| 2025 |
| 21 |  | Mawiza
Ül
The next great Gojira album will be written by this Chilean quartet. |
| 20 |  | Conjurer
Unself
One of the most exciting modern extreme metal bands trod down their own beaten path. My favorite bit of this is the opening acoustic passage that melds into an explosive wall of distortion and disappears, only to return in the album's waning moments. Even if this doesn’t make much headway in the sound evolution department, Unself is a spirited and crushing attack - the likes of which few in the scene can compete with. |
| 19 |  | Jackal Twins
Cuzco
On the debut album from Jackal Twins undeniable talent collides with reckless bloat. Cuzco is a janky and pummeling metalcore odyssey that meanders towards its destination on a circuitous course. There are stretches pieced together so deftly that you’d be excused to draw comparisons with their chief influence (Dillinger). I just can’t help but feel like a heavy handed edit towards a palatable album length could’ve been transformational. It’s all there for the taking, just try not to actually take all of it next time. |
| 18 |  | Psychonaut
World Maker
World Maker is a bit of slow build grower compared to their previous two, but when it hits it is undeniably massive. Psychonaut is at the forefront of contemporary post-metal in scale and technicality. The championship belt for heavy progressive music resides with Pelagic Records for another year. |
| 17 |  | NYOS
Growl
I’m transfixed by what this Finish math duo created on Growl. It’s loop-driven heaven for anyone looking to sink deeply into a raucous instrumental groove. Another banger from Pelagic. |
| 16 |  | YHWH Nailgun
45 Pounds
You get slammed by spastic rhythms and blustery electronoise and it’s somehow danceable in a sweaty last jungle jam on earth kind of way and before you get the chance to gain any sort of intellectual footing on why or how this is happening it’s all over. Like Aphex Twin for noise rock. Where can I find more of this kind of thing? |
| 15 |  | Vildhjarta
+ där sjunger under evighetens granar +
A skronk’d out chug-a-thon for the ages. Vildjharta might’ve crafted a bone-fide classic if it wasn't so goddamn exhausting. Still, I have to give it up for the all-out dedication to djentcraft. Anyone interested in progressive metal needs to experience this at least once. |
| 14 |  | Shiner
BelieveYouMe
Amplifier servants at heart, Shiner trim back their buzzier tendencies to focus on tight composition. BelieveYouMe doesn’t waste a minute of its runtime, delivering one memorable hook after another. Infectious. |
| 13 |  | Rivers of Nihil
Rivers of Nihil
I genuinely can’t tell how serious this band takes themselves. After the awkwardly blown-out experiment of The Work, Rivers of Nihil return to a streamlined prog-sprinkled tech death palette. They recapture the charming equilibrium of heavy/catchy/experimental that propelled Where Owls Know My Name. Adding the clean vocalist/guitarist from Black Crown Initiate has unlocked a fresh compositional dynamic and compliments their style well. The drummer is still incomprehensibly talented. This is fun silly shit, even if that wasn’t the artistic intention. |
| 12 |  | Motorpsycho
Motorpsycho
Finally a new Led Zeppelin album. |
| 11 |  | Pile
Sunshine and Balance Beams
Post-hardcore drenched in ethereal blues. It seems equal parts Shellac and Radiohead. Sunshine and Balance Beams features a tastefully deployed string section to amplify and extenuate the drama. This is my first exposure to Pile and I can't wait to dig into their back catalogue. Magic happens when this vocalist chooses aggression. |
| 10 |  | Tropical Fuck Storm
Fairyland Codex
Tropical Fuck Storm recapture the majesty of A Laughing Death in Meatspace and successfully trigger my anxiety about the state of civilized human life. Viscously poetic and pointedly unnerving. A village in hell awaits us all. |
| 9 |  | Rwake
The Return Of Magik |
| 8 |  | Lychgate
Precipice |
| 7 |  | Mares Of Thrace
The Loss
Two-piece sludge outfit Mares of Thrace pay death’s toll with a bounty of badass riffs. There’s a desperate unresolved plea that permeates throughout The Loss that ties the entire mournful process together in a cohesive and artistically satisfying way. Bonus points for an album cover that needs to be viewed on the vinyl jacket for its full detailed glory. It’s an embroidery the vocalist/guitarist stitched up in the tour van. |
| 6 |  | Deftones
private music |
| 5 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Dreams Of Being Dust
TWIABP leave classic records in their wake and forge bravely into extreme sonic territory, dropping emo/indie breadcrumbs along the way. There’s the staple dual vocal interplay doing its beautiful melodious work, but it’s now balanced with the occasional hardcore scream to lend immediacy and credence to these breakdown-friendly tunes. TWIABP boasts an S-tier rhythm section with perfect bass/drum tone and patterns proggy and technical enough to satiate the ardent metal hipster without losing their song-serving accents. There is just so much to feast on. No Pilgrim is one of my favorite tracks of the year. |
| 4 |  | Messa
The Spin |
| 3 |  | Imperial Triumphant
Goldstar
Six albums in and I’m finally hooked. Imperial Triumphant sharpen their expansive proclivities and deliver the technical avant blackened experience I was desperately searching for on previous efforts. Goldstar serves as the final album recorded at the now defunct Menegroth Thousand Caves studio out of Queens NY (Gorguts, Pyrrhon) - an honor befitting the legacy of dissonant super powers who birthed wretched spawn in that place. |
| 2 |  | Between the Buried and Me
The Blue Nowhere |
| 1 |  | Agriculture
The Spiritual Sound |
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