(Editor\u2019s note: Looking back on 2025, there were so many good albums released that we decided to reach out to some of today\u2019s artists and get them to weigh in on their favorites. What follows is Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn\u2019s \u2018Most LIstened to Albums of 2025.)<\/p>\n
Zach Bryan \u2014 American Heartbreak and Zach Bryan<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cHey Driver,\u201d \u201cWhiskey River,\u201d \u201cJake\u2019s Piano,\u201d \u201cEast Side of Sorrow,\u201d \u201cSomething in the Orange,\u201d \u201cHappy Instead,\u201d \u201cMine Again,\u201d \u201cCold Damn Vampires,\u201d \u201c\u201868 Fastback\u201d<\/p>\n
Indisputably my two most-listened-to albums of 2025. These became my go-to \u201cheavy in the soul, not the guitars\u201d records. Zach Bryan blindsided me. Mostly acoustic, almost no distortion, certainly no thrash beats \u2014 just raw emotion. He writes like he\u2019s emptying out his soul one line at a time, and it caught me in a way I didn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey driver, pull over, I\u2019m in a fight with God\u201d\u2026 man\u2026 I\u2019ve been there too many times. It\u2019s heavy in a human way \u2014 the kind of heavy that shows up at 2 a.m. when you\u2019re lying on the floor drunk and high, staring at the ceiling, going over all the mistakes you\u2019ve made in life but don\u2019t want to talk about.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the best music doesn\u2019t need to be loud \u2014 it just needs to be honest in a way that feels almost uncomfortable at times \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly why I kept coming back to it.<\/p>\n
Sleep Token \u2014 Take Me Back to Eden & Even in Arcadia<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cEmergence,\u201d \u201cChokehold,\u201d \u201cLook to Windward,\u201d \u201cDangerous,\u201d \u201cCaramel\u201d<\/p>\n
Sleep Token absolutely swallowed me whole this year. I know some metalheads love to hate on them, and not every song was for me, but there\u2019s something about the mix of crushing down-tuned riffs, haunting melodies, lyrical sadness, sex, and naked emotion that hits a part of my brain nothing else touches.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ahead and wrap your arms around me\u201d\u2026 \u201cWill you haunt this eclipse in me\u201d\u2026 lyrics and melodies that ping-pong around my brain for weeks. It\u2019s dramatic, it\u2019s weird, it\u2019s glossy, and it\u2019s heavy in a completely different way \u2014 the whole thing feels like a confession whispered over a thunderstorm.<\/p>\n
Kudos to my old Through the Ashes of Empires producer Carl Bown for the incredible layers of sonic beauty he helped craft. I don\u2019t care how many \u201ctrue\u201d metalheads roll their eyes \u2014 the songs that grabbed me, grabbed me and didn\u2019t let go.<\/p>\n
Kublai Khan TX \u2014 Spotify Top 10<\/p>\n
Favorite Tracks:
\u201cThe Hammer,\u201d \u201cTheory of Mind\u201d<\/p>\n
Kublai Khan TX has a way of making every song feel like I\u2019m getting dragged into the circle pit against my will in the best possible way. But \u201cThe Hammer\u201d\u2026 man, that one hits different. The second it drops, it\u2019s like the temperature in the room changes \u2014 that opening riff, that stomp, that dual-vocal delivery that sounds like pure fury boiled down to its essence:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will never know, you will never ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s simple. It\u2019s direct. It hits like a punch to the face. And the crazy part? The rest of their top tracks carry that same pulse \u2014 tight, punishing, no-bullshit hardcore that never overstays its welcome. A masterclass in simplicity.<\/p>\n
Having seen these guys live three times in the last year\u2026 I pity the band that has to follow them on a festival slot. A band firing on all cylinders at the literal peak of their powers.<\/p>\n
Well done, boys.<\/p>\n
