As the planet continues to collapse into a violent grey swell of the elements and civilization is eaten alive via the corruption of order by the wealthiest class and their techno-fascistic control all societies should now be experiencing waves of mass debilitating anxiety, a psychosis which only intensifies despite the echoic conglomerated propaganda denying and dominating all thought. Those of us who survived encroaching disease beyond MMXX now rightfully live with lingering existential dread, a loss of control as we watch all-consuming death continue to ride slow, en masse and stamping in waves. I would suggest that the reader breathe deeply of life’s horrors now rather than later, stare into the face of ruin and know the worst of humanity you’ve access to, as it will soon smell sweetly nostalgic compared to the toxic suffocation and greater cull for resources to come.
For the last five years heavy music served so many underbaked reactions to chaos, illness and plague that the level of delusion available to opportunists and “bucket list” creators became maddening, or, at least demoralizing as a fan. In 2025 pronounced introverted escapism nearly overtook the prevalence of avatar-level creators as artistic minds began to convey fortitudes, resilience, and purposed philosophy more often despite the far-lowered standards offered by generative technology (plagiarism). I’ve spent much of 2025 feeling uncomfortably distanced from heavy music communities, finding few attitudes I can relate to beyond a strong defiance of exploitative technology. Despite this feeling of alienation I’ve not changed my criteria for music: Studied and time-tested tastes in the old and arcane still inform the darkening reality of the present, but I’ve tried to only include bands who I feel’ve put themselves into their craft body-and-mind and not the dry wash of trends and secular posturing that’ve come with prevalent corporate social engineering. I am interested in the points where music reflects persistence and critical thinking as often as it conveys narrative and/or emotional expression and thusly contents of this list should resemble these ideals as we ramp toward the top.
I. On this fifty item list you will find the product of several tandem-pursued specializations honed in clusters over the decades, all of them bearing their own uneven contributions to heavy rock music: Death metal, black metal, thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, traditional heavy metal, heavy psychedelic rock, progressive rock, noise rock, hardcore punk, metalpunk, etc. and their permutations, all intermingling within various states of downturn and revival. The pursuit of all of these things at once ad nauseam is an act of crazed passion on my part, not a typical reaction to the seeming impenetrable fringes outside of generalized populist music. These selections are tuned exclusively to rhythms and voices which speak to great unknowns with wonderment, the unanswerable nihil of existence taken in as morbid transcendental muse, and as such they are personal and entirely independent selections which do not represent any manner of zeitgeist, agenda, cronyism or trend.
II. Upon completing the eighth year of this website’s existence more than fifty selections were warranted, whittled down from hundreds of albums considered. I understand this number (fifty) will already prove unreasonable or unwieldy for many readers, it probably won’t look great on a smaller smartphone either. The process of reduction from countless viable items to less than one tenth of everything means the result is likely uneven in its potency, sometimes fixated, sometimes unfocused, and cannot be functionally all-inclusive despite my efforts. There are entire labels I wasn’t able to mention, niches I didn’t touch upon, but at some point the line has to be drawn and monthly coverage is thorough otherwise: [January], [February], [March], [April], [May], [June], [July], [August], [September], [October], [November], [December].
III. These items were first ordered by highest general ratings then entirely reconsidered one-by-one by way of my enduring metrics: Immersion (fixation, memorability, efficacy of songcraft.) Connection (personal investment, bias, and general enjoyment.) Theme/lyricism (profundity and cohesion.) Audio-visuals (design experience and appeal, cohesive presentation.) Lasting value (perceived over time, considered as a physical product.) I keep track of the number of listens via automatic data collection, allowing for an objective tiebreaker when needed. No additional metrics were needed/used this year. The final list took roughly three days to compile and seven days to order then another two days to edit, write, and create graphics etc. I had a little bit less time to consider because my house was flooded in the middle of December and we are still cleaning up, fixing shit, etc.
IV. Each day I meditate with all-consuming gratitude aimed toward the bands, labels, distros, artists and PR firms who choose to work with me as well as the kind few readers who donate to the site intermittently. Thank you!
There is no better tone-setter for this list than the maudlin fuzz-burning drone of DAEVAR‘s latest as the German troupe further realize the songwriting potential within their stoner/doom and grunge inspired work. Rather than lean into longform pieces here they’ve locked into alt-rock inspired forms, three minute doom-rock songs marked by simple chord progressions and the disaffected soar of their vocalist. That level of straight forward craft helps their misery-toned catharsis stand out as emotional music in a realm which is typically dead behind the eyes. I’m curious to see where they go from here as ‘Sub Rosa‘ feels like a realization of all that came before and a more secured identity overall.
“Inspired by the most classic words of JD Salinger alongside the fresh new lows achieved by the world coming down all-around Cologne, Germany-based stoner/doom metal trio DAEVAR return for their third full-length album in three years, readied for their inevitable breakthrough take. Functioning as a modern equivalency to grunge’s tuneful trauma-rock in excess through thunder-toned guitar noise ‘Sub Rosa‘ is fated as the one where they finally dive in and deliver upon the sub-genre fusion hinted at on their prior LP. It turns out to be a great idea, a cathartic ear-dragging doom-rock album with an incredibly weighted sound. Though I can assure you their work hits deep enough per its sophisticate simplicity they’ve smartly kept this record succinct, sticking around just long enough to leave a profound mark.“
Conceived by members of Angrenost and Misþyrming the wyrming gait of SERPENTES naturally achieves an exceptional standard for black metal in MMXXV where sonic fidelity, conception, performance and curation all align into a high-expressive experience. The effect of listening to ‘Desert Psalms‘ is intoxicating in its trampling, surging and downward-flowing roll where no real limitations are set within their greater weave. Though it isn’t the most memorable experience song-for-song the overall flow through this album is what’d stuck in mind all year.
“Walking in step with the wicked, cracking open their ante-scriptural snakeskin tomes and delivering seven fork-tongued sermons sans superscriptions Portugal/Iceland-borne black metal quintet SERPENTES demand devotion to the underdark with escalating conviction on this righteously invoked introductory creed. From a wheezing throat crushed by daimonian hand their debut full-length album, ‘Desert Psalms‘, conveys the purgation of the light as the freeing of the mind through envenomed release. As an off-color black metal experience it is naturally riff-intensive, a puzzled together flow of inspiration made demanding per the odd handed skill of the unhinged devotees involved.“
German dark folk artist R. intends to convey a sense of place (Teufelsmoor) marked by resilient survival and melancholia alike within ‘IV‘, an addition to their canonical font under the name FIELDS OF MILDEW. Arriving quite a few years beyond the third and with the hum of his voice armed to drain the intent of this album is emotional as much as it is illustrative of what erodes a person over time. Only a small handful of albums so directly conveyed whatever 2025 was on a personal level, a corrosion.
If you were out for traditional doom metal of the underground sort with a heavy rock brainwave alight in 2025 ‘Ethereal Blasphemy‘ was your record and no doubt one of German troupe ANGEL OF DAMNATION‘s best to date. Clever blasphemic lyrics are enough to draw me in here but it was the vocalist’s brilliant performance and a strong rhythm section that’d sealed the deal for my own taste. Beyond the clear goal of classics-minded doom metal here this is a great heavy metal album, memorable songcraft in general which barely misses a beat over the course of its seven-song crusade.
“Raining down impiety and sacrilege in the form of fresh blood whipped from the decapitated savior’s neck western Germany-based epic doom metal quartet ANGEL OF DAMNATION present their third and latest achievement in the realm of underground traditional craft. Arisen with new allies at their side and with rusted swords readied in hand after seven years of dormancy these folks only appear strengthened by the passage of time as we trace their cull through ‘Ethereal Blasphemy‘. For the classic doom metal fan seeking dark and ancient sounds this should prove an essential reminder of the sub-genre’s morbid, despairing essence at its best.“
This debut full-length from RITUAL ASCENSION sports its own brand of ritualistic atmospheric war metal with cavernous death/doom metallic tendencies, a feat which could’ve only come from members of Void Rot and Suffering Hour. If you are a fan of Impetuous Ritual and Grave Upheaval as much as you are death/doom metal a la Disembowelment you’ll probably have the patience and the ear to appreciate what these folks accomplish on ‘Profanation of the Adamic Covenant‘. While I don’t think the conception is shockingly original here the performances (vocals esp.) and general wielding of atmospheric climes next to barreling riffcraft makes for an above-average otherworldly delve.
