“All good things come to those who wait” is a bit of an annoying idiom, but only if you interpret its meaning in a very passive and entitled way that amounts to, “Well, if I just sit here minding my own business, something good will eventually fall into my lap.”
Of course, the phrase’s true intention is meant to underscore the importance of patience—famously emphasized by brands such as Guinness and Heinz—which, when combined with an active pursuit of ‘the good things in life’, has the power to benefit your existence to notably satisfying lengths. Rocket science, no?
Hi! It’s me, your fully uninvited motivational speaker who most definitely needs to practice what he preaches and absolutely does not live in a van down by the river. (Though that prospect is certainly possible, despite the fact that I currently do not own a van, and the closest river to me features homes scattered along its majestic shores that go for over a million dollars.)
A van down by the river
No, this isn’t some sort of manifestation workshop. I do not believe that if you wake up every morning and inform the universe LOUD AND PROUD that you plan on manifesting a Bugatti that you will eventually drive to your next family picnic in the same car Floyd Mayweather Jr. drives. I do, however, feel that good things eventually come to those who actively pursue good things, and perhaps more importantly, good things come to those who DO good things for others on a regular basis. Chase ‘good’ in all its conventions and goodness will become a contagious element in your life. That’s the juice.
But… But is it even realistic to look forward to a stretch where the greater population focuses more on ‘good’ in an effort to achieves some form of global happiness? When the hell were humans ever collectively happy? Were all them medieval fuckers happy eating potatoes 24 different ways while fretting over whether or not they’d be burned at the stake just for trusting medicine and science? Was the population truly happy amidst the ‘Decade of Decadence’, the very often glorified ‘80s? The sensible solution is to reduce the focus to your immediate sphere, then start a full scale attack on what’s hampering contentment.
For a number of people, happiness is largely tied to whichever era happened to usher in their childhood. Yes, that assumption comes from a place of privilege, which is far from ideal, but it does seem fairly accurate because childhood is so very often linked to our ‘carefree days’. In view of this, is adulthood largely to blame for human misery? YES, IT FUCKING IS. That’s when you have to go to work, that’s when you have to start paying taxes, that’s when you have to find some place you can’t really afford to call your own home, and that’s when the shit really starts to hit the fan. No, not at 18, but probably closer to, I dunno, 30, because being immature as a teen or even in your 20s is still largely forgiven. Once you hit 30, though, friend-o… “Happy birthday! Have you thought at all about how you want your remains to be dealt with when you’re dead?”
I’m clearly trying to make a point here, and that point is this: The key to happiness is fighting adulthood. Wait, what? That can’t be it. Well, actually, it kinda is. Being an adult opens the door to all manner of potentially adverse negativities—job stress, taxes, unending bills, humorless responsibilities, health matters, et al.—and many of us actively pursue even more habitual skepticism and gloom in what little free time remains. Why not fix that last bit by making a point of actively pursuing ‘goodness’ in all its conventions, even the smallest of sums. Seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes we all need a good shove back into the righteous battle for contentment. In the end, I suppose the Beastie Boys said it best: YOU GOTTA FIGHT… FOR YOUR RIGHT… TO PARTY.
Okay, here are a bunch of albums that added to the goodness of my 2025, presented to you in a similar way to how I did it last year. First up are my top five metal albums in an actual order, followed by 15 other heavy-hitters in a random order, and concluding with 25 great records from outside of the heavy heavies. I hope you find some common ground and / or some new things to enjoy. And hey, thanks for being a part of the goodness in my life. Please be sure to dap up your dogs, cats, pets of all shapes and sizes from me, and I’ll see you in 2026.
Warren / Deathofthesun, thanks for the heavy impact, my friend. Say hey to the Lords of Light.
1. VULTURES VENGEANCE – DUST AGE
I had this to say in my write-up for Dust Age back in February:
“Just last month I offered up Dust Age as one of my most anticipated albums of 2025, owed largely to the fact that the prior Vultures Vengeance album, The Knightlore, managed to gradually work its way up the mountainous heap of 2019 releases all the way to my two-spot, bested only by the equally excellent debut from Sweden’s Dimhav.
This puts me in a curious position, though, because now, with about a dozen listens under my belt, I am inclined to already concede that full-length number two from these fully leathered Italians eclipses their previous effort in ways that make me wonder… Am I now done for the year? Is this it? Close out 2025 and let any and all other players shoot for door prizes? Shuffle off and spend the remaining months listening to Paco de Lucía and D&D podcasts? It’s February, for hell’s sake.”
Well, sailors, nine months have since passed and here sits Vultures Vengeance atop the heap like some sort of leather-breeched emperor of the mountain. “You a kang? That’s nice, bish. I’m the emperor. Get thine ass behind me!” Or something a little less Rick James and more… Who is the current emperor of Italy? Andrea Bocelli? I’m an American and therefore have no idea what’s happening.
