The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2024 (Part Two)

This is part two of four. If you haven’t read part one yet, check it out here.

In 2024, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2024, in no particular order.

Bleachers

Album: Bleachers (Dirty Hit)

Release Date: 3/8

Back in 2022, Bleachers mastermind Jack Antonoff tweeted that a new album would be dropping that year. Clearly that didn’t happen. Instead, during that time, the eight-time Grammy Award winner was doing his production work with Taylor Swift, St. Vincent, and Lana Del Rey, left Bleachers’s longtime label RCA Records (Cage The Elephant, Latto, Sleep Token) and signed to the UK’s Dirty Hit (Beabadoobee, Deaton Chris Anthony, The 1975) in August 2023. Three months later, we officially got word of the new Bleachers album, titled Bleachers. And from what’s available so far, it’s fantastic.

Too Close To Touch

Album: For Keeps EP (Epitaph)

Release Date: 3/8

I don’t put EPs in this category for reasons, those being an extended play is not an album. But for this special occasion, I’ll let it slide. In 2022, Kentucky post-hardcore trio Too Close To Touch suffered a massive tragedy with the sudden passing of frontman Keaton Pierce due to complications brought on by acute pancreatitis. Some bands would soldier on with a new member, and others would call it quits to honor their memory. TCTT are doing the latter, but are dropping this EP to honor Pierce’s legacy. The EP For Keeps takes its name from Pierce’s nickname “Keeps”. Eight songs fill this EP, featuring the former frontman’s swan song “Hopeless” with The Word Alive’s Telle Smith lending his vocals to complete the piece. Rest in peace, Pierce.

Gouge Away

Album: Deep Sage (Deathwish)

Release Date: 3/15

Six years have passed since post-hardcore troupe Gouge Away dropped an album. So with all this time passing, it has to be amazing. Deep Sage has been in the works since 2019, a whole year after their last record, Burnt Sugar. However the pandemic put their plans on hold. Years passed and the group relocated to Portland, Ore. just before 2023 began to finish what they started five years ago. Produced by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Home Is Where, Jeff Rosenstock), Deep Sage was recorded entirely on tape, which vocalist Christina Michelle told BrooklynVegan that it “…creates an intense environment where we have no choice but to feed off each other’s energy. We have to get it right in one take and if anyone messes up we all have to start over, so no one wants to be that guy. It adds an element of risk and excitement. We don’t want to sound beautifully polished or perfect anyway. We want to sound like the five of us being human, and no one is better than Jack Shirley when it comes to capturing what it feels like in the room.”

Spaced

Album: This Is All We Ever Get (Revelation)

Release Date: 3/22

Future Prenatt’s Picks band (hold me to this) Spaced are one of the newest faces in the world of hardcore. The Queen City has birthed many incredible hardcore acts like Snapcase, Every Time I Die, Better Lovers, Smash N’ Grab and Union. Now, it’s time for Spaced to shine. Signing with legendary hardcore label Revelation Records (Big Laugh, Ignite, New Found Glory) last August, Spaced wanted to show off their influences with their new album, citing bands such as Gorilla Biscuits, The Rival Mob, and Swans. In a press release they shared, “This release is our most confident work yet, and we feel stronger in what we’re doing with every facet of the band. We want the riffs and vocals to hit and impact anyone who listens—whether you’re discussing the record or a live setting—while adding reverb, flange, and delay in sections to fulfill the ‘SPACED’ sound. We’re continually shaping what that means for us, and look forward to keep developing our sound in the hardcore space.”

Carpool

Album: My Life In Subtitles (SideOneDummy)

Release Date: 3/22

Another (kinda) local band sneaks their way onto this list, this being Rochester’s very own Carpool. Joining Californian label SideOneDummy Records (Big D And The Kids Table, CLIFFDIVER, Plasma Canvas) back in November, Carpool are hoping to wow you with their sophomore album My Life In Subtitles. Recorded by Jay Zubricky (Every Time I Die, Pentimento, Save Face), My Life In Subtitles will probably be one of those emo albums that slips under everyones radars. That’s why I’m adding it to the list in hope that someone reading this will check it out. Go support your local acts and buy their EPs, tapes, demos, albums, and whatever else they drop. Show some love to the finest emo act this side of the Flower City.

