{"id":356977,"date":"2026-01-07T12:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356977\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:10:19","slug":"angry-metal-guys-top-tenish-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356977\/","title":{"rendered":"Angry Metal Guy’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Every year has been shitty for a while, and in some ways, 2025 was the shittiest of them all. The widespread sense that the End Is Nigh is what I would charitably call our zeitgeist. And I feel comfortable saying, it\u2019s a shitty zeitgeist. But in defiance of the shit burger we\u2019re all eating every day while we wait for the AI drone war to start, 2025 was my best year in a while. It did, in fact, see me more involved on the front and back ends of AngryMetalGuy.com than I\u2019d been in a long time. And like those lists we\u2019ve already published, AMG, both as a persona and community, has been a refuge for me during difficult times. The joy of discovery and the eclecticism inherent in what we do here have been a major part of why I love this blog. So, honestly, that\u2019s been nice.<\/p>\n

In terms of the blog\u2019s health, AngryMetalGuy.com is holding steady. We\u2019ve got a growing team of n00bs covering some of the holes we\u2019ve had in the schedule. I worked very hard on training them in combination with Druhm, and it\u2019s fair to say we were both happy with the result. We had some of our best candidates to date, and that made me proud and happy. There\u2019s still room for a few more, so we might dig into the pool in the early part of 2026. So if you applied, all hope is not lost. We continue to attract around 1.25 million views a month, and that\u2019s held steady for three years running. Obviously, we would like to continue to grow. But I have a sneaking suspicion that we\u2019re actually seeing a slight downturn in visitors because of Generative AI. There are, of course, a lot of people who go to Google and write \u201cMy Favorite Band \u2013 New Album Review,\u201d and they will be greeted by an AngryMetalGuy.com link that tends to place pretty highly on the Google Machine and awaits their complaints with open arms. But I suspect there are other kinds of views we\u2019ve accrued \u2013 those which end up in people grabbing album art or looking for release dates \u2013 that disappear when people are requesting that ChatGPT do that for them. And while LLMs will link you after plagiarizing you, they\u2019ll only do it if you let them, and we do not. And so any conversions of people checking linked resources are probably lost. There have been some weird months here and there with seemingly anomalously low numbers, so who even knows.<\/p>\n

The active n00bs have allowed us to revive the three-posts-a-day pace, and we only went dark for five days during 2025. As a collective, we posted 699 posts\u2014down from the very peak of 2019\u2019s nearly 1,000 posts!\u2014but in line with where we\u2019ve been since Covid. And, our posts continue to be longer than they were in 2019, averaging 901 words for a total of 629,905 words that we produced for free in 2025. That\u2019s a 2600-page term paper\u2014Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced on A4 paper. This dedication to quantity derives from the whip of an analytics-driven Steel Druhm, but wouldn\u2019t be possible without our amazing staff putting their shoulders to the Eternal Boulder ov Metal\u2122 and rolling it uphill every day, saying \u201cOne must imagine Sisyphus happy. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

We continue to have international appeal, as well, though the country rankings haven\u2019t changed much from 2024. Like last year, our top five is made up of the English-speaking world (US, UK, CAN, AUS at five) + Germany (at four). Weirdly, we are getting a sizable amount of traffic from China, which clocks in at six for the first time. There are almost certainly shenanigans at play with those numbers, as I am not aware of any influx of Chinese fans here recently. Maybe that\u2019s AI traffic. Maybe that\u2019s VPN traffic. Maybe we\u2019ve been infiltrated and are now a communist honey pot. Maybe Druhm is buying traffic. Or, maybe, Winnie the Pooh has finally discovered how excellent the realm of heavy metal really is, and China is going through a different kind of cultural revolution! Regardless, 7-10 is made up of the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and France, with Spain and Finland dropping out of the top ten. The biggest news, however, when it comes to our international readership, is that signs point strongly to Pope Francis having been our solitary reader in the Holy See. The venerable Franciscan passed away in April of 2025, and I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s a coincidence that no one appears to have made the pilgrimage from the Vatican to Angry Metal Guy this year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that we lost more than a few stalwarts along the way in 2025, largely due to the #Cursed-Boomer-Posting chat on Slack, which has torn us apart. There may also have been some other influences, such as marriages, having high-paying jobs, running TV shows, having actual lives, or resenting me. Regardless, for all those who have worked hard to make AngryMetalGuy.com go, but who are not here with us anymore, I just want to say thank you. Despite my autistic isolation and standoffishness, I do love you all and miss you. The door is, of course, always open. And I am happy to see some special little guys who\u2019ve been in deep freeze popping their heads out of the sand and grabbing promo. It\u2019s a wonderful sight to behold, and maybe we\u2019ll see some newfound productivity from old friends in 2026.<\/p>\n

