When it comes to prog, few bands actually progress. Most that claim to be a part of this genre just wank around with an overabundance of guitar solos that the songs are merely bookends for, rather than serving songs that go somewhere. The bands that made this year's top 10 list are taking you places with their songs. There are some guitar solos here and there, but shredding is not the emphasis, nor is using odd time signatures for the sake of just doing so. Some of these bands are more metallic, and a few albums even flirt with pop at times. These are not the coolest prog albums, but the best, fuck what other blogs say,
After sorting through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2024. The fact that 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, and you look forward to listening to it again. You might find your next favorite on this list, and I 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 Progressive albums of 2024.
10- Blood Incantation- "Absolute Elsewhere"
Sure combining Pink Floyd with Morbid Angel is a great idea. This album seems to have gotten enough hype due to it, and it certainly deserves an honorable mention here. But The rest of this list feels more original to me, and wears their influences less on their sleeves .
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/blood-incantation-absolute-elsewhere.html
 
9-Trelldom- "...By the Shadows..."
It can be hard to keep up with all of Gaahl's varied project's over the years, despite him being one of my favorite Black Metal vocalists. This project is more diverse than Gorgoroth, and I think makes excellent use of his voice. The members of this band have also played in God Seed, with the drummer Kenneth Kapstad having covered the most ground. I would not call this band black metal, though they are dark, but a flowing progressive sense flows through them. The shadowy drone they sweep you away in is very cool. This is the perfect mood for me.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/12/trelldom-by-shadows.html
8 Julie Christmas -""Ridiculous and Full of Blood"
If you do not know Ms. Christmas from Made out of Babies then I am going to just go ahead and assume you know her from the album she did with Cult of Luna. The musicians she recruited to help her with this album provide a reasonable expectation of what sonic zip codes it's going take us in, as they include the guitarist from Cult of Luna, the drummer from Spotlights, KEN Mode's bassist, and John from Candiria adding guitars as well. So pretty every genre with post in front of it. Julie adds a playfully unhinged enthusiasm to her vocal performance, that reminds me a little of Rasputina. But with less baroque wistfulness.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/julie-christmas-ridiculous-and-full-of.html
7- Chapel of Disease- "Echoes of Light"
The German band is a fairly interesting progressive death metal band, that wacky time changes aside and a penchant for rock n roll riffs are not too far out in left field. They are at times like a less gothy Tribulation. The guitarists are calling the shots here are the guitar is the centerpiece of the songs, often wandering f pocket very tastefully until things explode with the climax.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/chapel-of-disease-echoes-of-light.html
6-Xiu Xiu - " 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips"
My thoughts on Jamie Stewarts' experimental art vehicle range from respect to love to wishing he would stop fucking around and write songs as great as what was on "Dear God I Hate Myself". Here the band proves that they do not have to abandon their weird to write songs and launch into some genuine prog, enough to earn this a space on this list and not the post-punk list or the electronic list which both sub-genres the share common ground with.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/xiu-xiu-13-frank-beltrame-italian.htm
5 -Mamaleek - "Vida Blue"
These guys are going further down the Tom Waits rabbit hole. The guitar is carried with a jazzier tone. There is a jammy abstract element that gets broken up by their heavier tendencies. As far as musicianship goes their game has really been stepped up. It's a weird collision of prog with punk. In fact, this album leans toward jazz more often than not with the gruff vocals the only thing anchoring it to the sound you are used to, which is progress, thus their place here.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/mamaleek-vida-blue.html
4-Crippled Black Pheonix - "'The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature"
I gained a new appreciation for this band since the darker turn their past few albums have taken. This time around they sprawl out from a creeping post-rock, into a more grandiose throb. Not as dark as what I expected after the last album but it works. Excellent production brings all the sounds into focus for this sonic adventure.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/crippled-black-phoenix-wolf-changes-its.html
3-David Gilmour - "Luck and Strange"
You might not know that Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands, which created a high bar for this album,. At 78 guitarist David Gilmour, is not fading away. The title track of his new album rivals almost any Pink Floyd song that is not on "Animals". It's some of Gilmour's best guitar work. Even his voice sounds great, he's not afraid to reach up into his head register for a few notes here and there. This is the last recording keyboardist Richard Wright appears on before his death. This album is almost as much Pink Floyd as the 'Division Bell' is
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/david-gilmour-luck-and-strange.html
2-Opeth - "The Last Will and Testament"
14 Albums later Akerfeldt is the only original member but I am willing to count anyone who has been playing since "Deliverance" so that makes two. The return of the growl, is not the best part as that feels like they are dialing it in, they are never going to be a death metal band again, and this album is not on the level of "Blackwater Park", but it works thanks do some strong jamming grooves. Plenty of prog chaos, but more focused songwriting. ,
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/opeth-last-will-testament.html
1-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - "Of the Last Human Being"
When I place one of my favorite bands on the pedestal of what other bands should aspire to, said band must then meet these exalted expectations. If they are one of the best bands I have ever seen live then expectations are even higher. If they are coming back 17 years later, after you lived thinking their last album was the final chapter, then you can only hope for the best album ever. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum reopened in an attempt to make their best album yet. 2007's "In Glorious Times" is a perfect album, so they were wise not to take it head on but in a more mature step forward with the emphasis on more of the chamber music side, while employing all the creepy dissonance they are known for. It's not just the best prog album of the year, but perhaps the best album of the year.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-of-last-human.html
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