2024 Top 40 Albums: #21-30
Presenting the Top 30
Moving into the Top 30 albums of 2024 now. The list continues below.
30: Dragony - Hic Svnt Dracones
(Power Metal | Symphonic Metal)
Not only is Dragony’s Hic Svnt Dracones an impressive showing of electronic-infused Power Metal, it is a wildly entertaining concept album — the sort of concept that can’t have come up without some sort of…creative lubricant.
The album launches as a retelling of the story of the failed Roanoke Colony, whose vanished colonists persist as a historical mystery to this day; there are plausible theories, but nobody knows for sure where they went.
Hic Svnt Dracones proposes a new theory; a simple one, really — they were rescued by a ship which was then pulled into a whirlpool and landed them in Valhalla in the midst of a Ragnarok-in-progress where they join in with the local viking heroes and help to save the day.
I don’t know why this possibility is only just now occurring to somebody, but it seems likely.
Hic Svnt Dracones is an absolute whirlwind ride, and it’s some of the best Power Metal of 2024 by a mile.
29: Charlotte Wessels - The Obsession
(Symphonic Metal | Symphonic Rock)
Last Appearance: Tales From Six Feet Under, Vol. II (2022); 30th
Charlotte Wessels’ third solo outing is easily her best effort to-date. The Obsession looks at the concept of obsession through a prism, with each song providing a different example of, or telling a story about, obsession. These frequently involve love, lust, and loss, but the album does move beyond those expected approaches (such as adventure in “Chasing Sunsets” and praise kinks in “Praise”).
The instrumentation for The Obsession is deep, and everything is firmly grounded by heavy guitar and bass lines, but the basic approach is still overtly poppy, making it an incredibly accessible album for those looking to investigate the Symphonic Rock and Metal spaces. At the same time, Wessels’ melodies and hooks feel like accidental wildcards — not ‘accidental’ as in by mistake, but ‘accidental’ as in utilizing sharps and flats. The result is gorgeous and unpredictable melodies which will worm their way deep into your head.
I’m obsessed with Wessels’ evolution as a solo artist. Her chemistry with Timo Somers really shows in these compositions.
28: Ariana Grande - Eternal Sunshine
Ariana Grande had a big year — between Eternal Sunshine being generally well-received and the wild success of Wicked, our favorite chameleon has plenty of reason to be happy about the state of her career.
I’m here to double-down on Eternal Sunshine, though. This is a gorgeous little pop record about maturing and beginning to recognize (and respect) your needs. And it is an absolute hookfest.
The whole album has claws.
Best of all is the often-clever production — the 16-bit synth shimmer following the Atari reference in “Eternal Sunshine” is possibly a bit cheesy, but damn if it isn’t pretty. And the layered backing vocals on the word “is” — a helping verb, of all things — drives home the lyrical emphasis in the second half of the chorus in “The Boy is Mine”. I can’t not sing along to damn near every song on this album.
27: Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well
Last Appearance: star-crossed (2021); 6th
It wasn’t intentional, but it is amusing that the two albums which feature the concept of Saturn’s Return ended up being neighbors on the list.
Like Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well is an album about maturation and personal growth. Musgrave’s pensive, folksy Pop Country takes its time in dissecting the trials that Musgraves has faced and the subsequent metamorphosis she has undergone.
Deeper Well is a relaxing listen, but the songs are still incredibly catchy. You’ll find yourself humming these to yourself randomly after a few spins. Every song here is gorgeous, and I genuinely do not know which my favorite is. I’m defaulting to the title track below.
26: Rhapsody of Fire - Challenge the Wind
(Symphonic Metal | Power Metal | Neoclassical Metal)
Rhapsody of Fire has perfected their blend of Symphonic and Power on a Neoclassical foundation over their decades of experience, and Challenge the Wind is hard proof of that. This album is the final chapter in the band’s newest trilogy, called the Nephilem’s Empire Saga, which consists of The Eight Mountain (2019), Glory for Salvation (2021), and now Challenge the Wind.
As you might expect from a Symphonic Power group, the story is fantastical in every sense, specifically in the vein of 70s & 80s-era Sword & Sorcery novels, which typically feature black-and-white conflicts of forces of good and evil. The story here, though, does include subtle nuances in the villain’s characterization.
Right at the heart of Challenge the Wind’s 63-minute runtime is the 16-minute epic track, “Vanquished By Shadows”. It denotes the first time that the story’s main characters — twins separated at birth — face off.
Between the story and the album’s perfectly epic compositions, I couldn’t not include this record. It’s a lot of fun and has a ton of energy.