The Jompson Brothers \u2014 Self-Titled (2014)<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cRide My Rocket,\u201d \u201cHey Girl,\u201d \u201cInside Your Head,\u201d \u201cBlood in the Water\u201d<\/p>\n
My friend Shelli turned me onto this record at the beginning of the year, and I haven\u2019t stopped listening since. Chris Stapleton\u2019s 2014 rock band is like a late-night bar fight between Southern rock swagger and bluesy grit.<\/p>\n
Chris\u2019s voice here is un-fucking-real \u2014 all whiskey, sex, sadness, and wildfire \u2014 and those riffs\u2026 big, fat, juicy Zeppelin\/AC\/DC riffs that just strut with attitude.<\/p>\n
Love gone bad (\u201cI should hate you, but I don\u2019t\u201d), one-night stands (\u201cHey girl, what\u2019s your name\u201d), raisin\u2019 hell\u2026 fuckin\u2019 hell\u2026 I\u2019ve lived this record. It\u2019s the type of album to get the party started or drinks yourself to sleep. Rough edges, big hooks, pure vibe.<\/p>\n
Turnstile \u2014 Glow On and Never Enough<\/p>\n
I still haven\u2019t stopped listening to Glow On (an absolute timeless classic), but I had to pause and give Never Enough its time \u2014 and the boys delivered.<\/p>\n
Turnstile dropped an album I kept reaching for whenever I needed something that just felt good without losing that hardcore punch. It\u2019s bright, bouncy, and weirdly uplifting, yet still scratches the heavy itch. It reminds me that being a metal guy doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t enjoy a little sunshine with your riffs \u2014 sometimes pure positivity is exactly what the year needs.<\/p>\n
Paleface Swiss \u2014 Cursed<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cEnough?\u201d \u201c\u2026and with hope you\u2019ll be damned\u201d<\/p>\n
This album is a pure sonic bloodbath. That voice\u2026 WOW. This young man has a very bright future, delivering one of the most cathartic vocal performances of the decade.<\/p>\n
Every song feels like a breakdown waiting to collapse the floor and sometimes that\u2019s the vibe I\u2019m after. It\u2019s raw, ugly, and gloriously over-the-top \u2014 yet lyrically it runs counter to the overly masculine posturing of today\u2019s metal climate. All of it delivered with death-metal rap flows that make you want to fight your steering wheel while driving.<\/p>\n
Clipse \u2014 Let God Sort \u2019Em Out<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cChains & Whips\u201d (feat. Kendrick Lamar), \u201cP.O.V.\u201d (feat. Tyler, The Creator), \u201cAce Trumpets,\u201d \u201cLet God Sort \u2019Em Out \/ Chandeliers\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the hard shit \u2014 the hard shit I\u2019ve been missing in hip-hop. Pusha T and Malice have always had effortless cool, and I\u2019ve followed their Clipse and solo careers for decades because they always deliver.<\/p>\n
Cocaine flows, guns, and murder \u2014 it grabbed me by the throat immediately. But those tracks with Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, The Creator? Fuckin\u2019 hell. Whole different level.<\/p>\n
A Clipse\/Pusha\/Kendrick feature feels like a pressure drop in the room (peep 2013\u2019s \u201cNostalgia\u201d for pure hip hop god-level shit). He comes in sharp, surgical, almost unsettling in how locked-in he sounds. And then you\u2019ve got Tyler showing up like a wrecking ball made of charisma and chaos, just flipping the whole vibe on its head. Every time I spun the album, I ended up replaying those two songs because they hit with this intensity, this personality, this undeniable spark.<\/p>\n
Clipse came back swinging. Welcome back.<\/p>\n
Bring Me the Horizon \u2014 Post Human: Nex Gen<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cKool-Aid,\u201d \u201cLimousine,\u201d \u201cDarkside,\u201d \u201cN\/A,\u201d \u201cAmen,\u201d \u201cDig It\u201d<\/p>\n