To close, I want to thank everyone \u2013 readers and writers alike \u2013 for your enthusiasm, your dedication to AngryMetalGuy.com as an institution, and your undying fealty to me, Angry Metal Guy. I know I can come off as harsh. And I know that some people grumble that I\u2019m too hard on them when I read their texts or when they have divergent opinions in the comments, but that\u2019s only true if you\u2019ve never met a passive construction you didn\u2019t love or if you\u2019re wrong about metal. And, as I tell my students, we\u2019re a team. Our goal is to make sure that AMG produces the very highest quality writing, while covering as much of the scene as possible. And given the loyalty of our readers, your comments, and \u201cthe eye test,\u201d as it were, we are achieving that goal consistently. I\u2019m still very proud of that and, if I stop to think about it, humbled by it, too.<\/p>\n

While it feels like there\u2019s a lot to dread after the 2025 that was, we still have a lot to be excited about here. So let\u2019s hope that 2026 isn\u2019t all like it\u2019s felt in the first five days or so. Anyway, I have gone on far too long, have a wordy, overwrought list.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"#(ish) 3: Helms Deep \/\/ Chasing the Dragon<\/a> [June 20th, 2025 | Nameless Grave Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Chasing the Dragon is super fun. It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s loud, and it\u2019s a little stupid in a way that I find endearing. And, as I remarked in June<\/a>, while US Power Metal has been getting a lot of love around these parts, Helms Deep has not been on the receiving end of nearly enough of that love. While other bands showed up to a back alley knife fight, these Florida men showed up with a bejet-packed dragon and a collection of songs that burned hotter than dragonsfire, melting the competition down and shaming their lineages for decades to come. And joking hyperbole aside, Helms Deep doesn\u2019t feel like a novelty act. They aren\u2019t just good \u2019cause I find them funny. Chasing the Dragon features playing that\u2019s sharp and vital across the board, with guitars that never stand still, a singer who sells every chorus with the right balance of chops, cheese, and buckets of swagger. Said differently, Helms Deep is just dudes playing good, honest heavy metal while having a great time. What more do you need?<\/p>\n

\"Album#(ish) 2: Vittra \/\/ Intense Indifference<\/a> [September 19th, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Vittra\u2019s Intense Indifference shows up hungry, plays fast, hits hard, and gets out before you have time to get bored. Thirty-three minutes of riff-first, bethrashened melodeath go by in a blur; the hooks are sticky, the harmonies are sharp, and the energy is manic and adventurous. While the At the Gates lineage is obvious, Vittra pulls in enough Soilwork polish and Mors Principium Est flash to songwriting that\u2019s focused on momentum rather than atmosphere, and the result is addictive. And what really pushes this record from really good to great are the flashes of the unexpected: honkytonk piano, bluesy acoustic passages, and classic rock phrasing that shouldn\u2019t work, but does. It\u2019s great listening to an album this full of piss and vinegar. I get excited when bands pop up that make the kind of thrashy, intense melodic death that never begs for an Insomnium comp. And sure, these guys have room to grow, but Intense Indifference caused me to feel anything but.<\/p>\n

