One of my favourites from last year:
uprisingblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/iii

Awesome 😍 Instant purchase.

Aklash - Reincarnation

A Black Metal base, with liberal sprinklings of Prog, Folk, and other genres.

Stryper - When We were Kings

We've all laughed at Stryper at some point, but over the years they've become a really solid Heavy Metal band with a knack for the big chorus.

Dark Oath - Ages of Man

Melodic Symphonic Death Metal. Really catchy.

Morbid Saint - Swallowed by Hell

Aggressive Thrash Metal from one of the many great 80's Thrash bands that never quite made it. Everything I could've hoped for from Morbid Saint in 2024.

Just to highlight a few albums I haven't really seen anyone talk about:

My top choice:
Attic - Return of the Witchfinder

The best King Diamond album since "Them", and I'm only joking a little bit 😜

Fantastic band, but the guy that runs the band was one of the morons that stormed the Capitol building on Jan 6. Do with that info what you will 😅🙃

30 day song challenge!
Day 3: Not your favourite genre (which would be Metal)

Jazz Bass legend Stanley Clarke, with the interesting idea of a duet with a Tap Dancer:

OK, I will concede that song is actually pretty good 😂

I'm saying this with the sound of B-tier 80s Thrash in my head. No band back then could play a Metalcore-type breakdown without it sounding lame. Totally works now thanks to downtuning and modern studios. It's a product of it's time, but that's not what I'm looking for.