2025 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP TEN

(Andy Synn presents another detailed selection of 10 albums representing the absolute best of 2025)

In the words of the late, great Lieutenant Jean Rasczak… “this is for all you new people.”

Now the “Critical Top Ten” is not, and I need to stress not, a traditional “Top Ten”, in that it’s not ranked, nor is it actually intended to be the 10 “best” albums of the year (since, if we’re being realistic, that’s pretty much impossible to quantify, considering all the different factors that go into making all these different styles and sub-genres of Metal).

What it’s supposed to do, however, is provide a selection of 10 of the best releases of the year, drawn from my “Great” list (so if it wasn’t there then it’s not going to be here either… something which I try to clarify every year, even though I still get people complaining that [x] band isn’t mentioned despite the fact that, as I’ve stressed several times, if it wasn’t featured in my massive round-up over the last couple of days that means I didn’t get round to hearing it), that are designed to represent the impressive quality and creative variety of the scene over the last twelve months.

Again, it’s not comprehensive… obviously… and while I try to be as objective as possible in my selections (these aren’t my “favourite” albums of the year, those are coming tomorrow) I’m sure there’ll be lots of disagreements with my choices (in fact, looking at some of the comments we’ve already received, some of you are going to be very pleased, and a few of you are going to be very upset, but all of you should at least appreciate some of the surprises I have in store this year).

But I’ve found the best way to think about this article is as a sort of “time capsule” of the year… sure, there’s not room for everything, but when future generations look back on 2025 this should serve as an excellent snapshot of the year in Metal, across as many styles and sub-genres as I was able to squeeze into just 10 albums!

THE OMINOUS CIRCLE – CLOVEN TONGUES OF FIRE

See, I told you there’d be some surprises, didn’t I? As a matter of fact I purposefully held off on reviewing Cloven Tongues of Fire until now just so that I could spend more time with it before springing it on you like this.

The first of several “comeback” albums to make this list, this album also marks the second time in a row (albeit with eight long years between them) that The Ominous Circle have made an appearance as part of my “Critical Top Ten” (which they first did back in 2017 after the release of Appalling Ascension).

And if that album’s inclusion was fully justified back then, then the presence of Cloven Tongues of Fire – an altogether more abrasive, more immersive (and even subtly subversive in the way it balances doomy introspection and devastating sonic distortion) record than its phenomenal predecessor – on this year’s list is even more deserved.

Bristling with scathing dissonance and grim, discordant weight – manifested in twisted skeins of chugging, churning, chattering guitar and low, lumbering bass-lines that growl and grind just on the edge of human hearing – yet also haunted by ghostly shades of gloomy ambience and flickering phantoms of bleak, blackened melody, it’s an album that’s similarly more restrained (more willing, as in “Black Flesh, Sulfur, and All In Between”, to let the damage linger and force the listener to wallow in it for even longer) and more extreme than ever.

And while there is unquestionably an ominous intelligence at work behind each and every complex, contorted composition (with perhaps the charred and blistered sonic assault of “Writhing, Upturning, Succumbing” being the simplest and most straightforward track, despite still clocking in at six-and-a-half searing minutes) there’s also something demonically primal about the end product, with multiple moments – like the wild, wailing solos in “Through Tunnels Ablaze” an “Utterance of the Formless” – suggesting that this time, more than ever, the band have been writing from the gut, ultimately resulting in one of the most visceral, and virulent, albums of the year.

HONOURABLE MENTION: LOWEN – SJAPHOS – CULT OF UZURA

There were several potential options for this particular “honourable mention”, but ultimately it had to be Skaphos, not only due to the way that balances ominous atmospherics, subtly sinister pseudo-symphonics, and earth-shaking guitar tectonics in a manner which recalls an unholy combination of Svart Crown and Sulphur Aeon at their best… but because, for a while, Cult of Uzura was the album to beat in this particular area/style!

RIVERS OF NIHIL – RIVERS OF NIHIL

From an unexpected surprise to an unsurprising inevitability… there was virtually no chance of this album not making the cut this year, as it found Rivers of Nihil (already a favourite here) successfully transitioning to a brand new creative dynamic, not just weathering the loss of their singer but transforming this adversity into an opportunity to allow the rest of the band (including ex-Black Crown Initiate guitarist/vocalist Andy Thomas, making his writing and recording debut with the group here) to step up and contribute even more of their own distinctive talents to the album’s increasingly proggy yet unrelentingly powerful sound.