\"\"#(ish) 1: Arjen Anthony Lucassen \/\/ Songs No One Will Hear [September 12th, 2025 | InsideOut Music | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Arjen Lucassen has been a favorite of mine during the time that AngryMetalGuy.com has been up and running. The \u201cpoofy-haired cheesehead\u201d behind many of my favorite albums during AMG\u2019s time is still a gem even in 2025. Crazily, Arjen\u2019s first \u2018solo record\u2019 Lost in the New Real<\/a> was released in 2012, and Songs No One Will Hear is its direct successor. A true concept record\u2014with Toehider\u2019s god-tier singer, Michael Mills, voicing a radio DJ talking to listeners about impending doom\u2014it reflects both our End Is Nigh Zeitgeist and Arjen\u2019s particular\u2026 idiom<\/a>. Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, Songs No One Will Hear is both tongue-in-cheek and yet deeply aware of the nature of information, grifting, and societal collapse, while still displaying the kind of referential goofiness that made Lost in the New Real such a charming record. The thing that dinged Songs No One Will Hear a little for me is the sense of uncanny familiarity. At times, it sounds like Arjen was working specifically to emulate the structure of Lost in the New Real. That created a bit of cognitive dissonance that I have never quite gotten over. It also drove a lot of replays of its under-the-radar predecessor rather than the album I should have been reviewing. But is Songs one of the best 11 records o\u2019 2025? I certainly think so.<\/p>\n

\"\"#10: An Abstract Illusion \/\/ The Sleeping City<\/a> [October 17th, 2025 | Willowtip | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 The Sleeping City had two strikes against it. First, it had the unenviable task of following Woe<\/a>, a record that could easily have been the template on which they built their sound. It\u2019s hard to break away from an overwhelmingly popular sound, yet these Ore Islanders took a left turn, exhibiting a level of daring I admire. The shift in aesthetic is the story of The Sleeping City in a lot of ways; the synths, the vibe, and the mood lean into dystopian sci-fi, and it\u2019s a choice that works. What I love about The Sleeping City is that it\u2019s detailed and detail-oriented without distracting from the expansiveness of the songwriting, which remains evocative and carefully structured. And while they sound comfortable letting songs breathe, they never get lost in the quest for \u201catmosphere\u201d that undermines many modern releases. Second, the real gripe about The Sleeping City was the mastering job. But even a mastering job that clips peaks and fills valleys shows just how strong the raw material is. And so, finally, The Sleeping City feels like the product of a band choosing growth over safety while being true to themselves. And that\u2019s an admirable trait that I hope they never lose.<\/p>\n

\"\"#9: Fallujah \/\/ Xenotaph<\/a> [June 13th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Fallujah landing on my list came as a genuine surprise to me, mostly because I really had quietly written them off. I used to like them, but they never carried that In Flames-style of eternal hope for me. Xenotaph pulled me back in by doing a deceptively simple thing: reintroducing attack. Everything about this record feels more immediate; guitars cut, compositions move with purpose, and songs are taut and sharp. The atmospheric elements remain, but they\u2019re now integrated into something heavier and more immediate. I love the balance Fallujah finds, combining that late-Cynic energy with the aggression of brutal and technical death. And the deeper I got, the more Xenotaph rewarded me. Repetition revealed interlinked ideas and layered guitar work that shoots like a web throughout, creating a sinuous structure on which everything rests. As I wrote in my Record o\u2019 the Month blurb, \u201cFallujah has achieved a conceptual evolution on Xenotaph that feels true to their origins and yet develops their sound in ways that make it accessible, and yet, truly unique.\u201d It isn\u2019t exactly br00tal death metal, but it\u2019s not so drenched in \u201catmosphere\u201d that it lacks tension. Most importantly, it worked.<\/p>\n

\"\"#8: Scardust \/\/ Souls [July 18th, 2025 | Frontiers Records | Stream or Buy at Qobuz<\/a>] \u2014 Scardust landing at number eight sans review is another casualty of my 2025 Stack o\u2019 Shame, though this was less neglect than simple overextension in a year where too many heavy hitters landed at once. July, yo, what a month. Unfortunately, I missed the review window, then I missed the window to pawn it off responsibly, and by the time I circled back, it was late. However, Scardust\u2019s third full-length is a sharp, confident 42 minutes of symphonic power\/prog that feels fully aware and unique. While it doesn\u2019t quite lock together as tightly as Strangers did at a conceptual and compositional level, Souls more than compensates for that with sheer craft. The orchestral and choral arrangements are some of the strongest I heard all year, and Scardust\u2019s chemistry is ridonkulous. The rhythm section especially deserves accolades, with basswork that should be forcing its way into \u201cbest of\u201d conversations. As a band, Scardust exists in the interstices of genre, where comparisons kind of work but can\u2019t capture their unique voice. And while the band is impressive, the compositions feel so coherent because of Noa Gruman, who carries the album with control, range, and an incomparable soprano. Her extreme register (that is, growls) stays mostly holstered here, but her presence\u2014and sheer talent\u2014is on constant display, balancing different styles, moods, and feels. And her vocal performance isn\u2019t the only standout vocal performance on Souls. The closing \u201cTouch of Life\u201d trilogy finds Ross Jennings (Haken) popping up in full \u201cweird Ross\u201d mode, which ends up as the cherry on top. The result is smart, muscular, and memorable; an album I\u2019m ashamed to have missed.<\/p>\n

