Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order by artist name):
The Acacia Strain-You Are Safe from God Here
Deftones-Private Music
Fallujah-Xenotaph
FKA twigs-EUSEXUA
Shadow of Intent-Imperium Delirium
10.Spite-New World Killer:
2025 ended up being quite the smorgasbord for deathcore fans with seemingly everybody from the genre's pioneers to the upstarts dropping great records. Of the logjam full of established heavy hitters that were competing for the final spot in my top 10 (Shadow of Intent, The Acacia Strain, Lorna Shore, Despised Icon), it was the (comparative) whippersnappers in Spite that emerged victorious. New World Killer is a testament to the Southern California outfit's greatest strength: their unwavering energy. They sound like they're shot out of a cannon on every single track and in a genre that's not exactly a stranger to succumbing to monotony, having an act that has an unrelenting pep in their vicious step is truly refreshing and allows all of the staples (breakdowns, blast beats, a wide array of screams, gurgles and screeches) that make deathcore so satisfying to hit like an 18-wheeler carrying a full load of bricks.
Top Tracks: 1.Hand of the Reaper 2.Gavel 3.Shedding Skin
9.Turnstile-NEVER ENOUGH:
Following up a widely celebrated release like Glow On was a tough task that was inevitably going to cause some backlash and disappointment from Turnstile's fanbase. While I don't think it's quite on the level of their 2021 masterpiece, NEVER ENOUGH is a hell of a follow-up that they should be very proud of. This record is a logical progression from Glow On as it expands upon the dream pop/new wave/alt-rock elements from that record without sacrificing any of the infectious hooks and punchy riffs that were at the heart of that record. It also doesn't hurt that all of these songs sound absolutely immense live.
Top Tracks: 1.SOLE 2.DREAMING 3.LIGHT DESIGN
8.Whitechapel-Hymns in Dissonance:
Whitechapel's fascinating musical journey brought them back to their deathcore roots on their nine LP Hymns in Dissonance. Thankfully, this return to the genre that made them one of the biggest extreme metal acts of the last 20 years is a case of an artist applying the knowledge and skills they've picked up as industry veterans to the style of music that put them on the map instead of being merely a pandering nostalgia play (they have too much money in the bank to recreate The Somatic Defilement's eerie lo-fi sound anyways!). This is a weird thing to say about a record that is driven by rage, brutality and sadness, but it's awesome that they created a record full of straight deathcore rippers full of the emotional depth and rich songwriting that made their recent forays into more melodic territory so rewarding to listen to.
Top Tracks: 1.Mammoth God 2.Diabolic Slumber 3.Hate Cult Ritual
7.Between the Buried and Me-The Blue Nowhere:
After hearing the surprisingly sunny lead single "Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark"-which I've since come around on, I was on high alert that The Blue Nowhere was going to be Coma Ecliptic 2.0. Fortunately, that didn't prove to be the case. In fact, I'd say this this is the ideally calibrated marriage of quirky straight prog and their signature prog metalcore sound that they were aiming for but couldn't quite make work on Coma Ecliptic. While there's a bit too much filler here to put it on the level of BTBAM's best stuff (the title track in particular is a complete snoozer), the highlights ("Absent Thereafter, "Psychomanteum", "Door #3", "Slow Paranoia") are staggering and arguably the best stuff they've made since The Parallax II: Future Sequence.
Top Tracks: 1.Absent Thereafter 2.Psychomanteum 3.Door #3
6.Orthodox-A Door Left Open:
A Door Left Open is that special breed of metal record that grabs you by the throat from the jump and doesn't let go for even half of a second until it concludes. The amount of technical craftsmanship and feral anger that are oozing out of every note on this thing is unreal and it's easy to understand why this has served as a breakout record for this Nashville-based metalcore outfit that has been quietly grinding away on the national circuit for over a decade.
