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17 results for “TheChoir”
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Matthew Locke (c.1621-1677) - Anthems, Motets and Ceremonial Music
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7ZqZNajJSDY&feature=share
@classicalmusic
#BaroqueMusic
#TheParleyofInstruments
#TheChoirOfNewCollegeOxford
#MatthewLocke -
@exitthelemming
Erm, did we mention we're a choir? 🤔😁🎶#choir
#symphonychoir
#CEFC
#londonchoir
#choralmusic
#classicalmusic
#choralmusic
#soundtracks
#singing
#VersatileChoir
#MostVersatileChoir
#JoyOfSinging -
TIFF 2025 Review: The Choral – “There is a profoundness and uniqueness to the visuals.” Read it here https://bit.ly/4nib75s by Trevor Hogg
#TheChoral #film #TIFF #TIFF50 #NicholasHytner #RalphFiennes #RogerAllam #MarkAddy #AlunArmstrong #RobertEmms #SimonRussellBeale
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TIFF 2025 Review: The Choral – “There is a profoundness and uniqueness to the visuals.” Read it here https://bit.ly/4nib75s by Trevor Hogg
#TheChoral #film #TIFF #TIFF50 #NicholasHytner #RalphFiennes #RogerAllam #MarkAddy #AlunArmstrong #RobertEmms #SimonRussellBeale
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TIFF 2025 Review: The Choral – “There is a profoundness and uniqueness to the visuals.” Read it here https://bit.ly/4nib75s by Trevor Hogg
#TheChoral #film #TIFF #TIFF50 #NicholasHytner #RalphFiennes #RogerAllam #MarkAddy #AlunArmstrong #RobertEmms #SimonRussellBeale
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TIFF 2025 Review: The Choral – “There is a profoundness and uniqueness to the visuals.” Read it here https://bit.ly/4nib75s by Trevor Hogg
#TheChoral #film #TIFF #TIFF50 #NicholasHytner #RalphFiennes #RogerAllam #MarkAddy #AlunArmstrong #RobertEmms #SimonRussellBeale
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Leading the album is the single “Miracle Worker,” first unveiled during the Louis Vuitton SS26 Runway Show. The track showcases the choir’s soaring harmonies layered over Pharrell’s unmistakable production style.
https://retroworldnews.com/pharrell-voices-of-fire-unveil-powerful-new-album-ophanim/#Pharrell #VoicesOfFire #Ophanim #NewAlbum #MusicRelease #SoulfulSounds #PowerfulMusic #AlbumLaunch #MusicCollaboration #InspirationThroughMusic #ArtisticExpression #MusicIndustry #CreativeJourney #VocalHarmony #CulturalImpact #MusicalInnovation #Music
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Movie TV Tech Geeks #MovieNews #TheChoral #RalphFiennes #MarkAddy Ralph Fiennes' Emotional Post-WWI Drama Strikes a Powerful Chord in New Extended Look [Exclusive] http://dlvr.it/TR15x1
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Dear Icelanders
I recommend you to vote against EU membership negotiations for the following reasons:
1. The EU is not a democracy because the parliament does not have the usual rights a democratic parliament has: Proposals are made in the EU commission and the council of the EU member states and not in the parliament. The parliament can just say yes or no, with the latter usually resulting in "negotiations" so that proposals will still pass later. Since Iceland will only get a few seats in the parliament because of its size, the rest of the EU can overrule the few icelandic representatives. Have a look on how EU legislation works and decide for yourself if that would be democratic enough for you:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/parliaments-powers/legislative-powers
2. EU journalists get sanctioned nowadays when they report the "wrong" matters. Lookup the case of german journalist Hüseyin Doğru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BCseyin_Do%C4%9Fru
Icelandic journalists can face the same consequences when reporting "wrongly".
3. The EU is beginning to fall apart from the right-wing politics of member state governments: Some Schengen borders like the german ones are closed again and national rivalry is rising - often because of disagreements on how to "handle" refugees and because of member state decisions regarding militarisation. Iceland will be joining the party when others are thinking about leaving (like France might after the next election) and one already left (UK).
4. Adopting the Euro would mean that Iceland cannot handle the next financial crisis or crash "locally". Instead, the ECB will decide what to do and Iceland will just be a very small voice in the choir.
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This account, this corner of the fediverse, has become one of the places I let those questions be noisy in public. What does healing mean when the conditions that harmed you are not gone, only rearranged into more respectable shapes? What actually happens inside a counselling relationship when disability or neurodivergence is present but unnamed, or misnamed, or politely ignored? How do we begin to notice the ways power and unspoken norms travel through even the most well-intentioned helping professions? How do we hold culture as something we are constantly creating and being created by, something we may need to grieve and interrogate and occasionally celebrate, often all at once, sometimes in the space of a single conversation?
