Dearest Reader(s?), I firmly believe the noodle soup in the can called my skull is starting to go bad.
More than likely, you will agree with that sentiment when you finish reading this rather unhinged best-of list. My favorites below include an album where the guitars are replaced with piano, one where the bass is replaced with synthesizers, another that’s essentially free-jazz death metal, a couple of doomy sorts with cello, a grind album with saxophone, and a whole bunch of other nonsense to convince you I probably need a wellness check.
Normally, this upfront is reserved for pontificating about the previous 12 months to help weave a tale that ends here, where I try to identify a throughline. To be perfectly blunt, my brain is too close to flatlining for that. I have no justifiable complaint to levy. I live a good life. I’m just…tired. If you’re a regular here, you’ll notice I’m not including my usual roundup of non-2025 favorites or my rankings for video games I beat this year because I barely have it in me to do what is already below. So, let’s dispense with too much more blathering and get to the good stuff.
I do, however, still need a theme, he said, ignoring his previous statement and continuing to blather. As I started typing, my wandering mind went to food and how so often reviews lean into metaphors of the edible. Then I remembered that I really dislike the term mouthfeel. Did we all forget that the word “texture” exists and is perfectly acceptable to use? I’m not particularly interested in knowing how things feel in your mouth; that’s between you and your porno dentist. Anyhoo, my theme is brainfeel because we might as well let this happen. Each album on the full-length list will be accompanied by a descriptor for its brainfeel, aka what it’ll do to your noggin meat when you hit play.
Enjoy! Or don’t. I’m not your supervisor.
BRAIN TICKLERS (20-11)
20. BYONOISEGENERATOR – Subnormal Dives
Brainfeel: All the synapses firing at unsustainable rates
No reason not to kick this off with nonsense. BYONOISEGENERATOR plays a self-proclaimed genre of jazzgrind, and, quite frankly, that’s an apt descriptor. Subnormal Dives is nearly equal parts techy, blitzing grind and lovely jazz soundscapes. Don’t fret, though, Sh3la’s saxophone is also used for evil as it toots in at random moments or gets violently assaulted like any other instrument should be on a grind album. At nearly 40 minutes, it’s a bit of an endurance test, but chances are you haven’t heard anything else quite like this in 2025.
• Found Sounds & Frig You Friday
• Bandcamp
19. Crisis Actor – Long Live The New Flesh
Brainfeel: Like taking a Chuck Taylor to the dome
In opposition to the above, Crisis Actor plays a much more straightforward brand of grind across all 15 minutes of Long Live The New Flesh. In particular, this quintet wants everyone to remember grindcore’s punk roots. Shout-alongs, sped-up punk riffs, and short bursts of energy. This was tailor-made for playing in abandoned buildings right before running from the cops.
18. Asymmetric Universe – A Memory And What Came After
Brainfeel: There’s a computer virus running through your sulci
Hi, hello, back to the weird we go. Asymmetric Universe is technically a duo that plays about 10 instruments each, but there are nine additional studio and guest musicians contributing everything from drum and guitar leads to trumpet, viola, and beyond. In practice, A Memory And What Came After is like a heavier Cloudkicker, focusing less on atmosphere and more on jamming and crunch. We have the tight off-kilter rhythm work of Animals As Leaders accompanied by searing leads, jazz breaks and moments that are downright funky. Anytime you think you have it figured out, no, you don’t.
