Welcome to our annual countdown of our top 40 metal albums of the year. 2025 was another banger of a year in heavy music, and the varied bands on this list are a testament to that. As a reminder this list is reserved for full-length albums, and as another reminder this isn’t a traditional “best of” list. Just one person’s favorites from 2025. I hope you find some favorites on this list as well.
40. Mourn The Light – Sorrow Feeds The Silence
Epic trad metal sailing in from the southeastern shores of Connecticut. Their most complete and best sounding release to date.
https://mournthelight.bandcamp.com/album/sorrow-feeds-the-silence
39. Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth
Ten years after their last full-length album, trad metal legends Christian Mistress returned with an absolutely fiery effort. There were few bands who returned from self-imposed hiatus who delighted as much in 2025 as this band.
https://christianmistress.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-earth
38. VoidCeremony – Abditum
Equal parts technical mastery and crushing heaviness, the newest VoidCeremony offering is an absolutely labyrinthine work of monumental death metal.
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/abditum
37. Phrenelith – Ashen Womb
Copenhagen’s Phrenelith dropped arguably their best work to date in 2025. Ashen Womb is a brutal, beast of an album that is as interesting as it is unrelenting.
https://phrenelith.bandcamp.com/album/ashen-womb
36. Orm – Guld
I’ve been a huge Orm fan since their 2017 self-titled debut album, and each subsequent Orm record seems to build on the foundation of melodic, atmospheric black metal that they’ve perfected. Guld sees the band head in some new and interesting directions with their sound and I’m absolutely here for it.
https://indisciplinarian.bandcamp.com/album/guld
35. Phobocosm – Gateway
Montreal’s Phobocosm play a style death metal that’s fully equipped for the darkest and most harrowing of nights. Their newest album was any even darker pitch of black, if that’s even possible. Truly devious material from a band that specializes in it.
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gateway
34. Tower – Let There Be Dark
Tower’s 2021 debut was one of my favorite metal albums of that year, so it should come as no surprise to see them on this list again. This album’s title is more than apropos, as Tower takes their sounds seemingly further into the fiery depths. The added dark metal elements gave Tower an even more powerful and engaging sound.
https://towernyc.bandcamp.com/album/let-there-be-dark
33. Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It?
If you’re looking for vitriolic crust punk mixed with top-notch, sludgy hardcore, then this record needs to be on your player immediately. Easily one of the angriest records you are going to hear from 2025, and one that deftly picks up the torch where their Canadian crust/hardcore forefathers left off.
https://scareqc.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-end-was-it-worth-it
32. Fauna – Ochre & Ash
The first album in 13 years for ambient black metal project Fauna, and they quickly made up for lost time with one of their best offerings to date. Coming from within the beauty and majesty of the Cascadian mountains of Washington state, Fauna’s music is as mystical and magical as that glorious range.
https://fauna.bandcamp.com/album/ochre-ash
31. Disembodiment – Spiral Crypts
Spiral Crypts is the debut full-length from Canadian death metal outfit Disembodiment, and it fully delivers off the promise of their 2021 debut EP. Not afraid to add a little groove to their brand of bludgeoning metal, Disembodiment will be sure to get the circle pits going in your living room ones the play button is mashed.
https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com/album/spiral-crypts
30. Havukruunu – Tavastland
The newest full-length from these Finnish black metallers caught me completely by surprise, but what a brilliant and pleasant surprise it was. Truly epic pagan, black metal of the highest order, this album may be the rightful heir to the kingdoms of both Immortal and Emperor.
https://havukruunu.bandcamp.com/album/tavastland
29. Afghan Haze – Sermons of Filth and Disgust
The album title pretty much nails it for this Connecticut quartet. Afghan Haze play a mix of sludge, doom, and stoner rock that truly just oozes both filth and disgust. Filthy riffs, filthy vocals, filthy low end rumblings, and disgustingly good songs abound.
https://afghanhaze.bandcamp.com/album/sermons-of-filth-and-disgust
28. Ossuary – Abhorent Worship
Absolutely crushing full-length debut album from Wisconsin’s Ossuary. Listeners of The Metal Dad Radio Show already know I like my death metal of the slow and sludgy variety the best. This album does more than scratch that itch. Abhorent Worship slithers and sneers its way through six dastardly tracks leaving you ready to immediately do it all again.
