TOP ALBUMS OV 2025 W/ STEVO & AARON!
You don’t praise DEATH, you know nothing of TovH OR LISTMANIA 2K25 DAY 2, you are just a bunch of people trying to get caught up on the year’s releases or whatever it is you want, your “fart” will never have any impact because it isn’t grounded in any metaphysical thought, you’re just a bunch of readers, face it. Haha, keep justifying your laughable pseudo-lifestyle… if you really, like really, like heavy metal, you like violence, ecstacy and dionysian aesthetics… being a great bunch of RPG-nerds making top 10s with me… Stevo and Aaron don’t care really.
Stevo
2025 as a whole seemed to be a dumpster fire for things outside my own comfy hobby zones. Thankfully when it came to metal releases this year, it’s been another good one that’s given me a variety of things I’ve enjoyed as well as some nice new discoveries. There was a good amount of non-metal I enjoyed as well such as Home Front, Kürøishi, Béton Armé, Slow Crush and Greet. This is my first year writing reviews for Toilet ov Hell and it’s been a very fun time getting back to reviewing. It’s just been nice to do this in my own spare time which feels good for the soul, really glad to be a part of this community. Before we get to my top 10, I’m gonna throw in a few honorable mentions that deserve to be talked about.
Honorable Mentions
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth
Cruz del Sur
This side-project from Kyle McNeil of Seven Sisters follows up a very promising debut with a great effort. I enjoy the mix of traditional heavy metal and progressive rock in the vein of Uriah Heep. The tremendous vocal range from Kyle also adds an extra layer to what is a fantastic follow-up to Immortal’s Requiem.
One of Nine – Dawn of the Iron Shadow
Mini
Following a promising melodic black metal debut in Eternal Sorcery, One of Nine adds more layers to their sound with the welcome addition of symphonic elements mixed perfectly well with the melodic black sound they’ve already mastered from the debut.
Firmament – For Centuries Alive
Dying Victims Productions
Despite a really good debut album by these Germans a couple years back, I was skeptical about this follow-up due to the change in vocalist. However, they knocked it out of the park with such an enjoyable heavy metal record. While it’s different from the debut, it has its own charm and personality. The new vocalist has a fantastic range throughout and belts a killer chorus.
Top 10
10. Caustic Wound – Grinding Mechanism of Torment
These deathgrinders from Seattle (featuring members of Mortiferum) followed up on a very promising debut with something that’s even more unhinged and chaotic. There’s one song that is an absolute riot, “Blood Battery;” this track, while crushing, also has a fun two-stepping groove especially in its intro/main riff. Caustic Wound is one of the best bands right now doing the deathgrind sound with fantastic results. With the lengths of these songs, they do a great job filling them with as much variety as possible with no issues. The guitars in particular do a fantastic job with their grinding aggression, plus sick solos throughout.
9. Kostnatění – Přílišnost (Excess)
Willowtip Records | Review
This was one of the most ridiculous black metal releases I heard this year. When some bands experiment with such left field curve-balls that don’t make sense on paper, they can lose the aggression that you loved in previous releases. However, in Kostnatění’s case they still have that aggressive vibe throughout despite the ballsy experimental approach on this album. It’s a crazy journey that will give you spacey, industrial, atmospheric and psychedelic moments. What other albums out there would show off an unhinged mix of Mysticum, Anaal Nathrakh, Wormlust and has an opening track whose introduction reminds you of Slipknot’s “Eyeless?”
8. Black Sword Thunder Attack – S/T
No Remorse Records
For fans of bands such as Eternal Champion, you’ll probably have a fantastic time with this debut from these Greek epic heavy metallers. They do a fantastic job in displaying a raw sound in the genre while still maintaining the epic sound that I adore in this genre. They come storming from the gate with a fantastic opener in “The Black Sword;” from then on, they just keep ploughing ahead with their triumphant sounds of fantasy battles and war. From the really impressive guitar leads and strong basslines to the unique vocal range from Mareike, they deliver the goods on this LP after a promising EP from 2020.
7. Qrixkuor – The Womb of the World
Invictus Productions | Review
Qrixkuor are known for well-executed dissonant and cavernous death metal with long song-lengths that stick to you without losing your interest. On this latest effort, they powered up what made their previous records really good and added orchestral/symphonic elements. This experimental approach results in such a fantastically unique album. The cavernous atmosphere mixed in with something that you’d hear in modern Septicflesh works and makes for a brilliant evolution in the band’s sound. I also really liked the guest appearance of Jaded Lungs from Adorior (their latest album was in my top 10 last year) on “And You Shall Know Peridition as Your Shrine” as it adds an unhinged edge to the music.