• Bandcamp
17. Sulfuric Cautery – Killing Spree
Brainfeel: Seeing red again
Killing Spree is absolutely an album that’s trying to murder you. Playing this album is likely to cause profuse bleeding from every orifice in your head. What we have here is 22 minutes of relentless pinging snare violence, alligator gurgling, and barely legible guitar parts. Somehow, these lunatics even managed to string together a song that pushes close to nine minutes in the form of “Millions of Slobbering Rats Devouring Their Blasted Out Brains.” That’s not how this style is supposed to work. Oh yeah, Sulfuric Cautery also put out a demo, a split, and another full-length this year. Dayton, Ohio, hates your ears.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
16. Abhorrent Expanse – Enter The Misanthropocene
Brainfeel: A full colony of fire ants gnawing through your dura mater
This album is fully improvised. That’s probably all many of you need to know to make a decision about whether or not this interests you. If you’re still here, you’re in for a good time, so long as your idea of a good time is chaotic death metal fused with erratic moments of drone, strangely plucked notes, uncomfortable space, and a myriad of instruments that I’m not even sure what they are. The Bandcamp page says they used sounds from a door hinge, for god’s sake. What makes this kind of music so engaging is that every listen will bring something fresh to the foreground that you didn’t notice previously. Sure, it’s chaotic, but it’s surprisingly digestible.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
15. Dissona – Receptor
Brainfeel: All the moods
I was listening to this in the car with my wife, and she said, “This music is so moody.” Yes, yes it is. What makes that all the more impressive is that Dissona’s take on progressive metal strikes several, often competing, moods simultaneously without feeling incongruent. For my money, a big part of that is David Dubenic’s singing. He’ll sound vulnerable but powerful in one moment and then weave in a pleading pain that leads to a glimpse of rage and triumph the next. The accompanying music does much the same with a wealth of creativity. Was I expecting a dance club electronic break in the middle of “Incisor?” Hell no, but it totally works. That’s followed by an interlude track that sounds like someone is remixing a sonogram to create a soundtrack for an alien movie. Promptly following is the Big Drama of “It Will Drown,” which might just be my favorite song. Receptor has drilled deep into my brain and will be living there for a long time.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
14. Uulliata Digir – Uulliata Digir
Brainfeel: Fight or Flight. We’re in danger
Uulliata Digir is the debut for a Polish sextet hellbent on creating the sonically terrifying. It may not seem that way at first when “Myrthys” starts. The song steadily repeats these clean but mildly haunting notes, and the drums start to pummel in an ominous manner. Michał Sosnowski’s voice comes across like he’s muttering a curse from across a sacrificial fire and then Julita Dąbrowska shows up. She sounds like she is slowly being possessed and the demon is starting to share its tale. Her ability to build up the song is incredible. A windswept noir story’s trumpet fades in to add to the tension and Sosnowski goes full-death metal. After the five-minute mark, Dąbrowska starts absolutely wailing before a calm resumes, but you know the storm is yet to come. How about some layered haunting chanting? Sure, I don’t need to sleep ever again. Then, halfway through the song, everything ratchets up by about 100% and the song explodes in a state of terror, with Dąbrowska’s vocals being particularly agonized. The whole album operates like an auditory exorcism. Uulliata Digir is not an easy listen, but it’s a damn memorable one.
• Bandcamp
13. Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
Brainfeel: Frantic, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick tock (sorry)
Ancient Death knows well when to create space in their music, but even when it’s slowing down, it carries the electrifying energy that matches all the lightning frying eyeballs on the cover. It’s a pretty safe bet that you are a fan of guitar leads if you’re reading this and Ego Dissolution is chock full of really fun ones. Ancient Death plays a no-frills form of death metal, but they absolutely crush it. Considering almost every other album on here is weirder than tits on a frog, you should trust me on that last part.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
12. Floating – Hesitating Lights
Brainfeel: Boosting that elasticity
Floating chose a good name for themselves. The 80s post-rock undercurrent to their music gives it a loose air under its death metal feet. There is a scoot and bop that makes for an odd but functional pairing with the hideousness of Hesitating Lights’ core genre. A song like “Grave Dog” hits with a hearty punch, but the middle of the track has bouncing bass that gives it a somber yet hopeful vibe. This album is like a warm embrace during a rainstorm from someone who’s also crying. There’s comfort in the gloom.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
11. Type Armor Unit – Revolutions In Saecula
Brainfeel: An electric probe straight to the cerebral cortex
A one-man grind band creating a concept album about freedom fighters taking on technofascists certainly grabbed my attention. That classic sci-fi album cover might have you thinking this is some lost prog album from a one-and-done band in the 70s, but it’s actually blistering space grind in the vein of Gridlink. Blistering is the correct word choice because Type Armor Unit is relentless throughout these 29 minutes and layers in hideous noise effects to make your ears beg for a screwdriver that little bit extra.
BRAIN BUSTERS (10-1)
10. EFFLUENCE – PIANISTIC DISMEMBERMENT
Brainfeel: A stroke
This is unquestionably one of the most insane albums I have heard. Important clarification, not the most insane I’ve heard in 2025, but ever. There is only one person credited with performing on this album and he’s simply listed as Matt. Further credits say the pianos were played by Piano and “No guitars on this album…’cause Piano ate em.” What? Like, really, WHAT?!?
