Metal Song of the Summer 2024
Song of the summer, finally wrapping up the 2023 year-end list
Tidying up. A quickie that’s actually more of a longie.
It’s time again to crown a heavy metal song of the summer. If you’re interested in casting a vote for the column that will run in August, you can do so in the form below:
https://forms.gle/57sDtMKkagVL5DU66
The form will be open until August 23. You have time.
If you’re looking for an overview of the concept, you can find that here: https://www.stereogum.com/2234654/metals-song-of-the-summer/columns/the-black-market/
If you’re curious what albums I’ve liked so far this year, you can find that here:
Speedrunning the remainder of the 2023 year-end list (in July, my god) so I can finally get this off my plate and stop having writer’s block and move on with my life. For what it’s worth, I think both of the previous entries are funny, so check those out.
60. Bjeima Report: Yurei - Ad Aqua / Alfa Obscura - Sisyfos Speil (Bjeima)
From: Oslo, Norway
Genre: prog / black metal
59. Urosepsis - Exploratory Autopsy (New Standard Elite)
From: San Antonio, TX
Genre: brutal death metal
58. MDMA - Organic (Reality Fade Records)
From: Bilbao, Spain
Genre: brutal death metal
57. Paroxysm Unit - Fragmentation // Stratagem (New Standard Elite)
From: Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Genre: brutal death metal
56. Extremely Hard Bop Report: Meticulous Butchery - Quasi-Sentient Decentralization / Tantric Bile - Amidst The Manifolds Of Adraa / Gorenette Coleman - Tomorrow I'll Be Festerin'! (Putrefactive Recordings)
From: California, USA
Genre: extremely hard bop
55. Godflesh - Purge (Avalanche Recordings)
From: Birmingham, United Kingdom
Genre: industrial
54. Woe - Legacies of Frailty (Vendetta Records)
From: Queens, NY
Genre: black metal
53. Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific (Metal Blade Records)
From: Buffalo, NY
Genre: death metal
52. Thin - Dusk (Twelve Gauge Records)
From: New York, NY
Genre: mathcore / grind
51. Majesties - Vast Reaches Unclaimed (20 Buck Spin)
From: Minnesota / Massachusetts / Pennsylvania, USA
Genre: melodeath
50. Phobocosm - Foreordained (Dark Descent Records)
From: Montréal, Quebec
Genre: death metal
49. Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle (Avantgarde Music)
From: Tampere, Finland
Genre: symphonic black metal / meloblack
48. Moray - The Natural World (self-released)
From: Provo, Utah
Genre: black metal
47. Furia - Huta Luna (Pagan Records)
From: Katowice, Poland
Genre: black metal
46. Florid Ekstasis - Trepanning (self-released)
From: New York, NY
Genre: death metal / a great way to twist your brain into knots
45. Deliquesce - Cursed with Malevolence (DAZE)
From: Melbourne, Australia
Genre: death metal
44. Lightbreaker - The Annihilation of the Annealids (self-released)
From: Portland, OR
Genre: symphonic death metal
43. Xysma - No Place Like Alone (Svart Records)
From: Turku, Finland
Genre: it’s metal, I don’t care
42. Undulation - An Unhealthy Interest in Suffering (self-released)
From: Seattle, WA
Genre: black metal / death metal
41. Agriculture - Agriculture (The Flenser)
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genre: black metal
40. Vórtize - Desde Bajo Tierra (Nube Negra Prods)
From: Limache, Chile
Genre: heavy metal / speed metal
39. Body Void - Atrocity Machine (Prosthetic Records)
From: Winooski, Vermont
Genre: sludge / doom / industrial
38. KEN Mode - VOID (Artoffact Records)
From: Winnipeg, Canada
Genre: noise rock
37. Elitist - A Mirage of Grandeur (Indisciplinarian)
From: Denmark
Genre: death metal
36. Nightmarer - Deformity Adrift / Deformity Adrift: Reformed (Total Dissonance Worship)
From: United States / Germany
Genre: death metal
35. Megaton Sword - Might & Power (Dying Victims Productions)
From: Winterthur, Switzerland
Genre: heavy metal / power metal
34. Laster - Andermans Mijne (Prophecy Productions)
From: Utrecht, Netherlands
Genre: black metal
33. Ὁπλίτης - Ψευδομένη / Τρωθησομένη / Ἀντιτιμωρουμένη (self-released)
From: China / Paris, France
Genre: black metal
32. Ixias - Compulsive Trance (Lower Class Kids Records)
From: Baltimore, MD
Genre: grind
31. Corrupted - Mushikeras (self-released)
From: Japan
Genre: sludge / doom
30. Nikhil Talwalkar Report: Drain of Impurity - Beneath the Maze of Infinite Equilibrium (self-released) / Infibulated - Diabolical Euphoric Subjugation (New Standard Elite) / Ectoplasmorphosis - Vortex of Possessable Flesh (self-released) / Putridity - Greedy Gory Gluttony (Willowtip Records)
