And so we come to the middle portion of our Top 25 countdown, traditionally the portion of the list with the most surprises, sometimes even for us. As with all years, the nature of collaboration leads us to some interesting places, as the sympatico and divergent tastes of the Senior Staff end up moving albums up, down, on and off in unpredictable fashion. With this post, it should now be possible to make an informed guess as to our Top 5 before the grand reveal tomorrow – guesses as to what get the honours are welcome in the comments below!
15. Dancing Plague
Elogium
AVANT!
After years of the North America being beholden to a particular strain of electro-darkwave, Conor Knowles’ embrace of the genre’s imperial and dour (if no less danceable) continental spirit was a palette cleanser and a main course unto itself. A key to these body music and industrial-informed songs lies in Knowles’ emotional deep-voiced vocals, which add weight and gravitas to the proceedings, keeping even the danciest of the record’s numbers deadly serious in tone. The overwhelmingly gloomy atmosphere could have been a downer, thankfully Elogium is replete with passion, albeit one spiked with self-excoriation and sorrow. While the record’s title suggests a dedication to the already deceased, its bracing struggle in the face of metaphorical oblivion feels intensely alive, and all the more crucial for it. Read our full review.
14. Gallows’ Eve
13 Thorns
self-released
Absolutely obliterating stereotypes about continental goth being too turgid or bereft of hooks to get by on anything other than mood, Malmö trio Gallow’s Eve set the standard for traditional gothic rock impossibly high in January with their debut LP. Taking the depth and gravitas of Germany’s disciples of the Nephilim and the stormy blitz of rhythm and harmony plied by the UK’s best goth rock bands, and then fusing them via Swedish alchemy and studiocraft gleaned from their metal backgrounds, tunes like “The Rivers Will” and “To The Lighthouse” had all of the midnight tempest thrills your Aquanet hairdo can handle before collapse. Taking the principles of second wave gothic rock at their face, Gallow’s Eve brought unabashed, rocking anthems back into the broader goth conversation in direct defiance of the current mores of darkwave. Bracing and utterly addictive. Read our full review.
13. Houses of Heaven
Within/Without
Felte Records
Houses Of Heaven’s Within/Without is a triumph of production and design as a function of songcraft, a vision of post-punk that exists at a juncture of thoughtful and precise construction, and passionate delivery. Picking up from the dubby haze of their debut, there’s a specific clarity of vision and sound that the California trio invoke, allowing them to explore blossoming synthpop (“Pisces”), mechanized rock (“Flesh Technique”) and manic, breakbeat-infused sprints (“Sightline”) with equal aplomb. Simply, the band have found a unity in their approach that is deft and subtle, so that even those songs that bring in guest vocalists (with both Douglas McCarthy and Ms. Boan providing standout contributions) are of a piece with their surroundings. Precise but fluid, and consistent but varied, Houses of Heaven made one of the year’s most fascinatingly protean albums. Read our full review.
12. Kontravoid
Detachment
Artoffact Records
If Cam Findlay’s formula were at all easy to imitate, trust us, today’s scene would be lousy with people trying to ride his coattails by linking classic electro breaks to punishing darkwave and industrial programming in knock-off iterations of the style that’s established Kontravoid as a fixture on dark dancefloors for the past half decade. It clearly isn’t, and that means modern listeners have but one hook-up for the uncut product they’re fiending for, and Kontravoid’s chemistry hasn’t failed them yet. From the full-bore rhythmic artillery and choral stab assault of “Reckoning”, to the chill midnight pulse of “Fading”, to the savvy tapping of Nuovo Testamento’s Chelsey Crowley for throwback freestyle confection “Losing Game”, Detachment pushes Findlay’s reach into a handful of neighbouring territories without forsaking the spine-whipping grooves his empire was built upon. Read our full review.
11. Sacred Skin
Born in Fire
Artoffact Records
Sacred Skin’s sophomore album Born in Fire draws from the same new wave cool that informed their debut, taking the band to ever more breathtaking heights through songcraft and performance. To the former quality, the band have no shortage of great, hummable hooks and know exactly how to get them across; the album is built so that it’s most bombastic and passionate moments are complimented by its groovy and soulful entries. Stylistically, the band show both range and inventiveness, but also taste and consideration; when they bust out blazing guitar licks and synth percussion it’s because because the song calls for it. Similarly, frontman Brian DaMert is effortlessly charismatic and sincere, never dwarfed by the grandeur of their ambitions, or mawkish when sentimental. Born in Fire is an album in the classic sense, and fantastic one at that. Read our full review.
