30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2024

Mind Burns Alive is an intensely crafted doom metal offering that lays bare its emotional underpinnings. There’s always been a deeply romantic and spiritual element to Pallbearer’s music, but here, the crystal clear production and stunning, upfront vocal performances from Brett Campbell somehow make the tip of that spear even sharper. The album's epic doom pierces the heart, reaching a grandiosity that only masters of the genre (Candlemass, Reverend Bizarre, Cathedral, etc.) have been able to achieve. — J. Hadusek

The criticism toward recent Darkthrone albums has essentially boiled down to, “It sounds like Darkthrone making a Darkthrone record.” Well, what else would you expect? At this point, the Norwegian masters can simply breathe out quality black metal of an old-school vein, as heard on their latest, It Beckons Us All. Riffs beget riffs as Fenriz and Nocturno Culto weave lengthy epics that veer forward in a linear fashion — a satisfying format, as Nocturno Culto’s next riff is always just as good as his last. — J. Hadusek

There's always been a pseudo-cult-horror-film vibe on Uncle Acid albums, but the UK heavy psych outfit embraced the concept full-on with Nell’ ora blu. The LP is essentially the score to a non-existent Giallo film, complete with narration from Italian actors with notable roles within the genre. Musically, it’s a tour de force, traversing instrumental psych, Spaghetti Western themes, and the band’s signature riff-centric doom rock. It is best experienced as an unabridged listen (just as you would sit down to consume a movie in one sitting). — J. Hadusek

Coming off their excellent 2020 album Lament, which featured our favorite heavy song of that year ("Reminders"), Touché Amoré kept things rolling on 2024's Spiral in a Straight Line. Singer Jeremy Bolm's emotion-filled rasp is on full display throughout the album, which once again shows the post-hardcore band's flair for balancing heavy riffs with infectious melodies. — S. Kaufman

Jerry Cantrell knows a thing or two about writing a great riff. And his latest solo effort, I Want Blood, is no exception. The music gives off some vintage Alice in Chains vibes ("Vilified"), with a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age thrown in ("I Want Blood"). And with collaborators like Duff McKagan, Mike Bordin, Robert Trujillo, Greg Puciato, and Gil Sharone, it's no surprise that fans were treated to another collection of stellar music from this rock legend. — S. Kaufman

SUMAC have as much in common with a jazz trio as they do with frontman Aaron Turner’s previous band, ISIS. The lengthy workouts on The Healer are the fruit of the band's improvisational approach and telepathic ability to play off the other. The tapestry-like arrangements of the 25-minute “World of Light” or the 12-minute “Yellow Dawn” are guided meditations through post-hardcore, sludge, doom, and math rock. This is music that could only be made by these three specific individuals after years of playing and improvising with one another. — J. Hadusek

While unsubstantiated rumors of Sebastian Bach potentially rejoining Skid Row made headlines in 2024 thanks to the latter act's search for a new singer, the metal frontman quietly put out an excellent solo effort, Child Within the Man. True to its name, the 56-year-old Bach still sounds like he’s in his glam-metal prime here, busting out his signature high-pitch screams and massive vocal range — as heard on the single and LP highlight “(Hold On) to the Dream.” His positivity and charisma is infectious, and he gives a spirited performance throughout the album. — J. Hadusek

After one listen to Banished by Sin, it was refreshing to hear a death metal album in 2024 that sounds like it was made by actual musicians on actual instruments. Deicide leader Glen Benton wouldn’t have it any other way, and his stubbornness for the “old ways” is why Banished by Sin sounds like a gunshot compared to the firecrackers being doled out by the plethora of tech-y death metal bands that have overrun the scene. Death metal certainly lends itself to some “quality of life” corner cutting (drum triggers, overdubbing difficult sections, click track tempos), but when done in the raw, the results can be viciously satisfying. — J. Hadusek

