The Fallen - 2024 Roundup

It's late October and thoughts are already turning to Xmas and  year's end which, for Metal Academy, means year-end best of lists. For various reasons I haven't been across the new releases this year as much as in previous years, so this will also serve as a state of play reminder of what I have listened to and a checklist so I can make an effort to cover a few more before we all sing Auld Lang Syne.

Anyway, here's my top 15 Fallen picks of 2024 so far:

1. Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All

2. Scald - Ancient Doom Metal

3. Mourning Dawn - The Foam of Despair

4. The Flight of Sleipnir, - Nature's Cadence

5. High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

6. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

7. Altar of Betelgeuze - Echoes

8. Civerous - Maze Envy

9. Coffins - Sinister Oath

10. Arð - Untouched by Fire

11. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call

12. Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk

13. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands

14. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow

15. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision

Let's see what mine end up being so far, I don't think I've had too many Fallen albums that have caught my fancy this year. 

1. Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter
2. Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose
3. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos
4. Bongripper - Empty
5. Thou - Umbilical 
6. High On Fire - Cometh The Storm
7. Civerous - Maze Envy
8. Coffins - Sinister Oath
9. Ard - Untouched By Fire
10. Inter Arma - New Heaven
11. Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished

Hmm, a lot of these ended up being Fallen by subcategory, not main category for sure. I still have a few from your list to go through Sonny, very interested in the Scald record after giving their profile a peek. The Stygian Rose is the massive winner for Doom Metal for me this year without a doubt.

Yeah, both of the ...Sermon bands are still on my "to listen to" list, Xephyr, and I have quite high hopes  for them, so it's good to see them at the top of your list. Inter Arma are another I have enjoyed in the past, so hopefully that's a good one too. I listened to  the Thou album a bit ago and enjoyed it, as I always do, but haven't worked up a review yet, hence it's missing from my list.

Listened to Ponte del Diavolo today and that's going to go into #5 spot on my list. I would recommend it if you haven't heard it.

Even though I would very much describe myself as a doom metal newbie (at least when compared to the other extreme subgenres), I have found myself thoroughly immersed in this year's The Fallen releases - no less than a few of which I have truly fallen in love with and expect to revisit regularly in the future. I have to admit that aside from The Horde, the other clans have been giving me a decidedly more difficult time to discover albums of such high quality. Is 2024 a really good year for The Fallen, or is it just my heart increasingly calling me to walk this barren, desolate path?

My favourites so far:

1. Scald - Ancient Doom Metal

2. Dionysiaque - Diogonos

3. Capilla Ardiente - Where Gods Live and Men Die

4. Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished

5. Avernus - Grievances

6. Void Witch - Horripilating Presence

7. Sanctuarium - Melted and Decomposed

8. Funeral Leech - The Illusion of Time

9. Altar of Oblivion - In the Cesspit of Divine Decay

10. Void Moon - Dreams Inside the Sun

11. Stygian Crown - Funeral for a King

Even though I would very much describe myself as a doom metal newbie (at least when compared to the other extreme subgenres), I have found myself thoroughly immersed in this year's The Fallen releases - no less than a few of which I have truly fallen in love with and expect to revisit regularly in the future. I have to admit that aside from The Horde, the other clans have been giving me a decidedly more difficult time to discover albums of such high quality. Is 2024 a really good year for The Fallen, or is it just my heart increasingly calling me to walk this barren, desolate path?

In all honesty, Karl, I wouldn't say that 2024 is an exceptional year for The Fallen releases. I admit I am biased because The Fallen is my clan of choice, but I genuinely believe that every year since 1990 has turned out reams of excellent doom, sludge, stoner, drone and even gothic metal albums. It seems like there is no sign of the quality dropping off in The Fallen just yet. In my dedicated lists for the last seven or eight years I usually have between 60 and 120 albums I would rate as pretty good (7/10) or better.

Well 2024 is almost in the rearview and it's about that time that we enter into the new year ass first and look to see what stood out among the rest in metal music in the previous year. As a outsider to the Fallen clan, it is both baffling and disappointing that I have become so detached from the music that is being shared with everyone else's year end lists.

1. Pallbearer - Mind Burns Alive

2. Civerous - Maze Envy

3. Big Brave - A Chaos of Flowers

4. High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

5. Crypt Sermon - The Stygian Rose

6. Thou - Umbilical 

7. Officuim Triste - Hortus venenum

Now do keep in mind that of the Fallen style music that I frequent, sludge and death doom metal are my go to's instead of the traditional doom metal style. That said, the number of people sleeping on Pallbearer in 2024 is surprising. After I started working full time again in September, I've run low on time to visit clans outside of my own, but my DM's are always open for recommendations.

I am one of those guilty of sleeping on the Pallbearer album. Since their top-drawer debut album every subsequent release seems to have got less and less heavy as they become more doomgaze-y -  a style I am not particularly fond of. There seems to be a lot of buzz around this latest, though, so I will have to check it out I guess.

My updated picks of the year so far:

1.Ataraxie - Le déclin

2. Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All

3. Scald - Ancient Doom Metal

4. Mourning Dawn - The Foam of Despair

5. The Flight of Sleipnir, - Nature's Cadence

6. Ponte del Diavolo - Fire Blades From the Tomb

7. High on Fire - Cometh the Storm

8. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

9. Tzompantli - Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force

10. Thou - Umbilical

11. Ufomammut - Hidden

12. Altar of Betelgeuze - Echoes

13. Civerous - Maze Envy

14. Coffins - Sinister Oath

15. Arð - Untouched by Fire

16. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call

17. Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk

18. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands

19. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow

20. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision

2. Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All

I can't place my finger on it but just cannot get into the latest Darkthrone.  I have loved everything they have done recently but cannot get my head around this one.  Had a fair few spins of it too.  Could be that I am a bit tired of the format/style now and it needs some variety to jazz it up for me.  I keep trying though.

As with any end of year list, my focus is never really on new releases anymore and so I can only vouch for a handful of those (Civerous, Coffins, Ponte del Diavolo and Darkthrone).  Prob should check a few of those out that I missed (The Obsessed,  Hamferð and Spectral Voice).

2. Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All

I can't place my finger on it but just cannot get into the latest Darkthrone.  I have loved everything they have done recently but cannot get my head around this one.  Had a fair few spins of it too.  Could be that I am a bit tired of the format/style now and it needs some variety to jazz it up for me.  I keep trying though.

As with any end of year list, my focus is never really on new releases anymore and so I can only vouch for a handful of those (Civerous, Coffins, Ponte del Diavolo and Darkthrone).  Prob should check a few of those out that I missed (The Obsessed,  Hamferð and Spectral Voice).

I'm a total and unapologetic Darkthrone fanboy (or fangrandpa if you will), so I totally understand others not being into them as much as me. I would only bother with the Obsessed album if you really like them already, Vinny, because it's not all that special to my ears. Hamferð and Spectral Voice are both worth a listen though.