I would say the confusion is immediately cleared up upon spinning Pianistic Dismemberment, because it truly sounds like an eldritch-horror piano consuming a brutal death-metal band, but if that isn’t confusing to you, then I’ll be sure to visit you in the psych ward soon. The vocals are the deepest of Yautja gurgles, the drums are belligerent as hell, and the “guitar” lines sound like a video game car from the Sega Genesis era, except the Genesis is dying. This should be entirely unlistenable, and for all healthy people, it is.
• Best Of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
9. HYPOMANIC DAYDREAM – THE YEARNING
Brainfeel: Dissociating and talking to god only to find out he’s actually Mothra
We’re going two-for-two in this top-10 because Hypomanic Daydream is an equally cracked-out group to Effluence, but in a totally different way. The common thread here is one-person bands who have no one to keep their most maniacal ideas in check. Every detail of The Yearning, from music to art and beyond, was created by one person who goes by Manic Dream Girl. The starting point here is death metal with a bit of a thrash background forcefed through a progressive wood chipper that sprays your ears with synths, keys, atmospheric touches and even a bass clarinet in a couple of spots.
It won’t take you long to discover that what truly sets this album apart, beyond the quirkiness of some of the music, is actually the incredible vocal performance. Manic Deam Girl’s approach will be a barrier for many, but you won’t find a more varied voice. There are harsh screams, dynamic cleans, cutesy singing you would expect from a Japanese toy commercial, death metal growls and then there are these wailing high notes that sound like Geddy Lee getting his nuts kicked in.
This album is weird as shit and I love it.
• Best Of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
8. UMULAMAHRI – LEARNING THE SECRETS OF ACID
Brainfeel: Like there’s a small tank in your head grinding your thoughts under its treads and shooting holes in your cerebellum
Oh hey, look, another one-person band (essentially) that’s coming in out of left field with the weirdness. Ok, ultimately, Andrew Hawkins is the man in charge of writing the music while also playing guitars and synths. Umulamahri benefits from key hired guns: Kevin Paradis as session drummer and Doug Moore for lyrics and the most guttural, foul vocal performance of his career. Why did I say this has weirdness? Hawkins replaced the bass with synths because apparently, I can’t listen to anything normal this year. The thing is, it works incredibly well.
The synths have this hideous, low sound that gives everything an uncomfortable, mechanical feel, like steel cables being pulled apart. These aren’t your Stranger Things nostalgia synths; these are synths that were abandoned in the sewer at birth and spent their whole life gathering the strength to make it back to the surface to exact their revenge. The death metal accompanying them is absolutely pummeling. The drums sound massive and forceful with every hit. Even the more atmospheric segments are disgusting and wretched. I’m fairly confident that listening to this while actually on acid would be an extremely ill-advised decision.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
7. MESSA – THE SPIN
Brainfeel: Inner tears of joy keeping that foie gras in your dome nice and moist
Close was Messa’s most ambitious album to date, so it might be a little surprising that the Italian quartet pivoted to a bit more straightforward release for album number four. The Spin does, however, continue the focus on gloom that’s a touch more gothic this time around, but sports plenty of light among the clouds. The band’s driving force remains Sara’s gorgeous, emotive voice. The Spin features some of the strongest vocal hooks of her career. Listen to “Fire On The Roof” and tell me that chorus doesn’t get stuck in your head on a loop for a week after. Putting that absolutely buoyant song right before the achingly beautiful lounge-singer-style first half of “Immolation” is such a great touch. They’ll probably need to write Ross Dolan an apology letter for letting a song with that title be so beautiful and not curse god, though.
This time around, Alberto’s guitar work is really the striking light at the end of the dark tunnel that keeps this album from getting too dour. In particular, his lead work is an absolute delight. Each time he starts dancing around the fretboard a bit more, the results are a rocking upbeat jolt of joy, yet every lead has its own character that so beautifully suits the rest of the song. He makes his guitar as emotionally affecting as Sara’s haunting voice. The Spin is a deeply rewarding listen that warrants multiple, well, spins.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
6. BARREN PATH – GRIEVING
Brainfeel: Like you pulled your brain out and threw it into a bounce house full of fighting vipers
From the ashes of Gridlink rises the fiery phoenix that is Barren Path, featuring Takafumi Matsubara, Bryan Fajardo, Mauro Cordoba and Rory Kobzina. After the most recent collapse of Gridlink, these chaps pulled Maruta vocalist Mitchell Luna into the fold and a powerhouse 15-minute grind album that could easily sit alongside Gridlink’s original run was born.