Dust Age hits the top shelf thanks largely to the way it manages to build on everything that made 2019’s The Knightlore so epic, plus it packs in an extra dose of POWER. But what really makes me happy about the release relates to the way Vultures Vengeance albums always manage to deliver the most RIDICULOUSLY GUITAR-FORWARD MELODIC EXPLOSION that also hurls us back to an age when metal acts with peculiar vocals ruled the school: Wayne-fronted Metal Church, Cirith Ungol, Trouble, et al. Again, some people will always find eccentric vocals like these as some sort of obstacle, while others—like me—treat their distinct presence as a most welcome boon. Shot through the heart, and Double V’s to blame!
2. PHANTOM SPELL – HEATHER & HEARTH
Here’s a handy snippet from the writeup I did for Heather & Hearth back in June:
“…the biggest shift in the Phantom Spell book for 2025: The folk element. This gives Heather & Hearth an even stronger medieval sense across the board when compared to Immortal’s Requiem, so think Mythical & Magical from Pagan Altar for the NWOBHM component, but continue to expect that distinct HOOK that put a band like Kansas and prog rock records like Leftoverture and Point of Know Return on so many people’s radars.”
That’s why its here, and that’s why Heather & Hearth scores so high on this list. I love it when music carries with it the ability to transport the listener to another time and place, and Phantom Spell’s unique take on classic progressive rock and the folkier end of the NWOBHM throughout Heather & Hearth comes within a whisker of literally packing your bloody bags for you as these songs flit and soar through the rolling hills and hedgerows of bygone English countryside. Don’t forget to bring your bycocket hat! I beg your pardon??
3. UNBIRTH – ASOMATOUS BESMIRCHMENT
{Listens to Asomatous Besmirchment one time}
–
Unbirth: “Hello, you dropped this.” {Hands listener their ass}
Asomatous Besmirchment begs the question, “Can someone literally have their ass handed to them from an all out riff blitz that’s brutal enough to level a defense comprised of the biggest and the bestest from the Monsters of the Midway, the Purple People Eaters and the Steel Curtain?” LISTEN AND FIND OUT.
Are you antique and leathered enough to remember when Dark Angel’s Time Does Not Heal came with a sticker on the cover that read “9 songs, 67 minutes, 246 riffs”? Well, Asomatous Besmirchment should come with a sticker that reads, “9 songs, 37 minutes, 246 Copies of Time Does Not Heal Flee in Terror.”
Something else I appreciate about this grand leveler of an album is how the guitars sound as if they’re strung so tightly they could literally explode at any moment. And when they do—AND THEY WILL—every eyeball within a ten mile radius better watch the flip out.
Be sure to look up the meaning of ‘Unbirth’ on urban dictionary when you’re in a very public place! And please listen to “Malignant Pregnancies” this instant.
4. UMULAMAHRI – LEARNING THE SECRETS OF ACID
I have largely let my awareness of black metal fall to a very distant back burner. It wasn’t an intensely dramatic break-up, but rather one of those moments where the two parties suddenly realize they’ve grown too far apart to maintain a healthy relationship. We’re not exactly adversaries today, mind you, and I still treasure and revisit some of our best moments together, but most everything new I’ve encountered feels as if it pushes an energy that’s diametrically opposed to mine. Is it a general reduced interest in malevolently dark music in general? I don’t think so. But these days if I’m to be enveloped in a phonic sense of all-consuming darkness, I prefer it to feel more brutal, tangled, hoarse and, in the case of this dandy little blurb, congealed, which is precisely what flattens your face while spinning a record like Learning the Secrets of Acid.
How could this possibly be seen as a positive? Well, in my primitive and fuddled brain, having darkness such as this tied to a foundation of death metal as opposed to black metal maintains a hint of the former’s penchant for brutal merriment (who’s up for some blunt force castration?), and that’s something that’s largely verboten in the latter. So, yes, I guess despite the sheer darkness pushed by Learning the Secrets of Acid, there’s still a part of my brain that wonders if its grim tidings, while still delightfully risky, mostly warn of the dangers of quicksand. I don’t if any of this makes sense, but making sense is actually kind of overrated anyway.
5. SLEEPWALKER (夢遊病者) – РЛБ30011922
If someone were to protest the validity of РЛБ30011922 as a metal album right here and now, I would absolutely not strike them across the face with a heavy gauntlet as some sort of invitation to a lethal duel. The fact of the matter is, however, РЛБ30011922 absolutely is a metal album, even if its footprint often challenges the listener to think otherwise. The riffs thrown down here are a unique form of ‘muddy’ that at times reminds me of the Bay Area scene that produced bands such as Giant Squid, Grayceon or even Cardinal Wyrm, but then there’s also this curious improvisational element coloring the corners that leave me wondering if the best way to actually describe the album is… A gentler and more introverted version of Aluk Todolo? Sure, let’s just go with that.
In truth, РЛБ30011922’s biggest windfall has a lot less to do with pinning down its kindred spirit(s) and more to do with how well the single 37-minute track manages to capture and relay the spirit of… well, kin. More specifically, and outlined beautifully on the project’s bandcamp page, РЛБ30011922’s intention is to embody and celebrate the life of a recently passed loved one, and as such, the moods dip and twist through all manner of emotions across its relatively brief stay. The result is a rollercoaster of temperaments that ultimately surrenders a very unique celebration of life that will absolutely plate your heart in gold if you’ve experienced the full life cycle of someone near and dear to you. Just an absolute triumph.
