#NowPlaying the recent album "Heather & Hearth" by the band #PhantomSpell from #Scotland
#HeavyMetal #FolkMetal #ClassicRock #AlbumsOf2025
Personal Rating: 9 / 10
Recommended Tracks: "Evil Hand", "The Autumn Citadel", "A Distant Shore", "Siren Song", "Heather & Hearth"
Following the regrettable and entirely non-suspicious sabbatical of the great El Cuervo, the baton of the heroic effort of assembling the Aggregated List has been passed. This year’s list is a joint effort. The data collection and analysis have been handled by yours truly. The finely-crafted blurbs below were produced by newcomer Andy-War-Hall, who has not yet learnt to say no when volunteers are requested.
Of course, with new personnel comes new methods. Ranked choice group decision making is a famously knotty problem; indeed, one can show mathematically that a perfect mechanism simply doesn’t exist. And we are armed with partial information: did one of our writers not put a particular album on their list because they were lukewarm to it, or absolutely hated it (or would have, had they listened to it)? How do we even define the overall best album? Is it better for an album to be liked by many or loved by a few?
These questions led entirely too far down a rabbit hole on voting algorithms. I spent quite a while testing different approaches on last year’s list season.1 In the end, I have gone with an approach which is similar to the one El C used previously, but which more heavily weights the upper end of a list. A #1 placing gets 1 point, a #2 gets 1/2 a point, and so on.2 This, I hoped, would produce a list more representative of the records that were loved and passionately debated at AMG HQ, and less vulnerable to “lowest common denominator” criticisms levelled at previous aggregation endeavors.
This year, we had 28 lists, spanning 235 unique albums. This year’s tastemakers and/or crowd followers are Creeping Ivy, GardensTale, Kenstrosity, and Thus Spoke, each of whom had 7 records from their lists make it onto this one.3 Meanwhile, this year’s contrarians are Alekhines Gun and Dr. A.N. Grier, with exactly one each.
In practice, the new selection algorithm has done about what I expected. 14/20 of the records overlap between the two methods, with mostly minor changes in position. Records like Grima, Flummox, and Maud the Moth made the list with one passionate advocate and a handful of supporters. Records like Imperial Triumphant and Igorrr, with 7 and 6 relatively low placements, respectively, did not. Is this better? I think so, and if you don’t, you’re wrong, or a big fan of a record that didn’t make it onto the list in the new system.4, 5
–Sentynel
#20. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders – [#2, #3, #4, #ish] – “Dax’s comeback album marks a triumphant and warm, comforting return from an underground icon. 7 Songs for Spiders delivered the goods, as Dax and friends dropped an album with a familiar, nostalgic feel that refuses to rest on its laurels. Riggs’ defining vocals sound as vital and deliciously smoky as ever, weaving signature morbid tales, deadly hooks, and earworm melodies through subdued yet deceptively hefty and bluesy folk-doom ditties.” (Saunders).
#19. Qrixkuor // The Womb Of The World – [#2, #3, #4, #8] – “Yet I still don’t think anything could have adequately prepared me for how massive and mad The Womb of the World actually is. With the strings, horns, and piano swooping and crashing about in great surges and falls, Qrixkuor’s already grandiose style fully feels like some tormented classical opus, and it’s utterly magnificent” (Thus Spoke).
#18. Grima // Nightside – [#1, #7, #10] – “On Nightside, [Grima] struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic, and weirdly tranquil, flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game” (Carcharodon).
#17. Flummox // Southern Progress – [#1, #9, #9, #HM] –
“Steeped in messaging that spotlights systematic and social prejudices that plague the queer[…] Flummox’s fifth LP greatly affected me on a personal level. More so than any other record released this year, Southern Progress feels important, not just to me, and not just to Flummox. I strongly believe everyone could learn something from this bizarre, wild, and untamable barnstormer, and have a blast doing it” (Kenstrosity).
#16. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City – [#2, #7, #7, #9, #10, #HM, #HM, #HM, #HM] – “I’ve somehow grown to love The Sleeping City even more in the months since I awarded it a 4.0. Sure, the production leaves much to be desired, but there aren’t any other notable qualities that I would consider faults. It won’t appeal to the exact same audience as the legendary Woe, but I have plenty of room in my heart for both (and likely whatever An Abstract Illusion devises next)” (Killjoy).
#14. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – [#1, #3] – “Buried Realm[…]gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred” (Baguette of Bodom).
#14. Maud The Moth // The Distaff – [#1, #3] – “And like the artists we value—or rather, like the artists I value—Amaya presents her vision of this struggle with focused and expanding melodic lines, crushing and crying crescendos, and an earnestness that compels its audience to surrender for a moment to a world created by these musical ideas. When your sadness comes, it won’t weep in blacks and ivories the way that The Distaff does” (Dolphin Whisperer).
#13. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – [#1, #3, #HM] – “Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve” (Samguineous Maximus).
#12. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings – [#1, #3, #6, #7] – “Words like ‘wistful,’ ‘exuberant,’ and ‘playful’ were tossed about in Thus’s excellent write-up and really homed in on what made listening to Fragile Wings such a connective experience for me. Imbued as Fragile Wings is with upbeat sadness, Cave Sermon proved that I can get on board with post metal, and to be honest, any metal that sounds this good is worth the time spent” (Tyme).
#11. Primitive Man // Observance – [#1, #2, #10, #HM] – “Primitive Man is the heaviest band on the planet. While I’ve appreciated the Denver trio’s pitch-black approach to death metal laced with noise, doom, and sludge – from afar – Observance booked me in with upbeat tempos and a surprising melody. It swallows you whole like any good Primitive Man album ought to, but the devotion to deteriorating songwriting and weaponized noise” (Dear Hollow).
#10. Paradise Lost // Ascension – [#1, #3, #4, #7] – Paradise Lost’s latest entry into their historically varied and long-running discography, Ascension earned its flowers this Listurnalia through a heated handful of endorsements, all but one seated in the top halves of their respective lists. Whether impressing longtime fans like Steel Druhm through “maturity and sophistication even the classics lack” or grabbing off-and-on listeners like Thus Spoke by way of “grungy aggression and sadboi introspection in perfect equilibrium,” Ascension exudes not only oodles of gothic atmosphere but also vitality, something a band as old as Paradise Lost could be forgiven for lacking. As Grymm put it while crowning Ascension with his #1 spot, “With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.” Simply, find Paradise in Ascension or get Lost.
#9. Calva Louise // Edge Of The Abyss – [#1, #5, #5, #9, #9, #10, #HM] – Every year this list has to have at least one real oddball pick, and 2025 has Calva Louise and their prog-groove-electronica-metalcore-whatever record Edge of the Abyss. Our Overlord, Angry Metal Guy Himself, declared, “Calva Louise sports a swagger unique to bands who are just doing exactly what they want to be doing. Since July, I’ve kept coming back to Edge of the Abyss and forgetting I had even enjoyed other records this year. There’s a real sense of becoming here; of a band pulling its influences together into something that feels unique.” Six other valued writers tolerated peons heaped their fair share of praise as well. Our server-savior Sentynel asserted, “Calva Louise is what you get if you take the Diablo Swing Orchestra and remove their classical instruments and sense of restraint. Something this absurd could only ever have been terrific or terrible.” Edge of the Abyss certainly won’t resonate for everybody as it did for much of the AMG crew, but with how much creativity and vision Calva Louise exude maybe that’s your fault if it doesn’t for you.
#8. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – [#1, #3, #3, #5] – When Tyme first reviewed the “murderpop” synthwave group Crippling Alcoholism’s Camgirl back in September, he “could not have anticipated the absolute fathomless darkness lurking within Camgirl’s saccharine sweetness.” Neither, it seems, could the three freshly-raised N00bs who included Crippling Alcoholism on their lists, including a top spot on Lavender Larcenist‘s list, describing Camgirl as “dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection.” Though perhaps not the most typically metal record on the aggregate list, given Camgirl’s deeply unsettling atmosphere and sticky hooks, it’s not hard to see how it can grab a listener and not let go. In a world and music scene so deeply desensitized to depravity, Crippling Alcoholism tapped into something truly profane.6
#7. Havukruunu // Tavastland – [#1, #1, #3] – Havukruunu may not have placed on many lists, but Tavastland clawed smote mightily onto the aggregate list by right of being our first entry of two top-billing spots. Creeping Ivy was taken in by Tavastland’s “adventurous prog sensibilities” while claiming “Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency.” Dr. A. N. Grier similarly heaped highest praise onto Havukruunu over their ability to scratch “that itch for old-school Bathory-core that is almost as good as the real fucking thing” and onto Tavastland for its “bludgeoning Bathory-meets-Immortal riffs, feel-good Viking plods, melodic passages, and seamless transitions that make repeat listens oh-so soothing.” The verdict is out: Havukruunu may not draw from fresh or cutting-edge sounds, but Tavastland is nonetheless a sword-swinging, barrel-chested victory cry that will take you straight to Valhalla if you let it.
#6. Structure // Heritage – [#1, #2, #5, #5, #6, #7, #8, #ish] – If the world were just a little bit better, we might not have had the depressive conditions for funeral doom duo Structure to produce Heritage, so just be glad it kinda stinks here. Earning eight list placements, not to mention boss-man Steel Druhm‘s #1, Heritage rocked this blog hard in 2025. Dear Hollow made no bones in stating “Heritage is Structure paying homage to doom metal’s contemplation while paying its dues in death metal’s viciousness – pure devastation,” while Steely D. made clear that “over the 50 minutes of Heritage, the duo drag you to the heart of sadness, loss, and despair as only thoughtful, well-executed doom can. Yet there are faint rays of light and hope in the inky black…” If you have any taste for doom or death (and perhaps a touch of masochism), you should already have given Heritage a spin. If funeral doom isn’t your thing, listen to “Will I Deserve It” and make it your thing.7
#5. In Mourning // The Immortal – [#1, #2, #2, #4, #8, #9, #10, #HM] – In Mourning may be a sad bunch of melodeathers, but it can’t be from a lack of appreciation for their record The Immortal ’round these parts. The word “perfect” appeared twice in relation to The Immortal this Listurnalia, with Clark Kent claiming “From the beautiful guitar tones to the excellent combo of clean and harsh vox to the memorable melodies, The Immortal is an emotional tour-de-force that grows more majestic with each spin” and Owlswald opining “these Swedes have found the perfect combination of their patented Opethian death metal chuggery, sadboi melodies and creative dynamism, resulting in a sound rich in emotional depth with more digestible hooks than one can handle.” A grower for some, an instant hit for others, The Immortal is a smart, emotional journey and—if the well-deserved tongue-bathing it received on this blog is anything to go by—may just have set In Mourning as the flag bearers of melodic death metal for the remainder of the 2020s.
#4. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – [#1, #1, #2, #5, #HM] – Very nearly taking three #1 spots this Listurnalia, progressive death-heads Tómarúm hit it big in 2025 with their sophomore record Beyond Obsidian Euphoria. Layered like lasagna and dense as deep dish, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria left Saunders with no shortage of things to say in his list: “Beyond Obsidian Euphoria smacked me upside the cranium with an explosion of creativity and ambitious songcraft…the whole experience is so consistently gripping and superbly written and performed that minor quibbles are squashed well below the surface.” Similarly, Clark Kent maintained that “Tomárúm’s epic, sprawling constructs demand so many of my spoons; emotionally, physically, spiritually. But it gives just as many back, plus just enough extra to compel me to spin it again.” Sharp, ambitious, and impactful, Tómarúm are the real deal, and if you have the silverware to spare, you should dig in to Beyond Obsidian Euphoria today.
#3. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth And Nail – [#1, #2, #2, #2, #4, #4, #6, #7, #8, #HM, #HM, #HM, #HM] – With just one list placement short of Archspire’s historical 2021 showing, Dormant Ordeal was the belle of the Listurnalia ball with their beefy blackened death opus Tooth and Nail. “Heavy, groovy, and eminently-listenable” (Thus Spoke), Tooth and Nail won over the unsettled minds of the AMG staff via achieving “the ideal form so far of what Dormant Ordeal can achieve with their gut-wrenching take on the Polish death metal sound” (Dolphin Whisperer). Crowning Tooth and Nail his #1 album of 2025, Tyme attested that, “From the brutally effective ‘Halo of Bones’ to the excellent, Dylan Thomas-inspired ‘Against the Dying of the Light,’ there wasn’t an album I returned to more this year than Tooth and Nail, its visceral riffs and razor-sharp edges leaving long-lasting scars.” You’re just not getting death metal this heavy, this mean, and this delightfully re-listenable in 2025 if it’s not Dormant Ordeal’s Tooth and Nail. Simple as.
#2. Messa // The Spin – [#1, #2, #2, #2, #3, #4, #5, #5, #ish, #HM, #HM, #HM] – The way the twelve writers who included Messa’s latest record The Spin on their lists describe it, you’d think they had no choice in the matter. Describing Messa’s blend of prog, doom, and post-rock, Dolphin Whisperer confessed, “I can’t rid myself of the power that a soaring bluesy lick and a smoky siren voice hold, no matter how I try,” while Kenstrosity described The Spin as “Emotive, sultry, and nuanced doom metal, compelling enough to seduce even the coldest heart.” Topping a list of self-professed comfort picks, El Cuervo said of his #1 pick, “The Spin doesn’t trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes sound like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine.” Clearly, if you’re not ready to be taken in wholly by Messa and their intoxicating, multifaceted, and rewarding take on doom metal, then please avoid The Spin for your own sake.8
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – [#1, #1, #1, #4, #4, #8, #HM, #HM, #HM] – “I have not listened to every item of music released in 2025, but I still think I can say that none could be more powerful than 1914’s Viribus Unitis. I listened to nothing heavier, nothing more memorable, and nothing so relevant as 1914’s story of a Ukrainian soldier caught up in the mania of the First World War.” Thus spake Twelve, one of three writers to set Ukrainian blackened death doom dogs-of-war 1914 and their latest musical AAR Viribus Unitis atop their lists in 2025, setting it atop this aggregate list as a result. Though I’m perhaps a bit biased in saying this, it’s not hard to see why Viribus Unitis takes the cake because, as Grin Reaper put it, “1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end.” Elsewhere, yours truly gushed pathetically collectedly stated, “Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music…1914 don’t play ‘history metal.’ Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.” Rattling minds in its violence, breaking hearts in its tragedy, Viribus Unitis is a singularly enthralling record and is (by aggregate decision) 2025’s best album.
Every year has been shitty for a while, and in some ways, 2025 was the shittiest of them all. The widespread sense that the End Is Nigh is what I would charitably call our zeitgeist.1 And I feel comfortable saying, it’s a shitty zeitgeist. But in defiance of the shit burger we’re all eating every day while we wait for the AI drone war to start, 2025 was my best year in a while. It did, in fact, see me more involved on the front and back ends of AngryMetalGuy.com than I’d been in a long time. And like those lists we’ve already published, AMG, both as a persona and community, has been a refuge for me during difficult times. The joy of discovery and the eclecticism inherent in what we do here have been a major part of why I love this blog. So, honestly, that’s been nice.
In terms of the blog’s health, AngryMetalGuy.com is holding steady. We’ve got a growing team of n00bs covering some of the holes we’ve had in the schedule.2 I worked very hard on training them in combination with Druhm, and it’s fair to say we were both happy with the result. We had some of our best candidates to date, and that made me proud and happy. There’s still room for a few more, so we might dig into the pool in the early part of 2026. So if you applied, all hope is not lost. We continue to attract around 1.25 million views a month, and that’s held steady for three years running. Obviously, we would like to continue to grow. But I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re actually seeing a slight downturn in visitors because of Generative AI. There are, of course, a lot of people who go to Google and write “My Favorite Band – New Album Review,” and they will be greeted by an AngryMetalGuy.com link that tends to place pretty highly on the Google Machine and awaits their complaints with open arms. But I suspect there are other kinds of views we’ve accrued – those which end up in people grabbing album art or looking for release dates – that disappear when people are requesting that ChatGPT do that for them. And while LLMs will link you after plagiarizing you, they’ll only do it if you let them, and we do not. And so any conversions of people checking linked resources are probably lost.3 There have been some weird months here and there with seemingly anomalously low numbers, so who even knows.
The active n00bs have allowed us to revive the three-posts-a-day pace,4 and we only went dark for five days during 2025. As a collective, we posted 699 posts—down from the very peak of 2019’s nearly 1,000 posts!—but in line with where we’ve been since Covid. And, our posts continue to be longer than they were in 2019, averaging 901 words for a total of 629,905 words that we produced for free in 2025. That’s a 2600-page term paper—Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced on A4 paper.5 This dedication to quantity derives from the whip of an analytics-driven Steel Druhm, but wouldn’t be possible without our amazing staff putting their shoulders to the Eternal Boulder ov Metal™ and rolling it uphill every day, saying “One must imagine Sisyphus happy. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
We continue to have international appeal, as well, though the country rankings haven’t changed much from 2024. Like last year, our top five is made up of the English-speaking world (US, UK, CAN, AUS at five) + Germany (at four).6 Weirdly, we are getting a sizable amount of traffic from China, which clocks in at six for the first time. There are almost certainly shenanigans at play with those numbers, as I am not aware of any influx of Chinese fans here recently. Maybe that’s AI traffic. Maybe that’s VPN traffic. Maybe we’ve been infiltrated and are now a communist honey pot. Maybe Druhm is buying traffic. Or, maybe, Winnie the Pooh has finally discovered how excellent the realm of heavy metal really is, and China is going through a different kind of cultural revolution! Regardless, 7-10 is made up of the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and France, with Spain and Finland dropping out of the top ten. The biggest news, however, when it comes to our international readership, is that signs point strongly to Pope Francis having been our solitary reader in the Holy See. The venerable Franciscan passed away in April of 2025, and I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that no one appears to have made the pilgrimage from the Vatican to Angry Metal Guy this year.
It’s worth noting that we lost more than a few stalwarts along the way in 2025,7 largely due to the #Cursed-Boomer-Posting chat on Slack, which has torn us apart. There may also have been some other influences, such as marriages, having high-paying jobs, running TV shows, having actual lives, or resenting me.8 Regardless, for all those who have worked hard to make AngryMetalGuy.com go, but who are not here with us anymore, I just want to say thank you. Despite my autistic isolation and standoffishness, I do love you all and miss you. The door is, of course, always open. And I am happy to see some special little guys who’ve been in deep freeze popping their heads out of the sand and grabbing promo. It’s a wonderful sight to behold, and maybe we’ll see some newfound productivity from old friends in 2026.
To close, I want to thank everyone – readers and writers alike – for your enthusiasm, your dedication to AngryMetalGuy.com as an institution, and your undying fealty to me, Angry Metal Guy.9 I know I can come off as harsh. And I know that some people grumble that I’m too hard on them when I read their texts or when they have divergent opinions in the comments, but that’s only true if you’ve never met a passive construction you didn’t love or if you’re wrong about metal. And, as I tell my students, we’re a team. Our goal is to make sure that AMG produces the very highest quality writing, while covering as much of the scene as possible.10 And given the loyalty of our readers, your comments, and “the eye test,” as it were, we are achieving that goal consistently. I’m still very proud of that and, if I stop to think about it, humbled by it, too.
While it feels like there’s a lot to dread after the 2025 that was, we still have a lot to be excited about here. So let’s hope that 2026 isn’t all like it’s felt in the first five days or so. Anyway, I have gone on far too long, have a wordy, overwrought list.
#(ish) 3: Helms Deep // Chasing the Dragon [June 20th, 2025 | Nameless Grave Records | Bandcamp] — Chasing the Dragon is super fun. It’s fun, it’s loud, and it’s a little stupid in a way that I find endearing. And, as I remarked in June, while US Power Metal has been getting a lot of love around these parts, Helms Deep has not been on the receiving end of nearly enough of that love. While other bands showed up to a back alley knife fight, these Florida men showed up with a bejet-packed dragon and a collection of songs that burned hotter than dragonsfire, melting the competition down and shaming their lineages for decades to come. And joking hyperbole aside, Helms Deep doesn’t feel like a novelty act. They aren’t just good ’cause I find them funny. Chasing the Dragon features playing that’s sharp and vital across the board, with guitars that never stand still, a singer who sells every chorus with the right balance of chops, cheese, and buckets of swagger. Said differently, Helms Deep is just dudes playing good, honest heavy metal while having a great time. What more do you need?
