Journalist presents personal top 10 with favorite albums of the year as well as 20 other works that caught attention and playlist with highlights
Igor Mirandajournalist from Rolling Stone Brazilpresents a list of the 10 best rock albums of 2024 in his opinion. The survey is restricted only to the mentioned musical genre.
This is a ranking guysguided only by I like of whoever wrote it. It is recommended that the article be used for meet different bands or revisit albums that have gone unnoticed in recent months.
In addition to the personal top 10, there are indications of another 20 good rock albums released in 2024. A playlist on Spotify with highlights of the year is also available below or clicking here.
First, the top 10:
10. Judas Priest — Invincible Shield (heavy metal)
Click here to listen on Spotify | The kings of heavy metal are doing great, thank you. Nineteenth album released by the English band, Invincible Shield maintains the quality presented in Firepower (2018) and definitively dispels the zica of divisive predecessors. Compared to the album from six years ago, it features longer tracks on average — nothing progressive, however — and sounds a little less “traditional heavy metal”, with moments of hard rock flavor that even reference the work of the 1970s.
9. DeWolff — Muscle Shoals (blues/southern rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | The name is suggestive: on their new album, the Dutch blues/psychedelic rock trio makes it clear that they recorded the material at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio — and the “neighboring” Fame —, where they passed Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Duane Allman. The sound obtained is a perfect portrait of the influence of the artists mentioned. The psychedelia of other works was set aside to explore the more classic side of rock, with a rich southern soul flavor.
8. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Flight b741 (on this album, blues/country rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | Extra, extra! Crisis alert! THE King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard only released an album in 2024! Joking aside, the extremely productive and unique Australian group showed — once again — in Flight b741 because it’s one of the best things in rock today. After flirting — only in recent years — with electropop, thrash metal, psychedelic pop/rock and jazz fusion, they simply decided to offer a blues/country rock album. And it sounded fantastic as usual. There is, interestingly, an additional ingredient this time: it was rare that the band managed to sound as collective as on this record.
7. The Warning — Keep Me Fed (hard/alternative rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | Error (2022) showed signs, but Keep Me Fed confirms that The Warning has everything it takes to become the next global rock phenomenon. The Mexican trio formed by sisters Villarreal Velez manages to merge its own identity with a set of palatable compositions, developed within what is called “alternative hard rock”. It’s both affable and heavy (especially due to the frontwoman’s guitar work). Daniela), contemporary and classically formatted. Almost the entire tracklist has the profile of a rock radio hit. There only seems to be a pure hit song missing to make the projection made in the first sentence of this text real.
6. The Black Crowes — Happiness Bastards (classic/blues rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify| Better than a family feud, just the end of it. Still in 2019 the Black Crowes confirmed a reunion, four years after announcing a contentious hiatus. Chris and rich robinson reunited — unfortunately, without the talented drummer Steve Gorman — and toured the world with a tour that celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut Shake Your Money Maker. Whether it’s because the American blues/southern rock group has never been innovative, or because recent years have been marked by a revisiting of the past, only the fan who expected experimentation in Happiness Bastards. The first album to emerge from this return is a declaration of love for classic rock and everything that inspired its birth/development: blues, country, gospel and soul music. For the moment, I didn’t need anything more.
5. Blues Pills — birthday (classic/blues rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | It was not an obligation, but the Blues Pills failed to overcome the formidable Holy Moly! (2020) in birthday. Still, the fourth studio album from the Swedish revivalist classic/blues rock group has great merits. If there is a lack of consistency in the low-power production of Freddy Alexander — who recorded the band “live in the studio” —, there is a noticeable whimsy in the compositions, less heavy and more eclectic. If it’s not the quartet’s most engaging album, at least it’s the one with the broadest palette.
4. Pearl Jam — Dark Matter (classic/alternative rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | If the sound of production Andrew Watt can lead to criticism — usually fair —, there is no denying that the young studio professional has the gift of helping with the choice of repertoire. More rocker, Dark Matter brings the Pearl Jam dedicating more affectionate looks to its not always proud roots with a rounded tracklist, without fillers, different from several predecessors — including Gigaton (2020). Above all, the guitars of Mike McCready and Stone Gossardtwo of the most underutilized guitarists in rock history.
