Go and live your passion

  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...

  <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...

  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...