2025 has been another wild ride for metal. From pulverizing riffs to mind-bending experiments, this year gave us albums that broke rules, melted faces, and reminded us why we love this fucking stuff. At Metal Epidemic, we’ve spent the year debating, headbanging, and questioning our sanity over what deserves the top spot. Now, it’s time to put our money where our mouths are. Together, these lists show just how diverse and uncompromising the scene was this year.
So, without further ado, people of the internet, here are the end of year lists from the Metal Epidemic team!
Dave Buchanan
1. The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want To See You in Heaven (Bandcamp)
2. Snooze – I Know How You Will Die (Bandcamp)
3. Friendship Commanders – BEAR (Bandcamp)
4. Boneflower – Reveries (Bandcamp)
5. Coastlands – Coastlands (Bandcamp)
6. SpiritWorld – Helldorado (Bandcamp)
7. King Yosef – Spire of Fear (Bandcamp)
8. HEALTH – CONFLICT DLC. (Bandcamp)
9. Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again (Bandcamp)
10. SOM – Let The Light In (Bandcamp)
Duncan McLeish
1. The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want To See You in Heaven (Bandcamp)
2. Snooze – I Know How You Will Die (Bandcamp)
3. HEALTH – CONFLICT DLC. (Bandcamp)
4. Boneflower – Reveries (Bandcamp)
5. Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again (Bandcamp)
6. King Yosef – Spire of Fear (Bandcamp)
7. Coastlands – Coastlands (Bandcamp)
8. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound (Bandcamp)
9. Author & Punisher – Nocturnal Birding (Bandcamp)
10. Vianova – HIT IT! (Stream)
Paul Cairney
1. Kal-El – Astral Voyager, Vol. 1 (Bandcamp)
2. The Wildhearts – Satanic Rites of The Wildhearts (Spotify)
3. Behemoth – Shit Ov God (Bandcamp)
4. Haggus – Destination Extinction (Bandcamp)
5. Æl-Fierlen – All is Far Away (Bandcamp)
6. Hebi Katana – Imperfection (Bandcamp)
7. Abigail Williams – A Void Within Existence (Bandcamp)
8. Novarupta – Astral Sands (Bandcamp)
9. Ter Ziele – Embodiment of Death (Bandcamp)
10. Trold – I Skovens Rige (Bandcamp)
Ross Bowie
1. Laufey – A Matter Of Time (Spotify)
2. The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want To See You in Heaven (Bandcamp)
3. Turnstile – Never Enough (Spotify)
4. Joey Valence & Brae – Hyperyouth (Spotify)
5. Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia (Spotify)
6. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Spotify)
7. Scowl – Are We All Angels (Bandcamp)
8. Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death (Stream)
9. Winona Fighter – My Apologies To The Chef (Spotify)
10. Employed To Serve – Fallen Star (Bandcamp)
Paul Franklin
1. Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death (Bandcamp)
2. PABST – This Is Normal Now (Spotify)
3. Kal-El – Astral Voyager, Vol. 1 (Bandcamp)
4. Winona Fighter – My Apologies To The Chef (Spotify)
5. Nightstalker – Return From The Point Of No Return (Bandcamp)
6. Skunk Anansie – The Painful Truth (Bandcamp)
7. Godzillionaire – Diminishing Returns (Bandcamp)
8. Paralysed – Rumble&Roar (Bandcamp)
9. The Dirty Nil – The Lash (Bandcamp)
10. Friendship Commanders – BEAR (Bandcamp)
Andy Spoon
1. Der Weg einer Freiheit – Innern (Bandcamp)
2. Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia (Spotify)
3. An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City (Bandcamp)
4. Chestcrush – ΨΥΧΟΒΓΑΛΤΗΣ (Psychovhaltes) (Bandcamp)
5. Fleshbore – Painted Paradise (Bandcamp)
6. Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance (Bandcamp)
7. 1914 – Viribus Unitis (Bandcamp)
8. Author & Punisher – Nocturnal Birding (Bandcamp)
9. Igorrr – Amen (Bandcamp)
10. Haxprocess – Beyond What Eyes Can See (Bandcamp)
Metal Mike
1. Bleed From Within – Zenith (Stream)
2. Netherwalker – Odyssey Of Respair (YouTube)
3. Shadow of intent – Imperium Delirium (Bandcamp)
4. Psycho Frame – Salvation Laughs In The Face Of A Grieving Mother (Spotify)
5. Despite Exile – Where Hope Goes To Die (Bandcamp)
6. Bury Tomorrow – Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience (Spotify)
7. Paleface – Cursed: The Complete Edition (Bandcamp)
8. Kneel Before The Death – Self-titled (YouTube)
9. Grimnis – The Path Ov The Flame (Bandcamp)
10. Sold Soul – Just Like That, I Disappear Entirely (Bandcamp)
Trina Julian Edwards
1. Revocation – New Gods, New Masters (Bandcamp)
2. Buried Realm – The Dormant Darkness (Bandcamp)
3. Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance (Bandcamp)
4. Shadow of intent – Imperium Delirium (Bandcamp)
5. Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis (Bandcamp)
6. The Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here (Spotify)
7. Fallujah – Xenotaph (Bandcamp)
8. 1914 – Viribus Unitis (Bandcamp)
9. Within Destruction – Animetal (Bandcamp)
10. Lord of the Lost – OPVS NOIR Vol. I (Bandcamp)
