to what Marriages used to do, or even the Gathering. It is big-sounding and has a wonderful blend of dynamics. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/helga-wrapped-in-mist.html

3- Drop Nineteens -"Hard Light" 

 This Boston band came about back in 1990 and have read the room enough to know it's time to show the shoe-wave revival how it's done. They lay the atmosphere on perhaps thicker than most while still being able to write poppy songs when called to. This album shows how important they are to this genre, and deserves to be a name more widely mentioned when it comes to shoe-gaze. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/12/drop-nineteens-hard-light.html

2-Vulture Feather - "Liminal Fields" 

If Fugazi did not have Ian MacKaye's straight edge past haunting them and had done drugs while writing 'Steady Diet of Nothing" perhaps the result would not be unlike what unfolds on this album. This is a California band by way of Baltimore, which might be what preserves some of the integrity here. This is not to say they are a Fugazi tribute band by any means, the guitar jangles more like the Velvet Underground at times. The vocals have an expressive manner that reminds me of Shudder to Think though with none of the dramatic yodeling. There is that odd middle ground between emo, post-rock, and shoe-gaze that bands like Mineral and the Gloria Record also traversed, which is what is captured here

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/07/vulture-feather-liminal-fields.html

1- Give Up to Failure - "Cocoon" 

Here is another album that was never on my radar for the year, and no clue why it was not.  I was unsure what to expect going into this album, I just pressed play and was hit by a wonderful mix of dark sounds. This Polish band takes the ambiance of shoe-gaze and pumps it full of post-sludge muscle. The vocals are a depressive moan that is more often than not swallowed by reverb and mixed behind the guitars. They build off more epic shoe-gaze cascades and ebbs down to allow melodies to breathe. With depressing lyrics that seem to mull addiction.  They brought everything just right to earn their place here. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/10/give-up-to-failure-cocoon.html

Gothtober - Iress : " Solace"

 I was a big fan of the band's 2020 album "Flaw".  This ep carries the kind of raw empty longing that album did, but finds them drifting in a more shoe gazing direction. The guitar lays back rather than really attacking. Which I am fine with if it is giving Michelle Malley more room to flex her pipes in this manner. Two of the songs on this EP were released as singles, but they are new to me, as this fell off my radar for some reason. "Vanish" is a little more delicate with her voice shifting into a more ethereal breathiness. In the song's final minutes the rest of the band converges to pack a sonic punch, but not enough crunch to pull them from their shoegazing, which I am fine with. 

Her lyrics stand out on "Ricochet" as she asks someone about how they are drinking their life away. A subject most band's who just alcohol sales men between songs, do not seem to want to acknowledge. This song has a heavier dynamic, perhaps heavy in an emotional way more than it is metal. "Soft" hovers in an atmosphere so intangible, it floats but never lands. Which would work better in the context of a full album where the following song could provide more of a dynamic response.If they ended a full length with this then it would feel more like an outro, but when you are releasing an ep, then every song has to count. 

Then main problem with this is that there are only four songs, so it leaves you wanting more. The first three songs find the band stepping from doom into a more shoe-gazing direction which feels like a natural prgression. The last song also adhere's to it but as stated earlier could use more of a backbone rather than just coating on clouds. That said this is still wonderful music, even the last song is great, but given the context it's being released in could have stood to waited for the full length. This came out in May with zero fanfar so glad I am able to catch up with this one. It's dark enough for the fall fading into winter for sure. I will give it a 9. 

The Top 10 Shoe Gaze / Post Rock Albums OF 2020

I changed things up a bit this year and got rid of the indie rock list and made this shoe-gaze / post -rock list . In years past the indie rock list had turned into this any ways or those bands got lumped in with post punk. Post rock is about atmosphere , post rock is about tension , ya know like Joy Division.  Ok now that that is out of the way , much like in years past sort through the genre lists before making the overall top ten of the year list. I know many of you are ready for 2020 to be over with. Hate to break it to you but nothing is getting better next year. As far as 2020 goes there more new bands on this list than most. 