Top Tracks: 1.Searching for a Pulse 2.Step Inside 3.Dread Weight
5.Tallah-Primeval: Obsession/Detachment:
Only a band of adventurous freaks like Tallah would somehow find a way to simultaneously make the most off-the-wall experimental and accessible release of their career thus far with Primeval: Obsession/Detachment. There's still plenty of their signature chaos and crushing breakdowns present on their third LP, they've just been weaved into a much bigger tapestry where they're existing alongside a bunch of different things including funky basslines, acoustic guitars and electro-industrial programming. Whether this more avant-garde, less generally heavy sound is a filtration or an evolution is anyone's guess at this point, but Primeval will remain a deeply exciting release regardless.
Top Tracks: 1.as fate undoes 2.a primeval detachment 3.my primeval obsession
4.The Weeknd-Hurry Up Tomorrow:
Abel Tesfaye had himself quite the year of extreme highs and lows has he delivered his planned farewell to The Weeknd moniker with an album/movie suite entitled Hurry Up Tomorrow. Where the latter confirmed that the gross ineptitude of The Idol wasn't a fluke, the former is a towering epic that bids a triumphant farewell to the persona that made him an international superstar. After being subjected to so many needlessly long, contrived double albums in recent years, it felt like a minor miracle to sit through a 22-track/85-minute record that maintained its momentum throughout-especially since it's easily the most somber, downtempo effort he's put out since Echoes of Silence. It continues to be a pleasure to witness one of the biggest pop artists in the world maintain such an uncompromising level of bold artistry at a time where the genre seems hellbent on becoming less adventurous by the day. Whatever the future holds for Abel, hopefully his music will remain consistently exciting and ambitious.
Top Tracks: 1.Wake Me Up (feat. Justice) 2.Cry for Me 3.Niagra Falls
3.Jane Remover-Revengeseekerz:
Revengeseekerz is just alien shit. It exists somewhere between the worlds of pop, industrial hip hop and electronic dance music without firmly planting a flag in any of those genre's territories, which puts into a special category of catchy, jaw-dropping maximalist musical creations that deliver a unique adrenaline rush alongside the likes of The Money Store and Die Lit. Jane Remover appears to be the future of music for all of the sickos out there that like their music catchy, abrasive and deeply polarizing, which means they're already well on their way to becoming a legend in my eyes.
Top Tracks: 1.Dreamflasher 2.Professional Vengeance 3.Experimental Skin
2.Spiritbox-Tsunami Sea:
As strong as Spiritbox's initial wave of offerings are, Tsunami Sea marks a clear new peak for them. Their mix of metalcore, alternative metal and drum and bass has never sounded more confidently or coherently assembled, Courtney LaPlante's pristine clean/harsh vocal gymnastics are on full display and the production from guitarist Mike Stringer and veteran producer Dan Braunstein does a terrific job of heightening whatever vibe each song is going for (ex: the glitchy wooziness of "Black Rainbow" playing up the off-kilter heaviness, "Perfect Soul" deploying a clean, bouncy sound that's ideal for its rock-radio ready hooks/riffs). May the beautiful duality of their sound that alternates between heavy and heavily commercial remain intact forever.
Top Tracks: 1.Fata Morgana 2.No Loss, No Love 3.Ride the Wave
1.The Callous Daoboys-I Don't Want to See You in Heaven:
This record floored me upon first listen back in May and nothing else that came out during this year could quite match the euphoric state this record left me in. I Don't Want to See You in Heaven ends up being the ultimate playground for mathcore maestros The Callous Daoboys to just go fucking nuts on. The poppy hooks are huge. The tempo swings from manic to mellow to just flat-out strange and back again are even bigger. There's never any indication of what could be coming next or how long an idea will be explored as glorious, exhilarating chaos constantly reigns down on whatever poor soul happened to press play on their record. It's just a fun, wild and surprisingly emotional record that I'll never be less than thrilled to revisit.
Top Tracks: 1.Schizophrenia Legacy 2.The Demon of Unreality Limping Like a Dog 3.Idiot Temptation Force
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