I don't really care when people say stuff like "Dick Dale was the godfather of Heavy Metal". Surf music, as far I can tell, is when rock & roll musicians really started to embrace loudness and aggression. It's not a stepping stone to other loud forms of music, it's the dawn, and whatever came afterwards simply came later. And part of why I say this is because just as metal, etc can take influence from surf, surf can grab back too. This is the category for bands that focus on that aggressive sound.
This was an interesting category this year. A lot of EPs. Not a lot of trashy sound. A bunch of newcomers. See for yourself
Honorable Mentions
Las Animas - Cult of the Black Wave
Let us not forget how effective a good drum lead-in is. It takes two seconds of drums and one second of guitar in "Black Lagoon" for me to get hyped, and it keeps going from there. Las Animas carry a lot of cues from the likes of The Ghastly Ones and The Coffin Daggers, but I don't think anybody would walk away from this charging it as a knock-off. As hard-hitting as they can be, they're deeply steeped in surf and never let a song get stale by simply coasting on a riff. There are heavier groups, faster ones, but they don't need those to be felt. A phenomenal, fully-grown debut from these Argentinians and I only wish it were a full-length.
Kólga - Black Tides
This is far from the first marriage of black metal and surf that I've heard, but it's probably the most effective blend. Fair disclosure, there's a pretty decent amount of vocals. Growly ones. But look, if we're truly married here we need to respect the things that make our partner special and embrace them. This is a wild, messy record that's as playful as it is heavy, and the result is truly fresh for all sorts of music fans.
Les Catchers - Balaclava Party
I had recently been feeling like there was something missing in modern surf. Heaviness is great and all, but I want a little more garage-punk "fuck you" like we had in the 90's. So leave it to an unreleased record from the 90's to deliver it! Crude, noisy, fast, lo-fi and fun. Their two fast-tempo tracks rip and scream, but just as impressive is how much impact they can have with their slower, more staggering tracks, full of fist-pumping moments.
JUDODOJO - JUDODOJO II: Motorodeo
This is a fun band. I mean there's only two of them and certainly more instrumentation than that on here, so no idea what they're like live, but right off the bat it's very fun say their band name. And then they theme their second record as a pseudo-western, their third with movie soundtracks, and their fourth (a 2025 release) as a Chinese New Year record. While typically this category is full of punk influence and heaviness, neither of which I hear much of here, listen to "Call of the Void" and tell me "rad" isn't the idea. This band has a knack for energy-charged licks, and I hope they keep riding that momentum they carried in 2024 into 2025 and beyond.
The Currie Brothers - The Curse of The Currie Brothers
The Currie Brothers have a lot of talent that has obscured by the novelty of holiday releases: two Christmas EPs, a Halloween EP (not counting this one) and a cover of Canada's national anthem. They did have a previous non-holiday EP that was good, but now they've expanded to a five-piece combo and even though I would have loved a full-length, these six tracks shouldn't be ignored. Full of hard-hitting hooks and charged energy that feels desperate and immediate, every track is a great time.
Amphibian Man - Zenith
And the Gremmy goes to...
The Nebulas - Euphorion
Euphorion feels like a comeback record for The Nebulas. Except I'm not sure they ever disbanded and they had an excellent EP in 2018. Regardless, this feels like a statement. The title track sets the tone with a galactically large sound spraying out into the sky. Though they have every bit of juggernautish might that they did in their 2000's records, their "Null Set" tryptic shows a more progressive angle. That opening to "Null Set - In Medias Res" makes you feel like you're up against the impossible. "Solid State Reverb" and "the Gods of the North" are actually fairly traditional surf songs but still manage to fit in because, as a reminder, traditional surf often is aggressive and they still sounds a few decibels louder they measure.
I'd say this wasn't a case of one record eclipsing the rest in the category, but what gave this an edge was how it feels even bigger and better taken as a whole, rather than a collection of songs. It's a trip that feels like a needs a moment or two when it's over, before you put it back on and blast yourself again.
