Coroner, \u2018Dissonance Theory\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Coroner,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Coroner-Disonance-Theory.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tIn releasing their first album in more than 30 years, Coroner had a clear advantage over many reanimated bands: The Swiss thrash trio already sounded so futuristic during their initial late-Eighties-through-mid-Nineties run that there was little risk of coming off as a relic. Still, it\u2019s striking how seamlessly Dissonance Theory<\/em> slots into a 21st-century metal climate strongly informed by Meshuggah\u2019s cyborg-esque technicality<\/a>. Blazing through uptempo ragers like \u201cRenewal\u201d or digging into discordant groovefests such as \u201cTransparent Eye\u201d \u2014 tracks that instantly recall 1991\u2019s Mental Vortex<\/em> and 1993\u2019s Grin<\/em>, respectively \u2014 bassist-vocalist Ron Royce, guitarist Tommy T. Baron, and new drummer Diego Rapacchietti recapture the icy ferocity and eerie atmospherics that have made Coroner perennial cult favorites.\u00a0\u2014Hank Shteamer<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDeafheaven, \u2018Lonely People With Power\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Deafheaven,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
![\"Deafheaven,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Deafheaven-Lonely-People-With-Power.jpeg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tThe latest album from the endlessly inventive metal band Deafheaven perfectly sums up their magic-trick mix of raw aggression, painterly lyrics, and earworm melodies.\u00a0Lonely People With Power\u00a0<\/a><\/em>is an ambitious and oddly gorgeous suite, vacillating between aching isolation and introspective rage. It\u2019s a culmination of a decade and a half of innovation \u2014 a mixing and merging of melody and metal, pain and poetry. Some moments explore conventionally masculine rage, but\u00a0there\u2019s also a membrane of beauty that holds the whole album together.\u00a0<\/em>\u2014Brenna Ehrlich<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nRunemagick, \u2018Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Remains)\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Runemagick,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Runemagick-Cycle-of-the-Dying-Sun-Dawn-of-Ashen-Remains.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tRunemagick, the lachrymose brainchild of vocalist-guitarist Nicklas Rudolfsson, carved out a desolate corner of the underground back in 1990. Since then, they\u2019ve held firm against every trend, beavering away in the name of darkness, death, and doom. Their stately 14th album, Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms),<\/em> is a dusty love letter to the old ways \u2014 specifically, the late Nineties, when death-doom hybrids like My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth were locked in a global struggle with Runemagick to out-miserable one another. Here, Rudolfsson plays around with tempo and makes some interesting stylistic choices (gotta love a \u201cshamanic trance voice\u201d) but ultimately, the new album sounds old in the best possible way: weighty, human, and heavy as a curse.\u00a0\u2014Kim Kelly<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nChepang, \u2018Jhyappa\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Chepang,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chepang-Jhyappa.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tThe Nepali American self-described \u201cimmigrindcore\u201d quartet Chepang have been grinding away in the D.I.Y. world for the past decade, wowing devotees with their unique approach to the noisy genre \u2014 complete with Nepali pop samples. This year, they inked a deal with Relapse, and their fourth album, Jhyappa<\/em>, saw the band tear through nine tunes in under 20 minutes. In a callback to their first EP, Lathi Charge<\/em>, Jhyappa<\/em> trims away any fat to serve up urgent grindcore with a heavy metallic backbone. Nepali lyrics delivered by dual vocalists Bhotey Gore and Mountain God veer between the personal (the frantic, oddly motivational \u201cEk Hajar Jhut\u201d) and political (the seething, two-stepping \u201cDrivya Shakti\u201d), culminating in a moment of unexpected zen on outro \u201cBindhai.