6. Century – Sign of the Storm
Electric Assault Records
Just one of the many traditional heavy metal albums I’ve enjoyed this year, Century from Sweden delivered a brilliant follow-up to a fantastic debut album two years ago. This band excels at delivering great heavy metal riffs; their pacing is also perfect for the genre as you will get a variety of fast tracks as well as catchy tunes. I really enjoy the raw vocals as well that deliver some powerful choruses, especially in tracks such as “Sign of the Storm” and “Fly Away.” There’s a reason this band is probably one of the best modern trad/heavy metal bands in the scene right now.
5. Kontusion – Insatiable Lust for Death
This death metal duo from New Jersey/Washington came out with one of the most pummeling albums of this year: a great showing of savage drumming followed by guitars mixed in with d-beats for a riot of an album. The vocals also have that suffocating weight that I enjoyed with the last Left Cross album from two years ago. It makes for an all guns blazing blast of a sub-30 minute debut that succeeds in its full-on aggressive assault. An absolute slaughter of an effort with memorable tracks such as “Revenge” and “Horrid Eye.”
4. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
After releasing one of their best modern albums in The Tritonus Bell, the Finnish death/doomers are back 4 years later with another strong release. What I liked most with this one is it feels like a very cool blend between their last two albums, The Tritonus Bell and Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed. They kill it with bangers like “Daughters of Lingering Pain,” “Portrait with a Face” and even a fun cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer.” This album has a great mixture of elements from traditional metal as well as the Peaceville Three (Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema) that adds to the death/doom cauldron Hooded Menace have already mastered at this point.
3. Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate
Gilead Media
I was pretty disappointed with their last effort (Master’s Murmur) as it wasn’t what I enjoy about Yellow Eyes. When the New York-based atmospheric black metallers dropped Confusion Gate out of nowhere, it felt like a big comeback album; a return to what made this band great in the first place. They’ve done a fantastic job in keeping the aggression, variety of riffs, and lovely atmosphere combined altogether. The additional layer of synths and other instruments heightens it even more with my favorite tracks on this release being “The Thought of Death” and “I Fear the Master’s Murmur.” It’s such a big improvement from their last album and even better than Rare Field Ceiling for me.
2. Morke – To Carry On
True Cult Records | Review
To Carry On is one of my favorite black metal records that came out this year as you’d probably noticed from my review. Eric did a fantastic job in taking the Obsequiae sound and making it their own iteration. It’s a blissful, melodic, and triumphant journey throughout the album. The majestic guitar leads are a nice blend of melodic black metal as well as classic melodeath that makes for a grandiose sound without getting old or worn out. While I enjoyed other albums of similar style this year like Weald & Woe and Veytik, Morke stands out for its personal approach and strong heart. It’s certainly one I’d highly recommend for people that are still waiting for a new Obsequiae album.
1. Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss
NoEvDia
The Spanish masters of blackened death came back after their last release 6 years ago and delivered a killer album, just complete, full-throttle intensity riffs that give it a destructive and dark aura throughout. For an album with a length of 51 minutes, it didn’t get boring and did a great job in keeping the momentum throughout. I really like the title track and “Strangling Visions;” they both display what makes Teitanblood thrive in this area. The drumming is ridiculous, and the guitars not only riff hard but also rip some sick soloing and divebombs. The vocals also have that evil, death metal edge that you don’t see as often these days. This really showed why the band is still a force to be reckoned with in this style.
Aaron
To me, 2025 was a supremely cool year in the broader music landscape, but in terms of metal it was a year of a lot of flat, beige, mostly decent records that didn’t exactly rock my world overall. Compared to 2024, a year that was, for me, packed with excellent metal, 2025 was on the whole a good bit weaker. As always, though, the cream rose to the top and the excellent records shone even brighter than they normally would.
10. Catharsis – Hope Against Hope
CrimethInc / No Gods No Masters
Shockingly under-reported by almost everyone in extreme music, myself included, I didn’t even know Catharsis had returned, let alone that they’d put out a new record. The fact that it ended up being probably my favourite record in their career? That’s pretty crazy. It’s a hard toss-up for me between this album and Passion, since I’ve spent so much time with the former over the years, but Hope Against Hope manages to distillate the appeal of classic Catharsis but with the maturation of a quarter-century. A lot of times when bands return and people speak about “maturation” it’s a coded smoke signal letting you know that a band has become boring, stripped of vitality but on Hope Against Hope you hear a band firing on all fronts with as much intensity and viciousness as they’ve ever had.
