By Jack Rafferty
Die Spitz, Something to Consume (2025).
This one was definitely a bit of a curveball and a pleasant surprise. This band is swinging right out of the gate, that’s for sure. At times punk, at times sludge metal, at times grunge, and other times ethereal rock. Die Spitz says it best themselves in their bio, stating that “if the world of rock music were an ice cream shop, the Austin quartet have sampled each flavor, flipped the freezer over, and started dancing with the employees they helped unionize.” Some of their listed influences are the Pixies, Mudhoney, PJ Harvey, and Black Sabbath, and that honestly makes perfect sense, as I hear bits of each of them here.
The vocals are fantastic all around, as they swap between members, and it feels like all words spoken here are fightin’ words. I need albums like this, where the energy is about pushing back against the forces that want to enclose and alienate us, to tell us to stay inside, stay afraid, and work ‘til we die. The energy isn’t just in the music, though. I highly recommend watching their KEXP performance. Their passion is evident in how they perform.
There is quite a lot of maturity in their sound for this being their debut album. The performance is powerful and confident, and I feel like Die Spitz already have a good idea of who they are and what their style is. This album is a strong start, and I eagerly await to see where Die Spitz goes from here.
Bianca, Bianca (2025).
Another band I wasn’t aware of previously leaping out from the shadows of obscurity to the focal point of my listening this past year. This was one of the few albums that gave me chills when listening to it. It has a bit of Madder Mortem and Dreadnought in the sound. The singing is hauntingly gorgeous, and it juxtaposes the banshee screeches perfectly. I love the cover artwork by Dema Novakova, a simple yet stark nearly Baroque depiction of dead leaves that from a distance could trick one into thinking it is bloodstained flayed flesh. Bianca balances the ethereal and the brutal well, with atmospheric passages filled with haunting melody juxtaposed with screeching black metal wails and at times some disso-death sections. Everything blends beautifully and is executed brilliantly.
Psychonaut, World Maker (2025).
I’ve only listened to Psychonaut here and there since they have been around. I decided to give World Maker a more in depth listen this past year, since there has been quite a lot of buzz about it, and man am I glad that I did so. This is a pristine prog metal album, with excellent songwriting. There is an ease with which the songs flow into one another, with so many captivating riffs and powerful melodies woven throughout. This album is dense in many ways, yet it never feels daunting or overwhelming to listen to. They also do a great job of balancing emotional weight with instrumental technicality. There are some sections bordering on indulgence, such as the lengthy guitar passage in “Origins,” but thankfully it does not overstay its welcome. The production here is also notable, as the sound is incredibly massive, but at no sacrifice to clarity. Much like what I enjoy about certain Mastodon albums, World Maker finds equilibrium between heavy elements and spacier, more atmospheric or even psychedelic ones. Definitely worth a listen if that is your thing.
Poison Ruin, Confrere (2024).
I missed this release by the excellent crust punk band Poison Ruin last year. I fucking love this band and I loved their 2023 album, Harvest, so it was good to catch up and listen to this one. I resonate with Poison Ruin’s sound and aesthetic a lot. It has a mythic quality to it, amid all its medieval themes, the grimy sound, the simultaneous calm and aggression they exude. I am looking forward to finding some physical copies of their albums. I may just end up ordering some. Confere (latin for “comrade”) is largely about solidarity and its importance in the increasingly ruinous state of things. I love the representation of this in the cover art, with the hand of one holding on to another, assumingly pulling them up off the ground in an act of solidarity. The lyrics of the title track illustrate this theme well:
And if we can’t turn the tide
I’ll see you on the other side
Hard to try, it’s a fight to go on
A fight to believe it
Confrere, my comrade, my friend
Back to back until we reach the end
Confrere, reach through the dark again
My partner, my friend
Confrerе, I beseech you now to take my hand.
This album, like Harvest, fucking kicks ass. I love everything about it. I’d love to see these guys live sometime soon.
Igorrr, Amen (2025).
I’ve been a fan of Igorrr’s endearing weirdness now for what is approaching a decade, which makes my stomach drop a bit when writing that down, as it really puts into perspective how quickly time is passing by. If you know Igorrr, you know what to expect at this point.
Each new release seems to show Gautier Serre’s compositional ability refined, and Amen continues this trend. While the seemingly divergent genre elements of grindcore, edm, opera, symphonic instrumentation, and more are still present in stride here, they have nestled up to each other at this point, and feel more organically linked.
I don’t think Serre has ever struggled to combine these elements, I feel it has taken time for them to feel fully at home in this unique sound and style. One note that is unavoidable is that I really miss the vocals of Laure Le Prunenec. Marthe does a great job here, but Laure is one of a kind and irreplaceable.
While still bizarre, Amen has found the sweet spot of not being overly so to the point of distraction here. The songwriting is tighter, the progression feels earned, without sacrificing the zaniness that ultimately makes Igorrr the wonderful project that it is.
Phantom Spell, Heather & Hearth (2025).
Some excellent 1970s style prog rock. I think it is a fine line to walk with recreating these sounds many years down the line, where one can easily fall into the trap of simply sounding derivative. The inclusion of an organ here, for example, strictly dates this sound and makes it very obvious what influences they are wearing on their sleeve. However, I think Phantom Spell does it right in their execution of this sound, particularly in the song composition. There is enough here to indicate to the listener what era of music this album is inspired by, but it never steps into that territory of feeling insistent on itself or making a gimmick out of that fact. It is purely a love letter, with its own flare and beautiful structure. The fact that this is a solo project by Seven Sisters’ Kyle McNeil is also pretty flooring. It takes a very talented multi-instrumentalist to pull all this off just from a performance perspective, but the fact that it was also entirely written by that same person is pretty amazing. Overall, I love this album, and highly recommend it. The album artwork fucking rips too.
