#gazpacho — Public Fediverse posts

Heute gibts den Sommerklassiker #Gazpacho
#vegan #vegetarisch #Spanien #simpel #SchnellGemacht #Suppe #kalteSuppe

#Tomaten (Dose) #Gemüsebrühe #Weißbrot #Zwiebel #Basilikum #Knoblauch #Petersilie #Olivenöl #Balsamico SalzPfeffer #Chili Zucker pürieren + kalt stellen.

Einlage nach Belieben - bei mir heute: #Gurke #Tomate #Paprika #Basilikum #Schalotte #Croutons + geröstete #Pinienkerne

Heute gibts den Sommerklassiker #Gazpacho
#vegan #vegetarisch #Spanien #simpel #SchnellGemacht #Suppe #kalteSuppe

#Tomaten (Dose) #Gemüsebrühe #Weißbrot #Zwiebel #Basilikum #Knoblauch #Petersilie #Olivenöl #Balsamico SalzPfeffer #Chili Zucker pürieren + kalt stellen.

Einlage nach Belieben - bei mir heute: #Gurke #Tomate #Paprika #Basilikum #Schalotte #Croutons + geröstete #Pinienkerne

Heute gibts den Sommerklassiker #Gazpacho
#vegan #vegetarisch #Spanien #simpel #SchnellGemacht #Suppe #kalteSuppe

#Tomaten (Dose) #Gemüsebrühe #Weißbrot #Zwiebel #Basilikum #Knoblauch #Petersilie #Olivenöl #Balsamico SalzPfeffer #Chili Zucker pürieren + kalt stellen.

Einlage nach Belieben - bei mir heute: #Gurke #Tomate #Paprika #Basilikum #Schalotte #Croutons + geröstete #Pinienkerne

Heute gibts den Sommerklassiker #Gazpacho
#vegan #vegetarisch #Spanien #simpel #SchnellGemacht #Suppe #kalteSuppe

#Tomaten (Dose) #Gemüsebrühe #Weißbrot #Zwiebel #Basilikum #Knoblauch #Petersilie #Olivenöl #Balsamico SalzPfeffer #Chili Zucker pürieren + kalt stellen.

Einlage nach Belieben - bei mir heute: #Gurke #Tomate #Paprika #Basilikum #Schalotte #Croutons + geröstete #Pinienkerne

Heute gibts den Sommerklassiker #Gazpacho
#vegan #vegetarisch #Spanien #simpel #SchnellGemacht #Suppe #kalteSuppe

#Tomaten (Dose) #Gemüsebrühe #Weißbrot #Zwiebel #Basilikum #Knoblauch #Petersilie #Olivenöl #Balsamico SalzPfeffer #Chili Zucker pürieren + kalt stellen.

Einlage nach Belieben - bei mir heute: #Gurke #Tomate #Paprika #Basilikum #Schalotte #Croutons + geröstete #Pinienkerne

#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingFuckITFridayNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews and #SomeWeather...

#IT's #Still #JollySunny in #TheOutside; there will be #MoreSalad... 🥗 And, #FishCakes; they're a #TypeOfCake... #MadeWithFish...

#OrLobster... 🦞 | #WaitroseYutaniCorpsCooperative - we're #SomewhatMilitary and #HighlyWeaponised...

#CaptainRedBeanBear [ #FictionalCommunityManager] has #MadeSome... #Gazpacho...

#MescalineNotIncluded | #OtherSecondGenerationAntiPsychotics #AreAvailable

#TopTip: #OnlyForProfessionals...

#You can #AlwaysUse #AnotherGPTChatBot to #Diagnose a #PracticalTherapy for #YourMentalHealth #MentalDisorder; #IT should be #UsedInConjunction with #MedicalProfessionals #Subject to #PeerReview; #Because...

#That's #HowScienceWorks...

Have #AnotherPrideMonth; #OrSomething...

🧙⚔️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚔️🧙 | :fediverse:​🦹:PirateBadge:​🦄​:PirateBadge:​🦹:fediverse:

#EuropeanServer #BeingEuropean #SomewhereInEurope #MFFS #LemonUp #FunTimeFridays #HappyBaconSammidgeDay #TheWeekend #Soon #TheWeekendAgain #AgainAgain #LittleMissPorkMarkets #FullMentalJacket #RedBeanBear #StillRed

No se puede vivir solo de gazpacho en verano: cinco ideas para complementarlo y equilibrar la dieta

https://tardigram.com/m/Cocina/t/39480

No se puede vivir solo de gazpacho en verano: cinco ideas para complementarlo y equilibrar la dieta

https://tardigram.com/m/Cocina/t/39480

#BTW: The #BulgurWheatTabbouleh with #Beans and #FetaCheese ( #That's a #TypeOfCheese; #NotHalloumi, though #Halloumi is also another #TypeOfCheese ) is #ParticularlyYummy [ #TechnicalTerm ]

The #Gazpacho #NeedsSomething...

#Chillies or #Mescaline...

We can #Sense a #Poll... #ComingOn...

#UltimateDeathMatch: #ChilliesVsMescaline | #NoAccordionNoVote 🪗

:stargif: 𝑬𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒐 𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐 :stargif:

Cuando llegan los primeros calores, hay dos platos que aparecen casi por instinto en millones de mesas españolas: el gazpacho y el salmorejo.
Parecen tan antiguos que da la impresión de que han existido siempre, pero su historia es mucho más curiosa de lo que suele contarse.

El primer dato sorprendente es que ni el gazpacho ni el salmorejo nacieron con tomate.
De hecho, durante siglos el tomate ni siquiera existía en Europa.
Llegó desde América tras los viajes de los españoles a finales del siglo XV, y durante mucho tiempo se miró con desconfianza.
Hubo quien pensó que era venenoso porque pertenecía a la misma familia que algunas plantas tóxicas.

Así que si viajáramos a la Andalucía medieval y pidiéramos un gazpacho, nos servirían algo muy diferente. El llamado "gazpacho primitivo" era una mezcla humilde de pan duro, ajo, aceite de oliva, agua y vinagre. Nada más.

Su origen exacto sigue siendo motivo de debate.
Algunos historiadores creen que deriva de mezclas similares preparadas por romanos y griegos.
Los romanos ya consumían una especie de sopa fría hecha con pan, ajo, aceite, vinagre y hierbas aromáticas.
Otros investigadores apuntan a la influencia andalusí, ya que durante siglos los musulmanes desarrollaron en la península numerosas recetas basadas en morteros donde se machacaban ingredientes hasta formar pastas y sopas.

La palabra "gazpacho" tampoco tiene un origen claro.
Una teoría bastante aceptada la relaciona con el término prerromano caspa, que hacía referencia a pequeños fragmentos o trozos, probablemente aludiendo al pan desmenuzado que formaba parte de la receta.

Lo que sí sabemos es que durante los siglos XVII y XVIII el gazpacho era considerado comida de jornaleros, campesinos y segadores.
Era barato, refrescante y energético.
Los trabajadores del campo llevaban los ingredientes consigo y los preparaban sobre la marcha utilizando un dornillo de madera y un mortero.

Hay incluso relatos de viajeros extranjeros que recorrieron España en el siglo XIX y quedaron sorprendidos al ver a campesinos bebiendo una especie de sopa fría de color rojizo.
Algunos la describieron con auténtico entusiasmo; otros pensaron que tenía un aspecto bastante extraño.

El gran cambio llegó cuando el tomate dejó de verse como una curiosidad americana y comenzó a cultivarse masivamente en Andalucía durante los siglos XVIII y XIX.
Poco a poco fue incorporándose al gazpacho hasta convertirse en el ingrediente estrella que conocemos hoy.

Y aquí aparece el "primo cordobés": el salmorejo.

Aunque comparte varios ingredientes con el gazpacho, el salmorejo tiene una personalidad propia.
Su origen está estrechamente ligado a Córdoba y a una preparación muy antigua llamada "mazamorra".
La mazamorra era una crema fría elaborada con pan, ajo, aceite, agua y almendras.
De hecho, todavía se prepara en algunas zonas andaluzas.

Cuando el tomate empezó a popularizarse, la receta evolucionó.
Las almendras fueron desapareciendo poco a poco y el tomate se convirtió en protagonista.
Así nació el salmorejo tal como hoy lo conocemos.

La primera gran diferencia es la cantidad de pan.
El salmorejo lleva mucho más que el gazpacho, lo que le da esa textura cremosa y espesa.
Además, tradicionalmente se elaboraba machacando los ingredientes durante bastante tiempo en un mortero.
Conseguir una textura perfecta requería paciencia y brazo.

Existe cierta rivalidad amistosa entre provincias andaluzas sobre quién hace el mejor gazpacho o el mejor salmorejo.
Es uno de esos debates eternos que nunca terminan, junto al de la tortilla con o sin cebolla.

Otro detalle curioso es que durante buena parte del siglo XX el gazpacho fue considerado por algunas clases acomodadas como una comida demasiado humilde.
Sin embargo, a partir de los años sesenta y setenta comenzó a entrar en restaurantes de prestigio.
Hoy aparece incluso en cartas de alta cocina de todo el mundo.