“A rite which smokes through the air from the abysm-eyed godhede’s black tongue speaks to majesty in praise of the serpentine path, roaring within the eternal dark in conveyance of mythic emanations from below. As dictated by Minneapolis, Minnesota-based surrealistic avant-death/doom metal trio RITUAL ASCENSION this debut full-length album seeks to suffocate and deny the listener eden, any satiation or comfort within the piercing cold and eye-dotted landscape of nihil, they tank and seethe through. A soul-crushing hallucination conjured by weary minds, ‘Profanation of the Adamic Covenant‘ is a sinister echo chamber for the howling souls of the dead and lost, a cryptic spell of doom set to bewilder and debilitate anyone in earshot of its slow-burnt and callous exaggerations of dread. These folks’ve found a deeply unsettling trail through death-doom metal’s most funereal haze, a disturbingly callous yet captivating trip through the bestial and avant-garde, a trip in its own right.“
Though they are a cast of relative newcomers to funeral death/doom metal canon Norwegian quintet GLOOMBOUND made a colossal first impression with this debut full-length album where heady funereal atmosphere is naturally boarded by easy-burning death metal lurch. If you are a fan of early Ahab and Dream Unending you should instantly appreciate both the aesthetic and sound of the band though they do build their own realm within the course of this debut. There isn’t a wild amount of vulnerability conveyed via their quest through despondency but we do find a young band with an undeniable flair for empyreal dramatism.
“Tonally attuned to the peril of drowning while espousing the glory of their view of the sun from beneath the waves Oslo, Norway-based funeral death/doom metal quintet GLOOMBOUND achieve both the beauteous and beastly on this impressive debut full-length album. Commanding a fairly broad oeuvre here after just a few years in collaboration these fellowes manage some impressive maturity and variety of forms on ‘Dreaming Delusion‘ as they’re found stepping larger within far more detailed, emotionally resonant headspace. Though they’ve refined and expanded their capabilities and expressivity in the years since their demo tape these folks’ve not scraped away from the guile and ardor of the underground, making for inspired funereal ideation in unregulated motion.“
There were so many pure death metal debuts released this year to pick through for this list yet only a handful sported any serious potential beyond whatever mosh metal folks are calling “riffs” these days. Los Angeles-area crew PUTRESCENT are one of the real ones, a death metal band (much like compatriots Insineratehymn) who’ve built their sound around the riff and a truly dark ‘old school’ death metal sound with regard to United States centric tone and attack. Memorable album art, a riff-after-riff approach, a fully murderous attack, and some notable variety mark this ~35 minute debut as one of the best I’d touched this year.
“Bound skull to skull with the reaper in a horrifying display of knotted-together tongues and grotesque digits an embodiment of Phthisis goes on worming its putrid caress into all-encompassing morbid descent on this debut full-length album from Los Angeles, California-based death metal quartet PUTRESCENT. Where death and rotten decay conspire as sickly bedfellows so follows the blood-crusted hammer strength of this crew’s handle upon the riff, capturing the nauseated motion of classic death metal as they take ‘Darkness Embraced‘ as true directive on their downward-sinking path. Aiming to scrape these sounds back to pure wrath and achieving a new suffocating low in passage, these fellows’ve managed an undeniable ideal here on their first long-player.“
French blackened thrash/heavy metal quartet HEXECUTOR sort of got pushed around in the list order this year but don’t get it twisted, this is one of the finest thrash metal adjacent records of 2025 and an incredible follow-up to their already stoic 2020 sophomore LP. The band’s style is seemingly all over the place at a glance as we fine some fandom of French black metal and classic black/thrash informing their regal-yet-ferally charged fuming on ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘. Brilliantly immersive, memorable at every turn, and full of surprising tangents. A total package sort of heavy metal record and potentially their best yet.
“Not banners but wraiths in moonlight float and march in the cold air as their blazon calls to the spectral bane in the night, phantasmal creatures stirred to haunt by the return of Rennes, France-based blackened thrash/heavy metal quartet HEXECUTOR who’d bring their restless menace to the culling call of this accomplished third full-length album. Further setting themselves apart from the black-thrashing metal hordes while sticking to ideation rooted in tradition these folks present ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ as a continuation down their circuitous heavy metal fed pathway through thrashing and blackened extremes. It is its own emboldened step which nonetheless should grip the ear of folks seeking ancient spiritus which finds a way to breach the strictures of sub-genre just enough to breathe. Their work here only perpetuates their infamy thanks to some solid riffs and a few catchier heavy metal tirades along the way.“
The long strange trip taken by Galician entity BALMOG continues to tunnel through their own unique muse for a fifth entry here, connecting orthodox black metal rapacity with gothic rock/post-punk infusion all their own. ‘Laio‘ is another record that’d jumped around the list order for the sake of it being imperfect yet distinct, an experience which is inarguably above average but also an acquired taste for how far it pushes through the usual barriers of moderne black metal extraction.
“There is a psychic war being fought within the tethered contentedness of the individual and the skull-pinging ambition that haunts all thoughts beyond self-actualization’s prompt, a fifth stage maturation of the singularity that goes on peering readily into the dark on this latest full-length album from Soutomaior, Galicia-based black metal quartet (trio on record) BALMOG. Their latest crowning achievement in an imposing streak of black metal blurring movements against the grain, ‘Laio‘ feels the momentum behind it’s back and revels in the sensation of fusing bones and drying cartilage as their inner-beast continues to grow. Combining more recent sea-change with an increasingly distant past the band’s latest material achieves a new level of harried emotional intensity, an array of reactive and wise notions built from eclectic, outward-seeking sensibilities. Though the entity hungers for a holistically representative self it doesn’t escape the tormentor’s wheel, leaning into lamentations which follows life’s expansion and death’s contraction in wrenching unison.“
Rich with thematic meaning, dense with abstraction and yet sublimely approachable this latest record from Swedish death metal legendry RUNEMAGICK might get lumped into the same category as Hooded Menace and such but their muse is not so common and has decades worth of its own idiosyncratic development in tow. I honestly did not expect the band to ever return beyond their mid-2000’s exit but now that we’ve been bulldozed by four full-lengths since 2017 it seems there is no real threat of diminishing returns, in fact each record seems to overflow with material as is the case with this one.
“At the precipice of extinction we are seated and wrapped in Urðr-woven ceremonial garb, left to observe sermon after sermon as to how the past’d informed our present armageddon via Ljungskile, Sweden-based death/doom metal ritualist RUNEMAGICK who return in singularity with this fourteenth full-length album. The droning tension of ‘Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms)‘ is no less uncanny in reveal despite how familiar it should be to the long-standing fan as the now solo act’s signature is loud and and immediate from the outset. What develops within the album’s potentially hourlong, slow-pulling thread is expectedly surreal, rewarding of the patient extreme doom metal ear most concerned with both presence and rhythmic knack.“
Passionate performances, wildly possessed lyricism, and an overall brilliant sense for presentation serve as just a few of many reasons why Belgium-based newcomers SOLFATARE made the list in 2025. ‘Asservis par l’espoir‘ asserts obviate enough influences throughout its six song run but doesn’t use them as a landing pad so much as coloration, points of extension drawn from French and Icelandic black metal ideation into immersive and despairing arcs. Though most will remember this album for its energetic start I’d point to the final two pieces on the album for a sense of the roundedness of the experience, a complete thought that flows with inspiration through the end.
“Enslaved by the hope of primacy and driven to acts of desperation the clawing hands and hungered mouths of the polis speak and act without purpose, hurling their absurd din and damage directly into the fuming mouth of the underworld for the sake of tactless existential commune. Assailing the tormented inner-dead as they lift the veil upon nihil Brussels, Belgium-based black metal trio SOLFATARE delight in turmoil as passage, boiling up with dread-angst and coursing it into a bristling dance between dissonant and melodious phrase on this carefully crafted, poetically rich debut full-length album. ‘Asservis par l’espoir‘ may very well pull from well-trodden terrain for its central rhythmic action, and in this sense the band’s work is familiar, they escape a rote experience per their own driven authorship which already reads as wizened beyond its years. Held on the verge of the flame and yarning an old-world maze of despair within their first grand statement these fellowes aren’t lacking in their umpteenth generational European nihilistic existentialism as foundation, every word and riff drips with it as they arrive upon both their own disenchantment and the greater doom of the species.“
This sophomore album from INCINERATED was a surprise on some level but a great one overall as their work transforms from ‘old school’ 80’s death metal in exaggerative swipes toward a night progressive black/death metal opus. Increasingly accomplished musicianship, a cacophonic narrator, and headily at-times melodious work sprawls within most longform pieces. It isn’t the most perfect experience in terms of pacing but it is a leap into the beyond, an ambitious death metal record endeavoring to not only do more but assign even more meaning to each work. Also as a side note, this record has some of my favorite basslines of the year in this obscure black/death context.
