TOP 10 OF 2025
The following are the lists of the best METAL/ROCK/PUNK releases for 2024 by staff members at Metal Revolution Webzine.
1
Deftones – Private Music (Reprise/Warner Records)
Deftones' album Private Music is definitely among the top heavy metal albums of 2025 due to its heavy and hooky sound. I find its blending of heavy riffs with Chino Moreno's vocals and incorporating alternative and even reggae metal elements, rather fascinating and inspirational.”vocals and incorporating alternative and even reggae metal elements, rather fascinating and inspirational.
2
Killswitch Engage - This Consequence (Metal Blade)
This Consequence is a notable addition to the metalcore genre, while it also showcases the band's signature sound, with tracks that blend heavy breakdowns and blast beats with melodic moments. It features powerful riffs, dynamic vocals, and anthemic choruses.
3
Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast)
No Top 10 list without the mighty Paradise Lost and their new record, Ascension. It's a nice collection of songs where the band skillfully blends their signature gothic doom with death metal, gothic rock, and heavier elements. Crystal clear and polished production, strong performances and diverse songwriting, are some of the features of the album that draws from their entire career while sounding both classic and new.
4
Testament - Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)
Para Bellum is another strong and vital thrash metal album from Testament. I like its revitalized heavy sound, diverse elements and energetic performance. Aggressive vocals from Chuck Billy, and excellent guitar work, are another obvious major strengths of Para Bellum. For me personally, it had to find its place on the list for contenders for best thrash album of 2025!
5
Coroner - Dissonance Theory (Century Media)
Dissonance Theory is a successful and impressive comeback after a 32-year hiatus for this Swiss veteran thrash metal act. On Dissonance Theory, Coroner fuse their trademark technicality with sharp, forward-thinking songwriting, with a modern yet authentic take on their signature technical thrash metal sound.
6
Cradle of Filth - The Screaming of the Valkyries (Napalm)
The Screaming of the Valkyries is one of the COF's best albums in years where it successfully blends various elements of the band's history, incorporating gothic drama, symphonic black metal, heavy metal, and melodic death metal influences.
7
Helloween - Giants & Monsters (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Giants & Monsters is a strong and consistent release that celebrates their 40-year legacy, where it successfully incorporates a variety of styles, including hard rock, power metal, and melodic metal. The songwriting is more direct and immediate than before, with a focus on strong, catchy hooks and anthems.
8
Warbringer - Wrath and Ruin (Napalm)
Wrath and Ruin supplies eight tracks of ripping, shredding and dark thrash. I love the album due to its combination of a classic thrash metal aggression with newer elements like darker atmospheres, heavier grooves, and more experimental song structures, making it a dynamic and expansive release. Therefore Wrath and Ruin is my second contender for best thrash album in 2025.
9
Biohazard - Divided We Fall (Black II Black)
Divided We Fall marks a strong and energetic comeback that captures the band's classic 90s hardcore sound with a modern edge. The album is ferocious, raw and unrelenting – Biohazard's best album in decades.
10
Cryptopsy - An Insatiable Violence (Season of Mist)
New album An Insatiable Violence finds Cryptopsy more brutal, more technical, and more melodic than ever. At just over 30 minutes, the record is lean and focused, with no filler. An Insatiable Violence is a successful comeback and a creative high point for the band, blending their signature brutal technicality with newfound songwriting maturity.
1
Deftones – Private Music (Reprise/Warner Records)
I believe a few of my colleagues will select Deftones' new album Private Music as one of the top heavy metal/hard rock albums of 2025. It's also the case with me, as I think Private Music is the strongest Deftones record in many years
2
Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast)
Ascension is a nice collection of songs from one of my all-time favourite acts. On Ascension the band skilfully blends the elements of gothic, doom and death metal with additional gothic rock vibe. It's another strong performance where the band from West Yorkshire (UK) sounds both classic and new.
