Dewinged's AOTY 2025 (Countdown begins...)
Hi, hi. Yet another year. I've been off the site for most of the year and even off the radar for new music, busy with life et all, but nobody ever truly leaves Sput, we all know that. I've made an effort this last month, which combined with what I've already heard on the first half of the year turned out to be a pretty decent list. I'll add 10 albums a day, until I publish the top 10 on the 31st if I don't forget! Here we go! (Let's see if I remember how to post lists here) |
| 40 |  | Floating
Hesitating Lights
This was quite the revelation, thanks to Blayne from BangerTV, for keeping me up to date with albums like this one. Of course they had to be Swedish. The way they blend post punk with death metal is just superb. |
| 39 |  | Hayley Williams
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Great album title, Hayley, youve outdone yourself. I only jammed this like... once, but I remember I really liked it so there it is. |
| 38 |  | On Fire (CAN)
Bite The Blade
Aaaand more speed metal! Vocals are a mix of Cronos and Wendy O. Williams, great stuff. |
| 37 |  | Sargeist
Flame Within Flame
The timing of this release wasn`t the best for, I was dead busy at the time and couldn`t spend much time with it but what have stayed in the dark corners of my mind after a couple of listens is... that I need to get back to it. |
| 36 |  | Lacuna Coil
Sleepless Empire
Honestly surprised how they still got it. |
| 35 |  | Rothadas
Töviskert... a kísértés örök érzete.. Lidércharang
They`re back with a vengeance. Probably one of my favorite death doom outfits along with Hooded Menace. Unsurprisingly this didn`t disappoint. |
| 34 |  | Big Thief
Double Infinity
I´m surprised I found about this being released just like a month ago, man I've really been under a rock. As everything they do, delightful and very well produced. Lenker`s output is impressive. |
| 33 |  | Midnight Rodeo
Chaos Era
There are plenty of 70s flavoured bluesy rock bands out there but some reason this one fell on my right side, and God knows I hate blues and boogie with all my being. |
| 32 |  | Dart
Speed Days
Speed metal is back! Short bursts of 1 or 2 minutes tops at full throttle. |
| 31 |  | Wode
Uncrossing The Keys
If you're planning to mix death doom with heavy metal this is the right way to do it. What a cool album, it's gritty and sounds fucking evil, gotta dive deeper into this band. |
| 30 |  | Witch (ZMB)
Sogolo
Well and this is little rarity of the list i guess and the turning point of the list too. Sort of psychedelic rock from Zimbamwe with plenty of local influences as you can imagine. Think about an African version of Goat and you'll come close to the whole picture. |
| 29 |  | Fury (UK)
Interceptor
Just pure Hard Rock fun, honestly I found myself needing more music like this because all this black, death and doom metal was making me incredibly depressed and negative towards basically everything in my life, and that's no place to be. |
| 28 |  | Arch Enemy
Blood Dynasty
Who would have thought this would be the last one with Alyssa, I really thought they were doing great with her and this and the last album were probaby among my favorites from them. Oh well... |
| 27 |  | Jinjer
Duél
Probably the same as half of the entries of this list. If you like their last albums, you'll like this one. |
| 26 |  | Ambush (SWE)
Evil in All Dimensions
What's going on in Sweden with all these revival heavy metal popping out of nowhere, guess I should start thinking about packing my shit and move there! Here's a band that sounds a bit like Helloween and Judas Priest but somehow sounds more like them than themselves, whatever that means. |
| 25 |  | Mechina
Bellum Interruptum
I've lost the plot, haven't even heard it in full yet. But it should be good, no? |
| 24 |  | Katatonia
Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State
Another band that I love that needs to put the brakes or reconsider their writing process because this, as pretty as it is, took an unhealthy amount of plays to sink in. |
| 23 |  | Helloween
Giants & Monsters
I have the chance of seeing them live next year so I'm considering it but if they play half of this I'll kill myself on site. Not that I hate this album, it's good, I'll never get tired of listening to Kiske belting those highs, I have no idea how he still does it, but gimme Keeper or gimme nothing! |
| 22 |  | Motorpsycho
Motorpsycho
The Motorpsycho fatigue is real. Plus they have gone back to their early 2000s sound with this one, less prog, more straight forward, which is kinda disappointing, but I guess it makes sense for them to go full circle. |
| 21 |  | Species
Changelings
Really fun thrash from Poland, might be a good fit for fans of Horrendous and the like. |
| 20 |  | Paradise Lost
Ascension
I'm inclined to think that after an amazing comeback run, they got stuck again. Not as good as "Obsidian" and I personally don't dig that they insist on exhume the "Icon" era stuff. Can we just proceed to re-enact the "Draconian Times" era already please? |