The metal police can complain all they want \u2014 BMTH put out a guilty-pleasure album I kept reaching for because it really is that good.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s wild, messy, catchy as hell, and somehow sounds like modern BMTH meets Deftones in Blur\u2019s backyard for a techno-metal sad-boi mishmash. Gleefully pounding genres with a sledgehammer just to see what sticks.<\/p>\n
And that video of Nik Nocturnal getting drunk and emotional on stream to \u201cDig It\u201d? Yeah\u2026 I was right there with him doing the same thing.<\/p>\n
I blasted it all year with zero shame.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Knocked Loose \u2014 Spotify Top 10<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cSuffocate\u201d (feat. Poppy), \u201cSlaughterhouse 2\u201d (feat. Chris Motionless)<\/p>\n
\u201cSuffocate\u201d might be my favorite heavy track of the year. So primal. So heavy. Constant tempo changes, that insane buildup with Poppy\u2019s voice\u2026 And to top it all off that breakdown with the \u201creggaeton\u201d drum beat captures the zeitgeist.<\/p>\n
The rest of theialbum slams just as hard, and browsing through their top 10 tracks reminded me of why Knocked Loose are at the forefront of hardcore these days.<\/p>\n
Slaughter to Prevail \u2014 Grizzly, Kostolom, and Behelit EP<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cBratva,\u201d \u201cBehelit,\u201d \u201cImdead\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t get \u201cBehelit\u201d out of my head for days. Every time I put it on, I could practically feel my bloodstream heat up.<\/p>\n
Alex Terrible sounds like he\u2019s tearing open a portal to the underworld with his lungs, while the band swings riffs like ten-ton hammers behind him. It\u2019s primal, it\u2019s savage, and it caused so many stank-face moments I\u2019m amazed my jaw still works.<\/p>\n
And that guitar tone \u2014 that\u2019s just violence distilled into audio waves.<\/p>\n
Sanguisugabogg \u2014 Hideous Aftermath<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cFelony Abuse of a Corpse\u201d (feat. PeelingFlesh), \u201cSemi-Automatic Facial Reconstruction\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never been the biggest death metal guy on record \u2014 it always made more sense to me live \u2014 but man, this album is straight-up sonic barbarism, and I loved every filthy second.<\/p>\n
I felt like I was doing something illegal just listening (those lyrics are fucked up). The riffs don\u2019t just hit \u2014 they maul. The vocals are savage and the Peeling Flesh feature absolutely rips. The grooves are so nasty you practically need a shower afterward.<\/p>\n
No polish. No pretense. Just pure, swamp-dwelling death metal. For all its gore-soaked chaos, it hits a primal nerve, reminding me why I fell in love with the heavier, uglier corners of metal in the first place.<\/p>\n
Linkin Park \u2014 The Emptiness Machine<\/p>\n
Favorite Songs:
\u201cTwo-Faced,\u201d \u201cThe Emptiness Machine,\u201d \u201cOver Each Other\u201d<\/p>\n
This new chapter of Linkin Park hit me way harder than I expected. Bold move bringing in a female frontperson \u2014 and it paid off.<\/p>\n
Emily Armstrong stepped in with a grit and raw power that doesn\u2019t try to replace anything \u2014 she just plants her flag and goes. Shinoda is dropping lyrical gems all over this thing (\u201cI only wanted to be part of something\u2026\u201d), which\u2026 man\u2026 who can\u2019t relate?<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s all about \u201cTwo-Faced\u201d \u2014 an absolute classic LP banger. I saw Linkin Park opening for Orgy in the small downstairs room of Maritime Hall in San Francisco, and I\u2019ve been a fan ever since. It makes me happy to see them making relevant, dynamic new music and moving on.<\/p>\n
The album is emotional, massive, and feels like a band refusing to be a relic of nostalgia. A hell of a return.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Editor\u2019s note: Looking back on 2025, there were so many good albums released that we decided to reach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-361080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}