Best Album 2024: Verikalpa
And here it is: Our Best Album of 2024
Congratulations Verikalpa. 6.3 out of 10 points. The best album of 2024 by one member of the Folk-metal.nl team and second best by another. Just one vote more than Alkonost, but… that was a winning vote. Great efford!
“In “Tuomio” you can hear how Verikalpa have grown considerably both in sound and lyrics and, as mentioned before, the arrangements, making this their fourth album a gem not to be missed for lovers of the genre, but that might seem repetitive and flat for those who do not often listen to this genre.”
2. Alkonost – ‘Dar Salamandry’
We take a giant step now. The no. 1 nd 2 were very close, but with an average of 6 point Alkonost Just came one voteshort. But a very well deserved 2nd place for their album “Dar Salamandry”.
“The music is beautiful – as the lyrics and the vocals – and it can make us listeners imagine “the trembling birth of a spark, the dark cold of loneliness and the all-consuming triumph of the thunderstorm of primordial days”, as the band write in their Bandcamp profile. The vocals are diverse, like the fire itself, and it seems taking forms from both, the fury of the flame and the “fragile ringing of a weightless, delicate ray of light from a distant lighthouse amidst the hopelessness of the icy night”.”
We’ll it’s time for our Top 3. Wintersun managed to beat Rietas with a small difference 4.6 points for Wintersun.
“The Wintersun sound has matured. Mäenpää delivers well-structured music, progressive in nature, overall splendid composition. Three of the six tracks go beyond the ten-minute mark, and usually songs that long do not keep my interest, but Wintersun songs are always changing, evolving, enough to keep me captivated.”
Just outside the Top 3, we find Rietas with 4.3 points. What a nice surprise. Once again an example you can make a good album without a label too.
.”From an instrumental side of the album, “Routajuuret”is a well-played
album, with all the instruments that highlights Raisa Ylinampa’s voice. The lyrics’ themes are
various: from the life of Aada (a shaman) to the attachment to a particular environment (Vanhan
Naan Nulkki).
In conclusion this is a very valid album, with 10 beautiful songs. It’s so far one of the best
alternative folk album of this summer.”
5.Theigns and Thralls’ – ‘The Keep & The Spire’
An average of 4 points for Theigns and Thralls’.
“I enjoyed listening to this album. Great talent, writing, and production have truly come together here. As I mentioned, if you like renaissance vibes, you should give this album a spin. I hope this wasn’t a one-off, as I’m really excited to hear what comes next from these folks.”
With 3.6 points Wind Rose dug themselves well in our Top 10.
“Every track has a well-written and distinct melody, and Wind Rose’s fame is confirmed by the quality that’s on display. The tracks are all unique enough and the sound consistent enough that it’s difficult to find any fault. The melodies progress in a way that’s simultaneously familiar in sound and pattern but novel. I said before that the album doesn’t let up, and that’s praise but also a critique: there isn’t much soloing, so despite some hefty track lengths, none of these dwarves can show off, and melodies can’t breathe. This album is constantly in your face.”
7. Hand of Kalliach – ‘Corryvreckan
Two albums at 7th place. Both someone’s favourite. So, we decided to publish them both.
“In “Corryvreckan” Hand of Kalliach mixes the brutality of death metal with the ethereal threads of folk that makes the album an exciting journey through the Ancient Tales of Scotland through an unparalleled eye for detail that brings every single element of Corryvreckan to life. That’s a good sophomore album for the Scottish duo.”
7. Korpiklaani – ‘Rankarumpu’
An album which passed us by a bit, but still it’s the favourite album of this year for one of our voters.
Remarkable how these Finnish guys manage to release quality album aftershave all these years. With less alcohol, but maybe this isn’t True ’cause I don’t understand Finnish, still going strong.
8. Goblin Hovel – ‘Gobischkevrot
Goblin Hovel created a new album in their very own unique style. With an average of 3 points a very well deserved 8th place.
“As for the music, sound quality has slightly improved since their previous “harvest” but differently from it Gobischkevrot has different models such as blast beats that were completely absent before, or also the romantic jazz ballad in Don’t eat the mushrooms. Despite this most of the influences are similar to their old releases and it’s fine for what it is as it’s pretty hard nowadays to see avant-garde folk metal bands with a banjo player writing creative tales and serious lyrics and yet calling themselves goblins. That’s an unique project to date and I wouldn’t change anything of it.
So in conclusion I suggest all of you to take some time to go and listen to the album f rom start to finish, because this is where goblins truly take over all the space around them.”
9. SIG:AR:TYR – ‘Citadel of Stars’
2.4 Point for SIG:AR:TYR brings him a 9th place in our list.
“This new album is a great comeback for an artist as Daemonskald, that can continue to demonstrate that he is capable of doing great albums that combines epic, black and folk-pagan metal in a great way. this is a great album that demonstrates Daemonskal’s great ability to write music and lyrics, thus making up for the long wait for a new album.”
10.Thanateros – ‘Tranceforming’
With an average of 2.3 out of 10 points our Top 10 starts with this great album.
“The instrumental framework is made by the guitars that are very hard and heavy, a bass that can be considered driving, and the drums that sometimes can be very powerful, and also the violin is a great part of the album with its sound, so virtuoso. Ben Richter’s diverse, melodic voice, is a blessing for “Tranceforming”. In fact, his voice can brilliantly convey the various emotions of all the songs.
This album, in conclusion, shows a wide musical range without Thanateros straying out their typical music style. “Tranceforming” can be considered a mileston in Thanateros’ productions because of its powerful, balanced and harmonious production that shows the greatness of this band.”
You can read the opinion of our reviewers throughout the year, but some times it”s nice to sum it up. We’ll do this at the end of every year. A lot of nice albums came by this year. Some didn’t make it into our Top 10, but this doesn’t mean anything. Our opinion is still Just an opinion. Please give all the albums a try. But be sure you check out these 10 albums we mention here until the end of this year.