(For the 15th year in a row, our friend Johan Huldtgren of the Swedish black metal band Obitus (find them here and here) has again allowed us to share with you his year-end Top 10 list, originally presented on Johan’s own music blog here.)
Lists like this are always somewhat arbitrary, it’s ten releases I picked, from the longer list of albums I liked, whittled down from albums I’ve heard, released in 2025. Often times which get picked and which get left off is mood dependent, and that is only the albums which I’ve heard; experience has taught me that I will sometime down the road find albums released this year which could easily have made the list. As at least a few of the releases below I’ve not seen on other lists published here, I hope you find something you enjoy which you may otherwise have missed.
10: Lichen – Mossblood
A new find for me, and it became a go-to album this year, just hit that sweet spot of raw yet melodic blackmetal. A standout on this album is how prominent the bass is; this is fairly rare in this type of blackmetal and here, beyond just being mixed so it’s audible there, it actually gets to play a fairly prominent role. Going back and comparing it to their debut, 2024’s Spear and Stone, I was surprised how much the sound had changed; whereas this is fairly warm and murky, the debut has a lighter but also clearer sound, and for the material here this sound works well. All in all this is an enjoyable album, and I will definitely be picking up the debut and I’m fairly certain it too will enter my listening.
https://lichenusbm.bandcamp.com/album/mossblood
9: 1928 – L’appel du spectre
Another new find, featuring Brouillard of the eponymous band, as well as many, many others, amongst them Sphere which was on my list a few years ago. That could have explained my fondness for them, but this is an altogether rawer affair than any of the Brouillard’s previous bands that I’ve run across. As mentioned earlier, this is a fairly raw yet melodic album. I have no idea if it’s a coincidence but the cover is quite reminiscent of Spectral Wound’s 2021 album A Diabolic Thirst, and the title translates to The Spectre’s Call, and musically the two bands are not exactly oceans apart. Hard to know if it’s meant to be an homage but there is a non-zero chance that if you like one you’d enjoy the other.
https://1928bm.bandcamp.com/album/1928-lappel-du-spectre
8: Drudkh – Гра тіней
Drudkh return with Гра тіней (Shadow Play) and the first thing that strikes me is the punchier, and warmer, sound compared to 2022’s All Belong to the Night. The songs are also (despite their length) far more direct and to the point (again as in so much atmospheric blackmetal can be that). There is an urgency I feel I’ve not heard in a while from Drudkh, intertwined with the more expected eerie bleakness that I’ve more come to expect. It’s hard not to think that this sense of urgency isn’t tied to the situation in that part of the world. Over the year this album has grown in stature and has become one of my favorite albums by them; I can only hope they keep releasing albums this good.
https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-play
7: Haimad – When Night Rode Across the North
Haimad have been around since 1994, albeit with a 20-year hiatus. Original member Azradan returned in 1999 with an EP and this year we get the full-length. This is more symphonic than what I generally listen to, but it’s very well composed and the riffs are strong and memorable; lots of early Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Setherial vibes. It’s not quite like time stood, still releasing an album recorded in the 1990s, but rather as if someone paused time and recorded an album meant for a different era. Needless to say this is of course very nostalgic and it’s hard to disentangle those feelings when listening to this. However I think this is an album I’ll keep coming back to.
https://haimad-northernsilence.bandcamp.com/album/when-night-rode-across-the-north
6: Ofermod – Drakosphia
Ofermod is one of those bands I’ve followed over the years but it’s never quite clicked with me. Drakosophia did though, and it’s been on a fairly even rotation since its release earlier this year. The sound has taken a rather large step forward, being fuller, richer, and crisper but without sounding necessarily clean or clinical, but it’s in your face in a way I’ve not felt on their previous releases. Further songwriting and composition has tightened up, especially the back half of the release (starting with “Zazas Zazas Nasatanada Zazas”) which goes from strength to strength. It will be interesting to see where this goes next.
https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/drakosophia
5: Martröð – Draumsýnir eldsins
There are times when the fact that I write this for my own blog, in my own time, pays off, in that I get to cover a late release which most real lists miss. Now at least this year it wasn’t on purpose, it just happened. However it’s a good thing it did because I’ve been spinning this Martröð album incessantly for the past two weeks. Unsurprisingly, given the members, I get a fair amount of Skáphe vibes, but there is also a fair amount of older Deathspell Omega dissonance going on.
