In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it’s far from over! And during the past three decades, we’ve literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!
Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords’ writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025.
BravePicks 2024
16) KITTIE – Fire (Sumerian)
A reunion well-worth waiting for. After 13 years of silence, Kittie returned with a burning sensation in Fire. The time away did little to kill their popularity as the rise of streaming enabled them to procure new listeners and in 2024, the passion and energetic spark never left the Canadians. They refuse to live in nostalgia, creating a worthwhile album that stands as one of the best of 2024.
Kittie claws their way to #16 with Fire!
BW scribe Carl Begai caught up with the whole band earlier in 2024 for a feature story, an excerpt below:
BraveWords: Did you dust off any leftover music or ideas for Fire, or is it all brand new material?
Morgan: “We had nothing, but the label said it didn’t matter. The feedback we got was that we looked and sounded like a bad-ass metal band when we were up there playing live. We were 100% unprepared to be offered a record deal, so we had to get into gear and make things happen.”
BraveWords: With that in mind, after a 12 or 13 year break, what was it like getting back to songwriting? Was it an easy process, like falling off a bike, or did you have to find your footing again?
Mercedes: “Some of the first songs we wrote are on the album. It’s not like we had multiple versions of songs; it all happened very quickly. We started writing in January 2023 and finished in October, so it only took us 10 months. We recorded it with Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Danko Jones, Death Angel) in November / December, 2023, and tried really hard to keep things quiet because we wanted to build up speculation.”
Morgan: “The very first song that we did, ‘Eyes Wide Open’, ended up being the first single.”
Tara: “It was also different in that there’s no other Kittie album that was written this way. Every other album has been done with us standing in a room together, but we don’t have that luxury anymore since we live so far apart from each other. The first time we did get into the room together, it was one of those ‘Oh yes’ moments because it’s pretty crazy the way the four of us click. I found that super refreshing. We can play together without having to settle into it first.”
BravePicks 2024 Top 30
17) BLACKTOP MOJO – Pollen (Cuhmon Music Group)
19) RIOT V – Mean Streets
20) PORTRAIT – The Host
21) ROTTING CHRIST – Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
22)SAXON – Hell, Fire And Damnation (Silver Lining)
23) ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
24) POWERWOLF – Wake Up The Wicked (Napalm)
25) ENSIFERUM – Winter Storm (Metal Blade)
26) OPETH – The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
27) DARK TRANQUILLITY – Endtime Signals (Century Media)
28) MORGUL BLADE – Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse)
29) THE DEAD DAISIES – Light ‘Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING – Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)