\"\"#7: Aephanemer \/\/ Utopie<\/a> [October 31st, 2025 | Napalm Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Aephanemer\u2019s Utopie landed, as I mentioned in my Record o\u2019 the Month blurb, squarely at the top of my Stack o\u2019 Shame. I was honored to be able to get access to this and start listening early, and I was immediately impressed. Yet, I got sick. Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth. Meanwhile, Utopie sat there reminding me of my failures until Grin Reaper saved my ass and gave Aephanemer\u2019s newest opus the unhinged tongue bath it so rightfully deserved. Utopie takes everything these French melodic death metallers have been doing over the past couple of albums and tightens the screws until the whole machine purrs with confidence. The neoclassical elements have become a perfect blend that helps everything work perfectly. Utopie flows; songs connect, ideas develop, momentum carries everything forward, and yet Aephanemer does not sacrifice the immediacy and energy that makes melodic death metal such a fine dopamine mine. While I haven\u2019t sat down and learned the parts, I feel like the guitars are more fluid and more expressive, resulting in special melodies propelled by a buoyancy reflected in the theme. And you know me, what I want from great records is a holistic sense of greatness. Happily, Aephanemer accomplishes just that on Utopie. Had I been operating at full capacity when it dropped, I would have written a review that kids would call \u201cextra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"#6: Insania \/\/ The Great Apocalypse<\/a> [June 13th, 2025 | Frontiers Music | Stream or Buy on Qobuz<\/a>] \u2014 The Great Apocalypse, contrary to its name, is sneaky. It doesn\u2019t gallop in and smack you in the face with shock or novelty, but instead, it reveals its strength through confidence, craft, and an almost unfair level of replay value. What initially feels like\u2014and has been so often written off as\u2014a solid, familiar Europower record gradually opens up to be something richer and more rewarding. And it\u2019s kept paying dividends the longer I\u2019ve been sitting with it. Insania sounds, as I noted when I wrote the review, like a band fully aware of their lineage and completely at ease with it. But the truly confident understand themselves enough to think differently. The resulting record is full of massive, sticky hooks, choruses that hit with power metal optimism and momentum, and electrifying guitars throughout. In fact, while investigating their discography, I was struck by how much Insania upped their game on The Great Apocalypse. And key to that is the guitar, which elevates the record by resisting predictability and yet coexisting on a meta-level with the genre that they know so well. Songs evolve instead of looping, melodies get reshaped rather than repeated, and familiar ideas or tropes are nudged just enough off-center to stay engaging but familiar. The Great Apocalypse approaches with intention, and Insania performs like a band that\u2019s rediscovering why they love playing this kind of music in the first place. This record is exhilarating, memorable, and deeply satisfying, which is why it belongs among these other great releases.<\/p>\n