Mientras tanto, el salmorejo pasó de ser una especialidad regional a convertirse en uno de los platos más reconocibles de la gastronomía española.
Su combinación con huevo duro y jamón serrano se ha vuelto casi inseparable.

Quizá el mayor secreto de ambos platos sea precisamente su sencillez.
Surgieron de la necesidad, del aprovechamiento del pan duro y de los productos disponibles en cada momento.
Lo que empezó como comida de campesinos acabó convirtiéndose en un símbolo gastronómico internacional.

Y eso tiene algo de ironía histórica: durante siglos fueron platos modestos de trabajadores del campo.
Hoy son protagonistas de libros de cocina, concursos gastronómicos y restaurantes de lujo.

▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣

#historia #gastronomia #gazpacho #salmorejo #andalucia #cordoba #verano #cocinatradicional #curiosidadeshistoricas #historiadeespaña #alimentacion #tomate #aceitedeoliva #recetastradicionales

:stargif: 𝑬𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒐 𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐 :stargif:

Cuando llegan los primeros calores, hay dos platos que aparecen casi por instinto en millones de mesas españolas: el gazpacho y el salmorejo.
Parecen tan antiguos que da la impresión de que han existido siempre, pero su historia es mucho más curiosa de lo que suele contarse.

El primer dato sorprendente es que ni el gazpacho ni el salmorejo nacieron con tomate.
De hecho, durante siglos el tomate ni siquiera existía en Europa.
Llegó desde América tras los viajes de los españoles a finales del siglo XV, y durante mucho tiempo se miró con desconfianza.
Hubo quien pensó que era venenoso porque pertenecía a la misma familia que algunas plantas tóxicas.

Así que si viajáramos a la Andalucía medieval y pidiéramos un gazpacho, nos servirían algo muy diferente. El llamado "gazpacho primitivo" era una mezcla humilde de pan duro, ajo, aceite de oliva, agua y vinagre. Nada más.

Su origen exacto sigue siendo motivo de debate.
Algunos historiadores creen que deriva de mezclas similares preparadas por romanos y griegos.
Los romanos ya consumían una especie de sopa fría hecha con pan, ajo, aceite, vinagre y hierbas aromáticas.
Otros investigadores apuntan a la influencia andalusí, ya que durante siglos los musulmanes desarrollaron en la península numerosas recetas basadas en morteros donde se machacaban ingredientes hasta formar pastas y sopas.

La palabra "gazpacho" tampoco tiene un origen claro.
Una teoría bastante aceptada la relaciona con el término prerromano caspa, que hacía referencia a pequeños fragmentos o trozos, probablemente aludiendo al pan desmenuzado que formaba parte de la receta.

Lo que sí sabemos es que durante los siglos XVII y XVIII el gazpacho era considerado comida de jornaleros, campesinos y segadores.
Era barato, refrescante y energético.
Los trabajadores del campo llevaban los ingredientes consigo y los preparaban sobre la marcha utilizando un dornillo de madera y un mortero.

Hay incluso relatos de viajeros extranjeros que recorrieron España en el siglo XIX y quedaron sorprendidos al ver a campesinos bebiendo una especie de sopa fría de color rojizo.
Algunos la describieron con auténtico entusiasmo; otros pensaron que tenía un aspecto bastante extraño.

El gran cambio llegó cuando el tomate dejó de verse como una curiosidad americana y comenzó a cultivarse masivamente en Andalucía durante los siglos XVIII y XIX.
Poco a poco fue incorporándose al gazpacho hasta convertirse en el ingrediente estrella que conocemos hoy.

Y aquí aparece el "primo cordobés": el salmorejo.

Aunque comparte varios ingredientes con el gazpacho, el salmorejo tiene una personalidad propia.
Su origen está estrechamente ligado a Córdoba y a una preparación muy antigua llamada "mazamorra".
La mazamorra era una crema fría elaborada con pan, ajo, aceite, agua y almendras.
De hecho, todavía se prepara en algunas zonas andaluzas.

Cuando el tomate empezó a popularizarse, la receta evolucionó.
Las almendras fueron desapareciendo poco a poco y el tomate se convirtió en protagonista.
Así nació el salmorejo tal como hoy lo conocemos.

La primera gran diferencia es la cantidad de pan.
El salmorejo lleva mucho más que el gazpacho, lo que le da esa textura cremosa y espesa.
Además, tradicionalmente se elaboraba machacando los ingredientes durante bastante tiempo en un mortero.
Conseguir una textura perfecta requería paciencia y brazo.

Existe cierta rivalidad amistosa entre provincias andaluzas sobre quién hace el mejor gazpacho o el mejor salmorejo.
Es uno de esos debates eternos que nunca terminan, junto al de la tortilla con o sin cebolla.

Otro detalle curioso es que durante buena parte del siglo XX el gazpacho fue considerado por algunas clases acomodadas como una comida demasiado humilde.
Sin embargo, a partir de los años sesenta y setenta comenzó a entrar en restaurantes de prestigio.
Hoy aparece incluso en cartas de alta cocina de todo el mundo.

Mientras tanto, el salmorejo pasó de ser una especialidad regional a convertirse en uno de los platos más reconocibles de la gastronomía española.
Su combinación con huevo duro y jamón serrano se ha vuelto casi inseparable.

Quizá el mayor secreto de ambos platos sea precisamente su sencillez.
Surgieron de la necesidad, del aprovechamiento del pan duro y de los productos disponibles en cada momento.
Lo que empezó como comida de campesinos acabó convirtiéndose en un símbolo gastronómico internacional.

Y eso tiene algo de ironía histórica: durante siglos fueron platos modestos de trabajadores del campo.
Hoy son protagonistas de libros de cocina, concursos gastronómicos y restaurantes de lujo.

▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣

#historia #gastronomia #gazpacho #salmorejo #andalucia #cordoba #verano #cocinatradicional #curiosidadeshistoricas #historiadeespaña #alimentacion #tomate #aceitedeoliva #recetastradicionales

🍹Aquí no hay término medio posible, es el eterno debate del verano.
Por un lado, el gazpacho es frescura pura para beberte la vida de un trago; por otro, el salmorejo es ese espesor que se convierte en plato de cuchara que te salva cualquier comida.

Venga, vamos a ver qué equipo gana:

¿Con qué os quedáis para combatir el calor?

#encuesta #verano #gastronomía #gazpacho #salmorejo

🍹Aquí no hay término medio posible, es el eterno debate del verano.
Por un lado, el gazpacho es frescura pura para beberte la vida de un trago; por otro, el salmorejo es ese espesor que se convierte en plato de cuchara que te salva cualquier comida.

Venga, vamos a ver qué equipo gana:

¿Con qué os quedáis para combatir el calor?

#encuesta #verano #gastronomía #gazpacho #salmorejo

Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!

More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.

We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.

2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!

As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.

Grymm

#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.

Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.

Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:

• Losing so many influential heroes (RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, and Tomas Lindberg, among too many others)
• My health: I was hoping to be a lot more active this year, but early on, I needed to, in the immortal words of David Lynch, “fix (my) heart or die.”1 Thankfully, after surgery, I feel a million times better, so you should see a lot more of me in 2026. You have been warned.

Song o’ the Year:

• Paradise Lost // “Salvation”

El Cuervo

#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.

Honorable Mentions:

• Décryptal – Simulacre
• An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
• Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
• Hasard – Abgnose

Song o’ the Year:

• Ambush – “Maskirovka”



GardensTale

#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.

Honorable Mentions:

• Hangover in Minsk // Party is Over
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis
• Bianca // Bianca
• Fange // Purulences
• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Blindfolded // What Seeps Through Threads

Song o’ the Year:

• Moron Police – “Giving up the Ghost”



Non-metal Albums of the Year:

• Lorde // Virgin
• Jonathan Hultén // Eyes of the Living Night
• Shayfer James // Summoning

Mark Z.

#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.

Honorable Mention:

• Blasphamagoatachrist // Bestial Abominator

Song (Title) o’ the Year:

• Omegavortex – “Dystopian Worldrape”

Song o’ the Year:

• Fugitive – “Spheres of Virulence”



Carcharodon

#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Gorycz // Zasypia
• Psychonaut // World Maker
• Wardruna // Birna

Songs o’ the Year:

• Messa – “Fire on the Roof”



• Novarupta – “Now Here We Are (At the Inevitable End)”

Mysticus Hugebeard

#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Night Flight Orchestra // Give Us The Moon
• Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine

Songs o’ the Year:

• Disarmonia Mundi – “Outcast”

The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi

• Jamie Page & Marcy Nabors – “Do No Harm (Ventricular Mix)”

Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker

• Thumos – “The Phædo”

The Trial of Socrates by Thumos

Disappointment(s) o’ the year:

• The dissolution of Ante-Inferno: After Death’s Soliloquy topped my list last year, I was genuinely gutted to see Ante-Inferno’s post that they were no more. Still, I shall not weep but rather smile that they happened, because Ante-Inferno was a rare breed of genuinely moving black metal. Just that one album rooted itself so deeply within me, and I will be listening for a long time.
• Arno Menses leaving Subsignal: Man, fuck. Fuck. Remember my nuclear-grade glaze of Subsignal, where I might as well have said Menses’ voice single-handedly justified the entire existence of music? How could I not break down in heaving sobs in the middle of this Denny’s when I heard that Menses and Subsignal have parted ways? It sucks, I tell ya. I will still listen to what Subsignal puts out in the future, because Markus Steffen is a talented musician, but it’s going to be a huge adjustment since Menses is nigh irreplaceable.