I keep circling back to the interior labour of this work. The slow, repetitive practice of building emotional regulation when your nervous system's default setting is red alert. The awkwardness of learning self-compassion when sharp self-criticism has been your most reliable survival tool. The moments that feel like failure because you find yourself reacting in an old way, when in reality this is precisely how recovery moves, looping back on itself, revisiting old ground with slightly different eyes. The way trauma and joy can sit shoulder to shoulder in the same hour, the same therapy session, the same breath, and how unnerving and holy that can feel.
Rauch and Ansari suggest that silence can be deliberate and strategic, a form of self-regulation rather than withdrawal, a boundary rather than an absence. I think about this in relation to the freeze response, to the moments in my own history when going quiet was not giving up but holding on. The body stills because there are no safe words yet. Sometimes the silence is the story. And learning to hear it as such, to receive it without rushing to fill or fix it, is one of the things I am still practising, in music and in therapy and in the ordinary, unglamorous dailiness of trying to stay present in a life that sometimes arrives all at once.
I am not arriving anywhere with a finished theory of how any of this is supposed to work. I am coming, again and again, with fragments and questions and a stubborn intention to tell the truth as I understand it in the moment I am writing. That truth is often partial, often shifting. My understanding of myself, of trauma, of disability, of care, keeps moving, and I want it to. I would rather be inconsistent and alive to new information than seamless and rigidly wrong.
If you are still reading, you are already participating in something I care about. A space that treats complexity as ordinary rather than excessive. Where being too much is not an accusation but raw material. Where intense feeling and rigorous thought are both welcome at the same table. Where healing is not a linear journey toward a fixed destination but something more like learning to live inside unresolved chords without pretending they have resolved. Where music is both metaphor and method, both a way of speaking about change and a way of practising it in the body.
True silence does not exist. What we call silence is simply what we have not yet learned to hear. The fullness of life in quieter tones. The heartbeat of thought. The whispered rhythm of resilience. The steady murmur of healing is underway. And when we learn to tune into the music between the notes and into the truth held in breath, we do more than survive. We begin to sing again. This time, in a voice that is entirely our own.
I am not here to introduce myself so much as to keep turning up alongside you. To keep writing from the middle of things, not only from the rare polished moments that look good in hindsight. To keep noticing the small, ordinary, unglamorous ways humans find their way back to themselves, even inside systems that were never set up with them in mind. If any of these threads brush against something in your own story, then you are part of the imagined audience I write towards. And maybe, in a slow, imperfect, occasionally dissonant way, part of the choir that is still learning how to hear itself.
#AuDHD #Neurodivergent #Blind #Deafblind #Disabled #DisabilityJustice #MadStudies #Psychology #Counselling #Therapy #Trauma #TraumaRecovery #Neurodiversity #MentalHealth #ChronicStress #Healing #WindowOfTolerance #LivedExperience #CareWork #Culture #Power #Normality #Access #Inclusion #Ableism #Music #ClassicalMusic #ChoralMusic #Choir #Singing #Writing #PersonalEssay #Silence #LongPost #Fediversea (2/2)
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Laudare – Requiem [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]
By Killjoy
Requiem is a concept album in the truest sense. Laudare, a young group from Leipzig, Germany that promotes its music as “violent poetry,” chose to follow one of the oldest musical themes: a Requiem Mass. All lyrics are in Latin and taken directly from the liturgical text of a Catholic Mass for the Dead, which puts Laudare on a well-trodden path with the likes of Mozart, Verdi, and countless other famous historical composers. This association is reflected in the music of Requiem, wherein Laudare have assimilated classical chamber music into their modest brand of post-metal. Rather than mourning the death of a specific individual, Requiem is an ode to the concept of death, “the inevitable, that we fear so much and that makes us human after all.”
The members of Laudare have matured rapidly as composers since their formation in 2017. I presume this is largely due to the arrival of cellist Almut Voigt. Her cello is allowed equal—and often greater—opportunity than Daniel Kaltofen’s guitar to carry the lead melodies. This places Requiem in a similar space as Anareta’s debut from last year, though the absence of the violin and viola gives Requiem a deeper, warmer sound. True to the theme, grief and mourning manifest in diverse ways. Sometimes with a doleful croon from Voigt or Kaltofen laced with tender piano, cello, or acoustic guitar passages (“Hostias,” “Rex Tremendae”), but more often through the anguished growls, screams, and wails of bassist Marie-Luise Thurm (best exemplified in “Offertorium”). The transitions between these two extremes are some of the smoothest I’ve ever heard, much to the benefit of the overall pacing of the record.