10. Tryphème
Odd Balade
Artoffact Records
It’s rare for a record as subtle and ethereal as Odd Balade to be so addictive, and yet few records this year felt as easy to cue up just one more time after they’d run to their conclusion for the umpteenth time on a quiet summer night. Signalling a massive shift away from the abstract and understated experimentalism of Tiphaine Belin’s previous releases, Odd Balade embraces the lush, shimmering, and reflective mood of classic 4AD and shoegaze records, and uses that aesthetic to bridge darkwave, art pop, and even some hints of classic French pop. Don’t mistake the unified and peaceful atmosphere for one of simplicity, though; the mathematical unveiling of opener “Clio” belies Belin’s compositional chops, the watery strings of “Dancing In The Rain” are offset by a subtle shuffle beat which reframes its Bel Canto-like ambience, and then there’s the slowburn masterclass of “Sandy Family”, the soundtrack to a Lynch/Truffaut collaboration never realized in this universe. Read our full review.
9. Dame Area
Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area
Mannequin Records
Catalan synthpunk duo Dame Area have never sounded as ferocious as they do on Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area, and considering the clamour and intensity of their preceding efforts, that’s saying something. Coming on the heels of the more melodic Toda La Mentira Sobre Dame Area, the duo double down on their mixture of clanging industrial percussion and minimal programming, bound together by dedication to all-consuming rhythms. For all their mechanized menace, the real triumph here is how Dame Area never fully give in to the machine, using Silvia Konstance’s sometimes steady, sometimes unhinged chants to not only humanize these songs, but to bend them into new shapes, with synth sequences, organic drums and sequenced elements all parting ways to allow her passage through their rough terrain. No album this year harnessed cacophany so expertly, nor with such passion. Read our full review.
8. Tassel
A Sacrifice: Unto Idols
self-released
“Oh, we got both kinds of music: goth and industrial!” It’s an old joke we’ve been making for years before I Die: You Die was even conceived, but no record this year let us have our cake and eat it too the way A Sacrifice: Unto Idols did, while also heralding the arrival of a band capable of getting us to think about the convoluted intersections between those traditions in fresh new ways after a couple of years of promising EPs. With rhythms calling back to Test Dept as much as Batcave sex beat, Phoenix’s Tassel walk the razor’s edge between ‘difficult’ early industrial experimentation and modern death drive minimalism a la Hide. And the gothic flair they’re adorning that rigid skeleton in is less garden variety Christian Death pantomime than it is a reminder that the broader post-punk world of the early 80s allowed for all of these darker textures to coexist. Read our full review.
7. Nox Novacula
Feed the Fire
Artoffact Records
Seattle’s Nox Novacula have been threatening to make a record like Feed the Fire for a while, serving up both deathrock purism and broader electronic darkwave stylings with steely conviction. It’s a balance that seems natural but can be difficult to pull off without diluting the former’s punk attitude or the latter’s mood and atmosphere. Nox Novacula thread that needle by letting their anxious fury lead the way, whether raging out (“Disappear”), or issuing portentous warnings (“Plague”). Hell, their restless outrage is so potent that even it’s absence can be striking; the band’s affecting turn to minimalism and sentiment on “Stay” is all the more impactful in contrast to the attack of “Wolves” and vocalist Charlotte Blythe’s anthemic delivery on “No Forgiveness”. Nox Novacula seize the dread and charged atmosphere of the moment, and match it with glorious, unblinking defiance. Read our full review.
6. Dark Chisme
self-titled
self-released
It’s no secret that the darkwave boom didn’t diminish much in 2024, and thankfully that’s meant higher standards for listeners even as it means higher stakes for bands. Simply aping Boy Harsher isn’t enough to cut it on today’s dancefloors; younger and more discerning club goers demand more, and Seattle’s Dark Chisme delivered in the form of a record which, frankly, most bands who’d been honing their sound for five years would give their eyeteeth to release, let alone one who formed in the last year like Christine Gutierrez and E. With minimalist arrangements that put Gutierrez’s dynamic vocal charisma in the spotlight, and strung along by savvily infectious hooks and direct sound design, DJs across North America (and increasingly further afield) were gifted with a ready made arsenal of club killer. A debut this strong made it impossible to not get on board the Dark Chisme bandwagon this year. Read our full review.
Thanks for reading, folks! Tune in tomorrow for our favourite five records of the year.
