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MMA Community Picks - Best of 2024 Voting Thread |
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Nightfly 
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 Topic: MMA Community Picks - Best of 2024 Voting ThreadPosted: 30 Nov 2024 at 7:20am |
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Metal Music Archives Community
Picks – Best of 2024. At the end of each year we do a presentation of some sort to
highlight the best/favourite releases of the MMA community. The vote is open to
all – if you have an MMA account and can see this you’re eligible to take part.
The closing date will be Friday 26th January 2025. To take part submit a list of 10 albums/EP’s (or less if you
don’t rate 10 highly enough) released in 2024 that are on MMA (if missing and you think they should be here add them yourself or ask a Collaborator/Admin to do it) with a short paragraph written
about each one. This can be taken from a review you have written for the site
or something totally new. You may also add positive comments for releases in
someone else’s list – just add them to the end of your list. All albums/EP’s released in 2024 are eligible for inclusion
with the exception of NON-METAL. Only include one list but you can edit it as often as you
wish up to the closing date. The presentation won’t be an official ranking as such but
will be listed in order of which albums get the most comments. As an example of how the finished presentation will look
check out last year’s staff picks – [url]https://www.metalmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18843&FID=79&PR=3&title=mma-best-of-2023-staff-picks[/url] Edited by Nightfly - 30 Nov 2024 at 7:30am |
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adg211288
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Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 22293 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2024 at 8:00am |
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Comments will follow... Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere US death metal act Blood Incantation have been taking the metal world by storm for a few years now, particularly since their last studio album Hidden History of the Human Race from 2019. Having explored other genres on other releases since, including the fully ambient EP Timewave Zero in 2022, their latest record Absolute Elsewhere is their most diverse record yet, containing two epic songs in three parts apiece that merge progressive death metal with ideas from space rock and Berlin School progressive electronic and featuring diverse guest performances including Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream. The resulting record is a tour de force highlighting just where the death metal genre can be taken when a band doesn't limit themselves to genre conventions on extremity. Opeth - The Last Will and Testament Opeth returns to the extreme progressive metal sound which made them their name, but don't expect an album that leaves what they've been doing since Heritage forgotten and neglected. A superb release that is like a coming together of the old and the new, as well as their first concept album since Still Life. Opeth is not back, because they never went away, but those who have missed the old Opeth have double cause to celebrate this fourteenth studio album from the now legendary Swedish band. A work which stands up with their very best. Dvne - Voidkind I've been casually following the UK's progressive/sludge/post-metal act Dvne since their first album Asheran and been impressed by them, but with Voidkind, their third studio album, they've gone next level for me. The kind of album that makes one not only pay close attention to it but drives the need to revisit their back catalogue with renewed interest. I liked them before. Voidkind made me a fan. Frozen Crown - War Hearts Italy's Frozen Crown are, for my money, among the best modern power metal bands who have released their first album within the last ten years. War Hearts is their fifth and they show no sign of losing any steam. While this sort of band rarely breaks the mould, power metal tends to be a genre where it's about ticking boxes and excellent at what they do. Frozen Crown does that in spades. Great vocals, a triple guitarist line-up delivering melody and leads galore, and infectious songs. Can't ask for more from a power metal record. Hail Spirit Noir - Fossil Gardens Greek act Hail Spirit Noir has been going through periods of change following their first three albums that stuck to the same psychedelic black metal style. They chucked the black metal out on Eden in Reverse and then on Mannequins made a synthwave album. With Fossil Gardens, their sixth studio album, the band has returned to black metal albeit it in a progressive take, rather than returning to the sound which got them off the ground. It's different but still easily has the identity of a Hail Spirit Noir release and means that the band's last four albums have sounded nothing like each other. Ihsahn - Ihsahn I think that Ihsahn has long transcended the work he did with Emperor by adopting an extreme progressive metal sound as a solo artist, but on this self-titled studio album, his eighth, we get something of a throwback to Emperor's symphonic approach. This is not Ihsahn's full return to black metal roots however, but it certainly stands out as different in terms of his solo output. While I personally prefer often the more chaotic sounds of After or Eremita, this is a really good release and is also his first full studio album since 2018 although he released three EP's in the intervening years. