5 Best New Metal Albums Added to Horns Or Thorns chart on June 23, 2024

Here's a summary of the latest update to the 2024 best metal albums chart from "Horns Or Thorns"! We have some diverse new entries on the chart this time, too, with shades of death, sludge, doom, and black fighting for our attention. Enjoy!

If you want to check out the complete chart you can do it HERE.

Debuting straight at number two on the chart is New Zealand's Ulcerate with their seventh album, "Cutting the Throat of God." With a career spanning more than 20 years and releasing quality record after quality record, the expectations for their new album were very high. However, Ulcerate acquitted themselves of the task of creating another highly appreciated album with great success. With every release, Ulcerate writes a masterclass on putting together top-notch extreme metal that appeals to a vast population of metalheads. The secret to their superior composition skills lies in integrating melodic hooks into extreme metal without alienating fans who navigate to the more extreme side of the metal spectrum. For all these reasons and many others, "Cutting the Throat of God" is a contender for the best death metal album of the year.

Thou's sixth full-length, "Umbilical," comes in at number 8. The Louisiana-based sludge metal band is another model of consistency. With many more splits, EPs, and collaborations under their belt, it could be challenging to go through their back catalog, although rewarding no matter where you land. Released six years after their previous album, Magus, the band's latest LP highlights another side of their trademark sound. The ten songs comprising Umbilical tend to be shorter than usual, leaning more on their hardcore/punk influences. Thou have unleashed another beast that will be on many year-end lists.

Crypt Sermon, one of the most acclaimed epic doom metal bands of the last ten years, returns with their third album, "The Stygian Rose." The follow-up to "Out of the Garden" (2015) and "The Ruins of Fading Light" (2019), "The Stygian Rose" creates a dark atmosphere thanks to its massive melodic riffs, dramatic solos, and Brooks Wilson's epic vocals. With the album's perfect running time and production, incorporating more vibrant ideas into their sound, Crypt Sermon has composed their best work yet and a contender for best doom metal album of the year.

Sweden's Wormwood lands in the 39th place on the chart with their fourth full-length, "The Star." Wormwood's sound on their first album belonged more in the realm of viking/melodic black metal with folk undertones. However, with each subsequent album, Wormwood has incorporated more elements, culminating in The Star, a hybrid of melodic black and melodic death metal that frequently veers towards doom-death or post-metal. The album sets a melancholic and contemplative tone and will undoubtedly be an enjoyable listen for many fans of melodic extreme metal.

After the legendary Swedish black/thrash metal band Nifelheim went on hiatus in 2022, Nifelheim's vocalist and founding member Per "Hellbutcher" Gustavsson announced the formation of a new band, Hellbutcher, and released their self-titled debut album, "Hellbutcher." The album, which takes 40th place in the Horns Or Thorns chart, takes inspiration from 80s classic metal, masterly mashing together thrash, black, speed, and NWOBHM. And that is no wonder since the band consists of veterans of the scene, and together, they produce a blackened Swedish blasphemous sound.

Judas Priest has been dominating the chart with its latest album; the new arrival from Ulcerate enters at the top, directly in second place. It will be interesting to see if Ulcerate can defeat the "Invincible Shield" by "Cutting the Throat of God."

Moving up 43 positions from 149 to 106

Moving up 7 positions from 82 to 75

Moving up 7 positions from 124 to 117

Moving up 5 positions from 199 to 194

Moving up 5 positions from 192 to 187

Thank you for checking out the new updates of the chart! See you soon on HornsOrThorns.com for more thrilling best-of lists, and in the meantime, enjoy these albums.