Beth’s Top 10 Albums of 2025
Beth’s Top 10 Albums of 2025
Review by Beth Morait
This year has been, in short, an absolute twatting bastard! It’s dragged me emotionally and financially through the wringer over and over again, and taken me to the edge more times than I can count. But I’m still here, and more importantly, I still have music. And it has, yet again, been the most superior year yet for new music releases from world class bands, and within the underground scene. As a music lover, it’s great. As a reviewer trying to write an Album of the Year list, it’s bloody hard! This year I’m focusing only on the bands I’ve reviewed. So, without further ado, let’s see what made my cut.
10. Heartlay – The Alteration (October 25)
I love a bit of Metalcore. I love a bit of Industrial. I love France. So French Industrial Metalcore band Heartlay were always going to be up my street. The thing that helped make this album reach my list was the dark and melancholic nature of it, which creates a Gothic smorgasbord of sound that will tickle the fancy of many different audiences. And it’s got a real melodic edge intertwined with the signature screams of Metalcore.
https://www.facebook.com/heartlayofficial
9. Days of Jupiter – Original Sin (February 2025)
Sweden, as a nation, know how to write a good Rock song. And Days of Jupiter are no exception to this rule. Their brand of Anthemic Rock that teeters precariously on the edge of cheese cliff, but never falls off, is, for me, divine. This album has been played a good few times since it’s release, when I’ve been in the mood for some easy, danceable Modern Hard Rock.
https://www.facebook.com/DaysOfJupiterOfficial
8. The OddEven – Outer Space Outtakes (March 2025)
Sticking with the less shouty side of Metal, my number 8 spot goes to USA Post-Grunge band, The OddEven, for constructing an album that sounds like later Ugly Kid Joe after way to many ‘Interesting Cigarettes’ as my dear old mum would have called them. If you’re going in for a bit of Stoner Grunge, what better subject matter than alien abduction, eh?! Musically it’s really solid, and it digs.
https://www.facebook.com/theoddevenaliens
7. Children of the Sün – Leaving Ground, Greet The End (January 2025)
This was the first album I listened to in 2025, and it started my year off brilliantly. Yet another bunch of superbly talented Swedish Rockers, but this time perfectly emulating the 70s, and creating an album that is not only musically beautiful, but conceptually magical and reminiscent too.
https://www.facebook.com/Childrenofthesuun
6. Scardust – Souls (July 2025)
Israel’s Scardust created my album of 2020 with the release of their “Strangers” album. It had been a long wait since then for their next full-length, “Souls”, which dropped in July. While it didn’t blown my brain quite as much as “Strangers”, it was still an immense masterpiece of Symphonic Progressive Metal, with some sheer brilliance both technically, and in its composition. If you in any way like cinematic music, this is one for you.
https://www.facebook.com/ScardustOfficial
5. Bloodywood – Nu Dehli (March 2025)
Bloodywood are a band who require no introduction. They slap, and I love it. Indian Nu Metal is music that makes me happy, and I can’t get enough of it. This album was as hard-hitting and clever as we’ve come to expect from this bunch of supremos, but it stuck to their tried and tested style, which made it a hit.
https://www.facebook.com/bloodywood.delhi
4. The Five Hundred – Ghostwriter (February 2025)
I’ve loved British Progressive Metalcore/ Djent band The Five Hundred since I first saw them live. The skill and passion they put into music is wonderful. So, I was very happy to review this release back at the beginning of the year. What set this apart from their previous work was its tenderness and vulnerability. When I wrote my original review, I had this album as a solid contender for my AOTY, and the fact it’s ended up in 4th speaks volumes for the standard of music we’ve had the privilege of hearing this year.
https://www.facebook.com/thefivehundredband
3. Those Damn Crows – God Shaped Hole (April 2025)
My Spotify Wrapped this year was basically a TDC fest – all my top five played songs were from this album, and I spent more time listening to this than any other album this year. The Welsh Rockers broke the world with this album, and deservedly so, because it’s brilliant. ‘Still’ is one of the single best ballads I’ve ever heard in my life. You’d think that this would be my number one album of the year… But had the next two records come out as early in the year as “God Shaped Hole”, they would absolutely have overtaken it in my Spotify Wrapped.
https://www.facebook.com/thosedamncrows
2. Wolver – Act II: Scene I – Birth of an Empire EP (October 2025)
Another great Swedish Rock band making my list! This absolutely awesome little EP dropped into my queue in October, and I was absolutely certain that I had now found my Album of the Year (even though it was only an EP). It was everything I love about music that isn’t Metal – Musical Theatre, Europop, and Queen-esque, I actually lost count of how many times I listened to this EP in a single week, and how many times I forced other people to listen to it.
https://www.facebook.com/WolverSweden
But at the 11th hour, Wolver were pipped to my number 1 spot by…
1. In Spite Of Me – Blightflower
I listen to a lot of music, and it takes a lot for something to move me so much that I’m reduced to tears. This album, by USA one-man project In Spite Of Me achieved that. Musically, it’s absolutely up their with the strongest Metalcore bands of now. But its astounding power comes from within the depth of the lyrics, and the backstory that feeds those words. It truly is a level of catharsis that I haven’t seen or experienced for a long time, and this makes it, in my opinion, a true masterpiece. If you haven’t heard it, I urge you to give it a listen, and read the lyrics. It’s a true story, straight from within the darkest pits of this man’s soul, which makes it painfully beautiful, or beautifully painful.
https://www.facebook.com/inspiteofmeband
And that’s it. I’m hoping next year is better in my personal life. But, based on the strength of the music this year, it’s by far been the best year of music for a long time, and will take some topping.
If you’d like to read my original reviews, checkout the links here:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Beth Morait and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