In fact, if you read my review of the band’s self-titled back in May you’ll have seen me conclude by saying that:

“…while some may quibble over what the album’s title represents – some may see it as a rejection of their previous works, though personally I feel like this is a record in open and direct conversation with everything that’s come before it – the truth is that what we have here is nothing less than the beginning of a whole new era for the band…“

And not only is this demonstrably true (the group’s star has only continued to rise ever since the record’s release) but the more that I’ve listened to it – and you can be damn sure I’ve listened to it a lot over the course of the year – the more I’ve come to appreciate the ways in which Rivers of Nihil continue to weave threads of their old selves into their music (with elements and aspects of The Conscious Seed of Light, Monarchy, Where Owls Know My Name, and The Work all being intimately and intricately interwoven into the album’s sound) while still pushing ahead to create some of the heaviest, hookiest, and smartest songs of their career.

HONOURABLE MENTION: SUBTERRANEAN LAVA DRAGON – SUBTERRANEAN LAVA DRAGON

Perhaps the easiest of all the “honourable mention” selections to make, not only is the debut album from Subterranean Lava Dragon one of my personal favourite albums of the year (sorry, bit of a spoiler there) but it’s also absolutely one of the best debut albums of the year solely on its own merits, and the fact that it also contains two ex-members of Black Crown Initiate – taking the opportunity here to expand their own proggier proclivities, while still keeping the riffage nice and heavy – meant it should serve as a perfect chaser once you’ve finished listening to the song “River of Nihil”, the final track on the album Rivers of Nihil by the band Rivers of Nihil.

LUCTUS – TAMSOŠVIESA

Another one that may come as a surprise, seeing as how it wasn’t one that I ended up reviewing (though we did end up handling the premiere, which is how I discovered that Luctus had a new album coming out that was… supposedly… even better than 2020’s outstanding Užribis), but which should not come as a surprise to anyone who has actually heard it, is Tamsošviesa, the fantastic fifth album from these underrated Black Metal legends from Lithuania.

Bigger and bolder than ever, yet still absolutely uncompromising in their vision and ambition, Tamsošviesa is the sound of a band finally achieving their final, ultimate form, one which showcases more coiled power in their muscles, more elaborate creativity in their songwriting, and, well… just more of everything that already made the band so good.

In a sense, songs like “Antprasmė” and “Mirusiųjų Pasaulio Ilgesys” remind me a fair bit of the dearly-departed Dark Fortress, as both bands aren’t (or weren’t) afraid to harness prodigious power to some increasingly (and ambitiously) shapeshifting songwriting, but Luctus have not only picked up the baton from where their defunct German cousins left it but actively packed even more explosive energy and coruscating intensity into an even tighter, heavier, and more compact package.

That’s not to say they don’t test the boundaries here and there either – the second half of “Gydančios Zaizdos” breathes and broods with a sense of majestic menace that exists in clear contrast to the song’s initial eruption of blackened vitriol, while the piercing melodic dissonance and predatory, prowling rhythms of “Tebūnie Naktis” find the band shifting their focus away from pure power and aggression and more towards the conjuring of texture and tension – and it’s clear that, though Luctus are unfailingly dedicated to the “true” art of Black Metal, their affinity for the “art” itself is the real driving force behind their music, and not the expectations of others.

HONOURABLE MENTION: NEXION – SUNDRUNG

I’ve seen a few people claim that Nexion‘s second album isn’t as good as their first… but they’re wrong, as it’s actually a much better album, one which takes more risks and more bold steps to further refine and define the band’s distinct character and uncompromising creative spirit (especially when it comes to the increasingly epic and expressive vocals (which are, in turn, matched by the album’s increasingly epic sense of structure and flow). Honestly, on another day I could easily have switched Luctus and Nexion round here, as they both really are that good.

WOLVENNEST – PROCESSION

And the surprises keep on coming!

Make no mistake about it, Wolvennest have outdone themselves on their devilishly infectious new double-album, Procession, which continues their slow but steady sonic evolution by incorporating even more of that subtle Black Metal edge they’ve been flirting with for a while now, while also expanding upon their ambient and atmospheric ambitions, with the end result being 75 scintillating minutes of mesmerisingly melodic, insidiously psychaedelic Doom that causes time itself to simply ceaste to have any meaning.

I’m being serious (albeit perhaps a little hyperbolic)… for all that an album whose average song length is well over 6 minutes, with some even breaking the 8 minute mark (and closer “The Last Chamber” clocking in at more than 10 in total) nothing about Procession ever seems excessive or overly drawn-out, which is a testament to the band’s hard-earned and well-worn songwriting skills which help them keep the music flowing, the dynamic ever changing, without ever being at risk of their audience being kept at anything less than rapt attention.

