Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is a strong place to start: Metal Hammer’s staff named it their 2024 album of the year. But there is no single objective “best” list. A staff ranking, a reader poll and an unranked selection reflect different tastes and methods. This guide brings those perspectives together, then points you toward records by sound and style.
How to read a “best of 2024” list
Year-end lists are editorial judgments, not measurements of what every metal listener prefers. Metal Hammer published a ranking chosen by its writers and editors, as well as a separate reader poll. Bandcamp Daily presented an alphabetical selection without ranking its records, while AllMusic offered its own retrospective selection. Their overlap is useful for discovery; their different methods mean their orders should not be treated as one shared score.
Metal Hammer’s staff placed Blood Incantation first, Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield second and Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She third. Its top 50 ranged across acts including Knocked Loose, Bruce Dickinson, Opeth, Heriot, Ihsahn, Lowen, Gatecreeper, Ulcerate, Nightwish, Bring Me the Horizon, High on Fire and Thou. That breadth makes the ranking a starting menu rather than a definitive hierarchy.
Metal Hammer’s separate poll asked readers to vote on the best metal records of the year and covered styles from goth and metalcore to death metal and thrash. A reader poll and a staff ranking answer different questions: one reflects participating readers’ votes, the other the magazine team’s choices.
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The anchor album: Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere
Released October 4, 2024, Absolute Elsewhere is built around six tracks arranged in two suites, “The Stargate” and “The Message.” The Bandcamp listing describes the pair as combining 1970s progressive-rock leanings with death-metal intensity. Bandcamp Daily also points to kosmische music and dark ambient in the album’s mix, making “death metal” an orientation rather than a complete description of its sound.
Metal Hammer’s album-of-the-year report says the record came out through Century Media on October 4 and identifies Paul Riedl as the band’s vocalist and guitarist. Riedl told the magazine, “We didn’t want to make a ‘good’ record,” describing the band’s ambition to make something that “moved the needle.” That is the group’s stated aim, not proof of an objective or lasting impact.
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For listeners who want a physical copy, the band’s Bandcamp page lists vinyl and a deluxe CD package. The limited vinyl edition displayed on that page is sold out there, so check current stock and edition details before buying elsewhere.
More 2024 albums to explore, by listening path
These selections draw on Bandcamp Daily’s unranked list and AllMusic’s retrospective as well as Metal Hammer’s staff ranking. The descriptions below are useful signposts, not universal genre verdicts.
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For progressive, atmospheric and boundary-crossing metal
- Blood Incantation — Absolute Elsewhere: a meeting point for death metal, progressive rock, kosmische music and dark ambient.
- Bring Me the Horizon: AllMusic singled out the band’s genre-blending concept record.
- Julie Christmas — Ridiculous and Full of Blood: a Bandcamp Daily selection for listeners looking beyond a narrowly defined metal lane.
- Lowen — Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran: another Bandcamp Daily pick, also included in Metal Hammer’s top 50.
- Grendel’s Sÿster — Katabasis into the Abaton: a Bandcamp Daily discovery pick.
For riff-driven heavy metal and established names
- Judas Priest — Invincible Shield: Metal Hammer’s staff runner-up; AllMusic described it as the band’s 19th studio album.
- Bruce Dickinson: included in Metal Hammer’s top 50 for listeners seeking a familiar heavy-metal voice outside the list’s less conventional picks.
- Ghost: AllMusic’s selection included a concert soundtrack, offering a different kind of release from a studio album.
- Intranced — Muerte y Metal: a Bandcamp Daily selection for adding a less familiar name to a traditional-metal listening queue.
For death metal, black metal and sludge
- Gatecreeper: AllMusic characterized the band’s approach as classically minded death metal; Metal Hammer also included the group in its top 50.
- Darkthrone: AllMusic highlighted the band’s black metal, a clear route into a more established extreme-metal tradition.
- Chat Pile: AllMusic pointed to sludge, placing the band among the year’s heavier, less polished-sounding options.
- Dödsrit — Nocturnal Will: one of Bandcamp Daily’s unranked choices.
- Genital Shame — Chronic Illness Wish: another Bandcamp Daily discovery selection.
For metalcore and more varied directions
- Knocked Loose: included in Metal Hammer’s top 50 and a choice for listeners following the metalcore side of the year’s releases.
- Chelsea Wolfe — She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She: Metal Hammer’s staff ranked it third, alongside the magazine’s broader spread of metal and adjacent sounds.
- Opeth: appeared in both Metal Hammer’s top 50 and AllMusic’s selection, offering a familiar name amid newer discoveries.
Choosing your own shortlist
Start with the sound you want rather than treating a ranking number as a command. If progressive and atmospheric elements appeal, try Absolute Elsewhere; for a more conventional heavy-metal starting point, consider Judas Priest; for black metal or sludge, use Darkthrone or Chat Pile as signposts. Then use the different year-end lists to widen the search: Metal Hammer offers a ranked staff selection and reader poll, Bandcamp Daily a non-ranked discovery list, and AllMusic a retrospective with descriptions of selected records.
That approach keeps room for both familiar acts and discoveries. AllMusic’s selection itself places established names such as Opeth, Ghost and Judas Priest alongside Hand of Juno, Gatecreeper and Chat Pile; no single list needs to stand in for every corner of metal in 2024.
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