Metalcatto
Happy New Year, kids! I can’t think of a better way to start the year than by wrapping up our 2024 Catto Awards (yes, I think I’ll name them that way). Avant-Garde Metal is probably the hardest genre to define. It can be everything and nothing at the same time. However, I’d briefly sum it up as the Metal subgenre that makes us all say, “What the fudge? Is this Metal or a college art project?” Anyway, let’s finish this.
6. Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean It would’ve been easy to put this album in a Prog Metal top, but it’s just too weird and too deep (no pun intended). This mix of Prog, Gothic, and MeloDeath leaves us in a meditative state despite all its turbulence and violence. Like the ocean, it has many faces and many layers, and it’d be silly to say it’s an accessible listen. Yet, it’s probably the most welcoming of the albums in this list, as in the closest to “normal” Metal. But I’m warning you—this is still a journey for those with patience and determination. One that will leave you feeling at peace with yourself, maybe.
5. Ὁπλίτης – Παραμαινομένη A forgotten gem surrounded by mystery. Ὁπλίτης has been dropping unfathomable Metal at a neck-breaking pace lately, but I think that in Παραμαινομένη, the project has reached its peak to date. The absolutely jarring, indigestible, and complicated nature of its music is only matched by the mysterious context and ideas of the lyrics and themes it tries to convey. Like any ancient Greek myth, it leaves you slightly traumatized but also with way more questions than answers. I’m just happy that someone brought real mystery and mysticism to music that goes beyond gimmick. That said, this godless sonic assault will be hard to climb for the uninitiated—but if you’re not that, dive right in!
4. Pyrrhon – Exhaust
Another album that topped many Death Metal lists, but I believe that Pyrrhon has done much more than that. It’s taken everything that worked in past albums and pushed it to its most deranged, jazzy, and Atheist extreme possible. This isn’t an easy listen. It might be short and direct, but the music here is so savage, so heinous, that it feels like an improv-jazz band that forgot to take its meds once in the studio. This album embodies that NY music school spirit so present in Avant-Garde Metal, which is why it can’t be a simple Death Metal album. It pushes too many boundaries for that. Just be ready to feel like you’re having the worst acid trip of your life.
3. Aquilus – Bellus II
Nobody makes Metal like Aquilus, and in Bellus II, the band gives us a lesson in how to write Metal with a Classical Music mold. I’ll be honest—most bands use more traditional instruments as mediocre background or filler. There’s little understanding of how to use these instruments effectively. However, Aquilus does the opposite. It writes a Classical Music album that also happens to have lots of Black Metal. It’s a storm! An effective exercise of tension and release. Silence, dynamics, and pacing are its main weapons, just like in ancient days. When it comes to music written to portray concepts, not many albums topped the strength of Aquilus’s composition in 2024.
2. Ihsahn – Ihsahn
At this point in his career, Ihsahn could grab a saxophone from a landfill and still make music that would blow us away. One of the pioneers of Avant-Garde Metal, in Ihsahn, Ihsahn finally makes the orchestral jump. Though it is a more subtle take than Aquilus, the way everything else is put together is just immaculate. Ihsahn is challenging but accessible. It pushes boundaries, but it still has that familiarity of old-school Black Metal. The album innovates and mixes things up, but Ihsahn shows us that you can change without disrespecting your roots. You can play interesting, complicated, and haunting music without wanking your instruments to death or alienating your fans.
1. Ingurgitating Oblivion – Ontology of Nought
I’m going to make a snobbish claim: I believe the best Avant-Garde—and probably the best album of the year—has to be the one that truly makes us question what the limits of Metal are. And no other album challenged that notion more than Ontology of Nought. This is more of a musical experiment that pushes you to places you haven’t been before. Yes, it’s the most abstract and inaccessible album I’ve reviewed this year, but it’s also the most enigmatic one (It’s like listening to six different music genres at the same time!). I like saying this album is about everything and nothing at the same time. When a piece of art is so ambiguous, it forces us, the listeners, to do the work—to find the meaning in otherwise pointless patterns. The album is whatever you want it to be. This is why Ontology of Nought is my 2024 champion.
Well, that was an epic quest. We’ll dive into new releases right away. Thank you for joining me last year, and I hope to see you around this year too! We promise to suffer so you don’t have to!
Metal Eclipse Reviews 