The Top 10 Extreme Metal Albums of 2024

Extreme metal encompasses many sub-genres, all of which shun mainstream aspirations with their commitment to intensity, but that is not to say that these albums are the heaviest ever, as all of the albums listed in our Top 10 Extreme Metal Albums of 2024 list are very song-oriented, some even have melody, perhaps this year even more so than the past. The bands here did not fit neatly into other genre lists, because they blended other harsh genres, such as black metal or hardcore into these warped versions of grindcore or screamo.  They are all very dark and lash out with their own forms of sonic fury, but they are the albums that proved best at it.  

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 Extreme Metal albums of 2024.

10-Beaten to Death - "Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis" 

 This band from Norway is not playing black metal. They are heavy but thanks to their feedback squealing vision of grind-core.  This album is a great deal of fun, and the production makes it less dense than what I normally want from the genre, but it's a fun album that takes more chances than not, and they all pay off, I look forward to hearing what they do with a bigger budget and taking the time to dial this in

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/beaten-to-death-sunrise-over-rigor.html

9-Sars- "Nothing Hurts Quite Like Life" 

Metal Core is one of the hottest bandwagons to jump on, these guys are one of the few legit metallic hard-core bands pumping out real shit that is not just over-produced nu-metal.  . A few bands have taken on the moniker of SARS, but this Finnish band might be the most deserving of it as their songs are both crushing and infectious. If you are looking for rabid old-school hardcore with a metal pulse pumping its veins, these guys have you covered.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/sars-nothings-hurts-quite-like-life.html

8-meth. - "SHAME" 

This band from Chicago taps into the same torment that bands like Portrayal of Guilt dig into. The riff is pounding with a sludge-like deliberation, while their singer screams with the unrelenting anguish of someone being disemboweled alive. With the chaos being invoked on this album, it feels like blackened sludgecore would be the best description if we needed to tie it down to a genre. When things speed up there is more of a power-violence feel to it. They do hit you with rapid-fire intense blast beats. It does not give your ears the same sonic lubrication that black metal does by creating a hypnotic buzz. 

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

7-Infant Island-"Obsidian Wreath"

On this album the band roars into a more metallic vision of screamo, that is balanced with a post-rock atmosphere. "Fulfilled" finds things lashed out in a more chaotic frenzy with an almost power-violence-like abandon. This is on the more extreme end of screamo. It more than likely appeals less to fans on the emo side of that equation. It builds into the shimmer of wild screaming. I wonder if he is even trying to utter lyrics at this point. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/01/infant-island-obsidian-wreath.html

6-Yersin- the Scythe is Remorseless" 

Crust is one of my favorite forms of metallic punk, as it connects with a primal darkness.  The lyrics are delivered with an anguished yell that bares an honest anger. An atmosphere haunts the album giving it an even darker tone than expected. Sometimes they drop down into more of a death metal growl. Their sonic arsenal ranges from black metal blasting interjected as an accent to riffs that pound like a hard-core band, throwing many of the best genres at you in their sound. 

 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/yersin-scythe-is-remorseless.html

 

5-Hell is Real-"Scared by the World" 

This album grew on me, as it's aggressive but still has an unexpected groove to its hard-core hammering. Though they are capable of taking your head off with their chug.  The higher-pitched black metal-like vocals are still articulated enough to make out Eric Blum's hateful message. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/hell-is-real-scared-of-world.html

4-Benighted- "Ekbom" 

 I liked the darker atmosphere haunting this French band's brand of grindcore. By grind-core, there is a surprising blend of technical death metal in their songwriting DNA. This keeps things spastic and unpredictable. They can make you bob your head to their blend of madness. Some songs were just pure death metal with the grindcore taking a back seat in the meat wagon for the roaring vocals and double bass to be more dominant with a more Morbid Angel-like intention to the beating they are dishing out.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/benighted-ekbom.html

3-Deadform - "Entrenched In Hell" 

This is the first full-length from this Oakland-based crust trio which features Dino Sommese from Dystopia on drums as well as sharing vocal duties with Brian Clouse from Stormcrow, who is also playing bass in this project. The furious sounds unleashed on this album highlight the things I love about the Crust genre. It's heavy, yet grooving in its pummeling. There is also a dark apocalyptic mood churning from the songs. The tones coming from their blown-out amps are burly enough to belong to a sludge band, but they are played with more of a punk attitude. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/deadform-entrenched-in-hell.html

2-Full of Hell-"Coagulated Bliss"

This album grew on me more than any other this year, partly due to catching these guys live where it all clicked. It's also a huge step of maturity in songwriting. From a production standpoint, it's more organic. They were not darker, but more punk than the sludge-tinged gnarliness that comprised their guitar tone on other albums. The guitarist claims that he learned how to serve the song during their sessions for the album with Nothing. Things here reflect that due to the fact it is angular and mathy, but not spastic. The vocals are more deliberate as well.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/full-of-hell-coagulated-bliss.html

1- Weston Super Maim- "See You Tomorrow Baby"

This band is out to crush you with their industrial-strength metal, possessed by chaotic outbursts of jarring mathematics like a grind-core version of Meshuggah. This album proves you can go to the extremes of heaviness while still having a huge sound. At times electronic sounds enter the fray. Impressive guitar work does not hinder the sheer weight this album hits you with while writing memorable songs. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/weston-super-maim-see-you-tomorrow-baby.html

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Surgical Meth Machine :"s/t"

Al is back, this time with a new project that is not under the Ministry banner, though the end result is something not far from the land of rape and honey. He doesn't dip into politics as much this go around and takes jabs at today's internet culture. "I'm Sensitive" looks at thin skinned world of social media, before exploding in a fury of industrial strength blasting, where he exclaims' he doesn't fucking care and he will un-friend you. Littered with samples their is a similar brisk pacing to "Tragic Alert" with almost a gang vocal chiming in. The riff to "I Want More" opens the song with the kinda creepy serial killer love song vibe that Slayer uses before accelerating . "Rich People Problems" is dominated by a chant of the song's title with solo from the late Mike Scaccia tossed in. "I Don't Wanna" has a Jello Biafra like rant to it where Al says he doesn't want to  be a be a rock star he wants to be a beer ad. "Smash and Grab" is still pounding but finds Al in more of a Killing Joke like chant and electronic waves crashing around him. It's the first song where the production really wows me.

 Lyrically it's hard to say if the spastic "Un-listenable" is about pop music or not, until they start asking Al about Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Lamb of God and Nickleback and then he says he hates industrial bands. The Cure, Morrissey  also get shot down but Devo rules, so we have a slight difference in taste. There is more punk and less metal on "Gates of Steel" which has an "Anarchy in UK" feel mixed with multi-layered party chant of a vocal."Spudnik" is a guitar soloing transition out of "Gates of Steel" and feels more like a jammed out extension of that song. This preps you for the come down that closes out the album."Just Go Home" is more of a glitched out version of Revolting Cocks as the samples play a very dominant role in the song. The electro experimental continues at more of a break beat on "Just Keep Going". Then "I'm Invisible" closes out the album with a David Lynch like take on trip hop. Al's voice sound great when He decides to take a stab at actually singing.

I'll round this album up to a 9 and see how it sits on me. The second half does take an odd turn so it lives up to Jourgensen's claim that this album is bi-polar. Even though it comes close in terms of aggression it's not a Ministry album and in many ways is more like a punk infused version of Revolting Cocks as the production is not as dense as a Ministry album. Nuclear Blast is releasing this April 15th.