\u201d\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nCastle Rat, \u2018The Bestiary\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Castle](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Castle-Rat-The-Bestiary.jpeg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tA time-tested rule in metal is that an attention-grabbing act doesn\u2019t mean squat without the songs to back it up. On their second LP, Castle Rat \u2014 a self-described<\/a> \u201cmedieval fantasy heavy metal band,\u201d led by guitarist-vocalist Riley Pinkerton, a.k.a. the Rat Queen, who takes the stage<\/a> looking like both a pro wrestler and a warrior princess \u2014 showed that they\u2019ve clearly been taking notes. While their performances court camp, their music has serious depth, pairing chugging High on Fire\u2013via-Sabbath doom with witchy moodiness and an almost artisanal craftsmanship. \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to give people a world to step into outside of their own,\u201d Pinkerton recently told New Noise<\/em><\/a>; accordingly, The Bestiary<\/em> was as expertly transporting as any other metal LP released this year.\u00a0\u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nRwake, \u2018The Return of Magick\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Rwake,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rwake-the-return-of-magick.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tRwake has never done things the \u201cright\u201d way. If they had, the doom metallers might have softened their monolithic sound, moved to a scene-y city, or committed to a punishing tour schedule could have boosted their name recognition and pulled in some extra dough; instead, Little Rock\u2019s heaviest export chose to grow on their own terms. Their sixth LP, The Return of Magick,<\/em> was released after a 13-year pause, and it is an absolute stunner. The band tempers its trademark tectonic sludge with progressive flourishes, technical ecstasies, trippy interludes (\u201cIn After Reverse\u201d is a brain melter) and nifty fretwork from Austin Sublett and John Judkins\u2019 dual power guitars.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nWhitechapel, \u2018Hymns in Dissonance\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Whitechapel,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Whitechapel-Hymns-in-Dissonance.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tCults, demons, and the seven deadly sins made this album one of the year\u2019s darkest \u2014 and most fun. Whitechapel vocal gymnast Phil Bozeman shrieked and growled his way over 10 tracks that recounted a hellish portal and the cult leader who wants to reopen its gaping maw. Produced by one of the group\u2019s three(!) guitarists, Zach Householder,\u00a0Hymns in Dissonance<\/em>\u00a0was balls-to-the-wall metal, both in sound and lyrics. Who doesn\u2019t feel like sowing chaos while blaring songs titled \u201cPrisoner 666,\u201d \u201cDiabolic Slumber,\u201d and \u201cBedlam\u201d? It\u2019s an intense listen, but Whitechapel\u2019s attention to every devilish detail made it one of the year\u2019s best executed. \u2014Joseph Hudak<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDeadguy, \u2018Near-Death Travel Services\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Deadguy,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Deadguy-Near-Death-Travel-Services.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tWhen Deadguy released their second LP after a three-decade gap this summer, they weren\u2019t just following up any old record. Fixation on a Co-Worker<\/em>, the metalcore outfit\u2019s 1995 debut, was long enshrined as an underground classic \u2014 an unhinged tantrum of metallic hardcore that touched a nerve in any listener who\u2019d ever felt themself losing their grip on sanity while stuck in a soul-crushing office job. Cueing up Near-Death Travel Services <\/em>opener \u201cKill Fee,\u201d it was almost concerning how malcontented the band still sounded, writhing and lurching through its signature nails-on-chalkboard riffs as vocalist Tim Singer howled about coping with a world \u201cfull of narrow lanes and rigged games.\u201d The rest of the record followed suit with one relentless noise-core expulsion after another, somehow clearing Fixation<\/em>\u2018s impossibly high bar.\u00a0\u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nBlut Aus Nord, \u2018Ethereal Horizons\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Blut](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Blut-Aus-Nord-Ethereal-Horizons.