And thus, we're at the end. Not of new music - there's an absolute tonne to come out next year, but at the end of 2024 with our final update for some brilliant new metal bands you need to hear.
As with every other month this year, we've hunted far and wide, high and low to find you exciting new sounds and can offer a diverse selection for your listening pleasure. Italian power metal? We've got you with Alterium. Prefer horror-obsessed death metal? Fulci's the band for you. Or maybe you'd rather dip into the prog metal experimentalism of El Moono, or lose yourself in the cosmic psych metal of Slift.
We've stuck the latest records from each of these bands in our massive playlist below - which also includes every band we've featured in our new noise section this year in Metal Hammer, so feel free to dive in at your heart's leisure. Got any suggestions for new bands you want to see next year? Drop 'em in the comments. Otherwise, we'll see you on the other side!
Alterium
Alterium are the newest rising stars in Italy’s oft-overlooked power metal scene. But for singer Nicoletta Rosellini, they also represent a chance to begin again. Formed from the ashes of Kalidia, a symphonic band who were active for more than a decade but never managed to break through into the mainstream, Nicoletta admits that by the time the band dissolved, she had grown tired of the struggle.
“If I could visit myself in my old band, I’d say to disband it way earlier!” she says. “Right now, I have the perfect band, but I wish I’d started it sooner.”
By Nicoletta’s reckoning, in Alterium the chemistry between the musicians is better, they have a clearer sense of purpose, and it’s revitalised her love of power metal. Their debut album, Of War And Flames, is an impressive collection of power metal anthems with big choruses, folk influences and invigorating melodies.
There’s also a genuine sense of fun; Alterium’s lyrics are inspired by a mix of videogames and classical mythology, and it’s hard not to have a damn good time with tracks like the tavern-worshipping Crossroads Inn, the cutlass-waving Heroine Of The Sea, or the turbo-charged Drag Me To Hell. Even though their debut has only just arrived, they’re already readying plans for more new music.
“The band has four songwriters,” says Nicoletta. “With a lot of people writing good stuff, it’s easy to bring songs together for an album. We’ll be working on standalone singles during the rest of this year, but there’s already a lot of ideas for the next record." Tim Bolitho-Jones
Of War And Flames is out now via AFM.
Sounds Like: Thigh-slapping power metal that’ll make you want to storm a fortress For Fans Of: Hammerfall, Beyond The Black, Wind Rose
Listen To: Of War And Flames
El Moono
“We're silly billies really,” El Moono guitarist Jamie Haas jokes over Zoom. They might be daft offstage, but anyone who’s caught the Brightonians live knows that their music is anything but. A scintillating blend of progressive metal, occasional flourishes of indie and the raw edge of grunge, there’s very few bands, if any, that sound like them. Staunch advocates of talking about mental health and supporters of LGBTQIA+ rights, their shows are raucously heavy, but fundamentally a safe place for self-expression.
“I wear a dress onstage. It’s ridiculous that so many people have an opinion on it and want to comment on someone else’s appearance,” explains vocalist/guitarist Zac Jackson.
That penchant for subversion is deliberate; rock and metal were founded on it, and to those that claim the genre is dead, Jamie says “that’s only because it’s stopped doing its thing, to bring new ideas and hold people to account. This is our way of doing that.”
Prompting questions around gender identity expression is core to them, as are frank examinations of trauma and mental health. Forced To Smile from 2022 EP Temple Corrupted builds offkilter riffs around lyrics dissecting the experience of forcing yourself to wear a mask of positivity around others, while The Waking Sun, from their eponymous debut album, is a harrowing depiction of the daily struggles of depression, with desperate verses building to a doom-laden, haunting chorus. There’s an undercurrent of positivity to them, though.
“There’s no magical way of fixing things,” says Jamie. “It’s just living your life every day; every day is a chance to grow and do things a bit differently.” Will Marshall
The Waking Sun is out now via Lockjaw. El Moono play Brighton Dust on December 13 and Kingston Fighting Cocks on December 14.
