2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

Well, here we are again – it’s the beginning of “List Week” again, where I take over the site (barring the occasional interview or premiere) for five days of features rounding up all the albums I’ve managed to listen to over the course of this year.

Now, to clarify, this isn’t about showing off how many albums I’ve heard – I am well aware I am in an unusually lucky position wherein I have access to, and time to listen to, more albums than most (the exception being those people who apparently have time to listen to thousands of albums a year, which… well, let’s say I have my doubts) – it’s about providing a resource for our readers to use to check out stuff they may have missed.

Obviously, there’s also an element of looking back and analysing the year – what was “great”, what was “good”, and (in this particular article) what was most “disappointing” – but there’s no real “ranking” system beyond these three tiers (the exception being my “Critical” and “Personal” top tens at the end of the week, which I’ll say more about at the time).

When it comes to rounding up the albums I felt were most “disappointing” this year, however, I need to make it clear that this article is not about simply slagging off artists/albums that I/we don’t like – while this is probably the most overtly negative post we publish all year, it’s not intended to be truly negative in the way that some other sites might be – but more about identifying those records which perhaps didn’t live up to the hype or to the band’s established potential.

This means, of course, that it’s rare to see many new bands feature in this column – the exception being when an act has been really overhyped… but, even then, the blame tends to be on the hype machine itself, rather than the band(s) – as the focus is more on artists who we know can do better and who we, perhaps understandably, expect more from.

So, without further ado – except, perhaps, one last warning not to take any of this personally, as “disappointing” in this context is not synonymous with “bad” – let’s take a look at the records which, for me at least, ended up being not quite all they could (or should) be this year.

CHAPEL OF DISEASE – ECHOES OF LIGHT

Let’s start off, to set the tone, with a band I really do like, but whose latest album just didn’t quite do it for me (or for a lot of you, if I’m not mistaken).

The thing is, I actually do like this album in places – though I expressed my reservations when I wrote about it back in February, I also stated that highlights like “A Death Though No Loss” and “Shallow Nights” were still well worth listening too – it’s just that, after the absolutely stunning …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye (one of the best, and most unique, Death Metal albums of the last decade), most of Echoes of Light feels like the product of a band who don’t really know who they want to be or where they want to go (or, if they do, then they don’t quite know how to get there).

And that, as you’re about to find out, is something of a running theme in this article.

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE – A KINDNESS DEALT IN VENOM

Similar to the album mentioned above, A Kindness Dealt In Venom struggles both in comparison to its predecessor (2018’s excellent Exiler) and in finding a clear and coherent direction.

And while I’d say the execution is overall stronger, the album’s underlying issues are actually exacerbated by the band’s ambition – which aims to capture the manic highs and morbid lows of suicidal depression in musical form via a genre/medium not necessarily best suited to this sort of intricate introspection – which resulted in a record which attempts to represent its subject matter as well as it can, but which doesn’t make for a particularly coherent or consistent listening experience over the course of forty-five-ish minutes.

There’s a damn good EP’s worth of actual songs here, make no mistake (which would, to be honest, be more than enough – musically and lyrically – to embody the core concept, in my opinion) but taken as a whole the entire album is simply less than the sum of its parts.

DAATH – THE DECEIVERS

Daath‘s big “comeback” album – their first full-length release since disbanding/going on hiatus following their 2010 self-titled – is as technically proficient, musically precise, and sonically polished as almost any other record from this year that you might care to name… and yet, for the life of me, I’m unable to recall much about it even five minutes after I’ve finished listening to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked their previous stuff well enough (even if, when all was said and done, I never felt like they ever truly delivered the sort of “definitive” record that would define them and make people understand who they really were) but when you take into account the sheer amount of talent possessed by the band (both individually and collectively) it’s disappointing that the ultimate product remains so oddly bland, not really being one thing or another but simply a little bit of everything in a way where nothing truly stands out.