Seriously though, words like “catchy” and “infectious” simply don’t do justice to the likes of “The Purple Poison” and “The Shadow On Your Side” – think Type O Negative and Blood Ceremony dancing with Schammasch in the pale moonlight – or the spellbindingly sinister strains of “Damnation” or “Famadihana”, whose longer and more intricate tapestry of sounds and tones allows the band to weave their gloomy, gothic magic on an even grander canvas.

And while the general consensus would probably put Messa‘s The Spin in this spot (even though it’s not quite as good as Close) for my money Procession is both the more ambitious (outlandishly so, in some respects) record but also the more rewarding, as its brash, brooding exterior only helps it hold onto its secrets for even longer, so that multiple listens are required (and, eventually, rewarded) to really get everything out of this epic undertaking.

HONOURABLE MENTION: KING WITCH – III

Remember yesterday when I said that King Witch “really should be appearing on more “Best of 2025” lists”? Well, I stand by it, and if you’ve read my review (where I teasingly summed up their sound as “Sabbath-meets-Soundgarden“, though even that doesn’t fully do them justice) you’ll already be aware that not only is this the band’s most anthemic work – absolutely brimming with potential cross-over hits that would work just as well on the radio as in a grimy underground club – but it’s also their most consistent, all-killer-no-filler album yet, and more than capable of going toe-to-toe with (m)any of the year’s biggest names.

THE ACACIA STRAIN – YOU ARE SAFE FROM GOD HERE

From one of the most melodic albums on the list we now move to one of the most monstrous releases of the year… there’s no question that The Acacia Strain have always been a heavy band, both musically and emotionally, but their new record, You Are Safe From God Here, stands out, loudly and proudly, as one of the heaviest, nastiest, and most soul-crushingly bleakest records of the year (and of their entire career).

“Combining the high art of depression with the low art of aggression” was how I categorised the band’s approach on this one, which is simultaneously doomier and grindier than ever before, and absolutely overflowing with bleak nihilism and bile-spitting venom, stating that:

“…if there’s one “art” that The Acacia Strain have long since mastered it the art of the beating, and the gatling-gun blastbeats and gargantuan, sledgehammer guitars of tracks like “A Call Beyond”, “The Machine That Bleeds”, and “Aeonian Wrath” all explode from the speakers with the concussive force of a well-placed car bomb.

But while it’s always tempting just to turn off your higher brain functions and react to an album like this on a purely physical level, I’m here to tell you that there’s more going on beneath the surface than at first it may appear… both in terms of its sinister, shadowy atmosphere and it’s suicidally bleak lyrical message… [while the] suffocating sense of ominous, oppressive dread looming over the whole album adds an even darker hue to the bone-rattling, bowel-loosening heaviness of the band’s sound.“

Make no mistake about it, there is absolutely nothing “safe” about this album.

HONOURABLE MENTION: MORAST – FENTANYL

“Nihilistic”, “masochistic”, “an exercise in unapologetic sonic sadism”… those are just a few of the words which could be used to accurately describe Fentanly, the unfailingly ugly and utterly unforgiving new album from Morast which was released back in February. And though I didn’t discover it immediately, I’ve ultimately become addicted its nightmarish blend of Death, Doom, and Black Metal… and hope that you do too.

ZATOKREV – …BRING MIRRORS TO THE SURFACE

It feels like Zatokrevhave been building up to something truly, undeniably great for a while now… and in 2025 they finally delivered what is clearly their magnum opus.

Simultaneously challenging and engaging, complex yet catchy, intensely immersive yet instantly impactful, …Bring Mirrors to the Surface really does feel like the culmination of all the band’s hard work and growth over the years, the sort of album that may have taken ten years to come to fruition but which was, ultimately, worth every second of the wait.

And while I may have been a little late with my review as well, I still stand by it:

“Balancing both gargantuan metallic weight and some increasingly proggy sonic sensibilities, all laced with threads of gloriously melancholy melody (both the poignant singing passages and soaring, almost spiritual, leads provide a constant stream of highlights throughout the album) and interspersed with injections of both etheral atmosphere and scalding blackened fury, …Bring Mirrors to the Surface is perhaps the most extreme, yet also most intriguing, example of the band’s signature brand of cinematic “Post-Sludge” yet.

