The GRAMMYs receive a lot of outrage from rock and metal fans, and rightly so. The awards show is typically out of touch with the genres’ best contemporary artists, often relegating winners to the likes Ozzy Osbourne and Paul McCartney while snubbing some of the best contemporary musicians.
But what if there was an awards show that celebrated the current state of the alternative music scene instead of living in yesteryear? For that, I can only dream. But I can at least provide a snapshot of what a respectable GRAMMYs would look like in 2024. Here’s a look at my awards for the year’s best artists, albums, singles, and other categories.
Artist of the Year
Knocked Loose
No metal artist had a better year than Knocked Loose. In fact, no other artist had a year that compares to the Kentucky hardcore band. A year removed from being the heaviest act on Coachella, they released the heaviest record of the career, yet somehow saw their popularity skyrocket. Cap that off by being the heaviest act on Jimmy Kimmel Live since Slipknot, and you’ve got a career-defining year for one of the scene’s most destructive forces.
Runners Up: Bilmuri, Bring Me the Horizon, Charli XCX, Chat Pile, Green Day, Linkin Park, Sum 41
Album of the Year
Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
The best artist of 2024 also had the best album of 2024. While their contemporaries were busy expanding their horizons, Knocked Loose doubled down on theirs. You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is not merely a heavy record, it’s a record that exudes violence. Merging elements of death and thrash metal with their metallic hardcore core, Knocked Loose pulls no punches on tracks like “Don’t Reach for Me” and “Blinding Faith.” It’s a statement for the metal community that’ll resound for years to come.
Runners Up: Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible, Bring Me the Horizon – Post Human: NeX GEn, Chat Pile – Cool World, The Cure – Songs for a Lost World, Foxing – Foxing, Frail Body – Artificial Bouquet, Night Verses – Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night, Part 2
Rock Album of the Year
Bring Me the Horizon – Post Human: NeX GEn
While Knocked Loose saw how extreme they could go, Bring Me the Horizon went in the opposite direction. The result is the second iteration in the Post Human series, the long-awaited NeX GEn — and it’s the best rock album of 2024. The record expertly explores every corner of alternative music, from hyperpop and EDM to pop-punk and post-hardcore, and it offers some of the most infectious radio-rock singles in recent memory.
Runners Up: Bilmuri – American Motor Sports, The Cure – Songs for a Lost World, Poppy – Negative Spaces, Twenty One Pilots – Clancy
Alternative/Indie Album of the Year
Foxing – Foxing
What does “indie” really mean anymore? Well, Foxing goes back to the true definition — independent — on their self-produced and self-titled LP. The record throws out the band’s recent art-pop trajectory and instead throws everything at the dartboard. An ambitious mix of alternative, rock, and emo, it’s an uncompromising effort in every sense of the word. Foxing is a fresh start for a group pursuing (and achieving) a stronger sense of self.
Runners Up: The Smile – Wall of Eyes, Soccer Mommy – Evergreen, Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us, Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood
Pop-Punk Album of the Year
The Story So Far – I Want to Disappear
Comebacks can be a mixed bag, but The Story So Far didn’t miss a beat in the six years since Proper Dose. I Want to Disappear delivers the sturdy pop-punk we’ve come to expect from the genre’s heavyweights, and it manages to rival Under Soil and Dirt and What You Don’t See. “Big Blind,” “Letterman,” and “All This Time” are as good as pop-punk gets in 2024. The Story So Far is still at the top of their game, leaving their counterparts in the dust.
Runners Up: Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, Green Day – Saviors, Real Friends – Blue Hour, Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell
Punk/Emo Album of the Year
Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties – In Lieu of Flowers
While Dan “Soupy” Campbell’s The Wonder Years keeps churning out pop-punk, it’s his side project, Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties that offers a more creative narrative outlet. In Lieu of Flowers finishes a trilogy of albums as its crowning artistic achievement and the most impressive punk effort of 2024. It’s a poignant release showcasing Campbell’s songwriting at its best, and it’s a testament to the storytelling ability of punk rock.
Runners Up: Balance and Composure – With You in Spirit, Drug Church – Prude, Glass Beach – Plastic Death, Origami Angel – Feeling Not Found
Metalcore Album of the Year
Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
What else can be said about You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To? Perhaps labeling Knocked Loose’s 2024 album as “metalcore” is pigeonholing a record that’s so much more than that, but it’s a masterful marriage of metal and hardcore that perfectly plays to the strengths of both genres. Dark and mucky but also fast and unrelenting, the band’s newest release doesn’t waste a second of its 29-minute runtime. This beast of an LP is all killer, no filler.
Runners Up: Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible, Boundaries – Death Is Little More, Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid, Imminence – The Black
Hardcore Album of the Year
One Step Closer – All You Embrace
While Touché Amoré added another gem to their discography this year, I’m going with a burgeoning star in the hardcore scene for this category: One Step Closer. Their sophomore disc veers more into pop-punk than hardcore at times, à la Title Fight or Basement, and the melodic turn adds flair to their formula. All You Embrace balances high-energy aggression with sweeping pop hooks, not sacrificing an ounce of their ethos in the process.
Runners Up: Kublai Khan – Exhibition of Prowess, SeeYouSpaceCowboy… – Coup de Grâce, State Faults – Children of the Moon, Touché Amoré – Spiral in a Straight Line
Post-Hardcore Album of the Year
Chat Pile – Cool World
Since there aren’t categories for noise rock or sludge metal, Chat Pile nabs the win for post-hardcore — another way of describing a band that’s often beyond description. The Oklahoma natives up the ante on Cool World, an anti-war horror story set to rocking riffs. It’s a beefier offering than their debut that pushes the limits of their sound to a near-breaking point. It fits, then, that vocalist Raygun Busch constantly sounds on the brink of insanity.
