Here are our picks for the top 10 Irish albums of 2024. What are yours? Let us know in the comments below.
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Fontaines D.C. - Romance Fourth in a row of outstanding albums from Fontaines. While it may not their most consistently brilliant (the second half is not as strong as the first), it does contain what may be their best song, the fabulous 'Starburster'. |
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Sprints - Letter To Self Ferocious yet catchy, this is a impactful set of powerful punky rock songs delivered with with intensity and passion. It's hard to pick a standout track because they all stand out; this truly excellent album does not falter from start to finish. |
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Christy Moore - A Terrible Beauty The veteran Christy Moore has aged like a fine wine and is putting out some of his best music over half a century into his career. He delivers a commentary of our times in his unmistakable warm and soothing accented voice. He makes songs by other artists such as Brian Brannigan of A Lazarus Soul all his own. 'Palestine' by Jim Page is a stand out. This is an album with emotional impact. |
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Nerves - Glórach Noise rockers Nerves from Mayo & Galway certainly make an impact with their debut Glórach, a half hour mini-album (I'm bending my own rules slightly including an EP in this list of top 'albums', but this is so good). Nerves make clever use of dynamics to maximise the explosive impact of their controlled aggression and keep it all very interesting and engaging with tension building sonics. |
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And So I Watch You From Afar - Megafauna With Megafauna ASIWYFA have delivered a superb album of post-rock guitar driven wizzardry. This is an album of interesting and uplifiting musical journeys. Although it is instrumental music, it manages to convey a feeling of optimism. |
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Ian Lynch - All You Need Is Death (OST) Lankum's Ian Lynch delivers a haunting set of doomy atmospheric avant-folk soundscapes created as a score to a horror film of the same name. Lynch makes experimental use of traditional instruments to create primal foreboding musical passages fraught with tension and suspense. The centrepiece of the album and the movie is the song 'Old God Rising' which was translated into Old Irish by Lynch (who has a degree in the subject) and sung by Olwen Fouéré who plays one of the main characters in the film. An alternative disturbing version of the track played by extreme metallers Malthusian is also included as the final track on the album. As a standalone entity, outside of the context of the horror film, this album makes compelling listening. Scary good! |
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Ten Ton Slug - Colossal Oppressor Metal heavyweights Ten Ton Slug unleash a slab of oozing slimey sludge metal. This is convincingly heavy stuff and hands down the best album cover of 2024! |
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NewDad - MADRA MADRA opens with two excellent up-tempo rocking tracks bordering on grunge and then settles into lush dream pop with a rock edge coming through especially on tracks such as Let Go and Dream of Me and the title track. MADRA is an impressive debut album. |
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God Is An Astronaut - Embers Long running instrumental post-rock outfit God Is An Astronaut's 2024 release, Embers, is an album of mesmerising and ever shifting sonic textures. The tracks alternate from spare and delicate to rich and intense. |
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Sour Blood - SUAS SUAS by Sour Blood (aka Kevin Gleeson) is something a bit different. His unique voice, instrumental sounds and pulsating rythms are captivating. SUAS is a highly original album. |
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You can find a pretty comprehensive list of Irish albums released in 2024 in this Spotify playlist which contains the first track off each album. Note that the embedded player below only shows 100 but there are well over 100, so click on the the title to see the rest in Spotify.