2025: carl's top 50 metal
super duper late to the party but 2025 had some cool albums I liked. kinda fell off on listening at some point in the year so missed a bunch of stuff but whatever. not the strictest ranking, aside from the top 10. honestly not a terrible year for melodeath |
| 50 | | Shadecrown
Zero
melodic death metal
doomy melodeath that is deep and vibey. for some reason every time I add the correct album from the database (its just the number 0), it doesnt post. mx please
actual database album is here: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/soundoff.php?albumid=529691 |
| 49 |  | The Halo Effect
March of the Unheard
melodic death metal
honestly just throwing it on here cuz I love these boys, the music is just alright. forgot it had even come out. holding out for them to drop an absolute classic but idk |
| 48 |  | Fimbul Winter
What Once Was
melodic death metal
new project of some OG amon amarth members. you can definitely hear it. its very good |
| 47 |  | Thermality
Concept 42
melodic death metal
old in flames worship that isnt super original but it scratches that itch. I swear this was in the database before but I had to re-add it. cmon sput |
| 46 |  | Ereb Altor
Hälsingemörker
viking metal
viking metal good. must listen to more viking metal |
| 45 |  | View from the Soyuz
Ubiquitous
melodic death metal | metalcore
good metalcore-y melodeath / melodeath-y metalcore |
| 44 |  | Revocation
New Gods, New Masters
tech death
been awol from the Revocation camp but got back into it ahead of seeing em for the first time in a decade. David Davidson Davies David is a beast |
| 43 |  | Disarmonia Mundi
The Dormant Stranger
melodic death metal
had to wait too damn long for this to come out. production is definitely questionable, but sounds good on some speakers but on some of my headphones its straight doodoo |
| 42 |  | Elvenking
Reader of the Runes - Luna
folky power metal
pretty standard Elvenking but plenty of heavy tracks within and plenty of catchy hooks that we all know and love |
| 41 |  | Recorruptor
Sorrow Will Drown Us All
deathcore
didnt listen to much deathcore this year (if at all) but this is whats up. HEAVYYYY. title track will rip your dick in half |
| 40 |  | Obsidian Tongue
Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn
atmospheric black metal
my atmoblack phase was in 2017 and I kinda burned myself out from it after around that time but coming back to it and finding this was nice |
| 39 |  | Blood Abscission
II
black metal
a very late addition to this last (like from a week ago) but I'm happy to have come across this cuz it is beautiful. someone said its like all the melodic bits from Mgla and I just love that |
| 38 |  | Blood Howl
Agony Grimoire
skramzy death metal
hard to pinpoint their sound but its abrasive as fork and the vox are chef's kiss |
| 37 |  | Avantasia
Here Be Dragons
power metal
one of the weaker Avantasia albums unfortunately but still good. Return to the Opera, while being a bonus track, is prob the best thing here |
| 36 |  | Les Batards du Roi
Les Chemins De L'Exil
melodic black metal
straight forward no bs french meloblack |
| 35 |  | Dynazty
Game of Faces
power metal
didnt listen to a lot of power metal this year but this is some of the catchiest pm i've ever heard |
| 34 |  | Ancient Death
Ego Dissolution
death metal
need to spend more time with this album tbh it goes very hard especially if u like Blood Incantation but everyone here knows that |
| 33 |  | Asunojokei
Think of You
blackgaze
got me feelin like im in some kinda black metal anime |
| 32 |  | Sepulchral Curse
Crimson Moon Evocations
blackened death metal
healthy dose of black + death and a lil melody |
| 31 |  | Clairvoyance
Chasm of Immurement
death metal
solid death metal for death metal enjoyers |
| 30 |  | Excide
Bastard Hymns
metalcore
gave me Grayhaven and sometimes ETID vibes. very cool band |
| 29 |  | Before The Dawn
Cold Flare Eternal
melodic death metal
surprisingly really good album after the letdown Stormbringers was |
| 28 |  | Tomarum
Beyond Obsidian Euphoria
progressive black/death metal
funky extreme music. lots of cool basslines, which made it all the worse when I saw em in the fall and they had NO BASSIST. guh!! |
| 27 |  | Victim Of Fire
The Old Lie
melodic death metal | crust
as the genre might suggest, its crust and melodic death metal mixed. I am not suuuper familiar with crust but I like this sound a lot and need to explore it |
| 26 |  | Heaven Shall Burn
Heimat
melodic death metal
hard to follow Of Truth and Sacrifice but a dece album nonetheless |
