There's so much great music already this year. I got several based on your suggestions, thanks for keeping us posted😊💿🎶

Blaze Bayley-Circle of Stone is my most played of the year so far. His last 4-5 releases have been so good.

Riot V is a great album. Very underrated for sure.

I was just listening to Saxon's 'Hell, Fire and Damnation' yesterday and it's still freaking good! I can't stop listening to The Black Crowes' 'Happiness Bastards'! An excellent return to form album for them and Rich's guitar playing resembles his work on 'By Your Side' (1999), which is not a bad thing! 👍

@2:34 RE: Sonic Universe and Corey Glover, I loved their first video/song "I Am"... and completely forgot they were putting out an album. I've never heard *anything* about it until your video. Going to check out the rest of the tracks, thanks!

Wow the middle of the year 🎉 thanks for turning us on to some amazing music ❤

Excellent choices and I look forward to listening to them.

Great video! I have all but three of the albums mentioned which reinforces why I enjoy your channel so much. (Haven't picked up Vain, Dirty Knobs, and Green Day) It will be interesting to see how this top 20 stacks up with what comes out the rest of the year.

Bruce Dickinson's The Mandrake Project is by far my most listened to album of this year

My top 2 picks are, The Rods - "Rattle The Cage", and Judas Priest - "Invincible Shield". But, the best album will be David Gimour - "Luck And Strange" coming out September 6th!

Awesome albums! Congrats from Brazil! 👍🏻😍👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks Andy Sneap! New Saxon, Accept AND Priest this year. Metal is alive and well in 2024😎

Totally agree with your comments regarding Bruce Dickinsons album. Its really good and dare I also suggest better than recent Iron Maiden albums.

Most of the new albums that came out this year are digipacks or have those really thin sleeves. Do you adjust how you store them with your CDs that have jewel cases? I imagine it would mess up the nice uniform way you have them organized now. I mainly collect vinyl but I do have e some CDs. My OCD keeps me from buying CDs that aren’t in jewel cases. Thoughts?

Great list, so far my top 5 are Borknager- Fall North Sea Echos- Really Good Terrible Things Priest - Invincible Shield 200 Stab Wounds- Manual Manic Procedures Bruce Dickinson- The Mandrake Project. These are subject to change as there are so many new releases coming 🤘

My top albums so far Saxon - Hell Fire and Damnation Hiraes - Dormant Unleash the Archers - Phantoma Crownshift - Crownshift Kerry King - From Hell I Rise High On Fire - Cometh the Storm Judas Priest - Invincible Pearl Jam - Dark Matter And i just listened to the new Wraith - Fueled By Fear, that came out last friday and i was blown away.

Love the list! I picked up most of these too. My favorite so far this year is Whom Gods Destroy's debut, Insanium. Dino Jelusick is such an amazing singer, and the rest of the band is incredible.

Hi Brendon. My top 5 so far: 1- Judas Priest - Invincible Shield 2- Saxon - Hell, Fire And Damnation 3- Riot V - Mean Streets 4- Accept - Humanoid 5- Rage - Afterlifelines

At this midway point this is my top 5: 1 Judas Priest- Invincible Shield 2 Saxon- Hell,Fire And Damnation 3 Black Country Communion- V 4 Pearl Jam- Dark Matter 5 Accept- Humanoid

Enjoying the black crowes as well. The new Lenny kravitz album seems more connected to what I like about him (as a full album) in decades. Channeling some prince in there as well. Definitely a worthwhile effort.

Biggest omission that I thought sure would be in your 20 was The End Machine Quantum Phase 😁

I like your list!

Judas Priests Invincible Shield will be hard to beat for metal album of the year, it's as if Priest looked back at every highpoint in their storied career and made a song to represent it! An album so rich and varied, with one gem after another, it is simply mind-blowing that Priest could make an album this stellar after all these years! KUDOS TO THE MIGHTY PRIEST 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Great list! Curious if you like the Bach album better than the latest skid row? Can’t really argue with priest at 1 it’s fantastic! I’ve been waiting for the new vain for a while! Sucks that it’s not on Apple Music 😩

My favorite album this year is German band Attic - return of the Witchfinder Killer metal in the style of King Diamond and runner up album Tarot - glimpse of the dawn amazing traditional heavy metal complete with a Hammond organ Check them out you might like both bands …watch your posts everyday and enjoy them …that Vain album is killer …that band never got the recognition they deeerved

Hey Brendon, have you ever gotten into any BritPop bands like Oasis, or similar UK bands like The Stereophonics (who continue to put out new music)?