Rick Farley
1. Drudkh – Shadow Play (Bandcamp)
2. Grima – Nightside (Bandcamp)
3. Veilburner – Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy (Bandcamp)
4. Blood Abscission – II (Bandcamp)
5. Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Bandcamp)
6. Paradise Lost – Ascension (Bandcamp)
7. Saor – Amidst the Ruins (Bandcamp)
8. One of Nine – Dawn of the Iron Shadow (Bandcamp)
9. 1914 – Viribus Unitis (Bandcamp)
10. Nite – Cult of the Serpent Sun (Bandcamp)
Mark Waight
1. DieveNoire – The Story of a Gunslinger (Bandcamp)
2. Darkness Surrounding – Is There Salvation? (Spotify)
3. Velvet Rush – Trail of Gold (Spotify)
4. Luna Marble – Luna Marble (Bandcamp)
5. Cwfen – Sorrows (Bandcamp)
6. King Witch – III (Bandcamp)
7. Rattlesnakes – Deeper Shade of Torment (Spotify)
8. Wailing Banshee – Worlds Apart (Bandcamp)
9. Netherdred – Lords of Mayhem (Bandcamp)
10. Glasgow Kiss – Down in Flames (Stream)
Eric Wilt
1. Dessiderium – Keys to the Palace (Bandcamp)
2. Fallujah – Xenotaph (Bandcamp)
3. An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City (Bandcamp)
4. Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil (Bandcamp)
5. Between the Buried and Me – The Blue Nowhere (Bandcamp)
6. Behemoth – The Shit Ov God (Bandcamp)
7. Kardashev – Alunea (Bandcamp)
8. Winds of Neptune – Winds of Neptune (Bandcamp)
9. Escarnium – Inexorable Entropy (Bandcamp)
10. Metaphobic – Deranged Excruciations (Bandcamp)
Jeff Finch
1. Chevelle – Bright as Blasphemy (Stream)
2. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (Bandcamp)
3. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Spotify)
4. Signs of the Swarm – To Rid Myself of Truth (Bandcamp)
5. Primitive Man – Observance (Bandcamp)
6. Ghost – Skeletá (Bandcamp)
7. Hail the Sun – cut.turn.fade.black (Bandcamp)
8. Avatar – Don’t Go in the Forest (Spotify)
9. Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance (Bandcamp)
10. Lowheaven – Ritual Decay (Bandcamp)
Hillary Wisniewski
1. Blood Vulture – Die Close (Bandcamp)
2. Pelican – Flickering Resonance (Bandcamp)
3. Conan – Violence Dimension (Bandcamp)
4. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (Bandcamp)
5. Deftones – private music (Spotify)
6. Gaahls WYRD – Braiding the Stories (Bandcamp)
7. Skogskult – Skogskult (Bandcamp)
8. Melvins – Thunderball (Bandcamp)
9. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Spotify)
10. Ungraven – Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks (Bandcamp)
Mark Young
1. Azell – Astralis (Bandcamp)
2. The Great Old Ones – Kadath (Bandcamp)
3. Malefic Throne – The Conquering Darkness (Bandcamp)
4. Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Bandcamp)
5. Harakiri For The Sky – Scorched Earth (Bandcamp)
6. The Callous Daoboys – I Don’t Want To See You in Heaven (Bandcamp)
7. Marrowomb – Phisenomie (Bandcamp)
8. Still in Love – Recovery Language (Bandcamp)
9. Praetorian – Pylon Cult (Bandcamp)
10. Abyssalis – Adaptation (Bandcamp)
John Newlands
1. Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again (Bandcamp)
2. Crippling Alcoholism – Camgirl (Bandcamp)
3. We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower (Bandcamp)
4. EYES – Spinner (Bandcamp)
5. Psychonaut – World Maker (Bandcamp)
6. Pothamus – Abur (Bandcamp)
7. Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence (Bandcamp)
8. Dimscûa – Dust Eater (Bandcamp)
9. Honningbarna – Soft Spot (Spotify)
10. Slow Crush – Thirst (Bandcamp)
Malte Brigge
1. In the Woods… – Otra (Bandcamp)
2. Der Weg einer Freiheit – Innern (Bandcamp)
3. Dormant Ordeal – Tooth and Nail (Bandcamp)
4. Besna – Krásno (Bandcamp)
5. Walg – V (Bandcamp)
6. Impureza – Alcazares (Bandcamp)
7. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons (Bandcamp)
8. Qrixkuor – The Womb of the World (Bandcamp)
9. Changeling – Changeling (Bandcamp)
10. Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (Bandcamp)
Aeons Burning
1. Der Weg einer Freiheit – Innern (Bandcamp)
2. Qrixkuor – The Womb of the World (Bandcamp)
3. Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss (Bandcamp)
4. Martröð – Draumsýnir eldsins (Bandcamp)
5. Lychgate – Precipice (Bandcamp)
6. 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) – РЛБ30011922 (Bandcamp)
7. Sijjin – Helljjin Combat (Bandcamp)
8. Osgraef – Reveries of the Arcane Eye (Bandcamp)
9. Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (Bandcamp)
10. Arkhaaik – Uihtis (Bandcamp)
Magnus Rotås
1. Sunken – Lykke (Bandcamp)
2. Messa – The Spin (Bandcamp)
3. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Spotify)
4. AVKRVST – Waving at the Sky (Bandcamp)
5. Honningbarna – Soft Spot (Stream)
6. Wardruna – Birna (Spotify)
7. Psychonaut – World Maker (Bandcamp)
8. Afsky – Fællesskab (Bandcamp)
9. Igorrr – AMEN (Bandcamp)
10. Coastlands – Coastlands (Bandcamp)
