The musings of Beanis

🎶 My favorite heavy music of 2025

Welcome, my friends!

It's finally here! I made it with only one day to spare. 😁

I usually call this my "metal" list, but I've found that this is simply too narrow of a moniker. With this new name, the list can include anything from rock to punk to metal, and can even include some electronic subgenres as well. Seeing that the only real common denominator to everything in my list is the ability to produce stankface, I feel like just calling it "heavy music" is a much more appropriate naming.

I've been listening to an abnormal amount of music this year, so this post is going to be quite a bit longer than the ones I've done in the past. I'll be presenting a set of top three or top five picks per subgenre (or within similar subgenres). I'm also limiting the amount of honorable mentions to a maximum of three per subgenre.

It is my sincere hope that, despite the enormous amount of content, you'll find something which you've never heard of, and end up loving it.

Due to the sheer number of entries I'll try to be brief with my descriptions, and rather let the music speak for itself through embedded YouTube videos for a selected song, alongside links to Bandcamp or some other source of purchase for each full album.

Now, strap in, and let's get this show on the road!



Not quite my cup of tea ☕

This year my list starts off with a new thing I'm going to call the "Not quite my cup of tea" category; This is where I'll put all the albums I've listened to this year which I've seen several reviewers or music communities put in their own AOTY-lists, but simply didn't make the cut for my personal top picks.

If you're even a casual fan of heavy music, do yourself a favor and check these albums out based on their genre. Even if they didn't particularly grab me, the metal community at large seem to be rating the following records quite high this year. The ones marked with a star (⭐) seem to be especially popular.


2025 favorites that weren't from 2025

Every year I also come across a couple of albums that didn't necessarily come out the year I discovered them, but still became musical staples of that year for me personally. In 2025, these particular releases from the past became regular listening:


Alright, let's get to the top picks! 😃



HEAVY METAL / GOTH METAL


Nite - Cult of the Serpent Sun

Easily one of my most repeated listens of the year. Proper heavy metal with a touch of blackened vocals. Despite it being far from brutal or intense, it still stands out as one of the most metal releases of 2025.


Hooded Menace - Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

I'd heard this band's prior release in 2021, but that didn't grab me like this one did. Amazing song-writing and atmosphere, while staying heavy and true to its doom metal roots.


Lord of the Lost - OPVS NOIR Vol. 1

The most mainstream album on my list this year, as least as far as style and sound go. Symphonic goth metal featuring clean and deep male vocals and synthesizers. Plenty of memorable hooks, and stomping choruses that encourage sing-alongs in the style of bands like Rammstein.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



PROGRESSIVE METAL


An Abstract Illusion - The Sleeping City

I'd heard this band's previous release "Woe" back in 2022. I remember there being buzz around it but never really listened to it properly. I'm glad I listened to this one. Solid stuff here, a vast and sprawling journey of riffs and melodies with amazing songwriting.


Dormant Ordeal - Tooth and Nail

Masterful blackened progressive death metal here. Maybe also the most technically impressive on the entire list this year. Intense, raw, and haunting.


In Mourning - The Immortal

Absolutely gorgeous album from In Mourning. Grandiose and epic soundscapes intermixed with very competent melodic death metal. Some of these choruses are the best I've ever heard in this genre.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



THRASH METAL


Graveripper - From Welkin to Tundra

Modern and well produced blackened thrash metal that takes absolutely no prisoners. Devastating in the best possible way.


Cult Member - GORE

A freaking amazing record from this fairly unknown Norwegian band. High octane thrash/crossover with great energy and speed, and probably takes the prize for longest scream of the year.


Struck A Nerve - Struck A Nerve

Unrelenting, groovy and bodacious modern thrash metal ala Slayer. Full throttle! Headbanging commence!


HONORABLE MENTIONS



FOLK METAL / POWER METAL


Eluveitie - Ànv

Another beautiful piece of work by Eluveitie. Goes surprisingly hard at times for a folk metal album. Not that I'm complaining, it just keeps taking me by surprise the way they contrast the hard stuff versus the soft and angelic voice of their female vocalist.


Owlbear - Feather and Claw

A fun concept band which is very obviously inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. What I particularly like about this one is that you can hear the bassist really working those riffs.


Trold - I Skovens Rige

This is the one I kept coming back to this year if I just wanted to listen to something fun. The music just brings a smile to anyone's face whenever I put it on. Cheerful, catchy, highly enjoyable.



