The Gateway - 2024 Roundup

With only two months left for 2024, it's time to look back at the releases throughout this year and see which ones are well-deserved highlights. For one of my clans, The Gateway has spawned amazing releases, with one of them reaching a perfect 5 stars from me despite the amount of hate it's received. Here's my top 10 of 2024:

1. Falling in Reverse - Popular Monster

2. Imminence - The Black

3. Northlane - Mirror's Edge

4. While She Sleeps - Self Hell

5. Wage War - Stigma

6. Devin Townsend - PowerNerd

7. Attack Attack! - Disaster

8. Bring Me the Horizon - Post Human: NeX GEn

9. Pain - I Am

10. Bad Omens - Concrete Jungle (The OST)

Albums that haven't been released yet, but will check out and might update my list:

Cane Hill - A Piece of Me I Never Let You Find

Linkin Park - From Zero (feeling up to checking out Linkin Park's comeback album, will add if 1. it's great enough to reach my top 10, and 2. it qualifies as metal enough to be added to the site)

Any releases this year from this clan that you enjoy, enough for a top 5 or top 10 or more? Discuss!

I've listened to pretty much zero Gateway stuff this year, sadly. This is the best I got: 

1. Devin Townsend - PowerNerd
2. Graphic Nature - Who Are You When No One Is Watching? 
3. Evergrey - Theories of Emptiness
4. Flagman - Tastes Incredible

Both Devin Townsend and Evergrey were disappointments, even though PowerNerd isn't exactly a bad album by any means. I think it just failed to do anything really spectacular and the simpler song styles that he went with don't stand out compared to past singles in his discography. The Flagman album was a shot in the dark that I hated, early 2000's Alternative Metal with a funk/punk-ish leaning is absolutely not my bag. 

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 distinguished member of the Gateway clan, it might come as a surprise that it is also one of my most frustrating listens on a yearly basis. But whose to say we cannot rustle some feathers? So here's my list:

1. Reliqa - Secrets of the Future

2. Poppy - Negative Spaces

3. Devin Townsend - PowerNerd

4. Northlane - Mirror's Edge

5. Slope - Freak Dreams

6. Pain - I Am

7. Graphic Nature - Who Are You When No One Is Watching?

8. Blanket - Ceremonia

9. Imminence - The Black

10. Vended - Vended

Just a top 10 obviously because there were quite a few records that don't deserve mention in this conversation. Alternative metalcore dominates this list once again, but bands like Reliqa, Vended and Graphic Nature are bringing nu metal back.