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield I remember that sometimes we would say of Judas Priest's Painkiller album, which was their twelfth studio album, that an album released that far into a band's career really had no business being so good, much less the album that many would call the band's best. Post-Painkiller the band released a string of lesser to solid albums, but then dropped Firepower in 2018, their best in years. With Invincible Shield however they've only gone and bettered it, releasing not just their new best since Painkiller, but also an album that we will talk about the way we have Painkiller over the years: an album that is the nineteenth of a band who have been going for over fifty years at this point, has no business being as good as this. Borknagar - Fall Borknagar has had some different incarnations over the years they've been together but the current one, dually fronted by ICS Vortex and Lars A. Nedland, has been producing some of the band's strongest works yet. Fall, their twelfth studio album, has many claims to being their best yet and has musical nods to all eras of the band including their early Viking metal work. A someone who has to confess to feeling that this band peaked in the 1990s to early 2000s, it's an album that has made me reassess their last few releases as well Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All Nile is a brutal technical death metal powerhouse of a band. Although losing long-time vocalist/guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade in 2017 was a blow for their ever-changing line-up, Karl Sanders has soldiered on and following the solid Vile Nilotic Rites in 2019, has produced one of their best albums in the form of The Underworld Awaits Us All. Simone Simons - Vermillion Although it only bears the name of the Epica vocalist, Vermillion was written and performed in collaboration with Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen and represents one of two studio albums he put out in 2024, as well as being the strongest one, albeit as well the more typically Lucassen sounding one. As a release from Simone however it's very different to her main band Epica. It perhaps does a disservice to Simone Simons to say that it feels much more like a Lucassen album than her solo album, but the fact remains that, for me, it's rather a match made in heaven release; my favourite composer/instrumentalist and my favourite singer. Comments for other nominations I'll add comments here for releases other's write about that I have something to say about.
Edited by adg211288 - 04 Dec 2024 at 4:14am |
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UMUR
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Errors & Omissions Team / Retired Admin Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 18250 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2024 at 10:01am |
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This is the list of the 2024 albums I have reviewed so far. The top 10 may change before the poll closes: Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere - n/a (Adam has made a comment, so I won´t). Deceased - Children of the Morgue - "Children of the Morgue" is probably not the album which will break new
ground for Deceased and at this point in their career I´m pretty sure
that´s not their main goal either. These guys just want to play the type
of metal that they love and occasionally make it available to their
fans and they are arguably successful in doing that. High on Fire - Cometh the Storm - So it´s the songwriting and the production values which set one High on
Fire album apart from the other albums by the band, and to my ears
"Cometh the Storm" is in the better end of the High on Fire album
releases, both when it comes to the memorability of the compositions and
certainly when it comes to the sound production (as mentioned above). Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All - "The Underworld Awaits Us All" is another high quality death metal
release from Nile. Sanders and co. are still among the elite death metal
artists in the world, and "The Underworld Awaits Us All" further
cements that fact. Devin Townsend - PowerNerd - Even within this relatively simple vers/chorus structured format
Townsend is able to show his musical ingenuity and geniality. Although
it´s not as apparent on "PowerNerd" as on other preceding more
experimental releases, it´s still pretty clear that he is a
one-of-a-kind genius, who is able to make even relatively staight
forward music sound intriguing, energetic, and powerful. The Black Dahlia Murder - Servitude - Faced with an immense tragedy The Black Dahlia Murder never wavered (at
least not publicly) and almost immediately vowed to treturn with a new
lineup and keep the band going, and "Servitude" is the proof that they
did the right thing. I´m sure Strnad would have been proud of the
result. Defiled - Horror Beyond Horror - "Horror Beyond Horror" is a natural successor to "The
Highest Level", but to my ears Defiled have made better production
choices this time around, and therefore "Horror Beyond Horror" is a step
up in quality from the last release (which itself wasn´t a bad release
at all). Defiled just seem to thrive better when they apply more organic
sounding productions to their music, like they do here. My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding - Highlights include "Thornwyck Hymn" and the 11:22 minutes long "The
Apocalyptist", but as always My Dying Bride are impressive in terms
consistency, and there´s nothing on this album, which isn´t quality
material. Vltimas - Epic - "Epic" is a death metal release for those who enjoy their death metal
with a touch of sophistication and variation, and who aren´t afraid to
hear a death metal vocalist experiment with his voice and vocal style. Bleedskin - Homicidal Therapy - Bleedskin won´t surprise you with anything you haven´t heard before on
similar releases, but they are the type of band who bring the goods. Power,
passion, brutality... you get it all here and it´s delivered with the