BLACK METAL


1914 - Viribus Unitis

You'd think that a band that only makes music about World War 1 would eventually get stale, but man, they just seem to be getting better. This is one of the best metal records of the year, full stop. Grand, dark, and menacing.


Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

I gushed over this album when I mentioned it in my August roundup, and my opinion has not changed one bit. A dynamic and varied black metal record with a clear identity and sound. Just brilliant stuff.


Sigh - I Saw The World's End (Hangman's Hymn MMXXV)

A completely unhinged (complementary) record from this Japanese metal outfit. I know it's a rerecording of an older album, but I honestly don't care. This was the first I'd ever heard of it, and it's a really interesting and complex work with a lot of flare.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



HARDCORE / CROSSOVER


End It - Wrong Side Of Heaven

The purest hardcore record this year, with raw unbridled energy, charm and gusto. I can sense the genuine enthusiasm of the band, and it's a lot of fun.


False Reality - Faded Intentions

I stand by my initial assessment of this album back in November; This thing fucks. It's heavy, it's powerful, and full of great riffs which keep the album interesting from start to finish.


No Apologies - Life

A fast and thrashy crossover record packing a whole lot of punch and emotional maturity. Probably my favorite of the lot this year.


King Parrot - A Young Person's Guide To

The wildest and most intense entry for this subgenre this year. I love that the vocalist has this AC/DC tinge to his vocal timbre, and that the band clearly gives no fucks. This is a bulldozer of a record, often tilting over into full grindcore.


Orthodox - A Door Left Open

An album featuring a style of hardcore much in the same vein as Kublai Khan, so needless to say I took an instant liking to this one. Angry knuckle-dragging shit.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



METALCORE


Avralize - Liminal

I don't know if it's the genre as a whole that's evolving, but this album feels experimental in a very good way. It switches on a dime between funky and electronic passages and back into full metalcore riffs and breakdowns. The catchy melodies ensures some staying power beyond the randomness.


Unprocessed - Angel

A wild and electronically tinged metalcore record which still goes insanely hard from time to time. And that bass tone is just sooo satisfying. It's not full-on KoRn style, but I love me some bass slapping.


Vianova - Hit It!

Another album that seems very experimental and avantgarde for a metalcore record, but listening to it I'd have a hard time classifying it as anything else. The instrumentation here is all over the place, but it still manages to stay within the lines to produce a coherent and interesting album with some very fun songwriting choices.



DEATHCORE


Despised Icon - Shadow Work

This band has commanded my respect for a long time. They were pioneers of the deathcore genre and did it in a way that no one else has since. This record is no exception, it's intense as hell, and is chock full of great songs.


Kneel Before The Death - Kneel Before The Death

This debut self-titled record from this Finnish band blew me away with its technical prowess and focus. These young lads definitely did their homework before writing these songs, and I'm very excited to hear what they come up with next. And honestly; My favorite album artwork on the list, hence it being the thumbnail for this post. 😁


Netherwalker - Odyssey of Respair

Another symphonic deathcore release, this one being mostly inspired by high fantasy and TTRPGs. Amazing vocal performance coupled with high octane blast beats and grimy guitars makes for a great listen.


Pathogenic - Crowned In Corpses

A really solid record from Pathogenic. Fantastic songwriting, interesting melodies, great variety and dynamics. Very melodeath in its approach, and in a good way.


The Acacia Strain - You Are Safe From God Here

This deathcore record leans more into the death side of things, and I think this might be my favorite of the bunch. Just really solid grooves, riffs, beats, and absolute brutality all around. Despite there being a distinct lack of melody here compared to the other entries on the list, it never feels stale or monotonous due to the individual songs never outstaying their welcome.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



DEATH METAL


Caustic Phlegm - Purulent Apocalypse

This solo project from Scotland is the absolute filthiest record on the list this year. It sounds like it was recorded on tape in some nasty and moldy basement somewhere, and there was an unwashed toilet there for some reason which the vocalist chugged from to perform his gurgles.


Heteropsy - Embalming

Japanese death doom with a very gritty tone and production. One of the most stankface-inducing records of the year due to its low tempos and guitar tone.


Last Retch - Abject Cruelty

This one definitely takes the prize for grooviest death metal in 2025. At points it can even sound like a groove metal record, but it never strays too far from its death metal tone and mood.


Sanguisugabogg - Hideous Aftermath

The rawest and deepest record of the bunch. Just an absolute beast of an album with amazing and punchy production, and the slappiest bass drums of the year.


