Time to stop messing around and do this. Top 6 because I feel very strongly about all of these:
6. Time II - Wintersun
Immediately torpedoing my credibility is the entry that compelled me to not be normal & do a top 5. It felt wrong to put this above the other albums as this is 15+ year old material, and it does sound like it (besides the disgusting modern production Jari slathered this in - which inexplicably works for me, but I get the criticisms behind the mix); however, to me this was such an awe-inspiring work of artistic ambition. Whether intentionally or not, the music and lyrics Jari wrote for this project do an excellent job embodying the strife of a perfectionist artist, and the weight they carry once the burden of a project becomes far too heavy for them to bear. Time II is basically a metatextual album about Time II, and I’m not sure there could’ve been a better result for the project short of Jari opening the metaphysical gates to musical utopia.
A maximalist orgy of synthesized orchestras and guitar virtuosity that chronicles the years-long internal struggle of someone who is, for better and for worse, a maverick and a visionary. Jari and Wintersun are largely treated as a joke in the metal community - I can’t help but admire the ambition that fueled this project, faulty as it may have been. This has stayed in my rotation since it dropped. Silver Leaves is not very great though, and it’s one more thing that keeps this from placing higher as it is the long-ass closer. The album ends with a bit of a whimper, but the first 35 of 48 minutes are near-perfect for what this is.
5. Challengers (Original Score) - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
One of the bands that I spent a long time in a hole with this year was Nine Inch Nails, and that’s largely a consequence of this album. Challengers was my favorite 2024 movie that I watched within the year (jury is still out for Nosferatu), and the score did a lot to elevate it beyond “good movie” for me. The music that Reznor and Ross put together for this film is kinetic, dangerous, sexy, and exciting. This duo has of course shown what they’re capable of with their David Fincher scores, but this has to be one of their best scoring efforts independent of the movie it came from - this is awesome “lock-in” music for focusing, going fast, doing work. If you’re into electronic or dance music (or bisexual tennis love triangles), you have a duty to spend some time with this.
4. The Last WILL and TESTAMENT - Opeth
Anybody who was unfortunate enough to spend time discussing music with me in the last half of 2024 knows that I am far too interested in old-school Prog Rock currently, and have been since the summer. When I heard Opeth was releasing a new album, I was hoping for the sunniest Progpeth album yet - and then they announced death growls would be coming back! Disappointing. Not all was lost, though, as a release that could’ve been effortless nostalgia pandering was, in fact, a trojan horse for perhaps the most spiritually Prog Opeth effort yet. This work is fairly inaccessible, foregoing a lot of the hookiness and choruses that make some of Opeth’s most beloved work stick out.
The album is structured as a 7-part prog suite, with an acoustic ballad that serves as an epilogue and twist to the narrative of the preceding 7 tracks. It’s a very linear work, with each song moving seamlessly to the next without much dwelling on what came before. The music itself is winding and twisty, very drenched in Opeth’s classic spooky atmosphere. The guitars on here have plenty of moments where they shine, but in some ways it feels like drums and keys play a more prominent role throughout the album - and the occasional flute showcase by the legendary Ian Anderson gives the work a little extra character.
Opeth is a goofy band run by a goofy man, and the sooner Opeth fans accept that the sooner they will know peace. Thank you, Mikael Akerfeldt, for your funny Succession fanfiction and the jubilant "HEY"s you graced us with on this album. Shine on.
3. Brat and it’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat - Charli XCX
Including this edition because, officially, it includes Brat, the Deluxe tracks, and the Remix album.
Brat on its own probably would’ve been a spot or two lower - it’s essentially a perfect pop album steeped in the PC Music DNA that has made Charli a cult hero in years leading up to this. I’ve been into Charli for a couple of years now, and I was very happy with Brat upon release - though I felt that, in a vacuum, it may not be singularly special within her broader catalogue. The remix album completely changed that. This probably still isn’t my favorite Charli release, but it’s her most ambitious by far - impressively so. Rumors of the remix album started rumbling almost right when Brat was released, and the singles she released to tease this second project set my expectations fairly low. The Guess and Girl, So Confusing Remixes, while not being without merit, suggested that the remix album would be a who’s who of modern pop girlies with new verses tacked onto the originals.