#(ish) 2: Vittra // Intense Indifference [September 19th, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp] — Vittra’s Intense Indifference shows up hungry, plays fast, hits hard, and gets out before you have time to get bored. Thirty-three minutes of riff-first, bethrashened melodeath go by in a blur; the hooks are sticky, the harmonies are sharp, and the energy is manic and adventurous. While the At the Gates lineage is obvious,11 Vittra pulls in enough Soilwork polish and Mors Principium Est flash to songwriting that’s focused on momentum rather than atmosphere, and the result is addictive. And what really pushes this record from really good to great are the flashes of the unexpected: honkytonk piano, bluesy acoustic passages, and classic rock phrasing that shouldn’t work, but does. It’s great listening to an album this full of piss and vinegar. I get excited when bands pop up that make the kind of thrashy, intense melodic death that never begs for an Insomnium comp. And sure, these guys have room to grow, but Intense Indifference caused me to feel anything but.
#(ish) 1: Arjen Anthony Lucassen // Songs No One Will Hear [September 12th, 2025 | InsideOut Music | Bandcamp] — Arjen Lucassen has been a favorite of mine during the time that AngryMetalGuy.com has been up and running. The “poofy-haired cheesehead”12 behind many of my favorite albums during AMG’s time is still a gem even in 2025. Crazily, Arjen’s first ‘solo record’ Lost in the New Real was released in 2012,13 and Songs No One Will Hear is its direct successor. A true concept record—with Toehider’s god-tier singer, Michael Mills, voicing a radio DJ talking to listeners about impending doom—it reflects both our End Is Nigh Zeitgeist and Arjen’s particular… idiom. Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, Songs No One Will Hear is both tongue-in-cheek and yet deeply aware of the nature of information, grifting, and societal collapse, while still displaying the kind of referential goofiness that made Lost in the New Real such a charming record.14 The thing that dinged Songs No One Will Hear a little for me is the sense of uncanny familiarity. At times, it sounds like Arjen was working specifically to emulate the structure of Lost in the New Real. That created a bit of cognitive dissonance that I have never quite gotten over. It also drove a lot of replays of its under-the-radar predecessor rather than the album I should have been reviewing. But is Songs one of the best 11 records o’ 2025? I certainly think so.
#10: An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City [October 17th, 2025 | Willowtip | Bandcamp] — The Sleeping City had two strikes against it. First, it had the unenviable task of following Woe, a record that could easily have been the template on which they built their sound. It’s hard to break away from an overwhelmingly popular sound, yet these Ore Islanders took a left turn, exhibiting a level of daring I admire. The shift in aesthetic is the story of The Sleeping City in a lot of ways; the synths, the vibe, and the mood lean into dystopian sci-fi, and it’s a choice that works. What I love about The Sleeping City is that it’s detailed and detail-oriented without distracting from the expansiveness of the songwriting, which remains evocative and carefully structured. And while they sound comfortable letting songs breathe, they never get lost in the quest for “atmosphere” that undermines many modern releases. Second,15 the real gripe about The Sleeping City was the mastering job. But even a mastering job that clips peaks and fills valleys shows just how strong the raw material is. And so, finally, The Sleeping City feels like the product of a band choosing growth over safety while being true to themselves. And that’s an admirable trait that I hope they never lose.
#9: Fallujah // Xenotaph [June 13th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast Records | Bandcamp] — Fallujah landing on my list came as a genuine surprise to me, mostly because I really had quietly written them off. I used to like them, but they never carried that In Flames-style of eternal hope for me. Xenotaph pulled me back in by doing a deceptively simple thing: reintroducing attack. Everything about this record feels more immediate; guitars cut, compositions move with purpose, and songs are taut and sharp. The atmospheric elements remain, but they’re now integrated into something heavier and more immediate. I love the balance Fallujah finds, combining that late-Cynic energy with the aggression of brutal and technical death. And the deeper I got, the more Xenotaph rewarded me. Repetition revealed interlinked ideas and layered guitar work that shoots like a web throughout, creating a sinuous structure on which everything rests. As I wrote in my Record o’ the Month blurb, “Fallujah has achieved a conceptual evolution on Xenotaph that feels true to their origins and yet develops their sound in ways that make it accessible, and yet, truly unique.” It isn’t exactly br00tal death metal, but it’s not so drenched in “atmosphere” that it lacks tension. Most importantly, it worked.
#8: Scardust // Souls [July 18th, 2025 | Frontiers Records | Stream or Buy at Qobuz] — Scardust landing at number eight sans review is another casualty of my 2025 Stack o’ Shame, though this was less neglect than simple overextension in a year where too many heavy hitters landed at once. July, yo, what a month. Unfortunately, I missed the review window, then I missed the window to pawn it off responsibly, and by the time I circled back, it was late. However, Scardust’s third full-length is a sharp, confident 42 minutes of symphonic power/prog that feels fully aware and unique. While it doesn’t quite lock together as tightly as Strangers did at a conceptual and compositional level, Souls more than compensates for that with sheer craft. The orchestral and choral arrangements are some of the strongest I heard all year, and Scardust’s chemistry is ridonkulous. The rhythm section especially deserves accolades, with basswork that should be forcing its way into “best of” conversations. As a band, Scardust exists in the interstices of genre, where comparisons kind of work but can’t capture their unique voice. And while the band is impressive, the compositions feel so coherent because of Noa Gruman, who carries the album with control, range, and an incomparable soprano. Her extreme register (that is, growls) stays mostly holstered here, but her presence—and sheer talent—is on constant display, balancing different styles, moods, and feels. And her vocal performance isn’t the only standout vocal performance on Souls. The closing “Touch of Life” trilogy finds Ross Jennings (Haken) popping up in full “weird Ross” mode, which ends up as the cherry on top. The result is smart, muscular, and memorable; an album I’m ashamed to have missed.
#7: Aephanemer // Utopie [October 31st, 2025 | Napalm Records | Bandcamp] — Aephanemer’s Utopie landed, as I mentioned in my Record o’ the Month blurb, squarely at the top of my Stack o’ Shame. I was honored to be able to get access to this and start listening early, and I was immediately impressed. Yet, I got sick. Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth. Meanwhile, Utopie sat there reminding me of my failures until Grin Reaper saved my ass and gave Aephanemer’s newest opus the unhinged tongue bath it so rightfully deserved. Utopie takes everything these French melodic death metallers have been doing over the past couple of albums and tightens the screws until the whole machine purrs with confidence. The neoclassical elements have become a perfect blend that helps everything work perfectly. Utopie flows; songs connect, ideas develop, momentum carries everything forward, and yet Aephanemer does not sacrifice the immediacy and energy that makes melodic death metal such a fine dopamine mine. While I haven’t sat down and learned the parts, I feel like the guitars are more fluid and more expressive, resulting in special melodies propelled by a buoyancy reflected in the theme. And you know me, what I want from great records is a holistic sense of greatness. Happily, Aephanemer accomplishes just that on Utopie. Had I been operating at full capacity when it dropped, I would have written a review that kids would call “extra.”16
#6: Insania // The Great Apocalypse [June 13th, 2025 | Frontiers Music | Stream or Buy on Qobuz] — The Great Apocalypse, contrary to its name, is sneaky. It doesn’t gallop in and smack you in the face with shock or novelty, but instead, it reveals its strength through confidence, craft, and an almost unfair level of replay value. What initially feels like—and has been so often written off as—a solid, familiar Europower record gradually opens up to be something richer and more rewarding. And it’s kept paying dividends the longer I’ve been sitting with it. Insania sounds, as I noted when I wrote the review, like a band fully aware of their lineage and completely at ease with it. But the truly confident understand themselves enough to think differently. The resulting record is full of massive, sticky hooks, choruses that hit with power metal optimism and momentum, and electrifying guitars throughout. In fact, while investigating their discography, I was struck by how much Insania upped their game on The Great Apocalypse. And key to that is the guitar, which elevates the record by resisting predictability and yet coexisting on a meta-level with the genre that they know so well. Songs evolve instead of looping, melodies get reshaped rather than repeated, and familiar ideas or tropes are nudged just enough off-center to stay engaging but familiar. The Great Apocalypse approaches with intention, and Insania performs like a band that’s rediscovering why they love playing this kind of music in the first place. This record is exhilarating, memorable, and deeply satisfying, which is why it belongs among these other great releases.
#5: Kalaveraztekah // Nikan Axkan [May 2nd, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp] — In what I’m pretty sure is a first for me, an Ünsïgnëd Bänd Rödëö contestant has made my Top Ten(ish) list. I’ve had plenty of unsigned bands on my lists, but I walked into Kalaveraztekah’s masterful Nikan Axkan utterly unprepared for what I would find. Like a kid buying music in the ’90s, I just looked at that amazing cover art and decided that I was going to join the team reviewing this record instead of the other one. And that twist of fate has earned Mexico’s finest Aztec-themed death metal band a spot on the End o’ Year Metal List o’ Record™.17 As I cleverly wrote in my Record o’ the Month blurb: “There’s no sense that these Hidrocálidos are some kind of novelty act. They aren’t a Mexican Eluveitie, just playing Dark Tranquillity riffs while putting a Ritual Death Flute over it for 40 seconds in every song.”18 Rather, Nikan Axkan is chock full of muscular riffing and the kind of grindy death metal that I’ve always associated with the Mexican scene. Combined with a high-concept connecting to Mexican pre-history and the judicious use of a fucking death flute, I just never quit listening to Nikan Axkan.19 And so here they are, in the Top 5 of my Top 10(ish) of 2025,20 and it couldn’t be more deserved.
#4: Impureza // Alcázares [July 11th, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — I admit, I have tried to lead by example. I have attempted to become a servant leader. Rather than eating up a ton of oxygen and making everything actually about me (instead of just in jest) and what I want as Angry Metal Guy, I have, with time and wisdom, tried to allow others a chance to spread their wings. One of the things that means is that I can’t just bogart other writers’ “discoveries,” and I try not to block them if they grab something before I do.21 So, in that context, you’ll understand that I got pretty excited when I realized that I could review the newest Impureza without poaching it. The band’s approach to metal—infused with flamenco and semi-fantastical alternate-historical high concepts about colonial history—had entranced me previously, but I always felt like they were leaving a lot on the table. Their sound had not quite blended the flamenco and the metal, but rather, the genres sat side by side. Alcázares changes that. From start to finish, Alcázares is addictive, creative, musically impressive, and just a lot of fun. The artful ability of these Orléanais-via-España to marry such disparate styles with genuinely unique approaches to music that run as deeply as the very notion of meter is one of the most impressive feats accomplished in metal in 2025. But it’s not just a meta-concern of the artistic feat that excites me. Alcázares is a fucking banger that can stimulate your intellect, or that can leave your neck sore. Take your pick!22
#3: Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth [July 18th, 2025 | Cruz del Sur Music | Bandcamp] — Phantom Spell has the benefit of being a genuine surprise. My happy place, when I can afford to be there, is digging through the promo bin and listening to everything I can get my hands on. I have made so many fantastic discoveries there, just immersed in my own little world, listening to samples to get a feel of what we’re being sent. Heather & Hearth looked like classic Steel Druhmcore: Cruz del Sur Records, retro metal, D&D Basic Set art. I popped it in, got dragged in, and totally distracted from the rest of what I was doing. I know that this might seem incongruent, but Heather & Hearth sounds fresh. In a world of hypercompressed, hyper-reamped, extremer-than-thou metal, the act of writing good songs with tons of vocal harmonies, instruments that sit in their sonic corridors, and—despite being recorded by one single dude—a convincingly live vibe feels “like a radical act.”23 I quickly grew to love Heather & Hearth, shared it with all the normies I know who love Ghost (“Isn’t this so much better?”), and began singing its praises. And I’ve been happy to see it popping up on lists throughout list season. It means a lot to me that people can hear just how good Phantom Spell is. And Phantom Spell also proved to be quite generative, in that I wrote the Spotify post as a response to a discussion about why Heather & Hearth wasn’t available there. Easily one of the best records I heard in 2025, and I’m looking forward to hearing so much more.
#2: In Mourning // The Immortal [August 29th, 2025 | Supreme Chaos Records | Bandcamp] — When a record is truly exceptional, the hardest part is often articulating why it has transcended other things without reducing it to a checklist. In Mourning’s fantastic The Immortal resists that kind of accounting in the best possible way. Its melodies are lush and emotionally evocative, capable of landing with equal force whether they’re carried by aching vocals or unfurled through long, expansive, yet intimate, trem-picked guitar passages. The riffing is punishing but disciplined, balancing weighty chug with sharper, blackened melodies, creating a constant tension between death metal heft and sadboi atmosphere without fully committing to drowning the production in reverb. And yet, none of this marks a radical departure from what In Mourning has done before—has been doing since 2008. The crucial difference here is in execution: every compositional choice seems to land exactly where it should be. In a sense, this calls attention to the role of probability, as much as inspiration or songcraft, in composition. Some records feel blessed from the outset, where one can go through the same process again and never produce the same results. The hooks here stick without feeling forced, climaxes are perfectly placed, and the pacing across the record gives each track room to breathe while contributing to the kind of flow reserved for only the best albums. Even moments that might feel familiar hit differently on The Immortal, like everything snaps into place. The Immortal succeeds, then, not just on craft but on feel: it feels heavier, sadder, and more resonant than its predecessors; and it stands comfortably among the strongest melodic death metal releases in years.
#1: Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss [July 11th, 2025 | Mascot Records | Bandcamp] — Edge of the Abyss ran away with my listening this year in a way I genuinely don’t remember happening before, and that probably tells you most of what you need to know. The record is frantic, restless, and overloaded with ideas, moving between genres and feels with the speed of fast-cut editing; shifting at the drop of a dime. That both makes the record fun to listen to and keeps it surprising and fresh even after dozens of listens. The pace and density line up uncannily well with where my own brain tends to live, and I suspect that’s a part of why it lodged itself so firmly in my rotation. Calva Louise writes songs that feel driven by impulse and curiosity rather than caution or genre boundaries, and that creative energy and freedom are contagious. Jess Allanic’s pop instincts and melodic sense anchor the chaos, lending the lighter passages real emotional weight and memorability, rather than merely serving as connective tissue. Edge of the Abyss’s incorporation of Latin rhythmic elements and melodic sensibilities ended up also being a personal bonus; Latin music has been a refuge for me from musical monotony for years, and hearing them integrated naturally into Edge of the Abyss was exciting, and it generated affection for this wayward Venezuelan and her French and English bandmates. What really sealed the deal for me, though, was how committed the band sounds to its vision. The songwriting is ambitious and fun, but it doesn’t feel scattered. The album has a cinematic feel – complemented by literally cinematic music videos – but doesn’t feel bloated or melodramatic. And Calva Louise sports a swagger unique to bands who are just doing exactly what they want to be doing. Since July, I’ve kept coming back to Edge of the Abyss and forgetting I had even enjoyed other records this year. There’s a real sense of becoming here; of a band pulling its influences together into something that feels unique. And I also feel invested in Calva Louise in a way I haven’t been with many bands. I really am so happy to see them growing and succeeding. I love seeing them landing on people’s lists here and elsewhere. They have so much potential, and I am so eager to see what they do next. But should the worst befall them, I’ll always have Edge of the Abyss, and it already feels like an all-timer.
Honorable Mentions
Sarastus // Agony Eternal [July 1st, 2025 | Dominance of Darkness Records | Bandcamp] — Stolen from me by one Kenstrosity, Sarastus was a joyous discovery by me in the depths of the promo bin. One part black metal with a touch of death n’ roll for vibes, Agony Eternal strikes hard at modern conventions of black metal and sounds fresh by playing fast, unapologetic, engaging music with razor-sharp riffs. Melodic, without being sickly sweet or cheesy, with a ton of attack and great songwriting chops, Sarastus really threads the needle on Agony Eternal, making something that is driven and addictive, but undeniably black metal.
Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations [July 4th, 2025 | Bad Omen | Bandcamp] — I’ve been back and forth with Wytch Hazel in the past. I have enjoyed what they do, but in the past I’ve been more skeptical of specifically nostalgiacore records that don’t feel like they’re adding much “new.” First, I think I’m just getting past that problem, as the “new” in metal is emphasizing things I don’t love about the scene. But second, I think V: Lamentations is just a more engaging record. From the word ‘go,’ Wytch Hazel writes with a kind of urgency that gives their brand of ’70s-tinged metal an extra kick, and the energy sits so well with me. Maybe the songwriting is just a bit tighter, maybe it’s faster, I don’t know—I didn’t write the proper review. All I know is that I keep circling back to Lamentations in a way that I haven’t done as much with their earlier albums. And that made it easy to put in the running for Listurnalia and to give my personal Angry Stamp o’ Approval™.
Mors Principium Est // Darkness Invisible [September 26th, 2025 | Perception/Reigning Phoenix Music | Stream or Buy on Qobuz] — Probably the grower of the year, Darkness Invisible surprised me by sticking around. When I started reviewing it, I expected not to like it much. I had been a big fan of the band’s previous output and of their former guitarist’s solo record from last year. But with familiarity—and time spent dissecting it—I became increasingly impressed with the album. While the production is busy and pulls it down, the writing forges a new path that better represents the vision of MPE’s founding member, Ville Viljanen. And that vision is bleak, blackened, and surprisingly sticky. No matter your opinion on the end of the previous incarnation, Darkness Invisible at least demonstrates that there is still a vital future for Finland’s most underrated melodic death metal powerhouse. And that’s a future to which I look forward.
Blackbraid // Blackbraid III [August 8th, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp] — I have a Gollumesque distaste for modern black metal. I am physically incapable of starting a review or blurb of a black metal band without reminding readers how much I hate “atmosphere” in the post-Cascadian black metal era. “Give it to us raw and wriggling!” I growl at all the fat hobbitses who try to feed me empty, overcooked “atmosphere.” Blackbraid doesn’t want to feed me atmosphere. Instead, Blackbraid’s III trembles with a vibe that brings me back to discovering black metal; at times blistering, at times introspective, but rarely overstaying its welcome and never feeling like its primary goal is to be the band that defanged black metal for good to make it okay to listen to for kids in the suburbs. I’ll be listening to III for a long time.
Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria — This record is too long. It’s got too much hype among the staff. And also, it’s too damned good to be an honorable mention. And yet, there are only so many #(ish)es, and I got to Beyond Obsidian Eurphoria too late to really give it the kind of sustained love that it needs to properly list. Still, once I started listening, I’ve been swinging past it every day. Sometimes twice. The songwriting is a bit wandering, the album is a bit overwhelming, and yet there is an undeniable vibe that Tómarúm traffics in, and that’s sneakily sticky. Combine that techy Death with something akin to Disillusion, and maybe you’ve got your comp. The only complaint I have is that some of the melodies end up intentionally arch in a way that makes me think that they are actively trying not to give the ear something to latch onto. That’s dumb, but it’s also very 2025. And hey, at least there’s a really easy trick for them to sell out with.
…and Oceans // The Regeneration Itinerary [May 23rd, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] —The Regeneration Itinerary was a lot more controversial among fans than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. As I wrote in May, “It’s always fun to watch bands defy Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™, and while The Regeneration Itinerary isn’t their best record yet, 30 years after their debut, …and Oceans is still releasing vital music that’s impossible to overlook.” And that’s just true facts as stated by a metal-knower. While not quite the tour de force of its predecessors, this record is a solid bit of weirdo black metal with some of the best art in the biz. I recommend it highly.
Haxprocess24 // Beyond What Eyes Can See [July 25th, 2025 | Transcending Obscurity Records | Bandcamp] — Four songs, three of which are over 10 minutes long, and a combo of what I’d call post-Opeth songwriting with OSDM aesthetics, Beyond What Eyes Can See deserved more attention this year and ended up, instead, on my Stack o’ Shame™. This isn’t a reflection on them; they play vital death metal and deserve accolades for their expansive vision and the way everything flows. They just got eaten up by the July where everything got released. Sorry, boys, but here’s your fig leaf!
Majestica // Power Train [February 7th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast Records | Stream or Buy at Qobuz] — Back in like 2008, I saw a band called ReinXeed play a whole bunch of covers of Swedish dance/electronica “group” E-Type at a Culture Night in Umeå. I remember hearing from people in the local scene that they were “big in Japan,” and I listened to some stuff, but wasn’t super moved by it at the time. In 2019, ReinXeed changed their name to Majestica and got signed to Nuclear Blast. And damnit if they aren’t just a lot better than they were in 2008. Power Train, which is on our collective Stack o’ Shame™, is the band’s third full-length under the moniker, and it rocks the same kind of sickly sweet melodies, guitar gymnastics, and general sense of fun that makes power metal my go-to genre a lot of days. While not quite as sticky and addictive as some other things higher up the list, Power Train was a solid addition to the band’s discography and one of the better power records I heard this year. You’ve come a long way, baby!
Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail [April 18th, 2025 | Willowtip Records | Bandcamp] — While not as high on this record as others on the staff, Dormant Ordeal is undeniably vital. And I’m just never going to write a better blurb than I did when they got Record o’ the Month for April: “This record hits a sweet spot inside of me, best described as the ‘oh yeah, that’s how death metal is done’ spot. The riffs flow, and my brain just opens up the spigots, releasing a veritable tsunami of dopamine. Every riff that cuts, every transition that seethes, and every recognition of the slick, skilled ways that these guys construct songs, I get a nice big kick of that Happy Chemical. Tooth and Nail is dynamic, punishing, aggressive, and better yet, it’s smart.” Man, that guy can write!
Aversed // Erasure of Color [March 25th, 2025 | M-Theory Audio | Bandcamp] — Last, and I guess technically least – but that isn’t taking into account that there were like 10,000 albums released in 2025 and there are only like 25 on this list – is Aversed’s Erasure of Color. Part of the reason for its late arrival is that, despite being our Record o’ the Month for March, Erasure of Color didn’t actually make it onto my personal playlist until quite a bit later. And damn, that was kind of a big miss on my part. Great melodeath with a unique flavor and great intensity; there’s something thoughtful and sharp about this record. Combine that with excellent album art and the Dolphin Whisperer seal of approval, and Erasure of Color has everything fans of melodeath need to carry them through this wasteland. I will need to keep my eyes on Aversed going forward.
#AndOceans #2025 #Aephanemer #AnAbstractIllusion #AngryMetalGuy #AngryMetalGuySTop10Ish #ArjenLucassen #Aversed #Blackbraid #CalvaLouise #ChasingTheDragon #DormantOrdeal #EdgeOfTheAbyss #Fallujah #Haxprocess #HelmsDeep #Impureza #InMourning #Insania #IntenseIndifference #Kalaveraztekah #Majestica #MorsPrincipiumEst #PhantomSpell #Sarastus #Scardust #Tómarúm #Vittra #WytchHazel
Saunders
Yes, folks and loyal AMG readers and devotees, another year is nearly done and dusted. As per tradition, the time has come to share reflections and recommendations from another eventful year. Personally, 2025 threw down some rough moments and life challenges, navigating a spike in anxiety-driven mental and physical health concerns. Previously, I have mentioned how much AMG has grounded me over the years, keeping my focus and motivation on track when other parts of life navigate turbulence, stress, or uncertainty. This has proven especially pivotal this year and highlights the importance of contributing in some small way to this amazing blog and how much it means to me.
Highlights… After a few lean years post-pandemic on the gig front, as an avid concertgoer, 2025 proved productive for getting my mojo back for live music. I caught Karnivool in action for the first time in over a decade, ripping through infectious prog metal anthems and impressive new jams from their highly anticipated album set to drop in early 2026. An unexpected gig was a solo show in my hometown from none other than former Fear Factory legend Burton C Bell, performing in a local dive venue. Ploughing through career classics and some solo material, the setlist offered up gems like “Drive Boy Shooting,” “Scapegoat,” “Scumgrief,” and “Replica.” It was a nostalgic joy.
Meanwhile, after years of stubbornly jaded neglect, I finally bit the bullet and witnessed Metallica live. Probably a couple of decades too late, however, as an impressionable young’un raised on early Metallica, it was a cool experience to finally see the aging juggernaut in a stadium setting that will remain in the memory bank for years to come. A couple of days later, I once again caught the mighty Opeth at the iconic Sydney Opera House with quality support from Caligula’s Horse, before rounding out the year by finally seeing Dying Fetus live in an extra beefy triple bill including Ashen and 200 Stab Wounds. Good times indeed….
Big thanks to everyone for keeping this mighty blog running and cogs turning. From the ever-growing readership and awesome AMG community, through the entire, recently beefed-up writing crew, inspiring colleagues and all-around awesome people, to the higher powers (Steel Druhm, Angry Metal Guy, Sentynel, Doc Grier, and all the other editors) for their extra behind-the-scenes work whipping us into line. Cheers all to a safe, happy, and healthy 2026.
#ish: Green Carnation // A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia – After being mesmerized by Green Carnation’s timeless opus Light of Day, Day of Darkness many years ago, I never really expanded my listening beyond that widely regarded masterpiece. Then comeback album Leaves of Yesteryear dropped in 2020 and turned me from a casual listener into an avid fan of their work. A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia signals a long-awaited return and the first part of a planned trilogy from the seasoned Norwegian veterans of classy, mood-driven progressive metal. Admittedly, this album didn’t reach the dizzying heights or quite gain the traction of its predecessor. Nor does it disappoint, adding another finely crafted chapter in Green Carnation’s enduring career, while building excitement for the two albums to complete the trilogy. Meticulously crafted and chock full of emotive, silky, and delightfully catchy gems, A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is another top-shelf prog metal jam.
#10. Caustic Wound // Grinding Mechanism of Torment – Back in 2020, Seattle’s Caustic Wound emerged from the muck and unleashed a gnarly ball of unvarnished deathgrind rage courtesy of debut, Death Posture. Due to the endearing old school charms and brawling, stomping attack, Death Posture left a lasting impression, amping anticipation for their long-awaited return on sophomore slab, Grinding Mechanism of Torment. Though a little less refined and losing a smidgen of the debut’s grimy charm, Caustic Wound otherwise pounded out wickedly crunchy, buzzsawing deathgrind with violent glee, infectiousness, and subtle variety to keep you coming back for more. The album’s tight construction and propulsive performances deftly harness the controlled chaos and blasty, groove-laced fun, as the likes of “Drone Terror,” “Advanced Killing Methods,” and “Blood Battery” attest.
#9. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth – One of the purest and nostalgia-driven prog releases of 2025, the sophomore album from Seven Sisters singer/guitarist Kyle McNeill was a progtastic delight, wielding old-timey, ’70s prog feels with a transportive, fantastical flair. Phantom Spell crafted a timeless, epic yet remarkably fresh experience, despite the obvious devotion to progressive rock legends and eras of the past. Dueling guitar leads, rollicking organ, and tight, expressive rhythms shine across a superbly performed and produced opus. For all the musical smarts, clever progressive arrangements, and technical showmanship, McNeill’s songwriting and powerful vocals are spot on, resulting in a nuanced though hugely hooky and focused collection, infused with folk and classic heavy metal elements, complementing the classic progressive rock core. Bookended by two spectacular epics (‘The Autumn Citadel” and stunning, heart-wrenching melodies of the closing title track), Heather & Hearth is equally compelling in its more compact, punchy forms (“‘Evil Hand,” “Siren Song”).
#8. Barren Path // Grieving – Grind delivered big time in 2025, with numerous high-quality releases to absorb. None quite delivered the hammer blow impact of the debut LP from Barren Path, featuring Gridlink alumni, including grind shredding extraordinaire Takafumi Matsubara. It’s amazing what can be achieved in a manic thirteen minutes of calculated mayhem and precision deathgrind madness. Barren Path shares traits with Gridlink’s razor-sharp precision and abrasive intensity; however, it refuses to be pigeonholed or cast into the shadows of the Gridlink legacy. Beefy production, coupled with a prominent death metal influence, riffs to burn, gripping performances, and techy edge, Grieving loudly announced Barren Path as the next innovative heavy hitter to take the grind scene by storm. All too brief if utterly compelling, I’m excited to see what this elite line-up can cook up next as they set about creating their own unmatched legacy.
#7. Changeling // Changeling – For the second time in my 2025 top ten, an album surpasses the hour-length mark, often questionable territory as far as optimal album length. The prolific Tom Geldschläger (aka Fountainhead) hired an army of high-profile musicians and contributors to bring his elaborate progressive death metal vision to vibrant life with an overstuffed and incredibly entertaining, wildly ambitious debut opus. Amongst the core lineup, Morean (Alkaloid, Dark Fortress) lends his unique vocals, Virvum’s Arran McSporran features on fretless bass, and powerhouse Mike Keller (ex-Fear Factory, Raven, Malignancy) mans the kit, while a stack of instruments, choirs, and guest musicians add further dimensions and intricacies to the color palette. Changeling is guilty of overreaching on occasions, and the whole thing is an overstimulating example of excess. And though far from perfect, Changeling is nevertheless an astonishingly complex, progressive, and technical marvel. Its bombastic, adventurous gallop, slick songcraft, earwormy hook,s and otherworldly melodies conjure up a hugely inventive and endlessly fun platter.
#6. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues – Generally, I tread carefully from anything core-related in the realms of hardcore, metalcore, and deathcore. I am not opposed to each style, but usually it takes a certain something to win me over. Another winning recommendation from the flippered one, Blood Quantum Blues, the third LP from Seattle metallic hardcore merchants Turian, found the band toying and upending their sound in wonderfully creative and ambitious fashion. Like other genre-busting albums, such as The Shape of Punk to Come and Miss Machine, Turian fuck with the conventions of their metallic hardcore. Shattering boundaries by lacing their signature sound with sharply integrated elements of rock, electronics, sludge, and grind, whipped into a grooving, raw smackdown and addictive delight, Turian pulls no punches and pushes their songwriting creativity to the limit. The line-up nails the newfound songwriting versatility through tight, explosive performances, topped by the raw intensity and charismatic vocals of Vern Metztli-Moon, who channels deeply personal, trauma-informed reflections of her Native American heritage, with vigor and rage.
#5. Retromorphosis // Psalmus Mortis – Carrying on the timeless legacy of legendary Swedish tech death wrecking crew Spawn of Possession, Retromorphosis emerged featuring the bulk of the SoP line-up and a rejuvenated sound, both familiar and energized enough to craft a new chapter of tech death excellence. Herein lies the key to the album’s success. SoP was such a special and unique entity in the tech death field. Retromorphosis pulls the signature songwriting components and twists and contorts them into their own slick interpretation, without simply rehashing past glories. Psalmus Mortis proved to have significant staying power since dropping early in the year, even amidst a pretty stacked year for quality death and tech death albums. Retromorphosis decorate their knotty, fluid and aggressive compositions with tasteful synth work, symphonic flourishes and bedazzling solos, whether charting smartly progressive, labyrinthine terrain (“The Tree,” “Machine”), and thrashy, warped tech death (“Aunt Christie’s Will,” “Vanished,” “Retromorphosis”).
#4. Terror Corpse // Ash Eclipses Flesh – After already delivering a killer grind opus earlier in the year, Terror Corpse got the creative juices flowing again in dropping a full-length debut of immense power and old school grit. Featuring a power-packed lineup featuring past and present members of acts including Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier, and Insect Warfare, Terror Corpse comes seasoned with death metal wisdom and experience. Despite a lack of innovation, Terror Corpse winds back the clock and transcends the typical old school death metal hordes. Injecting venomous strains of grind, death-doom, sinister atmospheres, and gut-churning brutality into beefy, riff-driven songs that fondly recall death metal’s glory days, Terror Corpse forge ahead into the here and now with their own character and inspired songwriting. Topped by a bevy of instantly gratifying, oozing riffs and Dobber Beverly’s elite drumming, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a gripping old school death experience.
#3. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs For Spiders – The return of Dax Riggs, and by extension the most unexpected re-emergence of the legendary Acid Bath, were surely two of the most heartwarming music moments of 2025. As a longtime devotee of both Dax and Acid Bath, I had begun worrying that Dax’s music-making days had passed as he slunk into the background and essentially dropped off the radar for the best part of fifteen years. While holding out slim hope Acid Bath will decide to cross our shores, I am stoked Dax and crew are getting the long-overdue credit and exposure they deserve. Though not strictly metal, Dax’s comeback album, and first since 2010’s Say Goodnight to the World, marks a triumphant and warm, comforting return from an underground icon. 7 Songs for Spiders delivered the goods, as Dax and friends dropped an album with a familiar, nostalgic feel that refuses to rest on its laurels. Riggs’ defining vocals sound as vital and deliciously smoky as ever, weaving signature morbid tales, deadly hooks, and earworm melodies through subdued yet deceptively hefty and bluesy folk-doom ditties.
#2. Messa // The Spin – It would be an oversimplification to describe Messa’s fourth LP as a streamlined version of the enigmatic Italian band’s doom-centric formula. Each album has impressed in its own unique way, adding intoxicating twists and charm to continually evolve and refresh their sound. The Spin carries over elements of their past works and character-defining idiosyncrasies, yet feels like Messa’s most laser-focused, accessible, and direct album to date, and also one of their best. While I’ve enjoyed each of the band’s prior works, The Spin is the band’s most efficient and instantly gratifying, and addictive album. Easily Messa’s shortest opus, The Spin, uncorks killer tune after tune. Sumptuous melodies and rich textures color blockbuster doom bangers (“At Races,” “Fire on the Roof”), residing alongside atmospheric, jazz-dappled charmers (“The Dress”), bluesy, emotive slow burners (“Immolation”), and brooding, psych-tinged doom (“Thicker Blood”).
#1. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – Weirdly enough, my number one picks often don’t materialize as obviously as one might expect. This has largely been a trend throughout my tenure here at Angry Metal Guy. In all honesty, any of the top three could have been interchangeable in the top spot, but I reserved top honors for the spectacular second LP from Atlanta band Tómarúm. All the more surprising due to sleeping on their well-received debut, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria smacked me upside the cranium with an explosion of creativity and ambitious songcraft, encompassing elements of progressive black, melodic death, and tech death bombast. It’s an overly ambitious, sometimes slightly messy masterwork. Yet the eye-watering 68 minutes largely warrant its exhaustive length. Sure, shrewd editing here and there may have tightened things up. However, the whole experience is so consistently gripping and superbly written and performed that minor quibbles are squashed well below the surface. This fully loaded, immersive masterwork sparkles and scorches through tremendously crafted, multi-faceted compositions, including standout epics, “Shallow Ecstasy,” “Shed This Erroneous Skin,” and “Silver, Ashen Tears,” nestled harmoniously against the blunt force discordance of ‘Blood Mirage,” and compact progressive fireworks of closer “Becoming the Stone Icon (Obsidian Reprise).”
Honorable Mentions:
Disappointment o’ the Year:
Sadly, we lost a number of metal legends in 2025, headlined by three individual legends that had a profound impact on me over the years. There will never be a larger-than-life frontman/metal icon like Ozzy Osbourne. While his demise was not unexpected, it left a huge void and an incredible legacy never to be matched. At the Gates and all-around iconic Swedish vocalist Tomas Lindberg sadly passed away following a horrible illness, while former Mastodon guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds tragically passed in a motor vehicle accident. Rest in Peace legends….
Non-Heavy Picks (snapshot):
Song o’ the Year:
Messa – “Fire on the Roof” – Narrowing down a definitive song o’ the year candidate is often a futile task. Twenty-twenty-five was no exception. Rather than overthink or analyze the situation, I locked in one of the year’s most addictive, replayable gems from Messa’s stunning fourth LP, The Spin.
Dear Hollow
Welcome to the end of 2025! We at AMG hope the year has been kind to you—that your lives are filled with love, your hearts with joy, and our world with peace. I hope that you have found your people and have those you can lean on. If we have ever given you a voice, a platform, or just love and support when you need it, then we have done our jobs.
It feels redundant to say that this year has been a roller coaster, but 2025 pulled no punches. In May, the Hollow household welcomed a second kiddo, a boy, into the fold. He is a supremely easy, endlessly happy little guy, but the stresses of parenthood—and especially of two kids—are a daily lesson of “bend, don’t break.” Our daughter is now four, and learns new things and says sassy things day in and day out, enjoying gymnastics and dancing, and singing around the house for fun.
My reviewing has remained steady this year, if not a little less than the usual. Between parenting two kids, working as a high school English teacher to increasingly apathetic kids, working on a noir crime novel that has paid dividends in complexity (and all the noir jazz my ears can handle),1 continuing to unpack my upbringing and trauma and how they all have affected my views on family, relationships, and self-love, you can imagine how wild each day has been. But I’ve somehow managed it, and the end of the year is here to celebrate it.
Special shout-outs to those who have been instrumental in my journey this year: the ineffable and tireless dream team of Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy, the genre-confusing Dolphin Whisperer, my fellow Whitechapel apologists Iceberg and Alekhines Gun, and those who have been supportive all year (Thus Spoke, Killjoy, and Mystikus Hugebeard). Couldn’t have done it without y’all.
To the metal!
#ish. Kalaveraztekah // Nikan Axkan – Subject of a rollicking Rodeö, Mexico’s Kalaveraztekah’s balance of cosmic Aztec atmosphere and cutthroat death metal is sublime. Riffs for days balanced by an experimental madness that conjures cosmic destruction and rebirth, Nikan Axkan recalls the antics of Hell:on, folk influence only sharpens its attack and injects an atmosphere of foreboding. Refusing both gimmick and total immersion, Nikan Axkan is riffy, fun, and evocative, made for a mosh-pit and a soundtrack for the destruction of the Five Suns.
#10. La Torture des Ténèbres // Episode VIII – Revenge of Unfailing Valor – If you’re like MalteBrigge, you’ll probably end up with tinnitus and a sprained shoulder once Episode VIII kicks in, but Ottawa one-woman raw black metal/noise outfit La Torture des Ténèbres returns to the bleak space-faring atompunk of its 2016 debuts alongsdie the dystopic rage that pervades more recent efforts – moments of peace adding dimension and texture. La Torture des Ténèbres is about as ambitious as raw black metal can get.
#9. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar – Goldstar is Imperial Triumphant’s most accessible album, the NYC trio’s signature brand of death/black and jazz funneled into a straightforward art-deco-themed brutalizing. It’s no less adventurous, always punishing, and will stay with you long after your ears stop ringing from the sound of New York City taxis and decadent skyscrapers displayed in extreme metal format: more straightforward, more melodic. While its recent predecessors are an affluent nightlife, Goldstar offers a sunbathed New York City.
#8. Howling Giant // Crucible & Ruin – Nashville’s stoner outfit Howling Giant reconciles the melodies and riffs, exploratory songwriting, and mammoth hooks gathering in each movement of Crucible & Ruin. Featuring hints of knuckleheaded sludge and proggy chord progressions, it’s an album that keeps your attention for forty-eight minutes. New member Adrian Zambrano offers more atmosphere and layers of guitar riffs and melodies to go with the surefire dichotomy of instrumental heft and vocal ethereality. Crucible & Ruin is an experience of fun, subtlety, and above all, riffs.
#7. Geese // Getting Killed – Perhaps the vocals of NYC’s Geese don’t bother me because of Cameron Winters’ similarity to singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan,2 so the album’s sonic anxiety of noise rock, post-punk, country, and blues that creep in and out like lovers who never stay does not bother me. Getting Killed feels viciously aggressive, venomously satirical, and fluid and elastic in its humble movements. Geese are overrated Pitchfork-bait, sure, but an overrated hill to get killed upon regardless.
#6. Structure // Heritage – Steel Druhm’s the real masochist for low and slow, but the balance of sad death/doom and devastating funeral doom in Netherland’s Structure is special. The guitar work in the mammoth riffs, melodic leads, and climactic solos has just a much of a voice to contribute as Pim Blankenstein’s formidable roars—as if griever and grieved converse in both melancholy and rage. Heritage is Structure paying homage to doom metal’s contemplation while paying its dues in death metal’s viciousness – pure devastation.
#5. Patristic // Catechesis – Catechesis is born out of the “impending shadow of the cross.” As tumultuous as the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the church and pagan rebellion, the black/death of Rome’s Patristic assaults the ears with tension, fury, and reverence. The first act is the holy war, a rationalization of steel and zealotry, while the second is the way the soldier tells it to his children, the lessons and cautions borne of blind faith and its devastation. Cathechesis is not only fiery sermons and unending blasphemy, but regret and meditation.
#4. In Mourning // The Immortal – I’ve loved Sweden’s In Mourning since their 2010 album Monolith: balancing chuggy guitars, progressive songwriting, and the slightest hints of doom (such as in 2008’s Shrouded Divine). The Immortal is an album that balances The Bleeding Veil’s darker elements, Garden of Storms’ signature melody, and The Weight of Oceans’ iconic patience. The Immortal offers yearning melodies and chords alongside vicious riffs, and melodeath has never sounded so good.
