It may not feel like it, but year-end list season is here, and as always, the first major metal list out the gate is from Decibel. The list will appear with write-ups in Decibel‘s January issue, but like every year, they’ve shared the list online beforehand.
Decibel editor in chief Albert Mudrian writes, “If a record you loved isn’t featured in the following 14 pages, its exclusion is not a personal affront to you. Conversely, if any album you absolutely loathe appears, it doesn’t render the list an abject failure. A more likely conclusion is that arriving at consensus between nearly three dozen contributors spanning six decades of metal fandom is, to put it mildly, an imperfect exercise.”
As we’ve come to expect from Decibel, it’s a great list that spans a variety of different eras and subgenres of metal, including all different types of death, black, sludge, doom, prog, and more. The list includes Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, Spectral Wound, Gatecreeper, Inter Arma, Crypt Sermon, Tribulation, Judas Priest, Hulder, 200 Stab Wounds, Ripped to Shreds, Ulcerate, Terminal Nation, Opeth, Undeath, Full of Hell, The Black Dahlia Murder, Nails, Chat Pile, High On Fire, Darkthrone, Paysage d’Hiver, Oranssi Pazuzu, and more.
Read on for the full list. Can you guess their #1?
Decibel’s Top 40 Albums of 2024
40 Anciients, Beyond the Reach of the Sun, Season of Mist
39 Departure Chandelier, Satan Soldier of Fortune, Nuclear War Now
38 Oranssi Pazuzu, Muuntautuja, Nuclear Blast
37 Darkthrone, It Beckons Us All ……., Peaceville
36 Yoth Iria, Blazing Inferno, Edged Circle
35 Vicious Blade, Relentless Force, Redefining Darkness
34 High on Fire, Cometh the Storm, MNRK
33 Deceased, Children of the Morgue, Hells Headbangers
32 Oxygen Destroyer, Guardian of the Universe, Redefining Darkness
31 Midnight, Hellish Expectations, Metal Blade
30 Lucifer, Lucifer V, Century Media
29 Paysage d’Hiver, Die Berge, Kunsthall Produktionen
28 Glacial Tomb, Lightless Expanse, Prosthetic
27 Chat Pile, Cool World, The Flenser
26 Apparition, Disgraced Emanations from a Tranquil State, Profound Lore
25 Nails, Every Bridge Burning, Nuclear Blast
24 Hellbutcher, Hellbutcher, Metal Blade
23 Black Curse, Burning in Celestial Poison, Sepulchral Voice
22 The Black Dahlia Murder, Servitude, Metal Blade
21 Full of Hell, Coagulated Bliss, Closed Casket
20 Undeath, More Insane, Prosthetic
19 Dödsrit, Nocturnal Will, Wolves of Hades
18 Opeth, The Last Will and Testament, Reigning Phoenix Music
17 Terminal Nation, Echoes from the Devil’s Den, 20 Buck Spin
16 Ulcerate, Cutting the Throat of God, Debemur Morti Productions
15 Spectral Voice, Sparagmos, Dark Descent
14 Ripped to Shreds, Sanshi, Relapse
13 200 Stab Wounds, Manual Manic Procedures, Metal Blade
12 Hulder, Verses in Oath, 20 Buck Spin
11 Mother of Graves, The Periapt of Absence, Profound Lore
10 Necrot, Lifeless Birth, Tankcrimes
9 Inter Arma, New Heaven, Relapse
8 Julie Christmas, Ridiculous and Full of Blood, Red Crk
7 Gatecreeper, Dark Superstition, Nuclear Blast
6 Tzompantli, Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force, 20 Buck Spin
5 Tribulation, Sub Rosa In Æternum, Century Media
4 Judas Priest, Invincible Shield, Sony
3 Spectral Wound, Songs of Blood and Mire, Profound Lore
2 Blood Incantation, Absolute Everywhere, Century Media
1 Crypt Sermon, The Stygian Rose, Dark Descent