There was so many heavy, extreme, and beautiful doom metal albums created from every region of the world this past year, ranging from Greece and Brazil t0 Belarus. To bring closure to 2024, our readers voted for their favorite folk metal album.
While there was much back and forth between who would take the throne, our top three winners included some noteworthy bands from Mexico to New Zealand.
Enjoy the most-voted for doom metal albums of 2024…
Doom Metal Album of the Year – 2024 (Bronze Tier)
Evercloud
From Light To Eternity
Released via Sun Empire
Mexico
Blessed by the angelic vocals of Lieth Rosen Rott, sweet melodies rain out of the stormy death-doom atmospheres on Evercloud‘s From Light To Eternity. Across eight tracks, the most vulnerable, emotion-laden poems infect earth-shattering, progressive dirges. Save this one for a gloomy, low day.
FFO: Anathema, Lacuna Coil, The Gathering
Doom Metal Album of the Year – 2024 (Silver Tier)
Thousand Limbs
The Aurochs
Self-released
New Zealand
Gleaming with post-metal perfection, the Auckland quartet’s latest is inspired by Ten Ox-herding Pictures, a spiritual art story created by the Zen master of the Sung Dynasty – Kakuan Shien. Meditative, cold, dynamic, yet murky, The Aurochs is a surreal Opeth–Earth–Isis hybrid. Furthermore, the shorter (near segue) pieces on the record reek of synesthesia, with “Chapter” alike warm rain or “Only His Shadow” evoking insomniac bliss. This album is definitely perfect for that sativa high peak.
FFO: The Ocean, North, Ahab
Doom Metal of the Year – 2024 (Gold Tier)
Call ov The Void
On Grief and Dying
Self-released
Mexico
As the dust settles, and the sun goes down, a pensive, heaviness lurks in Guadalajara. Producer Samuel Becerra (Aetherevm) stirs the pot of blackened death-doom grime, serving up On Grief and Dying, the emotional, weighty debut full-length, mastered by Dan Swanö (Katatonia, Incantation). Conceptually stricken by Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief, Call ov the Void finds touching balance between the melancholy and anger.
FFO: October Tide, Novembers Doom, My Dying Bride