From: *ELO voice* All over the world
Genre: brutal death metal
29. Acid King - Beyond Vision (Blues Funeral Recordings)
From: San Francisco, CA
Genre: doom / psych
28. Asystole - Siren to Blight (I, Voidhanger Records)
From: New Jersey, USA
Genre: death metal
27. Dead and Dripping - Blackened Cerebral Rifts (Transcending Obscurity Records)
From: New Jersey, USA
Genre: death metal
26. Behold... The Arctopus - Interstellar Overtrove (P2)
From: New York, NY
Genre: Behold... The Arctopus
25. Ypres - Solypso (COD Music and Distro)
From: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Genre: post-metal
24. Prava Kollectiv Report: Mahr - Odium / Pharmakeia - Maenadic Ecstasy / HWWAUOCH - Under the Gaze of Dissolution / Arkhtinn - 三度目の災害 / Voidsphere - To Infect | To Inflict (Amor Fati Productions)
From: Parts Unknown
Genre: black metal
23. Krallice - Porous Resonance Abyss / Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite (P2)
From: New York, NY
Genre: black metal
22. Garoted - Bewitchment Of The Dark Ages (Lavadome Productions)
From: Kansas City, KS
Genre: death metal
21. Genevieve - Akratic Parasitism (self-released)
From: Maryland
Genre: black metal / avant-garde
20. Healthyliving - Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief (La Rubia Producciones)
From: Edinburgh, UK
Genre: alt rock
19. Hypomanic Daydream - Image (Fiadh Productions / Vita Detestabilis Records)
From: Chicago, IL
Genre: Hypomanic Daydream
18. Conjureth - The Parasitic Chambers (Memento Mori / Rotted Life Records)
From: San Diego, CA
Genre: death metal
17. Afterbirth - In But Not Of (Willowtip)
From: New York
Genre: death metal
16. Cognizant - Inexorable Nature of Adversity (Nerve Altar Records / Selfmadegod Records / Rescued From Life Records)
From: Dallas, TX
Genre: grind
15. Khanate - To Be Cruel (Sacred Bones Records)
From: New York, NY
Genre: drone / doom
14. Theophonos - Nightmare Visions (Mystískaos)
From: USA
Genre: black metal
13. REZN - Solace (self-released) / Silent Future (w/ Vinnum Sabbathi) (Blues Funeral Recordings)
From: Chicago, IL
Genre: doom / psych
12. U sco - Catchin’ Heat (self-released)
From: Portland, OR
Genre: noise rock / post-rock
11. Final Eclipse - The Dark World (self-released)
From: USA
Genre: black metal
10. Baring Teeth - The Path Narrows (I, Voidhanger Records)
From: Dallas, TX
Genre: death metal
9. Kostnatění - Úpal (Willowtip)
From: Minneapolis, MN
Genre: black metal / death metal
8. ТДК [TDK] - Nemesta (self-released)
From: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Genre: noise rock
7. 夢遊病者 [Sleepwalker] - Skopofoboexoskelett (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
From: Parts Unknown
Genre: avant-garde
6. Nithing - Agonal Hymns (New Standard Elite)
From: California
Genre: brutal death metal
5. Jute Gyte - Unus Mundus Patet (Jeshimoth Entertainment)
From: USA
Genre: black metal
4. Hunter Petersen Report: Trichomoniasis - Makeshift Crematoria (New Standard Elite) / Harvest of the Killing Fields (self-released) / Potion - split w/ Failure Addict (self-released)
From: Minnesota / Massachusetts / Pennsylvania, USA
Genre: the end of the world
3. Great Falls - Objects Without Pain (Neurot Recordings)
From: Seattle, WA
Genre: metalcore / noise rock
2. Anachronism - Meanders (Unorthodox Emanations)
From: Lausanne, Switzerland
Genre: death metal
1. Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab (Debemur Morti Productions)
From: France
Genre: black metal
2023 AWARDS
DID I GET IT RIGHT?
Reappraising last year’s top 10.
10. Sonja - Loud Arriver (Cruz del Sur Music)
9. Vermin Womb - Retaliation (Closed Casket Activities)
8. Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses / Lovecraftian Echoes (Debemur Morti Productions)
7. Hammers of Misfortune - Overtaker (self-released)
6. Effluence - Liquefied / Sarmat (P2 / Putrefactive Recordings)
5. Anal Stabwound - Reality Drips Into the Mouth of Indifference (New Standard Elite)
4. Inanna - Void of Unending Depths (Memento Mori)
3. Doldrum - The Knocking, or the Story of the Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance (Katafalque)
2. Heaving Earth - Darkness of God (Lavadome Productions)
1. Scarcity - Aveilut (The Flenser)
Yes and no. I think this was a fine top 10. Every album is still in the rotation. However, this year, I’ve listened to Chrome Ghost’s House of Falling Ash and Shitgrinder’s self-titled album far more than anything listed above with the exception of Scarcity, Anal Stabwound, and Effluence. I’d probably stick House of Falling Ash at number two, Shitgrinder at number nine.
