That's it, we're calling it: 2024 is over. Yes, there's another month to go, but with Thanksgiving just a week away and Opeth marking the final major metal release of 2024, we're retiring our weekly round-ups of new singles to commemorate the year that was [and what a year!].
We're going out on a high though, the last-but-one week of November bringing some absolutely massive new singles and album announcements from the likes of Architects, Killswitch Engage, Coheed And Cambria and Spiritbox. Ooft. But before we get into that, here's the results of last week's vote!
There was some heavyweight talent in the running last week with Poppy, Machine Head, Destruction and more duking it out. Machine Head's "wu-tang style" team-up with Lacuna Coil, In Flames and Unearth took a healthy third place, but Latvian newcomers Askin pipped them in the polls. The winners though - with an overwhelming share of the vote - were Lord Of The Lost, their own team-up single Lords Of Fyre with Feuershwanz conquering the competition and adding more fuel to the excitement around their tour together in Germany next Autumn.
As we said up top, this is the final push for 2024's best metal songs (on a weekly basis, at least), so don't forget to cast your vote in the poll below. As usual, the top three acts will make it into the running for the Best Metal Songs Of 2024 poll, so it's all to play for as we hit the final stretch for the year. See you on the other side!
Architects - Whiplash
The singles Seeing Red and Curse had already hinted at the direction Architects were going, but the arrival of Whiplash - and the official announcement of The Sky, The Earth & All Between for a February 28 release - seems to confirm Architects are back at their heaviest and most anthemic for album 11. Ex-Bring Me The Horizon keyboardist Jordan Fish has lent some assistance to Whiplash on the production front and it shows; the track still incoporates some of the electronic underpinnings Architects had on their last album but tightened and streamlined to make the track feel truly fresh and vibrant. Excited? You bet.
Spiritbox - Perfect Soul
It's been a long time coming, but Spiritbox are coming back with a new album. Titled Tsunami Sea and due for release on March 7, new single Perfect Soul shows the Canadians are still an apex force in contemporary metalcore as they utilise sublime melodies and crashing beats to craft a cinematic sense of grandeur. With shows at Alexandra Palace, Download and Wembley Stadium in support of Linkin Park, its fair to say 2025 might just be their year.
Body Count - Merciless
Over 30 years since they first burst onto the metal scene, Body Count feel more essential than ever. Album eight sees Ice-T and co. still snarling and bounding along crossover grooves, the freshly released title track capturing the dystopian atmosphere of their last decade of output, the line "I've only got one life to live/I've got no more fucks to give" typical chest-puffing brilliance from T.
Killswitch Engage - Forever Aligned
2025 is looking like a massive year for metalcore. Genre champions - and a huge influence on the creme of metalcore's contemporary crop - Killswitch Engage have announced their first new album in five years with This Consequence set for a February 21 release date. Lead single Forever Aligned is Killswitch as we love them; widdly guitars, massive riffs and a vocal hook so massive you can practically feel it tearing itself out of your lungs.
Blackbriar - Floriography
It might take its name from the Victorian language of flowers, but there's something inherently wintry and spellbinding about Blackbriar's new single Floriography. The Dutch symphonic metallers craft gorgeous and grandiose compositions that bring to mind the genre's greatest acts, and as a first taste of their upcoming third album, Floriography feels like a statement on how the band will step up in 2025.
Coheed And Cambria - Searching For Tomorrow
After teasing a return to their post-hardcore roots on Blind Side Sonny, Coheed And Cambria have bridged the gap with the more prog flavoured Searching For Tomorrow. Mixing intricate guitar-work with pop choruses, Searching... is prime Coheed, an addictive earworm and the perfect primer for new album The Father Of Make Believe, due March 14.
Bury Tomorrow - What If I Burn
After flexing their heaviest elements on Villain Arc, Bury Tomorrow are reminding us all that they also know their way around a massive metalcore banger on What If I Burn? The new single comes with the announcement the band will be releasing new album Will You Haunt Me With That Same Patience on May 16 and although Burn... definitely plays up their melodic sides there's also some guttural growls to show they're still ferocious as ever. We'll be amazed if this doesn't make its live debut when the band's UK tour kicks off tonight.
Zygnema - Grind
Bloodywood might be the big success story of recent years, but fans of Demonic Resurrection, Skyharbor and more will attest that India is a hotbed of heavy activity in recent years. Mumbai's Zygnema have been going since 2008 and although it's been almost a decade since their last full-length, they're roaring back to life if Grind is anything to go by. Taken from their Iconic EP from earlier this year, Grind is groove metal if it was made by Meshuggah, there's a tight technicality to their sound that perfectly fits the song title.
Dax Riggs - Even The Stars Fall
Nobody expected an Acid Bath reunion. The legendary Louisiana sludge metal pioneers folded after tragedy in 1997 with the death of bassist Audie Pitre, but when Sick New World they became one of the most talked-about bookings on the bill. New music remains unlikely - for now, at least - but the good news is Acid Bath's return also sees frontman Dax Riggs returning to active duty as a musician; 7 Songs For Spiders, his first solo album in 14 years, is set for a January 24 release and new single Even The Stars Fall captures the fuzzy, doom blues spirit Riggs is renowned for.
Memphis May Fire - Shapeshifter
Having released a string of singles over the past year, fans will likely have heard much of Memphis May Fire's new album Shapeshifter before it arrives on March 28. That isn't dulling the excitement any, though; the eponymous new single skittering and seething with a ferocity that plays up to the band's heaviest elements.
The Sun's Journey Through The Night - No Light Left To Bear
Mysterious extreme metal collective The Sun's Journey Through The Night are back with a new single. Titled No Light Left To Bear, it's a typically ambitious and gorgeous monolith of extremity touching in on everything from post and black metal to prog, an expansive six-minute-plus runtime giving it plenty of space to expand.
Beyond Extinction - Tyranny (ft. Alex Teyen)
Stink faces at the ready; this gets heavy. The latest single from UK death metal brutes Beyond Extinction sees them team up with Black Tongue's Alex Teyen for a song so sludgy and tar-paced you'd think it was suffocating under its own weight. But then, that's the magic of Tyranny, abyssal nastiness plenty of joy if you like things low'n'slow.
