Pyro's 2025
Pretty slick year, all things considered. This is under construction because year's not done and there's plenty to jam, but I figured I'd get it out now and not six months from now. My 4.5s are in order, but then list goes alphabetical for the 4.0s. Recs welcomed. Also fuck this site it ate this list when I submitted it the first time reeeeeeee. |
| 1 |  | Yellow Eyes
Confusion Gate
ATMOSPHERIC MELODIC DISSOBLACK METAL
Don't see anything dethroning this for me. Off-kilter, dissonant melodies that still manage to sound quite lovely. Brings me back to discovering something like Gorguts' Obscura in high school and immediately hearing the beauty in the chaos (not that this is anywhere near that fucky). Like the progression in The Thought of Death? Chef's kiss. |
| 2 |  | Trha
lact'eben
MELODIC BLACK METAL
Damian Ojeda dominates any year he releases music in for me, and this one is no exception. Both melancholic and uplifting at the same time, there's lots of screamo influence in these riffs. |
| 3 |  | Blut Aus Nord
Ethereal Horizons
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Gorgeous ethereal spacy vibes. Drift out into the cosmos and become one with the stars. |
| 4 |  | Trha
∫um'ad∂ejja mºoravaj
MELODIC ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Get used to seeing this guy in my list. More of a somber sound, but Damian is not afraid to put kookier things into his black metal that shouldn't work but he makes them work. A nice sampler pack of what this project is capable of. |
| 5 |  | Der Weg Einer Freiheit
Innern
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Nothing exceptional for the genre, but this is refined to such a polished sheen that it's hard not to love it. |
| 6 |  | An Abstract Illusion
The Sleeping City
PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Has just the right amount of that theatrical prog sound without going overboard and becoming self-indulgent. |
| 7 |  | Vauruva
Mar da Deriva
ATMOSPHERIC PROGRESSIVE FOLK BLACK METAL
More spacy atmoblack, but with some really neat Brazilian folk touches. Really unique sound. |
| 8 |  | Love Spiral
Minotaur's Teeth
SCREAMO
Highly melodic skramz with great guitar leads and plenty of punchy bass. |
| 9 |  | Defacement
Doomed
BLACKENED PROGRESSIVE DISSODEATH METAL
These guys are masters of making this oppressive hellish cavernous sound but then etching lots of beautiful little moments on the walls. |
| 10 |  | Hooded Menace
Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
DEATH DOOM METAL / HEAVY DEATH METAL
I tend not to seek out death doom metal because it all kind of sounds similar to me, but I'm glad this album shows there's more to this subgenre. Lots of traditional heavy metal influence. |
| 11 |  | Trha
Tahaccet Ga Qëcha Com Ibajn
MELODIC BLACK METAL
Very punky melodic black metal with more riffs than you can shake a stick at. Similar to Saidan in being flowery and bright, but unlike the anime-styled licks Saidan does, this album brings metalcore flair. |
| 12 |  | Messa
The Spin
GOTHIC ROCK / ALMOST DOOM METAL
Very tight sound and Sara has an amazing voice. Bridge of The Dress is peak; I need more noir trumpet / clean guitar dueling solos in my life. |
| 13 |  | Trha
ducel ëf ∂acet'asde§ den alëcaáhabna ë∫ igatenamëc
ATMOSPHERIC MELODIC BLACK METAL
Cool riffy melodic atmoblack, standard Trha weirdness but executed well. |
| 14 |  | Toughness
Black Respite of Oblivion
TECHNICAL PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Lots of Demilich/Timeghoul influence here. You can tell they're at the cusp of unlocking their true potential, they just gotta coax it out of themselves. |
| 15 |  | Grenadier
Wolves of the Trench
HEAVY DEATH METAL / BLACKENED HEAVY METAL
Arghocore that does it better than Arghoslent. Adds in some black metal touches to shake up the formula. |
| 16 |  | Sallow Moth
Mossbane Lantern
TECHNICAL PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Wacky burpy techprog that keeps things contained just enough to not get too silly. Dude may become a force to be reckoned with if he keeps up his output (also released two good EPs this year). |
| 17 |  | body shirt / Life
body shirt / life
SCREAMO
Life is Damian Ojeda's screamo project. Get used to seeing it on this list. This is a split, and unlike most splits Damian does, Body Shirt offers a good output. But then Life has to put two of his best songs here to overshadow him. Very passionate stuff. |
| 18 |  | Life (USA-TX)
demo eleven