While this shies away from the space-grind tilt of the last few Gridlink albums, it still amasses an unseemly number of dizzying riffs, flailing fills, and rabid ranting. Every release Matsubara puts his name to is an absolute killer, and Grieving is no different.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
5. WEEPING SORES – THE CONVALESCENCE AGONIES
Brainfeel: Like it’s slowly circling the drain
Weeping Sore’s sophomore release took six years to see the light of day. It would be fair to think this was because the two full-time band members are also in Pyrrhon and several other projects, but the title The Convalscence Agonies likely hints at a bit more. Every note from this NYC duo feels deeply personal and intimate. We have five painstakingly crafted songs that scream, fight, relent, crash, revive, trudge and try everything they can to progress forward. The Convalescence Agonies is an album that sucks you down into the murk, tosses you around for 43 minutes to leave you gassed, but still manages to feel like a catharsis as those final keys and cello notes ring out at the end of the title track.
The songcraft here is a fantastic case study in pacing. Weeping Sores knows exactly when to ramp up the aggression to create more chaos and when it’s best to let a riff repeat to the point of getting borderline hypnotic. There are some diabolical riffs on display to boot. The secret weapon that takes this from a good record to a great one is Annie Blythe’s cello, even though she only appears on three songs. The musical voice of the strings often adds so much, even when they’re doing very little. The cello is at times the leading instrument and at others an incredibly subtle layer that adds great tension. It can be folksy as easily as it can be violent. Brendon Randall-Myers’ keyboards are similarly impactful, even when only popping in a few notes at a time. Again, listen to the title track to get all of the above in one shot. This is another album that reveals small decisions that make a big impact with repeated listens.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
4. PHANTOM SPELL – HEATHER & HEARTH
Brain: Just vibing
Unfortunately, I am one of those dumb boobs who struggles to find much from the more “trad” forms of metal that can stick to the ribs. Kyle McNeill’s work with Phantom Spell and Seven Sisters is a giant exception. I ranked Phantom Spell’s 2022 debut as my #19 album for that year. Were I to revisit that list today, it would vault much higher. McNiell’s phenomenal guitar work and incredible vocal hooks during massive choruses are undeniable. As I fell more and more in love with Immortal’s Requiem over the past few years, I was curious to see what would be next. Well, the biggest shift is that Heather & Hearth largely moves away from those more traditional verse-chorus structures that created space for those big vocal hooks I loved so much.
So, how did this end up so high on my list if one of my favorite elements has been reduced? Because it turns out McNiell loves classic prog as much as I do. The title track and “The Autumns Citadel” are absolute jams. The guitars feel so exploratory throughout the album and giving the synths a more prominent role was a genius move. This is the kind of album you imagine Larian Studios would love to have been blasting when they were working on Baldur’s Gate 3. Heather & Hearth is nerd metal and it rules.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
3. UNBIRTH – ASOMATOUS BESMIRCHMENT
Brainfeel: Being Marv in Home Alone 2, repeatedly getting hit in the head with bricks
Out of context, the sample from Stranger Things that opens Asomatous Besmirchment is such a perfect death metal intro. On my first listen, the second that intro finished and “Unresilient Congeries of Affliction” kicked in, I started laughing. Not because the song was somehow funny, but in a “holy shit, this is awesome” way. Every second that followed was worthy of that same reaction. Unbirth are gold medalists in guitar gymnastics without it coming across like some pick me, try hard bullshit being technical for the sake of showing off. The guitar work so perfectly blends angular slices with smooth rolling riffs that give every song a savage sense of urgency. They should probably reach out to Frank and see if they can borrow the Suffo Chop for their live shows.
The fact that Michele Sassano sounds like a demonic grizzly bear doesn’t hurt anything either.
• Best Of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
2. SCALP – NOT WORTHY OF HUMAN COMPASSION
Brainfeel: Your amygdala on fire
There is absolutely zero subtlety in the title of Scalp’s third album. Not Worthy Of Human Compassion is fuck you music built on pure, unmitigated hostility. Scalp writes with righteous indignation and a desire to start fist fights. By the time you get to the little breakdown at the end of “Egodeath,” you’ll have flipped every table and desk in a three-mile radius. The remaining 11 songs will have you wanting to go on a world tour to keep those efforts going. Scalp perfectly blends hardcore and grindcore, taking the most pissed off parts of both and putting a gritty, thick production on it.