3. Corey Glover’s Universe — Corey Glover’s Universe (hard rock/heavy/groove metal)
Click here to listen on Spotify | Don’t judge a book by its cover, nor an album by the Paint art on it — this is the case with the project’s eponymous album Corey Glover’s Universe. While the creative hiatus of Living Color lasts almost a decade, its singer continues to get involved with side projects, almost always with above average results. In this group Universethe vocalist — one of the best rock has ever given us in its entire history — joins the guitarist Mike Orlando (ex-Adrenaline Mob, Noturnall etc) for a formidably heavy job. It’s almost “modern heavy metal”, whether due to Orlando’s work (which from time to time goes beyond the point of virtuosity), or because of the cuisine that doesn’t give up the groove. And as Glover sings…
2. Jack White — No Name (garage/blues rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | Artists are expected to be inventive and surprising all the time, but sometimes all that needs to be done is to meet the public’s desires. No Name is the album that fans ask for Jack White since before the end of White Stripes. It took time, but it didn’t fail: here, the singer and multi-instrumentalist with a relatively experimental solo career resumes his characteristic fusion of garage rock and blues, with a hint of punk that translates more into attitude (including the surprise release) than in sound elements. Irresistible rawness, which only enhances good compositions in their own right.
1. Hannah Wicklund — The Prize (classic rock)
Click here to listen on Spotify | With a more personal, deeper and mature album than her 2018 debut of the same name (with the backing band The Steppin Stones), Hannah Wicklund managed to transcend — by a large margin — the classic rock revivalist movement from which it had emerged. If not completely original, The Prize It has enormous freshness. Sometimes even distant from bluesy influences, the young American began to flirt a little more with folk and soft rock while offering loaded and, why not, dramatic compositions. The guitar work remains exemplary, but there seemed to be more concern with the vocals, which are masterful here.
The contributions of two members of the Greta Van Fleetband that emerged under accusations of copying Led Zeppelin and sank trying to do something of his own. Sam Kiszka takes on production, piano (a decisive instrument for the final result) and bass, while Danny Wagner records the drums (which, here, don’t sound like a John Bonham imitation). Both showed that they are not the problem with GVF’s creative stagnation.
More suggestions for rock albums released in 2024
In addition to the 10 best albums of 2024 in my opinion, I have put together 20 other suggestions for albums that might please you. In this section, the works are mentioned in alphabetical order of the artists’ names. There are no comments.
Black Panther — Perpetual (Brazil; hardcore / thrash / groove metal)
Blacktop Mojo — Pollen (hard rock)
Crobot — Obsidian (hard/stoner rock)
Deep Purple — =1 (classic/hard rock)
Gary Clark Jr — Jpeg Raw (blues rock/R&B)
Grace Bowers & the Hodge Podge — Wine on Venus (blues rock/funk/soul)
Hammerhead Blues — After the Storm (Brazil; hard/psychedelic rock)
Hurricanes — Back to the Basement (Brazil; blues rock)
Jerry Cantrell — I Want Blood (alternative metal/grunge)
Joanne Shaw Taylor — Heavy Soul (blues rock/soul)
Kiko Loureiro — Theory of Mind (Brazil; instrumental metal)
Lenny Kravitz — Blue Electric Light (pop/rock)
LinkinPark — From Zero (alternative metal/nu metal)
Lucifer — Lucifer V (hard/occult rock)
Marcus King — Mood Swings (blues rock/soul)
Mdou Moctar — Funeral for Justice (desert blues/rock)
Opeth — The Last Will and Testament (progressive/death metal)
Spektra — Hypnotized (Brazil; hard rock)
The Cold Stares — The Southern (blues/southern rock)
The Georgia Thunderbolts — Rise Above It All (southern rock)
Reinforcing: a playlist on Spotify with highlights of the year is also available below or clicking here.
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