#3. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – New York’s Yellow Eyes’ Confusion Gate conveys a black metal place better than most, an environment teeming with life. Like the Romantic Sublime, it maintains a crystalline beauty, like a light scattering through broken glass, and a madness born of terror—at the source of the light. Here is the crux of it, from poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The First Elegy”;
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angels’
Orders? and even if one of them pressed me
suddenly to his heart: I’d be consumed
in his more potent being. For beauty is nothing
but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure,
and while we stand in wonder it coolly disdains
to destroy us. Every Angel is terrifying.
#2. Igorrr // Amen – Gautier Serre’s work with Igorrr has rarely felt bad, but Amen evolves it from his typical standard. You get the typical apeshit antics in the midsection, but a full band fleshes out the jewel-encrusted skeleton for a fully, nearly spiritual experience. Minimalist compositions build upon a breakbeat before cracking into a full choir and death metal experience, while an overwhelming onslaught of insanity reminds us who exactly we’re listening to. Amen is hella fun, as expected, but also something we can take seriously.
#1. Primitive Man // Observance – Primitive Man is the heaviest band on the planet. While I’ve appreciated the Denver trio’s pitch-black approach to death metal laced with noise, doom, and sludge—from afar—Observance booked me in with upbeat tempos and a surprising melody. It swallows you whole like any good Primitive Man album ought to, but the devotion to deteriorating songwriting and weaponized noise. The atmospheric death/sludge counterpart to the riffs of Warcrab, for instance, Primitive Man offers a sound like no other—and it’s the best of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
Songs o’ the Year:
Surprises o’ the Year
Disappointments o’ the Year
Tyme
I’ve spent much of my 2025 thinking about privilege. Not in the sense that the media has conditioned me, or us, to think about it, but in a way that I’ve employed to shift some of the mundane aspects of life onto their respective heads. For instance, it’s a privilege to look in my closet and have to decide what to wear each day. It’s a privilege to look in my kitchen pantry to figure out what I’ll eat for breakfast or, better yet, which coffee cup I’ll drink from. I could go on, but there’s a word limit to these intros. Suffice to say, I really tried to dwell on my blessings rather than my challenges this year.
And despite the blessings of my professional life, which bestowed upon me the incredible privilege of being really fucking busy for the last “whatever” number of months, I’ve been equally, yet much less facetiously, blessed in my personal endeavors as well. For, in addition to having a bountiful roof over my head, a vehicle to get me back and forth to my extremely privileged job, a dog I can honestly say I will have NO idea how to say goodbye to if I don’t go first, and a wife that, despite the ups and downs of a normal, healthy marriage, continues to love me, I have the distinct privilege of contributing my trve opinions on all things musically heavy, or adjacently heavy, here on the best heavy metal blog in the world! And now comes the part where I give thanks.
Thank you, first and foremost, to everyone who reads this blog every day. Without you, none of this would be worth doing. At least for me, who read, lurked, and commented for years before working up the courage to actually apply for this subservient existence. Thank you to this newest crop of freshly demoted n00bs and to my list mate Killjoy and the rest of the Freezer Freaks Crew—Alekhines Gun, Owlswald, and Clarkkent1—who, through perseverance and a buttload of patience, managed to survive nearly two years on ice to land in the crosshairs of the commentariat’s adverse, and always wrong, opinions.2,3 Thanks as well, to ALL the senior staff who are way nicer than they’d have you believe,4 except Grier, who’s even nicer than everyone else. And finally, the editors, the man himself, Dr. AMG, for seeing enough in me to bring me over, and Steel, who runs the tightest, most compassionate ship I’ve ever had the privilege of sailing on. Thanks, boss!
Now! To the LIST!!!
#ish. Antinoë // The Fold – When I snagged this late-year gem back in November, I had no idea it would have me shuffling my list. With a little more time, I’m sure it would have moved up the ladder, but as it stands, Antinoë grabbed my (ish) spot easily. With little to no instrumentation beyond her piano, Teresa Marraco crafted something so beautiful in its basic-ness that I was entranced. Her delicate melodies evoke vibes that are as much Darkher or Tori Amos5 as they are Emperor or Dimmu Borgir, and I am definitely here for it.
#10. King Witch // III – In a year when Messa released a new album as well, the fact that King Witch is sitting on my year-end proper list and not Sara Bianchin and company speaks volumes about the job Laura Donnelly, Jamie Gilchrist, and Rory Lee did on III. Whether crooning over wispy acoustics or belting out doomily powerful tones over rock-heavy riffs, Donnelly is the star of the show, and her performance had me swooning. From the minute I first heard “Suffer in Life” with its swing-heavy riffs and killer vocals, I was happy to take King Witch’s III for a spin over and over, and it’s been part of my regular rotation since summer.
#9. Imperishable // Revelation in Purity – As the year wore on, I became increasingly sure that I may have underrated Imperishable’s Revelation in Purity. In fact, I found myself returning to it several times, forgoing subsequent spins of albums I’d rated higher. With their Nile and Olkoth pedigree, Imperishable’s expert blend of blackened death metal hit an overtly swirling sweet spot for me. The songwriting on Revelation in Purity, while not groundbreaking, is expertly executed, rendering its quality undeniable. And when you toss in those very Alice in Chains-like grunge passages, akin to a cherry on top, it was easy for me to put Revelation in Purity on my year-end list.
#8. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine – Mutagenic Host’s The Diseased Machine was the first album I successfully coveted and secured from the sump pit alllll the way back in January of this year. As a freshly demoted staff member at the time, I was overly excited at the opportunity to take it on, and the album surely didn’t disappoint. Mutagenic Host does death metal the way I like it: low-brow, Neanderthalic, and brutally chuggy. It’s a tenuous thing to run across something you deem so good so early in the year, but The Diseased Machine has definitely stood the test of Tyme and proved worth every point of the quarter-pounder I placed on it.
#7. Igorrr // Amen – My fancy with Igorrr has always been somewhat of a passing one. I was nowhere near the listener who would’ve been part of the band’s early target audience (Mousissure, Nostril). Still, I found more common ground with 2017’s Savage Sinusoid and even more with 2020’s Spirituality and Distortion. But when those first electronic beats of Amen’s opening track, “Daemoni,” poured out of my speakers for the first time, I was completely plugged in to Igorrr’s chaotically beautiful brand of metal madness. Amen’s surprisingly accessible break-cored, trip-hopped blackened death ‘baroque’ it’s big boot off in my ass, and I’ve been relishing and wallowing in its avant-garde pain ever since.
#6. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings – Cave Sermon’s Divine Laughter was something I’d definitely missed out on in 2024. When Thus Spoke covered Cave Sermon’s rapid follow-up, Fragile Wings, in April, however, I vowed I wouldn’t sleep on Charlie Park’s solo black metal project this time around. And I’m certainly glad I didn’t. Words like ‘wistful,’ ‘exuberant,’ and ‘playful’ were tossed about in Thus’s excellent write-up and really homed in on what made listening to Fragile Wings such a connective experience for me. Imbued as Fragile Wings is with upbeat sadness, Cave Sermon proved that I can get on board with post metal, and to be honest, any metal that sounds this good is worth the time spent. And seriously, what is that cover?!6
#5. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Inspired by a subreddit I’m glad I never stumbled across, Crippling Alcoholism’s provocative moniker steels those who’d approach the band’s output with a certain sense of visceral anticipation before hearing even one note. My love for the disturbingly creepy With Love from a Padded Room led me to the pink, candy-wrapped murderpop of Camgirl with nary a moment’s hesitation. I gladly signed on to plumb the depths of weirdness I knew would exist, but could not have anticipated the absolute fathomless darkness lurking within Camgirl’s saccharine sweetness, especially as revealed with subsequent spins. A disturbing diatribe on hopelessness, disappointment, loneliness, and sex in the digital age, Camgirl wraps its message in a deceivingly poppy form of electronica that, when all is said and done, will have you wondering what the fuck just happened. I love it.
#4. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders – Dax Riggs may be one of the more underrated artists of the last thirty years, and while I know I’m not the only one who rejoiced in the recent resurgence and subsequent touring schedule of one of the ’90s best sludge acts, Acid Bath, I also realized a new album will probably never materialize, at least not under that moniker. Instead, the universe graced us with 7 Songs for Spiders, Dax’s first solo effort in nearly 15 years. Filled with simplistically haunting melodies sung in Riggs’s inimitable style, 7 Songs for Spiders strummed every one of my fuzzed-out, laid-back heart strings and has remained consistently satisfying since its January release.
#3. Maud the Moth // The Distaff – I stumbled across Maud the Moth in 2023 while exploring the ever-expanding milieu of performers associated with my favorite artist Darkher. Searching Amaya López-Carromoero’s back catalog, I dove into 2015’s The Inner Wastelands and 2020’s Orphnē, emerging a fan of Maud the Moth’s quirky neo-classical piano-led operatics. When The Distaff popped up in the sump, I was glad to see Dolphin Whisperer snag it, knowing his words would do the album eloquent justice. Soaring in scope and execution, Maud the Moth proffers her most complex yet beautiful release to date. Filled with classically executed vocal acrobatics and massive amounts of intricate instrumentation, The Distaff is less a thing just to be listened to, as it is a thing to be wholly experienced. As immersive a piece of music as I’ve heard all year.
#2. Structure // Heritage – M-A-S-S-I-V-E is the word that best describes Structure’s Heritage, which is to say it’s big, sad, and “heavy as fook!”7 Every time I threw this beast on, and the album opener began crawling forth, it conjured the same cinematic image in my mind’s eye. A lone, bloodied warrior, fists clenched, head bowed, wind-swept and rain-soaked hair hanging down, muscles taut and twitching in furious sadness, standing in a field full of his fallen brethren as a lightning-laced deluge washed the blood of dead soldiers into the hungry ground. Then, slowly, he casts his gaze skyward, anguished tears streaming, contemplating his sole survivor existence, and screaming at the thunder-filled heavens “Will I deserve to live on?” Every time, that’s what I see when I listen to “Will I Deserve It,” and every time I break out in goose bumps with a lumpy throat and welling eyes. Heritage came as close to being my number one as to make the two offerings at the top of my 2025 list nearly interchangeable.
#1. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail – I know I underrated Dormant Ordeal’s fourth album, Tooth and Nail, for, despite giving it the 4.0 treatment, the sheer excellence of this record has only improved over time. April was THE month for me this year, yielding my two favorite metal releases and leaving Poland’s metal map deeply staked with a big, black-and-gold Dormant Ordeal flag. In true, warrior-like fashion, Maciej Nieścioruk and Maciej Proficz soldiered on without sole founding member Radek Kowal, which opened the door for Chase Westmoreland to waltz in and give my favorite drum performance of the year. From the brutally effective “Halo of Bones” to the excellent, Dylan Thomas-inspired “Against the Dying of the Light,” there wasn’t an album I returned to more this year than Tooth and Nail, its visceral riffs and razor-sharp edges leaving long-lasting scars. But in a good way, you know? It’s with profound pleasure that I dutifully crown Dormant Ordeal’s Tooth and Nail my album of the year.
Honorable Mentions
Song o’ the Year:
‘Twas a mother-fookin’ toss up between my top 2 albums. I flipped a coin, so close was the race. (Heads) Structure // (Tails) Dormant Ordeal.
WINNER(?):
Structure – “Will I Deserve It” – Satisfyingly goose-bumpy!8
Killjoy
The fact that I’m writing this list feels nothing short of surreal. When I became a regular reader of this blog in 2019, I had a strong interest in metal but a knowledge of only a handful of its subgenres. I did not expect to make it this far when I auditioned, but somehow I became a member of the Freezer Crew. Although we were initially forced to huddle together for warmth to survive the n00b trials, as time went on, I developed a deep respect for all of my Crewmates. Their camaraderie and encouragement were great motivation for me to keep writing this year, even when it was tough. We were even allowed to organize a special edition Rodeö! I’m so proud to associate with them.
On a more somber note, I was sad to see many of the longtime writers who helped me fall in love with this site slip into the abyss we sometimes call “non-suspicious sabbatical.” While I will miss reading their eloquent words, their legacy and contributions will always influence and inspire me.
And now for some thank yous. I’m grateful to AMG Himself for creating the site and allowing me to run rampant with my questionable opinions. A gorilla-sized thanks to Steel Druhm for keeping day-to-day operations running and being the kindest, cruelest taskmaster I could hope for. Thank you to my list mate, Tyme, for making my musical tastes seem better by association. Finally, I’d like to publicly thank my wife for being so supportive of my new hobby.
I’m excited for what awaits in 2026 (which hopefully includes more power metal than I managed to review in 2025)!
#ish. Kauan // Wayhome – Kauan has demonstrated time and again that their ability to compose evocative soundscapes is unmatched in the post-rock sphere. Wayhome draws a little bit from different eras in Kauan’s fruitful career to form a richer, warmer experience. Each individual instrument—acoustic and electric guitars, strings, voice—is a crucial brush stroke in a breathtaking panorama. This is some of the most enchanting music I’ve ever heard.
#10. Anfauglir // Akallabêth – When I first grabbed Akallabêth for review, I was blissfully unaware of the 72-minute runtime (but probably should have had an inkling). After spending some time with it, I became blissfully aware of how awesome it is. Based on the chapter of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion chronicling the 3,000-year rise and fall of the island of Númenor, Akallabêth is as epic in sound as it is in scope. Mrs. Killjoy was more interested in the concept than the music, but it still made for some fun conversations. While the long runtime makes it a bit harder to revisit than the other entries on this list, this is my idea of a great symphonic black metal album.
#9. In Mourning // The Immortal – Progressive death metal comes in all shapes and sizes, and I tend to be drawn to the more emotive flavors. When Disillusion released Ayam a few years ago, it took me a while to understand the hype. In a similar manner, it took longer than it probably should have for me to appreciate The Immortal. I don’t know why this was, but in both cases I’m glad I stuck with them. In Mourning’s signature combination of earnest melodies and energetic riffs is now embedded in my mind and heart.
#8. Asira // As Ink in Water – Due to journalistic circumstances that I won’t discuss with fans, I was fortunate enough to obtain this promo earlier than I normally would have. Good thing, too, because As Ink in Water turned out to be a grower for me. The vocals proved much less popular in the comments than I anticipated, but they are the biggest reason why this record resonates with me. The buttery-smooth guitar and bass lines are another big factor. The fact that As Ink in Water was released during the tail end of 2025 might mean it appears on fewer top ten lists, but it should not be missed.
#7. Judicator // Concord – I don’t have a long history with Judicator. I am part of the seemingly small minority that prefers the post-Cordisco era, although I admit that I need to spend more time with their earlier work. Concord sees Judicator returning to their heavy/power metal roots after an experimental foray into progressive territory (which I also loved!). Other than brief saxophone and fiddle segments, there aren’t any fancy frills this time, only lots of guitar hooks and infectious choruses. And, in this case, that’s more than enough to make me happy.
#6. Valhalore // Beyond the Stars – I don’t normally see the point in quibbling about scores, however, I feel that Beyond the Stars was soundly underrated. It’s a distillation of everything I love about peak Eluveitie and Æther Realm. The folk instrumentation blends perfectly with the fast-paced melodic death metal elements. The interludes cleverly foreshadow and ease the listener into the subsequent songs. I also love the tender vocal performance by Anna Murphy towards the end. Beyond the Stars is a fun and emotional journey from start to finish.
#5. Gloombound // Dreaming Delusion – I’m always down to sample funeral doom, but it takes a very special kind to keep me coming back. Gloombound expertly walks the difficult balance between atmospheric and stimulating music. The overall sound is that of a soul trying to escape imprisonment, whether physical, emotional, or mental. Dreaming Delusion makes me feel different emotions every time I listen, but chief among them is a crushing awe.
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth – I love uplifting, feel-good metal (this should not come as a surprise by now). So, it was almost inevitable that I would love the nostalgic keyboards and guitar solos of Heather & Hearth. But, for some reason, it took AMG’s landmark blog post about the evils of Spotify for me to really pay attention to Phantom Spell. I’m grateful I did, because I might have missed out on one of the most addictive pieces of progressive rock I’ve ever heard.
#3. Halocraft // The Sky Will Remember – Halocraft quickly became one of my favorite bands since I discovered them early this year. Their purposeful yet dreamy brand of post-rock is practically custom-made for me. This year, they expanded their creative limits by writing two very different records. I’m partial to The Sky Will Remember, but don’t miss out on its companion, To Leave a Single Wolf Alive, for a gloomier vibe. Their prior albums are really good too, and I listen to them just as often.
#2. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City – “If not 4.5, then why 4.5 shaped?”, one of you rabble-rousers quipped about my review of The Sleeping City. The truth is, the more time I spend with it, the more I wonder if maybe I did underrate it. I’ve somehow grown to love The Sleeping City even more in the months since I awarded it a 4.0. Sure, the production leaves much to be desired, but there aren’t any other notable qualities that I would consider faults. It won’t appeal to the exact same audience as the legendary Woe, but I have plenty of room in my heart for both (and likely whatever An Abstract Illusion devises next). It was such an honor to write about this wondrous record.
#1. Black Narcissus // There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten – When I plucked There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten from the promo pit, I was a little skeptical about music made with only bass and drums. It turns out, though, that this minimalist approach—along with excellent songwriting, of course—was the key to unlocking a new realm of possibility within the post-rock genre. The bass blooms unfettered in this distraction-free biome, and the drum tone is crisp and refreshing. The two instruments intertwine to engender a spirit of companionship and exploration. There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten will always have a special place in my heart, and I am grateful to Black Narcissus for sharing this gift.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Judicator – “Concord”
#2025 #Aganoor #AnAbstractIllusion #AncientBards #Anfauglir #Antino #Antinoë #Asira #Bergfried #BlackNarcissus #BlogPosts #Braia #CaveSermon #CrimsonShadows #CripplingAlcoholism #Cryptopsy #DaxRiggs #Depravity #Diabolizer #DormantOrdeal #Gloombound #Halocraft #Igorrr #Imperishable #InMourning #Judicator #Kauan #KingWitch #Lipoma #Lists #Listurnalia #MaudTheMoth #Messa #MoronPolice #MutagenicHost #PhantomSpell #Pissgrave #Puteraeon #Structure #TymeSAndKilljoySTop10IshOf2025 #Valhalore #WyattE
Alekhines Gun
It’s genuinely surreal to be writing this article. This Gun found his whole life flipped upside down literally on New Year’s Eve, in a new town, a new state, unemployed, and with nothing to do but review. By God’s grace, I’ve managed to find an actual career in my new town, walking into a new industry with nothing on my resume but exuberance and enthusiasm.1 This blog, with its incredible set of writers who inspire me daily, and readership who prove endearing and exasperating in equal measure, has been a rare moment of consistency in a year filled with professional and personal uncertainty. I didn’t get to listen to nearly as many albums as I’d hoped to, thanks to this being such a transitional year for my life, and perhaps in years to come, I’ll look back on this list in annoyance. But for the moment, it stands as a monument of achievement; of personal growth and practical accomplishment, and I’m immensely grateful to every reader and commenter for being along with me on this journey.
My thanks to The Angry One for giving me a second chance in my n00b days when it became clear I didn’t understand the assignment; I hope you don’t regret your choice too much.2 Thanks to the main AMG staff for being so friendly and welcoming, especially Mystikus Hugebeard, Dear Hollow, Twelve, and Kenstrosity. My eternal fealty to Steel for enduring what I imagine was an unbearable amount of stupid questions and formatting issues as I got my sea legs under me, and continue to see how much I have yet to grow as a writer.
And lastly, all my love and an Eternal Hails to my Freezer Freak brethren – Tyme, Killjoy, Owlswald, and Clark Kent. You guys were the best n00b class a guy could ask to come up with, and it has been such a privilege to have been formally writing alongside the four of you this year and call you friends as well as colleagues. Cheers to many more.
#Ish: Phobocosm // Gateway – Late release or no, it only took one listen to know this was something I needed in my life. Unrelenting in its atmosphere and with a tone like being devoured by vampire bats, Gateway doesn’t want for a plethora of oppressive moments and maintains its bleakness with admirable consistency. With interludes that function more like proper instrumentals between the more heavy cuts, Phobocosm rotate between blunt force trauma and existential despair in equal measure, flattening brain marrow with kaiju-sized stomptastic riffs only to throw you haplessly into depressive and gloom-drenched melodies the next. The rare kind of death metal peak for a rainy day, open up the gate and let it take you on a journey you might not come back from.
