So here we are! Wrapping up the Top 50 Songs of 2024! Songs must have been released after 1/1/24, and only one entry per artist allowed!
This is Part III! If you missed Part II, you can check it out here.
10. House of Protection – It’s Supposed To Hurt
Few bands this year have made as an explosive entrance as House of Protection. The duo, composed of former Fever 333 musicians Aric Improta and Stephen Harrison, teamed up with ex-Bring Me The Horizon musician Jordan Fish to produce an incredible debut EP.
Pushing the limits of their creativity, ‘It’s Supposed To Hurt’ is a blistering cut that demands you get to your feet and fucking move. Searing riffs engulf a ceaseless rhythmic barrage, as the band tear apart the frauds, fakes, and false prophets that surrounded them during the creation of House of Protection; it serves as a mantra for creativity, and defying those that would seek to appease the status quo. In this regard, the vocal delivery is particularly viscerally brilliant, with the tones of Harrison and Improta intertwining with one another with varying shades of aggression.
Whilst their past important, don’t mistake House of Protection as living in it; they are the sound of the future.
9. Yard Act – We Make Hits
Yard Act might be a-n-t-i-c-a-p-i-t-a-l-i-s-t, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to make a chart topping smash hit banger or two, and that dream comes to life on the fantastically fun ‘We Make Hits’.
For a band famed for their wry, observant humour, their sophomore album took them to dark and abstract places that few anticipated. ‘We Make Hits’, however, was a moment of playful fun in the midst of the introspective dread, as the band regale tales of staying up late in illegal living conditions, writing songs together as the very concept of Yard Act was conceived. Glittering 90’s dance beats merge with their post-punk core to conjure up a track that is ridiculously catchy and genuinely humorous, with the band’s self awareness permitting plenty of witty lyrics.
Just remember that if it’s not a hit, they were just being ironic.
8. France, You’re On Your Own – Church Roof
The first draft of this list was fully prepared when France, You’re On Your Own decided to drop their debut single. Certainly, it was expected that with weeks left in the year, the list might shuffle about, but I hadn’t anticipated a new potential contender for Song of the Year.
Despite this being merely their first ever single, ‘Church Roof’ immediately marked this electronic folk duo as being one of the most exciting and genuinely interesting acts in Merseyside. This whimsical number is a playful yet undeniably bleak look at the state of the UK right now, from both an economic and cultural stand-point. It’s a nation trapped in a self-destructive cycle, and the tender vocal melodies and gently witty lyricism perfectly convey this idea. On top of that, the tempo change in the back half is frankly shiver inducing, as the track briefly explodes into a flurry of chaotic folk twanging and gang vocals, before fading back out on a gentle, somber note.
There are no guarantees, especially in the world of music. Yet it is hard not to feel that France, You’re On Your Own are a special band with a very, very bright future.
7. unpeople – moon baboon
It’s easy to suspect that unpeople will have been swamped by notifications of being in end of year listings, and that’s for a good reason; their debut EP, and follow up single, put them firmly on the map of UK bands you need to know.
Whilst there might be a more in depth discussion of their EP appearing here tomorrow (spoilers), it is the closing track that deserves attention here. A wonderfully spirited track buoyed by bouncing rhythms and surprisingly gorgeous harmonies, ‘moon baboon’ makes for a genuinely thrilling conclusion to the ‘unpeople’ EP. The track leaps and vaults through various electrifying passages, from a gorgeous acoustic opening, to playfully off-kilter choruses, to a chunky breakdown segment in the back half; none of it feels out of place.
2024 truly has been the year of unpeople, and 2025 may well just be part two of that.
6. Coheed & Cambria – The Joke
It has been an exciting year to be a Coheed & Cambria fan. The band have recently announced their upcoming eleventh album, ‘Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe’, and the two singles released from this record have gone down positively with fans, especially the post-hardcore thrill ride, ‘Searching for Tomorrow’.
Their finest offer however was perhaps their most surprising. May this year saw the band not only finally put their deep cut ‘Deranged’ on streaming services, but partner the Batman: Arkham Asylum track with a brand new song from their ‘Window of a Waking Mind’ recording sessions. ‘The Joke’ loosely continues to embrace the dynamic between The Joker and Batman, but you don’t need to be a fan of the superhero to get some enjoyment from this fierce number. It’s dramatic little cut with crushing verses, soaring choruses, and discordant walking riff in the post-choruses that is devilishly catchy.
To know that this brilliant track was merely something from the cutting room floor makes you understand just how high Coheed & Cambria’s standards must be.
5. itoldyouiwouldeatyou (feat. awakebutstillinbed) – Moscow is Silent
Prior to this single, it had been five years since the previous release of itoldyouiwouldeatyou. Anticipation for this new single was high, especially among the small cult following that the band had managed to establish. However, it even that high anticipation certainly could not have prepared listeners for how glorious the return of this outfit would prove to be.