“Five epiphanies on the ailment of sentience and its symptoms (be they desire, hope or arrogance…) speak to willful self-liberation and acceptance of annihilation alike as West Java, Indonesia-based death metal quintet INCINERATED generate a third-stage personal evolution within this sophomore full-length album. A doubly broadened rhythmic temperament focused into just a few longform stretches ‘The Epitome of Transgression‘ initially demands a patient and attentive ear per its ornate shaping yet clear and consistent motility offers entrancement rather than outright tension. There is a satisfying dance to the rhythms here, more accomplished movements which act as its main spectacle, which serve an altogether different angle unto death likely to bewilder anyone returning to their work half a decade later expecting the plain impulse of ancient death metal as directive.“
The general progression offered by COLTSBLOOD‘s discography is somewhat rare in the sense that over the years they’ve only gotten more extreme, busier but broader-minded in their exploration of not only ominous atmospheric doom/sludge metal but how those nodes naturally extend into funeral death/doom metal. This means ‘Obscured into Nebulous Dusk‘ does many things, rarely all at once, and does them all well in the context of their funeral death/sludge mutiny. Their work only becomes more sublime as the album slugs along with the final two pieces, particularly “Transcending the Immortal Gateway”, leaving a serious mark behind.
“The shoe has dropped, the collapse of the natural world and civilization having been less than grand and moreso guttural in its flailing heave unto death, and yet the stamp it leaves on humanity’s neck is profoundly concentric. As it turns out the pre-apocalypse and the post-apocalypse look much the same beyond all the disintegrating corpses left behind as Liverpool, England-based funeral death doom/sludge metal trio COLTSBLOOD depict the finale of life on earth both in motion and fully arrived on this third and heaviest full-length album. ‘Obscured into Nebulous Dusk‘ is a far deeper step down into funeral death/doom metal tonality, still a thunder-carved sludge/doom metal band with extreme metal tastes but one who fully dive into atmospheric dithering of funeral-apropos sounds. While it won’t alienate fans of their previous work in any sense this is a band who’ve sharpened their general preparedness, performance and presentation to a fresh high this third time around.“
While I was overjoyed with the theme, sonic fidelity, and moderne approach of this latest DECLINE OF THE I record surrounding its release and the review process ‘Wilhelm‘ still impresses but with diminishing returns. The lushness of its soundscapes, the various accoutrement and fills applied which give the experience its body, still impresses though the interspersion of electronic music elements hasn’t held up as well as I’d thought. That doesn’t necessarily damn the experience so much as pushes it further down the list than intended. With that said it is yet one of the best black metal adjacent releases of 2025 and another addition to this fellowe’s intense hand for both detail and expression.
“What angst is extracted from ethical steadfastness speaks to an inherently nauseating codec, an implanted rule over the willpower which’d channel away the hardened lines of perception into uncertainty of purpose, dread. Paris, France-based avant-garde/post-black metal quartet DECLINE OF THE I depict a lifetime of this accumulation crashing upon the cathedral nave as their fifth full-length album reconfigures their signature sound(s) for the sake of its high conceptual vision. In this sense ‘Wilhelm‘ is intractable, an extraction which reveals deeper sophistication and insight which should not be buried or shied away from for its overwhelming presence. As a talisman of themed ulterior black metal worn loudly the affectation here is maximal yet not wasteful of its fixation, an experience which rewards with easily parsed grandeur up front yet carries deeper nuanced meaning and arrangement when addressed by a mind readied to chisel and scrape away in pursuit of formative existential theorem.“
Shocked alive by early thrashing death metal structure and made feral via the theatric charm of eldritch black/heavy metal throughout the ages this much anticipated debut from NECROMANIAC carries an ageless insanity into every song so that they might read as mazed-through points of conjure. From death-thrashing morbidity to chaotically disassembled rituals and earlier Mortuary Drape-esque dread there are equal parts firebrand signs of life pressed next to scenes of horrified death as the energetic press of ‘Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable‘ is scratched and rallied through.
“Hidden from plain sight and at work on shadow-and-ghost conjured curses for well over a decade London, England-based morbid blackened death-thrash metal quartet NECROMANIAC emerge cloaked and black-eyed in peak possession form for this well-built debut full-length album. Obsessed with the cruelty of extreme thrash metal of the mid-to-late 80’s and indebted to morbid blackened death nascency ‘Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable‘ presents classics-minded craft at a highest standard today, uncompromised evil finding its bloodier, blackened flow in an age of torpor and forgotten principles. Though there may be some patience involved in allowing these deliberately struck, highly detailed pieces to sink in fans of the riff who show up for this one should be rewarded in every case.“
I don’t know much of anything about Belgium-based artist LVTHN beyond their Fallen Empire-released debut from a decade ago and a split I’d reviewed almost as long ago yet it’d felt entirely natural to fall into the abyssal vortices of ‘The Devil’s Bridge‘ as it’d arrived. While they’ve outdone themselves from every angle here I think what I’d like to champion most is the guitar work, these are some of the most soul-burning dual rhythms available to black metal this year as the band’s work speaks to primal violence and sophisticated voicing at once. Every time I picked up this album I’d quickly become lost in it, or, immersed in the blurring of declarative accost and riff-after-riff trampling.
“In reciting their latest throng of ego-death rites Belgium-based black metal duo LVTHN enforce the surrender of all souls to Lucifer in order to distort and shatter all illusions enforced upon their ailing carapace, portal’ing the congestion of malign existence via this long denied sophomore full-length album. Through the blinding light and down into the truth of the abysm ‘The Devil’s Bridge‘ is an act of fomentation and self-extraction, a raw skinning of the psyche into less constricting parts. That is to say that it is a righteously fluid yet non-linearly set tract of riff-driven yet atmospherically rich black metal songs still affected by the cutting queasiness if past efforts.“
This Argentinian band’s debut was all over the place, unsure of its locale when it’d released back in the day yet on this follow-up ATAUDES seem entirely sure of their identity as a death metal band keen on smartly wound abstraction. Basing most of their esoteric movement within odd-timed rhythms and exaggerative throngs of sometimes-skronking riffcraft these folks generate something ancient yet avant-sensationalist, that sweet spot where bands like Dead Congregation find both adrenaline and ulterior climes without losing the core brutality of canonical death metal muse. I’d appreciated the balance between making the riffs count and delivering something challenging sans overtly technical tropes applied, a sound most earlier Immolation fans will approve of.
“With our primeval engine left whirring off-cylinder and expended of every last telomeric extension our ancient clock is left to flatly rattle through its timeworn exterior as the caustic remnants of the “self” are soured by discord and tempest ’til eroded… settled into putrid dust by the wrathful degrade of Buenos Aires, Argentina-based death metal trio ATAUDES who’d repeatedly conjure their decayed tones with the temperament of an ageless ghoul on this impressive sophomore full-length album. ‘Tempus Edax Rerum‘ presents time as the unsettling source of angst within mankind, an incontrovertible devourer of existence (and remembrance) as the nihil pours bile-black and reeking from each piece. Their work on this second LP smacks of paradigmatic soul-exchange, a dramatic shift in voicing which better attains (and elevates) their original vision of morbid, angularly cut death metal rippling with eerie-toned atmospheric descent.“
This seventh full-length album from Finnish black metal act BLOOD RED FOG digs into the more melodious side of their guitar work, rescinding some of keys-heavy side of ‘Fields of Sorrow‘ while pulling in more analog synthesizers (?) on the way through. Though their work is no stranger to longform songs I’d found the trio of ~9 minute pieces entrancing in both their development/progression and cold, maudlin tonality. It sounds like they’ve aimed to do something different and in this case it turned out to be one of the more compelling black metal records of 2025 for my own taste.
“Pieced together from bursts of fleeting inspiration, fragments captured in muttering passage from the stasis of sleep ’til waking, these solemn verses follow us in readiness for the melancholia which precedes hibernation. Jyväskylä, Finland-based black metal duo BLOOD RED FOG spread their dreary melodicism in four increasingly grand waves on this seventh full-length album. A deeper step into the surreal and sorrowful unknown ‘Marrasväet‘ is once again ingrained with the self-directed search and compile of the artist yet the beast which arises from the haze is sleekened, fastidiously realized yet patient in the reveal of this extended conversation.“
It’d be easy enough to spent a couple of minutes with either of Polish death metal band TOUGHNESS‘ full-lengths thus far and give their increasingly brutal Demilich-esque sound a thumbs up and a quick slot into that region but there is more to discover within the worming putridity of ‘Black Respite of Oblivion‘. This album in particular ventures into virtuosic prog-death exaggerations, jazz-fusion informed layers of parallax movement which is available to the listener from the first song and which expands as its ~45 minute scrub advances. Impressive as all of this is as an otherworldly machination of horror-death and wild showmanship it lacks the obscure soul I’d typically want from this type of music and, perhaps more importantly, doesn’t generate moments that are easily recalled outside of the experience.