So far, this year has been light on my purchases of new studio albums. Most of my purchases have been reissues, live albums, audiophile releases, archive releases and box sets. I've only bought 4 new studio albums so far this year and I like them all. Haven't been disappointed yet. So, let me just list the ones I've bought so far: 1. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield --- This has been, by far, my favorite new album of 2024 and I really don't see any other release that could beat it. 2. Saxon - Hell, Fire And Damnation --- This is a great album and is probably my favorite Saxon album since the '80s. The addition of Brian Tatler really did invigorate them. It's also a fun album to listen to. 3. Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project --- This is a solid album by Bruce and I agree with you that it is better than some of the recent Iron Maiden albums. Is this album Bruce's best solo album? No. I probably like 3 or 4 of this other solo albums better. Nonetheless, this new album of his is pretty good. 4. DragonForce - Warp Speed Warriors --- If you are a fan of DragonForce, you know what to expect from their releases. This one is no different. They deliver on the high energy, extreme power metal that they are known for, singing about video games, fantasy and such. They have so much fun making their music and videos and it really comes across on the album. They are also fun in concert and put on great shows. So, if you are into their style of music or have enjoyed some of their previous albums, this one does not disappoint. I'd probably rank this album of theirs top 5 or near top 5 amongst all their other albums. I am looking forward to 3 more albums to be released this year, which I have already preordered. They are the new Deep Purple album, the new David Gilmour album and the new Flotsam & Jetsam album. I've liked all the singles released so far from those albums. If these albums are even as half as good as their respective predecessor albums, I will be happy. And from singles released so far, I think they will live up to or even surpass their predecessors. Another note: Grave Digger released a new single, which I bought as a lossless download, back in January called "The Grave Is Yours," which is a very good Grave Digger song. No new album has yet to been announced. I don't know if this single was just a one-off project to introduce their new lead Guitarist who joined the band late last year or if it means they are currently working on a new studio album. They are also currently touring. So, maybe something will be announced about a new album after their tour. Also, as many already know, Testament has been in and out of the recording studio working on their 14th studio album. My guess is that all recording is complete and they just have to finish producing, mixing and mastering it. They soon go on tour until the end of the year. They haven't announced a release date yet for the new album but said it will either be late 2024 or some time in 2025. Here's hoping it is released this year. If so, that is another one I am looking forward to. And as always, there will be other albums I am interested in that will be released this year that I don't know about yet or haven't been announced yet. Besides the new Judas Priest album, my favorite purchase of 2024, so far, is the Black Sabbath - Anno Domini box set. That thing is fantastic. My Black Sabbath studio album collection is now complete because of it. I was only missing those 4 Tony Martin albums from the box since they had been long out of print and hard to find at a reasonable price (used or new.) Back when those albums were originally released, I had a tight budget because I was in Grad School during those years. I never did buy them when released (though I did buy the Dio-fronted Dehumanizer album during that period when it was released.) Anyway, those 4 Tony Martin albums were like Brand new albums to me since I had never heard them before. Headless Cross and Tyr are fantastic and if they were new albums released in 2024, they'd both make my top albums list of 2024. LOL Cross Purposes is a solid album also. Forbidden is okay with a couple solid tracks (the 2024 remix in the box sounds good to me but I can't compare to the original mix since I never owned it.)

Cool. 🤘😎🤘

I'm stunned Teramaze (Eli: A Wonderful fall from Grace), Evergrey (Theories of Emptiness), and Vanden Plas (The Empyrean Equation of the long lost things) aren't on there. Check them out!

Thanks Brendon. J Priest is a worthy number 1 but my own fav is Hawkwind’s Stories from Time and Space

Judas priest invincible Shield 🛡 on to next year 🤘🇬🇧 cool shirt

This is the worst year since I've been paying attention. It's been a struggle to even find five albums I've wanted to listen to more than once. To top it off, I can't name a single record confirmed for the second half I'm not already convinced will be a disappointment.