Samguineous Maximus

#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.

Honorable Mentions

• Flummox // Southern Progress
• Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
• Ava Mendoza/Gabby fluke-Mogal/Carolina Pérez // Mama Killa
• Strigiform // Aconite

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “Ladies Night”



Spicie Forrest

#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.

Honorable Mentions:

• Proscription // Desolate Divine
• Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
• Messa // The Spin
• Bloodywood // Nu Delhi
• Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Song o’ the Year:

• Yellowcard – “honestly i”

Grin Reaper

(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Walg // V
• Moron Police // Pachinko
• Defigurement // Endbryo
• Ültra Raptör // Fossilized
• Igorrr // Amen

Songs o’ the Year:

• Aephanemer – “Le Cimetière Marin”

• 1914 – “1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)”

Andy-War-Hall

#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fell Omen // Caelid Dog Summer
• Ophelion // The Jaunt
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Starscourge // Conqueror of the Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, the Lands Between Bleed

Song o’ the Year:

• Fell Omen – “The Fire is Still Warm”



Lavender Larcenist

#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.

Honorable Mentions:

• Shadow of Intent // Imperium Delirium
• Pupil Slicer // Fleshwork
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “bedrot”

Creeping Ivy

#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Am I in Trouble? // Spectrum
• Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
• In Mourning // The Immortal
• Oromet // The Sinking Isle
• Wyatt E. // Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1

Song o’ the Year:

• Phantom Spell – “The Autumn Citadel”



Baguette of Bodom

#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.

Honorable Mentions:

• Victim of Fire // The Old Lie
• Dawn of Solace // Affliction Vortex
• Dynazty // Game of Faces
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Hooded Menace // Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Song o’ the Year:

• Dragon Skull – “Blood and Souls”

Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull

Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!

More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.

We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.

2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!

As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.

Grymm

#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.

Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.

Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:

• Losing so many influential heroes (RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, and Tomas Lindberg, among too many others)
• My health: I was hoping to be a lot more active this year, but early on, I needed to, in the immortal words of David Lynch, “fix (my) heart or die.”1 Thankfully, after surgery, I feel a million times better, so you should see a lot more of me in 2026. You have been warned.

Song o’ the Year:

• Paradise Lost // “Salvation”

El Cuervo

#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.

Honorable Mentions:

• Décryptal – Simulacre
• An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
• Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
• Hasard – Abgnose

Song o’ the Year:

• Ambush – “Maskirovka”



GardensTale

#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.

Honorable Mentions:

• Hangover in Minsk // Party is Over
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis
• Bianca // Bianca
• Fange // Purulences
• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Blindfolded // What Seeps Through Threads

Song o’ the Year:

• Moron Police – “Giving up the Ghost”



Non-metal Albums of the Year:

• Lorde // Virgin
• Jonathan Hultén // Eyes of the Living Night
• Shayfer James // Summoning

Mark Z.

#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.

Honorable Mention:

• Blasphamagoatachrist // Bestial Abominator

Song (Title) o’ the Year:

• Omegavortex – “Dystopian Worldrape”

Song o’ the Year:

• Fugitive – “Spheres of Virulence”



Carcharodon

#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Gorycz // Zasypia
• Psychonaut // World Maker
• Wardruna // Birna

Songs o’ the Year:

• Messa – “Fire on the Roof”



• Novarupta – “Now Here We Are (At the Inevitable End)”

Mysticus Hugebeard

#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Night Flight Orchestra // Give Us The Moon
• Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine

Songs o’ the Year:

• Disarmonia Mundi – “Outcast”

The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi

• Jamie Page & Marcy Nabors – “Do No Harm (Ventricular Mix)”

Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker

• Thumos – “The Phædo”

The Trial of Socrates by Thumos

Disappointment(s) o’ the year:

• The dissolution of Ante-Inferno: After Death’s Soliloquy topped my list last year, I was genuinely gutted to see Ante-Inferno’s post that they were no more. Still, I shall not weep but rather smile that they happened, because Ante-Inferno was a rare breed of genuinely moving black metal. Just that one album rooted itself so deeply within me, and I will be listening for a long time.
• Arno Menses leaving Subsignal: Man, fuck. Fuck. Remember my nuclear-grade glaze of Subsignal, where I might as well have said Menses’ voice single-handedly justified the entire existence of music? How could I not break down in heaving sobs in the middle of this Denny’s when I heard that Menses and Subsignal have parted ways? It sucks, I tell ya. I will still listen to what Subsignal puts out in the future, because Markus Steffen is a talented musician, but it’s going to be a huge adjustment since Menses is nigh irreplaceable.

Samguineous Maximus

#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.

Honorable Mentions

• Flummox // Southern Progress
• Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
• Ava Mendoza/Gabby fluke-Mogal/Carolina Pérez // Mama Killa
• Strigiform // Aconite

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “Ladies Night”



Spicie Forrest

#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.

Honorable Mentions:

• Proscription // Desolate Divine
• Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
• Messa // The Spin
• Bloodywood // Nu Delhi
• Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Song o’ the Year:

• Yellowcard – “honestly i”

Grin Reaper

(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Walg // V
• Moron Police // Pachinko
• Defigurement // Endbryo
• Ültra Raptör // Fossilized
• Igorrr // Amen

Songs o’ the Year:

• Aephanemer – “Le Cimetière Marin”

• 1914 – “1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)”

Andy-War-Hall

#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fell Omen // Caelid Dog Summer
• Ophelion // The Jaunt
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Starscourge // Conqueror of the Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, the Lands Between Bleed

Song o’ the Year:

• Fell Omen – “The Fire is Still Warm”



Lavender Larcenist

#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.

Honorable Mentions:

• Shadow of Intent // Imperium Delirium
• Pupil Slicer // Fleshwork
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “bedrot”

Creeping Ivy

#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Am I in Trouble? // Spectrum
• Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
• In Mourning // The Immortal
• Oromet // The Sinking Isle
• Wyatt E. // Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1

Song o’ the Year:

• Phantom Spell – “The Autumn Citadel”



Baguette of Bodom

#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.

Honorable Mentions:

• Victim of Fire // The Old Lie
• Dawn of Solace // Affliction Vortex
• Dynazty // Game of Faces
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Hooded Menace // Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Song o’ the Year:

• Dragon Skull – “Blood and Souls”

Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull

Show 3 footnotes

1. Translated: I had atrial fibrillation and needed a cardiac ablation. ↩
2. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” ↩
3. “This is my land.” ↩

Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!

More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.

We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.

2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!

As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.

Grymm

#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.

Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.

Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:

• Losing so many influential heroes (RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, and Tomas Lindberg, among too many others)
• My health: I was hoping to be a lot more active this year, but early on, I needed to, in the immortal words of David Lynch, “fix (my) heart or die.”1 Thankfully, after surgery, I feel a million times better, so you should see a lot more of me in 2026. You have been warned.

Song o’ the Year:

• Paradise Lost // “Salvation”

El Cuervo

#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.

Honorable Mentions:

• Décryptal – Simulacre
• An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
• Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
• Hasard – Abgnose

Song o’ the Year:

• Ambush – “Maskirovka”



GardensTale

#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.

Honorable Mentions:

• Hangover in Minsk // Party is Over
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis
• Bianca // Bianca
• Fange // Purulences
• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Blindfolded // What Seeps Through Threads

Song o’ the Year:

• Moron Police – “Giving up the Ghost”



Non-metal Albums of the Year:

• Lorde // Virgin
• Jonathan Hultén // Eyes of the Living Night
• Shayfer James // Summoning

Mark Z.

#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.

Honorable Mention:

• Blasphamagoatachrist // Bestial Abominator

Song (Title) o’ the Year:

• Omegavortex – “Dystopian Worldrape”

Song o’ the Year:

• Fugitive – “Spheres of Virulence”



Carcharodon

#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Gorycz // Zasypia
• Psychonaut // World Maker
• Wardruna // Birna

Songs o’ the Year:

• Messa – “Fire on the Roof”



• Novarupta – “Now Here We Are (At the Inevitable End)”

Mysticus Hugebeard

#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Night Flight Orchestra // Give Us The Moon
• Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine

Songs o’ the Year:

• Disarmonia Mundi – “Outcast”

The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi

• Jamie Page & Marcy Nabors – “Do No Harm (Ventricular Mix)”

Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker

• Thumos – “The Phædo”

The Trial of Socrates by Thumos

Disappointment(s) o’ the year:

• The dissolution of Ante-Inferno: After Death’s Soliloquy topped my list last year, I was genuinely gutted to see Ante-Inferno’s post that they were no more. Still, I shall not weep but rather smile that they happened, because Ante-Inferno was a rare breed of genuinely moving black metal. Just that one album rooted itself so deeply within me, and I will be listening for a long time.
• Arno Menses leaving Subsignal: Man, fuck. Fuck. Remember my nuclear-grade glaze of Subsignal, where I might as well have said Menses’ voice single-handedly justified the entire existence of music? How could I not break down in heaving sobs in the middle of this Denny’s when I heard that Menses and Subsignal have parted ways? It sucks, I tell ya. I will still listen to what Subsignal puts out in the future, because Markus Steffen is a talented musician, but it’s going to be a huge adjustment since Menses is nigh irreplaceable.

