THE GREAT The Good The Okay The Disappointing Anticipating Architects – The Sky, the Earth & All Between (February 28th) Dream Theater – Parasomnia (February 7th) Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been (April 25th) Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (March 7th) Turbostaat – Alter Zorn (January 17th) Need listening to:
My anticipated albums Confirmed: Vukovi - My God Has Got A Gun (January 24) Jinjer - Duél (February 7) Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea (March 7) Unconfirmed but very likely to happen: Ihlo 2 Exploring Birdsong's debut Last Chance to Reason - Level 4 Purity Ring 4 Thank You Scientist 4 Agent Fresco 3 Vulkan 4 Sleep Token 4 Starset 5 The Callous Daoboys 3 Sabrina Claudio 4 Bad Omens 4 Rolo Tomassi 4 Hoping for but unlikely to happen: Karnivool 4 The Contortionist 5
Albums of 2025: The Great: 1. Paleface Swiss- Cursed The Good: The Okay: The Bad: 2. Mirar- Ascension 3. Ethel Cain- Peverts Anticipating/Still need to listen to: Alesia Cara All That Remains Architects ASAP Rocky Badflower Bloodywood Brad Paisley Coheed and Cambria Chance the Rapper Chevelle Grayscale James Arthur Japanese Beeakfast Lana Del Rey Lisa The Lumineers Mallrat Memphis May Fire Miguel Roddy Rich Silverstein Spiritbox Starset Steven Wilson The Weeknd Tyga
THE GREAT Architects - The Sky, The Earth & The Between A Day To Remember - Big Ole Album Vol. 1 The Good Stick To Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers Team Scheisse - 20 JAhre Drehorgel Turbostaat - Alter Zorn The Okay The Disappointing Anticipating Deine Cousine - Freaks (May 5th) Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been (April 25th) Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (March 7th) Need listening to: Dream Theater – Parasomnia (February 7th)
TIER 1 Armlock: Armlock on Audiotree Live EP Chloe Slater: Love Me Please EP Daughter: Middle Farm Session EP JPEGMAFIA: I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU (DIRECTORS CUT) Kelela: In The Blue Light Lights: A6 Men I Trust: Equus Caballus Men I Trust: Forever Live Sessions, Vol. 2 SAINt JHN: FESTIVAL SEASON TIER 2 Confidence Man: 5AM (LA LA LA) FKA twigs: EUSEXUA Geography: Cyclone EP Men I Trust: Equus Asinus NAV: OMW2 REXDALE RÜFÜS DU SOL: Inhale / Exhale Remixed The Weeknd: Hurry Up Tomorrow TIER 3 BANKS: Off With Her Head Wafia: Promised Land yuniVERSE: SOOKY LA LA EP Zhuli: Silicone EP PENDING PinkPantheress: Fancy That - May 9 daine: i want the light to swallow me whole EP - June 13 Charlotte Lawrence: SOMEWHERE - June 27 Lorde: Virgin - June 27
New single by Lorde is better than 90% of Solar Power (I loved "Stoned at the nail salon"), let's cross fingers she is back to form, "Melodrama" is among my favs of the last decade
"What Was That" is so Melodrama-coded to me that you could've told me it was a B-side from that album cycle and I would believe it just off how it sounds. Some fans see that as a welcome return to form, while others see it as a regression of sorts. I'm someone who didn't like Solar Power, so I'm looking forward to this one
THE GREAT Architects - The Sky, The Earth & The Between A Day To Remember - Big Ole Album Vol. 1 The Good Deine Cousine - Freaks Stick To Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers Team Scheisse - 20 Jahre Drehorgel Turbostaat - Alter Zorn The Okay The Disappointing Anticipating Heaven Shall Burn - Heimat (June 25th) Three Days Grace - Alienation (August 22nd) Need listening to: Dream Theater – Parasomnia Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea
