Our Top 12 Albums of 2024
Hello readers of BleakBlog! Sean here. Anyone who has ever stopped to chat with us knows that we absolutely love music here at Bleak Boutique. It's the inspiration for most of our soaps as well as the driving force that keeps us going while traveling to shows, designing new products, picking orders, and everything else we do here at Bleak HQ. As we jump feet-first into another new year, we'd like to call attention to the albums that kept us moving throughout all of 2024. In no particular order:
Hemotoxin, When Time Becomes Loss
If you've ever spoken to me about death metal of the '90s (a common theme of our soap names), I've no doubt rambled on about Death, Cynic, and Atheist. Or, if you prefer, the first wave of technical death metal bands. It's a sound that a lot of modern tech-death bands try to replicate, but it never hits the same way as those originals of the genre. Until When Time Becomes Loss. This one sounds like a time capsule. It's an utter gem of great tech-death songwriting. Yes, it could be boiled down to being extremely competent mid-period Death worship, but it takes me right back to being a snot-nosed metal kid trying to figure out "Trapped in a Corner" by ear in my room. That feeling alone makes this one for the ages.
Thou, Umbilical
Then we have Thou. Impossibly sludgy, heavy, noisy, and impenetrably distorted Thou. This is their first proper full-length since 2018's Magus (not counting their amazing collaboration albums with Emma Ruth Rundle and Mizmor), and listening to it is like being hit with a depth charge. The first moment you press play, the air might completely leave your body and leave you shuddering on the floor. It's Thou's songcraft, however, that will pick you up and keep you coming back for listen after listen. There are some great hooks to be found amidst the carnage. From the chorus riff in "The Promise" that seems steeped in early '90s grunge to the droning, rhythmic end of "House of Ideas," there are so many amazing moments on this album that calling each one out would keep me here all night.
Ulcerate, Cutting the Throat of God
Ulcerate is one of the most identifiable bands in modern technical death metal, and one of the hardest to describe. The music is dissonant but dense, post-metal but utterly immediate and brutally crushing. Memorable in all the right ways. The songs on Cutting the Throat of God will wash over you in a wall of sound, and you'll come out better for the experience.
Blood Incantation, Absolute Elsewhere
Critics have been buzzing about the new Blood Incantation, and the hype is entirely justified. Seemingly drawing equal parts musical influence from the old-school death metal of the 1990s to the concept albums of Pink Floyd, Absolute Elsewhere is an album that will take you places. This has become one that I've liked to let run in the background for the last few months—from making dinner to cutting and wrapping soap, this album has been a constant companion. Give the music video a look—it's a 20-minute epic. Maybe it won't be for you, but maybe, just maybe, you'll want to take a trip to Absolute Elsewhere with us.
Nox Novacula, Feed the Fire
Feed the Fire is another sleek slab of immaculate deathrock from these goth luminaries. Pulling influences from genre icons and bending them to build their own unique sound seems to be Nox Novacula's specialty, and this album continues their streak of perfect releases. From the pulsing opening beat of "Stay" (that lilts and dissolves under the weight of somber lyrics and downbeat riffs) to the iconic and inky chorus of "Flood," every single song on this album is a banger. We listened to this one on repeat driving home from our show at World Oddities Expo in Milwaukee, and months later I've still got these songs in my head.
Defeated Sanity, Chronicles of Lunacy
If the brutal technical death metal genre was (arguably) jumpstarted with Suffocation's Pierced from Within, Defeated Sanity has picked up the torch and run an ultramarathon with it. From the speedy gravity blasts of "Accelerating the Rot" to the brain melt of "Temporal Disintegration" to that utterly head-bobbing intro to "Condemned to Vascular Famine" (right before the bass joins in and makes your brain leak out of your nose—and then the track explodes hard enough to make you instinctively check for shrapnel), there's not a single moment on Chronicles of Lunacy that doesn't drive home one point: Defeated Sanity are the current kings of the genre. Hail.
Oranssi Pazuzu, Muuntatuja
Fans of Bleak Boutique know we have a healthy appreciation for the more unique takes on black metal, and Oranssi Pazuzu is solidly within our realm of weird. This album is one to let steep in your brain, much like tea. Start on track one, press play, and let it soak. There are so many individually cool moments present on Muuntatuja that I would be here all night if I tried to call them all out. I've never heard trip-hop blended with black metal before, but "Hautatuuli" made me want more. The steady rhythm of "Valotus" is one to get your head nodding, especially near the midpoint when the piano dances around the bass drone, until it utterly explodes in your frontal cortex with distorted bombast, leaving no survivors. If Blood Incantation takes you places, Oranssi Pazuzu can be said to do the same. They just might not be places you originally thought you'd want to travel. Let's get weird together, Bleak fam.