A love letter to political activists in a time of political turmoil, ‘Moscow is Silent‘ starts off as a simple enough post-hardcore number, but slowly evolves into a shiver-inducing anthem that simply begs you to sing-along to it at the very top of your lungs. Driving rhythms collide with noodling guitar riffs, whilst the vocals alternate between near-spoken word verses, fragile melodies, and gorgeously harmonised passages; pride, joy, and guilt are all perfectly encapsulated as vocalist Joey Ashworth confronts themselves over perceived inaction in burning world, whilst he remains acutely aware that the job of changing the world is more than one person could ever hope to achieve.
Truly, this is an unappreciated masterpiece of a political anthem.
4. Knocked Loose – Blinding Faith
If you’re keeping up with end of year lists, then you may well have seen Knocked Loose mentioned plenty of times, and there’s a simple reason for this: the Kentucky five-piece have been a revolutionary force within the heavy scene this year, putting out a critically acclaimed record, selling out massive venues, and even playing on national American television. All of it started with this single.
Any concerns that people had that Knocked Loose would be watering down their sound for their third album, poised to be their biggest and most wide-reaching release yet, were completely obliterated when the band dropped the utterly ferocious ‘Blinding Faith‘. Between the apocalyptic central hook, to Bryan Garris’s ludicrous vocal performance, to the simply incendiary breakdowns in the back half, this anti-religion anthem proved to be a runaway success, with established fans of the band relishing their insistence on remaining heavy and frankly weird, and newcomers to the band being treated to one of the most creative lead singles in metal.
It was clear from the get-go that this was the first step in a band cementing their status as legends.
3. The Throwaway Scene – Bury Me
This is the third year in a row that Manchester’s The Throwaway Scene have found themselves in the top three songs of the Top 50 Songs of the Year list, and that’s for one very simple reason: The Throwaway Scene are fucking phenomenal.
This year saw the release of the four-piece’s superb debut EP, ‘On Death & Dying‘, which may well find a place on our Top 5 EPs of the Year list. The five tracks explored the five stages of grief, maintaining the mysterious conceptual nature of the band whilst heavily drawing from personal experiences. Whilst all of these tracks were contenders, alongside the electrifying ‘Honeyface (Making a Scene)‘ which would be released later in the year, it is the emo anthem ‘Bury Me‘ that ends up taking the crown.
It is perhaps the pure simplicity of this track that makes it so compelling. Between the fantastically catchy melodies, dramatic and slightly theatrical vocal delivery, and rhythms that insist that you get moving, this emotive beast almost feels like it has arrived straight from the ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’ and MySpace generation of emo. A superb and infinitely relistenable track.
2. State Faults – No Gospel
This year saw two records achieve 100/100 scores here, the first time in six years. One of which was the apocalyptic third record from State Faults, ‘Children of the Moon’. A dark cinematic masterclass in post-hardcore and screamo, the record pivots about the juggernaut that is ‘No Gospel’.
At just over ten minutes in length, this centrepiece is a churning maelstrom that evolves and changes shape, undulating between immense, crushing passages, and moments of pensive, profound quiet. Wild, electrifying rhythms give way to serene, acoustic rumination, carrying the listener towards the album’s desolate back half. This is a declaration of love against all universal forces with some truly incredible lyrics, including the magnificent ‘The only holy book/Is the one inside your heart/And on every page/Your love has made a work of art’.
There is a beauty in brutality, and whilst the entirety of ‘Children of the Moon’ captures this idea, it is ‘No Gospel’ that exemplifies it most perfectly. Truly, the finest post-hardcore song in a long while.
- Topiary Creatures – Cleaning Basil Out Of The Pool
Every single track on Topiary Creatures’ phenomenal third record, ‘The Metaphysical Tech Support Hotline’, could have easily found a position on this list. The wildly catchy ‘Snakes in the Walls’, the contemplative ‘Worms’, and the shimmering ‘Michelangelo, ECD’, all tracks that truly stand out as incredible works of art.
It is the closing track, however, that no only serves as this album’s representation, but achieves the title of Vinyl Fantasy Reviews Song of the Year. This beautiful, heartbreaking number explores the transient nature of what it means to be human, and how little control we truly have on the fibres that weave us into being; the memories we cherish may not be the memories we get to keep. This sweeping, piano-led ballad feels as though it weaves through tangible memories of visits to airport zoos and childhood TV shows, before rounding out with a gorgeous medley of album highlights.
’I’m no bird of the air/I’m no lily of the field/And I’m not quite god’ may well be one of the most beautiful lyrics ever written; the complexity of being human, the divine and the dirt, all captured in a single, fragile bar. That, truly, is art.
The Vinyl Fantasy Reviews Song of the Year for 2024 is, unquestionably, ‘Cleaning Basil Out of the Pool’, by Topiary Creatures.
VINYL FANTASY REVIEWS SONG OF THE YEAR
2021 – Adjy – Where June Meets July: III. at a Dance Where the Stars Cross
2022 – nightlife – fallback
2023 – Sleep Token – Euclid
2024 – Topiary Creatures – Cleaning Basil Out Of The Pool
The Top 10 EPs of 2024 will release tomorrow, so be sure to check that out! Who appeared on your song of the year list? Be sure to let me know!
VINYL FANTASY REVIEWS 
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