#10: Ancient Death // Ego Dissolution – Ancient Death is a testimony to why you should always read our foul filter excavations. Boasting a styling of, dare I say, classier old school deathisms with a healthy dollop of melody and chuggathons for days, Ego Dissolution is a mighty slab indeed. Kenstrosity quite correctly heaped praise on this release for its rare tonal fusion of Death and The Chasm, and beyond that, it has excellently implemented clean vocals, subtle synth work to bolster doomier moments, and riffs which transition from bludgeoning to esoteric in a heartbeat. Solos are peak, as all good death requires, atmospheres are coated in muck and mire without being underproduced, and even the instrumental stands out as a solid step in the journey on offer. Ego Dissolution deserves better than being a footnote in the annals of filter history, representing a highbrow slab of quality in mood-setting while still offering up violence at every turn.
#9: Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss – These void-worshipers have crafted an album that straddles the line of black, death, and war metal so flawlessly that every trip to their abyss leaves me exhausted and battered, but utterly enthralled. A flawless fusion of riff and atmosphere in equal measure, every ingredient from the militant drumming to the cacophonous vocals is a means to an end, and whether you’re in it more for the former or the latter is entirely irrelevant. Few albums manage to transcend being a collection of tracks into being a completed whole body of work so smoothly, and From the Visceral Abyss does so with blackened bile pouring through pounding through its poisoned veins. Disconcerting in its antagonism yet enthralling in the exactness of its vision, Teitanblood remains an auditory scrying mirror into the deepest pits that we were never meant to gaze upon.
#8: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar – Goldstar is exactly what I had hoped for after the excessively out-there of their previous release: A more riff-centric album, which only just scales down the weird to let the approachability shine through like bait on the unsuspecting listener. To be sure, the alien Gorguts and Voivodisms remain, but this album takes a flavor similar to Alphaville3 and it builds its progressivism on the bones of licks and riffs which don’t take twenty listens to decipher before their foundation is made clear. Virtuoso musicianship remains at a peak, but as the tagline “Nine Class ‘A’ Songs” suggests, Imperial Triumphant have opted less to overwhelm the listener as much as flex on them, with fantastic results. A great introduction if you’re new to the band, and an enthralling listen for the jazz enthusiast and avant-garde black metal fan alike.
#7: Kalaveraztekah // Nikan Axkan – I underrated this a bit during the initial rodeo. While my complaints about the treble-heavy lack of bottom end remain, this is a masterfully composed record which continues to reveal new moments of wonder with each spin. Riffs designed to evoke thematic atmosphere and crush skulls in equal measure abound (“Nikan Axkan”) while remembering to summon the native beauty of the Aztec backdrop (“Yowaltekuhtli”) with skill. Lurching into Morbid Angel flirtations laced with delightful indigenous beats one minute and having haunting clean vocals drenched with horror and ritualism the next, this album is a whirlwind of a listen, a journey through primal soundscapes and human history meshed with technical prowess and grace. Hopefully someone picks them up soon, as they are well deserving of a bigger spotlight, and if you missed our rodeo on this release (shame on you) then you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.
#6: Labryinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality – When I was very young, trancecore was one of the first “heavy” sounds I cut my teeth on, and consequently, my earballs feel right at home in these rifts. Impossibly catchy without being so simple as to offend my intelligence, and featuring electronics that have as much diversity and life in them as any guitar tone, Rift in Reality is a testimony that you can make techno and metal work on albums not named The Key. The blackened production stands in sharp contrast to the piercing, cosmic-echo cleanliness of the electronics, which are always spearheading the melodies but never at the cost of the full band’s heft and power. Spreading their songwriting wings a bit from the last release in more intricate melodies, a smattering of breakdowns, and heavier use of cleans has afforded Labryinthus Stellarum more personality than gimmickries, and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
#5: Oskoreien // Hollow Fangs – It’s been a decent year for the more raw elements of black metal, but these fangs poisoned all who stood in their way. Somehow catchy in its simplicity yet not devoid of moving melodies, Hollow Fangs isn’t as much an innovation of the thing as much as the thing done at peak quality and skill. The cold tones reinforce the melancholy on display in the chord progressions, while the occasional leads sound more introspective than meandering despite their lack of raw noodlage. While I agree with the spirit of Owlswald‘s criticisms, I cannot deny that I continue to be drawn to this record despite its warts. Hollow Fangs has managed to set itself apart this year while not doing much out of the ordinary, containing that X factor that finds me reaching out to it over and over again.
#4: Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons – Like all good Blut Aus Nord albums, I had to let this album come to me, but once it did, it shows no signs of letting up. Somehow sidestepping the melodic trappings of the Memoria Vetusta series into something far more hypnotic yet no less deep in scope, Ethereal Horizons places all its stock on triumphant hypnosis. With nods to several chapters towards the band’s era in composition and production alike, the French kings use the building blocks of their dissonant works and claustrophobic atmospheres to construct something liberating and uplifting, with even the momentary bouts of darkness more atmospheric than truly grueling. I suspect we will find Ethereal Horizons to be an important stepping stone for the next chapter of blackened adventure. For now, adjust expectations away from whatever sequel you were hoping for in their litany of journeys and accept the new horizons showing just past the dawn.
#3: Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence – I was an admitted latecomer to the Cryptopsy brand, stumbling upon their excellent Book of Suffering EPs some years ago. Consequently, I’ve been a staunch defender of their modern era even as I dove backward into the classics and peculiarities. An Insatiable Violence smacks with a validation of all my affections, keeping the technical might while continuing to grow in groovy, melodic directions. True, I should have been a tad harder on the production of the drum tones than I was in my initial review, but tough tiddlywinks. From the sky-piercing beauty of the solo in the opening track “The Nimis Adoration” to the bookending body blow of “Malignant Needs,” this album remains a quality offering of the most elite of brutal death. Succinct in length but with twice the riff-to-minute factor, Cryptopsy stands supreme at the top of the more violent end of the musical spectrum this year.
#2: Messa // The Spin – While part of me deeply misses the droning elements and slightly crustier tone of Belfry, there’s no denying the spiritual journey this album takes me on with each listen. The embodiment of a grower, what begins as a somewhat underwhelming (compared to previous efforts) listen slowly unfurls itself to be an excellently realized, meticulously composed release. Look no further than album highlight “The Dress” for riffs that border more on twangy than “crushing” and yet pack the spirit of the doomiest doom in each measure. Vocalist Sara continues to up her harmonization game with double and triple-tracked melodies that reach right into my soul. Though The Spin is relatively light in guitar tone, each listen reveals a weight and power hidden from track to track, and the fantastic album closer “Thicker Blood” instinctively has me reaching out to replay the album as soon as it ends. Truly gorgeous.
#1: Aran Angmar // Ordo Diabolicum – Since plucking this record at random with no prior knowledge or expectations from the pit, Aran Angmar has stuck with me through professional and personal challenges and victories, tragedies and triumphs, in a manner befitting the greatest of Greek black metal. The harmonized leads in “Chariots of Fire” still dwell rent-free in my head, and the wailing clean vocals of the kickoff track “Dungeons of the Damned” still get my blood pumping every time. Excellent for cleaning your impossibly filthy house, working on a long overdue job project, or slaughtering your enemies by the hundreds in equal measure, Ordo Diabolicum is the sound of perseverance rewarded, of effort given and blood shed for a higher purpose, and actually witnessing the payoff with your own eyes. Sidestepping the tropes of evil for something so supremely triumphant is a move that has paid big dividends for this outfit, and while blackened to its core, few soundtracks have encouraged me to keep on keepin’ on like this has. A monstrous record to declare war on whatever oppresses you.
Honorable Mentions:
ClarkKent
When I first discovered the Angry Metal Guy blog back in 2021,4 it was during a period of transition in my life, as COVID spurred a career transition out of teaching and, eventually, into data analytics. At the time, my metal tastes were limited to more well-known acts like Metallica and Iron Maiden, with forays into Opeth, Enslaved, and Ayreon. Boy, did this blog expand my horizon. Between taking online classes and staying home with my two kids, I devoured AMG reviews and dove into the vast ocean of metal acts that both the writers and commenters introduced me to. And then, when Angry Metal Guy put out the casting call later that year, I was out of a job and always wanted to be a writer, so I thought, Why not? Little did I know this decision would see me stored in a freezer for four long years. Thankfully, when I thawed out last year, it was with four great guys who all kept each other sane during our n00bship: Alekhines Gun, Tyme, Killjoy, and Owlswald. I’m happy to have had their camaraderie and friendship, and I’m stoked that all five of us were demoted to staff writers. I am also grateful to Steel Druhm and Angry Metal Guy for bringing me aboard, despite my horrid taste, and to Dolphin Whisperer and Maddog for their helpful tips and feedback on my drafts. As Steel would say, you guys were gentle, yet brutal, and in the best possible way. With 2025 proving a stressful year, largely due to increasing work demands, listening to promos and writing reviews has proven a helpful outlet. I’m looking forward to an awesome 2026.
#ish. Bloodletter // Leave the Light Behind — While staying true to their melothrash sound, Bloodletter continues to improve in their songwriting year after year. This is easily their best and my favorite thrash record of the year, in a year where not much thrash really stood out to me. The tight songwriting, the energy, and the melodic leads are all top-notch, and this one stands up even after repeated spins.
#10. Wings of Steel // Winds of Time — This was one of my favorite reviews to write in 2025. Not just because the album was big and fun, with big bombastic numbers like the opening song “Winds of Time,” or tight and speedy cuts like “Saints and Sinners,” or ballads like “Crying,” or my song of the year, “Flight of the Eagle.” It gave me the rare opportunity to write fart jokes and the even rarer chance to “steal” a promo from Steel. So many throwback classic metal bands sound like they belong in that older time, but Wings of Steel sound timeless—they could belong in the new and the then all at the same time.
#9. Besna // Krásno — While I’m not typically drawn to post-metal, Besna’s Krásno proves an exception. The harsh guitar tones and vocals provide an alluring contrast with the catchy melodic tremolos. Despite its brief length, this is a surprisingly progressive album. Each song reveals a beauty to Besna’s songwriting and musicianship, and that album art is gorgeous, to boot. I love everything Besna does here, and this proved to be just the beginning of what was a strong start to 2025.
#8. Green Carnation // A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia — I’m glad Doc Grier introduced Green Carnation to me when Leaves of Yesteryear topped his 2020 list. I love this band, and this record is no exception. It has six tracks of pure earworm and ends up being one of the catchiest albums of the year. These guys know how to write songs that make you feel good and want to dance and sing along to. What’s more exciting is that this is the first of a planned trilogy, so hopefully that means we don’t have to wait long for the next one.
#7. Phantom Spell // Heather and Hearth — Heather and Hearth is like a time machine, one taking you back to ’70s era prog. Man, it’s a lot of fun. It’s catchy and bright—a shining beacon amidst a horde of brutal, violent metal. This is packed to the gills with hooks, from spry riffs to feel-good synths to memorable choruses. Metal rarely puts a smile on your face without sounding like cheesy power metal à la Fellowship, but Phantom Spell does it here. Apparently, this kind of bright and cheery metal was just what I needed this year, and it proved a nice summer balm.
#6. Atlantic // Timeworn — When I first listened to this earlier in the year, I just assumed it was the work of an established, well-known band. So it was a surprise to learn Timeworn was actually the debut from a relative newcomer in Callan Hoy. Something about 2025 has drawn me towards these uplifting albums that burst with good feelings and catchy melodies. For the 34 minutes I spend with this, I just get lost in the currents of the tremolos and blast beats and, at least for a moment, live in a world of calm and bliss.
#5. In the Woods… // Otra — This sort of melodic, catchy metal is my kryptonite. In the Woods… plays the kind of songs that get lodged in my brain, and I start whistling them while doing my grocery shopping, drawing funny looks. I’d never heard of these guys until Grier’s review earlier this year, and now I’m thinking maybe I should dive into their back catalog. More worryingly, this is the second album on my list that Grier gave a glowing review for. That means either he actually has good taste, or my taste is just as bad as his.
#4. Oromet // The Sinking Isle — If I had a time machine, I’d go back and rate this one a little higher. This isn’t a “marathon” like some of Bell Witch’s records, nor a piece of crushing funeral doom, nor one that makes extensive use of silence. It is introspective, full of surprises, and melodic. It also came at a period in my life when work was particularly stressful. Playing this helped provide me with some solace and calm as I took in the beautiful compositions. These guys have a bright future ahead of them.
#3. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power — After the misstep that was Infinite Granite, it’s nice to see Deafheaven back to form. I was ready to write them off, but thanks to Doom_et_Al’s impassioned words, I excitedly dove in. I’m glad I did. I now know their form of shoegaze-y black metal is divisive among metal fans (I was clueless about this fact when I first discovered them), but I don’t care, and I still love it. It’s just so easy to get lost in those lush guitar tones and harsh rasps. It’s tough to pick out any one tune as a standout because it’s the experience of the record as a whole that is so rewarding.
#2. In Mourning // The Immortal — This is a remarkable piece of melodic progressive death. I hadn’t heard of In Mourning until Kenstrosity and the other AMG staffers started talking them up ahead of this release. It seems I’ve really missed out and need to fix that. The Immortal is just about perfect. From song craft to musical performances, these guys nail it. From the beautiful guitar tones to the excellent combo of clean and harsh vox to the memorable melodies, The Immortal is an emotional tour de force that grows more majestic with each spin.
#1. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria — When I first moved away from more mainstream metal acts, it was progressive death bands like Tómarúm that drew me in. Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, Enslaved, and Ayreon opened up my ears to the reward of listening to songs that reveal new layers and depth with repeated listening. Each year, one or two prog death records climb high in my rankings, and this year that mantle belongs to Tómarúm. This record is massive, and the more time I spend with it, the more depths I plumb, and I find that it contains never-ending riches. There are just so many surprises—the technicality, the speed, the melodies—even some flutes! As great as the debut was, these guys have only gotten better and have earned a spot as one of my current favorites in the genre, along with Iotunn and Dvne. This is the kind of album I love to get lost in—it’s pure bliss.
Honorable Mentions
Songs o’ the Year
1. Wings of Steel — “Flight of the Eagle” 2. Lord of the Lost — “One of Us Will Be Next” 3. In the Woods — “Let Me Sing” 4. Hanging Garden — “Morgan’s Trail” 5. Fer de Lance — “Fires on the Mountainside” 6. Tómarúm — “Shed this Erroneous Skin” 7. Green Carnation — “In Your Paradise” 8. Structure — “Will I Deserve It?” 9. Atlantic — “Voyages” 10. In Mourning — “Staghorn” 11. Dolven — “You’ve Chosen”
Owlswald
I’ve finally made it to the end of my first year on staff, culminating with my inaugural list. This time last year, I was deep in the throes of my n00bdom and watched from the dark confines of the dungeon as many of my Freezer Crew brethren shared their initial staff lists. And as stoked as I was for my mates, I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous that I was still toiling with cleanup detail as an unnamed shadow. But the wheel of ascent turns for us all. After a few more months surviving on table scraps and standing water, our Managing Ape unlocked my cage, releasing me at last into the aviary and the promised start of my pledged service bound labor.
Though my escape from the rookery took longer, that extended time was not without its merits. Reviewing is a skill that must be honed like any other, and although metal—and music generally—has been an essential part of my life since I was young, it has admittedly taken longer for me to truly articulate the “why.” Anyone can declare an album “good” or “bad,” but developing and communicating the rationale is an entirely different discipline. A discipline that I believe I have improved over my first year as a writer here, and one that I look forward to developing further with more time in the seat.
My thanks go out, first and foremost, to Steel and AMG Himself for granting me the opportunity to contribute to this very special, longstanding community and for the monumental trust they have placed in me. Specifically, the trust that I wouldn’t utterly trash the place—a faith I’ve done my best to test (More on one attempt below). I must also thank my fellow writers—both old and new, including those now in the annals of AMG—who I’ve read for years and whose work continues to inspire me. And last, but certainly not least, I thank all of you who read, comment and visit the site regularly. The reality that my thoughts command even a sliver of your precious time remains utterly surreal. For that connection, I am truly honored.
Taking this good energy and running with it, let’s get to the list!
#ish. Harvested // Dysthymia – I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me at the start of the year that my first list would be kicked off by an unsigned band. But here we are, and Harvested’s self-released debut, Dysthymia, deserves the honor because it fucking rules. Operating in the sweet spot between Decapitated and Cattle Decapitation, the album boasts one of the best guitar tones of the year. These Canadians flaunt a songwriting maturity that many veteran groups twice their age still haven’t found—a sound that is as bone-crushingly heavy as it is technically brutal. I have been spinning Dysthymia regularly since its release, and highlight tracks like “Unending Madness” and “Gathered and Deluded” make primo Heavy Moves Heavy additions.
#10. Jade // Mysteries of a Flowery Dream – Some albums demand the right conditions and the listener’s utmost attention to enjoy fully, and Jade’s Mysteries of a Flowery Dream is such a record. Though it took a while for their sophomore effort to envelop me in its dark, murky, and oscillating guise, I’m glad I remained patient because the payoff was huge. This Barcelonian quartet has created a sensory-rich listening experience that is as immersive as it is complex and dynamic, featuring superb songwriting intertwined with recurrent themes and soaring leads that ensure the album’s 43 minutes feel unified and purposeful. Achieving this level of cohesive, complex dynamism is a feat that is incredibly hard to execute well, which makes Mysteries of a Flowery Dream all the more impressive.
#9. Pillars of Cacophony // Paralipomena – Each year, one tech-death record usually carves out a spot on my list. Last year, Apogean’s Cyberstrictive set an incredibly high bar, taking album of the year honors with its near-perfect blend of hook-laden guitar maneuvers and groove-focused rhythms. While tech-death won’t be repeating as champion in 2025, Pillars of Cacophony are nonetheless representing the genre in a major way with Paralipomena. The album showcases multi-instrumentalist Dominik’s talents in crafting unsettling, unpredictable soundscapes filled with propulsive fretwork, dissonant phrases, and kinetic rhythmic patterns. Drawing directly from Dominik’s own research as a bioscientist, Paralipomena coils science with the aural might of death metal to create a record that is as conceptually authentic as it is musically captivating.
#8. King Witch // III – Doom—and more specifically stoner—has always been hit-or-miss to these ears. But on III, Scotland’s King Witch grabbed the best parts of the genre and compressed them into a Seattle-made mold of hard rock and grunge that immediately won me over. The album is the culmination of the group’s artistic evolution, combining the strong songwriting of their debut with the dynamic shifts of their follow-up. Guitarist Jamie Gilchrist and bassist Rory Lee assemble a sophisticated foundation of earthmoving, genre-bending riffs that perfectly augment the star power of vocalist Laura Donnelly, whose Chris Cornell-like range and Janis Joplin grit give the material undeniable power and command. The result is a sound that elevates III far beyond typical doom boundaries into one of the year’s best records.
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound – I initially missed Agriculture’s self-titled debut and follow-up EP, so The Spiritual Sound was my first introduction to this Californian black metal outfit. But after months of having this record on constant rotation—and seeing their live show—I can confidently conclude they are one of the most innovative and unique black metal groups operating right now. Self-dubbed as “ecstatic black metal,” Agriculture shatters convention by challenging the dark extremity of the genre with a patchwork of math rock, shoegaze, noise, and folk influences. Powered by Leah Levinson’s manic, shifting vocals and inventive guitar work from Dan Meyer and Richard Chowenhill, The Spiritual Sound is a genre-defying record that is both unpredictable and intensely authentic.
#6. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence – Outside of my admiration for fellow drummer extraordinaire Flo Mounier, I have to admit that I had more or less forgotten about Cryptopsy after 2012’s self-titled album. Thanks to my fellow Freezer Crew brother Alekhines Gun, I gave them another go, and An Insatiable Violence hit me like a ton of bricks, forcing me to quickly figure out how to start begging these Canadians for forgiveness. From Matt McGachy’s unique, manic screams to Mounier’s pummeling gravity blasts and double-bass to Christian Donaldson’s “waltz-rooted chuggathons” and fret noises, every aspect of An Insatiable Violence is crystal clear, full of groove and hits like a fucking tank. Needless to say, I won’t be making the same mistake twice, and these death metal legends now have my full attention again.
