My Vote For Best Rock Album of 224

2024 was a fantastic year for pop music, likely to be remembered as a high point for decades to come. However, rock music, or what remains of it, struggles to break out of its niche. Finding compelling rock music feels like a constant struggle for older fans like myself.

The sheer volume of music released each year makes it incredibly difficult to discover new artists and albums that truly resonate. While “best of” lists are always subjective and often met with skepticism and derision from those whose tastes differ, I believe The Pineapple Thief’s 16th studio album, It Leads To This, deserves serious consideration as the best album of 2024. My knowledge of their work is limited, but this album truly captivated me. It started from hearing the first single, “The Frost,” in November 2023. The wonderful drumming by Gavin Harrison, the chunky guitar riffs from Bruce Soord and Beren Matthews, and the melancholy vibe of the lyrics and music made me sit up and take notice of who this band is and why I hadn’t heard of them until, well, “The Frost.” 

So, when the album was released on February 9, 2024, I bought it at a local record store based on the strength of “The Frost.” When I brought it home, I expected the album to be chock full of catchy riffs, strong choruses, and complex but rhythmic drumming. Well, I wasn’t blown away by the first listen to the album, nor was I impressed on a second, third, fourth, and even fifth spin. I gave it time because I felt like there was something substantial there that just needed time and an openness to what the band was doing. And then it happened. The songs started to reveal themselves in ways I hadn’t heard them before. The hooks started to emerge in ways that were extremely satisfying to my ears. 

Take the album opener, “Put It Right.” It has a meditative and somewhat ethereal quality, but the lyrics speak of a bleak present and a hopeful future for this world. It’s not preachy, nor is there any mention of what crisis we can work out, but sometimes less is more when it comes to solving the world’s problems in the context of a rock song.  “Rubicon” is probably the heaviest song in the collection. The band brings the low end to the front with an aggressive rhythm guitar and Harrison’s complex drumming that punctuates the lyrics in the chorus: “Look, Don’t you see what you’ve done? It’s the end for us – yet your cold dark heart marches on.” Not a lot of sunny optimism is going on here, but that’s the album’s theme, what our children will inherit after we depart from this world. 

In the title track, singer-songwriter Bruce Soord wonders “And so, it leads to this. How could we get it so wrong? For all this time, our so-called progress” as a way of critiquing a world we are supposedly making better, but aren’t. All the work we as individuals put into the world is, according to Soord, “Irrelevant now. All the traces worn away by the long march of your decay.” Yes, this record is very lyrically bleak, but no more than say Pink Floyd is in their music. Thankfully, the band knows that you have to bring some spice to even the darkest lyrics, and they succeed. 

Why would I vault this album to the top of my personal favorite for 2024 (and yes, I’m quite aware we’re well into 2025)? Well, it’s not because it’s popular in the U.S. Indeed, if the Wiki on this record is accurate, It Leads To This failed to chart at all in America. But not everything popular is necessarily good or great. My gods, how did “Music Box Dancer” by Frank Mills chart so high? So, take it for what it’s worth that my taste in music may not be yours, but if you do have an open mind – and you like rock and progressive rock – you will likely hear the quality of the songs Bruce Soord, Gavin Harrison, and company have created. The album took about three years to make, and it’s clear that the band worked on these songs to the degree that the layers of audio goodness are deep in the groove for you to savor. 

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I got to see The Pineapple Thief in concert back in December 2024 in San Francisco. They are one of the few bands that ask the audience to not record the band on their devices. While most respected the band’s wishes, there was one person who captured a few songs on their phone. 

I include the live video as an example of how accomplished the players are and what it treat it was to see musicians at a high level play in such a small venue. So, if you see what I see, or hear what I hear (i.e., a very good rock/prog rock band), take the plunge and give It Leads To This by The Pineapple Thief a try. Spend time with the record and allow it to unfold gradually. You may find yourself captivated by its unique blend of musicality and introspective lyricism.