Rolling Stone has released their list of "The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2024". An introduction follows...

"Aggression can be healing - that’s a fact that fans of metal, hardcore punk, and extreme music know all too well. No matter what you worried about over the past year, there was plenty of great deafening music to serve as your crucible, an artful rage with the power to transform your agony into something greater, something better than it was. That healing anger fuelled Kerry King’s post-Slayer masterpiece From Hell I Rise, Sumac’s avant-garde The Healer, and Knocked Loose’s You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. And it pulsed through great records by High On Fire, Blood Incantation, Unholy Altar, Chat Pile, and Huntsmen. So here’s a “Crown of Horns,” to use a Judas Priest song title, for the 20 best and loudest albums of 2024."

Topping the list is Kerry King with his solo debut From Hell I Rise. Other placements include Opeth's The Last Will And Testament (#2), Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson's The Mandrake Project (#5), and Judas Priest's Invincible Shield (#7).

About King's From Hell I Rise, Rolling Stone's Kory Grow writes: "The first solo album from former Slayer guitarist Kerry King is basically the “Still D.R.E.” of thrash metal. But where Dr. Dre wanted to remind his fans that he was still puffin’ his leafs, still fucking with beats, and still not lovin’ police after close to a decade of absence, King wants his fans to understand that even though Slayer are essentially hell bound, he’s still Satan’s preeminent ambassador. On From Hell I Rise, King is still drinkin’ his tequila, still fucking with riffs, and still not lovin’ the priests. In other words, it sounds like Slayer — and at times, Slayer at their best."

Find out who else made the list, and in what position, at RollingStone.com.

(Kerry King photo - Jim Louvau)