Bayside

Album: There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive (Hopeless)

Release Date: 4/5

As the years have gone on, Queens punk legends Bayside have been getting darker and heavier with their sound and style. And with that, their ninth studio album There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive sounds like it’ll be their heaviest yet. Their past albums had them dipping their toes into post-hardcore, but this time they’re fully submerged. You may have heard this sound with their latest EPs Red and Blue (all six songs are on TAWTTBA), but with new songs like “The Devils” and “Castaway”, they’re highlighting how hard they can truly go. Even metalheads will embrace this album.

Owen

Album: The Falls Of Sioux (Polyvinyl)

Release Date: 4/26

Mike Kinsella is an emo legend. Whether you know him from American Football, Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Joan Of Arc, Their / They’re / There, or The One Up Downstairs, or his solo project Owen, Kinsella is a highly respectable figure in the genre. His eleventh under the Owen moniker, Kinsella teamed up with S. Carey and Zach Hanson, who helped work on his last two albums. The album, as stated in a press release, “…follows the refined, spacious musical landscapes of 2020’s The Avalanche, which shied away from Kinsellla’s trademark sarcasm and wry humour and instead offered a winking dismissal of negative thoughts, took songs into even darker places.” The three have grouped up to make the finest Owen songs to date. Do not sleep on this one when it drops late next month.

Microwave

Album: Let’s Start Degeneracy (Pure Noise)

Release Date: 4/26

Just like Bleachers, Microwave made the list last year as we were waiting for the follow-up to 2019’s Death Is A Warm Blanket. But positive news came late last month when the Atlanta trio announced their fourth album Let’s Start Degeneracy. The three songs that came out during the wait (“Circling The Drain,” “Straw Hat,” and “Ferrari”) will be featured on the album, as well as the album’s main single “Bored Of Being Sad”. As I said last year, “Maybe the grunge or post-hardcore stylings will continue on their next outing.” Seems like I was right.

The Early November

Album: TBA (Pure Noise)

Release Date: TBA

No word yet has been made on the newest TEN album, but a teaser was made two days ago prior to publishing. Alternative Press did state back in October that a new record would be dropping sometime in 2024. All we can do right now is just wait.

Yellowcard

Album: TBA (Equal Vision)

Release Date: TBA

Yellowcard’s comeback album is still in the works. Their third release with new label Equal Vision Records (House Parties, Mae, Texas In July) follows their EP Childhood Eyes and the collaborative album with Hammock A Hopeful Sign. Sometime this year, we will officially be getting the true follow-up to their “final” self-titled album, which dropped in 2016 via Hopeless Records (Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties, Hey Violet, TX2).

Part three will come out next week!

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2020 (Part One)

New year, new decade, new music.

In 2020, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2020, in no particular order.

A Day To Remember

Album: You’re Welcome (Fueled By Ramen)

Release Date: Early 2020

Originally scheduled for a November release, pop-punk/metalcore outfit A Day To Remember had to push the release date for their long-awaited seventh studio album You’re Welcome due to mixing and artwork not being ready. So far, they’ve given us two new songs (three excluding the track they did with Marshmello) to keep us happy. Hopefully it comes out soon.

Every Time I Die 

Album: TBA

Release Date: TBA (Epitaph Records)

Four years. That’s how long it’s been since Every Time I Die have dropped a new album. Low Teens brought in a whole new audience for ETID, and a new album would help their fanbase (what up, ETIDiots?) greatly. We did hear some new tracks during their ‘Tid The Season shows back in December, and they were sick as fuck. The band will be in the studio with Low Teens producer Will Putney (The Acacia Strain, Fit For An Autopsy, Knocked Loose) later this month after they wrap up a short tour in Europe.

Kesha

Album: High Road (RCA Records/Kemosabe)

Release Date: 1/31

Poppy Kesha is back and stronger than ever. Fueled by the success of her inspiring past record Rainbow, the singer is ready to give us one hell of a good time. She told Rolling Stone that High Road is nothing but “pure and utter debaucherous joy.” Bouncing around genres like country (“Resentment”) and pure pop (“Raising Hell”,) High Road might be the best pop record of 2020. The end of the month seems so far away now.

