The Top 10 Rock Albums of 2024 ... so far

As the Doomsday Clock races, time speeds up, finding  2024 already at its midpoint. These lists serve as a decent snapshot of where the year is heading in terms of music. I have already received promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my inbox, so they are really going to need to bring it to compete with the top five albums on this list. Rock is being defined here as basically anything that is not metal, pop, or goth. This is going to include everything from punk to prog, so it might be a little darker or heavier than what you listen to, so we are going by my definition since yours can't be trusted. 

"But wait that is M....,"

Shut up... in 2023 if you are not bringing it at least as hard as Pantera, it's not metal. We are in a darker and heavier world so the soundtrack even when it is only rock n roll, should still fit the times.  I have included links to full reviews if you want to check these out and with all that said here are the top 10 Rock albums of 2024 so far. 

10-Ride - "Interplay"

I really liked the first album of their comeback"Weather Diaries", and 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. 

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

 

9--Modern  Life is War - "Tribulation Worksongs" 

They work off of a very high in-your-face energy. From what I can make out of the lyrics I can appreciate the sentiment. these guys are solid and what I look for from punk even if they did just scream their way through the Stooges cover, I can live with it, at least they know who the Stooges are making them real punk. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/modern-life-is-war-tribulation-worksongs.html

 

8-Pallbearer- 'Mind Burns Alive" 

The fifth album by a band that was at one time one of my favorite doom bands. Each album has served as a gradual progression away from doom into what has culminated into what we hear on this album. Campbell is using a great deal of restraint and taking a more vulnerable approach to his singing. If you are waiting around for them to bring the metal back you might want to take a seat .  It took a couple of listens to this album before it finally clicked with me, as the first listen found me having to adjust to the change. 

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

 

7-Alkaline Trio - "Blood , Hair and Eyeballs"

They are making very catchy pop-punk with dark underpinnings. I have enjoyed everything I have heard from these guys in the past. but everything seems dialed in tighter for this album. Their melodic sensibility sometimes reminds me of Bad Religion if they were into the Addams Family instead of politics. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/alkaline-trio-blood-hair-and-eyeballs.html

 

6-Modern Witchcraft -"s/t" 

These guys play an ethereal style of atmospheric doom that owes more to The Cure than Black Sabbath. At times this puts them closer to Deftones, as the melody is given more emphasis. The emotions of these songs wash over you. Sounds swirl around you. It is heavier in feel than it is heavy metal. The groove is an undercurrent. Though considering the Lander sisters of Kittie fame appear on this album, there is some nu-metal in this band's DNA. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/modern-witchcraft-st.html

5-REZN- "Burden"

The new album from Chicago's Sonic Sorcerors finds them expanding their minds and sound by buckling in with a dark grooving drive that might not be metal, but it is aggressive enough to get the point across. They continue to explore new realms of ambiance as the plea of the vocals echoes out into the expansive place they have created here. 

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

4 -Whores- "War"

After an 8 year wait, the Atlanta band is back with their biggest most polished album yet. This more refined, could even be thought of as more accessible.  The Spinal Tap-like cycling out of drummers finds them with drummer number five Douglas Barrett behind the kit. A great deal of the punk sound has been shed, for hooky syncopation that feels more anthemic.  Their best album yet. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/whores-war.html

3-O Zorn!- "Vermillion Haze" 

This band sounds like they could have crawled from the period of the 90s  when Kyuss and Monster Magnet emerged, both of whom are not far removed from the sonic zip code from which these guys rock. There is an expansive drone to the riffs that carry a hypnotic pulse as the baritone croon muses amid the grunge-tinged passages.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/o-zorn-vermillion-haze.html

 2-Gouge Away - "Deep Sage" 

 Been six years since the Flordia punk band released their last album. They return with the kind of angular dissonant hardcore-tinged rock you expect from them with Christina Michelle crying out with the same level of abrasive edge she had last time around. The album gains more nuance with each song, and it is more of a sonic tapestry than the raw outpouring of emotion they initially hit you with.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/gouge-away-deep-sage.html

 

1-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum " Of the Last Human Being"  

This band returned after I spent the last 17 years thinking their last album was the final chapter, so I went into this hoping for the best album ever.  Sleepytime Gorilla Museum has reopened to attempt to make their best album yet. 2007's "In Glorious Times" is a perfect album, so they are not trying to take it head on but in a more mature step forward, emphasizing more of the chamber music side, while employing all the creepy dissonance they are known for. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-of-last-human.html

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