BEST OF 2024 – THE BEST RELEASES OF THE YEAR

Here’s the result of our BEST OF 2024 readers poll (thanks to everyone who sent in their lists).

01. BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
02. MAYHEMIC – Toba
03. ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
04. JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
05. BLACK CURSE – Burning In Celestial Poison
06. ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
07. ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God
08. NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
09. UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth
10. NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal

And, as usual, here’s what the VOICES FROM THE DARKSIDE staff, a couple of musicians, label owners and fanzine editors enjoyed the most in 2024 (in alphabetical order)…

Alfonso Perez

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• DEFEATED SANITY – Chronicles Of Lunacy
• ENGULFED – Unearthly Litanies Of Despair
• KANONENFIEBER – Die Urkatastrophe
• MASTER – Saints Dispelled
• NOKTURNAL – Shades Of Night
• ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God
• WET ROT – Fetid Pus Demo 2024
• YOTH IRIA – Blazing Inferno

Anders Peter Jørgensen

• ADORIOR – Blood On My Teeth
• AETHYRICK – Death Is Absent
• BLACK CURSE – Burning In Celestial Poison
• BYTHOS – Chthonic Gates Unveiled
• CAPILLA ARDIENTE – Where Gods Live And Men Die
• FLAMEKEEPER – Flamekeeper
• FRIENDS OF HELL – God Damned You To Hell
• HELLBUTCHER – Hellbutcher
• STRYCHNOS – Armageddon Patronage
• THE HERETIC – Midnight Mass

Andrew Krause

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• DEICIDE – Banished By Sin
• DEPARTURE CHANDELIER – Satan Soldier Of Fortune
• GAUNTLET RING – Phantoms Of Dark Symmetry
• HORNS & HOOVES – Spectral Voyeurism
• INQUISITION – Veneration Of Medieval Mysticism And Cosmological Violence
• PAYSAGE D’HIVER – Die Berge
• SEVERE TORTURE – Torn From The Jaws Of Death
• SKELETAL REMAINS – Fragments Of The Ageless

Frank Stöver

• ANIALATOR – Death Is Calling
• CONCRETE WINDS – Concrete Winds
• ENGULFED – Unearthly Litanies Of Despair
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• MOONDARK – The Abysmal Womb
• NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal
• PURULENCY – Transcendent Unveiling Of Dimensions
• STENCHED – Purulence Gushing From The Coffin
• THE TROOPS OF DOOM – A Mass To The Grotesque
• UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth

Giulio Minto

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• DEPARTURE CHANDELIER – Satan Soldier Of Fortune
• DODSRIT – Nocturnal Will
• GATECREEPER – Dark Superstition
• KANONENFIEBER – Die Urkatastrophe
• PAYSAGE D’HIVER – Die Berge
• ROTTING CHRIST – Pro Xristou
• SPECTRAL WOUND – Songs Of Blood And Mire
• TZOMPANTLI – Beating The Drums Of Ancestral Force
• WINTERFYLLETH – The Imperious Horizon

Henning Pieper

• AT WAR – Retaliatory Strike (Re-Release)
• DIAMONDS HADDER – Beyond The Breakers
• GOD DETHRONED – The Judas Paradox
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• MECHANIC TYRANTS – St. Diemen Riots
• MORBID SAINT – Swallowed By Hell
• MORGUL BLADE – Heavy Metal Wraiths
• SHOW N TELL – The Ritual Has Begun
• THE GEMS – Phoenix
• TOMB PORTAL – Enthanatogen

Julián Núñez

• BLACK HATE – Via Purgativa
• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• HACAVITZ – Muerte
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NYKTOPHOBIA – To The Stars
• SABBAT – Sabbaticult
• SETH – La France Des Maudits
• ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God
• YOTH IRÍA – Blazing Inferno

László Dávid

• GÖDEN – Vale of the Fallen
• HELLBUTCHER – Hellbutcher
• MAGMA RISE – Neither Land Nor Sea
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• NILE – The Underworld Awaits Us All
• REZET – Rezet
• SEAR BLISS – Heavenly Down
• STILLBORN – Netherworlds
• VAIN – Disintegrate Together

Mirco Szymyslik

• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• COFFINS – Sinister Oath
• CONCRETE WINDS – Concrete Winds
• DEICIDE – Banished By Sin
• DOLMEN GATE – Gateways Of Eternity
• INFERN – Turn Of The Tide
• KEITZER – Pandemonium Humanitas
• NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal
• TEMPLE OF DREAD – God Of The Godless
• THE STORM – Songs Against Humanity