Requiem is a perfectly balanced affair with incredible synergy between all four band members. The first track, “Introitus,” opens with all three vocalists singing in reverent harmony, then shifts to Thurm’s biting barks embellished by female choral notes from Voigt. The cello and bass guitar complement each other, particularly during the quiet passage in “Quid Sum Miser” that leaves the two of them exposed. Drummer Oliver Ruß1 deftly matches whatever tempo and intensity is required, from frenetic rhythms (“Sanctus”) to soft drum rod taps (“Lacrimosa”) and rim clicks (“Quaerens Me”). As if all of this weren’t enough, they even collaborate with a live choir—courtesy of Unichor Leipzig—in a few of the latter tracks. The choir elevates the music to epic proportions in the finale of “Lacrimosa,” and when the powerful chorus of voices is punctuated by chilling screams is the high point of Requiem.
Like an obsidian dagger, Requiem is beautiful, delicate, and piercing in equal measure. Not a single note feels out of place; every single second is supremely sublime. I can think of nothing that I would change after dozens of listens. Even the total runtime is an ideal 42 minutes. With this, their sophomore full-length, Laudare ascend to a higher echelon of composers. Violent poetry, indeed!
Tracks to Check Out: “Dies Irae,” “Quid Sum Miser,” “Lacrimosa”
Show 1 footnote
- Who left Laudare shortly before the release of Requiem. ↩
#2024 #Anareta #ChamberMusic #GermanMetal #Laudare #MomentOfCollapseRecords #PostMetal #Requiem #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024
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"Mr. #Sandman" (or "Mister Sandman") is a popular song written by Pat Ballard and published in 1954. It was first recorded in May of that year by Vaughn #Monroe and his #orchestra and later that year by #TheChordettes and #theFourAces. The song's lyrics convey a request to "Mr. #Sandman" to "bring me a #dream" – the traditional association of the #folkloric figure (but in this context the meaning of dream is more akin to ' #dreamboat').
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5UkSP7u2Y -
Oscar-Winning Costume Designer Jenny Beavan Says It’s “Astonishing” How Often Male Actors Fail To Wear Underwear To Fittings
#News #Cruella #JennyBeavan #MadMaxFuryRoad #Oscars #RalphFiennes #TheChoralhttps://deadline.com/2025/10/costume-designer-jenny-beavan-male-actors-underwear-1236593255/
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TIFF 2025 Review: The Choral – “There is a profoundness and uniqueness to the visuals.” Read it here https://bit.ly/4nib75s by Trevor Hogg
#TheChoral #film #TIFF #TIFF50 #NicholasHytner #RalphFiennes #RogerAllam #MarkAddy #AlunArmstrong #RobertEmms #SimonRussellBeale
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#StitchIt, Don’t ditch it: Resisting #FastFashion through #VisibleMending
Kaja Šeruga
Fri, June 13, 2025"Once a month between April and October, a group of stitchers takes to the streets of #EdinburghScotland, making themselves comfortable on camping chairs decorated with hand-embroidered banners inviting people to #stitchitdontditchit. Equipped with sewing baskets and mending skills, they repair their garments in public and teach interested passers-by how to do the same.
"The #EdinburghStreetStitchers, as they call themselves, are part of a growing movement that is reclaiming the ancient art of mending. Historically, mending was done in private and in ways that concealed, rather than announced, the repair. Choosing instead to mend visibly—whether through the color of the stitching or by doing it in a public location—is a statement and a conversation starter, Reasons to be Cheerful says.
" 'You are clearly stating that you have kept this from a #landfill,' says Kate Sekules, a mender who teaches fashion history at the Pratt Institute in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, and is pursuing a PhD in the history and theory of mending. 'It’s also got the advantage of making everything you own unique and special. And when you’ve invested time and energy and thought and craft into your clothing, you value it so much more.'
"Inspired by the global #StreetStitching movement, the former pharmacist Mary Morton started the #Edinburgh group in 2022, three years after a discussion with her son sent her down a rabbit hole of research and learning about the #ClimateCrisis. 'At the end of all of that, I was absolutely horrified. I thought, ‘What can I do about it?' she recalls.
"Volunteering at the #SHRUBCooperative, which is working to reduce waste in Edinburgh, she learned about the high carbon impact of textiles—producing a kilogram of fabric releases 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases on average. 'I’ve always done a bit of sewing, so I thought teaching people how to sew and repair their garments was something I could do to help,' says Morton. She started teaching sewing at the cooperative’s #ZeroWaste Hub, but quickly realized she was preaching to the choir. 'I wanted to do something to reach out to the broader community and make them aware of the situation,' she says.
"The term 'fast fashion' was coined by the New York Times in 1989 to describe Zara’s business model, which turned a designer’s idea into a garment available to consumers in only 15 days. Today’s ultra-fast fashion retailers have further accelerated the pace of production: #Shein, for example, has created 52 micro-seasons per year and adds up to 10,000 items to its website each day. With plummeting prices and a rising throwaway culture, by 2014, people were buying 60 percent more clothes than at the turn of the millennium, and keeping them for only half as long.
