Chaos.
Chaotic.
That’s what comes to mind to me when I think of 2024, a massive whirlwind of almost every emotion I can imagine. On a personal note. It marked the first year without my father. A cold depression that continuously rears its ugly head every time I think it’s let up a little bit. But on the flip side. There were some truly wonderful moments. One that comes to mind almost immediately was the week I spent by myself upstate. In a quiet little cabin. It was some of the most peaceful moments I’ve experienced in a long time.
View from the top of Mount Beacon.
A lot of good music came out this year, I tried to narrow my favorites down to the best of my ability here. There’s always gonna be those
“how could you leave this out”, or
“don’t forget this one”, or
“you suck for not including my band” or
“You’re such an uncultured boomer, you only included metal music on this list”.
And yes, my music list this year is very one sided, I’m incredibly picky when it comes to Pop Music, and nothing this year really caught my ear. I am also 99% sure an hour or two after this goes live I will remember a non heavy record that I left out, but seeing as “Bonfire Of Teenagers” still has not been released, I’m stuck with these albums instead
Other than that, my band, Funeral Leech put out our second LP titled “The Illusion Of Time”, and it’s been the most proud of a piece of work I have ever been. We did a record release show in April, which might have been the best show we’ve ever played.
I go to the movies, a lot. Usually by myself, sometimes with company. I saw a good chunk of what’s been out this year. A lot of it was shit but there was some good stuff sprinkled in there.
So, I decided to compile this year end list as my first proper post on this site. We’ll go by categories. Gonna start with music, movies, moments, and some bonus stuff.
And my promise to you: these lists will always be my choices. Unlike some publications who chose based off of who pays their ad revenue, or what’s trendy. I don’t do that.
Before I get ahead of myself. These are in no order. Not one is better than the other. These are just what truly stuck out to me this year.
Music:
1: Grey Skies Fallen - Molded By Broken Hands - Profound Lore Records
Incredibly heartfelt and sorrowful. Huge peaceville 3 sound. Powerful synths, epic leads, and tasteful clean vocals (please note: this website is NOT ‘nocleansinging’ I welcome clean vocals here) sprinkled throughout kept me coming back a lot, in my opinion the best release of their spanning career.
Standout tracks: “Molded By Broken Hands”, “Save Us”
2. Alkaline Trio - Blood, Hair and Eyeballs - Rise Records
The bands best record in a WHILE. Creative lyrics and songwriting prevails on this one. The same catchy hooks, dark and sarcastic wordplay you come to expect from them. Skiba stopped writing sub par Blink-182 riffs and finally brought focus back to his baby. serves as a farewell to longstanding drummer Derek Grant, who for me was one of my favorite parts of the band. Some of the best drumming of his career. Closer “Teenage Heart” is a phenomenal end to a record. Caught them live on the tour for this record and they still had it. Curious to see what new drummer Atom Willard brings to the table on the next record. Big shoes to fill in my opinion.
Standout tracks: “Bad Time”, “Teenage Heart”.
3. Mortal Wound - “The Anus Of The World” - Dark Descent.
No punches pulled. Unrelenting. The mood this one sets is real good, I’m not usually a fan of sound clips, unless it’s like a power violence record or something, but the unhinged war movie sound clips, often collages together really do something magical for this one. Heavy production… knuckle dragging… perfection. This one got a lot of repeat on my turntable this year.
Standout Tracks: “Drug Filled Cadaver” and “Royally Fucked Forever”
4. Antichrist Siege Machine - Vengeance of Eternal Fire - Profound Lore records.
Savage, blistering. One of those records that doesn’t let up, superb drumming. I can safely say they are as heavy and brutal live as they are on recording. A feat that is not the easiest as a two piece. Does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and leaves you satisfied every time.
Standout tracks: “Sisera” and “Abyssal Hate”
5. Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds - Sepulchral Voice.
I can’t get enough of this one. Pure sonic chaos. There are points to this record that are almost indecipherable, it comes at you so fast that you don’t even know what hit you. Concrete Winds is one of the most intense death metal acts going today. This album is a reminder no, a testimony to that.
Standout tracks: “Virulent Glow”, “Infernal Repeater” and “Hell Trance”
6. Whisper Doll - Perfume Garden - Self Released
I’ll be honest, I don’t really keep up with modern shoegaze or indie really. I know a few bands for sure, but it’s not my wheelhouse. This one scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. Ethereal, sweet, honest and melancholy. At times like The Cranberries and Pale Saints and at its best like The Sundays. I have high hopes for Whisper Doll, definitely don’t sleep on this one.
Standout tracks: “Cheap”, “Change” and “Doe Eyes”
7. Savage Pleasure - Savage Pleasure - Toxic State Records
Metal Crust based in NYC, the essence and punch of Venom and Celtic Frost, with the filthiness of Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder and Amebix. Another band not to sleep on. They’ve been around for a minute and continue to get better and better.
Stand out tracks: “The Sickening Fear” and “The Sentry”.