\"\"#5: Kalaveraztekah \/\/ Nikan Axkan<\/a> [May 2nd, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 In what I\u2019m pretty sure is a first for me, an \u00dcns\u00efgn\u00ebd B\u00e4nd R\u00f6d\u00eb\u00f6 contestant has made my Top Ten(ish) list. I\u2019ve had plenty of unsigned bands on my lists, but I walked into Kalaveraztekah\u2019s masterful Nikan Axkan utterly unprepared for what I would find. Like a kid buying music in the \u201990s, I just looked at that amazing cover art and decided that I was going to join the team reviewing this record instead of the other one. And that twist of fate has earned Mexico\u2019s finest Aztec-themed death metal band a spot on the End o\u2019 Year Metal List o\u2019 Record\u2122. As I cleverly wrote in my Record o\u2019 the Month blurb: \u201cThere\u2019s no sense that these Hidroc\u00e1lidos are some kind of novelty act. They aren\u2019t a Mexican Eluveitie, just playing Dark Tranquillity riffs while putting a Ritual Death Flute over it for 40 seconds in every song.\u201d Rather, Nikan Axkan is chock full of muscular riffing and the kind of grindy death metal that I\u2019ve always associated with the Mexican scene. Combined with a high-concept connecting to Mexican pre-history and the judicious use of a fucking death flute, I just never quit listening to Nikan Axkan. And so here they are, in the Top 5 of my Top 10(ish) of 2025, and it couldn\u2019t be more deserved.<\/p>\n

\"\"#4: Impureza \/\/ Alc\u00e1zares<\/a> [July 11th, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 I admit, I have tried to lead by example. I have attempted to become a servant leader. Rather than eating up a ton of oxygen and making everything actually about me (instead of just in jest) and what I want as Angry Metal Guy, I have, with time and wisdom, tried to allow others a chance to spread their wings. One of the things that means is that I can\u2019t just bogart other writers\u2019 \u201cdiscoveries,\u201d and I try not to block them if they grab something before I do. So, in that context, you\u2019ll understand that I got pretty excited when I realized that I could review the newest Impureza without poaching it. The band\u2019s approach to metal\u2014infused with flamenco and semi-fantastical alternate-historical high concepts about colonial history\u2014had entranced me previously, but I always felt like they were leaving a lot on the table. Their sound had not quite blended the flamenco and the metal, but rather, the genres sat side by side. Alc\u00e1zares changes that. From start to finish, Alc\u00e1zares is addictive, creative, musically impressive, and just a lot of fun. The artful ability of these Orl\u00e9anais-via-Espa\u00f1a to marry such disparate styles with genuinely unique approaches to music that run as deeply as the very notion of meter is one of the most impressive feats accomplished in metal in 2025. But it\u2019s not just a meta-concern of the artistic feat that excites me. Alc\u00e1zares is a fucking banger that can stimulate your intellect, or that can leave your neck sore. Take your pick!<\/p>\n

\"\"#3: Phantom Spell \/\/ Heather & Hearth<\/a> [July 18th, 2025 | Cruz del Sur Music | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Phantom Spell has the benefit of being a genuine surprise. My happy place, when I can afford to be there, is digging through the promo bin and listening to everything I can get my hands on. I have made so many fantastic discoveries there, just immersed in my own little world, listening to samples to get a feel of what we\u2019re being sent. Heather & Hearth looked like classic Steel Druhmcore: Cruz del Sur Records, retro metal, D&D Basic Set art. I popped it in, got dragged in, and totally distracted from the rest of what I was doing. I know that this might seem incongruent, but Heather & Hearth sounds fresh. In a world of hypercompressed, hyper-reamped, extremer-than-thou metal, the act of writing good songs with tons of vocal harmonies, instruments that sit in their sonic corridors, and\u2014despite being recorded by one single dude\u2014a convincingly live vibe feels \u201clike a radical act.\u201d I quickly grew to love Heather & Hearth, shared it with all the normies I know who love Ghost (\u201cIsn\u2019t this so much better?\u201d), and began singing its praises. And I\u2019ve been happy to see it popping up on lists throughout list season. It means a lot to me that people can hear just how good Phantom Spell is. And Phantom Spell also proved to be quite generative, in that I wrote the Spotify post as a response to a discussion about why Heather & Hearth wasn\u2019t available there. Easily one of the best records I heard in 2025, and I\u2019m looking forward to hearing so much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"#2: In Mourning \/\/ The Immortal [August 29th, 2025 | Supreme Chaos Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 When a record is truly exceptional, the hardest part is often articulating why it has transcended other things without reducing it to a checklist. In Mourning\u2019s fantastic The Immortal resists that kind of accounting in the best possible way. Its melodies are lush and emotionally evocative, capable of landing with equal force whether they\u2019re carried by aching vocals or unfurled through long, expansive, yet intimate, trem-picked guitar passages. The riffing is punishing but disciplined, balancing weighty chug with sharper, blackened melodies, creating a constant tension between death metal heft and sadboi atmosphere without fully committing to drowning the production in reverb. And yet, none of this marks a radical departure from what In Mourning has done before\u2014has been doing since 2008. The crucial difference here is in execution: every compositional choice seems to land exactly where it should be. In a sense, this calls attention to the role of probability, as much as inspiration or songcraft, in composition. Some records feel blessed from the outset, where one can go through the same process again and never produce the same results. The hooks here stick without feeling forced, climaxes are perfectly placed, and the pacing across the record gives each track room to breathe while contributing to the kind of flow reserved for only the best albums. Even moments that might feel familiar hit differently on The Immortal, like everything snaps into place. The Immortal succeeds, then, not just on craft but on feel: it feels heavier, sadder, and more resonant than its predecessors; and it stands comfortably among the strongest melodic death metal releases in years.<\/p>\n

