(Andy Synn is here to correct some egregious oversights by the rest of the NCS crew)
Well, I guess it’s finally time to draw a line under last year… in fact, it’s probably well past time… but before we consign 2024 to the great internet graveyard I wanted to get in one last edition of “2024’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs” focussing on some of the coolest and most killer cuts that my buddies Islander and DGR missed.
Credit where credit is due, however, the two of them did end up featuring a couple of tracks I assumed would end up on my list (namely “Dehumanize Me” by Candy and “Blackwater” by Bloom Dream) but the rest of these ten selections (I decided that was a nice limit, considering between them Islander and DGR already highlighted over 100 tracks) come from artists/albums/EPs they didn’t touch in their lists.
I’ve also resisted the temptation to include anything by my own band… although if I had it probably would have been “Until Morale Improves” (which, you know, you should definitely check out)… or any bands I’m too close to personally, but that still left a pretty massive “short list” (short being a relative term) to choose from, so whittling it down to just ten options meant a whole heap of songs were left behind on the cutting room floor.
But, hopefully, what you’re about to hear will encourage you to further check out the rest of these records.
Ripped to Shreds – 冥婚 (Corpse Betrothal)
Let’s start with some all-killer, n0-filler Death Metal from California crushers Ripped to Shreds, shall we?
While we didn’t cover Sanshi in depth, it was a damn good album, and “冥婚 (Corpse Betrothal)” was an obvious highlight with its ferociously focussed and savagely straightforward take on classic Death Metal – just hefty, hooky riffs and gargantuan, gut-rumbling grooves which take some of the very best bits from some of the best bands in the history of the genre and smash them all together into a single metallic monstrosity.
Sure, it’s not reinventing the wheel or anything like that, but it’s a perfect reminder of just why we all love Death Metal in the first place!
Peer Pressure – Death Wish
As you may know, I don’t tend to listen to much in the way of Thrash these days… but I do still love it when bands from other genres get thrashy, which is why “Death Wish”, the killer kick-off track from This Hell On Earth Could Be – the second album from Canadian Hardcore crew Peer Pressure – is making its presence felt on this list.
Clocking in at just over four minutes, it’s a merciless neck-wreaker of razor-sharp riffs and frenetic, punchy rhythms (with a nice line in menacing melody on top of all that) which should be perfect for fans of bands like Ringworm, Spiritworld, and Walls of Jericho.
I know I failed to cover this one – I loved their first album, but this one might be even better – so hopefully this will encourage people to check them out and make up for my mistake!
Caelestra – Lightbringer
Continuing this theme of “albums which probably would have been even higher in my list(s) if I’d heard them sooner” there’s no question that Caelestra‘s second album, Bastion, would have ended up on both my list of the “Great” albums of 2024 and on my “Personal Top Ten” list had it come out a little earlier in the year.
And while the whole album is so good that it feels almost wrong to single out a single song from it, there’s just something about the way that “Lightbringer” ebbs and flows from light to shade, from calm to catharsis, so fluidly and organically over the course of just under ten-and-a-half minutes which makes it both instantly infectious and utterly unforgettable.
Hopefully it will encourage at least some of you to check out the rest of Bastion as well, as it really is one of the best – and most underrated – albums of last year.
Phenocryst – Astonishing Devastation
There were lots of excellent debut albums released last year, but Portuguese death-dealers Phenocryst really stood out from the pack with the absolutely devastating Cremation Pyre.
Again, choosing one song as the “most infectious” from this album was a difficult decision – they’re all (well, almost all) just so good – but I had to opt for “Astonishing Devastation” in the end due to the way it showcases both the sheer, ominous heaviness of the band’s sound (thicker and deeper and darker than most so-called “Old School” bands) and their clever use of moody melody, as well as their already impressive songwriting skills (the track may be over six minutes long but it doesn’t feel like it).
Honestly, these guys are already so good – subtly modernising the “classic” sounds of Death Metal without abandoning the core elements of the genre – I can’t wait to hear whatever they do next!
No Cure – Hang Me From the Bible Belt
I knew I had to include something from No Cure‘s unrelenting, unapologetically antagonistic new EP, I Hope I Die Here… the only question was what track to choose!