 The fact these artists made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Sure you can bitch and complain about your favorite band not being on the list. However I listen to five new albums a day so yes I heard your favorite album and was not impressed. No I do not care what you think about it .I do hope you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top 10 Shoe gaze and  Post-rock albums of 2020 

10-Mogwai - "Zero, Zero, Zero" 

This is more of an honorable mention. Granted they were not trying to write songs as they normally would due to the fact this was the score to a tv show.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/05/mogwai-zerozerozero.html

9- Midwife- " Forever" 

This album has a more minimalist indie rock garage vibe to the droning nature of what they are conjuring here. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/04/midwife-forever.html

8-Ascension of the Watchers - " Apocrypha"

Burton C Bell takes another step away from metal with this project and out into a surreal blend of post rock and shoe gaze. I do not think he has anything against metal, it sounds like he is just smoking hella weed. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/09/ascension-of-watchers-apocrypha.html

 

7-O Brother- "You and I" 

More of a Radiohead direction than their harder rock edged records of the past. The yare still good song writers able to lure you in with the more subdued direction. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/10/obrother-you-and-i.html

6- Close the Hatch- " Modern Witchcraft" 

Many of the bands on this list have a heavy side. You did not think I was going to sing the praises of some castrated bull shit did you ? This one lumbers in a way that borders on being sludge. But the crunch is outweighed by the surreal .

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/05/close-hatch-modern-witchcraft.html

5- Spotlights - 'We are All Atomic" 

A different shade of dark. Which considering where you are reading this it is almost redundant as almost every album I review has a dark side. Happy music does nothing for me. This albums lingers in the narcotic shadows it hypnotizes you with. They also have a heavy side. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/03/spotlights-we-are-all-atomic.html

4-   Bound- " Haunts" 

Like a darker more progressive version of Alcest. This album sweeps you away with it's dream like atmosphere, but still has some balls to it.  In many ways the fey nature of what they do now occupies a place Sigur Rios once held for me before they started doing symphonies. .

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/10/bound-haunts.html

3-Nothing - "the Great Dismal"

This band has been good at evolving from album to album. They are great at capturing their sound but not being defined by it in a way that hinders the dynamic scope of what they do.  Their song writing which pulls from familiar influences continues to captive. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/10/nothing-great-dismal.html

2- Hum - " Inlet"

Their unexpected return was everything I could have asked from them. They remember to not just ponder why there shoes are untied and also wrote fucking killer songs . The guitar tones on this album rule really hard. Nothing has nothing to be ashamed of by being beating out for the number two spot these guys as I am sure they also agree. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/06/hum-inlet.html

1-Iress- "Flaw" 

This late entry can in and swept it out from under Hum. Hum made a great album and it would have taken the number one spot if not for me finally hearing this album. It had been on my list of things to check out but everything I went to Bandcamp, there was never anything up, so I forgot then rediscovered it. Dark beautiful and hypnotic, the emotion invested into the vocals is really what beat out Hum. This album is catchier/ 

Abysmal Hymns: Iress : "Flaw"

Iress : "Flaw"

 I had been waiting on this album to pop up and waited so long I forgot about it. The first song is dark , yet soars . A little less blues based than King Woman , but in a similar realm, less doomy and more post rock gazing due to the spacious sonic scope it encompasses. I have already given this album a few spins . There is more of a 90s rock dynamic contrast to the second song. Their singer Michelle Malley ahs a wonderful voice that is full of emotion. She capable of softer delicate singing or belting it out . Her softer side shows up on "Dark Love" that finds them joined by cellos. This is more ethereal and wanders around in the atmosphere. I prefer the songs with more punch and percussion. But I their need to express themselves in this way. 

Two and a half minutes into "Shallow: the get to that place of punch and percussion. She also allows her voice to crack into a howl. It is almost Swans like in the way they paint with this shadowy grace. "Thieves" is one of the best songs written this year. I was telling a girl of interest that this would be the song to play if you were going to take mushrooms and have sex. I will get back to you on how that works out in January. It has a very slinky smooth groove. Yeah I like to have more sensual music playing when I am beating someone's ass raw. That is not a metaphor. It might not be their intention to ooze sex with that one but it is what I got from it. I also have yet to masturbate today so it might be going to my ears and causing me to hear that. 

The throbbing pulse of "Wolves" is not taking you to any darker corners , but the melodies caress you in the right ways . The last song is a stripped down and emotive take on folk. Her voice is allowed to crack with the raw emotion. I approve.  I will round this one up to a 10. If you like the doom folk of Chelsea Wolfe ,but want more of a shoe gazey vibe this was made for you.