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15 OTHER METAL ALBUMS LOVED IN 2025, AN UNCOMPLICATED STACK:
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SHITBRAINS / EXORBITANT PRICES MUST DIMINISH – SPLIT
Key Words: You want hooks? Go to a bait shop; Please keep all hands, feet, arms, legs and heads inside the ride at all times; Grinding fury for all the kids that eat half a box of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs while watching Disney’s TaleSpin; Normally one side of a split triumphs over the other, but these two teams just love being around one another; GET BENT.
• Shitbrains Bandcamp
• EPMD Bandcamp
KAKOTHANASY – METAGONISM
Key words: Do you even riff, bro; Do you even tech, bro; Do you even slam a tech bro through a concrete wall, bro; Florent Duployer plays the drums like a bee is searching his keister for the queen; Play this album in a motherflippin’ cubicle and your co-workers will bring you banana bread; BUT BANANA BREAD AT FUCKING WORK, DUDE. HELL YEAH. HELL YEAH, BRO. HELL YEAH. BANANA BREAD, BRO. AT FUCKING WORK, DUDE. HELL YEAH; I was a-skeert to look up what ‘kakothanasy’ actually means, but it just translates to ‘evil death’. Fun!
• Bandcamp
HATEFUL ABANDOM – THREAT
Key words: Streetcleaner with an even stronger influence of Unknown Pleasures, Killing Joke and Swans; You can call it Gothflesh, but then people looking for the Cure influence might ruin their eyeliner; The soundtrack to finally arriving at your snazzy AirBnB, only to discover it’s actually a crawlspace underneath a BDSM club; The law offices of Broadrick & Green called—they’re interested in making you a partner.
• Bandcamp
EFFLUENCE – PIANISTIC DISMEMBERMENT
Key words: Pianooooooooooooooooooooooooo guitars on this brutal death metal album; Rolf the Dog trying to make a living by playing at honky tonks, but he ate a fuzzy ham sandwich from a dumpster before the show and is vomiting and crapping at the same time while trying to muscle through a 30 minute set of Ernest Tubb covers; Your piano teacher will teach you these songs if you slip some bath salts into their Virginia Slims while they’re on the can.
KÜENRING – IN SEARCH OF PARADISE
Key words: “Oh wow, man, that’s it. Wait a second, man. What do you think the teacher’s gonna look like this year?”; I realize a significant portion of the apposite populace prefers metal to serve as a soundtrack to fighting 100 silverbacks, but your heart chakra will high-five the shit out of you for taking a break from being interminably grim for 30 minutes in favor of cranking In Search of Paradise while shopping for bootleg Cannibal Corpse beach towels.
CORONER – DISSONANCE THEORY
Key words: You can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but most new tricks are dogshit anyway; Coroner? Do you even know’er?; “I Waited 32 Years For A New Coroner Record And All I Got Was This Really Kick-Ass New Coroner Record” t-shirts would honestly sell quite well; If it takes another 32 years for a new Coroner album, I will be old enough to listen to it with an actual coroner.
SPECIES – CHANGELINGS
Key words: Remember how you couldn’t help but think about the members of Rush having loads of fun together outside of their respective roles within the band? Species is the tech thrash equivalent of that; Fun thrash that’s not ‘pizza thrash’, but you’ll probably be so happy listening to it that you’ll order a pizza, because pizza is for good times; Please don’t spill bong water on the pizza; Species might like pineapple on their pizza because they think it’s totally reasonable to put funk on tech thrash.
CENTURY – SIGN OF THE STORM
Key words: An album tailor-made for anyone who’d line up to huff a rail of trad metal dust off a prop sword from the Sacred Heart tour; Century bangs, and I’m willing to bet the two members have bangs; If you want anything even remotely related to the modern age, do not entry; Is this what modern Dark Throne is trying to sound like?
• Bandcamp
VENATOR – PSYCHODROME
Key words: This is the most ‘Cleveland Metal circa 1986’ album to ever come out of Austria; Hell, this is the most ‘Cleveland Metal circa 1986’ album to ever come out of any bloody place that isn’t Cleveland, OH circa 1986; Seriously, go listen to Purgatory’s Tied to the Trax after listening to Psychodrome; Hi, I lived in Cleveland in 1986, and I love Venator’s Psychodrome.
• Bandcamp
A2Z – A2Z2
Key words: Hey, alligators don’t have zippers on their mouths! Oh, that’s your new Louis Vuitton handbag? My deepest apologies, Beyoncé. I mean, your ladyship; This A2Z album is a little heavier and darker compared to the last A-Z album; If Ray Alder ended up singing for a The Red Hot Chili Peppers, I would probably listen. (I just threw up in my mouth a little); Dad Prog enough that it should come with a shiny new pair of New Balance sneaks.
POWER SURGE – SHADOW’S WARNING
Key words: I would say Power Surge is doing a better job of Armored Sainting than the current variant of Armored Saint, but the current variant of Armored Saint is actually Armored Sainting better than Armored Saint has ever Armored Sainted, so let’s just say Power Surge is Armored Sainting in a way that makes Shadow’s Warning a necessity if you enjoy Armored Sainting your ass off; Armored Saint.