25: Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department
(Synth Pop | Chamber Pop | Electropop)
Last Appearance: Midnights (2022); AOTY
Anybody who has been here for any length of time knew this album was going to be on the list somewhere. I’m a self-avowed Swiftie, and it was nowhere in the Honorable Mentions, so it had to be on the list. I mean, Midnights was my 2022 AOTY, after all.
The Tortured Poets Department is one long, smooth vibe, more or less. The addition of basically a whole ‘nother album within hours (before I ever woke up the day it dropped), really didn’t hurt. Very few songs here break that vibe, so the album has this great sense of uniformity in tone, which is nice, but the songs also have their own sense of individuality to help make them all memorable on their own, which is incredible.
And, again, there are a couple of tracks which break the vibe, such as “The Alchemy”, which is an incredibly positive and wonderful tribute to Swift’s new romance with Travis Kelce. But the biggest vibe breaker is knowing that most of these tracks were written about Matty Healy. I went into this a bit in my initial review, so I won’t spend too much time kicking a dead horse.
But Healy is very kickable, for the record.
That context makes “But Daddy I Love Him” and its bridge unbearable, and I genuinely find “Florida” obnoxious. It’s only two songs out of 31 in The Anthology version of the album, but they’re the first two Taylor songs I’ve actively disliked in a long time (which is why this album is 25th instead of competing in the top 10).
Those few concerns aside, The Tortured Poets Department is another near-perfect entry into Swift’s catalogue.
24: Ravyn Lenae - Bird’s Eye
(Alt R&B | Soul | Chamber Pop)
For the second year in a row, I have a black, female R&B/Soul artist from Chicago in my Top 40.
Calm down, Doofenschmirtz.
Last year’s entry was Jamila Woods’ Water Made Us, which ranked 35th. This year, Ravyn Lenae makes the list (beating out Taylor Swift!) on the back of her gorgeous and diverse Bird’s Eye. Every song brings in unique genric blends, and each is memorable for its own reasons.
The star, though, is Lenae. Her vocal performance is incredibly technical and precise, with a whisperpop-style breathy delivery that still manages to be commanding and assertive. I cannot put into words how incredible her performance is — not just her voice, but her mastery of it.
She gives me chills, man. Don’t sleep on this album.
23: Chat Pile - Cool World
(Sludge Metal | Noise Rock | Punk)
Cool World is a toxic assault on your ears all the way from Oklahoma, where mining companies leave toxic mine waste, called “chat”, in piles out in the open.
Understandably, this is not something that the locals love.
Do not come into this album expecting anything resembling the typical sort of approach to music; Chat Pile’s sensibilities are very well defined by Punk and Noise Rock, which means that their songs are very intentionally going to go against the grain of expectation. Using Sludge Metal and a shit-ton of anger as the definitive binding agents in their sound only guarantees that some part of your face will melt.
But I love this album for its attitude. It soundtracks 2024 (or, hell, 2025) really fucking well. After all, there’s no shortage of things to be angry at, and the music contained in Cool World helps to get those feelings out in a healthy way.
The album was, broadly, written about the stupidity of war and the horrors that it creates, but there are other topics discussed, as well. See my original review for more.
Cool World is timely, pointed, and hits, I think, the appropriate level of rage.
22: L’Imperatrice - Pulsar
(Electropop | Disco)
The third album from the French Electropop/Nu-Disco sextet, L’Imperatrice, is also my first experience with them. And Pulsar makes me want more. I’ll definitely be pulling up those first two albums soon.
The album is full of songs worth moving to. It’s incredibly danceable, though few songs are in English. Several languages are represented here, and the band doesn’t seem to really care what language their lyrics are in — it’s fairly arbitrary. But all of the songs here are great.
If you’re looking for something positive, upbeat, and boppy, you can’t go wrong with Pulsar.
21: South for Winter - Of Sea and Sky
(Dream Folk | Indie Folk | Folk Rock)
South for Winter was a truly out-of-nowhere pickup for me. Kendrick had just dropped his surprise album, and then that night I find a snippet of “Styx and Bones” (below) on TikTok, and I needed it. I needed it so bad.
Of Sea and Sky absolutely did not disappoint, at large. I’ve described their sound in my review as “Dream Folk” — akin to Dream Pop, but with Folk styles and instruments rather than a necessarily “Poppy” structure.
For anybody familiar with The Civil Wars, South for Winter falls in that sort of vein. Their songs are atmospheric and dark, but are also rooted deep in the Appalachians, despite the trio having international origins. Of Sea and Sky focuses largely on the titular sky and sea, with each having half of the album, thematically.
But if they don’t write an album about cryptids, it’ll be a huge missed opportunity — this sound would be perfect for it.
That’s half the list done! Come back tomorrow for the next ten!
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AOTY | #2-10 | #11-20 | #21-30 | #31-40 | Honorable Mentions