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tBlut Aus Nord have always shunned predictability to their advantage. Now, two albums into the decidedly noisy Disharmonium<\/em> trilogy, frontman Vindsval decided to change tack entirely and release a gorgeous melodic black metal album, Ethereal Horizons, <\/em>instead. The LP harkens back to the icy grandiosity of the band\u2019s Memoria Vetusta<\/em> trilogy but adds a dash of modern dissonance and clouds of synth-lined prog-rock to its dreamy mid-tempo meandering. Could the album\u2019s bright, cosmic bent, particularly on radiant closer \u201cThe End Becomes Grace,\u201d signal the coming of yet another new era? Time will tell.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nHalestorm, \u2018Everest\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Halestorm,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Halestorm-Everest.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tWhen Lzzy Hale and Co. teamed up with Eric Church producer Jay Joyce for 2015\u2019s\u00a0Into the Wild Life<\/em>, fans feared they were going country. Instead, they made one of their hardest rocking albums yet. The same is true for\u00a0Everest<\/em>, a ferocious, multi-layered record helmed by Chris Stapleton\u2019s go-to producer, Dave Cobb.\u00a0Everest<\/em>\u00a0is as grand as the eponymous peak and is an overall lush listening experience (put on headphones for the orchestral \u201cDarkness Always Wins\u201d), punctuated by guitarist Joe Hottinger\u2019s technically ornate solos and Hale\u2019s raspy but ever-soulful howl. On the title track, she takes stock of the journey ahead and the hard roads she and the band have traveled thus far: \u201cAll my life, I\u2019ve had to fight\/and don\u2019t know why, I just keep going,\u201d Hale sings. After six albums, Halestorm keep scaling rock\u2019s mountain. \u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nPrimitive Man, \u2018Observance\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Primitive](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Primitive-Man-Observance.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tThe doom-metal trio Primitive Man has always fed off its hatred for mankind\u2019s monsters, especially fascists. In 2025, we needed them more than ever \u2014 and they delivered. Observance<\/em>, the death\/sludge trio\u2019s fourth full-length, sees them paint a grim portrait of a depressed man, haunted by the horrors of the world outside, consumed by the pain of living. From the album\u2019s first blackened, bleeding moment on \u201cSeer,\u201d Primitive Man leans heavily into the doomy side of their sound, dragging each note through rotten muck and smothering any shard of light beneath layers of distortion. The band\u2019s languid, shuddering tempos only amplify the horror on tracks like \u201cTransactional,\u201d a gutted paean to alienation. Here, Primitive Man capture the zeitgeist of 2025 \u2014 its inhumanities, its hatefulness, its despair \u2014 and Observance<\/em> refuses to let us look away.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDream Theater, \u2018Parasomnia\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Dream](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dream-Theater-Parasomnia.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tA decade and a half ago, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy suffered a lapse of reason and quit the beloved prog-metal outfit he co-founded in 1985. Now with the stickman back in the fold, the quintet sounds complete again on Parasomnia<\/em>, their 16th album of athletic prog metal, built around guitarist John Petrucci\u2019s finger-breaking fretwork, Jordan Rudess\u2019 coils of synths, and Portnoy\u2019s jaw-dropping command of about 16,346 drums and cymbals<\/a>. On \u201cA Broken Man,\u201d written by frontman James La Brie, they shift gears between unheadbangable time signatures like 5\/8 and 5\/4, and on \u201cMidnight Messiah,\u201d penned by Portnoy, Petrucci conducts a hurricane of notes during the solo break, but it can\u2019t break the band. On that last song, La Brie sings, \u201cThe dream will never end\u201d \u2014 not a bad thing. \u2014Kory Grow<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nGhost, \u2018Skelet\u00e1\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Ghost,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ghost-Skeleta.