Samguineous Maximus

#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.

Honorable Mentions

• Flummox // Southern Progress
• Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
• Ava Mendoza/Gabby fluke-Mogal/Carolina Pérez // Mama Killa
• Strigiform // Aconite

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “Ladies Night”



Spicie Forrest

#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.

Honorable Mentions:

• Proscription // Desolate Divine
• Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
• Messa // The Spin
• Bloodywood // Nu Delhi
• Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Song o’ the Year:

• Yellowcard – “honestly i”

Grin Reaper

(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Walg // V
• Moron Police // Pachinko
• Defigurement // Endbryo
• Ültra Raptör // Fossilized
• Igorrr // Amen

Songs o’ the Year:

• Aephanemer – “Le Cimetière Marin”

• 1914 – “1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)”

Andy-War-Hall

#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fell Omen // Caelid Dog Summer
• Ophelion // The Jaunt
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Starscourge // Conqueror of the Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, the Lands Between Bleed

Song o’ the Year:

• Fell Omen – “The Fire is Still Warm”



Lavender Larcenist

#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.

Honorable Mentions:

• Shadow of Intent // Imperium Delirium
• Pupil Slicer // Fleshwork
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “bedrot”

Creeping Ivy

#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Am I in Trouble? // Spectrum
• Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
• In Mourning // The Immortal
• Oromet // The Sinking Isle
• Wyatt E. // Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1

Song o’ the Year:

• Phantom Spell – “The Autumn Citadel”



Baguette of Bodom

#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.

Honorable Mentions:

• Victim of Fire // The Old Lie
• Dawn of Solace // Affliction Vortex
• Dynazty // Game of Faces
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Hooded Menace // Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Song o’ the Year:

• Dragon Skull – “Blood and Souls”

Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull

Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!

More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.

We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.

2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!

As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.

Grymm

#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.

Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.

Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:

• Losing so many influential heroes (RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, and Tomas Lindberg, among too many others)
• My health: I was hoping to be a lot more active this year, but early on, I needed to, in the immortal words of David Lynch, “fix (my) heart or die.”1 Thankfully, after surgery, I feel a million times better, so you should see a lot more of me in 2026. You have been warned.

Song o’ the Year:

• Paradise Lost // “Salvation”

El Cuervo

#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.

Honorable Mentions:

• Décryptal – Simulacre
• An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
• Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
• Hasard – Abgnose

Song o’ the Year:

• Ambush – “Maskirovka”



GardensTale

#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.

Honorable Mentions:

• Hangover in Minsk // Party is Over
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis
• Bianca // Bianca
• Fange // Purulences
• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Blindfolded // What Seeps Through Threads

Song o’ the Year:

• Moron Police – “Giving up the Ghost”



Non-metal Albums of the Year:

• Lorde // Virgin
• Jonathan Hultén // Eyes of the Living Night
• Shayfer James // Summoning

Mark Z.

#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.

Honorable Mention:

• Blasphamagoatachrist // Bestial Abominator

Song (Title) o’ the Year:

• Omegavortex – “Dystopian Worldrape”

Song o’ the Year:

• Fugitive – “Spheres of Virulence”



Carcharodon

#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Gorycz // Zasypia
• Psychonaut // World Maker
• Wardruna // Birna

Songs o’ the Year:

• Messa – “Fire on the Roof”



• Novarupta – “Now Here We Are (At the Inevitable End)”

Mysticus Hugebeard

#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Night Flight Orchestra // Give Us The Moon
• Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine

Songs o’ the Year:

• Disarmonia Mundi – “Outcast”

The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi

• Jamie Page & Marcy Nabors – “Do No Harm (Ventricular Mix)”

Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker

• Thumos – “The Phædo”

The Trial of Socrates by Thumos

Disappointment(s) o’ the year:

• The dissolution of Ante-Inferno: After Death’s Soliloquy topped my list last year, I was genuinely gutted to see Ante-Inferno’s post that they were no more. Still, I shall not weep but rather smile that they happened, because Ante-Inferno was a rare breed of genuinely moving black metal. Just that one album rooted itself so deeply within me, and I will be listening for a long time.
• Arno Menses leaving Subsignal: Man, fuck. Fuck. Remember my nuclear-grade glaze of Subsignal, where I might as well have said Menses’ voice single-handedly justified the entire existence of music? How could I not break down in heaving sobs in the middle of this Denny’s when I heard that Menses and Subsignal have parted ways? It sucks, I tell ya. I will still listen to what Subsignal puts out in the future, because Markus Steffen is a talented musician, but it’s going to be a huge adjustment since Menses is nigh irreplaceable.

Samguineous Maximus

#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.

Honorable Mentions

• Flummox // Southern Progress
• Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
• Ava Mendoza/Gabby fluke-Mogal/Carolina Pérez // Mama Killa
• Strigiform // Aconite

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “Ladies Night”



Spicie Forrest

#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.

Honorable Mentions:

• Proscription // Desolate Divine
• Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
• Messa // The Spin
• Bloodywood // Nu Delhi
• Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Song o’ the Year:

• Yellowcard – “honestly i”

Grin Reaper

(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Walg // V
• Moron Police // Pachinko
• Defigurement // Endbryo
• Ültra Raptör // Fossilized
• Igorrr // Amen

Songs o’ the Year:

• Aephanemer – “Le Cimetière Marin”

• 1914 – “1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)”

Andy-War-Hall

#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fell Omen // Caelid Dog Summer
• Ophelion // The Jaunt
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Starscourge // Conqueror of the Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, the Lands Between Bleed

Song o’ the Year:

• Fell Omen – “The Fire is Still Warm”



Lavender Larcenist

#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.

Honorable Mentions:

• Shadow of Intent // Imperium Delirium
• Pupil Slicer // Fleshwork
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “bedrot”

Creeping Ivy

#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Am I in Trouble? // Spectrum
• Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
• In Mourning // The Immortal
• Oromet // The Sinking Isle
• Wyatt E. // Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1

Song o’ the Year:

• Phantom Spell – “The Autumn Citadel”



Baguette of Bodom

#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.

Honorable Mentions:

• Victim of Fire // The Old Lie
• Dawn of Solace // Affliction Vortex
• Dynazty // Game of Faces
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Hooded Menace // Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Song o’ the Year:

• Dragon Skull – “Blood and Souls”

Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull

Listurnalia is now upon us once again! If you are not ready to be assailed by non-stop lists and bad opinions for the next week and change, I suggest you get fooking ready! Listurnalia cannot be stopped, nor contained. It can only be tolerated and endured!

More than any year in recent history, 2025 saw more seasoned staffers step away from writing duties due to time constraints and life changes. To compensate for the loss of these slackwagoning quitters and shirkers, we added a gaggle of fresh new voices. This made for a bittersweet time around these parts as long-time friends departed and a bunch of untested, unknowns rose through the brutal n00b gauntlet to seize the means of promo production. These greenhorn neophytes have created great havoc at AMG HQ with their terrible taste, inability to follow directions, and steadfast refusal to ignore deathcore.

We’ve been here before, though, and we always straighten out the newbie upstarts. The daily beatings, deprivations, and absence of positive reinforcement will wear them down, and if not, we have plenty of space in the rotpit out back. This is, and will ever be, the AMG modality.

2026 will be an interesting year as the new crew members are shepherded by the olde while everyone is crushed beneath the iron heel of AMG management. Who will make it to 2027? Who will be sold off to Metal Wani for a box of bananas and Gorilla Glue? Place your bets in the official AMG Survival Pool!

As you read the Top Ten(ish) lists below, remember, reading our content is free, but you get what you pay for.

Grymm

#10. Venomous Echoes // Dysmor
#9. Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
#8. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#7. Structure // Heritage
#6. Lorna Shore // I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
#5. Sigh // I Saw The World’s End – Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV
#4. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#3. Am I In Trouble? // Spectrum
#2. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#1. Paradise Lost // Ascension – I fully expected Paradise Lost to come out with quality music, which has been mostly par for the course in their storied almost-40-year career, and no one could blame them if they decided to coast along on their legendary sound. Instead, Ascension sees them giving a masterclass in songcraft and atmosphere, showing everyone, everywhere, how it’s done. With Black Sabbath now officially put to rest, Anathema long gone, and whatever the fuck is happening within My Dying Bride these days, somebody has to fly the British Doom flag high and proud, and Paradise Lost have done a bang-up job of doing so.

