Over 40 years since Venom coined the phrase "black metal" and spawned metal's most infernal subgenre, it continues to thrive. Although many of its forces are now reaching venerable veteran status - hell, even Cradle Of Filth have passed the three-decade mark - the genre continues to thrive thanks to a steadfast dedication from both listeners and musicians to crafting their own spiky niches from the void.
2024 then, is representative of how the dials in black metal continue to shift. With even old school forces like Rotting Christ and Trelldom pushing boundaries and (relative) newcomers like Witch Club Satan, Hulder, Oranssi Pazuzu offering entirely new spins on the genre, it's no wonder that black metal is still a massively influential force in the extreme metal sphere. That in mind, here are the 10 black metal records that showcase the very best 2024 has to offer...
10. Hulder – Verses In Oath (20 Buck Spin)
In taking her name from Scandinavian folklore, it was always a safe bet that one-woman black metal project Hulder would err more on the side of fjord-and-forest dwelling second wavers than the generally more progressive, post-black metal stylings of her countrymen.
But there's no mindless lip-service here; her second album, Verses In Oath is a stunning and oft-cinematic blast of blackened fury, incorporating elements of ambience and even acoustic folk to develop her own voice within the black metal sphere. Only two albums in, Hulder has already staked her claim as one of black metal's exciting new acts. Rich Hobson
9. Folterkammer – Weibermacht (Century Media)
Black metal in 2024 is a broad church - not least because some of its inhabitants seem hell-bent on setting the whole thing ablaze. Even with that in mind, there's little that sounds like Folterkammer's Weibermacht. The second album from the New York based group, Weibermacht fuses the frosty blastbeats and shrieks of black metal with operatic vocals and femme-dom lyrical content that puts a whole new spin on the imperiousness of black metal.
With Imperial Triumphant's Zachary Ezrin and exceptional vocalist Andromeda Anarchia in their ranks, Folterkammer are representative of how black metal is still evolving 40+ years on from its inception, incorporating core ideals of the genre whilst creating something utterly bewitching. Rich Hobson
8. Zeal And Ardor – Greif (Redacted)
Zeal & Ardor may have inspired a million headlines in the late 2010s by making “black metal meets spirituals” music, but that catch-all is long since behind the Switzerland/US outfit. On fourth album Greif, more than ever, Manuel Gagneux and the boys were fascinated with the sounds in between snarling metal and crooning soul.
This resulted in curiosities like Thrill, which proceeded from a bouncy, pop-punk-flecked riff to melodeath guitar leads. Elsewhere, Fend You Off built a bold metal song around a delicate, chiming melody, whereas To My Ilk eschewed rock entirely, offering two minutes of loungy elegance. Now a decade deep, this band seem to have no shortage of ideas in their back pockets. Matt Mills
7. Ante-Inferno – Death’s Soliloquy (Vendetta)
Black metal isn't exactly known for its cheery disposition, but even by the genre's standards Ante-Inferno's Death's Soliloquy is bleak. An exploration of "madness, mental illness, death obsession and suicidal despair", the Scarborough, UK band's third album leans hard on the grimmest of subjects. It's also gorgeous.
A maelstrom of melodic black metal, Death's Soliloquy evokes the sheer beauty and terror of a natural disaster, crashing waves of blast-beats and anguished howls that connect to some inner sense of abject horror at the heart of the human condition. Rich Hobson
6. Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja (Nuclear Blast)
Calling Oranssi Pazuzu a black metal band actually feels reductive. For almost two decades now, the Finnish enigmas have dealt a disorienting strain of music that mixes metal, krautrock, prog, folk and psychedelia. The concoction has seldom felt more potent than it did on Muuntautuja.
