It’s been another strong year for rock and metal but 2025 felt really good, certainly compared to last year. I also feel I had more time to listen to music. Regardless, my metal list ended up being all over the place genre-wise and on reflection I feel pretty excited that it was. However, if you also think this list is exciting, wait until you see my non-metal list!
Bastard Hymns may have only been released a few weeks ago, but its quality and riffs earned it a spot here. Excide are a post-hardcore band rooted in the 1990s, which makes them exactly my sort of band. The sound draws parallels to influential acts from that era, such as Quicksand and Handsome, and it could easily pass for an album released three decades ago. Still, this is far from a mere exercise in nostalgia. Bastard Hymns is modern, compelling, and furious. If you want a taste, ‘Worth Your Salt’ is a great place to start.
Turnstile’s new album, Never Enough, grabbed me in ways I didn’t expect. My early excitement was fueled by the singles: ‘Birds’, ‘Never Enough’, ‘I Care’, and ‘Seein Stars’. They set the bar high, and I genuinely expected the full record to hit that same peak throughout. In the end, I was unexpectedly underwhelmed, and I still can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe the production feels a bit flat, or maybe the deeper cuts don’t match the singles. Even six months later, I’m still unsure.
That said, my listening habits tell a different story. According to Spotify Wrapped, I ended up in the top 1% of listeners for this album, which says plenty. Whatever my reservations are, I clearly like it enough for it to land here.
Soul Blind return after their 2022 release, Feel It All Around, with Red Sky Mourning. On this record, they’ve sharpened their songwriting, delivering tracks that feel heavier, more mature, and more deliberate. Their grunge-gaze progression is obvious here, and it sounds like a band building on its strengths rather than repeating itself.
I can’t say I knew much about Coroner the first time around, or even recall hearing them. What I can say is that Dissonance Theory is a masterclass in modern progressive thrash. There isn’t a second that feels wasted, and the songwriting is stellar. It’s also one of the best-sounding albums I’ve heard this year. Thirty-two years after their last record, I don’t think anyone in the metal community expected the follow-up to be this good. It probably should have been higher on my list.
As I said in my mid-year review:
Why does no one know about this band? It’s criminal. The Slow Death has been creating raucous, southern-influenced heavy rock since 2013. No Light to See is probably the best distillation of their sound to date. Sounding at times like a cross between Drive Like Jehu and The Black Crowes, and with a tongue-in-cheek attitude to their lyrics, The Slow Death have made a statement for the best rock album of 2025 with No Light to See.
It didn’t end up as high on my list as I expected, but don’t let that put you off. It really is an impressive record and one of this year’s great rock albums.
Druidess continue to be one of the leading bands in the grunge-gaze scene. Their music draws clear inspiration, sometimes a little too obviously, from both Nirvana and Type O Negative, blending grunge rawness with a brooding, nu-wave goth atmosphere. Rather than making a radical departure, All You Are feels like a natural extension of their last album, The Product of My Love. That works in their favor, letting them refine their sound and focus on songwriting instead of reinvention. It’s packed with memorable tracks, including ‘Saved by You’, the uplifting ‘Hello Sunshine’, and the beautifully crafted ballad ‘Won’t You Blind Me Today?’. All You Are is one of the year’s best rock records.
Country punk might sound like another industry-led, made-up genre, but Wednesday confidently leads the way within it. Bleeds weaves together country, shoegaze, and post-hardcore, highlighting the band’s wide influences while still feeling cohesive. At the center is Karly Hartzman’s songwriting. Her lyrics dig into her breakup with MJ Lenderman and get deeply personal. Hartzman can pivot from narrative-driven songs with blood-curdling screams one minute to introspective ballads the next, and it leaves a real mark. It did on me.
Chronicles of Despair has firmly established itself as my favorite thrash album of 2025. A big reason is the band’s unmistakable resemblance to late-’80s Metallica, in both vocal delivery and overall sound. Still, Slyther aren’t just a clone. They inject a much-needed sense of fun back into a genre that has, in recent years, perhaps taken itself a little too seriously. What keeps pulling me back, though, is the musicianship throughout. That combination makes Chronicles of Despair a standout release, and it kept me coming back for more.
