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
12) THE CROWN – Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
Swedish thrashing royalty! The Crown delivered on all fronts with Crown Of Thorns, an apocalyptic, hellish thrashing destroyer. There’s a certain anger that fills the air as the Swedes collectively light a fire keeping them relevant and one of the premiere bands in all of metal.
Crown Of Thorns stabs its way to #12 with gross ferocity, delicious riffs, and burning attitude.
Scribe Greg Pratt scored the album an 8.0, an excerpt of his review:
Enter Crown Of Thorns, the album title itself a throwback to the band’s earlier moniker, the cover stark and black and white and crusty, opener “I Hunt With The Devil” blasting and grinding and getting a bit atmospheric, but mainly just balls-to-the-wall thrashing speed/death, while “Churchburner” gallops and chugs with remarkable determination.
These guys got life in them, even here 100 albums in (fine, twelfth, fourteenth if we’re counting those Crown Of Thorns records that I kinda forgot about), tracks like “Martyrian” absolute hellthrash earworms (seriously, this song!), and “Howling At The Warfield”, I mean, this song, this is why I love metal so much and will until the day I die.
BravePicks 2024 Top 30
13) NECROPHOBIC – In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
14) DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende (Aftermath)
15) INTRANCED – Muerte y Metal (High Roller)
16) KITTIE – Fire (Sumerian)
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)