Be careful where you listen to this album. Your brain will turn off and your body will innately go into fight mode. When you get to the part in “ShackleRot” where Cole Rodgers sneers out “YOU’RE NOT FUCKING WORTHY OF HUMAN COMPASSION” to transition into a ruthless breakdown, you might try to punch a hole through a tree. You’ve been warned.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
1. GRAYCEON – THEN THE DARKNESS
Brainfeel: It okay, don’t be cry
If it weren’t for another album on my non-metal list (how’s that for a teaser?), I’d say Then The Darkness is the saddest album I listened to this year. Despite being a big fan of Jackie Perez Gratz’s work in Giant Squid, this band has somehow escaped me over the past two decades. Our good pal Dan wrote a phenomenal review of this album back in August (linked below) and it inspired me to give it a whirl.
I was not prepared.
Friends, Then The Darkness is not a casual listen. This album is an all-consuming devastation. Much like the Weeping Sores album above, every piece of this feels deeply intimate and like something the members had to create or it would kill them. The first scream from Perez Gratz on “Thousand Year Storm” sets an absolutely harrowing tone and her cello riffing over the guitar is at once gorgeous and intense. This year has convinced me that the cello is the most affecting stringed instrument on earth. It only makes sense that Perez Gratz’s voice is equally impactful. Sure, that opening scream is shattering intensity meters, but her clean singing is varied and powerful. The 20-minute centerpiece of “Mahsa” is her and the rest of the band firing on all cylinders. The song is slow, somber and beautiful in its sadness. The trick is, though, Grayceon’s sadness has fight in it. Like battling depression, Then The Darkness is a perpetual black cloud that’s made grey with potent moments of white light.
At nearly 80 minutes in length, Then The Darkness is not to be taken lightly (har har), but it is a bleak sojourn that justifies every single second it offers. Honestly, I still don’t think I’m prepared anytime I go to put this on. Albums that force you to stop in order to absorb them are special and Grayceon gave us a great one.
• Last Rites Review
• Bandcamp
BRAIN TEASERS (THE BEST EPs AND DEMOS)
10. Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades
Slough Feg doing 20ish minutes of Slough Feg things. A bevy of classic trad riffs, exciting guitar leads and the inimitable voice of Mike Scalzi soaring over top. What else do you really need?
• Best Of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
9. Palsied – Legendary Hatreds
“God hates me, that’s what it is.”
“Hate him back, it works for me.”
That’s how Legendary Hatreds starts. The perpetual crushing brutal death metal riffs that follow all feel like they’re taking a swing at the sky. Throw in some Chthonic vocalizations and a Hatebreed cover and we’re really boiling the holy water.
• Best Of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
8. Lucerne Hammer – Vermillion Pyre
Now, this is what black metal is supposed to sound like. Searing tremolos, haunted vocals, relentless blasting and just the right touch of atmosphere to feel like evil incarnate.
• Best Of 2025 Team list
• Bandcamp
7. Elder – Liminality/Dream State Return
The first of the two tracks here is classic psych rock with great riffs, open space, and just the right bit of jamming out. The second track leans more into prog with a bunch of synths and keys befitting its title. This is a great little record for lying on the floor in the dark after eating a gummy.
• Best of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
6. Suffering Hour – Impelling Rebirth
Suffering Hour perfectly blends death metal and black metal to make this a muscular and biting affair. They’re just as comfortable bashing you in the head with a two-minute burner like “Anamnesis” as they are creating some space for atmosphere, like they do on the opening track.
• Bandcamp
5. Birth And Loss – Untitled EP
14 minutes of grind on the Barren Path album wasn’t enough for Takafumi Matsubara, so he released another 10 minutes on this EP. This is a more traditional type of grind, but Toshihiko Takahashi’s vocals are completely unhinged. If Matsubara could commit to having multiple releases every year moving forward, that would be greatly appreciated.
• Bandcamp
4. Spume – Xenomold Geomorphologies / Orgy of Corpses
Oh look, another super productive solo project! Spume is the vile creation of Oregon’s Finn Fairbairn. This mad lad released two EPs and a full-length this year. Every one of them is a backed-up septic system of sewer death metal of the lowest order (complimentary).