“Mentally masticated by the gnawing shadows of your portal-severed limbs, their tooth-like pressure emanating from the eye-slits of Nyarlathotep who’d teleport thoroughly (but not completely) the flesh to the Dreamlands and the psyche to the final void. All is not chaos in the Demilichian realm detailed on this sophomore full-length album from Puławy, Poland-based death metal quartet TOUGHNESS in fact we are seated at a court reserved to temper away all energy into torpor and dismay. Once again taking their time to develop tribute and temperament fitting for the old outrage of the ancient ones, these ‘old school’ avant-garde death metal students can mark ‘Black Respite of Oblivion‘ as successful push for a biggest-yet vision from beyond their core inspiration, far more than what’d been achieved by the debut. Here they provide more flesh to adorn their volatile alien grooved landscapes and more psychic shock from the mouth of the unknown to derail and disturb the modernist ear.“
I’ve been a fan of FLOATING from the first listen, I don’t remember of it was Machine Music or the fellowe from Convulsing but one of ’em mentioned ‘The Waves Have Teeth‘ around its digital release and I’d liked it so much I released it on CD and cassette. So, with that bias in mind I’ve nothing but praise for what the band’ve done with their second LP ‘Hesitating Lights‘, a deeper push into the gothic metal/post-punk inspiration that drives the band beyond their ‘old school’ death metal rooting. This specific combination of elements and their own hand applied has a supernatural ability to access a variety of (oft frustrated and bleak) emotion from a cold, deadpan place and I’d found that extremely rare among the myriad options available to death metal and all of the gothic metal hybridization in 2025.
“Speaking to the intrusive dilemma resultant of isolation through niche points of sub-genre suffusion Uppsala, Sweden-based progressive death metal duo FLOATING once again bring surrealist cinematic atmosphere and caustic angst to their collection of 80’s gothic rock and 90’s death metal texturing on this sophomore full-length album. For those seeking a progression in the shaping and linkage of forms suggested by their debut ‘Hesitating Lights‘ will make perfect sense, an easier flowing yet still unpredictive expression of dismayed singularity. Streamlined yet not polished to grotesque sheen this second pass rethinks the ratio of their inherent combination, reconstituting the struggle of avant-garde death metal while yet appealing to their more-than skin deep interest in maudlin, deadpan post-punk rock and in the process creates an alternative to the quasi-tradition of Swedish “dark metal” popularized in the late 90’s.“
For this sophomore full-length album JADE‘s atmospheric metal sound moves away from ‘old school’ death metal rhythmus and instead focuses on a colder form of psychedelic and gothic rock informed candor, a fixation which has a strong “dark metal” contingent in its end result. This doesn’t necessarily excise what they’d built on their debut but rather hones it in one particularly direction which is entirely unique. There is certainly no other record from 2025 that sounds like ‘Mysteries of a Flowery Dream‘ yet their work isn’t so avant-garde in its actual strafe that it’ll be alienating to preexisting fandom. Original and memorable stuff.
“Spoken between the collective unbewusst and the unknown realm(s) beyond death the dialogue pursued at the heart of this second full-length album from Catalonian atmospheric death metal trio JADE intends access to a profound lucid dreaming state in order to divine the deeper mysteries of life and death. In pursuit of transcendental ken ‘Mysteries of a Flowery Dream‘ focuses on developing its own ominous yet richly melodic sonic language, a surreal tongue which better achieves their commune with the psychopomp that’d direct our way through the nine-stage process of releasing the soul from the body. A brilliantly composed slow-rolling tide built upon ripples of doomed, blackened and impassioned storm-calling psychedelia here we find these sorcerers of guitar-driven atmosphere reaching for a more direct-shot melodious charge, tasking themselves with a uniquely blustering tonal experience which rings in hundred-layered whorl yet still manages their goal of transcendental connectivity.“
If you were out for pure ‘old school’ death metal in 2025 you probably couldn’t do much better than the distempered sophomore full-length album from B.C.’s GRAVE INFESTATION who’ve lost none of their USDM-meets-Scandinavian thrust in the years between. ‘Carnage Gathers‘ speaks to ye olde Autopsy balk to start but they’re quick enough in blurring the lines of reference with their own zombified gait and the brilliantly unpolished underground death metal sound which churns forth in motion. Strangled leads, quick-turning riffs, bestial blasts, and puked-low vocals made this one easy to return to, a pure pleasure listen at a time where the metallic hardcore thing just won’t go away and every band, even the major label dogs, are playing the same three mosh metal riffs on ~25 minute LPs.
“Slashed and bitten, strangled and clawed into shocked and bleeding muss, they were hacked into human shanks for feeding after their hunger-maddened assailant had his fill of gut-and-haunches. For the “werewolf of Dole” death was a necessity, nourishment for the desperation of providership and the disturbing gore resultant was animal butchery in his mind. Themed after real and unreal relationships with death this sophomore full-length album from Vancouver, British Colombia-based death metal quartet GRAVE INFESTATION muses over murderers and outrageous histories of human savagery as they pull together another grip of late 80’s inspired ‘old school’ death metal horror. ‘Carnage Gathers‘ is a traditional follow-up, a push toward more exaggerated extremes in most every regard, but as the band suggests it quickly begins to feel like tirade back to an even more feral, obsessed version of themselves.“
Over the last several years Greek black metal troupe MEDIEVAL DEMON have certainly impressed with their persistently dark yet evolving hand applied to largely 90’s styled fare, almost reaching prog-black levels of austerity within their more recent work. With ‘All Powers of Darkness‘ they’ve crafted ritualistic symphonies of morbid devotion, possessed acts which dwarf much of their past work in scale and atmospheric loft. Each time I pick this album up and give it some due patience to develop it impresses me even more than the last thanks to a heavy emphasis on its use of keys/synths and orchestral elements, a sound which is outsized compared to the humble Athens underground that’d birthed ’em. If the first few songs don’t hit that spark right away give it some time, this one only gets better as the tracklist burns on.
“As their cult grows so does the distance their hymns carry as Athens, Greece-based black metal quartet MEDIEVAL DEMON return for a fifth full-length album which summons all manner of infernal names and unspeakable beings through ancient, time-gnarled hands. Imbued with ritual sacrifice and channeled in grand numbers ‘All Powers of Darkness‘ is a damned, nigh orchestral feature of ‘old school’ Hellenic black metal trait given to broadest and bold gesturing, an imposing and sinister statement in the band’s own deliberate classicist sensibility. While so much modern black metal invaginates away from tradition, weakening itself by burrowing together in decreasing sickly numbers here these four fellowes step to the altar in glorious, bloodied showing.“
‘Taetra Philosophia‘ is classic ABYSMAL GRIEF, an unflinching devotion to their own sound and the funereal sermon it serves best. This one is a little heavier on the jammed keyboard/synth exposition, a sound which lines up with their Italian doom metal heritage but also incorporates darker black metal inspired tones to the point where I believe fans of Hellenic black metal might find some interest here as well, at least of the style of vocals isn’t an issue. Everything these folks’ve done is brilliant and offers something new along the spectrum of Eldritch and blasphemic doom which is yet connected to the dark underground roots of the sub-genre.
“With the choir’s red-eyed blur asway on the right and the organist aflame on the left the unnamed figure dead centre the pulpit completes their unholy trinity with his guttural vibrato, an ominous sermon dedicated to hair-raising seventh revision of the vile tome’s curse as Genoa, Italy-based doom metal trio ABYSMAL GRIEF preach the hungered call of the soil below. On the very cusp of completing their third decade of alignment these fellowes reinforce an enduring campaign of dark-black doomed delirium with a seventh full-length album no less devout in its disgust. The horror of an ancient tradition returned ‘Taetra Philosophia‘ serves to demystify all offensive prophecies fed to ailing minds via their necrotized eldritch oratorial take on Italian doom esoterica.“
For their second album this collaboration between Varathron‘s Necroabyssious and Bill Zobolas of Soulskinner once again tap into their roots in the Hellenic black metal sound but do not necessarily look backwards, building something a bit different even beyond the first ZARATUS album. ‘Those Who Dwell Beyond‘ is overall more forceful in terms of its riffs and delivery compared to the often fixated atmosphere of their debut, using curious choices for their keys/synth voicing to ensure that each song stands as its own experience with a solid riff backing it up. In this way there is a shade of their history in each interaction while the main composer looks outside of black metal for some of the more interesting pieces here, almost breaching a neoclassic tinge on a few songs. Though it isn’t as warmly immersive as their first record we still get a lot of personality from the duo, something memorable and unique to their experiences.