Personal Highlight o’ the Year: Seeing Acid Bath live. I may or may not have cried during “Venus Blue,” and no, I don’t fucking care. 19-Year-Old me was pleased as punch that 48-Year-Old me got to see a legendary band (and one of his personal favorites) come back from tragedy to pay tribute to their fallen bassist and friend, Audie Pitre, by giving it another long-awaited go.

Disappointment(s) o’ the Year:

• Losing so many influential heroes (RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley, and Tomas Lindberg, among too many others)
• My health: I was hoping to be a lot more active this year, but early on, I needed to, in the immortal words of David Lynch, “fix (my) heart or die.”1 Thankfully, after surgery, I feel a million times better, so you should see a lot more of me in 2026. You have been warned.

Song o’ the Year:

• Paradise Lost // “Salvation”

El Cuervo

#ish. Astronoid // Stargod
#10. Ollie Wride // The Pressure Point
#9. Kauan // Wayhome
#8. Zéro Absolu // La Saignée
#7. Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine
#6. Asira // As Ink in Water
#5. Bruit // The Age of Ephemerality
#4. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#3. The Midnight // Syndicate
#2. Steven Wilson // The Overview
#1. Messa // The Spin – In a year replete with comfort picks—progressive rock, synthwave, and death metal abound—how is that Italy’s enigmatic, inscrutable Messa forged my Album o’ the Year? The Spin doesn’t take the trouble to make itself easily approachable. Doom, prog, and post influences circle around velvety melodies that sometimes sound like deliberate songs, and sometimes like jazz improvisation. But it’s these very qualities that belie its subtle allure; only with repetition and attention does The Spin shine. Messa gradually reveals rhythmic motifs, instrumental nuances, and rich compositions that enhance my life on so many days. “The Dress,” especially, is stunning. And though the record’s loungey whimsy defies metal conventions, each track prizes genuine grit through its top-drawer guitar riffs. With the devotion it demands, no record from 2025 was more rewarding than The Spin.

Honorable Mentions:

• Décryptal – Simulacre
• An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
• Puteraeon – Mountains of Madness
• Hasard – Abgnose

Song o’ the Year:

• Ambush – “Maskirovka”



GardensTale

#ish. Structure // Heritage
#10. In Mourning //The Immortal
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. Der Weg Einer Freiheit // Innern
#7. Nephylim // Circuition
#6. Besna // Krásno
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Labyrinthus Stellarum // Rift in Reality
#3. Gazpacho // Magic 8 Ball
#2. Dormant Ordeal// Tooth & Nail
#1. Moron Police // Pachinko — I was a little nervous when I first read about the length and ambition behind Pachinko, especially in the context of the incredible and very concise A Boat on the Sea. I’ve never been this happy to be this wrong. Nothing in the last decade has overtaken my life as much as Pachinko has, and I’m listening to it yet again as I write this, and will probably restart it once it finishes. Pachinko has a lot in common with Everything Everywhere All At Once, one of my all-time favorite films, as a treatise on the chaos of life and the importance of friends and family. It treats its philosophy of silliness very seriously, laughing in the face of darkness in such a beautiful and inspiring way; it brightens my life every time I hear it. And it does all that in tribute to a dear friend who was gone too soon and too suddenly, and no other eulogistic album has let me feel like its subject’s soul touched mine. An astounding monument to friendship on top of an incredibly accomplished hour of music. Pachinko is a miracle.

Honorable Mentions:

• Hangover in Minsk // Party is Over
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis
• Bianca // Bianca
• Fange // Purulences
• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Blindfolded // What Seeps Through Threads

Song o’ the Year:

• Moron Police – “Giving up the Ghost”



Non-metal Albums of the Year:

• Lorde // Virgin
• Jonathan Hultén // Eyes of the Living Night
• Shayfer James // Summoning

Mark Z.

#ish. Malefic Throne // The Conquering Darkness
#10. Urn // Demon Steel
#9. Teitanblood // From the Visceral Abyss
#8. Shed the Skin // The Carnage Cast Shadows
#7. Guts // Nightmare Fuel
#6. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#5. Perdition Temple // Malign Apotheosis
#4. Paradise Lost // Ascension
#3. Revocation // New Gods, New Masters
#2. Death Yell // Demons of Lust
#1. Abominator // The Fire Brethren – It took me a few years after hearing this Australian duo’s last album, 2015’s Evil Proclaimed, to realize I was wrong about them. Their raw and relentless black-death metal wasn’t just good, it was fucking awesome. With their long-awaited sixth album, The Fire Brethren, Abominator has conjured flames that reach higher than ever. As always, the enraged rasps, scorching riffs, and endlessly pummeling rhythms are like plumes of hellfire shot directly into your ear canals. But amidst the bludgeoning is some genuinely great songwriting, with deep-cutting hooks (“The Templar’s Curse,” “Underworld Vociferations”), flashes of melody (“Progenitors of the Insurrection of Satan”), thrashy breaks (“Sulphur from the Heavens”), and just enough variety to keep everything hitting as hard as possible. It’s not for everyone, but for those into Angelcorpse and other music of that sort, The Fire Brethren is the type of album you just can’t get enough of.

Honorable Mention:

• Blasphamagoatachrist // Bestial Abominator

Song (Title) o’ the Year:

• Omegavortex – “Dystopian Worldrape”

Song o’ the Year:

• Fugitive – “Spheres of Virulence”



Carcharodon

#ish. Dax Riggs // 7 Songs for Spiders
#10. Novarupta // Astral Sands
#9. Atlantic // Timeworn
#8. Structure // Heritage
#7. Agriculture // The Spiritual Sound
#6. Igorr // Amen
#5. Messa // The Spin
#4. Abigail Williams // A Void Within Existence
#3. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Grima // Nightside – In each of 2019, 2021, and 2022, Grima released an album and, in each of those years, I listed said album (#5, HM, and #10). But this year, the year in which I have listened to the least metal and, of course, written the least since I started here in 2018, is also the year that Grima got everything dialled in to just what I want from a Grima album. On Nightside, the duo struck the perfect balance between the traditional influences of 2019’s Will of the Primordial and the propulsive, frozen atmosphere of Frostbitten (2022). The combination gives Nightside an almost hypnotic and weirdly tranquil flow, offset by Vilhelm’s rasping vocals, which remain among the best in the BM game. Every time I come back to this record, and the title track in particular, it’s even better than I remember it being, and I always end up spinning three or more times back-to-back. An album that can keep playing that trick deserves its #1 spot in my book.

Honorable Mentions:

• An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
• Gorycz // Zasypia
• Psychonaut // World Maker
• Wardruna // Birna

Songs o’ the Year:

• Messa – “Fire on the Roof”



• Novarupta – “Now Here We Are (At the Inevitable End)”

Mysticus Hugebeard

#10. Orbit Culture // Death Above Life
#9. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#8. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#7. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#6. Panopticon // Laurentian Blue
#5. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#4. Arkhaaik // Uihtis
#3. Kauan // Wayhome
#2. Wardruna // Birna
#1. Thumos // The Trial of Socrates – I recall groggily stumbling upon Thumos’ The Trial of Socrates at work one early morning, and I’m not sure if I’ve grown attached to it or it’s grown attached to me. It looms in my periphery, routinely interrupting my listening schedule for just one more spin. This gargantuan dive into ancient Greek philosophy and justice is melodically rich, laden with atmosphere, and fiercely intelligent. I love how this album stimulates my curiosity. I pore over The Trial of Socrates like a madman, piecing the puzzle together with feverish glee but never quite feeling finished, because every re-listen yields new shapes, new colors, new ideas. It eggs me on to research various topics on ancient Greek history or philosophy, and even made for an unlikely study partner during my long preparations for the German A1 exam. I always feel smarter by the end of it—hubris, I’m sure, but The Trial of Socrates genuinely sparks my imagination in ways few albums do. Time to go listen to “The Phædo” for the zillionth time.

Honorable Mentions:

• Night Flight Orchestra // Give Us The Moon
• Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine

Songs o’ the Year:

• Disarmonia Mundi – “Outcast”

The Dormant Stranger by Disarmonia Mundi

• Jamie Page & Marcy Nabors – “Do No Harm (Ventricular Mix)”

Do No Harm by Jamie Paige, Marcy Nabors, & Penny Parker

• Thumos – “The Phædo”

The Trial of Socrates by Thumos

Disappointment(s) o’ the year:

• The dissolution of Ante-Inferno: After Death’s Soliloquy topped my list last year, I was genuinely gutted to see Ante-Inferno’s post that they were no more. Still, I shall not weep but rather smile that they happened, because Ante-Inferno was a rare breed of genuinely moving black metal. Just that one album rooted itself so deeply within me, and I will be listening for a long time.
• Arno Menses leaving Subsignal: Man, fuck. Fuck. Remember my nuclear-grade glaze of Subsignal, where I might as well have said Menses’ voice single-handedly justified the entire existence of music? How could I not break down in heaving sobs in the middle of this Denny’s when I heard that Menses and Subsignal have parted ways? It sucks, I tell ya. I will still listen to what Subsignal puts out in the future, because Markus Steffen is a talented musician, but it’s going to be a huge adjustment since Menses is nigh irreplaceable.