Whether it’s an issue of “too many cooks” or trying to be a “jack of all trades” (or some other hoary old cliché) there’s definitely something still holding the band back from achieving their full potential.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY – THE NOTHING THAT IS

If you’ve been paying attention so far you may have noticed that several of the albums which have appeared on this year’s “disappointing” lists are actually albums which I reviewed personally – and that’s no accident.

Because, like I said at the beginning, “disappointing” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad” (it can do, certainly, but shouldn’t be assumed to do so) – sometimes it’s just an acknowledgement that, as good as an album may be, it clearly could (and should) have been better.

And The Nothing That Is is a perfect example of this, because while it’s not a “bad” album – the middle in particular, as I stated in my review, is just one killer cut after another (“Red Horizon” especially) – the fact of the matter is that the best moments on the record (“Red Horizon” especially) make it just that much more obvious how much of it is filler (it’s honestly about a 50:50 ratio) that simply doesn’t live up to the band’s own standards which they’ve established over the last 3-4 release cycles.

And that, as much as I’m a huge fan of the group, can’t help but feel disappointing.

GLACIAL TOMB – LIGHTLESS EXPANSE

It’s probably worth saying again, before we get into this one, that if an album you like appears here please don’t take it as an insult or an attack on your tastes – ultimately, while I try to be a little objective, as much as that’s possible, these are all just my opinions, and all I can do is share them and try to explain them as best I can… which doesn’t mean you need to take them as gospel.

Now, when it comes to Lightless Expanse one thing I’ve noticed is that opinions on this one seem (generalising slightly) to be divided between those already familiar with the band from their self-titled 2018 debut and those who only discovered them with the release of their second album this year.

Because while their debut stood out from a lot of the band’s peers with its punkier, sludgier take on Death Metal – one just as willing to throw down some d-beat driven grooves as rip your face off with a barrage of blisteringly blackened blastbeats – their sophomore album trades in a lot of this grit and grime for a sound which, let’s be honest, often errs a little too close to outright Black Dahlia worship for comfort.

And, hey, I love The Black Dahlia Murder too (even if, spoiler alert, their big “comeback” album was more “Good” than “Great”) but we’ve heard versions of this record before… a lot… and I’m not sure that whatever Glacial Tomb may have gained from this shift in sound is worth what they’ve given up.

MÆRE – …AND THE UNIVERSE KEEPS SILENT

What we have here is the rare occasion of a band ending up on the “disappointing” list with their debut album… and, honestly, I feel kind of bad for including them.

But the truth is that while the band’s debut EP (released back in 2020) was absolutely brimming with the potential for the band to take their place at the forefront of the “Dissodeath” movement, four years later it doesn’t feel like they’ve progressed much, or kept up with their peers, as the five tracks which make up their first ever full-length simply don’t do enough to stand out.

And, in a year which has also given us new albums from leaders like Ulcerate and Ingurgitating Oblivion, as well as releases from promising new names like Hecatoncheir, Eye Eater, and Resin Tomb (among others) it’s disappointing to have to say that Mære simply aren’t operating on the same level (though that doesn’t mean you should write them off).

SWALLOW THE SUN – SHINING

Look, it’s pretty obvious that the production on this album does it no favours, squashing all the dynamics and making the whole thing sound oddly artificial – all sound, but no fury, signifying… who knows what… – but it’s also clear that the record’s issues go much, much deeper than that.

Once again, what it really comes down to is a sense that the band have no clear direction or identity in mind (which is particularly disappointing in this case, as prior to this it’s not like the band have been unwilling to shift the focus of their sound – exploring more melodic and/or atmospheric angles, or darker, doomier approaches – as the occasion requires), with the flat and over-processed production merely exacerbating this underlying problem.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of variety, of course, but Shining ultimately feels disjointed and uneven – while also, paradoxically, seeming to all blend into one forgettable mass – in a way which suggests that, twenty years into their career, the band have lost their way a little… and who knows if they’ll ever get it back!