The Top 10 Goth Albums of 2024

Having already started the End of the Year List season of with the Top 10 Post-Punk Albums of 2024, it's time to move in a darker direction with the Top 10 Goth Albums of 2024. If this seems premature,  record labels have already sent me most of what this year has to offer. After I sort through sorting through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2024. Perhaps it was marginally better than the previous year, though given the current climate of the world, we are progressing on a downward spiral, making dark music more important as a soundtrack for this.  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 Goth albums of 2024.

10- Meldamor - "My Ode to You" 

Synths collide with militant chanted vocals, not aggressive enough to be industrial, however there are plenty of creepy sounds conjured here.  The smoky female vocals hold more in common with Boy Harsher when they are in the lower depths of her alto range. This dark wave is done in a manner that resonates with 2024

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-meldamor-my-ode-to-you.html

 

9-Lila Ehja -"Clivota"

The darkness this delves into is a darkwave most fans of goth should find appeal. If inbut if you want a darkwave project not just trying to go for booty shaking but doing something with sonic depth this is it. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-lila-ehja-clivota.html

  8-Cold Cave - "Passion Depression" 

 Coming off a stint opening for Depeche Mode, Wesley is even more committed to the 80s-styled synth wave grooves, though his haunting baritone allows the project to retain its sense of dark wave. The songs coast on a neon-laced synth bass line through the dark alleys of Hollywood.   Vocally his cold croon works well here. He becomes even more submersed in the 80's

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-cold-cave-passion-depression.html

 

7-Aesthetic Perfection- "Bad Vibes" 

These guys have been around since the days of Myspace, and perhaps that is where you know them from. To their credit, they have kept their ears to pulse of where music was going and stuck to their guns to not lose a great deal of who they are in the process. Granted who they are is a Hot Topic marketing scheme to some extent. They carry a heavier thump to their sound and are equally parts driving and catchy, so songwriting for the win on this one. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/aesthetic-perfection-bad-vibes.html

6- Gvllow - "Twin Flames" 

He might be more well known for his work with sad boi hip-hop, but Gvllow is doing a pretty convincing job of working pop sensibilities in with post-punk. The first two songs owe as much to the Cure and Drab Majesty as it does to pop punk. It's catchy, with morose vocals that are more pop-inflected than say AFI's turn to similar moodiness. This is not as guitar-driven, though there are guitars present

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/gvllow-twin-flames.html

5- Cold In Berlin -"The Body is the Wound" 

These are tales of urban misgivings. What goes on in dark alleys behind dive bars. The band's sense of songwriting has become more refined on this EP. They are clearly the masters of their gloomy sonic domain here, and I can only hope they get more of the recognition they deserve.

     https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/cold-in-berlin-body-is-wound.html

 

4- Missiles - "Weaponize Tomorrow" 

This band from Sweden creates an alluring darkness with an almost punk drive. Guitars lurch into reverbed-out surf rock guitar tones, to sit over the bass player's dominant thump. These dystopian grooves are smoothed out by synth ambiance to set the apart from the pack.

 

ttps://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/missiles-weaponize-tomorrow.html

 

 

3- Astari Nite - "Resolution of Happiness" 

These guys were bound to evolve. I am glad they are. They have expanded their sonic palette, now drawing from dark emotive genres aside from death rock. The album at times touches on an almost Gary Numan-like take on New Wave If this is your introduction to the band it serves as a fine welcome into their majestic melancholy that is given more freedom here.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/astari-nite-resolution-of-happiness.html

 

2- Swan Wash- "Shadow Shadow" 

 This album packs a sonic punch, the band used to be members of a Siouxsie and the Banshees tribute, so this explains a great deal when it comes to the guitar tone. There are hints of death rock-flavored punk with an angular creepiness to it, This album feels  more urgent than Astari Nite's new one which gave these guys the edge for the number 2 spot.       