3
Testament - Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)
Testament is not on my all-time thrash metal favourite' list, but I think Para Bellum is a very strong and vital thrash metal album of 2025. With its release, Testament makes a strong argument for aging better than just about any of the classic thrash bands.
4
Architects - The Sky, The Earth & All Between (Epitaph)
A band I just got familiar with this year after the release of their latest lengthy opus, The Sky, The Earth & All Between. Big riffs, bigger choruses and gargantuan hooks make it an addictive listen from start to finish.
5
Calva Louise - Edge Of The Abyss (Mascot)
They've been around for more than a decade ago, but Calva Louise truly arrived with its fourth album entitled Edge Of The Abyss. Blending elements of alternative metal with metal-core and even some Latin American dance & pop, the album captured the unique fusion of cultures that its members trace their backgrounds to.
6
Epica - Aspiral (Nuclear Blast)
Aspiral is the ultimate Epica record! It features an amazing warm and epic atmosphere, emotions and irresistible hooks that Epica are known for.
7
Halestorm - Everest (Atlantic)
Everest is easily the band’s boldest work to date, where the band goes full ham on every aspect of classic heavy rock and metal grandstanding.
8
Candlemass - Black Star (Napalm)
I was much in doubt if I'm going to include a four-tracker EP on the list, but since Candlemass are one of my favourite acts, this EP (marking a 40th-anniversary) is a very solid release, including two original tracks and two covers. Again, a solid, albeit somewhat brief, celebration of the band's legacy.
9
Between the Buried and Me - The Blue Nowhere (InsideOut Music)
My emotions while listening to this album are mostly positive. It's different compared to its predecessor, but I think its creative energy, diverse styles, and strong musicianship, is second to none.
10
Tremonti - The End Will Show Us How (Napalm)
The End Will Show Us How is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Tremonti. The End Will Show Us How is a heavy and diverse record that incorporates grunge and post-grunge influences, creating a more varied and gritty sound compared to previous releases from Tremonti.
1
Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast)
Paradise Lost are at a stage in their career where they can draw inspiration from their massive and massively impactful back catalogue. At the same time, they continue to expand upon it. And in 2025, they come across as utterly fresh and motivated. Paradise Lost doesn’t release weak albums, which makes the fact that Ascension is one of the strongest albums the band has released in the last quarter-century all the more staggering.
2
Thumos – The Trial of Socrates (Snow Wolf Records)
It’s impressive to witness the sheer volume of Thumos’ creativity – but what’s even more stunning is the quality of it. With an instrumental double album in 2025, they’ve - believe it or not – created the strongest release of their career.
3
Deftones – Private Music (Reprise/Warner Records)
Private Music may be the longest wait between albums in Deftones’ career, but the payoff is undeniable. The band sounds energized, focused, and fully in command of their sound. This is Deftones at their most cinematic, most balanced, and perhaps most complete since Diamond Eyes.
4
Lunatic Soul – The World Under Unsun (InsideOut Music)
Eight solo album from Riverside’s singer/bassist Mariusz Duda is a double album characterised by emotional and musical explorations, yet despite journey through most genres you can think of it comes across as the Lunatic Soul’s album most likely to resonate with Riverside fans.
5
Mary Mortem - Phantoms of the Fall (Self-released)
Mary Mortem’s fist endower into full-band music is a highly atmospheric mixture of doom metal and shoegaze with pop infused production. There is catchy quality to it without it being directly catchy and never at expense of the intense and almost claustrophobically gorgeous atmosphere.
6
Testament - Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)
While Testament is still rooted in their classic style, Para Bellum shows them broadening their horizons more than they have in a while. The album touches on nearly every era of their career – even the less commercially successful ones – and in doing so, feels like a kind of retrospective. It’s a celebration of band’s legacy, delivered in an energized package.
7
Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade Records)
The Spin pushes Messa's doom-metal roots into more atmospheric territory, blending heavy riffs with jazz-inflected passages and gothic rock chines. It feels both expansive and intimate, showing the band growing bolder in experimentation while keeping their signature sense of weight and drama.