#5. …and Oceans // The Regeneration Itinerary – Being a longtime fan of these multifarious Finns, I rejoiced when they returned from an extended hiatus in 2020 with Cosmic World Mother. Yet, as strong as that album—and follow-up As in Gardens, So in Tombs—was, it didn’t have the same symphonic and eclectic oomph as The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts or The Symmetry of I – The Circle of O. Much to my pleasure, The Regeneration Itinerary is a riveting return to form for …and Oceans, returning to their symphonic, frenetic and blackened sound of yore while maintaining the incisiveness of their modern form. This album is peppered with their classic trademarks, and “Prophetical Mercury Implement” is the best song the group has written in decades. After taking a couple of albums to get their groove back, The Regeneration Itinerary is evidence that …and Oceans has found it again.
#4. Messa // The Spin – Messa’s fourth full-length marks the second doom record on my list (and the second led by a badass frontwoman). On The Spin, Messa continues to evolve their progressive identity, imbuing their sound with flavors of 80’s dark post-punk and gothic rock that evoke the haunting architecture of early Killing Joke. While Sara’s vocals may not possess the same boisterous power as Laura Donnelly’s, her spellbinding presence and seductive delivery make The Spin simply irresistible. Guitarist Alberto complements Sara’s bewitching and buttery croons with sparkling arpeggios and overdriven solos steeped heavily in the classic occult groups of the ’70s. It’s clear Messa is operating on a completely different level than their peers, and I can’t get enough of The Spin.
#3. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – You always remember your first. Buried Realm’s The Dormant Darkness was my first full review on staff, a record that I am forever grateful Twelve decided to waive his seniority over and allow my newly-clipped wings to review because it ended up surprising the hell out of me. Josh Dummer’s technical melodeath project came out firing on all cylinders with its third album, upping the virtuosity with a slew of new guests. It is full of highlights, memorable hooks, and technically impressive solos and is a non-stop blast. In fact, I loved The Dormant Darkness so much that I committed the cardinal sin of breaking the score counter immediately—an action that can quickly get one thrown into the woodchipper of despair. Luckily, I am still here to tell the tale, and now I have my love of The Dormant Darkness to show for it.
#2. Tómarúm // Beyond Obsidian Euphoria – If there was ever a year for me to look for a #1A/#1B scenario, this would have been it, as I floundered back and forth between this album and my #1 pick. Chalk it up to indecision or whatever you must, but ultimately, one can’t go wrong with either in this instance. In short, Tómarúm’s Beyond Obsidian Euphoria is long-form progressive death metal greatness. Razor-sharp technicality, sparkling melodicism, and excellent songwriting form a weighty spirit that counterbalances crushing heft with airy refrains that move and flow seamlessly across its rewarding 70-minute runtime. There isn’t much more I can say here that Sponge-fren Ken‘s aptly penned review didn’t capture already, outside of stating that Tómarúm‘s opus is as close to perfect in both structure and execution as one can get. To put it simply, it’s a triumph.
#1. In Mourning // The Immortal – Speaking of perfection, In Mourning have achieved such a standard with their latest melodeath offering, The Immortal. After our Almighty Overlord listened to The Immortal following the flurry of votes the record received for August’s Record O’ the Month, he responded with a few choice words that captured my thoughts about the album succinctly: “Damn…” he said. “They nailed this. Well, that’s easy.” But I think that is even an understatement for how incredibly awesome this album is, and, doing one better, I don’t think many have grasped it yet, either. With their seventh album, these Swedes have found the perfect combination of their patented Opethian death metal chuggery, sadboi melodies, and creative dynamism, resulting in a sound rich in emotional depth with more digestible hooks than one can handle. I’m talking hooks—both riffs and vocal melodies—that dig deep into your psyche and never let go. They connect on a different level—a telltale sign we’re dealing with a classic. A decade from now, when In Mourning has hopefully amassed an even deeper discography, should the question arise—”What is the most essential melodeath album of the last ten years?”—I’m willing to bet The Immortal will be the resounding answer.
Honorable Mentions
Song o’ the Year
Ambush // “Bending the Steel” – This surprise pick eventually knocked …and Oceans’ “Prophetical Mercury Implement” from the top spot. It’s a brilliant piece of songwriting that would have immediately launched this act to superstardom had it only been released four decades earlier. 100% nostalgia and cold, hard steel.
#AndOceans #2025 #AbigailWilliams #Aephenamer #Agriculture #AlekhinesGunS #Ambush #AnAbstractIllusion #AncientDeath #AranAngmar #Atlantic #Besna #Bianca #BlogLists #Bloodletter #BlutAusNord #BuriedRealm #ClarkKentSAndOwlswaldSTopTenIshOf2025 #Cryptopsy #Deafheaven #EmpyreanSanctum #Fallujah #GreenCarnation #Harvested #ImperialTriumphant #InMourning #InTheWoods #Jade #Kalaveraztekah #KingWitch #LabryinthusStellarum #Lists #Messa #MutagenicHost #Oromet #Oskoreien #PhantomSpell #Phobocosm #PillarsOfCacophony #Skaldr #Teitanblood #Tómarúm #WingsOfSteel
Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!
More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.
We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.
2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!
As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.
Grymm
#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.
Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.
Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:
Song o’ the Year:
El Cuervo
#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
GardensTale
#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Non-metal Albums of the Year:
Mark Z.
#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.
Honorable Mention:
Song (Title) o’ the Year:
Song o’ the Year:
Carcharodon
#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.
Honorable Mentions:
Songs o’ the Year:
Mysticus Hugebeard
#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.
Honorable Mentions:
Songs o’ the Year:
The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi
Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker
The Trial of Socrates by Thumos
Disappointment(s) o’ the year:
Samguineous Maximus
#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.
Honorable Mentions
Song o’ the Year:
Spicie Forrest
#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Grin Reaper
(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.
Honorable Mentions:
Songs o’ the Year:
Andy-War-Hall
#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Lavender Larcenist
#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Creeping Ivy
#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Baguette of Bodom
#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.
Honorable Mentions:
Song o’ the Year:
Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull
#1914 #2025 #AZ #AbigailWilliams #Abominator #Aephanemer #Agriculture #AmIInTrouble #Amalekim #Ambush #Amorphis #AnAbstractIllusion #ApocalypseOrchestra #Arkhaaik #Asira #Astronoid #Atlantic #AvaMendozaGabbyFlukeMogalCarolinaPérez #Aversed #Besna #BetweenTheBuriedAndMe #Bianca #Blackbraid #Blasphamagoatachrist #Blindfolded #BlogLists #Bloodywood #BlutAusNord #Bruit #BuriedRealm #CalvaLouise #CaveSermon #Changeling #Chestcrush #Coroner #CrimsonShadows #CripplingAlcoholism #DawnOfSolace #DaxRiggs #Deafheaven #DeathYell #Décryptal #Defigurement #DerWegEinerFreiheit #DolmenGate #DormantOrdeal #DragonSkull #DyingWish #Dynazty #Fange #FellOmen #Flummox #Gazpacho #GhostBath #Gorycz #Grima #Guts #HangoverInMinsk #Hasard #Havukruunu #Hexrot #HoodedMenace #Igorr #Igorrr #II #ImperialTriumphant #JonathanHultén #Kauan #LabyrinthusStellarum #Lipoma #Lists #Lorde #LornaShore #Lychgate #MaleficThrone #Messa #MoronPolice #Motherless #MutagenicHost #Nephylim #NightFlightOrchestra #Nite #Novarupta #OllieWride #Ophelion #OrbitCulture #Oromet #Panopticon #ParadiseLost #PedestalForLeviathan #PerditionTemple #PetrifiedGiant #PhantomSpell #PrimitiveMan #Proscription #Psychonaut #PupilSlicer #Puteraeon #Qrixkuor #Revocation #SallowMoth #Saor #ShadowOfIntent #ShayferJames #ShedTheSkin #Sigh #SoldSoul #Species #Spiritbox #Starscourge #SteelArctus #StevenWilson #Strigiform #Structure #Suncraft #Suotana #Teitanblood #TheAMGStaffPickTheirTopTenIshOf2025 #TheMidnight #Thron #Thumos #Turian #ÜltraRaptör #Urn #VenomousEchoes #VictimOfFire #Walg #Wardruna #WeepingSores #WyattE #WytchHazel #YellowEyes #Yellowcard #ZéroAbsolu
RE: https://metalhead.club/@NoRestfortheWicked/115730206641504589
Also #PhantomSpell ist mal so richtig gut! Von Zeit zu Zeit mag ich’s einfach genau so! Als hätten #Kansas und #SpocksBeard ein Kind bekommen. Mit a bissl Powermetal dazu. Sehr gut🤘
#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
BravePicks 2025 – PHANTOM SPELL’s Heather & Hearth #20
https://bravewords.com/hard-rock/bravepicks-2025-phantom-spells-heather-hearth-20/
#PHANTOMSPELL #Heather #Hearth #EP #BraveWords #metal #music
Wytch Hazel: Heaven & Spell tour 2026 with special guests Phantom Spell
Wytch Hazel are set to embark on their first headline tour in spring 2026, following the critical success of their fifth album V: Lamentations. The Heaven & Spell Tour will see the band perform across Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, joined by Phantom Spell for a run of dates that promises to be both immersive and unforgettable.
This is a huge moment for us. I’m absolutely thrilled to be announcing our very first headline tour. We’re joined by friends and kindred spirits Phantom Spell—I couldn’t imagine a better pairing. We’re already putting everything into making these shows truly special. I can’t wait to see our amazing fans on this run of dates. – Frontman Colin Hendra.
The tour brings together two acts with deep roots in the UK’s underground metal scene. Hendra and Phantom Spell’s Kyle McNeal have shared stages and creative visions since the early 2010s, when Wytch Hazel and Seven Sisters first began to draw attention for their distinctive sound and commitment to classic influences.
Audiences can expect a journey through musical landscapes shaped by medieval imagery, spiritual themes and the golden age of 1970s rock. The Heaven & Spell Tour is a celebration of storytelling, atmosphere and the enduring power of melody. It is a rare chance to experience two bands at the height of their creative powers, offering a glimpse into other worlds through sound.
Tickets are available via Dragon Productions: https://vivenu.com/seller/dragon-productions-uwxk
Wytch Hazel: https://wytchhazel.com/
Phantom Spell: https://linktr.ee/phantomspell
#dragonProductions #hardRock #HeavenSpellTour #HeavyMetal #NWOTHM #PhantomSpell #progRock #thenwothm #thenwothmCom #WytchHazel
The top 50 NWOTHM albums of all time!
28–42 minutesThe New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal is a hard genre to make this sort of list for. It has no definite start point or even any real sound continuity between artists within the movement. In many ways, NWOTHM is less of a genre and more of a movement for bands within the community to say ‘f*ck you!’ to major labels, and over-produced corporate schlock, and return to the DIY ethos that made heavy metal so great and part of what made it appeal to so many. Because of that, you may see some artists on this list who don’t quite fit the mold for what you might believe NWOTHM truly is. After painstakingly combing the internet for reviews, mentions, and even little anecdotes for over 500(!) ‘trad metal’ albums, I was able to narrow it down to 50. Seriously, this took over a year of work. Please clap!
Obviously, more popular acts were going to get more mentions, so my only major criteria was no more than 2 albums per artist, and for an album to have been released after 2008. Similarly, no reunion albums from veteran bands were considered, despite their quality and importance to the movement. That’s a separate list 😉
*2008 was chosen as it was the release year for the debut albums for multiple major NWOTHM acts.
With that out of the way, I would like to quickly shoutout the forefathers of NWOTHM; 3 Inches of Blood, Wolf, Twisted Tower Dire, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, and of course the unholy trinity of Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol, and Heavy Load.
All bands and albums included in this list were selected through extensive independent research, drawing on reviews, interviews, mentions, and community discussions across multiple sources.
50. Spirit Adrift- Divided by Darkness (2019)49. Tanith- In Another Time (2019)48. Sanhedrin- Lights On (2022)47. Angel Sword- Rebels Beyond the Pale (2016)46. Helms Deep- Treacherous Ways (2023)45. Gatekeeper- From Western Shores (2023)44. The Wizar’d- Subterranean Exile (2020)43. Century- The Conquest of Time (2023)42. Haunt- Mind Freeze (2020)41. Konquest- Time and Tyranny (2022)40. Smoulder- Violent Creed of Vengeance (2023)39. Borrowed Time (2013)38. White Wizzard- Infernal Overdrive (2018)37. Smoulder- Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (2019)36. In Solitude (2008)35. Tower- Shock to the System (2021)34. Skull Fist- Head öf the Pack (2011)33. Portrait- Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae (2011)32. Unto Others/Idle Hands- Mana (2019/2021)31. Riot City- Burn the Night (2019)30. Traveler- Termination Shock (2020)29. Triumpher- Storming the Walls (2023)28. Steelwing- Zone of Alienation (2012)27. Pharaoh- Bury the Light (2012)26. The Night Eternal- Fatale (2023)25. Briton Rites- For Mircalla (2010)24. Visigoth- Conqueror’s Oath (2018)23. Sonja- Loud Arriver (2022)22. Herzel- Le Dernier Rempart (2021)21. Lucifer’s Hammer- Be And Exist (2024)20. White Wizzard- Over the Top (2010)19. Phantom Spell- Immortal’s Requiem (2022)18. Crypt Sermon- The Ruins of Fading Light (2019)17. Sumerlands- Dreamkiller (2022)16. Steelwing- Lord of the Wasteland (2010)15. Enforcer- From Beyond (2015)14. Blood Star- First Sighting (2023)13. Savage Oath- Divine Battle (2024)12. Traveler (2019)11. Argus- Beyond the Martyrs (2013)10. Atlantean Kodex- The White Goddess (2013)9. Visigoth- The Revenant King (2015)8. Sacred Outcry- Towers of Gold (2023)7. Eternal Champion- Ravening Iron (2020)6. Sacred Outcry- Damned For All Time (2020)5. Satan’s Hallow (2017)4. Eternal Champion- The Armor of Ire (2016)3. In Solitude- Sister (2013)2. Demon Bitch- Hellfriends (2016)1. Enforcer- Diamonds (2010)50. Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness (2019)
Representing a critical point in Spirit Adrift’s history is their 3rd full-length, wherein they begin to more fully shed their doom metal roots in favor of a traditional heavy metal sound. This gives Divided by Darkness a sound unlike the rest of their catalogue, a veritable ‘best of both worlds’ sort of album. While the more slow and doomy tracks like “Angel & Abyss” showcase front man Nate Garrett mastery of the melancholy with his sorrowful sounding words, other tracks, such as the opener “We Will Not Die” are more closer in-line with Spirit Adrift’s later work. Finally, it all culminates in the near-7-minute instrumental triumph that is “The Way of Return”.
49. Tanith – In Another Time (2019)
Reeking of Rush and Uriah Heep influences, plus a bit of Rainbow and Heart thrown in, Tanith might not seem like the typical NWOTHM act, and that’s true. But that’s also what makes them such a great part of the movement, their uniqueness. Featuring the awesome dual vocals of Cindy Maynard and Satan/Blind Fury/Pariah guitarist Russ Tippins, and with standouts like “Dionysus” and “Citadel (Galantia Pt.1)”, Tanith’s debut is one that is not to be missed, and one that I’m very glad I picked up on a blind buy.
48. Sanhedrin – Lights On (2022)
Much like Tanith, Sanhedrin takes a bit more influence from 70s progressive rock than one might expect for a trad metal band, but it’s that aspect that gives the Brooklyn band an easily identifiable sound. On this, their third record, Erica Stoltz’ incredible vocals ring out with tinges of everything from Ann Wilson to Joan Jett to Suzi Quatro, and even some touches of Janis Joplin. I still remember being blown away on my first listen, and there’s no such thing as diminished returns with this one. Standout tracks like “Scythian Women”, “Lost at Sea”, “Death is a Door”, and “Correction” make sure of that.
47. Angel Sword – Rebels Beyond the Pale (2016)
The debut record from the Helsinki foursome arguably remains their best. From the rough and ragged vocals, to the thumping of the drums, Rebels Beyond the Pale is as raw as it gets without it undermining the actual music in the slightest. Still present are Angel Sword’s almost uncanny melodies and the strangely blues-like guitar sections, particularly in the track “Midnight Survivor”. It reeks of NWOBHM influences with riffs straight outta Saxon and choruses like Holocaust, and even the little sprinklings of doom thrown in, but it’s that little jolt of melody that gives it such a cool feel.
46. Helms Deep – Treacherous Ways (2023)
Featuring two members of NWOBHM legends Raven, the perennially underrated John Gallagher and current Raven and former Fear Factory drummer Mike Heller, Helms Deep’s debut offering was a proper shot in the arm at its release. Right away from seeing the cover, I knew we were in for something special, but nothing could’ve prepared me for how perfect this record was. A major boon for this record is undoubtedly its production, something that many trad metal releases can fall short on, but not this one. Each piece of Helms Deep is crisp and clean, but there’s a still a rawness to the production to give it that nice metal sheen. While having that experienced talent behind the music might turn away some folks looking for fresh blood, Treacherous Ways has all of the freshness that a band of young twenty-somethings could put out but with twice the musicianship and technicality. Also, would you believe that this is somehow the first metal band named Helms Deep to put out a full-length record?
45. Gatekeeper – From Western Shores (2023)
Featuring Jeff Black, who is somehow connected to just about every Canadian trad/power band of the last 15 years, and Odinfist vocalist Tyler Anderson, Gatekeeper’s second full-length had a lot of talent behind it, and a lot of hype to live up to. Right from the start, From Western Shores presents itself in a more epic sense than its predecessor, East of Sun, which is still a banger. Of particular note is the way in which some of Anderson’s verses come off as near bardic, evoking some serious Blind Guardian influence. Nowhere is this felt more than in the 3rd track “Shadow and Stone”. Similarly, drummer Tommy Tro is absolutely on fire throughout the record. All of these pieces put together bring a monumental record that culminates in the nearly 9-minute- long triumph “Keepers of the Gate”.
44. The Wizar’d – Subterranean Exile (2020)
Another vanguard of the ‘doomed heavy metal’ micro-genre of trad metal, Australia’s The Wizar’d struck gold with their fourth, and most recent release. With vocals that sound like equal parts Mark the Shark (Manilla Road) and Terry Jones (Pagan Altar), riffs ripped straight from the mid-to-late seventies, think the heavier tracks from Blue Öyster Cult. All told, these pieces allow for the record to sit somewhere on the more Eternal Champion and Sumerlands side of NWOTHM. In this writer’s opinion, the second half of this record is masterful and worthy of more heavy praise. It’s a perfect record to listen to while you try to hunt down the evil warlord who killed your family.
43. Century – The Conquest of Time (2023)
I remember being hooked on Century when their ‘The Fighting Eagle’ single first dropped in 2022, and their debut full-length certainly did not disappoint. Featuring talents from fellow NWOTHM warriors Lethal Steel and Tøronto, there’s an air of experience permeating throughout the otherwise fresh-feeling album. With production to positively die for (seriously the bass-tone in this is immaculate, rivaling Satan ‘Court in the Act’, in my opinion), this stood out from the pack in a very crowded 2023 release lineup. On my relisten for this very list, this one shot up on my personal favorites list.
42. Haunt – Mind Freeze (2020)
Released right at the start of a thoroughly stacked year, Mind Freeze was Haunt’s 3rd full-length in as many years and the Trevor William Church train showed no signs of slowdown or fatigue. In fact, Mind Freeze is arguably the Haunt album to this day, it’s one that every collector of modern traditional heavy metal should own. The introduction of synthesizers/keys did wonders to set it apart from the crowded NWOTHM scene, and those same synths have been adapted by countless artists since then. With standouts like the title track and “Divide and Conquer”, Haunt’s Mind Freeze is a tour de force of heavy metal goodness.
41. Konquest – Time and Tyranny (2022)
The sophomore release from this Italian one-man project (except for live shows) is a prime example of how metal can remain both raw and melodic without losing any of what makes it ‘metal’, not to mention the exceptional riffage throughout. While the entire album is beyond solid, particularly “The Traveller”, it’s ultimately the 8 minute (9 if you include the penultimate intro) closing track “Warrior From A Future World” that steals the show. It presents a very late Golden Age Iron Maiden (Somewhere in Time/Seventh Son) inspired track with all of the gravitas that one would expect from such a comparison.