Samguineous Maximus

#ish. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#10. Primitive Man // Observance
#9. Motherless // Do You Feel Safe?
#8. Deafheaven // Lonely People with Power
#7. Weeping Sores // The Convalescence Agonies
#6. Between the Buried and Me // The Blue Nowhere
#5. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#4. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#3. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2. Crippling Alcoholism // Bible Songs II
#1. Yellow Eyes // Confusion Gate – Yellow Eyes are one of the best black metal bands in the game, and Confusion Gate is their most impressive work to date. It sees the band return to a more traditional atmospheric sound, but with the lessons learned from their explorations of dissonance and ambience. The result is a kaleidoscopic blend of gorgeous melodies, haunting riffs, and a pervasive sense of pathos that only the best art can achieve. Confusion Gate feels like communing with nature from the top of a wintry peak, embodying both impossible grandeur and awesome terror. This is a record that bypasses the analytical reviewer’s brain and just hits me right in the feeling. It offers a unique catharsis in a year where I truly needed it.

Honorable Mentions

• Flummox // Southern Progress
• Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
• Ava Mendoza/Gabby fluke-Mogal/Carolina Pérez // Mama Killa
• Strigiform // Aconite

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “Ladies Night”



Spicie Forrest

#ish. Cryptopsy // An Insatiable Violence
#10. Crimson Shadows // Whispers of War
#9. Oromet // The Sinking Isle
#8. -ii- // Apostles of the Flesh
#7. Suncraft // Welcome to the Coven
#6. Suncraft // Profanation of the Adamic Covenant
#5. Chestcrush // ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Qrixkuor // The Womb of the World
#2. Primitive Man // Observance
#1. Wytch Hazel // V: Lamentations – I know, I’m surprised too. But the bottom line is that I’ve been listening to V: Lamentations front to back at least once a week since it released on the most American of holidays, July 4th. For Steel, Wytch Hazel’s latest didn’t have the same staying power as previous efforts, but Lamentations is the first to truly resonate with me. Though musically consistent with their Wishbone Ash-meets-Eagles style, vocalist Colin Hendra brings a new sense of passion to the record, and the interplay between instruments, vocals, and lyrics hits me like a lightning bolt. Very possibly inspired by the core Christian tenet laid out in Romans 6:23-24,2 Lamentations is a masterful portrayal of what it means to perpetually fail, to know you’ll never be good enough, and in the face of a salvation that renders all efforts, deeds, and accomplishments worthless, to keep striving toward the impossible anyway. Even for godless sinners like me, Lamentations is a beautiful reminder that purpose is found in hardship, that the journey is the goal, and that falling down is merely an opportunity to stand up again.

Honorable Mentions:

• Proscription // Desolate Divine
• Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
• Messa // The Spin
• Bloodywood // Nu Delhi
• Pedestal for Leviathan // Enter: Vampyric Manifestation

Song o’ the Year:

• Yellowcard – “honestly i”

Grin Reaper

(ish) Sallow Moth // Mossbane Lantern
#10. Turian // Blood Quantum Blues
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Lychgate // Precipice
#7. An Abstract Illusion // The Sleeping City
#6. Thron // Vurias
#5. Structure // Heritage
#4. Species // Changelings
#3. Havukruunu // Tavastland
#2. Aephanemer // Utopie
#1. 1914 // Viribus Unitis – I didn’t know Viribus Unitis would be my top album of the year the first time I listened to it, but I knew it would list. 1914’s naked emotion and rousing story of a Ukrainian soldier’s survival through World War I, reconciliation with his family, and inescapable return to war remains as gripping and bittersweet now as it did the first time I heard it. Across adrenaline-fueled riffing, oppressive marches, and somber dirges, 1914 never relents on musical or lyrical weight. Though Viribus Unitis was released late in the year, it quickly became the standard I used to appraise albums while going through listing season. 1914 paints war-torn life with savage grace, supplying devastating melody and grueling crawls that elevate the album to such heights that I’m genuinely moved each time I get to the end. Viribus Unitis is bleak, raw, and human, but for all that, I’m never deterred from listening. Ultimately, 1914 clutches the threads of hope and weaves an aural tapestry that brings tragedy and triumph to life, cementing Viribus Unitis as my undisputed top album of 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Walg // V
• Moron Police // Pachinko
• Defigurement // Endbryo
• Ültra Raptör // Fossilized
• Igorrr // Amen

Songs o’ the Year:

• Aephanemer – “Le Cimetière Marin”

• 1914 – “1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)”

Andy-War-Hall

#ish: Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#10: Changeling // Changeling
#9: Steel Arctus // Dreamruler
#8: Abigail Williams //A Void Within Existence
#7: Petrified Giant // Endless Ark
#6: Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#5: Structure // Heritage
#4: Lipoma // No Cure for the Sick
#3: Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl
#2: Hexrot // Formless Ruin of Oblivion
#1: 1914 // Viribus Unitis – Immersion defines great music and art for me. It is almost unfortunate how good 1914 are in this facet of their music. Their ability to transport the listener to the battlefield in all its violence, both carnal and psychological, is stupefying. The utter dehumanizing hatred with “1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl),” the ravenous bloodlust of “1917 (The Isonzo Front),” the hellish wails haunting “1918 Pt. 1 (WIA – Wounded in Action):” all portrayed vividly through 1914’s brilliantly caustic and composed musicianship and deeply personal lyricism. When Dmytro Ternushchak bellows “For three days / The Russians attacked / And accomplished nothing but / 40,000 dead pigs” [“1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)”], it’s all you need to get into his character’s violent headspace. When 1914 mournfully sing in Ukrainian “Це моя земля”3 [1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)], you grasp how someone could put their life on the line for kin and country. When our soldier sings “My little girl reached out to me / But duty calls” [1919 (The Home Where I Died)]… well, shit, your heart just has to break, right? 1914 don’t play “history metal.” Viribus Unitis is as present and relevant as you can get.

Honorable Mentions:

• Fell Omen // Caelid Dog Summer
• Ophelion // The Jaunt
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Starscourge // Conqueror of the Stars – Betwixt Sundered Seraphim, the Lands Between Bleed

Song o’ the Year:

• Fell Omen – “The Fire is Still Warm”



Lavender Larcenist

#ish Spiritbox // Tsunami Sea
#10. Sold Soul // Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely
#9. Calva Louise // Edge of the Abyss
#8. Dying Wish // Flesh Stays Together
#7. Grima // Nightside
#6. Aversed // Erasure of Color
#5. Deafheaven // Lonely People With Power
#4. Ghost Bath // Rose Thorn Necklace
#3. Changeling // Changeling
#2. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#1. Crippling Alcoholism // Camgirl – Sometimes you listen to music, and you feel like it gets you. Camgirl was exactly that type of album, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me. Ever since Crippling Alcoholism’s latest graced my ears and I shared it with my partner, we have been singing “I fucking hate the way I look, yeah I look like a fat fucking scumbag” way too often and mumbling “Mr. Ran away, ran away from family” every chance we get. The album is dripping with the atmosphere of neon-lit back rooms, seedy interactions, and terrible decision-making. It feels like a lens into the lives of those society has left behind, and I can’t help but feel a connection. The self-destructive nihilism, drugged-out sex, and abrupt violence that is all too common in those on the margins of life is something I think more and more we can all relate to, and Camgirl is the art that mirrors society back to us. As a result, it is an album that is just as ugly as it is terrifying and beautiful.

Honorable Mentions:

• Shadow of Intent // Imperium Delirium
• Pupil Slicer // Fleshwork
• 1914 // Viribus Unitis

Song o’ the Year:

• Crippling Alcoholism – “bedrot”

Creeping Ivy

#ish. Nite // Cult of the Serpent Sun
#10. Blackbraid // Blackbraid III
#9. Flummox // Southern Progress
#8. 1914 // Viribus Unitis
#7. Cave Sermon // Fragile Wings
#6. Saor // Amidst the Ruins
#5. Imperial Triumphant // Goldstar
#4. Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth
#3. Coroner // Dissonance Theory
#2. Messa // The Spin
#1. Havukruunu // Tavastland – On their Bandcamp page, Havukruunu explain the concept of their fourth LP: ‘Tavastland tells how in 1237 the Tavastians rose in rebellion against the church of Christ and drove the popes naked into the frost to die.’ Sounds like the metal album of 2025 to me! But I didn’t crown Tavastland for its lyrics that I can’t understand. As Dr. A.N. Grier has been exhorting for a decade, Havukruunu stands as a model of Viking black metal consistency, having dropped only very good-to-great albums since 2015. Tavastland isn’t a radical improvement over 2020’s Uinuous syömein sota, but it’s an (arguably excellent) improvement nonetheless, making it Havukruunu’s finest work yet. Yes, these fiery Finns forge sounds reminiscent of Bathory and Immortal, but Tavastland seized my attention for its adventurous prog sensibilities. Some of this can be attributed to the return of Hümo, whose bass rattles like the four strings of Geddy Lee. But the prog is deep in the album craft, from the overture-style modulations of opener “Kuolematon laulunhenki” to the extended guitar wankery of closer “De miseriis fennorum.” Now if only I can learn Finnish, I’ll be able to appreciate the killer anti-popery narrative while headbanging to my Record o’ 2025.