"Today the fashion industry is responsible for 92 million metric tons of #TextileWaste annually, and the dyeing and finishing of textiles causes 20 percent of industrial #WaterPollution. Due to energy-intensive production and long supply chains, the apparel industry is responsible for eight percent to 10 percent of global #CarbonEmissions—more than aviation and shipping combined.
"The quiet, simple act of mending can go a long way toward reducing these impacts: According to research by the climate action NGO WRAP, 82 percent of repaired garments prevent the purchase of a new one, and extending the life of an item of clothing by only nine months reduces its carbon, water and waste footprint by a total of 20 percent to 30 percent.
" 'One of the other big benefits is to #NormalizeMending again,' says Morton. For most of human history, textiles were time-consuming to produce and expensive to buy, so mending them was second nature, says Sekules. Repairs were often visible out of necessity, since matching thread to existing fabric was a costly and often impossible proposition. One of the oldest extant examples of visible mending is a 2,000-year-old Egyptian tunic in the Whitworth Geller’s collection in Manchester, England, though the practice is far older than that. Over millennia people across the world developed their own distinct techniques of darning, embroidery and appliqué, using colorful patches or designs to hide holes and stains. 'It was made to seem deliberate, because it was a shameful sign of poverty to look as if you’ve been mended,' says Sekules.
"As mending fell out of favor in Europe and the U.S. in the late 20th century, the skills associated with it were also lost over time. 'As far as we can tell it used to be passed down the maternal line since time immemorial,' says Sekules. 'Then we forgot about it—culturally, it was just no longer a skillset we needed.'
"In recent years a growing opposition to fast fashion has coalesced under the umbrella of #SlowFashion, a movement championing quality over quantity and responsible use of resources. 'People are becoming more aware that the way we produce is harmful to people and the environment,' says Sam Bennett, maker, researcher and one-half of the duo behind Repair Shop, which takes mending commissions and offers online and in-person mending workshops. 'It’s a smaller, quieter form of #activism that I think is really exciting.'
"The resurgence of mending coincided with early Instagram, with visible mending especially well-suited to such a visual medium, and menders like Celia Pym and Tom van Deijnen started to document their mends on the platform in 2014. 'Those posts and popularity then allowed for people to create public workshops, publish books and so on,' says Bennett, who is working on a timeline documenting how mending skills have been passed on over the past 300 years. Much of the skill-sharing has also moved to virtual spaces, which makes it accessible to anyone with an internet connection. But while they serve their purpose, online workshops don’t have quite the same magic, says Bennett: 'It really started with community and sitting side by side with someone. And I think that in the end, that is still the most successful way to learn.'
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/stitch-don-rsquo-t-ditch-153005359.html
#SolarPunkSunday #VisibleRepair #VisibleMending #Mending #FiberArts #Crafting #DIY #MakeAndMend #RepairDontBuy #ResistFastFashion #BuildingCommunity
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Via IndivisibleMHK on Bluesky:
“43 constituents @ Senator Moran's #MHK office re: Medicaid cuts, coups, and Russia. We appreciate Moran's newsletter statement supporting Ukraine, but no need to preach to the choir; tell it to the deniers in the 47th administration. How many fields of 🌻 will it take to overcome authoritarianism?”
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Sentynel’s and Twelve’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025 By Steel Druhm
Sentynel
It’s been a couple of years since I had to start my AotY thoughts with “oof, what a year,” but oof, what a year. One thing after another piled up for months on end. I had some early success, actually writing reviews, but that left me almost no time to consume any other new music. A slowly escalating personal crisis then led to my neither writing nor consuming any new music for months. I began to fear that I genuinely wouldn’t be able to listen to enough to assemble a list—or that the server would implode at an inopportune time and I’d struggle to fix it. Fortunately, I was able to stay on top of server wobbles, despite the best efforts of endless AI scraper bots.1 A couple of months ago, I started managing new music again, and thus, a list emerged. I am moderately optimistic for 2026, at least on a personal level. (I offer no such optimism for the general state of the world.)
While this hasn’t been a particularly strong year for me, it’s hard to tell if that’s the year’s fault or just mine. My most common gripe has been unevenness: there have been a lot of records—including some I’ve ultimately loved—that have annoyed me through failing to sustain their heights throughout. Nonetheless, everything on my list belongs there. This year’s primary theme appears to be Angry Cello Guy, with a suspicious five entries on my list prominently featuring cellos or other bowed string instruments. Guitars are so 2024. There are multiple records here that are genre-hopping, experimental, and hard to classify. Otherwise, this is a pretty typical year for me, with post-metal heavily represented, several prog-adjacent pieces, and no surprisingly brvtal contenders, despite trying a few. Ah, well, next year.