8
Swans – Birthing (Mute/Young God)
Seventeenth studio album by the experimental legends from Swans, is announced to be their last big sounding album. Going forward the band will focus on softer and more stripped-down aspects of their music. With Birthing the band delivers another album packed with excruciating intensity, uncompromisingly delivered in a way that no one else out there does.
9
Kauan – Wayhome (Artoffact Records)
There is so much comfortable and even uplifting beauty on Wayhome. Kauan translates the cold calm of the North with every detail of their music and the way they work together. This is simply a perfect soundtrack for this cold season.
10
Helloween - Giants & Monsters (Reigning Phoenix Music)
German power metal legends managed to pull of a unique form of reunion very late in their career and in 2021 also released a strong album, which is rather impressive. Doing it again - and successfully - on the follow-up album is nothing short of remarkable.
1
Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum (Soulseller)
Musicians from all across Europe? Yes. Themes of occultism, ancient lore and necromancy set to a backdrop of Black Metal? Indeed. Choosing a Tolkien-inspired name to represent them? Slam dunk.
2
Christ Agony - Anthems (Deformeathing)
Polish Black Metal, built upon the foundations of both First and Second Wave Of Black Metal, then sieved through that brutal Polish touch that I have found agrees quite well with me.
3
Old Wains – Stormheart (Darkness Shall Rise)
Old-school Black Metal in all the correct ways – Still going strong after thirty years, with no signs of slowing down nor decaying in quality.
4
Brethrens Of Sadness - Eulogy Beneath Eternal Shadows (Mournful)
US-based Funeral Doom is everything I love about the genre: Menacing, unnerving, off-key and relentless. Naturally it is going on my list for this year.
5
Les Bâtards Du Roi - Les Chemins de L'exil (Les Acteurs De l'Ombre)
Melodic Black Metal from, as the name alludes to, France. In many ways (one of them literal) a contemporary of Darkenhöld who are mentioned elsewhere on this list. They might be newer as a band, but they have come out swinging and ranks higher as a result.
6
Khôra – Ananke (Les Acteurs De l'Ombre)
Atmospheric Black Metal one-man act Khôra has always been a diligent student – He knows what the genre is supposed to be at its core, and delivers on all fronts, every time. Honestly, the only reason the band isn't more popular is due to the relatively small size of the sub-genre as a whole; Of this I am convinced.
7
Borgne - Renaître de ses Fanges (Les Acteurs de l'Ombre)
Borgne is, according to myself at least, one of those bands that grow on you over time. That, combined with their strong drive to innovate and be industrious over quite a few releases at this point makes the Industrial Black Metal act one not to be trifled with.
8
Deus Sabaoth – Cycle Of Death (Unsigned)
Relatively new Ukranian Black Metal band that has recently found their footing and cemented their place unto the worlds stage by releasing their first ever Full-length. Definitely one to keep tabs on.
9
Darkenhöld – Le Fléau Du Rocher (Les Acteurs de L'Ombre)
Darkenhöld, the French Medieval Black Metal band, is one that I have had my eyes on since their second or third record (I forget which one at this point). They consistently create staples of their genre while bringing to the forefront all things fascinating about medieval France – Whether that be history, culture, architecture or mythology.
10
Wurmian – Immemorial Shrine (Pest)
An attempt to reawaken the early Melodic Death Metal scene, albeit through seen through the lens of French culture and preferences – What is there not to like?
1
King Witch - III (Listenable Records)
Hailing from the moor country of Scotland, King Witch’s third album demonstrates their musical growth, and a confirmation rock n roll is alive and well.
2
Mindwars - V (High Rollers Records)
The multinational trio Mindwars is based in L.A. Home of the sleazy Sunset Strip. This song set punches that glam rock past in its face. A rocking record from the West Coast.