Deliquesce, Saviour/Enslaver (2025).
Some incredibly brutal and highly technical death metal. This one is pretty relentless. Full of dizzying riffs and some pretty insane tempo patterns that change up often. The production and tone here are thick as tar. This album does a good job of not leaning too hard in either the technical or the brutal direction, finding a middle ground to nestle within that allows them to bring the best of both worlds. My only hold back, if any, is that I wish when the band found a groove that they would stick with it a little longer. Often the songwriting feels anxious, like it’s always wanting to move on to the next thing as quickly as possible. This can work with the style they are going for, but I find myself hearing a sick groove come in, and really enjoy it, only to have it end as fast as it started. Other than that though, this is a really solid album and absolutely one that should be checked out if you’re into technical death metal and/or brutal death metal.
Calva Louise, Edge of the Abyss (2025).
When I heard the first minute or so of this album, I thought that I really didn’t like what Calva Louise was doing. However, I stuck with it, and I am so glad that I did, because after the initial impression being offputting, I realized that all I needed was to grow accustomed to what Calva Louise was doing, and then I loved it. This is a weird one, for sure, but once you get into the groove of their style and unusual (yet addicting) songwriting, it shines. There are elements of Igorrr and Twelve Foot Ninja here, but it isn’t satisfying to compare Calva to other groups, as they really can’t be categorized in any way.
There are so many moments throughout this album that worm their way into your brain. It is endlessly catchy, and full to the brim with energy. This was certainly a sleeper hit for me this year, since I hadn’t heard of the band before this. What an exciting discovery. I love when I find bands that sound like nothing else, and that challenges my tastes to push the boundaries of my musical taste.
Rolling Stones, 1970s-80s Catalogue.
I’ve always wanted to like the Rolling Stones, and loved a song here and there, but never sat down and just listened to some of their albums front to back. I made it a goal to do this in 2025, and I am so happy that I did, because I ended up getting more from the experience than I was hoping. I was only able to cover a good majority of their albums released from the 1970s and 80s (and hope to build on this over time), but man, I’ve been missing out.
For context, I grew up in a family that was obsessed with The Beatles, and so the Stones were rarely being played during my early years. I find the false dichotomy of Beatles or Stones to be silly, but that’s just how it was. For that reason, it is all the more rewarding to give the Stones the time of day later in my life.
I didn’t get around to as many of their 1980s albums as I would have liked, but I prefer their 70s sound anyways. Albums like Exile of Main Street, Sticky Fingers, and Some Girls resonated with me a lot. Although I did enjoy Tattoo You a lot. There really isn’t anything like their specific take on blues and their specific blend of blues rock. I can’t wait to keep combing through their discography over time.
Depravity, Bestial Possession (2025).
Excellent, straight forward death metal that doesn’t fuck around with anything. Crisp production, persistent brutality, slightly reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse at times, no bullshit. No need to be unnecessarily verbose about this one. This thing just fucking shreds end to end. It’ll split your skull like an axe splits wood.
Hooded Menace, Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration (2025).
I fuckin loved Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed (this band sure has some interesting album titles), but I missed their 2021 album The Tritonus Bell. I really do need to go back and listen to their older stuff, because their sound really grips me. Their specific flavor of doom-death metal resonates with me a lot. Hooded Menace has just the right combination of heaviness and grime with their sorrowful melodies. This release has them dabbling more with some traditional heavy metal sound, which is something that threw me off a bit at first, but I came around to it. There are some great riffs here, and while I don’t know if this shift in sound is better than what they’ve done before, I’m glad to see them trying out new things while still remaining overall faithful to their sound. As someone unfamiliar with their earlier work, this could be a bit of an ignorant statement, but I guess I won’t know until I go back and spin those records.
Blackbraid, Blackbraid III (2025).
This was definitely one of my favorite black metal albums of the year. I’ve been following this solo Indigenous black metal project since their debut, and have been elated to watch them improve with every release. The production remains as sharp as ever, a point I’ve always appreciated about Blackbraid’s albums, and the guitar work and vocals here are angrier and more vicious than ever. I can hear the progression they have made as an artist and specifically as a songwriter as the albums have come out, and this one sets a new high for what they are capable of. I think some will take issue with the amount of interludes here, though I think that they provide a welcome reprieve, and thematically they fit very well with what Blackbraid is doing on this album.
Honorable Mentions
As with every year, there are many releases that I want to include on this list, that I simply don’t have the capacity to include. So, with that said, please consider all these as still very worthy of checking out.
Nick Shoulders, Refugia Blues.
Chat Pile, Hayden Pedigo, In the Earth Again.
Abigail Williams, A Void Within Existence.
Backxwash, Only Dust Remains.
Mawiza, ÜL.
Aran Angmar, Ordo Diabolicum.
In Mourning, The Immortal.
Colter Wall, Memories and Empties.
Teen Mortgage, Devil Ultrasonic Dream.
Sumac, Moor Mother, The Film.
Species, Changelings.
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