What were your top 10 albums of the year?

Since I’m predominantly a metal fan, that’s what my picks were.

(In no particular order):
Lazer Throne- Tomb of the Lunar Oracle

Blackbraid- III

Haggus- Destination Extinction

1914- Viribus Unitis

One of Nine- Dawn of the Iron Shadow

Castle Rat- The Bestiary

Labyrinthus Stellarum- Rift in Reality

Evoken- Mendacium

Bloody Valkyria- In Our Home, Across the Fog

Haimad- When Night Rode Across the North

Little Simz - Lotus

Best rapper doing it today.

I bought this one, too, and it’s great. I’ll have to check out the others.


for me, my top album was easily:

Neko Case- Neon Grey Midnight Green (beautiful work throughout)


Others that I listened to quite a bit, in no particular order:

Castle Rat- The Bestiary (solid metal)

The Sound of Animals Fighting- The Maiden (noise rock, a few bad songs but overall great)

Steve Hauschildt- Aeropsia (spacey ambient electronic goodness)

Makaya McCraven- Off the Record (4 new EPs in one release)

Lorien Testard- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (excellent game score)

Farron- Patience EP (deep bass grooves)

Abor & Tynna- Bittersüß (best dance album of the year from one of the more underrated acts out of Eurovision 2025)

Turnstile- NEVER ENOUGH (hardcore and pop have never worked so well, and they put on an energetic show)

Macie Stewart- When the Distance is Blue (piano music and ambient vibes)

AVTT/PTTN (enjoyed this collaboration more than I anticipated. More for Avett Bros fans than Patton fans)


Good but not great
The Antlers- Blight

Thrice- Horizons West

Deftones- private music



Best re-issues

Autechre- Quaristice 4xLP and Untilted 2xLP (bleeps, bloops, gonks, and more)

Makaya McCraven- Universal Beings IA11 edition (‘new’ jazz is good jazz)

Me too, but I'm lazy so I'm just going to list my three favorites in no particular order. To be fair, I've been a fan of all three bands since their respective first albums came out, so I may be biased, but these are solid releases for all of them.

Havukruunu - Tavastland

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Cradle of Filth - The Screaming of the Valkyries

The two best albums I heard this year:

Peter Murphy - Silver Shade

Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts - Talkin' To The Trees
Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Behemoth - The Shit Ov God
Ghost - Skeletá
Alice Cooper - The Revenge Of Alice Cooper
Dream Theater - Parasomnia
Lady Gaga - Mayhem
Maren Morris - Dreamsicle
Nine Inch Nails - Tron Ares soundtrack

I gave the new Wet Leg and Geese albums that everyone was raving about a shot but they did nothing for me. Thank goodness for reissues and boxsets of old people music.

Wolf Alice – The Clearing
Pulp – More
Turnstile – Never Enough
Geese – Getting Killed
Florence + the Machine - Everybody Scream
Arthur Buck - Arthur Buck 2

I need to spend some more time with this album, so far it hasn't really connected with me as much as their previous albums have (The Satanist is still my favorite of theirs, I love that album). I had preordered a limited, autographed vinyl of The Shit Ov God from the band's website, I just need to sit down and "absorb" it a bit more (listening to vinyl on my stereo system is the best way for me to really appreciate an album, the experience is more immersive).

Behemoth - The Shit Ov God
Ghost - Skeletá
Alice Cooper - The Revenge Of Alice Cooper
Lady Gaga - Mayhem
Nine Inch Nails - Tron Ares soundtrack

In band/artist order:

A-Z - A2Z2
Brass Camel - Camel
Dream Theater - Parasomnia
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island
Lars Fredrik Froislie - Gamle Mester
Moron Police - Pachinko
Spock's Beard​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ - The Archaeoptimist
Steven Wilson - The Overview

My favorites mostly came from my usual suspects. In no particular order...

Jinjer - Duel
Havukruunu - Tavastland
Grima - Nightside
Messa - The Spin
Styx - Circling From Above
Epica - Aspiral

I need to check this out.

Another mostly metal guy

Dead Heat - Process of Elimination
Deathhammer - Crimson Dawn
Interceptor - Metal Death
Phantom - Tyrants of Wrath
Warfield - With the Old Breed
Sanguisugabogg - Hideous Aftermath
Coroner - Dissonance Theory
Viogression - Thaumaturgic Veil
Deafheaven - Lonely People with Power
Venator - Psychodrome

seemed to be on a speed metal kick this year

Oof, I forgot about this one, I really liked it as well. It was weird that after years of buying Grima and Havukruunu albums directly from their previous label Naturmacht, they both signed with larger labels (Napalm and Svart respectively) I had to go elsewhere for their new albums (you can actually buy them on Amazon now, their Naturmacht albums didn't even have UPC codes on the back ). But good for them if they got a better record deal.

You metal nerds have given me a few albums to remind myself to check out

I'm still not convinced that most of those are real bands.

Lady Gaga - MAYHEM
Geese - Getting Killed
Lords - Virgin
Lilly Allen - West End Girl

I'd imagine that a bunch of words in my paragraph a few posts up look completely made up to people not immersed in the metal world.

You introduced me to Grima, Cultshock! The first time I heard of them was in this forum. Hopefully, the Napalm deal will give them more exposure. I peruse a bunch of Yotube Metal channels, and this year was the first time any of them mentioned Grima. A great cold weather band.

Oh yeah, cool! I'm hoping the same thing with the new record deal. And yes, they are perfect for this time of year. I'd love to see them do a North American tour, but with the band being from Russia, I'm not holding my breath that will happen.