The Best Hard Rock Album - Metal Storm Awards 2024

Demon Head - Through Holes Shine The Stars

There was something uniquely, coolly evil about the old-school satanic doom rock of the '60s and '70s; before blastbeasts, before growls, before you could even say George Carlin's seven dirty words, you had to make your evil evident through elegance and romance, with deep, hollow vocals and an understated sense of unease in your songwriting. And even after the evolution of more explicit styles, metal had no monopoly on grim and melancholy music; Through Holes Shine The Stars asks the question "what if King Diamond had joined Tears For Fears instead?" Demon Head have a decades-spanning sound that covers all kinds of magical methods, always stately, creepy, and minor-key. Go on, then - blast this at night and Bela Lugosi out of his grave, just for old times' sake.

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Duel - Breakfast With Death

Duel are back with another rollicking affair. Breakfast With Death showcases the gang's melange of retro Hard RAWK (definitely RAWK, not run of the mill Rock here) with a honed Metal edge and coated with simmering Stoner 420 hot sauce. It's catchy, it's energetic, and it's raucous. Tunes that are perfect for parties and long road trips. While not reinventing the genre, at your Breakfast With Death you'll enjoy these Bangers and Smash.

Emu - Emu

A trio from Australia's Sunshine Coast, Emu play the purest example of groovy and entrancing rock‘n’roll that you’ll hear all year. The warm, invigorating riffs roam freely, interweaving in a progressive rock style, enveloping the listener in a captivating web of addictive musicianship. The expressive wailing of the vocalist adds another fun layer to this retro approach, sounding nostalgic but also very fresh. Whether you want to chill to the psychedelic instrumentation or bob your head to the catchy groove, Emu have got exactly what you need.

Khirki - Κυκεώνας

Back in 2021 Khirki (formerly known as Mad John The Wise) took the Greek stoner/hard rock scene by storm, as the trio treated us to one of the most stylish and exciting debuts in recent times, Κτηνωδία. This left many of us desiring for a sophomore equally as memorable, but did they deliver? Well, damn right they did! The trio returned 3 years later with Κυκεώνας, a sophomore that continued the quality form right from where the debut left off. Once again the magnificent trio offer some of the catchiest and and most exciting folk-tinged stoner/hard rock since, well, the debut. From each riff melody, solo, memorable chorus, and stylish rhythm, Κυκεώνας is an adrenaline rush of irresistible groovy fun, and a total headbanger from the get-go. Simply put, Κυκεώνας not only lives up to the magnificence achieved by the debut, but has a unique staying power containing hooks that'll last far beyond what most of modern hard rock does.

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Lucifer - Lucifer V

Lucifer hearken back to the days when heavy metal was first emerging from its hard rock/heavy blues origins, back to older standards of musicianship and darkness. Lucifer V is packed with hot licks and cool choruses, both exuding and harvesting soul; it's not hurried for anybody, not even the Dark Lord himself, and its crunchy blues riffs, buzzing synths, and bewitching vocals are just the kinds of fun enchantments you'd want to blast on a reckless autumn night. Push it a little further and it becomes Mercyful Fate; pull it back a bit and it becomes Uriah Heep. Find love at the mortuary, slow dance in a crypt, do what thou wilt. Don a cape and pair with a Hammer horror film for a fun Halloween.

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Magnum - Here Comes The Rain

Whether for the arena or for the hearth, Magnum have always given their best straight from the heart, and from theatrical rock fables to schmaltzy ballads they've put forth class and soul time and time again like few others. Here Comes The Rain sadly marks their last turn upon the stage, having come only a few short days after the passing of founding guitarist Tony Clarkin. The album is a tad bittersweet, ruminating soberly on mortality - whether prescience or coincidence or even both, we can't say, but Magnum here suited the mood of their departure - and yet they also took their final curtain call with pride, as strong and elegant as they ever were. There's some good-times hard-rockin', some dramatic storytelling, some characteristically great performances from Clarkin and the venerable Bob Catley, and some memorable songs to close the book on a magnificent career that lasted more than half a century. It's sad that this must be goodbye, to Clarkin and to Magnum, but what a grand finale it is.

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Saturday Night Satan - All Things Black

Saturday Night Satan are a new band masterminded by Black Soul Horde's Jim Kotsis, accompanied by Kate Soulthorn on seductive vocals, and, in a nutshell, they sound like the Greek answer to Lucifer. Using occult themes, a touch of horror, and music of olde aesthetic and sound, mostly from the '70s, All Things Black is a debut of catchy tunes, with "Devil In Disguise" standing out as the song that most people will find it impossible to not get hooked by.

Sidewinder (NZL) - Talons

Talons is a heavy rock album of the bluesy psychedelic variety, with all the expected swagger for an album in the style, as well as vocals from Jem Tupe that are either seductive or rousing depending on the occasion. There's a real crunch to the album's loudest moments that sets it on a course towards stoner metal, but while Sidewinder are metallic, above anything they are here to rock, and that's something they do in abundance here. Every song has the capacity to swing, to slide along in a slick groove, or to just straight up throw the horns and headbang away.

The Wizards - The Exit Garden

Misty morning, clouds in the sky / Without warning, The Wizards walk by, taking the ominous doom and upbeat blues rock of the first few Black Sabbath albums on that little daily constitutional. The Exit Garden has a swinging rhythm section and a gritty crackle that place them in a stoner rock context, paired with a dramatic, mysterious, and sometimes playful sense of melody that add a great deal of life and color to the laden rock beats. The lightness of movement and heaviness of grounding could be compared to Green Lung, Ghost, or fellow nominees Khirki - and Ian "Lord Summerisle" Mason's voice is most certainly not the sonorous bass of his namesake (Sir Christopher Lee's character in The Wicker Man), but rather an extension of the tinny alarm with which Ozzy intoned those early metal classics, albeit with more sustained power and body. The Exit Garden is a fun and refreshing album of catchy hard rock tunes with a lot of gestures toward the best of classic metal.

Tonnerre - La Nuit Sauvage

When was the last time a hard rock album made you want to dance? La Nuit Sauvage is heavy and bluesy, inspired by the ‘70s and drawing influences from AC/DC, Blue Öyster Cult and Roky Erickson, with a gifted female vocalist who sings lyrics in French. Featuring members of Canadian heavy/doom outfit Cauchemar, this debut uses simple, catchy riffs and memorable songwriting to tell the story of a night spent with friends in the forest, surrounded by the mysteries of nature.