The latest WULKANAZ record sounds like their earlier stuff combined with the garage rocking/punkish ride of certain Wagner Ödegård of note so, if you were wilding out over ‘Om kosmos och de tolv järtekn‘ back in 2020 like I was you’ll probably love what they’re up on on ‘Luftuz‘. If you’re looking for a follow up to the band’s 2018 record that one was actually the bigger outlier and isn’t recreated here as you’ll find some manner of effects-soaked psychedelic rocking swagger applied to the darkness here rather than the more forceful black metal of their previous LP. Noisome, raw, drenched in interference and yet managing one hook-laden ~3-4 minute song after another this album is dripping in morbid, cavernous invention. Again, nothing else sounded like this in 2025 and if it did, send me a link ASAP.
“Waking from an extended period of wyrding rumination and now musing on the firmament above Dalarna, Sweden-based black metal project WULKANAZ returns with a thicker-layered yet explosively energetic oddity this fifth time around. Continuing to stray on a path far, far removed from typical black metal wares ‘Luftuz‘ may very well estrange those who’ve not followed the artist’s greater periphery these last seven years as they’ve gathered personage which manifests in both expected long-gathered voice and surprising exaggerative forms. The bombast and intricate rhythmic fuss of garage rock/psychedelic punk continue to yield brilliance in brevity for this unique and enduring artist, guaranteeing yet another result from this fellowe which is tuneful yet unlike anything else.“
Swiss ritualistic blackened death/doom metal trio ARKHAAIK return with a primal embodiment in mind but an altogether sophisticated reap on this sophomore full-length album, a Bronze Age set divination built within four ~10-15 minute pieces. Not only does ‘Uihtis‘ largely rewrite their action but it takes on a sort of Bölzer or The Ruins of Beverast level of layered bombast and inspired vocal style. Fans of their first album will find this transformation most jarring but the sludgy wallop of this record was exactly to my taste and left a dent in mind from the first listen. Check out their other recent project Arrows, too.
“Crafted to oscillate with the droning wake-and-rest of existence in chase this concept album from Zürich, Switzerland-based atmospheric blackened death/doom metal trio ARKHAAIK brings the challenge of collaborative survival deeper into the singularity driven psyche of extreme metal, intending an inherently organic statement by way of slow-to-doom paced muse upon Bronze Age European subsistence. Conjuring a tribe’s worth of spectacle within these four longform pieces our hunters posit the bloodthirst of a (once great) animal hunting in pack and their irrepressible connection with the cyclic forces of the natural world within this well-evolved sophomore full-length album. The progression of their idiosyncratic style found herein is exciting enough as a step beyond a fairly tentative debut and a much higher riff count is a bonus but the real point of admiration to bestow here is their emboldened primal-transcendental character, a vantage point which is (mostly) unique to them and rare regardless.“
Washington state death metal staple DRAWN AND QUARTERED returned for a ninth full-length album in 2025 and rather than lean into a complex web of doom and despair found on the previous two or so records ‘Lord of Two Horns‘ instead focuses on immediate brutality, aggression which sticks closer to ~3-4 minute assaults for the bulk of its action. I’ve been a fan of these folks since the early 2000’s and still find them to be one of the most consistent forces in underground death metal album-after-album, this record reinforces that reputation and their general signature with some extra intensity applied.
“A ninth abominant form arisen under clawed commandeer of the chaotic forces of nature, He who must destroy is once again summoned to obliterate all idolatrous hordes through trampled-out, blood drenched genocidal cull. The chosen vessel for annihilation is none other than Seattle, Washington-area death metal quartet DRAWN AND QUARTERED who crush and twist all skulls under boot via this wrathfully clobbered-out ninth full-length album. The devotee can approach ‘Lord of Two Horns‘ with blind confidence and find their well-proven blasphemic accost intact, fuming here with infernal brutality pouring from every piece as the band’s signature and high standards are upheld. For the uninitiated the band’s 90’s underground sourced and USDM informed vision remains approachable from all angles as they add yet another uncompromised and inspired release to an already indomitable discography.“
Finland-based dark folk act HEXVESSEL have managed numerous transformations since their debut released back in 2011 but I think my favorite might be the duo of atmospheric black metal inspired records they’ve managed recently. ‘Nocturne‘ was originally writ as a live performance for a large festival and this year it was released as a studio album, a sort of sequel to ‘Polar Veil‘ (2023) which carries much of the same modus and inspiration into its first half. Black metal isn’t the entire story here but rather a major rhythmic component which is enhanced by a suite of guest vocals as well as Kvohst‘s unmistakable leading voice. Easily one of the most memorable, accomplished and evocative releases of this year.
“Intended as a transcendental ritual of the night, a descent into the dusk commissioned for a prominent festival stage performance this seventh full-length album from Helsinki, Finland-based folken atmospheric metal quartet HEXVESSEL presents an enlarged view, a thicker double LP sized volume for chapter two of their delve into chilling nightside mysticism. Bloomed into an hourlong ear-spiraling ambient extreme metal spell ‘Nocturne‘ aims to capture the essence of the night experienced through mystic senses, a scene where our protagonist walks and waltzes through solitary nightly steps conducting and humming in time with the pulse of thier surroundings. Thoroughly funereal in its haunting folken atmospheric black metal-stirred invocation this release intentionally recalls and expands upon the sound introduced on the band’s previous LP to the point of charming exstasis. This latest work serves an ambitious, satisfyingly complete thought which charms with it’s personal spiritual conveyance while making sure to hook into mind via its own richly melodic, at-times experimental shadowy haunt.“
‘Precipice‘ exists as an extreme progressive album which does not conform to the strictures of black and death metal yet incorporates each on a fundamental level, using LYCHGATE‘s incredible host of performers to create a work which transcends but does not escape familiar voicing. In review I’d emphasized that the main composer’s voice remains clear and the narrative intent of the band lucid despite the seeming chaotic modus applied, a sign of intense musicianship applied to a form of music which rarely pursues anything more than easy classification. There is both pleasure and challenge available to this work which’d helped make it a joyous (and torturous) experience to delve into.
“The hive mind’s insatiable tunneling toward efficiencies cannot possibly outpace the rot produced by the greater machine, no matter how ouroboric the form taken by civilization becomes an entity of uniform obedience will always suffocate beneath the outcome. Given a view from the deeply bent spine of surreal envision London, England-based avant-garde black/progressive metal quintet LYCHGATE arrive beyond the crest of many years with a vision of tormented liberation on this accomplished fourth full-length album. Despite its time emboldened density of razor-precision’d statement ‘Precipice‘ speaks clearly, deliberately through its arc as a ~48 minute ordeal marked by Eldritch tension and beauteous grey-glowing contemplation. Though you’ll no doubt immediately recognize their work by its ‘ready well established traits the long wait between releases appears to have granted this record a thrillingly repeatable density, a compelling realm of its own to explore beyond past accomplishments.“
Fans of The Chasm, ‘Necroticism…‘-era Carcass, and a bit of melodic black/death metal should appreciate Mexican death metal band DARKSIDE RITUAL‘s latest full-length album, a new high point in their already compelling venture through ambitious yet deep underground death metal permutations. ‘Chamber of Deathlessness‘ doesn’t just go places, veering between more than the influences suggested in their pursuit of dark, grittiest and raw death metal with particularly strong composition for two guitars. This one has been hideously underrated in 2025 and so has their related death/doom inspired band Necronos.
“Amplified between a hundred points of refraction in sinistral angle the phenomenon of being is mused into void-gazing existential abstraction in the hands of Querétaro, Mexico-based technical blackened death metal quartet DARKSIDE RITUAL who peel back the celestial shroud and pry loose the viscera of the skull within this third full-length album. A conceptual trilogy’s peaking arc ‘Chamber of Deathlessness‘ captures the band maneuvering further from caustic technical brutality into neuron-stretching nausea, centering their attack upon occasionally dissonant and erratically paced songs which tread more readily into hypnotic rhythms and deeper blackened territory on this third cycle. Densely written and pulverizing by default their work had already breached abstracted forms on prior releases and here all comes in no less frequent waves of mind palace raiding riff-driven death metal faceted within high-rate, layer-peeling tangent which preserves their brutal tension by way of a darkest, haze-ridden presence.“
Though their style isn’t the unheard of combination of classicist influences fed into atmospheric death metal command Danish death metal crew PHRENELITH‘s latest album ‘Ashen Womb‘ yet offers one of the most complete thoughts served pure death metal this year. Their immersive, Immolation-esque craft carries an additionally dramatic tone, a finality which suits the punishing weave through their own ever-evolving brand of expansive yet suffocating death. There is a wounding, despondent walk toward the apocalypse envisioned here which I’d found repeatable to no end but I don’t think that’ll be a surprise to existing fans, each of their records have completely smoked.
