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10. Kristoffer Gildenlöw – Empty

Kristoffer’s latest contained some powerful lyrics. The album revolves around various aspects of the human experience and how people tend to focus on the insignificant while ignoring the most important parts of life. It examines human beings as the tapestry of colors, darkness, emotions, and wills that they are, and then zooms out to catch a sort of divine, sky-high view of the planet and the strange little people that occupy it.  It is both a celebration of and a social commentary on the human race; as well as a message about the emptiness of living for vanity and selfishness.

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9. Wasaya – Curtain Falls

The new Wasaya album was like a 2000’s prog metal fan’s dream, and the lyrics were on par. The album contains various stories of human triumph and pain, often happening hand in hand. It examines the human experience and the intersection of the happiness and sorrow that often defines our lives. Sometimes it happens so often that we just get used to it, we become numb. Sometimes we seem to lose everything or can’t seem to catch a break, but through sheer willpower come back and conquer the climb. Sometimes we have to go through the pain and guilt of losing a loved one or not achieving our potential, and we are left wondering about what could have been. That is what this album communicates, and it is an emotional ride.

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8. Marjana Semkina – Sirin

What a poetic album from Marjana! The sirin is a mythical creature with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. What I find interesting about this creature is that it was thought to be a bad luck, like a harbinger of death and tragedy, yet it also mourns and weeps for humanity and the terrible things that befall them. That describes this album very well. Marjana mourns over the violence and hate and death she sees in the world today, especially the Russian invasion of Ukraine, of which she has been an extremely vocal opponent. And like the detailed cover art with its golden flourishes, this album is full of melancholy darkness, but brushstrokes of light and golden melody bring it to life in astounding ways.

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7. Lo Moon

– I Wish You Way More Than Luck

Lo Moon always offers meaningful lyrics, and I Wish You Way More Than Luck is no different, except that it’s maybe a little more nuanced. Golden, nostalgic, and lamentful, there’s almost this sense of life passing by and people making choices or having dreams, and the album is something of a celebration of that, I feel. It’s like, whatever road you take, I wish you luck. It makes me tearful sometimes, almost like all of this is something beautiful yet sad, too.

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6. Iterum Nata

– From the Infinite Light

The lyrics on the new Iterum Nata album are wreathed in mist and animalistic tranquility, but I found myself appreciating them more and more. They range from forays into inner darkness to theological queries to a celebration of light both infinite and hidden. It’s a mysterious album, both musically and lyrically.

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5. Opeth

– The Last Will and Testament

The new Opeth album has a pretty clever concept. It’s about a post-WWI family gathering to read the last will and testament of their wealthy father. Present are twins and a mysterious, polio-plagued girl. The album plays out with Ian Anderson voicing the father’s edicts and revealing some startling things about himself and the family. I do find that the ending is a smidge predictable, but I like it nonetheless.

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4. Oceans of Slumber

– Where Gods Fear to Speak

Oceans of Slumber returned in 2024, pissed off and inspired. The lyrics are equally angry, yet somehow beautiful, haunting, and poetic, too. I love the gothic flair they always use, and how they invoke rebellious, defiant, and compellingly human imagery to communicate, all spiced with religious deconstruction and growing confidence.

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3. Orion – The Lightbringers

Orion’s latest has a gentler message, but equally as important. It’s mostly about weary hearts, I think. The opening track “The Tumult of My Heart” was inspired by my book of the same name, and thus addresses the heavy yoke that religion places on our hearts. Other tracks address topics like caring for loved ones who are deeply ill (something I also know about), social media toxicity, and broken hearts. But you know what I love so much about this album?  After four tracks of profoundly human experiences and sorrows, Ben gives us a four-track suite called “The Cycle of Light” that is so uplifting and encouraging and validating.

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2. MEER – Wheels Within Wheels

I found myself relating personally to many lyrics on many albums last year, but one of the most potent was MEER’s Wheels Within Wheels. I’m not afraid to say this album sounds quite specifically like the introspective, impassioned harmonies of the millennial and Gen Z heart. Again and again, I find myself sharing a common experience with the writers in watching the world burn and personal ambitions come to naught in a sea of greed, war, hate, and power struggles; though some of the songs deal more with flourishing as a human being, leaving all the emptiness, indoctrination, and insecurity far behind us.

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** 1. Kalandra – A Frame of Mind **

I was honestly blown away by the commanding and yet vulnerable lyrics on Kalandra’s latest. This is an album that expresses genuine distress over the world, the harsh realities we experience, and the way we formulate our individual patterns of thought and action.  And it isn’t afraid to seem childish or naïve in hoping for better things and closer unions. We’ve become so numb to the hate and violence in the world that often we think it silly or foolish to hope for a peaceful existence.  Above all, this is an album of hope, and it resonated with me strongly.

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