2024 has been a phenomenal year for artists who helped define heavy metal, it's honestly long past time for it.

With a world suffering from an increasingly unstable geopolitical situation, it's at least comforting to know that heavy metal will always provide a loving cocoon of disgustingly sick guitar riffs to insulate us from that which would destroy us. Metal's phenomenal variety of genres means that there's always a sound that will appeal to someone, especially when it comes to these ten fantastic releases from 2024.

10 Bruce Dickinson – "Resurrection Men"

The Mandrake Project (BMG)

Iron Maiden's fourth (and current) vocalist has been one of the most influential singers in heavy metal ever since he first started rocking listeners' brains out on 1982's phenomenal The Number of the Beast. Although he took a break from Maiden in the mid-'90s, he returned to them in 1999, and has been relentlessly continuing with them ever since, as well as releasing two solo albums in the meantime, including this year's The Mandrake Project.

The track opens with Dickinson proudly proclaiming "I am the wizard of your heart" – truly an '80s metal lyric if there ever was one.

Mandrake's third and final single, "Resurrection Men," could absolutely be a classic Maiden track. Co-written by Dickinson and producer/guitarist/bassist Roy Z, the track opens with Dickinson proudly proclaiming "I am the wizard of your heart" – truly an '80s metal lyric if there ever was one – and continues to shred more and more from there. It's amazing that Dickinson can still shriek like he's in his 20s, but it just goes to show that true metal is unstoppable.

9 DOROTHY – "MUD"

I COME ALIVE (Roc Nation Records)

Vocalist Dorothy Martin once described her band as making "songs that [they] think Beavis and Butthead would like," (via Rolling Stone), and ever since they slammed onto the scene in 2014 with "After Midnight," that has absolutely been true (in the most complimentary way). With a sound that's a little bit Black Sabbath, a little bit bar-rock, and a little bit Patti Smith, DOROTHY remains an unparalleled goddess of blues-metal.

"MUD," the first of a series of singles released this year that may be tied to a 2025 album release, goes heavy on country-metal vibes in a way that Pantera only ever wish they could. Martin's vocals effortlessly switch from a country drawl to a soulful shriek, and drummer Jake Hayden keeps a steady rhythm that makes you wonder if there's a way to combine line-dancing and moshing.

8 Linkin Park – "The Emptiness Machine"

From Zero (Warner Records/Machine Shop)

Linkin Park's return this year has been met with reactions ranging from critical acclaim to outright condemnation, but it's clear that regardless of the haters, the band is back to stay – and that new vocalist Emily Armstrong, formerly of Dead Sara, has the skills to not only take up the mantle of the deceased Chester Bennington, but also put her own stamp on the band's new material. Linkin Park's comeback album From Zero peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and topped the charts all over the world.

"The Emptiness Machine" was the first surprise single off From Zero, released on September 5 in a surprise live show that was streamed globally, serving both as a debut for the new material and for Armstrong herself, who brought phenomenal energy to the entire set. With a driving beat that gives the listener no time to catch their breath, "The Emptiness Machine" is at once a bold step forward and a fitting homage to the legacy of Chester Bennington.

7 Serj Tankian – "A.F. Day"

Foundations (Self-released)

While System of a Down continues to tour without having released any new studio material since 2005's Mezmerize/Hypnotize double album, their frontman Serj Tankian has put out a stunning amount of solo material in that time, including this year's self-released Foundations EP. Tankian's signature frenzied style drips from every track on Foundations, but lead single "A.F. Day" is the clear standout.

Originally written for but never officially recorded by System of a Down, "A.F. Day"'s origins are clear in its frustrated railing at the monotony of modern dystopian existence. Much of the track was apparently laid down when it was written in SOAD's early days, but the production quality is all modern, with a hypnotic drone in the bridge that reinforces the unending nature of the chorus – "another day, another day, another day."

6 Gnome – Old Soul

Vestiges Of Verumex Visidrome (Polderrecords)

Belgian stoner-rock trio Gnome are now on their third studio album with Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome, and while that album as a whole doesn't quite stand up as well as its predecessor, 2022's phenomenal King, it does still have that phenomenal sludgy Gnome sound. The combination of doom metal riffs, goofball lyrics, and infectiously danceworthy rhythms continues to show that these nerds from Antwerp understand the best metal is the stuff that doesn't take itself seriously.

The music video leans heavily on public domain footage from the 1962 fantasy film The Magic Sword.

VVV's lead single, "Old Soul," is a worthy successor to the band's previous hits, namely King's best two singles, "Wenceslas" and "Ambrosius." The relentless riffs on the verse and chorus are perfectly juxtaposed with a bass-heavy, bluesy bridge that almost evokes the Black Sabbath classic "Hand of Doom." The music video, which leans heavily on public domain footage from the 1962 fantasy film The Magic Sword, continues Gnome's trend of putting incomprehensibly silly visuals to their sludgiest riffs.