9. Mclusky – The World Is Still Here And So Are We
Ipecac | Review
Another comeback? And it’s great as well? 2025 is the year that the nursing home struck back. Mclusky’s return feels less earth-shattering now in hindsight when placed in context with the Christian Fitness and Future Of The Left records we’ve had during their absence, and in that interim you can find the clear development that led to The World Is Still Here And So Are We. In that context, it’s less of a declarative return to form and more-so another chapter in the Falco-and-co tapestry that’s been weaved for over 20 years—and honestly that might even be more impressive to me. To be consistently solid for decades and still have the capacity to come up with material as tight and catchy as this? That’s a high bar to clear.
8. Sulfuric Cautery – Killing Spree
Blast Addict
Killing Spree is fantastic—pure ferociousness bleeding through gorenoise snare porn, the type of record you want to violently damage your ears to. It hits that sweet spot in the genre where the noise and bombast feels effortless and inattentive to its own destruction, as opposed to so many projects that feel programmed, drained of any spontaneity. I caught onto Sulfuric Cautery with Suffocating Feats Of Dehumanisation back in 2023, which similarly rocked my world, but after checking out their splits and hearing Killing Spree, I am a true believer. I’ve yet to hear Consummate Extirpation—which basically just dropped at the time I’m writing—but I can imagine it’s similarly excellent.
7. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services
Relapse Records
Something must have been in the water this year because we managed to get two ’90s metalcore reunion records that weren’t terrible! Near-Death Travel Services is perhaps even more impressive to me, because whereas the new Catharsis—great as it was—had the unmistakable weight of age and time to it, Deadguy genuinely managed to put out a record that sounds like it was recorded 5 minutes after 1995’s Fixation On A Coworker.
6. Shearling – Motherfucker, I am Both: “Amen” and “Hallelujah”
Mishap Recordings
Out of the ashes of Sprain, a band who I always enjoyed well enough but not one I was ever totally enraptured by, came Shearling, a band whose debut is as arresting and shocking a record as I’ve heard in a long while. It’s not that it’s treading wholly unfamiliar ground; there’s a surprisingly common amount of records that you can describe as “a left-field, oppressively rhythmic noise rock album incorporating elements of totalism” despite how specific that is, but this album sounds so genuinely touched by a spark of utter, all-consuming madness. Though I’m impressed by its dense instrumentals, I’m continually shook by the vocals of Alexander Gregory Kent, where he bridges the gap between Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu and James Chance, with his manic barks and wails. Genuinely, if you play this loud enough people will call the police to investigate a murder.
5. Iron Lung – Adapting // Crawling
Iron Lung Records | Review
The return record from Iron Lung, their first full-length in over a decade, is easily their best album to date. Oppressive, burning and genuinely chaotic. Not only is it their most accomplished record in its songwriting, deceptively catchy even in its most violent moment, it’s also their most thematically cohesive and well-structured. Probably the best powerviolence record of the decade.
4. Cytotoxin – Biographyte
Independent
More exclusion-zone brutal tech death from Cytotoxin. Biographyte received a more muted reception compared to Nuklearth by my reckoning, but personally I find Biographyte to be a straight-up improvement. While I still feel that Cytotoxin have yet to top 2012’s Radiophobia, a personal favourite of mine, I feel like Biographyte is the closest they’ve gotten to that peak. Ripping death metal that manages to straddle the line between technicality and ferocity without losing the appeal of either.
3. Mephitic Corpse – Sickness Attracts Sickness
Extremely Rotten
The ultimate grower of the year. I heard Sickness Attracts Sickness shortly after it released in early February and didn’t think much about it afterwards. About a month later I re-listened to it at the urging of a friend, and I found a little more to like. Over the course of the year Sickness Attracts Sickness has clung to me, ultimately becoming my go-to scratch for my dirty death metal itch this year. Equal parts sickening, groovy, and catchy—three qualities a lot of bands can really only perform one or two of—Mephitic Corpse easily had the debut of the year for me.
2. Primitive Man – Observance
Relapse Records
My favourite record from Primitive Man since Scorn, Observance took a little while to fully click with me, but its uniquely despondent take on their now-trademark brand of filthy death sludge is undeniable. Arguably the heaviest record of the year.
1. Swans – Birthing
Young God
Birthing is apparently the final record of this current iteration of Swans, and it surprised me a lot. I’ve not particularly dug any Swans records since To Be Kind, and haven’t loved any record of theirs since The Seer, so I approached Birthing with relatively tempered expectations. Instead, though, I found it to be a big highlight in their discography: the creaking, overwhelmed sound of Gira and company teetering towards self-destruction. “I Am A Tower” is as good a track as Swans have done in over a decade, and if Birthing is truly the final note for this era of Swans, then they’ve managed to end things on a high note.
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