TOP FIVE NON-AOTY-APPEARING SONGS OF 2024

First things first: this is not a "consolation prize" list; last year, I only did a year-end songs of the year list (and I did it kind of prematurely in November 2023 at that) and no albums of the year. In 2024, I decided to: a) actually wait until the end of the year, and b) do both, but with a twist. Having covered what were in my estimation the top ten full-lengths from 2024, I wanted to give oxygen to some individual track highlights from other artists as well that either were from records that just missed my list or were singles or on EPs, each of which stood out for its exceptional quality. Essentially there was so much good music from this past year I wanted to recap this was the best way I thought to do so. With that in mind, I have five honorable mentions here before we get into the top five proper of what to me were the very best tracks released this year that did not appear on any of my Top Ten Albums of 2024.

Honorable Mentions

One Morning Left featuring Olli Herman, Reckless Love, and Popeda-"Summer Lovin'"

The Finnish neon metalcore outfit, operating in the same sonic space as bands like Blessed by a Broken Heart and Electric Callboy, hit it out of the park with this pop metal cut I’ve had on constant rotation since its release.

Speed-"The First Test"

It was a good year for bands doing their best Trapped Under Ice impressions, whether that was in Sweden with Sidestep (you can check out my interview with them here) or down in Australia with Speed. Here we have the infamous "flute song" from Speed; to quote Jamey Jasta:

Exactly.

Poppy-"Negative Spaces"

Poppy’s Negative Spaces, produced by former Bring Me the Horizon member Jordan Fish, was the final album on the outside looking in on my Top Ten Albums of 2024. Fish’s influence on the record is clear, and Poppy continues to move into the Spiritbox realm both sonically and popularity-wise; she’s equally impressive, though, when she lets her inner Cold Cave/Depeche Mode flag fly. There were numerous songs from the album I thought stood out, but it interestingly it was the title track, which is neither Spiritbox nor Depeche Mode, that did so the most for me. Two reasons, primarily: 1) verses one and two and again briefly later in the track recall very strongly the Hole’s 90s rock classic "Celebrity Skin," and 2) the über-catchy pop rock chorus.

Tether.-"Hollywood Trauma"

In my interview with two of the guys from London’s Tether., they told me they’re essentially trying to fill the void left behind by the dissolution of Every Time I Die. To an extent, I agree, but we’re actually going with a bit of a deeper cut here for a comparison—a band like The Holly Springs Disaster for this generation, who combined post-hardcore and Southern metalcore to produce an interesting and underrated sound I haven’t heard attempted in at least a decade. These guys should be way bigger.

Many Eyes-"Amateurs"

Speaking of Every Time I Die, we now arrive at my new favorite Christian metalcore band in former ETID frontman Keith Buckley’s Many Eyes, named after biblically-accurate depictions of angels. "Amateurs" is among several standouts on The Light Age, featuring an excellent chorus and plenty of ETID-esque aggression. Lyrically, the song reads as a meditation on faith ("I went down too far, I went straight through hell / And I came back out / On the other side I was purified, I was finally found"), specifically in the chorus the Book of Job, where Buckley sings "I won't pretend I love how you loved me / Tell me, where's your heart?" regarding, I assume, his experiences in recovering from alcoholism and the challenges God puts before us.

TOP FIVE

5. Ocean Grove-"LAST DANCE"

As I described my favorite cut off Ocean Grove’s ODDWORLD record in my November review: "'LAST DANCE' is a beautiful ballad that hits 'all the feels,' at one point introducing some 'HMU'-esque 80s-style guitar." It’s a powerful, emotive track that shows not just depth but the versatility of, again quoting myself, "one of my favorite bands in the Australian metalcore (if you can call them metalcore) scene." Indeed, Flip Phone Fantasy is my favorite album to come out this decade.

4. Mitchell Tenpenny featuring Underoath-"Demon or Ghost"

The best 2024 countrycore track this side of Bilmuri (Tenpenny is also a feature on a previously-released song on Bilmuri’s 420CC Edition of AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS, my album of the year), full stop—although shout-out to Lakeview for putting their own top-shelf butt rock spin on the sound from this growing subgenre. The synthesis here is perfect.

3. Cheem-"Charm Bracelet"

I didn’t want to crowd the list with Cheem cuts, but I could’ve easily included the breezy 311-Transistor meets pop rock gold that is "Slushee" from Faster Fashion or the dancehall-infused, insanely catchy "Motorola Razr" from Fast Fashion as two others. "Charm Bracelet" is a garage-meets-emo anthem, a genre synthesis that like much of Cheem’s oeuvre is so unlikely yet so seamless it’s really a marvel. One of the most interesting and unique bands in the game, I was bummed they had to pull out of the Rock Star Energy Tour before I had a chance to see them at the Massachusetts date.

2. nightlife-"strangeluv"

I was, however, fortunate enough to see nightlife headline, and (show attendees will get this joke) they really set the place on fire! The class of the RnBcore genre, the shorthand way I’ve always described this band to people is "imagine if Cameo grew up listening to Bring Me the Horizon." It doesn’t fully capture the band’s unique blending of genres, but it’s a useful starting point for characterizing a band that, like Cheem, is really pushing sonic boundaries and blending sounds in some of the most euphonic ways possible. Excerpted from my original interview with the band in March: "the mission & vision are always shifting, but we’re still here to bring groove & the funk to the genres of alt & heavy music we love so much…[regarding influences] it’s hard to narrow down, each member has different sides they bring to the table at different times. for hansel, it’s a lot of r&b and music with experimental production mixed with the heaviest shit you’ve ever heard. julian brings a more eclectic background in reggae, funk, soul, and so much more with him, in addition to also digging tech-djent and other progressive stuff. isaiah’s a drumhead through & through, and fucks with a lot of instrumental/experimental hiphop and jazz fusion stuff with killer rhythms on top of deathcore & the more progressive sides of metal. all of us can kinda come back from whatever tangents we’ve gone on musically and center around heavy, groovy guitar stuff as a group pretty naturally."

"strangeluv" features a killer vocal performance from frontman Hansel Romero, complemented perfectly by the addition of the vocal trio Espera, and the rhythm section is, as always, locked in with a lethal groove. There’s a dream-like quality to the track, as well, particularly during the haunting beginning section, and, as defines most of the songs on this list, it’s catchy as hell. Yet another band that should be way bigger.

1. Beartooth-"ATTN."

Headlining our list here is Beartooth’s bonus track addition to the Deluxe Edition of my 2023 album of the year in The Surface, essentially updating the listener on bandleader Caleb Shomo’s journey to finding self-love, -belief, and -empowerment ("Been on the run, I got strong / I put the work in all year long / I found inner peace / I found self-belief /
I even fell, fell, fell in love"). Lyrically, as you can see, the song is affirmational and the music matches "A new way I speak
/ A new lyric sheet" as it absolutely soars. Put simply, the song is pop perfection, and while this direction of the band might be alienating to some longtime fans, like the rest of The Surface, I actually think it represents Shomo unlocking that next level with the band’s best material to date.