My year has also kept me from getting to know this year’s intake of new writers as well as I’d like, but I’m sure they’re all lovely people with only somewhat questionable taste. To the brave crew of editors and promo jockeys, you have my thanks for your endless work; to the retiring veterans, please enjoy your sabbaticals without incident; and to the readers, long may you continue resisting the urge to let AI summarise our writing.
#ish. Scardust // Souls – Souls took a lot longer to grow on me than Strangers, and it’s more uneven than its predecessor. But the highs are fabulous. Noa Gruman is still preternaturally good on vocals. If the whole record were as good as the “Touch of Life” suite with her and Ross Jennings, this would be, no exaggeration, #1. Alas, while there are a couple of other bangers (“Unreachable”), much of the rest of Souls just doesn’t impress me, in that awkward sort of way you get when it’s really good and it feels unfair to moan about it too much, but you know they can do so much better.
#10. Jo Quail // Notan – Quail remains one of the most mesmerising live acts I’ve ever seen. Between the strength of her modern classical compositions and the frankly magical way she weaves them together live, armed with only a cello and a loop pedal, her shows are a must-see event. Fittingly, I saw Notan performed live before I heard the recording, but it’s worth it in recorded form too. The nature of loop pedal based composition lends itself to the sort of slow build that makes for really good post-rock/metal. Each piece goes in a pleasingly different direction and experiments with different additions to her sound palette. That she can do them live solo as well is merely the icing on the cake.
#9. Mares of Thrace // The Loss – I wrote most of a review for this album at release,2 but never quite got it over the line. I found it so raw it was hard to listen to. As my difficult period got worse, I just gave up on being able to listen to it at all, and with it any hope of finishing even a woefully late review. Where The Exile was immediately catchy and driving, The Loss’s immediacy is its anguish, and that was all I could hear. Mares of Thrace are already hard to genre pigeonhole, and The Loss is all over the place, spanning sludge, noise, prog, and doom, with trad inflections. I’m actually glad I didn’t manage to get the review done at the time. Coming back to it for list season, I appreciate it a lot more easily than I did at the time. The catchiness and driving energy are still there, but the additional stylistic variety makes it more interesting. The anguish adds weight and impact. The catharsis of the final track is well earned. It’s still a hard listen, but it’s a rewarding one. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get a TYMHM out!3
#8. Black Narcissus // There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten – This is just gorgeous. The best post-rock does an awful lot with very little, and Black Narcissus’ unhurried drums and bass do an absolutely astonishing amount. There’s no way something so minimalist and so languid should be able to sustain an hour of music. I cannot emphasise enough how absolutely beautiful There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten is, and its hour-long runtime just floats by. This is the epitome of “do one thing and do it well” as a philosophy.
#7. Fallujah // Xenotaph – Fallujah are a long time big name I had begun to appreciate more in the last couple of years, after seeing them live. They still hadn’t really clicked for me recorded, but Xenotaph changed that. Tech death’s curse is sterility, and the warmth of this record lifts Fallujah out of that trap. It’s, paradoxically, at once dreamy and bluntly impactful. The writing is as strong on melody as it is on technicality. It seems slightly redundant to say this about a record that’s on my year-end list, but I really enjoy the immediate experience of listening to Xenotaph. There’s something intensely satisfying about the smoothness: who says heavy music has to be abrasive? The production is still a sticking point, though.
#6. Concrete Age // Awaken the Gods – Awaken the Gods is just a lot of fun. There’s not enough metal drawing on the instruments and composition of folk music from the Caucasus and the steppes. It reminds me a lot of Mongol, but with better and more varied folk instrumentation. There’s a couple of songs that are a bit more straight thrash with folk instruments, which are less exciting, but it doesn’t detract from the rest of the record. It also delivers further proof of my theory that folk metal covers of terrible pop songs are the pinnacle of music. My go-to for when I wanted something to uncomplicatedly bang my head to.
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss – Calva Louise are what happens when somebody spots an “all of the above” button under “genre” on the band creation screen and their curiosity gets the better of them. They are what you get if you take the Diablo Swing Orchestra and remove their classical instruments and sense of restraint. Something this absurd could only ever have been terrific or terrible. Obviously, this is terrific. AMG called it wild, unpredictable, and addictive, and it certainly is. They sound like nothing else I’ve ever listened to, and manage to be dangerously catchy on top of it. This hit in the middle of my difficult period, and it was nearly the only thing I listened to for a month. A teeny sense of easing off the gas on the last few songs is the only weakness. Spectacular.