Honorable Mentions:

• Am I in Trouble? // Spectrum
• Blut Aus Nord // Ethereal Horizons
• In Mourning // The Immortal
• Oromet // The Sinking Isle
• Wyatt E. // Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1

Song o’ the Year:

• Phantom Spell – “The Autumn Citadel”



Baguette of Bodom

#ish. In the Woods… // Otra
#10. Species // Changelings
#9. Dragon Skull // Chaos Fire Vengeance
#8. A-Z // A2Z²
#7. Apocalypse Orchestra // A Plague upon Thee
#6. Amorphis // Borderland
#5. Dolmen Gate // Echoes of Ancient Tales
#4. Dormant Ordeal // Tooth and Nail
#3. Amalekim // Shir Hashirim
#2. Suotana // Ounas II
#1. Buried Realm // The Dormant Darkness – Melodic tech death? Symphonic power metal? Who knows! Much like my 2025 in general, The Dormant Darkness has a bit of everything in one gigantic clusterfuck. The great news is, neither I nor the album crumbled under all that weight. In a year full of odd twists and turns, my list became more varied and unusual than ever. Buried Realm took this variety and gave me everything I like about metal in one dense package: blazing speeds, soaring guitars, majestic vocals, and relentless fury. It’s also inexplicably well-produced for how many layers there are to deal with. While 2025 was not a particularly star-studded release year—especially compared to most of the 2020s so far—it threw plenty of fun curveballs at me, and The Dormant Darkness exemplifies this with its Xothian fusion of metal subgenres in one big Ophidian I blender ov shred. I would also like to request several Christian Älvestam features on every album, please.

Honorable Mentions:

• Victim of Fire // The Old Lie
• Dawn of Solace // Affliction Vortex
• Dynazty // Game of Faces
• Coroner // Dissonance Theory
• Hooded Menace // Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Song o’ the Year:

• Dragon Skull – “Blood and Souls”

Chaos Fire Vengeance by Dragon Skull

Gazpacho evokes images of hot Andalusian afternoons. This iconic Spanish dish has an old and complex history. #FoodHistory #FoodCulture #FoodCultureBites #Food #SpanishCuisine #Spainishfood #gazpacho foodculturebites.com/gazpachos-ti...

A Spoonful of Spain: Gazpacho’...

Gazpacho evokes images of hot Andalusian afternoons. This iconic Spanish dish has an old and complex history. #FoodHistory #FoodCulture #FoodCultureBites #Food #SpanishCuisine #Spainishfood #gazpacho foodculturebites.com/gazpachos-ti...

A Spoonful of Spain: Gazpacho’...

Gazpacho evokes images of hot Andalusian afternoons. This iconic Spanish dish has an old and complex history. #FoodHistory #FoodCulture #FoodCultureBites #Food #SpanishCuisine #Spainishfood #gazpacho foodculturebites.com/gazpachos-ti...

A Spoonful of Spain: Gazpacho’...

Gazpacho evokes images of hot Andalusian afternoons. This iconic Spanish dish has an old and complex history. #FoodHistory #FoodCulture #FoodCultureBites #Food #SpanishCuisine #Spainishfood #gazpacho foodculturebites.com/gazpachos-ti...

A Spoonful of Spain: Gazpacho’...

Gestapo Soup

“Here’s your soup, sir.”

“Hmm… wait a second. That’s not what I ordered.”

“Oh?”

“Why is there Third Reich regalia decorating the bowl and a swastika in the middle.”

“What did you order?”

“The Gestapo soup.”

“This *is* the Gestapo soup, sir.”

“I see steam rising from it. Isn’t it supposed to be served cold?”

“Sir is mistaken. *Gazpacho* soup is served cold. Gestapo soup is served hot.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s what I meant to order. Gazpacho soup! Please take this back to the kitchen and give me some Gazpacho soup!”

“I cannot do this, sir.”

“Why?”

“Once ordered, the Gestapo soup must be consumed by the person who ordered it.”

“But… I’m smelling it now, and this soup stinks! It probably tastes awful, too.”

“That’s Gestapo soup for you.”

“I won’t eat it.”

“Eating it *is* mandatory, and you must eat it with a smile because your enjoyment of it is also mandatory.”

“Wait a second! What’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“This, here!”

“Oh… hmm… it looks like an antifascist fell into your soup.”

“Well, well. Take it back to the kitchen, and bring me my soup!”

“As you wish, sir”

[A little later.]

“Here’s your soup, sir, with apologies from the kitchen staff.”

“That’s not my soup.”

“Yes, Gestapo soup, as you ordered.”

“But I wanted Gazpacho.”

“As I said, earlier, sir, once ordered, Gestapo soup must be consumed by the person who ordered it.”

“I won’t eat it!”

“Well… we’ll have to force-feed it to you. Bob! We have a recalcitrant customer here! Now, please smile! Remember that enjoyment of the Gestapo soup is mandatory.”

“Please hold on!”

“Once you’re done with the soup, you can have your dessert. I see you ordered pain au chocolat. Judging by the screams coming out of the kitchen, your chocolate pain is being prepared right now.”

“Now…”

“Ah, Bob! Let’s get down to business…”

#TheDailyIsotope #AutisticWriters #microfiction #Gestapo #gazpacho

#autisticwriters #gazpacho #gestapo #microfiction #thedailyisotope

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#LunaticSoul: The World Under Unsun

https://album.link/t/453644907

#Ambient #ProgressiveRock

FFO #Airbag #Gazpacho #ThePineappleThief

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#LunaticSoul: The World Under Unsun

https://album.link/t/453644907

#Ambient #ProgressiveRock

FFO #Airbag #Gazpacho #ThePineappleThief

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#LunaticSoul: The World Under Unsun

https://album.link/t/453644907

#Ambient #ProgressiveRock

FFO #Airbag #Gazpacho #ThePineappleThief

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#LunaticSoul: The World Under Unsun

https://album.link/t/453644907

#Ambient #ProgressiveRock

FFO #Airbag #Gazpacho #ThePineappleThief

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#LunaticSoul: The World Under Unsun

https://album.link/t/453644907

#Ambient #ProgressiveRock

FFO #Airbag #Gazpacho #ThePineappleThief

Buenas, 🙋‍♀️

Esperamos que estéis bien, en especial por las zonas en alerta por inundaciones. ☔☔☔

Nuestro #LunesDeCestas es cada vez más otoñal. Van reduciendo los #Tomates 🍅 pero aún quedan para un #gazpacho o #salmorejo antes de pasar definitivamente a la cuchara.
También #pimientos, que todavía están en su momento. Y la #Kale, que se abre paso semana a semana.

Tenemos también #cebollas #pepinos y #Ajos. Y media #calabaza.

Finalmente, unas matas jóvenes de #ColChina que crecieron de forma espontánea a partir del cultivo anterior. Y que ha habido que deshierbar. Pero que son aprovechables. 😋

Buena semana y cuidaos. 🤗

Buenas, 🙋‍♀️

Esperamos que estéis bien, en especial por las zonas en alerta por inundaciones. ☔☔☔

Nuestro #LunesDeCestas es cada vez más otoñal. Van reduciendo los #Tomates 🍅 pero aún quedan para un #gazpacho o #salmorejo antes de pasar definitivamente a la cuchara.
También #pimientos, que todavía están en su momento. Y la #Kale, que se abre paso semana a semana.

Tenemos también #cebollas #pepinos y #Ajos. Y media #calabaza.

Finalmente, unas matas jóvenes de #ColChina que crecieron de forma espontánea a partir del cultivo anterior. Y que ha habido que deshierbar. Pero que son aprovechables. 😋

Buena semana y cuidaos. 🤗

Buenas, 🙋‍♀️

Esperamos que estéis bien, en especial por las zonas en alerta por inundaciones. ☔☔☔

Nuestro #LunesDeCestas es cada vez más otoñal. Van reduciendo los #Tomates 🍅 pero aún quedan para un #gazpacho o #salmorejo antes de pasar definitivamente a la cuchara.
También #pimientos, que todavía están en su momento. Y la #Kale, que se abre paso semana a semana.

Tenemos también #cebollas #pepinos y #Ajos. Y media #calabaza.

Finalmente, unas matas jóvenes de #ColChina que crecieron de forma espontánea a partir del cultivo anterior. Y que ha habido que deshierbar. Pero que son aprovechables. 😋

Buena semana y cuidaos. 🤗

Buenas, 🙋‍♀️

Esperamos que estéis bien, en especial por las zonas en alerta por inundaciones. ☔☔☔

Nuestro #LunesDeCestas es cada vez más otoñal. Van reduciendo los #Tomates 🍅 pero aún quedan para un #gazpacho o #salmorejo antes de pasar definitivamente a la cuchara.
También #pimientos, que todavía están en su momento. Y la #Kale, que se abre paso semana a semana.

Tenemos también #cebollas #pepinos y #Ajos. Y media #calabaza.