I'm more of a melodic rock/ arena rock guy. So I gotta say you are missing out on the 2024 releases from HONEYMOON SUITE, NESTOR and REVOLUTION SAINTS. ALL in my Top 10 so far. But I definitely agree, that JUDAS PRIEST is a beast!

Interesting mid year countdown. Surprised on how Saxon was low, should be up there with the best of the year. But then again Green Day #5 🤨….

You need to hear Beaux Gris Gris and the apocalypse - Hot Nostalgia Music , it's incredible

Fire by Kittie .. fcking killer album 🔥🤘

My Top 5 Rattle The Cage- The Rods V- Lucifer V- Black Country Communion Risen Symbol- Axel Rudi Pell Silver Tongue- Maverick

How did you miss Slash's Orgy of the Damned?

Its been a weird year so far, March was a huge month for me from what I have been playing alot, also April too, and then June there has been some lulls some albums I liked off the bat and then forgot, usually happens with anything in January for me, last time a January/ February album stuck with me all year was the Pretty Reckless "Death By Rock N Roll" came out Feb 2021 and all year it stuck with me. I liked the Green Day off the bat and then when things in March came out for me at least I forgot it. Bon Jovi, Lenny Kravitz are strong for me, Kacey Musgraves might not be the rocker but the recording of this album in NYC and the sonic sound and mixing is better than anything I have heard , The new Daryl Hall hit me right away which is a shock because I love Hall and Oates but his solo albums are not that good to me, this one 9 songs 35+ minutes perfect statement thats what I like, sometimes artists tack on too much stuff. The new Sheryl Crow is a monster to me but I get her point, you do these amazing new records and new songs and thats everyone "piss break" at a show, so it's frustrating. To me I rather an artist do an amazing new record and play nothing from anything else, nothing on the ticket says they have to play hits. Also the group Lake Street Dive they've been around awhile but get ready I think they are about to be the new "grammy darling", Crowded House new one is solid, The Black Crowes again one of the best of the year to me also an indie funk bass player BLU Detiger she's based out of NYC the fact that she realizes how Prince was a better bass player than even guitar and knows alot of his licks she's getting a lot of respect from top rockers now, also on the Prince "tip" Judith Hill's newest release one of the best of the year.

My top albums so far: 1. Moon Wizard - Sirens 2. MOOCH - Visions 3. Lost Psychonauts - Violent Outbursts 4. Hashtronaut - No Return 5. Birds of Vale - Limbo 6. Blacktop Mojo - Pollen

A few comments: The Ace Frehley album works as Ace Frehley because if they called it the name of the producer and cowriter who boasted of doing all the work and blasted Ace for not doing much, it wouldn't have gotten any attention. * db * The Saxon album is very good, VERY satisfying to listen to. * db * Mike Campbell is a great choice. Impressive songs, carrying on the Petty tradition. * db * I do love the Bon Jovi album and it's very enjoyable listening. * db * I thought the Pearl Jam was too predictable in both subjects and performance. * db * Dickenson's album is ferocious. Almost better than the Priest album, and I LOVE the Priest album.

The Karma Effect album is just great. BCC, Robert John & The Wreck, Scott Stapp, Walter Trout, Revolution Saints, and Robbie Krieger are all awesome releases as well. I listen to all those albums every week. I agree that the new Green Day album is a banger from beginning to end. Not a weak song on it. 10 million seller if its released in 1994.

Saviors is green day's best since 21st

Priest. Number One. Yep .

#1 hearts and hand grenades- where I begin #2 blooming discord- memories from the future #3 Scott stapp- higher power #4 mick mars- other side of Mars #5 lift the curse- overtake #6 the gems- phoenix #7 the warning- keep me feed #8 raising ravens- motivesEP #9 Devilskin- surfacingEP

Black Crowes rock

The Sebastian Bach album cover is SO BAD 😬

I've been waiting for this vid! And also to hear Brendon say that his top albums are "pretty good." SMH

No mention of Nestor's "Teenage Rebel"? List is incomplete. Also, Green Day is not a punk band, not sure why people put them into that category.