3
Bloodhorse – A Malign Star (Iodine Records)
Raw and heavy. A smash up of a stoner doom and grunge sound creating something uniquely new. The band’s sophomore album is one rocking song after another. So good you just might hit replay.
4
Moon Wizard - Sirens (Hammerheart Records)
Imagine a blues drenched vocal matched with a heavy rock / psychedelic sound. A lot like some of the better 70s era rock bands of yesterday. The more I listen to the album the higher it rises on my playlist.
5
Palantyr – The Ascent & Hunger (Jawbreaker Records)
A six song monster metal album. The French quintet put forward a haunting set of modern metal classics. Think the Paul DiAnno years Iron Maiden. The NWOBHM just added a group from the continent.
6
Folwark – All Shadows Stretched (Octopus Rising)
A mesmerizing album cover fits perfectly with a trance inducing song set. Plug in, tune out and enter the heavy melodic sounds of the precision drumbeats and atmospheric vocal style. Subtly reminds me of the band Neurosis.
7
False Gods – Lost in Darkness and Distance (Self-released)
Let the doom envelop you. A style I’m very particular. A melding of progressive and sludge concoct a vicious metal assault. For fans of Prong, Crowbar and Savatage.
8
Sidewinder – March of the Eternal Heretic (Self-released)
Out of the UK, the band is a classic crossover metal punk hybrid sound. Reminds me of Rogue Warrior from the 1980/90’s comic series or the notorious Judge Dread popularized in film.
9
GaiaBeta – Gate of GaiaBeta (Pitch Black Records)
So many metal influences from my youth shine through, Iron Maiden, Savatage, Rainbow and incredible vocals.
10
Caboose – Left for Dust (Majestic Mountain Records)
Fuzzed out rock n roll melts out of your speakers into your ears. A nice song set by the quartet hailing from Sweden.
1
Bleed From Within - Zenith (Nuclear Blast Records)
This is the closest album to perfection of the year. The album plays through beautifully, starting violent and ending with an existentially touching song called “Edge of infinity.” This band's albums keep getting better and better, there is no ceiling for them
2
Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner Records)
This beautifully structured album continued Deafheaven’s unbelievable discography. The album has a chaotic yet hopeful sound which is what Deafheaven do best. The album has an almost cinematic sound.
3
Malevolence - Where Only The Truth is Spoken (Nuclear Blast Records)
I absolutely loved this malevolence album, the song “If It’s All The Same To Tou” has been on repeat for me since it came out. And also “Salt the Wound.” I could listen to this album on repeat for days.
4
Orbit Culture - Death Above Life (Century Media Records)
This theatrical sounding melo death album really caught my attention when it came out, I think the production on it is superb and I love the thrash elements they mixed into the genre.
5
Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea (Pale Chord)
A good mix of chest shaking songs and uplifting mellow songs on this album make it play through really nicely. Courtney Laplante’s vocals are as good as ever and Mike Stringer’s creativity on guitar makes for a really intriguing soundscape.
6
Whitechapel - Hymns In Dissonance (Metal Blade Records)
This comeback album was precisely what Whitechapel needed, it reminds me of their older album This is Exile which is one of my favourites.
7
Architects - The Sky The Earth and All Between (Epitaph Records)
This album is so tight, I got to see Architects first performance of some of the songs from this album live and it lived up to all expectations I had. It’s a refreshing metalcore release in a scene of some recent disappointing releases.
8
Jinjer - Duél (Napalm Records)
A heavy and hypnotic release which for me beats any of Jinjer's other previous albums. It’s excitingly progressive whilst maintaining a beautiful brutality.
9
Thornhill - Bodies (UNFD)
This album is what I rather immaturely imagine being on opioids feels like, its intimate tones blend so well with a fusion of djent and shoegaze sounds.
10
Landmvrks - The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been (Arising Empire)
Flo’s vocals are some of my favourite in the metalcore scene as of now, this album is packed with emotion that is communicated in such an authentic manner that I don’t see many modern metal bands being able to do.