Thankfully, the project was not at all that. Brat Remix was clearly written largely after the massive success that Brat achieved - so much of the material present is in dialogue with the original tracks, reflecting on these thoughts and feelings after a sudden massive change in Charli’s life and perspective. Forget ambitious for Charli, I’m not aware of any mainstream pop record that exists in a context like this with a sister album. The Brat work, as a whole, is so immensely rewarding. I’m so happy to have been following this rollout every step of the way, this is without a doubt one of the eras that will define 2020s pop culture.
Also, the Mean Girls remix is centered around an interpolation of the melody from Yes’s Owner of a Lonely Heart. I’d like to think this was done purely to appease me.
2. The New Sound - Geordie Greep
Here’s surprise of the year for me. When I was at the deepest point in the prog hole, JRO’s resident chimney advocate recommended I check out black midi. I did quite like them - and I do intend to spend more time with them - but the prevailing feeling while listening was that the alchemy was somehow slightly off. All of the elements that make up black midi are almost cherry-picked for my enjoyment, but it never ascended to something I truly needed in my life. So when I started seeing buzz for the black midi guy’s new album, I was mildly intrigued but not in a rush to listen. About a month ago when I started my year-end roundup I decided to sit with this. It was the one thing I checked out during this period that ended up on this list, and as you can see, it did pretty well for itself!
This guy is 25, man. You’ve gotta be kidding me. If he stays consistent with this output, he could be a generational musician. That’s not to say he’s the sole credit here - there’s such a broad spectrum of instrumentation on here, the massively-talented session musicians present deserve their due as well - but as a writer and a curator of ideas, I am so excited to see what Greep gets up to next. This album is progressive, jazzy, art rock, and filled with Latin flavor. It contains such a broad range of influences, woven together so effortlessly. These ideas and sounds work in service of one another, and the result is probably the most interesting and daring album I heard all year. It isn’t perfect - I still am not really jiving with the 12-minute behemoth The Magician, and this slight shakiness kept this work from usurping the top spot for this year. He’s primed to easily take it with his next release if he grows further by then.
1. Children of the Moon - State Faults
Perhaps this is an indictment of my tastes, or maybe screamo has quietly been thriving in the 2020s - in 2022, Birds in Row’s Gris Klein was my AOTY, while 2023’s Glare by Loma Prieta was among the top spots for that year. 2024 is claimed once more by screamo stalwarts, this time the mighty State Faults. Their first album since 2019, much-delayed after hardships for the band. This album even existing is so unlikely, as 2019’s Clairvoyant was also plagued by similar difficulties in production.
What seemed even more unlikely than this album’s existence was its palatability - I love this band so I was anticipating the release, but my stomach sank when I saw the running time of 62 minutes. I’ve started appreciating shorter and more concise albums in recent years, and that’s especially true for albums in the hardcore landscape. This album is difficult to approach on an initial listen, but rest assured, the material on this record is all placed carefully and intentionally. It’s properly paced as a double album, too, so the glut of material becomes digestible once you have a feeling for the work. The songs here can be punishing and overwhelming, but the senses of melodicism and melancholy make this experience one that is never bitter or unpleasant.
This is melodic screamo at its finest: shimmering and tasteful leads, punishing drums, groovy basslines, one of the best vocalists in the scene, all with a masterful cinematic quality in its composition. There are two epics on this that hover around the ten minute mark, and somehow both of these songs are entirely essential for their entire runtime. In this sense State Faults is remarkable within the modern screamo/post-hxc landscape, as I struggle to think of any other band operating within that framework who could put out something on this level. Now if only this band would ever leave the West Coast of the US…manifesting one of the bigger screamo outfits taking them across the country.