Runners Up: Eidola – Eviscerate, The Home Team – The Crucible of Life, Night Verses – Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night, Part 2, The Requiem – A Cure to Poison the World
Extreme Metal Album of the Year
Frail Body – Artificial Bouquet
It’s been 11 years since Sunbather, and finally in 2024 an album manages to match the beauty and force of Deafheaven’s opus. Frail Body’s second LP, Artificial Bouquet serves up emo-tinged hardcore in the vein of Sunbather‘s blackened post-metal. Five years after their debut, the band has returned with even more urgency. The record is relentless in sound and reflective in lyricism, an overwhelming listen and the year’s best extreme metal album.
Runners Up: Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere, Fit for an Autopsy – The Nothing That Is, Nails – Every Bridge Burning, Respire – Hiraeth
Pop Album of the Year
Charli XCX – Brat
It wasn’t just a brat summer in 2024. This entire year was the year of brat, and Charli XCX continues to remain at the forefront of the public consciousness with her newest pop creation. In a year dominated by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Sabrina Carpenter, Brat was a triumph — a record that puts her above her peers while maintaining her club-ready hyperpop style. It’s no doubt the best pop record of the year and an archetype for future stars to emulate.
Runners Up: Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft, Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism, Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk, Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet
Hip-Hop Album of the Year
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
It looked like Tyler, The Creator had this category locked up, until Kendrick Lamar came out of nowhere with the surprise GNX. While Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers was the cathartic album Kendrick needed at that point in his career, GNX finds the rapper with the world at his disposal. His newest album is a return to form and a tribute to his West Coast roots — a victory lap for the best hip-hop artist alive leading up to next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Runners Up: Bob Vylan – Humble as the Sun, JPEGMAFIA – I Lay Down My Life for You, nothing,nowhere. – Dark Magic, Tyler, The Creator – Chromakopia
Single of the Year
Ice Nine Kills – “A Work of Art”
2024 was the year of collaboration for metal artists: Bring Me the Horizon worked with Lil Uzi Vert, Bad Omens worked with Poppy, and Poppy worked with Jordan Fish. But most notably, Ice Nine Kills played on the success of the new Terrifier film, with Art the Clown himself (David Howard Thornton) starring in the music video for their new single “A Work of Art.” It quickly became one of the band’s biggest tracks and a viral hit, helping Ice Nine Kills further hone their niche as metalcore’s favorite horror darlings.
Runners Up: Bad Omens x Poppy – “V.A.N.,” Benson Boone – “Beautiful Things,” Bring Me the Horizon – “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd BloOd,” Linkin Park – “The Emptiness Machine”
Debut Album of the Year
Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible
The most notable debut albums of 2024 didn’t come from musical youngsters. There’s Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Cloudkicker and Gospel’s The Supervoid Choral Ensemble, and Fit for an Autopsy, Every Time I Die, and The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Better Lovers. The latter’s members may be in their 40s, but they sound as inspired as ever on their debut, Highly Irresponsible. It’s a seamless blend of its other bands into one explosive metalcore package.
Runners Up: Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown, Foreign Hands – What’s Left Unsaid, The Requiem – A Cure to Poison the World, The Supervoid Choral Ensemble – Live from the Downwhen Terminus
Comeback Album of the Year
The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
For best comeback album the choice is obvious: an artist releasing their first full-length since 2008, and their best since 1989. The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World was a long-awaited and highly anticipated record that somehow lived up to all the hype and then some. Yet, it’s also the darkest and most challenging listen of The Cure’s lengthy career. A record that ruminates on death and the band’s legacy, it’s the most vital and existential release of 2024.
Runners Up: Balance and Composure – With You in Spirit, Linkin Park – From Zero, Nails – Every Bridge Burning, The Story So Far – I Want to Disappear
EP of the Year
Greyhaven – Stereo Grief
For the past six years, Greyhaven has flown under the radar as a progressive metalcore outfit stuck as an opener in a headliner’s body. Their new EP, Stereo Grief, is a continuation of the 2000s-inspired technical metal that made the band critical darlings across their previous two full-lengths. It’s a shorter burst of songs, of course, but it finds the members tightening their sound. The result is the best collection of songs they’ve released yet.
Runners Up: Bon Iver – Sable, Counterparts – Heaven Let Them Die, nothing,nowhere. – Miserymaker, The Plot in You – Vol. 1
Tour of the Year
Lorna Shore with Whitechapel / Kublai Khan / Sangusuigabogg
2024 was a monumental for metal, in which a deathcore band could headline large theaters — and pack them with metal fans from every corner of the scene. It helps that Lorna Shore brought out metal stalwarts Whitechapel and venue-packing upstarts in Kublai Khan and Sanguisugabogg. Playing Pain Remains in its entirety, Lorna Shore made their fall tour a moment in time for heavy music and possibly a sign of even bigger things to come.
Runners Up: Green Day: The Saviors Tour with The Smashing Pumpkins / Rancid, Linkin Park From Zero World Tour with Sleep Token / Bad Omens, Sum 41 Farewell Tour with The Interrupters, Summer School Tour: Stand Atlantic / Magnolia Park / The Home Team
The Verbatim 