New Found Glory

Album: TBA (Hopeless Records)

Release Date: TBA

Pop-punk legends New Found Glory haven’t released an album filled with original music since 2017, but they did tide us over last year with the covers EP From The Screen To Your Stereo 3, plus a demo for their new song “Puzzles.” While no news has come out yet on the band being in the studio, they did say that a new record will be out sometime this year.

Weezer

Album: Van Weezer (Atlantic Records/Crush Music)

Release Date: 5/15

Will this be the album that will make Weezer great again? Maybe. After dropping their riffy hard rock track “The End Of The Game” late last year, Weezer revealed their new album Van Weezer, which drops 14 months after their last record. Vocalist Rivers Cuomo told Entertainment Weekly, “What I’ve been working on the last two weeks is back to big guitars. Blue Album-ish, but a little more riffy. The working title is Van Weezer. The inspiration came from our live shows, where, in the middle of ‘Beverly Hills,’ unlike on the album, everything stops and I just break out with this crazy guitar solo. We noticed that, recently, the crowd just goes crazy when I do that. So it feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again.” Please don’t be a disappointment like your previous records (Love you, Hurley.)

The Aquabats!

Album: TBA (Gloopy Records)

Release Date: TBA

With the success of their Kickstarter campaign, superhero band The Aquabats! were able to fund 12 new mini-episodes and two new albums. Backers got downloads for The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One and The Fury of The Aquabats! Live at The Fonda!. But those weren’t the albums. After dropping a new song called “Skeleton Inside!” in October, the group announced that a new album was coming out “later this year,” but that didn’t happen. Expect it to come out before summer.

The 1975 

Album: Notes On A Conditional Form (Dirty Hit/Polydor Records)

Release Date: 2/21

No way was this album coming out in 2019. I originally had this record on last year’s list, but it never saw a spring or summer release. Turns out it wasn’t done yet. Currently we have three tracks off of Notes On A Conditional Form and they’re all killer. The album will contain 22 songs, their biggest album to date. Who’s ready for February?

Four Year Strong

Album: TBA (Pure Noise Records)

Release Date: Late Winter

Their self-titled record came out in 2015, five years ago. Then they released a rarities album called Some Of You Will Like This, Some Of You Won’t in 2017 that confused fans. But finally new music will be out way later this year. Working with producer Will Putney (look at ETID’s entry above,) the Worcester, Mass., group are aiming to kick ass once again. And from what we heard at their Christmas show last month, it’s gonna be beyond good.

’68

Album: Give One, Take One (Cooking Vinyl)

Release Date: Spring

So much happened after noise rock duo ’68 dropped Two Parts Viper two years ago. Drummer Michael McClellan quit and was replaced with Nikko Yamada, toured with Avatar, The Devil Wears Prada, and Stone Sour, and caught the attention of producer Nick Raskulinecz (Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters, Rush.) Vocalist Josh Scogin told Alternative Press about working with Raskulinecz, saying he “will have a wonderful outside opinion on our songs. Sometimes it is easy to get a little narrow-minded on where a song can go or what a song can do, since you have had such a singular vision of a particular song from its very conception. Having a third party such as Nick can really help shed new light.” Can’t wait for this album to come out.

Broadside 

Album: TBA (Victory Records)

Release Date: TBA

Pop-punkers Broadside ended their Paradise era late last year and dropped two new songs to tide us over until we hear anything about their third studio album. Vocalist Ollie Baxxter said in a press release back in August, “We are at the halfway mark on completing our third record. We decided to dial in all of our interests on this album. Personally, I’m excited to pull a lot of my influences from some of my favorite bands in a way I couldn’t imagine doing previously. Before we were afraid to experiment because we were afraid of losing our ‘pop-punk’ audience, but as we’ve gotten older we realize it’s important to be true to yourself as musicians and artists.” Just don’t be surprised if it doesn’t sound like Old Bones.

Part two will come out later today.