INCINERATED – EATEN RAW
Key words: May I have this dance? [climbs out of a sewage treatment plant’s dumpster]; This is a BIG FAT CHEAT, because Eaten Raw is actually a compilation of older Incinerated material that’s been remastered; However, this comp was released in 2025, I have listened to it approximately eleventy seven hundred tons of times, and I have to say something nice about it or I’ll get no dessert after supper; Hey, do you enjoy classic death grind that’s loud, lethal and penetrating enough to cause the polyps in your colon to pack up and move out on their own without the need of a proctologist? BOY DO I HAVE SOME GREAT NEWS FOR YOU.
• Bandcamp
TOWER – LET THERE BE DARK
Key words: In a perfect world, Jim Henson Studios would make a sequel to The Muppets Take Manhattan called MANHATTAN STRIKES BACK, and in this film Fozzie Bear is eventually walking the dark streets late at night, trying to cope with the fact that Scooter has been hospitalized as the result of an intense high-speed chase that ended in a wreck caused by Fozzie. The background music during this poignant scene is the track “And I Cry,” and it features fully muppetized versions of the band Tower blended into the night sky; Don’t worry, Scooter survives, but he’s changed, mannnnn.
• Bandcamp
ARAPHEL – THE ENDCHANTER / NITE – CULT OF THE SERPENT: TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER
Araphel’s The Endchanter was one of those albums that flew under the LR radar until our great pal Konrad Kantor literally FORCED IT INTO OUR EARS. I was admittedly a bit slow on the uptake, but after spending some time with the record I mapped out a rough little chain of thought that proposed a perhaps odd comparison that was shared with the rest of the lads behind closed doors at LR HQ. Here are them words:
“Right. So things didn’t work out on my first two runs because I was doing something while listening, and I don’t think the album is at all intended to be relegated to the background. After a few more intentional spins, I think I can sum up Araphel and The Endchanter in one fairly simple (and perhaps contentious) made-up word:
NWNite
Does Araphel actually sound like Nite, though? Sorta yes and sorta no. For sure, they both could be featured in a ‘you got your heavy metal in my black metal / you got your black metal in my heavy metal’ commercial that concludes with two strangers on a sidewalk suddenly falling in love.
Furthermore, both bands clearly have a deep appreciation for Greek masters Necromantia and Italian barons Mortuary Drape (especially Araphel), and they additionally appear to value what Negative Plane has done for yanking what the Old Ones did through a more updated lens. Are there other more modern bands in this same sphere to draw comparisons to? I’m sure.
So, yeah, like their forebears, Araphel and Nite clearly love classic metal. Coroner might not be a band you expect to see brought into this conversation, but you can hear it in Nite’s Cult of the Serpent Sun, and Nite is equally as willing to tie a red handkerchief around Hoffman and Labrakis’ knees to summon the spirit of a guy like Chris Holmes. Hell, you can even hear riffs and quick stretches that sound similar to the Sirens / The Dungeons Are Calling era of Savatage on this new record. Very classic metal, but definitely a little more… marketable.
By comparison, Araphel isn’t terribly interested in conjuring visions of WASP or Criss Oliva, and they will never be interested in being fully commercialized. Their nods to classic heavy metal are more subtle, and they’re also darker. VERY GREEK. Yes, The Endchanter is still melodic as balls, but it doesn’t really beat you over the head with it in the way Nite does, which is both a benefit and perhaps a drawback to some.
Bottom line…
Araphel = NWNite
Nite = Century MediAraphel”
• Araphel Bandcamp
• Nite Bandcamp
• Nite review
25 WONDERFUL ALBUMS OUTSIDE OF METAL THAT WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN ADDING TO THE GOODNESS OF 2025:
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~ ROCK / PUNK ROCK / POST-PUNK ~
BILL FOX – RESONANCE
For fans of: Heartland lo-fi indie folk rock.
I’m not sure if having some measure of Cleveland, OH bolted to your heart is required to know who Bill Fox is these days (be sure to check out the garage power trio The Mice if you’re interested in extra credit), but know that Fox happens to be one of the more underrated singer-songwriters of the last 30 years. I realize that’s a pretty lofty statement, but get Shelter from the Smoke (1996) and Transit Byzantium (1998) under your belts and then come back and thank me for shining a light on two of the catchiest, most intimate indie folk rock records to ever drift out of the Midwest. Suffice to say, if artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley or Phil Elverum mean anything to you, Bill Fox should probably ping your radar.
Well, ol’ Bill pretty much dropped out of the music game for the better part of the last decade. Like, disappeared with nary a trace. But a 2007 article from a guy named Joe Hagan for The Believer hauled the folky fellow back into the conversation, leading to reissues and select live shows, and ultimately resulting in this, Bill Fox’s first bit of new music in 13 years. And what a return Resonance is. This is a record that sounds every bit as thoughtful and endearing as Fox’s previous work, and moreover it feels just as untouched by modern studio trickery. It’s Bill Fox music, pure and simple, and hopefully this time even more people hop in to enjoy it.
