The Best Metal Albums of 2025 (so far)…that Metal Hammer missed!
Reading through Metal Hammer’s latest roundup, some of the most passionate, inventive, and emotionally charged records of 2025 didn’t make the cut, perhaps because they didn’t come packaged with major-label PR momentum.
Has the music press drifted from championing great records in favour of spotlighting returning festival headliners and reflecting back the most visible bands in the world?
Much has been made this year of the blurring lines between metal and pop, and it’s impossible to ignore the rise of Sleep Token, and the friction their success has caused. Sleep Token have found success through a pop framework, and their fanbase, for the most part, doesn’t come from within the metal community. It comes from people who love pop music, sleek production, and theatrical presentation. Something similar happened in punk record stores in 2006, owners felt a deep sense of conflict having to file Panic! At The Disco next to Black Flag. What we’re seeing now is the same kind of dissonance: metalheads being told that a pop band is “the future of metal”, and the metal press, locked into algorithmic dependency, has no choice but to follow the numbers. If a band has gone viral with even a partial connection to metal, they have to cover it - because clicks are clicks. In doing so, they give less and less space to the wild, urgent, emotionally intense metal records that absolutely deserve to be heard.
Whether it’s a veteran band hitting new peaks, or a near-unknown pushing the boundaries, we don’t believe that popularity should dictate coverage.
Here’s 4 records we think the metal press have slept on so far in 2025:
Dawn of Ouroboros - Bioluminescence
Melodic, cosmic blackened death from a band that dares to be beautiful, Bioluminescence is one of the most emotionally rich, genre-blurring metal releases of the year.
Raging Speedhorn - Night Wolf
British sludge-core veterans who sound more nasty than ever - proof that legacy bands can evolve without mellowing out.
Waldo’s Gift - Malcolm’s Law
Maybe not technically metal, but the way this Bristol trio weaponizes math-jazz earns them a spot. This is the future of heavy music.
Arch Enemy - Blood Dynasty
Arch Enemy are established, but Blood Dynasty is a theatrical, vicious, and totally self-assured late-career moment that deserves a spotlight.