SCREAMO
Throw skramz, midwest emo, and metalcore into a blender to get this concoction. Great build ups and explosive releases. |
| 19 |  | letterstoyou
Letterstoyou
SCREAMO
I guess Damian needed another screamo project for some reason. This is more metallic and angry than Life, but no less passionate. |
| 20 |  | Trha
di nido jad - ◊untwan law¶ur dëhajt◊ejn - a∫ëtana
MELODIC ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Fuzzy and warm, has blackgaze vibes but instead of shoegaze it's incorporating various stuff from outside of black metal into black metal and making it work. |
| 21 |  | Life (USA-TX)
demo nine
SCREAMO
Lots of songs with nice slower build ups, but it goes from more poppy openers to really raw and emotional things as it goes on. |
| 22 |  | Oneohtrix Point Never
Tranquilizer
PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC / AMBIENT
Really neat soundscape this dude has made from mixing up an old sample pack. Sounds from a parallel universe. |
| 23 |  | Life (USA-TX)
...and still it flutters
SCREAMO
More super passionate skramz that does the good heavy then soft blah blah blah yada yada. |
| 24 |  | King Stephen
All That Dwells in the Dark
DARK SYNTHWAVE / HORROR SYNTH
An underrated master of synthwave that deserves to be spoken alongside Perturbator and Carpenter Brut. The King returns from his current loftier sophisticated gothic vampire rave style to revisit his more 80s-tinged kookier Halloweeny style he started off with. An album that doesn't take itself too seriously, but takes that fact incredibly seriously. Just a fun groovy spooky time. |
| 25 |  | Crippling Alcoholism
Camgirl
GOTHIC NOISE ROCK
Dark and brooding, but also groovy as hell. Really love the "elevated edginess" of the lyrics, being able to really lean in to some fucked up stuff without going into self-parody. |
| 26 |  | Kaevum
Ultra
BLACK METAL
Very solid black metal that starts really riffing good in the later tracks. C'mon you should have started at that level and then gotten even better smh. |
| 27 |  | Lastima
A Pain Bloomed From My Lungs
BLACKGAZE
Well-executed blackgaze with some screamo influence, but what pushes this one over the edge is the lonely violin doing chamber music kind of playing. That gimmick really elevates this album into something special. |
| 28 |  | Boneflower
Reveries
SCREAMO
Speaking of gaze, this also feels very shoegaze inspired with the slower build ups and the cathartic releases. On the lighter side for screamo, but it still slaps. |
| 29 |  | King Stephen
Esoterica
DARKSYNTH
This is the sophisticated gothic vampire rave sound I mentioned. Dark house beats accentuated by epic orchestral hits and flamenco flourishes. Very neat sound. |
| 30 |  | Life (USA-TX)
demo seven
SCREAMO
This one really gets into the groove in the latter tracks to escape from the 4.0 line, which starts... |
| 31 |  | Abigail Williams
A Void Within Existence
---4.0 Line---
I'm only sorting it alphabetically from here and adding in briefer writeups without really rejamming the albums, because this list is taking too long already. And since I had to rewrite most of this list, I'd probably kill myself if I did have write ups for all of these and the site didn't publish it, lol.
ATMOSPHERIC PROGRESSIVE BLACK METAL
First time checking these guys out, pretty cool. I'd hesitate to call them full prog on this album but there's definitely some little quirks in the songwriting that I think they qualify. |
| 32 |  | Aversed
Erasure of Color
MELODIC TECHNICAL PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Infericore with proggy power parts and a female vocalist. |
| 33 |  | Ba'al
The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK/SLUDGE METAL
Kind of weird that I haven't really heard of a lot of blackened sludge you'd think it's a match made in heaven. |
| 34 |  | Barbelith / Trha
Barbelith / Trhä
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Barbelith is decent atmoblack that's a little on the riffier side. Vocals aren't great, but Damian is a guitarist for this band now so it's why they feel a little Trha-y. The Trha songs are probably the cleanest produced cuts he's done, but they're bog standard for Damian outside of the excellent back half of the second Trha song. Which means they're quality, but quality isn't quality when we're talking about Trha, lol. |
| 35 |  | Belenos
Egor
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Pretty solid atmoblack but goes on for a little too long iirc. |