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/swan-wash-shadow-shadow.html

1-The Cure - "Songs Of a Lost World" 

If it was not for the Cure none of the other bands, on this list would be here. Though with that said, this album sounds like they picked up where they left off on "Wish". It is amazing they are still inspired to create something so perfect 14 albums later. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-cure-songs-of-lost-world.html

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Gothtober-AESTHETIC PERFECTION : "Bad Vibes"

 

These guys have been around since the days of Myspace, and perhaps that is where you know them from. To their credit, they have kept their ears to pulse of where music was going and stuck to their guns to not lose a great deal of who they are in the process. Granted who they are is a Hot Topic marketing scheme to some extent. They carry a heavier thump to their sound for the three-song EP which opens with the punchy title track that is equal parts, Marilyn Manson, Bad Omens, and their long-running dose of angst for teens who ear too much makeup

 Their image is typically darker than their music but this time they have balanced it out. The second song "Into the Void" is not a cover of the Black Sabbath, but touches more on their older sound, though heavily tempered with a Rob Zombie-like drive, which if you are celebrating Gothtober with us is something to be happy about. I have never been impressed with these guys, but I have to admit this is the best I have heard them sound, so it's hard to complain about something that is working. 

"Self Inflicted' rounds this out and has a strong electronic groove, with the vocals taking on more emotive nuance, as he coos his way into the verses rather than the more aggressive roar that dominated the first two songs. This is not the most original thing I have heard all month, but goth does thrive on adhering to a certain sound, the trick is not being a tribute act and making it your own, which they have done, while it winks in the direction of what Marilyn Manson has done, there have not been a great flux of people paying tribute to him since before the days of Myspace, so these guys are making it work. I will give this one a 9.5, which is way better than I expected from these guys but you gotta give credit where it's due.

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Aesthetic Perfection: " ' Til Death"

Formed back in 2000 by Daniel Graves, this industrial project is based in L.A and is much more EDM, than what I or anyone owning at least one Ministry album would consider industrial. The opener is much more of a intro piece and creates more of a martial mood than the dark pop that follows. "Anti-Body" is pretty infectious  and falls some where in-between a more serious version of M.S.I and a more Halloweenish version of the Faint.

The synths have a very plastic 90's house fuzz to them on " Lights Out", which straddles the fence on being too happy for my goth heart.The melody doesn't have enough teeth to hold me. I can see this being Aqua's evil twin or j-pop with less Sailor Moon and more Vampire Hunter D. I can say when this song is allowed to play, like most pop it becomes a more easily chewed bubble gum that you don't notice is in your mouth aside from the sweet after taste.

This guy is not a bad song writer, he has been at this long enough to know a good subtle hook. The harsher vocal he tries to go into , well sounds like a choking joke, when you normally listen to black metal. The sounds he presents , as not heavy or menacing , but some pretty well inter linked legos from the future.

"Big Bad Wolf" has a little more beef to it's bass line and when it's all said and done, you can give this guy props for being able to hold a tune better than most of his ilk. The vocals are more of a second tenor than the bat cave baritone. He knows how to reach into his head register and at the end of the day is more of a pop singer.It's a few shades lighter than the last Skinny Puppy, and much smoother. At times Graves' voice reminds me of the queen from Panic at the Disco. I'm sure high school girls are all over this in some dark corner of the private school system.

The bass line to "Showtime" falls much closer to Depeche Mode flirting with Celldweller. The ahhs are very Depeche, but its a mode I don't mind this band going into as at this point I am much more likely to catch them than fork over a hundred bucks for the real thing."Oh, Gloria" is much less compelling listening and loses the momentum this album was starting to build.

It would have been really disappointing if the song " the Dark Half" didn't live up to it's name at least when it comes to the synths behind Graves, vocals which largely stay in a similar register when they aren't doing Depeche Mode karaoke. "The New Black" comes closer to the dystopian sound you might want from industrial , though it still is not what I would call industrial.

The album closes with "Lovesick" that recalls the dark balladry of a "Waiting For the Night". This album could use a stronger sense of dynamics , but its good dumb fun for what it is , I'll give it a 6.5, if its your bag around it up to a  7.