Albums of 2025: (The Great and The Good are highly likely to change ordering by the end of the year. I will especially revisit all of The Great at the end of the year and see what my ranking is. Top 2 likely won't change.) The Great: 1. Babymetal- Metal Forth 2. Lisa- Alter Ego 3. Hot Mulligan- The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still 4. Car Seat Headrest- The Scholars 5. Renee Rapp- Bite Me 6. Durry- This Movie Sucks 7. Saturdays at Your Place- These Things Happen 8. Steven Wilson- The Overview 9. Bloodywood- Nu Delhi 10. Spiritbox- Tsunami Sea 11. Petey- The Yips 12. Ellise- Pretty Evil 13. The Beths- Straight Line Was a Lie 14. Blessthefall- Gallows 15. Momma- Welcome to My Blue Sky 16. The Callous Daoboys- I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven 17. Arm’s Length- There’s A Whole World Out There 18. James Arthur- Pisces 19. Paleface Swiss- Cursed 20. Sleigh Bells- Bunky Becky Birthday Girl 21. Pool Kids- Easier Said Than Done The Good: 22. The Head and the Heart- Aperture 23. Yungblud- Idols 24. Dying Wish- Flesh Stays Together 25. Die Spitz- Something to Consume 26. Chevelle- Bright As Blasphemy 27. Clipse- Let God Sort Em Out 28. Stay Inside- Lunger 29. Villain of the Story- Convergence: Two Minds In One 30. Julien Baker x Torres- Send a Prayer My Way 31. The Weeknd- Hurry Up Tomorrow 32. Darko US- Deathmask 3 33. Ariana Grande- Brighter Days Ahead 34. Dropout Kings- Yokai 35. Silverstein- Pink Moon 36. Sombr- I Barely Know Her 37. Selena Gomez- I Said I Love You Forst….And You Said It Back 38. Miya Folick- Erotica Veronica 39. Twice- Enemy 40. Thousand Below- Buried in Jade 41. Rise Against- Ricochet 42. Twice- This Is For 43. JID- God Does Like Ugly 44. Memphis May Fire- Shapeshifter 45. Grayscale- The Hart 46. Badflower- No Place Like Home 47. Bad Suns- Accelerator 48. Powfu- The Life of a Lo-fi Boy 49. Coheed and Cambira- The Father of Make Believe 50. Maddie & Tae- Love & Light 51. Fit For a King- Lonely God 52. All That Remains- AntiFragile 53. Saba- From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID 54. Pup- Who Will Look After the Dogs? 55. Ten56- IO 56. Lumirise- Encore 57. Thrice- Horizons/West 58. Old Dominion- Barbara 59. Alessia Cara- Love & Hyperbole 60. Jennie- Ruby 61. Wallows- More 62. Silverstein- Antibloom 63. The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die- Dreaming of Being Dust 64. Offset- Kiara 65. Tallah- Primeval: Obsession // Detachment 66. Orbit Culture- Death Above Life 67. Ninajirachi- I Love My Computer 68. Deep Sea Diver- Billboard Heart 69. The Paradox- NSFW 70. Neon Oni- Neon Oni 71. LANDMVRKS- The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been 72. Soulkeeper- Join Us In Creating Excellence 73. Jonah Kagen- Sunflowers and Leather 74. Rocket- R is For Rocket 75. Tory Lanez- Peterson 76. Addison Rae- Fame Is a Gun 77. Lucy Dacus- Forever Is a Feeling 78. Provoker- Mausoleum 79. Wind Walkers- I Don’t Belong Here 80. Panda Bear- Sinister Gift 81. Raekwon- The Emperor’s New Clothes 82. Bodyweb- deadwired 83. Mischa and the Bear- Even Unto the Next World 84. Memi- Paranoia // Nostalgia 85. Kami Kehoe- Kandy 86. Various Artists- Kpop Demon Hunters Soundtrack 87. Starset- Silos 88. Zara Larsson- Midnight Sun 89. Thornhill- Bodies 90. Fearybabyy- Jabbermouth 91. Teenage Bottlerocket- Ready to Roll 92. Blood Orange- Essex Honey 93. Slaughter to Prevail- Grizzly 94. The