#4. Völur & Cares // Breathless Spirit – Odd, unsettling, pretty, experimental, captivating—Breathless Spirit is a weird album. Violin and viola occupy the sonic space where you’d typically find lead and rhythm guitars. The composition wanders through modern classical, atmoblack, noise, jazz, folk, doom, and more. Actually, the main textural comparison I would draw here is to Hierophant Violent, though Breathless Spirit is far less single-minded in direction. Many of the more ambient sections, and some of the clean vocals, remind me of the build-up stretches of that album, and likewise, there’s some similarity in the crushing crescendos. Just in case you thought you knew where this was going, the other comparisons I’m going to draw are to fellow Canadians The Night Watch and Thrawsunblat. Of everything on the list, this is the one at highest risk of me feeling like I placed it too low in a year’s time—I found it late and it could grow on me further. A truly fascinating record.
#3. Messa // The Spin – While I’ve been a fan of Messa since their first record and through all their stylistic exploration, The Spin really blew me away. Sara Bianchin sounds fantastic, and there’s a wonderful allure to the tone of the rest of the band. Others have commented on The Spin feeling a bit like a collection of songs rather than a cohesive record, which is probably true and probably kept this from the top spot… but the songs are so damn good it’s hard to care that much. I came back to this a few times, even during the worst few months of the year, and had half of it stuck in my head half the time. At one point, I spent several days unable to get the opening riff of the opening track out of my head, and it doesn’t get any less addictive from there. In the last couple of months, I’ve had to actively resist putting it on at times to make sure I give other, less immediate records enough listening time.
#2. Psychonaut // World Maker – Yeah, so I’m a sucker for the kind of atmospheric post/prog metal played by bands like The Ocean or Dvne. Here is this year’s winner in that space. I’ve wanted to like Psychonaut in the past more than I actually have, but World Maker finally clicked for me in a big way. It’s intricate, catchy, in places techy, in others psychedelic. The songs unfold in interesting ways, and listening to it feels like exploring. From the buildup of the opening track, I knew this would be exactly what I wanted in this sort of music. And as Ken wrote in his review, the more personal dimension to World Maker’s themes elevates it (with some similarities to Pelagial’s place as the best Ocean album). A record that rewards time and attention.
#1. Shepherds of Cassini // In Thrall to Heresy – In Thrall to Heresy’s victory here was not exactly inevitable when I reviewed it back in February, but it was certainly likely. The glorious return of a niche band I loved and thought lost? It would have taken something spectacular to upset it. I listened to this all year, through the difficult period, and kept on loving it. For all that retro prog is a bit of an oxymoron, 00s-early 10s prog is one of my favorite eras of music. (There was a lot of rabbling in the comments about me not having explicitly compared them to Riverside and Tool, so to be explicit, if you liked Riverside through to SoNGS, you’ll like this. They’re far less pretentious than Tool.) In Thrall is a fresh enough take to feel like progression, not a throwback. Its violin leads add variety (as well as claiming the Angry Cello Guy crown for the year). Shepherds’ songwriting has matured in the last decade. Their instruments sound pleasingly chunky. A post-y twist presses additional musical buttons for me. One could only make this more laser-targeted at my specific musical niche by somehow adding industrial bluegrass.4 Don’t make me wait 10 years for the next record, please.
Honorable Mentions:
- 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Brutal and moving, this is some really good blackened death/doom. It’s not as good as Die Urkatastrophe, though—sorry, 1914 fans.
- Aephanemer // Utopie – The spectre of AMG’s law of diminishing recordings begins to haunt Aephanemer, for what is Utopie if not Aephanemer sounding like Aephanemer? It’s damn good, though.
- Ellereve // Umbra – Sad-girl post-metal? Yes please.
- Howling Giant // Crucible & Ruin – Just some really good stoner/psych.
- Net-Ruiner // Prototype – The synthwave/metal cross ends up being a little too much of a gimmick to land a proper list spot, but nonetheless an absolute blast.
- Raphael Weinroth-Browne // Lifeblood – I know I made an Angry Cello Guy joke up there, but it turns out you can, in fact, have too much cello. Weinroth-Browne’s multi-layered modern classical composition (in both senses) of cellos is always impressive and regularly emotive. Had Lifeblood been edited down to keep, say, the best 40 minutes of its current 60, this would have been up there in my list somewhere. Alas.
- Various Artists // KPop Demon Hunters – Relegated to HMs because this isn’t an album I like so much as it’s an album containing six songs I absolutely adore, and six others, but fuck me, the main cast songs (less “Soda Pop”) are bangers.