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tGhost notched some serious career milestones this year, topping the Billboard <\/em>200 and selling out their first headlining show at Madison Square Garden. But even more impressive was what the Swedish pop-metal sensations<\/a> accomplished on their sixth studio LP. Since the band\u2019s 2010 debut, Opus Eponymous<\/em>, Ghost auteur Tobias Forge has always matched an elaborate backstory<\/a> and lavish theatrical trappings with serious songwriting chops. Still, Skelet\u00e1<\/em> marked a real leveling-up: Every track here felt worthy of the band\u2019s newfound arena scale, from rock-operatic anthem \u201cSatanized\u201d to tearjerking power ballad \u201cExcelsis\u201d and, maybe best of all, sinister strutter, \u201cMissilia Amori,\u201d which could almost be a lost Hysteria<\/em><\/a> cut. For the first time, the emotional content of the songs \u2014 swagger and pathos, chilly blasphemy and cheeky fun \u2014 felt as impactful as the band\u2019s famously over-the-top stage show. \u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nAgriculture, \u2018The Spiritual Sound\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Agriculture,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Agriculture-The-Spiritual-Sound.jpg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tTwo minutes into \u201cMy Garden,\u201d the first song on The Spiritual Sound<\/em>, Agriculture offer up a Zen koan worth considering: \u201cDeath is the ultimate fucker.\u201d The guitars squeal and cymbals crash tempestuously. And then they abruptly lighten things up with a chorus that sounds almost like Sonic Youth. The group packed each of the 10 tracks on their second album with abrupt musical U-turns, making it one of the most exciting and avant-garde metal albums in ages. Some of the textures include tremulous black-metal thrumming (\u201cFlea\u201d), extreme noise guitar terror (\u201cThe Weight\u201d), and the one-two punch of \u201cBodhidharma,\u201d a lumbering, grungy meditation, and \u201cHallelujah,\u201d a Dinosaur Jr.\u2013like folk-rock song using the same chords. Death may be the ultimate fucker, but Agriculture are penultimate. \u2014K.G.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\nDeftones, \u2018Private Music\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t![\"Deftones,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Deftones-Private-Music.jpeg?w=300\")
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\n\n\tThe best thing about Private Music<\/em>, the band\u2019s 10th LP, is how it upholds Deftones\u2019 core aesthetic \u2014 a juxtaposition of grinding alt-metal riffage, and deep, sensuous yearning that recalls their turn-of-the-millennium landmark White Pony<\/em><\/a> \u2014 while somehow sounding fresh.<\/em> Highlights such as the jagged, unnerving \u201cCut Hands,\u201d woozy power ballad \u201cI Think About You All the Time\u201d and the anthemic \u201cEcdysis\u201d felt like instant Deftones canon, each a reminder of this band\u2019s unusual staying power. At a moment where a whole new generation of vanguard heavy acts is proudly displaying the influence of their back catalog \u2014 including recent tourmates Fleshwater and English punks Higher Power \u2014 Private Music<\/em> showed that they\u2019re still writing riveting new chapters. \u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
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\n\tIn releasing their first album in more than 30 years, Coroner had a clear advantage over many reanimated bands: The Swiss thrash trio already sounded so futuristic during their initial late-Eighties-through-mid-Nineties run that there was little risk of coming off as a relic. Still, it\u2019s striking how seamlessly Dissonance Theory<\/em> slots into a 21st-century metal climate strongly informed by Meshuggah\u2019s cyborg-esque technicality<\/a>. Blazing through uptempo ragers like \u201cRenewal\u201d or digging into discordant groovefests such as \u201cTransparent Eye\u201d \u2014 tracks that instantly recall 1991\u2019s Mental Vortex<\/em> and 1993\u2019s Grin<\/em>, respectively \u2014 bassist-vocalist Ron Royce, guitarist Tommy T. Baron, and new drummer Diego Rapacchietti recapture the icy ferocity and eerie atmospherics that have made Coroner perennial cult favorites.\u00a0\u2014Hank Shteamer<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe latest album from the endlessly inventive metal band Deafheaven perfectly sums up their magic-trick mix of raw aggression, painterly lyrics, and earworm melodies.