• Bandcamp
BOOTBLACKS – PARADISE
For fans of: Moderately gloomy yet mostly upbeat synth pop.
Was it just me, or did gothic music in 2025 have a pretty bad hair day. A bad hair year. Did goth music in 2025 have Axl Rose’s braided hair from when he suddenly decided to look like Bo Derek in 10… is the question I’m apparently asking you right now.
It wasn’t an outright shortage—I enjoyed releases from Panic Priest, WitchHands, Magic Wands and Carrellee—but Bootblacks’ return to the scene following a five year absence was handily my favorite release from the goth end of the music spectrum this year. Maybe I shoulda coulda dug deeper? Eh, maybe. But at this point I don’t see anything coming close to what gets laid down by Paradise, because Paradise very thankfully opts to embrace a different shade of the scene that largely sidesteps the now totally saturated gloomy death rock / darkwave obsession (hey, I still love that side of the fence as well, but it is THICK with mediocrity). Basically, if you miss the poppier end of the spectrum that was developed by new wave / synth pop champs such as the Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, ABC, Simple Minds and The Human League, you will want to jump on this record immediately. New grounds for Bootblacks, and they absolutely nailed it.
• Bandcamp
INDUSTRY – S/T
For fans of: Churling, grubby post punk that will aid in venting your frustrations with life & times that absolutely blow shit.
Full-length number two from these peeved Berliners does a wonderful job of sewing together bits and pieces from a number of classic belters in post punk and crust scene, but it also never fully lose sight of the benefits of delivering something that’s weirdly danceable. So, expect to hear nods to Amebix, Discharge and Killing Joke, but also The Sound (so underrated), Mission of Burma and The Fall to add a little extra spice. It’s basically the perfect album for two-stepping your pent up rage directly through a brick wall. Or, you know, something that won’t actually get you kicked out of the coffee shop. Check, please!
• Bandcamp
KALEIDOSCOPE – CITIES OF FEAR
For fans of: Pounding the world, like a battering ram.
This right’chere? This right’chere just so happens to be THE BEST PUNK RELEASE OF 2025. Kaleidoscope’s brand of bulldozing finds a curious way of feeling both slow and fast at the same time. Some might venture to say that equates to ‘mid-paced’, but that ain’t really it. Picture a tank that’s redlining to the point where speeds previously unreached are pushed to the point of detonation and you’re basically there. Crucifix and Final Conflict get thrown around as comparisons, which is appropriate, but Kaleidoscope’s NY roots also loom quite large, particularly in the way the flattening bass and drumming harken back to NYHC’s heyday. To me Cities of Fear hits like an ideal collision between the early releases from Killing Joke, Agnostic Front and Raw Power, plus a tasty dash of English Dog’s classic Forward into Battle. Tie in the fact that the album’s themes are properly charged as a ballistic missile aimed directly at the current socio-politico-cultural fuckery and you have… the best punk album of 2025!
• Bandcamp
STEREOLAB – INSTANT HOLOGRAMS ON METAL FILM
For fans of: Suddenly realizing you need new Stereolab music in your life.
You know, it almost feels as if the whole of Stereolab’s root works from the ‘90s and early aughts served as a windup to what they’ve managed to deliver with Instant Holograms On Metal Film. The band has always found eccentric and often charming ways to blend krautrock, alt-pop and electronic music, but it’s never sounded so applicable and comfortable as it sounds in 2025. Put another way, I’ve always been a pretty adventurous music appreciator, but I’ve never felt the need to pick up a Stereolab album until I ran into Instant Holograms on a whim, and I think that’s because, alongside the elements that have always been present, this record manages to fold in an extra slice of warm comfort that becomes increasingly essential as humans age. It’s still a very eclectic and eccentric little record, but just a little more approachable.
• Bandcamp
TERRAPLANA – NATURAL
For fans of: Shoegaze / dream pop that manages to stick out a hell of a lot more than the countless stacks of other shoegaze / dream pop acts currently thumping any and all faces from every single corner and alcove in the modern age.
So, what is it that sets Brazil’s Terraplana and Natural, their sophomore full-length, apart from the heaps and hordes of analogous contenders? I could take the easy way out and just equate it to far superior songwriting skills. As accurate as that may be, though, I think what really does the trick is the fact that Terraplana doesn’t really feel the need to DROWN EVERYTHING behind a wall of feedback / sounds of a massive industrial fan whirring. Instead, that wonderfully nostalgic indie dream pop world that flourished in the early ‘90s quickly springs to mind, conjuring some sort of amiable pileup between Lush, Pale Saints, Bettie Serveert, Throwing Muses and Blonde Redhead. The result is still dreamy and reflective, but bright with activity and a very clear appreciation for melody.
• Bandcamp
~ AMBIENT / ELECTRONIC / DRONE ~
GLÅSBIRD – GLACIAL DRIFT
For fans of: Um, glacial music—literally and figuratively.