My top twenty so far: 1. Albion - Lake Songs Of Elbid (metal/prog/folk hybrid from erstwhile Jethro Tull guitarist, Joe Parrish-James & his band. A triumphant debut) 2. Magnum - Here Comes The Rain (bittersweet but a magnificent way to end their recording career) 3. Lionheart - The Grace Of A Dragonfly (melodic-rock concept album about WWII. Their best since Hot Tonight, I reckon) 4. Alan Doyle - Welcome Home (infectious folk-rock with just the occasional hint of melancholy, from the Great Big Sea alumnus) 5. Ferocious Dog - Kleptocracy (punky political folk with melodies as strong as the messages) 6. Demon - Invincible (I was worried they might have been Seraphinoed into submission when I heard they'd signed for Frontiers but, happily, this is business as usual) 7. Atlantic - Another World (a surprise return to the fray - albeit with a very different line-up - and even better than their 1994 debut. 8. Black Diamonds - Destination Paradise (sunset strip style hair metal from this unsung but consistently excellent Swiss outfit) 9. The Dead South - Chains & Stakes (rocked up bluegrass & country, from Canada) 10. Oz Hawe Petersson's Rendezvous - S/T (defiantly Eighties AOR which features Boulevard's David Forbes singing on a couple of tracks) 11. Ian Hunter - Defiance Part 2 (what a late career renaissance!) 12. Big Big Train - The Likes Of Us (from the tragedy of David Longdon's untimely demise, the band have somehow fashioned another classic. Kudos to Alberto Bravin for filling such big shoes with ease) 13.The Immediate Family - Skin In The Game (grizzled session veterans bring their A-game to their second release. The playing quality was always beyond doubt but the songs are great too) 14. Bon Jovi - Forever (ear worm central!) 15. Mark Knopfler - One Deep River (more of the same & just as good) 16. Sons Of Liberty - The Devil Is In The Detail (hard-edged Southern rock from Bristol. Steve Grimmett's son, Russ, is on lead vocals) 17. John Oates - Reunion (John wins the battle of the Hall & Oates new solo albums - at least for me - with this laid-back and charming release) 18. Jim Peterik & World Stage - Roots & Shoots Vol I (a lovey blend of old stagers & newer performers sing another set of fine songs from Jim's reliable pen) 19. These Wicked Rivers - Force Of Nature (more strong Southern rock from the UK) 20. Honeymoon Suite - Alive (they're not reinventing the wheel at this point of their career but they are keeping it polished & shiny)

1. The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again 2. October Project - Ghost of Childhood 3. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - South of Here 4. Big Big Train - Last of Us 5. Crowded House - Gravity Stairs 6. Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyan's Slingshot 7. Fleet Foxes - Boston Harbor 8. Johnny Cash - Songwriter 9. Future Islands - People Who Aren’t There Anymore 10. Smoke & Mirrors Sound System - No. 10 Dubbing St. 11. Louisa Stancioff - When We Were Looking 12. Elbow - Audio Vertigo 13. Martyn Joseph = This Is What I Want To Say 14. Vampire Weekend - G-d Was Above Us 15. Marco Glühmann - A Fragile Present 16. Taylor Swift - Poets Department 17. Alejandro Escovedo - Echo Dancing 18. Tiny Habits - All For Something 19. Bonnie Light Horseman - Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free 20. New Dad - Madra 21. Mick Harvey - Five Ways To Say Goodbye 22. Kate Nash - 9 Sad Symphonies 23. Kim Richey - Every New Beginning 24. Eels - Eels Time 25. Sundays - Giant Formula

Bruce s album was a one and done for me. No way it’s better than last Maiden album.

For me Teramaze Eli a wonderful fall from grace is the best I heard this year till now. It has the most beautiful ballad I heard in years! Great albums were Judas Priest, Saxon, Witherfall, Arcadia Project, Nestor (best aor), Riot V. Best album to fall in sleep Bon Jovi, sorry man😊

I must be the only one who isn't digging the new Pearl Jam. It's ok, but hardly a return to matching the first few records. Agree the new Priest album is killer! Love the Bruce Dickinson album too. Don't know why that's getting some hate. Unleash The Archers and Vanden Plas are two albums that you simply HAVE to check out! Both are incredible records!

I’m kinda disappointed in the new Priest, although it is a step up over the past two snooze-fests. They’re desperately missing the songwriting of Tipton & Downing.

Gangstuk, a Norwegian band should be No.1

Pretty disappointing so far this year with the exception of Lucifer V. That's a phenomenal album.

Judas priest rocks green day stinks!