Starting Line- Eternal Youth The Okay: 95. Alissic- Arc 01: Maiden 96. Cole Swindell- Spanish Moss 97. Defheaven- Lonely People With Power 98. Ed Sheeran- Play 99. Sarina- The Fool 100. Justin Bieber- Swag II 101. Twenty One Pilots- Breach 102. KennyHoopla- Conditions of An Orphan 103. Chance the Rapper- Star Line 104. Callum Hood- Order Chaos Order 105. Three Days Grace- Alienation 106. Justin Bieber- Swag 107. Sleep Theory- Afterglow 108. Nav- OMW2 Rexdale 109. Blake Shelton- For Recreational Use Only 110. Jeremy Zucker- Garden State 111. AJR- What No One’s Thinking 112. Rainbow Kitten Surprise- Bones 113. Skrillex- Andy Warhol 114. Vianova- Hit It! 115. Architects- The Sky, The Earth, & All In Between 116. Tyga- NSFW 117. The Lumineers- Automatic 118. Freddie Gibbs- Alfredo 2 119. Oklou- Choke Enough 120. Geese- Geeting Killed 121. Return to Dust- Speak Like The Dead 122. Allie Paige- His World The Bad: 123. Taylor Swift- The Life of a Showgirl 124. Michael Clifford- Sidequest 125. Sabrina Carpenter- Man’s Best Friend 126. BoyWithUke- B-sides 127. Travis Scott- Jackboys 2 128. Mallrat- Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right 129. Dreamwake- The Lost Years 130. A Day to Remember- Big Ole Album Vol 1 131. Jon Bellion- Father Figure 132. I See Stars- The Wheel 133. Dodie- Not For The Lack of Trying 134. Katseye- Beautiful Chaos 135. Restraining Order- Future Fortune 136. Mirar- Ascension 137. AFI- Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… 138. Cam- All Things Light 139. Ethel Cain- Perverts Still need to rank: -Between the Buried and Me Anticipating/Still need to listen to: Drake Mac Miller NBA Youngboy- 3 albums Jim Legxacy Joey Bad*** Bright Eyes Living Dead Girl- October 10th Jake & Shelby- October 10th Yellowcard- October 10th Greyheaven- October 10th Ashnikko- October 17th Chris Young- October 17th Tame Imapala- October 17th Miguel- October 23rd Roddy Ricch- October 24th Sigrid- October 24th TWEN- November 4th ASAP Rocky- TBA Electric Callboy- TBA Nas- TBA Lana Del Rey- TBA TNL VZN- TBA South Arcade- TBA Mewtone- TBA Hanabie- TBA Miss May I- TBA *Other random metal albums I get recommended by my timeline throughout the year* Music videos of the year: (Full disclosure I haven't seen too many music videos this year) Durry- Idk I Just Work Here Momma- I Want You (Fever) Babymetal x Poppy- From Me To U Car Seat Headrest- Gathsename Song of the year contenders: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0LhRBVrhTCDcZW1T7ULw81?si=DfF0orKBRoShjgFMC_BWGA&pi=LIEOL3WbStOTx
I listened a bit of this album, I think, or something from Paleface's discography. Was pretty nice. Not very much from that portion of your list that I've listened to
@RiderSSPU famously long lists always remind me of how different listening habits can be I have a hard time listening to more than 10 new albums a year - maximum - usually I'm catching up with albums of previous years, or just going back to old favorites. Also usually need a few days to a week with the same album, to distinguish the different layers, integrate the melodies, etc etc. Think 10 years ago or so I went through more of a binge phase, but I dunno, it got too much at some point. Anyway, I'm derailing. The new records I've been mostly interested in this year are: Deftones - private music Thrice - Horizons West Turnstile - Never Enough That's it ahah. I've meant to check the new ones from others too (Little Simz, FKA Twigs, Squid, Deafheaven), but that will come with time.
