24 for 24: All the Alt Things’ favorite albums of the year

Ordinarily, I’d come up with some fluffy introductory paragraph that’s overflowing with bad puns and worn-out cliches. As it is, though, it’s late (in the year) and I’m tired (mentally). So, I’ll give it to you short: 2024 is ending and we figured that calls for a compilation of our favorite albums from the past year. We hope you enjoy it. And if you don’t, we hope that you resolve to improve your attitude and opinions in 2025. Happy New Year! – Mala

Acoustic EP – FIZZ

SKIPPY: FIZZ‘s latest release is a collection of acoustic reimaginings. This Brit Pop supergroup dropped their debut studio album, The Secret to Life, in October 2023. They followed it up with Acoustic EP in February 2024 before later announcing a hiatus to focus on their solo careers. They used more traditional recording methods, tracking live direct to tape, to achieve their LP’s sound. On the EP, they accentuated some of the production brilliance by allowing the stripped-back mix to highlight aspects previously buried in the full versions.

 

The Crucible of Life – The Home Team

MALA MORTENSA: At the risk of making this too personal—screw it, I don’t get paid for this—I’ve got to say that I was struggling creatively through the better part of this year. Recently, I revisited The Crucible of Life and it broke me straight through the rut. The Home Team has been one of my modern favorites for a while now, but I’d been egregiously negligent in giving their most recent album the front-to-back listen it demands. Shit, that was silly. It’s a brilliant composition that just begs you to get moving while still punching you in the chest at the exact right moments (looking at you, “Walk This World With Me“). As a writer, it washes me with conflicted feelings of inspiration and outright dejection over realizing that I’ll never eke out anything so evocative. And I love that for me.

 

Dark Superstition – Gatecreeper

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Dark Superstition sees Arizona death metal specialists, Gatecreeper, at their very best. It’s refined, classy and has an air of polish relative to their earlier releases. The songwriting here is excellent—a true masterclass in blending the harsh sensibilities of classic death metal with a heavy helping of modern melodicism that elevates the band’s sound to a new level. How is one of the catchiest records of the year coming from a death metal act?! 

 

Dream EP – DREAMCAR 

MALA MORTENSA: I hate to admit that my overworked optimism of a surprise DREAMCAR return had waned these last few years. I would have thought that the acceptance would come with some sharper pangs, but it turns out their self-titled debut was timeless enough to indefinitely satiate my hunger for synth-infused Havok broodiness—and Dream EP pushed me dangerously close to the edge of gluttony. Elegantly bolstered by a sapid, albeit self-effacing, cover of Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream,” the EP sees the supergroup coalesce nearly a decade of their independent evolutions into two, uncompromising tracks. Seductively playful, both fit effortlessly into DREAMCAR’s 80s nightclub ethos while seemingly opening the door to the grimy basement venue underneath.

 

Eviscerate – Eidola

KAY KORVID: Evicerate, the first in a dual album release, was a long anticipated album for me after I discovered Eidola in 2023. The album wasn’t what anyone could have expected. A new, djentier layer covered their familiar metalcore, creating a crunchier sound that immediately had my heart (and my ears). The album begins with a speech from JFK, olds philosophical passages rejecting various religious dogma, and mentions Nietche and existentialism. The messages are powerful and contentious. Eviscerate is a carefully layered album of despair. It’s partner album, Mend, comes out in January.

 

Exhibition of Prowess – Kublai Khan TX

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Exhibition of Prowess sees Kublai Khan TX firing on all cylinders for a breathtakingly brisk twenty-three minutes and thirty-five seconds. The band delivers crushing riff after crushing riff, which will surely get any crowd moshing and two-stepping from the get-go. “Darwinism” is as good a hardcore song you’ll hear all year, with Matt Honeycutt putting in a feral vocal performance. Long-time fans will also be happy with the inclusion of “Antpile 2”—a sequel to one of the band’s most popular tracks—which features some gnarly pinch harmonics to close the album. 

 

F-1 Trillion – Post Malone

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Post Malone surprised many this year by completely shedding his signature brand of pop rap and releasing a stadium-country album packed full of features from legends of the genre, such as Dolly Parton and Brad Paisley. F-1 Trillion sees Austin Post pen some of his finest material to date with catchy hooks galore, slick guitar solos and ballads that are sure to tug on the heart-strings. “Nosedive” (featuring Lainey Wilson) is a real highlight here and proves that you can never judge a book by its cover. Perhaps Post Malone has a real future in the country sphere? If you’ve never previously checked out his music, now might be the time!

