The Razor's Edge - Album of the Year 2025
It's been one hell of a year for us here at The Razor's Edge. New music being released on record has gone from strength to strength again this year!
All of our staff have sat and listened to literally hundreds of albums, bringing you reviews of some of the best new music, and some maybe not so good releases too. But now the year is drawing to a close, we've all sat down and drawn up our lists of our own top five albums for 2024.
Cat Finch - Editor in Chief
1. Raging Speedhorn - Night Wolf
2. Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
3. The Haunted - Songs of Last Resort
4. Deftones - private music
5. Employed To Serve - Fallen Star
The past few years have seen the British scene go from strength to strength. 2025 was the year for the rest of the world to step up their game as we saw Deadguy, The Haunted and Deftones all releasing some of the strongest albums of their careers. Yet the British scene stood strong with two bands top and tailing my best of list. Employed To Serve's 'Fallen Star' saw the band take it up a gear but it was Corby's own Raging Speedhorn who regiend supreme releasing the absolute highlight in 'Night Wolf'.
Tim Finch - Deputy Editor / Photographer
After a number of strong years for new music, 2025 was somewhat lacking in strength and depth, even my beloved Ghost released what is probably their worst album to date (still good, just not briliant). However a number of albums did stand out, especially early on with Spiritworlds 'Helldorado' and the mighty Raging Speedhorn's 'Night Wolf'. But as the year went on, one winner stood out, my old time favourites The Haunted and their latest opus 'Songs of Last Resort'.
Dan Barnes - Writer
1. Igorrr – Amen
2. Jo Quail – Notan
3. The Haunted – Songs of Last Resort
4. Deftones – private music
5. Benediction – Ravages of Empire
After much deliberation of in which order my top three should stand, I came to the conclusion that Igorrr’s Amen album is the work of a deranged genius. It’s a Frankenstein’s creation of a record, with extreme metal stitched to baroque classicism, breakcore, trip-hop, and more with a level of artistic insanity only a Frenchman could conceive. The tight forty-five minute run-time means that the exhausting invention never becomes fatiguing, rather it’s an exploration into music’s unexplored dimensions.
Tom Atkin - Photographer
1. Architects - The Sky, The Earth and All Between
2. Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea
3. Machine Head - UNATØNED
4. Bury Tomorrow - Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience
5. Nine Inch Nails - Tron Ares Soundtrack
The first half of the year was pretty much spot on for me with the first four being released before June. With the exception of Machine Head and Nine Inch Nails, these are all bands that I have only been following for a year or two now but they continue to grow and develop their sound. Everything about these albums shows the dedication that they have. Architects, this album was just incredible, not a bad song on it in my opinion. Spiritbox, my god, if any one is only just getting into them then this is a great starting place. Bury Tomorrow, what can I say, these guys deserve all the success. Will You Haunt Me, brought some astounding tracks. Machine Head and Nine Inch Nails though - new music, from old school bands. Both delivering exactly what I want from them, I went to see Tron, just because Trent Reznor creates incredible movie scores.
Eric Clifford - Writer
1. Ash Magick – Rituals of Anathemic East
2. Felgrave – Otherlike Darknesses
3. Dead and Dripping – Nefarious Scintillations
4. Type Armour Unit – Revolutions in Saecula
5. Sulfuric Cautery – Killing Spree
You see the idea of metal being in a second “golden age” bandied around a fair bit these days. To me it depends upon how you look at it. Metal isn’t the cultural or commercial force that it once was in the 80’s – and indeed I’ll be rather interested to see what many of the larger festivals do once the Maidens and Metallicas of the circuit finally hang up the leathers. It’s not like the collapse in album sales and the dwindling disposable income many people find themselves counting out each payday has helped any either, with avaricious streaming services dispensing a miserly pittance to the artists forced to use them. But if you judge solely by the quality of the music...ah, now that’s another thing entirely. I am inundated with gold. I screech and attempt to staunch the torrent by slamming the door in its face, only for it to climb in my windows and rappel down my chimney. Every sub-genre has had more moments to shine than there are stars in the sky this year; rendering a just top five out of it all is an impossible task, and there’s stuff out there that I feel damn near criminal in excluding. Cryptopsy released a glowering monstrosity of an album this year that strode indomitable across the musical landscape...yet it doesn’t make the list. And then there’s Barren Path! Holy shit, what an album they dropped like an antimatter warhead into my ear canals. And what about Nanking? “The Spectacle of Urban Warfare” is one of the most violent things I’ve heard all year! So don’t view this list as an authoritative last word on the best of the best 2025 had to offer, because if you stuck a gun to my head next week the list would probably be different. The most I’ll say is that these five albums can contend with absolutely anything that I or anyone else in the known universe has heard this year. They’re numbered, but that shouldn’t be taken to imply a ranking per se – at any moment in time any one of these behemoths might prove the prime tool to take your head off your neck. And so, on that exasperatingly noncomittal bombshell, I’d like to wish you all a happy Christmas, and all the good fortune in the world for 2026.