Job for a Cowboy's return to the metal scene didn’t disappoint. Comeback single “The Agony Seeping Storm” went down as one of the strongest heavy songs of 2023, building significant hype for the death metal band’s new album, Moon Healer. While the aforementioned track is certainly a highlight of Moon Healer, the rest of the tracklist isn’t far off from that lofty benchmark. This is among the most challenging and densely composed metalcore you’ll encounter in 2024, and a mighty return for JFAC. — J. Hadusek

After waiting out the pandemic, guitarist Kerry King finally unleashed his post-Slayer project onto the world in May. His eponymous band's debut album, From Hell I Rise, doesn't stray too far from the legendary thrash metal King created with Slayer for nearly four decades, but he sounds reinvigorated playing alongside an all-star lineup that includes Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), Phil Demmel (Machine Head), Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), and Paul Bostaph (Slayer). And while he played a couple reunion shows with Slayer in 2024, King's devotion is to his new outfit moving forward. — S. Kaufman

It took The Jesus Lizard more than 26 years to release a new album, and after giving Rack a listen, we hope it doesn't take another 26 years for the next one. Frontman David Yow and company are in fine form on this comeback LP, as the legendary Austin noise rockers didn't lose a step in the quarter century between albums. Rack is a welcome addition to the band's discography, holding its own alongside the band's classic and highly influential '90s output. — S. Kaufman

Frontman Al Jourgensen is currently working on Ministry's final album, with a 2025 release likely, and if the penultimate album is any indication, expect more great music from the industrial icons. HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES proved that after 40-plus years, Uncle Al and company are still churning out supercharged tunes that penetrate the body and the mind. With fiery songs like "Just Stop Oil," "Goddam White Trash," and "B.D.E" ("Big Dick Energy"), the album provided further proof that there's no topic off limits for Jourgensen. The LP is further enhanced by guests like Jello Biafra, Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, and Corrosion of Conformity's Pepper Keenan, making for a gratifying ride. — S. Kaufman

BIG|BRAVE's music is both minimal and cinematic, as evident on the Canadian experimental trio's latest album, A Chaos of Flowers. Songs such as "i felt a funeral" and "canon : in canon" hook the listener in with a post-metal drone that provides a haunting soundtrack for singer Robin Wattie's absolutely hypnotic voice. If and when David Lynch figures out a way to make another movie, he should think about giving this band a call. — S. Kaufman

New Orleans’ sludgers Thou have been a mainstay of the metal/punk underground for years, but a top-to-bottom classic album had eluded them until the release of Umbilical. At last, the band has an LP to its name that encompasses its full sonic force — from swinging uptempo crust metal to hung-drawn-and-quartered sludge/doom. Thou wear the influence of their fellow NOLA heroes Eyehategod proudly, but Umbilical is the first full-length from the band that truly stands up to EHG’s best work. This is the album that longtime fans always knew the band was capable of creating. — J. Hadusek

With each album, Finnish avant stylists Oranssi Pazuzu open another portal to the abstract, creating music that is identifiably metal, yet anomalous. While it may be constructed from the building blocks of black metal — harsh indecipherable vocals, blasting rhythms, washes of guitar, etc. — the effect it has on the listener is of a more cerebral, meditative nature, a la drone or noise. The band introduced industrial elements on their 2024 LP Muuntautuja while continuing to stew the aforementioned signifiers of black metal into a psychedelic swirl. — J. Hadusek

American Standard is, as Uniform singer Michael Berdan put it in our track-by-track interview earlier this year, named after a brand of toilet — a dark, sardonic joke that appears to reference the album’s intensely personal lyrical themes surrounding Berdan’s battle with bulimia nervosa. Across the album’s four tracks, Berdan’s screams and howls his story with an intensity motivated by real catharsis; he’s bringing his pain into the vocal booth, and these are the most captivating performances he’s laid down on a Uniform record to date. The music matches Berdan’s stellar vocals, with the introduction of dual drumming from Michael Sharp and Michael Blume marking a clear sonic leap, as the band deliver industrial post-punk soundscapes that cascade cinematically behind the album’s protagonist. — J. Hadusek