| 25 |  | The Birthday Massacre
Pathways
industrial
consistent band stays consistent. featuring screams for the first time in a very long time. gimme more of that pls |
| 24 |  | Deserted Fear
Veins of Fire
melodic death metal
old school-y sounding melodic death metal. catchy riffs |
| 23 |  | Buried Realm
The Dormant Darkness
melodic death metal
solo melodeath project featuring a whole lot of Christian Alvestam and Bjorn Strid. |
| 22 |  | Inoculation
Actuality
death metal
awesome sci-fi death metal that I got to see along with Xoth for one of the best shows of the year. do not sleep on this band |
| 21 |  | Walg
V
melodic black metal
Walg has just been shitting out albums the last 5 years and they've all been dece but this one is definitely the best. |
| 20 |  | Wretched (USA-NC)
Decay
death metal
a lot of people were upset that Wretched ditched the fast, techy melodeath TBDM worship stuff in favor of groovy, mid tempo SLUDGE but boy I dont care cuz TBDM will make the same album until the end of time so just go listen to them |
| 19 |  | Frostshock
Hibernation's End
melodic death metal
a late year surprise, actually good melodeath!! sounded especially good on walks in the snow |
| 18 |  | Blackbraid
Blackbraid III
black metal
dude always delivers. though I will say, I saw them live and it was impressively boring. Lamp of Murmuur opened though and they stole that show |
| 17 |  | Baest
Colossal
death metal
Stormbringer has one of the best riffs of ALL TIME. |
| 16 |  | ...and Oceans
The Regeneration Itinerary
(melodic) black metal w some industrial bits
very cool take on black metal. very excited to see them in a few months |
| 15 |  | Omnium Gatherum
May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way
melodic death metal
OG the GOATS delivered on this. was not expecting them too but that was mostly cuz of the silly album art. the solo is the Darkest City gets me every time. also got to see them in December and met an internet friend at the show which made it all the more magical |
| 14 |  | Metaphobic
Deranged Excruciations
death metal
Eakflanderyof and co crushed it. sputnik music rules. im so happeh |
| 13 |  | Augur
Arcane Insurgency
black metal
certified classic from the depths of sputnik. shoutout botb and viper |
| 12 |  | Tomb of Annihilation
Execration Rites
death metal
DB absolutely crushed it with this shit. perfect "deathy" melodic death metal. or is that "melodic" death metal? listen and see for yourself
(i started writing a review but got sidetracked by life and stuff so thatll be up soon TM) |
| 11 |  | Valhalore
Beyond The Stars
proggy, folky melodic death metal
very fun and adventurous akin to Ensiferum and Wintersun |
| 10 |  | Abigail Williams
A Void Within Existence
black metal
not as good as Walk Beyond the Dark but hey, at least we get a new AW album after 6 long years. |
| 9 |  | Der Weg Einer Freiheit
Innern
black metal
still need to listen to more of this band, but this album really surprised me by how much i dug it. very cinematic, especially Forlorn. one of my most anticipated bands to see at Maryland Deathfest |
| 8 |  | Lamp of Murmuur
The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy
black metal
liked this one more than his last release, but thats cuz it got that melody. the title tracks (namely pt. 1 and 2) are some of my favorite songs that came out in recent years |
| 7 |  | Deafheaven
Lonely People With Power
blackgaze
pitchfork sweethearts retvrn to metal thank fvck. quite possibly best deafheaven |
| 6 |  | Pendulum
Inertia
metal-y drum n bass
insanely fun album with some interesting features by the goats of all time |
| 5 |  | Ondfodt
Dimsvall
black metal
spotify, though it be cursed, blessed me with this band on my algo. gets progressively more melodic throughout the course of the album which I adored |
| 4 |  | In Mourning
The Immortal
melodic death metal
best melodeath of the year. best In Mourning possibly. |
| 3 |  | Agriculture
The Spiritual Sound
black metal-ish
was fortunate enough to catch this band a couple times over the last few years and they'd constantly tease us with new, at the time unreleased, songs from this album. they're also generating a lot of buzz in normie spheres so lets go bring the heaviness to the masses baby ;D |
| 2 |  | Scalpture
Landkrieg
death metal
audible bass, all sorts of subgenres mixed together, neck crushing riffs. could be tied for first |
| 1 |  | Havukruunu
Tavastland
black metal
the trve spiritual successor to Moonsorrow, and rightfully so. perfectly catchy, melodic, fast, crusty, shreddy, and everything in between |
|