8. Spectral Voice - Sparagamos - Dark Descent
Second albums are important. Sometimes they can make or a break a band. This one was highly anticipated. “Corridors of Eroded Being” was a landmark in the world of death doom. Hard to follow up, and I couldn’t imagine how they would. And yet, they deliver. An intense feeling of dread throughout. Expansive huge parts plus a haunting atmosphere. It really ticks all the boxes for me. Spectral Voice seem to capture their intense live shows on recording. Not an easy feat to do. A+. Also, roto-Toms. You don’t get to hear those much anymore.
Standout Tracks: “Red Feasts Condensed Into One” and “Death’s Knell Rings In Eternity”.
9. Ulcerate - Cutting The Throat Of God - Debemur Morti
Ulcerate are one of the most interesting bands going right now. The absolute best drumming in a metal act. The dirgy, dissonance is next level here. Exactly what you’d expect from them, they always deliver. Jamie St Merat’s drumming always captures me and keeps me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what’s next. In my opinion they took everything from the last record and improved on it.
Standout tracks: “The Dawn Is Hollow” and “To See Death Just Once”.
10. Deadform - Entrenched in Hell - Tankcrimes.
A lot of people will first mention the previous bands the members have been in speak for this record. I just want to get this out of the way, this record is GREAT and would be on this list regardless. It’s crusty, dirgy, heavy and punk as fuck. Killer guitar tone, and moody noise throughout. Leaves a sense of urgency and impending death. Very much looking forward to what they do next. Got to share the stage with them and they’re unreal live.
Standout tracks: “As Above So Below”, and the very appropriately titled “Misery”.
Honorable mentions: Poison Ruïn, Black Curse, Blood incantation, Heresiarch, Suffocating Madness, The Story So Far, Tzompantli, Mother of Graves, The Watcher, Necrot and Crypt Sermon
MOVIES:
The Substance.
Hoo boy, body horror galore! Having a hard time deciding if this was my favorite 2024 horror or if oddity was. Both different ends of the spectrum. Demi Moore was wonderful in this and Margaret Qualey was superb as her counterpart. A lot of jarring shots in this helped make normal every day things feel so uncomfortable. Loved this one.
2. Oddity
This one fucked with me a lot. His previous offering, Caveat was real fun, I was eager to see what he’d do next. This had some jump scares that, while I expected them, got me anyways. Something about a desolate Irish house, makes stuff very tense. Plus the “creature” or whatever that statue was… creepy as fuck!
3. Immaculate
Sick and twisted fun. Another religious themed horror. Sure, a lot of the metaphors are very on the nose, but this movie isn’t asking for a lot. Sydney Sweeney’s crash out at the end proves she’d be a great final girl or scream queen in future horror movies.
4. The First Omen
Went into this one without high hopes. Did NOT need another old IP being brought back to life, happy to say this was enjoyable! Very clearly left room for a sequel without messing with the original trilogy. This year was heavy on religious themed horror movies, this one stuck out above the rest.
5. The Order
I just left the theater after seeing this. A perfect crime thriller based on true events. Every cast member preformed incredibly. Jude Law stuck out for sure, but Holt as leader of The Order, Bob Mathews was crazy, eerily looked exactly like him. Definitely a good end to this year in movies.
6. Monkey Man.
Straight and to the point. John Wick fueled action with the neon lighting of a Refn movie. Put that all together and it’s a fun ride.
7. Deadpool & Wolverine
I know, I know. A comic book movie, but I’ll be honest. I’m a huge comic nerd. So this was executed perfectly. Bloody and crude. Just what I would want from a movie with these two.
8. Anora.
As a lifetime New Yorker. I can tell you right now, I went to high school with so many people like every character in this movie. I had a big grin on my face and was laughing the entire time. A+
9. A Different Man.
Absurd. Heartfelt. A true New York tale. Sebastian Stan continues to impress me with every thing he does. He beats the “I’m only a super hero movie actor” allegations. Adam Pearson shines as well. A truly creative idea.
10. Robot Dreams
Charming and heartwarming. One of the better animated offerings of 2024.
Video Games:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
I hated FFVII Remake. So I was really worried about the second installment in this reimagining of one of my childhood favorite games. But somehow they improved on almost everything. It looks better, handles better and no longer feels linear. Remake felt like it was very much on a straight path. This has an open ended approach to most areas. Now we just have to wait another 4 years for the next part.
2. Silent Hill 2 Remake.
Didn’t think this one needed the remake treatment, yet here we are. Took a minute to get used to it no longer having tank controls but it was nice to play through this story again.
3. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
This is essentially Bolt Thrower: the video game. No I will not expand on that.
4. Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
A perfect expansion to a perfect game. I put a whole bunch of time into this one and every second felt great. To the added lore, the new weapons and whole new map. Knocked it out of the park.
5. Persona 3 Reload
What did I say? 2024 is the year of the remake. It’s nice to play a game that’s been updated completely. I didn’t get to play persona 3 when it came out. This has everything you’d expect from a Persona game, oozing with charm which somehow teeters between dungeon crawling jrpg and slice of life high school simulator.
Best bands I saw live:
Mortiferum, Iron Maiden, Cold World, Sumerlands, Dillinger Four, Mortuous, Eyehategod, Spectral Voice, Weezer’s Blue Album tour.
Final thoughts.
2024 had a lot of output. These were what stuck with me. I could make a list of everything that was really bad, and I might just still do that. But for now I hope you enjoyed this as the first proper post. More to come…
-L