On album number six, the mind-melters added even more to their sonic cocktail, pulling from noise music and even hip-hop group Death Grips. Contrasting all that abrasiveness, though, were some of the most accessible drum parts of their career. As a result, its eight songs would have you bobbing along as you’re dragged ear-first through Hell itself. It was a dissonance so powerful that it made the album a borderline addictive experience. Matt Mills
5. Trelldom – …By The Shadows… (Prophecy)
Gaahl isn't one to rush things, especially when it comes to Trelldom. His experimental black metal project have been wailing in the ether since 1992, but the 17-year wait for a new album had many convinced the project may have been left gathering dust with so many other Gaahl projects to contend with. But then, that's just how Trelldom like things: unexpected.
Their fourth album arrives in a haze of psychedelic-hued, jazz-adjacent swirls that are innovative even by their own lofty standards. Noir-ish crooners like Exit Existence clash with squalling, wailing sax on Return The Distance, while Between The World is an occult reference away from being funereal doom. It's a sublime mix, and shows that while the likes of Imperial Triumphant and Falterkammer are leading the way for innovation in black metal, they're by no means the first to tread the path. Rich Hobson
4. Witch Club Satan – Witch Club Satan (Lost And Found)
Hailing from Norway, there's more than a whiff of the Norwegian black metal masters to newcomers Witch Club Satan. Musically, they offer no-frills, oh-so thrilling blasts of second wave black metal that traces its lineage back beyond Mayhem and Emperor to the likes of Motorhead and GBH, but there's also an added layer of spikiness and fury that makes the group's self-titled debut electric.
With songs like Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy, WCS nail their provocateur tendencies to the mast, each of the album's 12 songs trading in utterly apoplectic assaults on the senses that, even when they're not going 100mph, as on tar-paced Steilneset or the surprisingly sublimely melodic Mother Sea, hits like a bulldozer. Rich Hobson.
3. Rotting Christ – Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
When Rotting Christ started releasing albums in the early 90s, black metal had evolved into a global force. Scandinavia might've grabbed the headlines, but fertile scenes everywhere from Brazil to Australia and the UK ensured even the most kvlt band was connected to a wider force. The genre's fields have only grown more populated over the past 30 years, but Pro Xtristou proves the Greeks are still one of the most iconoclastic and distinctive acts in black metal.
Their fourteenth album refines the slower, more epic songcraft the band showcased on 2016's Rituals, stripping away some of the more frenetic stylings of its successor - 2019's The Heretics - to craft something that has an instant impact and befits their veteran status. Rich Hobson
2. Alcest – Les Chants De L’Aurore (Nuclear Blast)
Alcest’s relationship with blackgaze has weathered more ups and downs than Homer and Marge Simpson. Architect Stéphane “Neige” Paut basically invented the style on the EP Le Secret, but has repeatedly eschewed it for post-rock or heavier sounds. Les Chants De L’Aurore marked at least the third reunion between band and genre, following predecessor Spiritual Instinct pursuing a more wholly metal path, but also proved that nobody wields it better.
From the bouncy Flamme Jumelle to the mellow and bittersweet L’Adieu, Alcest reclaimed their throne as the kings of blackgaze, returning emotional richness to what so many imitators reduced to “screaming over delay pedals”. Welcome back Neige, and we look forward to welcoming you back again in two albums’ time. Matt Mills
1. Ihsahn – Ihsahn (Candlelight)
In metal, two kinds of people release self-titled albums: people debuting, or people desperate to convince you they’ve redefined themselves à la Metallica in 1991. Thankfully, the maverick Ihsahn fell through the cracks and presented what may genuinely be his definitive work.
The man born Vegard Tveitan has been fascinated with the interplay between metal and classical since the early Emperor days, and here that relationship got hyper-focussed upon and perfected. He didn’t just plop strings on top of black metal songs like so many do – he made the cinematic and the aggressive one, writing extreme songs using chord progressions that John WIlliams and Jerry Goldsmith employed when composing. The album’s extended version, which offered classical instrumental takes on every track, only reaffirmed how nuanced a job Ihsahn had done. Matt Mills