Oli Gonzalez - Writer
1. Heretoir - Solastalgia
2. You, Infinite - You, Infinite
3. Saor - Amidst The Ruins
4. Hiroe - Wield
5. Bell Witch & Ariel Ruin - Stygian Bough: Vol II
Any project featuring ex members of post-rock legends This Will Destroy is going to be worth its weight in gold, and You, Infinite certainly lived up to the hype with a stunning self titled debut effort. Similarly, anything that Pelagic Records pushes out is to be taken seriously, and Hiroe's effort "Wield" is a blistering concoction of intense atmospheric driven post metal, with single 'Wrought' being the crown jewel.
Experimenting with new styles can be a gamble, but Saor returned with a beautiful fresh new sound in "Amidst The Ruins" which kept their raw atmospheric black metal sound whilst successfully incorporating Ella's ethereal backing vocals and mastery of traditional folk instruments to add extra melodic intrigue.
They kept us waiting - 5 years to be exact - but it was well worth the wait for Stygian Bough Volume 2, where dream team Ariel Ruin and Bell Witch combine forces once again to explore and produce compositions simply not possible by themselves, offering a substantial upgrade on Volume 1 in the process.
The bar was high, but Heretoir demonstrated that they're able to continuously evolve and improve with "Solastalgia", an intense and emotional post black metal journey which represents the bands most complex and mature sound to date.
Martin Hingley - Photographer
1. Ghost – Skeleta
2. Hot Milk – Corporation P.O.P
3. Avatar – Don’t Go in the Forest
4. Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death
5. Good Charlotte – Motel Du Cap
Nic Howells - Photographer
1. Malevolence - Where Only The Truth Is Spoken
2. Bloodywood - Nu Dehli
3. Witch Fever - FEVEREATEN
4. House of Protection - Outrun You All
5. Dropout Kings - Yokai
Topping my AOTY list is Where Only The Truth Is Spoken by Malevolence. This is a major personal choice, given they are my hometown band. Malev have been known for years as groove focused pioneers and future festival headliners, this record proved they may be closer to that accolade than people think. They’ve spent years looking up to forefathering bands like Lamb of God, now they have Randy Blythe guesting on their album. Close behind, Bloodywood’s Nu Delhi underscored their biggest headline tour to date. Their presence in today’s scene is cemented but they really guaranteed that by creating a culturally rich, heavy as hell album that is as good as anything they have ever written. Closing out the top 3, Witch Fever’s FEVEREATEN is a breath of new life in an already thriving, haunting band. This album has everything; identity, concept, experimentation and fucking bangers. Witch Fever have been a household name in the North West scene for a while now, but this will be known as the album they became “Witch FUCKING Fever”. This is the perfect direction to take them further, a journey that seems to have already begun given their unstoppable performances supporting Volbeat to finish off 2025. House of Protection’s Outrun You All. The record is shorter than the other releases on this list, but it has had them leapfrogging acts that have twice the tenure they do. The way they fit in seamlessly from a Brighton nightclub to burning down stages in arena’s supporting Architects is thanks to all this new material. Better still, the band is barely two years old. Finally, and the one true heartfelt pick in this list; Dropout Kings’ Yokai. The scene still mourns Trap-Metal King Adam Ramey deeply, but the raw energy and flow of this record is a true testament to everything this band stands for in his memory. The lineup of returning/re-structured members paints an image of love for Ramey’s work, but their output as a unit going forward is also a statement that Dropout Kings in 2026 will be a complete menace
Sam Jones - Writer
1. Qrixkuor - The Womb Of The World
2. Coroner - Dissonance Theory
3. Hooded Menace - Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration
4. Ancient Death - Ego Dissolution
5. Ossuary - Abhorrent Worship
Oh this was not easy. Taking #5 position this year we have Ossuary with their debut album Abhorrent Worship, an opus of crushing splendour that immediately put the band on the map. At #4 we have newcomers Ancient Death also with their own debut album, Ego Dissolution, and was the first release i encountered this year worthy as an AOTY contender. Coming in at #3 there is Finnish death/doom act Hooded Menace and the elegantly titled Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration whose gothic infused Paradise Lost vibes enamoured me serenely. The top two records of this year were so close it was hard to pick. At #2 we have Coroner’s first album release in more than three decades: Dissonance Theory. I remember listening to this for the first time and bursting into laughter with just how good it actually was after so much time, proving once more Coroner’s mantle as the Rush of thrash metal. But even they came second to my Album Of The Year 2025: Qrixkuor’s The Womb Of The World. I say this without hyperbole, The Womb Of The World is an absolute masterpiece, a blackened epic that takes you through the hidden vistas of infinity, into netherealms where time is collapsing. What two guys created together is nothing short of herculean and that concluding seventeen minute title track remains a daily visitation. It is genuinely astonishing. That’s why i designate The Womb Of The World as my Album Of The Year for 2025. Well done to Qrixkuor. Bravo.
