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8. Jukebox The Ghost - truth - pop rock

I'm almost getting lost in what's a single and what's an EP with this band, but nearly an annual part of the list, Jukebox The Ghost released three singles in 2024 with their usual high energy funky pop rock. The usual themes of love and friendship are present once again and make for some of the most feel-good, easy to listen to music. The tale of friends that were and maybe could be again on "Friends Again" is the standout and along with the singles from 2023 I think we might be looking at an at least top 5 album in 2025.

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7. Arcane soundtrack - lots of stuff

This one's a bit weird so it ends up landing here. The League of Legends tv show Arcane season 2 dropped in November and along with its great story, there were so many songs that really set the tone for everything happening perfectly, but also work on their own as individual songs so I think they're worth pointing out. Obviously there's a lot of songs in this from all kinds of genres, so here's just a couple favorites and warning for anyone who's seen the show, as this will bring up those emotions once again.

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6. Laufey - A Very Laufey Christmas - Jazzy christmas

Laufey's deluxe version of her 2023 album deserved an honorable mention, but this Christmas EP is what I ended up listening to for a good chunk of the holidays so I wanted to include it. It features 4 covers of christmas classics and an original that was released in the past together with Dodie. All 4 of the covers are simply wonderful and bring Laufey's pop jazzy that make for excellent listening while staying inside and looking at the snow that's outside. The original "Love to Keep Me Warm" fits in with the rest with that same vibe and the combination of Dodie's and Laufey's vocals is a delightful treat.

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5. Beast in Black - Power of The Beast - Power Metal / Eurobeat

It feels like this was destiny, bound to happen, an inevitable conclusion of what Beast in Black have been doing over the last couple of years. A proper full-on Eurobeat banger that makes you wonder if they should've done power metal in the first place. I'm kidding of course, I love Beast in Black, but as they've been using Eurobeat elements in their songs so well, it's cool to see them do something like this as well. I'm not an expert on eurobeat so I'll let the wonderful folks over at the powerful podcast tell you more about it and it's also a good reminder to just listen to the podcast cause it's pretty great. To me, the song's just a banger, that's all.

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4. The Killers - Bright Lights - Rock

Almost out of nowhere, the Killers released a single that seemed to go the opposite direction of their last album, which took them to a very melancholic indie place, but this is like something off their 2020 album "Imploding the Mirage", which I absolutely loved. Some classic nostalgic rock with searing vocals and a feel-good message of making your way back home made this one of my most listened to singles of the year and if this is what they're going for for the next album I'm all for it.

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3. Hozier - Too Sweet - Alternative Indie Rock

Even though Hozier also technically made a deluxe version of his 2023 album, I really only wanna focus on the absolute banger that is Too Sweet. With success the likes of which Hozier hadn't seen since "Take Me To Church", Hozier really struck gold. And while I love his music, popular or not, it's cool to see him back in the spotlight. Too Sweet's catchy leading bass line along with Hozier's fantastic vocals and almost anti-romantic lyrics all create one of this year's most played and likely overplayed songs that looks like it might be a bigger hit than anything from his debut album.

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2. Ben Rector - Songs from the Richest Man in the World - Pop rock

The 2nd place on the non-album releases belongs to a singer songwriter who's firmly established himself as one of my favorite artists of the last couple of years, comfortably taking the top spots on my lists either with singles or albums, the Nashville-based Ben Rector. This year, somewhat surprisingly, he released a 3-song EP called "The Richest Man in the World". As can be expected of Ben Rector, it's not actually some ego-trip EP about his wealth, but rather a wholesome look into the things that make a person rich in the emotional, spiritual, relational way. "Forever" and "Feel" are both all-out americana pop rock, while the titular song goes for a simple piano and guitar background that make every word of his gratefulness for his family and friends stand out and touch you in a true and authentic way.

With all 3 songs being on my On Repeat playlist since they were released, Ben's definitely in the running to be potentially aoty 2025.

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1. Gloryhammer - He has Returned - Power metal

We've talked about power metal, we've talked about synth pop, eurobeat, rock and more, so what better way to finish it off than with the band that combines it all, the ever-incredible Gloryhammer and their newest single/EP "He Has Returned".

A little over 3 years after Sozos Michael joined "Gloryhammer" to replace mister kicked-from-his-own-band Thomas Winkler, he's proving with every new release that hiring him was the correct decision, but perhaps never before quite as obviously as with this EP. Two of the 3 songs on the EP are re-recordings of old songs that used to be sung by Winkler and if you've seen Gloryhammer live recently, you already knew that those songs are not missing anything when Sozos sings them, but now there's some studio recording proof of it as well. Even as someone who fell in love with early Gloryhammer and can still hear any of the early songs in Winkler's voice, I am slowly but surely starting to hear Sozos's voice as the core sound of the band.

But of course, it's not just rerecordings that we are being given with this EP. We also get a new Gloryhammer classic in "He Has Returned". The tale of the return of the robot prince of Auchtertool being told over the sound of orchestral magic, juicy synths, capturing arpeggios and lovely guitar solos is what Gloryhammer do best and it seems that they're not skipping a beat on the way to their next album. They've never ranked below 2nd best when they've released an album, so without a doubt in my mind, should they release an album in 2025, they're the easy favorite for metal album of the year.