The Top 10 Doom Albums of 2024

 

I love to celebrate death and darkness, Doom is the music that should not only embrace a sense of loss and depression but sonically express it. These are the albums that did that best captured that feeling this year.   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 Doom albums of 2024.

10-Slower - ""s/t" 

 This supergroup features Fu Manchu, Kylesa, Monolord, Kyuss, Year of the Cobra, and Lowrider members. They are not just a Slayer tribute band reimagining the songs at more Black Sabbath-like speeds, With a song like "War Ensemble" this really reconstructs things in such a way that it feels like they have written a new song, as there are only sections that remind you of the original version. Female vocals hat harmonized feel more like a chant on the now lumbering thrash classics.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/slower-st.html

9-Hail Darkness - "Death Divine" 

Lead singer Jez, has a commanding croon that sits them somewhere between Coven and Windhand. Her melodies are strong and slither well between the Sabbath-like lumber of the fuzzed-out riffs. They are at their best when cranking things out with a more '60s flare. This album sounds great and tries new things with the genre to break it from a rut. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/hail-darkness-death-divine.html

 

8-Bleed This Earth - "The Shapes That Stood in Silence" 

 This doom band from New Zealand manages to work groove into their dirge. The vocals are cleanly sung but don't shy from growls as needed . The song builds in with a slow but solid burn. When harsher vocals snarl into action they are still very articulated phrasing. The depressing narrative is just as important as getting loud. I appreciate their commitment to storytelling.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/bleed-this-earth-shapes-that-stood-in.html

7-Aivvass -"Spiritual Archives" 

. Musically it goes from a  Death in June-like neo-folk to death doom. The metallic guitars carry a melancholy throb more than the standard commanding stomp to kick the door down that you might expect from a metal band. The vocals are a low monstrous growl and haunting melodies in the background counterbalance this.  Sung vocals are mixed in the background and performed in a manner that creates a chanting-like ambiance. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/death-is-june-aivvass-spiritual-archives.htmls

6- Sarajah- "s/t' 

You do not think of Finland being the birthplace of a doom band. Sure there is plenty of Black Metal, but not bong-laden hymns like what is being unpacked here. The guitar is the most Sabbathy thing going here. The singer has that qualuded out Ozzy drawl, but he has obviously listened to Eric Wagner-era Trouble as well. His voice is not as piercing of a tenor as Ozzy or Eric. This plays in his favor. When he croons from his chest register there is more of a Candlemass tone. But unlike that band, they are not dragging out sprawling dirges and stick to concise stoner grooves. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/november-is-doom-sarajah-st.html

5-Haunted - 'Stare at Nothing' 

This Italian band mixes a perfect amount of atmosphere with their take on Doom Metal. Christia's vocals offer nuance and power. An ebb and flow of dynamics gives it an almost  90s loud-to-soft formula. They find a great balance of the kind of heavy you want from this genre, without conforming and bringing their own sense of ambiance to things.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/november-is-doom-haunted-stare-at.html

4-Aiwaz - "Darrkh… It Is!" 

The  full-length debut from this German duo features the vocalist from Wheel, handling vocals. Harsher vocals surface eventually but the bulk of the vocals are sung with a velvety croon. This emotive take on epic doom sometimes touches a place similar to Solitude Aeturnus, it is very well done, and they put melody first with great singing to drive the point home. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/november-is-doom-aiwaz-darrkh-it-is.html

3-My Dying Bride- 'A Mortal Binding" 

The band's 14th full length, stays true to who they are, without being predictable. It ranges from morose doom to the dark vein of death metal they helped create, along with more melodic goth rock with major depression.  The wailing tones of the violin weeps over the low-end crunch. They continue to prove themselves better than what most doom bands are doing these days and preserve their legacy well.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/my-dying-bride-mortal-binding.html

 

2-Guhts- "Regeneration" 

This album from the Brooklyn-based doom band carries a bleak throb that their vocalist Amber Gardner drifts over with a lighter less metallic delivery that quivers with a desperation more common in punk. Things get progressively darker as the downtrodden haze washes over you

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/guhts-regeneration.html

1-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 f 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

Hail Darkness : "Death Divine"

Around 2010 this kind of occult-inspired vest metal began to gather momentum. If you told me there was a world coming where Ghost was going to be bigger than Christian Mistress or the Devil's Blood, I would not have believed you. But that is where we are. However, it seems like this brand of retro-tinged doom is gaining more ground once again. Or perhaps just taking a peek up from the underground niche it carved, either case works for me as long as we have original ideas in motion. Lead singer Jez, has a commanding croon that sits them somewhere between Coven and Windhand. Her melodies are strong and slither well between the Sabbath-like lumber of the fuzzed-out riffs. 

They prove to him a more 60s flare to them by the end of the second song. I expected this to be a more straightforward doom-pounding so it's a nice surprise, without taking too far in the hippie direction. It is kind of Beatles-like at times, which is not something you can say about many bands of their ilk. They need more moments like this as it's clear if they just shuffle around with the traditional doom chords clanging out things might get stale sooner than later. They do switch things up into a more Charles Manson-like acid rock for "With Horns of a Beast". It wanders off in a proggy direction. "Goat of Mendes" lurches into a darker direction. It is still very Sabbath. Though she gets credit for doing her own thing vocals rather than trying to follow what Ozzy would do. 

The vocals feel like they are searching for their place in "Coven of the Wicked One" which smoothes on what is the second verse as the song finds its groove. Some of the solo sections on this album are jammed out in a pretty organic fashion, though none of the solos really wow me, but they work for what they are. I just got to wonder how these folk parts are transitioned into a live setting. The more traditional approach to doom on "Azarak!". The guitar solo goes into more of a Hawkwind-like reverb that is also pretty effective.  We are back in the more breezy 60s style of hippy pop going into "Eyes White Black Soul". It's like Lana Del Rey meets "Rosemary's Baby". "See You In Hell" is not the Grim Reaper song. It is a turn back toward the more Sabbath-infused doom boogie. There is a more jammed feel to this one. They are almost halfway into the song before the vocals make their mark. I will give this album a 9, as it sounds great and tries new things with the genre to break it from a rut. 

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