Deafheaven have quietly become one of my favorite metal bands. Their 2018 album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love sits up there with Opeth’s Blackwater Park for me, so it’s worth saying that I consider Lonely People with Power to be among their finest. After the less successful and uninteresting detour of Infinite Granite, it’s refreshing to hear them embrace their heavier style again, especially on ‘Doberman’, ‘Magnolia’, and ‘Revelator’. The album also heads into darker territory, with ‘Incidental II’ standing out as one of the most chilling songs I’ve heard in a long time.
As I said in my mid-year review:
I really missed Superheaven when they went on hiatus, so it was a surprise to see ‘Youngest Daughter’ go stratospheric in 2023 (ten years after it was released) thanks to TikTok. To be honest, they haven’t skipped a beat. This new self-titled record picks up where Ours Is Chrome left off. ‘Cruel Times’ is a raucous emotional banger, ‘Hothead’ showcases their ability to rock hard, ‘Stare at the Void’ is a beautiful ballad, and the rest of the record is classic Superheaven, which is always a good thing.
I’ve always liked Astronoid, but I’ll admit none of their previous albums fully captivated me, until Stargod. This one really grabbed me in a way the earlier records didn’t. Here, Astronoid sound like they’re reaching for something transcendent, pushing their boundaries in a way that fits the title. It’s also a clear departure from their earlier shoegaze metal style, leaning harder into the melodic, polished side of 1980's AOR rock. The shift works remarkably well, and it lets them show off their versatility and songwriting, especially on my favorite track, ‘Love Weapon’. Stargod is a superb rock record and a real statement of ambition.
As I said in my mid-year review:
It’s been a rollercoaster of late for Ginger and the Wildhearts, and one could have assumed that Satanic Rites would be a car crash. I’m here to tell you it’s not perfect, but it’s genuinely not a car crash, and it’s the second-best Wildhearts album released since their reformation in 2019. ‘Troubadour Moon’ is a stone-cold classic, ‘Maintain Radio Silence’ is lyrically very powerful, and ‘Scared of Glass’ has a huge earworm of a riff. Elsewhere, Ginger does kill the mood a bit with the lyrically overwrought ‘Hurt People, Hurt People,’ but I genuinely think he is on top form here and still one of the finest songwriters this country has produced. Satanic Rites is currently an EOTY list top spot contender for me.
It didn’t take the top spot in the end, but don’t let that put you off. This is an incredible record.
Portals took its time to worm its way into my senses and reveal itself over many months of listening. At first, its intricacies didn’t immediately stand out, but with each spin, the band’s musicianship and refined songwriting become more apparent. Their sound fits alongside latter-day Opeth, Witchcraft, and even hints of Genesis, blending progressive and retro rock in a way that feels seamless. The album also features what stands out as the finest Mikael Åkerfeldt collaboration outside of his work with Opeth, adding a unique dimension to its character. If you love the rich textures and nostalgic energy of ’70s retro rock, Portals is essential.
It feels like everyone is talking about Deftones’ latest release, Private Music, and it’s easy to see why. The band strike an impressive balance between the styles and influences that have defined them over the years. The signature quiet/loud dynamic takes center stage, but this time it’s paired with a more pronounced shoegaze influence. That heavier shoegaze lean feels timely, given the resurgence in popularity of the ’90s grunge-gaze sound right now. Because of that, Deftones look poised for a well-deserved second act. This is an incredible album.
The Blue Nowhere stands out to me as a brilliant progressive metal album, and it represents the finest work from Between the Buried & Me since Colours in 2007. As someone who has followed the band since the early days, it’s refreshing to hear them recapturing their spark this late in their career. While The Blue Nowhere doesn’t significantly diverge from their established formula, it feels more organic, crazier, more melodic, and freer-flowing, while still staying precise, compelling, and modern for progressive metal in 2025. The title track is also my song of the year.