Sphere - Inferno

Atmospheric and epic blackened death metal full of blast beats, chugs, and soaring solos. I love the religious imagery and latin song titles as well. In my opinion this release is one of the most slept on in 2025.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



TECHNICAL DEATH METAL


Crypts of Despair - We Belong In The Grave

Epic brutal technical death metal with great atmosphere, technical prowess and powerful gravelly vocals. This very much grew on me throughout the year.


Harvested - Dysthymia

The absolute insanity of this record cannot be overstated. It's absolutely relentless from start to finish in the best possible way. Each time I go back to it I just get floored all over again from the sheer intensity of it.


Stillbirth - Survival Protocol

This concept album has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek, but still has amazing riffs, brutal vocals, rolling drums, and great leads.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



MELODIC DEATH METAL


Bloodred Hourglass - We Should Be Buried Like This

Here we have some really good melodic death metal that stays true to the tenets of the genre without losing its modern edge. Amazing choruses, great guitar harmonies, what else do you need?


Orbit Culture - Death Above Life

I'll admit it, I think this is one of the heaviest records I've ever heard in this particular subgenre, by a decent margin. I absolutely love how pummeling this band can be when they really exert themselves. It rocks, plain and simple.


The Halo Effect - March Of The Unheard

Another very well produced melodeath album out of Sweden. A bit more cookie cutter than the other two, but the catchiness of the melodies and choruses on this one cannot be denied.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



THE REST

These are albums from subgenres where I couldn't justify a full top three for each, but I still feel like they belong on the list as my favorites from the year. Naturally, there are no limits to the top picks or honorable mentions here.


Fox Lake - New World Heat

I never thought rap metal as a genre would ever be on any of my AOTY lists ever again, but here we are. In the words of the band's frontman; "It's like Limp Bizkit, but heavier".


Honningbarna - Soft Spot

An unrelenting, unique, and wild noise rock/hardcore record from these crazy Norwegian veterans. The track "MP5" stands as one of my favorite songs of the year.


Igorrr - Amen

A progressive cacophany of sounds, instruments, electronics, percussions and vocals all coherently composed and arranged into very interesting and dynamic industrial metal music. Probably the most left-field album of the year.


Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out

An absolute blast of a girl punk record which has borne repeated listens for me since it came out in January. A release that commands respect and attention.


Net-Ruiner - Prototype

This instrumental techno-infused industrial power house of an album sounds like the soundtrack to a cyberpunk drug raid gone horribly wrong. I love this sound so much, and I'm sad that this particular genre is so niche. It's just so much fun.


Oromet - The Sinking Isle

A doom metal album which lasts for 43 minutes, spread across only three tracks. This one is epic in every sense of the word, and demands all of your attention while listening. A huge undertaking, and a very impressive performance.


Pupil Slicer - Fleshwork

I think this is the best mathcore band in the scene at the moment, and this record is grating, dissonant, uncomfortable and so, so good.


Restraining Order - Future Fortune

Punk record of the year for me. Absolutely nails the sound and tone that this music is supposed to have. Very enjoyable.


Soulfly - Chama

Out of all the "indigenous metal" albums I listened to this year, this one by far went the hardest. Amazing energy, power and groove, coupled with fantastic south American style percussion and melodies.


Veneficus Sarcina - Being And Morbidity

Mid-tempo black'n'roll with amazing groove, nasty guitar tone and garage-like production. Produces plenty of shit-eating grins.


HONORABLE MENTIONS



And we're done!

Alright you guys, that was a lot! Let's have a quick recap:

These are by far the biggest numbers I've ever produced doing a list like this, and if I keep going at the same pace in 2026 I'm sure there will be just as many, if not more.

As you know, I ditched Spotify to find another streaming service that was at least somewhat ethical, and ended up subscribing to Qobuz. Therefore, you will find the entire list of favorites there. If you want a list of my honorable mentions, I have that too! Hopefully this will make it a bit easier for some of you to listen to all this stuff.

If you happen to discover something new by reading this list, and you end up loving it, I would love to hear from you on Bluesky so I can connect with my fellow metalheads out there.

Alright, the plan for January is to compile a "The Ones I Missed"-list for 2025 which includes albums that I found while doing the rounds in December but had no time to include in this post. I'm pretty sure there will be some bangers there as well.

I'll see you next year. Peace! ✌️😉

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