Finalmente, unas matas jóvenes de #ColChina que crecieron de forma espontánea a partir del cultivo anterior. Y que ha habido que deshierbar. Pero que son aprovechables. 😋

Buena semana y cuidaos. 🤗

Buenos días, en especial a las buenas gentes que salen a las calles por Palestina. 😘😘😘

El #LunesDeCestas vuelve a ser de récord. Casi 16kg y hemos tenido que apanoramizar la foto para que cupiera todo. 📸

Destacan dos ricos #melones y el consabido montón de #pimientos. Esta vez sobredosis de italianos. Y un puñado de los gordos.
#Tomates 🍅🍅🍅 para #gazpacho, #salmorejo, #ensalada y freír o lo que se os ocurra.
Unas hojas de #kale.
#Calabacines, #pepinos, #perejil, y una #berenjena blanca gordota.

¡Buena y saludable semana! 🤗

Kalte #Gemüsesuppe an heißen Tagen
Der #Sommer neigt sich dem Ende zu – aber noch können einige heiße Tage kommen! An diesen ist ist eine #Gazpacho genau das Richtige: frisch, leicht und bestenfalls sogar mit Zutaten direkt aus dem #Garten.

Hier geht’s zum #Rezept:

https://dreschflegel-saatgut.de/rezepte/rezepte-gazpacho.php

Kalte #Gemüsesuppe an heißen Tagen
Der #Sommer neigt sich dem Ende zu – aber noch können einige heiße Tage kommen! An diesen ist ist eine #Gazpacho genau das Richtige: frisch, leicht und bestenfalls sogar mit Zutaten direkt aus dem #Garten.

Hier geht’s zum #Rezept:

https://dreschflegel-saatgut.de/rezepte/rezepte-gazpacho.php

Record(s) o’ the Month – July 2025

By Angry Metal Guy

In this mad dash towards relevance and timeliness, it can be tough to come up with things to say that don’t feel a little cliché. But the reality is that this whole path has been leading here. I had hoped to have a really special surprise ready for this day, but alas, I have pulled a classic Attention Deficit Disorder Guy move, filling my schedule up with stuff that hits me right in the dopamine. I’ve got reviews to write, n00bs to torture, and I have a fancy new vacuum cleaner that both vacuums and mops, so my apartment is as clean as it has ever been. I watched that K-pop Demon Hunters movie, and listened to this incredible vocal cover of it from the singer of Twilight Force way too many times. I got a crash course in super cheesy Latin ballads since the 1980s. I wrote a long-ass post about Why Spotify Sucks n’ Shit and then fought with everyone in the comments for days. I am an unregulated, but surprisingly productive, bench.1 So, sans surprise, I am soldiering on to bring you the Record(s) o’ the Month for July 2025, as close as I’ve been to on time all year. Incidentally, the Record o’ the Month matches my messy bench energy pretty much perfectly.

I told you that Calva Louise’s most recent opus—entitled Edge of the Abyss [Bandcamp] and out July 11th, 2025, from Mascot Records—was going to be my most controversial Record o’ the Month since Our Oceans.2 I don’t think it should be, of course. I think it should be appreciated for the fascinating blend of genres that it represents, as well as the talent—and sheer drive—of a band that truly has dragged itself through the dregs of a dying music industry with an incredible DIY ethic to produce a kick ass record with a gorgeous and powerful blend of ideas. Edge of the Abyss is an act of becoming, a sketch, a step towards finally getting one’s vision down on paper, tape, or film. It’s adventurous, thoughtful, beautiful, and diverse—an invigorating assemblage of ideas ranging from groovecore to Viennese classical to música llanera, spanning the globe and decades for inspiration. It’s music that is truly progressive, if not overly technical. But setting that aside, Edge of the Abyss just works. The fragments have a cinematic feel that the band carries through to its visual profile, with strong songwriting and a cinematic universe that they have been trying to bring into being for four albums. As an overly excited Me Myself gushed to anyone who would listen: “Some records sound big, and some records feel big. Edge of the Abyss does both. It feels big because it has ideas, and it succeeds because it commits to those ideas with zero regard for genre gatekeeping or scene politics. It’s weird, catchy, and gleefully sophisticated, with every song bringing something unique to the table. Every idea and every arrangement counts. It’s a banger parade,” and it’s a promise that there’s so much more to come.

A special note: Calva Louise will be going on their first headlining tour of the US this September [find dates and tickets]. Go see them and tell them that Angry Metal Guy sent you.

Runner(s) Up:

Sarastus // Agony Eternal [July 1st, 2025 | Dominance of Darkness Records | Bandcamp] — One of the best things about being Angry Metal Guy is being able to ask people during arguments which of us has “the eponymous website that hundreds of thousands of people visit monthly.” A close second is discovering shit that no one has heard of and throwing it into the chat, all “Oh, Grier, you need to check out Sarastus! Great black metal without the label atmospheric anywhere near it!” Because I knew from the word go that Agony Eternal was something special and whatever It is, Sarastus has It in spades.3 There’s a specific vibe here that reminds me not just of the sound of late-90s/early-00s melodic black metal, but the feel—hungry, heavy, and addictive. Sarastus doesn’t lean away from attack, but neither do these Finns just blanket the world in blast beats; they find strength in diversity and slick songwriting. Agony Eternal is the kind of record that reminds you of why black metal was such a vital gateway to extreme metal once upon a time. Fast, heavy, extreme, and melodic, it evokes the exact feeling that I need from my black metal: Agony Eternal. And I wasn’t alone, an excited, nimble-fingered Kenfrenstrosity swiped Sarastus from both Myself and Grier, and then rode that hype machine over the cliff like a Once and Future King: “Agony Eternal is a nonstop party. With almost poppy energy, Sarastus captured with remarkable simplicity and undeniable effectiveness the passion and conviction that made black metal of this kind a sensation. But I hear more than just black metal purism. I hear a confident, exuberant soul rooted in rock n’ roll rebellion, forged in timeless techniques, and steeped in metallic traditions across the spectrum.” Sarastus, Life of the Party!

Impureza // Alcázares [July 11th, 2025 | Season of Mist | Bandcamp] — When it comes to inventive ways to make your death metal cooler, Impureza has one of my favorites. The blending of flamenco—one of the world’s coolest non-metal styles of music—and death metal is a hard row to hoe, but somehow these French death metallers have gotten the balance right. This wasn’t always the case, but Alcázares is the perfect refinement of what was already a pretty well-developed idea. What’s fun is that Impureza has started taking on an almost melodic death feel at times, reminiscent of Æeternam at their best.4 But there’s a brutality evocative of the era in death metal history when Black Seeds of Vengeance was considered to be the peak of death metal evolution. And at this point, I’m just fucking here for all of it. In My Frothy Excitement, I sandblasted the Internet with words: “Alcázares is Impureza at their most ambitious: historically immersed, sonically expansive, blasphemous, and super into alternative histories of colonialism.5 Alcázares is a violent, poetic invocation of Spain’s medieval imagination, and it sports an enchanting vibe that recalls some of the best records I own. Seven years of development resulted in a record full of tight riffs, beautiful guitar work, intense compositions, and somehow a Necromancer. I would say that I hope to see something from them soon, but I’m happy to wait another seven years for another record of this quality.” Enjoy ov Orphaned-Land-Sized Breaks between Albums. I’ll be ready for you to blow my mind again in 2032.

Phantom Spell // Heather & Hearth [July 18th, 2025 | Cruz del Sur Music | Bandcamp] — Phantom Spell was a real surprise for me. Sometimes you go into a record knowing you like the band. But Phantom Spell, I wouldn’t have looked twice at it if I hadn’t just clicked play on the promo. And man, it’s risky having a 12-minute track as the opener for your album. But that’s the kind of risk that Kyle McNeill takes and, honestly, it paid off. I knew Heather & Hearth was going to be quality when I bobbed my head through the whole 11 minutes and 51 seconds of “The Autumn Citadel,” only to look up and realize it was 11 minutes and 51 seconds long. And that’s the trick with Heather & Hearth; it catches you off guard. Whether it’s the organ tones stolen directly from The Snow Goose, the guitar solos that taste like shag carpet, or the vocal harmonies that make Mikael Åkerfeldt jelly, everything works to perfection while sounding great. Rather than feeling like nostalgiacore, Phantom Spell feels authentic, powerful, and is a truly addictive listen. As I babbled as loudly as anyone would allow me: “This is a great record, and the only thing left for Heather & Hearth to prove is that it has staying power. From the opening ‘bew bew bews’ of the organs, to the *insert nature sounds here* that close the album out, Heather & Hearth is a triumphant exploration of songwriting from a different time. Phantom Spell makes me genuinely long for a time when it would have been impossible for Phantom Spell—a solo project—to exist. And that’s an amazing success.”

#2025 #AgonyEternal #Alcázares #BlogPost #CalvaLouise #EdgeOfTheAbyss #Gazpacho #HeatherHearth #Impureza #Jul25 #MascotRecords #MúsicaLlanera #PhantomSpell #Sarastus #TwilightForce