I haven't listened to much new stuff this year, but these are my favorites so far: Ihlo - Legacy Danefae - Trøst Nospūn - Ozai (EP) Scardust - Souls The Callous Daoboys - I Don't Want to See You in Heaven Favorite song is P.S. Far er død by Danefae
RANKING EVERY 2025 ALBUM I LISTENED TO (BUT I FORGOT TO RANK IS YOUR FRIEND BY DRAIN) RIDER'S TOP 55 SONGS OF THE YEAR RIDER'S FAVORITE MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE YEAR (BUT I DIDN'T WATCH A LOT OF MUSIC VIDEOS)
I don't really make a concerted effort to seek out new releases actively, but new albums creep in over the course of the year. Here's the export I pulled of all my 2025 albums. Spoiler Florence Adooni - A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity) Mateus Aleluia - Mateus Aleluia Aumile - The Maniac baan - Neumann Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS betcover!! - 勇気 Between the Buried and Me - The Blue Nowhere Bloodywood - Nu Delhi Candelabro - Deseo, carne y voluntad cine quinqui - cine quinqui Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out Coroner - Dissonance Theory Critter - Crack This Walnut A Day to Remember - Big Ole Album Vol. 1 Deafheaven - Lonely People with Power Deftones - private music McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive! Dream Theater - Parasomnia Geese - Getting Killed Delcat Idinco - Bunduki za kwetu Jupiter & Okwess - Ekoye Kaizo Slumber - Ubari Magic Postcard Maker Karyendasoul - Oh, Hello EP Khumariyaan - Intoxication King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island kurayamisaka - kurayamisaka yori ai wo komete Natalia Lafourcade - Cancionera Linkin Park - From Zero (Deluxe Edition) Lӓysӓn Ensemble of Yafarovo Village - Let's Get Together Tonight: Mishar Tatar Songs From Orenburg Region Abdullah Miniawy - Peacock dreams أَحْلَامُ الطَّاوُوسِ Mohammad Reza Mortazavi - Nexus Mr Dee - Mandala The Necks - Disquiet Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer Niños del Cerro - Alma Tadema Falle Nioke - Love from the Sea NMIXX - Blue Valentine Nospūn - Ozai PulciPerla - Tatekieto RADWIMPS - あにゅー Gwenifer Raymond - Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark Rise Against - Ricochet Jacob Roberge - The Passing Rose City Band - Sol y sombra Richard Sallis - Felix Ali Sethi - Love Language Edward Skeletrix - Museum Music Skrillex - F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3 Smiqra - Rgyaġdźé! Ronald Snijders - Penta Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea Tame Impala - Deadbeat Three Days Grace - Alienation TWS - Play Hard YERKATT - Секреты опытных шофёров Обійми Дощу - Відрада 村山政二朗 - The Madness of the Day My favorites were Clipse, Natalia Lafourcade, Deftones, Mateus Aleluia, and Bad Bunny. Between the Buried and Me pleasantly surprised me as well, and I typically am fairly ambivalent on their work. I was pretty disappointed in Three Days Grace, Rise Against, A Day to Remember, and Bloodywood. ADTR were a pandemic comfort band for me but I did not feel the new album offered much. Dream Theater's Parasomnia was okay but I don't quite think it was as good as some say... Everything else more or less between "great" and "okay" to varying degrees of how I connected with the music.
THE GREAT Architects - The Sky, The Earth & The Between A Day To Remember - Big Ole Album Vol. 1 Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power Feine Sahne Fischfilet – Wir kommen in Frieden Three Days Grace - Alienation (August 22nd) The Good Deine Cousine - Freaks Heaven Shall Burn - Heimat Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been Mr Hurley und die Pulveraffen - SOS Stick To Your Guns - Keep Planting Flowers Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea Team Scheisse - 20 Jahre Drehorgel Turbostaat - Alter Zorn The Okay The Disappointing Anticipating Need listening to:
This list is less than half of everything I bought this year, because I didn't want to bother mentioning the rest. I think my favourite 2025 albums are Men I Trust's Equus Caballus and Shlohmo's REPULSOR. I also want to mention that I enjoyed a number of live releases this year from Daughter, Kelela, MIT and more TIER 1 Armlock: Armlock on Audiotree Live EP Charlotte Lawrence: Somewhere (Live at The Roxy) Chloe Slater: Love Me Please EP Clipse: Let God Sort Em Out Daughter: Middle Farm Session EP Kelela: In the Blue Light Ninajirachi: I Love My Computer Present: Letters to the Lost EP Men I Trust: Equus Caballus MIKE & Tony Seltzer: Pinball II Night Tapes: portals//polarities Nine Inch Nails: TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Shlohmo: REPULSOR Verses GT: Verses GT VIER: IIII TIER 2 Lorde: Virgin Mansionair: Some Kind of Alchemy Men I Trust: Forever Live Sessions, Vol. 2 Purity Ring: purity ring Spiritbox: Tsunami Sea Wisp: If Not Winter I got a friend of mine a physical copy of the Rise Against album as a gift, and only after ordering it did I learn that nobody liked it
I haven't listened to many releases this year but here's my top 5: Ihlo - Legacy Danefae - Trøst Scardust - Souls The Callous Daoboys - I Don't Want to See You in Heaven An Abstract Illusion - The Sleeping City Next year is gonna be insane that's for sure