If the above doesn’t exactly sound like the most appealing endorsement, perhaps consider the album’s rather slick (sweet glacier joke, bruh) concept: Mapping the history of ambient / minimal music across a timeline that begins with classical and meanders all the way up to current electro techniques, and doing so by furthermore exploring the effects of global warming by drawing inspiration from a series of photographs taken in the Swiss Alps that date back to 1938. So, you listen, you relax, you observe, you think, and you enjoy! Still grumpy? Well, in your ear with a can of beer, you delightful ol’ sorehead. Pack a sweater!
• Bandcamp
KARA-LIS COVERDALE – FROM WHERE YOU CAME
For fans of: Nocturnal ambience that’s soft as a chin feather from a Tawny owl.
What I really love about From Where You Came is how Kara-Lis Coverdale manages to soften sounds so effortlessly without losing sight of a totally charming hook. Like, there’s a lot going on here, with everything from woodwinds, brass instruments, keyboards, various stringed instruments, modular synths, etc. all twirling and mingling, but it’s all filtered through this delightfully gauzy lens that results in something that ultimately feels… animatedly tranquil? Active ambient at its best, basically. Also, Coverdale has released two more albums for 2025 after an 8 year respite, but I’ve had From Where You Came on repeat so much that I haven’t yet had a chance to explore what comes next.
• Bandcamp
LAWRENCE ENGLISH – EVEN THE HORIZON KNOWS ITS BOUNDS
For fans of: “Liquid architecture.”
More specifically, this release is intended as a soundscape complement to a new building added to the Art Gallery Of New South Wales. The Naala Badu (translation: ‘seeing water’) structure “blends seamlessly into Sydney’s landscape, intertwining life, architecture and landscape with intention,” and Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds provides an ideal ambient companion to that purpose in that longtime composer / curator / native Australian Lawrence English in turn blends contributions from a huge stack of highly respected experimental music soundscapers who share English’s awareness of how, in his own words, “sound haunts architecture.” Chris Abrahams of The Necks provides the gossamer piano, and other contributors include Swans guitarist Norman Westburg, minimalist composer Chuck Johnson, sound designer Dean Hurley, ambient experimentalist Claire Rousay, and the great Jim O’Rourke.
• Bandcamp
LOSCIL – LAKE FIRE
For fans of: Folding the infinite amount of good and bad thoughts that bludgeon our brains on a daily basis into a pulsing piece of ambient music that smooths out all that hectic electricity into a manageable calm.
Just looking at the title and album cover for Lake Fire makes it clear that Scott Morgan / loscil intended to underscore the significance of the recent wildfire upsurges. But also woven into that strategy is an ode to the consequence of managing to age well enough to hit your 50s. Opening salvo “Arrhythmia” is a nod to exactly that, for example, and if you’re interested in finding out more about what makes Lake Fire click, I urge you to check out the interview Morgan did this year with CKCU FM 93.1 in Ottawa, Ontario. Suffice to say, when life throws its limitless challenges our direction, we need to find multiple ways to calm those storms. Loscil and Lake Fire are ready and willing to aid in that endeavor.
• Bandcamp
OREN AMBARCHI, JOHAN BERTHLING & ANDREAS WERLIIN – GHOSTING III
For fans of: Well, obviously the first two Ghosted releases from this dynamic trio, but also anyone interested in a something that pushes a curious ‘repeated rhythmic mantra’ across a song the way a band like, say, Lungfish does, except the whole mood feels a LOT more 3am.
This third venture maintains a very similar drum / bass / modular guitar approach to drifty, droning, jazzy, krauty, improvisational fusion, but it balances the active and quiet elements to greater limits compared to parts I and II. If I’m honest, I will admit III takes its rightful place in the third spot, but that’s largely due to the exemplary status of the first two. That being said, the opening “Yek” here is the best song the project has done to date.
• Bandcamp
PATRICIA WOLF – HRAFNAMYND
For fans of: Birds? I swear it’ll make sense. Well, maybe.
Hrafnamynd is the soundtrack for a documentary of the same name that examines filmmaker Edward Pack Davee’s time spent growing up in Iceland, but it doubles as an exploration of the island nation’s curious raven population, including a talking raven named Krummi. (That should honestly be enough to draw interest.) Before even being aware of the backstory, however, birds quickly jumped to mind amidst initial spins. The totally amazing Lyrebird from Australia, to be more specific, because dotting Patricia Wolf’s notably active ambient are all these curious blips, bloinks and pulses that conjure images of Lyrebirds mimicking virtually any sound they encounter in their environment. I mean, ravens apparently mimic sounds around them as well, so this appears to have been intentional. Anywho, hop in and you will be, quoth the raven, forevermore grateful for the invitation.
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THE NECKS – DISQUIET
For fans of: Needing to hear something compelling and adventurous, but not too overbearing… for 3 hours straight.
I’ve been singing the praises of The Necks for what feels like a decade, but this all day sucker right here glints like the crown jewel atop the band’s already impressive discography. If you’re still new to The Necks game, this is how I once attempted to explain their general approach to music: Improvisational, experimental drone jazz electronics custom built for transcendental meditation. And hey, guess what? Still holds true for 2025. Where Disquiet differs the most from its predecessors is that it… well, it does all of that in excess, and it does it a little slower, which might lead one to believe it would be nigh impossible for this release to NOT outstay its welcome. It does not. In fact, I think there’s only been one or two occasions where I’ve NOT opted to play all 3 hours of Disquiet uninterrupted, which seems positively bananas. But then, Disquiet works quite well as a deliberate OR casual listen, which only goes to show them Necks definitely got the knack.