Patrick O'Reilly - Writer
1. Vulgar Dissection – Liquifying Coagulated Viscera
2. Bobby Conn – Bobby's Place (Side A and Side One)
3. Umulamahri – Learning the Secrets of Acid
4. Witchcraft – Idag
5. Cancer – Inverted World
Cancer blew me away with a classic slice of old school black metal, likewise Witchcraft who went further back, to the 70s in fact with a heady mix of occultism and doom. Umulamahri were a treat, delivering a psychadelic death metal odyssey, whilst Chicago anutcase Bobby Coon wowed with his invitation to Bobby’s Place, a splendid double album of luscious chilled funks and beats and on the other disc his regular mutated glam rock opuses, but it was Vulgar Dissection who impressed me most in 2025 with a perfect slice of guttural slam, merging technical mastery with perfect production.
Richard Oliver - Writer
1. Paradise Lost - Ascension
2. The Man-Eating Tree - Night Verses
3. GraveRipper - From Welkin To Tundra
4. Warbringer - Wrath and Ruin
5. Coroner - Dissonance Theory
Paradise Lost win the top spot for me this year. “Ascension” is an amazing album sounding like a Paradise Lost best-of but with all original material. The re-recording of “Icon” in 2023 definitely influenced the songwriting with some of the material sounding like it could easily have been written in 1992/1993. The masters of Yorkshire misery continue to reign supreme as “Ascension” continues in a run of incredibly strong albums by the gothic metal pioneers. The Man-Eating Tree returned reinvented and with a majority new line-up and possibly the best album the band have done in the form of “Night Verses”. Glorious Finnish gloom and melancholy. Indiana blackened thrashers GraveRipper seriously impressed with their sophomore album “From Welkin To Tundra” and managed to perfectly marry black and thrash metal together rather than play speed/thrash metal with harsh vocals like a lot of other bands do. Talking of thrash, California thrashers Warbringer proved themselves to still be the best band out of the 2000’s thrash resurgence and laid the gauntlet down with their seventh album “Wrath & Ruin”. And continuing on the thrash theme, Swiss technical thrash legends Coroner returned with their first album since 1993 and it was definitely worth the wait. Technical mind-bending thrash with a sweet progressive edge, Coroner fully brought their sound into the 21st century and it is absolutely glorious.
Gareth Pugh - Writer
1. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
2. Paradise Lost – Ascension
3. Warbringer – Wrath and Ruin
4. Benediction - Ravage of Empires
5. Sacrifice – Vol. VI
Chris Taylor - Writer
1. Employed to Serve - Fallen Star
2. Conjurer - Unself
3. Forlorn - Aether
4. Eluvietie - Anv
5. Avantasia - Here Be Dragons
I can always rely on Tobias Sammet to create the most epic metal album of the year with epic choruses and an array of stunning guest vocalists. If Eluveitie have any flaws, it's that their albums tend to to on a couple songs too long. Not the case with Anv, it's concise, perfectly paced and has their trademark folk brilliance. Forlorn's debut album Aether was more than worth the weight. Alluring while also sinister it's a enchanting listen from start to finish. The most raw and passionate album Conjurer have ever done, Unself is the band’s masterpiece. Employed to Serve's Fallen Star builds upon the already flawless Conquering. With more emotional depth, three amazing guest vocalists and consistently awesome riffing Employed to Serve's Fallen Star deserves far more attention than its getting.
Matthew Williams - Writer
=. Bruit ≤ - The Age of Ephemerality
=. Kusanagi - Paramnesia
=. Clipping - Dead Channel Sky Plus
=. Testament - Para Bellum
=. IAN - Come on Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing
I’ve decided against doing a traditional AOTY list, because there have been way too many amazing albums released this year, and my initial shortlist was still over 50 albums long. Instead, I’m going to list five albums, which have all been listened to repeatedly over the past twelve months and have proved to be the soundtrack to my year. French maestro’s BRUIT returned with an extraordinarily beautiful and haunting album called “The Age of Ephemerality” whilst scousers Kusanagi released “Paramnesia”, an instrumental album that is a masterpiece from start to finish. Clpping’s experimental album “Dead Channel Sky Plus” made me fall back in love with hip-hop again, whilst Testament’s “Para Bellum” cemented their place at the top of my thrash tree, with an explosive album full of riffs and rhythm. The fifth and final piece of my jigsaw goes to Ian with their exceptional debut album “Come on Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing” a post-rock experience full of crunchy guitars and anguished screams, which is simply amazing.
