Is George Miller considering another Mad Max movie? We certainly hope so. Because we’ve already compiled the soundtrack…
If you like your music loud, grimy and wrapped in bulletbelts, then check out Rushonrock’s Best Metal Punk, Black Thrash and Speed Metal Albums of 2024!
George, you can thank us later.
10. Nuke/Evil Army/Chain Wolf/Whipstriker – Metal Punk, Volume 1 (Motorpunk Records)
Four of metal punk’s standard bearers went toe to toe on this scintillating split… and they were on rampaging form.
It’s been a while since we heard from Nuke but the Detroit crew weighed in with gutter metal covers of Running Wild’s Soldiers Of Hell and Ted Nugent’s Motor City Madhouse, as well as a typically raging original, Avalanche.
Tennessee’s Evil Army, meanwhile, went ultra feral on Possessor and All Shall Fail, LA’s Chain Wolf put their foot on the gas on three searing, high octane cuts, and Rio’s Whipstriker were clearly in league with Satan as they unleashed the pummelling Warhouse Bitch.
We can’t wait for Volume 2…
9. Devil’s Hour – Apocalyptic Drunken Bastards (Crawling Chaos)
If you’re going to call your album Apocalyptic Drunken Bastards, it better be one hell of a ride.
Thankfully, Devil’s Hour delivered the goods on their debut album: think a black ‘n’ roll Municipal Waste, spraying toxic riffs and dousing everyone with Blood, Sweat and Beers.
The Germans rivalled compatriots Tankard in their booze-worship, but beneath the alcoholic haze, there was a bunch of sizzling metal punk anthems, played with serious class: Iron Law felt like a punch from an iron fist, and Exhaling Chaos gave us a thorough blastbeating. We’ll drink to that.
8. Bütcher – On Fowl of Tyrant Wing (Osmose Productions)
On their third album, Bütcher didn’t quite hit the heights of Bestial Fükkin’ Warmachine and 666 Goats Carry My Chariot, but they still raised hell.
Their unhinged, retro speed metal is always guaranteed to get blood spurting, and On Fowl of Tyrant Wing, the Belgians sliced deep with cuts like Blessed By The Blade and Koraktor’s Iron Rule.
Bütcher weren’t afraid to mix it up either, with the NWOBHM movement and Mercyful Fate clearly inspiring A Sacrifice To Satan’s Spawn, among others.
7. Gravekvlt – Full Moon Fever (Self-released)
Death rock tones, d-beat rhythms, vampiric leads… Full Moon Fever was black ‘n’ roll for the soul, and one of 2024’s surprise packages.
Whether they were tearing it up, Disgoth-style, on Dungeon Punks, revving the infernal engine on Midnight Blasphemy, or reaching into the netherworld through Last Skeleton’s Dance, this Nantes act blazed a trail on their hypnotic second opus.
As an initiation into Gravekvlt, it was damn-near perfect.
6. Hellbutcher – Hellbutcher (Metal Blade)
“Hellbutcher is music for real headbangers” said Per Gustavsson – aka Hellbutcher – when launching his solo project.
We’re inclined to agree with him.
With the successor to Nifelheim, the band he co-founded in 1990, Gustavsson turned the metal dial up to 11 – and we’re not just talking about the video to Sword Of Wrath, in which the Swedish frontman, confusingly, brandishes a fucking big axe.
Listening to Hellbutcher felt like mainlining molten iron. Songs like Hordes of the Horned God and Violent Destruction crackled with demonic energy, as the black thrash banner was held aloft.
Gustavsson believes this band has the potential to surpass Nifelheim: on this evidence, it just might.
Read the full review of Hellbutcher here.
5. Bat – Under The Crooked Claw (Nuclear Blast)
Bat took eight years to release the follow-up to their debut full-length Wings In Chains, with only 2019’s excellent Axestasy EP for fans to suck on.
But good things come to those who wait. And the Virgina trio, featuring Municipal Waste’s Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos, bit deep with this surging, snappy opus: pit anthems such as Streetbanger and Rite For Exorcism, were plentiful, and the white line fever was infectious.
There were echoes of Kill ‘Em All, Killers and Killed By Death as Bat kept the adrenaline surging, right to the finish.
Read the full review of Under The Crooked Claw here.
4. Lucifuge – Hexensabbat (Dying Victims Productions)
Bremen berserkers Lucifuge birthed a bona fide black thrash classic in Hexensabbat – and an album which would give Destroyer 666 a serious run for their money.
Mainman Equinox was in no mood to compromise as his nuclear fretwork tore through ear canals and incinerated brain cells: there was simply no let up as Gates of the Eternal Night opened up a frantic album of barbed hooks and high velocity riffery.
Yes, the title track, The Court Of The Profane and No Sun Shall Rise were standouts, but the whole of Hexensabbat cast a spell. Hail Lucifuge!
3. Bewitcher – Spell Shock (Century Media)
“It’s the best record I’ve ever produced for one of the best bands in the world,” said Rancid’s Lars Fredriksen of Bewitcher’s Spell Shock. And the guy knows his shit.
The Portland’s trio’s fourth album took us back to the raging inferno of 2019’s Under The Witching Cross, but fanned the flames even higher. From the blackened attack of opener Starfire Maelstrom to the raw, NWOBHM-influenced Ride of the Ironfox, this was Bewitcher at their very best, just embracing the pure joy of heavy metal and spraying us with white hot riffs.
What a band.
2. Devastator – Conjurers of Cruelty (Listenable Records)
The UK is serving up some delicious black thrash at the moment, and Devastator are one of the scene’s most thrilling acts.
Since featuring in our Best Thrash Metal Albums of 2020, the Derby crew have been perfecting their noxious blend of Swedish BM, Motörvenom and spectral thrash. They honed their live shows, tightened up in the studio, signed to Listenable Records… and this was the triumphant result.
There was Philthy rock ‘n’ roll (Black Witchery), early Seps worship (Bestial Rites) and a song called Rabid Morbid Death. What more could you ask for?
1. Midnight – Hellish Expectations (Metal Blade)
Midnight are more of a pheromone than a band – one that ignites a lust for pure carnage. And they were absolutely feral on Hellish Expectations, a brazen, unbridled work of Motörized mayhem that drew blood from the off.
Mainman Athenar threw up savage bursts of punk fury such as Nuclear Saviour and Deliver us to Devil, and raised a glass to Lemmy and the boys on the Whiskey-slugging Slave of the Blade.
But the final death blow was delivered on F.O.A.L. (Fuck Off And Live), the album’s closing statement… and an anti-anthem for these new dark ages.
Nobody does this better.
Check out the full review of Hellish Expectations here.
Enjoyed the Best Metal Punk, Black Thrash and Speed Metal Albums of 2024? Check out our Best Thrash Metal Albums of 2024 here, our Best Trad Metal Albums of 2024 here and our Best Black Metal Albums of 2024 here.