| 36 |  | Blackbraid
Blackbraid III
MELODIC ATMOSPHERIC FOLK BLACK METAL
A bit one note in style, but it rips. |
| 37 |  | Blindfolded and Led to the Woods
The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One…
PROGRESSIVE DISSODEATH METAL
Liked the previous album more; maybe it was a tighter experience? This does dance around with a lot of dynamics. These guys are at the top of the dissodeath food chain at least. |
| 38 |  | Blood Abscission
II
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Very polished Mglacore that leans far more into atmosphere. Dude knocks it out of the park both times. |
| 39 |  | Changeling (DEU)
Changeling
PROGRESSIVE TECHNICAL DEATH METAL
Really solid prog death that gets tech noodley here and there. |
| 40 |  | Coffret De Bijoux
i look up, intertwined
SCREAMO / BLACKGAZE
This project started off as Trha worship and tried to carve out its own sound, blindly thrusting with various fairy infused dreamy poppy blackgaze experiments that really didn't hit. But this trio of releases in the back half of the year show that she's cooking again. This has that sound but balances it out with a healthy dose of screamo. There's some bitpop elements here, but they're more subdued and don't rip your attention away. |
| 41 |  | Coffret De Bijoux
nendindalnen
BLACKGAZE
Fuzzy blackgaze with tasteful injections of that fairy dreampop stuff here and there. |
| 42 |  | Coffret De Bijoux
Wen Jalè Jalè Gunala
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Raw but very weird cryptic atmoblack. |
| 43 |  | Conan
Violence Dimension
SLUDGE METAL
Heavy as balls, a little monotonous, but this riffs more compared to some of their other stuff. |
| 44 |  | Coroner
Dissonance Theory
PROGRESSIVE THRASH METAL
I really should check these guys out more, eh? Very solid comeback album from these thrash titans. |
| 45 |  | Cradle of Filth
The Screaming of the Valkyries
SYMPHONIC BLACK METAL / BLACKENED THRASH METAL
Way thrashier than I expected from this band, but good to see the theatrics don't fully slip into goofy territory. |
| 46 |  | Dead and Dripping
Nefarious Scintillations
TECHNICAL BRUTAL DEATH METAL / PSYCHEDELIC
Weird ass psychy br00tal Demilichcore. |
| 47 |  | Deafheaven
Lonely People With Power
BLACKGAZE
Lots of people cream themselves over this album. Yeah, it's very solid blackgaze. Can't say it's amazing though. |
| 48 |  | Dessiderium
Keys to the Palace
PROGRESSIVE MELODIC DEATH METAL
More triumphant and power metally prog death, weaker than the last two albums imo but since those were grieving over the death of his girlfriend... at least homie sounds like he's making some peace with that if the sound of this is any indication. |
| 49 |  | Dormant Ordeal
Tooth and Nail
BLACKENED TECHNICAL DEATH METAL
Behemoth but good. And techier. |
| 50 |  | Eudaemon
Spiritual Anguish
PROGRESSIVE BLACK METAL / SCREAMO
Pretty weird album but it does an admirable job blending these two sounds. |
| 51 |  | Febuary
Run Like A Girl
SCREAMO
Brooding skramz with somber midwest emo sounds and really raw vocals. |
| 52 |  | Fleshvessel
Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded
PROGRESSIVE SYMPHONIC DEATH METAL
Batshit crazy prog death sounding like the modern evolution of those avant-prog metal bands that dominated the mid-2000s. Lots of symphonic breaks and jazzy influence and wacky vocals. |
| 53 |  | Grab
Kremess
ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Wintry atmoblack with tasteful key interjections, the good stuff. |
| 54 |  | Hasard
Abgnose
ATMOSPHERIC SYMPHONIC DISSOBLACK METAL
Doing weird ass atonal modern classical Penderecki style shit but also black metal. Haunting and cool. |
| 55 |  | Havukruunu
Tavastland
MELODIC FOLK BLACK METAL
These guys never miss. Plenty of power metally viking fun mixed in with melodic black. |
| 56 |  | Kamra
Unending Confluence
ATMOSPHERIC DISSOBLACK METAL
Pretty interesting for a dissonant metal album in that it tastefully holds back on it so it's not obviously fucky, but just subtle enough to unease. Vocalist also isn't afraid to get more theatrical and crazy ranting homeless man sounding. |
| 57 |  | Kardashev
Alunea
PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Deathgaze is what they're coining for this sound, and I can see it. But your "gaze" breaks sound like normal prog metal to me, lol. But it's good stuff. |
| 58 |  | letterstoyou
and crying impulse
SCREAMO
Short and sweet chaotic metallic skramz. |
| 59 |  | letterstoyou
feral growth at the side of mystery