“With the maw of the end cracked open and our monstrous apocalyptic herald-beast in flight so erupts the din of unholiest armageddon, a funereal downpour from nine molten-headed hammers upon the land. The third in an order of increasingly bleak, charred-and-choked out prophecies this third full-length album from Copenhagen, Denmark-based death metal quartet PHRENELITH gapes before us having birthed a bleakest yet writ of eschaton at peaking cataclysmic stages. Shapely in its corroded grooves and increasingly dark, suffocating pummel and volatile atmosphere ‘Ashen Womb‘ speaks to new visions of auld temperaments, exaggerated and plumed into headier increasingly psychotic adulation for the gears that’d turn the dial faster toward the cessation of all life. In this sense we are treated to a brilliant standard for death metal of any age (ancient or otherwise) as these folks once again wield prognostication, punishment and billowing movement into unforgettable finalitas.“
From the moment ‘Star Blood‘ comes lumbering in with the opening riff to “Her Freezing Wings” I was pretty much sold on this second UNFYROS full-length as an extension of the ritualistic severity of their first. How far they take that extension is what makes it such an exceptional atmospheric feat as their use of keys and a variety of vocal expression help to walk the ear through each cold corridor no less possessed than before. In this case they’ve accessed the celestial both in terms of atmospheric generation and the general gazing which takes place across these six main acts. If you are not as much if a fan of mid-paced, spiritually incensed black metal as I am your results may vary but this second album only reinforced my fandom for their work alongside their related Aural Hypnox ventures.
“Possessed by a voice spoken through the fire-borne flickering of the quintessence and set upon the deathly cold of the nightside Oulu, Finland-based black metal trio UNFYROS open a second channel above and beyond within the course of this inspired sophomore full-length album. Awash in purposed exploration of the unseen and wrapped within the process of transcendence from the corporeal ‘Star Blood‘ offers its own ozone-hewn brilliancy, a unique act of ancient-handed spiritual gloom via mid-paced atmospheric black metal. A feat of unreal doomed resonance beyond their already brilliant earlier work this album explores their knack for the wandering riff in cyclic reprise, an impressive weave developed within droning ritual-bound focus and presented via arcane yet crystalline sound.“
Rather than leaning into the low-standard, mouth-breathing simplicity of faux ‘old school’ death metal traction today Belgium-based crew ABYSMAL DESCENT opt for increasingly complex pieces on this exceptional debut full-length album. Verging on the early 90’s enlightenment available to virginal releases from bands like Atrocity (Deu) and the putrid gusts available to more cavernous fare from a few years beyond we find both pulverizing power and thoughtful nigh prog-death levels of venture defining the gallop through ‘Dismal Thoughts‘. In the process of review I’d felt like there was too much album here, climbing towards fifty minutes for a first impression isn’t always the best choice but these folks have managed such a sharp command over the old-but-elevated ways that they pull it off here. Particularly love “Abyss of Despair” and the rally through the title track.
“Torn from the horrors of the observed mind in decay and illustrated through the violent thrum of farseeking ancient-toned death metal Brussels, Belgium-based quintet ABYSMAL DESCENT deliver the obsessed, exaggerative notions of spiraling existential despair on this debut full-length album. Built from a foundation of “old school” abstraction and given bizarre feature via moderne atmospheric metal technique ‘Dismal Thoughts‘ achieves its own unnerving, callous presence while draining neither immediacy nor functional riff count from its action. The cold expanse of their work demands some patience as its mazelike, ancient prog-death periphery calls for numerous extended pieces but it is through this vessel that they deliver the essence of a psyche spiraling under duress and a profoundly entertaining result accordingly.“
An album like ‘Sphere of Adversity‘ presents the duality of reviewing for others versus documenting personal reactions, at least in the sense that I love the absolute excess of ACOLYTES OF MOROS‘ work here but there is no sense swimming upstream with it for the sake of deaf ears. Though there are highly melodic, nigh accessible moments within each of the four songs and ~80 minutes of this album it is specifically for those who seek truly punishing immerse, a level of fixation too few are capable of anymore. The bleak veil which drapes this Swedish trio’s work only grows heavier as they plod on, droning upon and damaging the listener within pieces which nearly reach a half hour in a couple of cases. I love it, this is the best type of excess and I can only imagine what their work achieves in a live setting. Few will sit it out but those who do will know one of the year’s darkest, most emotionally gutted-out doom.
“All that is cursed collates and surrounds with every step taken deeper into the intoxicating dark as Uppsala, Sweden-based doom metal trio ACOLYTES OF MOROS invite us to their realm of shadows via this impressive sophomore full-length album. A double album in four longform acts ‘Sphere of Adversity‘ finds the band still rooted in the revivalist traditional doom metal mindset of the 2000’s as they explore extreme and atmospheric inspiration which carries us to through the underworld depicted. Taking their expression to a new and far more distinct headspace in the process of endarkenment these folks have done well to take command of what is most unique about their craft and lean into it within deeply detailed, thoughtfully struck doom metal pieces.“
Each release from the TEITANBLOOD font serves its own impossible to side-step waves of inspiration abroad and no doubt their infamy is warranted as one of the most callous and fevered blackened death metal bands of the last couple of decades. ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ does nothing to sidestep this impact, a pummel through diabolic chaos which shreds the senses and casts them into the abysm within minutes of firing off. Having a chance to dig back through the band’s discography and witness their climb toward this point of profanity helped to solidify what sets their sound apart, a sense of cohesion despite the razor-wind achieved which is rooted in pure death metal. Odd as it might sound to suggest a chaotic “war metal” band rides on coherence but there is substantial, repeatable feats occurring within the vortex.
“The haunt of their chthonian devotion lingers in the shadowed remnants of an ancient subterranean thermopolis, its walls and pillars hand carved into dwelling along the deepest path to Hades. Still stained and streaked with vapor oxidized blood all columns endure a crimson-footed stance, marks of desperation and covenant alike left by those enduring horrifying sacrificial rites, countless hands grasping along the path down to the sanguine wards. Our traverse of the abyss beyond the temple demands an impermeable guide, the daimonian clawed grip of Madrid, Spain-based black/death metal quartet TEITANBLOOD who return with a fourth unfathomable scripture detailing their braving of the vortex in order to record the terrifying emanations from below. ‘From the Visceral Abyss‘ is the churn of the lifesblood in seven dictum, the callous mill of life and death translated into bestial uproar enough to fill the temple’s cella with sounds worthy of death’s supremacy.“
It is unfortunate that 2025’s thrash metal supply couldn’t live up to the greatness that was 2024 but we did get at least one brilliant point of consolation via the follow up to one of 2021’s best with part two of Chilean quartet MENTAL DEVASTATION‘s ‘The Delusional Mystery of the Self‘. Fair enough, this record sounds like peak Forbidden to a fault but for my own taste that’d only pulled me in quicker to find elements of technical/progressive thrash and even some prog-death warp hammered into their impressive work. Don’t miss records from somewhat related bands Necroripper and Amoured Knight that also released this year.
“One step beyond the veil of death we trip hard on the edge, plunging down into the dark abyss of a mind tasked with questioning reality, purpose and the illusions available to a determined organismal existence as Villa Alemana, Chile-based thrash metal quartet MENTAL DEVASTATION return for a third full-length album, the second part of their psychic procession through self-dissolution and improbable actualization. Four years beyond the first entry their frontage of introspective, technical thrash metal now plows beyond the breach of ego-death as ‘The Delusional Mystery of the Self – Part II‘ arrives in fittingly snaking and severe threads, a record which balances the beauty of enlightened musicianship with the harshened thrall of a true classics-minded attack via brilliant precision. While existing fans will be stoked to find the high standard of Part I applied and expanded herein the mood and motioning of this record should read as choppier waters, a mind set in careening flight amidst treacherously tightened and bristling rhythms, as the band seal this profound exploration with an equally worthy second chapter.“
Direct relation to the now defunct Cerebral Rot was no guarantee that this now Texas-based death metal crew CORPUS OFFAL would be of interest but this self-titled debut did a fine job of creating something murderous, over the top and yet purely USDM beyond their previous acts. Though most of what this record was telegraphed by a preemptive demo tape the actual results are almost inadvisably achieved between effects blurred vocals, wetly pitch shifted groans and moshable Undergang-isms (or, early 90’s Blood-isms?) but somehow it all works as a festering, patiently struck gore-death metal record. With some extra attention paid to the structure of these songs, the brilliantly wailed and warped leads assigned, as well as the general basement level effect of their attack all efforts summed toward an entertaining feature from my point of view. I’m not sure where they could go with this style to keep it interesting but I do think this was a brilliant first strike.
