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COUNT VLAD: 80 THAT TURN 30 IN 2026

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Do you remember 1996? I do! So this is a selection of records released in 1996 that celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2026. Among the hundreds of albums released 30 years ago, here are my most preferred ones.  I am surely missing something, but from the distance of time, it is difficult to recall everything that moved me back then. Most of these turned into klassiks, and 30 years later they are still in heavy rotation. Others just mark the particular moment in time... Play them loud! Metallica - Load Hypocrisy - Abducted Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst Cradle of Filth - Vempire Cradle of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace Cemetary - Sundown Anathema - Eternity Burzum - Filosofem Type O Negative - October Rust Sepultura - Roots King Diamond - The Graveyard Edge of Sanity - Crimson Satyricon - Nemesis Divina Gates of Ishtar - A Bloodred Path Katatonia - Brave Murder Day Algaion - Vox Clamentis EP Helloween - The Time of the Oath Manowar - Louder Than Hell Borknagar - Borknagar Pantera - The Gr...
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COUNT VLAD'S AOTY 2025

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  When I prepare my lists I always ask myself a few questions. Will I listen to this album in several weeks/months/years? Is there a staying power? Does it really excite me? Can I sing along and/or remember the songs (if the genre allows it, actually). The AOTY lists most of the time are snapshots of a moment in time, and very soon after, all can change... With all this in mind, plus the shortlisted albums and the already published lists of death and black metal, I sat down and developed the final list of 2025 releases.  2025 marked the death of too many heroes of our scene. You know who they are. Let's not forget them.  And here's the AOTY list featuring 50 albums. No surprises. It is a mix between MY TOP 50 DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF 2025 , MY TOP 60 BLACK METAL ALBUMS OF 2025 , and, of course, the rest of the genres/albums that I loved the most during the year. For the sake of consistency. Is it a good list or a bad list? It is a mixed bag. It is my list, though, and I make...
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COUNT VLAD'S TOP 60 BLACK METAL ALBUMS OF 2025

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  <growl turning into shriek, drowning and fading away into the void of lonely frozen stars, lightning through the majesty of the night sky above the mighty black forest>:  BLACK METAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL..... Ahhhh, the black metal list! The genre that polarizes the masses, divides them, and is the most diverse of all genres. 2025 was a good year for black metal. There has been a return to the roots after a few years of rainbow Instagram BM posing recorded in the bedrooms...  Another hectic year for the genre, as well as for music in general (However, I will save this rant for my AOTY list). I could probably include 666 albums easily due to the enormous release schedule, but I shortlisted 94 only from these numerous black metal records released in 2025. Then I selected the final 50. Then I decided to make them 60 at least, or 66, or whatever. So here you are, 60+3 below. The ones that grabbed most of my attention during this already dead and gone year. Then the countle...
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COUNT VLAD'S TOP 50 DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF 2025

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  It is that time of the year and I am kicking off with my TOP 50 DEATH METAL ALBUMS OF 2025. It's been quite a flooding year of releases, and some top-notch death metal albums are worthy of talking about. ...And listening on repeat, of course.  The list below could easily include 100 labums, but I drew the line once again, as beyond 50th position, it is all the same. More importantly, the list turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag this time. It is because I listened to some (sexy) melo-death and I put everything in. Without surprises, or surprisingly even for me, Omnium Gatherum's May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way  is at the top position here, followed by some real death metal albums... I know how it looks, but don't throw stones, though. It was a very addictive album, dynamic, with plenty of sing-alongs, without being way too cheesy for me.  So if you can trust someone whose No.1 in a Death Metal AOTY list is Omnium Gatherum, please keep reading. Gruesome album...
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MY TOP LIST OF NOVEMBER 2025

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  This is the last monthly top list for 2025! Next - the AOTY lists. November delivered some excellent albums, and I have at least 5-6 in mind that are landing on my various end-of-year lists.  For album of the month I am torn between Omnium Gatherum's May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way and Blut aus Nord's Ethereal Horizons . Both are just great. Omnium Gatherum album is quite a surprise, but it is catchy, memorable, uplifting, and sexy (ffs). You can sing along and enjoy a lot! Blut aus Nord is transcendental, out-of-this-earth, drifting you away again, making you forget reality with tears in your eyes... 1914 also released a brilliant album, so less cheesy than the previous.   And then the rest - yes, the below list contains good stuff out of the needless pile of releases that I go through every month. These 25 I selected are everything you need from the November'25 release schedule.  In less than a month, and as usual, I'll be publishing my 2025 favorites...
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MY TOP LIST OF OCTOBER 2025