#1: Calva Louise \/\/ Edge of the Abyss<\/a> [July 11th, 2025 | Mascot Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Edge of the Abyss ran away with my listening this year in a way I genuinely don\u2019t remember happening before, and that probably tells you most of what you need to know. The record is frantic, restless, and overloaded with ideas, moving between genres and feels with the speed of fast-cut editing; shifting at the drop of a dime. That both makes the record fun to listen to and keeps it surprising and fresh even after dozens of listens. The pace and density line up uncannily well with where my own brain tends to live, and I suspect that\u2019s a part of why it lodged itself so firmly in my rotation. Calva Louise writes songs that feel driven by impulse and curiosity rather than caution or genre boundaries, and that creative energy and freedom are contagious. Jess Allanic\u2019s pop instincts and melodic sense anchor the chaos, lending the lighter passages real emotional weight and memorability, rather than merely serving as connective tissue. Edge of the Abyss\u2019s incorporation of Latin rhythmic elements and melodic sensibilities ended up also being a personal bonus; Latin music has been a refuge for me from musical monotony for years, and hearing them integrated naturally into Edge of the Abyss was exciting, and it generated affection for this wayward Venezuelan and her French and English bandmates. What really sealed the deal for me, though, was how committed the band sounds to its vision. The songwriting is ambitious and fun, but it doesn\u2019t feel scattered. The album has a cinematic feel \u2013 complemented by literally cinematic music videos \u2013 but doesn\u2019t feel bloated or melodramatic. And Calva Louise sports a swagger unique to bands who are just doing exactly what they want to be doing. Since July, I\u2019ve kept coming back to Edge of the Abyss and forgetting I had even enjoyed other records this year. There\u2019s a real sense of becoming here; of a band pulling its influences together into something that feels unique. And I also feel invested in Calva Louise in a way I haven\u2019t been with many bands. I really am so happy to see them growing and succeeding. I love seeing them landing on people\u2019s lists here and elsewhere. They have so much potential, and I am so eager to see what they do next. But should the worst befall them, I\u2019ll always have Edge of the Abyss, and it already feels like an all-timer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarastus \/\/ Agony Eternal<\/a> [July 1st, 2025 | Dominance of Darkness Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Stolen from me by one Kenstrosity, Sarastus was a joyous discovery by me in the depths of the promo bin. One part black metal with a touch of death n\u2019 roll for vibes, Agony Eternal strikes hard at modern conventions of black metal and sounds fresh by playing fast, unapologetic, engaging music with razor-sharp riffs. Melodic, without being sickly sweet or cheesy, with a ton of attack and great songwriting chops, Sarastus really threads the needle on Agony Eternal, making something that is driven and addictive, but undeniably black metal.<\/p>\n