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~ CLASSICAL / MODERN CLASSICAL ~
ANNIE BLYTHE, BRENDON RANDALL-MEYERS – ONLY IN THE DARK
For fans of: Having your soul dashed against a sea cliff, only to eventually witness it rise up Up and UP into the firmament in a grand declaration of triumph.
You will not find a release in 2025 that’s more emotionally draining and rewarding in equal measures than Only in the Dark. Yes, I realize that could be construed as a big ol’ slice of hyperbole, but give this walloper a patient ear and you too will bear the worthwhile risk of falling ‘neath those mighty bulldozer tracks.
How exactly does Only in the Dark manage such a feat? Well, firstly, I would remark that one really should commit to the full 50-minute ride in order to experience the full effect. Beyond that, the deciding factor lies in the fact that both players here happen to be neurodivergent, and this release is intended to provide a notably raw window into what a neurodiverse life might entail. Do neurodivergent people feel and express emotions on a deeper level than those who are not? Why, yes. Yes, that appears to be the case. And being able to express those deeply entrenched sentiments by setting them loose into the universe in the likeness of a cello and accompanying electronic elements that weave, climb, dive, soar and crumble like this HAS to be incredibly cathartic not only for Blythe and Randall-Meyers, but for anyone with the determination to allow this record to slay them time and time again. The one-two punch of “On fire, quietly” and “The way they wept” is as mighty as an arrow shot directly into your heart from Artemis herself.
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~ JAZZ / JAZZ-ADJACENT ~
ADAM BEN EZRA – HEAVY DROPS
For fans of: Not just bass, but DOUBLE bass. TRIPLE DOUBLE BASS. FOURPLE DOUBLE bass!!
My favorite thing concerning Heavy Drops is the way the record manages to deliver a fairly stripped down form of jazz that’s pinpoint-focused on bass and drum interplay with just a dash of ancillary embellishment, but the outcome still feels super adventurous across its full 40-minutes. It’s cheerful as hell, too—to the point where you will not be able to help but bob your head as these songs shake, strut and splash across the brainpan. Bottom line: Heavy Drops will absolutely bump that trunk.
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BÉLA FLECK, EDMAR CASTEÑEDA & ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ – BEATrio
For fans of: Thinking that a banjo, harp and drums belong together without somehow sounding like the upshot fell out of something’s ass.
Béla Fleck is of course the master of ushering the banjo into unfamiliar territory and challenging its status as the second least favorite thing a husband could bring home after a boat, and this time he’s paired up with a Colombian “virtuoso harpist” Edmar Castañeda and five-time Grammy winning drummer Antonio Sánchez from Mexico City. The result: I… I really don’t have much of a clue as to how a release like BEATrio should be categorized. ‘Latin jazz’ is certainly there, but that seems like a pretty lazy tag, considering all that’s going on here. Maybe we should just go with ‘music for when you need a pick-me-up / positive shot in the arm’.
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BRANDEE YOUNGER – GADABOUT SEASON
For fans of: Harp music that doesn’t force the listener to think only about elevators or angels hovering around in Heaven.
Harpist Brandee Younger clearly fits pretty comfortably within the jazz realm, but she also does a wonderful job of blurring those lines by incorporating bits of R&B, classical and hip hop into a thoroughly lavish fabric that’s probably easiest to describe as… Soul? Or good for the soul? Music from the soul that uplifts the soul? Sure, all of that. Is it easy to imagine Rakim dropping PMA bars on the song “Breaking Point?” You bet. Could Maxwell gliiiiiiiide on in during “Reflection Eternal?” Absolutely. The only true requirement here: The understanding that you will walk away from Gadabout Season in a(n even) better mood than when you walked in.
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BRANDON WOODY – FOR THE LOVE OF IT ALL
For fans of: Baltimore.
Well, any major city, really. But having spent (not enough) time wandering the streets of Baltimore and feeling its unique kinship with another of my favorite US cities, Oakland, CA, and taking into consideration the fact that trumpeter Brandon Woody is Baltimore born & raised and plays with a band (Upendo) comprised of players / friends he’s known since middle school, I can’t help but think of Baltimore every time I spin For the Love of it All. Hot, cool, vibrant, familiar, stony, syncopated, funky, comfortable, flighty, and vibrant as the day is long, For the Love of it All is everything Baltimore happens to be for a fellow like me. How can I not want to return time and time again?
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DINO SALUZZI, JACOB YOUNG, JOSE MARIA SALUZZI – EL VIEJO CAMINANTE
For fans of: The Argentinian countryside, even if it just lives in your mind.