“Years beyond our time spent daydreaming about weaponized organs whipped straight from the gut and an even longer analysis of those afflicted with a clear and incurable lust for decay now brings us to a new cascade through familiar septic tunnels which leads us to the pleasure of mutilated death under the blade of Austin, Texas-based death metal quartet CORPUS OFFAL as they present this imposing debut full-length album. Though one’d expect barbarous and erratically discharged evolution beyond the past via fresh conspiratorial spray ‘Corpus Offal‘ is in fact a next-level achieved through extensively reconfigured fare, death metal which commands with an ancient bestial hand at its most grinding furor yet brings a increasingly fully-fledged capability to its experience. This zombified second chance at living bears more than voluminously struck aplomb and dagger-twisting leads but an murderous stamina for the six living autopsies ahead. While it’ll be hard to separate this beast from whence it came I’d walked away from this album considering it spiritual ascendent rather than plainest successor.“
Naturally when folks from Angelcorpse, Origin and Morbid Angel collaborate on a death metal record it is going to rule and in that sense you could probably walk up to a record like ‘The Conquering Darkness‘ and figure exactly what it’ll sound like but I’d argue that MALEFIC THRONE hits harder than expected after the band’s debut EP. Beyond the bullet-fed speed of their attack this album brings its own sense of groove as it progresses creating a true beating of an album served riff-after-riff. This album got the lion’s share of choice riffs from guitarist Palubicki but you should also check out the similarly set afire LP from his main band Perdition Temple which released on the same day.
“In an act of cruelest havoc upon the firmament above a strike of vengeful annihilation rains down unto fiery cataclysm below as Florida-based death metal trio MALEFIC THRONE dominate the skies with an imposing, fire-breathing debut full-length album. Though it comes calling from the light-flooded mouth of the shining one ‘The Conquering Darkness‘ is yet unreasonably physical in achieving its spectacularly ruthless style, a timeless form of death metal accelerated to peak impact and riff-count while calling down unreal blasphemy. While I’ll pay no mind to the bunk-ass idea of a “supergroup” mattering beyond material… in this case both the familiarity between and infamy of the folks involved in this work weigh heavily upon the sublimity of its outcome, achieving one of the most wrathful releases of the year by way of seeming effortless mastery.“
Amping the chaotic abandon and reckless furor of past releases into a skull-dissolving grey blur this second full-length album from German death metal band OMEGAVORTEX cranks the speed and leans into grinding, hard-whipped accost for one of the most insane extreme metal releases of 2025. They’d already had me as a fan from their first demo but the evolution of this band and their will to murder past achievements with fresh vitriol continues to impress. I’d still say I liked the riffcraft on the first album slightly more but the effect of this one is more of a spectacle, a truly diabolic switch that crushes past in just over a half hour.
“All prophesies point to a future defined by a less humane existence void of moral justice or historicity as subsequent generations calloused by unceasing warfare and indoctrinated by corporatist technology are rendered remorseless, corrupt and culture-void. In their infinite wisdom Germany-based black/death metal band OMEGAVORTEX express as the sawblade across borders, the revelator of the nightmare to come, as they tip the scales toward scenes of doom and downfall on this potent sophomore full-length album. Frenzied to the point of kinetic chaos yet controlled in its directive ‘Diabolic Messiah of the New World Order‘ seeks to burn away the delusions of those held captive by gods and government before grinding against their wounds. Though it is an experience of mayhemic blackened death veering into war-torn terror these folks’ve not left behind their ancient death-thrashing spiritus so much as accelerated it into horrified greyscale firestorm.“
The crowned curse that once loomed heavy atop the skulls responsible for Swedish death/doom metal legendry ETERNAL DARKNESS is now lifted, or, rather dissolved and cast upon the unwitting public by way of this incredible self-titled singularity. Struck down by doom in 1990 and a word-of-mouth passed geist since 1992 there were no guarantees that we’d get any such comparable mastery from a band who’d existed so briefly and reportedly left a full-length to die in pre-production. This isn’t a re-recording but rather a set of eight new original songs which perfectly embody the sludge-barren and slow-burning form of death/doom metal they were known for among underground demo-hunting ghouls. Between this record and Moondark‘s last year an incredible service has been done via these outliers, very few bands ever come close to reviving an obscure legacy with viable new material and this stuff is more than viable, easily the best death/doom metal release of the year.
“Death lands upon the psyche as a blanketing of volcanic ash, a suffocating havoc upon the senses in the present and a potentially enriched landscape for whatever proves strong enough to endure in the future. Summoning both ancient grief and recent loss into one mournfully built pillar of abysmal gloom and tireless introspection Eskilstuna, Sweden-borne death-doom metal quintet ETERNAL DARKNESS chisel a monolithic headstone in representation of their lasting mark left upon the death metal underground per this first (and last) full-length album. Realized thirty-five years beyond their inception with a true sense for authenticity still burning in mind ‘Eternal Darkness‘ is exactly the album obscure pre-’93 demo tape trawlers have been imagining for decades, a revival of the primal instincts of Scandinavian death metal mutation which is yet unperturbed by the diminishing returns successive generations have dealt through the passage of time. Here a sublime argument is made for the timeless effect of death and doom metal in serious combine by way of profound and patiently cut works, each spouting mournful wrath along this exceptionally bleak funeral procession.“
The biggest surprise to hit my inbox this year was probably this debut full-length from Atlanta-based death metal quintet METAPHOBIC, an album that leads with an ever-bending approach to the riff but exercises some appreciable taste in ‘old school’ brutal and technical death metal. Immolation-esque atmospheric expanse beset with often technical Finndeath worthy riff-runs becomes something of their own here as ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ never stops milling through its ideas, blooming each riff into malaise inducing threads of moshable ’til angular movement. Sickened, paranoid, doomed and wildly underrated.
“Eye-wateringly nauseous in their gut-gathered indignance the long road trudged toward grand introductions finds Atlanta, Georgia-based death metal quintet METAPHOBIC weathered, honed into a whorl of inward-echoic torment as their debut full-length album arrives channeling fear, wrath and possessed uncertainty. ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ is the product of careful consideration wherein the weight of years has pressed and collapsed their vision into a dense and selectively writ gem sporting a fusion of old, new and older school death metal sensibilities. Though their demo tape that’d hit a handful of years ago was obviate enough signifier of their potential this one’ll surprise folks seeking ingenious points of riffcraft and brutally struck death metal aggression. Expressed via a seeming veteran force this debut album is far from green indecision as possible, these folks present work which is well above average in form and terrifyingly memorable in its thoughtful, destructive scourge.“
The overwhelming proof that we are in decline as a species lies in the fact that 2025 was not one of those years where “riffs” were the main point of conversation in heavy music. In this current state of horrifying despair there are few death metal riff-smiths who’d offer respite from mediocrity on the level that Matt Barnes (Monstrosity, Quinta Essentia) does and his band CHAOS INCEPTION is the volcanic epicenter, the density of said tectonic activity. Thirteen years beyond the last album ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ is more prone to experiment with pacing, explore various lead guitar styles, and features a uniquely suited production value per the post-millennial canon their name is associated with. The most underrated release of 2025 for my own taste.
“Consolidated down to skeletal necessity and unbroken by the passage of time Huntsville, Alabama-based duo CHAOS INCEPTION return for a third full-length album intending to reprise their role as keepers and triumphal innovators within the strictures of infernal pure death metal craft. With ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ their temperament is one of morbid terror-stricken accost, a violent avenger and narrator for their trip through fiery but never too labyrinthine realms. Best known as brutally struck, technically steep and thrillingly set masters of riffcraft of the canonical death metal lineage, the band aren’t only returning to keep the faith so to speak but to distort expectations and insert more of their own hand. Here they’ve added their own deeper touch upon the best traditions of the sub-genre while upholding the ruthless standards that’d birthed their own initial escalation of the form.“
By virtue of a long-anticipated and highly stylized return WITCHCRAFT‘s ‘Idag‘ was he most memorable heavy psychedelic rock/doom metal adjacent release of 2025. There’s no vocalist in this realm who has the timbre and evocative range as that of Magnus Pelander and the fact that he is a brilliant songwriter capable of a well-rounded, intimate yet heavy as shit doom-rock record of this magnitude is pure singularity. Here every aspect of the band’s past is explored, extrapolated into an ouevre not previously gathered on any one release, capturing the exact right essence upon reintroduction. An exceptional record I’d picked up every chance I could throughout the year.