Sounds Like: Heady, progressive metal rooted in deep trauma and healing
For Fans Of: Deftones, Sugar Horse, Alice In Chains
Listen To: The Waking Sun
Slift
Slift’s three members – guitarist/singer Jean Fossat, his bassist brother Rémi, and drummer Canek Flores – have been in bands together since high school. Though the Toulouse trio dabbled in hardcore, prog and everything in between, they didn’t truly decide what music to make until, at a local museum, they attended a mind-expanding show by Cali psych-rockers Moon Duo.
“Right after the gig, we were like, ‘Holy shit!’” Jean remembers today. “We needed to do that kind of stuff, that psychedelic music. The band started after that.”
From those origins, Slift are just as cosmic and hallucinogenic as you would hope and expect. The expansive songs on their new album, Ilion, pair metal riffs with echoey vocals and space rock atmospherics, with nary a chorus in sight. It’s by far the most adventurous and brilliant of their three long-playing experiments to date. But despite outward appearances, the bewildering tracks aren’t drug-inspired.
“We are 100% clean and focused,” Jean smiles. Rather, he explains, “After the last album [2020’s Ummon], we really wanted to try not to repeat ourselves. We love to listen to a lot of music – it could be post-rock, hardcore, psychedelic, garage or jazz – and we wanted to push our sound in new directions.”
Ummon was Slift’s breakthrough, released after a performance for US radio station KEXP unexpectedly went viral on YouTube. “We discovered so many bands thanks to KEXP, so it was kind of a dream for us,” Jean marvels.
Slift have toured almost nonstop since, disorienting crowds with Doctor Who-ish video effects, and album four is already being demoed. Next on the wishlist? Melt even more brains by heading out with their avant-garde heroes.
“I’d love to play with Oranssi Pazuzu,” Jean declares. “And Melvins. Melvins are probably my number one." Matt Mills
Ilion is out now via Sub Pop
Sounds Like: Prog metal, jazz and psych-rock being crushed together inside a black hole
For Fans Of: Ozric Tentacles, Dvne, King Crimson
Listen To: Nimh
Fulci
Death metal has always taken inspiration from horror cinema, the likes of Fluids and Necrophagia gleefully serving up X-rated thrills for an audience ravenous for bloodthirsty escapism. Add Italians Fulci to the top of that gruesome pile. Dedicated to filmmaking ‘Godfather Of Gore’ Lucio Fulci, from whom they took their name, the quintet mainline the unrestrained violence of giallo slasher flicks for some seriously fetid pummelling.
While the band’s previous fulllengths have paid tribute to the shambler mania of Fulci films City Of The Living Dead and Zombi 2, their latest, Duck Face Killings, shifts the focus to the director’s stomach-churning serial-killer classic, The New York Ripper.
“It’s considered one of the most violent movies in cinema history,” explains guitarist and founding member Dome Diego. “We wanted to recreate the sensations and vibes stirred by the film – to make riffs as sharp as the blades of the duck-voiced killer and write lyrics describing sickening murders in a city that looks like Hell on Earth in a world without love.”
To ensure every aspect of The New York Ripper experience was covered, the band extended themselves creatively and stylistically, even at the risk of alienating purists.
“We approach each album like a film director writing the script for a new movie,” says Dome. “If we need to draw on different instrumentation or genres to create the right atmosphere, we will – for instance, Mario Luce’s saxophone cameo on Il Miele Del Diavolo represents that film’s erotic elements.”
He continues: “If you listen to the original soundtrack for The New York Ripper, it’s full of funk and brass instrumentation, giving it an urban crime edge. We thought the best way to evoke that same vibe in 2024 was through rap vocals. That’s how Lord Goat from [American hip hop crew] Non Phixion ended up appearing on Knife. We’re never afraid to dare.” Spencer Grady
Duck Face Killings is out now via 20 Buck Spin
Sounds Like: Suppurating sarcomas of gurgling old-school carnage, engorged with samples, synths and subterranean gangsta flow
For Fans Of: Cannibal Corpse, Mortician, Fluids
Listen To: Knife
