24 anticipated heavy album releases for 2024

Everyone's favorite (well, most everyone's favorite) Iron Maiden vocalist has prepped his first solo album in 19 years, The Mandrake Project. The Prog Metal / Hard Rock album will feature guitar from Roy Z, who has been in Dickinson's solo band since 1994, Gus G. (Firewind, Arch Enemy, Ozzy Osbourne), as well as contributions from everyone currently in Iron Maiden. The album even features vocals from Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley, who replaced Dickinson in Maiden from 1994 to 1999.

Guitarist Mick Mars retired from Motley Crue in 2022, he ended his longstanding reign as the most talented member of that band. Even though he's been struggling with ankylosing spondylitis for the last 45 years (probably longer, as he didn't received a diagnosis until he was 27), he's continued working. The Other Side of Mars shows off his new band featuring drummer Ray Luzier (Korn), bassist Paul Taylor (Alice Cooper), and Emmy Award winning (!) singer Jacob Bunton (he's also a composer and multi-instrumentalist. It will be interesting to see what his riffs sound like without a certain former bandmate bleating like a calf over it all.

When Slayer disbanded in 2019, I'm not sure the world at large knew just how big of a vacuum would be left, or what it would take to fill it. Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch slowed down "South of Heaven" to teach a beginning student how to play it, and the seed had been planted. He enlisted friends from Kyuss, Monolord, Year of the Cobra, Lowrider, and Kylesa to fill out the album. From the singles already released, the album promises to be a doomy good time.

Speaking of Slayer, Kerry King is set to release his debut solo album this year. King has assembled a murderers row of thrash musicians to fill out his lineup, which includes vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), guitarist Phil Demmel (Vio-Lence, Machine Head), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), and Paul Bostaph (Slayer, Testament, Exodus). The lead single, "Idle Hands", sounds like... you guessed it, Slayer. There was an announcement about a Slayer reunion mere days after the debut of "Idle Hands", which the famously outspoken King claims to have no knowledge of. While we're waiting to find out, we'll have this record to cozy up to.

If there's one thing Ministry bandleader Al Jourgensen likes to do, it's talk. Jourgensen said this will be the last one (we've heard this before) — then he said there will be one more after this one, reuniting Jourgensen with long time co-conspirator Paul Barker, so it's really hard to say for sure. What else is hard to nail down is who will be on Hopiumforthemasses, but the good bet is on the current band of bassist Paul D'Amour (Tool), drummer Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, Hellyeah, Shelter), guitarist Monte Pittman (Prong and... Madonna), and long time keyboardist John Bechdel. To summarize, we don't know who's on it, we don't know if it's the last one, but we know it will be heavy.

Blue Oyster Cult had a surprisingly strong comeback with 2020's The Symbol Remains, which was released after a 19-year gap between albums, but they had been playing shows and touring that whole time. Going forward, the band's plan will be no different: Ghost Stories will be their final album, but they have announced no plans to stop touring even though they are in their 57th year together as a band. We fully anticipate a record full of spooky, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi madness.

Static-X was always the unholy lovechild of Prong and Ministry, but suffered a messy breakup in 2010. Singer/guitarist Wayne Static died of an accidental overdose in 2014, and the original members banded together to complete Static's demos, resulting in 2018's Project: Regeneration Vol. 1. As far as these types of zombified albums go, it was not only a success, it exceeded expectations. For the second installment they released their cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Terrible Lie" a full year before Vol. 2 was to be released. Considering how good the first installment was, we expect this will help fill that Wayne Static-shaped hole in our heart.

British power metal / speed metal band returns this year with their longest gap between albums, five years! Some bands can't produce two singles in five years. This will be their first album with new addition, bassist Alicia Vigil. Despite an ever changing line-up, all of the band's albums are pretty well-received, and this should be no different. A listener should definitely pick up the CD version of Warp Speed Warriors as it has an exclusive track... a Taylor Swift cover.

I know what you're thinking, but stay with me here. This Canadian band originally hid their love of metal in a layer of irony, but they've never given up on it. Heaven :X: Hell will be a double album, with Heaven being their original punk sound, and Hell being their full heavy metal sound. The band has announced this will be their final album, and they will disband after a farewell tour. We've heard this before, so we'll see how that really pans out.

Unlike other quitters on this list, Melvins will never quit — ever. Forty-one years into their career and they've built as large and complex of a discography as anyone has ever seen, with this being their 29th album and an additional 116 singles/EPs under their belts. The band claims that they've never recorded an album in the way that they recorded Tarantula Heart, a five-track album with one of the tracks being over 19 minutes long. The band even roped in friends Roy Mayorga (Ministry) and Gary Chester (WE Are The Asteroid) to help out. Whatever this album is, it won't be like anything else.

When Body Count arrived on the scene, I'm not sure any of us expected that we'd still be talking about Body Count 32 years later. What was perhaps seen as a pearl clutching diversion, has become frontman Ice-T's main output (outside of playing a cop on TV). He hasn't put out a solo rap album since 2006. Even more improbable is Body Count's Grammy nomination in 2017, and their win in 2020. Ice-T announced work on Merciless back in 2020, and we're not sure it's coming this year, but we sure hope it is.