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2019 (Part Two)

New year means new albums from our favorite artists. In 2019, we’re getting several great albums, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2019 so far.

This is part two of a two-part article. To read part one, click here.

The Raconteurs 

Album: TBA (Third Man Records)

Release Date: TBA

It’s been forever since Jack White’s other band The Raconteurs have done anything. In late 2018, the band released a two song EP with new material, their first batch of material since 2008’s Grammy-winning album Consoles Of The Lonely. No word on when their new album will drop, but the band have said 2019 is when it will be available.

Vampire Weekend

Album: FOTB (it’s an acronym for the album’s actual name) (Sony/Columbia)

Release Date: TBA

Vampire Weekend have been keeping the info on their new album FOTB a secret ever since 2016. It’ll be the band’s first album to not feature longtime member Rostam Batmangli, but he did say he will be involved with the album in some way. Vocalist Ezra Koenig said that the album will be 18 songs long and will clock in at nearly an hour long. FOTB will be the group’s first album released by Sony Music (Brockhampton, Willie Nelson, Travis Scott) and their sister label Columbia Records (Arcade Fire, MGMT, Bruce Springsteen).

Huey Lewis And The News

Album: TBA (BMG)

Release Date: TBA

It’s been a long time since Huey Lewis And The News have made new music. The ’80s rock group’s last album came out 18 years ago. In a press release on the upcoming album, Lewis said, “We’re very excited about our new album, and honestly feel that it’s among our best work – we cannot wait to get it out to fans!” For their new album, the group signed to BMG (Alice In Chains, Blink-182, Nickelback), which Lewis said, “We’re equally excited to be with BMG, whose reputation as a ‘music-first’ label precedes them admirably.” When Lewis suffered from Meniere’s Disease, an inner ear disorder which can cause hearing loss, last year, he feared he couldn’t perform again, but he’s persevering, and he won’t let that stop him from releasing a brand new album.

Knocked Loose

Album: TBA (Pure Noise Records)

Release Date: TBA

The Oldham County hardcore group have yet to announce work on a new album, but they have been playing new songs while on the road. Fans could hear a new song titled “By The Grave” during their shows with Every Time I Die last year. Their sophomore album is supposed to come out later this year via Pure Noise Records (Four Year Strong, Homesafe, Rotting Out).

The 1975

Album: Notes On A Conditional Form (Dirty Hit/Polydor)

Release Date: Spring

Just five months after dropping one of 2018’s greatest albums, The 1975 are ready to release their second part of their Music For Cars era. The band’s manager Jamie Oborne told fans on Twitter that the first single should be out next month and that it will have a “nighttime” sound to it. No word on a release date has been revealed. Multiple sources say it’s between April and June.

Ariana Grande

Album: Thank U, Next (Republic Records)

Release Date: 2/8

Pop music ain’t ready for this album. Ariana Grande’s fifth album Thank U, Next announced its release date today, shocking her fans with how early it’s coming. Consider this an early Christmas gift from her to her fans. From the songs we’ve heard so far like the title track and “7 Rings”, we might be in for the best pop record of the year. Don’t be shocked if it gets nominated for a few Grammys in 2020.

The Who

Album: TBA (TBA)

Release Date: TBA

The Who are aiming to make 2019 their year with a stellar arena tour later this fall, as well as their first album in 13 years. The currently untitled record will feature “dark ballads, heavy rock stuff, experimental electronica, sampled stuff and Who-ish tunes that began with a guitar that goes yanga-dang,” lead guitarist Pete Townsend said in a statement. Hopefully these rock legends can still crank out killer tracks like they did in the ’60s. Only time will tell.

Cassadee Pope

Album: Stages (Self-Released)

Release Date: 2/1

A lot has happened since Cassadee Pope won for Team Adam on The Voice back in 2012. She signed to BMLG Records (Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Brett Young) and dropped her only record with the label Frame By Frame a year after her victory on The Voice. Since then, the ex-Hey Monday vocalist has gone back to self-releasing her music, with her follow-up to Frame By Frame coming out early February. Stages will feature appearances from people like singer-songwriter Lindsay Ell, Shay Mooney from Dan + Shay, and fellow The Voice contestant RaeLynn.

