Predominance 🎵 Best Of 2024

Christopher Owens 🎵 with a round up of 2024 for his Predominance series.

Horns up

With a CD renaissance under way, the continued dominance of Taylor Swift, Chappel Roan having to explain the concept of boundaries to her fans, Sabrina Carpenter delivering polished, shimmering pop and Charli XCX declaring that it was “brat summer”, the mainstream landscape remained largely unchanged from last year, proven when it was revealed that the biggest selling rock album of the year was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Only 29 of the Top 200 albums on Billboard's year-end 2024 chart were from rock artists and, out of that 29, only one of them had been released this year (Papercuts by Linkin Park). Even more worryingly, all but five of the 29 were greatest hits collections.

Further proof if needed that the mainstream considers rock to be a defunct genre. However, for those with their ear tuned to the underground, it has been another remarkable year for records. Everything was reviewed on here in 2024 and they are all records that have stuck with me, in some shape or form, throughout the year. That means I loved them. And so should you.

20. Guiltless – Thorns

Claiming that your band “…creates apocalyptic soundscapes in their imaginings of the surreal return to proto-human civilisation, as well as what life might be like for the survivors of the next mass extinction event…” is some claim. Luckily, Guiltless step up to the plate in remarkable form with gigantic, doomy crushers like ‘Devour Collide’ and ‘Dead Eye’ that could function as much as soundtracks for modern living as well as cathartic headbangers.

19. Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced

Having lost interest in them after 2013’s disappointing ‘Honeys’, I have seen the light again and can declare ‘Half Divorced’ a fierce, driving record that is as formidable as anything Pissed Jeans have recorded in the past. ‘Anti-Sapio’ is a particular highlight with its hardcore speed and solo that is 100% effects driven, while ‘Sixty Two Thousand…’ has serious Black Flag vibes.

18. Wasted Death – Season of Evil

Featuring members of USA Nails, Death Pedals, Big Lad, Petbrick and Beggar, this debut LP follows on from two brilliant EP’s and I’m delighted to say that all promises have been fulfilled: the songs are louder, nastier and the production manages to give proceedings a clear sheen while retaining the dirt and chaos needed for this mutant blend of d-beat crossover. Love it.

17. Einsturzende Neubauten – Rampen – apm: Alien Pop Music

Although I enjoyed 2020’s ‘Alles In Allem’ at the time, retrospective listens have revealed a few weaknesses here and there. Thankfully, there is more emphasis on atmosphere, rhythm and melody this time around, creating a late period masterpiece that demonstrates that not only is their creative well truly overflowing but that double albums can also be concise affairs.

16. Rotten UK – Age of Chaos

For their first record since 2016, gothic punks Rotten UK carry on doing what they do best: making music that exists in the quagmire as hardcore punk, thrash metal and goth rock. For those who worship all three genres, it’s mama from heaven. Topped off nicely with a Frank Frazetta cover, it’s place on this list is well deserved.

15. ShitNoise – I Cocked My Gun and Shot My Best Friend

This trio from Monte Carlo (seriously) make noise rock that is unrepentant about its scuzziness, but still manages to throw in riffs that would make late period Sonic Youth fans cream themselves (‘Gum Opera’) and songs that Mudhoney would kick themselves for not writing (‘Pleasant Guff’).

14. Pharmakon – Maggot Mass

Since 2013, Margaret Chardiet has been releasing records that use noise and industrial as a way of looking not just at herself but also at the decay within society. ‘Maggot Mass’ carries on in this vein and is utterly thrilling. Opener ‘Wither and Warp’ revels in its sturm und drang and ‘Splendid Isolation’ feels like a tribal war chant being conducted in a back alleyway.

13. Ritual Error – Dial in the Ghost

The London based post-hardcore outfit return with a remarkable record that envisages scenarios like Tony Blair being haunted by ghosts, nostalgia being poison and the modern band as a war unit. Musically, there are Minutemen and Fugazi references galore. Songs like ‘Life as a Contact Sport’ and ‘Return to Lagos’ are angry, abrasive and enthralling.

12. High Vis – Guided Tour

The third release from the London/Merseyside indie punk act sees them carry on with their blend of baggy, melodic hardcore and Britpop that manages to be defiant and melancholic. ‘Drop Me Out’ sounds like Husker Du via The Enemy, ‘Mind’s a Lie’ is an electro number that (for some reason) reminds me of Section 25 and ‘Feeling Bliss’ has a swagger that belies its lyrics.