Necrowretch, Swords of Dajjal
Necrowretch has put out one immaculate slab of blackened death metal with Swords of Dajjal. Their sense of songcraft is nothing short of amazing, from the build-up in "The Fifth Door" to that iconic intro in "Dii Mauri" that soon explodes into an unmitigated blastbeat so audacious, the transition will make you equip your finest scowl. "Vae Victus" starts with a brutal rolling bombast that falls into a mid-song stomp beat anthemic enough to make you pump your fist into the air involuntarily. There are so many individual moments on this album that make me happy to be a metalhead. This is also undoubtedly the album that Jen, the main driving force behind Bleak Boutique, has listened to the most in 2024. If you like black metal, this one is a must.
Chat Pile, Cool World
Describing Chat Pile is incredibly difficult. Imagine the rhythm section of Godflesh with drum and bass in lockstep, the guitar tone of Converge, mostly spoken-word vocals, and the songwriting sensibility of a band that could have been a part of the early 1990s heavy alternative scene. If the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games were still a thing, Chat Pile would be on the soundtrack. Even the music video we've linked here for "Masc" could almost be an evil Primus video— maybe a modern sequel to "Mr. Krinkle," but with extra psychological horror. Cool World has bits of heavy alternative, chunks of sludge, sprinkles of nu metal, a dash of grunge, a snifter of hardcore, and a whole lot of noise rock. From the heavy grunge intro of “Shame” that launches into a post-punk chorus detailing a global tragedy, or the dissonant sludge riffing and armed robbery narration of “Frownland,” to the ethereal guitar stabs ringing out over “Masc” while subdued vocals speak to the experience of being an outsider, there are just so many great moments here. By far, Cool World is the album I've listened to the most in 2024. If you've sat still long enough, I'm sure you've heard me talk about it. "Dude. Dudedudedude. Chat Pile." I'm not sorry.
200 Stab Wounds, Manual Manic Procedures
To keep it brief, 200 Stab Wounds plays an ultra-heavy take on old-school death metal. Manual Manic Procedures continues the hot streak the band has been on since its inception and feels like the natural evolution of 2021's Slave to the Scalpel. While that effort felt like an inked-with-entrails love letter to Mortician (and bands of that ilk), this album treads considerably broader ground. The songwriting here is tight and punchy. The band sounds invigorated, and each song feels like attending Riff School. Every rhythm is as catchy as this flavor of death metal gets; the guitar leads are tasteful and keep the dank abattoir vibes flowing, the bass is punchy but still grossly guttural, and the drums are just tasty. Check out the linked video for "Gross Abuse" to see what we mean, and maybe you'll want to join us in this Texas Chainsaw Massacre pool party that is Manual Manic Procedures.
Brodequin, Harbinger of Woe
Brodequin has returned with their first full-length in 20 years with Harbinger of Woe, and they sound absolutely wrathful. They have planned, they have practiced, and now their armored killdozer is ready to lay waste to the brutal death metal genre. The production here is nothing short of excellent, and the songwriting trends towards pants-shittingly intense. With their trademark lyrical themes of historical torture, Brodequin explodes into every track with aplomb, hitting every rhythmic transition with ease, never losing momentum, and often leaving you wondering why you're having cold sweats. If intense brutal death is your bag, give Harbinger of Woe a listen, and let's armor-plate a bulldozer together.
Chelsea Wolfe, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Chelsea Wolfe is back with her first proper full-length album after a half-decade of collaborations (like the excellent Converge collab, Bloodmoon) and movie soundtracks (if you haven't seen A24's X yet, I highly recommend it), delivering a genre-defying masterpiece that is, undoubtedly, one of the best of 2024. While we could certainly try to dig through the artists and influences that have contributed to the formation of She Reaches Out, attempting to do so would feel like dissecting an owl pellet. There is just so much here. Is that a wrist bone from Depeche Mode, a toe from Nine Inch Nails, a rib from Tricky, a tail from Smashing Pumpkins, an orbital fragment from Björk? In the end, would it matter? The whole is something that no one else could possibly create, yet it is unmistakably Chelsea Wolfe. Through a disparate sum of parts, she has created an impossibly focused album of textures, subtleties, frayed edges, and haunting vocals that should delight fans of industrial, goth, darkwave, doom metal, trip-hop, shoegaze, and any mixture thereof. A must-listen.