5 Gojira featuring Marina Viotti – "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!)"

Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!) (International Olympic Committee)

Founded in 1996, French death metal band Gojira has always delighted in infusing their sound with various strange influences, often straying far afield of death metal to the point of winding up somewhere in the neighborhood of prog-rock. Yet "Mea Culpa" represents an entirely new direction for the band – revolutionary opera.

On July 26, 2024, Gojira became the first metal band to ever play an Olympic opening ceremony.

On July 26, 2024, Gojira became the first metal band to ever play an Olympic opening ceremony, and did so with their version of "Ça ira," a song dating back to the French revolution that calls for hanging aristocrats from the streetlamps of Paris. Gojira's version, featuring vocals by opera star and mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti, doesn't go quite as hard into the anti-aristocratic rhetoric of older versions of the song, but makes up for it with an intense, plodding, crunchy riff that's perfect for sharpening your guillotine to.

4 Hanabie. – "Metamorphose!"

Bucchigiri Tokyo (Epic Records Japan)

Japanese high school besties turned metalcore gods Hanabie. started out by covering fellow Japanese hardcore group Maximum the Hormone, but began working on original music in 2016. Since then, they've had two full studio albums, as well as a pair of EPs, including this year's phenomenal Bucchigiri Tokyo. Combining their metalcore sound with aesthetics from Japanese youth subcultures, including Harajuku streetwear and gyaru fashion, Hanabie. are exactly the band to listen to if you think Babymetal don't go hard enough.

"Metamorphose!" (メタ盛るフォーゼ!) is Bucchigiri Tokyo's most intense track, inspired by the Pretty Cure anime series, a childhood favorite for several band . Combining some very anime-styled electronic production with furious riffs and growling on the verses, "Metamorphose!" is an incredible combination of hyperfeminine pop and grungy, crunchy guitar riffs. Sugoi ne!

3 Jinjer – "Someone's Daughter"

Green Serpent (Napalm Records)

Ukranian metalcore quartet Jinjer has released four singles this year in anticipation of February 2025's album Duél, and if their past releases are any indication, that album is likely to melt any faces within fifteen feet of any speaker its played on. Loudwire and Metal Hammer have both ranked Jinjer's past releases as some of the best metal of the century, and deservedly so, as their sound – particularly thanks to vocalist Tati Shmayluk – manages to be both sludgy and crisp, with production techniques masterfully cribbed from a whirlwind of genres.

"Someone's Daughter," the first single released from what is now known as the Green Serpent EP, is a four-minute distillation of everything amazing about Jinjer. Shamyluk's vocals, effortlessly switching from singing to the token metalcore growl, soar above the sickening thump of Eugene Abdukhanov's signature five-string bass as she sings of the pain that comes from society's double standards for women.

2 Dark Tranquility – "The Last Imagination"

Endtime Signals (Century Media Records)

One of the original melodic death metal bands to come out of Sweden as the vanguard of the Scandinavian metal scene in the early 90s, Dark Tranquility have never slowed down in their relentless quest to find the ultimate expression of death metal. 2024's Endtime Signals, the band's thirteenth album, shows that, even after major lineup changes in 2020 and 2021, Dark Tranquility are still masters of combining ethereal keyboards with unflinchingly heavy guitar riffs.

"The Last Imagination" is the first single from Endtime Signals, and while it isn't the hardest song Dark Tranquility have ever released, it's absolutely up there. Vocalist Mikael Stanne's guttural rasp juxtaposes perfectly with Martin Brändström's airy keys; meanwhile, guitarist Johan Reinholdz's riffs are impeccably heavy.

1 High On Fire – "Burning Down"

Cometh The Storm (MNRK Records)

California stoner metal wizards High on Fire have an incredible discography, and finally received the kind of critical acclaim they've been due for years when they won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance with 2019's "Electric Messiah." Now, after five years, 2024's Cometh the Storm has arrived to show that the masters of sludge have only gotten better with age.

The track blends the grotesque and the sublime perfectly, with every beat of the drums and sludgy crunch of a guitar riff maximally positioned to rock your face clean off.

"Burning Down" is a standout track, at once calling back to older High on Fire masterpieces like "Cometh Down Hessian" (off 2005's Blessed Black Wings) while also demonstrating just how far the band has come after a quarter-century of shredding. Much like Cometh the Storm as a whole, the track blends the grotesque and the sublime perfectly, with every beat of the drums and sludgy crunch of a guitar riff maximally positioned to rock your face clean off.

Source: Rolling Stone