 

Find The Beautiful – Plush

SKIPPY: What musician has not been influenced by 70’s rock music? Plush are quickly proving they can perfect the craft their predecessors developed, ticking all the boxes for influential “new classic rock.” Lead vocalist Moriah Formica sounds like she’s straight out of the 70’s and 80’s radio rock world, not to mention the solid instrumentals providing her the perfect foundation on which to stand.

 

FISSION – Dead Poet Society

SKIPPY: You can hear Dead Poet Society’s classic grit and intensity in the first seconds of FISSION. It’s amazing that a melody is discernable past the thick, fuzzy bass, but as the album continues on, Jack Underkofler’s soaring vocals lift the mixes in a poignant and unique way. It’s both a nod to the familiarity of what DPS does best with a fresh spin and pushing the boundaries to which they had already been applying pressure.

 

Gangster of Love – Super American

ADRIAN LEUTHAUSER: Hailing from Buffalo, NY, power-duo Super American have proved why they belong on the stoop with fellow artists like Hot Mulligan, Free Throw and Mom Jeans. With the release of their fourth full-length album, Patrick Feeley and Matt Cox have littered Gangster of Love with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and complimented it with a comorbidity of genres. GoL opens with aptly titled “MOMMA, I’M GONNA BE A STAR,” which offers an easy, soft ballad feel and cheeky lyrics to juxtapose the sound. Moments later, they throttle in heavy guitars to help set the pace for the rest of the album. Super American have successfully curated a sing-along album about getting high, falling in and out of love and everything else that mid-west emo pop-punk kids do, but they do it in their own unique way.

I DON’T CARE IF YOU LIKE ME OR NOT – Buddha Trixie

SKIPPY: Hasn’t 2024 just been so much fun? So. Much. Fun. San Diego’s alt-rock party band, Buddha Trixie, makes it sound fun, at the very least. Listen too closely, and you’ll turn into a sad boi, and these guys know misery loves company. Rather than sit and pout, they invite you to come along and flip the bird to the watching world. It’s the perfect blend of commiseration and not giving a rat’s patootie, and I keep going back to it whether I want to feel sad or happy.

 

Invincible Shield – Judas Priest

 

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Legendary metal pioneers Judas Priest returned in 2024 with the follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2018 record, Firepower. Invincible Shield continues the band’s rejuvenated sound and, whilst not reinventing the wheel, is a solid entry into their discography. For any other band, this album would be a career highlight. With tracks like “The Serpent and the King”, “Panic Attack” and the eponymous “Invincible Shield”, it defies all expectations of a group that recently celebrated their 50th anniversary of making music together. For just under an hour, Judas Priest bring pure, unfiltered heavy metal. Long may they reign!

 

i think i love you lately – Lost Stars

MALA MORTENSA: There’s no way I could leave Lost Stars off this list when I’ve had “Vertigo” stuck in my head for the better part of the year. And now that I’ve got that swirling around again, I’ve got to say that “Is this love? Is this lust? And does it matter?” is a bold question to pose on an album that’s as playfully seductive as it is full of heart. A showcase of immersive, danceable pop rock i think i love you lately may just be the ultimate pick-me-up record of the year.

 

No Name – Jack White

SKIPPY: Jack White‘s latest album was released in July via a free, unmarked, white-sleeved 12-inch vinyl given out with all in-store purchases at Third Man Records locations in Detroit, Nashville, and London. Neither customers nor employees knew any details about the record prior to this surprise release. Combined with the unpretentiously raw nature of a back-to-basics, guitar-driven rock album, No Name dials time back to when records were recorded and released without immense post-production and social media marketing.

 

Neck Deep – Neck Deep

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Neck Deep returned to form with their latest self-titled release. After a rocky reception to their previous record, All Distortions are Intentional, the Wrexham quintet took their pop-punk sound back to basics with outstanding effect. Raucous singles “Take Me With You”, “Heartbreak Of The Century” and “We Need More Bricks” are some of the finest cuts from any pop-punk album in recent memory and are sure to get die-hard fans back on board the Neck Deep hype train. And tracks such as “Sort Yourself Out” and “Go Outside” round out the band’s most consistent record to date. This one’s a real treat for fans of pizza-fueled, fun-loving pop-punk! 

 

Negative Spaces – Poppy

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: The chameleonic Poppy teamed up with Bring Me The Horizon alum Jordan Fish this year. The resulting record, Negative Spaces, deftly highlights just why she has rocketed in popularity in recent years. Poppy keeps true to her eclectic blend of metalcore and synth-pop and interweaves tracks from both genres effortlessly throughout the tracklisting with a fresh helping of industrial and hardcore. Whilst a lesser artist’s record may suffer from being this tonally varied, Negative Spaces is only bolstered by it. Dream-like pop cuts like “crystallized” are immediately juxtaposed by modern metal bangers such as “new way out” or “have you had enough?”. Somehow this mish-mash of disparate genres comes together to make one of the finest metal records of the year.       