Oswaldo Gonzalez

• BLASPHEMOUS DIVISION – Sempiternal Flames Of Chimaera
• M.C.C. – Liber II: De Separatione Animae Fragmenta
• MORS LITURGIAE – Cadavernaculum
• PERISHING – Lutum
• ROTTEN TOMB – The Relief Of Death
• SISYPHVS – A Short History of Decay…
• SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos
• STRESS ANGEL – Punished By Nemesis
• TENEBRAS – Evocación Maligna
• UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth

Randolph Whateley

• ANGEL SWORD – World Fighter
• EXHUMATION – Master’s Personae
• GATES OF SLUMBER – Gates Of Slumber
• MASTER – Saints Dispelled
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• RADIATION – Reactor Collpase
• TERMINAL NATION – Echoes Of The Devil’s Den
• THE TROOPS OF DOOM – A Mass To The Grotesque
• TRIMEGISTO – The Hanged Man
• WARLORD – Free Spirit Soar

Rick Peart

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• LURING – Malevolent Lycanthropic Heresy
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NACHTLICH – Exaltation Of Evil
• NIGRUM – Blood Worship Extremism
• NOLDR – When Glory Disappears
• SEPTAGE – Septic Worship (Intolerant Spree Of Infesting Forms)
• THE CURE – Songs Of A Lost World
• TYRANNIC – Tyrannic Desolation
• WRATHPRAYER – Enkoimeterion

Steven Willems

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• DEAD HEAD – Shadow Soul
• DECEASED – Children Of The Morgue
• FUNERAL STORM – Chthonic Invocations
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• NECROT – Lifeless Birth
• NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal
• OFFICIUM TRISTE – Hortus Venenum

Vamsi Kanagovi

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• COFFINS – Sinister Oath
• DEFEATED SANITY – Chronicles Of Lunacy
• GIGAN – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
• MITOCHONDRION – Vitriseptome
• NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal
• PYRRHON – Exhaust
• SLIMELORD – Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
• ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God

Wedekind Gisbertson

• CRYPTORIUM – Descent Into Lunacy
• DARK TRANQUILLITY – Endtime Signals
• ERADICATOR – The Paradox
• HIRAES – Dormant
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• NECROPHOBIC – In The Twilight Grey
• ORANGE GOBLIN – Science, Not Fiction
• SUICIDAL ANGELS – Profane Prayers
• TEMPLE OF DREAD – God Of The Godless
• THE TROOPS OF DOOM – A Mass To The Grotesque

Will “Bones” Lee

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• COLDBORN – The Unwritten Pages Of Death
• ENGULFED – Unearthly Litanies Of Despair
• FATHER BEFOULED – Immaculate Pain
• KORROSIVE – Katastrophic Creation
• LACERATION – I Erode
• MERRIMACK – Of Grace And Gravity
• OBSCURIAL – Heretic
• SEREMENT – Abhorrent Invocations
• SVARTTJERN – Draw Blood

Yoga Ghotama

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• AMETHYST – Throw Down The Gauntlet
• CRYPTIC BROOD – Necrotic Flesh Bacteria
• DOLDREY – Only Death Is Eternal
• DROWNED – Procul His
• HERESIARCH – Edifice
• NECROWRETCH – Swords Of Dajjal
• NOKTURNAL – Shades Of Night
• SOVEREIGN – Altered Realities
• VIRCOLAC – Veneration

Alejandro Cruz (ANCIENT CRYPTS / SUPPRESSION)

• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• COFFIN CURSE – The Continuous Nothing
• COSMIC PUTREFACTION – Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains
• CRITICAL DEFIANCE – The Search Won’t Fall
• DROWNED – Procul His
• HORRIFYING – Dreadful Parasomnia
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NILE – The Underworld Awaits Us All
• ROTTEN TOMB – The Relief Of Death
• UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth

Alex Seegers (BODYFARM)

• BRUCE DICKINSON – The Mandrake Project
• FLOTSAM & JETSAM – I Am The Weapon
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• OPETH – The Last Will And Testament
• PORTRAIT – The Host
• RIOT V – Mean Streets
• SATAN – Songs In Crimson
• VLTIMAS – Epic
• WITHERFALL – Sounds Of The forgotten