El Viejo Caminante is the sort of album you might expect to hear while eating empanadas and sipping Fernet at some tiny two-seater that looks out onto a grassy plain where a few gauchos are ambling off towards the mountains. If that sounds a little too corny, understand that I’ve long since lost the ability to gauge such things. Basically, if your hectic life could really use the sounds of gentle guitars plinking their way around a squeezebox (bandoneon) played by a delightful old-timer, then El Viejo Caminante is extremely ready to get tagged in for some serious heart healing.
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ELI WINTER – A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
For fans of: Not knowing what the hell to call this style of music other than maybe… ‘Expericana’?
I’m not sure if Eli Winter is aware of fellow Chicago-based genre bafflers Tortoise, but the spirit of that band’s willingness to blender jazz and different forms of rock into something rather indefinable lives quite large within the wide open sprawl of A Trick of the Light. When attempting to detail this record to friends, I described it as “some sort three-point convergence between Charles Lloyd & The Marvels, The Necks and [insert alt-country band],” and I don’t think I can come up with a better way of expanding on that today. The opening 16-plus minute salvo “Arabian Nightingale” is one of my very favorite songs of 2025.
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JEREMY PELT – WOVEN
For fans of: Jazz you might hear while sipping Aldebaran whiskey or prune juice in a booth at Ten Forward. Oh, your nerdism isn’t deep-seated enough to recognize a Star Trek: The Next Generation reference? Well, pardon the prunes off of me.
Now, before you head off thinking this thing will sound as if all the instruments are played by six-armed aliens with eyes the size of saucers, understand that Next Gen fully embraced traditionalism and futurism equally when it came time for the crew to wind down [sultry Riker trombone solo], and that’s something Woven does a great job of reflecting across its 50 minutes. Sure, you get loads of classic jazz centered around Pelt’s stylish, largely relaxed trumpet play as the crux, but it’s chilled even further and modernized by touches of modular synth and an overall vibe that urges the listener to step into the future.
Prune juice… WARRIOR’S drink.
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OLGA AMELCHENKO – HOWLING SILENCE
For fans of: Unfairly judging books by their cover.
This is going to sound absolutely terrible and perhaps unforgivable, but when I first saw the album cover for Howling Silence and a picture of Olga Amelchenko, I assumed the record would sound much softer and more cautious than it actually is. And while there are definitely softer edges up and down the record, the overall impression here demonstrates that Amelchenko has a deep appreciation for spirited spontaneity, and she likewise encourages it from the people who play alongside her. The result is an adventurous 47 minutes that’s not too far from something I’d expect from someone like, say, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, but instead of New Orleans as an inspiration, Amelchenko draws from the Paris scene.
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THOMAS MARRIOTT – SCREEN TIME
For fans of: Reimagined film and TV scores rendered by a jazz quartet.
I think the easiest selling point here for anyone who visits Last Rites is the fact that one of the songs offered up on Screen Time is “Goodbye,” the, um, ‘love theme’ (???) from the movie Predator. How the hell did Thomas Marriott even think to consider this? There’s only one answer: He’s a massive fan of the film Predator, and therefore an immediate friend to the site (whether he likes it or not.) Also on the docket WITH PREDATOR: tunes from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, You Only Live Twice, et al. You know, because that totally makes sense.
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YAZMIN LACEY – TEAL DREAMS
For fans of: Feeling fucking fantastic.
I don’t think you could point to another artist in the modern age who’s more capable of pulling me out of a funk IMMEDIATELY than Yazmin Lacey, and she doubles down on that blessing via her sophomore effort, Teal Dreams. Here, Lacey once again blenders a number of styles already explored by way of her excellent 2023 debut—R&B, pop, jazz, reggae, hip hop, etc.—and even when the results are touched with the thinnest veneer of sadness, it still holds this unique wistful sense that’s a hundred miles away from outright misery. Is “Ain’t I Good for You” the best pop song of 2025? I’m probably not versed enough in that realm to properly weigh in, but if that song had hit the radio in the early ‘90s I would’ve swooooooned and… yeah, actually listened to the radio.
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~ RAP ~
BILLY WOODS – GOLLIWOG
For fans of: Poetic urgency.
I appreciate rap for a wealth of reasons, but the way it serves as a definitive conduit to what it’s actually like living as a Black human being in the world today is, in my opinion, its most vital trait. Sure, that’s hardly exclusive to this particular corner of the music realm, but rap’s proclivity for merging a sense of urgency, energy and the message into one vital and compact package offers such an immediate and candid window that it can’t help but vault to the foreground. Taking this into account, an album like Golliwog hits like a brick, something that isn’t all that surprising when you take into account its creator and the times in which we are currently living… er, enduring. Golliwog paints a grim picture, and it is heavy, both thematically and in the way these poems / songs drill the listener into the dirt with somber bars, sporadic rhythms and stacks of gloomy samples. The whole journey boils with this sense of critical urgency, even when the motion is crawling through the weeds like a warrior dragging guts, and we are present not only as observers, but students.
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/2025
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I love the non metal lists. I’d agree tho…goth and post punk was quite scant this year. That said, 3/13/26 Traitrs “possessor” comes out and that may be enough to carry the slack for this year.
I don’t imagine the dumpsters at a sewage treatment plant are actually any different than any other dumpsters.
Otherwise, great list!!!