SCREAMO
Dude loves his screechy feedback chords here. |
| 60 |  | letterstoyou
lunar memory scars
SCREAMO
Going a little apeshit here. |
| 61 |  | Life (USA-TX)
demo eight
SCREAMO
A little bit of a pop punk emo style here and there, vocals are a little raw. |
| 62 |  | Life (USA-TX)
demo ten
SCREAMO
More brooding build ups on this short little album. |
| 63 |  | Life (USA-TX)
my heart the dreaming memory
SCREAMO
Chaotic passionate skramz, lots of guest vocals by Tsukihi's vocalist and she's kind of samey sounding on this album. |
| 64 |  | Life (USA-TX)
We Won't Say a Word Until Tomorrow
SCREAMO
Production's a bit off and the vocals are a little extra, but I like the slower clean build up parts a lot. |
| 65 |  | LukHash
Home Arcade
DARK SYNTHWAVE
An album with a bunch of songs below 3 minutes was a little worrying, but no, LukHash has crammed some real bouncy groove in his synthwave with some dusting of chiptunes. The downside comes in that the similar song lengths start to make the structure kind of predictable as it goes on. |
| 66 |  | Mors Principium Est
Darkness Invisible
MELODIC SYMPHONIC DEATH METAL
You love to see a band releasing their best material decades in. Very solid melodic death with lots of backing orchestrations that aren't stealing the show. |
| 67 |  | Noise Trail Immersion
Tutta la morte in un solo punto
DISSOBLACK METAL
Nutty discordant black metal, but once you adjust to all the "wrong notes" they're playing it's actually kind of basic in a way? But pretty neat. |
| 68 |  | Qrixkuor
The Womb of the World
BLACKENED SYMPHONIC DEATH METAL
Cavernous, chaotic, dense, through-composed blackened death with lots of neat backing orchestrations. |
| 69 |  | Rosalia
Lux
ART POP / MODERN CLASSICAL
Pretty neat artsy pop with a kitbashed symphonic sound. Kind of meandering at times and some of the songs could be tightened up, but she was an exceptionally nice voice that masks some of the compositional issues this album has. |
| 70 |  | Saidan / Trha
Saidan / Trhä
BLACK METAL
Nothing amazing for black metal, but two solid offerings by two of the current greats. |
| 71 |  | Saor
Amidst the Ruins
ATMOSPHERIC FOLK BLACK METAL
Saoring vibrant kind of foggy feeling triumphant black metal with bagpipes and flutes. |
| 72 |  | Sargeist
Flame Within Flame
MELODIC BLACK METAL
Big bucket of riffs. |
| 73 |  | Sigh
I Saw the World's End - Hangman's Hymn MMXXV
SYMPHONIC BLACK METAL
Kind of cheaping out having a rerecording being the "I" in this current SIGHcle of albums (the releases start with an S, then an I, then G, then H, then S, etc). But it's not a cheap gimmick but a fuller reinterpretation of the original. I always found Hangman's Hymn a little too bombastic, this adds more dynamics. And waaaaay sicker drumming. |
| 74 |  | Sundrowned
Higanbana
BLACKGAZE / ATMOSPHERIC SLUDGE METAL
Summery sludgegaze. Also a kind of sound you'd think there'd be more of out there. |
| 75 |  | Teardrinker
Killing the Flowers Will Not Delay Spring
SCREAMO / ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
These guys say they're sludgy screamo but I don't think they know what sludge metal is. Definitely atmoblack influence here for sure. Short and sweet but not too short. |
| 76 |  | Testament
Para Bellum
(BLACKENED) THRASH METAL
I love it when old geezers play the fuck out of stuff on their recent albums. Lots of blackened riffs here and there, Chuck Billy sounds amazing, very solid thrash and one of their best. |
| 77 |  | The Blood Mountain Black Metal Choir
Folklore (Demo I)
ATMOSPHERIC FOLK BLACK METAL / BLACKGAZE
Very promising for a demo. Americana-tinged atmoblack like Panopticon but with some nice blackgaze infusion. |
| 78 |  | Trha
∫um'ad∂ejja ∫ervaj
MELODIC ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL
Fuzzy production is still weird, but nice uplifting melodic atmoblack. |
| 79 |  | Veilburner
Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy
BLACKENED DEATH METAL / PROGRESSIVE BLACK METAL / PSYCHEDELIC
Weird ass band with a unique cool sound. I found the previous album to be better. You'd think that one having the gimmick of arbitrary song lengths of exactly 7 minutes long would equal tighter songwriting on this one, but somehow not lol. |
| 80 |  | VoidCeremony
Abditum
TECHNICAL PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL
Solid kind of wanky techprog death but knows to keep things short before it gets too obnoxious. |
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