Songs o’ the Year:
- Calva Louise – “Impeccable”
- Concrete Age – “Boro Boro”
- Howling Giant – “Scepter and Scythe”
- HUNTR/X – “Golden”
- HUNTR/X – “Takedown”
- HUNTR/X – “What It Sounds Like”
- Messa – “Fire on the Roof”
- Saja Boys – “Your Idol”
- Scardust – “Touch of Life” suite
- Shepherds of Cassini – “Abyss”
- Tiktaalika – “Fault Lines:
Twelve
I am so behind on writing this. Behind on writing in general, really, but I’m writing this introduction very late by Angry Metal Standards®.5 Over the year, my writing for this blog waned notably, but I’m still very proud of my output this year, and discovered some delightful gems thanks to this blog and my privileged position to write for it. As is traditional, I want to extend my sincere thanks to my co-writers for their fantastic camaraderie and to the editors who allow me to keep writing here, probably against their better judgment. Everything changes all the time, but feeling right at home here stays the same.
Last year I claimed that, by any measure, 2024 was the worst year of my life, and I’m happy to say that remains true this year. Interestingly, however, I listened to much less music, and, more to the point, liked less music. In the past few months, I’ve been asking my co-writers here to recommend the music they think will top their own lists, and I just… kept not liking them. For some reason, almost nothing has been sticking musically. That’s not a comment on my colleagues’ tastes, of course—the writers here have an astounding talent for finding some of the best music there is. But I’ve been struggling to keep up.
So this year, I’m keeping things simple and writing about the twelve albums I liked best in 2025. Occasionally, when we talk about our end-of-year listings, there’s an idea that some albums need to be of a certain quality to be “worthy” of a top-ten (or top-top) spot, but if I start thinking that way, this list is never going to materialize. So I’ve gone with my gut and am now going to talk your ear off about the music I personally liked the most.
All of which is to say, I think my list is weird this year. I did my best! And I’m happy with it. But it’s weird.
Thanks for reading my nonsense in 2025—it really does mean a lot. Let’s all do it again next year!
#ish. Dawnwalker // The Between – A single-song album is such an ambitious undertaking, and I really can’t express enough how impressive it is that “The Between” feels like an actual half-hour song. Dawnwalker is so impressive on The Between, and the composition is truly a work of art. It’s grown on me since I reviewed it in October, and I just have to highlight the amazing songwriting from Mark Norgate and Dawnwalker before I dive into my list proper.
#10. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss – Let the weird begin! Edge of the Abyss is not something I thought for a second would make this list when Angry Metal Guy wrote about it, but it’s wormed its way into my head and heart. Deceptively catchy, a lot cleverer than it first appears, and filled to the brim with energy, Edge of the Abyss is a fun, memorable, and surprisingly relatable slice of… some kind of metal. I really don’t know how to categorize it, and I’m not sure how to get it out of my head either. Great album.
#9. Nechochwen // Spelewithiipi – Continuing with what may be another unusual pick, Nechochwen’s Spelewithiipi is not something I considered for this list straightaway. I have to admit, though, it has been a comforting listen that I’ve returned to often over the course of the year. It is well-composed, deceptively complex, and easy to spin again and again. On days I’ve felt low, there’s been a magic in Spelewithiipi that does wonders in keeping me well.
# 8. Völur & Cares //Breathless Spirit – Breathless Spirit is such an impressive album. For one thing, you’d never, ever guess there isn’t a lead guitar, despite the fact that Bates’s violin is a significant part of Völur’s unique character and spirit. As doom metal, Breathless Spirit dominates; it is powerful, mournful, wry, and cathartic. It’s a truly fascinating display of music, one that reveals new character every time you listen.
#7. Falling Leaves // The Silence That Binds Us – Speaking of doom metal, The Silence That Binds Us tells us that sometimes taking a break can be a good thing. It’s been thirteen years since Falling Leaves released their debut, and their sophomore feels like it had been simmering for a while. Expert compositions, passionate performances, and a huge atmosphere contribute to what I thought was “the” doom metal release of the year. There is so much care and attention in The Silence That Binds Us, so much feeling from every player, so much love in the production and master—even the cover art is gorgeous.
#6. Raphael Weinroth-Browne // Lifeblood – I didn’t expect Lifeblood to creep its way up here the way it has, but I’ve been listening to it more and more lately and realized I actually like it a lot more than a lot of other stuff. Raphael Weinroth-Browne’s compositions are stunning, and the more you listen to them, the better they get. For an instrumental, non-metal project, Lifeblood conveys so much meaning, so much emotion, and feels heavy for what it is. It’s a powerful work and a lovely one too—exactly what we’ve come to expect from as talented a cellist and composer as Weinroth-Browne.
#5. Aephanemer // Utopie – The direction Aephanemer’s music has taken since they first appeared on this blog with Prokopton is fascinating. Each release since has been a touch less aggressive and notably broader in terms of its composition and ambition. Utopie, I feel, balances these nuances the best—it’s an epic, sprawling album that reaches high and grasps onto something exciting. There is a level of care and attention to detail to Utopie that rewards repeat listens, and I still feel like I’m getting more and more into it as I listen. Who knows, maybe I’ll regret this “low” placement before long; this one’s a grower.