\u00a0Lonely People With Power\u00a0<\/a><\/em>is an ambitious and oddly gorgeous suite, vacillating between aching isolation and introspective rage. It\u2019s a culmination of a decade and a half of innovation \u2014 a mixing and merging of melody and metal, pain and poetry. Some moments explore conventionally masculine rage, but\u00a0there\u2019s also a membrane of beauty that holds the whole album together.\u00a0<\/em>\u2014Brenna Ehrlich<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tRunemagick, the lachrymose brainchild of vocalist-guitarist Nicklas Rudolfsson, carved out a desolate corner of the underground back in 1990. Since then, they\u2019ve held firm against every trend, beavering away in the name of darkness, death, and doom. Their stately 14th album, Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms),<\/em> is a dusty love letter to the old ways \u2014 specifically, the late Nineties, when death-doom hybrids like My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth were locked in a global struggle with Runemagick to out-miserable one another. Here, Rudolfsson plays around with tempo and makes some interesting stylistic choices (gotta love a \u201cshamanic trance voice\u201d) but ultimately, the new album sounds old in the best possible way: weighty, human, and heavy as a curse.\u00a0\u2014Kim Kelly<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe Nepali American self-described \u201cimmigrindcore\u201d quartet Chepang have been grinding away in the D.I.Y. world for the past decade, wowing devotees with their unique approach to the noisy genre \u2014 complete with Nepali pop samples. This year, they inked a deal with Relapse, and their fourth album, Jhyappa<\/em>, saw the band tear through nine tunes in under 20 minutes. In a callback to their first EP, Lathi Charge<\/em>, Jhyappa<\/em> trims away any fat to serve up urgent grindcore with a heavy metallic backbone. Nepali lyrics delivered by dual vocalists Bhotey Gore and Mountain God veer between the personal (the frantic, oddly motivational \u201cEk Hajar Jhut\u201d) and political (the seething, two-stepping \u201cDrivya Shakti\u201d), culminating in a moment of unexpected zen on outro \u201cBindhai.\u201d\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tA time-tested rule in metal is that an attention-grabbing act doesn\u2019t mean squat without the songs to back it up. On their second LP, Castle Rat \u2014 a self-described<\/a> \u201cmedieval fantasy heavy metal band,\u201d led by guitarist-vocalist Riley Pinkerton, a.k.a. the Rat Queen, who takes the stage<\/a> looking like both a pro wrestler and a warrior princess \u2014 showed that they\u2019ve clearly been taking notes. While their performances court camp, their music has serious depth, pairing chugging High on Fire\u2013via-Sabbath doom with witchy moodiness and an almost artisanal craftsmanship. \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to give people a world to step into outside of their own,\u201d Pinkerton recently told New Noise<\/em><\/a>; accordingly, The Bestiary<\/em> was as expertly transporting as any other metal LP released this year.\u00a0\u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tRwake has never done things the \u201cright\u201d way. If they had, the doom metallers might have softened their monolithic sound, moved to a scene-y city, or committed to a punishing tour schedule could have boosted their name recognition and pulled in some extra dough; instead, Little Rock\u2019s heaviest export chose to grow on their own terms. Their sixth LP, The Return of Magick,<\/em> was released after a 13-year pause, and it is an absolute stunner. The band tempers its trademark tectonic sludge with progressive flourishes, technical ecstasies, trippy interludes (\u201cIn After Reverse\u201d is a brain melter) and nifty fretwork from Austin Sublett and John Judkins\u2019 dual power guitars.