Go and live your passion

  I didn't enjoy the May'25 releases that much. Very few caught my attention and I'll continue to listen to them in the future months. Even some of the albums in the list below can't be considered so strong. It is a very heavy list, though, and at this point in time, it was the best I could gather as proof of my enjoyment of the new music. Naturally, most of my choices are black metal and death metal, and some cringeworthy stuff as well. I won't comment much this time, but the first five or six albums will definitely be in my various AOTY lists. The last 4 are here just because of the momentary lapse (lack) of reason and were severely dependent on my mood.  Was there a clear winner of the Album of the Month prize? Not really because every one of the first five albums in this list could be No. 1, depending on the mood. Finally, I decided to put Kaevum on top because this is the way BM should be - UG, raw, straightforward, no trends, no fun and games, no sympho crap, ...

My notes on the new releases schedule in April 2025 featured too many new albums, and I trimmed everything down to 35 releases, which I decided to include in the present publication. I really wanted to include as many as possible. Not that there weren't more that deserved attention. The 35 below might have the chance to stay with me longer than expected. (probably until next week when another portion of new albums will flood us all 😂).  In fact, April delivered. There are some really good albums that I did enjoy. Of course, everything depends on the mood and the circumstances. There is probably something for everyone below. However, when I thought about the Album of the month, I couldn't decide on a clear favourite. My favourites over the recent years - LIK and Blood Abscission (my love for both is well-known), and even Machine Head, were potential candidates. As a huge MGLA worshiper, I listened to a lot of Varnheim. Tenebrae Aeternum blew me away during a month of listening ...

  March was full of new releases by many bands. That's why, for the third month of 2025, I will give you 25 albums in my regular monthly list, plus another 8, just in case. In total 33. These deserve high attention. I praise them as the best out of the big pile of new albums coming out daily. This can't be stopped anymore, and I am super tired. Of course, it is impossible to listen to everything, no matter how hard I try (at least in the genres I prefer). A few big names didn't make my list, and for a reason.  The question is always "what is going to stay with me in the upcoming months/years? What am I taking with me, what will stay longer?" Just because the list below could have been 50 albums long, but so what?! Even many of these 30 will be forgotten, and I'll barely return to them even in the following days. Yeah, this is the time we are living in - fast food everywhere.  By the way, the list below is also a nice mix of several genres that hardly go togeth...

February 2025 was a solid month. I listened to many new albums and the selection below only proves there were good ones. A 30-album selection is not happening very often most recently, especially in times of constant flood of new records (of mediocrity).  I tried to make a split in the selection, and there is a kind of top 20 and then another 10 very special mentions. Anyway, it could all be taken as one whole pile of stuff to be checked for those who haven't yet. All these are good and enjoyable albums that differ from the pedestrian release schedule that happens every Friday or every day of the week.  And I keep buying a lot of records, new albums or klassiks, my collection grows and grows. There is one clear album of the month for me. HANGMAN'S CHAIR's Saddiction took all the bells and whistles in February 2025. Soooo good, so melancholic, and so drowning into sadness. Then follows the rest, and the list here is somehow in a particular order this time. As I mentioned abo...

I still listen to the 2024 overlooked records and here it is - another month went by, so a new monthly list is on the way. It was a very weak January 2025, and there are very few albums that I can recommend. They won't have the power to stay long. I don't have much to say about the quality, yet the quantity was again dominant. The below 17 albums are the most solid thing I can come up with when we discuss new releases in January 2025. I liked them, I played them and they are my solid choices.  Album of the month? The Night Flight Orchestra took it over Faithxtractor at the very last moment simply because it will stay longer with me in the foreseeable future. I have loved TNFO for ages now and the nostalgia they bring. On the other hand, Faithxtractor delivered blistering death metal again! All the rest that follow are worth mentioning in the order of the appearance below. And of course, depending on the mood, they all serve different purposes in different circumstances. I recom...