 

POST HUMAN: NeX GEn – Bring me the Horizon

 

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Perhaps the hottest ticket in modern metal music, Sheffield metalcore act Bring me the Horizon, dropped their long-awaited record, POST HUMAN: NeX GEn. The glitchy, hyper pop-infused metal takes the listener down a rabbit hole of various genre-bending music that never fails to surprise. From Deftones inspired numbers like “liMOusine” (featuring AURORA), to the grunge stylings of “n/A”,  Bring me the Horizon deliver a consistent barrage of quality tracks. 

Vocalist Oli Sykes has never sounded better, the production is fresh and engaging and it’s clear guitarist Lee Malia was given slightly more of an input here than on the band’s previous few releases. This is most evident on “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd”, which features  a standout performance from one of the most underrated guitar players in the scene.

 

Phantoma – Unleash The Archers

KAY KORVID: Unleash The Archers got me back into metal many years ago. Brittany Slayes has an unparalleled vocal range, and the band itself is thunderous and direct like a laser beam. I didn’t know if I was going to love Phantoma like its predecessors. Apex and Abyss hold my heart in a chokehold, but Phantoma added its hand quickly. The album’s concept follows Phantoma’s journey through dystopia and questions the steady creep of AI. “Ph4/NT0mA“, the album’s namesake, is everything Unleash The Archers has to offer.

 

Scream It At Me! – Fluorescents

KAY KORVID: Scream It At Me! is an album I didn’t know I needed. Fluorescents is the embodiment of pop-punk, their work vibrant and catchy. True to the sound of their pop-punk predecessors, their music has a quality that’s nostalgic—a joy to find in something brand new. It’s accessible, it needs no introduction. Scream It At Me! gave me a collection of anthems that make me feel like a teenager again. It’s a reminder that the world is still at our feet.

 

Secrets of the Future – Reliqa

KAY KORVID: It’s no secret that I’m a long-time fan of Reliqa, the Australian prog-metal band is a staple in my Spotify. So I couldn’t have been more excited to get their first full-length album since 2018. Secrets of the Future is the album I expected, or rather completely unexpected. Reliqa has always brought something new to the table with each release, an additional layer that brings them further to the top. Their synthier, middle-eastern inspired sound is underscored with fat bass riffs reminiscent of Deftones, grungy vocals, and particularly gnarly breakdowns. It’s an album with no skips.

 

So Sick – Go For Gold

MALA MORTENSA: I have to fight the temptation to let the album title speak for me here. Point-blank, everything Go For Gold puts out is so sick. Close your eyes, pick a song, and you’re guaranteed to land on something that would feel right at home on any historic Warped Tour playlist. Their latest release follows their tried-and-true template, finding the decorous intersection of spirited, 2000s pop punk and cathartic, modern indie rock. But while the current of shimmery angst runs deep, So Sick feels markedly lighter than its predecessors in the way the sky appears to pale in the eye of a hurricane—and it’s got me so excited to hear how their sound evolves from here.

Survival in Motion – Taylor Acorn

MALA MORTENSA: Taylor Acorn really shot through the pop-punk ceiling with her series of singles in 2022. And, as if doubt could ever be justified, Survival in Motion really solidifies the notion that her trajectory is a vertical line. It’s one of those albums that feels innately fresh but still manages to conjure up false memories of finding it on LimeWire. New-but-nostalgic, ya dig? Concentrated and charged, every second of the tracklist exudes the prowess of a pop-punk mainstay that’s gelled in substance. It’s genuinely captivating.

 

Toil & Spin – Tigerwine

SKIPPY: If you’re here, you’re probs a sad boi, or at least halvsie sad boi. If you’re even just a skosh sad boi, then you need to go listen to Tigerwine‘s Toil & Spin. Right now, please. The words “simple” and “basic” have no place in this album between its poetic lyrics and music heavy as the dirt that covers you when you’re six feet under. It’s about reinvention, about reclaiming yourself from a world that will ask the world of you.

 

You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To – Knocked Loose

MAXWELL JEFFRIES: Kentucky hardcore powerhouses, Knocked Loose, smashed their way back onto the scene this year with their first full-length release since 2019. You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To saw the band take their abrasive, fiery brand of chugging guitars and piercing screams to new heights with songs like “Suffocate” (a fantastic collaboration with Poppy, which is nominated for a Grammy this year) and “Blinding Faith,” cementing them as one of the finest acts in the modern hardcore scene.