Anastasis Valtsanis (DEAD CONGREGATION)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• DECONSEKRATED – Ascension In The Altar Of Condemned
• HORRIFYING – Dreadful Parasomnia
• KVADRAT – The Horrible Dissonance Of Oblivion
• NECROWRETCH – Swords Of Dajjal
• ROTTEN TOMB – The Relief Of Death
• SOVEREIGN – Altered Realities

Craig Locicero (FORBIDDEN)

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• GATECREEPER – Dark Superstition
• HELLBENDER – Skumlordz
• HIGH ON FIRE – Cometh The Storm
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• KING GIZZARD – Flight b741
• NECROT – Lifeless Birth
• OCEANS OF SLUMBER – Where Gods Fear To Speak
• POPPY – Negative Spaces
• THE SMILE – Cutouts

David Mikkelsen (UNDERGANG / PHRENELITH / SEQUESTRUM / WORMRIDDEN / EXTREMELY ROTTEN PRODUCTIONS)

• BLACK CURSE – Burning in Celestial Poison
• CORPUS OFFAL – Demo 2024
• GUTLESS – High Impact Violence
• HEMORRHOID – Raw Materials Of Decay
• MORTAL WOUND – The Anus Of The World
• SEPTAGE – Septic Worship (Intolerant Spree Of Infesting Forms)
• SEWER HAUL – Emetic Fluid Transaction
• SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos
• STENCHED – Purulence Gushing From The Coffin
• STRYCHNOS – Armageddon Patronage

Gene Palubicki (ANGELCORPSE / PERDITION TEMPLE / DEMONIZED / MALEFIC THRONE)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• ANGEL DEATH – From Deepest…
• DEMON SPELL – Evil Nights
• GRAVE HERESY – Incineration Victory
• IERFEWEARDIAN OÞFEALLAN SNYTRUCRÆFT – Unþurhfǽre Galdorcwideas
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• OMEGAVORTEX – Paranormal Violence
• VENGEANCE HORDE – Surging Vengeance
• WARGRINDER – Profound Detestation Of Solace
• ЗВЁЗДНЫЙ ХРАМ – Звёздный Храм

Doom (MAYHEMIC)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• BLACK CURSE – Burning In Celestial Poison
• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• CAPILLA ARDIENTE – Where Gods Live And Men Die
• CONCRETE WINDS – Concrete Winds
• SELBST – Despondency Chord Progressions
• SOVEREIGN – Altered Realities
• SPECTRAL WOUND – Songs Of Blood And Mire
• ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God
• UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth

Malte Gericke (SIJJIN)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• DROWNED – Procul His
• LUCIFER – Lucifer V
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• NOCTURNUS AD – Unicursal
• SATAN – Songs In Crimson
• VIRCOLAC – Veneration

Ralf Hauber (REVEL IN FLESH / ROTPIT / HEADS FOR THE DEAD)

• BLACK CURSE – Burning In Celestial Poison
• COFFINS – Sinister Oath
• CRYPTIC HATRED – Internal Torment
• DÖDSRIT – Nocturnal Will
• PENTAGRAM – Eternal Life Of Madness
• PURULENCY – Transcendent Unveiling Of Dimensions
• PUTRIDARIUM – Necrologia Del Sadismo: Excerpts From A Deranged Mind
• SENTIENT HORROR – In Service Of The Dead
• SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos
• WOLFBRIGADE – Life Knife Death

Sérgio “Baloff” Borges (HEADHUNTER D.C.)

• DIVINE PAIN – Destructive Measures
• DROWNED – Procul His
• EMINENT SHADOW – Dawn Of The Dark Age – Inferno Diaboli
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• MERCYLESS – Those Who Reign Below
• PARASITARIO – Rehearsal Demo 2024
• PENTAGRAM – Eternal Life Of Madness
• ROTTEN TOMB – The Relief Of Death
• SEPULCHRAL WHORE – The Return From A Sepulchral Rest
• UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN – Häxan Sabaoth

Wannes Gubbels (PENTACLE)

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• CAPILLA ARDIENTE – Where Gods Live And Men Die
• DEAD HEAD – Shadow Soul
• MASSACRE – Necrolution
• MASTER – Saints Dispelled
• MAUSOLEUM – Defyling The Deceased
• MESSIAH – Christus Hybercubus
• PENTAGRAM – Eternal Life Of Madness
• SATHANAS – Into The Nocturne
• VIRCOLAC – Veneration

Jeff Tandy (THE METALENEMA PODCAST)

