2024 Top 40 Albums: #11-20
Truly incredible music
Now that we’re getting into the Top 20, I want to make it clear — all 20 of these, plus several we’ve already mentioned, deserve to be somebody’s AOTY. I can only name one, but you could make strong arguments for all of these.
20: Pallbearer - Mind Burns Alive
Low and slow — it’s the secret to both good barbecue and good Doom Metal. And that’s what Pallbearer delivers on Mind Burns Alive.
No, not barbecued brains. Existentially fraught Doom which explores the horrors of living with pandemic-driven anxieties. Because we were all there — surely you remember what those long months were like.
Applying Doom to the pandemic is natural and fitting; Mind Burns Alive channels the dread we all felt and creates low-tuned sonic bliss. If you give this a listen, use headphones, lock yourself in a dark room, and let yourself feel it.
19: Alcest - Les Chants de l’Aurore
(Post-Black | Blackgaze | Post-Metal)
In English, this title translates to Songs of Dawn. And that really comes through in the tone of the songs here. Post-Black and Blackgaze may be derivatives of Black Metal, but there’s something infectiously bright and inspirational in the songs on Les Chants de l’Aurore.
Alcest’s sound here is deeply atmospheric, and the album brings on overwhelming feelings of peace and hope. It’s a great follow-up to the rageful entry from Chat Pile, which was featured earlier in this list in 23rd.
There are harsh vocals on the album, but they are blended deep into the mix more often than not. So if harsh vocals typically scare you off, don’t worry — they aren’t a concern here.
The next time you need something to relax to, or, say, a yoga soundtrack — give Les Chants de l’Aurore a try.
18: Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
(Indie Folk | Chamber Pop | Indie Rock)
Father John Misty’s Mahashmashana is, on many levels, breath-taking. Especially its opening epic, which is a sweeping orchestral love story (linked below) which could have been the entire album by itself.1 It’s one of my favorite songs of the year, but I still hold that it’s too climactic to be the opening track.
The rest of the album is also incredible in a number of different ways, save “Being You” and “Summer’s Gone”, which just don’t live up to the bar that the rest set (one of the reasons this album wasn’t rated higher).
But as a whole, Mahashmashana has deep instrumentation, interesting hooks and melodies, and some of the best lyricism of the year — right up there with Taylor. This was a helluvan introduction to FJM, and if you haven’t heard this album, you’re missing out.
17: The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
(Indie Rock | Folk Rock | Americana)
I’ll be honest — on my first (passive) listen, I wasn’t enthused with this album. There is a stretch in the middle where the songs grow progressively simpler, more pared back. And when you aren’t really paying attention to it, it just sounds monotonous.
But hoooo boy, when you are paying close attention, and then that bounce-back hits on tracks 9 (“Born to the Morning”) and 10 (“America Made Me”), with the crystal clear criticism of America as a police state, there’s no way that it isn’t intentional.
The Decemberists have always been sharp-tongued and witty, but As It Ever Was is possibly the most direct they’ve ever been. The album, as a whole, especially its last third, is more pointed than the trident Russell Vought keeps in his closet. As It Ever Was also soundtracks America in 2024 pretty well, but it’s a more high-level, literary take, rather than the raw fury of Chat Pile’s album.
16: Tones And I - Beautifully Ordinary
The sophomore effort from Tones And I was always going to draw scrutiny. I feel like there’s a section of the industry and fanbase which doubted her staying power. Her debut album wasn’t bad, but it didn’t wield the same level of mind-blowing hooks, at large, as “Dance Monkey” did.
But Tones has an inherent advantage — her voice. It’s of the same caliber as Adele’s, but with a certain smokiness. Squandering that advantage would, frankly, require a blunder of epic proportions.
Good thing Toni isn’t managed by the DNC.
Beautifully Ordinary is full of incredibly catchy songs, some of which feature surprisingly intricate and technical melodies. Every song carries an inordinate amount of energy, though. Tones goes into attack mode many times across the album’s hour-long play time, and it’s never not satisfying. Beautifully Ordinary feels like the fulfillment of a promise. The only thing it lacks is a truly cohesive throughline.
15: Kendrick Lamar - GNX
(Hip-Hop)
Last Appearance: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (2022); 12th
The worst thing about albums that release really late in the year is that I don’t get enough time with them. Kendrick Lamar’s GNX suffers a bit from this. These songs are genuinely incredible, every single one, but I’m still working on piecing together my appreciation for the album as a whole.
Even with that work not done, GNX is amazing. Breaking Lamar’s lyrics down line-by-line is like digging for treasure in a dragon’s hoard — there are gems everywhere.