[But] what really makes this record such an outstanding piece of work, however, is just how rich in detail and contrast it is, from the way it marries its utterly massive riffs with moments of eerie atmospheric calm to the intricate interweaving of scintillatingly emotional clean vocals and scathingly intense howls and growls, making for an auditory experience that demands your full attention and immersion if you’re ever hoping to uncover all of its many layers.“

HONOURABLE MENTION: SUM OF R – SPECTRAL

Considering I’m currently in Switzerland myself it only seems fitting to pair up Zatokrev with their Swiss (and Finnish) cousins in Sum of R. Be warned though, this is a far stranger, and far more sinister, affair, one which blends Post-Metal, Drone-Doom, and Stoner-Grunge into a series of oppressively hypnotic, genre-defying moodscapes whose final product can be best described as “an overwhelming, yet also disturbingly infectious, bad trip of a record.”

INOCULATION – ACTUALITY

This one might seem like a bit of a wild-card choice to represent the Death Metal end of “the scene”, but one listen to Inoculation‘s latest (and greatest album) should be enough to demonstrate that the band absolutely deserve to be here

And, for further proof, I’d like to paraphrase my own write-up, if you don’t mind:

“As good as the band’s first two albums were, it’s here that we find them finally fulfilling their full potential, with viscerally heavy opener “Void Corpse Collection” picking up on those tentative Cryptopsy allusions from the last record and upping their presence and intensity ten-fold (while also doubling-down on the ominous atmospherics and strafing, stop-start rhythmic hooks which cleverly balance catchiness and chaos).

Combining neck-snapping blastbeats, nerve-jangling bass-lines and frantic, feverish riffage – all concealing an unexpected undercurrent of melodic malice – the album lurches and surges and grinds its way through a seemingly endless series of punishing passages of brutish technicality reminiscent of the likes of Outer Heaven, Deeds of Flesh or Morbid Angel at their best.

But it’s the album’s terrifyingly effective trend of injecting some disturbingly infectious pseudo-melody into their bludgeoning brand of brutal technicality (not to mention some unsettling atmospheric ambience), however, which really hammers home the fact that Inoculation are not a band you (or we) can afford to overlook or ignore any longer.”

HONOURABLE MENTION: CRYPTOPSY – AN INSATIABLE VIOLENCE

This is one of those occasions where the “honourable mention” is meant more to convince you to check out the main entry, rather than the other way around (I mean, if you don’t know Cryptopsy yet I’m not sure what you’re doing here). That’s not to say that An Insatiable Violence isn’t a brilliantly brutal (and brutally brilliant) album – it most definitely is, and if you haven’t checked it out yet you really should – but if you like what you hear here then you should absolutely give Inoculation‘s similarly skull-crushing new album a chance to win you over too.

DEADGUY – NEAR-DEATH TRAVEL SERVICES

It’s not often that I agree with Decibel‘s end-of-year list (I don’t hate it, by any means, but it definitely feels like the divide between their list and my own is wider than ever this year) but one thing we both seem to understand is that not only is it possible for old dogs to learn new tricks, but it’s also apparently possible for them to grow an entirely new, and even sharper, set of fangs during the 30 year gap between their first album and this one.

Let’s be clear about something, this isn’t a thing that happens, bands don’t just disappear for three whole decades and then resurface leaner, meaner, and better than ever… and yet it not only happened once but twice this year, with Near-Death Travel Services feeling simultaneously like the album that could (and should) have come right after Fixation On A Co-Worker as well as an album that could only have come about after years of graft and struggle behind the scenes and beyond the confines of the band.

Sure, people will tell you that Metal/Punk/Hardcore (and all the related variants) are a young person’s game, but I’d counter that by re-stating that:

“Deadguy‘s big comeback album does exactly what it sets out to do, simultaneously capturing the mood of the current moment while also re-capturing what made the band so great the first time around…

…and there’s not a single song here – from the thrillingly thrashy riffs and stabbing discordance which punctuate the aptly-named “Barn Burner” to the gargantuan grooves of “War With Strangers”, to lines like “Pick your gods / Pick your side / We’re selling tickets for the end of times” (“The Forever People”) and “They build you a cage and they call it a kingdom / They step on your neck and call it freedom” (“Wax Princess”) – that doesn’t burst out of the speakers in a visceral display that’s equal parts world-weary maturity and venomous youthful vitality.“

HONOURABLE MENTION: BORE – FERAL

Of course, if you are looking for something a little less long-in-the-tooth then the new album from Bore – a band who are clearly disciples of the likes of Deadguy, Botch, and V.O.D. themselves – should be exactly what you’re after. Technical and twisted, unpredictable yet uncannily irresistible, it’s an unflinchingly ferocious, stunningly focussed, and aptly feral debut from a group who deserve far more attention and acclaim.