Run The Jewels

Album: Run The Jewels 4 (Run The Jewels, Inc.)

Release Date: Summer

We’ve been given tons of info on Run The Jewels’ upcoming fourth record, but a release date is not one of them. El-P, one half of the duo, said back in December on a since deleted tweet, “RTJ4 will probably hit around summer time. I’m sorry if that schedule disappoints anyone but we need the time to make sure the music doesn’t.” RTJ have given us a little taste of what we might hear with the song “Let’s Go (The Royal We)” which came out for the 2018 superhero movie Venom.

Pixies

Album: TBA (PIAS Recordings)

Release Date: September

After spending 2018 touring with Weezer and celebrating the 30th anniversary of Surfer Rosa, Pixies will see the quartet dropping their seventh album out in the fall via PIAS Recordings (Enter Shikari, Mew, Public Service Broadcasting). Writing sessions took place throughout last year and the untitled record was produced by Tom Dalgerty (Band Of Skulls, Ghost, Royal Blood). To hype up the album, Pixies partnered with podcast company Signal Co. No1 and created a 12 part documentary on the album’s recording process. Expect it to be out by September.

Top 10 Albums Of 2018

Well it’s the end of the year. We’ve seen so many good albums come out throughout these past 12 months. Here at Punk Goes Prenatt, we’ll go over some of the finest albums that the year has given us, ranging in genres from pop-punk to metalcore.

These are ten of the best albums to come out in 2018.

10. Real Friends – Composure (Fearless Records)

Real Friends were close to calling it quits due to vocalist Dan Lambton’s mental health issues and substance abuse. However, he and the rest of the beloved Illinois pop-punk group were able to pull themselves back together to create the masterpiece known as Composure. Their third album is filled with powerful songs like “Get By”, the first single that deals with the healing portion after a breakup, the clear as day meaning behind “Smiling On The Surface”, and the title track which talks about the everyday struggles we all face. If you’re suffering with mental health issues or bipolar disorder, please listen to Composure for your own sake.

9. Panic! At The Disco – Pray For The Wicked (Fueled By Ramen/DCD2)

If you don’t remember, Panic! At The Disco’s vocalist and sole member Brendon Urie was in the musical Kinky Boots in 2017. Urie used his experience from Kinky Boots to reshape the band’s  style to have an even catchier hook, and it can be heard in songs like “Say Amen (Saturday Night)”, “Roaring 20s” and “(Fuck A) Silver Lining). Pray For The Wicked is a wicked good time and might be the best pop album of 2018.

8. Architects – Holy Hell (Epitaph Records)

After the death of guitarist Tom Searle, many wondered how the band would continue on. Well, they soldiered on and were fueled by their loss to create their magnum opus: Holy Hell. The surviving members of the group gave it their all, bearing their souls and pain out on the album’s 11 tracks. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions from beginning to end. What more can be said about Holy Hell, it would make Tom proud.

7. The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (Dirty Hit/Polydor/Interscope)

Pop music’s been pretty awful this year. With godawful releases by Maroon 5, Fall Out Boy, and XXXTENTACION, The 1975 had to save us. From the charming opening vocal effects from “The 1975” to the catchy-as-all-hell “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME”, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is the pop album that the pop world needed. Maybe pop music should take notes from this album. ABIIOR is the band’s finest album to date. Let’s see if next year’s Notes On A Conditional Form can top this.

6. Alkaline Trio – Is This Thing Cursed? (Epitaph Records)

It might’ve taken them five years but the wait was worth it. Is This Thing Cursed? is a modern punk album that’s here to shake the music scene to its core. Be glad that vocalist Matt Skiba’s second job at Blink-182 isn’t killing his creativity. This album is filled with everything that we’ve come to love from the dark Chicagoan punk trio, the macabre  (“Sweet Vampires”), love songs (“Blackbird”) and the incredible power duo that’s Skiba and Dan Andriano (“Is This Thing Cursed?”). It’s clearly the album the punk rock world needed right now.