#4. Amorphis // Borderlands – Amorphis don’t need much introduction at this point, but lately I haven’t been very invested in their releases. It can be tough, I imagine, being such an iconic band with such a recognizable sound. But Borderlands feels fresh to me; an old formula done right, modernized reasonably enough to stand out, and with the gusto of a much newer band. Incidentally, this was also the first CD I’ve purchased in years—an impromptu grab at a record store I’d forgotten existed—and the bonus tracks therein are amazing additions (“Rowan and the Cloud” is a delightful closer, more so, I would argue, than “Despair”). It’s nice to be enamored by Amorphis again. They seem to still know what they’re doing.
#3. Saor // Amidst the Ruins – I’ve slept on Saor in the past, but Amidst the Ruins is an amazing album. Rarely is black metal—atmospheric black metal, no less—so impassioned, but I’ve never wanted to visit Scotland so much as the first time I heard “Rebirth” at the end of my first listen. It’s hard to quantify what makes Amidst the Ruins such a special record, really. The blend of black metal and folk metal isn’t new, nor is the style in which Marshall writes so well. But listening to Saor, you can’t help but feel his pride and awe for a homeland you may never have seen yourself. Amidst the Ruins crept its way into my rotations again and again throughout the year, and it’s been the most pleasant musical surprise of 2025 for me by far.
#2. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague Upon Thee – I really thought I’d give Apocalypse Orchestra my top spot, but admittedly, I thought that before I’d even heard it. The way these guys blend medieval themes with folk, doom, and metal is genuinely fascinating and incredibly well done. Add to the list that they perform thorough research and the music is educational on top of it all—what’s not to love? A Plague Upon Thee was my most-anticipated album of the year, and Apocalypse Orchestra really delivered, with sweeping epics telling takes of historic darkness and endearing humanity. Everything from the bagpipes to the choirs sounds amazing, and while I did have a couple of reservations initially, the simple truth is that this music is so well up my alley—and is performed so well too—that I was always bound to love it enough for this list. I can only hope to uncover more music as wonderfully niche as this again.
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I have not listened to every item of music released in 2025, but I still think I can say that none could be more powerful than 1914’s Viribus Unitis. I listened to nothing heavier, nothing more memorable, and nothing so relevant as 1914’s story of a Ukrainian soldier caught up in the mania of the First World War. From battle-frenzied bloodlust to heartbreaking captivity, his story follows 1914’s relentless message of the horrors of war. In the past, I’ve praised 1914 for the honesty in their bleak outlook on their namesake war, and Viribus Unitis could not have done a better job in following that idea. The songs range from brutal to cathartic; every guest musician elevates their song, and the choir is a brilliant way to balance trademark heaviness with emotional impact. Viribus Unitis is the most impactful album I’ve listened to in a long, long time, and I admire every musician involved for their part in that. Viribus Unitis was my top album for 2025 the moment I finished the first spin.
Honorable Mention
- Marko Hietala // Roses from the Deep – I’ve looked back at my review of Roses from the Deep a couple of times since writing and wondered if my personal admiration for Hietala’s career made me over-excited to review it. Is it possible I rated it highly simply because it’s such a fascinating culmination of the career of a musician I like? Either way, I’m keeping to the course—this was a fun listen in a year where I didn’t find so many upbeat albums to enjoy, and I keep coming back to it in bits and pieces depending on my mood; it’s a diverse exploration, and you can tell everyone had a good fun creating it.
Song of the Year
This was a hard one. There are so many powerful, emotional songs littered throughout this list—especially on Viribus Unitis, where the passion is particularly raw. But in keeping with the theme of what I personally found most affecting, I just keep coming back to this little gem on Autumn Tears’s latest. “Martyrdom – Catharsis (Where Gods Go to Die)” has a strangely compelling quality that kept me coming back again and again since I first reviewed Crown of the Clairvoyant. The singing, choirs, organ—really, everything about the composition is mesmerizing. I don’t imagine a lot of people will have this one on their year-end playlists. It’s a niche, quiet little song, but it’s wormed its way into my heart and speaks strongly to how I’ve felt about 2025 in a way I can’t quite describe.
Crown of the Clairvoyant by Autumn Tears
#1914 #2025 #Aephanemer #Amorphis #ApocalypseOrchestra #BlackNarcissus #CalvaLouise #ConcreteAge #Dawnwalker #Ellereve #FallingLeaves #Fallujah #HowlingGiant #JoQuail #Lists #MaresOfThrace #MarkoHietala #Messa #Nechochwen #NetRuiner #Psychonaut #RaphaelWeinrothBrowne #Saor #Scardust #SentynelSAndTwelveSTopTenIshOf2025 #ShepherdsOfCassini #VölurCares