This is, hands down, one of the best hip-hop albums of 2024. I’m pretty sure that’s a consensus opinion; you don’t really need to be told that. So let me reiterate — I’ve never been a hip hop guy. If you’re trying to get into hip-hop, GNX is a great entry point. This will go down as an all-time record.
14: Simone Simons - Vermillion
(Symphonic Metal | Progressive Metal | Industrial Metal)
Simone Simons has spent her whole career as the vocalist for Epica — one of the premier (and, let’s be honest, definitive) acts in the Symphonic Metal space. After 20 years, she’s only just now getting around to making a solo album, but that just means she has a ton of experience to throw behind it.
Not to mention connections. As I mentioned (and fangirled over) in my review, Simons got Arjen Lucassen and Lori Linstruth, the powerhouses behind Ayreon and a dozen other projects, to produce the album. So not only does Simons bring this wealth of Symphonic experience and her iconic voice, but Lucassen and Linstruth add this Ayreon-esque proggy sci-fi vibe and help to transform the project into an analysis of the fragility of everything we hold dear.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, humanity is in the midst of an existential crisis. Nuclear weapons, climate change, the inevitable AI/robot uprising — we’re exploring more methods for self-extinction than ever before!
Vermillion is an intense and dramatic affair, start-to-finish, full of catchy melodies and dense arrangements. I love this album (I know, I’m saying that frequently on this list, but it’s my Top 40, and we’re not even at the best ones yet!).
13: Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia
(Hip-Hop)
I was, honestly, surprised by how much I enjoyed Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia. The album features some phenomenal tracks, but then you reach the turn and realize the depth of the introspection, and it takes the album from ‘very good’ to ‘incredible’.
Song-to-song, Kendrick’s GNX possibly wins out. But as a cohesive unit, Chromokopia is the better album. The throughline is stronger, not to mention gorgeously-crafted. The album never directly mentions Saturn, but Chromokopia focuses heavily on introspection and self-growth, much like the albums from Ariana Grande and Kacey Musgraves which both ranked in the 20s. And the Eminem album, though Mathers took the concept a bit further.
Concept aside, though, don’t fret too much about the quality of the songs, though, with how I started the last paragraph — Chromokopia has plenty of earworms that will absolutely live in your head and keep you coming back for more. This album very nearly jumped over the 9.5 bar for me; and it definitely doesn’t make my top 15 on concept, alone.
12: The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy
(Indie Rock | Baroque Pop | Orchestral Rock | Art Rock)
Bombastic Baroque Rock. That’s the best way to describe this wild little Indie five-piece. This act is like a moodier, more dramatic Lana Del Rey — I don’t even really like Lana Del Rey.
But I love every moment of Prelude to Ecstasy. It’s full of these dark and sinister melodies, despite being overtly poppy at the same time. The conflation of styles creates a unique and entrancing sound which is big and bold and entrancing. The songs frequently wax dramatic, but that really just means I need to see this group collab with Chappell Roan ASAP.
There’s so much to love here. The wildest thing is that this is the band’s debut LP. Imagine if they get better from here, which is very likely. You’ve gotta give them a listen.
11: Sunburst - Manifesto
(Progressive Metal | Power Metal | Symphonic Metal)
Manifesto just the sophomore album for this Greek supergroup, and it’s been a full eight years (2016!) since their debut album broke onto the scene. I wasn’t certain we’d ever get another, but I had Sunburst on my 2024 wishlist, anyhow.
Of all the artists on that list who pulled through in 2024, Sunburst is the one who came through with the highest-ranked album, and Kamasi Washington is the only other artist to make my Top 40 list.
For those familiar with metal acts and genres, Sunburst is best-described as a proggier Kamelot. And the songs here are generally much heavier than Kamelot has done in quite a while, but would fit in quite well with aughts-era Kamelot — it could nestle pretty happily between The Black Halo and Ghost Opera.
Not including this album in my top ten was actually pretty painful, but I couldn’t quite justify it jumping the 9.5 bar, and one other Blue album beat it out.
Just barely.
If you’re looking to get into Metal, this album is a great example of a blend of Prog/Power/Symphonic all working in tandem, and especially of how heavy music can still be incredibly melodic.
Come back tomorrow for the Top Ten! The Album of the Year will get its own post, which will go live five minutes after the post for #2-10.
The links below will work once each article has gone live.
AOTY | #2-10 | #11-20 | #21-30 | #31-40 | Honorable Mentions
Let’s be honest, I would have bitched about that, too.