Top 5 On Friday – Blues Funeral Recordings: 5 Favorite Albums From 2024

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · January 3, 2025

Last week, I included my five favorite heavy rock record labels that cater to the underground riff rock and metal scene. Check out the post here. Starting this week, I will rank my five favorite releases from 2024, from each record label. I will start things off with Blues Funeral Recordings. Blues Funeral is a fantastic label that always deliver high quality music releases. They don’t pump out high quantities of material like Ripple Music or Heavy Psych Sounds but they release excellent albums from great bands, available on vinyl, compact disc, and digital download formats. They offer a phenomenal post wax subscription series which includes unreleased material and expanded artwork and liner notes for many of their artists, sometimes months before the official release dates. Anyways, here are my five favorite albums from 2024, from Blues Funeral Recordings.

https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com

5. HASHTRONAUT – NO RETURN

The three piece stoner doom band from Denver, Colorado released their debut album, No Return this past March. I didn’t discover the band until December but I really dig their sound. They play heavy riff-centric Sabbath/ Electric Wizard influenced doom with a varied flavor to their sound. The vocals are mostly clean and the music has swampy stoner riffs going from slow to mid pace mostly. Check out the full album review here.

https://wearehashtronauts.com

https://wearehashtronauts.bandcamp.com

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4. ABRAMS – BLUE CITY

Abrams is another great band from Denver, Colorado. They made their Blues Funeral debut with Blue City, which was released this past May. The recording sounds phenomenal on this one! The band recorded with Kurt Ballou at God City in Salem, Massachusetts (who recorded recent High On Fire albums). Abrams has a heavy and melodic post metal and hard rock sound that is really good. The songs are very tight and the production is top notch too. Check out the full album review here.

https://www.abramsrocks.com

https://abramsrock.bandcamp.com/music

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3. MAMMOTH VOLUME – RAISED UP BY WITCHES

Sweden’s Mammoth Volume released their second Blues Funeral album this past August. Raised Up By Witches is a very heavily experimental and unique album from the band. Mammoth Volume has never really been a straight forward stoner rock band since their inception. Each record introduces interesting and progressive elements to their sound but this one goes way beyond normal. It took me a few listens to understand what was happening musically but then the brilliance set in. The album is eccentric and bizarre at times but rocks the hell out also! Check out the full album review here.

https://mammothvolume.bandcamp.com

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2. BLUE HERON – EVERYTHING FADES

I discovered Blue Heron earlier this year and thought they had a nice heavy and unique sound, incorporating metal, doom, psychedelic, and desert rock. However, it was their second full length album Everything Fades which really made an impact with me. It’s a great record! Jadd Shickler has a cool raspy and singing voice that is very good and unique. He is actually the one who runs Blues Funeral Recordings, along with Peder Bergstrand (from Lowrider). The Albuquerque, New Mexico band have produced a crushing album with Everything Fades. Check out the full album review here.

https://blueheronabq.bandcamp.com/music

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1. ELEPHANT TREE & LOWRIDER – THE LONG FOREVER

The Long Forever is a split release between two great bands. Sweden’s Lowrider in particular, really outshines this album with their four tracks. The band never ceases to amaze me with how outstanding they are. I’m not as familiar with Elephant Tree but they do a great job with their three songs too. Sometimes split releases don’t quite work out as planned in the context of different sounding bands but The Long Forever really crushes that notion apart. It’s a fantastic album, especially the Lowrider songs. Check out the full album review here.