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• CONCRETE WINDS – Concrete Winds
• DISSIMULATOR – Lower Form Resistance
• ENGULFED – Unearthly Litanies Of Despair
• LURKING TERROR – A World In Darkness
• NASTY SAVAGE – Jeopardy Room
• TRIUMPH, GENUS – Eugenika
• TRUE BLACK DAWN – Of Thick-Circling Shadows
• TSATTHOGGUA – We Are God
• WRATHPRAYER – Enkoimeterion

Roy Kristensen (IMHOTEP)

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• DEATHLESS VOID – The Voluptuous Fire Of Sin
• DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende
• IHSAHN – Ihsahn
• LES CHANTS DU HASARD – Livre Quart
• OPETH – The Last Will And Testament
• SHAARIMOTH – Devildom
• SJODOGG – Lore
• SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos
• WHOREDOM RIFE – Den Vrede Makt

Vasili Vasilopoulos (ANCIENT SPIRIT TERROR)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende
• INQUISITION – Veneration Of Medieval Mysticism And Cosmological Violence
• MALEVOLENT – Danger Of Death
• MARKGRAF – Hohenbaden
• OMEGAVORTEX – Paranormal Violence
• SATAN – Songs In Crimson
• SPHINX – 900 Days Of Leningrad
• TYRANNIC – Tyrannic Desolation
• WHOREDOM RIFE – Den Vrede Markt

Andy Tan (KONQUEROR RECORDS)

• ANGELCORPSE – Goats To Azazael
• BRODEQUIN – Harbinger Of Woe
• COFFINS – Sinister Oath
• DARKENED – Defilers Of The Light
• MERCYLESS – Those Who Reign Below
• MOLDER – Catastrophic Reconfiguration
• NECROT – Lifeless Birth
• SATHANAS – Into The Nocturne
• VLTIMAS – Epic
• VREDHE – Visions

Antonio Bañuelos (IRON, BLOOD AND DEATH CORPORATION)

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• AKHLYS – House Of The Black Geminus
• ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE – Vengeance Of Eternal Fire
• DECONSEKRATED – Ascension In The Altar Of Condemned
• DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende
• HELLBUTCHER – Hellbutcher
• MAYHEMIC – Toba
• NECROT – Lifeless Birth
• NILE – The Underworld Awaits Us All
• YOTH IRIA – Blazing Inferno

Georgios Filippidis (FLOGA RECORDS)

• BLOOD INCANTATION – Absolute Elsewhere
• CAVALERA – Schizophrenia
• HIGH ON FIRE – Cometh The Storm
• JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield
• MIDNIGHT – Hellish Expectations
• ROTTING CHRIST – Pro Xristou
• THYRATHEN – Laconic
• ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God
• WINTERSUN – Time II
• YOTH IRIA – Blazing Inferno

Raúl Sampedro (MEMENTO MORI)

• CIVEROUS – Maze Envy
• EXHUMATION – Master’s Personae
• HEMORRHOID – Raw Materials Of Decay
• OFFICIUM TRISTE – Hortus Venenum
• PUTRIDARIUM – Necrologia Del Sadismo: Excerpts From A Deranged Mind
• ROTTEN TOMB – The Relief Of Death
• SLIMELORD – Chytridiomycosis Relinquished
• SPECTRAL VOICE – Sparagmos
• THOU – Umbilical
• UFOMAMMUT – Hidden

Sven Dinninghoff (VÁN RECORDS)

• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• AULD RIDGE – Of Death And Glory, To The Gods I Cry
• BLACK CURSE – Burning In Celestial Poison
• DAUTHUZ – Uranium
• DODSSANG TEMPEL / SON OF SETH – Split
• HAMMERHEAD – Nachdenken Über Deutschland
• HATE FOREST – Justice
• PHILIPP STROBEL – Set Nov 15, 2024
• TOMB MOLD – Manor Of Infinite Forms
• VIRCOLAC – Veneration

Thomas Westphal (NECROMANIAC ZINE & ARTWORKS)

• ABHORRATION – Demonolatry
• ADORIOR – Bleed On My Teeth
• ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE – Vengeance Of Eternal Fire
• CONCRETE WINDS – Concrete Winds
• MITOCHONDRION – Vitriseptome
• NAILS – Every Bridge Burning
• PNEUMA HAGION – From Beyond
• PRIMITIVE WARFARE – Extinction Protocol
• PURULENCY – Transcendent Unveiling Of Dimensons
• WOLFBRIGADE – Life Knife Death