With another new year underway, we look forward to dozens of new metal and hard rock albums. Already, a number of notable releases are on the schedule for the first half of 2024, with many more expected to be announced in the coming weeks and months.
The early months of the year will bring us new efforts from veteran acts like Judas Priest, Ace Frehley, Ministry, Mick Mars, and Bruce Dickinson, as well as a wide range of music from the likes of Amigo the Devil, Chelsea Wolfe, and Job for a Cowboy.
Fans can also expect thrash legends Anthrax and Slayer’s Kerry King to release new albums in 2024, while others can hope for new LPs from such acts as Deftones, Alice in Chains, and maybe even Guns N’ Roses.
We can’t guarantee that every one of the albums listed below will be released in 2024, but if most them come to fruition it should be another big year in the world of heavy music.
See our list of the Most Anticipated Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2024 below.
-Spencer Kaufman
Managing Editor, Heavy Consequence
Editor’s note: Check out our upcoming release calendar to see more albums arriving this year. Also look back at the best music of 2023 with our 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums and 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Songs, along with the rest of our Annual Report.
January:
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (January 26th)
After a seven-year stint in Blink-182 (until Tom DeLonge’s return), Matt Skiba is back fronting his longtime band Alkaline Trio full-time. Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs will mark the band’s first full-length album in six years, and has been preceded by the infectious and melodic alt-rock singles “Bad Time,” “Versions of You,” and the title track. – Spencer Kaufman
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Dark Rainbow (January 26th)
Over the past decade, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have proven to be one of the most exciting live bands around, playing electrifying shows. The UK punk outfit is set to return with its fifth album, Dark Rainbow. The LP’s two early singles, “Brambles” and “Man of the Hour,” tone down the punk in favor of a mid-tempo, alt-rock vibe. Carter & company will be supporting the album with a 2024 tour that includes a run of North American shows. – S. Kaufman
Lucifer – Lucifer V (January 26th)
Lucifer have showcased an array of moods with the promotional singles for their fifth self-titled effort, from the churning stoner grooves of “At the Mortuary” to the subdued, ‘70s-style power ballad “Slow Dance in a Crypt.” The Swedish revivalists imbue each with an occult, technicolor aura — the thread of cohesion that runs throughout the band’s entire catalog. Lucifer V should be another delightfully riff-filled seance. — Jon Hadusek
Static-X – Project Regeneration: Vol 2 (January 26th)
Project Regeneration: Vol. 2, originally slated for November 2023, will be the second Static-X album to feature posthumous vocals from the late Wayne Static, culled from tapes that were left behind in his archives. The music, however, is all new, recorded by current Static-X members Tony Campos (bass), Koichi Fukuda (guitars) and Ken Jay (drums), as well as their new singer-guitarist, the mysterious Xer0, who also produced Vol. 2. Catch Static-X on tour with Sevendust in the first half of 2024. – J. Hadusek
February:
Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (February 9th)
Chelsea Wolfe described her upcoming solo album as “a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance,” hence the LP’s circular title. Wolfe teamed with journeyman producer David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio) for what promises to be one of her most aurally ambitious offerings to date — if we’re to take the excellent singles “Dusk” and “Whispers in the Echo Chamber” as an indicator.- J. Hadusek