right amount of caustic aggression and conviction. Neckbreakker - Within the Visceria Manes - Pathei Mathos Primal Code - Opaque Fixation 200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures Nocturnus AD - Unicursal Kerry King - From Hell I Rise Cavalera Conspiracy - Schizophrenia Exhorder - Defectum Omnium Evildead - Toxic Grace Nails - Every Bridge Burning Vale of Pnath - Between the Worlds of Life and Death Aborted - Vault of Horrors Deicide - Banished By Sin Detest - A World Drowning in Detest Six Feet Under - Killing for Revenge
Morta Skuld - Creation Undone Pestilence - Levels of Perception Edited by UMUR - 08 Dec 2024 at 6:57am |
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DippoMagoo
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Power & Neo, Goth & Symph, Prog/AG Teams Joined: 31 Aug 2014 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 3087 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2024 at 2:12pm |
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Ensiferum - Winter Storm
Ensiferum have always been one of the best in the world when it comes to blending folk metal and MDM, and their past couple releases have seen them up the ante by going all in on their power metal elements, without losing any of their defining elements, to create something truly special. This one is a bit less catchy and less immediate than Thalassic, but if anything it's even more epic than ever, and it has some absolutely stunning instrumental portions and an entertaining story, to go along with the fantasticvocals and choruses, which are still as prominent as ever. Visions of Atlantis - Pirates II: Armada VoA have stepped up their game consderably ever since Clementine Delauney joined, and this is their best release yet, combining the kind of catchy, cinematic symphonic metal fans would expect from the genre, with some fun, speedy power metal, as well as elements of folk metal on a couple tracks, some great ballads, and two great epic length tracks. There's a bit of something for all symphonic metal fans, but for how varied the album is, it's also the band's most consistently engaging release to date, and one of the best symphonic metal albums in recent years/ Fellowship - The Skies Above Eternity Fellowship burst onto the scene a few years ago, with The Saberlight Chronicles, one of the best power metal debuts I've ever heard, as well as pssoibly the happiest, most optimistic album ever made, in a genre that is often known to very upbeat and happy. This album continues with that, and has some very upbeat tempos and fantastic musicianship, with some very beautiful, happy sounding passages, but some depth is added, with some darker lyrics themes, to help make for a very interesting combination. New Horizon - Conquerors Nils Molin is one of the best melodic metal singers in the world right now, and this album allows him to go all out, with some absolutely killer choruses and vocal melodies. Musically, it's a mix of speedy power metal and more laidback, mid-paced melodic metal, with a big focus on choruses, though there is some excellent musicianship as well. Hypersonic - Khaosmogonia This band has improved a lot over the years, and this is their best work to date, with a mix of everything I love about symphonic metal, from epic orchestral arrangements, to fantastic vocals, some power metal, some lighter tracks, and it also has quite a bit of MDM and some gothic influences, all of which is done perfectly. Songwriting is dynamic and quite complex at times, and musically there's a lot going on, and it can get quite heavy at times, but there's also some fantastic melodies. Powerwolf - Wake up the Wicked Powerwolf is a band that figured their formula out ages ago with Lupus Dei, perfected it with Bible of the Beast, and everything they've done since has simply built on that foundation, largely sticking to a familiar formula, but staying consistently addictive and fun. Wake up the Wicked is very much more of the same, with a big foucs on huge, anthemic choruses, church organs and an overall intense atmosphere, but it also feels like it has some of their speediest, most classic power metal sounding tracks in quite some time, and if anything, it's one of their most energetic and more inspired releases since Bible of the Beast. Dragony - Hic svnt dracones Dragony have always done a great job of mixing together elements of classic power metal, symphonic metal and even a bit of AOR on some of their lighter, more melodic tracks. All of this continues on this album, and it of course has some of their absolute best, most epic and most anthemic choruses to date, but it also has more of cinematic feel than any of their past albums, with a major emphasis on symphonic elements, and the band pulls that of perfectly. it's all centered by the epic length title track, which is one of the band's best, most ambitious tracks to date. Manticora - Mycelium Manticora have always fallen deeply into the heavier, darker side of power metal, with albums like 8 Deadly Sins and Safe cementing them as masters of what I like to call "Brutal Power Metal", blending in influences of MDM, thrash and prog, with their usual classic power metal sound to create something heavier, and more intense than one might expect from the genre. After a couple more experiemntal albums, Mycelium largely feels like a return to what the band does best, and it has some of their best, most dynamic songwriting to date. Timeless Fairytale - A Story to Tell Original Royal Hunt vocalist Henrik Brockmann has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist Luca Sellitto to create a new album that very much feels like a speedier, more power metal based take on classic Royal Hunt, with the keyboards, vocals and symphonic arrangements in particular sounding quite familiar, though songwriting is a bit more dynamic and at times more complex than I was expecting, while still having plenty of catchy