August of 2024 was a pretty good month. First, it marked my return from the Injured Reserve, where I’d been nursing a high ego sprain and nagging executive dysfunction issues. These aren’t perfectly fixed, but being back on the field has shown beyond a doubt that I’m still a force to be reckoned with. Second, August of 2024 was a particularly fecund month for potential Records o’ the Month. This surprised me.
I couldn’t remember August being a particularly productive month historically and as I went back through the archive, that seems sort of true. Between 2012—when the RotM was started—and 2023, the hit rate for August Record(s) o’ the Month landing on my Top 10(ish) list for the year is 73%. Only once has an August record reached the top spot—that would be Pale Communion—with Sophicide hitting #2 in 2012 and Lör’s In Forgotten Sleep getting a #3 spot in 2017. Turisas’ controversial Turisas2013 was a runner-up in August of 2013 and ended up at #5, while the actual winner—Witherscape’s excellent The Inheritance—took the #10 spot on that list. 2020 saw Havukruunu ending up at #7, and Crypta’s Shades of Sorrow took #9 last year. The rest is a sea of -ishes and honorable mentions: Cattle Decapitation (2015), Dialith and Eternal Storm (2019), and Pain of Salvation in 2020.
And in 2024? How many of these babies will follow me to the end of the year? I’ve got an inkling, but I’m curious to see what you think.1
Dawn Treader’s Bloom & Decay—out August 24th from Liminal Dread Productions [Bandcamp]—is one of the biggest surprises of 2024 so far. The ‘one-man black metal project’ is a minefield of absolutely terrible music that I tend to avoid at all costs. Yet the sophomore record from London’s Ross Connell is an album notable for its pathos, rich composition, and artistry. What makes Blood & Decay remarkable is how it draws inspiration from—and comparisons to—revered bands like Agalloch, Alcest, and Panopticon without falling into the common pitfalls. Typically, such comparisons raise concerns about excessive reverb, overly long songs, and toothless riffs. Yet Connell subverts these expectations by creating a dynamic, storytelling experience filled with emotional peaks and valleys, masterfully blending black metal’s rawness with atmospheric beauty. Connell’s addition of his own vocals for the first time elevates the project. His powerful delivery—and powerful use of samples—transforms each song into a vivid emotional journey. As Itchymenace gushed in his review: “Dawn Treader’s Bloom & Decay not only contains amazing songs that celebrate the highs and lows of the human experience, it also sounds great.” A surprisingly easy choice for Record o’ the Month.
Fleshgod Apocalypse // Opera [August 23rd, 2024 | Nuclear Blast Records | Bandcamp] — Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Opera, their first album since 2019’s Veleno, has marked a significant evolution for the band. Drawing from the Opéra Lyrique style, the album features soprano Veronica Bordacchini voicing characters like life, death, and hope, while her vocals have brought fresh dynamics to the band’s symphonic death metal sound. With a more streamlined, melodic approach, Opera leans into catchier, poppier elements without losing its technical edge. Songs like “I Can Never Die” and “Matricide 8.21” highlight this shift, adding emotional depth through Bordacchini’s diverse performances. Though some longtime fans may miss the more grand operatic and technical side—Opera is not King—the album is still a genuine triumph. Opera blends new ideas with the band’s established identity, creating a fresh, cohesive record that accomplishes both a stylistic shift and adds another great record to Fleshgod’s already well-respected oeuvre. As I vigorously exclaimed and defended in the comments, “Opera is simultaneously and undeniably fun, heady, and technically impressive.”
Amiensus // Reclamation Pt. II [August 30th, 2024 | M-Theory Audio | Bandcamp] — Amiensus’s Reclamation Pt. II, the companion to Pt. I released earlier this year, has marked a standout achievement in progressive melodic black metal. The album blends melancholic melodicism, blackened fury, and progressive elements to create a dynamic and cathartic experience. With tracks like “Sólfarið” and “Acquiescence,” Pt. II offers invigorating and emotionally charged compositions, Amiensus skillfully balances moments of atmospheric beauty with powerful black metal. While initially, Reclamation seemed disjointed in places, the album’s intricate songs and layered instrumentation grow with each listen, presenting some of the band’s most versatile material to date. Despite some production issues, the album features elite composition and great songs like “Orb of Vanishing Light.” Reclamation Pt. II stands as Amiensus’s current “magnum opus”—in tandem with its predecessor—and a highlight of the year’s metal releases. As Kenstrosity opined, “Reclamation Pt. II is a more energetic, smartly edited, and exquisitely arranged work that blooms brighter the longer I live with it.” That’s a fancy way of saying that it’s a grower.
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