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tCults, demons, and the seven deadly sins made this album one of the year\u2019s darkest \u2014 and most fun. Whitechapel vocal gymnast Phil Bozeman shrieked and growled his way over 10 tracks that recounted a hellish portal and the cult leader who wants to reopen its gaping maw. Produced by one of the group\u2019s three(!) guitarists, Zach Householder,\u00a0Hymns in Dissonance<\/em>\u00a0was balls-to-the-wall metal, both in sound and lyrics. Who doesn\u2019t feel like sowing chaos while blaring songs titled \u201cPrisoner 666,\u201d \u201cDiabolic Slumber,\u201d and \u201cBedlam\u201d? It\u2019s an intense listen, but Whitechapel\u2019s attention to every devilish detail made it one of the year\u2019s best executed. \u2014Joseph Hudak<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Deadguy released their second LP after a three-decade gap this summer, they weren\u2019t just following up any old record. Fixation on a Co-Worker<\/em>, the metalcore outfit\u2019s 1995 debut, was long enshrined as an underground classic \u2014 an unhinged tantrum of metallic hardcore that touched a nerve in any listener who\u2019d ever felt themself losing their grip on sanity while stuck in a soul-crushing office job. Cueing up Near-Death Travel Services <\/em>opener \u201cKill Fee,\u201d it was almost concerning how malcontented the band still sounded, writhing and lurching through its signature nails-on-chalkboard riffs as vocalist Tim Singer howled about coping with a world \u201cfull of narrow lanes and rigged games.\u201d The rest of the record followed suit with one relentless noise-core expulsion after another, somehow clearing Fixation<\/em>\u2018s impossibly high bar.\u00a0\u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tBlut Aus Nord have always shunned predictability to their advantage. Now, two albums into the decidedly noisy Disharmonium<\/em> trilogy, frontman Vindsval decided to change tack entirely and release a gorgeous melodic black metal album, Ethereal Horizons, <\/em>instead. The LP harkens back to the icy grandiosity of the band\u2019s Memoria Vetusta<\/em> trilogy but adds a dash of modern dissonance and clouds of synth-lined prog-rock to its dreamy mid-tempo meandering. Could the album\u2019s bright, cosmic bent, particularly on radiant closer \u201cThe End Becomes Grace,\u201d signal the coming of yet another new era? Time will tell.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Lzzy Hale and Co. teamed up with Eric Church producer Jay Joyce for 2015\u2019s\u00a0Into the Wild Life<\/em>, fans feared they were going country. Instead, they made one of their hardest rocking albums yet. The same is true for\u00a0Everest<\/em>, a ferocious, multi-layered record helmed by Chris Stapleton\u2019s go-to producer, Dave Cobb.\u00a0Everest<\/em>\u00a0is as grand as the eponymous peak and is an overall lush listening experience (put on headphones for the orchestral \u201cDarkness Always Wins\u201d), punctuated by guitarist Joe Hottinger\u2019s technically ornate solos and Hale\u2019s raspy but ever-soulful howl. On the title track, she takes stock of the journey ahead and the hard roads she and the band have traveled thus far: \u201cAll my life, I\u2019ve had to fight\/and don\u2019t know why, I just keep going,\u201d Hale sings. After six albums, Halestorm keep scaling rock\u2019s mountain. \u2014J.H.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe doom-metal trio Primitive Man has always fed off its hatred for mankind\u2019s monsters, especially fascists. In 2025, we needed them more than ever \u2014 and they delivered. Observance<\/em>, the death\/sludge trio\u2019s fourth full-length, sees them paint a grim portrait of a depressed man, haunted by the horrors of the world outside, consumed by the pain of living. From the album\u2019s first blackened, bleeding moment on \u201cSeer,\u201d Primitive Man leans heavily into the doomy side of their sound, dragging each note through rotten muck and smothering any shard of light beneath layers of distortion. The band\u2019s languid, shuddering tempos only amplify the horror on tracks like \u201cTransactional,\u201d a gutted paean to alienation. Here, Primitive Man capture the zeitgeist of 2025 \u2014 its inhumanities, its hatefulness, its despair \u2014 and Observance<\/em> refuses to let us look away.\u00a0\u2014K.K.