choruses. It's centered by the epic length title track, which happens to be one of the very best metal ballads I've heard in a long time, with the lengthy instrumental section in the middle being especially fantastic. Tyr - Battle Ballads The name is a lie, because there certainly isn't much balladry to be found here, LOL Jokes aside, this is Tyr doing what they do best, which is speedy, fun, energetic and super catchy folk-tinged power metal. Compared to some of their past albums, this one is a bit less dynamic and compelx, but instead it's simply an epic, incredibly fun and addicting album, with absolutely incredible choruses and vocal melodies, as well as the occasional nice softer passages to mix things up a bit. Additional Comments: Simone Simons - Vermillion A fulll on collaboration between Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen and Epica vocalist Simone Simons, sure feels like something I'd only hear in a dream, but it is in fact real, and it is every bit as excellent as I was hoping ti would be. It's essentially what Ayreon fans would expect musically, with a bit of Star One added in on a couple tracks, though overall it falls on the softer, more vocal driven side of things, unsurprisingly considering who the singer is. There's some nice guest performances as well, and a couple tracks add in some industrial elements, which is the biggest surprise of the album. Opeth - The Last Will and Testament Indeed, this album does mark the long awaited return of Mikael Akerfeldt's growls, and it has some of their heaviest, most dynamic tracks since Ghost Reveries, but it also maintains the jazz elements and smooth clean vocals from the past few releases. If anything, it feels like somewhat of a fusion between old and new Opeth, resulting in one of their most complex and adventurous albums to date. Edited by DippoMagoo - 15 Dec 2024 at 8:04pm |
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Vim Fuego
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Death, T/S/G, Grind, VA Teams Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Location: Canterbury, NZ Status: Offline Points: 6618 |
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Posted: 30 Nov 2024 at 8:25pm |
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Working list. top 4 pretty much settled. Cancer Christ - God Is Violence
Exhorder - Defectum Omnium UltraVomit - Ultra Vomit et le Pouvoir le Puissance Morta Skuld - Creation Undone Judas Priest - Invincible Shield DragonForce - Warp Speed Warriors My Dying Bride - A Mortal Binding Striker - Ultrapower F.K.U. - The Horror and The Metal Korpiklaani - Rankarumpa High On Fire - Cometh The Storm Devilskin - Surfacing FerreTT - Glamdemic Accept - Humanoid Raised By Owls - Vol.3: (The Satirical Verses) Kerry King - From Hell I Rise The Troops of Doom - A Mass to the Grotesque Texas Toast Chainsaw Massacre - Super Turbo Master - Saints Dispelled Birdflesh - Faster Than A Piest Vomit Carnal Diafragma - The Garden of Earthly Delight Japanische Kampfhorspiele - Zuruck Im Dreck (Back to ze Roots 2) Anvil - One and Only Pagan Impaler - Buried Alive 200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures Fleshgod Apocalypse - Opera Deicide - Banished by Sin Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All |
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Nightfly
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Posted: 05 Dec 2024 at 2:17pm |
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Just getting a few down for now, some may be replaced and comments to be added once finalised.
Opeth - The last Will And Testament Opeth are one of the few bands that can still surprise me.
You never know what you’re going to get next from them. In Cauda Venenum had
more metal in it than they’d had for years but The Last Will And Testament also
brings back the death growls, something I thought would never happen. It’s a
mixture of old and new, Ghost Reveries being the nearest past reference. Not to
take anything away from recent releases it’s their finest body of work since at
least Watershed and up there with their best albums. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield Following the excellent Firepower from 2018 Invincible Shield
finds Judas Priest on a roll and not only equalling it, but bettering it. The relentless
onslaught of the first three songs alone is enough to cement their reputation as
the greatest heavy metal band of all. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose Bewitcher - Spell Shock Anciients - Beyond The Reach Of The Sun Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All Undeath - More Insane Portrait - The Host Edited by Nightfly - 20 hours 18 minutes ago at 8:42am |
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666sharon666
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Posted: 4 hours 39 minutes ago at 12:21am |
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I'm just going to write out a number of comments and then sort then into a top 10 later and leave any additional ones that others nominated below the main submission. For now in no particular order (will try to add 2-3 a day until near the deadline then finalise):
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere Blood Incantation is going to be one of those bands that in years to come is going to be described as a seminal death metal act of their time. On their third album Absolute Elsewhere they meld diverse influences into a unique progressive metal journey. Opeth - The Last Will and Testament I hadn't realised just how much I wanted a new Opeth album that sounded like this. I've spent the last few albums they've made gradually accepting their change in direction, the culmination of which was their best prog rock album yet in In Cauda Venenum and then they go and do this. Welcome back, Mikael and co.
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