CORONER – DISSONANCE THEORY

Like I said, bands don’t just take a three-decade-long break and then come back with an album that’s at least as good as anything they’ve done before… except, of course, when they do.

And while it’s tempting to give in to the lure of hyperbole when talking about Dissonance Theory, the unexpected (and unexpectedly brilliant) sixth album from seminal Tech-Thrash titans Coroner, the fact that it’s easily a Top 3 album of theirs (an aversion to courting unnecessary controvery prohibits me from saying more) actually makes it difficult to say enough good things, let alone too many, when talking about tracks like the electrifyingly intense (and atmosphere-rich) “Consequence” or the stomping, soaring “Sacrifical Lamb”.

Suffice it to say, however, that while the Metal scene may have changed since 1993, Coroner have only become more themselves, with the result being that not only does Dissonance Theory not try to half-heartedly copy whatever’s currently trendy, it also doesn’t feel in any way retro or outdated (suggesting that the band themselves were always playing a different game than most of their peers to begin with).

In fact, if anything, there are multiple moments here which reaffirm just how much influence so many bands have taken from Coroner over the years, with tracks like “Crisium Bound” and “Trinity” capturing a similar sense of proggy, post-human grandeur to that of committed Coroner disciples Darkane, while the punchy hooks and shamelessly hooky, but also insidiously technical, riffosity of songs such as “Symmetry” and “Transparent Eye” should tell you exactly where Dave Davidson and the Revocation crew draw much of their inspiration from.

Ultimately, though, all that really needs to be said is that Coroner have come back with all guns blazing here, and don’t miss a single one of the shots that they take (with penultimate punisher “Renewal” serving as perhaps the album’s defining statement, both musically and metaphorically).

HONOURABLE MENTION: HEXROT – FORMLESS RUIN OF OBLIVION

Hexrot might not seem like the most obvious choice for a bonus recommendation to accompany Coroner‘s big comeback, but the deeper you get into Formless Ruin of Oblivion the more I think you’ll understand why it was the right choice. As while the album may not have the same potential for crossover success (outside of the Avant-Death and Prog-Thrash crowds, obviously) it definitely displays a similar diregard for convention, and a willingness to follow its own unique muse (especially when it comes to the use of synths and ambient space), that should resonate with anyone who loves Dissonance Theory for the same reasons.

AINSOPH – AFFECTION & VENGEANCE

Let me be clear about something… when I said there’d be some surprises in this list (and there definitely have been, right?) I also meant there’d be some surprises in store for me as well.

Because one of the things that I love about this time of year, despite how much hard work pulling together all these articles can be, is how it forces me to re-engage with all the great music that’s been released over the last 12-ish months, to the point where I often find myself surprised by my own strength of feeling regarding certain albums.

Case in point, while I liked Ainsoph‘s debut album, Ω – V, I absolutely loved their sophomore record, Affection & Vengeance… but I didn’t realise quite how much I loved it until I found myself considering it for inclusion in my “Critical Top Ten” (and you can see how that turned out).

Suffice it to say that the band continue to be one of the most unusual and unconventional – yet also absolutely irresistible – acts on the stranger side of the metallic spectrum, and their unique blend of Post-Punk and Black Metal (plus a few other nifty ingredients that I won’t spoil here) simply doesn’t sound quite like anyone else out there, as if it was somehow broadcast into our reality from an alternate universe where the familiar genre boundaries simply never came into being.

But it’s not just their unique style and instantly-recognisable delivery which earned them a spot here – vocalist I.V.’s distinctive (and potentially divisive) blend of moody disaffection and melancholy passion drifting and lilting dreamily over T.D’s signature combo of righteous riffosity, pulsing, pumping bass lines, and shimmering, shivering synths, beneath which drummer M.T. plys his percussive trade, equally capable and content when blasting up a storm as they are sitting back in the pocket and letting the infectious groove of the music take over – it’s their creativity, and the confidence with which they approach things, which makes Affection & Vengeance so deserving of both its spot here and your valuable time.

HONOURABLE MENTION: POINT MORT – LE POINT DE NON-RETOUR

And, finally, if you’re looking for something equally as strange (if not even more so) than the above entry, then may I recommend the mind-bending, genre-blending debut album from Point Mort, whose sound combines elements and influences from Metal, Hardcore, Pop, Rap, Electronica, and more – all topped off with an eclectic array of raving shrieks and riveting harmonies, rapid-fire rhyme-patterns and off-kilter vocal oddities – into something that wilfully defies easy categorsation (and is all the better for it)?