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/abhorrent-worship
27. Void of Hope – Proof of Existence
One of the first truly great albums to drop in 2025 came last January courtesy of Finland’s Void of Hope. It also happens to be one of the best debut albums you are going to hear from this past year. Dark, atmospheric black metal that was tailor-made for long, frostbitten winter nights.
https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/proof-of-existence
26. Castle Rat – The Bestiary
New York City’ Castle Rat may have some of the best live shows you’ll see in a dingy club, but can they translate it to record? Oh, yes, they can. As much as I loved their 2024 debut album, The Bestiary sees a band truly hitting their stride. This is trad metal done right and the songs on this record will have you ready to grab a sword and head straight into battle without a second thought.
https://castlerat.bandcamp.com/album/the-bestiary
25. Bone Church – Deliverance
One of Connecticut’s finest metal exports over the last half decade or so is stoner rock outfit Bone Church. It’s hard for a band to make an album that’s catchier and more accessible for the average music fan than their previous material while still maintaining the heaviness and grittiness that made them darlings of the stoner rock world. Yet here we are. Turn this one up to 11 and keep it there.
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/deliverance
24. AAWKS – On Through The Sky Maze
Canada’s AAWKS play a heady, almost trippy brand of sludge-infused stoner rock. This is a band that’s not afraid to merge crushingly heavy riffs with a melodic flair, giving stoner rock fans and those who like their doom on the dirtier side of the ledger both something to sink their teeth into. On Through The Sky Maze is one of their most ambitious and raucous albums to date.
https://aawks.bandcamp.com/album/on-through-the-sky-maze
23. Reekmind – Mired in the Reek of Grief
There were so many great debut albums in 2025 and easily one of the best of the lot came from Australia’s Reekmind. I’ll freely admit to knowing little about this act before coming across Mired in the Reek of Grief, but this album has me dying to hear more from this band. Top-notch death doom that is equal parts brutal and mesmerizing.
https://reekmind.bandcamp.com/album/mired-in-the-reek-of-grief
22. When the Deadbolt Breaks – In The Glow of the Vatican Fire
One of my favorite metal bands coming out of CT today are the trio known as When the Deadbolt Breaks. Mixing doom and sludge metal with atmospheric and experimental elements When The Deadbolt Breaks create a truly unique sound unlike even other outfits of the same ilk. In The Glow of the Vatican Fire is their most ambitious album to date, yet may also be their most accessible as well.
https://whenthedeadboltbreaks.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-glow-of-the-vatican-fire
21. Lamp of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy
One of the absolute best black metal bands in the world these last five years resides in the US. Lamp of Murmuur has been putting out stunning releases seemingly every year since the pandemic times, but The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy may be the best offering to date. This album is one of the true successors to the mighty second wave of black metal, and continues the legacy with aplomb.
https://lampofmurmuur.bandcamp.com/album/the-dreaming-prince-in-ecstasy
20. Primitve Man – Observance
You will be hard-pressed to find a band that writes music as vitriolic and as crushingly heavy as Colorado’s Primitive Man, and Observance may in fact be their heaviest and angriest record to date. This album weighs on you like a tank, and feels like the sonic aftermath of total destruction. Just a completely brutal record from start to finish in the best way possible.
https://primitivemandoom.bandcamp.com/album/observance
19. Occulsed – Antegnosis
Featuring members who have played in a litany of killer extreme metal acts (including recent favorites Father Befouled and Encoffination), Occulsed came exploding out of the rich Atlanta metal scene with their second full-length album in 2025. With influences ranging as far and wide as Tampa and Sweden, Occulsed mastered their often discordant and crushing brand of death metal.
https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com/album/antegnosis
18. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
Some artists continually get better with each release, and you can count New York’s Blackbraid amongst that group. With an album that felt even heavier and angrier than previous releases, yet somehow more melodic as well, Blackbraid III has permanently cemented Blackbraid as one of the best USBM bands, bar none.
https://blackbraid.bandcamp.com/album/blackbraid-iii
17. Cemetery Moon – Dominion of Ashes
One of Connecticut’s best metal exports, Cemetery Moon, dropped their newest album of powerful, unadulterated black metal this year. More melodic than their previous releases, Cemetery Moon opted for a fuller, more approachable recording on this album. Yet, that doesn’t mean this will be accessible to the mainstream masses. On the contrary, the slight alterations to their sound created an even more overall vicious and frost-bitten affair.
