The Top 10 Black Metal Albums of 2024

It is not surprising that Black Metal's popularity has waned in the hipster metal scene. It's now called problematic by poseurs who were only into it for superficial reasons in the first place, as the genre has always represented misanthropic hate and nihilistic disdain for the world. These albums captured what black metal should be with very little compromise. Black metal is a sub-genre of metal that is for the true outsiders. Here are the bands captured that best. 

 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 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, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can 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 Black Metal albums of 2024

10-Inquisition: " Veneration of Medieval Mysticism and Cosmological Violence"

The notorious Colombian black metal duo is back to bring the darkness in a manner more in line with their 2010 album "Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm".  Many of the songs are possessed by an eerie throb while Dagon gives his best croak. It sits more forward in the mix on this album and has a drier sound to it. At times a few phrases were declared in a more spoken tone. The guitars are placed oddly in the mix, single not leads mixed to the front while the main riffs churn behind the crash of the drums. It is one of those odd mixes that creates an interesting effect that gives the overall sound of the album a unique charm. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/inquisition-veneration-of-medieval.html

 

9-Darkthrone - "It Beckons Us All" 

Thought of as one of the forefathers of second-wave black metal, it's been a minute since they conformed to any genre, and have been digging up the graves of 80s Celtic Frost for the past few albums which have done so with varying levels of nostalgia, Nordic atmosphere, and grimness. It takes what they have been going for on the past few albums and executes it in the most focused form yet. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/darkthrone-it-beckons-us-all.html

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8-Svoid- "Neptunian" 

The Hungarian back metal band pounds their sound into a dark manner respecting their signature mood. that respects the mood they are known to create. I do not remember the vocals having this much of a snarl, but here we are. They dialed in the guitar tones in a  more of a post-punk, manner, but lurch into the songs with brooding aggression that helps the focus stay firmly planted on songwriting rather than letting the momentum carry them away. This makes them a more original black metal band as they are working these elements in and doing their own thing.  There is a great deal of punk in their attack, even in the scowl of the vocals that are sometimes sung.  

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/svoid-neptunian.html

7-Silhouette -"Les Dires de l 'Ame" 

This French band is back with their brand of haunting darkness. The languid wail of the female vocals haunts the gray haze of the ghostly guitar. Black metal elements crash in with female vocals serving as a counterpoint. Their take on black metal does not try to numb you out with a bunch of blast beats. Instead, they work with the mood. The drummer is very solid when it comes to setting the stage for this. When they slow down and let the chords ring out with a creepy throb it's even more effective and gives the female vocals room to slither in.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/silhouette-les-dires-de-l-ame.html

6-1349 - "The Wolf and the King"  

Back to hammer your ears as the defenders of what true Norweigan Black Metal should be. This lineup has been intact since  2001, so they've had nothing but time to perfect their purist definition of black metal that benefits from hooky songwriting without compromising the grimness. There are more deliberate moments on this album that succeed in being aggressive and dark without hitting you with a wall of blast beats.'

        

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/1349-wolf-and-king.html

5-Panzerfaust-'" Suns of Perdition IV :  To Shadow Zion" 

This Canadian band brings the darkness again, ranging from a more sludge-like below to a traditional black metal rasp. The songs carry more of a throb, than the blast-beaten sound that typifies the genre. They hit you with a storm cloud of sound, and live up to the hype. If you want black metal that hits you with a tempest of apocalyptic darkness this album is for you. Out on Eisenwald. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/panzerfaust-suns-of-perdition-iv-to.html

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4-Curse Upon a Prayer - "The Worship: Orthoprax Satanism" 

The angriest band on this year's list. This band from Finland has enough balls to refrain from attacking the low-hanging fruit, Christianity, instead, they nut up and attack Islam, whose followers are fanatical enough to come after you for being critical, just ask Salaman Rushdie, who is still in hiding. Rather than just relying on this as a gimmick these guys are legit and bring black metal better than most. Their sound carries all the venom they need to spew to convince black metal fans they are not going for a wider audience here,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/curse-upon-prayer-worship-orthoprax.html

 

3-Vemod -"The Deepening" 

If you get stoned to a black metal album this is the one to do it to. They create an atmosphere that is very organic, jamming the songs out lush layers of hypnotic instrumentation. Not worried about being the trvest black metal band in Norway, played to their strengths as songwriters, and thus a stunning collection of songs was born. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/black-metal-history-month-vemod.html

 

2- Nachtmystium - "Blight Privilege" 

One of my favorite black metal projects is back. Blake Judd personifies inner darkness, which can create our darkness, legitimizing his work's melancholy. This new album picks up where they left off. The scathing rasp of his vocals sits back in the mix. The synths play a larger role in the overall sound which is carried by a great deal of drive, thanks to drummer Francesco Miato.  It's fine to welcome back to a band that is badly needed as the world becomes more miserable. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/nachtmystium-blight-privilege.html

1-Ellende -  "Todbringerin" 

 This explains the growth in the more melodic direction of their sound, and the pristine nature of the production that is organic enough to capture the spirit of the genre without being so polished they lose the black metal feel like say Behemoth. These Austrians are doing their own thing in the best way possible without turning off fans of the genre, as the scope of sound has changed but even with the jazzy guitar interludes nobody is going to doubt these guys are a black metal band even when they skimp on the blast beats. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/ellende-todbringerin.html

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Nachymystium : " Resilient"

I stand by the fact I don't want to hear music by anyone who is not in some kind of struggle or pain. I have written reviews before where I have said "these guys would be better if they got out and did some drugs and lived a little" . Blake Judd has them covered when it comes to that. It seeps out of every pore of every note. I also will stand by the fact that these guys are one of my favorite black metal projects. They are not all blast beats. In fact it's just a dark tortured pulse. Very similar to depressive suicidal black metal, though Judd is just not being melodramatic about it and has tried to kill himself in other ways than the most obvious , which I think is also a metaphor for his music. The first song finds more melodic and melancholy elements creep in as it progresses.

The band's first album for Prophecy Productions finds a Lyrical shift as there is a darkly romantic theme to  the beginning of "Sliver Lanterns"  then it goes back into the more familiar subjects of emptiness, silence, darkness, sorrow and addiction.  Musically  this song is more aggressive than the opener working off of more of a gallop. The vocal remain in a scathing mid range rasp. They slow to let the guitar tone clean up a little and shift into a more melodic passage. There is a sample of a spoken narrative about a trip in an ambulance after an over dose. When the song builds into it's nastier blast section it still works rather than being a sloppy cop out.

Then things enter a more wandering landscape of psychedelic sound with "Desert Illumination". I sat on this review for about a week because it had not clicked in my head enough for it to come together in my mind to put into words. I can now here it has more of a Black Sabbath groove and when I say that I mean their more experimental moments, so think "Sabotage". The vocals are spoken and screamed. I'll give this album a 9.5, it might not be as perfect as some of their previous releases, but pretty fucking close and better than most black metal acts have mustered since it is not at all redundant.