\"\"Wytch Hazel \/\/ V: Lamentations<\/a> [July 4th, 2025 | Bad Omen | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 I\u2019ve been back and forth with Wytch Hazel in the past. I have enjoyed what they do, but in the past I\u2019ve been more skeptical of specifically nostalgiacore records that don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re adding much \u201cnew.\u201d First, I think I\u2019m just getting past that problem, as the \u201cnew\u201d in metal is emphasizing things I don\u2019t love about the scene. But second, I think V: Lamentations is just a more engaging record. From the word \u2018go,\u2019 Wytch Hazel writes with a kind of urgency that gives their brand of \u201970s-tinged metal an extra kick, and the energy sits so well with me. Maybe the songwriting is just a bit tighter, maybe it\u2019s faster, I don\u2019t know\u2014I didn\u2019t write the proper review. All I know is that I keep circling back to Lamentations in a way that I haven\u2019t done as much with their earlier albums. And that made it easy to put in the running for Listurnalia and to give my personal Angry Stamp o\u2019 Approval\u2122.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mors Principium Est \/\/ Darkness Invisible<\/a> [September 26th, 2025 | Perception\/Reigning Phoenix Music | Stream or Buy on Qobuz<\/a>] \u2014 Probably the grower of the year, Darkness Invisible surprised me by sticking around. When I started reviewing it, I expected not to like it much. I had been a big fan of the band\u2019s previous output and of their former guitarist\u2019s solo record from last year. But with familiarity\u2014and time spent dissecting it\u2014I became increasingly impressed with the album. While the production is busy and pulls it down, the writing forges a new path that better represents the vision of MPE\u2019s founding member, Ville Viljanen. And that vision is bleak, blackened, and surprisingly sticky. No matter your opinion on the end of the previous incarnation, Darkness Invisible at least demonstrates that there is still a vital future for Finland\u2019s most underrated melodic death metal powerhouse. And that\u2019s a future to which I look forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"Blackbraid \/\/ Blackbraid III<\/a> [August 8th, 2025 | Self-release | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 I have a Gollumesque distaste for modern black metal. I am physically incapable of starting a review or blurb of a black metal band without reminding readers how much I hate \u201catmosphere\u201d in the post-Cascadian black metal era. \u201cGive it to us raw and wriggling!\u201d I growl at all the fat hobbitses who try to feed me empty, overcooked \u201catmosphere.\u201d Blackbraid doesn\u2019t want to feed me atmosphere. Instead, Blackbraid\u2019s III trembles with a vibe that brings me back to discovering black metal; at times blistering, at times introspective, but rarely overstaying its welcome and never feeling like its primary goal is to be the band that defanged black metal for good to make it okay to listen to for kids in the suburbs. I\u2019ll be listening to III for a long time.<\/p>\n

\"\"T\u00f3mar\u00fam \/\/ Beyond Obsidian Euphoria<\/a> \u2014 This record is too long. It\u2019s got too much hype among the staff. And also, it\u2019s too damned good to be an honorable mention. And yet, there are only so many #(ish)es, and I got to Beyond Obsidian Eurphoria too late to really give it the kind of sustained love that it needs to properly list. Still, once I started listening, I\u2019ve been swinging past it every day. Sometimes twice. The songwriting is a bit wandering, the album is a bit overwhelming, and yet there is an undeniable vibe that T\u00f3mar\u00fam traffics in, and that\u2019s sneakily sticky. Combine that techy Death with something akin to Disillusion, and maybe you\u2019ve got your comp. The only complaint I have is that some of the melodies end up intentionally arch in a way that makes me think that they are actively trying not to give the ear something to latch onto. That\u2019s dumb, but it\u2019s also very 2025. And hey, at least there\u2019s a really easy trick for them to sell out with.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2026and Oceans \/\/ The Regeneration Itinerary<\/a> [May 23rd, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014The Regeneration Itinerary was a lot more controversial among fans than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. As I wrote in May, \u201cIt\u2019s always fun to watch bands defy Angry Metal Guy\u2019s Law of Diminishing Recordings\u2122, and while The Regeneration Itinerary isn\u2019t their best record yet, 30 years after their debut, \u2026and Oceans is still releasing vital music that\u2019s impossible to overlook.\u201d And that\u2019s just true facts as stated by a metal-knower. While not quite the tour de force of its predecessors, this record is a solid bit of weirdo black metal with some of the best art in the biz. I recommend it highly.<\/p>\n