https://cemeterymoon.bandcamp.com/album/dominion-of-ashes
16. Lo-Pan – Get Well Soon
One of the most consistent (and consistently good) stoner rock bands over the last two decades is Ohio’s Lo-Pan. Get Well Soon sees them continuing to fire on all cylinders, and at the top of their game. Chunky riffs combined with soaring vocals and a bottom-heavy back end make so many of these songs the kind of ear worms you pray for. Turn it up loud and prepare to rock out.
https://lo-pan-rock.bandcamp.com/album/get-well-soon
15. Kamra – Unending Confluence
Every year it seems that there is one band that’s not on my radar at all that comes out of nowhere to knock me on my ass. In 2025 that honor belongs to Slovenia’s Kamra. Mixing symphonic-styled black metal with some absolutely mind-bending experimental elements (especially those vocals), Kamra delivered easily one of the most unique and interesting records of the year. This is one of those albums worth multiple listens because you never know what you’re going to catch the next time around.
https://voicesofkamra.bandcamp.com/album/unending-confluence
14. Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
Another band that dropped an absolutely blistering full-length debut in 2025 was Massachusetts death metal quartet Ancient Death. Guitarist Jerry Witunsky also plays live with Atheist, so that should give you some benchmark on how angular and progressive the songs on this album can get, but none of that eschews how downright brutal this album feels at certain turns. Easily one of the best death metal records of the year, (with some of the best solos and riffing around) and one that I’ve been listening to non-stop since it dropped back in April.
https://ancient-death.bandcamp.com/album/ego-dissolution
13. Intercourse – How I Fell In Love With The Void
I’ve been an Intercourse fan for longer than I can remember and count some of their releases among my favorites of the last decade plus. But How I Fell In Love With The Void is special, even for a band that’s this good at what they do. This is a violent, vicious album that never really relents enough for you to ever catch your breath, and that’s exactly how Intercourse likes it. Make sure you give at least one listen with headphones on so you can pay close attention to some of the best, and most biting lyrics you’ll see this year as well.
https://intercourse.bandcamp.com/album/how-i-fell-in-love-with-the-void
12. Anthrodynia – Unspeakable Horrors Emanating From Within
Let me mention again how much I like my death metal slow, sludgy, and filled with gnarly riffing. Canada’s Anthrodynia are the absolute embodiment of that statement. Their debut full-length album is filled with dirge-like doom sections, coupled with blasting madness to create the ultimate death-doom album of the year. This is a band I’ll be paying close attention to moving forward.
https://anthrodynia.bandcamp.com/album/unspeakable-horrors-emanating-from-within
11. Paradise Lost – Ascension
30+ years and 17 full-length albums into their careers Paradise Lost needs no introduction. One of my all-time favorite metal bands released another banger of a record in 2025. Ascension continues to build on this band’s legacy of creating amazing gothic-tinged, death-infused, doom metal. Some of their most memorable songs of the last five years appear on this record and based on how much I loved the last three albums that’s as high a compliment as I can give.
https://paradiselostofficial.bandcamp.com/album/ascension
10. Prayer Group – Strawberry
There were some pretty stellar noise rock records that hit the streets in 2025, but they all paled in comparison to the one released by Virginia’s Prayer Group. This is an album that revels in its discordance without losing sight of still making songs that snag the listener as opposed to repelling them. If this one doesn’t get your heart rate pumping a little higher by the end of the record there may be no hope for you.
https://prayergroupsaves.bandcamp.com/album/strawberry
9. Waldgefluster – Knochengesange
Germany’s Waldegefluster dropped two full-length albums on the same day in 2025. Knochengesange I and II are companion albums, with the first album being stuffed with Waldgefluster’s brand of emotive, atmospheric black metal and the second being rooted in acoustic/dark-folk traditions. Both albums are genius in their own rights, but for our metal purposes here we’ll focus on the first album. If you are looking for truly contemplative, beautiful, and yet wholly frostbitten black metal this should be the first album from 2025 you reach for.
https://blackmetalwaldgefluester.bandcamp.com/album/knochenges-nge
8. Malthusian – The Summoning Bell
It’s been seven long years since Ireland’s Malthusian released their stellar debut full-length album. Waiting seven years for this stunning follow-up probably wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card, but the wait was worth it for the album we’ve been gifted. This is blackened death metal that’s as filth-laden and grimy looking as the swampy scene on the album’s cover. Filled with massive, doomy passages and absolute brutality from start to finish, this was one of the most intense death metal albums of the year.
