MY TOP LIST OF OCTOBER 2024

Before really sitting and preparing the list with my favorite October'24 releases, I thought it would take a lot of work to select among the hundreds of new albums released this month. However, it turned into an easy task in the end. I selected quickly from my notes what made me the best impression, what brought me some emotion, and what I felt was good. Therefore I ended with a top 21 list, in kind of an order, while I expected a long post with tiers of albums divided by their quality and style... Anyway, here's my list with some thoughts on my top albums released in October 2024. For sure I'll take a few to my AOTY list in December!

There was one album that stood above all this month. Absolute Elsewhere is the absolute Album of the Month and a very obvious candidate for AOTY 2024. The album was released on the 3 October and quickly gained popularity. The expectations were high and rightfully so. BLOOD INCANTATION's unique blend of death metal mixed with cinematic-so-70s vibes and clear progressive (rip-offs) parts, made Absolute Elsewhere an instant modern classic. This approach was already suggested by Tomb Mold and Afterbirth last year, and now Blood Incantation developed it further into one full masterpiece where Death's Human meets Pink Floyd meets sonic visions and landscapes full of (hippies') emotions. Although "All Life is Temporary...". Listen on Bandcamp here

COSMIC PUTREFACTION - Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains (Bandcamp) - I may say the same words for this one as for Blood Incantation's album. This one is much more dissonant, nightmarish, and chaotic, with a strict order in this hallucinogen swirl. Those keyboards' inclusions just add an unreal feel to the songs.  

SCHAMMASCH - The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean (Bandcamp) - The saga continues deeper into the 19th-century classic, after bands Hermaphrodite (2017). I have loved Schammasch since the Triangle. This new album is directly into the Sulphure Aeon territory. Grand record in fact

DEVENIAL VERDICT - Blessing in Despair (Bandcamp) - First of all, the artwork doesn't suggest at all what is inside sonically. It is a brutal album of death metal of the highest order. Super good, reminding me of Morbid Angel's Domination, but more ritualistic, clearer, desperate, lonely and partly dissonant in its own way. Brilliant in fact!

SENTIENT HORROR - In Service of the Dead (Bandcamp) - One of the most powerful, energetic, and devastating death metal albums with klassik DM taste that I bumped into recently

IOTUNN - Kinship (Bandcamp) - a true feast for the senses. A big leap forward from the debut and it takes the band to a completely different level. Those leads, man...

KRVL - Donkere Paden (Bandcamp) - The bastard child of Wiegedood and Downfall of Gaia 🔥🔥🔥

MOTHER OF GRAVES - The Periapt Of Absence (Bandcamp) - I am a huge Paradise Lost fanboy, who is always seeking someone to deliver quality heritage of bands klassiks. Mother of Graves does it well, adding their own reading of the genre. The Periapt of Absence is better than the debut Where the Shadows Adorn and it is a proper addition to the modern death-doom scene. No doubt the best is yet to come. 

SERPENT COLUMN - Tassel of Ares (Bandcamp) - 🔥🔥🔥

ORANSSI PAZUZU - Muuntautuja (Bandcamp) - We all knew it would be dark, and it would be on its own grounds.

GAEREA - Coma (Bandcamp) - The first surprise in this list. I never liked Gaerea. Last summer I liked Mirage a lot, though. Coma is nowhere near the quality of Mirage. I find it a good addition to the October list. It won't be high on my AOTY list, but I just wanted to leave it here with this comment. 

FERAL LIGHT - A Reckoning With The Intangible (Bandcamp) - The swansong and they call it a day. Better than everything they did before. Takes time.

GRAND MAGUS - Sunraven (Bandcamp) - Another surprise after the honestly weak last couple of albums. 

BONJOUR TRISTESSE - The World Without Us (Bandcamp). A new album, second year in a row, so soon after the excellent Against Leviathan from 2023. Hello sadness, the album runs on emptiness. 

CARNOSUS - Wormtales (Bandcamp) - I liked the album because it is a technical death metal but without losing the link with the death metal. It is well-balanced, and it is a good addition to the present list, not sure about the future though.

UNDEATH - More Insane (Bandcamp) - Never been an Undeath fan. I always mock at them and the fanbase they represent. However with It's Time they got me. Is More Insane better than It's Time...? For me no, but the band is shaping its style and deserves recognition. This one is more mature, it delivers death metal with some klassik Obituary riffs and vibes.

NASTY SAVAGE - Jeopardy Room (Bandcamp) - I thought it was another crap album of a band that makes its return. But wait! It is a very good album, and that sense of nostalgia it brings because of the band...

SØRGELIG - Φ​θ​ο​ρ​ά (Bandcamp) - Isolert in September, now Sørgelig. Greece is on fire!

PSYCHONAUT 4 - ...Of Mourning (Bandcamp) - clean and modern sound, no scary-tearing-veins vocals as in the past, this is better. 

FÓRN - Repercussions of the Self (Bandcamp) - A dark ritualistic blackened sludge is sometimes needed. 🤷

IMMORTAL BIRD - Sin Querencia (Bandcamp) - What the hell is this doing here???

As mentioned in the beginning, this post was intended differently, but it turned out in a much simpler way. I tried to leave my brief opinion on all selected records. October was a total flood and a lot more are in my notes, and probably deserve a revisit. 

02.11.2024 Update:

Writing this a couple of days after publishing this list. It seems I overlooked a few albums that I feel I need to add here:

WRATHPRAYER - Enkoimeterion (Bandcamp)

GIGAN - Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus (Bandcamp)

ASARHADDON - Êra (Bandcamp)