BRIAN GIFFIN:
It was a very low-key year here at Loud Online, but after a full twelve months of being offline over 2023 (the site crashed on New Year’s Day, 2023 and was irrecoverable due to the incompetence of our hosting service), we made it back. Completely rebuilding this place to something resembling what it once was is going to be a long task, and we very much appreciate everyone who continues to visit and support us as we make our long and slow return. Because of my involvement in Hot Metal, I’ve also made a creative decision with regard to this site to concentrate on Australian music here. When I started the zine that eventually became Loud Online way back in the mid-90s, local music was always the focus.
It’s probably not surprising then that I connected more with local music than I have in other years, and as usual the local scene did not disappoint with stellar releases from the likes of Abramelin, the unstoppable Werewolves, the similarly-prolific The Hard-Ons, Flaming Wrekage, Witchgrinder, Hekate, Pilots of Baalbek, Orpheus Omega, Reliqa, the ever-entertaining Battlesnake, The Eternal and Nunchukka Superfly’s lost tome from 1995 all getting plenty of loving from the Loud stereo through the year. Aside from the local pack, I also dug new stuff from Nile, Orange Goblin, Blood Incantation and Gatecreeper in particular. Usual faves like Opeth and Zeal & Ardor left me a little flat, though, to be honest. So it probably comes as no surprise that six of my top ten list for 2024 came from Aussie artists. Yay!
In no particular order, they were:
Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace
Slash – Orgy of the Damned
The Neptune Power Federation – Good Night My Children
Pod People – Oblivion
Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive
My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
The Saints – (I’m) Stranded
Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
Alarum – Recontinue
When it comes to live shows this year, I didn’t get to anywhere near the amount that I wanted to, but I did get to see Iron Maiden once again – for the last time in Sydney with Nicko McBrain – plus Psycroptic conquering everything around them not once, but twice AND went to an incredible festival in Adelaide called Froth and Fury that ruled harder than a hard ruler. So Iron Maiden came in at the top of my Shows of the Year list, but Mortality coming back and ripping apart Darling Nikkis after an absence of 27 years was a special kind of amazing that doesn’t happen all that often.
Iron Maiden – QUDOS Bank Arena
Fear Factory – Froth and Fury Festival
Mortality – Darling Nikki’s
Psycroptic – Froth and Fury Festival
Mr Bungle and Melvins – Hordern Pavilion
The Damned – Enmore Theatre
The Neptune Power Federation – Duke of Enmore
Mastodon – Good Things
The Living End – Good Things
Orange Goblin, Dr Colossus and Astrodeath – Crowbar, Sydney
Rose Tattoo and The Poor – Bridge Hotel
ROD HUNT:
Top 10 Albums (in no particular order)
Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)
Chimers – Through Today (Poison City Records/12XU)
Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All (Peaceville Records)
Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition (Nuclear Blast)
Godflesh – A World Lit Only By Dub (Avalanche Recordings)
The Hellacopters – Grande Rock Revisited (Nuclear Blast)
High On Fire – Cometh The Storm (MNRK Records)
neander – III (Through Love Records)
Nunchukka Superfly – Nunchukka Superfly 95 (Cheersquad Records)
Opeth – The Last Will And Testament (Moderbolaget/Reigning Phoenix Music)
Top 20 Gigs (in no particular order)
Boris – Manning Bar, Sydney, March 6 Botch + LO! – Manning Bar, Sydney, May 25
Carcass – Manning Bar, April 6
COFFIN + The Blamers + Backhand – The Great Club, Sydney, June 8
Eyehategod + Goatwhore – Crowbar, Sydney, July 27
Fridge + Drifting Deadbeats + Dropping Honey – La La La’s, Wollongong, December 20
Gatecreeper + Kruelty – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong, April 9
Iron Maiden – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, September 12
Mr Bungle + The Melvins – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, March 9
Mogwai – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, February 27
Municipal Waste + The Neptune Power Federation + Vee Bees – Liberty Hall, Sydney, July 6
Obituary – Manning Bar, Sydney, January 13
OFF! – Metro Theatre, Sydney, January 19
Private Function – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong, August 17
Radio Birdman – Manning Bar, Sydney, July 7
The Saints ‘73 – ‘78 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, November 22
Triumph Of Death – Factory Theatre, Sydney, August 15
Viagra Boys – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, November 5
Witchskull – The Vanguard, Sydney, May 4
Zeke – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong, January 16
Top 20 Photos