It’s in some ways hard to describe this album, the tracks flow well together and there is an awful lot going on at all times. I can imagine this turning off lots of folks but the chaos to me is a huge part of the charm and it’s what keeps me coming back. Hard to overstate how good this is; if anything in here has made you even mildly curious I urge you to give it a long hard listen, you won’t regret it.
https://martrod.bandcamp.com/album/draums-nir-eldsins
4: Jordfäst – Blodsdåd och hor
Av Stoft has since its release three years ago been one of my most-played albums, so I had high expectations when I saw the announcement for Blodsdåd och hor. When it first dropped I was honestly pretty disappointed, with it not managing to live up to my (probably too) high expectations. I would give it a few listens here and there but it just never clicked. I wrote it off, but then a month ago or so I put it on again and something caught my interest, and after then giving it another spin somehow it started making sense. After another few listens I was hooked.
It’s still not nearly as rock solid as Av Stoft but it’s a lot better than the impression I had of it after the first few listens. I do have one complaint and that’s that they gave in and split the two songs into four tracks each; while I’m well aware of the reasons to do so, it offends my sense of order as it’s still just two songs and you should be forced to listen to it all. That said, minor quibble, give this a spin, and if it doesn’t hit you give it a rest and try again.
https://jordfst.bandcamp.com/album/blodsd-d-och-hor
3: Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons
Blut Aus Nord has been one of my favorite bands for a long time. They’ve been on my year-end list eight times in the past fifteen years, which is twice the next most featured band, or the combined amount of times for the second and third most featured band. So it is hard to write something which I feel I haven’t already said about them. An obviously pleasant surprise was that this album is somewhat of a throwback to the Hallucinogen era, and while this doesn’t reach the highs of Hallucinogen it isn’t that far off, and it’s another beautiful album that I’ve been unable to quit since it came out. Perhaps the most amazing part is that after sixteen albums BaN can still keep releasing albums that feel immediately recognizable without sounding like a bad rehash. This album is another stellar achievement and one which will not quickly leave my rotation.
https://blutausnord.bandcamp.com/album/ethereal-horizons
2: Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
Now while we could quibble about exact definitions there have been very few pure death metal albums on my list over the years; a quick glance told me three since I started doing these lists in 2009. Puteraeon has been churning out their Lovecraftian death metal for 17 years (full disclosure I have been friends with guitarist/composer Lindblood for close to three decades now) and I’ve enjoyed most of what they’ve put out even though it’s generally not what I listen to on a regular basis. Mountains of Madness changed that completely. This is their finest work to date, and my second most played album of the year. It just seems like absolutely everything clicked this time around. The riffs and composition have never been better, and they managed to dial in a production that fits everything perfectly; they have never sounded as sharp, focused, or truly monstrous as they do here. This is Puteraeon at their finest, and if you in any way enjoy death metal you really need this, just cannot recommend it hard enough.
https://puteraeon.bandcamp.com/album/mountains-of-madness
1: Blood Abscission – I I
When I wrote about Blood Abscission’s first album I back in 2023 I noted that they held a lot of promise as a band and I hoped they’d continue. I don’t think I could have imagined how much promise, because I I blows I out of the water and then some. This has been my undisputed most listened to album this year; if my stats are correct, I’ve listened to this twice as many times as the next album released this year.
The sound is perhaps the warmest and most analog I’ve heard in years. Back when I reviewed I I referred to it as “enveloped in smog”; while things are a bit clearer this time, it still has some of that quality to it. Most of the album proceeds at a furious tempo and regardless of tempo the music surges with ferocious energy. Vocals are completely undecipherable. While I can’t know, it certainly doesn’t sound like there even are words, the vocals are just another instrument layered on top and it works perfectly with this
type of music.
It’s also an album which managed to hold a fair amount of surprises which sneak up on you over subsequent listens. For example in the second track (helpfully named “II-II”) after about a minute and a half a guitar lead comes in which makes you think you’ve stumbled into a movie score by Ennio Morricone, and they make it actually work. (Behold a sentence I never thought I’d write.) This is simply the standout album of the year for me, nothing else even comes close, III can’t come fast enough.