\"\"Haxprocess \/\/ Beyond What Eyes Can See [July 25th, 2025 | Transcending Obscurity Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Four songs, three of which are over 10 minutes long, and a combo of what I\u2019d call post-Opeth songwriting with OSDM aesthetics, Beyond What Eyes Can See deserved more attention this year and ended up, instead, on my Stack o\u2019 Shame\u2122. This isn\u2019t a reflection on them; they play vital death metal and deserve accolades for their expansive vision and the way everything flows. They just got eaten up by the July where everything got released. Sorry, boys, but here\u2019s your fig leaf!<\/p>\n

\"\"Majestica \/\/ Power Train [February 7th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast Records | Stream or Buy at Qobuz<\/a>] \u2014 Back in like 2008, I saw a band called ReinXeed play a whole bunch of covers of Swedish dance\/electronica \u201cgroup\u201d E-Type at a Culture Night in Ume\u00e5. I remember hearing from people in the local scene that they were \u201cbig in Japan,\u201d and I listened to some stuff, but wasn\u2019t super moved by it at the time. In 2019, ReinXeed changed their name to Majestica and got signed to Nuclear Blast. And damnit if they aren\u2019t just a lot better than they were in 2008. Power Train, which is on our collective Stack o\u2019 Shame\u2122, is the band\u2019s third full-length under the moniker, and it rocks the same kind of sickly sweet melodies, guitar gymnastics, and general sense of fun that makes power metal my go-to genre a lot of days. While not quite as sticky and addictive as some other things higher up the list, Power Train was a solid addition to the band\u2019s discography and one of the better power records I heard this year. You\u2019ve come a long way, baby!<\/p>\n

\"\"Dormant Ordeal \/\/ Tooth and Nail<\/a> [April 18th, 2025 | Willowtip Records | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 While not as high on this record as others on the staff, Dormant Ordeal is undeniably vital. And I\u2019m just never going to write a better blurb than I did when they got Record o\u2019 the Month for April: \u201cThis record hits a sweet spot inside of me, best described as the \u2018oh yeah, that\u2019s how death metal is done\u2019 spot. The riffs flow, and my brain just opens up the spigots, releasing a veritable tsunami of dopamine. Every riff that cuts, every transition that seethes, and every recognition of the slick, skilled ways that these guys construct songs, I get a nice big kick of that Happy Chemical. Tooth and Nail is dynamic, punishing, aggressive, and better yet, it\u2019s smart.\u201d Man, that guy can write!<\/p>\n

\"\"Aversed \/\/ Erasure of Color<\/a> [March 25th, 2025 | M-Theory Audio | Bandcamp<\/a>] \u2014 Last, and I guess technically least \u2013 but that isn\u2019t taking into account that there were like 10,000 albums released in 2025 and there are only like 25 on this list \u2013 is Aversed\u2019s Erasure of Color. Part of the reason for its late arrival is that, despite being our Record o\u2019 the Month for March<\/a>, Erasure of Color didn\u2019t actually make it onto my personal playlist until quite a bit later. And damn, that was kind of a big miss on my part. Great melodeath with a unique flavor and great intensity; there\u2019s something thoughtful and sharp about this record. Combine that with excellent album art and the Dolphin Whisperer seal of approval, and Erasure of Color has everything fans of melodeath need to carry them through this wasteland. I will need to keep my eyes on Aversed going forward.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year has been shitty for a while, and in some ways, 2025 was the shittiest of them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[30456,2325,114811,137285,38348,137286,137287,114812,28215,132454,38350,108183,137288,96,38353,137289,38354,137290,114814,38355,137291,30463,137292,73643,128,13571,128164,132469,137293,56,54,55,114820,134544],"class_list":["post-356977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-and-oceans","tag-2325","tag-aephanemer","tag-an-abstract-illusion","tag-angry-metal-guy","tag-angry-metal-guys-top-10ish","tag-arjen-lucassen","tag-aversed","tag-blackbraid","tag-calva-louise","tag-chasing-the-dragon","tag-dormant-ordeal","tag-edge-of-the-abyss","tag-entertainment","tag-fallujah","tag-haxprocess","tag-helms-deep","tag-impureza","tag-in-mourning","tag-insania","tag-intense-indifference","tag-kalaveraztekah","tag-majestica","tag-mors-principium-est","tag-music","tag-phantom-spell","tag-sarastus","tag-scardust","tag-tomarum","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vittra","tag-wytch-hazel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}