https://malthusian.bandcamp.com/album/the-summoning-bell-2
7. Evoken – Mendacium
New Jersey’s Evoken has been one of the best US doom exports since their debut album dropped back in 1998. Their last album, 2018’s Hypnagogia was also a top 10 album for me that year, so it should come as no surprise to see them here again. Few bands have mastered the ethereal realm of death doom the way Evoken have and it’s not hyperbole to state that Mendacium is one of their best efforts to date. As heavy and as interesting as they have ever been.
https://evokenofficial.bandcamp.com/album/mendacium
6. -(16)- – Guides for the Misguided
One of the longest running bands on this year’s list is California’s -(16)-. I’ve been a fan of this band since the mid-’90s and have been equally stoked to see new albums consistently pop up every few years. Guides for the Misguided was the first album of 2025 (released back in February) that I knew was going to not only make my year-end list, but crack the top 10 as well. This is sludge metal of the highest order and one of the best albums -(16)- has ever released. Equal parts thick as molasses, yet filled with head-bobbing catchy riffs, killer solos, and melodic interludes, this is an album I’ve been pretty obsessed with for close to a year now.
https://16theband.bandcamp.com/album/guides-for-the-misguided
5. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
It’s so refreshing when a band you love refuses to stand pat on their sound and is willing to take sonic chances that pan out perfectly. Such is the newest album from Finland’s Hooded Menace. While their newest release is still rooted in the mesmerizing death doom that they’ve become synonymous with, Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration infuses old school metal aesthetics with absolute perfection. Turns out reaching into the past for trad metal inspiration can give your already exemplary sound something fresh and exciting. Since this album’s release in October this may be my most listened to record over the last three months of the year.
https://hoodedmenace.bandcamp.com/album/lachrymose-monuments-of-obscuration
4. Tithe – Communion In Anguish
As you could glean from this list I personally felt this was another stellar year in the death metal world. My favorite death metal record of 2025 comes from Portland, Oregon’s Tithe. Communion In Anguish takes a death metal foundation and runs it through a gauntlet of black metal, doom, and grindcore aesthetics. What sounds, on paper, like a kitchen sink mishmash comes out of your speakers as a vitriolic, wild ride of an album. At certain turns this thing is ripping at your face like a feral cat, and at others it chooses to melt your face off slowly and steadily instead, sometimes within the boundaries of one track.
https://tithepdx.bandcamp.com/album/communion-in-anguish
3. Tribunal – In Pentinence and Ruin
Vancouver, Canada’s Tribunal exploded onto the metal scene in 2023 with a debut album that I thought was going to be really hard to top. Foolish me for doubting this band so early in their already impressive careers. In Penitence and Ruin takes the gothic/death doom of their debut and builds a virtual monument to one of my favorite metal sub-genres. As beautiful and elegant as it is dark and heavy, this is the type of album you sit down with for hours on end and let it wash over you. There’s an element of seductive melancholy here that is simply unmatched by any of their current peers. Truly a masterwork of gothic metal dominance.
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/in-penitence-and-ruin
2. Rwake – The Return of Magik
Hard to believe it’s been 14 long years since Arkansas’ Rwake released a full-length album, but time flies when you’re trying to survive I suppose. The album’s title is an apropos one because this album truly is a magical one. I’ve been obsessed with this record since it dropped all the way back in March, uncovering new and interesting pieces with every listen like an obsessed miner searching for gold. Rwake’s brand of experimental sludge has always been eye-opening with each new release, but The Return of Magik is simply next-level good. Truly one of the most engrossing albums we’ve been gifted so far this decade.
https://rwake.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-magik
1. Deadguy – Near Death Travel Services
The return of New Jersey hardcore legends Deadguy was cemented when they dropped their first full-length album in 30 years. When this album was released on June 27 I knew by June 28 that this would be my top album of 2025, and despite the best efforts of some stellar bands armed with killer albums I’ve never wavered from that. I was a massive Deadguy fan back in the ’90s, so trust me when I say that this is the best thing they’ve ever released. It’s an angry, violent record the way that only Deadguy could do it. I’ve been playing this album non-stop for the last six months and I don’t see that ending any time soon.
https://deadguy666.bandcamp.com/album/near-death-travel-services
The Metal Dad 