Kittie certainly knew what they were doing by naming their new album Fire, as the band's first LP in 13 years is an absolute scorcher. Comeback single "Eyes Wide Open" made a bold statement that the Canadian act was ready to take the metal world by storm again, as loudly proclaimed by singer Morgan Lander's searing screams. Follow-up singles "Vultures" and "One Foot in the Grave," meanwhile, showcase Kittie's superb ability to balance heavy with melody. — S. Kaufman

Fans who've attended a Knocked Loose show certainly know how intense their brand of hardcore can be. On their new album, You Won't Go Until You're Supposed To, the Kentucky quintet reach new levels of intensity while also exploring melody in ways they hadn't on previous efforts. Frontman Bryan Garris' high-pitched screams are at full volume on this record, with guest appearances by Poppy and Chris Motionless only adding to the ferocity. — S. Kaufman

Alternative metal is flourishing at the moment, and the chameleon-esque Poppy has had a major influence on the trend (and she’s now got two Grammy nominations to prove it). Her first full-blown foray into metal, 2019’s I Disagree, could have been an aside in her burgeoning career as a dance/synth-pop artist; in hindsight, it was a turning point. Now sporting a massive audience among heavy music circles, Poppy cemented her place as a forerunner of modern alt-metal with Negative Spaces. It’s a more serious statement compared to I Disagree, which still had a sense youthful rebelliousness to it. Here, she’s cold and calculated, the songs following the harsher vibe of her many recent song collaborations with artists such as HEALTH, Knocked Loose, and Bad Omens. — J. Hadusek

Supergroups can be hit and miss, but Better Lovers belted a home run with their full-length debut, Highly Irresponsible. It's certainly notable that the members hail from acclaimed acts like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, and Fit for an Autopsy, but regardless of the pedigree, this is one of the most exciting hardcore bands on the planet right now. Frontman Greg Puciato and crew keep listeners guessing on each song, which can go from heavy as hell to downright dreamy. — S. Kaufman

Chelsea Wolfe's latest album is self-described as "a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance." While you wrap your head around that statement, just know that She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She is a gorgeous collection of ambient, gothic, and industrial soundscapes all enhanced by Wolfe's ethereal vocals. — S. Kaufman

Considering the socio-political status quo, if we were ranking these albums based on how well they capture the zeitgeist, Cool World could rank No. 1. There’s no escapism here, only raw assessments of reality. Spoiler alert: the world maybe ain’t so cool after all… though bands like the CoSigned Chat Pile are doing their part in making it more tolerable. Unrelenting touring has made their riff-hitting noise rock absolutely airtight, as captured on Cool World, a worthy follow-up to the OKC band’s 2022 blockbuster God’s Country. — J. Hadusek

Opeth brought back the death growls, but that’s not the only reason why The Last Will and Testament is their best album in years. The band veered pretty far from their death metal roots over the past decade, and this feels like a homecoming — the band’s prog sensibilities once again bolstered by their proficient heavy metal chops. From the artwork down through the production and avant-garde dabblings, there’s a sense of unsettling gothic horror coursing throughout the record. We believe Mikael Åkerfeldt when says that he only busts out the death growls when the songs demand it — and these songs demand it. The Last Will and Testament is the darkest, most harrowing Opeth record in well over a decade. — J. Hadusek

Alcest continue to masterfully blend beauty and chaos in their music a quarter century into their career. Call it post-black metal, blackgaze, or whatever you want, but the French act's latest full-length effort and seventh overall, Les Chants de l'Aurore, is another stunning work in their impressive discography. Elements of '80s new wave and '90s alt-rock are evident alongside extreme metal components, as heard on the absolutely captivating single "Flamme Jumelle." — S. Kaufman

Amyl and the Sniffers had a breakout year in 2024, including a recent cover story right here at Consequence, and with good reason: the Aussie pub-rockers are bringing back fun, excitement, and a welcome bit of danger to the punk scene. Singer Amy Taylor is taking names along the way, flexing her muscle on Cartoon Darkness with infectious songs like "Jerkin'" and "U Should Not Be Doing That." — Spencer Kaufman