5. Mayday Parade – Sunnyland (Rise Records)

This right here is Mayday Parade’s greatest album since 2007’s A Lesson In Romantics. Now hear me out, I either loved or liked some of the other MP releases, but Sunnyland, the group’s first album on Rise Records (The Bouncing Souls, Eighteen Visions, Of Mice & Men), brings me back to the band’s early days. Sunnyland‘s opener “Never Sure” sounds like the classic MP we’ve grown to love for the past decade, the haunting acoustic number “Take My Breath Away” does to me what the title says, and the incredibly long title “It’s Hard to Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated by Bolts of Lightning” is so goddamn amazing. Thanks for making me feel 13 again, Mayday Parade.

4. Justin Courtney Pierre – In The Drink (Epitaph Records)

To quote my review on this album, “In The Drink shows us that Pierre has no signs of slowing down with his music, cranking out ten songs that range from ’90s grunge to garage rock as well as a sprinkling of that emo charm that Motion City Soundtrack fans have grown to love since the early 2000s.” MCS’s lead frontman Justin Pierre’s solo debut is a wonderful album that makes you long for Motion City Soundtrack’s return and makes you crave for more grungy rock stuff like it. I can’t wait for a nationwide tour for this album.

3. Dance Gavin Dance – Artificial Selection (Rise Records)

Goddamn can DGD do no wrong? Their eighth studio album is a follow-up to their popular album Mothership which brought in thousands of fans straight out of nowhere. Because of this, DGD had to make an album that would not only surpass their previous release, they had to please these newfound fans. And pleased they did. From the catchy track “Hair Song” to the beautiful storytelling found in “Care”, Are is a masterpiece, simply put. When I reviewed ArSe back in June, I said that it was “a work of pure art”, and six months later, it still is.

2. Jeff Rosenstock – POST- (Polyvinyl Record Co.)

Did you honestly think Jeff Rosenstock, the ex-vocalist of Bomb The Music Industry!, would make a bad album? If you did, listen to all of POST- and then slap yourself repeatedly in the face until you finally realize how dumb you are. POST- is Rosenstock’s first album on Polyvinyl (Beach Slang, The Get Up Kids, Owen) and if you think that would cause a change in style, you’d be wrong again. It’s still the same punk rock that we’ve loved since 2015’s We Cool? Every song stands out on the ten track album and has a chance to shine, like the punk jam “Yr Throat” which has the punk band PUP on gang vocals, the ungodly long “USA” which is his magnum opus, and the politically fueled short track “Beating My Head Against A Wall”. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to POST- yet, do it right now.

Before we get to number one, let’s look at a few honorable mentions in no particular order.

1. Hot Mulligan – Pilot (No Sleep Records)

2. Ice Nine Kills – The Silver Scream (Fearless Records)

3. Ninja Sex Party – Cool Patrol (Self-Released)

4. Senses Fail – If There Is A Light, It Will Find You (Pure Noise Records)

5. Stand Atlantic – Skinny Dipping (Hopeless Records)

6. This Wild Life – Petaluma (Epitaph Records)

7. Tiny Moving Parts – Swell (Triple Crown Records)

8. Trophy Eyes – The American Dream (Hopeless Records)

9. We Were Sharks – Lost Touch (Victory Records)

10. The Wonder Years – Sister Cities (Hopeless Records)

1. Drug Church – Cheer (Pure Noise Records)

Cheer is the sleeper hit of 2018. Now I wouldn’t be shocked if you’ve never heard of Drug Church, a grungy punk band from Albany, N.Y., or their third studio album Cheer which came out back in early November via Pure Noise Records (Counterparts, Masked Intruder, Reggie And The Full Effect), but if you haven’t heard this record before the ball drops on December 31st, I’ll find you and burst into your room with a copy of the album and force you to listen to the greatest grunge/hardcore punk record in the past 20 years. Let me quote myself from my review of this record, “Drug Church go beyond their limits and create an album a whole generation can connect to spiritually and mentally. It’s an album for those who are lost in life and are just struggling with either personal demons, depression, or that damn bump in the road. Cheer isn’t just another hardcore punk record, it’s a record that makes you think. You could probably write a thesis paper about this record if you wanted to.” Please look into Cheer.