“Musing over dark dreams, fantastical quasi-blasphemies and what drives the blues in mind Örebro, Sweden-based heavy psychedelic rock/traditional doom metal trio WITCHCRAFT return with their first characteristic full-length in nearly a decade. As a seventh and long-awaited record from a band credited with inspiring broader heavy rock revivalist idealism a couple of decades ago ‘Idag‘ is naturally cumulative, gathering years broadened ouevre into a proper representative experience. Meeting up with the expectations set by the artist’s 70’s stoked spiritus and folken doomed personae might’ve been a mess in most hands but here style acts in service to their songcraft and not the other way around, ensuring no matter how you approach this one it’ll feel equal parts welcome return and a pace forward.“
Most any death/doom metal fan discovering funeral doom beyond the 90’s likely did so through EVOKEN‘s first two or three records and as such they’ve long represented the golden standard for the sub-genre, a gateway drug as much as a point of mastery. On ‘Mendacium‘ they revive the atmosphere, production values and general tonal reap heard on their earlier work as a point of signature, a feat which is likely to ring as nostalgia to start. When looking past that nostalgic sound we find the band exploring matters of faith and delusion in concert, a tale of possession and/or madness which suits the gothic cinema of their work as well as the dark death metal which erupts from within. Those who delve deeper than surface level observations should appreciate the evolution of the band’s compositional effect here, particularly within the hymnal waves and ‘Lost Paradise‘ worthy maze of riffs found in the album’s immersive second half.
“Uncounted hours are lost within torturous depictions of a mind in unwholesome condition as Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based funeral doom/death metal quintet EVOKEN envision a troubled soul yearning for relief constituted by direct contact with “God”… yet the only being conjured is malevolent, prone to twist the knife within, on this seventh full-length album from the band. The spirit of this work is entirely dependent on the echoic mind of its antagonist being confined to four walls as ‘Mendacium‘ forces its narrative within a cavernous yet cinematically charged illustration of dire inner voice. Within the hourlong funereal entrancement of this event all senses are willingly enrobed in the cowl of its possession, particularly if your taste veers toward the thrilling excesses of their station in the early 2000’s, as this album radiates beyond belief with the band’s yet untouchable atmospheric death metal signature.“
There is a beauteous lyric quality to the works of French black metal duo CÉNOTAPHE which rings gloriously in mind without fail, an intense melodious electrocution that’d sent all thought reeling within its illustrative hand each and every time it were accessed. In the case of ‘Chimères‘ this sensation rings true as ever but attains heightened majesty and emotion-rich divulge in tandem, it is clear they’ve put serious work into their craft beyond the monument of ‘Monte Verità‘ while applying an even more personal hand to the meaning behind each piece. Though I’d found there were “bigger” records released in 2025 this is the one I’d found most inspiring and connective.
“Awash in greying colour and weighted with the gestation of transcendental insight our protagonist’s limbic-charged aurora comes hailing back down to terra firmæ, rallied by the thrill of the fall yet increasingly tormented by the sight of the gaping bárathron below. Expressing disillusionment with the circuitous horrors of existence, the raging delusions of an all-too malleable human zeitgeist and choosing to channel their own fortitudes via generational bonds Normandy, France-based black metal duo CÉNOTAPHE return drenched in gleaming afterbirth for a surreal yet earthly second full-length album. Even more harried in their primally wizened melodious hand these folks’ve long-spun ‘Chimères‘ to reflect what one passes on within the ephemera of existence while making room to harshly evaluate the utopian illusions of the masses. In balance of both symbolist and romanticist ideals their work once again stuns via its resplendent yet sophisticated motioning, thoughts set against the dementia of all hordes which yet sting in mind as continued personal reinforcement.“
Melbourne’s VILE APPARITION don’t just play death metal in reference to mid-to-late 90’s brutal death metal they distill it into ~3.5 minute vignettes of dense yet groovin’ riffcraft beset by mind-bending use of lead guitars, achieving a higher level of craft rather than replicating the past dryly. ‘Malignity‘ carries a hard-whipped quality, some muscle put behind its stabbing motions, which still carries enough tact to generate repeatable songs despite the whiplash induced. I can’t think of a death metal record I was more prone to spin this year just for the sake of jumping back into the bully-ass vortex created, a sound sown equally between stylized production values (insane drum sound esp.) and the sheer violence of their performances. Couldn’t shake this one beyond the review process.
“Embodying the enmity of a psyche obliterated by perpetual violence Melbourne, Australia-based death metal quartet VILE APPARITION reappear with grave injurious intent for this unconscionably bludgeoned sophomore full-length album. ‘Malignity‘ directly reflects the festering brutality of the mid-to-late ’90s death metal reality through acts which ride the axe-edge of irreversibly cruel pummeling and most key canon where every action is reduced to its most efficient state of high-primal misanthropy. That is to say that these ten songs bring the flair and fundament of auld classics once more but’ve been reskinned to better represent the riff-obsessed throttle in hand and deeper evolved to incorporate escalating skill to suit further heightened synchronicity.“
To act with bold intelligence, to reach for ascension without hesitation is one of the most admirable traits any explorer of BARSHASKETH‘s wares should appreciate as their discography continues to evolve within ambitious works stoked by deep meaning and mastery of black metal in expanse. ‘Antinomian Asceticism‘ is a fresh high, a newly cresting wave for the group marked by some of the finest lyricism and riffcraft achieved this year. While I’d found it an overwhelming work to start that sensation soon turned to awe as the greater effect of the full listen and the meaning set behind it sank into depth. I’d also greatly appreciated the chance to pick their brains for an interview early in the year, one of the better ones I’ve done to date.
“From the perspective of a deeply entwined observer the inherent impingement of civil morality is necessarily given to meditative separation, a liberation by projection and withdrawal into singularity for the sake of focus and muse. To widen the lens of insight and purify the spirit of its easily clouded eye Edinburgh, Scotland-based black metal quartet BARSHASKETH secret away to a self-devised panopticon which offers starkly smoking clarity to the seeker, a fortitude gained through the madness of isolation. Their paradigm endures, deranged through an alchemically stripped still-caustic bravado which stabs its many-fanged puncture via this fifth full-length album. ‘Antinomian Asceticism‘ exists as a vessel for mystic violence one’d want from the melodious and mayhemic cut of this name and one that overflows with its findings, managing a balance between all that could be said and only just what is vital to convey to the truly concerted ear.“
‘The Womb of the World‘ further realizes both compositional and expressive ambitions of QRIXKUOR unto a wrestling of colossi, a titanomachy in motion where orchestral and chorally bolstered death metal depicts apocalyptic terminus. It is one thing to bring ambition to black/death metal yet another to wholly transform them into a symphony of cacophonic intrigue, a cinematic depiction of death’s curtain drawn slow and the tumult en masse achieved. The fact that such a grand-scaled event doesn’t strip away the legacy built prior but enhances that voice is a great feat on its own but the real triumph here is that these songs are engaging, entertaining on an unheard-of level. A thunderous, righteously unsettling and absolutely brilliant achievement.
“From within the rotted cavern of stillborn creation, an encapsulation of the death of all unto horrified dissolution, a new nightmare rings echoic in its dance upon scene by the hands of London, England-based blackened death metal duo QRIXKUOR who’d relight their terminal orchestra for this exceptional sophomore full-length album. As the cervix begins to falter and the corpse-caverne builds its pressure ‘The Womb of the World‘ depicts the lurching downpour of nauseous disarray felt through the gut ’til the spine, a wrenching grip upon the cord pinging every corner of consciousness with terror and dysfunction. The surrealistic malaise afforded the listener now speaks a more sophisticate language as a dark and cinematic bent is deeper integrated within its full-featured chamber, generating a font where the dramatic wailing of disembodied souls accentuates what is yet essentially atmospheric death metal in arrange. No other album released this year better captures the steering of the wheel into downturn, the birth of the death of all, as this… at least nothing as effectively inhuman.“
Once again I knew my choice for Album of the Year the moment I’d heard it. In the case of this second full-length album from German/Basque death-thrash metal trio SIJJIN my skull was fully lit afire from the first listen as their hand turned deeper toward the realm of classic speed/thrash metal while the furor and technical abandon of their work fumed beyond imagination. There is a remarkable duality served within ‘Helljjin Combat‘ which features songcraft attuned to the original impact of 80’s black/death metal but also carries an uncanny admixture of evil thrash and impressive precision, something like ‘Abominations of Desolation‘ were it performed by late 80’s Deathrow. There was no other release in 2025 that I’d listened to as much examining every last riff, lyric and such.
“At a point of total descent into burning Jahannam three ancient djinni shapeshifters are disturbed from their eminence by unnamed fajir assailant, erupting into retaliatory stakes that’d drive them to possess flesh formae with diabolic vengeance, inhabiting the skulls of German/Basque death-thrash metal trio SIJJIN and inciting them to crush and dement their waking bane. Conjured from arcane treachery into mayhem the precision-cut evil speed-death metal found on the band’s sophomore full-length album, ‘Helljjin Combat‘, is charged at its core by the primeval engine of thrash metal as it’d inhaled its first acts of morbidity unto death. Rather than deliver increasingly extreme waves or turn down toward a point of regression their work finds its songcraft markedly facilitated via a swinging-yet-technical sharpness, an acrobatically achieved authenticity of form which is equally fevered with slavish anciency and plagued by possession.“
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