Earliest I've ever been with the Beast of List. Just couldn't bear to keep this wonderful year of muzak under wraps.

10. Mandroïd of Krypton - Cosmic Sarcophagus

The Mandroids return after nearly a decade with another blast of idiosyncratic prog/black thrash from way out there in the noosphere.

Mandroiding

9. Biomorphic Engulfment - Infinite Universes of Creation and Annihilation

Batshit crazy vortexed blastfest...from Thailand so you know it’s nice and unhinged.

Vortexing

8. Axis of Perdition - Apertures

I didn’t have a nu AoP album on the ol bingo card, but I’ll take it. Harrowing black metal freak out with incredibly strong riffing…let’s hope the next full length doesn’t take another 13 years.

Perditioning

7. Sarnuthian BorgStorm - Cybernetic Dawn

Extremely strong Hardware from Mexico vibes whilst being played through that dude from Portal’s glumurphone. Also my favorite cover art of the year, especially with those cool hologram cards.

Borgstorming

6. Rostorchester - Der Zinnen Sang vom Niedergang

I am a complete sucker for this style of twisting harmonically adventurous jangly black metal that I vapidly refer to as “evil” Husker Du (or Husker Don’t if your feeling obliquely obtuse). Like Flaming Ouroboros’s “Anthems for Brotherhood” from last year, Rostorchester tickles all of my buttons with these spidery sinewy riffs and a punk energy that keeps the feet stomping.

Niederganging

5. Wormed - OMEGON

Nearly 10 years between full lengths and I think the time was well spent. This is just crazy advanced stuff that has interesting things going on all over the place. Wormed (as well as someone else on this list) are still the gold standard of sci-fi death metal insanity.

Woiming

4. Stagnant Waters - Rifts

Like a more psycotropically damaged DHG. Makes sense since both Zweizz from Fleurety and Camille from DHG are involved…the Gonad Waltz (both A and C) are right up there battling for top cuts of the year.

Stagnating

3. d'Eon - Leviathan

I’m not always much for uplifting music, but d’Eon just hits me in some real good places. Improbably baroque + new age and undeniably pop, but with a charming mysticism that keeps it all a bit mysterious…in other words, it’s fucking great.

d'Eoning

2. Gigan - Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus

This along with Wormed are god-tier abstract sci-fi death. Absolute surrealism and chaos. Just please Professor Horseman….don’t make us wait another seven years!

Anomalousing

1. Old Wainds - Stormheart

There seems to be a clear theme in this year’s list: bands returning from long hiatuses and absolutely knocking it out of the park! It’s been 10 years since Murmansk’s finest delivered Nordraum, and while decade-long obumbrations aren’t my favorite, I can’t complain when the music is this good.

Old Wainds have always excelled at riff-crafting, and here they strike the perfect balance between the majestic and the dissonant. Stormheart delivers cruel, misanthropic, frozen black metal of the highest order, and is a masterful return.

Stormhearting

Other Enjoyable Offerings

t
Krallice - Inorganic Rites
Upright Forms - Blurred Wires
Mortal Wound - The Anus of the World
Cephalotripsy - Epigenetic Neurogenesis
Odd Nosdam - Falsehood
The Flying Luttenbachers - Losing the War Inside Our Heads
Inquisition - Veneration of Medieval Mysticism and Cosmological Violence
Possession of the Polar Shaman - Fenrir dau þ uz bringandiz

Monday, December 16, 2024

Beast of 2024

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