| 19 |  | Dead and Dripping
Nefarious Scintillations
I'm happy to see this madman still releasing solid material and I'm glad it gained traction on this site. I didn't spend much time with it, to be honest, but a couple or three tracks was enough for me to check if he still got it, and yep, the frog king still has it. |
| 18 |  | Haunt (USA-CA)
Ignite
Good ol' Haunt, they'll always get a spot on my year end lists. Nothing out of the extraordinary (pun intended), they're always a good time but a far hit for a number 1 spot. If you liked any of their previous albums you'll definitely like this one. |
| 17 |  | Wolvennest
Procession
That been said, more doom! I really liked "Temple" and I still rewatch their Roadburn performance of some years ago, amazing live band. This last album though, it's missing a spark, it's mastered quite low and it just feels like a weaker effort all in all. It's still good enough to be included here, I appreciate how they upped the tempo and worked out their melodies but still I feel they're a bit out of their depth on this one. |
| 16 |  | Tribunal (CAN)
In Penitence and Ruin
Great follow up to this Canadian doom, now fully stacked band. It would probably be higher if I was more in the mood of previous years but I'm growing off the genre a little bit. Still, the progression is clear, and fans of My Dying Bride shouldn't let this one pass. |
| 15 |  | Circuit Des Yeux
Halo on the Inside
Another solid entry in her catalogue, this one tapping even more into that gothic, gloomy vein that was latent in her previous albums. She still has one of the most impressive voices female baritone vocals I've ever heard. it's borderline otherworldly stuff. |
| 14 |  | Dolmen Gate
Echoes of Ancient Tales
So here's the thing. I've evolved, fam. No more witchy doom for me, I'm past that already. My new fixation is lady fronted heavy metal revival. And god, we had some really good albums this year. The genre is booming and I couldn't be happier. This band from Portugal knows how to do it, this is their second album, out on No Remorse Records. |
| 13 |  | Skunk Anansie
The Painful Truth
The Painful truth is indeed, that this album is not good at all. Still, I find myself going back to some songs. |
| 12 |  | Midnite City
Bite the Bullet
Kings of Hair Metal? Ummm... quite a stretch considering they are 100 cans of hair spray away from being anything close to stuff like Pretty Boy Floyd. Still, solid AOR, Hard Rock album, I'm digging the revival, some bands are doing it better than others. These guys got the sound down, the hooks, even if some of them look lime my aunt after 3 bottles of wine. |
| 11 |  | Mansur
Pentatonic Ruins
If I talk to you about The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble or The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation you probably know where I'm going at. This is yet one more project of Jason Kohnen, the man behind all these projects, plus the Love Sextet, Bong-ra, etc. Pretty much in the vein of all the above, ethnic downtempo featuring Hungarian vocalist Martina Hórvath, who you may have heard as frequent collaborator of Thy Catafalque. Cool album. |
| 10 |  | Nightfall
Children Of Eve
A bit overlooked imo. I mean, it does sound like Behemoth worship but still... |
| 9 |  | Spellling
Portrait of My Heart
The title track is one of my favorite songs this year, but this album is a bit all over the place. I'm not sure she has figured out what she wants to be. |
| 8 |  | Lady Beast
The Inner Alchemist
The cover promised a bit more and it's a good album, but they've done better. |
| 7 |  | Nuclear Daisies
First Taste of Heaven
Pretty nice 90s revival music. Never heard of this band before. |
| 6 |  | Post Animal
Iron
Another solid album by this band but I only heard it once otherwise it'd probably be higher. If you like Stranger Things this is John Keery's (Steve) former band. |
| 5 |  | Mean Mistreater
Do or Die
Warning: You're gonna see a lot of hard rock and heavy metal this year. A LOT. |
| 4 |  | Morcheeba
Escape the Chaos
Another lovely album by Skye and co. It is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. |
| 3 |  | Void (USA-LA)
Forbidden Morals
Love the concept, I think this band will go places. They're like prog thrash ala Savatage meets Watchtower or Voivod? I don't know, weirdos. They also dress as the Phantom of the Opera. |
| 2 |  | Grails
Miracle Music
They would have ranked way higher in years past but for some reason their last couple of albums don't really grab me as they used to. Still, great band, and interesting album to say the least. |
| 1 |  | Avatarium
Between You, God, The Devil And The Dead
I actually reviewed this at the beginning of the year. Always liked this band, but never truly loved it. |
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