In the end it came down to a flip of the coin between “Hang Me From the Bible Belt” and “Your Children Will Drown In The Burning River”, both of which are as virulently catchy as they are obnoxiously heavy, but the former ended up winning out due to the fact that whereas the latter pretty much starts on an 11 and stays there… “Hang Me…” takes a little bit of a more measured approach, only to get heavier… and heavier… and heavier as the song goes on.
It’s primal, it’s punishing, and it’s unbelievably pissed-off and once it’s hammered its way through your skull it’s destined to stay there, no matter how hard you might try to get it out.
Tempestarii – Radiant Asunder
There’s lots of ways for a song to be “infectious”, that’s for sure – and while the selections so far have tended to focus on the use vibrant, viral melodies or bludgeoningly heavy hooks (and sometimes both), “Radiant Asunder” (the opening track from Tempestarii‘s third album, A Constellation of Dead Stars) is all about drawing you in with waves of hypnotic atmosphere and mesmerising ambience to the point where the song seems to work on an almost subliminal level.
At the same time, however, there’s no question that the seething guitars and driving drums work on an almost super-liminal level, imbuing the track with a potent, elemental power, which helps make it – all nine minutes of it – as harrowing as it is haunting.
Aseethe – The Cost
“Infectious” also sometimes implies something that gets under your skin against your will… which is exactly how the title track to Aseethe‘s new album ended up on this list.
Sure, its ugly, sludgy riffs and tooth-gnashing, throat-rending vocals ensure the song has an instant impact (it’s a nasty piece of work, that’s for sure, which – at its heaviest and nastiest – recalls the similarly sick and spiteful sounds of Body Void, Lord Mantis, Vile Creature, etc) but it’s the contrast between the song’s harshest, most abrasive passages and its quietest, most contemplative parts, these fragile, fleeting moments of grace amidst the grime, which makes this one so strangely and insidiously infectious in spite of its extensive run-time.
Resin Tomb – Scalded
I think the fact that this one was released so early on possibly explains why it ended up being a little overlooked by the mass metal media machine come the end of last year, but hopefully the inclusion of “Scalded” here will encourage you to check out the rest of Cerebral Purgatory, as it’s definitely one of the best debut albums of 2024.
As for the song itself? “Scalded” exemplifies the idea that “hooks” don’t have to be nice, or melodic (though the song does throw in just a dash of sinister melody right at the end to sweeten the deal), to be effective.
Indeed, where this track is concerned its “hooks” are all twisted barbs and jagged edges, whose grating dissonance and grinding discordance (there’s definitely a grindy undercurrent to the whole album, in fact) means that they don’t just embed themselves in your brain but they actually hurt if you try to get them out.
Lifesick – Loved By None
The shortest and most abusively aggressive song on the list – and that’s saying something – is less than two-and-a-half minutes of absolutely gigantic guitars and apoplectically angry vocals (whose bellowing central hook, “Loved by none, hated by all!” you’ll be yelling along with, either in your head or out loud, for a long time after the song itself has crashed to a violent, bone-crushing halt) that combines the savage, chainsaw-driven Swe-Death of early Entombed and their ilk with the bruised and bloody-knuckled Metallic Hardcore of Merauder, et al, to deliver one of the most merciless musical beatings of the year.
It’s a song that hits hard and fast and leaves a lasting impression… and I don’t know if that makes it “infectious” but it definitely makes it very hard to forget!
Griffon – L’Homme du Tarn
De Republica was one of the best Black Metal albums – hell, one of the best albums, full stop – of 2024, and only narrowly missed out on taking one of the spots on my “Critical Top Ten”.
For whatever reason, however, it didn’t get quite as much attention as it deserves – which is surprising considering it hits may of the same notes as Kanonenfieber‘s Die Urkatastrophe (though I’d say that De Republica, despite being less heavily hyped, is actually the superior album) – but I’m hoping to change that by highlighting just how infectious the album’s anthemic opener “L’Homme du Tarn” is.
It’s eight epic minutes of heroic blackened hooks and frantic revolutionary fervour, intermixed with moments of moody melody and sombre reflection, whose blood-pumping power is practically irresistible, so don’t be surprised if you find yourselves storming the barricades and guillotining the autocracy after listening to it!