• Found Sound & Frig You Friday (for the full-length)
• Bandcamp
3. Auriferous Flame – The Duel
Ayloss is like Zeus firing lightning bolts into his riffs. Every guitar line is absolutely electric on The Duel. Whether it’s the unrelenting intensity of the opening track, the atmospheric gloom of “Nest of Serpents,” or the triumphant gallop of the title track, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into here.
• Best of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
2. Fluisteraars – De Kronieken Van Het Verdwenen Kasteel – III – Grunsfoort
Another phenomenal dose of Fluisteraars’ progressive black metal. I absolutely love the sounds of the drums on this release. They sound so natural and are played like Koops is fighting for his life. A release that feels introspective and triumphant in equal measure.
• Bandcamp
1. Primitive Rage – Visions Of Ecstasy
Much like Scalp earlier on this list, Primitive Rage exclusively plays fuck you music. This is eight minutes of wanting to beat someone to death with your bare hands and then beat up the corpse a second time because your anger management therapy didn’t work.
• Best of 2025 Team List
• Bandcamp
BRAIN SOOTHERS (NON-METAL)
5. Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas – Totality
Totality is an album for spacing out and letting time pass you by. The primary mode here is ambient/electronic, but there’s plenty of jazz bubbling up to give you more to latch onto. The bass playing, in particular, keeps things exciting and gives you something to bop to amongst all the other sound effects.
• Bandcamp
4. Kamasi Washington – Lazarus Soundtrack
Kamasi Washington continues his campaign to be my favorite modern jazz musician. Even when contributing to an anime soundtrack, he creates a full album of absolute bangers. The opening track fittingly feels like his take on the Cowboy Bebop theme and the rest follows suit.
3. Floating Points – Lazarus Soundtrack
The bass on this album is a force to be reckoned with. While this soundtrack is also a jazz album, there is a significant focus on electronics as well, creating an engaging and enthralling listen. There is also a fantastic variety among the tracks. The harp intro on “Ajar” feels whimsical, but then the drums come rolling in like they’re about to announce a chase sequence. Then the bass comes in, and it’s the sexiest bass line in the history of bass lines. If that bass doesn’t make your body move, your ears don’t work right. That’s only one of six songs, so there’s plenty more I won’t spoil for you.
2. The Necks – Disquiet
I intentionally decided to listen to this album for the almost sole purpose of challenging myself. What’s so challenging about this ambient jazz album? Well, it’s three goddamn hours long with one track hitting 74 minutes on its own. Here’s the thing, though, the slow builds and sustained repetitions are actually really engaging. Yes, it’s ambient music, so you can easily have it on while you’re working or doing other things, but you can just as easily find yourself lost in it in a way where 30 minutes slip by without you noticing. Challenge accepted, The Necks!
• Bandcamp
1. Annie Blythe, Brendon Randall-Myers – Only In The Dark
Remember earlier when I said Grayceon got beat out for the saddest album of the year by a non-metal record? This is it, and it’s not just the saddest album of this year, but one of the saddest albums I’ve ever heard in my entire life. The first time I was listening to it, my wife walked in the room and said, “Are you alright? Are you crying?” I wasn’t, but goddamn if I wasn’t on the verge of it.
The two artists’ names may also be ringing a bell for you, as they contributed their instrumental skills to Weeping Sores’ newest album. A discovery that fully escaped me until I started working on this list. See, I told you my brain is smoothing out these days. Literally the first note is so achingly beautiful; it will immediately grab your attention and take your mind to its most somber state. Every pluck and bow of the cello feels like Blythe’s arms are carrying the weight of the world’s woes and struggling to perform. The occasional squeak of ugly notes is a reminder that we stumble, but stumbling is still movement forward. I am floored that a single instrument and some atmospheric electronics can be this powerful.
I’m not being facetious when I say that if you’re in a bad place mentally, this isn’t the album for you. But, if you need a good cry or a commiserating companion, this incredible album might just be the salve for your wound.
• Bandcamp
THE THANKFUL BRAIN
As always, I appreciate any and all of you who took the time to read this or any other article on our little site here. We all just do it for the love of the game and spotlighting the music we dig. Knowing some folks out there enjoy it is a cherry on top. I’m hoping good things for all of you in the year ahead and can’t wait to unearth some more great tunes with you then. Cheers to you wherever you are!
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Lots of stuff to check out here. You may like the new Fleshvessel since you enjoy the Hypomanic Daydream.