The Top 10 Electronic Albums of 2024

The Electronic albums list covers music that is less organic than what is on other lists, without being pop music. There is a little more button-pushing this year but balanced out by songwriting rather than just cool sounds thrown together. Also, we have a little mix of synth wave, TRIP-HOP, and new wave projects leaning albums. These are not the coolest electronic albums, 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 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 Electronic albums of 2024.

10-Master Boot Record- "HARDWAREZ" 

 11 full-lengths into this project, things are getting bigger and more polished. How could they not? The mastermind behind this project is producer Victor Love, who after playing with a live band on tour decided to use actual live guitars in the studio, rather than just over-driven synths. Sonically this album works off the themes that fans are familiar with, some of the songwriting feels more mature 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/master-boot-record-hardwarez.html

9-EIVØR : "ENN" 

There is a difference between exploiting and embracing your culture. This Nordic siren might sing in her native tongue of Faroese, but she is not pulling out folk instruments to play Viking. She owes more to the ethereal darkwave acts of the 80s than any neo-folk. Ironically she is on tour with Heilung who are marketing geniuses despite their primitive shtick. The ambiance is thick, though she is not just about capturing a sound, she is capable of writing songs. It's closer to the dance floor than Enya, but there is a slight new-age meditative quality, even to the more sultry moments

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/eivr-enn.html

 

8-Haunted Plasma- "I"

This Finnish band features members of a guest Oranssi Pazuzu and Grave Pleasures, which was enough to lure me in for a listen, Their sound broods in the realm of darker synth music but has enough melody in its drone to appeal to me. Not the kind of music you are quick to associate with Finland, but the album works to capture the  intended mood 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/haunted-plasma-i.html

 

          

7-JUSTICE- "Hyperdrama" 

This slick button-pushing take on disco is almost too happy for me. But respect what these guys do as songwriters and it made me willing to give the album a chance. Maybe this is what gay clubs are playing these days. If not it should be. Not only was this better than expected it is also one of the better electronic albums I've heard this year.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/12/justice-hyperdrama.html

 

6-Kite- "VII" 

This grandiose synth duo from Sweden has released a lot of singles but has yet to produce a full-length album despite having been an ongoing project for the past 16 years, They have assembled their singles and compiled them here into this album. They are highly skilled at grooves and big sprawling atmospheres, so those skills are showcased here. The vocals are oddly androgynous but work well on the anthemic  jams. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-kite-vii.html

5-Ulver- "Liminal Animals" 

Rygg is back on the tip of the smooth groove, making music that comes close to the 80s homage synth-wave bands are making these days. But with a dusky winter haze cast as he coasts down the beachside highway of life, these songs are cruising. Lyrically things are getting darker and more dystopian. He has been watching the news. Took time to grow on me but sunk in. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/ulver-red-light.html

 

4-Amiture - "Mother Engine" 

It's an odd blend of 90s styles that in some ways reminds me of the  Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, as electronic beats are set against more organic melodies.  The vocals have a great deal of emotion to their croon, and the atmosphere draped around the song is thick. I like all the sounds that are in play here. This album feels dark, but not in a goth sense, it is possessed by the loneliness of a solitary road trip. If Luscious Jackson had been a depressed man who wandered the open highways of upstate New York a similar feeling would have been invoked. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/amiture-mother-engine.html

 

3-Underworld - "Strawberry Hotel" 

The 11th album from the British electronica icons feels like everything you expect from them. The familiar way they build their songs but then find them incorporating new sounds and dynamics into that formula, which is really all you can ever ask for from an artist like this.I appreciate their willingness to try new things even this late in their career. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/underworld-strawberry-hotel.html

 

2-Chelsea Wolfe -" She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She"

Wolfe's 8th album, yes we are counting "Mistake in Parting" finds her diving into more of a trip-hop feel. That is a trip-hop that is thicker on the trip than the hop. It is propelled by slinky electronic beats and it captures a great mood, though I did prefer the songs on this album when she presented them in her stripped-down ep "Unbound" 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/chelsea-wolfe-she-reaches-out-to-she.html

1-Snow Strippers -"Night Killaz 2" 

producer Graham Perez, and singer Tatiana Schwaninger. have totally killed it here, sonically it's almost like a cross between Charli XCX and Grimes, but on old-school techno drugs. This glitched-out more experimental take on electronica finds the emphasis is on the beats and soundscapes being woven here. Tatiana is not the greatest singer, but the secret to this album lies in how her voice is presented. She has her own charisma in her persona. An infectious listen that got as much playtime as faves like the Cure and Taylor Swift. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/snow-strippers-night-killaz-vol-2.html

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Master Boot Record : "HARDWAREZ"

 11 full-lengths into this project, things are getting bigger and more polished. How could they not? The mastermind behind this project is producer Victor Love, who after playing with a live band on tour decided to use actual live guitars in the studio, rather than just over-driven synths. Sonically this album works off the themes that fans are familiar with, some of the songwriting feels more mature the second song "MOBO" being a noted example of more nuanced dynamics helping things groove more as it breaks down to drums and a bass line. There are almost neo-classical phrasings employed in some of the synth patterns. They still dig in and get crunchier breakdowns at times. 