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  A stacked October. Some great albums, and too many others that will be forgotten. I shortlisted 30 for the sake of abundance, as the month suggested. Easily, I could have drawn the line at 20, and, having in mind that the list below is roughly in order, you can see where it would have been.  Coroner's return is my album of the month. Of course. My first with the band was in 1989, and I have loved them since then. Exceptional musicianship and absolutely unfuckwithable with every album they put out. Now again, Dissonance Theory is a masterclass, just to slap all new tasteless bands in the face and show them how it must be done. When you are good, you are good. Age doesn't matter.  Right after Coroner comes Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, the fantastic new album by Hooded Manace. Two things - I love HM too, and as a huge Paradise Lost fan, this album just blew me away. Gothic recreated, it is that much reminiscent of it.  Then the others. I must admit I was very ...
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MY TOP LIST OF SEPTEMBER 2025

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  September 2025. RIP Tompa. Another legend gone, another month gone.  It's been more hectic in terms of releases, and there are a few potential AOTY contenders that have been released this month that I definitely am going to take with me until the end of the year and beyond. Of course, I always make these lists based on what I enjoyed the most and what made a solid impression immediately after its release in the course of the given month. Most of the time, I don't have omissions or I am not mistaken about certain albums.  This is why you won't find new Amorphis in the present list. I bought the vinyl, but the album is soft, cheesy, super safe, and poppy. In one word -  needless. The direction Amorphis took is unnecessary for me, given the kvlt status of their early works and what the fanbase actually likes. No, I am not going to rant about their new album, just illustrating my point. Mors Principium Est did it so much better... Revocation couldn't make the cut for t...
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MY TOP 20 OF AUGUST 2025

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  Another month gone, and here we are. It is that time of the month again when I gather my personal favourite albums of the month. This time I inserted 20+3 and it wasn't that hard, having in mind what was released in August 2025. Some worthy ones and a pile of forgettable fast food. You will say that I am criticizing again and repeating the same old story. And you will be completely right. There is no need of so many albums and bands to flood us with mediocre music.  Naturally, Helloween's Giants and Monsters is my album of the month. And again I'll repeat myself - we are so lucky to have the classic band still performing, still being super-strong and delivering these kinds of monster albums, that bring you to the good old times and make you smile that both you and the band are still alive and well! I'll write the same when the new Coroner appears in October, and I know it is going to be an AOTY candidate for sure. The rest in the chart are more or less in order, with ...
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MY TOP 20 OF JULY 2025

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"...Unfortunately, it comes the final song...forever". Ozzy died. A whole era died, leaving thousands of musical successors, some great, others very, very poor.  We'll never ever have this kind of monster bands and monster artists, as the ones who were on stage in Birmingham for Back to the Beginning show (and in Hannover same day, same time). Soon, most will be gone forever.  The circus Fridays will keep on delivering tons of meaningless albums, a.k.a. fast food with zero staying power.  No rebellion, no attitude, no expression. The music we love will never be the same again.  I started my monthly lists in 2018, and I firmly believe in the importance of consistency. The lists on the blog include very few of the circus Fridays. I started it to write down, record and keep a track of what I like, what might eventually stay, and what is better than the rest in this particular moment in time. This doesn't mean the bands and the albums will be of the magnitude of Black Sa...
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MY TOP 20 OF JUNE 2025

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  I managed to gather 20 albums from the mediocre June 2025 in this present list! Definitely GRUESOME delivered the album of the month with their brand new Silent Echoes! Absolute Death's Human worship, and here we go - it is deservedly on top. Definitely an AOTY candidate too. Katatonia's brand new album hit me, so it goes second. I couldn't listen to everything that was released, but looking at the schedule, I didn't have the will to do so.  Nothing much to add as a context, I wrote a sentence with my thoughts next to each album below. Definitely taking Gruesome and few more with me in the next months. Here's my top 20 of June 2025 releases, more or less in a particular order. You all know that it is always subject to change depending on the mood and the circumstances. Let's move on, and thanks for reading! Gruesome - Silent Echoes ( Bandcamp ) Death's Human worship with a lot of Spiritual Healing taste and pinch of Leprosy. What else could be my No.1 for...
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