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tA decade and a half ago, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy suffered a lapse of reason and quit the beloved prog-metal outfit he co-founded in 1985. Now with the stickman back in the fold, the quintet sounds complete again on Parasomnia<\/em>, their 16th album of athletic prog metal, built around guitarist John Petrucci\u2019s finger-breaking fretwork, Jordan Rudess\u2019 coils of synths, and Portnoy\u2019s jaw-dropping command of about 16,346 drums and cymbals<\/a>. On \u201cA Broken Man,\u201d written by frontman James La Brie, they shift gears between unheadbangable time signatures like 5\/8 and 5\/4, and on \u201cMidnight Messiah,\u201d penned by Portnoy, Petrucci conducts a hurricane of notes during the solo break, but it can\u2019t break the band. On that last song, La Brie sings, \u201cThe dream will never end\u201d \u2014 not a bad thing. \u2014Kory Grow<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tGhost notched some serious career milestones this year, topping the Billboard <\/em>200 and selling out their first headlining show at Madison Square Garden. But even more impressive was what the Swedish pop-metal sensations<\/a> accomplished on their sixth studio LP. Since the band\u2019s 2010 debut, Opus Eponymous<\/em>, Ghost auteur Tobias Forge has always matched an elaborate backstory<\/a> and lavish theatrical trappings with serious songwriting chops. Still, Skelet\u00e1<\/em> marked a real leveling-up: Every track here felt worthy of the band\u2019s newfound arena scale, from rock-operatic anthem \u201cSatanized\u201d to tearjerking power ballad \u201cExcelsis\u201d and, maybe best of all, sinister strutter, \u201cMissilia Amori,\u201d which could almost be a lost Hysteria<\/em><\/a> cut. For the first time, the emotional content of the songs \u2014 swagger and pathos, chilly blasphemy and cheeky fun \u2014 felt as impactful as the band\u2019s famously over-the-top stage show. \u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tTwo minutes into \u201cMy Garden,\u201d the first song on The Spiritual Sound<\/em>, Agriculture offer up a Zen koan worth considering: \u201cDeath is the ultimate fucker.\u201d The guitars squeal and cymbals crash tempestuously. And then they abruptly lighten things up with a chorus that sounds almost like Sonic Youth. The group packed each of the 10 tracks on their second album with abrupt musical U-turns, making it one of the most exciting and avant-garde metal albums in ages. Some of the textures include tremulous black-metal thrumming (\u201cFlea\u201d), extreme noise guitar terror (\u201cThe Weight\u201d), and the one-two punch of \u201cBodhidharma,\u201d a lumbering, grungy meditation, and \u201cHallelujah,\u201d a Dinosaur Jr.\u2013like folk-rock song using the same chords. Death may be the ultimate fucker, but Agriculture are penultimate. \u2014K.G.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThe best thing about Private Music<\/em>, the band\u2019s 10th LP, is how it upholds Deftones\u2019 core aesthetic \u2014 a juxtaposition of grinding alt-metal riffage, and deep, sensuous yearning that recalls their turn-of-the-millennium landmark White Pony<\/em><\/a> \u2014 while somehow sounding fresh.<\/em> Highlights such as the jagged, unnerving \u201cCut Hands,\u201d woozy power ballad \u201cI Think About You All the Time\u201d and the anthemic \u201cEcdysis\u201d felt like instant Deftones canon, each a reminder of this band\u2019s unusual staying power. At a moment where a whole new generation of vanguard heavy acts is proudly displaying the influence of their back catalog \u2014 including recent tourmates Fleshwater and English punks Higher Power \u2014 Private Music<\/em> showed that they\u2019re still writing riveting new chapters. \u2014H.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\nDeafheaven, \u2018Lonely People With Power\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nRunemagick, \u2018Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Remains)\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nChepang, \u2018Jhyappa\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nCastle Rat, \u2018The Bestiary\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nRwake, \u2018The Return of Magick\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nWhitechapel, \u2018Hymns in Dissonance\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nDeadguy, \u2018Near-Death Travel Services\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nBlut Aus Nord, \u2018Ethereal Horizons\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nHalestorm, \u2018Everest\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nPrimitive Man, \u2018Observance\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nDream Theater, \u2018Parasomnia\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nGhost, \u2018Skelet\u00e1\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nAgriculture, \u2018The Spiritual Sound\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\nDeftones, \u2018Private Music\u2019<\/h2>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n