Flush It Friday: The Ghosts of List-Mas Past Returns!
Or should it be “The Ghost of List-Mases Past?”
In the past, when I’ve reviewed or reflected upon my previous year’s best-of list, I’ve often been surprised. Inevitably, a few albums would have made the Top 10 only to disappear entirely from my consciousness the very moment the list was published. Not quite so this year! While I’d be fibbing to claim that every entry in 2024’s list stayed in heavy rotation, I do still listen to most of them while also remembering ranking all of them. That’s a victory of a kind. Let’s g(h)o(st).
Chapel of Disease – Echoes of Light: There was a bit more consensus in picks last year. Joaquin Stick and Joe TNK also had Echoes of Light on their lists, and it still makes sense to me. Though it could be claimed that Echoes of Light didn’t scale the heights of 2018’s …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye, it did have, as I reiterated to a nauseating degree, sensibilities. “Echoes of Light” and “A Death Though No Loss” still get regular attention from me, a testament to righteous riffs.
Cold Cave – Passion Depression: I do still, occasionally, listen to Passion Depression. It’s a tremendously fun record, stripped of all accoutrements and devoted, single-mindedly, to frigid ’80s goth-synth. It never intended to plumb the depths of, say, Cherish the Light Years. It’s club bangers front to back. “Siren Song” makes me want to dress like Cyrax and dance under an overpass with all my weirdest and bestest friends.
Ut Mutem – Wet Nurse: Watching Ut Mutem perform an improvised set in a friend’s living room last year was certainly a highlight of 2024. The OKC solo project continues to be prolific, with damn near 10 releases of various kinds in 2025. How are you supposed to return to anything when there’s always something new to grab your attention? Though I might not have spent much time with Wet Nurse in 2025, I still think this is Ut Mutem’s most accomplished record.
Pneuma Hagion – From Beyond: Similarly to Enragement this year, the track premiere game sometimes produces a year-ender. Pneuma Hagion’s From Beyond is a pitch-perfect ode to Gateways of Annihilation-era Morbid Angel, and it remains as such to this day. All those songs I listed last year? Still slappin’ ’em on, especially “All Worlds Enslaved.” Shit’s bonkers.
Denzel Curry – Kings of the Mischievous South: A very of-its-moment pick. I will say, though, both “Set It” and “Black Flag Freestyle” have entered officially Music Video Night. Whatever we want to say about the staying power of the album itself, there is no higher honour than inclusion in Music Video Night. Consider it a kind of Hall of Fame.
PeelingFlesh – The G Code: Oh fuck yeah bud. This is as good as slam gets. I think PeelingFlesh themselves are trying to figure out how to proceed. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it, ya know? I’m having the odd experience of liking everything from 2024 more than anything I listened to this year. What happened?
Alcest – Les Chants de l’Aurore: I thought we had settled this, but I’ll ask: are y’all sayin’ “All-say” or “All-sest”? I swear to Flamme Jumelle I’ve even heard Neige himself say “All-sest”—ostensibly because the name is derived from Alcestis—but the pronunciation thing came up last week. Anyways, this album is still incredible and better than most things that came out in 2025. Apparently no one knows who Mono is, because when they opened for Alcest last year, people lost their shit about it. Which is totally fine, except then Alcest played after.
Chat Pile – Cool World: The only thing I got wrong about Cool World is that “Camcorder” is the track I return to over and over again. Yeah, maybe “The New World” or “Frownland” or “Shame” or “Masc” is the better song, but the main riff of “Camcorder” is as good as it gets. At some point, I imagine, Chat Pile will falter, as all bands do. Hasn’t happened yet, though.
Gladekeeper – Yearntale: Here’s what I’m going to say about Yearntale. Whatever kind of [insert] synth you want to call it, it’s the best kind of [insert] synth that exists. It’s a perfect record, and I wish its goodness on all of you. I have friends who don’t even know what all this cozy/comfy/forest/fantasy synth shit is about that listen to this record weekly! It’s perfect.
Replicant – Infinite Mortality: If we were to, for the moment, put aside Absolute Elsewhere, could we perhaps argue that Infinite Mortality is not only the best death metal album of 2024 but of 2025 as well? The most agreed-upon (sort of) death metal record of 2025 was Tómarúm‘s Beyond Obsidian Euphoria. It’s great! A towering achievement. It’s on my 2025 list. But is it, or any 2025 death metal record better than Infinite Mortality? Or is this just a me thing? In either case, obviously, Infinite Mortality deserved all its past accolades and any future ones it may accumulate.
ORGASM OF BEFLUSHMENT.
Stick blew it but Roldy didn’t. Our Tuesday was Toileted.
365 Days of Horror penned an impressive retrospective of all the stupid bullshit in metal that happened in 2025.
Toilet Radio 599 (so close!) features Joe ‘n Jordan also looking back on the year that was.
Another annual tradition and another classic from 365. It’s the Worst Album Art of the Year!
Bands still release albums! Stevo has you covered on some late-in-the-calendar releases.
Reliquary Tower is back in the bin, tag-diving for new stanks!
The first flush of the year is always a special moment. Make sure to plop into Disqus with your G/B/Us below!