40. Smoulder – Violent Creed of Vengeance (2023)
One of my personal favorites of recent years, from a niche genre that I’ve grown quite familiar with of late (that of epic doom). Smoulder’s second full-length, features everything that made the original great, exemplary lyrics of sword-and-sorcery, killer album cover, and an insane set of pipes for vocalist Sarah Ann. When many hear the term ‘doom’, that may evoke thoughts of albums that plod along for over an hour or more and don’t go much of anywhere. Smoulder bucks that trend tenfold with shorter records that embark on great adventure. In particular, “Dragonslayer’s Doom” must be shouted out as an absolute all-timer.
39. Borrowed Time (2013)
Somewhat of a forgotten gem of NWOTHM’s juvenility, and one that has retroactively became something of a ‘supergroup’ project that featured future talents from Gatekeeper, Viperwitch, Demon Bitch, Syrinx, Traveler, and more. While rife with a youthful rawness that would be refined on the members later projects, Borrowed Time’s sole full-length offers straight-up Manilla Road worship a few years before such a style became much more commonplace.
38. White Wizzard – Infernal Overdrive (2018)
The band’s final album before their brief break-up featured the return of vocalist Wyatt “Screamin’ Demon” Anderson, and in many ways is sort of the White Wizzard equivalent to Judas Priest’s classic ‘Painkiller’ record. It’s also one of the more beefy albums on this list, clocking in at over 61 minutes. In fact, that extra meat, combined with the more intricate song structures of earlier albums, gives this one an almost progressive feel at points. If you’re familiar with White Wizzard’s discography, this album is a lot like the second half of their 2011 sophomore album “Flying Tigers”, wherein the final half of the album is much more progressive and conceptual.
37. Smoulder – Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (2019)
From the moment of the first chord on “Ilian of Garathorm”, you know you’re in for something special. This was the album that first turned me onto epic doom, and led to me find the members other projects like Manacle and Olórin, which only dug me deeper and deeper down the dungeon of doom. Ultimately, Smoulder’s debut offers much of the same that its successor would later bring to the table, that being awesome sword-and-sorcery epic doom. Why this one ranked higher than its successor came down to one of the few personal biases I allowed into this list; I slightly prefer the production on this one. Kevin Hester’s drums and Sarah Ann’s vocals just felt like they had a bit more oomph here. But this was a super close one. Smoulder’s EP Dream Quest Ends also deserves a mention, as it’s arguably on par with both full-length records.
36. In Solitude (2008)
The debut from one of the premier acts of the early trad metal revival wasted no time in winning over fans of the old school, with an opening riff ripped straight out of the 80s. Throughout a listen, it becomes clear that In Solitude draws more from the Mercyful Fate/King Diamond side of things as opposed to the Iron Maiden side, but with a bit of the ruggedness of early Bathory or Celtic Frost. They’re very much a band whose influence only continues to grow, as more and more artists in the trad scene harken back to them. With most of the members still in their teens, or just about to leave them, at the time of release In Solitude’s first effort is one that is filled with an angsty youthfulness that is nearly impossible to replicate as a band ages. It’s rough, it’s raw, and it’s pure heavy fn’ metal.
35. Tower – Shock to the System (2021)
Released in 2021, a few years after Tower endured a brief breakup, Shock to the System is an achievement in the more hard rockin’ side of trad metal (a la Freeways). I can’t discuss this record and not talk about Sarabeth’s simple incredible set of pipes, her screams and wails are unlike any other. Seriously, I have no idea how she didn’t destroy her vocal chords after the opening track “Blood Moon”. With additional highlights like “Lay Down the Law” and “Running Out of Time” This is a record that is definitely an example of ‘all killer, no filler’.
34. Skull Fist – Head öf the Pack (2011)
What a strong start these Canadian lads had! It was very much a coin flip between this one and its follow-up ‘Chasing A Dream’. Following in the footsteps of fellow speed/trad metallers Enforcer and Metalian, Skull Fist’s debut presents an onslaught of frenetically paced speed metal with enough melody to leak over into power metal territory. The rip-roaring title track that opens the album is only a tiny taste of the pure and unfiltered speed metal ensemble that awaits further into the album’s 43 minute runtime. In particular, the final two tracks “No False Metal” and the Tokyo Blade cover “Attack Attack” stand as highlights and a great way to close the record.
33. Portrait – Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae (2011)
The sophomore release from these Swedish Mercyful Fate worshippers began a streak that continues to this day; one of consistency. Each of Portrait’s now six albums is good-to-great with not a stinker in the whole lot. Per Karlson’s incredibly pipes are on full display throughout, and with their own unique cadence to them in a way that makes them not at all derivative of the King himself. Wasting no time with the near 8 minute powerhouse “Beast of Fire”, CLMD offers more than another MF/KD homage band, the songs are all beefy in length that almost gives them a progressive element. That’s not even beginning to mention the absolute thunder behind the drumming from Anders Persson, or the twin riff beatdown behind the axes, or the nonstop thumping of the bass-axe (Are basses also called “axes”?). Upon a relisten for this list, I found myself falling deeper in love with this record than before. Definitely check it out!
32. Unto Others/Idle Hands – Mana (2019/2021)
Their only release under their original name of Idle Hands, the debut from Unto Others burst out with a unique brand of trad metal that may sound almost antonymic to the term NWOTHM. With influences permeating from deathrock like Christian Death and Sisters of Mercy, to more contemporary metal influences like Ghost and In Solitude. These influences all come together into something that sounds like a modern-day successor to Danzig and Samhain.
31. Riot City – Burn the Night (2019)
Loud, proud, and loud again. Riot City’s debut is as in-your-face as speed metal can possibly get, with frontman Cale Savy’s high-pitched shrieks being reminiscent of some of Cam Pipes’ (3 Inches of Blood) more shrieky moments. No time is wasted, with the opening track “Warrior of Time” being a proper blitz of speed metal goodness. The title track which followed was similar, but it’s after that where Riot City gets to truly showcase what they can do. Flirting with slower more ballad-y type moments, and even dances with punk and epic metal. Furthermore, drummer Chad Vallier, who also drummed on all three Traveler releases, is simply on another level on this record.
30. Traveler – Termination Shock (2020)
The second record from the Can-Am connection flourished a slightly sharper production and more comprehensive songwriting. “Shaded Mirror” hits high right out of the gate with its anthemic chorus and locomotive drum and bass, while the title track radiates of glam/AOR influence in its vocal deliveries. The real show-stealer here is “Deepspace” which a never ending speed metal assault with some of the hardest hitting drumming I’ve ever heard in trad metal.
29. Triumpher – Storming the Walls (2023)
One of the bastions of trad metal in recent years is that of Greece, and that is in no small part due to the efforts of Triumpher. Though only two records into a great career, they’ve sallied forth as a vanguard of the Hellenic metal scene. Right from the onset of “Journey/Europa Victrix”, you know you’re in for something a bit more on the epic side than traditional trad metal (trad-trad), as vocalist Mars Triumph lets out some insane Halford-like screams. As the album progresses and the influences become more apparent, including with some growls akin to Cradle of Filth, an even richer tapestry becomes apparent. Triumpher’s debut is truly something special among NWOTHM.
28. Steelwing- Zone of Alienation (2012)
Dearly departed Swedish Steelwing makes their first of two appearances on this list, with their sophomore effort being released right as trad metal was just beginning to erupt from the under-underground. Sci-fi inspired lyrics, an all-time album cover, and all of the youthful vigor that a band could ask for. “Full Speed Ahead” stands out as a highlight, as well as the first Steelwing track I heard. That one track might mislead you into thinking this was a standard heavy/speed album, but no, its influences stretch even into glam territory. While Steelwing is no more, its members, for the most part, continue in other projects, namely the epic doom band Below.
27. Pharaoh – Bury the Light (2012)
Definitely one that skews much further to the power metal side of the NWOTHM spectrum, but one that should still be viewed as a trad metal masterclass. Featuring former Control Denied vocalist, the late and great Tim Aymar, and Chris Black (High Spirits, Dawnbringer, Aktor) on drums, Pharaoh’s penultimate release is a testament to the experience behind the music. The Eric Adams’ like screams of Aymar are a major piece of why this record is so good, and why his loss continues to be felt deeply within the underground metal community.
26. The Night Eternal – Fatale (2023)
The second full-length from the German goth-infused trad metallers boasts even more of the infectious vocals of Ricardo Baum, who has a truly captivating voice highly akin to Glenn Danzig. After an already strong eponymous EP, and an incredible debut album, The Night Eternal effectively shot into titan status of the trad metal scene. Most impressive is that the otherwise gothic sheen over the music somehow does not lead the music down the path morosity, instead then music skews closer to The Cramps than to Sisters of Mercy or Joy Division. Of particular note is the incredible guitar tone, and of course the lyrics themselves, lending themselves well to scene painting in one’s own head.
25. Briton Rites- For Mircalla (2010)
The most straightforward doom metal release on this list by far, but I ultimately felt like Briton Rites was worthy of inclusion (as did a lot of other folks!). With Howie Bentley (Cauldron Born) on bass and guitars and Phil Swanson (Seamount, Upwards of Endtime) on vox, there’s no denying the experience and talent behind Briton Rites. Don’t be put off by that earlier ‘doom metal’, this is less Electric Wizard or Sleep and more Reverend Bizarre or Cathedral (with a lot of Trouble and Pentagram in there). With the shortest of seven tracks still clocking in at nearly 7-minutes, this is a beefy album, and it’s one that needs to be played loud.
24. Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath (2018)
Boasting the same lineup as all previous releases, Visigoth’s sophomore album immediately puts to bed any notions of a slump, as Conqueror’s Oath officially kicks off a hot streak for the band. As the anthemic “Steel and Silver” begins the album with a bang, one is met with an album that is a bit less D&D lyrically speaking and more straight-up sword and sorcery. Of particular praise is the drumming of Mikey T. which pounds and thunders throughout the album, but in particular on the track “Outlive Them All”.
23. Sonja – Loud Arriver (2022)
Another in the lineup of trad metal/goth rock hybrid acts of recent years, Sonja features talents from primarily black and death metal acts like Crosspitter and Absu. The biggest thing this album has going for it is by far the hypnotic vocal stylings of frontwoman Melissa Moore, though that’s not to take anything away from the remainder of the three-piece. A sense of sensuality infects the music as well, largely from the lustful lyrics, and Melissa’s voice, that gives the entire a album a sort of sleazy/glam vibe to it, that I think truly works wonders and allows Sonja to stand out brightly from the pack.
22. Herzel – Le Dernier Rampart (2021)
Sung entirely in French, Herzel’s debut stands unique among the epic metal crowd with lyrics that primarily focus on history (particularly that of the band’s native Brittany) as opposed to more fantastical elements. I feel that the French language really lends itself to rock and metal for reasons that I can’t quite explain. This is 36 minutes of pure perfection, where every single moment of each of its six tracks is a vital component to the story told throughout the runtime. I also have to shoutout the production on all instruments, and the recurrent leitmotif that later acts as an outro for the record.
21. Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist (2024)
Their final record before the horrific murder of frontman Andrés Adasme “Hades” was a strong one that now acts as something of a bittersweet epitaph to a titan of the underground metal scene. A highlight of the record is of course the incredible “Son of Earth”, which begins with an insane wail from Andrés, and later include some serious NWOBHM inspired soloing and basslines ala Satan. Wonderfully produced, expertly written, and played to absolute perfection, if this is to be the final bow of Lucifer’s Hammer, they couldn’t have went out stronger. RIP Andrés.
20. White Wizzard – Over the Top (2010)
Released back in 2010, just as NWOTHM was beginning to really establish itself as a movement, White Wizzard’s debut featured what one would expect from such a thing: a record practically overflowing with youthful angst and Maiden-isms. With riffs right out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but more crisp production like some late 80s glam (but not the super over-produced stuff), White Wizzard’s sound laid the groundwork for later bands like Hitten, Cobra Spell, and Blizzen. However, White Wizzard does still buck the trend a bit, with the near-prog track “Iron Goddess of Vengeance”, which features everything from death growls to a Steve Harris bassline.
19. Phantom Spell – Immortal’s Requiem (2022)
One which is infuriatingly not included on Encyclopaedia Metallum, however, I won’t let that stop me from including a modern classic on this list. Brainchild of Seven Sisters guitarist/vocalist Kyle McNeill presents a trad metal album that leans more heavily into progressive rock, a lot like how Saracen was for NWOBHM bands. The vocals remind me of everyone from Brad Delp of Boston to Gary Moore, with a little bit of David Byron (Uriah Heep) and Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult) in there as well. These influences, compounded by the positively grooving vibe throughout the record make Phantom Spell’s debut record a true masterpiece of NWOTHM, and one with which none sound alike.
18. Crypt Sermon – The Ruins of Fading Light (2019)
Philadelphia is sort of the heavy metal capital of the United States in the 21st century, with a proverbial horde of great bands hailing from the City of Brotherly Love, and chief among them are the epic doomers Crypt Sermon. Their second release includes “Key of Solomon”, which is honestly reason enough to warrant its inclusion on this list. A sense of rawness seeps throughout the record, but in a way that still manages to sound polished, and a lot of this stems from the incredible vocal performance from Brooks Wilson.
17. Sumerlands – Dream Killer (2022)
Sumerlands sophomore effort, and first with vocalist Brendan Radigan (Savage Oath, Magic Circle), blew me away from the moment it release and it has never once failed to sweep me off my feet. While, of course, Brendan’s vocal talents are at the forefront, giving this record a completely different vibe to it than their debut, the instrumentation offers a sensible meeting of heavy and intelligible, without losing the rawness that makes separates metal from hard rock. The main riff in the opener “Twilight Points the Way” is enough to warrant this album a place on this list, but it never loses its luster throughout it’s incredibly brisk 35 minute runtime.
16. Steelwing – Lord of the Wasteland (2010)
Opening with an air raid siren is generally always a good move, and that continues to be true for this album, the debut of Steelwing. This record presents the Swedish five-piece in a slightly more raw form than on Zone of Alienation, but it’s that bit of roughness that gives it a bit of fun character. “Roadkill (…or Be Killed)” is the first true standout on the album, and one that reminds me heavily of Mad Max, though that might just be because of the black muscle car on the album cover. From the high pitched vocals to the incredible riff-work on display from the guitar tandem, this is like if Mercyful Fate was on speed.
15. Enforcer – From Beyond (2015)
One of particular importance for yours truly, as, not only was Enforcer the first NWOTHM band I heard, this was the first trad metal album that I can recall hearing. I remember being distinctly bewitched by their corny, in a good way, music videos for tracks like “Undying Evil”, as well as the anthemic wails on “The Banshee”. The freneticism of their speed metal, combined with Olof Wikstrand’s ear-piercing and occasional King Diamond-esque shrieks. This entire record was on repeat for me during my high school years (I’m only 27 haha) and was what I’d show my classmates when they’d ask what kind of music I was into. If this list were solely subjective, expect this one to easily be in the Top 5.
14. Blood Star – First Sighting (2023)
While the debut single/EP from Salt Lake City’s Blood Star was my first exposure to the band, their debut full-length was just as mind-blowing. Featuring talents from their NWOTHM kinsmen like Unto Others and Silver Talon, First Sighting struck me first and foremost as more genre-bending than I’d first thought. Madeline Smith’s vocals are unique and divine, and the track “The Observers”, in which guitarist Jamison Palmer takes up the mic was the perfect jolt of versatility to an already great record. Standout tracks like the aforementioned “The Observers”, as well as “Fearless Priestess” and “Wait to Die”, only help to further the growing legend of Blood Star.
13. Savage Oath – Divine Battle (2024)
Brendan Radigan makes another appearance on this list with the spell-bounding debut record from heavy/epic metallers Savage Oath. From the get-go, the stage is set with lions roars and rattling chains, that sense of looming battle drawing near. Of course, Brendan’s vocals are second to none and that’s not in question here, but I’d also like to highlight the incredible drumming from Ryan Mower. The tempo he keeps throughout the album is insane, even in just the opening track “Knight of the Night”. Of the seven songs, one of which being a 3 minute interlude, there is not a moment wasted, and final trifecta of tracks after that aforementioned interlude are truly something special.
12. Traveler (2019)
The debut album from the Canadian/American band began what would become a great and consistent, albeit brief, run that only just culminated at the top of 2025. Featuring an all-star team of trad metal musicians from bands like Striker, Hrom, Among These Ashes, and Kontact, Traveler’s debut is a testament to the talent behind the music. Wasting no time by ripping out “Starbreaker” right out of the gate, and not letting up for even a moment during its sub 40-minute runtime. Even the brief intermission track “Konamized” has its place on the record as a wonderful dash of savvy instrumental fun.
11. Argus – Beyond the Martyrs (2013)
The third full-length from these Pennsylvania epic doomers builds upon the already masterfully chiseled foundations of their self-titled debut and Boldly Stride the Doomed. Released still during the earlier years of NWOTHM, Beyond the Martyrs stands alongside few others (more on them soon) as the catalyst for the resurgence of epic doom that would be spearheaded by Crypt Sermon, Smoulder, and others. With chuggingly brutal riffs and some proper near-operatic vocals from Butch Balich, Argus’ third record is not only one of the finest releases in trad metal, but also one of the best in epic doom. I must also single out “The Coward’s Path” as being a true banger!
10. Atlantean Kodex – The White Goddess (2013)
One of several albums on this list that I debated including, not for lack of quality, but if it actually qualified as NWOTHM or not. I eventually determined that Atlantean Kodex’s brand of epic heavy/doom counted (deal with it). While their debut record was marvelous, in my opinion, it was on their sophomore release where AK really came into their own and very much became the modern day equivalent of Manilla Road. This is an album that would be difficult to review, as it simply needs to be experienced to fully understand how good it is. It’s an all-timer, bar none.
9. Visigoth – The Revenant King (2015)
For many, 2015 is the year that they first heard the term ‘New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal’, and Visigoth’s debut is a huge reason why. While not the first ‘epic metal’ band by a longshot, Visigoth was the first who worshipped at Pagan Altars and Manilla Roads, the latter of which they covered on this record, to achieve some semblance of mainstream success. With lyrics that are equal parts Dungeons & Dragons inspired and just general sword and sorcery themes, the songwriting feels like the perfect blend of nerdy cheesiness and serious musicianship. At no point does the record feel like it’s taking a stab at its own audience (something some nerdy bands should work on), instead it feels like a perfect homage to the earlier days of heavy metal. Also, the track “Dungeon Master” is an all-timer.
8. Sacred Outcry – Towers of Gold (2023)
Initially active from 1998 to 2004, Sacred Outcry was little more than a footnote in heavy metal history for ages, even after their 2015 reformation. Their debut was a masterclass in old school power metal, and its follow up was just as strong (possibly even stronger, depending on who you ask). With former Lost Horizon vocalist Daniel Heiman on vocals this time around, giving a sense of gravitas to the record. If you’re not familiar, Lost Horizon casually dropped two all-time records in the early 00s before breaking up. On this release, Sacred Outcry has weathered the storm a bit, aging like a fine wine as they hone their already impressive skills even further. Their remains a show-stealing 15 minute title track as the penultimate offering, but not a moment of this album is skippable. The final track, the shortest proper track by far, “Where the Crimson Shadows Dwell” is of particular quality. On top of that, there are some seriously incredible riffs to be found throughout.
7. Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron (2020)
Another band who proudly flies the banner previously carried in triumph by Manilla Road and Manowar is Eternal Champion. With loud and rowdy, and yet still tight, instrumentation, combined to perfection with the almost bardic way in which frontman Jason Tarpey delivers each lyric. Every crash of the drums hits with the force of a shield wall, while the thundering basslines throughout boom out like bombs. Much akin to Visigoth, this is perfect music to pillage some coastal villages and slay some slumbering serpents, but it’s also just perfect tunes to chill out and play Skyrim or Witcher.
6. Sacred Outcry – Damned For All Time (2020)
This was a long awaited debut, and one that simply could not have possibly prepared anyone for how good it would be. Since its release, Sacred Outcry have been putting out some of the best old school power metal heard this century. Upon release, this record injected a sense of non-nonsense and no-frills energy into the power metal scene to break it free from the trite clutches of meme bands. Everything about this record, and its sequel we discussed a bit ago, is what power metal should be. With vocalist Yannis from Beast in Black behind the microphone (But not officially a member), there’s a familiarity with the vocals, yet it still feels somehow retro in a good way. Not even beginning to mention the near 15 minute title track that is assuredly an all-timer.