11. Hello Mary – Emita Ox

A New York based act, their second LP is a joyous blend of Midwest emo, noise rock and post-punk without ever feeling contrived or self-consciously stuck together. Songs like ‘Float’ start off as gentle and folk like before the tempos speed up and the screams are introduced, while ‘0%’ are throbbing sonic landscapes with some jangly riffage. An LP for autumn.

10. X – Smoke & Fiction

Supposedly the final record from the pioneering LA punk rockers and, if it is, they’ve gone out in style. Billy Zoom’s fascination with fusing punk and rockabilly licks never gets old and the vocal interplay between Exene Cervenka and John Doe is still a treat for the ears. Oh, and DJ still kills on the drums. ‘Sweet till the Bitter End’ is a classic X anthem while ‘Winding Up the Time’ makes nice use of the tremolo bar. Proof that punk rockers get better with age.

9. The The – Ensoulment

The first album of new songs from Matt Johnson since 1999’s ‘NakedSelf’ (although he has been busy with some brilliant soundtracks) has a weight of expectations that would crush the ordinary person. Thankfully, he is back with an album that casts a cold eye over the world we live in and has a sound that is warm, intimate and minimal. Classic The The.

8. Deathfiend – Dark Rising

At last, Johnny Doom’s death metal act deliver a top tier record filled with macerating riffs that hark back to the likes of Entombed, Celtic Frost and Amebix (no bad thing at all of course). Production wise, the songs sound enormous (as if they were playing in a cave) and the songwriting is top notch. ‘Forget Mankind (Desecration Ritual)’ is one of many highlights.

7. Maquina – Prata

From Portugal, Maquina play the sort of music My Disco would make if they lived on downers. Down tuned, bass driven songs that take the drive of krautrock and the mechanical rhythms of industrial rock, they have made one of the grooviest albums of the year. ‘nuff said.

6. The Body – The Crying Out of Things

For their second full length release of 2024 (and first non-collaborative record since 2021) the lads from Providence, Rhode Island have delivered a deep, thick sounding slab of distorted heaviness. Echoes of Kevin Martin’s work aplenty in the hard-hitting beats and scuzzy basslines (‘A Premonition’ is one such example of this). 25 years on, The Body still deliver killer albums.

5. The Jesus Lizard – Rack

From the second that album opener ‘Hide & Seek’ begins, Duane Denison’s riffing makes it obvious that the lads aren’t on auto pilot, while ‘Armistice Day’ is a powerful bluesy stop/start riff that deserves to be stretched out live and ‘What If?’ highlights how tight a rhythm section Sims and McNeilly are. Running to 36 minutes, its polished but no less powerful for it. They may be older but so what?

4. Shellac – To All Trains

Although very much in line with what Shellac have done in the past, the sudden death of Steve Albini just before the release of ‘To All Trains’ adds a starkness to the record which makes the listener sit up and realise that they’ll never hear that guitar tone again. Poignantly, the final track (‘I Don’t Fear Hell’) is a humourous, two fingered salute. He left as he went in.

3. USA Nails – Feel Worse

For their sixth full length in ten years, London based USA Nails carry on being one of the finest noisy, metallic and angular noise-rock acts in the world. Although every album (and split release) has been excellent, this one might be their finest moment owing to a brighter sounding production which captures their cacophonous sound in magnificent fashion.

2. Bad Breeding – Contempt

One of the most exciting acts in the UK are back with some help from tourmate Ben Greenberg (of the equally amazing Uniform). The sound is still noisy industrial punk but the sonics have greater clarity and gleefully attack the listener. Lyrically, the songs question tradition, offer state of the nation addresses and some hope through cleansing anger. Album of the month.

1. Uniform – American Standard

One of the most important bands of the last ten years, NYC’s finest purveyors of post punk/industrial rock return with another punishing and intense listen. The title track is a 21-minute diatribe that builds and builds to a crescendo that invokes black metal intensity and Swans like beauty, while ‘This is Not a Prayer’ demonstrates some staggering drumming and ‘Permanent Embrace’ is a hardcore number done Uniform style. The lads have done it again.

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.