Some of the more melodic synth melodies have a happy Dream Theater-like vibe, though thankfully without the Journey-like vocals, though this makes a song like "CPU" not feel as heavy as "GPU" despite that song having appropriate levels of ambiance to it. Some segments feel more synth-wave than others, though this could have been said about previous releases as well. Of the project's previous releases that we have reviewed here, I preferred their 2018 album "Direct Memory Access" as it received an 8.5 versus the 2022 album "Personal Computer" which scored an 8, still better than most commercial radio, but the novelty had worn off a little on my second run with these guys. I can feel a similar feeling coming on with "RAM' which is back to a more upbeat mood that does not resonate as strongly with me. 

The more synth-waving sounds lead into "FDD" before they recoil into a taunt palm-muted chugged groove. This provides a pretty solid base for them to arrange the other synth embellishments around. They crunch out of this into a Meshuggah-like heaviness, though not tuned as low. "HDD" works off another more traditional metal groove that proves to be effective even when draped and the blips of the synth sound. They are wise to return to the more Pantera-like crunch. I am sure some misguided souls will compare this to industrial, and it does not have that kind of stomp, nothing is done in the robotic syncopation. 

"PSU' is an example of the contrasting dynamics this album keeps in playing with rolling arpeggios to solid smacks of crunch hitting you. The drum programming feels more aggressive this time around. On the last song, the melody feels more like Vangelis playing "Final Countdown" with the heavy parts more of the expected chugs. I will give this one a 9 as it feels like an improvement when it comes to more dynamic songwriting, If you like aggressive synth wave this is for you, and fans are getting a more polished version of what they are already here for. It drops on October 11th on Metal Blade. 

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Master Boot Record : "Personal Computer"

 The album starts as expected things do not go into a more aggressive and experimental direction for Victor Love until the second song. When it come to the frequencies being manipulated in order to create this sort of thing who is to tell how much manipulation is and how much is shredding. The second song does work int a more glitched out sound at times. "80286" is more punishing in the sounds it hits you with a kind of finds the balance between the retro synth thing and a thrashing attack. I would not call this metal, but it is synth wave for metal heads without a doubt and pretty progressive in the arrangements. The song that comes after it has more ebb and flow though the more synth wave sounds that begin to blur everything together at this point and make me feel like I am listening to one long song. It is not until the lower more blown out sounding synths that this is broken up with heavy. 

There are some moments where he falls into a trap not unlike a band such a Dragonforce falls into to where the shredding speed sounds almost too happy, like Europe that is being played twice as fast. This is not heavy. There is a heavier riff that is evolves into but the rule here is " cool riffs alone does not a good song make". "80486" falls back into the more foot on the monitor rocking at you guns blazing that we have herd this album fall into already. The heavy moments begin to all fall at the end of the song making it feel a little formulaic. I do like the more head banging attack of the song that follows it. It might be the best song on the album. Their is more weight and less notes.  It took seven songs for me to get lost and wonder where in the album I was which is better than most projects doing this sort of thing,

Things get bright and epic, and I begin to check out. The formula shifts and the more interesting darker side begins coming out in the middle of the song though all the shredding is high on the treble end which plays into the brighter sound. The dynamics shift up a little ass the sounds change to a more harpsicord like piece. I will give this album an 8, it's a good at what it does, if you like what it does , very effective, more sound than song when the shredding comes. It drops May 13th on Metal Blade.         

Master Boot Record : "Direct Memory Access"

So here is something different this album consists of weird 80s sounding synths set against power/ prog metal this is an unconventional take on conventional metal. This album came out back in April, with little buzz, which is sad because it is very interesting. When it gets glitched out and weird then it's even better converging into something heavier. These moments also make it dark enough to connect with me. When they are flying along at a more Dragon Force pace, it's too upbeat and happy for my personal metal needs. This is the projects first time with vocals and I like the more goth like quality to them when they surface on "Sound Card 8 Bit" even though the music is still a little peppy for me in it's rolling noodle. Thankfully on "FDD Controller" they get darker and weirder, breaking up some of the neo classical melodies for a little longer. While the vocals do go for the gold and are belted out with the passion of power metal they do not get as cheesy.

They slow down on "LPT 1 ECP Mode". The neo-classical synths lines keep coming, at this point reminding me of that "Hooked On Classics" album from the late 70s. The vocals are more subdued and provide a needed shift in color away from the final countdown.  "4 Cascade" is more synth wave with a 90's electro metal feel when the vocals come in an make me think of Rammstein. The darker slower vibe continues on "Hard Disk". Two and a half minutes it gets much heavier. The synths really can only pound so hard, but they do their best . "Host Adapter" continues in more of the neo-classical metal for a lunar landing mode that to some extent defines their sound. It begins to feel less organic and metallic on this song and more like aggressive kraut rock with a Tron groove.

Overall despite the some times redundant neo-classical phrased lead melodies this project is doing something different, previous albums that have been instrumental would not have been my thing, but here the vocals are well done and hep break things up so I'll give this album an 8.5, unsure how many repeat plays I would get out of this more than likely only the songs with vocals would make it to the iPod.