5. Satan’s Hallow (2017)
Now this is truly an all-star project that featured future members and founds of Black Sites, Midnight Dice, Lethal Shöck, and Fer de Lance, and that backs the eponymous album Satan’s Hallow a true piece of trad metal history. It’s a pity that it’s out-of-print and, to my knowledge, not available on any streaming service. This is an album that will reach legendary, near mythical, status in the years and decades to come. Mandy Martillo’s vocals have a heavy influence from the Metal Queens of Yore; Doro Pesch, Ann Boleyn, Lee Aaron, Leather Leone, and even a bit of Jan Kuehnemund of Vixen (RIP). Featuring some of the best bass tone ever heard in NWOTHM, courtesy of Lee Smith (Professor Emeritus), and some incredible drumming from Pat Gloeckle (who is also a co-owner of Hoove Child Records). That’s not even scratching the surface of the simple immaculate axe-work on display from the duo of Von Jugel and Lethal Beaudette. This record also boasts a Heavy Metal Hat Trick, with an eponymous track on the eponymous album.
4.. Eternal Champion – The Armor of Ire (2016)
From the moment I first thought up this list, I knew that Eternal Champion’s monumental debut would be high on it. Even at a first glance, the Adam Burke painted album cover tells you exactly what you’re in for, some proper Manilla Road worship, and while that’s undoubtedly what Eternal Champion is, this record is much more than a mere homage. There’s a doom-tinged bite to the riffing, and the drums crash like army on the march. Given when it released, it’s so easy now to look back and see just how much this record influenced the modern trad metal scene, but back then, there wasn’t anything like it out in the mainstream (or close to it). I first heard “Last King of Pictdom” on Pandora, of all things, back around release, and it was clear then that Eternal Champion was offering something truly special. But even I couldn’t have guessed that they’d effectively kickstarted the revival of epic metal, a microgenre kept afloat for decades by a few dedicated artists and fans, that was now on the frontline in the fight against over-produced corporate schlock.
3. In Solitude – Sister (2013)
Next we go from a triumphant debut to an awe-inspiring swansong, with the final record from Sweden’s In Solitude. Befitting for a last album, Sister shows a maturation of the band’s sound right out of the gate. “He Comes” is slower and almost dissonant track set to sparse, and almost melancholic guitarwork, its almost avant-garde or even post-metal. Building upon that is a gothic sense of atmosphere for the whole album that In Solitude had been gradually leaning toward, with their previous record “The World, The Flesh, The Devil” signaling that nicely. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could possibly prepare you though for how damn good “Lavender” is. It’s unlike anything In Solitude ever did, there’s almost a funkiness to it, but also with a touch of horror movie scores and deathrock. From then on, the album drifts into an almost near-progressive quality, with Rush-like basslines and Dream Theater riffing. In fact, the entire back half of Sister is some of the best metal that I’ve ever heard, trad notwithstanding.
2. Demon Bitch – Hellfriends (2016)
Our penultimate entry on the list is the debut record from the Motor City’s own Demon Bitch. Clocking at a brisk 35 minutes, Hellfriends is one that both doesn’t overstay its welcome and has precisely no filler. Equal parts epic and raw in its production, it’s a record that is without compare in the realm of NWOTHM. Demon Bitch’s unique sound is one that few bands have been able to come close to, and that uncanniness is a part of what gives it such gravitas. Less NWOBHM-worship than most trad metal acts, and more of a natural evolution of what metal could’ve evolved into without interference from major labels and corporate execs. With the brutal punchiness of black metal and the crisp vocal work of power metal, Demon Bitch’s Hellfriends is a totem of what modern trad metal should be, could be, and would become.
1. Enforcer – Diamonds (2010)
The sophomore release from one of trad metal’s biggest bands could very easily be argued as a coming out party for NWOTHM. Produced to absolute perfection, with that familiar Enforcer gnarl from the guitars, a grooving bass tone, and some insane drumming from Jonas Wikstrand, and of course Olof’s banshee shrieks. This record combines all of what makes metal metal, there’s pieces taken from power metal, speed metal, glam, and even more extreme sides of things like black and death metal. Far more than a flash-in-the-pan Iron Maiden clone, Enforcer not only made their name known, they forced people to scream it from the rooftops. It’s in-your-face, and unceasing, and yet somehow polished. In short, it’s perfect. From the opening drumroll and bluesy intro guitar of “Midnight Vice”, all the way through the closing notes of “Take Me to Hell”, Enforcer’s Diamonds is not just the greatest NWOTHM album, but it’s one of the strongest metal albums of the 21st century, period.
Thanks for reading! If you’ve made it this far, I’ll reward you with a little teaser for my next (smaller) list:
NWO_HM. Up the Irons!
Read More Features
#1 #2 #3 #3InchesOfBlood #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #Absu #Aktor #AmongTheseAshes #angelSword #Argus #atlanteanKodex #bathory #BeastInBlack #Below #BlackSites #BlindFury #BlindGuardian #Blizzen #bloodStar #blueOysterCult #BorrowedTime #Boston #britonRites #Cathedral #CelticFrost #Century #cirithUngol #CobraSpell #ControlDenied #CradleOfFilth #Crosspitter #CryptSermon #DD #Danzig #Dawnbringer #demonBitch #DoomMetal #doro #DreamTheater #DungeonsDragons #ElectricWizard #enforcer #epicDoomMetal #eternalChampion #FearFactory #FerDeLance #Freeways #gatekeeper #ghost #Halford #haunt #Heart #HeavyLoad #HeavyMetal #HelmsDeep #Herzel #HIGHSPIRITS #HITTEN #Holocaust #hrom #inSolitude #IronMaiden #JoyDivision #JudasPriest #kingDiamond #Konquest #Kontact #LethalShock #list #LostHorizon #LuciferSHammer #MagicCircle #Manacle #manillaRoad #Manowar #mercyfulFate #metalian #midnightDice #MidnightDive #NewWaveOfTraditionalHeavyMetal #nwobhm #NWOTHM #Olorin #paganAltar #Pariah #pentagram #PhantomSpell #Pharaoh #portrait #powerMetal #ProfessorEmeritus #rainbow #raven #ReverendBizarre #riotCity #SacredOutcry #SaintVitus #Samhain #sanhedrin #satan #SatanSHallow #savageOath #saxon #SilverTalon #SistersOfMercy #SkullFist #Skyrim #Sleep #sloughFeg #SMOULDER #sonja #speedMetal #SpiritAdrift #Steelwing #striker #sumerlands #Syrinx #Tanith #TheCramps #TheLordWeirdSloughFeg #TheNightEternal #TheWizarD #thenwothm #thenwothmCom #tokyoBlade #tower #traveler #triumpher #UntoOthers #UriahHeep #viperwitch #visigoth #vixen #WhiteWizzard #Wolf
Wenn mich jemand sucht, ich bin in der Autumn Citadel https://tidal.com/browse/track/444219943/u
Record(s) o’ the Month – July 2025
By Angry Metal Guy
In this mad dash towards relevance and timeliness, it can be tough to come up with things to say that don’t feel a little cliché. But the reality is that this whole path has been leading here. I had hoped to have a really special surprise ready for this day, but alas, I have pulled a classic Attention Deficit Disorder Guy move, filling my schedule up with stuff that hits me right in the dopamine. I’ve got reviews to write, n00bs to torture, and I have a fancy new vacuum cleaner that both vacuums and mops, so my apartment is as clean as it has ever been. I watched that K-pop Demon Hunters movie, and listened to this incredible vocal cover of it from the singer of Twilight Force way too many times. I got a crash course in super cheesy Latin ballads since the 1980s. I wrote a long-ass post about Why Spotify Sucks n’ Shit and then fought with everyone in the comments for days. I am an unregulated, but surprisingly productive, bench.1 So, sans surprise, I am soldiering on to bring you the Record(s) o’ the Month for July 2025, as close as I’ve been to on time all year. Incidentally, the Record o’ the Month matches my messy bench energy pretty much perfectly.
I told you that Calva Louise’s most recent opus—entitled Edge of the Abyss [Bandcamp] and out July 11th, 2025, from Mascot Records—was going to be my most controversial Record o’ the Month since Our Oceans.2 I don’t think it should be, of course. I think it should be appreciated for the fascinating blend of genres that it represents, as well as the talent—and sheer drive—of a band that truly has dragged itself through the dregs of a dying music industry with an incredible DIY ethic to produce a kick ass record with a gorgeous and powerful blend of ideas. Edge of the Abyss is an act of becoming, a sketch, a step towards finally getting one’s vision down on paper, tape, or film. It’s adventurous, thoughtful, beautiful, and diverse—an invigorating assemblage of ideas ranging from groovecore to Viennese classical to música llanera, spanning the globe and decades for inspiration. It’s music that is truly progressive, if not overly technical. But setting that aside, Edge of the Abyss just works. The fragments have a cinematic feel that the band carries through to its visual profile, with strong songwriting and a cinematic universe that they have been trying to bring into being for four albums. As an overly excited Me Myself gushed to anyone who would listen: “Some records sound big, and some records feel big. Edge of the Abyss does both. It feels big because it has ideas, and it succeeds because it commits to those ideas with zero regard for genre gatekeeping or scene politics. It’s weird, catchy, and gleefully sophisticated, with every song bringing something unique to the table. Every idea and every arrangement counts. It’s a banger parade,” and it’s a promise that there’s so much more to come.
A special note: Calva Louise will be going on their first headlining tour of the US this September [find dates and tickets]. Go see them and tell them that Angry Metal Guy sent you.
Runner(s) Up:
Sarastus // Agony Eternal [July 1st, 2025 | Dominance of Darkness Records | Bandcamp] — One of the best things about being Angry Metal Guy is being able to ask people during arguments which of us has “the eponymous website that hundreds of thousands of people visit monthly.” A close second is discovering shit that no one has heard of and throwing it into the chat, all “Oh, Grier, you need to check out Sarastus! Great black metal without the label atmospheric anywhere near it!” Because I knew from the word go that Agony Eternal was something special and whatever It is, Sarastus has It in spades.3 There’s a specific vibe here that reminds me not just of the sound of late-90s/early-00s melodic black metal, but the feel—hungry, heavy, and addictive. Sarastus doesn’t lean away from attack, but neither do these Finns just blanket the world in blast beats; they find strength in diversity and slick songwriting. Agony Eternal is the kind of record that reminds you of why black metal was such a vital gateway to extreme metal once upon a time. Fast, heavy, extreme, and melodic, it evokes the exact feeling that I need from my black metal: Agony Eternal. And I wasn’t alone, an excited, nimble-fingered Kenfrenstrosity swiped Sarastus from both Myself and Grier, and then rode that hype machine over the cliff like a Once and Future King: “Agony Eternal is a nonstop party. With almost poppy energy, Sarastus captured with remarkable simplicity and undeniable effectiveness the passion and conviction that made black metal of this kind a sensation. But I hear more than just black metal purism. I hear a confident, exuberant soul rooted in rock n’ roll rebellion, forged in timeless techniques, and steeped in metallic traditions across the spectrum.” Sarastus, Life of the Party!
Impureza // Alcázares [July 11th, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — When it comes to inventive ways to make your death metal cooler, Impureza has one of my favorites. The blending of flamenco—one of the world’s coolest non-metal styles of music—and death metal is a hard row to hoe, but somehow these French death metallers have gotten the balance right. This wasn’t always the case, but Alcázares is the perfect refinement of what was already a pretty well-developed idea. What’s fun is that Impureza has started taking on an almost melodic death feel at times, reminiscent of Æeternam at their best.4 But there’s a brutality evocative of the era in death metal history when Black Seeds of Vengeance was considered to be the peak of death metal evolution. And at this point, I’m just fucking here for all of it. In My Frothy Excitement, I sandblasted the Internet with words: “Alcázares is Impureza at their most ambitious: historically immersed, sonically expansive, blasphemous, and super into alternative histories of colonialism.5 Alcázares is a violent, poetic invocation of Spain’s medieval imagination, and it sports an enchanting vibe that recalls some of the best records I own. Seven years of development resulted in a record full of tight riffs, beautiful guitar work, intense compositions, and somehow a Necromancer. I would say that I hope to see something from them soon, but I’m happy to wait another seven years for another record of this quality.” Enjoy ov Orphaned-Land-Sized Breaks between Albums. I’ll be ready for you to blow my mind again in 2032.
Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth [July 18th, 2025 | Cruz del Sur Music | Bandcamp] — Phantom Spell was a real surprise for me. Sometimes you go into a record knowing you like the band. But Phantom Spell, I wouldn’t have looked twice at it if I hadn’t just clicked play on the promo. And man, it’s risky having a 12-minute track as the opener for your album. But that’s the kind of risk that Kyle McNeill takes and, honestly, it paid off. I knew Heather & Hearth was going to be quality when I bobbed my head through the whole 11 minutes and 51 seconds of “The Autumn Citadel,” only to look up and realize it was 11 minutes and 51 seconds long. And that’s the trick with Heather & Hearth; it catches you off guard. Whether it’s the organ tones stolen directly from The Snow Goose, the guitar solos that taste like shag carpet, or the vocal harmonies that make Mikael Åkerfeldt jelly, everything works to perfection while sounding great. Rather than feeling like nostalgiacore, Phantom Spell feels authentic, powerful, and is a truly addictive listen. As I babbled as loudly as anyone would allow me: “This is a great record, and the only thing left for Heather & Hearth to prove is that it has staying power. From the opening ‘bew bew bews’ of the organs, to the *insert nature sounds here* that close the album out, Heather & Hearth is a triumphant exploration of songwriting from a different time. Phantom Spell makes me genuinely long for a time when it would have been impossible for Phantom Spell—a solo project—to exist. And that’s an amazing success.”
#2025 #AgonyEternal #Alcázares #BlogPost #CalvaLouise #EdgeOfTheAbyss #Gazpacho #HeatherHearth #Impureza #Jul25 #MascotRecords #MúsicaLlanera #PhantomSpell #Sarastus #TwilightForce
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth Review
By Angry Metal Guy
During the 16 years that AMG has been a thing, I have criticized the trend of reaching back for the sounds of yore and creating high-fidelity copies. Dubbed “Nostalgiacore,” I regularly razzed Steel Druhm about his obsession with his lost glory days and heartily rolled my eyes at Rethrash. I thumbed my nose at the 3,500 bands a week we were getting in 2015, wearing bell-bottoms and writing Black Sabbath riffs 45 years after Black Sabbath was released; each rehashing blues rock as though originality was a four-letter word and fuzz pedals were personality. But recently, perhaps sick of the downward spiral towards the ever more “atmospheric” and “brutal,” I have found the simple pleasures of “good, honest heavy metal” calling to me. First, it was Wytch Hazel, then it was Grendel’s Syster. Now, it’s Phantom Spell’s Heather & Hearth.
Phantom Spell is the brainchild of Seven Sisters singer and guitarist Kyle McNeill.1 A multi-instrumentalist, studio magician, and eminent purveyor of nostalgiacore,2 Phantom Spell calls back to the days of Steel Druhm‘s youth, when men were men and rockstars could play instruments. When songs were melodic and catchy, but the guys writing them had all studied piano since the age when their moms could smack them upside the head with impunity, so they were good at music, if, admittedly, slightly traumatized. And Phantom Spell hews close to this tradition, featuring what sounds like a fully functional ’70s prog unit. Strong drums and earthy bass rumble beneath lightly distorted guitars—liable to drop into harmonies at any second, exposing the rhythm section. It calls to mind Manilla Road and Kansas, Wishbone Ash, or even early Iron Maiden. But when the Hammond kicks in on opener “The Autumn Citadel,” I get flashbacks to The Summer of Camel.
Like its musical forebears, Phantom Spell pops because of its composition and vocals. McNeill has an ear for classic prog structures—shifting time signatures, dueling guitar leads, and that organ that instantly dates the sound—but what elevates Heather & Hearth is how he binds these elements to purposeful songwriting. The record never feels like a pastiche; instead, it plays like a Tolkienesque love letter written in the margins of well-worn records, borrowing vocabulary but constructing its own syntax. Tracks like “A Distant Shore” and “Siren Song” fuse supple melodic phrasing with rhythmic variation, while “Evil Hand” twists in a familiar rock chassis that both evokes Tom Petty’s classic “Refugee” and Opeth. McNeill’s range—from his surprisingly strong low register (reminiscent of Eric Clayton from Saviour Machine [“The Autumn Citadel”]) to his cherubic high end—carries emotional weight without ever rubbing shoulders with cheesy. He layers harmonies like someone who grew up singing along to Leftoverture or The Snow Goose, and he knows when to pull everything back to let a bass groove breathe. Heather & Hearth is littered with excellent choices that suggest a composer with taste. McNeill understands balance and crafted an album that features it.
But no record truly pops without top-notch production. One of the genuine strengths of Heather & Hearth is a strong sense of balance. I’m reminded of Exile by Black Sites, where traditional hard rock composition and perfectly balanced production combined to create a live feel. So too, McNeill picks his spots, never overloading the mix or betraying the illusion of a live band.3 His production lends to the realism of the production by leaving the bass and drums as exposed elements when keys and guitars drop into harmonies (“Evil Hand,” for example). The feel is classic and beautiful, showing off the perfect balance that he’s struck with the tone. Some of this feels like an illusion, however. When listening closely to the harmonies, for example, in the gorgeous bonus track “Old Pendle,” they sound inhumanly tight, which suggests careful and aggressive processing.4
Taken as a whole, I particularly appreciate Heather & Hearth’s structure. Clocking in at about 37 minutes, the record is bookended by two 11-minute songs and filled in with shorter tracks. The composition ebbs and flows between the energetic and the melancholic and fragile. These mountains and valleys are both a strength and a weakness. For me, McNeill reaches his peak when he’s moving and shaking. There is an undeniable energy when the bass and drums are pulsing and he’s throwing off shackles, harmonizing guitars, and driving the music forward. The other side to Phantom Spell is achingly beautiful, and things I love on their own. But the strength of the album is its strong proto-metal heart, and I wish I could hear it beating a little louder throughout.
This is a great record, and the only thing left for Heather & Hearth to prove is that it has staying power. From the opening “bew bew bews” of the organs, to the *insert nature sounds here* that close the album out, Heather & Hearth is a triumphant exploration of songwriting. From the melodies to the solos to the amazing harmonies, Phantom Spell sounds like a band with huge aspirations. For that reason, it is actually a little disappointing that it’s a solo project. In my listening notes, I wrote: “My god, imagine finding five dudes who could sing these harmonies live in 2025.” Phantom Spell makes me genuinely long for a time when it would have been impossible for Phantom Spell to exist. And while that’s an amazing success, it’s a bittersweet one.
Rating: Great!
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320kb/s CBR MP3s
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Websites: phantomspell.bandcamp.com | http://linktr.ee/phantomspell
Release Date: July 18th, 2025
#2025 #40 #BlackSites #Camel #CruzDelSurMusic #HeatherHearth #IronMaiden #Jul25 #Kansas #ManillaRoad #NWOTHM #Opeth #PaleCommunion #PhantomSpell #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #SaviourMachine #SevenSisters #TomPetty #TradMetal #WishboneAsh
Demnächst: #PhantomSpell veröffentlicht am 18.07. „Heather & Hearth“.
YouTube-Clip zu ‚A Distant Shore‘: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss19XOoe-SY
#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords–WhereMusicLives
PHANTOM SPELL Feat. SEVEN SISTERS Frontman Announces Heather and Hearth Album; First Single Streaming
#PhantomSpell #SevenSisters #HeatherAndHearth #CruzDelSurMusic #HardRock #ProgressiveRock #AlbumRelease #NewSingle #MetalNews #Frontman
"The Passing" is multi-instrumentalist #JacobRoberge's debut album. And what an effortless debut it is.
If you're into #ProgRock, this should be definitely on your #AOTY2025 list.
4. #Oddleaf: Where Ideal and Denial Collide
https://oddleaf.bandcamp.com/album/where-ideal-and-denial-collide
Mein #BandcampFriday endet, wie er begonnen hat: Mit einer Empfehlung, diesmal von @KaiOliver. "Immortal's Requiem" von #PhantomSpell ist pures musikalisches Vergnügen mit dem Besten, was folkig angehauchter #Prog & #Metal der 70er & 80er zu bieten haben.
