23/12/2024
My favorite albums of 2024 Jack L Medley (only full-length studio albums):
1 Traveler - Prequel to Madness
2 Triumpher - Spirit Invictus
3 Warlord - Free Spirit Soar
4 Riot V - Mean Streets
5 Ironflame - Kingdom Torn Asunder
6 Demon Bitch - Master Of The Games
7 Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
8 Savage Oath - Divine Battle
9 Intranced - Muerte Y Metal
10 Helvetets Port - Warlords
(the rest of the list to follow this backstory)
I've been doing these lists for about 40 years. They made it out into the wider world around 1993 when the "Internet" was young, and I had one of the first 200 or so heavy metal sites on the Web. I've long since stopped all of that which is now called blogging and was once called "music journalism" (in print publications.) My lists used to be more varied, encompassing many sub-genres of metal. For example, I was listening to Mayhem and Immortal before any of my friends had ever heard this strange new music while at the same time being a big fan of mainstream metal and more cutting edge and accessible bands like Warrior Soul and King's X. I credit my membership in an email listserve group of academic professionals with members all over the world that connected me to music earlier than I might have otherwise have been able to access. Bill Peters may find it interesting that the group was called __ [email protected] __ and began in the early 80's, long before the "popular" html-based interweb had emerged. Bill himself was my biggest source of the best new music once I moved into the listening radius of the unparalelled WJCU (WUJC back then) radio waves when I finished my football "career" and started fulltime grad school, law school and policy research.
As I get older, and like most old heads, more set in my ways, the music I enjoy most is in the classic "true" heavy metal styles (cf. Manowar) of my first favorite bands: Dio, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc. Thus, my list these days is more just my personal favorites. No longer do I even pretend to make a list of the "best" albums of the year. There are way too many albums released each year to even have a remote chance to listen to most of them. Back in the day, say 1992, I could honestly say with tape trading and a big disposable income, I could listen to most of the important albums, many of the new, emerging artists, and many demos as well. Now? fugettaboutit. It's not that I don't like Gojira, Mastodon, and Ghost, for example, or wonky prog metal, or black metal, or brutal death metal anymore; it's that I have only so many hours a week to listen to music. Some of those hours also include my beloved Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony that also serve as my personal religious devotion. Other hours include classical music like the astounding organ music of the Baroque era (especially Bach), the Symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner, and the Operas of Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi, and some Johnny Cash, The Smiths, and whatever.
The 2024 LIST continues:
11 Flotsam & Jetsam - I Am The Weapon
12 Icy Steel - The Wait, The Choice, and The Bravery
13 Mindless Sinner - Metal Merchants
14 Tantrum - No Place for the Damned
15 Crystal Viper - The Silver Key
16 Attic - Return of the Witchfinder
17 Acero Letal - Legiones
18 Satan - Songs In Crimson
19 Cloven Hoof - Heathen Cross
20 Early Moods - A Sinner's Past
21 Graywitch - Children Of Gods
22 Achelous - Tower of High Sorcery
23 Tarot - Glimpse Of The Dawn
24 Grand Magus - Sunraven
25 Eregion - Non Omnis Moriar
26 Bronze - In Chains And Shadows
27 Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose
28 Conquest - Paradox
29 Portrait - The Host
30 Midnight - Hellish Expectaations
31 Legions Of Doom - The Skull 3
32 Bat - Under The Crooked Claw
33 Sentry - Sentry
34 Glyph - Honor. Power. Glory
35 Greyhawk - Thunderheart
36 Hammerfall - Avenge The Fallen
Honorable Mention (in Alphabetical Order):
Accept - Humanoid
Attaxe - Braving The Tempest
Avernus - Grievances
Blitzkrieg - Blitzkrieg
Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project
Challenger - Force Of Nature
Deceased - Children of the Morgue
Dragony - Hic Svnt Dracones
Drakkar - Spread Your Wings
Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will
Elettra Storm - Powerlords
Fatal Fire - Arson
Fellowship - The Skies Above Eternity
Impellitteri - War Machine
Innerwish - Ash Of Eternal Flame
Knightfall - Destiny Calling
Knights of the Realm - Darker Than Leather
Krilloan - Return Of The Heralds
Leatherhead - Leatherhead
Loch Vostok - Opus Ferox II - Mark Of The Beast
Metal de Facto - Land of the Rising Sun - Part 1
Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths
Millennial Reign - World on Fire
Mindwars - V
My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding
Nasty Savage - Jeopardy Room
Nightmare - Encrypted
Pagan Sword - Flameheart
Paragon - Metalation
Powercross - The Lost Empire
Powerwolf - Wake Up The Wicked
Raptore - Renaissance
Ravage - Spider On The World
Reverend Hound - Deal In Steel
Rhabstallion - Bat S**t Crazy
Sabïre - Jätt
Saxon - Hell, Fire And Damnation
Steel Inferno - Rush Of Power
Stygian Crown - Funeral For A King
The Watcher - Out Of The Dark
Tyrants - Warlord
Vhaldemar - Sanctuary of Death
Victory - Circle Of Life
Volcandra - The Way Of Ancients
Vulgar Devils - Witches Wheel
Vulture - Sentinels
War Dogs - Only the Stars Are Left
Watcher (SWE) - Key to the Unbreachable
Wintersun - Time II
Worshipper - One Way Trip
