5 Best New Metal Albums Added May 30, 2024

Welcome to this week's update to the 2024 best metal albums chart from "Horns Or Thorns"! We have some pretty diverse entrances in the chart this week, from death, black, and doom metal bands, but they are dominated by American bands, four of five being from the US. So let's get things going!

Making its debut at number 30 on the chart, we have the Arizona-based band Gatecreeper with their third full-length, "Dark Superstition." After showcasing a more classic death metal sound at the start of their career and incorporating elements of death doom metal on their previous album and EP, their latest album marks a new transition towards melodic death metal, specifically a blend of Swedish death metal. From what I can tell, many people are very unhappy with this development (as if that's a surprise in the metal world), but I assure you there are no complaints from my side.

The third album by Saidan, "Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity," comes in at number 35. Hailing from Nashville, Tenessee, the band plays raw/melodic black metal, with the melodic influences coming from (according to the band) punk rock and J-rock. While the Japanese influences in their aesthetics are evident, the ones in their sound are not that obvious. It's curious, but the band that most comes to mind when listening to this album is Old Nick, although he takes his music to more outlandish places. Another recent band that draws similarities due to their uplifting music and emphasis on guitars is Moonlight Sorcery. Overall, this album will delight many people and draw in more fans for the band.

Landing at the 44th spot, we have the doom metallers from Pallbearer with their fifth album, "Mind Burns Alive." After starting as a more traditional doom band, their sound evolved and developed over time, and 2024 finds them in a much more melancholic and atmospheric mood, incorporating modern elements. The album, at times brimming with emotion and even warmth, is not recommended for a casual listen but more as a soundtrack for one's own dark moments.

Tzompantli, a California-based death doom metal band, has landed on the 56th place in the chart with their sophomore album, "Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force." The band draws inspiration from their Mexican heritage, a common practice among many metal bands, and it's refreshing to see this approach applied to more metal subgenres, not just folk or black metal. Although I would have liked to see more from their traditional/folk side, the war-provoking facet of the muddy riffs compensates in spades.

Veteran atmospheric/pagan black metal band Darkestrah returns with their seventh album after an eight-year break. Forming in Kyrgyzstan but later relocating to Germany, the band draws inspiration from the folk traditions of Central Asia. "Nomad," which lands in 69th place on the chart, is their first album with their new female vocalist, Charuk. She brings a new dimension to their music with her shrieks and clean singing, filling a void in Darkestrah's sound after they parted ways with their long-standing founding female vocalist in 2014. Using a multitude of folk instruments, throat singing, keyboards, and oscillating between different tempos, the band utilizes all the tricks in the book to draw you into their story.

There is some turmoil at the top of the chart. Knocked Loose goes up two positions, overtaking Job for a Cowboy and Ihsahn.

Moving up 62 positions from 193 to 131

Moving up 20 positions from 127 to 107

Moving up 18 positions from 91 to 73

Moving up 8 positions from 78 to 70

Moving up 8 positions from 194 to 186

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.