OUT OF STEP
Awarded to my favorite punk record that I couldn’t shoehorn into a list.
Citric Dummies - Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass (Feel It Records)
Past winners:
2022: Bitter Branches - Your Neighbors Are Failures (Equal Vision Records) / Bombardement - Le Futur Est Là (Destructure / Symphony Of Destruction) / Hylda - Juniper Pyre (self-released) / Triac - Pure Joy - Numb Grief-Stricken Animals (RSRecords)
2021: Tenue - Territorios (Alerta Antifascista / The Plague of Man Records / Pifia Records / Long Legs Long Arms / Crust Or Die / Zegema Beach Records)
2020: Subdued - Over the Hills and Far Away (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos / Roachleg Records)
2019: Protocol - Bloodsport (Dynastic Yellow Star Label / 11 PM Records)
2018: Great Falls - A Sense of Rest (Corpse Flower Records / Throatruiner Records)
THE FALSE
Awarded to my favorite non-metal album that could conceivably be enjoyed by metalheads.
A tie.
Flooding - Silhouette Machine (The Ghost Is Clear Records)
Sunny Kim, Vardan Ovsepian, Ben Monder - Liminal Silence (Earshift Music)
Mindvac - Mindvac (self-released)
Past winners:
2022: Officine - Officine (self-released) / Tantric Bile - Baka (self-released)
2021: Dorotheo - Como Es (Halfshell Records)
2020: Kairon; IRSE! - Polysomn (Svart Records)
2019: Helium Horse Fly - Hollowed (Dipole Experiment Records)
2018: Madder Mortem - Marrow (Dark Essence Records)
GAINZZZ
Awarded to the best album for the gym.
A tie.
Darkall Slaves - Mephitic Redolence of the Decomposed (New Standard Elite)
Chamber - A Love to Kill For (Pure Noise Records)
Past winners:
2022: Bite - Sounds of Agony (self-released) / Gargling - Depraved Ingestion of Cranial Discharge (Lifeless Chasm Records)
2021: Last Light - We Were Never Here (self-released)
2020: Focal Dystonia - Descending (In)human Flesh (Comatose Records)
2019: Pool – Pool (Skeletal Lightning)
2018: Internal Bleeding - Corrupting Influence (Unique Leader)
SON OF A
Awarded to the best album that I found in 2022 that wasn’t released this year.
Decrepit Cadaver - Revelations (Unmatched Brutality Records)
Past winners:
2022: Ophanim - Delphic Moorage (Desidarius Recordings)
2021: Evilyn - Inside Shells (self-released)
2020: Self Deconstruction - Wounds (Break the Records / F.O.A.D.)
2019: Voice Coils - Heaven’s Sense (Shatter Your Leaves)
2018: Butcher ABC - North of Hell (Selfmadegod)
I’LL HOLD YOUR BEER
Awarded to the biggest swing for the fences.
PoiL Ueda - PoiL Ueda / Yoshitsune (Dur Et Doux)
Past winners:
2022: Álvaro Domene - Not Arbitrary (Iluso Records) / Garry Brents’s Discography (various)
2021: Tantric Bile - Seminal Baptism (self-released)
2020: Potion - Cemetary (self-released)
2019: !T.O.O.H.! - Komouš (self-released)
2018: Entropia - Vacuum (Arachnophobia Records)
SHOWER BEER
Awarded to the best album to throw on during the weekend.
A tie.
Pyöveli - Mega-Thrash Revolution (Witches Brew)
Cruel Force - Dawn of the Axe (Shadow Kingdom Records)
Past winners:
2022: Griefstoker - Soulseller (self-released) / Maceration - It Never Ends... (Emanzipation Productions) / Sölicitör - All Debts on Death (Gates of Hell Records)
2021: Blood Sport - Hot Blood and Cold Steel (Gates of Hell Records) / Witch Cross - Angel of Death (High Roller Records)
2020: Hecatomb - Horrid Invocations (self-released)
2019: Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil (Cruz del Sur Music)
2018: Deathhammer - Chained to Hell (Hells Headbangers Records)
SWING AND A MISS
Band I doomed to obscurity by predicting it would be huge and it’s not going to be huge, obviously.
A tie.
Forgotten Silence - Vemork Konstrukt (Doomentia Records)
Hollow Senses - Taurobolium (self-released)
Past winners:
2022: Blightcaster - Of Blood-Cursed Night (self-released) / Mulk / Hydrocele - Split (self-released) / Vihameditaatio - Metafyysinen Käsitys Itsestä (Esfinge de la Calavera) / Wombscape - Forced Labour Songs (Landscape Records)
2021: Plain Cheese Pizza - Plain Cheese Pizza (self-released)
2020: Relic Point - Self Punishment (self-released)
THE PIERCED FROM WITHIN AWARD
Awarded to the album that is Suffocation’s Pierced From Within.
Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
Past winners:
2022: Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
2021: Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
2020: Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
2019: Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
2018: Suffocation - Pierced From Within (Roadrunner Records)
I’m finally free. Begone, the shackles of 2023.
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