The AllMusic 2024

Year In
Review

Welcome returns from David Gilmour, The Black Crowes, Mike Campbell, and X served as well-crafted blasts from the past, while Sheer Mag, The Linda Lindas, and The Heavy Heavy injected some youthful energy into the rock world. These are our favorite rock records of 2024.

Alkaline Trio

Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs

A romantically defiant and blistering tenth album from the Chicago punk outfit.

Amyl and the Sniffers

Cartoon Darkness

The Australian punks' hardened third LP is a muscular dose of righteous anger in the face of a harsh reality.

Cloud Nothings

Final Summer

The band's tenth album is packed with the surging emotions and melodies fans expect, as well as a surprising amount of wisdom and joy.

Daniel Romano

Too Hot to Sleep

The Canadian shape-shifter and his band go full bore on this smart, swaggering punk set.

David Gilmour

Luck and Strange

A richly detailed late-career highlight from the veteran singer and guitarist, whose family joins him on several songs.

Elbow

Audio Vertigo

The veteran U.K. band's tenth set is one of their leanest, toothiest, and exciting releases in years.

Fontaines D.C.

Romance

An evolution in the band's sound that sands off some of the rough edges, revealing new and interesting textures underneath.

Humanist

On the Edge of a Lost and Lonely World

A marquee cast of guest vocalists brings Rob Marshall's dramatic, poly-genre, alt-rock vision to life.

Illuminati Hotties

Power

Sarah Tudzin's smart songwriting and resonant, rocking indie pop is at its best on her project's fourth album.

Jack White

No Name

The Third Man mastermind drops a mystery LP that turns out to be his most direct and satisfying rock & roll album in years.

Jake Bugg

A Modern Day Distraction

The Englishman conjures a hooky and literate, '60s tube amp rock vibe on his cohesive seventh album.

Jerry Cantrell

I Want Blood

A bold and bruising nine-song set befitting an architect of grunge and alternative hard rock.

Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds

That Delicious Vice

The post-punk slide guitar hero shows how to make darkness fun and exciting on his fifth LP with the Pink Monkey Birds.

Kings of Leon

Can We Please Have Fun

An artful, emotionally resonant ninth album that finds the Nashville band recapturing the playful, post-punk energy of their early work.

Kula Shaker

Natural Magick

The English group's original lineup reunites for their seventh album, blending '60s-style psych-rock and Brit-pop swagger.

Laura Jane Grace

Hole in My Head

A lean, nervy rock album that uses its mess and contradictions to its own advantage.

Lenny Kravitz

Blue Electric Light

The retro-rocker focuses on bright, positive vibes on this unusually satisfying album.

Levitation Room

Strange Weather

East L.A.'s champions of garage-psych dive into 1970s soft rock, with surprising but pleasing results.

Liam Gallagher / John Squire

Liam Gallagher & John Squire

The Oasis singer and Stone Roses guitarist prove to be natural creative partners.

Mannequin Pussy

I Got Heaven

The swaggering, apocalyptically romantic fourth album from the Philly indie punk outfit.

METZ

Up on Gravity Hill

This notoriously hard-hitting band make more room for melody and nuance than ever before, without sacrificing their power.

Mike Campbell / Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs

Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits

The unapologetic barroom rockers add some psychedelic flair to their hard rock and hit their stride.

MJ Lenderman

Manning Fireworks

The guitarist from Wednesday and Waxahatchee creates a triumph of noisy roots rock on his fourth solo effort.

Mono

Oath

Celebrating 25 years, the quartet and an orchestra deliver their 12th album, built upon the concepts and strictures of time's passage.

Nathaniel Rateliff / Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

South of Here

The group's fourth outing blurs the border between their rowdy early output and their leader's introspective solo work.

Osees

Sorcs 80

Forsaking guitars but sounding punkier than ever, the band unleash an angry, angst-filled, and 100% alive set of songs that ranks with their best ever.

Ours

New Age Heroine

A reimagined and restructured take on the band's 2018 album that cuts some songs and adds plenty more.

Paul Weller

66

The Modfather is in a mellow, reflective mood on this supple, playful album.

Pearl Jam

Dark Matter

An unexpectedly sleek and streamlined evocation of the alt-rock band's 1990s prime.

Phish

Evolve

The veteran jam band capture much of their in-concert charm on this lively, loose record.

Redd Kross

Redd Kross

The power pop-meets-hard rock legends celebrate their longevity with the angriest, hookiest, and most intense album of their career.

Sgt. Papers

Fuga!

The Mexican duo deliver nimble garage punk-based rock & roll as usual, this time a bit more arranged and carefully constructed than in the past.

Sheer Mag

Playing Favorites

The Philly band make their Third Man Records debut with their most stylistically diverse yet still rockin' album to date.

Sleater-Kinney

Little Rope

In the wake of a personal tragedy, Sleater-Kinney plays with a sense of cathartic purpose.

Slift

Ilion

The third album from this French psychedelic prog-metal trio is an epic saga of unrelenting power and fantastical side quests.

Snow Patrol

The Forest Is the Path

The Scottish group's eighth set and another late-era treasure trove that highlights emotional catharsis and introspection.

Starsailor

Where the Wild Things Grow

The band's sixth album balances a symphonic, Brit-pop punch with an introspective lyricism.

The Black Crowes

Happiness Bastards

A tight and lean comeback that emphasizes how Chris and Rich Robinson are ideal collaborators.

The Heavy Heavy

One of a Kind

The Will Turner-led U.K. duo dial up the charm on a debut LP full of nostalgia-activating could-be-hits steeped in mid- and late-'60s influences.

The Jesus Lizard

Rack

Chicago's noise champions of the 1990s return with a shockingly vivid and hard-hitting reclamation of their strengths.

The Linda Lindas

No Obligation

Fun and invigorating sophomore set from the young California punks delivers on the "growing up" promise of the debut.

The Mountain Movers

Walking After Dark

The double album from this psychedelic collective splits its time evenly between sleepless, observational, lyrical songs and free-floating jams.

The Offspring

Supercharged

The California punk veterans deliver an aptly titled 11th set that plays to their strengths with catchy pop-punk and classic hardcore anthems.

The Smashing Pumpkins

Aghori Mhori Mei

The Smashing Pumpkins summon the gothy psych-rock magic and electric guitar riffage of their classic work on their 13th album.

The The

Ensoulment

The British group's first all-original studio album in 20 years is a literate, darkly rendered return to form.

Travis

L.A. Times

A look at the modern world through the colorful prism of Fran Healy's adopted home of Los Angeles.

Twenty One Pilots

Clancy

The Ohio super duo end their multi-album, metaphorical mythology with yet another genre-blurring collection.

X

Smoke & Fiction

L.A.'s finest punk band sound both raucous and thoughtful as they look to the past on their farewell album.

Yard Act

Where's My Utopia?

Leeds post-punks upstage their Mercury Prize-nominated debut with a wry, chaotic, and infectious follow-up produced by Gorillaz's Remi Kabaka, Jr.