When "Metal God" Rob Halford rejoined Judas Priest, the first two albums weren't the return to form fans hoped for, especially 2008's Nostradamus (2005's Angel of Retribution was slightly better-received because people were just happy Halford was back). Since 2014's Redeemer of Souls, however, the band has been back on top of their game. The singles released from Invincible Shield have proven that Halford still has the pipes at 72, and the band shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

Ipecac Records has done it again. Signing Los Angeles' CNTS is a no-brainer for them, since they share a guitarist with Mike Patton's Dead Cross. This band brings their mix of punk and noise rock with a ferocity that comes off as legitimately dangerous. Listening to this band is like riding a rollercoaster that is about to run out of track — at any minute you're going to be catapulted into the unknown. It's been a long time since music was this exciting.

It's been 13 years since their comeback album, Worship Music, was released. Since then, they've become one of the world's premier live metal acts and released two live albums, a covers EP and their most recent album, 2016's For All Kings. Allegedly, the new album will surface this year in between all of the other side projects (including drummer Charlie Benante's commitment to the recostituted Pantera).

German metal band Accept is pretty close to the definition of "consistent", with the exception of 1994's Death Row and 1996's Predator. To be fair, the mid-'90s were pretty hard on any metal band not signed to Roadrunner Records. Ever since the band, led by guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, returned in 2009 they've been releasing consistently good albums. Humanoid's title track has been released ahead of the album, and sounds every bit as good as their classic material.

Deftones have been in writing mode for the follow up to 2020's Ohms for a little while now. The band has mentioned that they are trying to have it ready for a 2024 release, but time will tell. Now that Chino's commitment to his side project Crosses is wrapping up, there is hope it will see the light of day sooner rather than later.

New Orleans band Exhorder is probably best known as one of the forebearers of groove metal. Currently in their second reunion (and second longest tenure), they are preparing to release their fourth album in 39 years. Vocalist/guitarist Kyle Thomas is the sole constant member, but the group is rounded out by drummer Sasha Horn (Forbidden), guitarist Pat O'Brien (Cannibal Corpse, Nevermore), and bassist Jason VieBrooks (Grip Inc, Die Krupps). The two singles, "Forever Beyond Despair" and "Year of the Goat", tell us this one will be HEAVY.

Pittsburgh's Zombi is a space rock/prog rock duo pulling their influences from John Carpenter and Goblin scores, as well as Genesis and Vangelis. When Zombi released their most recent album in 2020, aptly titled 2020, it was the perfect soundtrack to the end of the world we were all living through. Well, the world didn't end, but Direct Inject is ready to soundtrack the next disaster on deck.

Philadephia stoner trio Heavy Temple has been at it since 2012, releasing a series of singles and EPs before releasing their debut full length in 2021. Led by High Priestess Nighthawk, the band exists somewhere between Fu Manchu and Black Sabbath, with a Funkadelic swagger. If you're into seventies throwbacks with a modern sound, don't pass this one up.

Hailing from the meal capital of Kansas, Hammerhedd was formed by three brothers in 2012, when they were only 9, 7, and 4 years old. In 2016, they went viral in a video playing Metallica covers, which Metallica themselves reposted. The band was then offered, and turned down, appearances on America's Got Talent and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Good for them. They released their debut EP in 2018, and their debut album in 2021. Not Important is their third full length, and evolving away from thrash and a little bit more into prog metal (only a little). These kids have what it takes, don't sleep on this release!

High On Fire returns this year after a six-year gap between albums. Main dude Matt Pike was busy during the pandemic with his solo project Pike vs. the Automaton, which was released in 2022. The lead single, "Burning Down", illustrates how new drummer Coady Willis (Big Business, Melvins) is a perfect fit for the stoner/sludge band. 

Dutch supergroup DOOL are really something special, but they haven't really caught on stateside... yet. They are dark but not goth, heavy but not metal. They exist at some mythical crossroads of post rock, progressive rock, and doom. It's the sound of finding an unfamiliar religious ritual in the woods on a winter's night, appealing yet unsettling. On their third album, The Shape of Fluidity, the group explores themes of identity while navigating an ever-shifting landscape.

British band My Dying Bride has been churning out their mix of goth and doom metal, with a splash of death, for 34 years now. Aside from a few early middling releases, their entire catalog is universally held in high regard. This band is unstoppable, and it's never too late to get on board. Get this new album, and work your way backward!

Maryland's The Obsessed has been going in some form since 1979, or 1976 if you include their time together as Warhorse. Since 1990, they've put out a whopping four albums, this will be number five, so they aren't exactly prolific. However, to be fair, they've broken up three times, and are on their third reunion; this is their second-longest uninterrupted run. Singer/guitarist/main songwriter Scott "Wino" Weinrich has been involved in eight other bands during this time, not including his three-album run of a solo career. We can be a little forgiving toward The Obsessed for not having a cluttered discography. At any rate, Gilded Sorrow promises to be a heavy slab of stoner metal from one of the genre's originators.